Rogan's List

8/21/17                                                            http://roganslist.blogspot.com/

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STATE & FEDERAL legislative rep phone numbers.

1. Republican leaders have been more blatant this past week in their criticism of Trump in the wake of Charlottesville:  https://apnews.com/a6f078b98fc14230b269e0edd600c6db/GOP-doubts-and-anxieties-about-Trump-burst-into-the-open Please stay in touch with your own Republican MoC about your expectations of them at this time.

2. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin responded to a letter from 350 members of his graduating class at Yale calling on him to resign with a statement about why he will not resign: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mnuchin-rebuffs-calls-yale-classmates-resign-defends-trump/story?id=49316136 Let’s let Secretary Mnuchin know that we strongly disagree with his characterization of Trump as someone who opposes the white supremacist hate groups (his third point in his statement): https://www.treasury.gov/connect/Pages/contact-us.aspx

3. Sinclair Broadcasting’s proposed acquisition of Tribune Media would concentrate a large majority of local news stations, 72 percent nationwide, under a single company with a blatant conservative bias and a history of open favoritism towards Trump and Islamophobia. The FCC wants to bring back an exemption that allows media companies like Sinclair to exceed restrictions on the number of broadcast stations they own (http://thehill.com/policy/technology/346478-house-dems-press-fcc-for-answers-on-sinclair). Let’s join Rise Stronger and tell the FCC we oppose Sinclair’s acquisition of Tribune Media, which we can do at this link by hitting the +New Filing option in the grey box on the top left side of the screen: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/filings?proceedings_name=17-179&sort=date_disseminated,DESC

4. Last Friday, Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA19) introduced a bill to require the president to undergo physical and mental health examinations.  https://www.vox.com/2017/8/18/16164628/zoe-lofgren-25th-amendment  (or http://www.newsweek.com/mike-pence-call-donald-trump-resignation-impeachment-odds-new-bill-white-house-652184 ) Let's all contact our own representatives to ask them to co-sponsor this bill. We can thank Representative Lofgren at: Zoe Lofgren, 635 N First St Ste B, San Jose CA 95112  or call her Washington DC office at 202-225-3072. 

State Actions

Other Actions

1. Let’s hear it for Boston! The response to approximately 100 “free speech” activists protesting on Boston Common was an estimated 40,000 counter-protestors. Trump took to Twitter to home in on actions against police but Boston Police Commissioner Williams Evans spoke up about the “99.9%” of counter-protestors who were there against bigotry and hate (there were 99 arrests for disorderly conduct)):  “We probably had 40,000 people out here standing tall against hatred and bigotry in our city and that’s a good feeling,”  https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/537432/ 
2. Mayor Marty Walsh was also vocal and welcoming of the counter-protestors. Let’s thank Commissioner Evans and Mayor Walsh for safely navigating a challenging situation that drew the attention of the President: https://www.boston.gov/departments/mayors-office  and  https://www.boston.gov/departments/police

3. On Tuesday, August 22nd, Teaching Tolerance, the American Federation of Teachers, the Anti-Defamation League, and Facing History, will be hosting a webinar, "When Hate is in the Headlines: Resources for K-12 Educators." The webinar will discuss "the so-called alt-right, the history of hate and white supremacy, how to talk about race and religion, memorials and monuments, the First and Second amendments, and the emotional impact on our students. “We can sign up for the webinar, then check out the included resources http://bit.ly/2v3Wc57 Those of us who are educators can also receive one hour of professional development credit for attending the webinar, as well as completing the poll questions and survey (please see registration page for details).

