11/12/19
Rogan’s List is starting its
fourth year. Thank you to those who have
been with us from the beginning as well as to those who have found us along the
way. We are happy knowing that we help make
issues understandable and find ways for all of us to be part of the change we
want to see.
(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
|
VOTE NO ON
STEVEN MENASHI’S NOMINATION: While he squeaked through the committee,
Menashi is now on to a full-Senate vote for his confirmation for the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. His
nomination is a threat to the civil rights of women, POC, students,
the LGBTQ community, immigrants, and the environment. https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/11/07/Controversial-judge-nominee-narrowly-survives-Senate-committee-vote/7261573148293/ Even the NAACP has asked for his withdrawal. https://www.naacp.org/latest/naacp-calls-withdrawal-steven-menashi-nomination/ Let’s make sure our senators know that this
man’s words and actions do not stand for the country we know and love and that
we want them to vote NO. [H/T]
CONTACT
SENATORS TO SUPPORT IMPEACHMENT, THEN SPREAD THE WORD ON TWITTER: Publicly broadcasted impeachment hearings start
this week. https://politicalcharge.org/2019/11/10/sunday-reading-get-ready-for-impeachment-hearings/
As the nation learns how Donald Trump extorted the Ukrainian president to
promote a false theory about his political rival, it is time to pressure
Senators to find him guilty and remove him from office. All we need are all of
the Democratic and 20 of the Republican senators to do the right thing.
Privately, support for Trump is weakening, so let’s make it easy for them to
take a stand. When we click here,
then click on “show this thread”, we can find messages for all fifty states,
with a simple script and contact info for both Senators: https://twitter.com/WomanResistorNC/status/1193298907998146560 We can use this information to tell our own
Senators to impeach Trump, then spread the word by re-tweeting as many
states as we like with just a few clicks.
PBS AND THE
IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS: Reputable journalist Bill Moyers and “his
longtime collaborator Michael Winship took out a
full-page ad in The New York Times on Friday urging PBS to
re-broadcast the hearings in prime time after airing them live during the day
when many Americans are at work.” Moyers
said, "This is a moment in American history where the arc of justice will
either be bent forward or it will be bent backward," the 85-year-old
added. "So everyone who wants to see it should have the chance to see the
whole story." https://thehill.com/homenews/media/469877-former-pbs-journalist-moyers-urges-networks-to-air-impeachment-hearings-in We, too, want everyone to be able to see
these historic hearings. Let’s join
Bill Moyers in contacting our PBS stations and asking for a primetime
re-broadcast: https://help.pbs.org/support/tickets/new
PROPOSED EXHORBITANT
FEES ON IMMIGRATION: On
Thursday, November 14th, the Federal Register will publish—and open for 30 days
of public comment—a proposed Trump rule
that will impose processing fees for asylum seekers, as well as steep increases
in fees for work permits, citizenship applications, young undocumented
immigrants hoping to renew protections from deportation, and for crime victims
who seek to stay in the country through their assistance to law enforcement and
green card status. They are also proposing to eliminate fee waivers for
financial hardships. and https://www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/us/politics/immigration-fees-trump.amp.html
and : https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-seeks-to-hike-fees-for-immigration-applications-and-impose-first-ever-asylum-charge/ Were this rule to pass, the US would for the
first time join only three other nations worldwide—Iran, Fiji, and
Australia—that demand that asylum-seekers fleeing persecution pay a fee for the
government to process their applications.
It is imperative that we raise our voices to oppose this rule—yet
another effort to discourage poor people especially from applying for
immigration relief—before the comment period ends on December 14th. Let’s also ask our MoCs if there’s anything
that can be done from the legislative side.
CRUCIAL
IMMIGRATION DATA HAS GONE MISSING: The
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a non-partisan, non-profit data
clearing house has reported that the Executive Office for Immigration Review
(EOIR) is deleting thousands of records of data from court cases that implicate
Trump’s immigration policies. https://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/580/.
While the EOIR is insisting that their records are complete and up to date, The
American Immigration Council is raising a concern that their faulty
recordkeeping is a deliberate violation of the Freedom of Information Act. immigrationimpact.com/2019/11/05/agency-deleting-records-trumps-immigration-policies/.
Let’s ask our MoCs to look into this issue.
