Chartis

The War in Yemen is a humanitarian disaster.

Many thousands of civilians have been killed. Millions are now at the risk of the most severe famine in more than 100 years.

• We are providing bombs the Saudi-led coalition is using
  
• We are refueling their planes before they drop those bombs
  
• We are assisting with intelligence
  

An American-made bomb obliterated a school bus full of young boys. American weapons have been used in a string of such deadly attacks on civilians.

2015-2018 more than 30% of the Saudi-led coalition’s targets have been nonmilitary.

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Mr. Pompeo had overruled the State Department’s own regional and military experts. President Trump himself echoed this logic when asked about the murder of Mr. Khashoggi, claiming that the Saudis are spending “$110 billion” on military equipment. A former lobbyist for the arms manufacturer Raytheon leads Mr. Pompeo’s legislative affairs staff.

The relationship between Iran and the Houthis has only strengthened with the intensification of the war. The war is creating the very problem the administration claims to want to solve. The conflict between Saudi-led forces and the Houthi insurgents had helped Al Qaeda and the Islamic State’s Yemen branch “deepen their inroads across much of the country.”

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American engagement there has not been authorized by Congress, and is therefore unconstitutional.

1. the war is a strategic and moral disaster for the United States.
2. the time is long overdue for Congress to reassert authority over matters of war.

Senate Joint Resolution 54 calls on the president to withdraw from the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

The Senate voted 55 to 44 to delay consideration of the resolution. Next month, I intend to bring that resolution back to the floor.

The brutal murder of Mr. Khashoggi demands that we make clear that United States support for Saudi Arabia is not unconditional. Human lives are worth more than profits for arms manufacturers.

-Bernie, Oct 24^th '18

The FDA is currently accepting comments about cannabis reclassification here. They've now stopped accepting input.

Contact your reps and tell them to support:

S.3174 - Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act

Congratulations to Canada for becoming the first industrialized nation to legalize cannabis. In my view, it is long past time that we in the United States end the federal prohibition on marijuana. Too many Americans, disproportionately people of color, have seen their lives destroyed because they have criminal records as a result of marijuana use. If we are serious about criminal justice reform, we need to take the important and overdue step of decriminalizing marijuana. There is no reason we should be classifying marijuana as a Schedule I drug next to heroin.

-Bernie

In the House:
H.R.1227 - Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act
H.R.1841 - Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act
H.R.4815 - Marijuana Justice Act

Dr. Jane Sanders wrote an excellent article on the topic of education's role in fixing democracy:

[selected highlights:]

Organised groups are actively tearing down a post-second World War global order and replacing it with autocratic leadership based on self-interest. Unfortunately, the establishment is defending the existing order and ignoring the fear.

We must:

• clearly articulate a vision of

  • shared prosperity
  • personal freedom
  • economic fairness
  • human dignity

• not be satisfied with incremental, transactional change that makes little progress and carefully avoids affecting those in charge or offending their lobbyists and large donors.

• fight for transformational change that shifts the balance of power

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The United States has long used “democracy” as a reason to wage regime-change wars which have resulted in serious “unforeseen” consequences – whether it was overthrowing:

• Mosaddegh in Iran
• Allende in Chile
• Saddam Hussein in Iraq
• or a whole range of clandestine operations, interventions all over the world
  

Many of these military actions might not have taken place if:

• the public had been educated about the issues
• those with different ideas and foresight had not been marginalised
• there had been a civil debate of ideas
  

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Some of the most important aspects of a strong democracy:

• inclusive with respect to human rights
• accessible regardless of economic status
  
• essential in preparation for global citizenship

Public funding for pre-school through university is:

• an investment in the individual
  
• an investment in the future of the country
  
• could shift the spending priorities of a nation
  
• could enhancing democratic values
  
• should educate for democracy
  

The media could assist by:

• offering broader perspectives

• fostering more debate on the facts, ethics and morality regarding

  • the economy
  • income inequality
  • budget policy
  • democratic principles
    

We need:

• economists working with students on global inequality and poverty
  
• scientists exploring the root causes of the planetary climate crisis
  

• teacher-education programs on sharing the latest neuroscience discoveries and considering their implications for nurturing

  • curiosity
    
  • creativity
    
  • confidence
  • cultivating a thirst for lifelong learning
    

• a consistent interdisciplinary approach to respectful civil discourse

• discussions about why policies are or aren't adopted

Educating for global citizenship requires:

• the ability to

  • think critically
    
  • write clearly
    
  • communicate effectively
    
  • identify and research complex issues
    

• media literacy and analysis

• an understanding of sustainable development

• ethical behaviour

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We need to:

• get money out of politics
• not listen when money speaks

• set the bar higher for

• our elected officials

  • candidates
  • the media
  • ourselves.

• voice our opposition when we see

  • the harsh, divisive and partisan rhetoric
  • the politics of personal destruction at work
    

Don’t believe the negative messages. Demand that candidates give reasons to vote for them, not against their opponents.

We can:

• let the candidates and the media know that we expect

  • in-depth questions and answers about issues that affect our lives
  • them to engage in issue-oriented civil debate
    

• ask and ask again that they all actively resist this coarsening of our culture whenever they observe it

/r/SandersForPresident

@SenSanders

• Brazil’s new President Jair Bolsonaro is a far-right authoritarian who has praised the former military dictatorship and referred to black activists as “animals.”

  It's very troubling that Bolton sees Bolsonaro as “like-minded” with Trump. Even more troubling, he’s probably right.

in Brazil’s presidential election, right-wing leader Jair Bolsonaro, who has been called “The Donald Trump of Brazil,” made a very strong showing in the first round of voting, coming up just short of an outright victory. Bolsonaro has a long record of attacks against immigrants, against minorities, against women, against LGBT people. Bolsonaro, who has said he loves Donald Trump, has praised Brazil’s former military dictatorship, and has said, among other things, that in order to deal with crime, police should simply be allowed to shoot more criminals. This is the person who may soon lead the world’s fifth most populous country, and its ninth largest economy.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s most popular politician, the former president Lula da Silva, is imprisoned on highly questionable charges, and prevented from running again.

Bolsonaro in Brazil is one example, there are others which I will discuss. But I think it is important that we understand that what we are seeing now in the world is the rise of a new authoritarian axis.

While the leaders who make up this axis may differ in some respects, they share key attributes: intolerance toward ethnic and religious minorities, hostility toward democratic norms, antagonism toward a free press, constant paranoia about foreign plots, and a belief that the leaders of government should be able use their positions of power to serve their own selfish financial interests.

Interestingly, many of these leaders are also deeply connected to a network of multi-billionaire oligarchs who see the world as their economic plaything.

Those of us who believe in democracy, who believe that a government must be accountable to its people and not the other way around, must understand the scope of this challenge if we are to confront it effectively. We need to counter oligarchic authoritarianism with a strong global progressive movement that speaks to the needs of working people, that recognizes that many of the problems we are faced with are the product of a failed status quo. We need a movement that unites people all over the world who don’t just seek to return to a romanticized past, a past that did not work for so many, but who strive for something better.

While this authoritarian trend certainly did not begin with Donald Trump, there’s no question that other authoritarian leaders around the world have drawn inspiration from the fact that the president of the world’s oldest and most powerful democracy is shattering democratic norms, is viciously attack an independent media and an independent judiciary, and is scapegoating the weakest and most vulnerable members of our society.

-Bernie, Oct 9^th '18