- Founded by Jews United for Democracy and Justice
866OurVote is a national non-partisan election protection coalition working year round to ensure that voters have an equal opportunity to vote and have that vote count. We provide Americans from coast to coast with comprehensive information and assistance at all stages of voting – from registration to absentee and early voting, to casting a vote at the polls, to overcoming obstacles to their participation. Our volunteers provide voter information, document problems they encounter when voting and work with partners and volunteers on the ground to identify and remove barriers to voting.
ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge’s mission is to foster civic culture and institutionalize democratic engagement activities and programs at colleges and universities, making them a defining feature of campus life. By recognizing colleges and universities for their commitment to increasing student voting rates, through its national awards program, ALL IN encourages higher education institutions to help students form the habits of active and informed citizenship, make democratic participation a core value on their campus, and cultivate generations of engaged citizens who are essential to a healthy democracy.
Anti-Defamation League is a leading anti-hate organization. Founded in 1913 in response to an escalating climate of anti-Semitism and bigotry, its timeless mission is to protect the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment for all. Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of hate with the same vigor and passion. ADL is a global leader in exposing extremism and delivering anti-bias education, and is a leading organization in training law enforcement. ADL is the first call when acts of anti-Semitism occur. ADL’s ultimate goal is a world in which no group or individual suffers from bias, discrimination or hate.
The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law is a nonpartisan law and policy institute that seeks to improve our systems of democracy and justice. We work to hold our political institutions and laws accountable to the twin American ideals of democracy and equal justice for all. The Center’s work ranges from voting rights to campaign finance reform, from ending mass incarceration to preserving Constitutional protection in the fight against terrorism.
The California Center for Civic Participation is a non-partisan, non-profit civic education organization, engaging high school students by sparking their interest with exposure to real excitement of the democratic process. We believe that youth hold so much untapped and unlimited power to change their communities and their world and we exist to expose and nurture that power.
Learn more about the California Center for Civic Participation and volunteer opportunities.
The Center’s mission is to promote an enlightened and responsible citizenry committed to democratic principles and actively engaged in the practice of democracy. The Center has reached more than 30 million students and their teachers since 1965.
The Center for Civic Education helps students develop (1) an increased understanding of the institutions of constitutional democracy and the fundamental principles and values upon which they are founded, (2) the skills necessary to participate as competent and responsible citizens, and (3) the willingness to use democratic procedures for making decisions and managing conflict.
The Center for Common Ground empowers under-represented voters through non-partisan voter registration and Get Out the Vote. It provide voter information through door knock canvassing, texting, phone-banking. It also provide free rides to the polls on Election Day.
Learn more about the Center for Common Ground and volunteer opportunities.
Center for Election Innovation & Research engages in cutting-edge work to build voter trust, increase voter participation, and improve the efficiency of election administration. Their work helps elections officials maintain accurate and complete voter lists and secure election technology infrastructure.
Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. We work to ensure open, honest, and accountable government; to promote equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and to empower all people to make their voices heard as equals in the political process. Common cause works across four major issue areas: voting and elections; money and politics; ethics, transparency and government accountability; and media and democracy.
Learn more about Common Cause and the Common Cause Education Fund.
Democracy North Carolina is a nonpartisan organization that uses research, organizing, and advocacy to strengthen democratic structures, build power among disenfranchised communities, and inspire confidence in a transformed political process that works for all.
ElectionDay.Org engages businesses to provide resources and tools to promote voting within their organizations including information on how to register, voting methods, and relevant deadlines.
Equal Justice Works creates opportunities for lawyers to transform their passion for equal justice into a lifelong commitment to public service. Equal Justice Works is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization and is the nation’s largest facilitator of opportunities in public interest law. Equal Justice Works brings together an extensive network of law students, lawyers, legal services organizations, and supporters to promote a lifelong commitment to public service and equal justice. The organization believes that a community of lawyers committed to public service can fulfill our nation’s promise of equal justice for all. Following their Fellowships, more than 85% of Equal Justice Works Fellows remain in public service positions, continuing to pursue equal justice for underserved communities.
Learn more about Equal Justice Works and available volunteer opportunities.
The Election Official Legal Defense Network (EOLDN) is a project of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Election Innovation & Research. EOLDN connects licensed, qualified, pro bono attorneys with election administrators who need advice or assistance. Election workers from all over the country, at the state and local level, can contact EOLDN via this website or by phone (1-877-313-5210) at any time, to request to be connected to a lawyer who can help them, at no cost. This service is available regardless of the election official’s political affiliation, or whether they work in a blue or red state or county.
