Rogan's List

8/14/17

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When former KKK grand wizard David Duke announced on Friday in Charlottesville, VA , “We are determined to take our country back,” Duke said from the rally, calling it a “turning point.” “We are going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in. That’s why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said he’s going to take our country back.” (https://www.vox.com/2017/8/12/16138358/charlottesville-protests-david-duke-kkk), we have to agree with former Bush White House ethics lawyer, Richard Painter, who tweeted, “The Alt Right is a terrorist movement. Steve Bannon and Breitbart gave it a platform which is now in the White House. They must go now!” Even the white supremacists feel that Trumps comments prove that he does not condemn their efforts. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/neo-nazis-white-supremacists-celebrate-trump-response-virginia-charlottesville-a7890786.html Charlottesville is the wake up call. This is not our United States. Let’s contact the White House (https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact) and our state and federal legislators and tell them that Trump needs to publicly condemn the white supremacist action for what it is and that Bannon, Gorka, and Miller should never have been permitted into the White House and need to be ousted.

Republicans may be plotting to up their numbers in the Senate by appointing Manchin, a democrat to Energy Secretary so they can get another republican in the senate. "If Manchin were to take over at the Energy Department, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a former Democrat who earlier this month switched to the GOP, would be able to appoint a Republican to replace Manchin in the Senate. Such a move would expand the GOP's majority in the chamber, potentially boosting Republicans' efforts to repeal and replace ObamaCare http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/346264-manchin-floated-as-potential-pick-for-energy-secretary-report " Let's contact senator Manchin and ask him to stay put and fight for us in the Senate: https://www.manchin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact

The Trump administration has proposed cutting $7 billion from the Housing and Urban Development budget, including deep cuts to homeless assistance grants and rental assistance that helps millions of low-income families keep a roof over their heads (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/carson-pledges-fight-homelessness-despite-deep-proposed-budget-cuts/). Let’s make sure our members of Congress know where we stand on these cuts. We can use the follow script from our friend and ally Jen Hoffman: “Hi. I oppose cutting $7 billion to the Department of Housing & Urban Development. I believe in an America where we take care of each other. I am happy to see my tax dollar support people who rely on housing programs like Section 8. I’m most upset that these cuts would give tax breaks to America’s richest. I would like [name] to oppose efforts to cut HUD funding and instead support Americans trying to succeed.”

State Actions

KY: After the incidents in Virginia, Lexington Mayor Jim Gray is accelerating the schedule for relocating confederate statues. "Gray said in a statement he will ask the Lexington-Fayette County Urban County Council at its Tuesday [Aug 15] work session to take the first step — to ask a state military commission for permission to take down the statues of John Hunt Morgan and John C. Breckinridge. Gray said the vote was already in the works." http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article166934037.html. Let's thank Mayor Gray for his leadership: Mayor Jim Gray, 200 E Main St, Lexington KY 40507 or email: mayor@lexingtonky.gov. If we are in other places that have confederate statues in inappropriate locations, let's contact our local leaders to find out when they will be moved.

FL: Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) has called the terrorists in Charlotteville "white supremacists." “Very important for the nation to hear [Trump] describe events in [Charlottesville] for what they are, a terror attack by [white supremacists],” Rubio tweeted. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/346351-rubio-its-important-for-trump-to-call-out-white-supremacists. While we appreciate Senator Rubio's words, let's tell him that we need to see him continue to pressure Trump to denounce white supremacy. Let's write to him at his Miami office: Marco Rubio, 8669 NW 36th St Ste 110, Doral FL 33266 or call his Washington DC office at 202-224-3041. We can also use this website contact form: https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact
UT: Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) had strong words after the Charlottesville terror attack: "We should call evil by its name. My brother didn't give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home. -OGH," Hatch tweeted, signing the tweet to signal he, not staff, shared it on social media. http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/346348-hatch-my-brother-didnt-die-fighting-hitler-for-nazis-to-go-unchallenged-today Let's tell Senator Hatch that we agree with him and tell him to apply pressure on Trump to denounce white supremacy: Orrin Hatch, 51 S University Ave Ste 320, Provo UT, 84601-4491 or call: 202-224-5251 or use his web contact form: https://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-orrin

