[mpen-dayton4] FW: "Fast Track and the TPP - More Broken Promises" & "genocide & Is this country crazy?" & "ALERT: Social Security ATTACK" & "Protect Medicare from the Kochs" and more

FYI.   Best, Munsup

P.S. "He who dares not offend cannot be honest" - Thomas Paine
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·         FW: SPLC president testifies before Congress on birthright citizenship

·         FW: Fast Track and the TPP - More Broken Promises

·         FW: Signature needed: President must release full text of TPP before Congress votes on Fast Track

·         FW: genocide & Is this country crazy?

·         FW: ALERT: Social Security ATTACK

·         FW: Sneak peak: Big Picture video series

·         FW: Support Elizabeth Warren: Tell Congress college should be debt-free.

·         FW: Protect Medicare from the Kochs and PETITION: Support the K.O.C.H. Act

·         FW: World famous musician won't perform in Israel - stand with her

·         FW: E.J. Dionne Jr.: "A Rare Moment of Grace in American Politics" - Truthdig

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From: Southern Poverty Law Center // FIGHTING HATE // TEACHING TOLERANCE // SEEKING JUSTICE
Subject: SPLC president testifies before Congress on birthright citizenship

SPLC president urges Congress not to tamper with birthright citizenship

During a recent hearing before the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, SPLC President Richard Cohen warned Congress that altering the 14th Amendment's promise of citizenship to all children born within the United States would undermine one of our nation's bedrock principles and risk creating a new underclass in our country. Cohen was invited to testify against GOP-led efforts to alter birthright citizenship either through legislation or constitutional amendment. WATCH TESTIMONY

 

 

From: Campaign for America's Future
Subject: Fast Track and the TPP - More Broken Promises

In 1990, most of our clothing was made in the United States, usually by union workers making a fair wage with decent working conditions. This wasn't an accident. It came about through decades of struggle. The result? Everyone prospered: workers, managers and shareholders.  

Starting in 1994, NAFTA and other trade deals wiped out most taxes on foreign-made clothing, while doing nothing to protect worker rights or the environment abroad.

Overnight, American workers had to compete with countries that tolerated child labor, 16-hour workdays and 40-cent-an-hour wages.  

The result? 750,000 U.S. jobs evaporated in favor of sweatshops and a race to the global bottom.

Among the very worst offenders was (and is) Nike. Their record of abusive labor practices spans two decades. The only thing that has changed is a substantial investment in a public relations snow job.

So why is President Obama appearing at a Nike event on May 8?  

He's going to thank them for their tireless effort in promoting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP will allow corporate tribunals to judge our environmental and safety regulations. It will also ban "buy America" laws.

Which Nike thinks is just fine.  

It's not too late to stop this. Over the next few weeks we will be directing tens of thousands of calls and hundreds of thousands of emails to vulnerable members of Congress. We will continue to issue reports and speak to the media about the cost and consequences of this deal. We will continue to warn about the dangers of fast track, which gives away Congress' ability to influence the treaty.

Can you chip in to help stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership?

If yes, Donate Now!

 

 

From: tbacane
Subject: FW: Signature needed: President must release full text of TPP before Congress votes on Fast Track

The President is wrong on TPP and I am joining with the Senators in saying "Show us the full TPP proposal"!
If he can't or will not do so then it's HELL NO on TPP!

 

Stand with Senators Sanders, Warren, and Brown: President Obama must release full text of TPP

Petition to President Obama: "We demand the immediate release of the full text of the latest draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to members of Congress, their staff, and the American public, before Congress votes to Fast Track the TPP." Add your name:

