Rogan’s List is taking
a long holiday weekend so that our contributors can be
with friends and family. We will return on Tuesday – and we’ll be featuring
actions to take on our Twitter
account
throughout the next few days, so please follow us!
Contact Federal Government Officials
Find senator’s contact info here: https://goo.gl/RLiotu
Find representative’s contact info here: https://goo.gl/5i7SXC
********************************
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.
The
House is expected to vote on a "balanced budget" amendment after they
return from recess (https://wapo.st/2J4YPLl https://bit.ly/2uzIqvw). It is expected that the amendment
would have no chance of passing, since it would need Democratic votes then
ratification by three-fourths of the states in the U.S., but it is likely that
this is instead a strategy to make the GOP appear to be fiscally responsible.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has already noted that if spending
were to be cut, "entitlements," or social services like Medicaid and
Medicare, would be the programs to go (https://bit.ly/2nFxb19). Let's contact Speaker Ryan and tell him that we do not want him wasting
Congress's time on this facade, and that he made his opinion on fiscal
responsibility clear when he voted to pass a tax bill that added over one
trillion dollars to the deficit. (Mailing address: 1233 Longworth House Office
Bldg Washington, DC 20515; Phone at (202) 225-3031) And let’s let our own members of Congress know we remember Paul Ryan’s
plan, and we want them to vote against this if they don’t want to cut Medicaid
and Medicare.
2.
Former
Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin believes he that was fired because he
was an "obstacle to privatization who had to be removed" as the
first step in a Trump administration plan to privatize the VA (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/david-shulkin-warns-of-privatizing-politicization-of-va-in-wake-of-firing/). Trump’s nominee to replace Shulkin, White House physician Ronny
Jackson, may or may not be part of this plan, but we need to make sure our
senators inquire closely into his intentions and oppose his appointment if he
is willing to put the care of 9 million veterans into the hands of a private
medical sector that has already shown itself to be greedy and inept.
3.
As
the March for Our Lives brings awareness of the need for common sense gun
legislation into the forefront, we should also be supporting a repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA),
an NRA-backed law that prevents victims from suing gun manufacturers for
wrongdoing (http://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/verify/verify-heres-why-gun-manufacturers-usually-cant-be-sued/65-531132867). Let’s tell our
MoCs to support the Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act (S1939/HR1033).
4.
While we weren't
paying attention, a "group of 22 GOP senators is reintroducing a
controversial measure [The First Amendment Defense Act (S. 2525)]
that would protect opponents of same-sex marriage from federal actions intended
to curb discrimination” (http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/377418-gop-senators-reitroduce-bill-to-protect-those-who-speak-out-against-same-sex). Let's make
sure our MoCs know we see this as condoning discrimination and we do not want
it passed. We want all citizens to be protected equally.
5.
Trump judicial nominee
Gordon Giampietro has been caught calling birth control pills “an assault on
nature” and “against God’s plan,” calling the Court’s decision to recognize
marriage rights “an assault on the conscience,” and calling diversity “code for
relaxed standards.” He’s also expressed opposition to the Civil Rights Act of
1964 (http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/374083-trump-judicial-nominee-once-called-diversity-code-for-relaxed). These
regressive, reactionary views have no place on the federal bench. Let’s make
sure our senators know we want them to oppose his confirmation.
6.
The
head of HUD’s Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity division, Anna Maria FarÃas,
has ordered a halt to on-going fair housing investigations “until further
notice,” effectively ending investigations meant to set precedent and to put
other localities and developers on notice: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/us/ben-carson-hud-fair-housing-discrimination.html. This decision perfectly echoes HUD
Secretary Ben Carson’s decision to strike the words “inclusive” and “free from
discrimination” from HUD’s mission statement. Let’s tell Carson and
Farias that we hold them responsible for enforcing the Fair Housing Act and
investigating abuses: 202-708-1112 or HUD, 451 7th Street, SW, Washington DC 20410.
7.
