This webinar, “WEP and Americans Abroad”, focuses on an issue which impacts on many Americans living abroad. Democrats Abroad has been working on the elimination of WEP since the early 2000s. We know in the last Congress that HR 82 Social Security Fairness Act of 2022 which would have repealed WEP did not pass. In the current Congress, HR 82 Social Security Fairness Act of 2023 was introduced in the House on January 9th 2023 by Representative Gareth Graves (Republican, Louisiana District 6). Again, we have a bill that eliminates WEP.

The DA Seniors Caucus is currently working on WEP elimination and this webinar stems from this activity. What is WEP? Will it affect me when I retire abroad? How do I prepare for it? What if as a retired person I receive a pension from abroad as well as Social Security – how will WEP affect me?  Please attend this webinar to have answers to these important questions.

Our guest speaker is Nancy Altman from Social Security Works and she will speak to us about WEP and answer our questions about WEP.

About our Speaker:

Nancy J. Altman has a forty-five year background in the areas of Social Security and private pensions. She is president of Social Security Works and chair of the Strengthen Social Security coalition.
Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi appointed Ms. Altman to a six-year term, starting October 1, 2017, on the Social Security Advisory Board. The seven-person Board is a bipartisan, independent federal government agency established in 1994 to advise the President, Congress, and the Commissioner of Social Security.
Ms. Altman is the author of The Battle for Social Security: From FDR’s Vision to Bush’s Gamble (John Wiley & Sons, 2005) and The Truth About Social Security: The Founders’ Words Refute Revisionist History, Zombie Lies, and Common Misunderstandings (Strong Arm Press, 2018). She is also co-author of Social Security Works! Why Social Security Isn’t Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All (The New Press, 2015). She has shared her Social Security expertise on numerous television and radio shows, including PBS NewsHour, MSNBC, and FOX News. She has published op-eds in dozens of newspapers including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today.
From 1983 to 1989, Ms. Altman was on the faculty of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and taught courses on private pensions and Social Security at the Harvard Law School. In 1982, she was Alan Greenspan’s assistant in his position as chairman of the bipartisan commission that developed the 1983 Social Security amendments.
From 1977 to 1981, she was a legislative assistant to Senator John C. Danforth (R-Mo) and advised the Senator with respect to Social Security issues. From 1974 to 1977, she was a tax lawyer with Covington & Burling, where she handled a variety of private pension matters.
Ms. Altman chairs the Board of Directors of the Pension Rights Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection of beneficiary rights. She is a member of the Boards of Directors of the Alliance for Retired Americans Educational Fund, the Economic Opportunity Institute, Latinos for the Secure Retirement, and the Institute for America’s Future. In the mid-1980’s, she was on the organizing committee and the first board of directors of the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Calling All DPCA Officers... to Vote On 2024 Delegate Selection Plan

Connection details will be emailed to all Democrats Abroad member RSVP's closer to the meeting date.

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Every four years, the Democratic Party begins designing the Delegate Selection Rules and a resulting nominating process for the next presidential election.

While the Rules drafting process begins anew after each Presidential election, many norms and traditions carry over, including a rule that lets some states hold their nominating contest early, which in 2024 will be South Carolina, Nevada & New Hampshire, Michigan, and Georgia.

Democrats Abroad has worked hard at crafting our Delegate Selection Plan, which is the guiding document as we play our part in nominating our Party's 2024 nominees for President and Vice President of the United States.

You can review a copy of our draft 2024 Delegate Selction Plan which was posted for public comment on our website on March 6, 2023, and submit your by writing to [email protected] through April 5, 2023.

(Please include the page and line number your feedback refers to in your email. Thank you!)

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NOTICE: This meeting will be recorded, including audio, video, and any materials exchanged or viewed during the session.

US Embassy in Athens showed support in 2021 (photo) and does still. February is Black History Month!

Dems Abroad Executive Director Visits Greece
Report compiled by DAGR Chair Brady Kiesling and Thessaloniki Chapter Chair Randall Warner

Dems Abroad Executive Director Jarryd Rauch fulfilled two goals in one January visit to Greece. Based in the US – home in NY, work in Washington, DC, Rauch is tasked with connecting DA, its three regions, 50-plus country committees, and caucuses, with the DNC (Democratic National Committee). High on his list is getting to know, in person if possible, leadership around the world. He landed here in Thessaloniki on Jan. 17, then travelled down to Athens for DAGR’s annual general meeting and election of 2023-24 officers.

