Category Archives: Post Human

A disabled woman facing possible eviction and needing a housing accommodation met with Jeff Lorick Thursday.

In a few minutes, Lorick helped her understand how to request what she needs and ensure that she is protected under federal housing laws.

Its that part of Loricks job he has found most satisfying during his more than 10 years as executive director of the Terre Haute Human Relations Commission.

In a few weeks, though, Lorick, 57, will leave his position and Terre Haute for a new job in Clearwater, Florida.

Ive been extremely satisfied with the work that Ive done over these 10 years, the people that weve helped and being part of really meaningful programming in our community, he said.

Going to Pinellas County is the next evolution for me in terms of my professional development. To continue the work that I believe in so passionately and enjoy doing, and to have an opportunity to affect a larger population appeals to me.

Floridas Gulf Coast is also a part of the country where Lorick said hed like to retire.

Lorick served for about a year as a Human Relations Commission member before being tapped as executive director during the administration of former Mayor Kevin Burke.

The Indianapolis native came to Terre Haute on a football scholarship to Indiana State University in 1978. Toward the end of his college days he launched a barbershop and family hair care business, but Lorick said hes also retiring from that business.

The kind of guy who is liked by nearly everyone he meets, Lorick recalled that he jumped at the chance to be a part of the Human Relations Commission, which is tasked with investigating all complaints of discrimination within the city.

I was all about that, he said. Protecting peoples rights and being on the front lines of injustice and inequity really spoke to me. Ever since then I have been working on behalf of under-represented communities, advocating for the folks who often dont have a voice or presence in the city.

Lorick said he believes the commission has improved its effectiveness during his tenture.

We have done really really good work in being an advocate for communities that dont have a voice, whether theyre disabled, minority or poor,he said.

Loricks planned departure is sad news, said Diann McKee, senior vice president of finance and administration at Indiana State University and a Human Relations Commission member. Jeff has been a thoughtful, persistent and capable leader of the commission but also has been a great leader in our community.

Citing Loricks many hats that also include minister, coach and mentor, Sylvester Edwards, president of the Greater Terre Haute chapter of the NAACP, said he has helped make us who we are. It will take a number of people to fill his many roles.

Lorick launched a Martin Luther King Summit that provides motivation and encouragement to 200 minority youths on the holiday in honor of the civil rights leader; began a diversity writing program for second graders in Vigo County Schools; and developed a minority internship program that provides paid summer internships to more than 20 minority students.

Also during his tenure, the citys discrimination ordinance was broadened to cover gender identity and sexual orientation. He is active with the Indiana Consortium of Civil Rights Agencies, International Human Rights Workers and has served as Midwest regional chair for the National Association of Human Rights Workers.

Lorick has pursued another passion outside his official capacities by developing and launching Theater Seven, an inclusive theater company with a charitable component.

Lorick called Terre Haute a wonderful town that I have grown to love. I have a tremendous respect for folks who are in leadership positions in our city who can affect the lives of under-served and under-represented communities. I have engaged them in conversation and they have been willing to listen and help in any way they can. I have enjoyed those relationships and will miss them.

In Pinnelas County, which has more than 900,000 residents, he will serve as Equal Employment Opportunity Commission outreach officer.

Mayor Duke Bennett is on vacation and did not respond to a request for comment.

Lorick said he hopes Terre Haute continues to work toward inclusion and believes its Human Relations Commission will continue in an upward trajectory.

Dave Taylor can be reached at 812-231-4299 or dave.taylor@tribstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @TribStarDave.

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Lorick leaving Terre Haute human relations post - Terre Haute Tribune Star

LONDON

Honduras promised on Thursday to turn a new page in human rights protecting everyone from indigenous activists to gay rights campaigners in a declaration of intent backed with the creation of the country's first dedicated rights minister.

Rights watchdogs consider Honduras one of the most hostile and dangerous countries for human rights defenders, saying violence and impunity for abuses are the norm.

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez announced the new office during a speech in May for Honduran journalists.

When asked by the Thomson Reuters Foundation for follow-up, senior government official Jorge Ramon Hernandez Alcerro said: Our work in the area is entering a new phase.

Human rights minister

The new Honduran human rights minister will take a seat in the cabinet and will be responsible for new funding aimed at strengthening government protection of rights activists, said Alcerro, secretary general of government coordination.

