FATE OF THE UNION

The old-fashioned kind of recycling—donating and reselling of secondhand clothes—is basically a myth, since the market is glutted. (Jared T. Miller for Newsweek)

The Home Front:
Why Donating Clothes Isn’t the Solution
Americans discard 80 pounds of clothing per person per year. Today, there’s such a glut of cheap clothing around the world that 84% of all unwanted garments end up in a landfill — yes, including most of those we donate to charity and many new items that have been returned unworn. 
H&M and others are installing clothing take-back bins, so we can feel virtuous about dropping off stuff we don’t want before buying more. But only 0.1% of those clothes are recycled into new textile fiber. Synthetics, and those natural fibers which have been bleached, dyed, printed on, or scoured in chemical baths, are impossible to recycle. They’re either incinerated, releasing toxins into the air, or sent to the landfill, where some take centuries to biodegrade.
Buying less is the best solution, which is why you’ve all seen me in the same handful of sweaters this winter. Shopping in vintage stores helps. And if you are buying new, there’s an app called Good On You that rates the sustainability and ethics of popular brands.
—Karen McCann
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STOP, LOOK, LISTEN!
Fate of the Union
As Impeachment Today's Hayes Brown pointed out in the the podcast's final installment, today looks a lot like our pre-impeachment world, but with 29% less faith in our institutions’ ability to constrain the powerful.
This week we saw the president take revenge for such treasonous acts as upholding the responsibility to vote impartially, complying with congressional subpoenas, and telling the truth under oath.
Looks like it’s up to us to fix this.
Vote. Help someone else vote. And, if you haven’t done so in your home state, you can start the process by voting in the Democratic primary. American Resistance Sevilla will be hosting a Democratic primary event next month, where you can cast your ballot for the presidential candidates that Democrats Abroad delegates will vote for in the Democratic National Convention. Get information on voter registration and absentee ballots, and talk strategy for the November elections.
—Kathy Sherretts

Wait, what?
New York Times: The President Says He Feels Humbled and Is 'Profoundly Sorry' by James Bennet and John M. Broder
"I want to say again to the American people how profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these events and the great burden they have imposed on the Congress and on the American people,” said President Clinton in 1999.

They let you do it:
Slate: The Law Is for Suckers by Dahlia Lithwick
Trump has concluded that he can now investigate, harass, and punish the whistleblowers and the witnesses and those who sought to constrain him.

Employment numbers:
Daily Dot: Daily Stormer announces layoffs because its readers are cheap by Mikael Thalen
The neo-Nazi website's founder, Andrew Anglin, says that since “fewer than 60 of you decided to send money”, the future of their race war coverage is now in doubt.

Big load of app:
New Yorker Politics Podcast: Disasters at America’s Polling Places (17 min)
In theory, advances in voting technology make voting easier and more accessible—but they can also introduce vulnerabilities that can be exploited to suppress or undermine the will of the voters.

Just for fun: Inner City Wizard School (3 min)
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​Primaries are Starting!
Are You Registered? Are You Sure?

1. Go to Vote from Abroad (votefromabroad.org).
2. Click START to fill out the form (known as FPCA: Federal Post Card Application) to register to vote (best done annually) and request your ballot, which will arrive by email.
3. Check the State Voting Guide to review your state's deadlines and requirements.
4. Vote! Democracy depends on each one of us speaking up for what we believe in!

Learn More About Candidates and Issues! 

• Progressive Action, Global Exchange (PAGE) 
• Americans of Conscience Checklist
• ClimateRecovery.org