Many voters choose to remain unaffiliated with a political party for various reasons. They consider themselves independent or may object to political parties in general or for specific reasons. These voters represent a substantial number of voters in the the state and should have a voice, in the party of their choice, in selecting candidates at party primaries. This would help assure that the state's political parties put forward strong candidates who are electable with the population of unaffiliated voters. It would also help strengthen the party system by attracting "no party" voters to vote in their primaries.

1 in 5 adults in the U.S. is living with a disability. Thursday, the House signed a bill called the H.R. 620, the inaptly named “ADA Education And Reform Act Of 2017,” that would weaken the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a critical source of rights for people with disabilities to architectural access in public accommodations—that is, businesses such as stores, restaurants, hotels, etc. H.R. 620: Removes any incentive for voluntary compliance. Rewards non-compliance by allowing businesses generous additional timelines, even though the ADA’s very reasonable requirements are already over 25 years old! The ADA is already carefully crafted to take the needs of business into account. Pretends that money damages requested from businesses are part of the ADA. Actually, this part of the ADA doesn’t even allow money damages, so changing the Federal ADA will not affect any state law money damage provisions. Ignores the extensive, free educational resources already available today to any business on how to comply with the ADA. Ignores the effective & extensive methods already available to courts and state bar associations to deal with a very few frivolous lawsuits or unscrupulous attorneys. We should use those existing legal mechanisms when needed, rather than deny the civil rights established by the ADA that aid people with disabilities every day. Look behind the media myths: The vast majority of ADA attorneys and plaintiffs are seeking solutions to fix real denials of access. But the business community has pushed the media to portray “a few bad apples” as a landslide. A good example of what might happen if this is signed into law: I get a job offer from a company that I find has a supposed "handicapped stall", but it only fits a manual chair. I can't use the restroom at all while I'm at work. A good example of how it may affect one living with a disability is this: I can go and complain that my power chair won't fit and ask them to make a change to the restroom. They don't have to do anything now but wait until I sue them. Then they have 60 days to show they are planning an accessible restroom stall. Then they have another 120 days to show they are making progress towards changing this architectural barrier. All the while, if I want to work there, I cannot get in the stall to pee! There are countless examples I could come up with as to how this bill would not help but harm the quality of life for those living with diverse types of disabilities. This bill is asking us to jump off a cliff and scream " Lord help me"

Texting while driving is endangering our lives on the roads. Drivers cannot be giving the proper attention to the road if they are texting.

To hold Facebook accountable for letting Russians influence the 2016 election by making them pay to secure our election systems around the country.