Learn more about Election Official Legal Defense Network and available volunteer opportunities.
FairVote is a nonpartisan organization seeking better elections for all. They research and advance voting reforms that make democracy more functional and representative for every American. FairVote has a proven record since 1992 as a nonpartisan trailblazer that advances and wins electoral reforms at the local, state and national level through strategic research, communications and collaboration. Today, we are the driving force behind advancing ranked choice voting and fair representation in multi-winner legislative districts that will open up our elections to better choices, fairer representation and more civil campaigns.
HeadCount is a non-partisan organization that uses the power of music to register voters and promote participation in democracy. HeadCount uses a grassroots approach to reach young people and music fans at concerts and online to inform and empower. Like music and democracy? Come work (or volunteer) with us!
Learn about how to be involved at a concert or event near you.
Indivisible is committed to providing civic education, policy resources, strategic guidance, and targeted trainings for groups across the country. It educates and empowers civic leaders at the community level across the country.
Learn more about Indivisible and volunteer opportunities available in several states.
Leaders We Deserve is a grassroots organization dedicated to electing young progressives to Congress and State Legislatures across the country to help defeat the far-right agenda and advance a progressive vision for the future.
The League of Women Voters of the United States encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
The Lincoln Project is a leading pro-democracy organization in the United States — dedicated to the preservation, protection, and defense of democracy. The Lincoln Project launched with two stated objectives. The first was to defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box. The second was to ensure Trumpism failed alongside him. As we have seen, our fight against Trumpism is only beginning. We must combat these forces everywhere and at all times. Our democracy depends on it.
Learn more about The Lincoln Project and available volunteer opportunities.
People For the American Way Foundation conducts research, legal, and education work on behalf of First Amendment freedoms and democratic values; monitors, exposes, and challenges the Religious Right movement and its political allies; identifies, trains, and supports the next generation of progressive leaders through its Young People For youth leadership programs and its Young Elected Officials Network; and carries out nonpartisan voter education, registration, civic participation, and election protection activities.
Project Vote is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded on the belief that an organized, diverse electorate is the key to a better America. Project Vote’s mission is to build an electorate that accurately represents the diversity of this nation’s citizenry, and to ensure that every eligible citizen can register, vote, and cast a ballot that counts.
Project Vote Smart offers services and programs for political journalists to enhance their coverage of politics and elections. The Project partners with more than 300 national, state, and local news organizations, all endorsing Project programs. In addition to comprehensive databases on more than 40,000 candidates and incumbents, the Project provides journalists with special research services and publications. We devote considerable effort to researching information about all candidates for presidential, congressional, gubernatorial and state legislative office and elected officials. Voters thus have access to unbiased information on candidates as well as those serving in elected positions.
Learn more about Project Vote Smart and available volunteer opportunities.
The Public Citizen Foundation supports Public Citizen’s education, litigation, research, and public information activities. Public Citizen is a national consumer advocacy organization founded in 1971 to represent consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch and the courts. Public Citizen fights for openness and democratic accountability in government, for the right of consumers to seek redress in the courts; for clean, safe and sustainable energy sources; for social and economic justice in trade policies; for strong health, safety and environmental protections; and for safe, effective and affordable prescription drugs and health care.
Learn more about Public Citizen and available opportunities.
Rideshare2Vote was created to increase the voice and power of people by expanding their civic engagement and voting rights. We have created a voter touch outreach field program that includes our transportation service specifically for Democratic and progressive voters. Rideshare2Vote focuses our work in disenfranchised communities; voting for the first time; who are not voting in every election; that are disabled; living in poverty and who are elderly.
Learn more about Rideshare2Vote and available volunteer opportunities.
Fusing pop culture, politics, and technology, Rock the Vote works to mobilize the millennial voting bloc and the youth vote, protect voting rights, and advocate for an electoral process and voting system that works for the 21st century electorate. For almost 25 years, Rock the Vote has pioneered ways to make voting easier by simplifying and demystifying voter registration and elections for young adults.
Learn more about Rock the Vote and available volunteer opportunities.
The Andrew Goodman Foundation makes young voices and votes a powerful force in democracy. Our ability to spark their passion — today — will result in change, tomorrow. The Andrew Goodman Foundation supports youth leadership development, voting accessibility, and social justice initiatives on campuses across the country with mini-grants to select institutions of higher learning and other financial assistance to students.
