Public Policy & NGOs
Here's a look at documents from public policy and non-governmental organizations
Featured Stories
World Vision International: Violence Ends With Us - Children and Youth Across Asia-Pacific Unite to End Violence Against Children
MONROVIA, California, April 18 -- World Vision International issued the following news release:
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Violence Ends With Us: Children and youth across Asia-Pacific unite to end violence against children
Manila, Philippines - Led by the Global Youth Led Movement, founded by Bryanna Marinas, the "Violence Ends With Us: Regional Youth-Led Summit on Ending Violence Against Children" marks a historic milestone as the first-ever youth-led summit of its kind in the Asia-Pacific. Bringing together approximately 150 young delegates and supported by a coalition of partner organizations, including World
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MONROVIA, California, April 18 -- World Vision International issued the following news release:
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Violence Ends With Us: Children and youth across Asia-Pacific unite to end violence against children
Manila, Philippines - Led by the Global Youth Led Movement, founded by Bryanna Marinas, the "Violence Ends With Us: Regional Youth-Led Summit on Ending Violence Against Children" marks a historic milestone as the first-ever youth-led summit of its kind in the Asia-Pacific. Bringing together approximately 150 young delegates and supported by a coalition of partner organizations, including WorldVision International, the summit places young people at the forefront of shaping solutions to end violence against children. World Vision is proud to support this ground breaking initiative, recognizing the power of youth leadership in driving meaningful and lasting change.
This is not a symbolic gathering; it is a shift in power.
The youth-led convening comes at a critical moment. At the 1st Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children in Bogota, Colombia, governments committed to strengthening child protection systems and ensuring meaningful youth participation in decision-making. Yet across the Asia-Pacific, violence against children remains widespread, from online sexual exploitation and child marriage to corporal punishment, child labour, and unsafe reporting systems. What has been missing is not awareness, but meaningful inclusion of those most affected. This summit positions children and young people as leaders, decision-makers, and solution-builders, driving action, not just informing it.
Youth Voices Leading Change
Young leaders are speaking with clarity, urgency, and purpose:
Ming (18), Thailand, shared: "Many young people are never given the chance to speak, so when I have one, I use it to represent others. We are not just the future . We are the power of the present, and we can create change now."
Ankhmaa (15), Mongolia, said: "Young people understand these challenges because we live them every day. When we are given the space to lead, we can create solutions that truly protect children."
Aum (19), Thailand, added: "Every child deserves to grow up without fear. That begins when we are truly heard, respected, and supported to speak up."
Their voices reflect a powerful truth: solutions are strongest when shaped by those who experience the challenges firsthand.
Turning Youth Leadership into Action
This summit goes beyond dialogue to drive implementation.
Through the summit, youth leaders will collaborate across borders to produce concrete outcomes, including a Regional Youth Agenda on Ending Violence Against Children, an ASEAN Youth Survey Report, and youth-led solutions developed through a regional hackathon. Winning teams will receive seed funding and technical support to pilot their ideas and present their results at the global ministerial conference in November 2026.
World Vision: Advancing Meaningful Child Participation
As a global child-focused humanitarian organisation, World Vision is supporting the summit to ensure young people play a central role in shaping child protection policies and solutions.
"Ending violence against children requires more than commitments. It requires listening to young people and trusting them as partners in designing solutions. This summit creates a powerful platform where children and youth voices can influence regional priorities and global action. When young people lead, change becomes more inclusive, more practical, and more sustainable," said Faith Richelle Bullecer, Child Participation and Mobilization Advisor at World Vision East Asia. "Young people are not just participants, they are leading this movement," she added.
Across Asia and the Pacific, World Vision continues to strengthen youth-led networks, support child participation platforms, and ensure young voices influence national, regional, and global child protection frameworks.
A Defining Moment for Global Impact
With the Philippines hosting the 2nd Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children, the summit provides a six-month window for youth-led solutions to be tested, refined, and presented on the global stage. By bringing together young leaders, governments, and regional partners, "Violence Ends With Us" aims to ensure that the future of child protection in Asia-Pacific is shaped not only for young people, but with them and by them.
