Rogan's List

11/2/18 

Contact Federal Government Officials

Find elected officials: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

Fax legislators for free: 

Reps:  https://faxzero.com/fax_congress.php

Senate:  https://faxzero.com/fax_senate.php 

Or use Resistbot:  https://resist.bot/

Or use StampsLicked to have messages hand-delivered to our own legislators:  https://stampslicked.org/

White House contact:  https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/white-house

 

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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.  We can also check with our local libraries to find out how to get online access through them.

1.       Despite the surge of domestic terrorism this year, capped by the recent spew of pipe bombs sent to Democratic leaders and the shooting in the Pittsburgh synagogue, the administration is planning to cancel a DHS program to fight domestic terrorism. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-admin-will-apparently-not-renew-program-fight-domestic-terror-n926361. Instead, money is being used to send 15,000 troops to the border. https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/31/politics/trump-troops-border-15-thousand/index.html. Let’s tell our MoCs that we want to see our tax dollars fighting hatred, not perpetuating it by treating immigrants seeking asylum as if they are in a war zone.

2.      The latest attempt to smear special prosecutor Robert Mueller by offering money to women to fabricate sexual misconduct claims against him has collapsed after one of these women forwarded the email to Mueller’s office.  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/30/us/politics/mueller-fabricated-claims.html. While so far, this has not been linked directly to the administration, let’s tell our MoCs to make sure that the FBI investigates this matter thoroughly and also remind them that this is just one more reason they should pass HR 3771/S 1741, the Special Counsel Integrity Act, and the S 1735/HR 3654, the Special Counsel Independence Protection Act to enable the special prosecutor to do his job without interference.  

3.      On Wednesday, even as he was attacking Paul Ryan for suggesting he couldn’t overturn the 14th Amendment by fiat and threatening to deploy 14,000 troops to stop the “invasion” of Central Americans, Trump tweeted, with approval, the latest GOP attack ad, which blames Democrats for the crimes of Luis Bracamontes, a twice-deported Mexican immigrant sentenced to death in April for killing two California police officers in 2014; even conservatives like Bob Flake (R-AZ), who characterized it as “sickening,” and Jamie Weinstein of the National Review Online, who tweeted “This is, without question, a racist ad,” had trouble stomaching this latest desperate attempt to demonize immigrants:  https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/nation-world/president-trump-criticized-for-anti-immigration-political-ad-with-sacramento-cop-killer/83-610233103  or 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/11/01/democrats-let-him-into-our-country-trumps-new-ad-links-opponents-illegal-immigrant-killer-its-far-worse-than-infamous-willie-horton-ad-say-critics/ No mention was made, needless to say, of the native-born killer of 11 in Pittsburg.  Let’s tell Trump and the Republican National Committee that we are disgusted by their fearmongering: tweet
Ronna McDaniel @GOPChairwoman or GOP co-chair Bob Paduchick @Paduch or comment at their FB address https://www.facebook.com/GOP or call 202-863-8500.

4.      Republican Senators Marco Rubio of Florida, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Dean Heller of Nevada, Todd Young of Indiana and Rand Paul of Kentucky are urging the President to suspend ongoing discussions on a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia to limit that country’s nuclear capability as lawmakers learn more about the Saudi government’s role in the slaying of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi earlier this month. Let's read more at RollCall. If any of these are our own senators, let's contact them to let them know that we approve and support them on this.  If we are represented by other Republican senators, let's ask them to join their GOP colleagues in calling for suspending discussions.

Election 2018 – General

1.       The timing is good for things getting bad for White Nationalist Congressman Steve King in the Iowa 4^thdistrict: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/414168-pressure-grows-on-house-gop-to-denounce-steve-king  Please dig deep with a donation if you can to help his opponent JD Scholten get out the vote in the final days:  https://www.scholten4iowa.com

2.      Look! Oprah is going door to door for Stacey Abrams and leading two town halls:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/nov/01/oprah-winfrey-stacey-abrams-georgia-campaign-town-hall-midterm-election  Let’s be like Oprah and get out the vote in every way we can for candidates near and far. Here are some useful resources: https://votesaveamerica.com  and  https://thelastweekend.org   And if we really want to be like Oprah, we can donate to Abrams for Governor in Georgia:  https://staceyabrams.com

