Rogan's List

5/31/17

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text your US postal address to (520) 200-2223 and get a text back with your

STATE & FEDERAL legislative rep phone numbers.

1. Another reminder that Congress is on recess this week! This means that our MoCs are not required to be in D.C. They should be in their home states working, and hopefully holding town halls. Check if yours have scheduled any at  https://townhallproject.com/ . A good number of GOP MoCs are avoiding holding in-person town halls. Don't let them get away with it: let's make sure they know we want to meet with them! They work for us, after all.

2. Here is a tool for people to see and share if their members of Congress are putting #PeopleOverParty. The tool helps you determine if our representatives in Washington are truly representing us by protecting our access to health care (with new post-CBO numbers), preserving critical government services, and securing our democracy. We can choose our state, Senator and/or Representative, and ask them if they can check the boxes by tweeting a state-specific representation checklist directly at them or by picking up the phone and dialing any of the district numbers provided: https://www.recesstoolkit.com/

3. We’ve already seen civil rights changes happening in federal departments and in legislation.  Now, we see that Trump’s budget plan purposefully minimizes civil rights across the government:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-administration-plans-to-minimize-civil-rights-efforts-in-agencies/2017/05/29/922fc1b2-39a7-11e7-a058-ddbb23c75d82_story.html?utm_term=.95c01d6d6835  Let’s make sure our MoCs know that if they cannot stop this that we expect them to pick up this slack, however necessary to maintain civil rights for us all.                       

4. While Trump is expected to make an announcement about the future of the United States' involvement with the Paris Agreement, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has called for our withdrawal http://trib.in/2pgIhZM Let's give Mr. Pruitt a call to let him know that we want the U.S. to remain a signatory to the Paris Climate Agreement. We can find a call script and phone number here: https://5calls.org/issue/rectqlnanlSYY5wAP or we can email him here:  pruitt.scott@epa.gov

5. Last Thursday, 22 GOP Senators sent a letter to Trump, urging him to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement http://bit.ly/2r7aked , http://bit.ly/2s4QiyH Conversely, forty Democratic Senators wrote to Trump in support of the Paris Agreement http://bit.ly/2r798HQ Let's find out where our MoC stand, then give them a call to hold them accountable, or offer our praise.

6. The Department of Homeland Security has set up a public “Victim Identification and Notification Exchange” database (DHS-VINE) that includes contact information for some abuse victims:  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/26/us-immigration-crime-database-victim-data-exposed Let’s let DHS Secretary John Kelly know that this is unacceptable:  The Honorable John F. Kelly, Secretary of Homeland Security, Washington, DC, 20528

7. Saudi Arabia has been repeatedly criticized for air strikes in Yemen that have caused extensive civilian casualties and shows no sign of changing its policies. Yet Donald Trump is moving forward with a $110 billion arms sale to the Saudis. A bipartisan group of senators is proposing legislation to block this sale. (http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/23/rand-paul-saudi-arabia-arms-sales-238730) Let's use the "oppose selling American weapons to countries that commit war crimes" script from Jen Hoffman's Americans of Conscience Actions Checklist and ask our senators to join this effort:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L8HnKq6hcAfbWUa0a-7PPA4S7h9gqkRzFJGu60gJfws/preview?usp=sharing&sle=true

8. There are a few pieces of legislation in the works that would put sanctions on Russia:  Russia Sanctions Review Act (S.341/H.R.1059) and the Counteracting Russian Hostilities Act of 2017 (S.94).  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-congress-sanctions-idUSKBN18L1WL  Let’s let all our MoCs know that we support these bills.  We do NOT want Trump in a position to lift sanctions against Russia given the current Russian interference investigations and most certainly,  not without Congressional approval.

9. On the House agenda for a vote next week (June 5) is HR10, which would essentially dissolve Dodd-Frank which was put into place to avoid another financial meltdown.  There needs to be a better fix.  http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/finance/333665-the-choice-act-is-just-dodd-frank-20-we-can-do-better  We can read more about the bill, including its text at   https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/10   We need to tell our representatives that we oppose this bill.

10. Within Trump's proposed budget are draconian cuts to the National Park Service (NPS).  https://www.nrdc.org/experts/eliminating-conservation-we-know-it-budget-proposal  Let's tell all of our MoC's that we want to keep the NPS fully funded at current levels.

11. From Postcards for America:  Automatic Voter Registration S1231 & HR2669 -- A bill to amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow all eligible voters to vote by mail in Federal elections and to amend the National VoterRegistration Act of 1993 to provide for automatic voter registration.  Here’s how we can help:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j9EFoo1h8tfpgD9XV6BBCPEarhRP5OIw5Ypn0XKPvXo/edit  Individual state bills and info here:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PB58tyrCDEvy1aKoeY9y-HTe_R9ok4zYbOL-pumcWe8/edit

