December 15, 2023
Ukraine funding as a standalone option, GOP’s infatuation with Orban, help flip CA-41, and more!
*** SUBMITTING YOUR ACTIONS TO ROGAN’S LIST ***
We’ve set up a “tip line” so Rogan’s List subscribers can send in their ideas or submissions for action items at roganslisttips@gmail.com. Please don’t hesitate to email and pass on your suggestions. We look forward to hearing from you!
Contact all members of Congress:
- By phone: (202) 224-3121
- By email: democracy.io
- By US mail: Representatives / Senators
- By fax: Representatives / Senators
- By Resistbot: Resist.bot
Contact White House or other federal agencies:
- CLARIFICATION ON YESTERDAY’S POST REGARDING AID TO THE UKRAINEWhen we called on our readers to express their support for the Ukraine yesterday, in no way did we mean to imply that we thought it was ok for Congress to trade away asylum rights to negotiate a deal. Our post on Wednesday, along with this important piece from Heather Cox Richardsonoutlines the unjust and draconian anti-immigrant policies being discussed, some of which are in violation of international law. When speaking to our MoCs, let’s make it perfectly clear that we want aid to the Ukraine to be considered as a standalone option and we are against any deal that would make it harder for vulnerable families to get asylum.
- THE GOP’S ATTRACTION TO ORBAN AND HUNGARYHungary’s ultra-conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been the darling of the GOP far-right for ages and his harsh policies on immigrants, transgender people, voting rights and other issues have encouraged U.S. conservatives to push for similar laws. He and Trump have long admired each other and they both appear to kowtow to Putin. All three want us out of Ukraine so Russia can take over. Orban met with some of our legislators this week encouraging them to halt funding for Ukraine. The GOP is taking a page from Orban’s playbook for the 2024 election, seeming to take their lead from his harmful model of “Christian Democracy”. Let’s tell our MoCs just what we think of this chummy relationship and their plans.
- RECRUIT VOLUNTEER LEADERS TO FLIP CA-41 AND TAKE BACK THE HOUSEIt’s time to take back the House and the sooner we start, the better. We can begin by helping the Grassroots Democrats HQ and the Riverside County Democratic Party flip CA-41 Blue! The seat, rated a toss-up by Cook Political Report is now held by Republican Ken Calvert, who only beat his Dem opponent by 4 points last time, in his closest race in a decade. If we mobilize and organize our Democratic voters early enough, we can win this race and help take back the House! On Wednesday December 20, from 5-7pm, PST, we can phone bank to find volunteers to become CA-41 precinct captains and neighborhood leaders. We can sign up here to start turning the House Blue!
- FIXING SSI SO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES CAN SAVE
The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, a part of Social Security that provides cash payments to people with disabilities to ensure they don’t live in poverty, has long been burdened by outdated rules that did not adjustment for inflation and forced recipients to live in poverty to continue qualifying. Right now, the asset limit to qualify is just $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for couples. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY) are leading the way on a bipartisan effort to bring those numbers more in line with modern realities, raising the limits to $10,000 and $20,000 respectively: the SSI Savings Penalty Elimination Act (S.2767/H.R.5408). Let’s reach out to our members of Congress, either directly or using this tool, and urge them to support this legislation and make it a priority, and to continue working on making SSI work for people with disabilities by eliminating the marriage penalty. - TELL HHS AND PHARMACIES: DON’T SHARE OUR MEDICAL RECORDS WITHOUT A WARRANTA recent Congressional hearing revealed that major pharmacies, pharmacy chains, like Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS, Walmart, Rite Aid, Kroger, Cigna, Optum Rx, and Amazon Pharmacy, have provided Americans’ prescription records to law enforcement without requiring a warrant. This is especially troubling after the Dobbs decision, which ended the constitutional right to an abortion. Since then, several states have indicated a desire to make birth control illegal as well. This means that people now filling routine prescriptions to ensure their health could unknowingly be at risk for prosecution since, despite most Americans’ expectations of privacy, current policies allow pharmacy staff members to hand over our medical records without the need for a warrant. CEO of these pharmacies need to hear from us:
- Amazon: Andy Jassy – email: andy@amazon.com Cigna: David Cordani – email: david.cordani@cigna.comCVS: Karen Lynch. Email – Karen.Lynch@CVSHealth.com Kroger: Rodney McMullen – email: Rodney.McMullen@kroger.com Optum Rx: Patrick Conway – email: patrick.conway@optum.com Rite Aid: Jessica Kazmaier – email: jkazmaier@riteaid.comWalgreens: John Standley – email: john.standley@walgreens.com Walmart: Doug McMillon – email: Doug.McMillon@walmart.com
Substackers Against Nazis
A collective letter to Substack leadership
Below is a letter to the Substack founders that we helped draft as part of a group of publishers seeking answers to questions about the platforming and monetizing of Nazis. We are all publishing the letter on our own individual Substacks today for visibility, and to make our readers aware of our asks and concerns. Thanks for reading.
Dear Chris, Hamish & Jairaj:
We’re asking a very simple question that has somehow been made complicated: Why are you platforming and monetizing Nazis?
According to a piece written by Substack publisher Jonathan M. Katz and published by The Atlantic on November 28, this platform has a Nazi problem:
“Some Substack newsletters by Nazis and white nationalists have thousands or tens of thousands of subscribers, making the platform a new and valuable tool for creating mailing lists for the far right. And many accept paid subscriptions through Substack, seemingly flouting terms of service that ban attempts to ‘publish content or fund initiatives that incite violence based on protected classes’…Substack, which takes a 10 percent cut of subscription revenue, makes money when readers pay for Nazi newsletters.”
As Patrick Casey, a leader of a now-defunct neo-Nazi group who is banned on nearly every other social platform except Substack, wrote on here in 2021: “I’m able to live comfortably doing something I find enjoyable and fulfilling. The cause isn’t going anywhere.” Several Nazis and white supremacists including Richard Spencer not only have paid subscriptions turned on but have received Substack “Bestseller” badges, indicating that they are making at a minimum thousands of dollars a year.
From our perspective as Substack publishers, it is unfathomable that someone with a swastika avatar, who writes about “The Jewish question,” or who promotes Great Replacement Theory, could be given the tools to succeed on your platform. And yet you’ve been unable to adequately explain your position.
In the past you have defended your decision to platform bigotry by saying you “make decisions based on principles not PR” and “will stick to our hands-off approach to content moderation.” But there’s a difference between a hands-off approach and putting your thumb on the scale. We know you moderate some content, including spam sites and newsletters written by sex workers. Why do you choose to promote and allow the monetization of sites that traffic in white nationalism?
Your unwillingness to play by your own rules on this issue has already led to the announced departures of several prominent Substackers, including Rusty Foster and Helena Fitzgerald. They follow previous exoduses of writers, including Substack Pro recipient Grace Lavery and Jude Ellison S. Doyle, who left with similar concerns.
As journalist Casey Newton told his more than 166,000 Substack subscribers after Katz’s piece came out: “The correct number of newsletters using Nazi symbols that you host and profit from on your platform is zero.”
We, your publishers, want to hear from you on the official Substack newsletter. Is platforming Nazis part of your vision of success? Let us know—from there we can each decide if this is still where we want to be.
Signed,
Substackers Against Nazis
