Take Action

President Obama: Pardon Weldon Angelos

Nation Action on January 10, 2013 - 4:46 PM ET

The story of Weldon Angelos, recounted by Sasha Abramsky in the new issue of The Nation, speaks volumes about the unfairness of mandatory minimum sentencing.

A rap artist from Salt Lake City, Angelos was ensnared in an undercover marijuana purchase that reeked of entrapment. In 2003, more than a year after he had been arrested, Angelos was found guilty on several counts. Because of mandatory minimum statutes, the presiding judge—a Bush appointee named Paul Cassell—was left with no discretion at sentencing. After asking the prosecuting and defense attorneys to advise him on the constitutionality of the sentence, a distraught Cassell handed down a fifty-five-year term, a punishment he called “unjust, cruel and even irrational.” He urged then-President Bush to pardon the young father of three and right a clear judicial wrong. Bush didn’t pardon him. Neither has President Obama—despite pleas on Angelos’s behalf from several ex-governors, dozens of ex–federal prosecutors and judges, and four US attorneys general.

TO DO

Sign on to The Nation’s new petition imploring President Obama to rectify this injustice and issue a Presidential pardon to Angelos. After weighing in, share this info with friends, family and your Twitter and Facebook networks.

TO READ

In an investigative report for The Progressive in 2006, Abramsky detailed the sketchy case against Angelos and made clear the utter travesty of the sentence.

TO WATCH

In this video, The Nation’s Liliana Segura explains how mandatory sentencing laws, like the one that put away Angelos for fifty-five years, are regularly sending juveniles to prison for life.

A weekly guide to meaningful action, this blog connects readers with resources to channel the outrage so many feel after reading about abuses of power and privilege. Far from a comprehensive digest of all worthy groups working on behalf of the social good, Take Action seeks to shine a bright light on one concrete step that Nation readers can take each week. To broaden the conversation, we’ll publish a weekly follow-up post detailing the response and featuring additional campaigns and initiatives that we hope readers will check out. Toward that end, please use the comments field to give us ideas. With your help, we can make real change.

Fix the Filibuster

Nation Action on January 9, 2013 - 8:47 PM ET

Since Democrats retook control of the Senate chamber in 2006, Nation editors recently wrote, GOP obstruction has made a mockery of the very American principle of majority rule, and of the equally American principle of respect for the minority. Republican abuse of the filibuster has been a central tool in thwarting popular resolutions, nominations and legislation, debates and votes.

TO DO

The filibuster is one of the biggest barriers to progress in our country. Implore your elected reps to support a strong reform package that includes the “talking filibuster.” After weighing in, share this info with friends, family and your Facebook and Twitter networks.

TO READ

In early January of 2011, in his then-weekly Nation podcast, Chris Hayes took a quick tour through the filibuster’s history and the options for its removal or revision.

TO WATCH

This past December, John Nichols joined MSNBC’s The Ed Show to outline the changes we need for the filibuster law, to force political blockading out of back rooms and into the open.

Restore VAWA

Nation Action on January 3, 2013 - 3:29 PM ET

Despite an eleventh-hour effort by Vice President Joe Biden, House Republican leaders failed to advance the Senate's 2012 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, a bill that would have extended domestic violence protections to 30 million LGBT individuals, undocumented immigrants and Native American women. As Erika Eichelberger writes in The Nation this week, by refusing to reauthorize VAWA, Congressional Republicans are leaving rape victims with few options.

TO DO

The National Task Force to End Domestic and Sexual Violence Against Women is imploring the 113th Congress to restore VAWA immediately. Join the call and mobilize support yourself with the VAWA Tool Kit.

TO READ

Through the telling of one woman's story, Alisa Bohling shows what the end of VAWA could mean for women everywhere in a recent article on TruthOut..

TO WATCH

This past December, US Senator Maria Cantwell joined six of her female Democratic Senate colleagues to make clear why the VAWA Act is so important to so many women.

Ad Policy

Stop the Violence

Nation Action on December 20, 2012 - 5:16 PM ET

Gun control advocates should not be intimidated: the political winds at their back are strong. It’s clear that Obama would sign gun control legislation passed by Congress and, as Nation editors write this week, the focus should be on making that happen.

TO DO

As Ari Melber reported, in three days, more than 150,000 people have signed a petition calling on the White House to back legislation limiting access to guns. That is the most support that any petition has drawn since the White House launched its “we the people” platform. Add your name to the list today and share the info with friends, family and your Twitter and Facebook networks.

TO READ

In this passionate essay, Fareed Zakaria makes clear that the solution to gun violence is blindingly obvious.

TO WATCH

In this episode of Democracy Now!, arms control advocate Rebecca Peters looks to Australia's example for solutions on reducing gun violence in America.

Support Walmart Workers

Nation Action on December 13, 2012 - 6:47 PM ET

As The Nation’s new labor blogger Josh Eidelson details, the campaign confronting Walmart in the United States is planning an international escalation for Friday, December 14. In partnership with the global union federation UNI, the union-affiliated group Making Change at Walmart is supporting a “Global Day of Solidarity” with participation expected from Walmart workers in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Nicaragua, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Zambia.

TO DO

Add your voice to the protests supporting Walmart workers by signing this petition imploring the retail giant to end retaliation against workers who speak out for change. After you’ve weighed in, share this info with friends, family and your Facebook and Twitter networks. You can also help spread word abut the actions and find an event near you.

TO READ

This extensive fact-sheet on Walmart offers comprehensive material on the company’s impact on workers’ rights, the environment, small businesses and much, much more.

