Rogan's List

12/10/18 

Contact Federal Government Officials

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

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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

1.    This week in Congress:  The House will consider twenty-six (26) bills and resolutions this week with eleven (11) votes scheduled for Monday.  Let's review the Majority Leader's Schedule so we know what's coming.  On Monday, the Senate will resume consideration of the nomination of Justin Muzinich to be Deputy Secretary of the Treasury. Muzinich has defended IRS guidance reducing donor disclosure saying that the guidance was designed to make tax administration more efficient. (More at The Hill.) We can check the Senate calendar daily for updates on what's is coming the next day.

2.   Today is the last day to make public comment on the “public charge” rule proposed by the Trump administration that would severely restrict eligibility for immigration to the US and deny green cards and visas to legal immigrants already here. Applicants who are low income or with limited education, could be turned down because they are eligible for public benefits, even if they don’t apply for them. These stringent requirements could affect over 11 million applicants, disproportionately targeting families, the poor and people with disabilities. Our comments can be cited in future legal challenges and so can really help. We can click here for more information from Suit Up Maine, including an analysis of this situation, talking points to use in our comments and a link to submit our comments:  https://www.suitupmaine.org/public-charge-rule/  If we prefer, we can submit our comments directly here:  https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=USCIS-2010-0012-0001

3.   From one of our own:  For other upcoming deadlines for public comments, check here:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yFTfDMRCmW1QApxtSgSG9xkC6cPmAz31/view  

4.   A lot of news broke on Friday from the SDNY and Mueller investigations into all things Trump/election/Russia:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/08/donald-trump-mueller-investigation-cohen-manafort   Let’s take a moment to let President Trump know that we expect his resignation now (and we can think of those 50,000 telegrams reaching Nixon back in the day): https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/   or switchboard: 202-456-1111 or in writing: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20500

5.   Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen, which the U.S. is aiding through arms sales, has left 18 million people on the brink of starvation. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34011187. Last week the Senate voted to advance a resolution (S.J.Res.54)  condemning Saudi Arabia for its role in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which, if passed, would cut off military aid. The resolution will come up again for another vote, and there is some movement in Congress to water this down to simply condemn the Saudi crown prince for his alleged role in Khashoggi’s murder, without addressing the devastating impact of Saudi Arabia’s war against Yeminite civilians. https://thehill.com/…/420041-focus-on-yemen-not-the-saudi-c….Let’s make sure to tell our MoCs that we want them to stop aiding Saudi Arabia in perpetuating this humanitarian crisis.

6.   Last week, Congresswomen-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY, Ayana Priestly (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) raised concerns that the orientation for new Congress members included presentations from 4 corporate leaders and had no presence from labor or community activists. https://www.businessinsider.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-and-house-freshmen-are-protesting-orientation-harvard-2018-12. In protest, they left the orientation and rallied outside for single-payer healthcare, gun control, and laws to fight climate change. Let’s thank these three Congresswomen for speaking up for progressive values and against the corporate bias in our governmental system. (Ocasio-Cortez: Facebook, Twitter: @Ocasio 2018; Pressley: Facebook, Twitter: @AyannaPressley; Tlaib: Facebook, Twitter: @RashidaTlaib) Let’s also contact the sponsors of this orientation, the Harvard Institute of Politics, the American Enterprise Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies and ask them to make sure the next orientation for new members of Congress includes perspectives from all the constituents these people serve, not just from corporations and entrenched government officials.

7.   Trump has nominated William Barr to be the new Attorney General.  He now must go through the Senate confirmation process.  As with others, there are concerns about this nominee.   https://www.npr.org/2018/12/07/674243195/trump-says-hell-nominate-william-barr-to-return-as-attorney-general  ACLU Legal Director David Cole has released a statement about attorney general nominee William Barr saying this nomination ought to raise alarm bells across the country. Barr is a longstanding advocate of expansive executive power. We can read Cole's full statement here. Let's tell our senators that we oppose Barr for attorney general. 

8.  “The Trump administration on Thursday detailed its plan to open nine million acres to drilling and mining by stripping away protections for the sage grouse, an imperiled ground-nesting bird that oil companies have long considered an obstacle to some of the richest deposits in the American West.  In one stroke, the action would open more land to drilling than any other step the administration has taken, environmental policy experts said. It drew immediate criticism from environmentalists while energy-industry representatives praised the move, saying that the earlier policy represented an overreach of federal authority. With this single action, the administration is saying: This landscape doesn’t matter. This species doesn’t matter. Oil and gas matter.”  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/06/climate/trump-sage-grouse-oil.html   We don’t need this oil, just like we don’t need tons of coal anymore. Green Energy is our future for good climate and jobs. Tell trump to stop giving his oil friends our natural resources and destroying our native species.  Let’s tell our MoCs, too. 