Other Actions

1. From Tony the Democrat:  “103,155 total addresses written and 136,096 voters reached across all 3 of our campaigns since March 11. This is as of nearly midnight tonight. When I emailed the first 25 addresses to 5 complete strangers from Postcards for America, I never imagined the idea of handwriting and mailing postcards directly to voters would connect with so many of you.  We're now assigning around 1,500 voter addresses a day! Y'all are amazing. Thanks so much for the support to flip key seats!”  If we want to be part of this, we can use Abby the Address Bot which is ready to assign voter addresses conveniently and promptly via SMS text messaging. Using your cell phone, simply text the word HELLO to (803) 630-0295 and follow Abby's helpful prompts. Abby can immediately assign 5, 10, or 15 addresses to you making that part of the process quicker. For larger address lists or if you have any questions, contact us directly by email: Postcards@TonyTheDemocrat.org

2. The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has already experienced three leaks http://apne.ws/2rkOOnJ While the spills have been relatively small and contained, there is reasonable concern that a spill will occur where real damage is done. Let's continue our efforts to #DefundDAPL by divesting our money away from the banks that are funding the pipeline. Let's also make sure that we are contacting our former banks to let them know that they are losing our money (and how much of our money they are missing out on). DeFunddapl.org has a letter we can send, as well as a list of banks and credit unions where we can safely place our finances http://www.defunddapl.org/defund

3. While the Trump administration continues to downplay, if not outright dispute, climate change, some on the right know the solid science needs to be addressed and supported.  https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2017/0523/Why-some-Republicans-are-warming-to-climate-action  Let’s take a look at “republicEn, a nonprofit that strives to introduce conservative voices and solutions into the national discourse on climate change”, and encourage our climate-denier GOP members of Congress to look again and join in:  http://www.republicen.org/

4. Texas state representative Matt Rinaldi, in the midst of a debate over a bill to help Trump enforce his unconstitutional executive orders to crack down on our immigrant friends and neighbors, called ICE on peaceful demonstrators and threatened to shoot one of his fellow legislators in the head. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/05/29/a-texas-republican-called-ice-on-protesters-then-lawmakers-started-to-scuffle/?utm_term=.813f4805236b) Rinaldi came within two points of being thrown out of office in the last election - and his Democratic opponent, Dorotha Ocker, is planning on running again. Let's help her hold Rinaldi accountable for his disgraceful actions by donating to her campaign and following her on social media. You can find her website with donate, Twitter and Facebook links here: https://dorothaocker.ngpvanhost.com/.

5. Republicans in New Hampshire are joining forces with members of their party across the country to push a bill to make it harder for people to use their right to vote. (http://www.concordmonitor.com/Bill-would-add-new-requirements-to-prove-NH-voter-eligibility-8530966) People for the American Way will be hosting a virtual phone bank TODAY, May 31st, from 4:30pm to 7:30pm (training at 3:30pm) to rally New Hampshire voters against this dangerous legislation. You can sign up to help make calls here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdvxBzKN2qcqKZZl9HMh9hvVpNlu-3EeTCvhNYqLKsFA3vn2A/viewform?c=0&w=1.

6. "Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday shared a story that urges people to boycott companies that advertise on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show. Hannity retweeted a story from conservative blog Media Equalizer that sides with him in the wake of advertisers pulling ads from his Fox show and calls for pressure on those that advertise on MSNBC.” He is upset about advertisers pulling ads from his show in respect to the lies he propagated regarding a conspiracy theory he continued to air about the murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich even though it was proved untrue:  http://thehill.com/media/335610-hannity-shares-call-to-target-maddows-advertisers  Let's call, tweet and email Hannity and tell him that his advertisers pulled out because he was creating lies and causing a family even greater grief over the loss of their son who was murdered in a blundered robbery attempt.  Let's tell his boss at FOX that Hannity is not a real journalist. Call Fox News:  1-888-369-4762  or tweet: @seanhannity or email: hannity@foxnews.com

7. ACT for America, the largest grassroots anti-Muslim group in the country, announced plans to hold nationwide rallies dubbed the “March Against Sharia” on June 10.  https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/05/23/act-americas-march-against-sharia-official-facebook-page-full-racist-anti-muslim-sentiment Here is the list of scheduled marches:  http://www.actforamerica.org/rally  We need to be peaceful observers/allies/interrupters. If we see a marginalized person or group being harassed, we need to consider engaging with the person/group being harassed and/or contacting the authorities. 

Petitions to Sign

1. A petition to publishing companies as Greenpeace is being sued by foresting company in Canada after efforts to save the Boreal forest there:  https://actions.sumofus.org/a/stand-up-for-greenpeace-our-great-forests-and-free-speech

2. Let’s tell Congress that we don’t want millions of people losing Medicaid coverage via Trump’s budget:  http://www.thepetitionsite.com/887/917/075/congress-don%E2%80%99t-let-10-million-people-lose-health-coverage-under-trump%E2%80%99s-budget/

Learning

1. “Voting rights are under assault nationwide. Here’s how to protect them.”  https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/5/30/15710628/voting-rights-act-new-north-carolina-shelby-voter-identification-id

2. Trump’s Twitter followers are growing by the millions, but nearly half are fake accounts and bots:  http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-twitter-followers-fake-617873

3. Time to read this again?  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/robert-reichs-8-point-plan-for-a-new-democratic-party-w451713

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

https://risestronger.org/resist