Rogan's List

6/28/17

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STATE & FEDERAL legislative rep phone numbers.

1. With pressure from the Resistance getting to Senate Republicans, Mitch McConnell is delaying the vote on Wealthcare until after July 4th. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-healthcare-republican-idUSKBN19I11V This is very good news, and a big victory for us. Let's use the chance he's given us to stop Trumpcare for good. Keep fighting against this bill using these tools: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19kqrh5SFq3N_L1b9-8ddeid8ddKxPGSETRIhwTqWQAw/edit?usp=sharing

2. The Republican health care bill is deeply unpopular nationwide, with not a single state in support. Let’s send tweets using this resource to remind key Republican senators that the majority of their constituents oppose the bill and they should vote it down.  Details here:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0k1qCMVpKZpVGFqcG9Lc2phOVlYM2JJVHFWMXNQNDBKT0dj

3. The FBI has found that in addition to the thousands of local police departments failing to submit information to the national hate crimes database, at least 120 federal agencies aren’t either. (https://www.propublica.org/article/more-100-federal-agencies-fail-report-hate-crimes-fbi-national-database?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter ) This is a violation of the law, and means we might be dramatically underestimating the true scope of hate crimes in the United States. Let’s help fix the problem. FIRST, let’s ask our members of Congress to request hearings on this problem at the federal level so they can understand its causes, and then move forward a legislative solution. SECOND, let’s ask our reps to co-sponsor Rep. Don Beyer’s NOHATE Act (H.R. 1566), which would help address the local law enforcement side by giving out grants to police forces to upgrade their computer systems in exchange for departments uploading their hate crime data. THIRD, let’s contact our own city and county elected officials, and ask them to determine if our local law enforcement agencies are submitting their data to the hate crimes database and to determine how to change that if they aren’t.

4. While the healthcare bill consumes us all, there is other dangerous legislation in Congress. The Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017 (RAA) has passed the House and will be voted on soon by the Senate. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5 While it's being sold as friendly to small business, the flip side is really serious. "The RAA would drastically change how government agencies issue federal regulations. Republicans like to complain about regulations, but the truth is that many of these regulations are why we have clean air to breathe, can be protected against financial malfeasance, and are fighting the spread of communicable diseases. The RAA would prioritize corporate profits over public protections and paralyze the regulatory process, making it even harder for the government to keep American consumers and workers safe." https://www.indivisibleguide.com/resource/raa-worst-bill-youve-never-heard/ We can consult this page for questions/specific language we can use when telling our MoCs we oppose the bill. Let's just add it on when we contact them about the healthcare bill! 

5. Ivanka Trump took to Fox & Friends to say that she is trying to “stay out of politics”. This is an odd stance for someone advising the president: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-adviser-ivanka-trump-i-try-to-stay-out-of-politics/  Let’s ask her to really stay out of politics: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20500

6. People convicted of violent hate crimes should not own guns, yet it is still perfectly legal for them to do so. Let's change that. Sen. Casey' (D-PA) has introduced the Disarm Hate Act of 2017 (S. 1324).  https://www.pghcitypaper.com/Blogh/archives/2017/06/09/pennsylvania-sen-bob-casey-proposes-legislation-to-disarm-those-convicted-of-hate-crimes Let’s call our Senators, and ask that they cosponsor and support this bill.

7. We need to be all in with reaching our own Senators and encouraging “passive allies” to become “active allies” by directly asking people to take specific actions, particularly with the healthcare bill. If we live in a “red” state then this is the financial pressure our reps are feeling from the Koch brothers: https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/26/koch-network-piggy-banks-closed-republicans-healthcare-tax-reform Let's remind our Republican MoCs who they work for.