The
House passed H.R. 620, which works against the rights of people with
disabilities. However, there is currently bipartisan legislation in the House
and Senate that would support disabled people by ensuring that those who
qualify for long-term support services could get the help that they need
through community-based services and programs, without having to resort to
institutionalization as their only option (https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2017/05/19/lawmakers-wider-community-based/23731/). Let's contact our MoCs and ask
them to cosponsor and support the Disability Integration Act of 2017 (S.
910/H.R. 2472).
8.
It’s long past time
that our government protect us from “surveillance capitalism” of the sort
conducted by Facebook, Google, Equifax, and other data brokers (https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/26/opinions/data-company-spying-opinion-schneier/index.html). Let’s
contact on our MoCs, state legislators, and state attorneys general to start regulating this unchecked industry.
9.
The U.S. is home to many people who were born in other
countries, then adopted as children by families in this country. Most of
these children became naturalized U.S. citizens when their parents made
application on their behalf following their formal adoptions. However,
some parents did not. These now-adult adoptees are unable to leave the
country, vote, get jobs and are susceptible to deportation (https://chronicleofsocialchange.org/adoption/). A bill that went into effect
in 2001 took care of many of these children, however, it did not apply to adoptees
who were over the age of 18 years when the law went into effect leaving an
estimated 35,000 adoptees who were legally adopted by U.S. citizens but never
obtained U.S. citizenship. There’s proposed legislation in Congress that would
help resolve this issue: the Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2018 (S. 2522; H.R. 5233). Let’s ask our members of Congress to support it.
Election 2018 – General
1. Rebecca Dallet is running for a seat
on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In their endorsement of her, the
conservative Beloit News said, "Dallet has attempted to run on a message
that citizens should expect the Wisconsin Supreme Court to decide cases without
the political taint of partisanship. We think she's right" (http://www.beloitdailynews.com/editorials/20180319/dallet_best_choicefor_supreme_court) We
can help Judge Dallet from anywhere in the country by following her on Twitter, donating, by signing up to phone bank or text bank voters at this link. Election Day is on
Tuesday!
2. This week
Postcards to Voters launched Campaign 66: Lori Berman
for Florida State Senate (District 31) in an April 10
special election. Returning writers may text WIN to (484) ASK-ABBY
which is (484) 275-2229. If we
are new to this effective grassroots effort, we can email us to
register: Join@TonyTheDemocrat.org.
3. Swing Left (swingleft.org) helps us find and
commit to supporting progressives in our closest Swing District so that we can
help ensure we take back the House in 2018. Flippable.org runs a PAC that will
support Democrats running for state-level office in 2018. And now they're teaming
up "to help you simplify your decision-making and direct your
investments—including your time, energy and dollars— to the places and races
that matter most. Each month we’ll highlight two key races in one
state—shining a light on the critical elections where state and national
politics intersect, and illuminating the role you can play in flipping key
districts blue." Sign up for this new "State Spotlight" email
newsletter here: https://swingleft.org/join?source=state_spotlight.
4. Countable has introduced The Voter
Center, a digital homebase for all things voting. We can use it to
register, find our polling station, recruit our friends and communities, figure
out how to help our chosen campaigns, and find the nearest swing districts.
Let's check it out and sign up at The Voter Center.
Election 2018 – By State
Other Actions
1.
The folks at Save EPA, a volunteer organization made up of retired and former
employees of the Environmental Protection Agency, have launched the #BootPruitt
Campaign. The Boot Pruitt campaign includes an ad campaign playing on
President Trump’s favorite networks (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/environmental-groups-launch-ads-fox-friends-boot-pruitt/story?id=54071248). Here’s one from
Sierra Club: https://youtu.be/D9dYLiCujaY. From the organizers: “With a diverse coalition
of 11 progressive and environmental groups, this multidimensional national
advocacy campaign will demonstrate why EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s toxic
tenure at the EPA must end. His dirty dealings and reckless rollbacks have
exploited and endangered Americans. He’s under multiple investigations for
serious ethics violations and shown a penchant for luxury travel on the
taxpayers’ dime. He is unfit for public office.” We can sign a petition to join
this movement, and find lots of resources about why Pruitt should go, at https://www.bootpruitt.com.