Election of officers for the coming two-year term was the principal order of business for the Democrats Abroad Greece 2023 Annual General Meeting on January 18. Members attended the main meeting at Athens Hard Rock Café, while Thessaloniki gathered in homier surroundings, and others attended online.

Join us for our bi-weekly meeting as we plan for 2023 and 2024. Our meetings are on a rotating schedule so that we can include people from all regions.

We need volunteers in these areas:

• Intercom
• Facebook group/social media
• Graphics
• Event planners
• Newsletter team
• More tech people
• Phone bankers
• Ohio Outreach
• Database management/Clerical

RSVP to receive the Zoom link to join the meeting.

Join us for our bi-weekly meeting as we plan for 2023 and 2024. Our meetings are on a rotating schedule so that we can include people from all regions.

We need volunteers in these areas:

• Intercom
• Facebook group/social media
• Graphics
• Event planners
• Newsletter team
• More tech people
• Phone bankers
• Ohio Outreach
• Database management/Clerical

RSVP to receive the Zoom link to join the meeting.

There’s more to DAGR than may meet the eye. We’ll be featuring the members who keep things running, in the hopes more of us will want to help out. We’re starting with GOTV (Get Out The Vote … which in DAGR is also part of the Membership task.)

“Play it where it lays” is bad grammar but a fitting phrase to dive into Charity Moschopoulos’ roles as a DAGR volunteer. Her trajectory of the last 15 years spans responsibilities, some easier, some harder. Charity’s Girl Scout mom experience led to “the red hat” for visibility when she led the Greeting/Guiding team for the 2009 Obama Inaugural at ACS. That was before she gave one to the DAGR chair for the 2015 July-4^th picnic, and long before that grifter guy stole the idea and printed MAGA on a gazillion.

Annual General Assembly and Elections
Wednesday, January 18 at 7 pm
Online via the ZOOM platform
AND
in-person at Athens Hard Rock Café

In accordance with DAGR Bylaws, the Annual General Meeting (AGM) is held each year in the first quarter (by 31 March), but in an election year the deadline is January 31^st.  In the odd-numbered years, DAGR elects officers for the coming 2-year term.

This year’s AGM and Election is scheduled for Wednesday, January 18 at 7 pm (19:00) at Hard Rock Café Athens AND online through ZOOM

Voters wait to feed their ballots into an optical scanning machine

1984 or so, Fisherman’s Wharf in Columbus, Greek Nite. Joining us every month or so was the executive team from Borden’s: Al, Peter, and Tash. Peter, who had been on the team that developed Elmer’s glue, had Cefalonian roots. Tash had a penchant for club singing and was actually quite good at the mic. And then there was the old sage, Al. Some current panic over nuclear war or enviro disaster was in the air, and Al said, wisely, peppering it with examples from the Dark Ages and before, that mankind had always confronted plagues and disasters that were sure to wipe out the human race. And yet, we’d always overcome them when science and logic kicked in. I look back on his assurance with hope. ~KL

If democracy succeeds on mutual trust, then planting seeds of doubt is the first step at brushing that pesky people’s choice aside. And, there are a lot of seeds being planted this year. It bears a closer look.

Here's how ...

If you're a U.S. citizen or dual-national in Greece, you have the right to vote from abroad in the 2022 midterm elections and every election. If you are or will be 18 on Nov 8, 2022, you can vote in the upcoming elections.

Εάν είστε πολίτης των ΗΠΑ ή διπλή υπήκοος στην Ελλάδα, έχετε το δικαίωμα να ψηφίσετε από το εξωτερικό στις ενδιάμεσες εκλογές του 2022 και σε κάθε εκλογή. Εάν είστε ή θα είστε 18 ετών στις 8 Νοεμβρίου 2022, μπορείτε να ψηφίσετε στις επερχόμενες εκλογές.

As a U.S. citizen, you can register to vote from abroad while living, working, or traveling overseas by submitting one form, the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA). It doesn't matter if you were registered to vote before you left the U.S. or how long you have lived outside the U.S. (including if you've never resided there).