MI: An LGBTQ rights group has asked the Michigan Civil Rights Commission to interpret a current prohibition on sex discrimination to include protections for sexual orientation and gender identity. The commission seeks public feedback through Tuesday [Aug. 15] as it prepares to deal with a request from Equality Michigan, which cited recent federal court cases that had concluded the word "sex" applies to both gender and biological differences that distinguish men from women. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/michigan/articles/2017-08-13/lgbt-group-asks-michigan-commission-for-legal-protections Let's get our feedback in today: http://www.michigan.gov/mdcr/0,4613,7-138-7135-17286--,00.html or call 800-482-3604

Other Actions

Rapid Resist wants to help us. “For the power of the people to be effective it's got to be visible! Are you hosting an event that makes the resistance to Trump visible? We want to help get more people to you! We can text your list or potentially use a voter file to text democratic voters, have one-on-one conversations with them and get them out to your event or plugged into one of your organizers.” Let’s check this out: http://bit.ly/rapidresistfaq

Thanks to Postcards for America, here is a list of organizations in Charlottesville, VA that could benefit from our financial donations: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AGgvBjo6XvE2vEq0J9HnRSlyNIizg6q0cYYiyIfwAIU/edit

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) currently lists 917 hate groups in the US. They have put together a "hate map" that we can check out for hate groups near us. https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map Let's increase our awareness of activities and names of groups that are active where we are.

It is easy to think that equal opportunity for all is a hallmark of our country, but our history does not easily bear that out. Most people are not aware of the role the federal government played in major role in housing segregation. This one state’s experience is telling. The Home Owners’ Loan Corp. and the Federal Housing Administration “created neighborhoods that have consistently been eligible for millions in government support – and others that have not.” http://www.bridgemi.com/public-sector/michigans-segregated-past-and-present-told-9-interactive-maps Let’s contact our legislators, state and federal, and ask them to address the public policy that could help change this.

Petitions

Colin Kaepernick “took a powerful stand last season for the Black Lives Matter movement and against systemic racism by refusing to stand during the national anthem. Meanwhile, NFL team owners donated more than $7 million” for Trump’s inauguration. Now, the NFL is blacklisting Kaepernick and the NFL Players Association is not speaking up. Let’s tell the NFL Players Association to stand with Kaepernick and speak out against NFL owners who are blackballing him.” https://act.credoaction.com/sign/NFLPA_Kaepernick

Let’s join the DNC in telling Trump not to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protections for young immigrants: http://my.democrats.org/page/s/stand-with-immigrants

Marches/events to attend/organize

Vigils in solidarity with the weekend’s events in Charlottesville, VA are continuing. Let’s check to see if there is one near us: http://act.indivisibleguide.com/event/stand-in-solidarity-with-charlottesville/search/

Tomorrow, August 15th, thousands of people across the country will come together to protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and immigrant youth. We can check to see if there are #DefendDACA events near us here: http://defenddaca.com/#events.

NYC: Trump is not only threatening a belligerent North Korea with American “fire and fury” but raising the possibility of a “military option” in oil-rich and chaotic Venezuela (while refusing to speak to Nicolas Madura on the telephone): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/11/donald-trump-venezuela-crisis-military-intervention Trump is returning to New York this week, and those New Yorkers who want to let Trump know what we think of his bellicose stance on foreign policy will greet him. Here is a list of events: http://takeactionnyc.com/nyc-protest-event-calendar/

Reading/Watching

This week's list of not-normal happenings from Amy Siskind starts with threats to North Korea and ends with a white supremacist killing someone. Let's review Week 39: https://medium.com/@Amy_Siskind/week-39-experts-in-authoritarianism-advise-to-keep-a-list-of-things-subtly-changing-around-you-so-1b911b954f30
As we walk through this political morass, there are so many analogies we can make. This one, written by Jennifer Hofmann is pretty incredible and insightful: https://jenniferhofmann.com/sleeping-near-forest-fire/

So fitting. “Lady Liberty”: https://youtu.be/Zgbw5aNiWAA

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