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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.
With a President who has demonstrated clear disrespect
for our rights, it’s more important than ever to put a check on the
surveillance capabilities of the U.S. government. Section 702 of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows for warrantless spying on
conversations between people in the U.S. and foreign countries, is set to
expire on December 31st if Congress does not reauthorize it (https://www.lawfareblog.com/predicting-support-section-702-senate).
Let’s contact our members of Congress, especially if we are the constituents of
the senators listed as “interesting to watch” in this article, and let them know it’s time to let this authority
die.
2.
While Trump undoubtedly enjoyed his photo-op in Texas,
he nonetheless reversed the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard ten days
before Harvey hit Texas at the behest of powerful real estate developers and
builders: https://www.thenation.com/article/how-donald-trump-and-elaine-chao-bartered-flood-control-policy-to-the-highest-bidders/Always
one to distract from his consequential decisions, the announcement of this
reversal was lost amid the Charlottesville press conference rant. Experts
“across the political spectrum say much of the federal money sent to Texas is
likely to be wasted on construction that will insufficiently protect against
the next storm”:
http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-reversed-obama-flooding-regulations-before-hurricane-harvey-2017-8
We need to tell Trump and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao that we will not
tolerate their disregard for our safety. Let’s call the White House 202-456-1414 and the DOT at 202-366-4000 or US Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Ave, SE, Washington, DC 20590
3.
The United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
has written a form letter that we can send to our members of Congress, asking
that they help save DACA by supporting the House and Senate versions of the
DREAM Act of 2017
http://refugees.org/act/tell-congress-support-daca-immigrant-youth/ Let's
also make sure that we've called our MoC directly to make sure that they
cosponsor and support these important pieces of legislation https://5calls.org/issue/recq0O67VoMFFRQZo
4.
"President Donald Trump is promising billions to
help Texas rebuild from Hurricane Harvey, but his Republican allies in the
House are looking at cutting almost $1 billion from disaster accounts to help
finance the president’s border wall. The pending reduction to the Federal
Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief account is part of a spending
bill that the House is scheduled to consider next week when Congress returns
from its August recess. The $876 million cut, part of the 1,305-page measure’s
homeland security section, pays for roughly half the cost of Trump’s down
payment on a U.S.-Mexico border wall. It seems sure that GOP leaders will move
to reverse the disaster aid cut next week. The optics are politically bad and
there’s only $2.3 billion remaining in disaster coffers." https://www.apnews.com/83e6782d48e04993a741b834771c078b Let's make sure the GOP does reverse the
disaster aid cut to fund the wall. We know climate change makes these disasters
so much bigger. Call you reps and ask them to reverse this cut. NO WALL
FUNDING.
5.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is halting Trump’s plans
for transgender ban in military pending further study: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/348484-mattis-halts-trump-transgender-policy-pending-study Let’s
thank Mattis for reducing the chaos for transgendered military personnel and
ask him to not let the military be a face of discrimination against those
ready, willing, and able to serve our nation: Secretary Jim Mattis,
Secretary of Defense, 1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1000
6.
After Greg Gianforte body-slammed Guardian report Ben
Jacobs on the eve of the special Montana election a few months ago, he agreed
to do an interview with Jacobs and his staff have made that impossible to
schedule. Jacobs released a statement about this: http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/29/media/ben-jacobs-greg-gianforte-interview-dispute/index.html Let’s
remind Gianforte that we expect him to follow-through on his commitment: https://gianforte.house.gov/contact
7.
“"It's not just about these 800,000 young people,
but young people who are working, paying taxes, going to school and serving in
the military," said Franciscan Action Network executive director Patrick
Carolan told NCR. "The question is, what kind of nation are we? Can we be
a moral nation when we're talking about deporting people like this?"” https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/catholic-leaders-get-personal-over-threat-daca
Let’s let our MoCs know that this is how we feel about the DREAMers and ask
them to continue supporting DACA. It is
right for them and for our country.
8.
Senator Peters (D-MI) has just signed on as a
co-sponsor to the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2017 (SB 1417). https://www.hrc.org/resources/voting-rights-advancement-act Let’s check to see if our senator has signed
on. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/1419 If so, let’s give out some thanks and, if
not, start asking why and telling them that we want them to do so.
State Actions
1.
ALL: Child
marriage—it happens right here in the US. From 2000-2015, 200,000 children
under age 18—the vast majority of them girls, some as young as 13—were married
off to adult men who were often decades older. Child marriage can disrupt or
end a girl’s education. It is linked to maternal and child mortality, domestic
and sexual violence, human trafficking, and HIV infection. The Tahirih Justice
Center http://www.tahirih.org/ ,
which fights violence against women and girls, has released a new report on
child marriage in America: http://www.tahirih.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/TahirihChildMarriageReport.pdfCheck
it to see where your state is on this issue, and then tell your state reps to
pass a law setting your state’s minimum marriage age at 18, without exceptions.
Find your state reps here: https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/
2.
MA: Campaign finance reform! The group Pass Mass
Amendment https://passmassamendment.wikispaces.com/HOME+PAGE is seeking to get two measures on the
November 2018 Massachusetts ballot. One would limit the amount of money from
out-of-state individuals in elections involving candidates or ballot
initiatives to $500 per election cycle. The other would require the disclosure
of contributions by foreign nationals and businesses in which non-US citizens
have a sizable ownership stake. http://www.newburyportnews.com/news/activists-seek-to-limit-outside-campaign-money/article_80d03840-8653-59b1-8a02-804522a01a89.html
Get email updates here https://passmassamendment.wikispaces.com/CONTACT%21 and follow on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/PassMassAmendment
Other Actions
1.