Our vision is that young people will become active, engaged citizens who ensure a just democracy and sustainable future. Join us during this critical time for American democracy and help shape the next generation of civic leaders.
Learn more about The Andrew Goodman Foundation and available volunteer opportunities.
The Center for Public Integrity is dedicated to producing original, responsible investigative journalism on issues of public concern. The mission of the Center for Public Integrity is to protect democracy and inspire change using investigative reporting that exposes betrayals of the public trust by powerful interests. To pursue its mission, the Center generates high-quality, accessible investigative reports, databases, and contextual analysis on issues of public importance; disseminates work to journalists, policymakers, scholars, and citizens using a combination of digital, electronic, and print media; and educates, engages, and empowers citizens with the tools and skills they need to hold government and other private institutions accountable.
The Civics Center is dedicated to building the foundations of youth civic engagement and voter participation in high schools through education, organizing, and advocacy. We support student-led, peer-to-peer voter registration and pre-registration efforts in high school communities.
Learn more about The Civics Center and available volunteer opportunities.
TurnUp is non-profit organization and mobile app that comprises the largest youth-led voter registration and turnout initiative. TurnUp’s 2024 election engagement plans include four integrated programs that work together to increase youth voter registration and turnout: physical registration and turnout drives; relational registration and turnout drives; grassroots organizing; and digital campaigns. TurnUp has Volunteer and Internship positions for high school, college, and recent graduates.
VoteRiders is a non-partisan, non-profit organization with a mission to ensure that all citizens are able to exercise their freedom to vote. VoteRiders informs and helps citizens to secure their voter ID as well as inspires and supports organizations, local volunteers, and communities to sustain voter ID education and assistance efforts. VoteRiders offers a variety of volunteer options including virtual and on the ground positions.
When We All Vote is a leading national, nonpartisan initiative on a mission to change the culture around voting and to increase participation in each and every election by helping to close the race and age gap. Created by Michelle Obama, When We All Vote brings together individuals, institutions, brands, and organizations to register new voters across the country and advance civic education for the entire family and voters of every age to build an informed and engaged electorate for today and generations to come. We empower our supporters and volunteers to take action through voting, advocating for their rights, and holding their elected officials accountable.
Learn more about When We All Vote and available volunteer opportunities.
Resources
Defending our values through knowledge and action.
April 13, 2026
This Wednesday, April 15, 2026, at 5 PM Pacific, we welcome David Frum who will be in conversation with Warren Olney on the topic: “DEMOCRACY UNDER STRESS: IS THE TIDE TURNING?“ (Register Here)
David Frum is an award winning journalist, author of many best-selling books and is a sought-after and highly respected political commentator. He served as speechwriter for President George W. Bush. He is currently a senior editor at The Atlantic as well as an MSNBC contributor.
Warren Olney spent decades as a news anchor at all major television networks and was the host and executive producer of the nationally syndicated weekday afternoon program “To the Point.”
Bloomberg/Opinion
By The Editorial Board
April 8, 2026
JD Vance’s Hungary Trip Deserves Bipartisan Rebukes
“All foreign nations should avoid opining on or interfering in American domestic politics,” US House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote in 2024. Voters in both parties dislike foreign meddling in their internal affairs, and Johnson and his White House allies ought to realize that people of other nations feel the same way.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Vice President JD Vance is visiting Budapest this week in what can only be described as a campaign swing to help Hungary’s embattled prime minister, Viktor Orban. Vance will meet with Orban in a bid to boost him and his party in elections on April 12.
Trying to tip a foreign election is an odd choice for someone who frequently inveighs against globalism, but Vance will only be echoing his boss, who has already endorsed Orban.
Regrettably, the administration’s incursions into other nations’ elections go well beyond Hungary. Last year, the president endorsed Argentine President Javier Milei and announced that foreign aid would be contingent upon his party’s victory in midterm elections. The White House has also made campaign endorsements in Honduras, Japan and Poland.
Such endorsements fly in the face of a wise and bipartisan tradition…
(To continue reading click here)
Bloomberg/Opinion
By Max Hastings
January 4, 2026
How to Save America From the Authoritarians
In Russia’s public museums today, antiquarian statuary depicting naked Roman or Greek figures is condemned by the Kremlin as violating the country’s “deep moral traditions.” Sharing unauthorized information about Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine war is punishable by up to 15 years’ imprisonment. All things Western are cancelled.
