Good news for people who want to do good: Day 321

The number of women running for office keeps climbing

For over a year now, the resistance has proved to be a bright silver lining to the storm cloud of the Trump presidency. And the most powerful illumination has come from the massive numbers of women who have newly decided to run for office across the country.

We’ve been tracking this inspiring movement, and it keeps getting better: EMILY’s List now says that over 22,000 women have contacted the organization seeking assistance with getting started as a candidate. In all of 2016 prior to the election, the number was only about 1,000.

“We have never seen anything like what we have seen over the last 12 months,” the organization’s president Stephanie Schriock said.

And Trump’s reverse Midas touch can be seen in the fact that the numbers are made up by and large by Democrats:

Quite an impressive chart. pic.twitter.com/HYVgqYgsfP

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 3, 2017

The hugely important victories in November 2017 — like Danica Roem; Kathy Tran, Hala Ayala, and Elizabeth Guzman; Andrea Jenkins and Vi Lyles; LaToya Cantrell; and others — showed that all is far from lost in the Trump era, and that progressives are ready, willing, and able to make government work for everyone again.

And hey, even President Barack Obama agrees we’d be better off with more women in office. And women are clearly up to the task.

Teen pregnancy rate in CO drops by over 50 percent thanks to increased access to birth control

A program in Colorado to provide low- or no-cost birth control has shown stunning results that prove contraception access ought to be supported by everyone, no matter where they may fall on the political spectrum.

Over a period of eight years, the teen pregnancy rate in Colorado dropped by more than 50 percent, thanks in large part to intrauterine devices and long-acting reversible contraception made available at dozens of clinics across the state. The abortion rate for teens dropped even more sharply, by 64 percent.

Furthermore, the family planning initiative has saved the state an estimated $65 million in associated costs.

Attention Trump: birth control works, so keep your hands off of it.

ACTION ALERT: Shame the GOP! Defeat the tax scam!

The fight against the GOP tax scam isn’t over yet, and it’s time to make Republicans understand just how despicable their vote to pass this horrible bill was.

If you’re in the D.C. area on Thursday, head to the East Front of the Capitol at 12:30 p.m. and add your voice to the chorus: Shame! Shame! Shame! And wherever you are, you can also tell your members of Congress #NotOnePenny in tax breaks for the rich!

Sen. Jeff Merkley slams the tax scam as part of the “cycle of corruption”

Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley did not mince words about the GOP’s tax scam bill, and how it relates to the “cycle of corruption” we have seen growing for years.

The bill “is so much about ‘we the powerful and privileged for the powerful and privileged,’ and not government of, by, and for the people,” he noted.

“Greed,” he declared, and “the corruption we have seen come from Citizens United — vast dark sums going into campaigns to get Republicans elected.” And those Republicans then turn around and demand bills to make those same donors happy.

What the #GOPTaxScam is really about: a vast cycle of corruption rigged for the richest and most powerful Americans. pic.twitter.com/GG1WjyKOm4

— Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) December 5, 2017

ACTION ALERT: Tell Congress: “Don’t gut our gun laws!”

Gun safety opponents in Congress are pushing extremely dangerous “Concealed Carry Reciprocity” bills in both houses, that would override strong state gun laws and turn the weakest ones into national policy. NRA advocates in Washington want to force to states that support commonsense gun safety regulations to recognize concealed carry standards from all other states.

This is terrifying, and it cannot be allowed to happen.

Everytown For Gun Safety has a way you can help defeat this blatant pandering to the NRA. Sign up to send a postcard to your senators and representatives, and tell them: “Don’t gut our gun laws!”

Lawmakers ought to be protecting public safety — not the feelings and bank accounts of the NRA.

CA Democratic Reps. Mark Takano and Ted Lieu: “The Holidays with House Republicans”

Spending the holidays with Republican members of Congress is probably not high up on your wish list, and for good reason — surely plenty of them agree with Trump’s assessment that their tax scam bill is the best Christmas gift one could get.

The problem is, that’s only true for the extremely wealthy and corporations. For the rest of us? Not so much.

California Democratic Reps. Mark Takano and Ted Lieu lay out just how stark the differences are between what average Americans would find under their GOP tax scam tree versus what Republicans’ friends and donors would get to unwrap.

Note to the GOP: You’re supposed to emulate Scrooge at the end of A Christmas Carol, not the beginning.