PNC 07/31/2022

Agenda

Reports

IT

Database

• Yari and JamesO setup support.uspirates.org.
• We verified that we can send emails out from it.
• Yari has moved over supporters from crew.uspirates.org and created a sign up page.
• JamesO will add the txt'ing functionality and deactivate crew.uspirates.org.
• We need to update the theme so it looks better.
• Would like to schedule a training for people to use it. When works for people? Thursday night is expected to be very hot in Mass.

Taking Donations

• JamesO and Treasurer Joe looked over the options and recommend that we go with Stripe for payment processing.
• The fees are reasonable and there are legit plugins for CiviCRM and Wordpress that should make the process easier.
• It will also allow us to provide a consistent look and feel to our contributors though it will require more work on our part.

Secretary

• working with IT to develop support.uspirates.org
• beginning to figure out a groove of updating notes and such, will be trying to automate as much as possible
• figured out how to add next/previous navigation buttons to the wiki, but it will take time
• will be attempting to get all of our outreach writers on the wiki because that's just better than etherpad
• turning attention to updating discord setup once support.uspirates.org looks nice

Discussion

Old Business

• discussion - what elements of platform should be adopted by the Democratic Freedom Caucus? (proposed by chair)

Summary

Meeting called to order at 9:01pm EDT.

Reports

• IT submitted the same report as from the agenda
• Platform:
• Outreach:

officer reports

• Secretary reports the same as the agenda
• Swarmcare
• Treasurer

New Business

Meeting adjourned at pm EDT.

