ACLU LETTER TO CONGRESS CAMPAIGN: ICE's brutality must end!!! 16JUL26

 

THE out of control fascist ice, hsi & cbp gestapo have to be stopped NOW! We do not have to accept and tolerate their actions mandated by NOT MY pres drumpf, NOT MY vp vance, their ass licking fascist cabinet and the neo-nazi gop / guardians of prejudice-republican party sycophants. Please sign this ACLU letter to congress demanding they stop this government violence, share it with family, friends, coworkers and members of your faith community. Please send an e mail of your own to your representative and senators, my e mail is at the end of this post.

ICE has shot and killed two more people. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo lived in the United States for 35 years, raising three boys who were U.S. citizens. He was on his way to work when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stopped him – supposedly because he "resembled" the person they were looking for – then shot and killed him. Days later, an ICE agent shot and killed a 26-year-old man from Colombia in Biddeford, Maine. Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero's 3-year-old daughter and wife watched in horror as he took his last breaths. EMS took over 30 minutes to arrive, and he was in the street for approximately 5 hours. Neither Mr. Durán Guerrero nor Mr. Salgado Araujo was the target of the warrants ICE had. Both men leave behind devastated families. How many more people will die at the hands of ICE? We're demanding an end to the fatal, lawless operations from Maine to Texas to Florida and beyond – and we're calling on Congress to stop ICE's deadly spree. Take action: Tell Congress to stop ICE's deadly operations and ensure a full and independent investigation of Mr. Salgado Araujo's and Mr. Durán Guerrero's killings before one more person is hurt or killed. Take Action Since Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed by ICE in Minnesota earlier this year, we have yet to see any accountability or meaningful change. Instead, Congress continues to give ICE a practically unlimited budget. At Stephen Miller's demand, a new surge of ICE agents has flooded our streets, rushing to meet unprecedented and arbitrary arrest quotas. This type of heartbreaking violence is the inevitable outcome of these horrifying policies. In light of this recent tragedy, we're making these demands: Congress must commit to stripping ICE of its unprecedented billions in funding Secretary Mullin must draw down ICE agents from their nationwide arrest surge, end the arrest quotas, and commit to real reform The Department of Homeland Security must allow a full, transparent, and independent review of all these killings ICE's senseless violence cannot continue. Inaction is not an option when agents are killing our neighbors without consequence. Join us in demanding Congress intervene to stop ICE's deadly spree. With thanks for all you do, Naureen Shah Pronouns: She, her, hers Director of Immigration Policy and Government Affairs, ACLU

Donate Now

Sign up for ACLU texts  We respect your right to privacy – view our policy. This email was sent by: ACLU 125 Broad St. New York, NY 10004

MY E MAILS TO REP SUBRMANYAM D-VA 10TH, SEN WARNER D-VA AND SEN KAINE D-VA

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was a father of three who lived in the United States for 35 years. But as a result of the absurd arrest quotas and out-of-control ICE practices created by the Trump administration's mass detention coalition, he was killed by ICE agents while on his way to work. Days later, ICE agents shot and killed 26-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Maine. His wife and 3-year-old daughter watched in horror as he took his last breaths.

We've seen ICE agents kill people in our streets with no accountability or justice – including Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. ICE has previously released statements that directly contradict eyewitness and video evidence. Now, ICE is asking the public to look away once again as this expansive secret police force kills more of our neighbors.

ICE must stop flooding our communities with its reckless agents. We need Congress to act.

This violence is the heartbreaking but foreseeable outcome of an out-of-control agency getting a nearly unlimited budget from Congress without any guardrails or reforms – especially in combination with arbitrary and unprecedented arrest quotas. Rather than de-escalate after the killings in Minnesota this January, ICE has received more funding, expanded its operations, and sent more reckless agents into our streets. You must stop this out of control, government sanctioned abuse, brutality, violence, terrorism, violations of human rights and American civil liberties and extrajudicial murders mandated by NOT MY pres drumpf/trump, hhs fascist markwayne mullin and neo-nazi border czar fascist tom hohman. If you do not stop this violence on the residents of our democratic Republic you are complicit in it, your finger may as well be on the trigger.

From Maine to Texas, ICE endangers our communities and must be stopped before anyone else is hurt or killed. I urge you to commit to stripping ICE of its unprecedented billions of dollars in funding.

I urge you to pressure Secretary Mullin to draw down ICE agents from their nationwide arrest surge, end the immigration arrest quotas, and commit to real reforms. Furthermore, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must not stand in the way of a full and independent review of Mr. Salgado Araujo and Mr. Durán Guerrero's killings – including access to the full evidence for local investigators, preservation and access to body camera footage, and recurring, regular updates on the status of the DHS Office of the Inspector General's investigation.

