As you've likely heard, President Trump plans to start withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal, because, once again, if it has the name "Obama" on it, it must be destroyed. Mr. Trump has until Sunday to decertify Iran's compliance with the conditions of the deal; never mind that everyone on the planet who's in a position to know says that Iran has complied with those conditions, because President Bigballs knows everything better than anybody and does whatever the hell he likes, right and wrong be damned. So the Friends Committee on National Legislation helps you write a letter-to-the-editor of your local paper expressing your view that Mr. Trump should stop trying to sabotage the deal, lest we get plunged into a war with Iran. And just at a time when all the swordfighting between our President and North Korea's President could plunge us into war there, too! Also, decertifying Iranian compliance would open the door to new sanctions on Iran, so MoveOn helps you call your Senators and tell them to oppose new sanctions on Iran.
Meanwhile, S. 1833, the Hardrock Mining Reform and Reclamation Act, would amend the General Mining Law of 1872 -- you read that right; it's been over 140 years since Congress has seriously addressed mining issues! -- and it would not only do more to protect our public lands from the deleterious effects of hardrock mining than before, it would (for the first time!) charge mining corporations a royalty for extracting minerals from public lands, and then use some of that money to fund the reclamation of the half million or so abandoned mines all across America. We hear a lot these days about how all the jobs for frustrated Trump voters are gone; well, S. 1833 would create jobs by funding what sounds like necessary work, fulfilling work, and, dare I say, patriotic work. So the Sierra Club helps you tell your Congressfolk to support mine reclamation and job creation by supporting S. 1833.
Finally, the House passed a 20-week abortion ban last week -- hey, who says they can't do something quickly if they just put their mind to it? -- and now the Senate will consider it, so People for the American Way helps you tell your Senators to reject a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The House's ban (H.R. 36) contains exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother (which I suppose gives tireless rageheads an opportunity to demonstrate their "independence" by saying this bill isn't tough enough), but does not provide an exception for the health of the mother, and you probably already know that virtually zero abortions happen after the 20-week mark unless something is seriously wrong. So this bill won't save very many lives, but it probably will kill a few women. If we want to reduce the number of abortions in America, and we do, we need to support birth control. But that's one more thing right-wing swordfighters will never do.
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