9.   After several media cycles of crying wolf, Trump announced that Chief of Staff General John Kelly will be leaving The White House at the end of the year: 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-kelly/trump-says-kelly-will-leave-chief-of-staff-job-at-end-of-year-idUSKBN1O70R1  Though horridly damaging in his strong hand in the family separations, General Kelly was purportedly one of the last “adults in the room” with Trump. Let’s write to General Kelly to say that if he considers himself a patriot, his job now is to speak the truth about what is taking place within the White House: General John Kelly, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington DC 20500

10. President Trump has nominated former Fox & Friends host (and recent Dept of State spokeswoman) Heather Nauert to be the US Ambassador to the UN. And no, that is not a long series of typos:  https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/420297-trump-chooses-loyalty-over-experience-with-un-nomination-says-progressive   Let’s let our Senators know that both our nation and the United Nations are deserving of a respectable and knowledgeable nomination to this role - not a Fox & Friends host.

11.  “This year has been by far the worst on record for gun violence in schools, the advocacy group Sandy Hook Promise said, citing research by the US Naval Postgraduate School (NPS).  Newly empowered Democrats ramp up calls for stronger gun control.  The NPS Center for Homeland Defense and Security counted 94 school shooting incidents in 2018, a near 60% increase on the previous high, 59, an unwanted record set in 2006.  

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/09/sandy-hook-promise-gun-violence-school-shooting-report-2018.Let’s encourage our Congress members to make sensible guns laws one of our biggest priorities in 2019.  Call, tweet or email your representative.  

12. The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has contacted the Departments of State, Labor, Energy, Transportation, Interior and Justice, requesting that they send civilian officers to enforce border security (https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/30/kirstjen-nielsen-border-police-1035554). Unlike active military troops, these officers would be able to conduct searches and make arrests. This extraordinary move does nothing to address the needs of asylum seekers and refugees at the border, and wastes resources. Let's contact our MoC and tell them that we do not want to see any more resources being directed towards border enforcement, rather we want them to use their power to ensure that requests for asylum are being processed efficiently, and that asylum seekers and refugees are treated humanely.

13. This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxozFYF4O08  from the Economic Policy Institute explains how the “joint employment standard” helps to protect workers and strengthen collective bargaining. It also shows how the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans are trying to eliminate the standard to protect corporations at the expense of workers. Let’s tell our MoCs that we want hearings held on the attempts of the National Labor Relations Board and the Department of Labor to weaken joint employment standards, and legislation passed that ensures strong joint employment standards to protect workers.

14. It is almost hard to believe, but the 115^th Congress allowed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) lapse.  http://fortune.com/2018/12/03/violence-against-women-law-lapses-budget-extension/  The GOP-led Congress has shown us again their disdain for protecting the marginalized. Let’s keep this near the top of what we will be asking the 116^th Congress to do in January. 

Election/Voting

Other Actions

1.    From one of our own:  Hello online community: I have a favor to ask. I know we are all very busy contacting a lot of people about a lot of topics. If you have the bandwidth left, I have another. Please contact YouTube and tell them that racist propaganda from PragerU – which is not a university at all -   (https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/06/07/prageru%E2%80%99s-influence) (doesn't belong in their ad feeds. I saw one of these ads today at a refugee's house while her toddler-age children were watching a children's show about how to say animals and colors. The fact that it was during a children's show is even more troubling. Thank you.  YouTube Customer Service:  650-253-0000 or tweet @youtube  or  https://www.youtube.com/t/contact_us

2.   Experts in authoritarianism advise us to keep a list of things subtly changing around us, so we’ll remember.  Amy Siskind is keeping that list for us.  Amy writes, "This week featured the normalcy and tranquility of the funeral of George H.W. Bush, juxtaposed with bombshells of damning information on Trump coming from the Mueller probe and other investigations.” Let’s review Amy Siskind's list week 108.

3.   From Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC):  “BOAs (Basic Ordering Agreements) are now the only way local law enforcement helps ICE find and deport immigrants. Community members can use the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) to uncover the extent of their county’s collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).”  Let’s learn more and see if our county is collaborating with ICE:  https://www.splcenter.org/your-county-collaborating-ice

4.   ACA open enrollment, for health insurance for 2019, stops at the end of this week.  Enrollment is lagging from last year, but there is still time.  Consumer Reports give us some good advice on how to find the best plan for us:  https://www.consumerreports.org/health-insurance/find-best-aca-insurance-plan-before-open-enrollment-ends/  Let’s help get the word out!