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Original text here: https://www.wvi.org/newsroom/world-vision-east-asia/violence-ends-us-children-and-youth-across-asia-pacific-unite-end
[Category: Sociological]
Public Advocate of the U.S.: News Media Hates Resolution Demanding SCOTUS Overturn 2015 Gay Marriage Ruling
MERRIFIELD, Virginia, April 18 -- The Public Advocate of the U.S. issued the following statement on April 17, 2026, by President Eugene Delgaudio:
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News media hates resolution demanding SCOTUS overturn 2015 gay marriage ruling
Delgaudio said today to supporters:
National media hate an Idaho resolution demanding the United States Supreme Court overturn its 2015 "gay marriage" ruling.
This media noise convinces Public Advocate that it is a must priority to have a majority of states consider this resolution as soon as possible. Together with the recent 8 to 1 decision to restore the religious
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MERRIFIELD, Virginia, April 18 -- The Public Advocate of the U.S. issued the following statement on April 17, 2026, by President Eugene Delgaudio:
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News media hates resolution demanding SCOTUS overturn 2015 gay marriage ruling
Delgaudio said today to supporters:
National media hate an Idaho resolution demanding the United States Supreme Court overturn its 2015 "gay marriage" ruling.
This media noise convinces Public Advocate that it is a must priority to have a majority of states consider this resolution as soon as possible. Together with the recent 8 to 1 decision to restore the religiousliberty of a Christian counselor in Colorado (Chiles v. Salazar) in which Public Advocate sought to restore the right to moral counsel denied by state authorities, it would seem the Supreme Court could use some positive guidance about religous liberty. A majority of the current judges may have a different opinion today as they did not serve on the court at the time of the Obergefell decision. It could take a few years or at the very least we need to work to restore one man one woman marriage to the United States for the long haul," Delgaudio said.
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MASS RESISTANCE (A GRASS ROOTS GROUP WE RECOMMEND) REPORTS:
Our MassResistance resolution urging the US Supreme Court to overturn its infamous 2015 Obergefell "gay marriage" ruling has taken on a new life this year in state legislatures across the country.
The Idaho House of Representatives recently passed it for the second year in a row. It has generated excitement among conservative lawmakers and grassroots activists alike.
And like last year, it's generating anger and bizarre hysterics among leftists and LGBT activists. We suspect that most of them realize that - like the Roe v Wade abortion ruling - the court's "gay marriage" ruling had no actual constitutional justification.
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Original text here: https://www.publicadvocateusa.org/news/article.php?article=13540
[Category: Sociological]
Peterson Institute for International Economics Issues Commentary: Orban's Fall Sends a Warning Signal to Argentina and Brazil
WASHINGTON, April 18 -- The Peterson Institute for International Economics issued the following commentary on April 16, 2026, by senior fellow Monica de Bolle:
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Orban's fall sends a warning signal to Argentina and Brazil
The crushing defeat of Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his far-right Fidesz Party in Hungary on April 12 was widely interpreted as a victory for liberal democracy. But more than that, voters revolted against his 16 years of corruption and economic mismanagement. Their verdict sends a signal to Brazil and Argentina, where voters have historically shown a much lower tolerance
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WASHINGTON, April 18 -- The Peterson Institute for International Economics issued the following commentary on April 16, 2026, by senior fellow Monica de Bolle:
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Orban's fall sends a warning signal to Argentina and Brazil
The crushing defeat of Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his far-right Fidesz Party in Hungary on April 12 was widely interpreted as a victory for liberal democracy. But more than that, voters revolted against his 16 years of corruption and economic mismanagement. Their verdict sends a signal to Brazil and Argentina, where voters have historically shown a much lower tolerancefor corruption and economic mismanagement than their Eastern European counterparts.
Both countries face elections this year. In Argentina, President Javier Milei's "shock therapy" has delivered some impressive results in combating inflation but at the enormous cost of raising unemployment and deepening poverty. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil is polling neck-and-neck with his biggest challenger, Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of the man he defeated last time around, running as his father's proxy after Jair Bolsonaro's electoral ban. Brazilians are less than enthusiastic about either choice because of their mixed economic record.
Why Orban fell in Hungary
Peter Magyar's Tisza party in Hungary won 138 of 199 parliamentary seats not because Hungarian voters suddenly rediscovered their commitment to European values, as many commentators have suggested, but because years of fiscal deterioration, frozen EU funds, and the highest debt-servicing costs in the bloc had made daily life measurably worse. Add to that his ability to unite the opposition in Hungary--liberals, socialists, young pro-European urban voters. While populist leaders can survive scandals, concentrate power, and degrade institutions for years, the experiences of both Brazil and Argentina suggest that their electorates will render a verdict mainly on economic mismanagement.
