January 2017, an amendment to a Missouri statute will take effect. This change will affect students, schools, and our communities. Justice and liberty are at stake; a law that could potentially stifle an education before it begins, disproportionately affect citizen votes, and further disenfranchise citizens must be repealed. Don't sentence our children for the crimes of our society. There are multiple outlets to learn more about this issue. Here are some: https://www.google.com/amp/fox2now.com/2016/12/21/fighting-at-school-could-result-in-felony-charge/amp/ http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/12/missouri-statute-feeds-school-to-prison-pipeline/ http://thefreethoughtproject.com/school-fights-felony-prison-pipeline/ You can also call your state representatives to affect change: http://www.house.mo.gov/member.aspx

I am doing this petition, so we can show how many people support diversity. We need to show that everyone should be treated the same and that is something that will make a successful country. "Our diversity is not a source of weakness; it is a source of strength, it is a source of our success." - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell

John R.K. Howard is a menace to society. He and two juvenile perpetrators allegedly ganged up on a mentally disabled Black teenager and sodomized him with a coat hanger in October 2015. According to the original lawsuit, this young Black man also had a history of being taunted by Howard and other classmates with racist names, including "Kool-Aid," "chicken eater," "watermelon," and the N-word. The youth had to be hospitalized for rectal injuries from the assault. In May 2016, the Idaho attorney general originally charged Howard with sexual assault, but in October 2016 this charge was lowered to felony count of injury to a child. As a result, Howard will be sentenced to just two to three years of probation and up to 300 hours of community service. To add insult to injury: The Alford plea which Howard submitted allows him to maintain his "innocence" even though it is very likely that prosecutors would have won a conviction against him if the case had gone to trial. Once again, we have a brutal case of racial violence, of white on black crime, and the white perpetrator literally walks away, while the Black victim and his family are left to deal with violent memories and physical injury and the fact that the legal system failed to grant them the justice they deserve. Americans are sick to death of one travesty of justice after another in response to racially motivated crimes. This is an alleged double hate crime inspired by prejudice against both race and disability. We demand justice for our fellow Americans!

"Voter Fraud" by individuals is a myth that has been proven virtually non- existent. "Election Fraud", tampering with Voters and Votes by organizations is highly illegal and very alive in America. Research long before 2016 identified many systematic ways Poor and Minority voters are disenfranchised. When confronted with several well documented vote purging strategies, the Michigan recount was canceled. Recounting votes reported Election Day may produce insignificant results. The number of votes disqualified in Michigan is 7.5 times the amount Trump allegedly won by. The same is true of most other swing states. If only 15% of these votes were unconstitutionally invalidated, the election reverses.  The gutting of the Voting Rights Act brought back the formerly illegal and confidential Interstate Crosscheck System and many other tricks used to purge votes in Red States. Until a thorough investigation of all disqualified votes, discriminating tactics, and “spoiled” ballots takes place, there is no way to know who truly won this election. This should concern both Trump and Hillary voters. There will be no coming together of disparate ideologies or races while this Jim Crow shadow still hangs over America. If there's anything we've learned in 2016, it’s throw out the rules. Our elections are verifiably fair or not. Left or Right the issue is the truth, and the time it takes to agree on it is an insignificant price to pay considering the alternative. What better time than now, while the iron is hot? Every citizen owes it to America to demand the truth, and our Government owes it to us to secure it without hesitation. http://www.gregpalast.com http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/republican-voting-rights-supreme-court-id

Russia interfered in our presidential election to help Donald Trump win. Hostile foreign governments shouldn't be allowed to threaten our democratic process. This affects all American citizens. We deserve to know what happened.

The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), California's giant pension fund, owns a major chunk of Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the fracked-oil Dakota Access Pipeline through the Standing Rock Sioux sacred lands in North Dakota. As of December 8, CalPERS owns 1,064,034 shares worth $36.8 million. In addition, CalSTRS, the schoolteachers' retirement fund, owns debt securities (bonds) worth $28.7 million. They used to own a lot of coal stock, too, until I wrote a resolution that ultimately became law (SB 185, 2015) requiring them to divest from coal. Now I've started a petition to CalPERS and CalSTRS to divest from Energy Transfer Partners. California retirees shouldn't be investing in this pipeline--investing in the destruction of their children's future. The pipeline is intended to carry fracked crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken shalefields through North and South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois. In the process of construction, Energy Transfer Partners has already damaged numerous sacred sites and would drill under the Missouri River, the sole drinking water source of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The Army Corps of Engineers denied the permit to drill under the Missouri, but we expect the incoming Trump administration to ram the project through--if investors like CalPERS and CalSTRS keep backing this foolhardy project. If CalPERS and CalSTRS don't voluntarily divest, the California legislature will consider a bill, AB20, to require divestiture by 2018. So the smart money is on getting out of a climate-destroying project early. These pension funds are overseen by boards that include union and public officials, including California Treasurer John Chiang and Controller Betty Yee. They are directly accountable to the people of California and have a responsibility to all people to make ethical and responsible investments. I'm prepared to take on this fight again. But I need your help.

