Plowshare Action Alert #52
March 8, 2023
Plowshare Peace Center Public Information Committee
Dear Friends,
The following petitions are actions that are quick and easy to take to support what we believe are worthy causes. Please share this Plowshare ‘Action Alert’ with others.
1. From The Intercept:
It takes enormous courage to come forward as a whistleblower alleging wrongdoing or corruption by the U.S. government. Often, these brave souls are fired, demoted, ostracized, or attacked in the media for revealing information in the public interest. At worst, whistleblowers can face serious criminal charges — and sometimes years in prison.
It isn’t supposed to be this way. Under the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012, the Department of Justice established a series of rights and resources designed to protect whistleblowers from retaliation, including a national hotline under the Office of Inspector General.
Despite the critical importance of whistleblowers, both the Obama and Trump administrations found a workaround and dramatically stepped up prosecutions using a different law: the Espionage Act, a wartime law from 1917. Espionage Act prosecutions do not allow whistleblowers to explain their motives or make a public interest defense. Judges have even barred juries in these cases from hearing the words “overclassification,” “whistleblower,” and “First Amendment.”
Prosecuting those who shine a light on government abuses is harmful to the public interest and an affront to freedom of speech. It’s time for the Justice Department to protect whistleblowers, not lock them up. Will you add your name to tell the Department of Justice to stop prosecuting whistleblowers now?
2. From Blue Amp Action:
ExxonMobil just announced that it had $56 billion in profits in 2022 alone. That comes out to $6.3 million per hour, or more than $100,000 per minute. Exxon’s news follows announcements that Pfizer raked in $31.4 billion in profit and Chevron ended 2022 with more than $36 billion in profit. At a time when millions of Americans are struggling to get by and put food on the table, it’s obscene for big corporations to be price gouging consumers in order to maximize profit. Tell Congress: Pass a windfall profits tax to rein in excessive corporate profits.:
Link: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/sign-the-petition-to-tax-excessive-corporate-profits/
3. From The Climate Reality Project:
Shareholder season is the time of year when every publicly traded company in America has their annual general meeting where investors vote on a variety of proposals introduced by fellow shareholders. This April and May, investors in Wall Street banks and insurance companies will vote on at least four shareholder proposals related to climate justice and Indigenous rights. These votes are some of the most important climate votes that you’ve never heard of. It’s critical that state treasurers and public pensions vote YES on these critical resolutions. Add your name to take action now.
4. From Roots Action:
The Saudi-U.S. war on Yemen has killed many more people than the war in Ukraine thus far, and the death and suffering continue despite a temporary truce. Sen. Bernie Sanders backed off on forcing a vote to end U.S. participation, but President Biden has not ended U.S. participation. Nor has the president stopped providing Saudi Arabia with weapons, much less kept his campaign promise to treat Saudi Arabia as a pariah state. Your Senators and Representative need to hear from you right now:
Link: https://rootsaction.org/end-the-war-on-yemen
5. From Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund:
Prior to passage of the Trump-GOP tax cuts, which handed windfall tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations, Republicans and corporate CEOs claimed that businesses would use their new-found wealth to invest in their workforces―increasing wages and expanding operations.
In the five years since, corporations have spent $4.2 trillion of their new-found wealth on stock buybacks—money that could have been used to raise workers’ wages, invest in workplace protections and public safety, and lower costs for consumers. Stock buybacks mostly enrich top corporate executives and other wealthy shareholders. That’s because about 90% of all corporate stock is owned by the richest 10% of Americans; over half is owned by the top 1%. Moreover, the boost in share prices caused by stock buybacks are not taxed unless the investor sells the underlying shares. Often the shares are never sold and the gain is never taxed.
In 2017, the year before the Trump Tax scam took effect, corporations spent $519 billion on stock buybacks. In 2022, stock buybacks more than doubled, reaching a record high $1.2 trillion. In the news this month is Norfolk Southern, which―after announcing $10 billion in stock buybacks to enrich its executives and shareholders―is now responsible for a train derailment that has caused the evacuation of the town of East Palestine, Ohio, after 50 cars went off the track, carrying hazardous chemicals. Railroad Workers United called the massive accident “years in the making” with one journalist calling the catastrophe “a predictable consequence of Wall Street-backed policy decisions that have hollowed out the industry’s workforce, pushed remaining employees to chronic exhaustion and sacrificed safety for profits.”
