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(CALL TO ACTION) STOP the Passage of HB-22 EXPANDED OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE BILLThe Cincinnati NAACP and many organizations adamantly oppose the advancement of House Bill-22 (Expansion of Obstruction of Justice) because it is an arbitrary law proposal that will give more power to law enforcement to selectively penalize citizens. This bill allows police to increase the penalty of Obstruction of Justice up to a Felony against citizens simply exercising their right to free speech. The expansion of Obstruction of Justice is not only unnecessary but counter-productive to ongoing efforts toward better police and community relations. The current law reads as follow: ORC. 2921.32 OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE states: “No person, without privilege to do so and with purpose to prevent, obstruct, or delay the performance by a public official of any authorized act within the public official’s official capacity, shall do any act that hampers or impede a public official in the performance of the public official’s lawful duties.” There is no evidence of an increase in citizens impeding and preventing officers from performing their official duties. The current law as it stands is sufficient and addresses all acts that prevent, obstruct, or delay the performance of a public official. Adding failure to follow a lawful order and diverting the attention of a law enforcement officer will only broaden the scope in which law enforcement can penalize Ohioans. It is also extremely punitive to charge concerned citizens with the same level offense the accused is being charged. This regressive measure will only create more low-level felons in an already exhausted correctional system. HB-22 will lend more opportunity for police abuse of power, leaving citizens vulnerable and their rights exploited. Legislators and law enforcement who believe in our free society should never support a bill like this that attempts to thwart and penalize law-abiding citizens who exercise their rights to observe and record interactions with police and the public. If citizens witness police misconduct and have reasonable objections, the answer is not to create laws to penalize those good Samaritans, the answer instead, should be, to seek laws that welcome accountability and discourage police misconduct. Similar to the concerned citizens who witness police misconduct that led to the murder of George Floyd, they were within their rights to record the incident as evidence. As taxpayers, it is our right to freely approve and disapprove of Police conduct. Our inherit freedoms should not be left to the mercy of an officer whose tolerance levels could be biased. If HB-22 is made into law, it would only lead to more abuse of power that is subjective and discriminatory. Law Enforcement Officers receive first class, taxpayer funded training that provides an abundance of skill sets on how to work under pressure. We should not have to lower the bar and include unnecessary measures to Obstruction of Justice for trained professionals. Lawmakers must stop using every opportunity to strip away the freedoms and rights of citizens just to further empower a government agency that already lacks meaningful measures of accountability. If HB-22 becomes law, it will have a negative impact on peaceable citizens that could potentially face severe criminal charges for exercising their basic rights provided and protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Again, we are asking you to join us in opposing this bill by signing this petition to show lawmakers that you do not support HB-22 and demand the members of the Ohio House Criminal Justice Committee DO NOT ADVANCE THIS BILL out of their committee. Below are the hyper link email addresses to each member of the Ohio Statehouse Criminal Justice Committee. Please also send emails and feel free to use the points above for reason why the bill should not pass: EMAIL ADDRESSESS OF OHIO LEGISLATORS BELOW: CC: Jeff Lare District 77 R- email: Rep77@ohiohouse.gov DJ Swearingen District 89 R- email: Rep89@ohiohouse.gov Cindy Abrams District 29 R- email: Rep29@ohiohouse.gov David Leland District 22 D- email: Rep22@ohiohouse.gov Willis E Blackshear Jr District 39 D- email: Rep39@ohiohouse.gov Sedrick Denson District 33 D- email: Rep33@ohiohouse.gov Tania Galonksi District 35 D- email: Rep35@ohiohouse.gov Adam C Miller District 17 D- email: Rep17@ohiohouse.gov Phil Plummer District 40 R- email: Rep40@ohiohouse.gov Sharon A Ray District 69 R- email: Rep69@ohiohouse.gov Jean Schmidt District 65 R- email: Rep65@ohiohouse.gov Bill Seitz District 30 R- email: Rep30@ohiohouse.gov Andrea White District 41 R- email: Rep41@ohiohouse.gov21 of 100 SignaturesCreated by CINCINNATI NAACP
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Stop the Texas Utility Steal !!!More shortages and price gouging are planned for this summer for Texans on the ERCOT state utility grid. The extreme $9,000 (per megawatt hour) price hike energy law will continue to be applied. That law was created during past legislation. The Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) order used it for the first time during Winter Storm Uri. This petition's requested legislation is vitally and urgently needed and must be passed before the end of this legislative session to reverse the price hike order and to nullify the bad energy laws it cited. These conflict with and violate other laws including: Texas Administrative Procedure Act, the Public Utility Regulatory Act ('PURA'), Public Utility Commission rules, and due process rights. These emergency pricing decisions are not reasonably supported by expert advice or evidence regarding either shortages or costs or protections for the public. This moment in history is a tipping point for Texans. If this happens Texans can regain control over pricing and management of our public utilities. If this does not happen, the first time emergency price hike order will be approved by default (legislative inaction) and the first time payout to investors will initiate federal commodification protections for investor rights and creation of a new Wall Street hedge fund "Suppliers of ERCOT During Shortages" market which will include investor-owned suppliers of both water and energy to our state ERCOT utilities. Also NOAA long term forecasts predict very extreme heat and drought in the future starting this summer and extends these severe predictions over the next year. https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/two_class.php Regarding both energy and water utilities: shortages in one lead to shortages in the other, and price gouging in both. See Facebook Site "Water Angel - conservation" to learn how the emergency extreme energy price gouging happened during Winter Storm Uri and how the legislature and governor-appointed energy boards have been responding since the storm ended. Not all of this has been reported at once for YOU to see the BIG Picture until posted on FB site "Water Angel - conservation."34 of 100 SignaturesCreated by Tex Lonestar
