TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress We Need a Lasting Ceasefire in Gaza

After weeks of incredible violence and suffering, there’s a bright spot of hope: The Israeli government has approved a temporary ceasefire in Gaza. Now that we’ve come this far, we need to build the kind of broad support in Congress that can sustain a deal like this, long-term. Win Without War urges us to tell Congress to commit to doing all they can to turn this pause in the violence into a lasting ceasefire and sustainable peace. TAKE ACTION

In This Maximum Security Facility, Prisoners Learn to Heal From One of Their Own

From the time he turned 5, Darnell Lane has been enmeshed in the cycle of gun violence. Whether witness, recipient, or perpetrator, he said the acts of violence he experienced made him believe he didn’t have any options but to continue that pattern. While he serves a 45-year sentence for murder, Lane is on a journey to heal from his past. “I allowed my adult self to go back and feel the pain of my youth and face the torment from a position of resiliency,” he said. Now he is helping others do the same. MORE

Sprouts of Peace Amid Shots of War

While Israel has been engaged in its counteroffensive against Hamas in Gaza, another intense effort has begun in the Middle East. It favors a strategy of nonviolence and builds off rising sentiments against the futility of violence to resolve grievances or claim dominance. The Palestinian Authority that rules the West Bank has reasserted its commitment to peaceful tactics as one reason for it to govern postwar Gaza. In a bold statement last month, nine Arab countries rejected “attacks on civilians, all acts of violence and terrorism against civilians.” MORE

China’s Misunderstood Nuclear Expansion

As recently as 2020, China’s nuclear arsenal was little changed from previous decades and amounted to some 220 weapons, around five to six percent of either the U.S. or Russian stockpiles of deployed and reserve warheads.  But by 2030, according to U.S. Defense Department estimates, China will probably have more than 1,000 operational nuclear warheads—a more than fourfold increase from just a decade earlier. MORE

Bridging the Gap Between Nuclear Ban Treaty Supporters and Opponents

The rift between supporters and opponents of the nuclear ban treaty remains deep, despite an escalating nuclear arms race. Luckily, there's a major opportunity to change that later this month when the ban treaty hosts its second meeting, argues a rising nuclear nonproliferation expert. MORE

Hollywood, Nuclear War, and the Art of Saving the World

President Reagan said the 1983 film, The Day After, changed his mind about nuclear policy, leading him to sign a treaty that significantly reduced Cold War arsenals. This is one of many examples throughout history that show art can shift narratives and change policy, writes a Harvard University scientist. MORE 

Immigrants Make Up Over 18% of the Total U.S. Population Growth

Between 2016 and 2021, the immigrant population in the United States grew by 3.7% or 1.6 million people. This accounted for 18.3% of the total population gain in the country. At the same time, some immigrant sub-groups shrank. The number of refugees living in the United States decreased by 6.4%. The number of undocumented immigrants fell by 9.2%, while DACA-eligible residents dropped by 27.3%. MORE

Texas Legislators Pass Hardline Immigration Bill Denounced as Racist

The Texas legislature has passed and Governor Abbott is expected to sign SB4, one of the harshest immigration policies in the country to date, into law. Reminiscent of Arizona’s notorious “show me your papers” law SB 1070, it would become a state crime to cross into Texas without documentation and threaten those who did so with decades in prison. SB4 would also give law enforcement the ability to arrest anyone they believe has crossed into the state illegally, a recipe for discrimination. MORE

Explainer: Why Carbon Capture Is No Easy Solution to Climate Change

Technologies that capture carbon dioxide emissions to keep them from the atmosphere are central to the climate strategies of many world governments as they seek to follow through on international commitments to decarbonize by mid-century. They are also expensive, unproven at scale, and can be hard to sell to a nervous public. As nations gather for the 28th United Nations climate change conference in the United Arab Emirates at the end of November, the question of carbon capture’s future role in a climate-friendly world will be in focus. MORE