Our campaign to pressure President Obama's administration to immediately make all secret trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) public has gotten a massive boost. President Obama recently lashed out at activists and our elected representatives who have called for transparency around secret negotiations, calling us "dishonest." In response Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown have added their voices to Senator Bernie Sanders' call for the Obama administration to immediately release the full text of the TPP. In a letter to the president, Senators Warren and Brown wrote: The American people should be allowed to weigh in on the facts of the TPP before Members of Congress are asked to voluntarily reduce our ability to amend, shape, or block any trade deal. The press and the public should be allowed to examine the details that corporate executives and lobbyists have already been allowed to influence for years. Members of Congress should be able to discuss the agreement with our constituents and to participate in a robust public debate instead of being muzzled by classification rules. Before Congress votes to facilitate the adoption of the TPP, the American public should be allowed to see for themselves whether it's good deal for them.1 Stand with Senators Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown and Bernie Sanders: Add your name and tell President Obama to immediately release the full text of the TPP before Congress votes on Fast Track. Click here to sign the petition. Senators Warren and Brown sent the letter in response to the president's attacks on progressive activists fighting to stop Congress from rubber-stamping a Fast Track bill for the biggest trade deal in our history. President Obama even went so far as to compare our objections to the deal being negotiated with corporations and foreign governments to Sarah Palin's invocating of "death panels" during the health care debate. The Warren-Brown letter specifically points out that President Obama's "trade transparency record is worse than that of former President George W. Bush," noting that even Bush "published the full negotiation texts of a major free trade deal with Latin America several months before Congress had to vote on giving the deal fast track benefits."2 This letter gives our ongoing campaign to rally around Senator Bernie Sanders' call for transparency on all pending trade deals a huge lift. We need to do our part by pushing even harder for transparency now. Add your name and tell President Obama to immediately release the full text of the TPP before Congress votes on Fast Track. Click here to sign the petition. It would be outrageous for the Obama administration to allow the Republican leadership and their corporate allies within the Democratic party to ram through Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority without allowing all members of Congress, their staff, and the American public to read what is in trade agreements such as the TPP. And as Senators Warren and Brown point out, it would be worse than George W. Bush! In fact, the reason why the corporate lobby is pushing hard for Fast Track is that they know the TPP could not get through Congress without this extraordinary power grab. This secret "trade" deal would eviscerate broad swaths of regulations that protect consumers, workers, the environment and the soundness of our financial system. And it would set up a legal regime where corporate profits trump the policy priorities of sovereign governments. It's ironic that the president claims critics of the TPP "don't know what they're talking about" when it's his administration that is refusing to release the text of his secret trade agreement to the public – only providing extremely limited access to members of Congress. The Obama administration should immediately release the TPP text to the public, and Congress, so we can have a spirited and informed public debate on the largest trade deal in our history. Stand with Senators Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, and Bernie Sanders: Add your name and tell President Obama to immediately release the full text of the TPP before Congress votes on Fast Track. Click the link below to sign the petition. http://act.credoaction.com/sign/tpp_reveal?t=7&akid=14227.1363962.p27gWx Thank you for your activism.  Add your name: 1.     Letter from Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown to President Obama, April 25, 2015. 2.     Zach Carter, "Elizabeth Warren Tells Obama To Put Up Or Shut Up On Trade," HuffingtonPost.com, April 25, 2015.

 

 

From: James Lucas
Subject: genocide & Is this country crazy?

US GENOCIDE AGAINST IRAQ HAS KILLED 3.3 MILLION
by Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire
Posted on September 23, 2014 by Robert Barsocchini

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/09/nobel-peace-prize-winner-maguire-us-genocide-iraq-killed-3-3-million.html

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Is This Country Crazy? Inquiring Minds Elsewhere Want to Know
It's past time to wake up, America, and look around
By Ann Jones

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/01/11/country-crazy-inquiring-minds-elsewhere-want-know

 

 

From: AlterNet
Subject: ALERT: Social Security ATTACK

The following sponsored email was sent to you by AlterNet on behalf of DCCC BREAKING: Hillary Clinton just took on Republicans for trying to undermine Social Security We need 100,000 Democrats to join Hillary's call to save Social Security. Will you sign on? Petition Signature: SIGN ON >>   Sign Your Name >> Friend -- Hillary Clinton just SLAMMED Republicans who want to "privatize Social Security or undermine it." As she put it, Social Security is "not a luxury, it's a necessity." Hillary is right! If the Republicans want to cut off seniors' safety net, it's up to us to hold them accountable. Add your name: Join Hillary Clinton and protect Social Security from extremist Republicans. Friend -- Can you help us get to 100,000 supporters standing with Hillary to protect Social Security? Paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee | 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, DC 20003 | " style="color: #696969; text-decoration: none;" (202) 863-1500| www.dccc.org | Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

