Rogan's List

12/22/17

The Rogan’s List staff is taking a few days off

to spend time with friends and family and hope you

are able to do the same

We will be back on Wednesday morning!

Should you feel generous and are able, you can donate to Rogan’s List at RISE Stronger:  https://www.risestronger.org/donate

Contact Federal Government Officials

Find senator’s contact info here: https://goo.gl/RLiotu

Find representative’s contact info here: https://goo.gl/5i7SXC

Fax legislators for free:  Reps:  https://faxzero.com/fax_congress.php

and Senate: https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php

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Many newspapers, including New York Times and Washington Post require subscriptions, but without one we can see a few articles each month.  We can also check with our local libraries to find out how to get online access through them.

1.       Last evening, Congress passed a stopgap spending bill to keep the government funded through January 19. Among other things, it "includes a three-week extension of a government surveillance program" that was going to expire on January 1. 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/21/politics/government-shutdown-latest/index.html What is this, and why should we care? Well, there are currently "two bills in Congress aimed at extending NSA surveillance [that] would undermine Americans’ constitutional rights. These bills—H.R. 4478 and S. 2010—seek to reauthorize Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, a powerful surveillance authority that results in the collection of Americans’ emails, chat logs, and browsing history." That doesn't sound constitutional, or democratic, to us! We can use the suggested script here to contact our MoCs and tell them to vote "NO" on these bills. https://act.eff.org/action/stop-the-expansion-of-nsa-spying

2.      Part of the stopgap spending bill will extend the Children's Health Insurance Program

(CHIP) through March.  http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/21/news/economy/chip-funding/index.html It is not the best answer by any means, particularly since Congress has just given such outrageous tax breaks to large corporations and the wealthy and yet is not able to provide health coverage to nine million of our children, but it will keep the funding in place a bit longer.  Let’s make sure our MoCs know that our priority to have those children protected, not corporate interests.

3.      Unfortunately, the Congressional Republicans say that renewing DACA, the law that protects immigrants who were brought into the US illegally as children by their families (aka Dreamers), is not an urgent priority. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/21/dreamers-fear-deportation-if-congress-delays-debate-on-daca-fix-until-new-year The truth, however, is that Dreamers are already losing their legal protections as their 2-year-long periods expire, and have been for months now. Actual deportation is the worst possible outcome, but the Dreamers who have lost protection and can't renew are already being punished by having to live in constant fear of arrest for living/working/driving in the US. Fixing this is an urgent priority, the deadline has already passed for thousands (and counting), so let's call our MoCs now and insist that a vote for a continuing budget resolution (which must pass within the next 2 days!) can only pass after the Dreamers get their protection back, with no strings attached.

4.      “Federal officials on Tuesday ended a moratorium imposed three years ago on funding research that alters germs to make them more lethal.” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/health/lethal-viruses-nih.html Let’s contact our MoC to urge them to take steps to ensure appropriate oversight.

5.      Both the Senate and the House have passed the GOP tax bill, and we can help them celebrate by hosting a retirement party for them at their district offices. Indivisible has a Retirement Party Organizing Toolkit we can use to help these parties come to fruition, with creative ideas such as bringing cakes with "Happy early retirement," written on them, pink slip posters which explain why they will be out of office soon, and handouts with resume tips for our MoC. The goal will be to host retirement parties after our MoC come back from recess, the week of January 8-14th. Let's check out the Indivisible toolkit, then help organize some festivities https://www.indivisible.org/resource/retirement-party-organizing-toolkit/ 

6.      The Sierra Club is urging the Senate to reject the nomination of Kathleen Hartnett White as chairwoman of the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/365993-greens-launch-ads-against-trump-environmental-pick Let’s contact our MoC to encourage them to reject Harnett White’s confirmation.

