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9/13/17                                                            http://roganslist.blogspot.com/

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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.
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Rogan’s List is also part of RISE Stronger’s United States of Resistance
















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