S. 1055, the Philippines Human Rights Accountability & Counternarcotics Act of 2017, would (among other things) stop sales of certain arms to the Philippines as long as that country can't protect basic human rights. You'll likely know why this is happening -- because Philippine President Duterte has openly encouraged the murder of Philippine citizens suspected of dealing or using drugs (due process, how quaint!), to the tune of over 7,000 deaths. So I guess that's why President Trump has such a hard-on for having Mr. Duterte over -- after all, they're both big talkers who don't really care about law and order and who prefer that other, more disposable people do their dirty work for them. But the fact that we Americans are, by nature, a people impatient with bullshit does not mean we are uncivilized, or that we tolerate uncivilized behavior anywhere. Killing people you "just know" to be drug-dealers or drug-abusers is plenty uncivilized, and demands a response from civilized people. Hence the Drug Policy Alliance helps you tell your Congressfolk to support S. 1055, and thus support the basic human rights of Philippine citizens.
Meanwhile, H.R. 1880/S. 806, the College for All Act -- a production of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), respectively -- would end tuition and fees at community colleges for all students, and end tuition and fees at four-year public universities for those making less than $125,000 annually. It irks me that folks (including Sen. Sanders himself!) call this "free college," because it's not really free if your taxes pay for it. People very often take for granted what their tax dollars get them (what do you call a liberal? A conservative who just bottomed out over a pothole), and that's at least partly because too many weakling Democrats pretend taxes don't really exist at all, and don't fulfill a function in our society. But we need to ask whether funneling more and more of our tax money into CEO bank accounts as corporate welfare is really a better way to go than setting aside money so anyone who wants to go to college can go. The latter, certainly, seems like more of an investment in our future than the former. So CREDO helps you tell your Congressfolk to support the College for All Act.
Finally, as you know, the Trump Administration may have approved the Keystone XL Pipeline, but they don't get all the say about that: Keystone XL would run through the great state of Nebraska, and over the Ogalalla Aquifer that supplies clean drinking water to millions of heartland Americans, so the Nebraska Public Service Commission still has to issue the necessary permits. And, as it happens, Nebraska farmers and ranchers also aren't all that keen on a pipeline going through the land that provides for their livelihoods. You need not be worried about climate change (though you should be!) to oppose Keystone XL -- you need only be aware of TransCanada's not-exactly-sparkling pipeline safety record, and of the decades it might take to fix the damage a pipeline burst can do. And what would people who want to drink clean water do in the meantime? What would farmers and ranchers do? Food and Water Watch helps you tell the Nebraska Public Service Commission to deny permits to TransCanada for building Keystone XL. If it can't go through Nebraska, after all, it can't really go anywhere.
Comments