First things first. Our Department of Homeland (sic) Security (sic) plans to deport Steven Tendo, an ordained minister and asylum-seeker who will very likely be killed if he's sent back to Uganda. I say "very likely be killed" because the government of Uganda tortured him -- amputating two fingers -- and killed several family members. Sounds like the kind of fellow you'd like to help, right? Not to our government! Our government promptly put him in a concentration camp, where he's been for two years, not getting appropriate care for his diabetes, of course, which means he's now blind in one eye and going blind in the other. Plus, you know, COVID-19 is running rampant in these camps! I don't expect our President's votaries to evince any sympathy about any of that, but all that means is we have to be louder than them. Hence Amnesty International helps you tell our Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (yeah, that's ICE) to stop deportation proceedings on Mr. Tendo and help him seek asylum.
Meanwhile, Social Security Works helps you tell your local and state governments to require that folks wear masks on their faces. Our federal government ain't gonna do that -- our President can't even be bothered to model good behavior every once in a while! -- but maybe local officials, who will more likely see disgruntled citizens every once in a while, will be more responsive. Absolutely positively brook no silliness about how not wearing a mask is a fundamental freedom guaranteed by God and our Founders, because it isn't, actually (no, it was not the 20 1/2th Amendment), and virtually everyone who's thought about the matter knows that wearing a mask will reduce the possibility that other folks will get COVID-19 from you. Hopefully we're not so addled as a civilization that we don't care about making other people sick -- or that we more easily digest lies about TEH MASKZ MAKINGZ TEH PEEPULZ CHOKEZ!!!!!! since masks are inconvenient. They irritate my ears, too, but when I became a man I put away childish things.
Finally, from the "Things We Shouldn't Even Have to Bother With" file: our President has said he'll actually veto the next defense authorization bill if it includes an amendment requiring that our government rename military facilities currently named after Confederate figures. After all, what says "patriotism" more than memorializing traitors? It's odd that this is the hill our President wants to die on; it's almost like he's only chasing the Nazi wannabe vote. I mean, at least 25% of the electorate will vote for him no matter what because they're nuts, but the Venn diagram of "bat-guano insane voters" and "Nazi wannabe voters" already has a lot of overlap. No use saying he's just "fighting political correctness," either, not when right-wingers now define "political correctness" as "any time you don't act like a complete prick." Really, the term is just about meaningless now. Public Citizen helps you tell your Congressfolk to hold its ground in the face of this absurd veto threat.
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