Orban's brand of illiberal governance always rested on a transactional bargain: Hungarians would tolerate democratic erosion in exchange for stability and rising incomes. For years, EU structural funds underwrote that bargain, even as the regime channeled contracts to loyalists. The Elios scandal, in which a company co-owned by Orban's son-in-law won inflated street-lighting contracts, is only the most emblematic case. But the bargain collapsed once the money dried up. Some Euros17 billion in EU funds were frozen over rule-of-law disputes starting in 2022.
But beyond these corruption issues, by 2025, GDP growth had slowed to a paltry 0.4 percent. The fiscal deficit ballooned to 4.6 percent, worsening to a projected 5.2 percent in 2026, while debt servicing costs--roughly 5 percent of GDP, the highest in the European Union--crowded out public spending on everything voters cared about: health care, transport, wages.
Hungary's cumulative inflation since 2020 was the worst in the bloc. The forint weakened. Real incomes stagnated. And at the ballot box, the corruption scandals underscored the grinding reality that the economy had stopped working for ordinary people.
Both Argentina and Brazil have a long history of corruption undermining their economies, which helps explain why Orban's fate may ultimately resonate in those two countries.
Parallels in Argentina
Take Argentina. Its situation is structurally different from Hungary's but is similar in revealing ways. Milei took office promising shock therapy to tame 211 percent annual inflation, and he has delivered impressive, though partial results: Annual inflation fell to roughly 31 percent, and the government achieved a fiscal surplus of some 1.4 percent of GDP. These are not trivial accomplishments. But the costs have been enormous, with about 13 million Argentines in poverty, unemployment at 7.5 percent (the highest since the COVID-19 pandemic), and a slashing of social programs, education, and health spending. The question is how long a population will tolerate austerity in exchange for macroeconomic stabilization cheered on by the Trump administration. That tolerance could be strained, especially when the stabilization itself is stalling. Monthly inflation ticked back up to 2.9 percent in early 2026, and the full-year forecast has been revised upward. Inflationary trends in Argentina are tied to the removal of government price control, an increase in utility bills, as well as expectations that the war in the Middle East will affect energy and food prices in the coming months.
Against the worsening macroeconomic backdrop is the ongoing erosion of Milei's anti-corruption credentials, the one asset that differentiated him from the Peronist establishment he railed against. The $Libra cryptocurrency scandal of 2025, in which Milei promoted a token that crashed 96 percent within 24 hours and wiped out $251 million in investor funds, has metastasized. Phone logs published by the New York Times in April show seven calls between Milei and a key insider on launch night, and court documents reveal a draft $5 million payment agreement to the president. Meanwhile, his sister Karina Milei and senior officials face allegations of taking kickbacks on disability drug contracts. Milei's approval has sunk to 42 percent, with 53 percent disapproval.
The parallel to Orban is instructive. Corruption alone did not fell Orban--Hungarians had known about the graft for years. What felled him was corruption plus economic failure, which together destroyed the implicit contract with voters. Milei's midterm triumph in October 2025, when La Libertad Avanza won 40 percent of the vote, showed that Argentines were still willing to give him time. But if inflation re-accelerates, poverty remains entrenched, and the scandals deepen, that patience will evaporate.
Orban learned that a populist's shelf life is measured in pocketbook outcomes, not slogans. Latin America knows this lesson well: Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil in the early 1990s, fell to corruption amid hyperinflation; President Alberto Fujimori of Peru's authoritarian grip also crumbled in the 1990s once the economy soured and graft became undeniable.
In his previous term in office Lula and his Workers' Party (PT) were severely damaged with the unveiling of the Lava-Jato corruption scandal between 2014 and 2016, and Argentina has had its share of Peronist presidents who fell due to corruption and bad economics, most notably Cristina Kirchner. The pattern is older and sharper in the region than in Eastern Europe, which is why the Orban parallel should worry Milei.