Minutes

Record of the meeting

<Wodensday> Calling this meeting to order at 9:01 EDT
<Wodensday> IDs?
<yari> Rose Klein, CA
<Wodensday> Anthony Jay, PNC chair
<Joe> Joseph Onoroski, Massachusetts, Treasurer
<pmchi> Mitchel Davilo, Chicagoland/ILPP, Swarmcare Manager
<Mariah-Lynne> Mariah-Lynne, Kentucky Pirate Party, Secretary
18:02:49 Oz has joined
<DreadPirateDrew> Drew Bingaman PA Captain
<yari> https://wiki.uspirates.org/w/index.php?title=PNC_07/31/2022
<papegaai> Title: PNC 07/31/2022 - United States Pirate Party (at wiki.uspirates.org)
<Wodensday> Thank you for that Yari!
<Oz> Oz Bluegrass Pirates Captain 
<Wodensday> We have our state reps in, so I’ll move on to reports.
<Wodensday> It looks like we have some good IT stuff, should I let you go first? yari
<yari> I'll just go ahead and paste the report on the agenda
<Wodensday> I like what I see here
<yari> Database Yari and JamesO setup support.uspirates.org. We verified that we can send emails out from it. Yari has moved over supporters from crew.uspirates.org and created a sign up page. JamesO will add the txt'ing functionality and deactivate crew.uspirates.org. We need to update the theme so it looks better. Would like to schedule a training for people to use it. When works for people? Thursday night is expected to be very hot in Ma
<yari> Taking Donations - JamesO and Treasurer Joe looked over the options and recommend that we go with Stripe for payment processing. * The fees are reasonable and there are legit plugins for CiviCRM and Wordpress that should make the process easier. * It will also allow us to provide a consistent look and feel to our contributors though it will require more work on our part.
<Wodensday> This looks AWESOME. You all are really killing it over there!
<Joe> It was a tough choice between ActBlue and Swipe but swipe is more in line with our current system.
<Wodensday> I haven’t looked at the site, how accessible is the sign up page and can we make it more obvious?
<DreadPirateDrew> Will Stripe just take more work to setup and deploy or ongoing as well?
<Joe> It's not much more work tbh.
<DreadPirateDrew> OK
<yari> Wodensday it's quite easy to adjust how obvious things are
<yari> I can change the look and feel of the site, haven't done that yet
<Wodensday> I want to help you with the site, I’m really passionate about that. Should we meet?
<Oz> I have nothing new to report, but i have been deployed to wildfires, so other bluegrass Pirates will be filling in my absence 
<yari> as for accesiblity - everyone please check out the form and test it out so that we can see how well it works. support.uspirates.org
<yari> evaluate accessiblity yourself, give feedback
<Wodensday> Thank you, Yari. You, Jamie, and Joe have really been the all stars this entire month.
<Wodensday> I am going to suggest we save any further IT comments for later so we can move along.
<pmchi> Every month!
<Wodensday> True that! Pmchi
<Wodensday> Speaking of Pmchi, platform?
<pmchi> Platform will unfortunately need one more week for discussing the bylaws changes in regards to platform positions. I think this will be the last week needed with these discussions before we shall return to regular productivity
<Wodensday> Excellent, thank you.
<Wodensday> As for outreach, this week has been a serious blur for me. I thiiiink I was in VC for a work session but it had poor attendance?
18:10:57 Oz has left
<yari> you were
<Wodensday> Thank you, Yari.
<Wodensday> It is time for me to delegate more. If any of you know anyone who may be interested in being an outreach chair, please let me know!
<Wodensday> Moving on to officers
<Wodensday> Yari - Show us more of your pizzazz, our honorable Secretary
<yari> ==== Secretary ==== * working with IT to develop support.uspirates.org * beginning to figure out a groove of updating notes and such, will be trying to automate as much as possible * figured out how to add next/previous navigation buttons to the wiki, but it will take time * will be attempting to get all of our outreach writers on the wiki because that's just better than etherpad * turning attention to updating discord setup once support.uspirates.org looks
<yari> ---got cut off,
<yari> "looks nice"
<Wodensday> Gotcha. Thank you again.
<Wodensday> Swarmcare? Pmchi
<Joe> Jamie said that he will attend next week's meeting, btw
<yari> very proud of figuring out how to add next/previous nav buttons to the wiki
<pmchi> I was asked to reach out to some of the states and check up on progress. Unfortunately, and I do apologize, I’ve been a bit busy and only got around to asked the New Jersey Pirates. That said, they’re working on a website and I’ll see if I can get a volunteer for PNC attendance out of one of them
<Wodensday> Excellent, thank you!
<Wodensday> Treasurer? Joe
<pmchi> Joe I look forward to having the honorable Jamie join us again
<Joe> As mentioned, we are pulling the trigger for Swipe.
<Wodensday> Rad.
<Joe> It integrates with out current setup but at a high transaction cost.
<Wodensday> That just means we need to roll it out so we can collect some cash.