7.      Disappointingly but not surprisingly, Senator Collins of Maine went back on her promise of the necessary conditions for her favorable vote on the tax bill:

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/365822-collins-lets-mcconnell-slide-on-promise-to-shore-up-insurance-markets-in-2017 Let’s take a moment to share our disappointment with Collins: https://www.collins.senate.gov/contact

8.     From Postcards for America:   Here are some “Pink Slips” that we can print as postcards for those MoCs who voted yes on the tax bill - Version 1:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/16YAwiMsV4yqKmg80OAN48Wi7B26YO7MR/view  and version 2:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z0i1sSSbGJdlX8_tV1fgGN9cv22LYzCG/view  

Election 2017/2018

1.       Every single vote matters, and can have a lasting impact. Virginia's recent election shows how true this is. A panel of election judges just ruled that the ballot that was thought to have gone towards the Democratic candidate should in fact be counted in favor of the Republican candidate, making the race for Virginia's 94th district a tie http://bit.ly/2BuLiNa Now, the winner will be determined by lot, and then the opponent may request another recount if they are unhappy with the results. If the Democrat wins, it will end the GOP's 17-year control of Virginia's House of Delegates.

2.      Margaret Good for Florida State House (https://margaretgood.com) campaign update:

They need canvassers and phonebankers ALL THE TIME, but especially need phonebankers December 27, 28, and 29.  Here are their volunteer signup links:  Phonebanking:
https://www.volunteersignup.org/T9PYR  Canvasing:  https://www.volunteersignup.org/93L7F

3.      We need to do more than thank black women in 2018 we need to back them and help them get elected.  Here is how we can help:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_e19ZEPTo4

 Other Actions

1.       “Catt Sadler, who has been with the network (E News) for more than a decade, wrote in a post on her personal blog that she left after recently learning that her co-host’s salary was nearly double her own. I learned that he wasn't just making a little more than I was,” Sadler wrote. “In fact, he was making close to double my salary for the past several years.” Sadler wrote that she requested pay that matched “what I know I deserve,” and was denied. She added that she started at the network at the same time as her co-host, whom she said she refers to as her “T.V. husband.” She co-hosted the show with Jason Kennedy, but did not name him in the post. E! released a statement on Tuesday saying that they compensate employees fairly.” http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/365781-e-news-host-leaves-network-after-learning-she-was-paid-half-of-male-co Let’s hope this is our next “me too” Moment. Women deserve equal pay for equal work. Let’s tell E News that they don’t pay fairly and we can boycott the show. You can place a comment at this link: http://www.eonline.com/news/84070/contact or send an email here:  

appsupport@eentertainment.com

2.      New York Magazine broke a story that at the height of the campaign the Wall Street Journal axed an editorial about Trump’s mob ties:

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/12/wall-street-journal-killed-editorial-on-trumps-mob-ties.html Let’s be in touch with editor Gerard Baker to say that more is needed from his paper at this time in our nation’s history: The Wall Street Journal, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036 or wsjcontact@wsj.com

3.      Ady Barakan, a tireless and inspiring activist with ALS, has been speaking out against the #GOPTaxScam, holding Senators wherever he finds them, on planes or on Capitol Hill. It's been a long, grueling fight and Ady has never faltered.   We can see Ady in action here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADWnt3_Xtjg&feature=youtu.be  and, we can read his tweets to Jeff Flake, after they shared a plane ride and health care discussion:  https://twitter.com/The_UnSilent_/status/939246166818131969  Let’s show Ady our appreciation with a postcard of thanks:  Ady Barkan, The Center for Popular Democracy, 1730 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20036

4.      On Wednesday evening, there was a Facebook Live event to learn what we can do to protect the Trump-Russia investigations.  This event featured commentary and discussion with experts, activists and special guests from the Congressional leadership.  In case we missed it, we can watch it here and get up-to-date on the situation:  https://www.facebook.com/actdottv/videos/728989113958324/ 

5.      Rapid Resist is hiring folks to send texts to launch a Rapid Response Team. They want to identify 150k activists in red areas who ask to get our texts in the future and they need our help send the initial texts to identify them!  They have until January 1st to reach about 1 million folks. We'll click enter over and over and then respond to folks that text back to opt them in.  We can work remotely from our own laptops and smart phones and make $15 an hour. We can email yoni@rapidresist.org with our availability if we're available between now and Dec 31st for more than 40 hours of texting (we're not texting on Christmas eve or day).  We can also check out other jobs with Rapid Resist when we click this link:  https://rapidresist.org/jobs/

