Because the current policies of our Administration threaten to bring us to a catastrophic military confrontation with North Korea, and perhaps with China as well.

On Thursday April 27, a bipartisan group of nine U.S. Senators wrote to the ambassador of Saudi Arabia demanding that Saudi Arabia spare the Yemeni port city of Hodeida from military assault to avoid pushing Yemen into famine. The nine Senators were: Todd Young (R-IN), Chris Murphy (D-CT), John Boozman (R-AR), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Christopher Coons (D-DL) and Ed Markey (D-MA). The Senators made five demands to help “Prevent Millions of Innocent Yemenis From Starving to Death": - Lend full support to Secretary Mattis’ call for a political settlement in Yemen. - Refrain from bombing the port of Hodeida and call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire around the port. - Reform the inspection regime at the port of Hodeida to eliminate unnecessary delays in the delivery of severely needed humanitarian and commercial supplies. - Facilitate the delivery of cranes to the port of Hodeida to increase humanitarian aid and commercial capacity. - Redouble efforts to ensure airstrikes do not hit key economic facilities and civilian infrastructure. [1] Urge your representatives to join the nine Senators in telling Saudi Arabia "Hodeida must be spared" by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.young.senate.gov/content/young-leads-bipartisan-group-senators-calling-saudi-arabia-take-specific-steps-address

Amnesty and “Human rights watch” to investigate Israel violations against Palestinian prisoners. We call for Amnesty International and Human rights watch to investigate Israel human rights violations and the Israeli policy of mass imprisonment of Palestinians • Thousand imprisoned with no charge • Imprisoned children • Regular mistreatment, torture, isolation, deprivation of visits We CALL FOR AN END to administrative detention (imprisonment with no charges or trial and SUPPORT the demands made by 6500 Palestinian prisoners now on hunger strike in Israeli jail calling for decent treatment of prisoners. We the undersigned citizens of the world urge Amnesty and Human rights watch to take practical steps in investigating Israel’s continued violation of human rights against Palestinian prisoners. We urge Amnesty and Human rights watch to investigate Israel human rights violations by assigning an emergency team to visit the Palestinian prisoners ASAP and to provide a report about their condition and human right situation in accordance with the fourth Geneva Convention and International law, as we believe such willful negligence can lead to further violence across the Middle East. Meanwhile, ending these prisoners’ plight will lead to peace in the region.

When U.S. presidents order military action, the American people need and deserve a strong, vibrant, and independent news media, one that not only challenges the assumptions that lead us to war, but also one that holds our leaders accountable for the way in which they are conducted. When President Trump illegally launched military strikes on Syria, and later, when the U.S. military dropped one of the largest conventional weapons in its arsenal on a target in Afghanistan, we witnessed some of the most irresponsible and reckless coverage from the corporate media since they helped President Bush launch the Iraq war. War is not entertainment. But the media is glorifying Donald Trump’s warmaking, and it’s time we make them stop.

I know many Palestinians who have been suffering for decades under Israel's Occupation of their land, a slow but lethal ethnic cleansing completely illegal under international law yet virtually ignored by our US media.

Whereas there are Bills pending in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs titled "Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017", WE THE PEOPLE support that these bills be enacted into law, which would prohibit the President from using the Armed Forces to conduct a first-use nuclear strike unless such strike is conducted pursuant to a congressional declaration of war expressly authorizing such strike. "First-use nuclear strike" means a nuclear weapons attack against an enemy that is conducted without the President determining that the enemy has first launched a nuclear strike against the United States or a U.S. ally. These bills pertain only to a US first strike with nuclear weapons and not to any other relevant situations such as the use of nuclear weapons defensively while America is under attack by such weapons from another nation. In view of escalating world tensions around whether the President of the U.S. would use a first strike nuclear attack, there is an immediacy to move these bills with many co-sponsors to the floor of the Senate and the House for full discussion of the merits of preventing a world-wide nuclear holocaust.

On Wednesday, April 19, Indiana Senator Todd Young welcomed [1] Defense Secretary Mattis' call [2] for a political solution to the conflict in Yemen without delay. Sen. Young called on Saudi Arabia to: - refrain from bombing the port of Hodeida, through which a majority of food, fuel, and medical supplies enters Yemen - a military attack that closed the port would likely result in a famine within a few months; - reform its inspection regime at Hodeida to eliminate unacceptable delays in the delivery of severely needed humanitarian supplies; - facilitate the delivery of U.S.-funded World Food Program cranes to the port of Hodeida that would dramatically increase the port’s humanitarian aid capacity. [3] Urge Members of Congress to join Senator Young's call on Saudi Arabia not to attack Hodeida by signing our petition. References: 1. https://twitter.com/SenToddYoung/status/854807390184669184 2. https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/1154616/media-availability-with-secretary-mattis-en-route-to-the-kingdom-of-saudi-arabia/ 3. https://www.young.senate.gov/content/following-mattis-visit-young-calls-saudi-government-help-alleviate-humanitarian-crisis-yemen

On Thursday, April 13, President Donald Trump authorized U.S. forces to drop the military's largest non-nuclear bomb on Afghanistan. The 21,600-pound Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), nicknamed the "mother of all bombs" is GBU-43, which reportedly contains 11 tons of explosives. A week before, Trump killed 300 civilians in Mosul in one of the deadliest airstrikes in decades and, in March, he broke records for the number of bombs dropped on Syria. Politicians and pundits often ask in reference to Muslims, "Why do they hate us?" implying that Islam and Muslims are inherently violent. But rather than blaming Islam for terrorism, President Trump and Congress must stop fueling hatred and helping create radical extremists by bombing Muslim-majority countries. While Trump has escalated airstrikes in the Middle East, it is important to note that his bombing campaigns follow bipartisan policies of the two previous administrations which have targeted 7 Muslim-majority countries since 9/11.