NEW VERSION
OF THE AD FONTES MEDIA BIAS CHART AVAILABLE: “We received quite a few requests to make the static version a little
friendlier for downloading, zooming in, and printing, Specifically, we got quite a bit of feedback
that though people appreciate the precision and data on the 5.0 interactive
version of the chart, the overlapping logos on the static version made it
harder to share and use in classrooms and presentations. Here’s our solution! https://www.adfontesmedia.com/static-mbc/ Let’s keep this close by and use it to
make sure we are sharing quality new sources.
VOTING
RIGHTS ACT: Congress is,
we hope, soon to consider the Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 4).
This bill would restore the federal protections against voter discrimination
that were lost when the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013; it
would also require states with a history of voter suppression to pass an
independent, federal review before changing their voting rules. https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/house-to-take-up-cr-export-import-bank-and-voting-rights-legislation-in-november
Let’s make sure our MoCs know that we expect bipartisan support for this
important piece of legislation and that we expect a Senate vote, despite Mitch
McConnell.
FIND OUT
WHERE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES STAND ON IMMIGRATION: The Washington Post has put out a comprehensive
list of questions on immigration issues and asked all the 2020 democratic
candidates to respond. While candidates agree on some basic principles, there
are key differences, including on the functions and funding of ICE and CBP, a
key Congressional issue that should be scrutinized during the next round of
budget appropriations. (Note: candidate Bernie Sanders recently called for a break up of ICE since this article
was written.) Let’s read this article in the Post carefully and if we
disagree with some of these candidates’ positions, let’s contact them and make
our voices heard. If they currently are MoCs, let’s ask them to sign on to the
strong community call led by Indivisible and hundreds of other community
organizations to Defund Hate. https://indivisible.org/resource/tell-your-representative-defund-hate.
STOP ASYLUM SEEKER FEES AND INCREASES IN CITIZENSHIP, WORK-
VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN ACT (VAWA): In
April, the House passed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (H.R. 1585). The Senate has been unable to pass the bill,
with republicans arguing against a provision which would preclude individuals
who have been convicted of misdemeanor stalking and/or domestic abuse crimes
from purchasing guns (https://bit.ly/2Ka90k2, https://bit.ly/2O4khU4). This
is a crucial sticking point in the bill, as, according to the National
Coalition Against Domestic Violence, "an abuser's access to firearms
increases the risk of femicide by at least 400%." Let's contact
our senators and tell them that we want to see VAWA passed as soon as possible,
and that we want it to include restrictions on firearm purchases for those who
have misdemeanor convictions of stalking and intimate partner violence.
COMMENTARY
BY HEATHER COX RICHARDSON: From one of our own: Friends, if
you want to read Heather Cox Richardson's cogent analyses, "Letters from
an American," of the day's national political news, she now has them up on
a website (you can also subscribe and get them via email). Her November 6 take
on what the Republican party's strategies indicate is particularly useful: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/ Let’s sign up!
RESIST BY
VACATIONING: "Save Our
Nation Vacation (SONV) is a group of Southern Vermont
community-members-turned-activists who are raising money by connecting
progressive property owners with like-minded folks looking for short-term
vacation housing. We’ve had two successful auctions thus far and our plan is to
have three more before the 2020 presidential elections. Our goal is to raise
$50,000 to support Sister
District Project to flip or hold strategic state legislative seats
BLUE and we are almost halfway there!" Bid on a vacation home, or
donate a stay at your own property to benefit sisterdistrict.com.
More details here:
RANKED
CHOICE VOTING: HOW IT WORKS.
Last week voters in New York City overwhelmingly (73%) approved a move to
ranked choice voting (RCV). Maine has adopted the system statewide.
Alaska, Hawaii, Kansas, and Wyoming plan to use ranked choice for voters in the
2020 Democratic primaries, and Nevada plans to use it for early voters in their
2020 Democratic caucus. Let's read more about ranked choice voting at TIME.
For a more in-depth assessment, including rank choice use in our own states, we
can check out the information at FairVote.org.
WEALTH TAX
FOR THE 1%: Had Elizabeth
Warren's proposed wealth tax been in force since 1982, the average wealth of
Forbes' 400 wealthiest Americans would have been $3.1 billion, instead of the
$7.2 billion is currently is. Would those 400 people have worked as hard
as they did to create jobs and economic opportunity for "only"
$3.1 billion? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/10/business/economy/warren-billionaires-wealth-tax.html
and https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/10/billionaires-warren-sanders-wealth-tax-bezos-dimon-cohen
If we think the answer to that is "yes," then let's tell our
MoCs that we support a tax that would curb dynastic wealth while providing
health care for all.