The new 5G technology has not passed any government safety testing. There is indisputable scientific evidence that “low-level” microwave radiation can harm human health. Action Requested: We urge you to halt the “5G” deployment and warn both the public and athletes of this reckless and insidious experiment. We especially urge an alert to athletes who were provided "5G" enabled devices such as mobile phones and computer tablets. These devices use a harmful new “5G” beamed technology that focuses radiation from cell towers directly to the user’s device. A product warning alert about “5G” microwave radiation will inform athletes and the public of the danger and advise them what to do if they experience immediate symptoms. It will also allow athletes to determine whether they wish to use these new “5G” electronic devices. Additional Background: As some of our planet’s finest young athletes, as well as residents, and visitors, gather in Pyeongchang for the Olympic Games, there is an insidious corporate experiment playing out. Korea Telecom, together with Ericsson and Intel, are using the Olympic Games to launch the 5G network, without any government safety testing. No one knows how this new 5G-microwave radiation technology will impact the delicate bioelectrical systems of human beings, plants, and animals. 5G includes higher millimeter wave frequencies never used before for Internet and communications technology. 5G also uses phased array and beam-forming technologies making these higher millimeter wave frequencies yet more potent. Instead of heeding the cautions of internationally respected scientists, these corporate entities are recklessly pushing to increase radiation exposure even more --- putting all humanity and the environment at risk. At the Olympic Games, unsuspecting athletes and the public have become guinea pigs for 5G phased array, microwave radiation technology. Athletes have been provided with special 5G-enabled tablets and mobile devices using a new beam-forming technology that focuses radiation from cell towers directly to the user’s device. Athletes and visitors could experience reactions such as nausea, dizziness, nosebleeds, cardiac problems, chest and head pressure, seizures, stabbing pains, and many other symptoms. More disturbing is that we already know that exposure to wireless radiation could result in harmful effects that may not surface until years later. What is happening in Korea demonstrates a reckless disregard for the health and safety of the Olympic athletes and the public. It blatantly disregards decades of research on non-ionizing radiation, and the recent warning of over 230 peer-reviewed published scientists from 42 countries to the United Nations and to the World Health Organization urging for more caution and greater measures to protect the public from non-ionizing radiation - the kind used in all our wireless technologies and 5G. https://www.emfscientist.org/index.php/emf-scientist-appeal Last year, 180 scientists, including two South Korean researchers, called upon the European Union to halt the roll-out of 5G until “potential hazards for human health and the environment have been fully investigated by scientists independent from industry.” https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B14R6QNkmaXuelFrNWRQcThNV0U/view We think that all Olympic attendees have the right to protect themselves from this serious invisible threat to their health. We demand that a product warning alert about the risks of 5G radiation exposure be immediately sent out to athletes and to everyone attending the Olympic Games. Links about health effects of radiofrequency/microwave radiation: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305689940_EUROPAEM_EMF_Guideline_2016_for_the_prevention_diagnosis_and_treatment_of_EMF-related_health_problems_and_illnesses (European Academy for Environmental Medicine’s EUROPAEM Guideline 2016 for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of EMF-related health problems and illnesses) https://wirelessaction.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/irradiated.pdf (IRRADIATED A comprehensive compilation and analysis of the literature on radiofrequency fields and the negative biological impacts of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields (particularly radiofrequency fields) on biological organisms) Links about 5G: whatis5g.info https://ehtrust.org/?s=5g http://whatis5g.info/health/2017/09/millimeter-wave-frequency-studies-and-reviews/ More about the 5G experiment at the Olympic Games: http://whatis5g.info/south-korean-oympics-and-5g/2018/02/stop-5g-launch-winter-olympics-south-korea-acute-public-health-reactions-likely/ https://www.opednews.com/articles/5G-launch-at-South-Korea-W-by-Nina-Beety-Athletes_Health_Health_International-180203-238.html http://fortune.com/2018/02/13/winter-olympics-2018-5g-networks/ Co-written by: Anita J. Prince, Nancy Wallace, and Katherine Kheel

To save history from those who are now misrepresenting history as well as to give jobs to the unemployed and invest in the education of those who want to be educated.

On 02/12/2018, Jeff Sessions did in fact make the following statement during a speech to the National Sheriff’s Association: "Since our founding, the independently elected sheriff has been the people's protector, who keeps law enforcement close to and accountable to people through the elected process," he said at the organization's winter conference. "The office of sheriff is a critical part of the Anglo-American heritage of law enforcement. We must never erode this historic office." There is no way possible for a man with these belief sets to be able to fairly preside over an office as his. These are attacks aimed directly at people of color of the United States and therefore I think a Motion of No Confidence is warranted. A motion of no confidence (alternatively vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, or (unsuccessful) confidence motion) is a statement or vote which states that a person(s) in a position of responsibility (government, managerial, etc.) is no longer deemed fit to hold that position, perhaps because they are inadequate in some respect, are failing to carry out obligations, or are making decisions that other members feel are detrimental. As a parliamentary motion, it demonstrates to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in (one or more members of) the appointed government. A censure motion is different from a no-confidence motion. Depending on the constitution of the body concerned, "No Confidence" may lead to compulsory resignation of the council of ministers or other position-holder(s), whereas "Censure" is meant to show disapproval and does not result in the resignation of ministers. The censure motion can be against an individual minister or a group of ministers, but the no-confidence motion is directed against the entire cabinet. Again, depending on the applicable rules, censure motions may need to state the reasons for the motion while no-confidence motions may not require reasons to be specified. These are attacks aimed directly at people of color of the United States and therefore I think such a vote is warranted.

