[mpen-dayton4] FW: THIS is who heads "Pro-Lifers for Cruz" & "A 'Profound Mistake'" & "GOP Senators kicked a hornet's nest" and more
FYI. Best, Munsup
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P.P.S. "He who dares not offend cannot be honest" - Thomas Paine
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· FW: THIS is who heads "Pro-Lifers for Cruz" - speak out!
· FW: They legitimized anti-abortion extremists
· FW: A "Profound Mistake"
· FW: It's working
· FW: Joe Lieberman vs. Social Security
· FW: GOP Senators kicked a hornet's nest
· FW: "Why Obama Will Go Down as One of the Greatest Presidents of All Time"
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From: Alexandra Hart; Online Team, People For the American Way
Subject: THIS is who heads "Pro-Lifers for Cruz" - speak out!
It might be tough to be shocked by the company Ted Cruz keeps -- after all, he's touted the support of some of the most bigoted and extreme right-wing activists in America. But this is really, really, really beyond the pale:
Cruz has named as an official co-chair of his campaign's "Pro-Lifers for Cruz" coalition Troy Newman, the outspoken president of the notorious Operation Rescue -- a radical anti-choice organization that harasses clinic workers, including terrorizing them at their homes.
Newman is a representative of the extreme wing of the anti-choice movement that threatens and incites violence against abortion providers. And horrific incidents like the fatal shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood last November are evidence that their violent rhetoric has deadly consequences.
Please add your name now to our urgent call for Cruz to disavow Troy Newman and his embrace of violent rhetoric>>
It speaks volumes about the modern Republican Party that in his last ditch effort to keep his campaign alive, Ted Cruz is now trying to appeal as the less objectionable choice for women in the GOP field... But while we all might accept that Cruz and his Republican cohorts are anti-choice extremists, associating with the likes of Troy Newman, especially in an official capacity, represents a chilling escalation in the War on Women.
Troy Newman is far from the only person on the Cruz campaign with a right-wing extremist record. But Newman’s history of violent rhetoric and harassment puts him in a league of his own. And Ted Cruz has given him a national platform. That’s why we’ve teamed up with leaders from Planned Parenthood Action Fund and NARAL Pro-Choice America to call on Ted Cruz to remove Troy Newman from his campaign, effective immediately.
Sign our open letter: Tell Ted Cruz to denounce Troy Newman’s extremism and fire him from his campaign immediately>>
Violence against abortion providers is on the rise -- a recent report from the National Abortion Federation found a “dramatic increase” in harassment, death threats, and attempted murder of abortion providers in 2015. This coincided with an anti-choice video smear campaign intended to demonize providers -- videos which Newman was a driving force behind.[1]
Add your name now to tell Ted Cruz that violent rhetoric and anti-choice extremism have no place on a presidential campaign>>
No politician should be allowed to pander to anti-choice extremists like Newman without being called out for it. And no person who wants to be president of the United States should empower someone who has said the government should execute abortion providers. Cruz needs to fire Newman from his campaign team.
Leaders from PFAW, Planned Parenthood, and NARAL have signed an open letter to the Cruz campaign. Add YOUR name now>>
From: Mike Honda
Subject: They legitimized anti-abortion extremists
Violent rhetoric and lies from anti-abortion extremists, when legitimized by the House Republicans and the leadership of the conservative movement, actively endangers health care providers and patients. That’s why, over the weekend, I added my name to a letter with House Democrats calling for an end to the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, which is nothing more than a political witch hunt designed to defame Planned Parenthood.
Over the last year, Speaker Paul Ryan and other House Republicans have been investigating our friends at Planned Parenthood following the release of a knowingly fraudulent video, which incorrectly alleged the organization was “selling aborted baby parts.” Now, this has been proven false time and again by multiple investigations that have determined that they were in compliance with state regulations in every jurisdiction where it has been investigated and not guilty of any wrongdoing.
For this reason alone, it is past time to disband these investigations and stop legitimizing false allegations against Planned Parenthood by anti-abortion extremists.
Stand with Planned Parenthood and add your name demanding Paul Ryan and the House Republicans end the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives now.
This investigation now represents a waste of taxpayer money whose only purpose is to launch politically-motivated attacks on Planned Parenthood while intimidating scientists and medical personnel. It is time for House Republicans to end this assault on Planned Parenthood and the millions of Americans who rely on it. Stand with us today.
Paid For By Mike Honda for Congress |
From: CODEPINK
Subject: A "Profound Mistake"
"I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria," President Obama reassured the world in September of 2014, saying the move would be a "profound mistake." He made this promise 15 more times to the American people, yet just a few days ago the President announced the deployment of 250 troops to Syria indefinitely.