Russia is a tyranny, which makes some of us feel naive. Three decades ago, we fooled ourselves all that was over. When meeting Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin — leaders of their country during its democratic false dawn — I, like many people, supposed them to represent the future.
Instead, of course, they have proved to be the past. In 2026 their memories are reviled by their countrymen. Russia has reverted to what it has been for most of its history: a cruel, corrupt, mendacious, xenophobic, bungling, dangerous autocracy.
As we enter the 21st century’s second quarter, it would be nice to suppose that such a nation is unusual. Unfortunately, every survey of world governance shows democracy in retreat. Meanwhile, dictators prosper and multiply. According to Gothenburg University’s Varieties of Democracy index, only 29 countries can now be identified as fully democratic, while 45 nations shifted in 2025 toward dictatorship. An estimated 70% of the world’s peoples, controlling almost half of its gross domestic product, are governed by autocrats.
The US has officially stopped caring about the democratic credentials of governments which it chooses to support or oppose…
(To continue reading click here)
April 10, 2026
We hope you enjoyed your holidays with family and friends.
Next Wednesday, April 15, 2026, at 5 PM Pacific, we welcome David Frum who will be in conversation with Warren Olney on the topic: “DEMOCRACY UNDER STRESS: IS THE TIDE TURNING?“ (Register Here)
David Frum is an award winning journalist, author of many best-selling books and is a sought-after and highly respected political commentator. He served as speechwriter for President George W. Bush. He is currently a senior editor at The Atlantic as well as an MSNBC contributor.
Warren Olney spent decades as a news anchor at all major television networks and was the host and executive producer of the nationally syndicated weekday afternoon program “To the Point.”
Washington Post/Opinion
By Max Boot
April 8, 2026
The Iran ceasefire was a TACO Tuesday, and thank goodness
Trump gets to act like his bloodcurdling threats worked, but he’s giving up far more than Tehran did.
Tuesday was one of the more bizarre days in U.S. diplomatic history. It began with President Donald Trump warning that, should Iran not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, “a whole civilization will die tonight.” It ended with Trump proclaiming a two-week ceasefire and opening negotiations with Iran based on Tehran’s “10 point proposal.” There is rampant confusion about what those 10 points are, but the version released by Tehran calls for, among other things, Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. military withdrawal from the region and acceptance of Iran’s right to pursue nuclear enrichment — all conditions that should be utterly unacceptable to any U.S. administration.
It’s far from clear exactly what happened and what the consequences will be. On Wednesday, Iran threatened to withdraw from the agreement if Israel did not stop its attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon. But, even if the ceasefire holds, it’s impossible to take seriously the claims of Trump supporters that his “madman” act delivered a U.S. victory in the five-week war.
It is true that Iran suffered considerable economic and military damage, but it remained capable of launching an average of 85 drones and 37 missiles a day. It’s also impossible to credit Trump’s boast that regime change — one of his initial war aims — has already occurred. It’s the same old awful regime, even if the players at the top have changed…
(To continue reading click here)
Washington Post/Opinion
By David Ignatius
April 8, 2026
The Iran war’s exit ramp has become a diplomatic maze
The war began without a strategy for victory. The peace has no formula either.
Diplomats like ambiguity. But as President Donald Trump’s emissaries try to craft a permanent ceasefire agreement in the Iran war, they will need certainty about one essential detail: safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. So far, that seems to be a shimmering mirage.
Trump was exulting early Wednesday about the current fragile ceasefire with the same overheated rhetoric that he used a day before with his ultimatum that “a whole civilization will die” if Iran didn’t capitulate and open the strait. A day later, he was proclaiming, “this could be the Golden Age of the Middle East!!!” In Iran, “big money will be made.”
Not so fast. By late Wednesday, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported that the strait was fully closed. And the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, suggested Tehran might withdraw from talks unless Israel halts its attacks on Lebanon. A war that began without a clear strategy for victory seemed to be converging, perhaps inevitably, on an endgame missing a formula for peace.
How did we get here? …
(To continue reading click here)
April 6, 2026
We hope you are all enjoying your holidays. On Wednesday, April 15, 2026, at 5 PM Pacific, we welcome David Frum who will be in conversation with Warren Olney on the topic: “DEMOCRACY UNDER STRESS: IS THE TIDE TURNING?“ (Register Here)
David Frum is a political commentator and former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. He is currently a senior editor at The Atlantic as well as an MSNBC contributor.
Warren Olney spent decades at a news anchor at all major television networks and was the host and executive producer of the nationally syndicated weekday afternoon program “To the Point.” Olney and his programs have been honored with nearly 40 national, regional and local awards for broadcast excellence.
