9/5/19
NATIONAL
ISSUES
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(Including Emails & Twitter)
Fax
legislators for free:
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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CORPORATE MOVEMENT ON
GUN RESTRICTIONS.: Walmart and Kroger
ask that no customers have open carry guns when they shop. Walmart announced it
will stop “selling ammunition for handguns and some assault-style rifles in all
its stores across the United States and called for action on gun safety after a
string of mass shootings, including at Walmart stores in Texas and
Mississippi.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-walmart-guns/walmart-halts-ammunition-sales-for-assault-style-rifles-kroger-calls-for-gun-safety-idUSKCN1VO26X Dick’s Sporting Goods removed guns from
its store in March of 2019 and sales have skyrocketed.
https://www.inquirer.com/business/dicks-sporting-goods-earnings-up-reducing-gun-sales-20190822.html Let’s
support stores that are taking the actions that Mitch and the Senate refuse to
do. Along with continuing to pressure other stores to follow suit, let’s also continue
to pressure our MOCs to proceed with sensible gun laws.
HELP HURRICANE DORIAN
SURVIVORS IN THE BAHAMAS: People in the Bahamas have been hit hard by
Hurricane Dorian (https://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article234672567.html),
but we can help them start to recover. As soon as it’s safe, there are several
organizations ready to go there and start doing the work. We can read
this article and find out more about supplies needed, volunteers, especially
with medical skills, wanted and donations accepted to help the Dorian Survivors
in the Bahamas: https://www.local10.com/weather/hurricane/heres-how-to-donate-help-bahamas-recover-from-dorian
PLANT TREES TO HELP COMBAT
CLIMATE CHANGE: “Scientists say planting a trillion trees
globally could be the single most effective way to fight climate
change.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/planting-a-trillion-trees-could-be-the-most-effective-solution-to-climate-change/
Let’s join Empower and Help in
their #PlantATree #SaveATree project:
https://empowerandhelp.com/plantatree/
$3.6 BILLION FROM
MILITARY TO WALL: “The Trump
administration has started the arduous process of canceling $3.6 billion in
military construction projects to fund its plans to build a wall along the
U.S.-Mexico border.” That diversion will
mean a loss of funding for West Point, for a Cyber Operations Facility, for a
Navy Ships Maintenance Facility, for money to replace hazardous materials
warehouses—and much more: https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/757262799/trump-administration-diverts-3-6-billion-from-military-projects-to-border-wall This is money that Congress appropriated to
military construction. Whatever we think
of Trump’s original commitment to military spending, we must object to this use
of our taxpayer dollars to fund a vanity project—and one he’s afraid to enter
the 2020 election without. Let’s object to the White House and to Defense
Secretary Mark Esper, who in agreeing to Trump’s plan cites the “national
emergency” Trump declared in February requiring the use of armed forces on the
southwest border: 1000 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC 20301-1000 or
(703) 697-1776. Let’s also ask our MoCs which of those construction
projects were not really needed and why they funded them if they are not. Let’s ask what they are going to do about
this misuse of federal funds.
GUN REGULATION/MENTAL HEALTH: In a purported effort to curb gun violence, the
Trump administration is considering a proposal to create a new government
agency which would monitor people with mental illness and attempt to predict
when violent behavior may occur (https://wapo.st/2khFrU6, https://bit.ly/2ksKaSS). The
Health Advanced Research Projects Agency (HARPA) would use data collected from
devices such as Fitbits, Apple Watches, Amazon Echo, and Google Home, as well
as some data from healthcare providers, to identify what they deem as risk
factors. The proposal is being led by Bob Wright, co-founder of Autism Speaks which
has been widely criticized by autistic and disability
communities. In addition to the concerns over privacy, advocates
point out that mental illness has been used in the past to target
communities of color, women, members of the LGBTQ community, and the disability
community. Let's contact our MoC and tell them people with mental
health issues are being used as scapegoats, that we don't buy it, and that we
want real gun reform now. We can also specifically speak out against the HARPA
proposal as a gross violation of privacy and as a danger to marginalized communities.