HELP FOR WORKING
PARENTS: We all are, have been, or know working
parents for whom childcare is a struggle.
https://www.parents.com/parenting/work/stay-home/childcare-and-working-parents-the-juggle-is-real/
The Family Friendly Schools Act (S. ?) “would award five-year grants of up to
$5 million to school districts to work with community partners to create
developmentally appropriate afterschool activities like academics, music or
athletic programs. These schools would also have free full-day programming on
days that schools are closed for parent-teacher conferences and other days that
are not federal holidays.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/elanagross/2019/11/08/how-senator-kamala-harris-bill-to-extend-the-school-day-would-help-working-parents/#65a8bef03e0f This bill would benefit so many parents
who are not able to afford such care.
Let’s tell our senators that this is a wonderful program that could be
helpful to so many of our citizens who are working parents.
POSTCARDING
READY TO GO: If we need an already-compiled list that we
can use with our postcarding group this week, we can find one here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DtIr4yhG_JmUgyy81Uhi02jXqXYp8QXu8sqkvUmV59s/edit?usp=sharing
ELECTION/VOTING
2020 ELECTIONS: If we are looking for 2020 Election information
or if we have some to share, we can check out Equal Vote Local’s BlueWave
Database 2020. We can click here to find information about candidates,
voting and more arranged by state. This editable document also allows us to add
our groups and any candidates running for office: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ir8YGs1F0Lfayl6T7XR7tklnYrEk4VcEzTkPumLVWAI We can also
find out more about Equal here at their website: https://www.equalvotelocal.com/
LOUISIANA RUNOFF FOR GOVERNOR: “They [Louisiana] had their primary
earlier in October, and the Democratic governor who is running for re-election,
John Bel-Edwards, secured just under the 50% he needed to win outright. So, he
now must win the runoff election, which is on Saturday, November 16.” Let’s follow the ideas here to see how we
can help: https://politicalcharge.org/2019/11/08/2019-elections-one-race-left-to-go/
REGISTER LIKELY PROGRESSIVE VOTERS BY MAIL—The key to winning the
White House, the Senate, and holding the House in 2020 is building an
electorate that favors progressive candidates. We have less than 12 months to
do so. Let’s get started today! We can sign up to send voter
registration forms to citizens in swing states at Vote Forward, https://votefwd.org.
HOW TO WIN IN 2020: REGISTER VOTERS IN SWING STATES—Campaigns win
elections by pulling voter rolls, identifying voters who will support their
candidate, and then nudging these voters to go to the polls. So, making sure
that millions of Democratic-leaning voters are registered to vote is key to
winning in 2020. This work starts now. Vote Forward,
Swing Left, and the Voter Participation Center have a program where we can mail
voter registration forms to likely Democratic voters in swing states. All we
need is a printer, paper, envelopes, and stamps. Let’s sign up
here: https://votefwd.org/ ,
and let’s each of us personally commit to sending ten letters a week between
now and the first of the year.
HOW TO WIN IN 2020: ENFRANCHISE NON-VOTERS—All politics is local.
Grassroots organizations really know their communities, and can engage their
neighbors so effectively, getting millennials, unmarried women, people of
color, poor people, and college students to register to vote and go to the
polls. To make a difference in the 2020 election, they are doing this
work now. They need resources now. Let’s
consider giving if we can to one or more of the following organizations. Even
$5.00 helps:
- Movement Voter
Project, https://movement.vote/ (supports
community organizing groups)
- Woke Vote, https://wokevote.us/ (trains
organizers and engages Black voters across the South)
- Environmental
Voter Project, https://www.environmentalvoter.org/ (is building
a pro-environment electorate)
HOW TO WIN IN 2020: ENFRANCHISE THE ANTI-NRA MAJORITY—Most Americans support
commonsense gun laws. But too many of them do not vote. Moms Demand Action
engages in the political process prospective voters who want to end gun
violence. Let’s get involved—we don’t have to be moms!
LET'S ENCOURAGE FLORIDA TO VOTE BY MAIL! Postcards To Voters
continues their efforts to encourage all Florida Democrats to vote by mail with
Palm Beach County (home of Mar-A-Lago and Boca Raton). Research shows that
voters who vote by mail do so at a higher percentage. Let's request 5
addresses today for this important swing state. (Last week,
in Rockville, Maryland's first Vote-by-Mail Election, voter turnout
doubled! More on this story at Bethesda Magazine.)