State-level actions

1. It's a small victory but the battle isn't over yet.  Yes, we got a reprieve, as the GOP will not call the healthcare vote before the July break.  This means senators will have to face their constituents over the July 4th recess.  Let’s make sure they are welcomed home in style!  Let’s find a town hall or public meeting near us and let our senators know that this is not the plan for us.  https://townhallproject.com  

2. Governors from both parties have asked for a bipartisan bill for healthcare.  "In a pointed letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Republican and Democratic governors called on senators to engage with them in the health care reform debate— arguing the current draft of the GOP's health care bill was insufficient to ensure adequate coverage and affordability."  http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/17/health-care-reform-bill-is-problematic-both-gop-and-democratic-governors-say.html.  Let's call and email our governors to put pressure on our state senators to withdraw this healthcare bill and work to improve the ACA act. We've been calling our senators, now let's call our governors and ask them to step up and help. Contact information:  https://www.usa.gov/state-governor

3. Vote Riders, http://www.voteriders.org/, an organization that works to get eligible citizens IDs so they can exercise their right to vote, has been seeking assistance from the Virginia State Board of Elections and has been studiously ignored. They’ve posted this open letter on Facebook and asked us to share. Details here:   https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gUvXpYUtgMtmZlma-pDHoQrojZ2f_KIQCv57kWH2D9U

4. A Texas mayor is suing the state of Texas because of the harm of the anti-immigration bill (SB4) to his constituents in El Cenzio: https://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/im-suing-texas-because-legislature-passed-bill-discriminates-against-my-town Let’s all contact Mayor Reyes to say thanks for standing up: http://www.cityofelcenizo.com/office-of-the-mayor

5. The cladding that helped spread the Grenfell Tower fire in London is still used in some states in the US.  http://www.npr.org/2017/06/24/534100561/some-u-s-states-relax-restrictions-on-cladding-suspected-in-grenfell-tower-fire  If we live in DC, Indiana, Massachusetts or Minnesota let's contact our state representatives to ask for tighter restrictions on this type of cladding.

6. From Postcards for America:  Article 5 of the Constitution allows for a convention to be called by 34 States. 22 States have already passed resolutions for it, with an additional 5 States having already passed through one House. This would ostensibly be to push the Federal government into balancing their Budget, but once convened, there are NO limitations on which Constitutional issues they could address. Convening a convention would be “putting the whole Constitution up for grabs.”   With so much chaos in Washington, this is NOT the time to call a constitutional convention.  Let’s contact our state MoCs with details here:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1STJpmhlSxYIhuuqNiS81980OSMaINcDlXdHZKIRWypc/edit

Other Actions

1. Sister Simone Campbell, of Nuns on the Bus fame, has long called Paul Ryan’s budget attempts immoral.  She is now taking on the “so called” pro-life Senate Republicans:  http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/healthcare/339463-catholic-sister-time-for-moral-leadership-on-medicaid-from-so-called-pro   Let’s heed her words, and thank her as well:  Network, 25 E Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC  20001-1630

2. GuideStar, the world's largest source for information about charity groups, earlier this month added a new feature flagging organizations named as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center so that potential donors would be warned. After an outcry led by groups like the viciously anti-LGBT American Family Association and the famously Islamophobic American Freedom Defense Initiative - and threats against the organization and its employees - they removed the flags on Monday. (https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2017/06/26/guidestar-removes-banners-flagging-hate-groups/) A coder named Tom MacWright wrote a Chrome extension that adds back the tags on hate groups on GuideStar's site. Let's add this extension, and let our friends and family who use GuideStar know about it: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/identify-hate-groups-on-g/pfpjfllnpobfiaecgfkhoglmpbbgdpll

3. Yet again, the white supremacist anger Trump has given permission for people to express across the country has reared its ugly head in Mississippi, with yet another attack on a historical marker memorializing Emmett Till. (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/historical-marker-civil-rights-icon-emmett-till-vandalized-mississippi-n776991?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma) Let's show them we will not allow history to be erased by donating to the Emmett Till Interpretive Center: http://www.emmett-till.org/. And let's also donate to the Equal Justice Initiative to support their work to memorialize the victims of lynching across the South: https://eji.org/.

4. From one of our own:  I was always non-party affiliated and recently I registered as a Republican, to the horror of many people I know.  I'm calling myself a "progressive Republican" and it makes me take a different viewpoint. The Democrats seem lost right now so isn't the best way to undo the Republican Party to remake the Republican Party?  This is my "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" strategy." I love starting my postcards and phone calls with "I'm a Republican...." I've also been shocked the extreme reaction I get when I tell liberal people. They recoil from me like I'm contagious. The response has not been generous. I live in a state without open primaries so I really do feel like I have a better ability to effect change as a Republican. 