 

 

From: Robert Reich via MoveOn.org Civic Action
Subject: Sneak peak: Big Picture video series

We promised that you would get a sneak peak at the powerful new videos we are producing with Robert Reich, and here it is! We are sending the email below to all MoveOn members later today. You're part of the reason these videos even exist, and you've made a commitment to share them widely. So please, take a moment to watch the first in our series—"Fight for $15"—and then click "Share" right now.  –Anna

---

The fight for a $15 minimum wage just scored a game-changing victory! Yesterday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a plan to raise the wages of fast-food workers across his state.¹

This movement is building critical momentum, because no one who works full time should live in poverty.

I recorded a brief video explaining why a $15-per-hour minimum wage makes so much sense. It's the first in my new video series with MoveOn—and it couldn't be more timely.

Please watch and share now:

Over the next few weeks, MoveOn and I will bring you more commonsense ideas that could make our economy work for everyone. We'll be relying on you to tell us which ideas you like most by sharing them with your friends and family.

And MoveOn will launch full-blown campaigns—in solidarity with our allies—on the ideas that get the most traction, so make sure to watch and vote—by sharing!

Right now, we're in the middle of a great debate over the future direction of our country. By sharing "Fight for $15" and the rest of the Big Picture videos, you're not only spreading powerful ideas, you're sharing solid intro-primers to the complicated economic issues facing our country, making it simple and easy for everyone—not just political junkies and economists—to get involved.

We don't have Big Media in our corner—so we'll rely on people-powered media to spread our vision for the country. That means you, watching and hitting "Share" on "Fight for $15" right now and helping us get it in front of millions of viewers.

P.S. Cheers to the many tens of thousands of MoveOn members who are active in the Fight for $15 movement—whether you've signed a petition or attended an event in your local community. I salute you!

Source:
1. "Andrew M. Cuomo: Fast-Food Workers Deserve a Raise," The New York Times, May 6, 2015 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=304323&id=114907-1195276-HoljJGx&t=6

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 8 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Start a monthly donation here or chip in a one-time donation here.

 

 

From: Campaign for America's Future
Subject: Support Elizabeth Warren: Tell Congress college should be debt-free.

The movement for debt-free education is growing.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Reps. Keith Ellison, Brian Schatz and Raul Grijalva have sponsored an resolution that gets at the heart of the student debt issue:

"Resolved, that Congress supports efforts to ensure that, through a combination of efforts, all students have access to debt-free higher education, defined to mean having no debt upon graduation from all public institutions of higher education."

This movement needs you to tell Congress you support this resolution. Click here to sign the petition asking Congress to pass this resolution and support debt-free college.

There was a time when every state had a university with free or very low tuition. If you agree that America needs a nation-wide system of free colleges, sign the petition asking all legislators to vote for Warren's resolution.

Click here to sign the petition.

 

From: FWD This ↘︎
Subject: Protect Medicare from the Kochs and PETITION: Support the K.O.C.H. Act

Thanks for signing our petition demanding Republicans protect Medicare from the Kochs!

Will you help us keep up our momentum by forwarding this and asking three friends to sign as well?

http://act.endcitizensunited.org/Protect-Medicare

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The Koch Brothers are spending $1 billion to buy the 2016 elections and end Medicare as we know it. We can't let the GOP cave to the Kochs' demands. Tell Republicans -- Don't Gut Medicare: SIGN IMMEDIATELY →

 

The Koch Brothers are spending hundreds of millions to buy more Republican politicians in 2016. If they succeed, they have a frightening demand: "We favor the abolition of Medicare and Medicaid programs." That's pulled directly from David Koch's platform back when he ran for Vice President. Not much has changed 35 years later. The Kochs could add billions to their already oversized fortunes if Medicare is privatized and voucherized. To that end, they see the $889 million they plan on elections in 2016 as a great investment. Don't let them gut Medicare without a fight. 5O,OOO Signatures Needed → Demand Republicans ignore the Kochs and protect Medicare >> SIGN IMMEDIATELY → http://act.endcitizensunited.org/Protect-Medicare Thanks for standing up!   -EndCitizensUnited.org

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Thanks for adding your name to support the K.O.C.H. Act.