Honduras has been the subject of international scrutiny since the murder of activist Berta Caceres, a winner of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, in March 2016 over her opposition to a $50 million hydroelectric dam project.

The Central American nation is the deadliest in the world for communities fighting to protect lands against development, with about 120 activists killed since 2010, according to British-based watchdog Global Witness.

Crackdown on gangs

Rights organizations this week criticized the government's support for the U.S.-led Alliance for Prosperity, an initiative to stem U.S. immigration by funding infrastructure megaprojects and crackdowns on gangs in Central America.

Civil society organizations fear the program will result in an erosion of land and workers rights to encourage investment. But Acerro countered their concerns, saying it will create new opportunities to bolster human rights.

"One of our principal priorities under the Alliance for Prosperity has in fact been the strengthening of human rights protections and of the institutional frameworks that support these," Alcerro said.

Working with EU

The government has been working with the European Union, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and rights charity Freedom House to develop policies that protect human rights and their advocates, he said.

This encompasses not only indigenous rights defenders, but also LGBT, political activists, journalists, and all Hondurans that work to promote and protect human rights," he added.

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said U.S. funding across Central America for the alliance, including $750 million pledged by the previous administration, will contribute to human rights training for the army and police, and to upholding the rule of law.

US support questioned

Alcerro said that Honduras cannot directly control how U.S. agencies spend aid and investment but pledged that the regime would urge the U.S. government to align its spending with Honduran policy priorities, including rights.

U.S. and Honduran rights organizations, including the religious charities Sisters of Mercy and the Jesuit Migrant Service for Central America (JSMCA), have criticized continued U.S. support for the regime of President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Hernandez came to power after a military coup in 2009 overthrew the government of President Manuel Zelaya.

Concessions to private industry

His government plans to improve the country's infrastructure and communications, mostly through concessions to private industry, which have resulted in displacement of indigenous communities and small scale farmers, Sisters of Mercy said.

"With regards to indigenous land rights, the Hernandez administration has already made unprecedented actions to ensure many indigenous groups hold communal land titles in accordance to their own customs," said Alcerro.

"Last year, the government granted indigenous groups communal land titles covering 1.1 million hectares 8 percent of the national territory," he added.

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Honduras Pledges New Era in Human Rights, Creates Cabinet Post - Voice of America

Health care must be a human right for all Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Last Friday, my co-worker and I attended the Health Care for All Rally in Beaver County. The Sisters of St. Joseph in Baden hosted the event in front of the Beaver County Courthouse. Sister Barbara Czyrnik of the leadership team urged those attending ...

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Health care must be a human right for all - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Daily Post Nigeria

Shock as sheep delivers human-like baby [PHOTO] Daily Post Nigeria Residents were stunned on Thursday after a sheep has delivered a human lamb in South Africa on Thursday. The incident was said to have shook the Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform,(ECDRDAR), in South Africa. Horror as 'half human half-beast' is born to a sheep in South AfricaNEWS.com.au Half-sheep, half-human looking creature frightens villagersYahoo7 News all 19 news articles »

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Shock as sheep delivers human-like baby [PHOTO] - Daily Post Nigeria

ISTANBUL The United Arab Emirates and allied security forces maintain a secret network of prisons in Yemen where dozens and perhaps hundreds of people are detained, routinely abused and in some cases severely tortured, according to separate reports released Thursday byHuman Rights Watch and the Associated Press.

Theinvestigation by the AP also found that forces from the United States, a close counterterrorism ally to the UAE, had participated in interrogations of prisoners in Yemen. American forces had beenyards away from a facility where torture took place, one Yemeni security officer told the news agency.

The UAE is part of a Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemenagainst Houthi rebels and their allies, with the goal of restoring the government of ousted Yemeni PresidentAbed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The conflict has devastated Yemen, the Arab worlds most impoverished country, and killed more than 10,000 people, according to the United Nations.

[Trump administration weighs deeper involvement in Yemen war]

The government of the UAE denied the existence of a clandestine prison network, telling the AP that there are no secret detention centers, and no torture of prisoners is done during interrogations.

Asked about allegations raised in the AP article, Marine Corps Maj. Adrian Rankine-Galloway, a Pentagon spokesman, said in an email that as a matter of policy we do not discuss the details of bilateral intelligence arrangements with partner nations.

Under no circumstances do DoD personnel participate in violations of human rights, he added, referring to the Department of Defense. Additionally, as a matter of policy, they are required to report any observation of human rights violations through standard reporting procedures.