March 30, 2026
WE ARE VERY SORRY, BUT FOR CIRCUMSTANCES OUTSIDE OF OUR CONTROL, THE MARCH 31 PROGRAM WITH JAMES CARVILLE HAS BEEN POSTPONED. WE WILL BE RESCHEDULING WITH MR. CARVILLE FOR A LATER DATE.
A Passover Message to
Our America at a Crossroads Friends
Passover Message to Our America at a Crossroads Friends
Each year at Passover, we are reminded that freedom is not a one-time event. This year, that truth feels especially present. Freedom is an ongoing journey—renewed in every generation—calling for our attention, our engagement, and our care.
At the seder table, we are asked to see ourselves as if we personally went forth from Egypt. In doing so, we are reminded that the responsibility for freedom—and for redemption—is ours to carry forward.
We hope your seder is filled with warmth, meaningful conversation, and the inspiration to sustain us for the journey ahead.
May the spirit of Passover guide us—and strengthen us—for the work ahead.
We look forward to being together again on April 15 at 5:00 PM Pacific (register below).
Janice, Mel and Zev
To our JUDJ listeners and readers who celebrate Easter, we wish you a very Happy Easter holiday.
March 27, 2026
TUESDAY, March 31, 2026, at 5 PM Pacific, we welcome James Carville who will be in conversation with Madeleine Brand on the topic: “CAMPAIGN SEASON IS HERE: JAMES CARVILLE UNFILTERED” (Register Here)
James Carville is one of America’s most renowned political strategist and commentators. Best known as the chief strategist for Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign, he has been a central figure in U.S. politics for decades, admired for his sharp insight, plainspoken style, and deep understanding of American voters. Often called the “Ragin’ Cajun” for his Louisiana roots and outspoken personality, Carville is a frequent contributor on television and a sought-after voice on elections, democracy, and the state of the nation. He is also the author of several bestselling books on politics and public life.
Madeleine Brand is an American broadcast journalist and radio host with more than three decades of experience in public media. She currently hosts Press Play, an award-winning daily news and culture program on KCRW-FM in Los Angeles, where she explores national, international, and local issues through a Southern California lens.
Washington Post/Opinion
The Editorial Board
March 25, 2026
The Trump administration’s First Amendment promise
The Justice Department settles a Biden-era case about social media censorship.
The First Amendment protects ideas that government agencies and experts consider misleading, false or even dangerous. That basic constitutional principle came under threat in the last decade as federal officials pressured social media companies to censor “misinformation.”
Now the Trump administration has entered into a binding legal settlement decisively repudiating that meddling. On Wednesday, a federal judge signed off on the deal. Whether the government will abide by the spirit of the settlement is a different story, but it will help to have it on the books.
Anyone with even a passing interest in air-traffic safety knows that near misses have grown more frequent. In the New York area, there have been two close calls this month alone: An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 nearly collided with a FedEx Boeing 777 in Newark last Tuesday, and another Air Canada flight nearly hit an EVA Air 777 Boeing at John F. Kennedy International Airport on March 12. When a tragedy is averted, some presume that the system is working, a phenomenon in disaster management known as the “near-miss fallacy.” But many complex systems on the brink of failure leave clues, and near misses are flashing red lights.
(To continue reading click here)
Foreign Affairs
Ilan Goldenberg
March 23, 2026
America Has No Good Options in Iran
Trump Needs an Off-Ramp
Three weeks into the joint U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, the outlines of a familiar and dangerous pattern are emerging. The current conflict may for now be significantly different than American wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Vietnam—it has not yet drawn in U.S. ground forces in great numbers. But the Iran war shares a deeper strategic reality with these predecessors. Washington is once again fighting a weaker regional power without having clear objectives, a defined theory of victory, and a viable exit strategy.