Parallels in Brazil
Brazil's October election will be the next major indicator of these trends. Lula's approval has come down to roughly 40 percent, with the disapproval rate hovering just over 50 percent. The economy is cooling: GDP growth is projected at just 1.7 percent for 2026, down from 2.2 percent the prior year, and food prices rose roughly 8 percent in 2024, hitting working-class households hardest. Nearly half of Brazilians believe the economy has worsened under Lula.
Compounding matters, neither Argentina nor Brazil has yet absorbed the full economic shock of the war in Iran. The conflict has disrupted global energy markets and, critically for both countries, fertilizer supply chains. Brazil, the world's largest fertilizer importer, is especially exposed: Higher input costs are already filtering through to food prices, and a prolonged disruption could push inflation well above current forecasts while dragging down agricultural output, the backbone of Brazilian GDP growth.
The right senses an opening. Flavio Bolsonaro has proven more resilient than expected, with rallies still drawing many to the streets. Moreover, the movement's populist energy appears to remain relatively intact despite the January 8 convictions of those attempting a coup to keep his father in power and Bolsonaro's imprisonment.
But here, too, the Orban lesson applies, in reverse. The Bolsonaro family carries its own baggage of corruption, from Flavio's suspicious real estate transactions flagged by financial regulators to the broader network of allegations that dogged the family throughout Jair Bolsonaro's presidency. If the Bolsonarismo movement returns to power on a wave of economic discontent without a credible plan for fiscal management or for navigating the fallout from the Middle East conflict, it will arrive in office already weighed down by the same toxic combination of graft and economic fragility that eventually caught up with Orban and may now be closing in on Milei as well.
A populist's shelf life is measured in pocketbook outcomes, not slogans
The throughline is not ideology. Orban governed from the nationalist right, Lula from the redistributive left, Milei from the libertarian fringe. What they share is the vulnerability of any leader whose political survival depends on economic performance and tolerance for corruption, neither of which they can fully control. Orban lost EU funds and had no Plan B. Milei is running an austerity program whose social costs may outpace its macroeconomic gains. Lula is presiding over a slowdown that undermines his core promise to the poor.
The lesson from Budapest is deceptively simple: When the economy turns in the wake of long-standing corruption scandals, everything else--the culture wars, the institutional capture, the nationalist rhetoric--becomes noise. The voters do the math. And the math, eventually, is unforgiving.
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Original text here: https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2026/orbans-fall-sends-warning-signal-argentina-and-brazil
[Category: Economics]
Mass Humanities: 'Promises of the Revolution' Q&A With Gianna Russi of King's Chapel
HOLYOKE, Massachusetts, April 18 -- Mass Humanities issued the following Q&A on April 15, 2026, by Latoya Bosworth with Gianna Russi, director of King's Chapel History Program:
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"Promises of the Revolution" Q&A with Gianna Russi of King's Chapel
Mass Humanities' Latoya Bosworth, Ph.D., speaks with Gianna Russi, Director of King's Chapel History Program, about the organization's work during the 250th.
Latoya Bosworth (LB): With the 250th in mind, what are the big questions that King's Chapel is thinking about this year?
Gianna Russi (GR): I think the overall theme that we've encountered
... Show Full Article
HOLYOKE, Massachusetts, April 18 -- Mass Humanities issued the following Q&A on April 15, 2026, by Latoya Bosworth with Gianna Russi, director of King's Chapel History Program:
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"Promises of the Revolution" Q&A with Gianna Russi of King's Chapel
Mass Humanities' Latoya Bosworth, Ph.D., speaks with Gianna Russi, Director of King's Chapel History Program, about the organization's work during the 250th.
Latoya Bosworth (LB): With the 250th in mind, what are the big questions that King's Chapel is thinking about this year?
Gianna Russi (GR): I think the overall theme that we've encountereda lot for the 250th is this theme of freedom. It's in the title "Freedom Trail." It's a big topic in a lot of the site's history and in the tour offerings that we have. And so one of my goals for the 250th for King's Chapel, especially in the midst of our living memorials, so our way to sort of activate our new statue Unbound and all she stands for the 219+ enslaved individuals connected to the church's history. To bring that to life, I think asking a broader question about freedom.