<Joe> We expect low volumes of donations at first, if we have more that would be a happy problem. 
<Wodensday> It’ll pay for itself, some good stuff is on the horizon
<Wodensday> I love amazing problems.
<Joe> FEC is taken care of.
<Joe> We currently have 180 in the bank
<Wodensday> Excellent. Anything else?
<yari> I have a question
<Joe> And I ordered business debit cards so we have access to the funds as need.
<Wodensday> Go for it, Yari
<yari> As we will soon have donations, I think we are approaching the time where we will have to decide whether to spend the money first on covering the maintenance costs that have been paid for by our officers mostly so far, or whether to use those funds as a way to build the party more - and how, if so?
<yari> sorry, I guess not so much a question as a thing maybe for next meeting?
<yari> as in: what do we use the money for first
<Joe> I would suggest that funds be used to propagate the organization.
<Wodensday> I think we can fit that in. Could we let me give my small chair’s report and then we can take care of this in the “Do we accept the reports” section?
<Joe> IE keep us legal.
<Wodensday> I think it’s very worth a third of our time.
<yari> yeah of course
<Wodensday> I’ll get it out of the way - My chair report is very minor. Like I said, this week has been a blur. I’m trying to delegate and refigure what my place in the organization is. Yari warned me this day would come and I did not listen.
<Wodensday> But if anyone could get Brianna in the Tweetdeck, I would really appreciate that.
<Wodensday> Are there any comments on any reports that are not Treasury?
<Wodensday> I will take that as a no.
<Wodensday> We are going to discuss the treasury report. The question is simple - “We’re getting more money, what do we do with it?”
<Wodensday> Discuss
<Joe> If I may?
<Wodensday> You may
<Joe> The wisest course of action would be to pay the "bills" and in result create a budget.
<Joe> This budget would be part of the public record of course.
<Wodensday> How do you suggest we start to create this budget?
<Joe> All excess then an be divided up as this council sees fit.
<yari> Joe, could you calrify what you specifically mean by paying the 'bills'?
<yari> website costs, etc?
<Joe> Webcosts, filing fees, renewal of corporate licensing that Bosun paid for out of pocket.
<Joe> By having the organization pay for it directly it makes filling with the FEC much cleaner. 
<yari> agreed
<yari> I think that all makes sense
<Joe> Then all I have to report is the donations. 
<Wodensday> This sounds like you support the “Fix the fact we all spend hundreds of bucks in in-kind donations first” plan. Correct?
<Joe> Aye
<Wodensday> How does everyone feel?
<Joe> Not that there is anything wrong with in-kind but the burden should not be on a few.
<Wodensday> Ideally, we would then just donate what we pay to keep the organization running TO the USPP. Right?
<yari> we already have a supporter base, and the only reason we haven't been able to recoup costs on that is because we haven't been taking donations. I think we should be able to recoup this relatively easily
<Wodensday> That too
<yari> your point is also well made
<Mariah-Lynne> Ethan has been paying for everything when it comes to the Party. Not the campaign but for the Party. I told him when he gets back from firefighting, we have to see where the money is being spent and find cheaper or free alternatives. He told me what he spent for one service and I was like WOAH.
<Wodensday> Helping state affiliates would be a great use of money when we get there
<yari> when we get there
<Wodensday> I just spent 150 on the INPP this weekend haha
<Wodensday> Aaanyway
<yari> we can also do that by providing access to free resources though
<Joe> We have open-source methods as well that help reduce cost. 
<yari> yeah I'm fine with moving on. 
<Wodensday> I’m hearing we should focus on how to cover and clean up our existing budget. This makes a lot of sense to me.
<yari> I agree with Joe
<Wodensday> Are there any objections to proceeding with this in mind? Maybe our dear treasurer can help us go forward on a weekly basis
<Joe> One step at a time ^.^
<Wodensday> Hearing none, are there any objections to accepting the reports?
<yari> none
<Wodensday> Hearing none.
<Wodensday> We are moving on to our one item of business.
<yari> one official
<Wodensday> The chair of the Democratic Freedom Caucus, a group that promotes libertarian-ish policies (as well as Georgism, for the record), asked me what Pirate policies they should add to their platform.
<Wodensday> This comes with no strings attached, Chris and I just get along.
<Wodensday> Another organization wants to help spread our ideas. What should we ask them to adopt?
<DreadPirateDrew> Copyright and patent reform is probably not likely on their platform now.
<Wodensday> I do not believe so, let me get their website
<Joe> Individual autonomy 
<Wodensday> https://www.democraticfreedomcaucus.org/
<papegaai> Title: Democratic Freedom Caucus – Social justice, fiscal responsibility. (at www.democraticfreedomcaucus.org)