Progressive French presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon - the "French Bernie Sanders" - is now a "frontrunner" in the first round of the French presidential election. That is giving him an unprecedented platform in global media, which he has used, among other things, to attack Trump's military attack on Syria. When he addressed tens of thousands of people in Toulouse Sunday, the crowd roared when Mélenchon attacked Trump over Trump's illegal attack on Syria. "No Frenchman can accept a global gendarme who decided all by himself the good and the bad," Mélenchon said. [1] As a leader of what will soon be the only EU country with a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, Mélenchon has a unique ability to serve as a "check and balance" on Trump's global warmongering. It was France that led the global opposition to Bush's illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq. If Mélenchon can stand up to Trump on Syria, he can stand up to Trump on Saudi Arabia's catastrophic war in Yemen, which the Trump Administration wants to escalate. Trump Administration officials want to help Saudi Arabia and the UAE attack the Yemeni port of Hodeida, which the UN, aid groups, former US officials, and 55 Members of the House have warned would likely push Yemen into famine. [2] Urge Mélenchon to use his bully pulpit to challenge Trump's support for Saudi Arabia's catastrophic war in Yemen by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/16/world/europe/jean-luc-melenchon-france-presidential-election.html 2. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/04/12/55-bipartisan-lawmakers-demand-trump-pump-brakes-military-action-yemen

On April 6, President Trump attacked Syria without Congressional authorization, violating the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution. On April 8, he said he would take additional action as he deemed necessary. He has not yet agreed to seek Congressional authorization before further military action. Representative Zoe Lofgren [CA-19] is circulating a bipartisan letter to President Trump, demanding that he seek Congressional authorization before further military action in Syria. The Lofgren letter echoes a bipartisan 2013 letter led by then-Republican Representative Scott Rigell to then-President Obama, pressing him to come to Congress before U.S. military action in Syria. [1] Urge your Representative to support the Lofgren letter by signing our petition. References: 1. "192 Reps., Including 73 Democrats, Call for Debate & Vote Before War With Syria," http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/8/29/1234850/-162-Reps-Including-64-Democrats-Call-for-Debate-Vote-Before-War-With-Syria

On April 10, 55 Members of the House sent a bipartisan letter to President Trump and Attorney General Sessions demanding that President Trump seek authorization from Congress before escalating militarily in Yemen. Rep. Mark Pocan said, “Administration officials have proposed the U.S. participate directly in an attack on Yemen's major port. Such an attack could push the country into full-blown famine...this letter is a first step in reasserting our Constitutional check on presidential powers. I am committed to pursuing all tools at our disposal to ensure President Trump abides by our Constitution before possibly plunging our country into another senseless conflict.” Rep. Ted Lieu said, “President Trump does not have the authority to send U.S. forces to battle the Houthis in Yemen, period." [1] On April 6, President Trump attacked Syria without congressional authorization. Many Members of Congress have said that President Trump did not have authority for this attack and must seek authorization from Congress before any further military action. [2] But in his required 48-hour notification to Congress on April 8 on the Syria strike, President Trump said he would "take additional action, as necessary and appropriate." He did not say he would seek authorization from Congress before taking "additional action." [3] Under the War Powers Resolution, a single Member of Congress can force a debate and vote on U.S. participation in an unauthorized war. [4] Press your representatives to pledge to invoke the War Powers Resolution to explicitly prohibit military escalation in Syria and Yemen by signing our petition. References: 1. http://pocan.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/bipartisan-effort-55-us-representatives-call-on-trump-to-come-to 2. http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/328015-sanders-calls-on-trump-to-come-to-congress-over-syria-strikes; https://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-statement-on-us-air-strike-in-syria- 3. https://www.lawfareblog.com/president-trumps-war-powers-report-syria-attacks 4. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/warpower.asp

As Trump launched thousand-pound missiles into Syria, viewers of cable news were greeted by a parade of retired colonels and generals celebrating the attack while anchors swooned over Trump and images of deadly weapons. Brian Williams called the missiles beautiful three times in 30 seconds. Fareed Zakaria described the missile launch as the moment when Trump "became the President of the United States." Little attention was paid to the dire consequences of recent U.S. military engagement in Yemen or Iraq--or the current and dire refugee crisis in Syria. Trump's motives were generally accepted as humanitarian, despite his not only barring Syrian refugees from this country, but criticizing other countries for accepting them. Useful coverage of the situation in Syria would include covering not only the sight of our missiles sailing through the air, but attention to: - the largest refugee crisis since WWII and Trump's attempt to block Syrian families from entering the U.S. - actual humanitarian support for Syrians--like the $6 Billion in aid committed by European nations 2 days before the bombing - covering the human impact of Trump's proposed decimation of the foreign aid and State Department budgets Responsible reporting would also include covering the impact of missiles after they fall to earth--when they are anything but beautiful. MSNBC must immediately direct their producers, anchors, and journalists to cover both the conflict in Syria and all U.S. military action with the rigor and integrity they deserve by diversifying the viewpoints presented, and demanding sharper and more comprehensive analysis from their anchors and journalists.