Ms. Ziegler's conduct has been a continuous distraction from the business of the Board  — the education of our students, and the Board's stated commitment of "Every student every day."  At the May 7, 2024 School Board meeting she proposed a resolution defying constitutional officer responsibilities by refusing to uphold changes to Title IX. She claims she was protecting "our girls" while openly discriminating against certain students. This makes our students unsafe.  Ms. Ziegler has damaged countless students' lives and is an embarrassment to the Sarasota County School District.  She needs to resign or be removed. Join us in this effort. 

Hundreds of students have recently been arrested for participating in protests against the Israeli government’s war in Gaza at dozens of universities across the country. But blue lights and zip ties aren’t making students on any campus safer, and sending in armed troops will only increase the tensions — and the potential for tragedy. We don’t have to guess what that looks like because we already know: At Kent State on May 4, 1970, 28 National Guard soldiers fired into a crowd of thousands protesting the Vietnam War. They killed four students and wounded nine others. Those protests weren’t so different from the ones we are seeing today. From Columbia to the University of Texas-Austin to the University of California, Berkeley, and back again, young people across the country are exercising their constitutionally protected rights to free speech and assembly to protest horrific violence in Gaza. President Biden has an opportunity to show the kind of leadership necessary to meet this moment of crisis. As the protests spread, Republican governors could act unilaterally to bring more military presence to college campuses across the country. That’s why your voice is urgently needed today: Will you help us send the president a clear and crucial reminder that dissent is not a crime, and protest is patriotic?

90% of us will have a parasitic infection or bout at some point in our lives . These infections can cause life threatening health complications.   Please help us, as we have suffered entirely too long. Help us improve the system for you and your loved ones future's. We do this so no one will ever suffer the health problems, isolation, and possible suicide from feeling helpless.

Trump’s first term was chaotic and incompetent. But this time, MAGA is prepared with a detailed plan to quickly seize power and ruthlessly reshape America. Project 2025 is a 920-page document authored by Christian nationalists that provides a step-by-step blueprint to impose the MAGA agenda on every aspect of Americans’ lives and make Trumpism the rule of law. Their goal is the elimination of our freedoms and protections: eliminating Social Security and Medicare, corporate regulations, environmental protections, rights for LGBTQ+ people and religious minorities, contraception and IVF, resources we need for public education, and more.  Their plan also includes systematically sabotaging our elections for their own benefit. And they want to dismantle our democracy and its checks and balances by centralizing power to the White House, giving the president control of previously independent agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, and even the Department of Justice. As one expert, Mary Guy, warned in response to Project 2025, "Democracies have crumbled before, and that’s on the verge of happening here." Project 2025 details a concerted plan for how the MAGA movement seeks to control us, decide our futures for us, and take us backward. Instead of representing "We the People", they want to rule over us and for their corporate interests.  We deserve to know where our elected leaders stand on this extreme, dangerous blueprint. It’s time we sound the alarm about this MAGA vision and demand all Republicans in Congress go on record with their position on Project 2025. A banner at a protest against Project 2025 in Washington D.C. on January 27, 2024 (Credit: Elvert Barnes/Flickr.com)

The NFL has a responsibility to show respect to its viewers, including women, men and LQBTQ+. But, by letting Harrison speak like this they are instead promoting hatred towards women and the LGBTQ+ community. This needs to stop. If they don't punish him, they are stating that this behavior is ok and it is not ok. He is inciting hateful and outdated stereotypes, that do nothing but harm people. These stereotypes have been used to keep women and LQBTQ+ from being able to live their lives they way they want and instead forces them to live in constant fear of violence. The NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs need to send a clear message that this hatred can not be tolerated and they can do it by firing and banning Harrison Butker from the NFL. 

Right now—in 2024—in 27 states it's completely legal to discriminate against people for wearing their natural hair. Formal and informal "dress codes" are used to shame and punish Black people for wearing hairstyles that are consistent with their natural hair texture. And for many in the Black community, it's about more than just hair. Locs, twists, coils, braids, and other natural hairstyles are an expression of identity. Discriminating against Black people for wearing natural hairstyles isn't only a violation of civil rights, it's a direct attack on Black culture. And it has real-life consequences. Black people are being robbed of job opportunities, education, and their dignity all because of racist policies designed to make them tone down who they are. The CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair), a bill aimed at ending race-based hair discrimination in schools and workplaces for Black Americans and other communities of color, was just reintroduced in the Senate. Now is our chance to end hair discrimination nationwide. It's time to put an end to this. Sign the petition to urge Congress to pass the CROWN Act NOW so no one suffers the injustice of experiencing racial discrimination because of their hairstyle.

Our south San Diego community need to join us to ensure transparency and accountability, and to advocate for the proper allocation of the Special Education funds to benefit all children who rely on them. And to make sure their is a bright future of our children, every kid is different and they have the right to learn in their own kind of way. ____________________________________________________ Nuestra comunidad del sur de San Diego necesita unirse a nosotros para garantizar la transparencia y la responsabilidad, y abogar por la asignación adecuada de los fondos de Educación Especial para beneficiar a todos los niños que dependen de ellos. Y para asegurarnos de que haya un futuro brillante para nuestros hijos, cada niño es diferente y tiene derecho a aprender a su manera.