Some of the worst corporate actors that utilize stock buybacks are also price gougers and union busters. Last year ExxonMobil made a record $56 billion in profits from sky-high gas prices in the midst of a global energy crisis; it then spent $15 billion of those profits, or more than one-quarter, on share repurchases. Chevron had record earnings of $35.5 billion in 2022 and announced it will be spending $75 billion more on stock buybacks. Starbucks has bought back more than $30 billion in stock over the past decade while simultaneously refusing to negotiate with unionized workers and denying workers benefits. Home Depot has bought back $74 billion worth of stock over the past decade while resisting worker efforts to organize, including squashing a union vote in Northeast Philadelphia.
Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) have introduced the Stock Buyback Accountability Act of 2023 to place a 4% tax on stock buybacks to discourage corporations from inflating their stock price and allowing investors to avoid taxes, and to encourage corporations to invest in workers. Send a message to your senators and urge them to become co-sponsors of the Stock Buyback Accountability Act to hold greedy corporations accountable:
6. From The Intercept on the persecution and prosecution of journalist Julian Assange:
Oppose the prosecution of Julian Assange. Australian publisher Julian Assange is a political prisoner. After being abducted out of the Ecuadorian embassy, he has languished in Belmarsh prison for nearly four years. In the intervening time, press freedom groups, major newspapers, and civil libertarians have all condemned the US’s charges against Assange. After years of grassroots advocacy, some members of Congress are starting to speak out. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is currently circulating a sign-on letter calling for Attorney General Merrick Garland to drop the charges against Assange. Other members of Congress can join the letter, but this is an issue that demands courage. They need to hear from you, their constituents. Please ask your members of Congress to join Rep. Tlaib’s effort. The future of the First Amendment is at stake!\
Link: https://rightsanddissent.salsalabs.org/assange-congressional-letter/index.html
Backgrounders
Conflict with Cuba on Guantanamo Base
For 120 years the US has illegally occupied 117 sq km of Cuban national territory against the will of the Cuban people and government. The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to this day continues to be a perpetrator of racial, and religious injustice, abuse and disregard for the most basic rules of international law. Plowshare Peace Center calls for the U.S. government to #returnGuantanamoNOW and end this violations of human rights.
As Dr. King said, “there comes a time when silence is betrayal” and that time is overdue for us in relation to Guantanamo Base. George W. Bush transferred over 500 prisoners out of Guantánamo. Barack Obama transferred ~200 men, and said he would shut the prison down, but failed. Donald Trump reversed course and kept the prison open. Joe Biden has all the authority he needs to close Guantánamo. It’s up to President Biden to fulfill his pledge to finally close Guantánamo Base.
Learn more. Link: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/12/guantanamo-at-21-advocates-renew-calls-for-closing-prison
AP: UN votes overwhelmingly to condemn US sanctions on Cuba
Link” https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-business-cuba-israel-europe-bf38ea2b62324cbd9ed3ce10905883d8
To learn more about the effect of sanctions on Cuba, consider attending online this weekend’s Cuba Normalization Conference at Fordham University. All plenary and workshop sessions live streamed across the US, intending to educate, organize, and mobilize against Washington’s economic and political war against Cuba – demanding:
- Take Cuba off Washington’s List of State-Sponsors of Terrorism!
- End the US Blockade of Cuba!
- End All US Anti-Cuba Economic and Travel Sanctions!
Program SATURDAY, MARCH 11 9am EST onwards
Link: https://www.us-cubanormalization.org/viva-cuba/inter-us-cubanormalization-conference/
Occupation of Palestine
Haaretz: ‘Israel has erected “a formal, full-fledged apartheid regime”’
MIDDLE EAST MONITOR
2-8-2023
“…transferring control from the military admiration to a civilian authority has major ramifications. According to Haaretz, it will constitute a de jure annexation of the occupied West Bank. …
“This, added the newspaper, is a “severe breach international law.” Major human rights organizations have already concluded that Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and B’Tselem.”
