r/demsocialists

CBS is reporting Trump's DoJ secured an indictment of still-powerful former Cuban President Raul Castro in Florida, so... ridiculously, we need to consider seriously the possibility they're about to start a whole new war.

The U.S. began a blockade of Cuba in early January, accompanied by Trump bluster about “taking” the country, and the island is now out of fuel. This has already caused a humanitarian crisis, with blackouts, school closures, preventable deaths at hospitals, and more completely unnecessary suffering, and their leadership has been negotiating with Trump over aid and relief in exchange for economic reforms. But the dictatorship running Havana has yet to collapse, and Trump has reportedly been growing frustrated with how long it’s taking. Developments in recent days have led to renewed fears that Trump might attempt to repeat his Venezuela strikes or worse, such as:

• An increase in American surveillance flights in the area
• Reports that the Pentagon has been ordered to ramp up prep for possible operations
• Strengthened sanctions
• Some very timely leaks to the media about Cuba’s drone program and the seriousness of Trump’s threats
• And now the Castro indictment.

At the very least, the Trump Administration sure wants us to believe they’re serious about a possible war on Cuba, and given the potential consequences we should give it due consideration.

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) forced a vote on a Cuba war powers resolution in late April, which fell 51-47 (Fetterman voting to block, Collins and Paul joining the Democrats in favor). It is unlikely there has been much movement since then, but the GOP has not shown enthusiasm about the new threats, and given the practical obstacles to launching a second regional war we may be able to gain ground if we make some noise. 🗣️ Let’s start with urging our members of Congress to take action now, supporting another vote on a war powers resolution and making it publicly clear they will not back authorizing or funding another Trump war. We can find scripts and language to use here, or send this message by texting SIGN PYLQOZ to 50409. 🗣️

Also in today's Rogan's List:

• Push for coverage of a hunger strike at a California ICE detention camp
• New slate of Democratic nominees for November confirmed, volunteer for Keisha Lance Bottoms and Jon Ossoff in Georgia and Bob Brooks, Paige Cognetti and Janelle Stelson in Pennsylvania
• Full Senate could start votes on ICE/CBP/ballroom funding by tomorrow, we may be near a breakthrough on Iran war powers
• Trans rights under assault: tell senators to protect access to student loan forgiveness, reps to oppose a don’t say trans law, and HUD to stop trying to put non-gender conforming people on the street
• Tomorrow at 7PM ET, learn about your volunteer options for voter protection OR how you can lead registration drives, canvasses and more this summer
• Data centers could hike power costs by 50% in some states over the next four years… let’s join Food & Water Action TONIGHT at 8PM ET for a training on how to identify pressure points where we can stop them in local fights

The role of community organizing will be critical in stopping the oligarchs and rebuilding American democracy. Central in that field are tenants unions, who are at the forefront of the movement for affordable housing and balancing the scales in an increasingly corporate-controlled housing market. But it’s not an easy thing to begin from scratch.

The Tenant Union Federation (TUF) is holding an intensive weekly training course on organizing tenant unions: Union School. We’ll learn about landlord research, scouting, organizing conversations, leadership assessment, blitz, demands, union launch, target analysis, communications, strategy, bargaining, and strikes. Last year, this training helped support union launches from Albany to Cincinnati to Colorado Springs to Missoula. 💪🏻 We get more details here, take an info session to get a better sense of what it’s all about on May 27th here, and apply to join by June 15th here. 💪🏾

LEARN MORE ABOUT UNION SCHOOL

APPLY BY JUNE 15TH

💵 Meanwhile, Bozeman Tenants United is standing firm in the first rent strike in Montana in nearly five decades. We can follow along for updates on social media here, and donate to their strike fund to ensure tenants can afford legal support and deal with whatever else comes up in this fight here. 💵

Conventional wisdom has it that the only way to end the Citizens United regime is for a future Supreme Court to overturn it or to amend the Constitution – getting two-thirds of both houses of Congress and three-quarters of state legislatures to defy the billionaires and big businesses. But analysts led by Center for American Progress fellow and former FEC lawyer Tom Moore have been pushing an innovative approach to take on corporate power: rewriting state codes to explicitly deny corporations they charter the authority to spend in elections.