5. Over 2300 companies have removed advertising from Breitbart, but there are still some who have not budged. Sleeping Giants is asking that we focus our efforts on Intel's Chief Marketing Officer Steven Fund, asking that they remove their advertising from a site which promotes hate speech filled with racism and homophobia. We can contact Fund through e-mail, or Twitter: Steven Fund CMO, Intel Corp., steven.fund@intel.com (Email), @stevefund (Twitter)

6. On Tuesday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a letter urging senators to vote for the Senate healthcare bill, claiming that the bill would repeal “the most egregious taxes and mandates” of the ACA and eliminate penalties on large employers that do not offer coverage to employees.  A separate letter was sent by a coalition of 28 business and employer groups including the National Association of Home Builders, the National Restaurant Association and the National Retail Federation, also in support of the bill—and standing to benefit from it: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/us-chamber-of-commerce-backs-senate-gop-healthcare-bill/article/2627200   These groups need to hear from us that their willingness to put tax breaks and profit ahead of the health of their workers—many of whom have health insurance only because of the ACA—has not escaped our notice:  U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 202-659-6000; Nat’l Assn of Home Builders, 800-368-5242; Nat’l Restaurant Assn, 202-331-5900; Nat’l Retail Federation, 202-673-7971

7. The U.S. Conference of Mayors have made their opposition to Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement clear—yet again—in a resolution passed this week in Miami:  https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26062017/mayors-conference-supports-100-percent-renewable-energy-electric-vehicles-climate-change  Might be time for a postcard letting them know we appreciate their doing the right thing—and we should make sure all of our mayors are on board:  U.S. Conference of Mayors 1620 I Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006, 202-293-7330.

Petitions

1. Let’s sign with MomsRising telling Congress to support the Disarm Hate Act and keep guns away from people with a history of violent hate.    : http://action.momsrising.org/sign/DisarmHate/

2. Sen. Murray (D-WA) feels that the healthcare delay is so that there can be a week of wheeling and dealing out of public view.  Let’s join her in telling the Senate Republicans that we just don’t want it at all:  https://www.pattymurray.com/act/say-no-to-trumpcare-june

Marches/events to attend/organize

1. Ranked choice voting could be a critical improvement to how we pick our elected officials, and one that gives us more power to make our voices heard. (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865681641/Op-ed-Ranked-Choice-Voting-can-help-Utah-elections.html) The FairVote outreach team is doing a series of Facebook LIVE events, every Thursday at 1PM, to talk about how to get involved in the fight for RCV and to update supporters on developments. Let’s check it out at https://www.facebook.com/FairVoteReform. 

2. Adapt, a national grass-roots community that organizes disability rights activists to engage in nonviolent direct action – the group that staged the sit-in outside McConnell’s office last week and were dragged away, some in wheelchairs, thinks it is time for the entire Disability Community to TAKE ACTION across our nation and demand that Senate Republicans stop their war on the Disability Community. ADAPT, NCIL and others in the Disability Community are coordinating this effort. Check here for a list of events in various cities:  http://adapt.org/bcra-an-attack-on-the-disabled-americans-call-to-action/

Reading

1. While the planned People's Filibuster, three days of Capitol protests to stop Trumpcare officially began yesterday afternoon, this happened on Monday evening on the steps of the Capitol and was captured by Ben Winkler, Washington Director of MoveOn:  https://mobile.twitter.com/benwikler/status/879546719830192129

2. Physician and author (Being Mortal) Atul Gawande has written a clear and powerful op-ed in The New Yorker about the Senate health care efforts: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-senates-health-care-bill-threatens-nations-health/amp

3. Here’s some insight into what Medicaid really does:  http://time.com/money/4649499/donald-trump-wants-to-cut-medicaid-heres-what-the-program-actually-does/

4. And if things didn’t seem odd enough, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-time-magazine-with-trump-on-the-cover-hangs-in-his-golf-clubs-its-fake/2017/06/27/0adf96de-5850-11e7-ba90-f5875b7d1876_story.html

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