Who fought for freedom? What cost came with fighting for freedom? Because freedom was not free. And freedom wasn't ultimately granted after the American Revolution. So, I think really challenging folks to not just think about freedom during the American Revolution, during that context, having to do with the figures that they hear most about like John Hancock, Samuel Adams, these large household figures. But, thinking about the common person during this time, and thinking about people that were fighting for abolition, not during the 1840s and 50s (yes, that of course, too) but also during the 1770s. There's an alternative story here that's happening at the same time as the American Revolution. I think bringing these stories to life has been something that has been so rewarding. Something we really love to do. Something that's really activating the statue and all it stands for, and something we hope to continue doing with our programs in connection with Mass Humanities.
LB: I love what you just said about common people. Oftentimes we always think about those historical figures. And before they did what they did, or we started to document what they did, they were everyday common people. Common everyday people can do these extraordinary things and that everybody has a role.
GR: Absolutely.
LB: My next question is actually about your project title, which is "Journey Toward Reconciliation: A Memorial to Enslaved Persons at King's Chapel." Could you tell us a bit about how you all settled on that title?
GR: There are two really important words there, "journey"and "reconciliation". "Journey," because it's the understanding that it's not ending. It's always going to be a journey towards understanding, towards reckoning with this history and all it stands for. And there's always a next step, always something to aspire to. And so understanding that it's a long term thing, it's something that's going to be continued to be grappled with for years and years.
And also "reconciliation" being another important part. It's really about reconciling with the history. It's about reckoning with it. This is something the congregation at large and also the living memorial is really hoping to achieve.
LB: I love that you called it a journey because I think, again, a lot of times we look for answers. We show up someplace for a training or an event. We get an answer. We read a book. Or, we learned about these things. We leave with these concrete things. With the journey, it's continuous. It's always going. There's more to it. And I think that's important in helping people to reconcile is to know that it's not, "you attended this event and now you've reconciled," or now you understand. It's: "I understand a little bit more, and next time I'll understand more." And there's other perspectives and other ways in which to do that.
GR: And it's not always going to look clean. It's not always going to be these "takeaways." But it's something that's continuous and evolving.
LB: As we talk about those 219+ plus enslaved by members of the church, what ideas do you hope to shed light on?
GR: These 219+ enslaved individuals, they're connected to the church, either through direct enslavement by a parishioner or a minister. Or, they show up in our church records, either through marriage, burial, or baptismal records. And so honoring these folks, honoring their lives, is something that's incredibly pivotal. Yes, in the statue and in reflecting with the statue and all it means as a piece of public art. And also in the history that stands behind it.
What I really want people to take away is reflecting on the legacy of slavery. Not just slavery as having happened, but also understanding the roots of enslavement and how it has affected our country and how it has affected all of our lives today, and systemic issues. Because history isn't existing in this separate sphere and separate world, it's very much intertwined with who we are today and what our identities are.
What I hope people take away from it is this sort of journey, that they take their own journey and reckon with this history and what it means to them. And also really acknowledging the common day folks, because everyone is a common person. The only difference is: who did you read about in middle school? There are a lot of reasons why we read the names that we did in middle school. Understanding that these folks might have dressed differently, they might have talked a little differently than we do today, but they're just as human with the same fears, the same anxieties, the same thoughts, the same hearts. Understanding that humanity was lost in that system and just reckoning with their stories and what we have of them that we can share.
LB: So this reconciliation is bringing back the humanity of those folks. Right?
GR: Right.
LB: And also the connection to religion and the role that it played when we looked at the enslavement of Africans in America. The connection to that is also a different take than we've seen from other projects.
GR: Absolutely. And it's also teaching folks the contradictions that happened within churches. I think that's something that a lot of people, when they come into our space, are struck with. Just the contradiction. They don't expect to learn about slavery and specifically the enslavement by parishioners and ministers, because that sort of contradiction is something that's really clear from the get go.
LB: Yeah. I think it also helps us to look at things that are happening today, too, and the connection to religion and people's political rights. I think it's a great connection in doing the work.
Our grant title was "Promises of the Revolution." As we look at the American Revolution, we were talking about what has been unfulfilled even to this day. And so how do you see examining that question playing out in your work?
GR: Great question. Like I just mentioned with the names that we've read in history books, there's a whole slew of reasons why we have people that are now considered household names. For Paul Revere, it was a poem that was written in the 1860s by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. That's how we know him for the midnight night. There's a whole slew of reasons.
