The University of New Haven (CT) has set up a BA program for the King Fahd Security College (KFSC) in Riyadh. Experts from UNH’s Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences will advise their counterparts at KFSC and will specialize in “criminal justice, homeland security and intelligence studies”. The University of New Haven should immediately terminate this program. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is a serial human rights violator and is committing the war crime of aggression against neighboring Yemen. No university should offer the government of the KSA any security assistance especially in those specialties which help it commit grave violations to persons’ basic rights and well-being. The kingdom considers “criminal” a whole host of acts that are protected by rights to freedom of speech, freedom of thought, rights to peacefully assemble and protest, and rights to practice religion. The kingdom is an absolute monarchy and does not respect any of those rights. For example, the KSA levies severe punishment up to execution for the alleged crimes of “witchcraft”, “apostasy”, and “homosexual” acts. These are crimes only in the imagination of extreme bigots. UNH is specifically creating a curriculum at KFSC specializing in “homeland security”. With a regime that sees all dissent as illegitimate UNH staff will unavoidably be helping the regime stamp out movements for democracy. The advanced techniques developed at UNH will be used to track down people who peacefully protest abuses of government or simply discuss these matters. For example, it will be helping the Saudi police find bloggers like Raif Badawi who is in prison for ten years with an additional sentence of 1,000 lashes despite winning Europe’s Sakharov Prize for his commitment to freedom. As is well known there’s no freedom of religion in Saudi Arabia. Won’t UNH curriculum and skills be used by the kingdom’s rulers in its notorious persecution of its Shia citizens? How will UNH make sure its skills taught to Saudi police won’t be used to track down women involved in such legal “offenses” such as driving cars, violating guardian laws, and not wearing an abaya? The answer is it can’t. The KSA “justice system” often resorts to punishments like whipping, beheading, and crucifixion. It is unconscionable for UNH staff to help KSA security personnel more efficiently arrest those who will eventually suffer such cruel punishments. Finally, Saudi Arabia is involved in a brutal, unprovoked war against forces in neighboring Yemen. Over ten thousand civilians are dead. The wreck of water and sewage systems has resulted in the plague of cholera with over 400,000 cases as of July 2017. UNH must not give any security assistance to a government involved in such a war crime.

The WFP Platform endorses legalizing marijuana and solicits voters and donations on this platform. The Working Families Party official website states, "Marijuana arrests unfairly hold back prospective job applicants and unjustly target communities of color across the district." WFP Hudson Valley coordinator Phillip Leber refused to interview candidates seeking an endorsement that was against marijuana arrests and instead awarded the endorsement to Daniel Torres and Neil Bettez of New Paltz. Both have directed New Paltz Police Department to aggressively pursue marijuana arrests, accounting for 36% of all arrests. Their WFP endorsement was prominently featured in their political advertising and led to their winning a major party platform. They both refuse to address or reform marijuana or other drug arrests, while their opposition ran with criminal justice reform as their main goal.

We are supporting Mrs. Cerny!

Our Indigenous People deserve it.

David Fahrenthold won a pulitizer prize last year for his investigation into Trump's history of boasting of his generosity to the non profit world; most of which was untrue. Once again Trump makes a grandiose promise of giving money for releif to victims of Hurrican Harvey. To my knowledge not another word has been heard from Trump or the White house since August 31st. The time to give aid relief to the victims in Texas is now if Trump is truly sincere. This may be just one more of his lies for which he should be held to account.

Politicians in Hartford are trying to hand our democracy over to big money interests. Together, we can stop them -- take action now. The legislature has passed a budget that would eliminate our state's landmark Citizens' Election Program (CEP). We can't let that happen -- the CEP helps regular people run for office without relying on special interest money, and sets an example for the rest of the nation. Since its establishment in 2005, the Citizens' Election Program has helped ensure more competitive elections, and a more diverse and representative legislature in Hartford. Rolling back this vital program now would hand over our democracy to wealthy special interests -- and we'll all pay the price. This is an all hands on deck moment -- and I know we can stop this attack on our democracy if we all speak out.

When a Whole Foods Market opened in our town, I was appalled to see how many products were wrapped in unrecyclable forms of plastic. Many municipalities only take #1 and #2 plastics for their recycling programs. The rest end up in a landfill, river, or ocean. I am alarmed at the reported pervasiveness of plastics already polluting our ecosystems, and don't want to contribute to this lethal problem by buying plastic along with my organic food, but of course I have to eat. The plastic already in oceans and rivers is affecting the quality and quantity of food fish. Water for organic growing without harmful chemicals from the breakdown of plastics in the environment will be increasingly hard to find. Current practices are unsustainable. What will we eat when every food becomes toxic?

Amazon has American cities bidding against each other, offering tax breaks to Amazon to choose their town as the location of its new headquarters. Amazon has done more than any company except perhaps Wal-Mart to destroy local retail businesses. It dominates online sales. It has billions of dollars in cash on hand. Only a handful of retailers in the country sell more than Amazon does. Its stock is worth more than almost every other company of any kind, and its stock price keeps rising. Amazon can afford to pay for its own headquarters. Taxpayers should not have to subsidize this giant corporation. Every dollar a city gives to Amazon is money that could be spent on schools, transportation, and other public services. Every tax break that Amazon gets is money that the chosen city will have to collect from individual taxpayers and other businesses. Amazon should not get special treatment that its competitors don't get. Say NO to public funding of Amazon!

The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest covers more than 1.5 million acres of Wisconsin's pristine, iconic Northwoods. Every year, bear hounders converge on these and other woodland areas, turning their packs of dogs loose to pursue and terrorize native wildlife. These packs of pursuing off-leash dogs threaten the life of wolf pups and adult wolves and virtually every land animal in their path. These public lands are rendered inhospitable for weeks every year during bear hounding season. Please ask the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest to prohibit "hounding" on these National Forest Service lands.

An undocumented immigrant who was recently arrested and accused of a felony had been released after previous arrests by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. Attorney General Jeff Sessions blamed Sheriff Reese for releasing him instead of holding him until ICE could detain him. But to do so would have been illegal: Sheriff Reese needed a court-issued criminal warrant to proceed, but received only a civil detainer, which has no legal standing in Oregon. In their war on immigrants, the DOJ and ICE are demanding that counties and states break their own laws. Thanks, Sheriff Reese, for refusing to detain immigrants unlawfully.

I am a public school teacher in an inner-city school district. Betsy DeVos has no background in public education, ignorance of students will disabilities, and her voucher stance will target the rich. The majority of students attend public schools --- who will be a voice for their education and needs?

The FCC is planning to change the protections in order to give the Internet Service Providers more control over the way we use our internet.