How Hurricane Maria exposed long ignored human rights concerns in Puerto Rico

Driving around San Juan, the sight of blue tarpaulins is almost inescapable. Nailed over people's roofs, the tarps continue to provide the only shelter for tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans one year after Hurricane Maria tore through the island, causing extensive damage to homes, hospitals and schools.

Is Kavanaugh a War Criminal?

The group states : "Amnesty International believes that the vetting of Brett Kavanaugh's record on human rights has been insufficient and calls for the vote on his nomination for Supreme Court of the United States to be further postponed unless and until any information relevant to Kavanaugh's possible involvement in human rights violations - including in relation to the U.S. government's use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, such as during the CIA detention program - is declassified and made public."

Watchdog groups call for IG investigation after Sessions promoted inflated encrypted-phone statistic

The Justice Department's internal watchdog was pressed Monday to probe the circumstances that resulted in Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other top officials repeatedly touting a bogus statistic exaggerating the degree of the "Going Dark" problem posed by digital encryption. A coalition of 21 groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Human Rights Watch wrote the department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, after the FBI admitted last month that the number of encrypted mobile devices federal investigators have lawfully seized but been unable to access data from is "substantially lower" than previously stated.

Commerce Secretary absent at Heritage Foundation event sponsored by Taiwan Civil Government

On May 23 Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross skipped out of a Heritage Foundation event sponsored by Taiwan Civil Government. Ross was to talk about trade between the People's Republic of China and the United States along with other topics.

Governor Brown Appoints Two District Court of Appeal Justices

Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the appointment of Judge Gail Ruderman Feuer as associate justice, Division Seven of the Second District Court of Appeal, and Judge Allison M. Danner as associate justice of the Sixth District Court of Appeal. Gail Ruderman Feuer, 58, of Los Angeles, has been appointed associate justice, Division Seven of the Second District Court of Appeal.

NEA Tries to Boot Refugee Student From National Poetry…

A high-school student in Maine is suing the National Endowment for the Arts after the agency disqualified him from a poetry contest because he isn't an American citizen or green card holder. Allan Monga, a junior at Portland's Deering High School, fled Zambia last year and applied for asylum in the United States.

USDA says individuals and groups may need license if buying…

A Washington Post investigation showing that buyers affiliated with 86 rescue and dog-advocacy groups and shelters nationwide have spent $2.68 million buying dogs at auctions has ignited fierce debate - and late Tuesday the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a bulletin stating that such individuals and nonprofits may need to be licensed under the federal Animal Welfare Act. "Our job is to ensure the humane treatment of the animals we regulate," Deputy Administrator Bernadette Juarez, who leads the department's animal care program, said in the bulletin, which cited "dog acquisitions from an auction for resale as pets" as a reason that individuals or groups may require federal regulation.

The Problem With Privatizing Public Education for Military Students

On March 7, Rep. Jim Banks introduced the Military Education Savings Act of 2018 to divert funding from a long-standing federal program, Impact Aid, into a voucher-like program to pay for private school tuition, tutoring, or homeschooling materials for military families. The bill is modeled off a Heritage Foundation proposal, which is supported by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, to create education savings accounts for certain military-connected students-or students who have a parent on active duty.

Alleged cat torturer gets 15-month jail sentence

A cat named Chester is pictured in this undated photo. Chester has made a full recovery and is being cared for in a loving home, after being tortured and abandoned in a garbage can in Staten Island, N.Y. A New York man has been sentenced to 15 months in jail for "mercilessly" torturing his neighbor's cat and abandoning the injured animal in a trash can while live-streaming it all on Facebook, authorities said.

Fixing Welfare Is Ultimately A Philosophical Problem

With the passage of the recent bipartisan budget agreement and its $300 billion assault on spending caps, coming on the heels of the GOP's Tax Cut and Reform Bill and its sweeping $1.5 trillion reduction in taxes, at some point Republicans must focus their attention to a side of the spending coin that has never sat well with America-welfare. According to Gary D. Alexander, Pennsylvania's former Secretary of Human Services, the federal government's $1 trillion-a-year "limitless war on poverty" has spawned a kraken of runaway spending that threatens America's economic survival.

What the left leaves out of ‘Black History Month’

Apart from the bizarre notion that educators should set aside one month to salute the historical achievements of one race apart from and above the historical achievements of other races, Black History Month appears to omit a lot of black history. About slavery, do our mostly left-wing educators teach that slavery was not unique to America and is as old as humankind? As economist and author Thomas Sowell says: "More whites were brought as slaves to North Africa than blacks brought as slaves to the United States or to the 13 colonies from which it was formed.

Cornell receives $35M to support cassava development for smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

Cassava is vital to the food security of millions of Africans who eat some form of the root crop daily. Although cassava breeders are making progress, they still face significant challenges in developing disease-resistant varieties that also increase overall yield and respond to the needs of smallholder farmers and processors.

Louisiana gets – F’ grade for smoking cessation programs

The state of Louisiana received a failing grade of "F" in several categories evaluating available help for smokers, according to a recent study by the American Lung Association. "While progress is being made in the category of Smokefree Air , the report shows that all statewide partners still have a long way to go in improving the physical and financial health of Louisiana smokers," said Mike Rogers, CEO of Smoking Cessation Trust Management Services.