Rogan's List

5/29/17

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1. While the Trump administration continues to support a crackdown on “dangerous” immigrants so far as to appeal a ruling to the Supreme Court, what is it doing about the homegrown danger of extremism?  Far right, white supremacists continue to be the real terror base for our country. Three of our citizens were killed by white supremacists last week alone and nary a word from the White House:  http://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2017/05/27/19041594/suspect-in-portland-hate-crime-murders-is-a-known-white-supremacist  and http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/page/ct-richard-collins-stabbing-racism-page-perspec-20170526-story.html  Let’s tell our MoCs and the White House that it is time to reel in these terrorists and investigate their wide-spread radicalization for the safety of all of us.

2. Trump's budget proposal includes a 31% decrease in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency.  Funding for the Great Lakes Restoration would be cut to zero. National Wildlife Federation spokesman Jordan Lubetkin blasted the budget proposal. "It would bring Great Lakes restoration to a halt," he said. "It would undermine efforts to clean up toxic pollution, to halt invasive species like Asian carp, and to prevent harmful algal blooms that on Lake Erie left 500,000 people without a drinking water supply."  http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-budget-cuts-epa-31-percent-campaign-promise/story?id=47583180 Fortunately it is a budget proposal and Congress must approve it.  Let's call our MoC and let them know that this cut would be disastrous. The chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee is Thad Cochran (R-MS and the chair of the House Appropriations Committee is Rodney Feelinghuysen (R-NJ). The budget that comes out of these two committees will be the one voted on.

3. Joining other industry leaders, the CEO of Intel has written to Texas Governor Greg Abbott to ask him to abandon the “bathroom bills” (HB 3859 and SB 2078) that discriminate against transgender students: http://blogs.intel.com/policy/2017/05/26/intel-opposes-texas-bills/ And it is unclear if the Texas legislature will be called into special session to continue this horrible effort: https://apnews.com/amp/b5e455ab9a15422cbd1f3eda069e4cf4 Let’s write Governor Abbott to oppose these bills (and while we’re at it we can tell him that joking about shooting reporters is not funny http://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/texas-governor-jokes-about-shooting-reporters/ ): Governor Greg Abbott, PO Box 12428, Austin, TX 78711

4. While we are absorbing the tragic news in Portland, Oregon, we have learned that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will not be hosting the annual Ramadan dinner at the State Department:  http://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN18M2IE  And that President Trump used his Ramadan message as an opportunity to riff on terrorism, something George W. Bush managed not to do a couple months after 9/11:  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ramadan-2017-trump-statement-terrorism-sentence-george-bush-september-11-a7758301.html  Let’s write to Secretary Tillerson to let him know that this is not the year to back away from hosting a Ramadan gathering: U.S. Department of State, 2201 C Street, NW, Washington, DC 20520

5. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who is a physician, is emerging as an important player in the Senate health care bill efforts: https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2017-05-25/the-senate-can-t-pass-health-care-without-this-man We can encourage Senator Cassidy to continue to follow his finer instincts away from the cruelty some of his colleagues are showing: https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/contact/  or 520 Hart SOB, Washington, DC 20510

6. While appointing Mueller as special counsel was a great first step, we still need an independent commission for the investigation into ties and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The 65 has a call script we can use when we contact our Members of Congress: http://thesixtyfive.org/home

7. It's being reported that Jared Kushner requested a secure, private line between the Trump transition team and the Kremlin http://bit.ly/2qoWrcT What's more, Kushner has had undisclosed contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. Let's let our MoCs know that we want Kushner out of the White House.

8. Greg Gianforte's win following his assault on a reporter sets a dangerous precedent; that we are okay with physical aggression among our elected officials and that we will tolerate attacks on our free press http://wapo.st/2ruOR0e  This cannot stand. Let's contact our Representatives and ask that they demand Gianforte's resignation. In addition, those of us with the means can also support the free press by paying for subscriptions to our favorite news source.

9. A recent report from the Brennan Center suggests Republicans have a 16-17 seat advantage in the House because of gerrymandering, and that congressional maps drawn by independent or bipartisan redistricting commissions, the courts or split governments are less gerrymandered than those drawn by one-party governments (https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/extreme-maps). Voters should choose their elected representatives, not the other way around! Let's join Re:Act (https://reactletter.com ), check out redistricting reform bills in our states here: https://www.brennancenter.org/redistricting-reform-tracker-state-bills and then call our state legislators and encourage them to move forward with reform efforts before the next census.

11. Another US raid in Yemen has gone wrong.  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/24/us-military-yemen-raid-al-qaida-civilian-deaths Let's contact Jason Chaffetz and the House Oversight Committee to conduct a full review of this operation. Chairman Jason Chaffetz, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 2157 Rayburn HOB, Washington DC 20515 (Committee phone: 202-225-5074) Let's also contact our own representatives if they are on this committee: https://oversight.house.gov/subcommittee/full-committee/

12. Mitch McConnell has been holding secret meetings of Republicans only, refusing to convene any public hearings, and entirely shutting the Democrats out of the process of drafting a Senate response to the House’s disastrous healthcare plan:  http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/21/mcconnell-obamacare-senate-repeal-238627  We must let him know, in no uncertain terms, that a Senate healthcare bill arrived at by these methods is illegitimate from the outset: contact McConnell at 202-224-2499