The result is a different kind of quagmire, but a quagmire nonetheless. U.S. forces may get bogged down in air and sea operations that drag on for months or years, impose mounting costs on the global economy, destabilize the wider Middle East, and exact a growing toll on civilian populations in Iran, Israel, Lebanon, and beyond. As in past conflicts, the asymmetry at the heart of the war favors the weaker party. For the United States to win, it must achieve expansive and ambiguous goals—regime change or an Iran so weak that it cannot destabilize the region or disrupt global oil markets. For Iran, victory may simply mean survival and the ability to impose costs on the global economy through intermittent attacks that dramatically limit passage through the Strait of Hormuz or damage delicate and vital oil infrastructure in the Gulf states.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the current U.S.-Israeli campaign of missile and drone strikes is not about to topple the entrenched regime. Nor will it entirely knock out Iran’s conventional capacities such that Tehran cannot interfere with passage through the Strait of Hormuz or threaten facilities vital to the global energy trade…
(To continue reading click here)
March 25, 2026
If you missed today’s program featuring Dalia Dassa Kaye in conversation with Robin Wright, you can watch the program at THIS PAST EVENTS LINK. The program will post a few hours after it ends. Starting Thursday morning, you can listen AT THIS PODCAST LINK
On TUESDAY, March 31, 2026, at 5 PM Pacific, we welcome James Carville who will be in conversation with Madeleine Brand on the topic: “CAMPAIGN SEASON IS HERE: JAMES CARVILLE UNFILTERED” (Register Here)
James Carville is one of America’s most renowned political strategist and commentators. Best known as the chief strategist for Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign, he has been a central figure in U.S. politics for decades, admired for his sharp insight, plainspoken style, and deep understanding of American voters. Often called the “Rogin’ Cajun” for his Louisiana roots and outspoken personality, Carville is a frequent contributor on television and a sought-after voice on elections, democracy, and the state of the nation. He is also the author of several bestselling books on politics and public life.
Madeleine Brand is an American broadcast journalist and radio host with more than three decades of experience in public media. She currently hosts Press Play, an award-winning daily news and culture program on KCRW-FM in Los Angeles, where she explores national, international, and local issues through a Southern California lens. Brand previously reported and anchored for National Public Radio (NPR), serving in roles that included correspondent, substitute host on Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and co-host of Day to Day.
Washington Post/Opinion
By Max Boot
March 23, 2026
Don’t blame Trump’s stupid war on Israel
The Jewish state, as usual, makes a handy fall guy. The president might look in the mirror instead.
When a nation starts a war for dubious reasons and then suffers the consequences, there is inevitably a search for scapegoats. Conspiracy theories abound. It happened after World War I, when the favorite villains were “merchants of death” and international bankers. It happened again after the Iraq War, which some blamed on “neoconservatives” and Halliburton, the oil-services giant led by Dick Cheney before he became vice president.
It’s now happening with President Donald Trump’s foolhardy war against Iran. Operation Epic Fury may yet produce some positive results, but for now, it has gone spectacularly awry. Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz and targeted energy infrastructure across the region, causing oil prices to skyrocket and instability to spread. As so often happens, the Jews — or, if you prefer a polite euphemism, “Zionists” or “the Israel lobby” — make a handy fall guy.
What the right-wing fringe once whispered — that this was “a war for Israel” — suddenly burst onto the front pages last week thanks to Joe Kent’s resignation as director of the National Counterterrorism Center. In a blistering public letter, Kent wrote that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation” and that “we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
The first part of his statement is clearly true. ..
(To continue reading click here)
The Atlantic
Juliette Kayyem
March 23, 2026
Americans are learning that public safety is not a given.
On Saturday, President Trump announced plans to deploy ICE agents to help with security at airports across the country, given all of the TSA workers who are either quitting or not showing up because they haven’t been paid for weeks. Last night, an Air Canada airplane collided with a fire truck on a runway at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, killing two pilots and hospitalizing scores of passengers. These twin crises are separate but related: They are both the result of an approach to governance that neglects the work of governing.
Anyone with even a passing interest in air-traffic safety knows that near misses have grown more frequent. In the New York area, there have been two close calls this month alone: An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 nearly collided with a FedEx Boeing 777 in Newark last Tuesday, and another Air Canada flight nearly hit an EVA Air 777 Boeing at John F. Kennedy International Airport on March 12. When a tragedy is averted, some presume that the system is working, a phenomenon in disaster management known as the “near-miss fallacy.” But many complex systems on the brink of failure leave clues, and near misses are flashing red lights.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, a former Fox News host who spent the weekend blaming Democrats for airport-security lines, is not in fact in charge of airport security. He is in charge of the Federal Aviation Administration, which handles air traffic and mishandled the Air Canada landing at LaGuardia. If he didn’t know before, he hopefully knows now that what happened yesterday was not simply an outlying tragedy, but the inevitable culmination of long-standing safety concerns and shortsighted funding cuts…
(To continue reading click here)
March 18, 2026
If you missed today’s program featuring Jennifer Rubin in conversation with Patt Morison, you can watch the program at THIS PAST EVENTS LINK. The program will post a few hours after it ends. Starting Thursday morning, you can listen AT THIS PODCAST LINK
On Wednesday, March 25, 2026, at 5 PM Pacific, we welcome Dalia Dassa Kaye who will be in conversation with Robin Wright on the topic: “THE HIGH STAKES OF U.S. POLICY ON IRAN: AMERICA’S CHOICES IN A DANGEROUS MOMENT” (Register Here)
Dalia Dassa Kaye is a Senior Fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations and former Senior Political Scientist and Director of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy. A recipient of many awards and fellowships, she speaks and publishes widely on US and Middle East policy. Dalia’s recent book, Enduring Hostility (see below) has been described by experts as an “insightful must-read.”
