The Dominican Republic is set to begin what some are calling “ethnic purging,” placing the fate of hundreds of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian descent into limbo. Half a million legally stateless people could be sent to Haiti this week, including those who have never stepped foot in Haiti and don’t speak the language. In 2013, a Dominican constitutional court ruling stripped the citizenship of children born to Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic as far back as 1929, retroactively leaving tens of thousands without citizenship. Today marks the deadline for undocumented workers to register their presence in the Dominican Republic or risk mass deportation. However, only 300 of the 250,000 Dominican Haitians applying for permits have reportedly received them. Many have actively resisted registering as foreigners, saying they are Dominican by birth and deserve full rights. Dominican authorities have apparently organized a fleet of buses and set up processing centers on the border with Haiti, creating widespread fears of mass roundups. The Dominican Republic’s decision to denationalize hundreds of thousands of people has sparked international outcry. We are joined by the acclaimed Haitian-American novelist Edwidge Danticat. Culled from Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

While America has dropped thousands of bombs, deployed 3,500 troops, and spent billions of dollars in our latest war in Iraq and Syria, Congress has failed to perform its basic constitutional responsibility to debate and vote on the war. Reps. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Walter Jones (R-NC), and Barbara Lee (D-CA) are standing up to demand that Congress do its job. Invoking a key provision of the 1973 War Powers Resolution, they have introduced a privileged resolution, H.Con.Res.55, which would force the House of Representatives to debate and vote on the war. If Congress continues to shirk its constitutional duty to debate and vote on the war, the McGovern-Jones-Lee Resolution would bring our troops home. However one feels about the latest war in the Middle East, we should all agree that it is long past time for Congress to do its constitutional duty and debate and vote on the war. Urge your representative to support McGovern, Jones, and Lee in opposing endless and unauthorized war by signing our petition.

Any American citizen should be concerned about the who, what and where events surrounding the USS Liberty slaughter by the Israeli government and military establishment. No other country would have gotten away with this act of war, except Israel. For once, our government representatives should stop the Jewish lobbyists from buying the silence of our government representatives from acting responsibly and investigate this matter under an independent review. If we truly live in a democracy an independent investigation is not even debatable, because if the people are the government, we have the collective responsibility to investigate this atrocity for the families of all the US servicemen that were either injured or killed due to this attack by Israel on an American naval ship sailing in international waters.

Leila Najjar is six months pregnant. She and her husband Mohammed Sulaiman want to be together for their first child’s birth. Leila lives in Gaza and her husband is studying for a PhD in Adelaide, Australia. But Israeli authorities won’t let Leila pass through the Israeli-controlled Erez crossing, and Egyptian authorities won't let Leila pass through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing, to join Mohammed in Australia. Only weeks remain before airlines won't allow her to fly due to advanced pregnancy. [1] Urge US authorities to intervene to allow Leila to travel to Australia to be with her husband for her child's birth by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/a-palestinian-phd-student-studying-at-unisa-faces-missing-his-first-childs-birth/story-fni6uo1m-1227390245273

Senator Graham's remarks about Iranians are unacceptable.

Right-wing forces that want to maintain Israel-Palestine in a state of permanent war have attached provisions to the trade bills before the House that would make it US policy to promote illegal settlements in Palestine, reversing longstanding US policy. These provisions would require the US to oppose European restrictions against trade with illegal colonies in Palestine. These European policies to uphold international law are supported by Human Rights Watch. Trying to protect the settlements from international law would be an endorsement of permanent war, because any plausible diplomatic resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict requires that the threat of illegal colonies to Palestinian statehood be eliminated. Supporting the settlements means opposing a plausible diplomatic resolution to the conflict. Without a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, more war is inevitable. Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer is in a unique position to force the removal of these pro-war provisions, because 1) he has been a champion of US diplomacy in the Middle East and 2) he is among a handful of House Democrats who have indicated that they are likely to support the trade bills; Blumenauer voted for them in committee. Urge Rep. Blumenauer to publicly demand the removal of the pro-settlement provisions from the trade bills by signing our petition.