Will you help keep up our momentum by forwarding this and asking three friends to sign as well?
http://act.endcitizensunited.org/KOCH-Act

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Democrats just introduced a bill to force SuperPACs to disclose their major donors at the end of TV ads: 5O,OOO Signatures Needed → Sign your name to support the K.O.C.H. Act:   SIGN IMMEDIATELY →

Here are the names of some real groups that attacked President Obama in 2012: They sound innocent enough. But they're actually right-wing front-groups for the likes of Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers. Voters deserve to know who's behind the deceptive ads flooding our airwaves. The Keeping Our Campaigns Honest Act (K.O.C.H. Act) would do just that -- forcing SuperPACs and dark money groups to disclose major donors at the end of their ads. But if Democrats are going to get this bill through Congress, it'll take a tremendous grassroots effort. 5O,OOO Signatures Needed → Sign your name to support the K.O.C.H. Act:   SIGN IMMEDIATELY →

http://act.endcitizensunited.org/KOCH-Act

 

Paid for by End Citizens United

 

 

From: Cecilie Surasky; Deputy Director, Jewish Voice for Peace
Subject: World famous musician won't perform in Israel - stand with her

International hip-hop superstar Ms. Lauryn Hill has CANCELLED her concert in Israel, after pressure from people like us who support Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS), Over 13000 JVP supporters have already signed our thank you card - can you be one more? Let's show Ms. Lauryn Hill that we're standing with her, so more artists will follow her lead and stand up to Israel's human rights abuses.    - Cecilie

Thank Ms. Lauryn Hill for cancelling her concert in Israel

 

Sign our thank you card to Ms. Lauryn Hill

I can barely believe the news! After being lobbied by thousands of fans, Ms. Lauryn Hill — one of the best known hip-hop and R&B superstars in the world — announced just minutes ago that she's cancelling her concert in Israel.

She heeded the call of the millions of us who don't want artists to play in a country where Palestinians have lived as refugees, or under military occupation for almost 50 years. The Israeli government wants artists to perform in Israel, as though it's just another normal country - but Israel's decades of violating the rights of Palestinians is anything but normal.

I can promise you, the backlash against her is going to be fierce. If we loudly let Ms. Lauryn Hill know we have her back, other artists will show the same courage. We can help turn this historic moment into a tipping point.

Please, take a minute to sign this massive thank you card to Ms. Lauryn Hill for cancelling her concert in Tel Aviv: www.thankyoulaurynhill.org

10 years ago, Palestinian civil society issued the call for Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), and created a movement that has spread like wildfire. Together, we're putting pressure on Israel to follow the law, so that where international talks have failed, BDS can succeed.

Whether speaking out against police brutality, or lending her voice to the movement for refugee justice, Ms. Lauryn Hill never shies away from standing up for people facing oppression around the world. She's taken a brave stand against the occupation of Palestine, and for peace and justice.

Stand with her — thank Ms. Lauryn Hill for cancelling her concert in Israel.

Our time is now. Our movement is growing. Thank you for being part of it.

 

 

From: Judy Burnette
Subject: E.J. Dionne Jr.: "A Rare Moment of Grace in American Politics" – Truthdig

" .... Enter Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.

The Secular Coalition invited Coons to speak because, as he said of himself last Thursday night, he is "dedicated to the separation of church and state and to the equal protection under the Constitution which I swore to uphold, whether you are religious or secular."

More than that, Coons told the crowd that he is uneasy with "rigid certainty" on religious questions. He understands that many are skeptical of faith, both because "religion [has] come to be so closely associated with right-wing politics" and because the Bible "has been used as a document, as a foundation, to justify discrimination."

The revered text is, to some, "the basis of intolerance, based on outdated teachings and moral codes and has been a source of pain and distance and discomfort for many."

If Coons had left it at that, this would have been another in a long series of Washington speeches in which a politician tells his allies how much he agrees with them.

But as "a practicing Christian and a devout Presbyterian," Coons had a second message. .... "

http://m.truthdig.com/report/item/a_rare_moment_of_grace_in_american_politics_20150505

 

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