4. MomsRising is asking that we sign onto their form letter addressed to Judge John B. Stevens, who oversees the case of Kandace Washington. Kandace, who has not yet been convicted of a crime, is 7.5 months along in a high-risk pregnancy. She is currently being held at the Jefferson County Correctional Facility and was just denied a release on bail or personal recognizance bond. Let's contact Judge Stevens and ask that he release Kandace Washington on bond, so that she may be able to receive the prenatal care that she and her baby need. We can read more about the situation and sign the letter here: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/Kandace-Washington_TX

5. One effective way to speak out against, or in support of, legislation, is by writing a letter to the editor of our local newspaper. MomsRising has simplified the process on their website, where we fill in our information, write our letter, then they'll send it to our community newspaper. Right now, they are asking that we concentrate our efforts on supporting DREAMers, and speaking out in favor of the DREAM Act of 2017. We can read more about the DREAM Act https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/s1615 then send a letter through the MomsRising site http://action.momsrising.org/lte/LTE_DREAMER/

6. “In the wake of Charlottesville, The Daily Constitutional is compiling information on upcoming white supremacist rallies. In order to respect the First Amendment while still discouraging white supremacy, The Daily Constitutional will be transforming their hateful rallies/marches into fundraisers for anti-racist causes.”  Let’s learn more and help identify rallies:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdFzNePXp-dvVdv1RnANgLixbvDckL_MKrHZjuVc9caKIvIXw/viewform?edit_requested=true

7.      From Action Together Long Island:  Howard Lorber, Chairman of Douglas Elliman, was appointed by Donald Trump to serve as Chairman to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum earlier this year. Lorber, a Jewish American, business leader has yet to speak out against Trumps disdainful rhetoric equating Nazi and White Supremacist groups with opposition groups who came to counter protest in Charlottesville VA - an event which lead to the terrorist style killing of Heather Heyer and the injury of dozens of others. Let’s see how we can encourage him to speak out:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0k1qCMVpKZpY0ZUMlVmLXlrd3M/view

8. Oddly enough, while Trump’s business and arts councils have resigned and disbanded themselves over the inability to reconcile their beliefs with Trump’s following his reaction(s) to the Charlottesville tragedy, only one member of his evangelical council has resigned.  http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/347179-member-of-trumps-evangelical-advisory-board-resigns-over-conflict-in Could it be true that the others do not see a conflict in values as this one pastor does?  Let’s check in with them to see where they stand on this overt racism and ask them to resign.  Contact info here:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1i4tAyW44TECIgzUs5tqH0vZHTK4ll3r5snNFRFYff9g/htmlview

9. Let’s mitigate climate change by stopping tree-wasting junk mail from filling up our postal mailboxes. Catalog Choice is a free service that helps us opt-out of junk mail, including merchant catalogs, for good. Since their founding eight years ago, Catalog Choice claims that their users have help to save 511,597 mature trees, more than 1 billion pounds of greenhouse gases, 407,235,154 pounds of solid waste, and more than 3.5 billion gallons of water. Let’s participate by visiting their website and following the instructions. https://www.catalogchoice.org/

10. We can weaken hate groups by shutting down the money that flows to them. “ProPublica surveyed the most visited websites of groups designated as extremist by either the Southern Poverty Law Center or the Anti-Defamation League. We found that more than half of them—39 out of 69—made money from ads, donations or other revenue streams facilitated by technology companies. At least 10 technology companies played a role directly or indirectly in supporting these sites.” https://www.propublica.org/article/leading-tech-companies-help-extremist-sites-monetize-hate Some of these tech companies have anti-hate policies, but they don’t do a good job of monitoring and enforcing those policies. Let’s let the CEOs of the following companies know that we’re watching them, and that we expect them to sever their financial partnerships with hate groups and to do a better job of blocking such partnerships in the future:  1)  Daniel Schulman, CEO, PayPal, 2211 North First St., San Jose, CA 95131, 2) Christopher Ruddy, CEO, NewsMax Media, Inc., 560 Village Blvd., Ste. 120, West Palm Beach, FL 33409, and 3) Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon, 1200 12^th Avenue South, Suite 1200, Seattle, WA 98144

11. Many of us want to support refugees, but often do not know how.  This young woman and her sister are going to Greece with Movement on the Ground to help refugees and are asking us to help support their work.  The raised funds will “will be used towards children's activities, maintenance of structures within the camp and towards long-term projects to improve infrastructure. Every donation helps keep children smiling, energy flowing and supplies coming.”  Let’s show our concern and help!  https://www.gofundme.com/refugee-support-in-lesvos

12. As Trump continues to defend the “beauty” of memorials to white supremacy, activists across the country are working to get them taken down (http://www.npr.org/2017/08/17/544137751/trump-defends-beauty-of-confederate-memorials). The Southern Poverty Law Center has put together a report on the monuments, schools, holidays and other public spaces across the United States dedicated to the Confederacy, including a list of more than 1,500 of them. We can read this report here, and use this tool from Quartz to find which is closest to us – and then start organizing.

