ACTIVE NONVIOLENCE AND PEACEMAKING |
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TAKE ACTION: De-Militarize the Police
The 1033 program, which sends “excess” military weapons to local police forces, was started during the 1990’s racist war on drugs. Since then, the program has transferred over $7.4 billion in excess property, including weapons, to state and local police forces. CodePink urges us to ask our representatives to sign on to a letter to President Biden urging him to end the transfer of military weapons to local police forces with an executive order. TAKE ACTION
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California Gun Violence Program Saves Lives, Taxpayers Millions
A gun violence reduction program called Advance Peace has helped to decrease firearm homicides and assaults in several California cities saving taxpayers millions of dollars in city expenses. The nonprofit operates at a fraction of standard law enforcement budgets and employs formerly incarcerated “Neighborhood Change Agents” to engage offenders at the center of gun violence in communities of color that are often distrustful of police. MORE
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TAKE ACTION: Invest in Cures Before Missiles
The Pentagon is planning to spend close to $2 trillion to replace infrastructure that already works for our Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). Meanwhile, COVID-19 has killed more than 2 million people worldwide and 500,000 Americans. Senate bill 982 would redirect these funds to improve our health and security. The Beyond the Bomb campaign invites us to tell our elected officials to support Senate bill 982. TAKE ACTION
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Congress Undermines Biden’s Approach to Iran
A bipartisan letter from 140 members of the House of Representatives calls on the Biden administration to address Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic missiles, and support for terrorism “from the onset,” undermining President Joe Biden’s approach to first restore the 2015 nuclear deal and then negotiate with Iran on a broader set of issues. MORE
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Biden Does Not Intend to Meet with North Korea's Kim
President Joe Biden does not intend to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the White House said this week. North Korea launched a new type of tactical short-range ballistic missile last week. Biden has said the United States remained open to diplomacy with North Korea despite the tests but warned there would be responses if North Korea escalates matters. MORE
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TAKE ACTION: Tell Biden to Commit to Close the First Ten Immigrant Detention Centers
The “First Ten to Communities Not Cages” campaign is demanding the shut down of 10 immigration detention facilities in the first year of the Biden administration. These ‘First Ten’ detention centers are the worst although the entire system is inherently abusive, unjust, and fatally flawed. Detention Watch Network urges us to call on the Biden administration to take bold action towards ending the use of detention entirely. TAKE ACTION
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Relieving Central American Pressures Could Help with Immigration Challenge for U.S.
Poverty, lack of opportunity, and violence have, for years, driven people from Central America in increasing numbers to leave their homes in search of a safe and dignified existence. COVID-19 has made living conditions worse. The pandemic has destroyed local economies, making daily life for many vulnerable families next to impossible. Put simply, COVID-19 is exacerbating the many push factors driving people to migrate. MORE
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Federal Workers Asked to Volunteer For 'Urgent' Border Effort Amid Influx of Children
The Biden administration is asking for federal workers to assist with "urgent efforts" to care for and place unaccompanied migrant children who are arriving at the southern border in increasing numbers. Federal employees who volunteer will be compensated at their current rate of pay and would serve at facilities along the southwest border area, specifically Dallas, San Diego, San Antonio, and Fort Bliss in Texas. MORE
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Biden Details $2 Trillion Plan to Rebuild Infrastructure and Reshape the Economy
The $2 trillion infrastructure plan President Biden will unveil this week will include $115 billion for roads and bridges, $85 billion for public transit, $111 billion for water infrastructure, and $100 billion for broadband, according to a 25-page briefing paper, the New York Times reports. The spending, which will also focus on fighting climate change, would take place over eight years. MORE
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Big Banks Still Pouring Trillions into Fossil Fuel
The world’s biggest 60 banks have provided $3.8 trillion of financing for fossil fuel companies since the Paris climate deal in 2015. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic cutting energy use, overall funding remains on an upward trend and the finance provided in 2020 was higher than in 2016 or 2017. MORE
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$100 Million Geoengineering Project Proposed, To Dim the Sun
The National Academies of Science recommends funding of $100-200 million to better understand the feasibility of interventions to dim the sun, the risk of harmful unintended consequences, and how such technology could be governed in an ethical way. But critics are voicing concerns. MORE
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Matt Gaetz Is Said to Face Justice Dept. Inquiry Over Sex with an Underage Girl
Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida and a close ally of former President Donald J. Trump, is being investigated by the Justice Department over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him, according to three people briefed on the matter. Investigators are examining whether Mr. Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws. MORE
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Epstein Confidant Ghislaine Maxwell Faces New Sex Trafficking Charges
Federal prosecutors have expanded the criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's longtime confidant, charging her for the first time with sex trafficking. The new eight-count indictment accuses Maxwell of grooming and paying a 14-year-old girl to engage in sex acts with Epstein at his home in Florida. Maxwell was already facing six counts tied to Epstein's alleged sex trafficking network. The new charges are a significant escalation. MORE
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT |
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Pakistan: A Rising Women’s Movement Confronts a New Backlash
Thousands of women rallied across Pakistan last month and demanded an end to violence against women and gender minorities. In the days since, Pakistan’s Taliban movement has doctored a video of the rally to suggest that the women had committed blasphemy—an accusation that has been frequently weaponized against minorities in Pakistan and has resulted in vigilantes killing those who are targeted. MORE
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Reports of Executions and Mass-Rape from War in Ethiopia's Tigray Region
The United Nations has called for a stop to indiscriminate and targeted attacks against civilians in Tigray, including rape and other forms of sexual violence. Ethiopian government troops have been accused of joining forces with soldiers from neighboring Eritrea to brutalize and rape Tigrayan women. Some of the limited reports to emerge from the region suggest that when these women are attacked, they're told it's to cleanse them of their Tigrayan blood. MORE
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HUMAN RIGHTS AND INCOME INEQUALITY |
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Why the Georgia G.O.P.’s Voting Rollbacks Will Hit Black People Hard
After record turnout flipped Georgia blue for the first time in decades, Republicans who control the state Legislature moved swiftly to put in place a raft of new restrictions on voting access, passing a new bill that was signed into law last week. The new barriers will have an outsized impact on Black voters, who make up roughly one-third of the state’s population and vote overwhelmingly Democratic. MORE
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If the Minimum Wage Had Increased as Much as Wall Street Bonuses Since 1985, It Would Be Worth $44 Today
While low-wage workers are still waiting for a raise in the minimum wage, Wall Street employees enjoyed a 10 percent bump in their bonuses in the first year of the pandemic. Since 1985, the average Wall Street bonus has increased 1,217 percent, from $13,970 to $184,000 in 2020. If the minimum wage had increased at that rate, it would be worth $44.12 today, instead of $7.25. MORE
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What's Your Zip Code? Why Poverty Matters in Public Education
From the earliest days of corporate reform, which is now recognized to have been a failed effort to "reform" schools by privatizing them and by making standardized testing the focal point of education, the underlying thought was that a child’s zip code should not be his or her destiny. But the reality is that zip codes are a synonym for poverty and a child raised in an impoverished home will not have the same life chances as children brought up in affluent homes. MORE
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Ramiro Gonzales is scheduled to be executed on April 20 by the state of Texas for the murder of Bridget Townsend. Please hold Ramiro, Bridget, their families, and the people of Texas in prayer. TAKE ACTION
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