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8/8/17

The Rogan’s List Team is on vacation through August 13, but because of the extension of the Senate calendar we have decided to run a smaller list during this time. We look forward to being back to the full list on August 14.

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1.       Trump went on a Twitter rant yesterday, attacking Senator Richard Blumenthal (http://wnpr.org/post/blumenthal-trump-battle-over-russian-investigation). We’re going to show Senator Blumenthal we have his back in the most important way possible. Let’s tell our MoCs we support the bill Trump is angry with him about, the bipartisan Special Counsel Independence Protection Act blocking Trump from firing the special counsel without cause, and we want them to demand action on it as soon as possible. Let’s also take a moment to let Senator Blumenthal know we appreciate his forthright leadership about the Russia issue at his office: https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/. Those of us on Twitter should tweet @senblumenthal to let him know we made the call… and add #RogansHeroes to our tweets!

2.      The Republicans are having trouble getting the Wrong Choice Act through the Senate, so they're trying to force it through by including key provisions in the Financial Services appropriations bill (https://www.bna.com/spending-bill-doddfrank-n73014461024/). They're attempting to get rid of the protections Obama put in place for consumers and let Wall Street run wild again. Let's call our reps and especially our senators and tell them we're onto this tactic, and we want them to vote no on this appropriations bill unless these policy riders are stripped out.

3.      Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) has introduced bills to bar the deportation of veterans convicted of non-violent offenses and to create a path to citizenship through military service (http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/345242-dem-senator-introduces-legislation-aimed-at-halting-veteran-deportations). Let’s tell our two senators to support Senate bills S1704 and S1725. We can thank Senator Duckworth for introducing these bills at: Tammy Duckworth, 524 Hart SOB, Washington, DC 20510.

4.      We’re headed towards another unnecessary debt ceiling crisis, and Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) is taking action. He announced yesterday that he will introduce legislation that would abolish the debt ceiling for good, so that it is no longer a question whether or not the United States will pay its bills (http://thehill.com/policy/finance/345667-top-dem-seeks-to-abolish-debt-ceiling). Let’s call our members of Congress and tell them we want them to support efforts to abandon the debt ceiling – and that in the meantime we want them to vote for a clean debt ceiling hike and not risk a global economic meltdown.

5.      Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has continued to deny visas to the visa lottery program winners from six countries since the Supreme Court ruled on the limited travel ban in June (http://bit.ly/2veyhRB). If the winners do not have their visas by September 30th, six days after the ban ends, then the visas will expire and they will lose any realistic chance of acquiring a visa to the U.S. Last week, the ACLU sued Tillerson for his refusal to issue the visas. Let's send the ACLU a big "thank you" for their continued efforts in defending immigrants' rights: 125 Broad Street, 18th Floor, New York NY 10004, 212-549-2500. For those of us with the means, we can also send a donation: https://action.aclu.org/donate-aclu?ms=web_horiz_nav_hp. We can also let Tillerson know how we feel about his refusal to issue visas:  U.S. Department of State, 2201 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20520.

State Actions

1.       WA: Let’s help Democratic Attorney General Bob Ferguson achieve his legislative priorities, which include banning the sale of assault weapons and large capacity magazines, requiring background checks for people seeking to purchase such weapons, expanding access to justice for military service members and veterans, establishing consumer protections around student loans, addressing human trafficking, and more. If we’re in Washington, let’s check out this list for our AG’s legislative agenda, http://www.atg.wa.gov/2017-legislative-agenda, and ask our state reps to support it: http://app.leg.wa.gov/MemberEmail/. We can find our districts here: http://app.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder.