13. From Action Together New Jersey: “#VotingRights4ALL Hey, Members of Congress! You oppose the white supremacists, so why are you supporting their goals? It's ALL about the vote!”  Let’s make sure that all our MoCs know that if they really oppose white nationalism that it is time to restore the Voting Rights Act:  https://www.facebook.com/actiontogethernetwork/photos/a.1394045663980690.1073741828.1365354920183098/1634855013233086/?type=3&theater

14. "In a group letter first reported by NPR, a small group of alumni is criticizing Falwell for supporting the president in the wake of Trump's remarks blaming "many sides" for violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend. The letter slams Falwell for defending Trump's comments, specifically for his saying there were "very fine people" protesting on both sides…. This is incompatible with Liberty University's stated values, and incompatible with a Christian witness," the letter says.  One former student government president told NPR that Falwell was "complicit" in Trump's support for "Nazis and white supremacists." We can join them by letting Falwell know there is only one side to this issue and the white supremacists are not the right side.  http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/347258-evangelical-students-returning-university-diplomas-to-protest-trump?amp  Contact @JerrryFalwellJr. or Jerry Falwell, Liberty University, 1971 University Blvd, Lynchburg, Va. 24515

15. They listened!  Thank you for speaking out! Because of the intense backlash they received, state officials in Georgia have announced that they will no longer be purging voters off of voter rolls, if they moved from one address to another, within the same county http://bit.ly/2v410aG This means that 159,930 Georgia voters will retain their active status.

16. Heather Heyer’s name has been added to the Civil Rights Memorial Wall of Tolerance. “The Civil Rights Memorial is a memorial in Montgomery, Alabama, to 41 people who died in the struggle for the equal and integrated treatment of all people, regardless of race, during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.”  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Memorial  and https://www.splcenter.org/news/2017/08/18/splc-honors-heather-heyer-civil-rights-memorial-center  Let’s thank the Southern Poverty Law Center for remembering her in this way:  https://www.splcenter.org/contact-us

Petitions

1.      CREDO Action claims that when traditional corporate media outlets call today’s white supremacists “alt-right,” they sanitize and normalize a movement that seeks to reverse decades of civil rights gains and solidify white power and privilege, using violence if necessary.  If you agree, here’s a petition:   https://act.credoaction.com/sign/No_More_AltRight

2.      “Whether it's racism, homophobia, misogyny, transphobia, xenophobia, religious intolerance or other bias — we demand to live in a country where we can be safe to be who we are, believe in what we want and love whomever we choose.”  Let’s sign Everytown’s petition asking Congress “to disarm hatred and keep guns out of dangerous hands.”  http://act.everytown.org/sign/disarm-hate-tell-congress-p/

Marches/events/teleconferences to attend/organize

Reading/Watching

1. Hate groups are on the rise, and it's important to know about them. Al Jazeera has posted an informative chart and interactive map of North America, compiled based on research by the Southern Poverty Law Center.  http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2017/02/mapping-hate-rise-hate-groups-170222085001012.html

2. Here is VoteVet’s latest video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWXksPEwgQk&feature=youtu.be 

3. The LA Times had a very unequivocal editorial in their Sunday edition blasting Trump: http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-ed-trump-enough/

4. Amy Siskind continues her mission to document the small changes chipping away at our democracy.  Siskind writes, "This week’s list is not the longest, but it is certainly the most heartbreaking. Trump’s comments on Charlottesville legitimized the worst of us, and spawned a watershed moment for our country. His remarks were met with widespread condemnation and reactions, and precipitated a mass exodus of corporate CEOs, wiping away any lingering doubts that Trump’s goals were ever truly linked to job creation. For the first time, real questions about fitness for office were raised out loud by both sides."  Let's take a few minutes to review Amy Siskind's list week 40 

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