June 16, 2025 - Keeping Momentum Post-No Kings

Plus canvassing our neighborhoods to protect immigrants, standing up for environmental justice in South Memphis, reelecting judges in Pennsylvania and more

🪧 Readers: please send protest photos and signs to us at roganslisttips@gmail.com and tell us about how #NoKings went! 🪧

Contact all members of Congress:

• By phone: (202) 224-3121

• By email: Congress.gov

• By US mail: Representatives / Senators

• By Resistbot: Resist.bot

If you have questions, comments, and especially submissions for actions, please email us at roganslisttips@gmail.com!

Millions of us spoke up in protest yesterday in cities and towns across America - here in Des Moines, there were supporters of democracy as far as the eye could see! Photo courtesy of Rogan’s List reader Steve P. (Please send protest and sign photos to roganslisttips@gmail.com!)

✊ FIVE MILLION MARCH FOR #NOKINGS… SO WHAT’S NEXT? ✊🏿

Faced with the threat of tear gassing by law enforcement, GOP governors sending in troops, and street attacks and targeted assassinations by violent right wingers, we were undeterred. The coalition’s official estimate is that five million of us took to the streets to say #NoKings on Saturday, with independent assessments finding similar numbers – a significant increase even from the massive crowds for #HandsOff. The contrast with Trump’s low-energy, under-attended parade was stark, and the message to our political leaders was clear: we see the danger to our country, we will not quietly surrender our democracy, and we expect them to fight.

But these mass protests alone are not going to get it done. Our work continues, and we can start taking the next steps right now:

• TONIGHT AT 8PM, the coalition will be holding an attendee debrief call to celebrate this mobilization and discuss what our next steps are. We can register to join here.

• The #NoKings team has already identified a series of next steps to take at nokings.org/whatsnext, including activism leadership training with One Million Rising or with the ACLU and a Civil Resistance 101 course with 50501 this Wednesday.

• Two major national mobilizations are already on the books for the coming weeks, with the Disappeared in America photo petition next Thursday, June 26th and the annual John Lewis Day of Action scheduled for July 17th.

  • We can join a host information call for Disappeared in America tomorrow at 8PM here, find events scheduled near us here, or volunteer to host our own here.

  • We can join an info session for John Lewis Day of Action on Wednesday at 7 PM here and find events scheduled near us here.

• The focus of much of our pressure on politicians over the next few weeks will be about the MAGA murder budget, which Republicans are continuing to try to find a way to force through by July 4th. We can find more information, talking points to use with our reps, phonebanks into key areas, and tools for pressuring the media to cover the damage it will do in a Rogan List’s running list here.

• Making change in Washington is important, but there is also so much these five million plus people could do by showing solidarity in our own communities. Let’s take this moment to find a local organization doing mutual aid, rapid response, community defense or other support for folks targeted by Trump we can donate to, volunteer with and spread the word about.

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💰 THEY TORE UP DC’S ROADS, NOW THEY MUST FIX DC’S BUDGET 💰

Trump’s parade was a stark symbol of his growing abuse of the U.S. military for his authoritarian agenda and a prime example of his corruption of our government to glorify and enrich himself. It’s also going to cost the taxpayers – big time. Army estimates suggested the total price tag for us will be $45 million, with $16 million just to repair D.C.’s streets. This could cover a year of disability compensation for more than 7,200 veterans or the annual funding for D.C.’s Tuition Assistance Program, which provides grants to high school grads to pay for college and which Trump is eliminating in his proposed budget.

The bill comes due at a time when the city is already dealing with severe shortfalls because of House Republicans. The GOP forced D.C. to revert to last year’s budget in the middle of the fiscal year in passing their continuing resolution, effectively costing the city a billion dollars. D.C. has been forced to scramble to avoid cuts to teachers, emergency services and public transportation – freezing new hiring, slicing thousands of grants and programs by small amounts and pushing some payments to the next fiscal year. While the Senate passed a standalone measure (S.1077) to clean up their mess that even Trump has endorsed, the House has never gotten around to fixing what they broke. (They have found time to pass multiple bills overturning D.C. laws.)

Our Republican-controlled government should be offering the people of Washington an apology for allowing this to go on. But they have an obligation to fix the threat to public services they created. Let’s reach out to our House members and tell them now is the time to pass the 2025 District of Columbia Local Funds Act (S.1077). We can find language to use from our friend

Jess Craven

here, or send this message directly by texting SIGN PDQARR to 50409.

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🛡️ LOCAL BUSINESSES SHOULD KNOW THEIR RIGHTS TOO 🛡️

Trump has indicated he will back off some workplace roundups targeting immigrants, recognizing that they are harming the farming and hospitality industries – and presumably also acknowledging polling consistently showing that support for his deportations drops dramatically when people realize he isn’t targeting hardened criminals.

We cannot count on this lasting. If Trump and Stephen Miller intend for ICE to meet their “quotas,” they are not going to be able to leave many tools on the shelf.

The Workers Over Billionaires campaign wants to make sure employers are prepared to protect their employees as much as they can, and that employees can defend themselves. They’re training folks to canvass local businesses in their neighborhoods to share vital information on constitutional rights. We can sign up to join one of their trainings Wednesday at 7PM ET or next Tuesday at 7PM ET, registering here and here.

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☣️ DEMAND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FOR MUSK-TARGETED NEIGHBORHOOD ☣️

For his company xAI, Elon Musk has installed Colossus, a massive supercomputer, two miles from Boxtown, a Black neighborhood in South Memphis, Tennessee, long plagued by industrial pollution. The supercomputer’s methane gas turbines emit smog-causing pollutants, formaldehyde, and other toxins and carcinogens into the air. Boxtown residents, with the help of the NAACP, are pressuring the Shelby County Health Department to deny xAI a permit for the turbines. Even without a permit, it appears that turbines are currently operating.

The NAACP is urging the Shelby County Health Department and the Memphis Light Gas and Water Board of Commissioners. to stop xAI’s operations in South Memphis immediately. Let’s support their efforts by contacting the director of the Shelby County Health Department Dr. Michelle Taylor Michelle.Taylor@shelbycountytn.gov and MLGW Board of Commissioners Chair Michael E. Polman mpohlman@mlgw.org. If we live in Tennessee, let’s also contact our state legislators.

Let’s also take on Musk and the oligarchy in our own communities - the #TeslaTakedown movement is gearing up for its #MuskMustFall Day of Action on June 28th.

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📨 WRITE POSTCARDS FOR JUSTICE IN PENNSYLVANIA 📨

Virginia isn’t the only place where the stakes are high this November. This Election Day, Pennsylvania voters will vote on whether to retain three Democratic judges for another 10-year term on the state supreme court. The outcome could shift the court’s balance of power in one of the country’s most important swing states. The Keystone State’s supreme court is expected to rule on future cases involving election certification, voting rights, partisan gerrymandering, and abortion access that will have national resonance. We can sign up to write to Pennsylvania voters via Vote Forward and find out more here.

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KEEPING AN EYE ON…

• Urge senators to block the anti-Big Bird, pro-malaria bill

• Opposing billions in funding for the deportation machine

• Climate Defenders actions this week

• Apply for Tenant Union Federation’s organizing school by June 20th