5/23/19
While Rogan’s List is still struggling with health issues, we are attempting to publish weekly for the time being in order to keep alert you to some of the most important things going on. Here are some key actions for this week, followed by resources to stay involved.
ABORTION BANS:
ASK OUR MOCs to pass a federal law enshrining abortion rights.
CONTACT OUR STATE LEGISLATORS: While some states have bans in the works, other states, some of which are listed here, are in the process of bolstering abortion protections. Let’s make sure to ask our state legislators what they are doing to introduce and support legislation that guarantees reproductive rights. For example, in Massachusetts, we should ask our legislator to support S.1209/H.3320 the Roe Act, which would allow a physician to perform an abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy if it were necessary to protect the patient’s life or physical or mental health, in cases of lethal fetal anomalies, or where the fetus is incompatible with sustained life outside the uterus. If we live in a state that has recently passed or is looking to pass a ban, let’s express our disgust and share our personal stories about why abortion is a necessary and vital reproductive right.
DONATE to statewide and regional funds that help people pay for the cost of an abortion. The Yellowhammer Fund in Alabama is receiving a lot of publicity, due to Alabama’s recent draconian law, but there are similar funds in many areas, which we can find here, as well as a National Network of Abortion Funds.
THANK THE GEORGIA DISTRICT ATTORNEYS who have pledged not to comply with Georgia’s new law, which would prosecute women who had abortions. Let’s let them know we appreciate that this law is unenforceable and unlawful. Here are a few prosecutors who will not prosecute women under this law:
D.A. Howard, Fulton County District Attorney, 136 Pryor St. Atlanta, GA 30303; D.A Danny Porter, Gwinnett County District Attorney, Gwinnett Justice & Administration Center, 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville, GA 30046; D.A. Sherry Boston, DeKalb County’s district attorney, Office of the DeKalb County District Attorney, 556 N McDonough Street, Suite 700, Decatur, GA 30030
THANK THE ORGANIZERS of one of the 500 protests against these bans that took place last Tuesday. If we attended one, let’s make sure to share our photos via social media with the hashtag #StopTheBans.
VOLUNTEER FOR PLANNED PARENTHOOD:, or take action with other organizations supporting abortion rights, as outlined in these excellent resources from SuitUp Maine and PaperMag.
CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS:
PRESS FOR AN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY: Trump and his administration have continued to stonewall subpoenas for testimony, tax returns, and other key information Congress needs for oversight. We must tell our MoCs that this stonewalling is a continued pattern of obstruction of justice and they must look into impeachment proceedings if they want our democracy to survive. Let’s also make sure to contact House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, Judiciary Committee Chair, Jerry Nadler, and Representative Justin Amash, who is the first Republican brave enough to put country over party and call for impeachment. Let’s also remind our MoCs that we want Mueller to testify and we want the DOJ to release the full unredacted version of the Mueller Report.
SHARE GRAPHICS WITH FACTS FROM THE MUELLER REPORT
The Mueller Report is out, but due in part to Barr muddying it’s message, many people, including members of Congress, don’t really know what’s in it. With Trump claiming full exoneration, and members of his administration resisting subpoenas, it’s getting harder for the facts of the investigations to become widely known. To get them into the public eye, Tami Burages has created a twitter thread of images with passages from the Mueller Report. We do not need twitter account to see this or to copy the images, which are free to share however we see fit, including posting on social media, making them into fliers, t-shirts or postcards. We can click here to access graphics with direct quotes from the Mueller Report, then share them on social media and beyond:
https://mobile.twitter.com/tburages/status/1127559825276186625 We can also find them here, in this unrolled twitter thread.
READING: Let’s read Congress’s Contempt Power and the Enforcement of Congressional Subpoenas: Law, History, Practice, and Procedure, written by an expert on the subject, which has a great summary at the beginning that explains what options Congress has to address someone who defies a subpoena:
NO IRAN WAR:
Let’s call our MoCs and tell them to co-sponsor H.R. 2354 / S. 1039 to explicitly deny Trump the authority he needs to go to war with Iran. (From Indivisible—script can be found here.)
This article lists “Four simple steps the US media could take to prevent a Trump war with Iran” is a must-read: Let’s share it with as many media outlets as possible, including New York Times, nytnews@nytimes.com; Washington Post, Martin Baron, Executive Editor,
martin.baron@washpost.com; CBS News,
IMMIGRATION:
DEFUND DHS: “Trump wants billions more in supplemental funding for detention beds, ICE boots, and deadly border enforcement. We’re hearing that Congressional Democrats have agreed to give him large portions of that money. Let’s tell our MoCs to voting no on any additional money for Trump’s cruel immigration policies.” (from Indivisible, call script here)
MILES FOR MIGRANTS: This inspiring video will encourage us to donate our frequent flyer miles and credit card points to this program, which helps immigrants reach their new homes. Details on how to donate, here.
GUN VIOLENCE:
PARKLAND HONORS IT’S THERAPY DOGS. Students at a Florida high school where a deadly mass shooting took place honored their loving therapy dogs in their yearbook. The fourteen dogs comforted the teens in the aftermath of last year's massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, CBS Miami reported. Students still continue to impress! We can support the Parkland students at the March for our Lives website with donations, signing gun control petitions and registering to vote.
LEARN HOW TO REDUCE GUN VIOLENCE Researchers at Johns Hopkins University are hoping to capitalize on the student-led gun safety movement by offering an online course, which begins Monday, to teach the academic research and strategies they say are the best weapon to curb gun violence. Gun violence experts put the course together after hundreds of thousands of people — many of them students — participated in March For Our Lives last year, calling for tighter gun laws.” Let’s take the free online course here and learn how to combat gun violence in our communities.
ONGOING RESOURCES TO STAY IN ACTION:
CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULES. We can stay up-to-date on Congress by checking out their schedules. a) The House publishes a weekly schedule at The Weekly Leader (published and dated Friday) as well as daily schedules at The Daily Leader. b) The Senate updates their schedule daily at the Senate Floor Schedule.
AMY SISKIND'S WEEKLY LIST: Experts in authoritarianism advise us to keep a list of things subtly changing around us, so we’ll remember. Amy Siskind is keeping that list for us. Let's review the latest one: Amy Siskind's Weekly List.
GET OUT THE VOTE! Postcards to Voters volunteers write to Democratic voters year round to get out the vote for local and special elections. Let's check out Postcards to Voters today. If we are already volunteers, let's request 5 addresses for one of the open campaigns.
CELESTE PEWTER: Celeste Pewter, former political staffer and political writer sends out an email newsletter of action items, with scripts to use when calling our Members of Congress. We can check it out here:
Then, we can click on this link to subscribe.
INDIVISIBLE: We can sign up for regular updates about actions to take. Here is a sample message. Here is a sign-up.
SUPER MAJORITY: A new group, started by Cecile Richards, Ai-jen Poo, and Alicia Garza, called Super Majority has launched and we can connect here. Here is some further information.
MIGRATORY NOTES: We can sign-up to follow Migratory Notes which has thorough information and activist resources about the asylum fiasco at the border.
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS: In this time of constitutional crisis, we must get out the vote for 2020 so we can begin to repair our democracy. Please take a look at the ways you can encourage voter registration and voting.
CHOP WOOD CARRY WATER:
AMERICANS OF CONSCIENCE CHECKLIST:
YOUR WEEKLY PEP TALK AND ACTIONS LIST FROM SMALL DEEDS DONE: https://smalldeedsdone.com/
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