3.      There's still time to get out the vote -- and we can do it by text! "Millennials are now the largest voting bloc, with 6 out of every 10 voting Democrat, but young voters turnout at the lowest rate and cannot be reached as effectively through conventional methods like TV ads and phone calls. That's where Text the Vote comes in! Our campaign sends texts to thousands of unregistered Millennial and Generation-Z voters to alert them of the approaching deadline in their state and help get them registered." It's free, and anonymous. Let's sign up here for a last push! https://www.textthevote.com

4.      Twenty states require an ID to vote. One organization, Spread the Vote, is dedicated to providing direct, personal support to help eligible voters get the ID they need to cast a ballot. With ID, these people also gain better access to everything from medical care to housing to job opportunities, services that will be crucial well beyond Election Day. They even provide voting assistance to college students, an important demographic for us, so let's spread the word and spread the love about Spread the Vote!   https://www.spreadthevote.org/

5.      We can explore the politics of criminal justice reform on the ballot in Nov. 2018 at The Appeal Political Report. We can see who is on the ballot for positions such as sheriff as well as key counties where immigration policies, criminal justice and law enforcement measures are on the 2018 ballot. Let's take a few minutes to check it out and review the information for our own locations.

6.      From DemLabs:  NBC News & MSNBC's Election Day coverage will include Trust The Vote experts to provide election technology analysis. A real-time map of election related issues has been prepared to spot voting relating issues as they emerge and assign local reporters to cover hot spots. Voters can provide highlight issues, but are often drowned out by trolls on social media. SeeSay2018 from DemLabs & Trust The Vote overcome this. It lets voters highlight issues from their phones - without installing an app. Issues are manually validated, geo-tagged and submitted to the press room. Please share this link http://www.bit.ly/seesay2018 so we can get more voters ready to report issues. 

7.      Sometimes, the difference between voting or not depends on being able to get to the polling station. Here, all in one place, is the info for offering and/or getting rides. So helpful. Let's share widely! https://politicalcharge.org/2018/10/24/2-weekends-left-until-midterms-ride-to-the-polls-challenge/

8.     If we haven’t yet signed up for anything else on Election Day, we can consider helping to ensure the election is fair by signing up assist voters on Election Day should they encounter any problems voting. Volunteers commit to taking at least one Election Day shift to stand outside of assigned polling location after receiving training. We will distribute “Know Your Rights” cards to voters, answer basic questions from voters at the polls, and help voters resolve any problems that occur, with the help of trained legal professionals. Volunteers like us will be voters’ first line of defense against suppression tactics, confusing laws, outdated infrastructure, and other impediments to making themselves heard. We can sign up as an Election Protection volunteer today and then receive all the information we need to get started. https://protectthevote.net/

9.      Thousands of lawyers and voting rights activists volunteer to ensure every voter’s voice is heard at the polls.  If we have a professional legal background (like as an attorney, law student or paralegal) we can  click here to sign-up to:  https://electionprotection.wetheaction.org/

10.  MoveOn has a new tool connect us to volunteers across the nation, and many times more voters than we can reach by manual dialing in small groups. With our help, they will reach tens of thousands of voters in the most vital, flippable districts in the country. Each of these MoveOn endorsed candidates is within just a few points of their Republican opponent, and they know that talking to enough voters in these districts can win a campaign.  We can find out more and sign up here:  https://front.moveon.org/call-from-home/

Election 2018 – By State

1.       ALL:  Upcoming voting dates and deadlines:  by date:  https://goo.gl/gjFv2u   by state:  https://goo.gl/7gTzvE

2.      ALL:  If we are not sure where to start looking for information about candidates, issues, etc., we can check this out:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NCYjsm3xKb79z19Gx7PWt5Zs9lkLiTqglHBHYs9mlX8/edit

3.      FL:  Broward County: Broward is offering voters a free bus ride to the polls Saturday, Nov. 3. (But you don’t have to be a voter or going to the polls to take advantage of the deal.) Broward’s free rides aren’t being offered on Election Day, Nov. 6, because most polls wouldn’t be on bus routes. We can read more at Sun-Sentinel. If we are Broward residents who have not yet voted and need public transportation, let's make a plan to vote on Saturday. Let's make sure that other Broward voters we know are aware of this opportunity to get to the polls.

