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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. You can also check with your local library to
find out how to get online access through them.
1.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has indefinitely
postponed a hearing on DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) that was
to take place today. http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/350144-senate-committee-postpones-daca-hearing Let’s
contact the Senate Judiciary Committee and tell them to schedule a hearing ASAP
and move the Dream Act out of committee. If our Senators are on the Committee,
let’s contact them directly. Committee phone number: 202-224-5225. List of Committee
members: https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/members
2.
"A bipartisan pair of senators Monday introduced a
plan to block President Trump's transgender ban. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand,
D-N.Y., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, introduced an amendment that would prevent
the military from kicking out transgender members based on gender identity
alone. The senators plan to introduce an amendment to the National Defense
Authorization Act, which is being voted on this week." http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/kirsten-gillibrand-and-susan-collins-introduce-plan-to-block-trumps-transgender-military-ban/article/2634087
Let’s call and thank these two for their efforts. Let's also make sure that Senator McCain, who
will be leading the debate on the floor this week, knows that we expect this
amendment to pass. We should be grateful to all who serve our country.
3.
Although the No Hate Act of 2017 has over fifty
cosponsors, it is currently stalled in committee https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr1566 This
legislation would help us fight back against hate crimes at both the state and
federal levels, and should be a straightforward, nonpartisan issue. Let's make
sure our MoC understand this. We can use this simple tool from the NAACP to
contact our MoC via e-mail and/or Twitter http://p2a.co/hFEnFAS
4.
In the latest effort to discredit—and repeal—the
Affordable Care Act, Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson joined his conservative
colleagues by calling on Health and Human Services to “investigate” the
apparent correlation between Medicaid expansion and the opioid “epidemic.” No
one much disputes the correlation (barring, notably, those academics who have
done careful county by county studies), but blaming the rise in opioid
addiction on Medicaid expansion ignores a few important things, as is typical
of the current regime: the striking correlation between Medicaid expansion and
the treatment of drug addiction (http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/07/07/535840902/medicaid-expansion-has-delivered-access-to-addiction-treatment-report-finds);
the fact that Medicaid recipients are much more likely to be prescribed
opioids—and represent a much sicker population than average https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/12/upshot/blaming-medicaid-for-the-opioid-crisis-how-the-easy-answer-can-be-wrong.html): http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/medicaid-fueling-opioid-epidemic-theory-challenged-49540513
We must scotch this false, self-serving Republican narrative—by circulating the
facts in whatever ways we can—and by letting Johnson ((202) 224-5323) and Health & Human
Services (877-696-6775 or 200
Independence Ave. NW, Washington DC 20201) know that we aren’t buying their
story.
5.
"The Senate has approved a resolution condemning
white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other hate groups following a
white-nationalist rally in Virginia that descended into deadly violence.
Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia introduced the measure
along with four colleagues from both parties. The resolution, approved
unanimously Monday night, recognizes a woman who was killed Aug. 12 and
19 other people who were injured after a car allegedly driven by a neo-Nazi
slammed into a crowd of demonstrators protesting the rally in Charlottesville.
The resolution describes Heather Heyer’s death as a “domestic terrorist attack”
and acknowledges two Virginia state troopers who died in a helicopter crash
while monitoring the protests." http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/senate-approves-resolution-condemning-white-nationalists/ This is the kind of America we want to live
in, unanimously voting to condemn hate groups and call them out on their
terrorist acts. Let’s thank our senators and copy and share this encouraging
news in your pages.
6.
"President Trump's family business reportedly
hired a construction company owned by the Chinese government to work on a
project even though Trump promised it would not work with any foreign entities
while he was in the White House.
A $32 million contract was awarded for a new Trump golf course
in Dubai, to the Middle East subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering
Corporation by DAMAC Properties, the Trump Organization's partner, according to McClatchy. Meredith McGehee, chief of
policy, programs and strategy at Issue One, a nonprofit working to reduce the
role of money in politics, warned of conflicts of interests while in
office." This man does not keep his promises and continues to use foreign
companies for his own personal purposes. http://thehill.com/homenews/news/350026-trump-company-hires-chinese-government-owned-firm-despite-promise-report Let's remind Trump that this does not create
jobs for Americans and that he needs to keep his promises.
7.
“Pope Francis has sharply criticized climate change
doubters, saying history will judge those who failed to take the necessary
decisions to curb heat-trapping emissions blamed for the warming of the
Earth.” The Pope, who is also a scientist,
was answering questions aboard the papal plane.
https://apnews.com/4f1f546c7c774b928b3a069095f66f3d/Pope-blasts-climate-skeptics,-cites-'moral'-duty-to-act Let’s tell our legislators to listen to what
the Pope says and to act accordingly as stewards of our earth.
8.
Americans for Tax Fairness, a coalition of 425
endorsing organizations, is sponsoring Congressional call-in days through Sept.