2.      MA: Teen activits from one of Boston's poorest neighborhoods estimate that TD Garden, Boston's giant sports and entertainment arena, owes $13.8 million for the benefit of the city's public recreation centers. The teens want the money to help pay for a $30 million construction project that will bring a new rec center/ice skating rink to a neighborhood of about 26,000 black and Latino youth. (https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/08/03/garden-pay-after-oversight-discovered-teenage-sleuths/IhAyDxnHclGFVUFrgwbyJO/story.html) The neighborhood has been without such a facility for decades. Under a 1993 state law, TD Garden is obligated to hold three fundraisers a year to benefit the city’s public recreation centers. No such fundraisers have ever been held. Since the issue has come to light, TD Garden has agreed to pay $1.65 million for the rec center/skating rink. The teens say that’s not enough. Let’s support their efforts. Let’s tell the following that we expect TD Garden to comply with the law going forward, and to do more to help fund the construction of the Jackson Square recreation center: A) Jeremy M. Jacobs, Chair, Delaware North (corporate owner of TD Garden), https://www.delawarenorth.com/contact-us/contact-us-form; B) Governor Charlie Baker: http://www.mass.gov/governor/constituent-services/contact-governor-office/; C) Attorney General Maura Healey: ago@state.ma.us and D) Our state reps: https://malegislature.gov/StateHouse/Contact. Let’s also thank the teens and their mentors for their pursuit of justice for their community: Hyde Square Task Force, P.O. Box 301871, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130.
Other Actions

1.      On Saturday there was a bombing at the Dar Al Farooq Islamic Center outside of Minneapolis: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1AM0T1This is the official GoFundMe site related to helping this mosque and community center rebuild: https://www.gofundme.com/support-dar-al-farooq-centerThose of us who are able should consider making a donation.

2.      With the August recess for Congress here, we have arrived at a critical time for us to engage with our elected officials. Rise Stronger has prepared a document to provide us with the information we need to ask challenging, hard-hitting questions of our representatives at town halls, meetings, or other events. We can check out their Recess Guide, complete with issue background info and sample questions to ask, here: https://risestronger.org/newsroom/peoplesaugustrecessguide.

3.      The Indivisible Guide is shifting tactics during the August recess by getting local organizers to canvass in our communities. By canvassing, we can hold direct conversations with our fellow constituents, discussing our MoC’s votes on the CA repeal and asking that they contact their MoC and hold them accountable for their vote. We can leran more about canvassing and find local recess events here: http://recess.indivisibleguide.com/. We can also download Indivisible Guide’s canvassing packet: http://bit.ly/2hCmQQq.

4.      2016 was the first presidential election in more than 50 years held without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. Predictably, the result was widespread voter suppression (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/12/12/the-real-voting-scandal-of-2016). Lawyers for Good Government is fighting back with their Election Watch program to make sure there’s a trained monitor keeping tabs on voting changes at the local level year-round. This can be a lawyer, a paralegal, a law student or ANYONE with knowledge of the election system and voting in their district! Let’s sign up to represent our counties, and pass this on to people who we think might be interested. We can get on board and get more info here:  http://www.lawyersforgoodgovernment.org/blog/electionwatch.

Correction: Congress is on recess and members should be back in their home communities. It's our chance to be heard, preferably in person. Let's check townhallproject.com to see if our MoCs are holding town halls in our communities. If they are, great! Let's check the best practices for attending a town hall here: https://www.indivisibleguide.com/guide/advocacy-tactics/town-halls/.  Keep in mind that some MoCs will hold town halls at inconvenient times, or else tele-town halls, if they're seeking to avoid constituents. Robert Reich has a couple of quick videos about why we shouldn't let them get away with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay_VltA0Zfg and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBJIoc4ixi8. If our MoCs are not holding town halls AT ALL, let's call or write to make sure their staff know that we want them to schedule some!

Reading/Watching

1.       Amy Siskind is keeping a list of all the not-normal things that happen every week. Let's check out the list from last week, week 38: https://medium.com/@Amy_Siskind/week-38-experts-in-authoritarianism-advise-to-keep-a-list-of-things-subtly-changing-around-you-so-4730486b719a. We are encouraged to see more Republican resistance to Trump.

2.      This is an excellent op-ed in the New York Times about the interconnections of Trump’s policies and “the politics of white resentment”:  https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/05/opinion/sunday/white-resentment-affirmative-action.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur&referer=https://t.co/myKGxYJo9r?amp=1.


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.
Other member sites are listed here: https://www.actionalliance.co/  --scroll down and click through and you'll find many more opportunities to make a difference.
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Rogan’s List is also part of RISE Stronger’s United States of Resistance


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