KEEP THE IMMIGRANT MEDICAL DEFERRAL PROGRAM: After a huge public
outcry when immigrants here for life-saving medical care were threatened with
deportation, the administration announced that it would continue to process
renewal requests for the time being. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/02/us/trump-immigration-deferred-action.html
and https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/459649-trump-administration-walks-back-policy-deporting-migrants-who-receive.
However, this hardly amounts to a guarantee that the program will remain. Let’s
thank the White House and The United States Citizenship and Immigration
Services (1-800-375-5283), but let’s also tell them and our MoCs that we want
this program to remain intact to make sure that people like Maria Bueso, for whom deportation would mean
death, can have continue to have access treatments that will save their lives.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TACKLES DISINFORMATION: “Fake news and social
media posts are such a threat to U.S. security that the Defense
Department is launching a project to repel “large-scale, automated
disinformation attacks,” as the top Republican in Congress blocks efforts to
protect the integrity of elections.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-08-31/u-s-unleashes-military-to-fight-fake-news-disinformation Let’s tell our senators that it would be
much more efficient for them to pass the Election Security Act of 2019 (S. 1540)
because we think our election infrastructure is worth protecting.
CALL OUT ANTI-LGBTQ LEGISLATORS: 50 Senators and congresspeople signed onto a
brief that the Trump administration submitted to the Supreme Court arguing that
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should not cover sexual orientation and gender
identity. https://www.out.com/politics/2019/8/29/these-48-lawmakers-want-legalize-lgbtq-discrimination?.
Let’s show our displeasure by contacting these legislators, publicizing their
actions to their constituents, and telling them we are donating money or
volunteering for candidates who oppose them.
OVERSEAS VOTERS AT RISK: 4.3 million Americans across 170 countries,
including military personnel, are eligible to vote absentee. If the US
withdraws from the international postal union as planned in October, that means
those voters won't be able to use regular mail to send ballots and will have to
rely on more expensive courier services. https://www.naco.org/blog/us-withdrawal-international-postal-union-creates-uncertainty-county-election-administrators This
seems like it could drastically suppress the overseas vote in 2020. Let's
call our elected officials to make them aware of this consequence!
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT: MIGRATION IS BEAUTIFUL: San Francisco Bay Area youth activists are
creating 15,000 butterflies to raise awareness of the 15,000 children in
detention centers. http://www.ktvu.com/news/ktvu-local-news/calif-girls-launch-creation-of-15-000-butterflies-to-represent-migrant-children-in-us-detention
Now, kids across the world are making butterflies – from Zimbabwe to
California, and from Brazil to Oregon! Founding
partners are the Alphabet
Rockers, Destiny
Arts Center, CultureStrike, and
the newest partner is Amnesty
International. Let’s help the children in our lives join in this
endeavor. make and display butterflies
and share pictures on social media with #butterflyeffectmigration. Learn more
on their website: https://butterflyeffectmigration.org/
GET EDUCATED: From How the US
Government Works,
https://www.edx.org/course/how-the-us-government-works-how-to-get-involved,
to Activism and Citizen Journalism through Media, https://www.edx.org/course/activism-and-citizen-journalism-through-media ,
to Justice, Mercy, and Mass Incarceration,
https://www.coursera.org/learn/massincarceration ,
and more, excellent online courses that can help us be better citizens are
available from great universities and great professors entirely for FREE. Let’s
browse the course offerings of EdX
https://www.edx.org/ and
Coursera https://www.coursera.org/ and
enroll in something interesting!
