When does 32,200 – 60,000 = 109,000 ?

That’s the estimated number of Islamist-inspired militants when America’s war on terror began, minus the number the U.S. supposedly killed between 2015 and 2018. 109,000 is the number that fought as of 2018.

Counterinsurgency mathematics is a widely documented phenomenon, originating with military generals. The United States’ “war on terror” gave birth to ISIS, did little to weaken the Taliban, and has overall fostered so much ill-will in the middle east that its violence has only given birth to more and more radical groups.

Bombs will not bring peace.

From the IRA in Northern Ireland to the ETA in Spain's Basque country, the most successful solution for the destruction of radicalized nationalist groups is an increase in freedoms, providing a new generation with an outlet other than violence: optimism and prosperity.

Congressional representatives need to end their allegiance to weapons industry donors, and join 66% of Americans in calling for a ceasefire in the region, in addition to freedom and liberation for all Palestinians to finally bring peace to the area.

We’re halfway through Transgender Awareness Week, and my team has set a goal to raise an additional $5,000 so we can send out a mailer about the right-wing assault on LGBTQIA+ rights this February.

Can you pitch in and help spread some awareness about this transgender person running to champion human rights—for everybody—in Congress?

I call this an “intersectional, humanitarian campaign” and I mean it. LGBTQIA+ rights are bound up in liberation of all oppressed peoples, across the globe, and I’ll never stop fighting for what I know in my heart to be right.

Yours in community, and yours in Congress,

Maebe Pudlo