Robin Wright is an award-winning journalist, author, and foreign-affairs analyst specializing in the Middle East, U.S. foreign policy, and global security. She has reported from more than 140 countries and served as a correspondent for The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and NPR. Wright is the author of several influential books, including Sacred Rage, Dreams and Shadows, and Rock the Casbah, and is widely respected for her depth of reporting and historical insight.
Enduring Hostility: The Making of America’s Iran Policy
By Dalia Dassa Kaye
A timely and rigorous analysis of a half-century of American policymakers’ shifting perceptions of Iran, and how they have driven US-Iran relations.
Dalia Dassa Kaye deftly explores how America’s Iran policy is made, the people who make it, and the underlying ideas and perceptions that inform it. Dassa Kaye looks back at US policy toward Iran over the past four decades to help us look ahead, offering wider lessons for understanding American foreign policymaking and providing critical insights at a pivotal time of heightened military tensions in and around the Middle East.
Foreign Affairs
Dalia Dassa Kaye
March 6, 2026
The Mirage of a New Middle East
War With Iran Won’t Reshape the Region the Way America Wants
Eager to show that he can do what no American leader has done before, President Donald Trump has chosen conflict over diplomacy and gone to war with Iran. The Islamic Republic, knowing that this fight is existential, retaliated quickly with deadly missile and drone attacks on Israel, U.S. bases in the Middle East, and targets in Gulf states and beyond. This is now a regional war with global impact, disrupting oil and financial markets, supply chains, maritime commerce, and air travel. Threats to Americans and the death toll in Iran mount by the hour. These growing risks were predictable long before the war became reality, which might help explain why no previous president took the United States down this perilous path.
How this war will end remains uncertain. But when it does, the United States will have to face what comes next. To the extent that the Trump administration has considered plans for “the day after,” it seems to have made a series of overly optimistic assumptions about how the war might reshape Iran and the Middle East. For one, the Trump administration has insisted—including in Trump’s social media post on February 28 announcing the war—that a relentless degradation of Iranian leadership and military capabilities would weaken the regime enough that the Iranian people could rise up and “take over the government.” Even if that doesn’t happen, the administration’s logic goes, Iran would be defanged and so preoccupied with internal problems that it could no longer pose a threat to the region or American interests. Taking the current Iranian regime out of the equation, Washington assumes, would remove one of the largest sources of regional instability and usher in a new Middle East more to the United States’ liking.
(To continue reading, click here)
Politico
Shia Kapos
March 17, 2026
AIPAC attacks fall flat as Democrat Daniel Biss wins Illinois House primary
The suburban Chicago mayor, who has criticized Israel, will succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky.
CHICAGO — Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss won Tuesday’s Democratic primary to succeed Rep. Jan Schakowsky, dealing a blow to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in a race that had turned into a referendum on the group’s ability to influence the party.
Biss, whose mother is Israeli and whose grandparents are Holocaust survivors, has sharply criticized Israel’s war in Gaza — and faced an onslaught of attack ads from a group aligned with AIPAC as a result.
He defeated a crowded field that included social media influencer Kat Abughazaleh, a Palestinian American who is a more vocal critic, as well as AIPAC’s preferred candidate, state Sen. Laura Fine. Biss is now favored to win the general election in the heavily Democratic district.
An AIPAC-aligned group spent more than $5 million dollars in ads to boost Fine and attack Biss, then later, Abughazaleh. That group pulled down its anti-Biss attacks at the end of the race, before a different shell PAC emerged to prop up another low-polling progressive in the race in an attempt to divide the progressive vote.
The race had become one of the country’s most closely watched Democratic primaries, in large part because of AIPAC’s involvement in a district whose population is more than 10 percent Jewish and which has had a Jewish representative for more than 60 years.
