When a New York Assembly seat opened unexpectedly, the outcome was settled long before voters had a say. The loss of the state’s only vegan legislator reveals how special election rules and party-controlled processes can quietly erase ethical representation — even in districts that once elected it.
Author: Brandy W. Walt-Rose
The Dangers of a Divided America
In Federalist No. 5, John Jay warns that separate American confederacies would drift toward rivalry and conflict — making unity essential for lasting peace.
Record ICE Detention Levels Raise Alarm as 2025 Surges Past Previous Years
Record-high detention numbers are reshaping the U.S. immigration landscape in 2025. ICE is now holding more than 65,000 people—most with no criminal convictions—marking the largest detainee population in the agency’s history. A year-to-year comparison shows detention levels nearly doubling since December 2024, raising urgent questions about enforcement priorities, capacity, and the human impact of prolonged civil detention.
When Women’s Health Is Treated as an Afterthought
When trace metals were detected in tampons, panic wasn’t the real problem — policy failure was. The viral reaction exposed a deeper truth: menstrual products used inside the body for thousands of hours over a lifetime remain under-regulated, under-researched, and insufficiently transparent.
Maple-Pecan Sweet Potatoes
Caramelized sweet potatoes tossed in warm maple syrup and topped with buttery toasted pecans — a simple, cozy winter side dish perfect for Yule gatherings and cold solstice nights.
Why a United America Is Safer From Foreign Ambition
In Federalist No. 4, John Jay explains that foreign nations are less likely to challenge a strong, unified America — making unity essential to preserving peace.
Holiday Consumerism vs. Planetary Reality: Why Ethical Gifting Matters More Than Ever
Mid-December marks the peak of America’s most waste-intensive season — a surge in trash, factory-farming output, and environmental harm often hidden behind holiday cheer. Ethical gifting offers a way to resist the cycle and align the season with compassion, sustainability, and planetary reality.
The Tarantula and the Storm
When a fierce desert storm threatened every creature underground, it was the gentle, misunderstood tarantula who held the earth together with silk and courage.
2025 Animal Year in Review: Policy Shifts, Global Labels, and Rising Scrutiny of Exploitation
From global food labels to wild-horse roundups, 2025 pushed animal issues into the center of climate, policy, and public-health debates. New transparency laws, plant-based investment, companion-animal protections, and growing scrutiny of industrial livestock marked a year in which governments could no longer ignore the ethical and environmental costs of animal exploitation.
America’s Debt Reckoning: Why Fiscal Ethics Must Lead the Way
The United States finds itself with war-level debt in peacetime, a generational burden no child asked for, and a currency system that rewards the rich and punishes the rest. If we do not restore fiscal ethics, the vulnerable will be the first to be sacrificed—human, non-human and environmental alike. The time for leadership is now.
Peace, Safety, and the Strength of a Unified Nation
John Jay argues that a strong national government is essential for preventing conflict and protecting America’s peace — a truth that remains relevant in an interconnected world.
Yule Morning Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Soft, sweet, and warmly spiced, these vegan cinnamon rolls are the perfect Yule morning ritual—golden spirals of cinnamon sugar topped with a melting vanilla glaze to welcome the return of the light.
Unity as the Safeguard of Liberty
John Jay argues that America’s survival depends on national unity — a truth that remains as essential in the 21st century as it was in the founding era.
Rethinking Pearl Harbor Through a Humane Lens
On December 7, America remembers Pearl Harbor—but remembrance means more than ritual. The Humane Herald examines the war’s true cost: human suffering, environmental devastation, emergency powers, and the birth of a militarized state. To honor history, we must confront the systems that make war inevitable—and choose a humane alternative.
Abolition Day
Abolition Day marks the ratification of the 13th Amendment—an end to legal slavery, but not an end to the forces that shaped it. For the Humane Party, this day is both remembrance and responsibility, a reminder that abolition was a beginning and that the deeper work of justice remains unfinished.
the ones who were never meant to rise
A rising voice speaks from the margins, where humans and animals share the same bruised earth and the same hunger for freedom. This poem follows the underdogs—the silenced, the overlooked—as they discover the rebellious power of standing up together.