Read more. Link: https://www.juancole.com/2023/02/haaretz-erected-apartheid.html
‘Flashback: American media distortion on Palestine’
by Alison Weir, Israel-Palestinian News from If Americans Knew
3-5-2023
“I was unaware that our nation has vetoed numerous United Nations efforts to reign in Israeli aggression; resolutions that were supported by almost every other country around the world. I was unaware that US actions were enabling a massive land theft and ongoing ethnic cleansing that has caused profound tragedy in the Middle East, deep damage to our own nation and endangered American lives.
“My personal awakening to these facts and others began in the autumn of 2000 when the Palestinian uprising known as the Second Intifada began and was, for a while at least, in the American news. I grew curious about this conflict, determined to follow the news on it, and noticed quickly how one-sided the news coverage appeared to be. While we heard from and about Israelis frequently, the Palestinian side seemed to be largely glossed over at minimum, and was sometimes completely hidden.
“I began searching for additional information on the Internet and was astounded at what I learned. Israeli forces were killing hundreds of largely unarmed Palestinian men, women and children; many of the children were being killed by gunshot wounds to the head. …”
Read more. Link: https://israelpalestinenews.org/flashback-american-media-distortion-on-palestine-by-alison-weir/
Ukraine
On Mar. 7, 2023, the Roanoke Times published Michael Bentley’s commentary on the Ukraine War. It can be accessed at: https://roanoke.com/opinion/commentary/commentary-diplomacy-not-munitions-is-the-way-to-end-war-for-ukraine/article_9d42de18-b9df-11ed-a505-134a13ffdf9e.html
GOVERNMENT CONTACT INFO:
CONTACT YOUR REPS AND SENATORS
Phone Numbers:
Senator Kaine (202) 224-4024
Senator Warner (202) 224-2023
Dial 888-997-5380 to be connected to other Senators
Dial 917-791-2257 to be connected to your Representative
CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE: https://whitehouse.gov/contact
CONTACT the Virginia General Assembly: https://virginiageneralassembly.gov
PLOWSHARE PEACE AND JUSTICE CENTER
PO Box 4367, Roanoke VA 24015
plowshare@plowshareva.org
https://www.facebook.com/PlowsharePeaceAndJusticeCenter
Plowshare Action Alert #51
February 24, 2023
Plowshare Peace Center Public Information Committee
Dear Friends,
The following petitions are actions that are quick and easy to take to support what we believe are worthy causes. Please share this Plowshare ‘Action Alert’ with others.
1. From Virginia NAACP:
Voting rights advancements that we have fought for in Virginia are under attack! The Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections (P&E) will soon consider bills that have passed through the House of Delegates at this midway point of the General Assembly session. These dangerous bills seek to eliminate drop boxes used to receive absentee ballots, shrink the 45-day early voting window to just two weeks, eliminate permanent absentee voter lists, and reinstate mandatory voter ID. Take action! Contact the Senators on P&E and tell them to vote no on these bills. Let’s not take away voting conveniences that Virginians have used to vote. Make it easier, not more difficult for people to vote. OPPOSE HB1377 (Greenhalgh), HB1444 (Ware), HB 1693 (McGuire), HB1877 (Scott), HB1947 (Bloxom), AND HB2234 (Wachsmann).
Link: https://secure.everyaction.com/0xoKRFDzl0W-debgI49CGg2
2. From Southern Environmental Law Center:
Virginia was the first state in the South to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The program has worked to reduce air pollution in member states. Just two years into participation, RGGI has proven to be a great deal for Virginia—reducing air pollution from power plants while providing critical funding to Virginians. Yet Virginia’s participation in RGGI is in peril thanks to efforts by the Youngkin administration to leave the programs to cast their ballots. Make voting easier in VA rather than harder. by repealing the underlying regulation. This proposed action is inconsistent with the law that brought Virginia into RGGI and ignores the real benefits of Virginia’s participation. As the state’s Air Pollution Control Board seeks to overstep its authority and repeal the successful program, communities and individuals around the state must act and speak up to let the board know their actions will not be accepted without a fight:
Link: https://act.southernenvironment.org/dBKgML0
3. From The Plastic Pollution Coalition:
Tell world leaders that we need a strong global plastics treaty. On March 2, 2022, the UN approved a landmark agreement to create a global plastics pollution treaty. As countries enter the negotiation phase, keep up the pressure to ensure the resulting treaty creates more equitable systems to prevent and stop plastic pollution.
