The Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions (or BDS) movement aims to hit Israel in its pocketbook, thus hoping to end its continuing occupation of Palestine. States like New York and Florida have responded by refusing to contract with corporations that support the BDS movement, and though I find these state actions odious, I'm not willing to say corporations supporting BDS have a "right" to taxpayer-funded contracts. But S. 720, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, would go considerably farther: it would "prohibit() any U.S. person engaged (in) interstate or foreign commerce from supporting...any boycott fostered or imposed by any international governmental organization against Israel or any request by any international governmental organization to impose such a boycott." That should sound an awful lot like our government telling us what to think, or else! So Jewish Voice for Peace helps you call your Congressfolk and tell them to oppose S. 720.
Meanwhile, Sens. Sanders (I-VT), Lee (R-UT) and Murphy (D-CT) have introduced S.J.Res. 54, which would require our President to remove our soldiers from Yemen (or from areas of the world where they're supporting Saudi Arabia's war against Yemen) until such time as Congress actually declares war there. S.J.Res. 54 makes an exemption for efforts against al-Qaeda, but of course you already know that the Saudis are fighting the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and the Houthi rebels have proven to be some of the best al-Qaeda fighters in the world -- so maybe the best way to fight al-Qaeda is to simply pull out. Don't brook any silliness about TEH CONGREZZEZ TYINGZ TEH PREZNITZ HANDZ IN TEH YEMENZ!!!!, because that's the whole point -- letting the President wage whatever war he likes wherever he likes is not just un-American, it's unconstitutional. Hence both Stop the War and CREDO help you tell your Congressfolk to support human rights in Yemen, and the rule of law in America, by supporting S.J.Res. 54.
Finally, if you've missed previous opportunities to tell your Congressfolk to reject the President's latest budget that takes from working families to pay for his tax-cuts-for-the-rich, then CREDO still helps you do that. This budget, as you know, would slash (among other things!) food stamps, housing assistance, infrastructure spending, Medicaid, Social Security, and the EPA -- but would increase defense spending, which is more and more like a corporate welfare program. And the Administration has the cojones to say their budget shows compassion to the poor people who pay taxes! As if those folks don't benefit from any of these programs at all! Of course a lot of the Administration's "forgotten Americans" use these programs at various times in their lives, and they "use" EPA funding, too, in the sense that the EPA can keep their air and water clean if it has enough money to enforce the law. So let's help these "forgotten Americans" by opposing the President's budget.
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