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Congress Gave $10 Billion in Relief for Child Care- Make Sure it Reaches the ProvidersChild care facilities remain on the brink of closure! Please tell Colorado to give their child care facilities the funds Congress allocated for them. Please ask the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Child Care to provide better oversight of these funds. Please ask the General Accountability Office to investigate misappropriation of these public funds.71 of 100 SignaturesCreated by J S
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Naming the oregon inlet fishing pierHe deserves for his awesome memory to live on for a very long time. He was a very hard worker for this county1,143 of 2,000 SignaturesCreated by Sabrina Martinez
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Listen to Arizonans: Reject political interference in personal medical decisions and veto SB 1457In addition to threatening doctors with jail time for providing patients with the care they need, SB 1457 would lock into law ideological language defining when “life” begins and ban public education institutions from providing abortion counseling or referrals. Prioritizing this extreme ideological agenda does not align with Arizona values. Además de amenazar a médicos con penas de cárcel por proporcionar a pacientes la atención que necesitan, la SB 1457 pondira un lenguaje y ideológia permanente que define cuándo comienza la "vida" y prohibiría a las instituciones de educación pública proporcionar asesoramiento o referencias sobre abortos. Priorizar esta agenda ideológica extrema no se alinea con los valores de Arizona.1,609 of 2,000 SignaturesCreated by Caroline Mello Roberson
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Tell Congress: The U.S. must welcome refugees NOWPresident Biden is breaking promises he made on the campaign trail to follow in Trump’s footsteps and keep the U.S. refugee cap at an all time low. It’s abhorrent. Earlier this year, Biden pledged to raise the refugee cap for the next fiscal year to 125,000. Yet not even 100 days in office and his administration is backpedaling from that goal at a breathtaking pace — keeping the cap at 15,000 for the time being — and slamming the door shut on thousands of people who urgently need our help. If President Biden does not raise this cap immediately, the current pace of admissions will mean just 4,510 refugees will be resettled this year — far below the current limit and the lowest of any president ever. The U.S. has an obligation to open its doors to refugees. In fact, it’s a failed violence-first U.S. foreign policy that has driven displacement around the globe — exacerbating violence, systemic inequality, and the effects of the climate crisis — for decades. Congress must save the U.S. refugee resettlement program. Add your name to tell Congress to act immediately and stop Biden from further dismantling the U.S. refugee program.277 of 300 SignaturesCreated by Stephen Miles
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Tell President Biden: Keeping the U.S. refugee cap at 15,000 is a betrayalPresident Biden is breaking promises he made on the campaign trail to follow in Trump’s footsteps and keep the U.S. refugee cap at an all time low. It’s abhorrent. Earlier this year, Biden pledged to raise the refugee cap for the next fiscal year to 125,000. Yet not even 100 days in office and his administration is backpedaling from that goal at a breathtaking pace — keeping the cap at 15,000 for the time being — and slamming the door shut on thousands of people who urgently need our help. If President Biden does not raise this cap immediately, the current pace of admissions will mean just 4,510 refugees will be resettled this year — far below the current limit and the lowest of any president ever. The U.S. has an obligation to open its doors to refugees. In fact, it’s a failed violence-first U.S. foreign policy that has driven displacement around the globe — exacerbating violence, systemic inequality, and the effects of the climate crisis — for decades. We have to get loud NOW. Add your name to let President Biden know your disgust with his decision to keep refugee admissions at an all time low and urge him to increase the cap as quickly as possible.234 of 300 SignaturesCreated by Stephen Miles
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Simon & Schuster: Cancel your book deal with Breonna Taylor's killerBreonna Taylor was fatally shot by police officers, while she was sleeping in her apartment. She was only 26. Today, none of the three officers who fired into her home have been charged in her death. Now, they are now seeking fame and profit over Breonna's name and memory. The book, which is titled “The Fight For Truth: The Inside Story Behind the Breonna Taylor Tragedy" is a brazen attempt to rehabilitate the image of Mattingly, who still has his job and has never served time. Breonna has already lost her life due to the actions of this officer. She will never be able to tell her story. Mattingly shouldn't either.45,688 of 50,000 SignaturesCreated by Nandini Jammi
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Undo Asphalt 8 Spring Update changes to multiplayerWe’ve kept this game relevant for 8 years and have tolerated countless efforts by Gameloft to extract our money (ie, fusion coins, kit cars). The spring 2021 update has destroyed multiplayer and killed this game. WE WILL NOT GIVE YOU ANY MONEY until you undo the damage of this update.73 of 100 SignaturesCreated by Dan Meyers
