January 30th, 2025 Meeting

Meeting to be held via video conference: https://communitybridge.com/bbb-room/mass-pirates-member-meeting/

Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O866erNwAGw

Decisions/Endorsements

An Act relative to political designations

Recommend we oppose HD2323:

Section 1. Section 1 of chapter 50 of the General Laws as appearing in the 2020 Official Edition is hereby amended by striking out the word “fifty” in line 85 and putting in place thereof the words: “five hundred”.

Section 2. Section 1 of Chapter 50 of the General Laws as appearing in the 2020 Official Edition is hereby amended by inserting after the word “first.” in line 94 the words: “If, after the expiration of two years from the date the political designation is approved, there are fewer than one quarter of one percent of the total number of registered voters enrolled in the designation, it shall be dissolved and any such voters enrolled shall be registered as “unenrolled.”

Section 3. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Other bills to review

• Location Shield Act (SD 501/HD2965)
• An Act relative to unregulated face recognition and emerging biometric surveillance technologies (HD2726)
• An Act establishing a moratorium on face recognition and other remote biometric surveillance systems (SD671)
• An Act relative to unmanned aerial systems (HD2542)
• An Act relative to protecting Massachusetts residents against federal government surveillance (HD4038)
• Dignity Not Deportations Act (HD3596/SD1107)
• Civil Asset Forfeiture reform (HD2971)

Projects/Events

Winter Conference Review

Planning Pad: https://etherpad.pp-international.net/p/MAPP2025WinterConference

Video Newsletter/Podcast

Leader: Joseph

• Pirate news recording scheduled for Sundays, 7pm with go-live at 7:30pm. Unless changed

Voter Outreach 2024

• Letters to city election committee/town clerk asking for pirate voters/election dates
• Follow ups as necessary
• Snail Mail supporters in December to tell them about:
  • Conference
  • Call for officer nominees
  • Municipal elections
  • Other events/efforts
  • Donate/join our mailing list

2025 Local Campaigns

Need a leader for this effort.

Actions:

• Outreach to volunteers:
  • Ask them to organize locally
  • Ask them to campaign/run
  • Ask them to give us their full contact info
  • Call potential candidates/supporters
• Videos:
  • Selecting campaign
  • Planning campaign
  • Get on the ballot
  • Fundraising
  • Voter Id
  • GOTV

Participants

• jokeefe (Somerville)
• joe (Lowell)
• srevilak (Arlington)
• eli (Leominster)

Summary

Reports.

• Jamie compiling lists of voter lists. Cleaning up database. Created conference page with notes. Editing video for posting.

MA Legislation

• HD.2323
  • House bill to increase the number of signatures required to create a political designation.
  • Would affect new designations. Would also create a way for political designations to expire (failure to get 0.25% registrations in two years).
  • Jamie suggests we oppose. Unanimous agreement.
• "Other bills to review" section contains other bills of interest.

USPP

• Nothing noteworthy to report.

Conference

• A bit of a time crunch before the event date.
• Perhaps start planning three months before the target date.
• Consider having a conference in the spring. Maybe late April.
• We really liked the venue.
• Probably need one camera for the livestream, and one for other recordings.
• Air filters were quiet and worked well for the space
• Next time, bring headphones (for monitoring audio feed for streaming).

Pirate News

• Not this Sunday. Resume next Sunday.

Chat

[20:56] Joe: Ahoy
[20:57] Welcome to Mass Pirates Member Meeting!
[20:58] Joe: Ahoy Steve
[21:08] Joe: Joseph Onoroski, Lowell
[21:10] Joe: No
[21:12] Joe: The no was nothing to add.
[21:13] Joe: We should oppose
[21:14] Joe: It seeks to suppress dissenting.
[21:14] Joe: Words.
[21:16] Joe: It's to confuse the masses
[21:18] Joe: I have not been attending due my personal challenges.
[21:18] Joe: I may need to be removed as a rep
[21:20] Joe: More press coverage!
[21:23] Joe: Can you make a pirate pad with the old bylaw pasted?
[21:23] Joe: More outdoor banners
[21:27] Joe: It was good for the speakers but the rest of the crowd was harder to hear.
[21:27] Joe: More mics!
[21:28] Joe: A master of switchboards, Steve!
[21:29] Joe: I loved the pins
[21:29] Joe: Can we do bumper stickers
[21:29] Joe: Like just the mass flags
[21:29] Joe: O my
[21:30] Joe: I can't
[21:31] Joe: One more thing for Pirate news.
[21:31] Joe: I figured out a way to do quick news blasts using just a phone.
[21:32] Joe: I would like to have it as you Jamie, since you are the more well spoken.
[21:32] Joe: Maaaaybe