15 so we can voice our opinions on the impending tax bill. “Vote NO on the House budget that cuts
funding for Medicare, Medicaid, and education. Not one penny in tax cuts should
be given to the wealthy and corporations.”
Let’s see how we can do it here: http://stoptrumptaxcuts.org/call-in/
9.
Despite evidence to the contrary, Kobach, of Trump’s
sham election integrity commission, continues to insist that voter fraud was
rampant in New Hampshire. http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/12/bill-gardner-trump-voter-fraud-panel-242593 If our secretaries of state are on the
commission, let’s ask them to resign and not sully their reputation. If ours is not on the commission, let’s
identify one of the other members and make the same request. Members listed here (scroll down page): https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2017/07/13/presidential-advisory-commission-election-integrity
10. Meanwhile,
the Senate Appropriations Committee seems, momentarily at least, to have
regained its senses: it approved a bipartisan bill last week calling for an
increase in the National Institutes of Health budget, contrary to Trump’s
desire for an NIH budget cut, and, moreover, limited the Trump administration’s
ability to change the rules for federal grants to family planning
clinics. While less generous, the House Appropriations Committee followed
suit. And both committees likewise rejected Trump’s proposal to slash the
payments for the “indirect costs” of university research funded by the
NIH: https://www.statnews.com/2017/05/01/nih-funding-congress-trump/
Perhaps we should let Sen. Roy Blount (202-224-5721or
260 Russell Senate Office Bldg, DC 20510) and Rep. Tom Cole (202-225-6165 or 2467 Rayburn HOB, DC
20515), heads of the health subcommittees, that we approve!
State Actions
1.
ALL: Trump’s
controversial voting commission heard a proposal yesterday about requiring
a background check before a person can register to vote — similar to buying a
gun. John Lott, the president of the Pennsylvania-based Crime Prevention
Research Center, presented the concept when the commission held its second
meeting of the year. Lott’s PowerPoint, which was posted on theWhite House’s website in advance of the meeting,
includes a slide titled “How to check if the right people are voting"
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-voter-fraud-panel-20170912-story.html
Voter suppression is a serious issue in many states. Let’s make sure we are
still registered in your state and let’s ask our state legislators to approve
automatic registration at 18.
Other Actions
1.
Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade wore his
ignorance loud and proud when he likened 9/11 memorials to current confederate
statues being taken down. He was interviewing Secretary of the Interior Ryan
Zinke at the time: http://thehill.com/homenews/media/350032-fox-news-compares-9-11-memorial-to-confederate-statues Let’s
let Mr. Kilmeade know why his question draws a false equivalence: friends@foxnews.com orFox
News Channel, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036
2.
To follow-up to yesterday’s item about the Miss America
pageant (Miss Texas’ response about Charlottesville), Postcards from Kate has
provided a mailing address to be able to say thank you to Miss Texas for her
clear answer about the error in Trump’s response: Miss Texas Margana Wood, c/o
Miss Texas Scholarship Pageant, 951
Greenside Dr. Suite 7128, Richardson, TX, 75080 And
if you are not familiar with Postcards from Kate, you can learn more
here: https://www.postcardsfromkate.orgThey
provide daily (M-F) suggestions for thank you’s to write to politicians, media,
activists, citizens etc. to, as they say, “magnify the good”.
3.
For those of us looking to donate funds towards relief
in both Florida and the Caribbean, we can head over to GlobalGiving: http://bit.ly/2wN49zE GlobalGiving
works by sending funds to local organizations which are better suited to know
exactly what their communities need. https://www.globalgiving.org/aboutus/ If
we have not yet donated to relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey, we can visit
the Sierra Club, which donates all funds towards community-led efforts: http://bit.ly/2wUDa5x We
can also check out Support the Girls, which donates bras and feminine hygiene
products to women and girls who find themselves homeless or experiencing a
natural disaster: http://isupportthegirls.org/
4.
Clean car standards protect our air and save us money
at the gas pump. The climate deniers at the Trump-Pruitt EPA are threatening to
roll them back, jeopardizing our economy, polluting our air and further
wrecking our climate (http://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/2017/09/06/public-hearing-epa-mpg-rollback/105333776/).
Let’s join NextGen America and submit a public comment opposing this effort to
undermine our health and environment. We can do so at this link: https://nextgenamerica.org/act/clean-car-standards.
5.
"Rush Limbaugh will be evacuating his
home in Palm Beach, Fla., just days after stating that creating panic around
hurricanes helps advance a climate change agenda. "May as well
announce this. I’m not going to get into details because of the security nature
of things, but it turns out that we will not be able to do the program
here tomorrow,” Limbaugh said on his nationally syndicated radio
program on Thursday. “We’ll be on the air next week, folks, from parts
unknown.”Limbaugh also said it would be "legally impossible" to
do his program on Friday, which CNN security analyst Juliette
Kayyem noted means his area of Palm Beach County is under mandatory
evacuation." http://thehill.com/homenews/media/349794-limbaugh-evacuates-after-calling-irma-liberal-plots We can send an email to the Palm Beach
radio station that carries Rush's show and ask them why they allowed him
to endanger the lives of the residents by discrediting meteorologists and
Irma's threat on their station:
6.
