As NBA superstar Kevin Durant recently said, "[M]arijuana is marijuana... I feel like it shouldn’t even be a huge topic around it anymore.” But it is if you're an NBA player. Players face a 5 game suspension for using marijuana -- even if the player lives in one of the 11 states (plus D.C.) who've legalized recreational usage or the 33 states (plus D.C.) where medicinal use is allowed. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver takes pride in being the most progressive sports league in the U.S., but suspending players for using marijuana--medically or recreationally--is out of sync with that forward-leaning image. NBA players generate $8 BILLION for the league's owners, and the players deserve the right to use marijuana without being punished for it. League commissioner Adam Silver can -- and should -- change this immediately. Sources: 1. "Kevin Durant thinks weed ‘shouldn’t even be a huge topic’ for NBA anymore," New York Post, Feb. 27, 2020 https://nypost.com/2020/02/27/kevin-durant-thinks-weed-shouldnt-even-be-a-huge-topic-for-nba-anymore/ 2. "How the NBA Makes Money," Investopedia, updated Sep. 24, 2019 https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/071415/how-nba-makes-money.asp

Our democracy is more important than Facebook’s profits. This year’s US presidential elections are in jeopardy—in part because global tech giant Facebook refuses to take responsibility for the lies, hate, and disinformation that are being spread using its platform. Facebook refuses to take down advertisements by US politicians that feature even the most blatant falsehoods. It freely allows microtargeting that directs disinformation at vulnerable communities that is hidden from everyone else. And its efforts to stop the spread of toxic lies and hate are too little, too late. Please join us to say enough is enough! Facebook must immediately prevent its platform from being used to spread disinformation and divisiveness that could disrupt our elections. We’re urging Facebook to: STOP THE LIES IN POLITICAL ADS Facebook should fact check advertisements placed by politicians and political campaigns. In other words, it should hold these political ads to the same standards it applies to advertisements that are not placed by politicians. As Facebook employees said in an open letter to company leadership, “Misinformation shared by political advertisers has an outsized detrimental impact on our community.” If you or I lied in an advertisement on Facebook, it would immediately be taken down. PROHIBIT POLITICAL AD MICROTARGETING Right now political campaigns can target their ads so precisely that they can pinpoint them to reach specific voters. The problem with this, according to former Federal Election Commission Chair Ellen Weintraub, is that “false and misleading messages may be disseminated in a way that does not allow people with conflicting information to counter those messages, because they won't see them.” Facebook already restricts targeting for industries with a history of discrimination, like housing. They should do the same with political ads. REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE TRYING TO DISRUPT THE 2020 ELECTION All businesses can refuse service to a person who violates their policies. Restaurants usually require patrons wear shoes and shirts. Facebook should require that users refrain from using the platform to disrupt the 2020 election. They can do this by implementing terms of service or acceptable usage policies that require users to follow certain rules about how Facebook can be used. AND MORE ... We need to reform Facebook to protect our democracy and our civil society. Facebook’s own employees have put forward an excellent set of recommendations that include spending caps for politicians and observing silence periods free from political advertisements before elections. Another strong set of recommendations was put forward by Change the Terms, which focuses on how the platform can enforce an acceptable use policy to prevent Facebook from being used to incite hate, fear and abusive behavior. Finally, a number of organizations make the case that the Federal Trade Commission should break up Facebook, which now has unprecedented power to decide what news and information billions of people around the world see every day. For more information, go to www.protestfacebook.org.

Our democracy is for sale. Superdelegates may be tempted to take dark money donations to vote for billionaire-sponsored candidates, denying true representational democracy to their constituents.

Chicago House and Social Service agency serves some of the most marginalized populations in Chicago. Communities that are experiencing homelessness, communities that are impacted by HIV and Trans women and Gender expansive communities. Chicago House Chief Financial Officer Andrea Peoples was arrested on January 6, 2020 by Chicago Police Department and Cook County State’s Attorney office charged her with felony theft. Andrea Peoples and two other “high level” employees defrauded Chicago House and Social Service Agency out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. This crime has put the clients, employees and community members at risk for losing access to housing, medical care, HIV prevention, legal, and case management. We can no longer put fiduciary trust in a group of people who did not sound the alarm as this robbery to our communities took place. We need new leadership that can be accountable and transparent to the communities it serves. Former Planned Parenthood Executive Charged With Theft https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/former-planned-parenthood-executive-charged-with-theft/9a813075-5073-4b83-9900-0b19ae5c867f

The truth matters. Accurate and fact base news empowers all Americans. These conspiracy theories are Russian Conspiracy theories intended to tear our nation apart. Help us unit our country with by sponsoring fact based news.

The very integrity of the United States and the Presidency are at stake. Our core values are being challenged and wrong is wrong. Period.

