Amnesty International helps you tell the Burmese government to release two Reuters journalists investigating that government's ongoing extermination of its Rohingya minority. And what bogus charge do these two intrepid journalists face? The Burmese government says that by procuring "important and secret government documents" -- it's a good thing they said the documents were "important" and "secret"! -- they've broken the Official Secrets Act, but legal experts inform us that Burma rarely-if-ever prosecutes anyone under this law, a relic of British colonial rule. And even the Trump Administration has demanded the release of the two journalists; surely the Nobel Peace Prize-winner heading up the Burmese government doesn't want to be outclassed by the Orange Menace just so she can avoid even more PR hits from the genocide she's currently allowing her military to conduct. At least, that's what I'd imagine, as a reasonable, civilized person.
Meanwhile, if you've missed previous opportunities to tell the Trump USDA to abandon its effort to roll back school lunch nutrition standards, then Moms Rising still helps you do that. I'm old enough to remember when the phrase "school lunch nutrition standards" would get laughs from kids and adults alike, but the standards the Obama Administration put in place back in 2014 have actually helped kids get more fruit and vegetables in their diet and have actually helped get junk food out of schools. Of course you already know the key word in the previous sentence for the Republican party is "Obama," and anything with Mr. Obama's name on it must be erased from history. That's not just the Trump Administration's problem, either -- Congress has been hot to repeal the standards since they regained full control in 2015, even though doing so would make them look, you know, objectively pro-childhood obesity. But they don't get all the say around here -- we do.
Finally, the Pennsylvania state Supreme Court ruled that the state's Congressional district map "clearly, plainly, and palpably" violates the state constitution, and gave the legislature about 2 1/2 weeks to submit a new map -- so now's as good a time as any to let Common Cause help you to tell your Pennsylvania state legislator to pass HB 722/SB 22, which would reform the state's redistricting process. If the politicians have proven anything, it's that we can't trust them to draw legislative districts that put the people's needs over their own -- but taking it out of the legislature's hands and putting it into the hands of an independent commission (as HB 722/SB 22 would do) would give us a better chance at avoiding the evil of gerrymandering. We shouldn't let legislators draw districts that split counties and cities apart (let alone districts that exclude single houses and sides of streets!) out of their greed for continued and undeserved power.
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