Dear friends,
We live in a culture of emergency. In addition to actual emergencies — war, wildfire, massive storms, and so on — we layer on bad policy and inaction to create circumstances that will surely be catastrophic at some point.
There are about 100,000 people in homeless shelters in New York City. The shortage of affordable housing is worsening. We need action on housing now, before extreme weather and the housing shortage collide.
There are four pieces of legislation, already passed by the state legislature that would protect existing affordable housing.
One bill would keep rent-stabilized apartments combined with other space more affordable and under rent regulation. Another bill would empower tenants to address rent overcharge fraud that occurred prior to the landmark Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019. The third would provide guidance on whether rent stabilization applies in upstate localities that want it, and the fourth would clarify who really owns a building—and who’s responsible for maintenance.
Tell Governor Hochul to sign S2980, S2943, S1684 and S995 to retain the rent-stabilized housing stock that exists.
The housing crisis in New York is connected to the arrival of asylum seekers; it did not originate with them, however.
One item on the table would allow Homeland Security to expel migrants whenever the number of people crossing the border rises above a set level.
The implementation of Title 42-like authority at the border would be counterproductive at addressing migration and, instead, will result in many individuals being sent back to persecution in their home countries or forced to wait in Mexico indefinitely. Human rights organizations have tracked thousands of incidents of violence against migrants, including murder, rape, and torture, during the Biden administration’s implementation of Title 42.
Call your senators to demand that they defend asylum and oppose efforts to bring back deportation programs. This quick action is from Moms Rising.
Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) yesterday, which is an achievement insofar as this Congress has passed almost no legislation. I am relieved that the US will be able to aid Ukraine and that the bill does not prevent the military from paying for expenses incurred by service members seeking abortion care.
On the other hand, the Biden Administration has shown no commitment to conditioning aid to Israel on respect for humanitarian concerns. Prior to the passage of the NDAA,
Secretary of State Antony Blinken was busy circumventing congressional review to ram through approval of an “emergency” sale of 13,000 tank rounds to Israel. For weeks, Blinken has been zipping across the Middle East and appearing on scores of television networks in a PR tour aimed at selling the world the notion that the White House is deeply concerned about the fate of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents.
Throughout Blinken’s one-man parade proclaiming that the U.S. had made clear to Israel that it needs to protect civilians, Israel has repeatedly struck areas of Gaza to which it had told residents to flee. In some cases, the IDF sent SMS messages to people just 10 minutes before attacking. One such message read: “The IDF will begin a crushing military attack on your area of residence with the aim of eliminating the terrorist organization Hamas.”
Scahill quotes Israeli sources who acknowledge that the IDF has excellent intelligence and is making decisions about the necessity of ‘collateral damage’ when they authorize strikes that kill civilians. He concludes that the US is a full partner in the war against the people of Gaza.
Tell the President that the war on Gaza is wrong.
Folks aren’t dying of Covid in large numbers anymore. Or at least, fewer than 160,000 people have died from Covid in the US since we hit the 1 million mark in May 2022. That number sounds big to me.
Lots of people are cavalier about Covid, figuring that it’s just another illness.
Two important pieces were published this week about long Covid, so I’d like to share them. The first is Ed Yong’s piece on what reporting on long Covid taught him and the second is Giorgia Lupi’s beautifully illustrated personal account of living with long Covid.
My experience with long Covid is mercifully far less severe than Lupi’s. Nonetheless, it makes it difficult for me and those close to me to be casual about contracting Covid.
It’s time to remind everyone to get up-to-date on your vaccines, wash your hands, and wear your masks. Distancing and ventilating rooms is still good advice too.
with love,
L