From Sun, Sand, & Second
Grade: I know many of us are
saddened and heartbroken about the devastation taking place in the Houston area
right now. Here is a way you can start to help! Get your students and their
families involved and consider adopting a classroom that has been affected by
Hurricane Harvey. The idea is that your classroom will help collect basic
supplies or gift cards to help setup students with tools to get their classroom
back on its feet. To sign-up: https://goo.gl/forms/nG0fFvnjeJrBXkyf2 For more information: http://bit.ly/2vpmYJp
Please share this so we can help as many classrooms as possible!!! Are you a Texan teacher who needs help?
Please sign-up to be an adopted classroom on the link above!
2.
National Bail Out’s efforts to fight money bail and free
folks who are only behind bars because they don’t have the money to get out are
continuing (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/04/the-dangerous-domino-effect-of-not-making-bail/477906/).
They are marking Black August with another round of bailouts. We can donate to
get more people out of jail at this link: https://nomoremoneybail.org/.
3.
ProPublica, an
independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the
public interest, is investigating how Facebook handles hate speech, and
is looking for input from Facebook users: "If you or someone you know
reported a hateful post, or had one flagged as hateful, we’d like to hear about
it, regardless of the outcome. Screenshots, links and exact wording are
especially helpful, but please share whatever you have." Responses can be
sent to the ProPublica bot via Facebook Messenger, or users can participate in
ProPublica's survey. We can check out more information on the investigation, as
well as how we can respond here: http://bit.ly/2vp0Z5s
4.
United
We Dream - Houston (UWD) and Pantsuit Republic
(PSR) have started a campaign to offer direct aid to specific undocumented
families who are unable to access FEMA through citizen household family
members. UWD is an organization led by undocumented immigrant youth. PSR is a
progressive Texas ally. These families will invariably bear the burden of
Harvey harder and longer than others, with fewer resources for disaster
recovery and as they concurrently grapple with SB4, a racist and anti-immigrant
law set to take effect this Friday, September 1. In the same week that Harvey
has temporarily displaced our families, SB4 threatens to permanently displace
them. More on the convergence of these
storms here: http://bit.ly/undocuhopevideo The Houston Mennonite Church, a 501(c)3
community partner in Deportation Defense, has agreed to serve as our fiscal
sponsor. 100% of funds raised will directly benefit undocumented immigrant
families. Let’s see how we can
help: www.youcaring.com/undocuhope We can also take part in this Twitterstorm
tonight at 8pm EDT: https://www.facebook.com/events/350636098703589/
5.
From Postcards
from Kate: The Islamic Society of
Greater Houston is sheltering displaced residents in mosques and distributing
goods to people in need. Read more here.
Thank ISGH President M. J. Khan for his
service to the community: ISGH President
M. J. Khan, 3110 Eastside Dr., Houston, TX 77098
6.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which among other good
works tracks hate crimes in the U.S., has put together a handy guide for
community resistance groups to use. The guide, downloadable as a PDF,
"sets out 10 principles for fighting hate in your community." Item 1
on the list: "ACT." https://www.splcenter.org/20170814/ten-ways-fight-hate-community-response-guide Let’s find out what and how we can work
against hate.
7.
“The Response to Hurricane Harvey by Members of the
Clinton Foundation Community; Ways to Support” Let’s check out these other ways we can help
Texas: https://medium.com/clintonfoundation/the-response-to-hurricane-harvey-by-members-of-the-clinton-foundation-community-ways-to-support-d93449f31d61
8.
From Indivisible:
“In our introduction to inclusivity, we set out why we all
need to make inclusivity a core focus of our advocacy and set out some
practical steps on how to embed inclusivity into our groups. This document will set out guidelines for how
to build inclusive partnerships, including who you can and should be reaching
out to, and how to build trust and show respect when reaching out.” Let’s read up on this and starting doing it
with our own groups: https://www.indivisibleguide.com/resource/build-inclusive-partnerships/
9.
Sick of Trump/Republican lies and propaganda? Good
news, everyone! There’s an Indivisible-like guide for fighting back! Written by
writer/journalist Guy Bergstrom, we can download the handbook “Truth &
Liberty: 33 Ways to Fight Lies, Propaganda & Oppression” from https://33ways.org/ . Pass
it on!
Petitions
1.
Let’s tell Congress to fund FEMA, not the wall: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/937/783/998/fund-fema-not-the-wall/
2.
We stand with the DREAMers. Let’s show Trump and Congress how many of us
want DACA to stay: https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/i-stand-with-immigrant?source=homepage
Marches/events/teleconferences
to attend/organize
1.
Today, Thursday August 31st, Organizing For Action
will be hosting a webinar which will focus on climate policy. We will be
updated on progress that has been made at the national level, then discuss
actions we can take at the state and local levels. Let's sign up to learn how
we can become more involved in supporting policies which address climate
change http://bit.ly/2woco2t
Reading/Watching
1.
This Washington Post article itemizes Trump’s rule
changes to date. Worth using up one of
our free WaPo allowances for: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/08/24/what-trump-has-undone/
2.
“'Antifa' violence in Berkeley spurs soul-searching
within leftist activist community” - http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-far-left-violence-20170829-story.html
3.
A bit of good news from a very difficult situation: 19
people have been indicted for attacking protestors during Erdogan’s visit in
May: https://apnews.com/c024e1ccf1134ea9bae11b3e7a334fd4/19-indicted-for-attacking-protesters-during-Erdogan-US-visit Thank
you to all who demanded justice for those attacked.
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