(To continue reading click here)
Voting Rights and Empowerment
Immigration and Asylum
Equality - Fighting Hate and Discrimination
Freedom of the Press
Voting Rights and Empowerment
CENTER FOR COMMON GROUND’S RECLAIM OUR VOTE CAMPAIGN
Ongoing voter suppression and voter list purging have been disenfranchising millions of eligible voters — especially voters of color. Reclaim Our Vote works in those voter suppression states. Our volunteers inform and mobilize voters of color to make sure they are registered and they know how to get a ballot and vote. It is a nonpartisan campaign of the nonprofit 501(c)3 Center for Common Ground.
LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS
The League of Women Voters of the United States encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
POSTCARDS TO VOTERS
Postcards to Voters are friendly, handwritten reminders from volunteers to targeted voters giving Democrats a winning edge in close, key races coast to coast.
ROCK THE VOTE
In 1990, music executives founded Rock the Vote in response to the censorship of hip-hop and rap artists. Our first partnership, with MTV, promoted the message that “Censorship is Un-American” and activated millions of young people across the country to exercise their rights and represent their interests. For thirty years, we have continuously adapted to the changing landscapes of media, technology and culture to breakthrough and empower each new generation.
VOTE.ORG
Vote.org uses technology to simplify political engagement, increase voter turnout, and strengthen American democracy.
WHEN WE ALL VOTE
When We All Vote is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that is on a mission to increase participation in every election and close the race and age voting gap by changing the culture around voting, harnessing grassroots energy, and through strategic partnerships to reach every American.
Immigration and Asylum
ACLU
For nearly one hundred years, ACLU lawyers have been at the center of one history-making court case after another, participating in more Supreme Court cases than any other private organization. With attorneys nationwide, we handle thousands of cases each year on behalf of clients whose rights have been violated.
Bet Tzedek
Bet Tzedek attorneys and advocates help people of all communities and generations secure life’s necessities. Wherever people are in crisis, Bet Tzedek’s core services and rapid response programs provide stability and hope.
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights
CHIRLA is a California leader with the national impact made of diverse immigrant families and individuals who act as agents of social change to achieve a world with freedom of mobility, full human rights, and true participatory democracy. CHIRLA’s mission is to achieve a just society fully inclusive of immigrants.
HIAS
HIAS works around the world to protect refugees who have been forced to flee their homelands because of who they are, including ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities. For more than 130 years, HIAS has been helping refugees rebuild their lives in safety and dignity.
Public Counsel
Public Counsel is the largest pro bono law firm in the nation. We work with major law firms and corporations to change people’s futures. A staff of 71 attorneys and 50 support staff – including five social workers – along with over 5,000 volunteer lawyers, law students and legal professionals assists over 30,000 children, youth, families, and community organizations every year.
Equality - Fighting Hate and Discrimination
ANTI DEFAMATION LEAGUE
ADL is a leading anti-hate organization. Founded in 1913 in response to an escalating climate of anti-Semitism and bigotry, its timeless mission is to protect the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment for all. Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of hate with the same vigor and passion. ADL is a global leader in exposing extremism and delivering anti-bias education, and is a leading organization in training law enforcement. ADL is the first call when acts of anti-Semitism occur. ADL’s ultimate goal is a world in which no group or individual suffers from bias, discrimination or hate.
BEND THE ARC
Bend the Arc is a movement of tens of thousands of progressive Jews all across the country. For years, we’ve worked to build a more just society. Now we’re rising up in solidarity with everyone threatened by the Trump agenda to fight for the soul of our nation.
EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE
The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.
INTEGRITY FIRST FOR AMERICA
Integrity First for America (IFA) is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization dedicated to holding those accountable who threaten longstanding principles of our democracy—including our country’s commitment to civil rights and equal justice.
NAACP
Founded in 1909 in response to the ongoing violence against Black people around the country, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is the largest and most pre-eminent civil rights organization in the nation. We have over 2,200 units and branches across the nation, along with well over 2M activists. Our mission is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.
Freedom of the Press
ACLU
For nearly one hundred years, ACLU lawyers have been at the center of one history-making court case after another, participating in more Supreme Court cases than any other private organization. With attorneys nationwide, we handle thousands of cases each year on behalf of clients whose rights have been violated.
REPORTERS COMMITTEE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press provides pro bono legal representation, amicus curiae support, and other legal resources to protect First Amendment freedoms and the newsgathering rights of journalists.