CA: AMPLIFY OUR GROUP’S MESSAGES THROUGH DEMCAST CA: For far too long the right wing has outmatched us
on social media, spreading misleading info and shaping perceptions. Now we have
a unified way to fight back with DemCast, bringing
people and groups together to spread the Progressive word throughout social
media. If we are part of any blue-leaning groups in CA who
would like our messages amplified, we can contact DemCast California
Content Captain Mindy Kirchner Schwartz. Her email is Mindy.demcastca@gmail.com ,
or we can DM her on FB or reach heron Twitter where she is @mindyanns .
out DemCastCA. We
can also check out DemCastCA at the Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/DemCastCA/ and
find out more about DemCast’s national vision and projects at their
website here.
MI: SUPPLEMENTAL SPENDING BILL: Senate Majority
Leader Mike Shirkey (R-) is refusing to pass the state budget unless Governor
Whitmer agrees to a law which would limit the state governor's ability to
perform line-item vetoes through the State Administrative Board (https://bit.ly/2CujDdk).
Meanwhile, programs are at risk of losing funding without an approved spending
bill. Let's contact our state senators and tell them that we do not
want the supplemental spending bill held hostage over a desire to limit the
governor's powers. Michigan Resistance has a call script we can use: "Hi,
I’m calling to urge Senator ___ to stop the pressure on Gov Whitmer about the
Admin board and sign the Supplemental Budget. Already, we are feeling the
effects of the reduced funding needed for our public safety, public schools and
health services. We need Mike Shirkey to work with the Governor and get the
funding for our critical programs restored. Thank you."
RALLIES/GATHERINGS/TRAININGS
HOME IS HERE MARCH FOR DACA AND TPS: “To draw national
attention to the current jeopardy both DACA and TPS are in, we are marching
from the Statue of Liberty (New York) to the Supreme Court (D.C) to defend DACA
and TPS. Join us for our Home is Here March, starting at the Statue
of Liberty on October 26 and ending in front of the Supreme Court on November
12. On November 12, when Supreme Court justices walk into the Court
to begin proceedings on DACA, they will see that the majority of people in this
country (83%) support undocumented immigrants and their families.” We can learn more about the march here: https://www.homeisheremarch.org/home
and, if we cannot join in, we can follow the progress here: https://www.homeisheremarch.org/news-updates
ELECTION SECURITY RALLIES: “Election
security experts are warning that too many states and localities have election
systems that are vulnerable to hacking and external actors. On Wednesday, November 13th, join
activists across the country as we gather outside of Senate offices to urge our
Senators to pass $600 million in election security funding and to include
accountability language to ensure the money is well-spent.” More info:
https://secureourvote.us/take-action/ Guide for hosting: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OXaQmIYBWYfb6_MFsyL3rWpB3IWojGyCcC6k8HRgcwA/edit
WEBINAR ON ENGAGING PEOPLE WHO DO NOT VOTE: The unique, nonpartisan, and scalable Right Question Institute’s Voter
Engagement Initiative offers an educational strategy designed to increase
voting rates for the long term. The free webinar is on Nov. 19 at 3pm EST. Let’s sign up to learn about their
innovative, simple, and powerful approach to engaging people who traditionally
don't vote. Register now: https://bit.ly/2NeNw7D (H/T)
CLIMATE STRIKES CONTINUE: From Future Coalition: On Nov 29 & Dec 6, we strike again! Youth
across the U.S. will lead a #ClimateStrike on
Nov 29 & Dec 6 to demand legislative action to combat the climate
crisis. Strike with us! Let’s find or host an event: https://strikewithus.org/
ATTEND A NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW RALLY: MoveOn is
sponsoring “No One is Above the Law Rallies on the night before the House votes
on Articles of Impeachment. We can sign up here to organize or attend an event in our
area.
READING/WATCHING
The
Impeachment Inquiry Is About More Than Donald Trump — It’s About Who We Are as
Americans - https://time.com/5720747/jon-meacham-trump-impeachment-inquiry/
3 ways
the Supreme Court could decide DACA’s fate - https://www.vox.com/2019/11/11/20954114/3-ways-supreme-court-daca-dreamers-trump
'Shadow
Network' Offers A Lesson On The American Right's Mastery Of Politics - https://www.npr.org/2019/10/29/774133071/shadow-network-offers-a-lesson-on-the-american-rights-mastery-of-politics
Oil Change
US has assembled the names of over 14,000 fossil fuel companies that have been actively
trying to influence elections over the last 20 years:
http://nofossilfuelmoney.org/company-list/
http://nofossilfuelmoney.org/company-list/
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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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