Other Actions

1.       It's time for those of us who buy our own health insurance to start shopping for policies for next year. Open enrollment for Affordable Care Act coverage started Nov. 1 across most of the country. The deadline to sign up for new insurance on Healthcare.gov is December 15. But some states, including California, have enrollment periods that extend into January. We can read about what to expect at NPR. We can review our options and sign up at Healthcare.gov. Let's make sure our friends and family know the deadlines and that it's time to sign up.

2.      From Sleeping Giants: Steve King [R-IA] is an open white nationalist. He has also referred to transgender people in the military as “not a civilization killer, but it is an indication of a civilization killer.” So today, we're reaching out to Scott Sapperstein, who heads up AT&T's LGBT partnerships to understand how electing a committed bigot Steve King fits into AT&T's company values. *If you're an AT&T customer, please mention this in your message!* (https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/pressure-mounts-for-corporations-to-break-with-steve-king). Contact: Scott Sapperstein, Assistant Vice President Public Affairs at AT&T: scott.sapperstein@att.com  An email template can be found at the Sleeping Giants Facebook page:   

https://www.facebook.com/1799342366975071/posts/2164999253742712/

3.      There’s lots of propaganda and real (not Trump-fake) fake news out there, whose purpose appears to be making money and/or dividing our society. NewsGuard is a browser-based tool that relies on journalism, not just algorithms, to detect fake news. Here’s a report about it: 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2018/10/31/standing-guard-against-fake-news/kq4UhhtSFcGCkfV0syXfFK/story.html To learn more and install it on our browsers, we can visit https://www.newsguardtech.com/

4.      In keeping with the Trump administration’s focus on profit over people, the world’s 7th largest pharmaceutical producer, Merck & Co. Inc., is ending a long-term agreement to supply the lifesaving rotavirus vaccine to children in West Africa;  claiming “supply constraints” as the reason, the company is nevertheless magically able to send the vaccine to China, where it will bring a much higher price:   https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/11/01/655844287/merck-pulls-out-of-agreement-to-supply-life-saving-vaccine-to-millions-of-kids  Merck needs to know what we think: CEO Ken Frazier,

 ken.frazier@merck.com or 908-423-1000 or 2000 Galloping Hill Rd, Kenilworth, NJ 07033.

5.      Help is needed for a fundraiser from Michigan Support Circle and Immigrant Families Together for a family that has been through so much:  https://www.gofundme.com/fredy-and-family There is also an Amazon registry for the family that we can help with: https://www.amazon.com/baby-reg/fredyandfamily-immigrantfamilyinneed-ift-msc-msc-ift-august-2019-alexandria/2WFSLQEDO4UG7

 Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to attend/organize

1.       From #VoteProChoice:  #VOTEPROCHOICE is co-hosting a #VoteBlueWave Twitterstorm in partnership with UniteBlue to share messages to get out the vote, sign up volunteers, support candidates, distribute the #VOTEPROCHOICE voter guide to bring that Blue Wave.  Join us to create buzz as we head into the Last Weekend!  #VoteBlueWave Tweetstorm:  Friday, 11/2 from 12:30-1:30pm ET. We can get the Toolkit + Graphics HERE.  This folder contains shareable images and posts — also please share your own GOTV content using the hashtag #VoteBlueWave during this hour. Please share some voter guide posts — the days leading up to the election are the most critical time to use it.

2.      January 19, 2019 is the date of the third Women’s March with the main event to be held in Washington, D.C. with sister marches all over the country.  Let’s find more information here:  https://www.womensmarch.com/2019

States

Find elected state officials: https://openstates.org/

Reading/Watching

1.       Here’s a thought experiment worth contemplating from FiveThirtyEight: 

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-if-only-men-voted-only-women-only-nonwhite-voters

2.      Humanity has wiped out 60% of animal populations since 1970, report finds - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/30/humanity-wiped-out-animals-since-1970-major-report-finds

3.      Fox News Has Done More to Incite Domestic Political Violence Than Donald Trump - https://theintercept.com/2018/10/30/fox-news-has-done-more-to-incite-domestic-political-violence-than-donald-trump/