People with severe disabilities like Ed Roberts founded the Independent Living Movement. Ed was assisted by personal care attendants for most of his life and neither he nor his attendants were subjected to technical surveillance and prohibitive policies that monitored their every move. Ed designed IHSS to be an utterly simple and deeply humane program that fostered living and letting live. In fact, it was precisely because he enjoyed the unhindered freedom to move and function that he accomplished all that he aimed for himself and us, his brethren, in the Independent Living Movement. His revolutionary Independent Living way of life was based on the notion that we may not be able to do many physical things for ourselves due to our disabilities but that we are still able to accomplish them with the use of assistive technology and the unhindered help of personal care assistants who respect our wishes and preferences in how to do things our way, when and how in the secure privacy of our home. The original IHSS was a very delicate and symbiotic relationship of respect and trust between us as personal care recipients and our personal care providers. The secure and private set up of that relationship is another form of the God-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness enshrined in the US Constitution, very much like a wheelchair is to one who cannot walk. IHSS is not like a business arrangement between animal handlers and a herd of cattle who have to be taken care of, an arrangement that businesses can manipulate with as much technology and control as they want. Yes, providing essential personal care services to human beings calls for funding the way we answer with food the problem of human hunger. But It does not give the government the right to violate our humanity and control and herd us like captive cattle. The outrageous insistence of government to force EVV on us or else is just truly sinister. Will this be another cottage industry to the home care and IT industries? The In-Home Supportive Services Program is only funded with IHSS dollars to make sure that disabled people don’t die, starve or suffer neglect because there is no one to feed, bathe and take care of them. The use of government funds to provide the personal assistance services should not force the loss of our civil liberties the way this intrusive EVV system exacts from the severely disabled who have no choice but to rely on personal care services. I’m sure that Taxpayers who fund the IHSS program would strongly oppose the use of invasive technologies that stifle the very basic freedoms that threaten their future when perhaps they themselves have to use the program. -Lillibeth Navarro

This is a very important issue to me. I'm very concerned for myself being LGBT and my brothers and sisters in this state that we shouldn't be discriminated against just who we are or love.

The Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition Tennessee (TTPC) invites you to help ensure equal opportunities for all Tennessee children. Every year some legislators insist on attempting to attack transgender residents, both children and adults. They repeatedly rush to spend taxpayer dollars to do so. This year, they intend to force the state to pay the legal costs of any school which chooses to discriminate against the children it's intended to serve or its own employees. This bill was already presented and withdrawn once this legislative session. Now Sen. Hensley and Rep. Holt have chosen to pick it back up. There are better uses of our state resources than putting trans children and school employees at risk to deal with imaginary issues. All children deserve equal opportunities, and our state needs to be inviting to new business.

I'm a local organizer with Tax March, and MfS has actively created conflict with our progressive organization by co-opting tax weekend and telling their local organizers not to work with Tax March organizers because we are working against the Trump Administration. Tax March is held on the one highly symbolic weekend of the year, whereas MfS is simply moving their event to a different weekend this year. Tax March has been active year round with the annual tax marches, #NotOnePenny and #RepealTheTrumpTax campaigns. We have been constantly advocating for social justice through a fairer tax code, and tax weekend is our biggest mobilization event of the year. I want MfS to respect our weekend, and either go back to their original weekend or choose another weekend that is not in conflict with a major progressive event around the country. I'm starting this petition as an individual community organizer who has organized and participated in dozens of local events and who marched in the 2017 MfS in my community.

Getting humanitarian crisis aid and protection of human rights into Puerto Rico is needed immediately, as FEMA is leaving the island very soon. Food, water supply, and aid distribution will be cut off. This is a human rights violation and it’s a humanitarian issue. We need to request the protection of the citizens of Puerto Rico. They are Americans. Mass genocide and erasing their culture is also a crime. I am Puerto Rican, this island is my second home, our roots are all there. My father Teddy Torres’ legacy as a foremost guitarist and creator of a seminal genre of music needs preserving for our children and grandchildren; he is part of the island’s diaspora. He was a veteran hiding in a Korean jungle for 3 days under a pile of dead bodies, waiting for rescue. In the Army, he served two Korean tours. He was also a part of the island’s musical and cultural history, a native of Caguas. I need this part of our lineage preserved. It is essential to me, my family, as are our customs, culture, and way of life. They are our greatest treasures. We want a free, healthy, thriving Puerto Rico restored. Help me save Puerto Rico.