Update 4/8/2014, 11 a.m. PDT: In a move that effectively kills the legislative effort for the year, the legislation aimed at ending SeaWorld's killer whale shows was sent to interim hearings. The author agreed to the committee chair's request when it became clear that the votes were not there to move the bill. The action spares legislators and SeaWorld the uncertainty that a simple defeat of the bill in committee would have brought since bills sent to interim cannot be reconsidered.

Much of the discussion pertaining to drug policy in America focuses on Cannabis and the various uses of marijuana and hemp. A growing majority of Americans now support the legalization of hemp for industrial purposes and marijuana for medical and recreational use. However, people seldom talk about the harder drugs, the drugs that will likely never be legalized (at least not in the foreseeable future), but can lead to users serving serious time behind bars -- like cocaine and heroine.

 

 

In his latest Truth in Media Moment, independent investigative journalist Ben Swann examines a recent report released by the United Nations Human Rights Council demanding answers from the U.S. and other nations responsible for drone strikes on sovereign countries in southeast Asia -- more commonly referred to as the Middle East -- and Africa. The study examined 30 individual cases where civilian harm took place even though the targets of these strikes were terrorists.

The ongoing crisis in Ukraine constitutes one of the most difficult crises for the international community in recent times. Policy dialogue continues, and will prevail, as to whether Russia was justified in its actions to promote the referendum vote in the Crimean peninsula.