REPORT CANDIDATES WHO ENABLE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN: The Project is led by the team that successfully
recalled Judge Aaron Persky, who sentenced Stanford swimmer Brock
Turner to just 6 months in county jail for sexually assaulting an
unconscious woman behind a dumpster at a fraternity party. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chanel-miller-reads-her-victim-impact-statement-brock-turner-stanford-assault-60-minutes-2019-09-04/ "It's time to end a culture that
protects the careers of powerful men who abuse women or other survivors and put
this issue before the voters. We are going to put rape culture on the
ballot across the country," says Michele Dauber, who led the Recall
Persky campaign and is the Chair of the Board of Enough is Enough Voter
Project. If we know of any candidates we think promote or enable, or turn a
blind eye towards violence against women, we can submit their names here: enoughisenoughvoter.org/report/
HELP INVESTIGATE FAMILY SEPARATION AT THE BORDER: From one of our own: Want to help address treatment of asylum
seekers at the border? The Center for Public Integrity is asking for help
sorting through complaint documents released by Homeland Security and logging
specific details. The material is online. You can do this for as brief or
extended a period as you want. We can find more information here: https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2019/aug/27/help-investigate-family-separation/
NRA SURVEY: Let’s let the NRA
know how we feel: https://membersurvey.nra.org/2ASurvey/Survey1
ELECTION/VOTING
SEPTEMBER ELECTIONS:
September is full of elections. Let’s check out when and where: https://politicalcharge.org/2019/09/04/elections-in-september-2019/
NC: VOTE
EARLY: Due to Hurricane Dorian,
voting may well be compromised on election day.
https://patch.com/north-carolina/charlotte/early-voting-urged-nc-special-elections-hurricane-advances Let’s get out and VOTE and stay safe!
VIRGINIA,
VIRGINIA, VIRGINIA. FLIP IT BLUE NOV 5, 2019 & END REPUBLICAN
GERRYMANDERING FOR A DECADE. The
entire Virginia Legislature is up for election on November 5, 2019. Republicans
now hold slim majorities in the State Senate and House of Delegates. The
governor is a Democrat. If both houses flip Blue, Democrats will control the
congressional redistricting process and end extreme Republican gerrymandering
in this important state for a decade. Here are ways that we can help:
- Send get-out-the-vote postcards to
Democratic voters in VA through Postcards for Virginia, https://postcards4va.com/
- Donate and/or volunteer with Swing
Left, https://swingleft.org/virginia
- Support VA candidates through Sister District
Project, https://sisterdistrict.com/candidates/
- Get involved with the Democratic Party
of Virginia, https://vademocrats.org/
This is the home
stretch. What an achievement it would be to flip VA Blue!
CLIMATE
STRIKE—REGISTER VOTERS: Students
and adult allies in the US and around the world are joining in a global climate
strike on Sept 20, 2019. This is a golden opportunity to register young people
to vote and help to build a pro-environment electorate that can’t be ignored by
politicians. Let’s check this list to find a Climate Strike near us, https://strikewithus.org/ and https://globalclimatestrike.net/usa/ ,
and let’s be in touch with the organizers with an offer to register voters at
their event. Here are some tips for organizing a voter registration
drive from the League of Women Voters:
https://www.lwv.org/blog/planning-voter-registration-drive The
Environmental Voters Project has some good resources, too: https://www.environmentalvoter.org/
CANDIDATE
TRAINING IN OHIO AND MICHIGAN: The Progressive Change Campaign Committee
(PCCC) is taking our National Candidate Training on the road to 10
states. The next training in Columbus Ohio is coming up fast and they still
have spaces left! 100 local, state, and federal candidates will converge
in Ohio on October 19- 20. In addition to Columbus, they will be in Detroit for
two-days of cutting-edge training on November 16 -17. These trainings will cover the A to Zs of
running for office There will be an opportunity to take professional
headshots, have campaign logos designed, and build a website with their
experts. There is an application process and the training is free for those
chosen. We can find out more about
PCCC’s candidates training and then apply if we want to here: https://www.nationalcandidatetraining.com/
ELECTION SECURITY: “Federal, state and local authorities are
trying to improve the security of the nation's voting systems before that
happens. One way they're doing that is by purchasing more machines that produce
paper ballots, which can be used to verify results in the event of a
cyberattack on electronic systems. The
Brennan Center for Justice estimates that nearly 90 percent of Americans will
cast their ballots on paper-based systems in 2020, compared with 80 percent in
2016. That still means about 16 million
voters will
use paperless machines.” https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/756007555/states-upgrade-election-equipment-wary-of-a-race-without-a-finish-line Let’s contact our State Secretaries of
State and/or Boards of Elections (for States where that is who handles
elections) and ask about the equipment our state will be using: https://www.usa.gov/election-office
STATE/LOCAL
MA--IMMIGRANT DRIVERS’ LICENSE BILL: The State Legislature Transportation
Committee held a hearing yesterday on S. 2061, The
Work and Family Mobility Act, which would allow undocumented immigrants to
obtain a drivers’ license. https://www.wbur.org/news/2019/01/23/undocumented-immigrants-drivers-licenses-bill.