For the Global Plastics Treaty to be effective in reversing the tide of plastic pollution and contributing to the end of the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, we call on governments to ensure that the emerging instrument includes: Significant, progressive, and mandatory targets to cap and dramatically reduce virgin plastic production, legally binding, time-bound and ambitious targets to implement and scale up reuse, refill, and alternative product delivery systems, a just transition to safer and more sustainable livelihoods for workers and communities across the plastics supply chain, and provisions that hold polluting corporations and plastic producing countries accountable.
4. From Sandy Hook Promise:
Tell Congress: Stop Assault Weapon Sales. Twenty-six children were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary by a shooter who used an AR-15 assault-style weapon. When the shooter paused to reload, 11 children were able to escape. That’s why prohibiting the sale and transfer of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines is so important. Every time a shooter must pause to reload, there is an opportunity for lives to be saved. Please sign our petition right now to tell Congress to immediately stop the sale of assault weapons to help save lives
.
Link: https://takeaction.sandyhookpromise.org/a/ads-assault-weapons
5. From the Natural Resources Defense Council:
We need to protect Jefferson National Forest from the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Building MVP through our public forest would threaten the integrity of the forest and expose frontline communities—and the water they depend on—to a wide array of environmental dangers.
Take action today to urge the US Forest Service to reject construction on this dangerous fracked gas project!
Link: https://action.nrdc.org/letter/1409-mountain-valley-pipeline-comment-011923
6. From Appalachian Voices:
The EPA is updating the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter, also known as PM 2.5. PM 2.5 is a lethal combination of metals, organic matter, acids and other substances so tiny that they can be inhaled and delivered directly into the bloodstream. These airborne pollutants are emitted by power plants and numerous other industries. In many Appalachian communities, coal mine dust is a source of dangerous levels of particulate matter.
EPA has proposed replacing the current PM 2.5 annual average standard of 12 micrograms per cubic meter with a new standard somewhere between 9 and 10 micrograms per cubic meter. For reference, the World Health Organization suggests exposure be limited to 5 micrograms per cubic meter, and EPA’s own scientific advisors point out that a standard of 8 micrograms per cubic meter would prevent about 5,000 more premature deaths each year as compared to 9 micrograms per cubic meter. The proposed rule is a step in the right direction, but by taking such tepid action, EPA Administrator Michael Regan is ignoring the growing chorus of public health experts, advocates and ordinary Americans calling on the EPA to follow the science and set the standard no higher than 8 micrograms per cubic meter. Join Appalachian Voices and other advocates in calling on the EPA to put people’s health above polluters’ profits and strengthen the particulate matter standard.
Link: https://appvoices.org/end-mountaintop-removal/health-impacts/epa_dust_and_soot_2023/
7. From Roots Action:
The train that derailed in Eastern Ohio that is big news, is big news because it was carrying toxic and carcinogenic chemicals that exploded into flames. The government and railway officials made the questionable decision to “burn off” vinyl chloride, sending 1.1 million pounds of the carcinogen into the community, a decision quite possibly driven by cost and profit considerations. The train was not classified as a high-hazard flammable train, so Norfolk Southern did not have to tell anyone what was in it. This meant that firefighters and first responders did not know what they were dealing with. The train was not equipped with electronic brakes. The train was 1.7 miles long but had a crew of only two, plus a trainee. If this all sounds unacceptable, click here to demand better going forward..
Link: https://rootsaction.org/take-these-steps-on-ohio-train-wreck
Backgrounders
Update on the War in Ukraine
As Putin Suspends New START Treaty, Is There Still Hope for Nuclear Disarmament?