Ως πολίτης των ΗΠΑ, μπορείτε να εγγραφείτε για να ψηφίσετε από το εξωτερικό ενώ ζείτε, εργάζεστε ή ταξιδεύετε στο εξωτερικό υποβάλλοντας ένα έντυπο, την Αίτηση Ομοσπονδιακής Ταχυδρομικής Κάρτας (FPCA). Δεν έχει σημασία αν είχατε εγγραφεί για να ψηφίσετε πριν φύγετε από τις Η.Π.Α. ή πόσο καιρό έχετε ζήσει εκτός των Η.Π.Α. (συμπεριλαμβανομένου του αν δεν έχετε διαμείνει ποτέ εκεί).
ΔΕΝ ΓΙΝΕΤΑΙ ΠΡΟΣΩΠΙΚΗ ΨΗΦΟΦΟΡΙΑ στην Ελλάδα στην Πρεσβεία ή στο Προξενείο για τις εκλογές του Νοεμβρίου 2022! Κάντε κύλιση προς τα κάτω για να βρείτε τις οδηγίες στην Eλληνική γλώσσα.
 

Into the Deep Muddy: The making of a Facebook daily-change graphic

It was a hot, humid night in July, 2018. The midterms were looming and DA global was looking for ways to excite the abroad members. The regional EMEA meeting murmured that a countdown graphic of some sort would help build the buzz.

by Janet Karvouniaris
July 21, 2002

Ed. Note: It was a brief exchange with Janet that set Karen Lee off on the ‘What Are the Pundits On About’ op-ed. They agree, as Janet notes, that 2022 is way too early to be speculating about 2024. It distracts from the very steep task at hand this year. But Janet also sees the other side, the voter ennui and where it may be coming from. There’s a lot of that in the US, and it dampens our enthusiasm abroad when we read the news feeds. Here’s a first salvo at identifying root causes.

No Real News, Just a Biden to Punch

So, the top question on our minds is ‘Who should we run in 2024?’
But shouldn’t we be asking, instead, ‘What should we do in 2022 to make sure our votes are counted in 2024?’

How we feel about the politics of the day, and the Dem party in particular, depends a lot on the ‘trusted sources’ we read. While much is being said about the negative influence of social media – veering away from real discussion, favoring short tweets, inviting nastiness and trolling, spreading disinformation – less has been noted about our mainstream press.

A Retrospective and Discovery

by Gina Billy

Author’s Note: Most members knew Steve Medeiros, long-time DAGR volunteer and board member, vice chair 2015-18 and country chair 2019. I did not. I never met – or even had heard of – Steve during his physical lifetime. So, in order to weave together this portrait of Steve in a way that I hope conveys some of the great richness and beauty of his life, I depended on written records of Steve’s life journey and, most importantly, first-hand accounts from people who had had the joy of experiencing Steve “Live.” ~ Gina Billy

Giannis Boutaris, 2018, courtesy PappasPost

by Kevin Berkowitz

Spend some time talking to people in Thessaloniki, especially cab drivers and the like, and you will hear any number of insults against Giannis Boutaris, the mayor of Thessaloniki from 2011 to 2019. He made a name for himself as a progressive leader in a conservative city. 

By Jeffrey Siger 
As published May 21, 2022 12:00 am on the murderiseverywhere blogspot

Saturday-Jeff

Last Wednesday, I had the great honor of participating on a ZOOM panel sponsored by Democrats Abroad Greece (DAGR) addressing the current surge in book banning. Moderated by former US diplomat and author John Brady Kiesling, the panelists included a MacArthur Award-winning poet (Alicia Stallings), the Poet Laureate of Missouri (Aliki Barnstone), a former DJ with a doctorate from Oxford and a reputation for gifted presentations (Abby Hafer), and a kid from Pittsburgh.

From May 16th and for the foreseeable future, we’ll cease posting to the Thessaloniki Chapter  page and direct readers to check the DAGR main Facebook page and/or join one of our two closed groups, set for DAGR member exchanges of thoughts and comments.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this, so we can plan “human-cost-effective” outreach into the future. 

Why are we doing this? Well ...

Democrats Abroad Greece 
Annual General Meeting (AGM)
Wednesday, March 30 
Online – 7 pm Greek time

The sixth in the “Kafeneion” series of online events, organized by Democrats Abroad Greece Thessaloniki Chapter on February 16, 2022, with speaker Steven Tagle was very well attended!

DAGR Pita Cutting and Voter Registration Kafeneion
Wednesday, January 26
7 pm EET (not to be confused with Greek time!)
On Zoom – RSVP for the link

In the much-anticipated Greek New Year’s tradition, DAGR will cut the pita next week!