On July 14, 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to prohibit U.S. military participation in the Saudi-UAE war in Yemen, when it passed the Davidson and Nolan amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act [NDAA]. [1] So far the New York Times and the Washington Post have failed to report this news. The Los Angeles Times reported in an editorial that "the House of Representatives passed several amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act that calls for greater congressional oversight on how U.S. weapons are being used in Yemen," but failed to note that the House passed two amendments that prohibit U.S. military participation in Saudi Arabia's Yemen war. [2] Current U.S. military participation includes refueling the Saudi and UAE warplanes that are bombing Yemen. [3] Urge the NYT and WaPo to not  censor the news that the House has voted against U.S. participation in the Saudi war in Yemen by signing our petition.  References: 1. http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/41278-us-house-votes-to-block-us-participation-in-saudi-war-in-yemen 2. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ed-yemen-20170715-story.html 3. https://theintercept.com/2017/07/13/u-s-doubled-fuel-support-for-saudi-bombing-campaign-in-yemen-after-deadly-strike-on-funeral/

With Health Care 1/6th of the economy and the ability to save or ruin American lives and families, Congress must vote on a bill that affects all Americans, even them.

As a health care provider and small business owner who relies on the ACA for my family's health insurance, I am doubly affected by this issue, as a professional and a consumer. It is time we start treating health care as what it is, a human right and not a commodity. Health Care For All!

View and share 2 fantastic videos featuring CAUSE youth and organizers from Oxnard testifying on the toxic impacts of the PPP: https://vimeo.com/204629609 https://www.facebook.com/FusionProjectEarth/videos/1870535536545288/ Oxnard is already "host" to three landfills and the Halaco Superfund site, and those most heavily impacted by the existing and proposed toxic plants are primarily working class immigrant communities of color. According to the California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA), within the environmentally overburdened communities in Oxnard, 85% are people of color, 29% lives in "linguistic isolation," 56% lives below two times the federal poverty level, and 46% of those over age 25 have less than high school education. In recognition that NRG corporation continues a long history of environmental racism and injustice wrought on the people of Oxnard through this project--seeking profits over people, bringing further ecological disaster in California and beyond--we believe the P3 (Puente Power Project) should be re-dubbed as poisonous, parasitic and predatory. Poisonous: Each day, about 3 thousand Latino/Mixteco farm workers do stoop labor in fields less than half a mile from the plant site. Nearby, many of their children are among the 3 thousand youth attending schools most likely in the country to be located next to fields doused with toxic pesticides. Not surprisingly, the asthma rates in the most impacted neighborhoods of Oxnard are above the 90th percentile in the state of California. Meanwhile, one in five Oxnard residents has no access to health insurance or care. Thus, Oxnard has been identified in the top 20% of most impacted, disadvantaged communities in the state by the Cal Enviroscreen measure of environmental racism. Parasitic: The existing and proposed power plants force the people of Oxnard to bear the costs and impacts of producing electricity for neighboring cities up and down the coast of California, from Simi Valley to Goleta, including the UCSB campus. We refuse to benefit from, tolerate, perpetuate, or add to the injustices suffered by these communities. Moreover, NRG uses credits from projects run by another company elsewhere to offset their pollution impacts, instead of actually reducing local emissions from their projects. NRG is among the top 10 “large emitter” polluting companies in the country to use these offsets, who accounted for about 36% of the total emissions and 65% of the offsets used.(1) Predatory: The energy industry, including NRG, preys upon California residents by continuing to propose unnecessary power plants, forcing consumers to bear the cost of their construction, purely for energy companies’ profits. A 2017 LA Times investigation revealed that California already has more gas-fired power plants than needed, with many operating below capacity and closing prematurely because we have a surplus of power and projected oversupply of electricity through 2020. Thus, when regulators like the CEC and CPUC allow power companies to continue building more plants, it only guarantees California ratepayers having to absorb the costs through higher rates, even as electricity demand has fallen since 2008. As former president of the CA Public Utilities Commission Loretta Lynch has said: “We’re awash in power at a premium price.”(2) More reasons to oppose the plant: No good jobs! NRG has tried to claim that the project will bring jobs to Oxnard, and Ventura County. But during the February 2017 evidentiary hearings, NRG’s witness testified that workers would be drawn from the larger LA County for construction jobs. How many jobs? A table provided in NRG’s application showed a projected 48 Construction jobs, no Operation jobs, except for 17 from the existing workforce (no new jobs!) and 54 Demolition jobs—but that is only if NRG takes responsibility for removal of the old plants. In other words, there would be about 100 or fewer, temporary jobs (for the duration of the construction and possible demolition) that are not in sustainable, clean energy. The most high-paying, skilled managerial jobs would go to people out of the area since NRG corporate headquarters are located 3,000 miles away in New Jersey. Risks to People, Animal, and Plants, and Wetlands: If the CEC approves the PPP, it will allow NRG to risk the lives, health, and safety of the people of these communities, while it is not their own families or communities who will be at the epicenter of these so-called low risks. Indeed, NRG CEOs can sleep peacefully with their families at night while Oxnard residents face ever-mounting dangers across the country. NRG claims that the threat of health and environmental impacts of the plants will be low, and the risk of disasters such as tsunami and flooding from these disasters and sea level rise is negligible. Yet the California Coastal Commission has unanimously opposed the PPP, citing the risk of flooding at the low-lying coastal location--a growing threat associated with the realities of climate change. Oxnard also has some of the last remaining coastal wetlands in California, which host many endangered species of plants and animals. Not in Step with Clean Energy Mandates: The proposed project is in clear contradiction to the clean energy goals already mandated in California and nationwide to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and find renewable, clean energy alternatives. Instead, it heaps more poison on Oxnard residents and beyond. Many recent initiatives for alternative energy solutions have been legislated and are already underway in California, and in the region, that should continue to be developed. SB32 requires greater greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction measures so that direct emission reductions should be achieved after the year 2020. Its companion legislation, AB197, requires the Air Resources Board to prioritize “direct emission reductions” to achieve these reductions beyond the 2020 limit. These mea...