The UAE has taken a leading role in the war, landing troops in southern Yemen and participating in the air campaign against the rebels while also pursuing relief and reconstruction projects. Emirati officials have portrayed the countrys foray into Yemen as part of its increasingly assertive counterterrorism efforts in the region.

The reports released Thursday added new, troubling details to that effort and to the shadowy conflictthat pits coalition forces and their Yemeni alliesagainst extremist groups such as al-Qaeda in southern Yemen.

[U.S. forces kill suspected al-Qaeda militants in Yemen raid]

In its report, Human Rights Watch said it documented the cases of at least 38 people detained or arrested by Yemeni forces that are financed, armed or trained by the UAE. Some of the detaineeswere abused or tortured inside detention facilities, most often through heavy beatings with officers using their fists, their guns or metal objects, the group said.Others mentioned electric shocks, forced nudity, threats to the detainees or their family members, and caning on the feet.

Witnesses told the AP of a torture method known as the grill. Victims were tied to a spit like a roast and spun in a circle of fire. That method and others were used at a detention complex at an airport in the southern city of Mukalla one of at least 18 secret prisons in southern Yemen documented by the AP and run by the UAE or its allied forces at military bases, ports, an airport, private villas and even a nightclub.

Thomas Gibbons-Neff in Washington contributed to this report.

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Beatings, shocks and 'the grill': Reports allege torture in secret prisons run by United Arab Emirates in Yemen - Washington Post

Dennis Rodmans odd, circuitous journey from superstar basketball player to self-appointed emissary to North Korea has drawn fire from a human rights group that is seeking to have him removed from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

After the death of American college student Otto Warmbier this week, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation posted a petition on Change.org calling for Rodmans ouster. Warmbier was in a coma when he was released last week after 17 months of captivity in North Korea, a country Rodman has visited several times as he has established a relationship with its dictatorial leaders.

Otto Warmbier was murdered by the North Korean regime. The barbarous treatment received by this young American at the hands of his North Korean captors is sadly not a unique act, VOC Executive Director Marion Smith said in a statement to USA Today. North Koreas government has a record of forcing innocent American tourists into decades of hard labor and of beating and torturing them to the point of death. Their own people receive the same treatment, or worse, on a daily basis.

Dennis Rodmans complacency and coddling of Kim Jong-Un romanticizes and makes light of how dangerous North Korea is to its own people and Americans who travel there. Removing Rodman from the Hall of Fame will send a message that all Americans are united against this regime.

[Nothing really happened on Dennis Rodmans trip to North Korea]

Rodman returned over the weekend from his fifth trip to North Korea and this time, he did not meet with Kim Jong Un, although he did deliver a copy of President Trumps book, The Art of the Deal. This was, as The Posts Anna Fifield reported, one of his less eventful trips to the country. There was no meltdown during a CNN interview, no basketball game featuring rather embarrassed former NBA stars and no Happy Birthday sung to Kim. The release of Warmbier was apparently unrelated to the Worms arrival.

These trips of Rodmans may be puzzling and, sometimes, embarrassing, but it seems unlikely that he will lose his Hall of Fame spot. Rodman, a ferocious rebounder and defensive player whose career was far more colorful off the court, was inducted in 2011. Sports Halls of Fame typically consider athletes contributions away from competition and basketballs Hall, which has more than 300 members, is no exception, although athletes and others are extremely rarely removed from pro Halls. Although there was a cry for his removal after the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, O.J. Simpson, who was found not guilty of the crimes, remains enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The basketball Hall of Fame allows for removal of someone who has damaged the integrity of the game of basketball. It isnt clear, however, that Rodman has done that, although as he has called Kim a friend for life and sought to bond with him over their love of hoops. Removal would be, as Smith acknowledges, symbolic. As of Wednesday afternoon, the petitionhad 726 signatures.

Rodman has long been known for his eccentricities, but this has gone too far, itstates. As a professional athlete and an NBA Hall of Fame member, Rodman is called to be a role model and set an example for the next generation. Individuals that praise murderers have no place being idolized by Americas youth or in any Hall of Fame in the United States.