Rather than expanding the U.S. military’s presence in another country’s civil war, President Obama should be using his last months in office to fulfill his campaign promises to end U.S. military interventions in the Middle East.
Send this message to President Obama: Keep the troops out of Syria and pursue political solutions, not failed military solutions!
Despite billions of tax dollars spent on airstrikes, arming rebel forces, and sharing surveillance intelligence, U.S. military endeavors have neither alleviated the suffering in Syria, brought the civil war to an end, nor improved American national security.
The American people are now expected to foot an astounding $375 million bill just to train the 250 Special Forces troops headed to Syria. The U.S. government should spend fewer resources on ground forces, which President Obama previously said he would never deploy to Syria, and more on supporting peace talks and providing humanitarian assistance to the millions of Syrian people who are besieged, internally displaced, or refugees in other countries.
Sign our petition to President Obama calling on him to pursue political solutions in Syria instead of sending more troops!
In solidarity,
Alice, Alli, Ariel, Chelsea, Janet, Jodie, Marwa, Medea, Michaela, Nancy, Rebecca, Sam and Tighe
P.S. Show your support for peace and justice with a shirt, poster or stickers from our store!
Have your change make change! MyChange rounds up your credit and debit card purchases to the next dollar, and sends your spare change to CODEPINK! Click here to get started.
From: Rebecca Vilkomerson; Executive Director, Jewish Voice for Peace
Subject: It's working
At the end of February, I sent you a quick update about what we’ve been working on recently here at JVP. Now, as Pesach draws to a close, and Jews around the world have spent the last week recommitting to struggles for justice, I want to do the same.
I wrote to you last month about our fight at the UC Regents (the governing body of the University of California). A proposal to include anti-Zionism as a form of anti-Semitism and discrimination has caused consternation among people fighting for Palestinian rights, as well as for all people concerned about free expression of political ideas -- not to mention those who care about history and the erasure of anti-Zionism from Jewish history!
On March 23rd, the UC Regents adopted the policy, though the language was softened so that only "anti-Semitic forms of anti-Zionism" were included. We can claim a partial victory, but the question of who will determine the boundary between the two, and the attendant threats to academic freedom and the freedom to speak out for Palestinian rights, are still a grave concern.
Attacks on the right to boycott have been cropping up all over the place -- earlier this month, a Congressional hearing convened to smear American Muslims for Palestine with spurious and Islamophobic attacks. And at universities around California, posters appeared all over campus that viciously and publicly smeared members of Students for Justice in Palestine.
But we’ve been fighting back against these attacks, and hard. We sent over 10,000 emails to Congress challenging the “Combating BDS” act, and fought back against anti-BDS legislation in state legislatures across the country. We sent billboard trucks to state capitols -- and to AIPAC -- making it clear that we stand for Palestinian human rights. Although in some states the bills passed, there were brave legislators in every state who voted no. And in Maryland, the Freedom2Boycott coalition, with strong participation from our JVP chapters in the region, stopped an anti-BDS bill from coming to the floor.
It’s also been an important month in the U.S. Presidential race, in particular because U.S. policies toward Israel were questioned in a rather refreshing way during a televised debate. As a 501c3 nonprofit, JVP cannot take positions on candidates or the election, but I was quoted in this New York Times piece which looked at shifts in the Jewish American community through the lens of the election. The times, they are a-changing!
Let me put it another way: the organizing and campaigning and media advocacy that you and me and so many others are doing is really starting to change the political conversation around Israel/Palestine.
Here’s another example, and one with real impact: the Unitarian Universalist Association has voted to divest itself from companies that profit from Israel’s human rights abuses.
We can help our allies at the Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East build on this victory by thanking the church for standing for justice. We’re putting together a giant thank-you card that we’ll hand deliver, and I’d love for it to get 2,500 signatures.
Can you add your name, Munsup?
From the very earliest days of JVP, we’ve known that standing up, speaking out, and saying “thank you” isn’t just good manners -- it’s a political act. In 2007, back when JVP was a fraction of the size it is today, we launched one of our first big petitions, thanking Archbishop Desmond Tutu for having the courage to speak out against the occupation.
Archbishop Tutu was being hounded by pro-occupation groups in Minnesota, who tried to pressure a college into canceling an address he was due to give. That’s right: they were so appalled that he had the temerity to criticize Israel’s human rights abuses that they tried to cancel a speech by a Nobel Peace Prize winner. We weren’t having it, so we organized thousands to thank him for speaking out. Archbishop Tutu, in turn, thanked us publicly for our support. This is the kind of solidarity that builds our movement for the long-term.
So you can see why it is so critical that we show our allies at the Unitarian Universalist Association that we’re standing with them. Click here to sign our thank you card.
