Dear friends,
Mondays can be difficult and today seems to be one of those Mondays. COVID cases remain very high in NYC — “an average of 20 daily cases per 100,000 people” for the last two weeks.
And yet, on Friday, a federal appeals court issued another injunction to delay the vaccination mandate for public school employees; the matter will be resolved by a ruling expected this week. More frequent testing is set to begin today.
The mayor has promised to visit Rikers Island this week. He needs to account for and address the failure of the Department of Corrections to address the multiple crises at the facility that amount to a humanitarian crisis.
The Legal Aid Society of New York brought a class action suit against the city on behalf of those imprisoned at Rikers. There was a hearing in federal court on Friday:
"Since we wrote a letter to your honor, two of our class members have died,” said Mary Lynne Werlwas, the director of the Prisoners' Rights Project.
The lawyers for the city have rejected the recommendation to bring in a consultant to address the security situation at Rikers, where staffing shortages due to absence have contributed to a horribly unsafe environment.
EMS crews have been assaulted while working at Rikers. Last week, union leader Oren Barzilay formally complained to the FDNY’s Office of Labor Relations on behalf of EMS workers.
On Saturday, the FDNY reissued the guidelines for responses to Rikers Island, which include a requirement that EMS crews confirm a Correction Department staff escort is available throughout the period they are in the jail.
The overcrowding in the facility has more to do with the backlash against ending bail reform.
[C]ash bail — conditioning freedom as it does on access to money — produces starkly racist and discriminatory justice. Panicked by a coordinated backlash involving police-sourced scare stories in the tabloids, state Democrats folded, gutting their own landmark legislation and making it easier for judges to send people to jail before their trials.
Because I was aware of the state legislation, I’ve been struggling to comprehend why bail amounts seem to be increasing along with the number of people incarcerated for being poor. This article provides a very cogent explanation: the state law required alternatives to cash bail, including partially secured bonds (PSBs), which required a payment of 10 percent with a commitment to pay the full amount should the individual fail to appear in court.
But judges have set bond amounts so high that PSBs have the same net effect. Plus, folks have to demonstrate that they can pay the full amount, if necessary.
It is very difficult to hold judges accountable to the spirit of the law. The mayor has repeatedly caved to the NYPD’s false narrative about crime increasing when bail-eligible persons are released. That’s why we’re putting pressure on the mayor, every single day.
Call on Mayor De Blasio to grant immediate release to everyone being held on bail. The ready-made message reflects recent developments.
Apparently, we must rely on celebrities. Lil Nax X recently established the Bail X Fund and “hopes to encourage other artists to join him and The Bail Project in the fight to end cash bail.”
Support the Bail Project, a national nonprofit organization on a mission to end cash bail, one of the key drivers of mass incarceration and structural racism in the U.S. criminal legal system. All donations go directly into The Bail Project’s National Revolving Bail Fund to pay people’s bails.
Look at you! Still here. Thank you for your collective relentlessness.
There were more than 50 oil spills off the coast of Louisiana following Hurricane Ida. Abandoned infrastructure in the ocean as well as active but poorly maintained drilling platforms are the root cause of the problem.
On Aug. 30, even as the thick slicks spread their way across the water, the Biden administration moved to lease more than 80 million acres in the Gulf for new oil and gas production.
Petition the president: No new oil and gas leases on public lands and waters.
There is no excuse for new fossil fuel extraction at this time in this place. Drilling would threaten the Indigenous people who are the stewards of the land.
Sign the petition to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The fight to stop Line 3 has only intensified. Last week, activists put pressure on Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Jaike Spotted-Wolf, a leader in the frontline Line 3 resistance group Camp Migizi, told Ellison that "two out of three tribes didn't approve" the pipeline, "and you guys went against treaty law, which is sovereign... you went above the treaty to approve that pipeline. And protesters have been violently arrested all summer long. What are your thoughts on that, as people are being sex-trafficked all along that pipeline?"
Ellison, who spoke out against Line 3 as a congressman in 2015 has been silent on the project in his role as AG. He promised to investigate abuses by the workers on Line 3, including sex trafficking. Nonetheless, the frustration with ‘leaders’ like Ellison and Biden is palpable.
And so, we’re back to relying on celebrities to apply pressure to the president
arguing that the risk of a potential spill is too great and tribal sovereignty has been violated.
We need to stay on this issue. Line 3 will transport three-quarters of a million barrels of oil each day through pipelines that crisscross waterways and land that is supposed to be protected by treaties.
Demand that the federal government stop the Line 3 pipeline!
The so-called ‘pro-lifers’ who supported the passage of SB 8 in Texas, the most restrictive abortion law in the nation, are not the ones who have stepped up to protect the health of those who are pregnant.
Dr. Braid, the Texas ob-gyn who performed an abortion as an act of civil disobedience, recalled the year he began practicing medicine, which was before Roe v Wade:
“At the hospital that year, I saw three teenagers die from illegal abortions,” Dr Braid wrote. “One I will never forget. When she came into the ER, her vaginal cavity was packed with rags. She died a few days later from massive organ failure, caused by a septic infection.” Dr Braid reasoned that to avoid such needless deaths, he had a “duty of care” to the woman whose newly illegal abortion he performed.
As a society, we have a duty of care to those who choose to give birth as well as those who choose not to.
Tell Congress to invest in maternal health!
The weather is gorgeous this morning. Look at the sky!
with love,
L