It’s Halloween 2006, and I’m standing in the middle of the Val Air Ballroom in Des Moines, Iowa. My bangs are side-swept and greasy, and I’m holding a newly purchased T-shirt that reads “FIGHT OFF…

We need your help TODAY to tell your governors and key members of the House and Senate that federal funding for libraries - the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) - needs to be preserved!

Voters in Arizona will get to decide in November whether to add the right to an abortion up to about 24 weeks to the state constitution.

I know that the Biden administration is pressing Congress to approve a plan to sell $18 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets to Israel. This absolutely cannot happen. NO WAY. We can send no further weaponry or money to Israel until Netanyahu’s massacre of Gazan civilians stops. It can no longer be argued—especially in light of the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers this week—that the Israeli government is acting in a rational, careful, or justifiable way. It is not. It is acting with blind and wanton brutality. The whole world can see it. Israel has a right to defend itself. But its recent actions aren’t self-defense. They don’t adhere to international law. They are war crimes. The Israeli government is allowing and possibly even facilitating the creation of a humanitarian crisis. The fact that we are helping them do so is unspeakably distressing. The Biden administration needs to make a choice, and it needs to do so now. Is it going to stand on the side of a discredited, self-serving, and murderous right-wing government or will it stand on the side of peace, decency, and human rights? There is no gray area anymore. American credibility is on the line. President Biden’s credibility is, too. There must be no more aid or weapons to Israel until it stops the slaughter. We must use the leverage we have or we may as well be dropping the shells ourselves. To quote Chef Andrés in his new, devastating Op-Ed: “You cannot save the hostages by bombing every building in Gaza. You cannot win this war by starving an entire population.” You can’t. And America can’t keep its good name while funding it, either. The Biden administration must stop enabling this carnage now. Thanks.

As of 4/3, approximately 33,000 - 41,500 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel as of 10/7. A recent UN and World Bank report estimates $18.5 billion has been done in damages to Gaza's infrastructure, which they cite as unprecedented and likely an undercount due to difficulties in accessing Gaza. UNRWA has still been barred from entering northern Gaza to provide direly needed aid to save people from being starved to death. The only other organization that's had recent access was the World Central Kitchen, which has had to suspend operations due to the targeted bombing of their vehicles that killed 7 aid workers. The people in northern Gaza are starving to death in real time, right now. Every new video and image coming out about the recent annihilation of the entirety of Al-Shifa hospital and the surrounding neighborhood is horrifying. Journalist Muhammad Qariqa found his mother's body among those executed by Israeli forces. Rafiq, a young man who is so emaciated he appears skeletal, was among the survivors and described the intentional starvation, deprivation of medical care, and torture he witnessed. He said "we suffered so much that I felt like giving up". I want you to imagine that for a moment - you're being slowly starved to death and have taken refugee at a hospital for safety and to try and get medical attention, then you're surrounded by fire, bombs, bullets - you watch your family be tortured and then you yourself are and there is no end seemingly in sight. This is depraved. I demand that you:  - Call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire - Call for the immediate end of Israel's occupation and apartheid and support Palestinians in their fight for freedom and peace - Hold Israel accountable for their violations of the Genocide Convention and all other international laws by any means necessary - Secure the immediate release and safety of all Palestinians who have been abducted and held captive by Israel, including those whose indefinite detention began prior to 10/7 - Permanently end all monetary, diplomatic, and military aid given to Israel and enforce Leahy Law - Reallocate all funds given to Israel and commit additional resources for ongoing humanitarian relief for Palestinians starting with immediately resuming funding of UNRWA - Immediately withdraw all U.S. troops, military assets, and all other assets deployed throughout the Middle East and cease all actions that further escalate a larger regional conflict - Pass legislation that voids all anti-BDS laws at the federal level – Vote no on H.R. 7521 and any similar legislation proposed

Text SIGN PYDBCK to 50409 to send this to your officials.

Like birds and toddlers, everyone can become a little too enchanted with their own reflection from time to time. The store window is so big and so shiny in the morning light. Your coat is flowing. You...