TO WATCH

Walmart has sought to counter recent organizing efforts by filing an unfair labor practice charge against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, and, according to critics, threatening workers with retaliation. Eidelson details these allegations on Democracy Now! in an interview with Amy Goodman.

Right-to-Work Is Wrong for Michigan

Nation Action on December 11, 2012 - 4:27 PM ET

Legislation limiting the power of unions is headed to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s desk, where the Republican is expected to sign the so-called “right to work” bill into law after it was approved by a vote of 58-52 in the Michigan House. But union organizers say they can still undo the contentious legislation, which bars the mandatory collection of labor dues. The idea, according to the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, is that opponents of the law could file petitions with signatures of registered voters equal to 8 percent of the total votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. The legislature would then either enact or reject the petition — presumably the latter. After that, it would go on the ballot for the next general election in 2014.

TO DO

The WeAreMichigan coalition is taking the lead in opposing the controversial bill. Sign the petition standing up for Michigan workers and consider a donation to help support both legal and grassroots challenges to the legislation. It also can’t hurt to call Governor Snyder at 517-373-3400 and implore him to veto the legislation.

TO READ

In ‘Right to work’: The wrong answer for Michigan’s economy, a recent paper produced by the Economic Policy Institute, political economist Gordon Lafer explains that right-to-work laws do not boost job growth in states that adopt them but rather lower wages and reduce benefits for both union and non-union workers alike.

TO WATCH

In scenes reminiscent of last year’s massive protests against Scott Walker’s anti-union legislation at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, thousands of citizen protesters gathered in the Michigan state capitol immediately after the controversial legislation was passed.

Feed the Hungry—Pass a Just Farm Bill

Nation Action on November 30, 2012 - 3:22 PM ET

Who is the real beneficiary of US food aid—those suffering from chronic hunger worldwide, or American agricultural corporations? For too long, the US has been buying millions of tons of grain from US-based agribusinesses and dumping it overseas. The US needs to help countries move toward true food security, by passing a reformed Farm Bill that will put funding where it is most needed—in the hands of the vulnerable, and away from US agricorps.

TO DO

In an unprecedented move, Congress let the current Farm Bill expire in September. While the Senate has passed a reformed bill, the House of Representatives has refused to schedule a vote on the new legislation. Sign this petition by the American Jewish World Service and call on Congress to pass a reformed Farm Bill, which would donate money and locally-purchased grain, rather than shipping US-bought crops.

TO READ

Who’s responsible for this inaction on global hunger? It may be the agricultural lobbyists profiting from the current system. Read this investigation by The Guardian and find out who’s on the receiving end of the $1 billion the US spends annually on food aid.

TO WATCH

The 2008 documentary What Are We Doing Here? takes a hard look at the impact of US aid across Africa, documenting the way American grain suppresses prices for local farmers. Watch an excerpt and an interview with the filmmakers from CNN:

Say No to Fracking

Nation Action on November 29, 2012 - 3:28 PM ET

Elizabeth Royte’s major new investigative report in The Nation gives voice to the urgent cries of farmers and ranchers raising alarms about the risks of fracking to human health. As her reporting makes clear, the early evidence from heavily fracked regions suggests that drilling and fracking operations represent a serious threat to the nation’s food security.

TO DO

Implore your reps to support the FRAC ACT, which would remove the fracking exemption to the Safe Drinking Water Act and ensure the disclosure and monitoring of the chemicals used in the process. Then, find out about local initiatives you can join to resist the energy industry’s fracking push.

TO READ

This New York Review of Books essay by Bill McKibben debunks the core arguments made in favor of fracking: "Fracked gas is not a ‘bridge fuel’ to some cleaner era, but a rickety pier extending indefinitely out into a hotter future."

TO WATCH

Josh Fox’s “The Sky Is Pink” is an explosive eighteen-minute video revealing a slew of industry documents detailing serious concerns about well safety and water contamination connected to fracking.

President Obama: We Had Your Back. Do You Have Ours?

Nation Action on November 26, 2012 - 4:08 PM ET

Election Day was a rousing victory for progressive and middle-class populism. In the face of this mandate, the “grand bargain” would lower top rates on the wealthy and corporations, target Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security for cuts and inflict job-killing austerity.

TO DO

Let President Obama know that Americans re-elected him with a mandate to make government work for 100 percent of the people and demand that he resist the assault on the social safety net implicit in the so-called Grand Bargain. After weighing in, share this post with friends, family and your Twitter and Facebook communities.

TO READ

Writing in Salon, Michael Lind makes a strong case that the “Grand Bargain” is a terrible deal for most Americans.

TO WATCH

On MSNBC’s Now with Alex Wagner, Nation editor and publisher Katrina vanden Heuvel called on progressives to fight back against the well-funded austerity agenda of the fiscal cliff proponents.

End the War on Drugs

Nation Action on November 16, 2012 - 4:56 PM ET

As filmaker Eugene Jarecki notes in The Nation, over forty years of prosecuting the “war on drugs” has cost a trillion dollars and accounted for 45 million drug arrests. Yet, for all that, America has nothing to show but a legacy of failure and increased addiction. The answer? End the war on drugs.

TO DO

A good place to start in ending the so-called war on drugs is to urge Congress to end federal marijuana prohibition and to begin to bring the currently unregulated and profitable marijuana market under the rule of law, helping curb the crime, violence and out-of-control youth access that flourish under the current prohibition. After weighing in, share this post with your friends, family and Twitter and Facebook communities.

TO READ

This NPR time-line on the war on drugs offers a powerful sense of the long-term futility of the campaign.

TO WATCH

Jarecki’s film is a probing investigative look at America’s war on drugs and its impact on both the criminal justice system and individual families.