Virginia governor signs bill making animal cruelty a felony

Alabama Lawmakers Seek To Make Almost All Abortions Felony-Level Crimes

Source: TPM

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama lawmakers are proposing to outlaw almost all abortions as conservatives take aim at the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Alabama lawmakers on Tuesday will introduce legislation to make it a felony to perform an abortion at any stage of pregnancy unless the mother’s health is in jeopardy. If enacted, it would be the most restrictive in the country and certain to be challenged in court.

Emboldened by new conservatives on the Supreme Court, abortion opponents in multiple states are seeking to ignite new legal fights to challenge Roe v. Wade.

Kentucky and Mississippi approved abortion bans once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which happens at about six weeks.

Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/alabama-lawmakers-almost-all-abortions-felony-level-crimes

17 Posters From The 1930s, The Age Of Great Depression, That Promote Kindness To Animals

During the 1930s, the American Humane Association organized a "Be Kind To Animals" week where they shared posters of people taking care of animals. These adorable posters used artist's Morgan Dennis' work who was already known for his drawings, particularly of dogs. Each poster had an illustration of a charming child shown taking care of an animal. The main goal of the posters was to spread the message that people should love and respect animals.









https://www.boredpanda.com/be-kind-to-animals-posters-great-depression-morgan-dennis/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=BPTwitter

'Crazed and incompetent': Trump hits out at Puerto Rican leaders after disaster bill fails

Source: WaPo

Hours after the Senate voted down a disaster relief package that Democrats argued didn’t include enough money to help storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, President Trump took to Twitter on Monday night to hit out at the opposition party and the island’s leaders.

Trump, who has reportedly said in private that he doesn’t want “another single dollar” going to Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, again complained about funding for the island and called San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, a frequent critic, “crazed and incompetent.”

“The Democrats today killed a Bill that would have provided great relief to Farmers and yet more money to Puerto Rico despite the fact that Puerto Rico has already been scheduled to receive more hurricane relief funding than any ‘place’ in history,” Trump tweeted around 11 p.m. “The people of Puerto Rico are GREAT, but the politicians are incompetent or corrupt.”

Trump’s late-night outburst suggests there won’t be an easy resolution to the political dispute holding up federal money for those deluged in Midwestern floods and hit by other recent natural calamities. While disaster relief is traditionally bipartisan, Trump’s reluctance to pay more toward Puerto Rico’s recovery has opened a gulf between the parties.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/04/02/crazed-incompetent-trump-hits-out-puerto-rican-leaders-after-disaster-bill-fails/?utm_term=.a821640d3ec6&tid=sm_tw

Yes, this really happened today... @PeteButtigieg @CityofSouthBend

As DeVos Eases Sexual Assault Rules, Her Old High School May Provide a Test Case

WASHINGTON — If there was any school where her daughter would feel safe, Michelle Hoffman thought, it would be Holland Christian High School. Betsy DeVos, the famously religious education secretary, was educated there, and the school preached that its students would seek “in all endeavors to ‘do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with their God.’”

But after her 15-year-old was sexually assaulted by her 17-year-old boyfriend, another student at the school, Ms. Hoffman realized how misplaced that confidence was. Instead of helping, the school’s principal called the assault “underage sex” and told her the school was “not taking sides.”

An ensuing lawsuit filed by Ms. Hoffman against Holland Christian has turned Ms. DeVos’s private alma mater in Holland, Mich., into Exhibit A as the secretary moves to overhaul the law that governs school sexual assault — and to bolster the rights of the accused while narrowing the responsibilities that schools have to investigate sexual misconduct.

The Holland case lays bare some of the biggest concerns about Ms. DeVos’s proposals for Title IX — the 1972 law prohibiting sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding. On Tuesday, the Senate Education Committee will hold a hearing on responding to sexual assault on college campuses. But Title IX also applies to primary and secondary schools — like Holland Christian.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/us/politics/betsy-devos-sexual-assault-title-ix.html

#BeBest and #BeBest Part 2:

AP sources: Trump considers adding 'immigration czar'

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is considering bringing on a “border” or “immigration czar” to coordinate the president’s immigration policies across various federal agencies, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

President Donald Trump is weighing two potential candidates for the post: Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli — two far-right conservatives with strong views on immigration, according to the people, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the conversations publicly.

The discussion comes as Trump is threatening to close the southern border as soon as this week if Mexico does not completely halt illegal immigration to the U.S.

White House press aides, Kobach and Cuccinelli did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday. Kobach previously served as vice chair of the president’s short-lived election fraud commission, which was disbanded after finding little evidence of widespread fraud.

Read more: https://apnews.com/40654a1b83eb45e3b661903305083d9e?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter

AP mocked for report saying Beto O'Rourke spoke at rally 'in his native Spanish'

Nielsen orders Border Patrol agent 'surge' amid migrant influx

Source: The Hill

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has ordered the deployment of more Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel to the U.S.-Mexico border, Nielsen announced Monday morning.

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said Nielsen has ordered CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan to implement “emergency surge operations” and accelerate the timeline for reallocating 750 officers to border patrol sectors affected by a recent “influx” of migrants.

Nielsen has also directed CBP to expand the Migrant Protection Protocols, a DHS plan to return migrants to Mexico while they wait for their day in immigration court.

Under Nielsen's directive, CBP will return hundreds more migrants per day to Mexico, including those caught at or between points of entry, according to DHS.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/department-of-homeland-security/436712-nielsen-orders-border-patrol-agent