Something that I think has been unfulfilled is teaching folks about the humanity that's rooted in history. About the everyday folks. About connecting their hearts to history, their every day to history. The goal is: if people walk away with something, just one thing, they're really mulling over, that they can connect to their lives, that they can make important to them and their story, then that's a job well done.
Because it's not just memorizing facts and walking away with a few dates that you learned. It's really about connecting history to your story, about how you want to walk away, how it changes or maybe keeps the same, your worldview and your everyday life. These are human beings. The only difference is that they've passed, and they can't tell their story. So now we're here to tell it for them.
Also, adding voices like women of the time, like marginalized communities, people who were enslaved during the time, it tells a fuller picture about what American history was and is, and what it means to us today.
LB: The line that stuck with me was connecting hearts to history. Because like you said, you're not just connecting hearts to history, but connecting it to the full history. We're not talking about segments of history. We're talking about an inclusive history. Being able to connect it to their personal lives. That's how we bring back the humanity to history, when people are able to see themselves, or see how they would respond, if they were in that situation.
Thank you so much for sharing. We're looking forward to all that comes from "Journey Toward Reconciliation" and all of the work that you'll do during the 250th and beyond.
GR: Thank you very much.
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Original text here: https://masshumanities.org/promises-of-the-revolution-qa-with-gianna-russi-of-kings-chapel/
[Category: Sociological]
League of Women Voters of Michigan Files Brief to Stop Justice Department From Obtaining Private Voter Data
WASHINGTON, April 18 [Category: Political] -- The League of Women Voters issued the following news release on April 17, 2026:
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League of Women Voters of Michigan Files Brief to Stop Justice Department from Obtaining Private Voter Data
Amicus brief argues that Justice Department's appeal to Sixth Circuit should be denied for the sake of election integrity, voters' privacy, and the Constitution
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GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Today the League of Women Voters of Michigan -- represented by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, Campaign Legal Center, and Goodman Acker -- filed an amicus brief (https://www.lwv.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/6th-circuit-lwvme-amicus-brief.pdf)
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, April 18 [Category: Political] -- The League of Women Voters issued the following news release on April 17, 2026:
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League of Women Voters of Michigan Files Brief to Stop Justice Department from Obtaining Private Voter Data
Amicus brief argues that Justice Department's appeal to Sixth Circuit should be denied for the sake of election integrity, voters' privacy, and the Constitution
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GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Today the League of Women Voters of Michigan -- represented by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, Campaign Legal Center, and Goodman Acker -- filed an amicus brief (https://www.lwv.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/6th-circuit-lwvme-amicus-brief.pdf)with the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, urging the court to uphold a lower court's dismissal of US v. Benson, the Justice Department's lawsuit seeking the state's unredacted voter rolls. Among other arguments, the brief states that the Constitution gives the states--not the federal government--the power to administer elections.
The Justice Department sued Michigan in September after the state refused to give the department its complete voter file, which contains driver's license numbers, partial Social Security numbers, and other sensitive voter information. In February, a federal judge dismissed the suit, and later that month, the department appealed the decision.
As the brief points out, the Justice Department's demands for these voter files, which it has made in at least 48 states, are part of an effort to collect sensitive information and unlawfully centralize Americans' data. "The department has not established that it has a legal right to this data in this instance, and has given no indication that it would use the data for any lawful purpose. These actions would put the integrity of elections and voters' data security at risk.
Including its case against Michigan, the Justice Department has filed 31 lawsuits in federal court against states and the District of Columbia, that have refused to provide complete voter files to the department. So far five have been dismissed (California, Oregon, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Rhode Island). The League of Women Voters, the Brennan Center for Justice, and Campaign Legal Center are participating in many of these cases to protect voters' information and the integrity of our elections against the Justice Department's attempts to amass voter files.