<yari> ask them to put a land acknowledgement in it. That was the *chef's kiss* of the PA platform, for me
<pmchi> I’ll selfishly suggest self-management :D
<Wodensday> Land acknowledgement is a good suggestion. That’s going on the INPP site soon enough
<DreadPirateDrew> I will repeat that if there is high level stuff (since that is what it mostly is) I repeat Copyright and Patent reform.
<yari> ^^
<Wodensday> We have had a few suggestions, which is the favorite?
<Wodensday> (I have a suspicion I know which one it is)
<yari> copyright and patent reform
<yari> of course
<DreadPirateDrew> They do already treat land as a different form of property
<Wodensday> Do we wanna be that predictable? 😛
<DreadPirateDrew> Yes
<Wodensday> IP, dare I say, is very similar to land in the way it doesn’t fit with mainstream liberal property philosophy
<Wodensday> HOW do we want to suggest IP reform? Do we suggest they look at our platform? Do we write something for them as a suggestion?
<yari> I'm okay with being that predictable, but I think you should suggest a ranked list of things most important to us
<yari> copyright and patent reform at the top, sure
<Wodensday> So so far we have IP reform, self-management, and land acknowledgement (which I think is a really easy sell and honestly somewhat unrelated to platform)
<Joe> Individual autonomy leads us back to our right to choose.
<Wodensday> Pmchi - do you mind if we simplify that to just some kind of pro-union statement in the worker protection section?
<pmchi> Pro-Union and pro-co-
<pmchi> Co-op
<pmchi> That’s my request at least!
<Wodensday> Maybe something like “We believe in the right to practice workplace democracy”
<yari> something something prison abolition
<DreadPirateDrew> Government and Corporate transparency outside of Copyright and patent reform is all I really see missing from a decent platform
<Wodensday> So, should we add institutional transparency? Also, I’d like all of your suggestions on how we should rank these
<DreadPirateDrew> Keep in mind we don't necessarily want them to adopt our whole platform
<yari> Drew, that's a good point
<pmchi> I’m not hung up on the wording, just whatever the most in-the-workers-hands position we’d deem acceptable
<Mariah-Lynne> Right to repair?
<yari> ...actually, DreadPirateDrew, I'd like to have a conversation about that, but I think it's outside the bounds of this agenda item
<pmchi> Right to repair is a big one
<Wodensday> Right to repair is another good one.
<Wodensday> Can we get some rankings?
<yari> how many things do we expect them to reasonably adopt?
<yari> they can pirate our stuff whenever they want
<yari> they're just asking us what we particularly care about, right?
<Wodensday> Yes.
<Wodensday> Let me get the exact message that started this
<yari> please do
<Wodensday> This is all it is: What would the Pirate Party most want to see in the DFC's platform?
<Wodensday> It’s a very simple gesture of good faith, a lot of the people there are ex-third party folks.
<yari> legitimate question, not jugding - are they lazy enough to have not looked at our platform yet? or is this a question of determining our priorities?
<yari> because they should know, and it should be made clear, that they can pirate our work
<Wodensday> I think you’re reading into it a bit too much.
<DreadPirateDrew> There be no copyright here... Arrr
<yari> okay, Wodensday, tell me your understanding of it then
<yari> I don't feel like we're on the same page here.
<Wodensday> They can take whatever they want from our platform, naturally. Chris just wants to know, if we got a chance to inject something in their platform, what we’d suggest. It’s a little more personable.
<yari> IP reform, then
<DreadPirateDrew> ditto
<yari> It sounds like you're saying we get one thing to inject
<yari> or one thing... with error bars
<Joe> Sry, I have to go.
18:54:05 Joe has left
<Wodensday> Maybe I should clarify and say this is the result of an unbelievably casual series of conversations between two friendly acquaintances. There aren’t any hard and fast rules that have been determined at all
<Wodensday> I was actually the one to suggest I bring it to you all instead of speaking for everyone
18:54:37 — 18:54:47 NS has joined, NS has quit
<yari> okay, that context is useful
<Wodensday> Sorry, maybe I’ve led with the wrong thing.
<Wodensday> So, IP reform?
<pmchi> I think that the obvious answer is sometimes the best one
<yari> I think it would be nice to just suggest IP reform and let that be it. You should totally phrase it as "all of the stuff is great, but this is the core for a reason..."
<yari> something like that
<Wodensday> I am going to talk to him about IP reform unless someone drives to Indiana and physically stops me. How’s that? Haha
<yari> cool
<Wodensday> Excellent. Are there any other suggestions someone is really passionate about? If not, I would suggest we make note of the time.
<yari> motion to adjourn
<pmchi> Second
<Wodensday> Motion to adjourn on the table. All in favor?
<pmchi> Aye
<Mariah-Lynne> aye
<yari> aye
<DreadPirateDrew> aye
<Wodensday> Meeting adjourned at 9:58 EDT
<Wodensday> Thanks everyone! Have a good week!