Our public libraries are trusted resources for
information and community gathering. Might they be willing to help get the word
out about the ACA enrollment period? Remember: Trump has decimated the ACA
advertising and outreach budget, so it’s up to us and anyone we can think of to
get the word out. Let’s ask our public libraries to designate November
1-Dec 15—the enrollment period—as a time for themes, resources, and programming
around health and wellness, with an emphasis on information about the ACA
enrollment period and where to find help enrolling. Let’s contact: 1) Mary
Ghikas, Executive Director (Interim) of the American Library Association, 800-545-2433, or mghikas@ala.org , and
ask if the ALA will take this on and engage its member libraries, and 2) contact our own local public libraries
and ask the same thing
7.
Let's all add our group's info into this interactive
directory by RISE Stronger which is
designed to introduce groups to one another across the nation and enable them
to work together, from sharing best practices to joining forces. We seek to
empower advocacy, electoral and other various groups in every state with a key
resource: the ability to find each other and connect based on their location,
and the issues they care about the most.
https://risestronger.org/groups
Petitions
1.
We and people we know may be impacted by the inadequate
precautions taken by Equifax. Their response has been to offer a free one-year
service and then they profit from their behavior by offering their service for
a fee. Equifax needs to be held accountable for their action--that's why they
need to provide unlimited service to all those impacted by the recent security
breach. Let’s sign our agreement
here: https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/hold-equifax-accountable
2.
Let’s ask Congress to stop blocking the Center for
Disease Control from doing research on gun violence: https://www.change.org/p/congress-stop-blocking-gun-violence-research
Marches/events/teleconferences
to attend/organize
1.
More than 700,000 young people who were promised that
if they cooperated they would be safe are facing the prospect of being ripped
away from their homes and families thanks to Trump’s decision to end the
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/09/politics/daca-phase-out-numbers/index.html).
We need to stand with them and #DefendDACA. Cosecha is helping
folks across the country organize vigils, marches, sit-ins and walk-outs to
demand action, and they’re hosting a call to get us started with the planning
processTONIGHT at 9PM Eastern. Those of us who are interested
can register here:http://myaccount.maestroconference.com/conference/register/Y00L05BJCGL4L8F3
2.
United We Dream will be hosting community calls today
(September 13th) and tomorrow (September 14th), which will focus on
how to move forward after DACA ends. We can sign up to join the calls http://bit.ly/2xuJdhY We
can also check out previous call http://bit.ly/2wWAGkJ If we are unable to attend the
calls, but are still interested in helping out, we can find action items and
resources on the We Are Here to Stay website:
http://weareheretostay.org/
3.
Hackers attacked election systems in 39 states in the
2016 election. There’s no proof outcomes were changed significantly, but we
cannot allow our election infrastructure to remain vulnerable in future
election cycles (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-13/russian-breach-of-39-states-threatens-future-u-s-elections).
Since Trump is clearly uninterested in addressing these failures, the Secure
Our Vote coalition is working for solutions on the county level to connect with
local election officials and make sure we have paper backups for every vote
cast and audits that are adequate to detect error and hacks. We can sign up to
become local leaders on election security at SecureOurVote.us,
and we can join in the next Secure Our Vote conference call on Wednesday,
September 20th at 8pm ET at 641-715-3865,
using participant code 137016#.
4.
On September 30, March
for Racial Justice will mobilize organizations, groups and individuals, to
stand together for racial justice in Washington, DC. For more info, we can
click here: https://www.m4rj.com/logistics/ If we can’t make it to DC, we can check to
see if there is a sister event near us or how to start our own: https://www.m4rj.com/sister-marches/
Reading/Watching
1.
From one of our own Rogan’s List contributors – “Just
because it’s hard, doesn’t mean it’s not working”: https://jenniferhofmann.com/just-hard-doesnt-mean-not-working/
2.
As dissent is increasingly criminalized under Trump’s
regime, it is worth our paying attention to the “Green Scare” of the last
decade and the efforts to define those who object to the treatment of animals
in big agriculture as “eco-terrorists.” The Center for Constitutional
Rights (https://ccrjustice.org)
has just published “Ag-Gag Across America: Corporate-Backed Attacks on
Activists and Whistleblowers”--https://ccrjustice.org/www.ccrjustice.org/Ag-GagAcrossAmericaReport--placing the
development of ag-gag legislation in its historical and political
context. Worth our reading.
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.
******
Rogan’s List is also part of RISE Stronger’s United States of
Resistance
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