PEACE & LIFE CONNECTIONS

Mudslinging Goes Cruel The “battle” metaphor used for elections is unhelpful, and many ads can be quite mean. However, the ad in the Ohio governor’s race that Vivek Ramaswamy ran using Amy Acton’s estranged mother was so stunning that there were plenty of fellow Republicans that condemned it. The state’s largest newspaper broke its no-endorsement policy to endorse Acton because of how disgusted they were with an ad where sexual abuse of a child is weaponized against her as an

Reminder: See our project website, Peace and Life Referendums – Voting Against Violence for ballot measures coming up on November 3. Climate Change The northern hemisphere recorded the hottest summer ever in 2026. The entire world had the hottest August on record. An article in The Independent details that Pregnant women exposed to heatwaves ‘25% more likely to suffer complications’. Complications mentioned include stillbirths. As with radiation from nuclear technology, fetal

Reminder: See our project website, Peace and Life Referendums – Voting Against Violence for ballot measures coming up on November 3. Petition and Video on the Nuclear Threat An online “Appeal to Pope Leo XIV” urges the pope to advocate for an international summit “to guide the world away from the current path of war and potential nuclear disaster and to peacefully resolve the greatest crises facing humanity today.” Over 1,000 activists and organizations, including Consistent

Chance for Immediate Impact in Massachusetts Massachusetts currently has a petition drive for a Veto Referendum of state legislation banning abortion regulations in the third trimester. If it gets enough valid signatures (around 50,000), the law will be suspended until voted on in 2028! Signatures need to be turned into election clerks by October 23 and from there to the secretary of state's office on November 6. If you can help with signature gathering, or know someone else

The Dangers of Prosecutionism There have been some anti-abortion leaders of late who’ve proposed “equal protection” laws on the idea that women should be prosecuted for murder if they seek an abortion. This is playing right into pro-abortion hands: Abortion advocates haven’t yet succeeded in their goal of shutting down pregnancy help centers. But if abortion-minded women can’t be honest with those centers for fear of prosecution, those centers would lose their ability to pers

August 8 Vigil for Hiroshima and Nagasaki Anniversaries On August 8, the regular CLN quarterly vigil against nuclear weapons was held near the White House. It was coordinated with Art Laffin of CLN member group Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, who organizes commemorations around the Hiroshima and Nagasaki anniversaries each year. Art prepared a moving program for the event that included readings and songs. In addition, there were additional organizational sponsors beyond our usua

Artificial Intelligence and Nukes Rome Declaration - Humanitarian AI & Peace Global Nobel Laureates Assembly 2026 “Artificial intelligence” (AI), the common term for what’s really a large language model, can supply many benefits when well-intentioned people need large amounts of data processed quickly. But it can be terrifying when used by people who aren’t well-intentioned, people who follow longstanding pro-violence reasoning. AI has no conscience. It doesn’t care. AI can b

Witnessing for Peace against the Nuclear Threat The 81st anniversary of the US atomic bombings of Japan in August is a crucial time to demonstrate for peace and against nuclear weapons. Two peace events memorializing the bombing’s victims will be held in the greater Washington, DC, area. First, a witness at the Pentagon (S. Fern St. and Army Navy Drive) will be held on August 6th, from 7 to 8 am. Contact Art Laffin (artlaffin@hotmail.com ) for details. Second, our quarterly p

News on Defunding Violence The defunding of Medicaid dollars for Planned Parenthood was legislatively set to last one year, and so expired at midnight on July 4. Congress can still extend that defunding, but needs to be encouraged to do so. Legislators inclined to have such defunding need to have it stressed to them how important this is. See also our blog post on Planned Parenthood’s Financial Fraud. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has an amendment to H.R. 8595, the State Departme

Republican Governor Calls For Death Penalty Abolition In a press conference on June 16, 2026, Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio declared that "The moral justification I had for voting for the death penalty simply no longer exists.” He went into great detail (in the first 20 minutes) to make the case: it doesn’t deter; the victims’ families suffer with the unavoidable delays; it traumatizes the execution team members, etc. Some find this surprising from a former prosecutor who in 1