Since their release back to the wild in 1998, the Mexican gray wolf, also known as the Lobo, has struggled to recover. After almost 20 years, there are still only just over 100 individuals in the wild. Many obstacles face the Lobo on their road to recovery, including poaching, politics, and constantly declining genetic diversity. The US Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) very own Science and Planning Subgroup said to fully restore the Lobo, there must be at minimum 750 wolves in three distinct populations, including in the Grand Canyon region in northern Arizona and southern Utah and the Southern Rockies region in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Despite these recommendations, FWS just released their new Draft Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan that authorizes downlisting these severally endangered wolves only after their population reaches 320 for four years and completely delisting the Lobo after 8 years. This is just half the population recommended by the agency’s own scientists. This draft recovery plan is a sham that was created behind closed doors and is not based on science. We need more wolves, less politics! For more information, visit Lobos of the Southwest and the Endangered Species Coalition: http://www.endangered.org/because-loboweek-a-brief-look-at-the-plight-of-the-mexican-gray-wolf/ http://mexicanwolves.org/index.php/news/1780/51/ACT-NOW-Submit-Comments-on-the-Mexican-Wolf-Draft-Recovery-Plan

Donald Trump is about to propose more massive cuts to the EPA. The cuts would gut water protections, support for state environmental programs, and the Superfund clean up program. Congress still has to sign off on these cuts -- so we need your help to stop them! Tell your Senators: Don't gut the EPA!

Donald Trump signed an Executive Order threatening Giant Sequoia National Monument with fossil fuel development. Tell the Department of the Interior: NO fossil fuel development in Giant Sequoia!

Senator King just voted for David Bernhardt to be Number 2 at the Department of the Interior. Now, his nomination has passed the committee and will go to the full Senate. That means he's one step closer to playing a key role in deciding the fate of our National Monuments and public lands. Tell Senator King you'll hold him accountable for handing over our National Monuments to Big Oil!