All of us are affected by whether or not we have the ability to create and maintain environmental regulations, whether we can create and maintain state and national laws and a democracy in general.

President Obama wants Fast Track authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a sweeping trade deal that hundreds of corporate interests have been given special access to. If the President wants our support, he needs to tell us who is influencing the final deal. Tell President Obama -- we deserve an open and transparent process!

Escalating conflict in Yemen is making a dire humanitarian situation worse. We must do all we can to push for a permanent and immediate ceasefire. Before the current conflict, Yemen was already the poorest country in the Middle East. Over 10 million people were going hungry, including 1 million acutely malnourished children. This number has increased by nearly 2 million since the conflict began. [1] There was a moment of hope when an announcement came that airstrikes would stop but they have since resumed. Violence has damaged homes, schools and even hospitals. Over 400 civilians have lost their lives and over 150,000 people have been displaced. Food and diesel, which is needed to pump clean water, are increasingly in short supply and their prices are rising – putting these basic necessities out of reach for ordinary families. And at a time when people desperately need them, vital supplies can't enter the country. That could prove disastrous, because Yemen relies on imports for 90 per cent of its food. Escalating violence is making an already dire humanitarian situation much worse. The conflict must stop. It is critical that the US government pushes for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, so that vital humanitarian assistance can be delivered to people in Yemen. We must do all we can to prevent any further suffering to those who already desperately need help. References: 1. Oxfam, “Stop the violence in Yemen,” https://act.oxfam.org/international/yemen-crisis

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has just announced that he is running for the Democratic nomination for president. Welcoming him to the race, the Democratic National Committee wrote: “Having a wide range of progressive views in this race is good for the dialogue of our party and for our country. And Bernie Sanders is a progressive champion… We couldn't be more excited to hear him to say he's in.” Bernie has been a champion for peace and diplomacy. He was the first Senator to announce that he would skip Netanyahu’s anti-diplomacy speech to Congress. [1] Bernie’s influence is going to grow, now that he’s an announced candidate for President. And, he remains a United States Senator. We need Bernie’s help to remove an anti-peace provision of the trade bills currently before Congress. This provision would make it US policy to endorse Israeli settlements in the West Bank by saying that the US has to oppose European measures to restrict trade with these settlements. [2] This provision is opposed by J Street [3], Americans for Peace Now [4], and JVP [5]. Bernie’s against Fast Track for the TPP trade deal, which is the main thing that people are fighting about on the trade package. But that doesn’t mean he can’t use his influence to help us – other Democrats in Congress who oppose the current Fast Track proposal are using their influence to try to get the pro-settlement provision out of the trade package. Welcome Bernie to the race, and urge him to use his influence to help us remove the pro-settlement provision from the trade legislation, by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-02-09/bernie-sanders-is-skipping-netanyahu-s-speech-to-congress 2. http://forward.com/opinion/306743/congress-backs-israeli-rights-war-on-settlement-boycotts/ 3. http://jstreet.org/blog/post/j-street-opposes-trade-bill-that-undermines-us-and-israeli-interests_1 4. http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/240037-dear-congress-pro-israel-is-not-pro-settlements 5. https://twitter.com/naiman/status/591318386245775362

We are concerned that the majority in the US Congress are rushing headlong into a nuclear confrontation with Russia. We wish to avert a nuclear war with Russia.

By being afraid of terrorists entering the country, we are collectively responsible for the deaths of thousands of suffering peoples dying each day trying to flee to freedom. By not providing a safe harbor for them makes us just as horrible as the terrorists we are fighting. Let Homeland Security take care of the few who may try to infiltrate those poor people. This is a big country with a million resources. Let us remember we didn't want the Irish, the Jews, the Italians, the Cubans, etc., when they first got here and they have contributed to the economic, cultural and intellectual growth of our great country.