Democracy Now! Interview of Dr. Ira Helfand, former president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, member of the international steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, as well as the co-founder and past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Feb. 22, 2023 (audio, 17 min)
Russia is suspending its participation in the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement with the United States. The United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (signed in 2017 and effective since January 2021) is the best treaty yet for limiting nuclear weapons and has provisions for mutual verifications. It creates some protection against nuclear war. Please contact President Biden and your legislators in Congress and urge them to act to stop further escalations of this war and promote diplomacy. You will be able to leave a recorded message if no one is available to take your call.
View interview: Link: https://www.democracynow.org/2023/2/22/putin_new_start_treaty
Seymour Hersh – How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline
In this video, journalist and author Fabian Scheidler interviews Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh about his latest article, “How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline.”
Fabian Scheidler is author of the book, The End of the Megamachine. A Brief History of a Failing Civilization (https://www.end-of-the-megamachine.com/)
Feb.. 15, 2023
Watch video: Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQMdQLjI-Tk
Read Seymour Hersh’s Feb. 8, 2023 essay: Link: https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream
Here is a Feb. 21, 2023 Reuter’s article on the same topic:
Russia suspends participation in New START
“President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered a warning to the West over Ukraine by suspending a landmark nuclear arms control treaty, announcing that new strategic systems had been put on combat duty, and threatening to resume nuclear tests… Russia’s foreign ministry said later on Tuesday that Moscow intended to continue abiding by the restrictions outlined in the treaty on the number of warheads it could have deployed.”
The treaty, which allows inspections, is due to expire in 2026, “although tensions over Ukraine had already brought inspections to a halt.” The article cites Putin’s understanding of the West’s war: “‘They intend to transform a local conflict into a phase of global confrontation,’ he said. ‘This is exactly how we understand it all and we will react accordingly, because in this case we are talking about the existence of our country.’” Putin warned that Russia would do what is necessary for strategic parity, charging, according to the article, that “some in Washington were considering breaking a moratorium on nuclear testing”: “‘A week ago, I signed a decree on putting new ground-based strategic systems on combat duty.’ It was not immediately clear which systems he meant. “Putin said Ukraine had sought to strike a facility deep inside Russia where it keeps nuclear bombers, a reference to the Engels air base.”
Link: https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-update-russias-elite-ukraine-war-major-speech-2023-02-21/
GOVERNMENT CONTACT INFO:
CONTACT YOUR REPS AND SENATORS
Phone Numbers:
Senator Kaine (202) 224-4024
Senator Warner (202) 224-2023
Dial 888-997-5380 to be connected to other Senators
Dial 917-791-2257 to be connected to your Representative
CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE: https://whitehouse.gov/contact
CONTACT the Virginia General Assembly: https://virginiageneralassembly.gov
PLOWSHARE PEACE AND JUSTICE CENTER
PO Box 4367, Roanoke VA 24015
https://www.facebook.com/PlowsharePeaceAndJusticeCenter
Plowshare Action Alert #50
February 3, 2023
Plowshare Peace Center Public Information Committee
Dear friends,
The following petitions are actions that are quick and easy to take to support what we believe are worthy causes. Please share this Plowshare ‘Action Alert’ with others.
1. from the Sierra Club:
Oil and gas leasing on our public lands directly undercuts President Biden’s ambitious climate goals. Despite this, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has continued to propose new lease sales in 2023, including:
95,420 acres in Wyoming
16,691 acres in Utah
Hundreds of acres across Nebraska, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Michigan
We need to tell the BLM that more oil and gas leasing and drilling is the exact opposite of what we must do to address the climate crisis. It furthers our dependence on fossil fuels, places Black, Brown, Indigenous, and frontline communities at higher risk of unacceptable health and environmental consequences, and irreparably harms wildlife and natural public lands. Tell the BLM that we must end oil and gas leasing and drilling on public lands! Be sure to include a personal note about why this issue is important to you. Your comments will be delivered to state and national offices of the BLM. Link: https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/National
2. from Appalachian Voices and Virginia Chapter Sierra Club:
Tell Your State Reps: Oppose attacks on climate progress. Virginia’s state legislative session is now underway, and we know one thing for sure: every major climate policy is in jeopardy.