In other news, just from this month: we mobilized with our allies in Israel/Palestine to fight back against the demolition of Bedouin villages. We collected over 15,000 signatures urging Carlos Santana to cancel his concert in Tel Aviv. Our chapters held seders, some with as many as 150 people in attendance, in cities from coast to coast -- including one on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border, in solidarity with the struggles of immigrants. And we brought leaders from 13 chapters in the Northeast region to a leadership development institute, to strategize for the year ahead.
Meanwhile, the entire month of May we’ll be running a member drive. We’re hoping to bring 1,800 new members into JVP over the course of the month, to help strengthen our movement for the road ahead. This is a great excuse to have those conversations with friends, family, colleagues and communities that you otherwise might never have---and we’ll be offering all kinds of tools to help you recruit new members and build our strength. You’ll be hearing a lot more about how starting next week!
Until then, a sweet Pesach to all who are celebrating, and to liberation for all!
Jewish Voice for Peace is a national membership organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for the freedom, equality, and dignity of all the people of Israel and Palestine. Become a JVP Member today.
From Alex Lawson; Social Security Works
Subject: Joe Lieberman vs. Social Security
Do you remember former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman (R)? Well, they're coming out of retirement and coming after our earned Social Security benefits.
The two former elected officials have teamed up to create “No Labels” - a Wall Street funded think tank - which is full of regressive policy proposals. And they were recently seen lurking around Capitol Hill, shopping their ideas to lawmakers and lobbyists.
Click here to sign our petition telling Joe Lieberman and Jon Huntsman: Hands off Social Security!
Stand with Social Security Works in telling Joe Lieberman and Jon Huntsman where the American people stand. Tell them that in the midst of a $7.7 trillion retirement security crisis and with two-thirds of retirees relying on Social Security for the majority of their income, now is not the time to be cutting our hard earned benefits. Instead, we should be expanding Social Security benefits for millions of Americans.
The American people are united in our support of protecting and expanding Social Security - the most successful social insurance program in our country's history. And right now, a majority of Democrats in Congress support our efforts.
We cannot allow Lieberman and Huntsman to successfully flip Congressional Democrats - and worse yet, the next president - on the future of Social Security.
All we need in order to strengthen Social Security is to finally ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share. Right now, individuals pay into Social Security on the first $118,500 of their income. But if wealthier individuals pay in on ALL of their income, we will be able to expand the benefits of millions of Americans and have enough left to extend the lifespan of the Social Security trust fund.
Please, stand with Social Security Works in telling Joe Lieberman and Jon Huntsman where the American people stand: Expand, don't cut Social Security.
Thank you for all that you do to strengthen the retirement security of millions of Americans.
Paid for and Authorized by Social Security Works |
From: Alex, Ben, Kristen, Marge, and everyone here at PFAW Supreme Court Campaign
Subject: GOP Senators kicked a hornet's nest
Now is our chance!
The US Senate is heading home for a one-week "state work period" recess and we need to ramp up the grassroots pressure on our target Republican Senators BIG TIME.
Can you pitch in a much-needed donation to help us keep up the pressure on GOP Senators and hold them accountable for their unprecedented Supreme Court obstruction?
Our monthly deadline is TOMORROW and we're still $21,098 short of our budget goal. Please trust me that we wouldn't email you so much if we didn't know that this is a fight that's important to you -- and one that really needs your help.
Republicans will sink to any level to make sure that it's President Donald Trump (or Ted Cruz) who will pick the next Supreme Court justices.
They're even trying to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters in presidential and Senate swing states!
But thanks to our campaign to fill the Supreme Court vacancy and hold GOP Senators accountable for their obstructionist overreach, we're building the momentum we need to win up and down the ballot.
And because of Republicans' extreme overreach, we still have a chance to win the Supreme Court fight and FILL THIS VACANCY with President Obama's highly qualified nominee!
Help us do it -- AND hold them accountable on Election Day -- with a much-needed donation now to help us organize in target Senate states during next week's recess>>
From: Judy Burnett
Subject: "Why Obama Will Go Down as One of the Greatest Presidents of All Time" | GQ
http://www.gq.com/story/obama-greatest-president-legacy
Why Obama Will Go Down as One of the Greatest Presidents of All Time
Something is dawning on us—it’s almost too soon for us to admit, but it’s there, a half-considered thought only now blooming in our brains. Maybe we dismiss it with one of those quick cognitive fly swats. Nah, too early to say or I hate that guy. But the truth is coming, and it sounds like this: Barack Obama will be inducted into the league of Great Presidents.
