NOTE: The Action Alert Digest will not be published on May 12.
We will resume publication on May 19
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ACTIVE NONVIOLENCE AND PEACEMAKING |
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TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to Defund the Pentagon and Invest in Our Communities
President Biden has proposed a $753,000,000,000 Pentagon budget for 2022, increasing the Pentagon budget by billions of dollars from last year. We know that spending $753 billion on the Pentagon budget won’t make us safer. At the end of the day, the Pentagon Budget is up to Congress, not the President, to decide. Codepink asks us to tell Congress to defund the Pentagon and invest in human needs. TAKE ACTION
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U.S. Military Spending is Still More Than Next 11 Countries Combined
The world spent almost $2 trillion on militaries in 2020. The United States was a major driver of this growth, with its $778 billion in 2020 representing an increase of 4.4 percent since 2019. This is the third consecutive year of growth in US military spending, which now accounts for a full 39% of global military spending. That's more than the next eleven countries combined. MORE
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North Korea Warns Biden Against ‘Hostile Policy’
North Korea said that President Biden had made “a big blunder” by calling its nuclear arsenal a threat last week, and it warned that the United States would face “a very grave situation” if it maintained its “hostile policy” toward Pyongyang. The statement, attributed to a senior official, was one of three that the North released directed at the United States and its ally South Korea. MORE
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Back from the Brink? Next Steps for Biden and Putin
After more than a decade of rising tensions and growing nuclear competition between the two major nuclear-weapon states, U.S. President Joe Biden has signaled he will confront Russia when necessary. But he also stressed, “where it is in the interest of the United States to work with Russia, we should, and we will”—specifically on reducing the risk of nuclear conflict. Arms Control Association Executive Director Daryl Kimball explains the challenges ahead. MORE
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TAKE ACTION: Reunite All Families
For far too long the immigrant community has had to suffer separation and deportation from their families. It is time to reunify all families, bringing them back to the United States if they’ve been deported; provide immediate protection from detention and deportation, and support a pathway to citizenship for separated families. Faith in Public Life urges us to sign their petition asking the Biden administration to take action now. TAKE ACTION
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Biden Raises US Refugee Admissions Cap To 62,500 After Delay Sparks Anger
Joe Biden has formally raised the US cap on refugee admissions to 62,500 this year, weeks after facing bipartisan blowback for his delay in replacing the record-low ceiling set by Donald Trump. The move was a stark turnaround from the Biden administration’s previous announcement last month that it would keep the number of refugees admitted to the US at the historical low of 15,000, sparking widespread outrage. MORE
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Domestic Violence Survivors Fear Deportations Under Trump-Era Rulings
Immigration advocates are urging the Biden administration to overturn a series of Trump-era rulings that state domestic and gang violence are generally not grounds for asylum. Women, children, and families are being returned to the danger they fled, said one attorney at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies. MORE
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TAKE ACTION: Demand the USDA Protect Our Planet from Climate Chaos
The USDA, responsible for repairing our food system while addressing the climate crisis, is pushing forest-destroying biofuels, factory farm gas, and other proposals that harm communities and fail to deliver meaningful emission reductions. Friends of the Earth urges us to tell the USDA to focus on real climate solutions, protect the health of people and pollinators, support sustainable farmers, and address racial justice in our food system. TAKE ACTION
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Few Farmers Agree with Scientists That Climate Change is Mostly Caused by Humans
In a 2020 poll of Iowa farmers, only a small percentage of respondents agreed with a statement saying that climate change is caused mostly by human actions. Only 18% agreed with the statement that “climate change is occurring, and it is caused mostly by human activities.” In comparison, 40% agreed with the statement that “Climate change is occurring, and it is caused more or less equally by natural changes in the environment and human activities”. MORE
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4 In 10 Americans Breathe Polluted Air, With People of Color Hit Hardest
A new report from the American Lung Association shows that more than 4 in 10 Americans live with polluted air — 135 million people living in 217 counties. This pollution hits communities of color hardest, as people of color are 61 percent more likely than white people to live with unhealthy levels of air pollution, and three times more likely to live in counties with the most polluted air. MORE
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Iowa Bill Sets New Penalties for Property Owners Who Rent to Human Traffickers
The Iowa House and Senate have unanimously voted to give prosecutors another legal tool to crack down on human trafficking. It is leveled at people who set up businesses like nail and hair salons, spas, and massage parlors, with workers who are actually victims of human trafficking. The bill makes it harder to try to run an illicit spa or massage business using forced labor. MORE
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For Human Trafficking Survivors, Justice Is More About Healing and Preventing Future Trafficking
What justice looks like for human trafficking victims has long been viewed largely through the lens of the criminal justice system. But research supported by the National Institute of Justice has opened a window to new insights on trafficking justice, including a finding that most trafficking survivors favor prevention and victim healing over incarceration of perpetrators. MORE
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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT |
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Attorney General Garland Seeks Millions to Address Sexual Violence and Other Abuses
Attorney General Merrick Garland asked Congress for more than $35 billion in funding for the Justice Department – a 5% increase from last year. Among the biggest funding requests is a "historic investment" of $1 billion for the Office of Violence Against Women, which provides services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. MORE
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‘I Am Not My Trauma’: Survivors of Sexual Abuse at a Ugandan Girls’ Shelter
In 2006 Bernhard Glaser, a German national living in Uganda set up a home as a refuge for traumatized children and victims of sexual violence. Yet many of the girls living there at the time say that Glaser was hiding a dark secret. Taking advantage of his “rich white foreigner” status to entice parents to leave their daughters at the home, Glaser was using it as a cover for routine and systematic sexual and emotional abuse of the children in his care, the girls allege. MORE
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HUMAN RIGHTS AND INCOME INEQUALITY |
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TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress to Pass President Biden’s Made in America Tax Plan
President Biden is proposing to raise $2.5 trillion by making America’s corporations begin to pay their fair share of taxes. He wants to use that revenue to fund his American Jobs Plan – which invests in infrastructure, green energy jobs, affordable housing, elder care, workforce development, and more. Americans for Tax Fairness provides an opportunity to tell Congress to pass the Made in America Tax Plan. TAKE ACTION
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The Supreme Court Just Made It Easier to Sentence Children to Life in Prison
For the past 16 years, the Supreme Court has moved to restrict states from imposing harsh criminal sentences on children. But last week, the Court took a different approach allowing juveniles to be sentenced to life-without-parole. A new ruling seemingly presents a conflict between conservatives endorsing a punitive vision of the justice system and liberals endorsing the "rehabilitative ideal"—the notion that punishment should reform offenders. MORE
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This CEO Took A 90% Pay Cut to Raise Staff's Minimum Salary to $70K and the Company Is Now Thriving
Six years ago, Dan Price—the head of a credit card payment processing company in Seattle—did something no CEO in history would even dream of doing. Taking a pay cut of about a million dollars, he introduced a $70,000 minimum salary for all his employees. While at the time some ridiculed the supposedly "socialist" business practice, today Price is the one laughing as his company, Gravity Payments, and its employees are thriving. MORE
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Quinton Jones is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas on May 19 for the murder of Berthena Bryant. Please hold Quintin, Berthena, their families, and the people of Texas in prayer. TAKE ACTION
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