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🥪 Senate Democrats and a Republican senator have introduced two different bills to save SNAP funding for the month of November. The Democrats’ would also protect WIC funding, and Hawley’s bill has been backed by 10 Republican Senators, and has support from the president.
🌀 People are coming together to support victims of Hurricane Melissa, which made landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday as a Category 5 storm, in Cuba as a Category 3, before heading to the Bahamas. Haiti did not see a direct hit but still saw widespread destruction, and 25 people were killed.
Human Rights
Photo: Reuters
French lawmakers approved legislation to define all nonconsensual sex as rape
For years, advocates have been pushing lawmakers in France to change the country’s definition of rape and sexual assault to outlaw nonconsensual acts.
Now, lawmakers have acted, approving a new law that states “any non-consensual act … constitutes sexual assault.” That consent must be “free and informed, specific, prior and revocable” and, perhaps most importantly, it cannot be inferred from “silence or lack of reaction.”
The demand for change found renewed urgency following last year’s trial of Gisèle Pelicot’s rapists, in which all 50 men and her husband were found guilty.
Why is this good news? Prior to the change, French law defined sexual assault, including rape, as acts performed through “violence, coercion, threat, or surprise,” which lawyers used to argue that the definition did not explicitly require seeking consent. This new law makes it abundantly clear what is required and will protect victims.
A new copyright law will protect artists in Australia from AI data mining.The Albanese government officially ruled out a controversial exemption that would have allowed tech companies free rein to mine creative work to train AI models, a decision that was immediately praised as a "critical step in the right direction" by the creative sector.
A pastor in Georgia declined $1 million in church donations and urged congregants to give to SNAP recipients instead
As the leader of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant leads weekly sermons on social justice and mutual aid. The church also gives away groceries to about 1,500 people every other Sunday, but Bryant expects the demand to increase as SNAP benefits dwindle.
Last Sunday was supposed to be a major fundraising day for the church, with an estimated $1 million in donations expected to be raised. Instead, Pastor Bryant put the event on hold, encouraging congregants to instead donate to people in immediate need or bring canned foods to the church for distribution.
He said, “The congregation is supposed to be sensitive to the needs of the community.”
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