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I don’t have a lot to say this week except what a truly trippy world we live in when five billionaires who opted (paid 250,000) to travel to the ocean floor in a tin receive more support than the 500 refugees lost at sea, or the 14000+ people who have died from mass shootings in 2023, or the half a million people who are houseless right now in the US.

Sahar Adatia said it best:

In many ways, the swift rescue efforts for the billionaires trapped in the Titanic submarine, while poor & desperate refugees are neglected & left to die, mirrors a sad, familiar story of the world that has replayed across history. Little has changed.

A reminder that the fight for freedom and wellbeing for all people is far from over.

Stay vigilant y’all.

Kerri (she/her)

NTK (need to know)

1. The Media Cares More About the Titanic Sub Than Drowned Migrants. U.S. media has largely ignored a shipwreck with hundreds of migrant deaths but has focused intently on a missing submersible full of rich people.

2. Inside Moms for Liberty’s Close Relationship With the Proud Boys. Across the country, “Moms for Liberty” chapters have forged close relationships with extremist groups and militias like the Proud Boys to help push their right-wing agenda in school districts with fear, harassment and armed intimidation.

3. Wellness capitalism: how surveillance of “wellness” may make workers vulnerable to criminalization. Exploring the relationships between employee health, the benefits maze and worker control.

4. Canada is on fire, and big oil is the arsonist. Governments need to represent us, not fossil-fuel profiteers. We need plans to phase out fossil fuel production and emissions.

5. There's no better time than Juneteenth to demand reparations for African Americans. Juneteenth should be a somber day to reflect on the unique challenges Black people have faced and continue to face in this country.

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Solidarity

A conservative (and corrupt) Supreme Court is handing down it’s final judgements this week, shaping everything from race and voting maps, tribal rights, animal cruelty, immigration, LGBTQ rights and more. Meanwhile, SCOTUS has assumed a degree of power and importance that is truly dangerous. And the myriad of ethics scandals has exposed a corrupt system in which justices wield power with very little accountability.

For all these reasons, there are growing calls for reform. Proposals range from creating an ethics code to expanding the Court to stripping its jurisdiction. One of the most popular options would also be among the most transformative: establishing 18-year terms and regularized appointments for justices. Under this system, justices would sit in staggered terms of active service on the Court, such that a new vacancy would open every two years. Each president would have two, and only two, appointments during a four-year term. Check out the report.

Source: Brennan Center for Justice

Digging Deeper

Life is a mess ya’ll. Heres a poem by Jan Richardson to get you through:

To all that is chaotic

in you,
let there come silence.

Let there be
a calming
of the clamoring,
a stilling
of the voices that
have laid their claim
on you,
that have made their
home in you,

that go with you
even to the
holy places
but will not
let you rest,
will not let you
hear your life
with wholeness
or feel the grace
that fashioned you.

Let what distracts you
cease.
Let what divides you
cease.
Let there come an end
to what diminishes
and demeans,
and let depart
all that keeps you
in its cage.

Let there be
an opening
into the quiet
that lies beneath
the chaos,
where you find
the peace
you did not think
possible
and see what shimmers
within the storm.

~ Jan Richardson, paintedprayerbook.com

Art by @skybanyes

We-ness

Learn. Grow. Make mistakes. Do you best. Learn more. Grow more. Do better. Repeat.

Art by Elephant Journal

Thanks for subscribing to WELLREAD. For the last six years we’ve been providing folks with the need to know (NTK) news, calls to actions and resources for how to stay engaged and resourced along the way. But now, we’ve added an option to “upgrade to paid” to help sustain our work. While we will never put our content behind a pay wall, we depend on the support of our community to keep us going. 💛