Action Alert Digest - July 13, 2022

July 13, 2022

Action Alert Digest

Please note that the Action Alert Digest will not be published on July 20. We will resume publication on July 27. Thank you!

TAKE ACTION: Repeal the U.S. Military Selective Service Act

Once again, the US government is considering expanding the military draft to young women as well as young men. World Beyond War asks us to tell our senators and representatives to not only oppose this proposal but to abolish the draft and draft registration for everyone. TAKE ACTION

Weapons Industry's $10 Million Investment in Congress Could Yield 450,000% Return

Military contractors give members of Congress millions of dollars in hopes of boosting the Pentagon budget—a practice that could have a huge payoff for the next fiscal year. A new report reveals the industry poured about $10.2 million into 2022 campaign and political action committee contributions for members of key committees, and contractors could see a nearly 450,000% return on that investment. MORE

Model Shows Nuclear War Would Cause Millennia-Long 'Little Ice Age'

A scientific study revealed that a nuclear exchange involving as few as hundreds of warheads would likely cause a "little ice age" lasting centuries or even millennia. Scientists have long known that even a "limited" thermonuclear war could result in a so-called nuclear winter resulting from atmospheric soot blocking life-sustaining sunlight. However, the new study examines the effects of such warfare on the Earth's oceans and marine ecosystems. MORE

Twisting Russian Orthodoxy to Sanctify Nuclear War

While most institutional Christendom agrees that the use of nuclear weapons is never morally justified, the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia has moved in the other direction, systematically striving not only to justify nuclear armament but to sanctify it. Blessing warheads has been a practice, if mainly outside the public eye, at least since the second war in Chechnya in the 2000s. MORE

Florida and Texas Escalate Their War on Migrants

Since President Biden took office, he has faced attacks on his handling of the border from Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida. Both states brought lawsuits against Biden’s efforts to reverse Trump administration policies, with varying degrees of success. But recently, the attacks have escalated. Florida plans to open a grand jury probe into families of migrant children and Texas ordered National Guard troops to drive migrants to the border. MORE

Broad Coalition Launches Campaign to Grant Dreamers In-State Tuition in Arizona

More than 130 business, community, faith, and elected leaders are urging Arizona voters to approve a November ballot initiative that would offer in-state tuition at state public universities and community colleges to undocumented students living in Arizona. The measure would especially benefit DACA recipients. MORE

Detention Transfers Separate Immigrants from Legal Representation

After New Jersey ended immigrant detention in local jails, immigration officials began transferring them to other states, separating many from their free, state-funded legal counsel. Immigration advocates and New Jersey officials have asked ICE to provide more information about the transfers, but ICE has declined. MORE

TAKE ACTION: Tell Biden to Say No to More Offshore Drilling

The Biden administration released a draft plan for offshore drilling in public waters over the next five years. The draft includes up to 11 new lease sales: 10 in the Gulf of Mexico and one in the Cook Inlet of Alaska. This plan is totally unacceptable: we must end offshore drilling to stop climate change and protect communities from oil and gas extraction. Food and Water Watch urges us to tell President Biden to stop offshore oil and gas drilling. TAKE ACTION

California Passes Nation’s Toughest Plastic Reduction Bill

California lawmakers declared a momentous victory against plastic pollution last month when Governor Gavin Newsom approved a far-reaching bill to reduce plastic production. The Plastic Pollution Producer Responsibility Act, widely considered the “strongest” plastic reduction policy in the nation, requires a 25 percent reduction of single-use plastic packaging and foodware — both by weight and by the number of items — within the next 10 years. MORE

How Bitcoin Makes Burning Fossil Fuels More Profitable Than Ever

The creation of the virtual currency known as bitcoin—via a process known as “mining” that consists of the use of brute computing force to solve a cryptographic puzzle—comes with a considerable environmental toll. Each so-called “coin” requires extraordinarily large amounts of electricity to produce, and if that electricity comes via the burning of fossil fuel, significant amounts of carbon dioxide are added to the atmosphere, exacerbating climate change. MORE

Severe Droughts Leading to Rise in Forced Child Marriage

New data collected by UNICEF exposes how girls as young as 12 are being forced into marriage across the Horn of Africa at alarming rates as a result of severe droughts driven by climate change. As water sources dry up and the price of food and fuel spike, girls across Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia are at high risk of dropping out of school as families are pushed into desperate economic situations. MORE

Human Traffickers ‘Using UK Universities as Cover’

Universities have been urged to be on high alert for human trafficking after suspected victims brought to Britain on student visas vanished from their courses and were found working in exploitative conditions hundreds of miles away. In a recent case, Indian students at three UK universities disappeared only to be found in Wales where they had become victims of labor trafficking. MORE

Wisconsin Supreme Court Allows Sex Trafficking Defense in Chrystul Kizer Case

A woman who as a teenager killed a man prosecutors admit had been sexually abusing her can use a legal provision designed to shield sex-trafficking victims as part of her defense. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Chrystul Kizer should have the option of affirmative defense — allowing her attorneys to argue at trial that she should be found not guilty because her actions were the direct result of being sex trafficked. MORE

How Multiple Systems Failed When Toledo Coach’s Alleged Sexual Misconduct Was Reported

The University of Toledo knew in 2015 about an allegation of sexual misconduct by Brad Evans, coach of its women’s soccer team, but sidelined the claims to allow the coach to eventually resign citing “inappropriate relationships”. The university took five years to acknowledge the sexual misconduct allegation – only after the current coach of the University of Toledo women’s team filed a report to the school’s Title IX office in 2020. MORE

Illinois Domestic Violence Surge Continued In 2021, New Report Shows

Domestic violence continued to surge in Chicago and across Illinois in 2021, while pandemic-based isolation and economic uncertainty made it harder for victims to get help. Despite the increase in calls to domestic violence hotlines, the number of cases reported to police fell by 5% in 2021. The decline likely doesn’t represent a downturn in abuse, given the surge in domestic-related shootings, advocates say, but probably results from a sense of futility by victims. MORE

TAKE ACTION: Tell the USDA to Protect Farmers and Ranchers

Congress enacted the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA) in 1921 to protect farmers, ranchers, and consumers from the anti-competitive stranglehold that large corporations had over meat and poultry markets. But now the PSA’s promise of competitive markets is slipping further away. Food and Water Watch urges us to demand that USDA does its job to protect farmers and ranchers. TAKE ACTION

An L.A. Call to Tax the Rich, House the Homeless

Over the last two years, more than 1,000 single-family homes in greater Los Angeles have sold for over $5 million. Meanwhile, the city is projecting an 86-percent increase in homelessness over the next four years. Now on the city ballot is an initiative to levy a “mansion tax” on all properties that get sold for over $5 million. The $800-million annual proceeds from that tax would go to creating safe and secure housing opportunities for those in need. MORE

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case That Threatens Future of Voting Rights

The Supreme Court last week said it would hear oral arguments this October in a case involving a controversial legal theory that one advocacy group says is "threatening the future of voting rights." The case, Moore v. Harper, involves North Carolina's congressional map, which was drawn by the Republican-controlled state Legislature and which the state Supreme Court struck down as racially discriminatory. MORE

Joe Nathan James is scheduled to be executed on July 28 by the state of Alabama for the murder of Faith Hall. Please hold Joe, Faith, their families, and the people of Alabama in prayer. TAKE ACTION

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