The Dominican Republic has arbitrarily, capriciously , and summarily stripped its Black citizens of their citizenship BECAUSE they are Black leaving them stateless with no rights and no protection. Their objective is to drive Black people out of the Dominican Republic. This policy of the DR is as bad, if not worse than South Africa's former practice of apartheid, and the entire world is in agreement that THAT was intolerable and well outside acceptable practices in the community of nations. As a country with a substantial Black population, it is unconscionable for the United States to tolerate such practices in a country with whom we maintain diplomatic relations. We must take the lead in isolating the DR , bringing these practices to the attention of the world., and implementing appropriate sanctions. Our country is weary of racism. We are working to eliminate it from within our own borders, and we don't want to provide support for it elsewhere.

It is unacceptable that the Dominican government has constitutionalized the denationalization of Dominicans who are of Haitian descent. Furthermore, it is a grave injustice to go a step further in planning out deportations of darker skinned Dominicans, many of whom are of Haitian descent, to Haiti, a country foreign to them in land and in language, in addition to the maltreatment of Haitian migrant workers.

The government of Sudan has launched a series of devastating attacks in Darfur, at least 78,000 people have fled their homes this year. Emboldened by the lack of international attention, Sudan is hoping to remove the last line of defense for the people of Darfur, demanding an "exit strategy" for UN peacekeepers. The UN Security Council will vote on the fate of the UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur by the end of June. If peacekeepers are forced to leave, the lives of 4 million people will be at risk. President Obama, the Unites States and the world cannot abandon Darfur. By ignoring the violence and postponing justice, conditions have gotten much worse for the victims of Sudan's genocidal regime. It must stop.

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