ACTIVE NONVIOLENCE AND PEACEMAKING |
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SCOTUS Says People Have a Right to Carry Guns in Public
In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court struck down New York’s restrictive firearms licensing law, a decision that could transform gun ownership in New York City and affect at least five other states with similar regulations. In a 6-3 ruling, the court’s conservative majority endorsed, for the first time, a constitutional right to carry a gun in self-defense outside the home. MORE
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U.S. Urges New Tactic to Curb Putin’s War Machine and Lower Fuel Prices
Four months into Russia’s invasion, unprecedented Western economic retaliation and military aid to Ukraine have not curbed Vladimir Putin’s determination to wage war, leaving leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies grasping for new ways to deter him. Meeting this week, President Biden and the other Group of 7 leaders were poised to embrace an aggressive plan to manipulate the price of oil to restrict the revenue that funds Putin’s war. MORE
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House Committee Adds $37 Billion to Biden's $813 Billion Military Budget
Progressives expressed outrage after a House panel voted last week to tack an additional $37 billion on top of President Joe Biden's already gargantuan military spending request. The Biden administration's March request for $813 billion in military spending for Fiscal Year 2023 already marked a $31 billion increase over the current, historically large sum of $782 billion. MORE
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Police Raid Ecstasy Lab on Belgian Airbase Housing US Nuclear Weapons
Belgian police have raided an illegal lab producing the rave drug ecstasy on an airbase that reportedly houses part of the US nuclear arsenal in Europe. Two suspects – not military personnel – were arrested during the raid, according to a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office in the Belgian province of Limburg. The Kleine-Brogel base in northeast Belgium is best known for housing a stock of US nuclear weapons. MORE
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Amid Putin's Saber-Rattling, 65 Nations Condemn 'Any and All Nuclear Threats'
A group of 65 countries at the Meeting of State Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons this week condemned all nuclear threats, both implicit and explicit, and urged leaders in the rest of the world to commit to the treaty, warning their goal was to see every nation on earth commit to destroying its nuclear arsenal. MORE
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TAKE ACTION: Tell President Biden That U.S. Migration Policy Should Address Root Causes AND Uphold Migrants’ Rights
The U.S. must uphold the rights of all people to migrate and seek asylum freely. At the same time, we must recognize the ways that years of harmful U.S. policies have contributed to the conditions that are forcing thousands of people to migrate. The American Friends Service Committee asks us to urge the Biden administration to reverse harmful U.S. policies in Latin America and help transform conditions so people can live with dignity. TAKE ACTION
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50 Migrants Believed Dead After They Were Found in a Semi-Truck in San Antonio
Fifty migrants are believed to have died after they and others were found in sweltering conditions in a semi-truck in San Antonio. The death toll includes migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. The discovery comes as US federal authorities have launched an "unprecedented" operation to disrupt human smuggling networks amid an influx of migrants at the US-Mexico border. MORE
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Biden Administration Expands Exemptions for Afghan Nationals Otherwise Inadmissible
Obtaining immigration benefits from the U.S. government is always difficult, but it's even harder for people who have ever had any interaction with an organization or government that is deemed to support terrorism. As thousands of Afghans apply for immigration benefits in the U.S., many risk being denied due to interactions with the Taliban. However, the Biden administration is expanding its efforts to avoid those denials. MORE
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TAKE ACTION: Stand Up for Gulf South Communities Against Continued Oil and Gas Terror
More than twenty dirty energy projects on the Gulf Coast may soon be approved without local community consultation. As the Army Corps of Engineers considers new polluting proposals, they are ignoring messages from 6,000 Gulf Coast residents requesting a meeting. Friends of the Earth asks us to call on the Army Corps to meet with the very communities their reckless decisions impact. TAKE ACTION
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Looming US Supreme Court Climate Decision Could 'Doom' Hope for Livable Future
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue another decision this week that activists warn could imperil the Biden administration's climate goals. West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is "the most consequential climate case in decades," Sierra Club said. If the court sides with GOP attorneys general over the EPA in this case, it could strip the federal agency of its authority to limit planet-heating pollution from power plants. MORE
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Canada Is Banning Single-Use Plastics, Including Grocery Bags and Straws
Canada is banning the manufacture and importation of single-use plastics by the end of the year in a major effort to combat plastic waste and address climate change. The ban includes checkout bags, cutlery, straws, and food-service ware made from or containing plastics that are hard to recycle. It will come into effect in December 2022, and the sale of those plastic items will be prohibited as of December 2023, the government said. MORE
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Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Sex Trafficking Minor Girls for Jeffrey Epstein
Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison this week for carrying out a years-long scheme with her longtime confidante Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse underage girls. Maxwell, 60, was convicted in December of five counts, including sex trafficking of a minor, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and three related counts of conspiracy. MORE
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Parents of Texas Teenager Who Left Dallas Mavericks Game Speak Out on Human Trafficking Case
The parents of a 15-year-old Texas girl who in April left a basketball game with an unidentified man, ultimately prompting a human trafficking investigation, are speaking out to raise awareness about the crime. Police found the girl as she walked on the side of a road in Oklahoma City 10 days after her family, reported her missing from American Airlines Center in Dallas. MORE
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT |
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‘Boyfriend Loophole’ Closed with New Gun Safety Law
President Biden has signed into law the first major gun safety legislation in decades. The bill includes millions of dollars for school safety, mental health, and crisis intervention programs. It also closes what’s known as the “boyfriend loophole” which stops domestic abusers from buying guns. Domestic violence advocates say closing the so-called “boyfriend loophole” will keep guns out of the hands of violent people. MORE
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Suspected 'Pillowcase Rapist' Is Charged in a Series of Sexual Assaults in Florida in the 1980s
Aided by advances in DNA technology, authorities in Florida say they have identified and charged the so-called Pillowcase Rapist accused of sexually assaulting multiple women in the 1980s. The suspect is currently in custody on separate armed sexual battery charges related to a 1983 rape. Now DNA evidence from the 1983 assault also matched DNA samples collected in several other assaults believed to have been committed by the Pillowcase Rapist. MORE
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HUMAN RIGHTS AND INCOME INEQUALITY |
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TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to Pass the Keep Kids Fed Act
Waivers that give school meal programs critical flexibilities expire June 30, and with that expiry millions of children will face a hunger cliff if they lose access to school and summer meals. The Center for Science in the Public Interest invites us to urge our Representatives and Senators to support and pass an extension of these waivers in the Keep Kids Fed Act. TAKE ACTION
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New York Passes Landmark Voting Rights Legislation
New York’s governor has signed a law intended to prevent local officials from enacting rules that might suppress people’s voting rights because of their race. The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act makes New York one of the first states to bring back a version of a process known as “preclearance” that was gutted by a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2013. MORE
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A Rural Iowa School Could Become a Test Case for a State Law That Bars Teaching Divisive Concepts
A class on social justice in literature taught at a rural Iowa high school could become the first test case for a year-old law that forbids 'divisive concepts' from being taught in the classroom. On June 14, Baxter Community School District officials received a letter from the America First Policy Institute asking for the elective class to be immediately discontinued, saying schools should not “turn impressionable children into social justice warriors.” MORE
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Kosoul Chanthakoummane is scheduled to be executed on August 17 by the state of Texas for the murder of Sarah Walker. Please hold Kosoul, Sarah, their families, and the people of Texas in prayer. TAKE ACTION
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