March 19, 2025 - 13 Days to Wisconsin

Musk makes it harder to get Social Security (again), another step towards war, major national mobilization April 5th, and more

Mar 19, 2025

Contact all members of Congress:
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By email: Congress.gov
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By Resistbot: Resist.bot
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If you have questions, comments, and especially submissions for actions, please email us at roganslisttips@gmail.com!

MORE MUSK UNDERMINING OF SOCIAL SECURITY ROLLED OUT

Musk and his team are doing more and more damage to the Social Security Administration. Their latest effort is to impose measures that will require millions of recipients and applicants to enroll online or visit field offices to prove their identity rather than doing so by phone. This will be a significant burden on those with limited internet access or knowledge, folks with disabilities, folks with difficulties travelling or accessing transportation, and people in rural communities – and comes as Musk actively closes Social Security offices and seeks cuts to the workforce that will devastate services. Folks are already getting their earned benefits cut off thanks to Musk, and it’s just going to get worse from here. Let’s contact our members of Congress and demand they reverse this new policy – and step in to stop the dismantling of Social Security. We can find scripts and language here.

NEW WARNING BELLS ON WAR IN MEXICO

Marisa Kabas reported yesterday that the Trump Administration is actively drafting an executive order that would declare fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction, which may be issued as soon as next week. With Trump already having designated several drug cartels foreign terrorist organizations, sources within the Department of State have speculated this could be used as a justification for conducting military operations in Mexico and Canada.

As regular readers of Rogan’s List know, using our military to attack Mexican drug cartels – with or without Mexico’s permission - was a standing campaign promise of Trump in 2024 and he actively considered doing so during his first term. This executive order would be just the latest warning sign that he might keep his pledge to turn The War on Drugs into an actual war.

The risks of launching a War on Terror-style military campaign against the drug cartels are massive. We are unlikely to win a decisive victory against these organizations. The resulting conflict is likely to kill many innocent people in Mexico, and could prompt the cartels to target American expatriates and tourists in the country – or strike at us on our side of the border. The Mexican government and the Mexican people will be infuriated and their reactions will be hard to predict or control. And on top of it all, such a campaign would be unlikely to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

While the terrorist and WMD designations could provide justifications for Trump to act unilaterally, pushback from members of Congress might deter them from making the decision, especially given powerful Trumpworld figure Stephen Miller is reportedly arguing against it and right wing pride in Trump starting “no new wars.” At the very least, it could help raise public awareness and alarm.

Let’s contact our members of Congress and urge them to publicly speak out against the potential of military strikes in Mexico, and encourage them to focus on real solutions to substance abuse in America. If they’re in the House we can specifically ask them to co-sponsor Rep. Joaquin Castro’s resolution (H. Res. 168) condemning any call for U.S. military action in Mexico without authorization from Congress and consent of the Mexican government. We can use this script and language, or sign this Resistbot petition by texting “SIGN PIAVWC” to 50409.

FIGHT BACK AGAINST EPA'S ATTEMPTED DEREGULATION

Last week, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin announced efforts to roll back 31 environmental regulations that have protected our planet and decreased pollution related illnesses. These include getting rid of the safeguards that restrict auto emissions as well as restricting air pollution from fossil-fuel plants. Zeldin also supports rewriting the EPA's 2009 finding that greenhouse gases are dangerous to public health, which has been the basis for many of the recent climate regulations in the years that have followed. All of these repeals will need to go through a rule-making process with a public comment period and many are likely to be challenged in court. Let's make sure to stay in touch with groups like EarthJustice and the Environmental Defense Fund so we can learn when these repeals have been formally introduced, make public comments, and participate in other actions to fight this attack on our planet and our health. We can also donate to these groups to help them fight these regulation repeals in court. (And if we’re interested in direct action, let’s make sure to join the Climate Defiance organizing call tonight at 5pm here.)

HANDS OFF – NATIONAL MOBILIZATION APRIL 5TH

We’ve seen a growing number of people hitting the streets in protest to Trump’s agenda – at Tesla dealerships, at their state capitols, at federal buildings, wherever they can gather. Now we’re all coming together for a massive, coordinated national protest. Groups including Indivisible, 50501, the Working Families Party, DemCast, MoveOn, Third Act, the Women’s March, the SEIU and the CWA are all mobilizing together for HANDS OFF on Saturday, April 5th.They’ll be centered in Washington but include volunteer-organized marches and rallies across the entire nation, with almost 200 already being planned and more being added daily. Let’s consider taking the trip to join them in DC or find a mobilization to attend near us here. And if there’s not one in our area yet, let’s consider hosting our own – we can find a toolkit for hosts here and join an informational call for event hosts on Friday afternoon here.

UPCOMING SPECIAL U.S. HOUSE ELECTIONS: DON’T LET REPUBLICANS JUST SAIL INTO OFFICE.

Republicans hold the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives by a mere handful of seats – and along with the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, three special elections for House vacancies are coming up soon: for Florida’s 1st Congressional District (April 1, 2025), Florida’s 6^th Congressional District (April 1, 2025), and New York’s 21^st District (date TBD). It’s true that these districts are heavily Republican, and the GOP nominees in Florida are well-heeled Trump allies with histories of electoral success. But given the stakes, a lot of folks are still putting in the effort to fight for these seats, force the Republican party to spend money on them, and gain some Democratic traction in the electorate. And who knows? Here’s some ways we can help:

We can phonebank for Democratic gun sense advocate and FL-1 candidate Gay Valimont on Mondays here, Tuesdays here and Thursdays here
We can make calls for Democratic public school teacher and FL-6 nominee Josh Weil any time every day here.
We can call for both races Sundays and Tuesdays with the Massachusetts Democrats here.

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