Biden-Harris Administration Approves Largest Offshore Wind Project in the Nation

The Biden-Harris administration has announced its approval of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) commercial project – the fifth approval of a commercial-scale, offshore wind energy project under President Biden’s leadership. When completed, this project, along with four previously approved projects, will collectively add more than 5 gigawatts of clean, renewable energy to our nation’s grid, enough to power more than 1.75 million homes. MORE

Babies vs. Plastics: What Every Parent Should Know

Babies and infants appear to have over 10 times higher rates of microplastics in their feces samples than adults. It’s not hard to figure out why – babies rely heavily on taste to decode their world and that involves putting practically everything into their mouths. Including a lot of plastic toys, pacifiers, and plastic bottles. Which means they are ingesting tiny plastic particles. Yet, despite the prevalence of plastics, the health implications associated with them have remained largely absent from the media.  MORE

TAKE ACTION: Safe Migration Helps End Human Trafficking

Around the world, a lack of safe migration routes combined with punitive immigration policies have contributed to increasing vulnerabilities to human trafficking for people on the move. Evidence shows that when people crossing borders are forced to take irregular routes, they are at greater risk of exploitation as a result of having to circumnavigate tightly restricted borders.  Freedom United invites us to advocate for the dismantling of inhumane immigration systems that play into the hands of traffickers and demand safe migration for all. TAKE ACTION

Ohio Priest Gets Life Sentence for Sex Trafficking

An Ohio priest was sentenced to life in prison last week after he was convicted of grooming three boys and taking advantage of their opioid addictions to force them into commercial sex. In May, the Rev. Michael Zacharias, a Catholic clergy member, was found guilty of five counts of sex trafficking in allegations that spanned 15 years. Prosecutors said he abused his role as a teacher and priest at a Toledo parish school to groom the three boys into adulthood, force them into sex, and enable their addictions to pain medications and heroin later in life. MORE

For the ‘Social Media Child Brides’ of India, the Road to Justice Is Long

Nearly 50% of the girls in India's rural West Bengal state, where poverty and relatively sheltered lives leave them especially vulnerable to traffickers on social media, are married before the age of 18, official data indicates. Many local police forces fail to take on trafficking and child marriage cases, critics say, and impoverished families frequently are unwilling to submit a first information report when a girl goes missing. MORE

The Big #MeToo Moment for Doctors Is Finally Here

The #MeToo movement is picking up pace in the medical profession. Doctors, no matter how eminent and well respected, are just as culpable of using their power to commit sexual misdeeds as famous Hollywood producers. Yet, until recently, there was no seismic reckoning like those that had rocked other industries in the #MeToo movement in 2017. MORE

TAKE ACTION: Increase LIHEAP Funding in an End-of-Year Supplemental Spending Bill

For many vulnerable households, higher energy prices can mean being forced to choose between heat, food, or medication.  As many as a third of Americans surveyed had to reduce or forego expenses for basic household necessities to pay an energy bill in the last year. The Coalition on Human Needs asks us to tell Congress to increase funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) before the end of the year. TAKE ACTION

An Appeals Court Has Struck Down a Key Path for Enforcing the Voting Rights Act

A federal appeals court has invalidated a crucial avenue for upholding the Voting Rights Act, potentially fueling a Supreme Court battle that could further curtail protections for people of color. The Arkansas redistricting lawsuit raises questions about who can legally challenge violations under Section 2 of the 1965 law. This recent ruling may intensify the ongoing debate over the Voting Rights Act's scope and enforcement. MORE

Just Before Thanksgiving, 13.2 Million People with Children in the U.S. Did Not Have Enough to Eat 

Thanksgiving will not be a time of plenty in millions of American households with children this year. The number of people with children who reported that in the previous week their households sometimes or often did not have enough to eat rose by 2 million, from 11.2 million to 13.2 million over the past year. Black and Hispanic households with children are more likely to report not having enough to eat than White households with children. MORE

Phillip Hancock is scheduled to be executed on November 30 by the state of Oklahoma for the murders of Robert Jett and James Lynch. Please hold Phillip, Robert, James, their families, and the people of Oklahoma in prayer. TAKE ACTION