Sincerely,

Craig Schwanke

MOTHER JONES DAILY: What Trump’s Proposal to Ban Pregnant Tourists Could Look Like, The most extreme GOP candidate in the nation, ICE won't change under Trump, Mahmoud Khalil is suing the White House and Heritage Foundation, Nation’s biggest public utility just doubled down on coal, gas, and nuclear, The race to stop AI’s threats to democracy 15JUL26

 

Support our nonprofit journalism

July 15, 2026 In the days after the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship as the law of the land, an enraged Trump administration began rigorously investigating new ways to crack down on "birth tourism." And to do so, they have floated an alarming option: a potential ban on pregnant foreigners. But let's back up. What is birth tourism? Technically, the term refers to pregnant women who come to the United States solely to give birth and obtain US citizenship for their children. But it's also a bogeyman; even the conservative anti-immigration Center for Immigration Studies estimates that there are 26,000 such births annually at most. Which adds up to less than 1 percent of all babies born in the US in a year. In other words, it's as much of a "problem" as the right's screaming about voter fraud. That, of course, hasn't stopped the Trump administration from floating a ban on pregnant visitors. But what would that even look like? Pregnancy tests at airports? Border officials taking OB-GYN classes? It might sound ridiculous. But I talked to experts who warn against dismissing such measures. Just consider our long history of barring foreigners over HIV, the forced sterilization of Black and indigenous groups, and the simple fact that something like a ban on pregnant foreigners would neatly combine two of Trump's biggest priorities: restricting immigration and targeting women. As a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute told me, "If you’re determined that this is the obsession you have, cost doesn’t matter." —Inae Oh

Advertisement

What Trump’s Proposal to Ban Pregnant Tourists Could Look Like "If you're determined that this is the obsession you have, cost doesn't matter." BY INAE OH

MOTHER JONES MEMBERSHIP UPDATE SERIOUSLY RELENTLESS JOURNALISM Talk about the dog days of summer! Life slows down when it's 100 degrees outside. Fundraising slows down too. And that can be a real problem for a nonprofit newsroom like ours.   Good thing Mother Jones has been serving up a cold splash of the truth since 1976. Help keep us covering every story and following every lead with a new gift today. A monthly gift on your credit card is even more powerful and helps us plan ahead and invest in the next story. Because journalism doesn’t take a summer break—we can take the heat. Make a New Donation

The most extreme GOP candidate in the nation BY DAVID CORN ICE won't change under Trump BY ALEX NGUYEN Mahmoud Khalil is suing the White House and Heritage Foundation BY SOPHIE HURWITZ Nation’s biggest public utility just doubled down on coal, gas, and nuclear BY KATIE MYERS

Advertisement

The race to stop AI’s threats to democracy Tech journalist Karen Hao sounds the alarm about the rising risks to the country—and planet—from the growth of artificial intelligence. BY REVEAL

Did you enjoy this newsletter? Share it on Facebook and Bluesky.

Your source for journalism that doesn't shrink back. Fifty years and counting. Keep us growing with a gift of any amount. Donate Subscribe This message was sent to bucknackt@gmail.com. To change the messages you receive from us, you can edit your email preferences or unsubscribe from all mailings. For advertising opportunities see our online media kit. Were you forwarded this email? Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today. www.MotherJones.com PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755

Why we use dew point instead of relative humidity 15JUN26

 

Why we use dew point instead of relative humidity

By Jason Samenow

Published:July 15, 2026, 11:04 pm

When we describe how humid it feels outside, you'll almost always see us talk about dew point instead of relative humidity.

Relative humidity gets a lot of the attention. But when it comes to describing how muggy the air actually feels, it's often misleading.

Dew point tells the story much better.

Think of dew point as a direct measure of how much moisture is in the air. More specifically, it's the temperature to which the air would have to cool before becoming saturated and producing dew.

This may sound technical, but the takeaway is simple: the higher the dew point, the muggier it feels.

Relative humidity, on the other hand, doesn't tell you how much water vapor is actually in the air. Instead, it tells you how close the air is to being saturated at its current temperature.

Cool, saturated air often contains less moisture than hot air that's not even close to saturated.

Consider two afternoons:

• Day A: 72 degrees with 80 percent relative humidity
• Day B: 92 degrees with 45 percent relative humidity

Most people would assume Day A is more humid because the relative humidity is nearly twice as high. In reality, there's more moisture in the air on Day B.

[How humid does it get in DC? A look at dew points through the year]

The key is that relative humidity measures how close the air is to saturation — not how much moisture is actually in the air. Since temperature plays such a big role, relative humidity can change dramatically even when the amount of moisture stays exactly the same.

Consider a crisp autumn morning with a relative humidity near 100 percent. Overnight cooling pushes the air close to saturation, driving up the relative humidity even though there's not much moisture in the air. It may be damp enough for dew or fog to form, but it certainly doesn't feel muggy.

Dew point cuts through that confusion because it measures the moisture itself.

It gives us a much better sense of whether you're stepping into comfortably dry air or the kind of soup that leaves your shirt sticking to your back after a five-minute walk.

Around the DC area, summer dew points routinely climb into the upper 60s and low 70s. During the most oppressive heat waves, they can rise into the mid-70s and occasionally approach 80. At those levels, the air feels heavy, perspiration evaporates less efficiently, and simply being outdoors becomes exhausting.

It's also why visitors from the West are often surprised by summers here. Places like Phoenix and Las Vegas may experience much higher air temperatures, but their dew points are frequently 30 or even 40 degrees lower. The heat can be extreme, but it's a different kind of heat because the air contains much less moisture.

Relative humidity still has its uses. It's important in forecasting fog, clouds, and whether the air is nearing saturation. But if your question is simply, "How humid is it going to feel?" there's a better number.

So when we're talking about how humid it's going to feel, you'll hear us focus on dew point far more often than relative humidity. We think it's the most accurate —and most useful — way to describe what you'll actually experience when you step outside.