The ticket scalping industry has grown into an intolerable size that is seriously impacting the entertainment market. Fans, mostly teenagers, face skyrocketing prices that are often multiple times of the original price, with constant incidences fake tickets even. I am a student in China, and what just happened to me recently has awakened me to realize the severity of this problem in the ticket market right now. My favorite celebrity is hosting this concert in Shanghai, which I had been planning to go for months. I saved up a lot of money and finally got my parents to agree by studying really hard. I was really excited for this concert, however, when the tickets were out it was just impossible for me to get one from the website (大麦网) even with the help of my friends. All of the tickets were in the hands of ticket scalpers, and were sold almost 10 times as high. The original prices for about 480 yuan were about 4000 yuan, which was almost 10 times as high!!!Later, we found that the ticket scalpers had retrieved most of the tickets with machines called bots, which were much faster than human hands and allowed the scalpers to steal most of the tickets from fans. Further, most of the ticket-selling websites have not even installed CAPTCHA to identify machines from humans, which is what allowed most of the tickets sold to go into the hands of scalpers. We have to stop the ticket scalpers from breaking our hearts and devastating our dreams. There is no way to do this if we do not UNITE and say NO To this !!! Stop ticket scalping by enabling companies to install CAPTCHA !! 黄牛票一直是一个极其严重的现象，对文化传播，市场经济，和社会方面造成了极大的影响甚至于说困扰。人们对于黄牛票的报道从来都是暧昧不清，从未得到实质性的解决方案或态度。粉丝们，大多还只是青少年，常常面临着狂涨的价格无能为力。此外，常常还有粉丝因买到假票损失惨遭。 我是一名高二的学生。最近发生在我身上的一件事让我严重意识到了黄牛的严肃性。我一直喜欢的明星要在上海办演唱会， 我期待了超级久，也拿出了自己之前存的奖学金和红包钱存着。为了这件事我挤进了年级前十名，终于让父母同意我去了。我感到非常兴奋，但是，当晚抢票时我怎么也抢不到。得知所有的门票都在黄牛手中后，我带着最后的希望去咨询黄牛，却发现门票售出了近十倍的高价，从最初的价格约480元飙升到了足足有4000元，几乎是原来的10倍!!!! 后来，我与一些朋友调查发现黄牛们都会使用抢票机器（bots）在网上抢票。因为这些机器比人类的手快得多，他们由此才得以抢走走大部分门票，并且狂抬价格。此外，大多数售票网站甚至都没有安装CAPTCHA来区分人类和机器，这才使得黄牛得以抢走绝大部分的门票。 几年来黄牛市场已越发张牙舞爪，价格也越来越夸张。我们不能再无动于衷了。只有一起抵制黄牛，我们才能捍卫我们作为消费者的尊严，才能不让更多像我一样的人被喜欢的人的演唱会拒之门外。所以，求求大家了，我们一定要让票务平台在他们的系统上安装CAPTCHA,阻止黄牛。

This show caused so much harm to the health of contestants and viewers alike by perpetuating weight stigma. Since the show went off the air, we have research related to how weight stigma and yo yo dieting actually harms people in larger bodies. Additionally there is research from prior Biggest Loser contestants indicating long term negative effects: Participants not only gained the weight back due to a slowing of the metabolism but that participants had increased leptin levels that causes extreme hunger: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/health/biggest-loser-weight-loss.html From The National Association of Eating Disorders: “Weight stigma, also known as weight bias or weight-based discrimination, is discrimination or stereotyping based on a person's weight. Weight stigma can increase body dissatisfaction, a leading risk factor in the development of eating disorders.” https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/weight-stigma From Abbys Kitchen: DANGEROUS SECRETS FROM THE BIGGEST LOSER & MY PETITION TO MAKE IT STOP “A study published in the Journal of Obesity suggested that watching even one episode of the Biggest Loser increased hateful weight bias among viewers! This is particularly concerning to me when there are children watching, as it’s easy to sense and duplicate the disgust for fatness when they see it in their peers or even themselves.”https://www.abbeyskitchen.com/nutrition-dangerous-secrets-biggest-loser-my-petition-make-i/ From Today’s Dietitian: January 2018 Issue The Health Impact of Weight Stigma By Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, CD Today's Dietitian Vol. 20, No. 1, P. 24 “The health risks of weight discrimination are consistent with the observed effects of racial discrimination.8,35” Being the target of weight stigma increases the risk of poor mental health outcomes,36 including depression, anxiety, poor self-esteem, suicidal thoughts and behaviors, and eating disorders. These associations happen regardless of BMI, so it's unlikely that body weight itself is a cause.8” “Harrison says. "The majority of the clients I've treated for disordered eating cite bullying or shaming for their weight by parents, peers, coaches, or health care professionals as the initial trigger for their issues with food." https://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/0118p24.shtml

The Supreme Court will soon hear a case that threatens the existence of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an independent consumer watchdog championed by Elizabeth Warren and established as part of the Dodd-Frank Act. We are calling on Justice Kavanaugh to recuse himself from the case because he previously ruled on the underlying legal question, making it clear he is not impartial. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau protects us from scams and predatory lenders. A payday lender has brought a case that threatens the existence of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- and Justice Kavanaugh is poised to help the payday lender win. We can’t let its existence be threatened by a man who faced 83 ethics complaints.

It may be just an account to some of you, but to most of us who share our work, our art, and our TIME into these platforms as hobbies and ways to get away from life, we shouldn't be struggling just to get a WORD from some body behind Instagram. This needs to change. Terms need to change, because what would Instagram have left? Users running from their platform in hopes of better service.

Because it was the best sauce that KFC has ever had, and it brought so much joy and happiness to the people.

This is important because it’s so many young entrepreneurs that have so much to offer to the community and to expand their businesses. It would be a great dealbreaker for the mall and the entrepreneurs that are trying to create a brand for themselves. It also gives people a chance to explore and open doors for prosperity