This legislation is seen by the immigrant community as crucial, since the road
to deportation often begins with a traffic stop and subsequent arrest for
driving without a license. It would also make the roads safer by diminishing
the number of unlicensed drivers. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia already have
similar legislation that allows undocumented immigrants to obtain licenses.
Let’s follow up on the hearing by asking our state representative and the people
on the Transportation Committee to support this bill and move it to
the floor for a vote.
MA: DISABILITY RIGHTS: In October of 2018, the FDA announced in its Unified Agenda that it would be implementing
a final ban on electrical stimulation devices (ESDs) in the upcoming year. It
has been almost a year since the announcement, and the ban has still not been
issued. Meanwhile, disabled individuals at the Judge Rotenberg Center continue to be tortured by these shock devices.
Because of the lack of movement at the federal and state levels, Boston
resident Daniel Farnkoff is working to get a proposal on the Massachusetts
ballot in November 2020; he will need to get approximately 80,000 signatures in
order to get the question on the ballot (https://bit.ly/2lvZL4m). Let's read through the
initiative here, then keep our eyes out for the petitions. We can also
contact our state legislators and ask them to introduce legislation that would
ban electrical stimulation devices used to treat aggressive or self-injurious
behavior.
RALLIES/GATHERINGS/TRAININGS
GLOBAL CLIMATE
STRIKE: “On September 20,
three days before the UN Climate Summit in NYC, young people and adults will
strike all across the US and world to demand transformative action be taken to
address the climate crisis. Millions of us will take the streets to demand a
right to a future, and we’re inviting you to #strikewithus
Find a strike near
you to attend on September 20 on the map . . . If you don’t see an event in your area,
organize one! We’ll provide everything you need to get started in planning
something in your community, so no experience is necessary.” Let’s check out more here: https://strikewithus.org/ (scroll down page to see map of locations) If we are outside the U.S., let’s check out
this site for opportunities: https://globalclimatestrike.net/
WE THE PEOPLE MARCH: Needless to say,
a lot has transpired during the two weeks of Rogan’s List hiatus. Let’s be
inspired by our siblings in the UK, Hong Kong, and Russia who have taken to the
streets in support of democracy. The We The People March (organized by Amy
Siskind of The List) is
Saturday, September 21 in Washington DC. The March is looking for
volunteers to house people coming from other states to DC, as well as leaders
to put together marches in cities across the country. Check out the website to
find local marches or buses headed to DC. If you can, make a donation to help
the marchers: https://wethepeoplemarch.org
READING/WATCHING
Read the demands
from the upcoming climate strike - https://www.fastcompany.com/90398587/read-the-demands-from-the-upcoming-climate-strike
What an American
Terrorist Looks Like - https://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/el-paso-shooting-white-supremacy-misogyny-20190813
David Byrne
Curates a Playlist of Great Protest Songs Written Over the Past 60 Years:
Stream Them Online - http://www.openculture.com/2018/12/david-byrne-curates-a-playlist-of-great-protest-songs-written-over-the-past-60-years.html
"Hang on,
Ruthie, Hang On" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ8JQGpsi4A&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR25zHZtzSfMzfduy3zSPmeMjHQ6Lij2yLgpS8sONtd7U8BX0adA4IcVzGc
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We can stay up to date
on Congress by checking out their schedules. a) The House publishes a
weekly schedule at The Weekly Leader (published and dated Friday)
as well as daily schedules at The Daily Leader. b) The Senate updates
their schedule daily at the Senate Floor Schedule
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