2.
Oklahoma
teachers, who thanks to disastrous Republican fiscal policies are some of the
lowest paid in the country, are set to walk out starting Monday (https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/29/us/oklahoma-arizona-teachers/index.html). But with 436,000 of the state’s
children participating in the National Free and Reduced Lunch Program, the
teachers want to make sure their students are getting cared for during a
potential walkout. Let’s donate to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, which is
preparing and distributing food boxes for impacted families, here, and let’s share this list of
resources for parents from the Oklahoma Institute of Child Advocacy here.
And we can show solidarity with the teachers by following the Oklahoma
Education Association on Twitter here and checking out the hashtags
#oklaedwalkout and #OKwalk4kids.
3.
Natalia Margolis, an engineer with Huge, has teamed up with United We
Dream to release her new app, Notifica, for immigrants at risk of deportation (https://bit.ly/2mPuZT4) The app allows individuals to draft messages to their support network,
such as family members, friends, and lawyers, which will then be sent out if
the user clicks the alert button. If we are in need of the app, or if we want
to help financially support its development, we can check out their
website: https://notifica.us/.
4.
The
Sacramento, California police were called to investigate vandalism; 20 bullets
later, an unarmed 22-year old black man, Stephon Clark, was dead (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sacramento-determined-stephon-clark-s-death-not-be-vain-n861016 or http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-sacramento-protests-stephon-clark-shooting-20180328-story.html). We can join Black Lives Matter and
the many others who are demanding a full investigation of the actions of the
Sacramento police: Police Chief Daniel Hahn, (916) 808-0800 or Police HQ, 5770 Freeport Blvd.,
Sacramento, CA 95822 and CA Attorney General Xavier Becerra, 916-210-6276or fax 916-323-5341 or PO Box 944255, Sacramento, CA
94244-2550.
5.
Teachers across the country are following West
Virginia's lead and taking action to get the salaries they deserve. In Arizona,
the #RedForEd movement
is launching a #TextForEd campaign,
where they're aiming to text 40,000 voters and urge them to contact Governor
Ducey and demand more funding for public education (http://tucson.com/news/local/gov-doug-ducey-signs-off-on-extended-education-sales-tax/article_21f014f3-cbab-5e5d-98e4-11ccb553af9b.html). ProgressNow
Arizona has us set up so that we can help
them do this outreach from anywhere in the country, and they are running a
training in how to use their system today. We can sign up to help out at this
link.
6.
Conservative television outlet Sinclair media has instituted
a new policy forcing their local anchors to issue promos suggesting that all
stories reported by mainstream media outlets are likely to be “fake
news.” As it turns out, many of the
anchors at Sinclair stations are not happy about this and do not agree with
it. http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/07/media/sinclair-broadcasting-promos-media-bashing/index.html Let's send our condolences and support to our local anchors: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stations_owned_or_operated_by_Sinclair_Broadcast_Group.
7.
Louisiana
Attorney General Jeff Landry has announced that he will not be pressing charges
against the police officers who shot and killed Alton Sterling last year (https://nyti.ms/2IZxaeG https://cnn.it/2DZFZlc). Not allowing a case to be heard before a jury is a gross injustice, and
a reminder that systemic racism and police brutality are still widespread.
Let's contact Attorney General Landry and tell him that we find the lack of
accountability and disregard for life unacceptable. Phone: 225-326-6079. E-mail: ConstituentServices@ag.louisiana.gov. Mailing Address: Post Office Box 94005 Baton Rouge, LA 70804.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AGJeffLandry.
8.