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Human rights group wants Dennis Rodman kicked out of the Hall of Fame over North Korea visits - Washington Post

HuffPost

Thief steals pickled human toe garnish from legendary cocktail New York Post A pickled human toe the selling point to the Downtown Hotel's Sourtoe Cocktail was stolen on Saturday, staffers told CBC. We are furious, said Terry Lee, the hotel's Toe Captain. Toes are very hard to come by. The $5 cocktail is simple: a ... Canadian Hotel Wants To Get Its Hands On Whoever Stole Human ToeHuffPost NEW: Hotel bar 'furious' after man steals its severed human toePalm Beach Post Mummified Toe Stolen From Dawson City BarHuffington Post Canada all 30 news articles »

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Thief steals pickled human toe garnish from legendary cocktail - New York Post

National Post

Bruce Pardy: Meet the new 'human rights' where you are forced by law to use 'reasonable' pronouns National Post When University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson posted his now notorious YouTube video spelling out his refusal to use non-gendered pronouns, activists expressed their outrage. Non-gendered people have the right to be accommodated and ...

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Bruce Pardy: Meet the new 'human rights' where you are forced by law to use 'reasonable' pronouns - National Post

When University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson posted his now notorious YouTube video spelling out his refusal to use non-gendered pronouns, activists expressed their outrage. Non-gendered people have the right to be accommodated and respected, the protests went, and Peterson must use language consistent with those rights. These objections illustrate what few activists or politicians will openly acknowledge: Human rights are now a zero-sum game. Giving rights to some means taking them from others.

On Thursday, the Senate passed Bill C-16, the Liberal governments legislation that adds gender identity or expression to grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act. Bill C-16 was in part the motivation for Petersons video. The act applies to federal subjects (including airports, banks, the military and federally regulated industries), while equivalent provincial codes apply to remaining areas of personal and commercial activities (including most workplaces, schools, universities, hospitals and so on). Most provinces recently added the same or similar terms to their discrimination provisions.

Few Canadians realize how seriously these statutes infringe upon freedom of speech. The Ontario Human Rights Commission has stated, in the context of equivalent provisions in the Ontario Human Rights Code, that refusing to refer to a trans person by their chosen name and a personal pronoun that matches their gender identity will likely be discrimination when it takes place in a social area covered by the Code, including employment, housing and services like education.

Human rights were conceived to liberate. They protected people from an oppressive state.But freedom from interference is so 20th century. Modern human rights entitle

In other words, failure to use a persons pronoun of choice ze, zir, they or any one of a multitude of other potential non-words will land you in hot water with the commission. That, in turn, can lead to orders for correction, apology, Soviet-like re-education, fines and, in cases of continued non-compliance, incarceration for contempt of court. This peril is exactly what Peterson warned of in his video, for which he was mocked for scaremongering.

Human rights were conceived to liberate. They protected people from an oppressive state. Their purpose was to prevent arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, and censorship, by placing restraints on government. The states capacity to accommodate these negative rights was unlimited, since they required only that people be left alone.

But freedom from interference is so 20th century. Modern human rights entitle. We are in the middle of a culture war, and human rights have become a weapon to normalize social justice values and to delegitimize competing beliefs. These rights are applied against other people to limit their liberties.

When speech is merely restricted, you can at least keep your thoughts to yourself. Compelled speech makes people say things with which they disagree

Freedom of expression is a traditional, negative human right. When the state manages expression, it threatens to control what we think. Forced speech is the most extreme infringement of free speech. It puts words in the mouths of citizens and threatens to punish them if they do not comply. When speech is merely restricted, you can at least keep your thoughts to yourself. Compelled speech makes people say things with which they disagree.

Bill C-16, like provincial human rights codes, does not make specific reference to speech. In the Senate, supporters of C-16 fell over each other denying that the legislation would compel language. When Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould testified before the Senates Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, she specifically denied that the bill would force the use of gender-neutral pronouns. There are reasons to doubt her sincerity. First, human rights commissions say otherwise. Along with human rights tribunals, they have primary control over the meaning and application of code provisions, something the justice minister must know. Human rights commissions are not neutral investigative bodies but advocacy agencies with expansive agendas. In comparison, courts and governments play only a minor role in interpreting these statutes.

Traditional negative human rights give people the freedom to portray themselves as they wish without fear of retribution. Not so the new human rights

Second, Senator Donald Plett proposed an amendment to the bill that would have clarified that it was not the bills intention to require the use of particular pronouns. The minister flatly rejected it, as did Liberal and most independent senators. In fact, like its provincial counterparts, Bill C-16 will give transgendered and non-gendered people the ability to dictate other peoples speech.

