Back in September of 2016, Chad arrested Tadjadine Mahamat Babouri (a.k.a. Mahadine) after he posted Facebook videos accusing the government and its cronies of corruption. Think there might be a relationship between those two events? Naturally the Chadian government has tortured him and refused to tell his wife and children where they were detaining him, and now Mahadine faces a life sentence on spurious charges including "threatening national security." Jesus Mary and Joseph when you turn free speech into "threatening national security" you're only revealing your own insecurity. Oh, and Mahadine has contracted TB in prison, so he's also deathly ill and can't get the proper medical attention. One of the ways we can ensure that something like this doesn't happen here, of course, is by fighting it when it happens elsewhere, so Amnesty International helps you tell the government of Chad to release Mahadine and get him the medical attention he needs.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania residents, take note: HB 1237 would hamstring the executive branch's ability to issue environmental regulations, even though the state legislature generally delegates the responsibility to issue such regulations to the executive branch. The bill would force any regulation it deems to have a "significant economic impact" -- by which they of course mean the "negative impact" to corporate bottom lines, and not, for example, the positive impact people's health care costs that such regulations actually have! -- to be approved by both houses of the legislature within 30 days, and either house can scuttle the regulation simply by refusing to act on it. In other words, legislators want to be able to let corporations pollute your air and water without even having the courage to take an actual vote on the matter! Why do you suppose that would be? Maybe because Pennsylvanians generally oppose pollution? The Sierra Club helps you tell your state Rep to reject the objectively pro-pollution HB 1237.
Finally, H.R. 3314/S. 987, the 100 by '50 Act, would (as the title suggests) help our nation transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050 by (among many other things!) helping poor folks get more access to solar power, getting utility corporations off fossil fuels and onto renewables, and encouraging development of zero-emission cars, buses, and trains -- while also providing extensive benefits (including unemployment and retraining) for workers temporarily displaced by the move to renewables. Of course refitting our grid so that it runs on renewable energy will dramatically reduce pollution and might even help us survive climate change, but the notion that it'll KILL TEH JOBZ!!! is laughably absurd. After all, will robots do all the rebuilding and refitting? Of course not! You need people to effect positive change; technology is merely a tool. Penn Environment helps you tell your Congressfolk to support a renewable, clean energy future by supporting the 100 by '50 Act.
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