As a diverse group of concerned citizens representing various fields, both within and beyond the arts community, we are alarmed by the decision of Delta Airlines and Bank of America to withdraw financial support for The Public Theater's work after The Public's performance of its production of Julius Caesar. The arts play a vital role in opening public dialogue about fundamental issues shaping society, and allowing individuals to consider different perspectives on challenging—and sometimes frightening—subjects. For sponsors to withdraw funding from Julius Caesar under public pressure predicated on an incomplete understanding of the production risks chilling artistic expression far more broadly and deterring creative works that seek to engage with difficult subjects. Delta and Bank of America are private actors with the ability to decide which projects they will financially support. However, we are deeply concerned by the impact that the abrupt withdrawal of sponsorship from The Public Theater may have on the willingness of other producers of art to address controversial or political subjects that may result in targeted campaigns and could put their funding in jeopardy. The Public Theater is an institution known for its artistry, imagination, and fearlessness. We urge these and other corporations to stand by their artistic partners at this pivotal time of social and political tension and, in so doing, to affirm the core values that support for the arts must imply. 1. Andrew Solomon, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Columbia University 2. Autumn Dornfeld, Program Director, Action Group Network 3. Bill Bragin, Co-Director, globalFEST 4. Bill T. Jones, Artistic Director, New York Live Arts 5. Chip Rolley, Senior Director of Literary Programs, PEN America 6. Claude Grunitzky, Chairman, TRUE Africa 7. Daisy Wolf, Student 8. David Baile, CEO, ISPA 9. Elly Brinkley, PEN America 10. Ginny Suss, Okayplayer 11. Giulia D’Angolo Vallan, Writer/Curator 12. Heidi Sieck, CEO/Co-Founder, #VOTEPROCHOICE 13. Isabel Soffer, Co-Director, globalFEST 14. Janet Wong, Associate Artistic Director, New York Live Arts 15. Jenny Schlenzka, Executive Artistic Director, Performance Space 122 16. John Vanco, SVP/GM, IFC Center 17. Kim Cullen, Executive Director, New York Live Arts 18. Kyle Dacuyan, Writer/Curator 19. Laura Macomber, Project Manager, PEN America 20. Laura Michalchyshyn, Producer 21. Linda Brumbach, Director, Pomegranate Arts 22. Lisa Kron, Playwright 23. Lydia Dean Pilcher, Founder/CEO, Cine Mosaic 24. Mary Kaye Schilling, Culture Editor, Newsweek Magazine 25. May Zhee Lim, PEN America 26. Meredith Shepherd, Partner/Co-Founder, Canopy 27. Miriam Fogelson, Cultural Strategist 28. Nathalie Molina Niño, CEO, Brava Investments 29. Nicole Birmann Bloom, Arts Coordinator 30. Nicole Merritt, General Manager/Producer, globalFEST 31. Noah Bashevkin, Associate Programmer, THE OFFICE performing arts + film 32. Philip Himberg, Artistic Director, Sundance Institute Theatre Program 33. Rachel Chanoff, Director, THE OFFICE performing arts + film 34. Rebecca Stump, Senior Memberships Manager, PEN America 35. Sam Zelitch, Social Media Coordinator, PEN America 36. Shanta Thake, Co-Director, globalFEST 37. Susan Feldman, Founder/Artistic Director, St. Ann's Warehouse 38. Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director, PEN America 39. Tanya Selvaratnam, Producer/Writer 40. Yasmeen Hassan, Global Executive Director, Equality Now

Trump announced that he's pulling the United States out of the Paris Climate Agreement. This attack on our environment is so extreme that Trump's corporate advisors are speaking out against it. Already, the CEOs of Tesla and Disney have decided to leave Trump's council in protest. General Motors also opposes Trump's decision to leave Paris. And its CEO, Mary Barra, serves on an advisory council to Trump. So we need your help to convince her to stop normalizing Trump! Tell General Motors CEO Mary Barra: Leave Trump's advisory council!

Last month, Donald Trump signed an Executive Order threatening Mojave Trails National Monument with fossil fuel development. The Department of the Interior is accepting public comments on whether to let Big Oil destroy Mojave Trails. So we need you to speak up NOW and help save this special place! Help us reach 50,000 comments: NO fossil fuel development in Mojave Trails!

Senator Manchin just voted for David Bernhardt to be Number 2 at the Department of the Interior. Now, his nomination has passed the committee and will go to the full Senate. That means he's one step closer to playing a key role in deciding the fate of our National Monuments and public lands. Tell Senator Manchin you'll hold him accountable for handing over our National Monuments to Big Oil!