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A Message From the Community to Emily PowellDear Emily Powell, You have addressed us, the Powell’s community, several times over the past year to offer insight into Powell’s health and challenges during the pandemic. We’ve appreciated those updates and your candor, as well as the acknowledgement that we, the community, play a role in the company’s success. We have responded to your letters with patience and online orders while the stores were closed, and our continued patronage and support now that they’ve begun to reopen. While the most recent community message came from the new Powell’s CEO, Patrick Bassett, we don’t yet know Mr. Bassett the way we’ve come to know you and your family over the years. We also know that because you are the owner of the company, Mr. Bassett's message carries your endorsement, so we would like to continue the conversation with you. Your workers — many of whom have devoted years, some decades, to Powell’s success — are what makes your stores special. Their friendly faces, depth of knowledge, and devotion to their work are what has kept us coming back for so many years. We were saddened by your announcement of mass layoffs at the beginning of the pandemic, but also heartened to learn that the contract between Powell’s and ILWU Local 5 would ensure your workers' rightful return to the workplace, in order of seniority, as jobs became available. We understood that it might take a while, but we trusted that on the other side of things, we would be able to walk into a Powell’s store, see a familiar face, and breathe a collective sigh of relief as things returned to some kind of normal. So you can imagine our dismay when we read the recent announcement and learned that many of those workers — who lost their jobs through no fault of their own — were no longer eligible to be recalled and would have to apply for their former jobs. That is unconscionable. We understand there’s some dispute over the language in the labor contract or what was agreed to in conversations between the company and the union at the onset of the pandemic. We want to be clear that this letter has nothing to do with either of those things. This is about what is kind and morally right. This is about going above and beyond whatever is minimally required by a labor contract or by law and showing compassion for the dedicated workers who have made Powell’s a success. This is also about what we, as a community, are willing to support, and frankly, we need you to do better. We, the members of the Powell’s community, ask that you immediately halt all external hiring and begin recalling your laid-off workers in order of seniority. It's the right thing to do, and we’re saddened by the fact that we even have to ask. Sincerely, The Powell’s Community2,107 of 3,000 SignaturesCreated by Bridget W.
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Sign Now: Support Biden’s decision to pull troops out of AfghanistanPresident Biden is set to announce that he’s withdrawing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. This is great news and a moment that wouldn’t have been possible without people like you pushing for an end to the status quo cycles of violence and endless wars. President Biden has done what we’ve been asking for for YEARS — and now we need to show up, loudly and publicly, to let him know we agree with this decision. Why? Because the administration is already being attacked for this move and if we aren’t loud now, the Biden administration and future leaders will be less likely to take the bold action we need to truly end endless war. Will you celebrate this decision and help create the space for more leaders to take bold steps to end endless wars by signing the thank you card for the Biden administration?24 of 100 SignaturesCreated by Stephen Miles
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Enough is enough. Minnesotans demand police accountability and an end to police violence!The time is now for our legislature to pass meaningful, common sense laws that will hold police accountable and make our families safer. The killings of George Floyd and Daunte Wright were not an anomaly. Police brutality is a real issue that disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous, people of color and low income people in Minnesota and across our nation. In Minnesota alone, there have been over 400 deaths from police brutality since 2000. The torture and killing of George Floyd in eight minutes and 46 seconds is perhaps one of the worst police brutality cases in our nation's history. This happened here, in our state, in our community. And the recent killing of Daunte Wright on the night of April 11 was another example of grotesque, unaccountable police violence. Daunte was shot dead just minutes after being pulled over for allegedly hanging air fresheners in his rearview mirror. In this moment as the entire nation and world watches Minnesota, we have an opportunity to lead the nation by passing pragmatic laws to promote safety, justice, transparency and accountability. Courageous Minnesotans are currently standing up for justice for all and peaceful protestors are demanding accountability and common-sense laws. Today, we are asking Minnesotans to demand Justice for George Floyd and all Stolen Lives by passing the following bills during this year's state legislative session. The bills would : End the Statute of Limitations for Lawsuits for Wrongful Deaths Caused by Police (HF 717, SF 2021) Strengthen Civilian Oversight (HF 640) End Police-Only Responses to Mental Health Crisis Calls (HF 1686, SF 1924) End Qualified Immunity (HF 1104, SF 580) Independent Investigatory and Prosecutory Body for Police Critical Incidents End Prosecution for Reporting Police Misconduct (HF 2201) End No Knock Warrants (HF 1762, SF 2139) Require Police to Carry Professional Liability Insurance (HF 440, SF 815) Require Access to Body Worn Camera Footage in Police Critical Incidents within 48 Hours (HF 1103, SF 807) A growing coalition of community groups including Communities United Against Police Brutality, Minnesota Disability Justice Network, Minnesota Justice Coalition, Racial Justice Network, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar, Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence and Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Minnesota demands police accountability and an end to police violence.64,461 of 75,000 SignaturesCreated by Mohamed Ibrahim, CAIR Minnesota