A
group of young Muslim American educators has created a new resource for fellow
teachers, one from which the rest of us can also benefit. The goals of Teaching
While Muslim are to contribute to the fight against discrimination, implicit
bias and institutional racism; to create a platform that confronts the issues
Muslims experience in public schools; and to develop a network for Muslim
educators. Best of all, they offer workshops for teachers and students, and
even lesson plans/curricular suggestions. Let’s support this excellent new
initiative and help get the word out: https://www.teachingwhilemuslim.org/workshops/.
9.
A letter spread through the U.K. declaring April 3 as “Punish a Muslim Day” has been reportedly
posted in many places in the U.S., leaving the American Muslim community in fear
(http://www.wcax.com/content/news/Vt-school-community-concerned-over-Punish-a-Muslim-Day-477996473.html). Let’s make sure to reach out to our Muslim friends and
neighbors and write to the mosques in our area to ask how we can best protect
and stand in solidarity with Muslims against this violence.
10.
When it allocated $1.6 billion for 33 miles of border wall in
south Texas, Congress appropriately exempted the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge.
However the border well is slated to run through several other protected
parcels of habitat for rare plants and wildlife including the National
Butterfly Center (https://www.vox.com/2018/3/28/17152644/trump-border-wall-texas-environment-refuge-butterflies), which is currently
joining several area property owners in suing the government for violation of
their property rights. Let’s contribute to the Legal Defense to save this environmental treasure.
11.
The
only way to really prevent Facebook from building a profile of you to sell to
others is to take the plunge and #DeleteFacebook (more info here: https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897555674/). For those of us who won't go that far, Mozilla has created a tool
called Facebook Container to help limit the privacy intrusion. Facebook
Container installs on the Firefox web browser in just a few seconds, and after
that Facebook will run in a kind of walled-off sandbox, isolated from anything
we do outside of Facebook. This tool doesn't stop Facebook from tracking
everything done within Facebook, but does prevent snooping beyond there. So
until we find an alternative social media platform that works for all
of us, Facebook Container offers a bit of extra privacy,
hassle-free. (http://www.ibtimes.com/mozilla-launches-facebook-container-extension-block-facebook-tracking-2666677)
Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to attend/organize
States
1.
MD: Maryland lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday
to a bill (Senate bill 1048) that would automatically register
residents to vote when they deal with certain state agencies, including when
obtaining or renewing driver’s licenses. It would take effect on July 1, 2019. Let's read more details at The Baltimore Sun. The bill now heads to Gov. Larry Hogan’s desk. Let's contact Gov. Hogan to let him know we support this bill, and make sure our legislators know if he vetoes it we’d like them to
overturn it.
2.
MA: The opponents of
equal rights for transgender people in Massachusetts have released their first
video in the campaign to overturn our non-discrimination laws (https://www.politico.com/newsletters/massachusetts-playbook/2018/03/20/trumps-mass-connection-baker-defends-hires-taxing-charlemont-256659). We need to
make sure that we defeat their transphobic ballot initiative and secure fair
and equal treatment for all in our state. Let’s pledge to defend transgender
equality here, and sign up to
volunteer to rally folks against transphobia in Massachusetts here.
Reading/Watching
1. We all know this has been a long haul
and is far from over. Let's read Your Weekly Pep Talk! from
Michele at Small Deeds Done for some words of
encouragement: https://mailchi.mp/31df3c64b7ca/your-weekly-pep-talk.
2. Just this month, Bloomberg New Energy
Finance reported that renewables have become Minnesota’s second-largest source
of electricity, an example of what a state can accomplish if legislators lend
their support. Rapid development and strong support in the state may help
projects all across the country. Let's read about what Minnesota has
accomplished at the NRDC.
3. “Why A Judicial Race in Wisconsin Is
A Big Deal For Midterms,” - https://www.buzzfeed.com/mollyhensleyclancy/why-a-judicial-race-in-wisconsin-is-a-big-deal-for-midterms?utm_term=.cjVVgYQqV#.tvwpLbN3p.