Wait. One of the Greatest? you ask, your thumb emoticon poised to turn up or down on me. The guy haters love to hate with their very best hate game? Like 20-Dollar Bill great? Like Mount Rushmore great?
Yep. (We just won’t build Mount Rushmores anymore.) In so many ways, Obama was better than we imagined, better than the body politic deserved, and far, far better than his enemies will ever concede, but the great thing about being great is that the verdict of enemies doesn’t matter.
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In fact, and I say this as a Bill Clinton fan, I now feel certain that, in the coming decades, Obama’s star will rise higher than Clinton’s, and he’ll replace Bill in the public mind as the Greatest Democrat since FDR.
This has to do with the nature of Obama’s leadership, which is to play to legacy (and Clinton’s impulse, which is to play to the room). Bill Clinton will long be revered because he’s charismatic, presided over an economic revival, and changed and elevated the view of the Democratic Party. Barack Obama will long be revered because he’s charismatic, presided over an economic revival, and changed and elevated the view of the presidency. He’s simply bigger than Bill.
More to the point, Obama’s legacy is the sort that gets canonized. Because the first rule of Hall of Fame-dom: The times have to suck for the president not to. Civil wars, World Wars, depressions and recessions. You got to have ’em if you wanna be great. That’s why we rate the Washingtons, Lincolns, and Roosevelts over That Fat Guy with the Walrus Mustache. Like Obama, these Great Men were dealt sucky hands, won big, and left the country better off than it was before.
To unify where and however we can. In this way, too, Obama pointed the way forward.
But it’s also why we downgrade the Jimmy Carters and Herbert Hoovers. Were they as bad in real time as we remember them in history? Probably not. But they were dealt sucky hands, only played one round, and left the country feeling worse off. Legacy Game over. (Hoover reminds me more and more of Donald Trump! Elected with little political experience, Hoover was a rich bastard whose central theme was that government was wasteful. His answer to the Great Depression was to start a trade war and build a massive project called the Hoover Dam. The dam turned out to be a giant wall that did not stop or solve larger problems. Déjà vu, thy name is Trump Wall!)
Obama has a few other edges in the long haul of history, beyond specific hurrah moments like Obamacare, rescuing the economy, and making America way more bi-curious. Being the first black president of course secures a certain legacy. But what now feels distinctly possible is that, just as Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed, over time he may be judged less for the color of his skin than for the content of his character. That character came across every time haters or Trumpers or birthers tried to pull him down into the mud or question his American-ness. He just flew above it all. And, luckily, he took most of us with him. He was the Leader not only of our country but of our mood and disposition, which is harder to rule. At a time when we became more polarized, our discourse pettier and more poisoned, Obama always came across as the Adult in the Room, the one we wanted to be and follow.
Ironically, one of the lock-ins to his Hall of Fame Greatness was originally supposed to be his Achilles’ heel, the shallow thing critics loved to smear him with: his eloquence, his “reliance” on speeches and teleprompters (Sarah Palin once famously screeched, “Mr. President…step away from the teleprompter and do your job!” while herself reading from a teleprompter), as if addressing the country as a whole, trying to unify or inspire people, were a superficial thing. But pivotal words at pivotal moments are not only how we come to admire great leaders, it’s the primary way we remember them. The first thing most people can recall about Lincoln? The Gettysburg Address. FDR? Fireside chats. George Washington? His amazing Snapchats. (George was first with everything.)
With Obama, each thoughtful step of the way, from his soaring acceptance speech (“The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep…”) to his epic speeches on race and religion, his responses to the shootings in Tucson and Newtown, the killing of Osama bin Laden, the opening of Cuba (“Todos somos Americanos!”), and countless other momentous occasions, he knew how to speak to our better angels at a time when it was hard to locate any angels.
Lastly, there’s the arc of history, bound to bend downward. As our unity becomes more frayed, more tenuous, and the ability for any politician to get anything done more unlikely, the job of president will become less LBJ tactical and less FDR big-dealer. The job will largely be to preside. To unify where and however we can. In this way, too, Obama pointed the way forward.
It may be hard to imagine now, but in the face of rising chaos, we’ll crave unity all the more, and in future years whoever can speak most convincingly of unity will rise to the top. (It’s also hard to imagine many beating Obama at the game.) This year’s carnival election, with Trump as a kind of debauched circus barker, only makes the distinction clearer. The absurdity and car-crash spectacle of it all have already lent Obama an out-of-time quality, as if he were a creature from another, loftier century. Whatever happens next, I feel this in my bones: We’ll look back at history, hopefully when we’re zooming down the Barack Obama Hyperloop Transport System, and think: That man was rare. And we were damn lucky to have him.
End of MPEN e-Newsletter
posted by lucas at 1:52 PM
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