Other Actions

1. Spread The Vote (STV) fights voter suppression by helping citizens of states with Voter ID laws get the IDs they need to vote.  Let’s click here for more information:  https://www.spreadthevote.org  and see how we can help: 

2. As Ramadan begins, let’s join DoSomething.org in sending letters of support to every mosque in the U.S.  Find out details here:  https://www.dosomething.org/us

3. Resistance groups are collaborating on another nationwide march! There are now more than 130 marches scheduled for this Saturday’s March for Truth. With all the information coming out about connections between Russia and the White House, the "March for Truth" scheduled for June 3rd could not be timelier. Here's the stated purpose of the march: "to demand urgency, transparency and an impartial investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. election and ties to the Trump administration." We need to get louder, and this is one good way to do it. We can find one near us here:  https://www.marchfortruth.info/find-a-local-march/  If there is not one near us, we can organize one with help from here:  https://www.marchfortruth.info/organize/

4. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (https://www.aaas.org/about/mission-and-history) has a great walk-through that we can use to write a letter to the editor to our local papers  https://www.forceforscience.org/letter-to-the-editor Let's use this tool to fight for science research and development funding.

5. Let’s e-mail a "Thank you" to Ben Jacobs, the reporter who was assaulted in Montana, for asking tough questions and holding our officials accountable: Ben.Jacobs@theguardian.com

6. Trump’s birthday is June 14th!  Celebratory actions of a variety of kinds are being organized: http://bringhimdown.org  Various groups are encouraging boycotts of the Trump brand: http://billmoyers.com/story/boycott-trump/  And Naomi Klein has posted a terrific new video on ways to “jam” the brand: https://theintercept.com/2017/04/12/how-to-jam-the-trump-brand/ Let’s give Trump the 71st birthday he deserves!

7. One of our most valuable and hard-fought rights is the right to vote. On May 11, President Trump announced the formation of a Voter Integrity Commission (what a misnomer). Perhaps a more correct name would have been "Voter Purge Commission." Legal and political questions proliferate about voting rights and the President’s Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, vice-chaired by Kansas’s Kris Kobach, a notorious proponent of tighter voter requirements:   http://bangordailynews.com/2017/05/26/opinion/contributors/why-the-trump-voter-fraud-commission-is-dangerous/   The Democratic Governors Association seems alarmed as it has begun a new initiative called Unrig the Map, which provides an interactive map of all the upcoming gubernatorial races nationwide and lengthy reading about gerrymandering: http://unrigthemap.com  We should make ourselves aware of governor's races in our states and see how we can unrig the map.

8. From one of our own:  Let’s join in this tweetstorm to the advertisers of Sean Hannity’s Fox News show asking them to stop:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zJ_QE2Ze2iuI4QA-UDUJ1CUM5BLFVpZ3BwwMZl0k-zo/pubhtml

9. Micah Fletcher is the sole survivor of the three men who were stabbed in the Portland white supremacist attack last week.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2017/05/28/survivor-in-portland-train-stabbings-is-an-autistic-poet/#23911bea69bb  His friends set up a GoFundMe account to help cover his medical costs:  https://www.gofundme.com/tri-met-hero-recovery

10. ProPublica reports that members of Congress, especially Republicans, are misleading the public about the GOP American Health Care Act: https://www.propublica.org/getinvolved/item/help-us-fact-check-members-of-congress-on-the-affordable-care-act ProPublica wants our help as it continues fact-checking members of Congress on health care legislation. Whenever we write to our senators or congressperson about the ACA or AHCA and get a response, let’s send the response along to ProPublica. Details here: https://www.propublica.org/getinvolved/item/help-us-fact-check-members-of-congress-on-the-affordable-care-act

Petitions to Sign

1. Let’s join in Credo Action’s asking Paul Ryan to “use all of his influence to keep Gianforte out of the House of Representatives and make an unequivocal statement against violence toward journalists. To welcome Gianforte to the House is to endorse Trump-style press intimidation.”  https://act.credoaction.com/sign/gianforte_ryan

2. Donald Trump continues to stonewall the American people on his tax returns, one of many places where we have to wonder what he's hiding. (http://time.com/4777128/donald-trump-tax-returns-russia/) Congressional Democrats aren't giving up. They're trying to force a vote on legislation to make him release his returns using a discharge petition. Let's join the Working Families Party and other progressive groups in letting members of Congress who haven't signed this petition know that it's time:  https://petitions.signforgood.com/RyanReleaseTrumpTaxes.

Learning

1. “Ramadan 2017: 9 questions about the Muslim holy month you were too embarrassed to ask” https://www.vox.com/2017/5/25/11851766/what-is-ramadan-2017-muslim-islam-about

2. We need to be aware that the EPA is replacing scientific information on its website with industry-friendly information.  We can no longer rely on the EPA site as a fact-based resource. http://www.independent.com/news/2017/may/25/trumps-censorship-science/

3. “Trumps Trip was a Catastrophe for U.S. – Europe Relations” : https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/05/trump-nato-germany/528429/

Rogan’s List is a participant in and strategic partner of the Action Alliance,

         a loosely-federated group of organizations that, in the wake of the

2016 election, are sharing daily or weekly calls to action.

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Rogan’s List is also part of RISE Stronger’s United States of Resistance

https://risestronger.org/resist