Donald Trump's Twitter following keeps increasing, and the days until he takes office as POTUS are dwindling. The president-elect uses his Twitter platform to incite abuse and threaten the safety of individuals who criticize his dangerous rhetoric. His Twitter is a potential (if not existing) threat to national security and the safety of individuals, groups, and organizations he targets. Taking away his Twitter platform (a social media channel he is known to use wrecklessly) will force him away from some of the spotlight he craves, and help protect those he targets.

Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Keith Ellison is campaigning to become the next leader of the Democratic Party. Keith's candidacy represents the idea that while we must never yield an inch in defending the promises of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights for all of our fellow Americans - regardless of the color of their skin, or where they were born, or how they pray, or whom they love - when we go to fight elections, our economic justice agenda must be front and center. Unfortunately, bad-faith actors have unleashed a scurrilous smear campaign against Keith, which some fear may derail his candidacy. Show your support for Keith's candidacy and your condemnation of the smear campaign against him by signing our petition. References: Key Keith documents: Keith platform: https://keithfordnc.org/platform/ Keith endorsements: https://keithfordnc.org/endorsements Keith statement on Medium: https://medium.com/@ellisonforcongress/listening-more-talking-less-2bb36e171dca Keith open letter to the ADL: https://twitter.com/keithellison/status/804452986110013440 Important pushback against the smear campaign: J Street: http://jstreet.org/press-releases/continuing-attacks-congressman-ellison-seek-silence-legitimate-positions-israel/ Americans for Peace Now https://peacenow.org/entry.php?id=21512 Bend the Arc: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/bendthearc/ellison JVP: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/jvp/ellison R. Marc Schneier: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/jta/ellison Emily Hauser https://twitter.com/emilylhauser/status/805500893332439041 Chuck Schumer: https://twitter.com/gdebenedetti/status/804460430785650689 Bernie Sanders: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/bernie-sanders-support-keith-ellison-231185 http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/keith-ellison-dnc-resistance-231575 Randi Weingarten: https://www.facebook.com/randi.weingarten.9/posts/10154757721829524 JJ Goldberg: http://forward.com/opinion/355950/no-the-keith-ellison-tape-isnt-anti-israel-and-shouldnt-torpedo-his-democra/ Jay Michaelson: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/02/squabble-over-keith-ellison-reveals-dilemma-for-democrats-on-israel.html Ilya Sheyman: http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/1707 Gene Sperling: https://twitter.com/genebsperling/status/804532939912609792 Glenn Greenwald: https://theintercept.com/2016/12/04/the-smear-campaign-against-keith-ellison-is-repugnant-but-reveals-much-about-washington/

Because time is of the essence, and President Obama can make reparations to Native Americans and change the course of history before he leaves office.

To protest the divisive and destructive cabinet picks of Steve Bannon and Jeff Sessions by Donald Trump. Although white supremacy and racial discrimination pose dangers that are unique to specific segments of the citizenry, the 2016 presidential election demonstrated that they present a combined threat to American democracy and stability and therefore endanger all citizens.

I am extremely alarmed that the violation of human rights at Standing Rock may set a precedent for the future. President Obama's silence is hard to believe. He should take a stand against these violations as a way of representing the voice of Americans who find the treatment of Standing Rock protesters to be a shameful episode in our history.

Inspired by statements by Senators Bernie Sanders, Tom Udall, Al Franken, Cory Booker, and Martin Heinrich, among a few others, I wrote this petition for this reason alone: under the coming administration, we must prevent continued inexcusable brutality, violence, tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, high frequency sound waves, and attack dogs from further injuring the Sioux, other Native Americans, and their supporters encamped at Standing Rock, several key United States Senators have spoken out already. This petition is directed to them. These Senators include incoming California's incoming Kamala Harris and North Dakota's Democrat Senator Heidi Breitkamp, plus Senator Durbin, Senator Schumer, and Senator Patty Murray, the 3 Senate Democrats in leadership positions. We ask them to enlarge their roles by going beyond speeches, and to personally visit Standing Rock, meet with the opposition, including law enforcement and the corporations involved to make reasonable progress, and to reach a workable non-violent resolution that respects the wishes of the Standing Rock Sioux.