In 2008, an Albany county legislator tried to pass a resolution in opposition to the Iraq War. It led to an hours long debate on the floor, and what came of it was that Albany county decided that Resolutions would be used to codify things into law, while Proclamations which are not voted on, but legislators sign on to if they would like, can be used as an honorary/symbolic gesture of support. Recently, the Albany County legislature has decided they want to codify the policy around proclamations, more specifically they don't want to issue proclamations for controversial issues, or for issues that urge another body to take action. However, they have drafted a policy that doesn't outright exclude such proclamations from being issued. This is problematic because it gives rise for the policy to be applied in a potentially discriminatory manner.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian honor for Americans who have made exemplary contributions to the United States. Ruby Bridges has been fighting her entire life to fight back against racism, especially for children. She's an inspiration and role model to children and adults across the country, and she deserves to be honored as such. Books telling Ruby's story of racially integrating public schools in the south—including a book she wrote about her experiences—have been disputed or banned in schools across the country. It's the duty of our education system to teach kids the truth about our world while inspiring them to change it for the better. That mission is what Ruby Bridges embodied when at just 6 years old, escorted by U.S. Marshals through a crowd of violent protesters, she integrated an all-white elementary school in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1960. When Ruby took her first step into her new school she helped to usher in a new era of progress for America—one that Republicans are now trying to reverse. Republicans have launched an all-out assault on the free expression of minority voices and integral parts of American history. In a disturbing display of censorship, 2023 saw an unprecedented purge of nearly 2,000 books from school libraries across the country. These books primarily represented characters who are people of color or LGBTQ+, or tackled significant themes such as racism. These book bans are a blatant attempt to distort historical truths and silence the diverse narratives that are critical to understanding the full American experience. Tell President Biden: Ensure Ruby's story of bravery and triumph over racism is never forgotten. Sign the petition to award Ruby Bridges with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Since this conflict initiated, nearly 40,000 Palestinians (according to other sources, this number could reach close to 200,000, see information below) have been killed, over 90,000 wounded, and more than 1.7 million have been displaced from their homes, out of which numbers and for all categories above, nearly 50% are children including those under the rubble, and together 70% are women and children. The number of Palestinian children killed during this conflict since October 7th has been greater than the number of children killed in conflicts around the globe from 2019 to 2022 and it stands alongside the currently ongoing war in Sudan which began in April 2023, as it is also reminiscent of the killing rate since Rwanda in 1994 when comparing the total number of killed and injured civilians per day since the conflict began. The attack on children and women of this conflict is atrocious. It should not be allowed at this time of our human history and must be stopped immediately. On Wednesday 24th of July as Netanyahu prepared to address Congress, thousands of people gathered to protest his visit. Please read below: >"Over 130 Representatives and Senators decided not to attend Netanyahu’s address to Congress, including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and the likely Democratic nominee for President, Vice President Kamala Harris — far exceeding the 58 members of Congress who skipped his speech in 2015. As Netanyahu attempted to justify the slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, asking Congress for bipartisan support to “finish the job,” the lone Palestinian American representative in Congress, Rashida Tlaib, defiantly held up a sign that read “Guilty of genocide.” https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/2024/07/25/thousands-shut-down-the-capitol-to-protest-israels-genocide/?sourceid=1001761&emci=500e7860-a04a-ef11-86c3-6045bdd9e096&emdi=ea3eed58-a74a-ef11-86c3-6045bdd9e096&ceid=905615  From PalestinianSolidarityCC: • Based on Ministry of Health data, 351 martyrs and 893 injured arrived at hospitals from July 18-24. The Lancet estimates that roughly 186,000 Gazans have died due to the ongoing genocide since Oct. 7. Resistance News Network The Lancet • The virus which causes polio has been detected in six wastewater samples collected in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah. (ScienceInsider) • Poliovirus is highly infectious and has a 15-30% fatality rate. Putting thousands of Gazans living in crowded displacement camps at-risk amidst an overwhelmed and destroyed health system. (Resistance News Network) • The Israeli military is building infrastructure along the “Philadelphi Corridor” which indicates plans for a long-term occupation of the Rafah crossing. (The Cradle) • Monday morning, Israel launched a new massacre in Khan Younis killing at least 70 and injuring more than 200. • The attack by tanks, aircraft and artillery came minutes after the IOF ordered an evacuation of the area.  Hundreds of thousands were forced to flee with nowhere to go. (Aljazeera), (The Cradle) https://www.instagram.com/palestinesolidarity.cc/?hl=en

There's strength in numbers! Let's come together and urge our elected officials to do the right thing. Those of us who are fortunate enough to have a comfortable place to live owe it to those of us who are less fortunate. We can no longer turn a blind eye to the homeless situation in our beautiful county. If we allow their encampments to be torn down, where will they go? Please sign this petition so our county can give them a place to call home.

The Mayor has changed the locks, and only gave a 2 hour notice of the city's intent to ban the Club from use of this building. Also it has been hinted that the Garden Club pay a use fee for this building. Monies generated from Garden Club events always go towards improving the appearance of the City of Springfield, such as planting trees, cleaning up and planting in city garden. It is important to take pride in our town. We are growing in population, and a few of the abandoned store fronts are being renovated and filled by new businesses. The Garden Club wants to help this growth with our spirit, energy, pride, and esthetic improvements.