Alton Sterling was a 37-year-old Black father of five selling CDs outside of a local store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He did not deserve to die. Yet here we are again. Another Black man slain by police. Another hashtag carrying the fury and pain of his community. And another family deep in mourning—in the same state that passed the 'Blue Lives Matter' bill to silence protests against police violence. On Tuesday night, Alton Sterling was selling CDs outside a local store, like he always does, when police arrived on the scene. The police tased him, held him down on the ground, and shot him in the chest and back. In the witness-recorded video, you can hear one of the officers shouting "If you f---ing move, I swear to God!" These officers have no respect for Black life, and must be held accountable. News just broke that the FBI and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division will be leading an independent investigation into his murder—and we have to keep up the pressure until they deliver accountability.

Alton Sterling was a 37-year-old father of five, highly active in his community. His killing at the hands of Baton Rouge police officers—caught on camera and now seen around the world—has reignited calls for police accountability and an end to the police violence that disproportionately impacts communities of color across the country. Alton was shot and killed by police while selling CDs in a convenience store parking lot. People are already speaking out to demand police reform and accountability. And the Department of Justice has already stepped in to take over the investigation. But CNN has chosen—again—to criminalize Alton Sterling by using an old mugshot, despite the many recent photos of Alton on Facebook and those provided by his grieving family. This is not how Alton should be remembered or portrayed, and CNN’s continuous use of mugshots to depict the Black men killed by police reinforces dangerous, racist images of the same Black men who are brutalized by police. CNN must do better. Tell CNN to honor the memory of Alton Sterling and to stop using mugshots in their coverage of Black men shot and killed by police.

I, as well as countless Americans, feel as though police officers and sheriffs need to be held MORE accountable for their actions and force used in EVERY arrest, case, traffic stop, etc., to ensure that their jobs of protecting Americans are fulfilled. We need to feel safer with the sight and presence of police officers rather than feeling more in danger with them.

The North Carolina General Assembly is wasting taxpayer money to pay legal fees to defend HB2, a suit they have no real chance of winning, just to make a political point. They are using money from the disaster relief fund to pay for this. If North Carolina is hit with the kind of flooding that West Virginia and Texas have experienced, or, as we enter hurricane season, if a hurricane damages a community, the fund to help will be reduced by a half million dollars.

This bill is harmful to public safety and costly to our communities and the entire state of North Carolina

Who was Kelsey Smith? On June 2, 2007, Kelsey Smith, an eighteen year old young woman from Overland, Kansas, was abducted in broad daylight, from a local Target department store. An hour after Kelsey was abducted, a signal from her cell phone was picked up. When law enforcement officials asked Verizon for the "ping" records that would pinpoint her location via cell phone, the family's cell phone company did not hand those records over, until three and a half days later. When Verizon did turn over the records, it took authorities 45 minutes to locate Kelsey's body. However, she was found dead, after being raped and murdered. What is the Kelsey Smith Act? The Kelsey Smith Act (H.R.1818/S.273 ), sponsored by U.S. Rep. Ron Este (R-KS 4) and U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), would require that wireless phone companies immediately respond to law enforcement requests for location information of victims who are in jeopardy of death or serious physical harm. Also the Kelsey Smith Act would aid more responsive coordination between law enforcement agencies and wireless cell phone carriers during emergencies involving missing persons. By passing the Kelsey Smith Act, lives can be saved. When a person has been abducted, or in an emergency situation, it is vital that law enforcement act quickly, which is why law enforcement need wireless carriers to cooperate with them in emergency situations.

I started this petition because I don't believe in any form of bigotry whether it's racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, speciesism, and so on. I don't think any species of animal should be pigeon-holed. It is up to us to fight for this cause and I might as well be an activist and help Montreal fight this egregious law.

Democracy is utterly meaningless if our votes cannot be verified. When we cannot trust the accuracy and fairness of the electoral process, we lose all trust that our votes are going to make a difference, and will we either become apathetic or we revolt. Our national leaders must act NOW to protect what is left of our faith in democracy. They must ensure that the 2016 general election in November is fair and verifiable across the entire nation.

The recent remarks by Pastors Roger Jimenez of the Verity Baptist Church of Sacramento California and Stephen Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church of Tempe Arizona in support of the killing of LGBT's in the wake of the Orlando shootings are both hate speech and incitement. No individual church that supports such positions nor any umbrella organization that tolerates such views should receive any aid - either direct or indirect - from any branch of government. To continue to provide tax exemptions to such organizations is to indirectly subsidize them via our tax dollars when instead we need to condemn and oppose such support.

I am a domestic violence survivor. Judge Foxman of Deland, Florida denied me an injunction for protection while my abusers were locked up, charged with battery with bodily harm. After I divorced my abuser, my kids were taken, brainwashed and alienated against me; 3 jobs, healthcare benefits, 5 homes, credit destroyed, all my possessions gone - I lost everything. My grandbabies are being taught the same vicious cycle of abuse. An undiagnosed malignant narcissist has made my life unliveable; justice revictimized me.

What kind of controversial security firm employs a mass murderer? The multinational corporation G4S is the answer, and the details are even worse. The Orlando Mass Murderer was reported by his coworker several times for using slurs against “gay people, blacks, Jews, and women” and also for “making threats of violence.” G4S should have done something. Instead, G4S did nothing and now over a hundred people — mostly LGBT and Latinx — are dead or seriously injured. If this were any other organization the government would have been knocking its doors down to investigate it for being complicit in terrorism. G4S does controversial security work for governments all over the world, including the imprisonment and deportation of immigrants. No one should be profiting off the imprisonment and deportation of human beings, much less a security company that fails to take action on security risks within its own ranks. Former G4S chief executive, Nick Buckles, probably described the values of the company best when he said: “There is nothing like a political crisis to stimulate a bit of change.” This was in reference to how the company was able to increase profits in the Netherlands after the assassination of a politician there. G4S should never be allowed to deal with a “political crisis” again. Take a stand against the bigotry and homophobia of the Orlando Mass Murderer. Tell your member of Congress to end all contracts with G4S and to begin an investigation into the multinational corporation immediately. Tell them to also end the practice of profit when it comes to the imprisonment and deportation of human beings.

We, as a country, have just been confronted with a horrific hate crime in Orlando which taxed our national blood supply. As a retired trauma nurse practitioner it's very frustrating to not be able to donate blood because I'm gay despite being in a monogamous relationship for 30 years.