Laws that hold polluters accountable are on the chopping block. Funding to strengthen our communities most impacted by a changing climate is at risk. Commitments to our 100% clean energy transition are in jeopardy. Governor Youngkin is using his position to push an aggressive anti-climate and anti-health agenda. He wants to repeal every major climate policy in Virginia, especially policies that transition away from fossil fuels and reduce air and tailpipe pollution. Tell your state lawmaker that Virginians can’t afford Youngkin’s anti-climate agenda!: Link: https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/virginia
3. from Only One:
At the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, there was once an ecosystem full of life. Then, in 1989, scientists tested a deep-sea mining simulation, and it wrecked the surrounding ecosystems beyond repair. The area remains lifeless more than 20 years later. If we do not take action, deep-sea mining will move beyond testing in 2023 and cause irreversible destruction at a massive scale to untouched ecosystems.
Add your name to stop deep-sea mining today and help prevent this tragedy before it begins. Link: https://only.one/act/mining
4. from Oxfam:
Tell Pres. Biden and Congress: Tax the rich and make them pay their fair share. The richest 1 percent globally have captured nearly two-thirds of all new wealth since 2020, almost twice as much money as the bottom 99 percent of the world’s population. Billionaire fortunes are increasing by $2.7 billion a day while crushing inflation outpaces the wages of 1.7 billion workers.
Decades of tax cuts for the richest and corporations have fueled inequality, with the poorest people in many countries paying higher tax rates than billionaires. Oxfam is demanding wide-ranging increases in taxation of the super-rich, and we call on President Biden, Congress, and world governments to tax the extraordinary wealth of multi-millionaires and billionaires.
Increased taxes on the wealthiest individuals could lift people out of poverty, address the climate crisis, fund childcare, and create well-paying jobs. We urge you to join Oxfam’s global community and make the ultra-rich pay their fair share of taxes. Link: https://act.oxfamamerica.org/page/48180/subscribe/1/
5. from Virginia League of Conservation Voters:
A strong majority of Virginians want to see our state taking action to address climate change and transition to a clean energy economy, which includes staying in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a highly successful program that’s slashing power plant pollution while returning millions of dollars to the Commonwealth to combat flooding and lower energy costs.
Unfortunately, Governor Youngkin’s moving forward to side-step Virginia’s legislature and pull Virginia out of this program through a rigged regulatory process – efforts that will take us backwards on climate action while robbing Virginia of vital resources that keep communities safe while cutting energy bills. A public comment period kicked off on Jan. 30 and will run until March 31 – we need as many concerned Virginians as possible to weigh in and tell this Administration that you oppose their reckless attacks on climate action! Sign our petition and tell Youngkin you want to see Virginia stay the course on climate action: Link: https://valcv.org/actions/sign-the-petition-oppose-youngkins-illegal-rggi-repeal/
6. from Win Without War:
The Biden administration is seeking public comment on a federal rule that would require government contractors — including the defense industry — to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and for the worst offenders to release a plan to reduce emissions in line with Paris Agreement levels. This rule is a critical first step in holding weapons contractors accountable for their impact on the environment.