The organizations commented on today's filing as follows:
"Michigan voters should not have to worry that their personal information will be exposed as the cost of participating in our elections. The League of Women Voters of Michigan is proud to stand up for voters and, as this case continues on appeal, we remain aligned with the state in protecting their privacy." -- Lynne Kochmanski, co-president, League of Women Voters of Michigan
"The Department of Justice's demand for sensitive voter data goes beyond what federal law requires and raises serious concerns about voter privacy," said. "As this case moves through the courts, we continue to support Michigan's efforts to protect that information and ensure long-standing safeguards for voters are upheld." -- Caren Short, director of legal and research for the League of Women Voters
"The dismissal of US v. Benson must stand. The Justice Department has no reason to demand Michigan's complete voter file and all of the sensitive information within. This effort is part of a wider campaign to amass the country's voter files and undermine the integrity of our elections." -- Eileen O'Connor, senior counsel, Brennan Center for Justice
"The Constitution gives the power to regulate and administer elections to the states and Congress, not the executive branch. Attempts by the Department of Justice to obtain sensitive information about voters in Michigan outside of its statutory authority not only violates the Constitution, but it also chills Michigander's freedom to vote. Voters deserve confidence that their information is secure, and our coalition will continue working tirelessly throughout this election cycle and beyond to safeguard voters' rights." -- Sejal Jhaveri, senior legal counsel for strategic litigation, Campaign Legal Center
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Original text here: https://www.lwv.org/newsroom/press-releases/league-women-voters-michigan-files-brief-stop-justice-department-obtaining
Crown Bioscience Urged to Probe Studies Using Monkeys From Filthy Lab After PETA Expose
NORFOLK, Virginia, April 18 -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals issued the following news release on April 17, 2026:
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Crown Bioscience Urged to Probe Studies Using Monkeys From Filthy Lab After PETA Expose
In a letter sent yesterday, PETA urges Crown Bioscience to review all experiments on monkeys it commissioned at the University of Louisiana's New Iberia Research Center (NIRC), the nation's largest primate laboratory with 12,000 monkeys.
Last month, PETA released a whistleblower video showing monkeys at NIRC confined in accumulated waste with visible signs of stress and injury.
... Show Full Article
NORFOLK, Virginia, April 18 -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals issued the following news release on April 17, 2026:
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Crown Bioscience Urged to Probe Studies Using Monkeys From Filthy Lab After PETA Expose
In a letter sent yesterday, PETA urges Crown Bioscience to review all experiments on monkeys it commissioned at the University of Louisiana's New Iberia Research Center (NIRC), the nation's largest primate laboratory with 12,000 monkeys.
Last month, PETA released a whistleblower video showing monkeys at NIRC confined in accumulated waste with visible signs of stress and injury.Now, PETA has obtained public records involving NIRC and its pharmaceutical industry clients that raise serious concerns about the health of the monkeys it supplies, including evidence that at least one major drug company, Pfizer, accepted monkeys with known health problems, underscoring a willingness to use sick animals in experiments, which can taint data.
These records show that monkeys were selected for experiments based on age, weight, sex, and availability, not health. Even animals with infections, injuries, and active lesions were not excluded. Some were still sent to a contract laboratory for use in experiments. PETA is concerned this may reflect broader industry practices.
The whistleblower video shows the conditions behind those records, including monkeys stacked in barren cages in small, windowless rooms. Many have extensive hair loss, a well-documented indicator of chronic stress. The footage and records tell the same story: compromised animals are used in experiments.
"Sick monkeys don't just suffer, they distort results and mislead decisions about what is safe and effective for patients," says PETA Chief Science Advisor on Primate Experimentation Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel. "PETA strongly urges Crown Bioscience to examine its relationship with NIRC, where monkeys are confined in conditions that drive disease and distress and where even compromised animals can still end up in experiments.
In addition to its relationships with Crown Bioscience and Pfizer, NIRC sells monkeys to or receives funding to conduct monkey experiments from Charles River Laboratories; Cyanvac LLC; Elicio Therapeutics; Gates Foundation; Lovelace Biomedical; Merck; Novavax; Ragon Institute--affiliated with Mass General Brigham, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University--Sanofi; SeromYx Systems, Inc.; University of Nebraska Medical Center, among others.
