Long story short: tell Iran to free Toomah Salehi, tell our CFPB to force big credit-reporting corporations to exclude medical debt from credit reports, and tell big corporations to stop funding ALEC. Use the email/petition tools in the following paragraphs to communicate your will.
Amnesty International helps you tell the government of Iran to release hip hop artist and activist Toomaj Salehi immediately. (Mr. Salehi protested Iran’s hijab law after “morality police” killed Mahsa Amini over it last year.) Iran’s habit of arresting and torturing protestors does not exactly win hearts and minds among the world’s peoples, and convicting Mr. Salehi of an obviously made-up crime like “corruption on Earth” only reveals their utter insecurity, like the proverbial naked emperor who, upon finding everyone laughing at him, retaliates with mass shootings. And while, as Americans, we need to remember our own complicity in this horror – our government helped topple a democratically-elected leader, then installed a Shah so foolish and venal he gave Muslim fundamentalism its opening – we also need to fight fascism wherever we see it, and whatever the flavor, it’s operating in Iran today.
Demand Progress helps you tell our Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (or CFPB) to force big credit-reporting corporations to exclude medical debt from our credit ratings. Currently the Equifax/TransUnion/Experian axis won’t do that, because including medical debt on credit ratings makes it harder for good Americans to get good credit, and that tends to benefit the worst actors among our bankster class. But our CFPB argues that medical debt has nothing to do with someone’s credit-worthiness, and they’re absolutely right – if you get sick, and your employer gives you crappy health insurance, what are you supposed to do, stay sick or die? Our CFPB looks ready to do our will here, but they still need to hear from us.
Finally, Daily Kos helps you tell big corporations to stop funding the notorious American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. Think of any BS laws we’ve had to fight over the last couple of decades – “voter ID” laws, the “Stand Your Ground” laws racist states don’t even consistently enforce, laws criminalizing protest against corporate power – and you’ll likely see the gray, gnarled hand of ALEC behind it. At least 100 big corporations (including Coca-Cola, Walmart, Verizon, and Amazon) have dumped ALEC over the years thanks to our agitation, but that still leaves such big corporations as Pfizer, Chevron, UPS, FedEx, Eli Lilly, Anheuser-Busch, and (surprise, surprise!) Koch Industries. So we’ve got some work to do.
Comments