So far, many of the comments have come from industry groups in opposition to the rule. That’s why it’s so important that we speak out in support of this critical step towards transparency and accountability. By adding our voices to the conversation, we can help improve the chances of this rule being implemented — and there’s no time for delay because the comment period ends February 13. Link: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/submit-your-comment-hold-weapons-contractors-accountable-for-climate-change
7. also from Win Without War:
Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s attempt to strip Representative Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) is petty, punitive, and wildly partisan. Omar is a progressive champion in Congress. She brings unparalleled lived experience to the committee as a Somali-born refugee, and she is the first ever African-born member to sit on the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Global Human Rights in the history of the US. A skilled legislator, she has introduced the Pathway to PEACE, a package of several pieces of legislation to re-center human rights and justice in U.S. foreign policy. This includes the Stop Arming Human Rights Abusers Act, which bans security assistance to countries that violate international human rights law, and the Global Migration Agreement Act, which instructs the State Department to pursue the adoption of a binding global pledge to address migration causes and fund crisis responses. If all Democrats and just a few Republicans vote down this anti-democratic move, we can keep a key progressive champion on a committee vital to our work. Sign now to help support Omar’s HFAC seat! Link: https://act.winwithoutwar.org/act/support-rep-omars-seat-hfac
8. from Code Pink:
President Biden should want to resolve the war in Ukraine that risks, according to the President’s own words, “nuclear Armageddon.” Instead, the President is sending Ukraine 31 high-powered battlefield tanks, the Abrams M-1 by General Dynamics, which will only escalate the war with Russia. And already, Ukraine’s President Zelensky is saying the tanks aren’t enough–the U.S. must send fighter jets– moving us even closer to WWIII. Tell your members of Congress to oppose the tanks and more weapons for Ukraine because there is no military solution. We need a ceasefire and negotiated settlement! Link: https://www.codepink.org/ukrainetanks
9. from Virginia Conservation Network
2023 Virginia General Assembly Advocacy Guide and Resources:
Upcoming events and actions, General Assembly 101 Advocacy Video, General Assembly FAQ
Link: https://vcnva.org/general-assembly-advocacy-guide/
Backgrounders
Update on Venezuela
In Venezuela, the US Recognizes a Nonexistent Government
From AntiWar.com
Jan. 25, 2023
In Venezuela, the US recognizes a nonexistent government. In a piece of bizarre political theater, the US now officially recognizes a government in Venezuela that does not exist. In an October 6, 2022 meeting of the Organization of American States, only the US, Canada, Guatemala and Paraguay supported Guaidó as the legitimate head of state. State Department spokesman Ned Price now states, “we continue to recognize what is the only remaining democratically elected institution in Venezuela today, and that’s the 2015 National Assembly.” But even the Venezuelan opposition recognizes the 2020 National Assembly election as legitimate.
Read more. Link: https://original.antiwar.com/Ted_Snider/2023/01/24/in-venezuela-the-us-recognizes-a-nonexistent-government/
Update on the War in Ukraine
Ukraine: The War that Went Wrong
By Chris Hedges
Jan. 30, 2023 (audio, 17 min)
NATO support for the war in Ukraine, designed to degrade the Russian military and drive Vladimir Putin from power, is not going according to plan. The new sophisticated military hardware won’t help.
Listen now: Link: https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/listen-to-this-article-ukraine-the
Ukraine Trough the US Looking Glass
By Robert Parry
Jan. 27, 2023
On the 5th anniversary of his death, Consortium News republishes one of Parry’s many prescient articles on Ukraine, this one on the risks of ignoring the 2014 coup, the neo-Nazis’s role and the war against coup resisters in the east.
Read more: Link: https://consortiumnews.com/2023/01/27/robert-parry-ukraine-through-the-us-looking-glass/
Can the Military-Industrial-Complex be Tamed?
By William Astore, professor of history and retired lieutenant colonel, senior fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network
Jan. 31, 2023
“Currently, Americans are giving the Pentagon all it wants — plus some. And how’s that been working out for the rest of us? Isn’t it finally time for us to exercise real oversight, as Ike challenged us to do in 1961? Isn’t it time to force the Pentagon to pass an audit each year — it’s failed the last five! — or else cut its budget even more deeply? Isn’t it time to hold Congress truly responsible for enabling ever more war by voting out military sycophants? Isn’t it time to recognize, as America’s founders did, that sustaining a vast military establishment constitutes the slow and certain death of democracy?”
Read more. Link: https://tomdispatch.com/can-the-military-industrial-complex-be-tamed/
GOVERNMENT CONTACT INFO:
CONTACT YOUR REPS AND SENATORS
Phone Numbers:
Senator Kaine (202) 224-4024
Senator Warner (202) 224-2023
Dial 888-997-5380 to be connected to other Senators
Dial 917-791-2257 to be connected to your Representative
CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE: https://whitehouse.gov/contact
CONTACT the Virginia General Assembly: https://virginiageneralassembly.gov