Federal inspectors have cited NIRC for violating the Animal Welfare Act following the deaths of infant monkeys from dehydration, a monkey who was electrocuted, and for broken or dilapidated cages that contribute to repeated escapes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently cited the university when 19 monkeys died after being confined outside, unprotected, in sub-freezing weather. Authorities have imposed substantial fines of more than $158,000. PETA--whose motto reads, in part, that "animals are not ours to experiment on"--points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
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Original text here: https://www.peta.org/media/news-releases/crown-bioscience-urged-to-probe-studies-using-monkeys-from-filthy-lab-after-peta-expose/
[Category: Animals]
Catholic League Issues Commentary: Sean Hannity Dead Wrong On Clergy Abuse
NEW YORK, April 18 -- The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, an organization that defends the right of Catholics to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination, issued the following commentary on April 17, 2026, by President Bill Donohue:
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SEAN HANNITY DEAD WRONG ON CLERGY ABUSE
I have known Sean Hannity for years, and he is a good guy. But I cannot allow our friendship to get in the way of my job. He made comments on his April 16 Fox News show about the clergy sexual abuse scandal that are dead wrong. Apparently, he also offended Catholics on his
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NEW YORK, April 18 -- The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, an organization that defends the right of Catholics to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination, issued the following commentary on April 17, 2026, by President Bill Donohue:
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SEAN HANNITY DEAD WRONG ON CLERGY ABUSE
I have known Sean Hannity for years, and he is a good guy. But I cannot allow our friendship to get in the way of my job. He made comments on his April 16 Fox News show about the clergy sexual abuse scandal that are dead wrong. Apparently, he also offended Catholics on hisradio show this week.
Sean started out by saying he was raised Catholic, went to Catholic schools and attended a seminary high school. He said he broke away from the Catholic Church because of the clergy sexual abuse scandal. That is his business. But it is my business to correct the record when misstatements of fact abound about this subject.
Sean said, "I left the Catholic Church in large part because of institutionalized corruption. And it was at the parish level to the bishop level, cardinals, all the way to Rome. And you know, the very top scandals, terrible behavior, frankly, went not only unchecked, but they never fully corrected it or dealt with it. And others at the Vatican have totally lost sight of the true meaning of the bible and its teachings."
His sweeping statements do not hold up under scrutiny.
There was a scandal in the Catholic Church, but its heyday ended approximately a half-century ago. Most of the offenses took place between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s. How widespread was it at its height? The Washington Post published a survey in 2002 showing that less than 1.5 percent of the estimated sixty thousand or more men who served in the Catholic clergy were accused of the sexual abuse of minors. A New York Times survey reported that 1.8 percent of all priests ordained between 1950 and 2001 were accused of sexually abusing minors.
The John Jay College of Criminal Justice issued a study in 2004 that found that in the period 1950-2002, 4 percent of the Catholic clergy were accused of sexually molesting minors. It also found that 149 priests, or 3.5 percent, who had more than ten allegations of abuse were responsible for 26 percent of all the allegations. In other words, of the 4,393 priests who had an accusation made against them between 1950 and 2002 (not all of which were substantiated), a mere 149 of them accounted for more than a quarter of the allegations.
This is a far cry from what Sean would have us believe. A more egregious error is assuming that nothing has changed.
Data from the last year that we have reliable information on, July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, show that of the 48,176 members of the clergy, exactly two had a substantiated accusation made against him during this period. This means that a whopping 0.004 percent of priests had a substantiated case of sexual abuse made against them by a minor.
Unfortunately, in any institution where adults regularly interact with minors, sexual misconduct is a problem. But there is no institution in American society today, religious or secular, that has less of a problem with the sexual abuse of minors than the Catholic Church. To imply otherwise is irresponsible.
We know that 81 percent of the victims were male, and that 78 percent were postpubescent, meaning that the lion's share of the abuse was committed by homosexuals (3.8 percent were pedophiles). Of course, don't expect the media to report these facts, including Fox News, which is part of the cover-up.
I wrote a book on this subject in 2021, The Truth About Clergy Sexual Abuse: Clarifying the Facts and the Causes. When it was released, I was asked to sit for an interview at Fox News. The executives who run the cable TV station said that my book was so controversial (I bet none of them read it) that they would only agree to a debate between me and someone else. Not surprisingly, every notable liberal Catholic turned down the debate. So it never aired. Would that not be called "institutionalized corruption," Sean?
Most priests, at every level, are good men and they do not deserve to be spoken about with derision. The scandal should never have happened, but it is totally unfair to generalize from the few to the collective, regardless of the demographic.
If Sean wants to debate me, he can give me a call. He has my work and home numbers.
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Original text here: https://www.catholicleague.org/sean-hannity-dead-wrong-on-clergy-abuse/
[Category: Sociological]