5.   Americans of Conscience offers us options for holiday giving that align with the goals of the Americans of Conscience Checklist:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V78GCE9NhqgEiOkOxJAGiirAJH0Ai_w-qnKxDzkEJco/edit  Let’s see how we can help.

State Actions

1.    CO: Members of Atlantis ADAPT have been consistently showing up to confront Senator Cory Gardner about his lack of support for the Disability Integration Act (S. 910/H.R. 2472). This legislation would ensure that people who qualify for long-term support services get the help that they need through community-based services and programs, rather than having to resort to institutionalization, yet Senator Gardner remains the only Colorado member of U.S. Congress who refuses to cosponsor and support the bill. Let's join ADAPT in asking Senator Gardner to support the rights of people with disabilities: 354 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Phone: (202) 224-5941 Fax: (202) 224-6524

2.   MI: After public outcry regarding plans to construct a new pipeline through the Great Lakes under the Mackinac Bridge Authority, Michigan senators revised the previously proposed legislation, putting construction, operation, and management of a new tunnel under the control of a so-called Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority (https://bit.ly/2zOSRvj). The Michigan Senate has already passed the revised bill (SB 1197), and will be heading to the House. Let's read more about what the bill will do at Oil & Water Don't Mix, then let's contact our representatives in the House and ask them to oppose this bill. We can also contact the House Government Operations Committee Chair Lee Chatfield and ask him to oppose this legislation: Phone: 517-373-2629 Email: LeeChatfield@house.mi.gov

3.   MI:  Michigan, like Wisconsin, is experiencing a power grab from the outgoing GOP with designs to limit or undo items MI voters just approved and to reduce the abilities for the incoming leadership to do its job.  https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/12/04/michigan-legislature-bills-lame-duck-session/2162560002/  On Wednesday, in Lansing, we are asked to join in the rally “at the Capitol building on Wednesday, December 12th from 12-4 p.m. to resist the attacks on our rights, health, and democracy!”  We can sign up here for more information:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeqV8rJybetxpD90_8t2WxVNxEjSByIR60XhwM_5xok5ECiWQ/viewform We can also contact Governor Snyder, tell him where we live in MI, and ask him to veto the lame duck bills:  https://www.michigan.gov/snyder/0,4668,7-277--267869--,00.html

Marches/events/webinars/Tweetstorms to attend/organize

1.    From Your Weekly Pep Talk & Action List:  The folks at Resistance Labs are already looking toward 2019… and they’re looking for people to join them in three different webinars next week to help them brainstorm! The first relates to uncontested races; the second relates to community and community engagement; and the third asks what “big ideas” we haven’t tried yet but should.  This is a great opportunity to join free events that are sure to be interesting – and might be a place for you to kick around some ideas and learn about some that others are trying. Go to these links to sign up:  A) December 11 - Contest every race: 

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lBfz1k-XTaeH0dDnVg6jiw  Community. B)  December 12 - workshop: 

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_o5ACI9yPSOq_tJzLMNNfSA, and C)  December 13 - Big ideas:

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_E3jULnqUTN-lHJqt96hczg

2.  From the Newton Foundation:  Friday, December 14, 2018 marks the 6-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook tragedy. On that day, there will be nationwide vigils and events to #EndGunViolence.  Let’s find a vigil or event at this link: https://www.newtownfoundation.org/nationwide-vigils/  We can also use the link to register to host a vigil or an event in our town or city and click on the following links to download the 2018 National Vigil Toolkit and customizable posters to facilitate your planning and to coordinate our collective gun violence prevention message. 

3.   Whether we align ourselves with the Women’s March, or March On, or Women’s March Alliance, or WoMen for All, or with no group at all, we have an opportunity to make history and march once again on January 19, 2019.  Check with your favorite organization or local folks to help or to find out what is happening.

Reading/Watching

1.    A quick way to catch up on the recent bombshells from Mueller - https://politicalcharge.org/2018/12/09/a-quick-way-to-catch-up-on-the-recent-bombshells-from-mueller/

2.   Report: Facts About Migrants Don't Always Match What The Headlines Say - https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/12/06/671879631/report-facts-about-migrants-dont-always-match-what-the-headlines-say

3.   North Carolina’s Election Fiasco Is About Voter Suppression, Not Voter Fraud - https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/north-carolinas-election-fiasco-about-voter-suppression-not-voter-fraud