Some senators expressed the view that forcing the use of non-gendered pronouns was reasonable because calling someone by their preferred pronoun is a reasonable thing to do. That position reflects a profound misunderstanding of the role of expression in a free society. The question is not whether required speech is reasonable speech. If a statute required people to say hello, please and thank you, that statute would be tyrannical, not because hello, please and thank you arent reasonable things to say, but because the state has dictated the content of private conversation.

Traditional negative human rights give people the freedom to portray themselves as they wish without fearing violence or retribution from others. Everyone can exercise such rights without limiting the rights of others. Not so the new human rights. Did you expect to decide your own words and attitudes? If so, human rights are not your friend.

Bruce Pardy is professor of law at Queens University. He testified against Bill C-16 before the Senates legal and constitutional affairs committee.

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Bruce Pardy: Meet the new 'human rights' where you are forced by law to use 'reasonable' pronouns like 'ze' and 'zer' - National Post

Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Mondaydenied that man-made carbon dioxide emissions are the primary cause of climate change.

Asked in an interview on CNBCs Squawk Box whether he believed that carbon dioxide was the primary control knobfor the temperature of the Earth and for climate, Perry said that No, most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in.

Perry added that the fact is this shouldnt be a debate about, Is the climate changing, is man having an effect on it? Yeah, we are. The question should be just how much, and what are the policy changes that we need to make to effect that?

[A bitter scientific debate just erupted over the future of the U.S. electric grid]

Perrys comments fall in line with what Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt said in a March interview on the program. Pruitt said then that he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming.

Both mens views contradict the conclusions of scientists at Pruitts own EPA as well as NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century, the IPCC said in a 2013 report. Citing the IPCC report, theEPA said on its website, now removed,that recent climate changes, however, cannot be explained by natural causes alone. Research indicates that natural causes do not explain most observed warming, especially warming since the mid-20th century. The EPA added, it is extremely likely that human activities have been the dominant cause of that warming.

On Monday, Gavin Schmidt, a top climate scientist at NASA, tweeted that a paper he co-authored in 2010 used an almost identical phrase in its title principal control knob as the CNBCs Squawk Box used Monday. But the paper published in Science Magazine warned about the danger of anthropogenic, or man-made, carbon dioxide continuing unabated. The paper said that the high rate of atmospheric CO2 increase was particularly worrisome and that the atmospheric CO2 control knob is now being turned faster than at any time in the geological record.

The Center for Biological Diversity took issue with Perrys comment about the oceans. Perry has the science exactly backward, Shaye Wolf, climate science director at the center, said. Far from being climate changes key cause, the worlds oceans are actually another victim of greenhouse pollution.

Wolf added, Our oceans absorb millions of tons of carbon dioxide a day, making them dangerously acidic. Theyve also soaked up most of man-made global warmings excess heat, putting tremendous stress on marine life.

Its true that over far longer time periods, other factors have driven changes to the Earths climate, such as wobbles in the Earths orbit around the sun. But in the most immediate period and in the current climate debate, scientists have made very clear that human emissions are the cause.

Perry said, however, that being a skeptic about the causes of climate change was quite all right. He said, this idea that science is just absolutely settled and if you dont believe its settled then somehow youre another Neanderthal, that is so inappropriate from my perspective.

Perry is scheduled to testify three times this week on the Trump administrations proposed fiscal 2018 budget.

Perry has long avoided getting pinned down on mankinds contribution to climate change, and he has said that action on climate change should be weighed against economic costs. Although Perry urged President Trump to remain in the Paris climate accord, Trump cited economic impacts when he announced his decision to pull the United States out of the climate accord. Trump drew on forecasts about impacts from a controversial report.

At his confirmation hearing for the energy secretary position, Perry brought up the politically sensitive topic, saying he believed the climate is changing and some of it is caused by man-made activity. He added then: The question is how we address it in a thoughtful way that doesnt compromise economic growth.

Citing Perrys assertion in his 2010 book that the planet was in a cooling trend, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked him how much he thinks climate change is caused by human activity. Far from me to be sitting before you today and claiming to be a climate scientist. I will not do that, Perry said, dodging the question.

Chris Mooney contributed to this article.

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Rick Perry just denied that humans are the main cause of climate change - Washington Post