This idea has taken off. Legislation pursuing this method of end-running Citizens United has been introduced in 15 states (see the list here), and folks in Montana are trying to push it through as a ballot initiative. Hawai’i passed their version, S.B. 2471, nearly unanimously, and yesterday Governor Josh Green signed it into law. This could be a game-changer.

This, to be clear, is not a perfect or complete solution. We are going to see legal challenges against this effort for years to come, in a judicial system stacked with the sort of right-wing judges who caused this mess in the first place. Even if it does stand, it impacts corporations, not individuals - folks like Elon Musk, Ken Griffin, Richard Uihlein and Jeff Yass will still be able to spend what they want. But we’re talking about getting billions out of our elections, the first major disruption to this crooked system. And we’re talking about rejecting the ridiculous idea of “corporate personhood” that has been forced on us by the puppets of the powerful. We are taking power back for regular Americans and restoring a little bit of sanity to politics.

Let’s make sure Hawai’i is just the beginning.

🗣️ We can contact our own legislators and governors and ask them follow the Aloha State’s lead. We can find call scripts here and email language here, or send this message directly using Resistbot by texting SIGN PSIYZJ to 50409. We can also check whether there are bills already introduced in our state we can encourage them to support here. 🗣️

CALL/EMAIL LANGUAGE

SEND A RESISTBOT

🙋🏽‍♀️ We can also join the fight to pass it via ballot initiative in Montana. If we’re in the state, we can find out how to add our signature to get it on the ballot here and sign up to volunteer here. The Transparent Election Initiative will also be holding a webinar on Monday at 7PM ET/5PM MT about “the Montana Plan,” emphasizing how supporters across the country can help advance I-194. Let’s sign up to join them here. 🙋🏻‍♀️

VOLUNTEER IN MONTANA

GET INVOLVED FROM ANYWHERE MON @ 7PM ET

🙋🏿We can get more information and sign up to be part of this movement with the Transparent Election Initiative here. 🙋🏻

VOLUNTEER FROM ANYWHERE

🔁 And we can share this video explaining this new approach with our networks. Huge majorities of Americans have long wanted to take our country back from the oligarchs, let’s them know we’ve got a plan! 🔁

SPREAD THE WORD

Also in today's Rogan's List:

• The next phase of the fight for voting rights starts now - join solidarity events for All Roads Lead to the South tomorrow, help lead voter registration and engagement for Good Trouble Lives On, volunteer with Fair Fight Action
• Republicans won’t hold their own accountable, so the voters must – helping vote out Cory Mills, Chuck Edwards, Max Miller and Jen Kiggans
• Mifepristone access is safe for now – let’s use this pause to keep spreading the word about available resources for abortion
• Learn best practices and get plugged in with support to hold freedom vigils at detention sites, call Monday @ 8PM ET
• Anger at data centers is real, let’s make sure we can use it effectively – training on power mapping Wednesday @ 8PM ET
• A sitting supreme court justice hasn’t lost reelection in Georgia in more than 100 years… we’re going to change that on Tuesday! Phonebank for pro-choice, pro-democracy progressives TODAY at noon and 6PM ET, SATURDAY at 2PM ET, and SUNDAY at 1PM and 4PM ET

The cause of labor remains the hope of the world. Organized labor is a powerful force against income inequality and the influence of the oligarchs, and historically has been a key pillar in the struggle against authoritarianism. The Trump regime clearly understands that, and they’ve prioritized union-busting. Every single American who believes in economic justice and democracy should be looking for opportunities to stand in solidarity with union organizers.

Some of the toughest and most creative leaders in the labor movement, led by Association of Flight Attendants president Sara Nelson, have launched a new initiative to help grow the labor movement. Union Now is a national worker power and organizing fund, providing resources to strengthen the hand of new unions negotiating with powerful businesses and fill the coffers of strike funds whenever it’s needed, helping workers stay on the picket line long enough to win. (Labor journalist Hamilton Nolan makes the case for this effort here.) ⚒️ We can help directly fund organizing activity by donating to Union Now here. ⚒️