6.      Many “national and state pro-democracy, civil rights, ethics, labor and advocacy groups are calling on congressional leaders to support Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, and to ensure that Mueller be allowed to conclude his work unimpeded.”  https://www.citizen.org/media/press-releases/nearly-80-groups-urge-congressional-leaders-strengthen-public-support-special  Let’s make sure that our group leader signs this, too:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScs_lrPSy7Dg8qUtP_fvbScqWitZGzuRVXnhg0V5eR6abjXmA/viewform

Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to attend/organize

1.       The number of rapid resist local rallies being organized should Mueller’s investigation be thwarted continues to grow every day.  Let’s get signed up for one here so we know what to do, and if there is not one near us, lets create one by using the instructions here as well:  https://www.trumpisnotabovethelaw.org/event/mueller-firing-rapid-response/search/

States

1.       FL - ELECTION 2018: Florida currently has closed primaries. Polls have shown that more than 70 percent of Florida voters, including the majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents, favor open primaries. The Constitutional Review Commission’s Ethics and Elections Committee will vote on the proposal within the next few months, where it will be sent to the full commission. We can read more at the Gainesville Sun. Let's show our support for open primaries by contacting: Hank Coxe, Commissioner, Ethics and Elections Committee, 400 S Monroe St, Tallahassee FL 32399 or call 850-717-9550.  Let's work together to get open primaries in Florida. 

2.      KY: ELECTION 2018.  Kentuckians: The last day to register to vote or change our registration for the May 22, 2018 primary is Dec. 31.  We can get on-line registration information here.  Let's check our existing information at the Voter Information Center.  Let's spread the word to our Kentucky friends and family. If we are independents or non-party affiliated voters, let's consider registering as Republicans to a) vote in the Republican primary (for the least-bad candidate) b) Mess with partisan gerrymandering.

3.      MA:  Huge budget cuts crippled outreach that lets people know when, how and where to sign up for the ACA, so Indivisible ACA Signup Project is spreading the word through social media.  They have 23 days to get 27 more supporters.  We can them reach their goal to set off a Thunderclap, a social media flash mob message blast. First, we can click, add our social media support on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.  THEN cut, paste and share:  https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/65115-massachusetts-enrollment-alert  We can find out more about how Thunderclap helps grassroots organizing here:  https://www.socialworkhelper.com/2013/10/02/thunderclap-can-help-grassroots-organizing/amp/

4.      MI: Today, December 22nd, is the deadline to submit a comment regarding Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline. We can read through Oil & Water Don't Mix's talking points, then submit a comment from their website:  

http://www.oilandwaterdontmix.org/submit_your_line_5_comment

5.      NY:  Huge budget cuts crippled outreach that lets people know when, how and where to sign up for the ACA, so Indivisible ACA Signup Project is spreading the word through social media.  They have 35 days to get 48 more supporters.  We can them reach their goal to set off a Thunderclap, a social media flash mob message blast. First, we can click, add our social media support on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.  THEN cut, paste and share:  https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/65573-new-york-enrollment-alert  Find out more about how Thunderclap helps grassroots organizing here:  https://www.socialworkhelper.com/2013/10/02/thunderclap-can-help-grassroots-organizing/amp/

Reading/Watching

1.       “As a Doctor, I’m Sick of All The Health Care Freeloaders“ -  https://www.texasobserver.org/chip-doctor-texas-kids/

2.      Here's a reflection on the economy and distribution of wealth BEFORE the tax bill: There are 14,321 Dollar General stores in America. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Dollar General company is worth $22 billion—far more than the nation’s largest grocery chain, Kroger, which has five times the revenue. Sadly, however, Dollar General is thriving because, as the Journal puts it, “rural America is struggling.” The chain builds stores where folks are down on their luck, where 20 percent of customers receive government assistance, and where even Walmart won’t bother doing business. By this time next year Dollar General expects to have nearly 1000 more stores. Let's read the full story at In These Times.

3.      “2017 Was the Year We Fought for Democracy — Now What?” - https://www.teenvogue.com/story/thigh-high-politics-2017-is-over-now-what

1.       And, as always, our weekly dose of Small Victories - http://mailchi.mp/peaceisloud/small-victories-in-the-face-of-this-we-will-fight?e=86890239c4