During the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19 Frontliners’ Healthcare, Fire/ Emergency Services & Police have been directly engaged in the defense of our nation during a historical time of arduous and dangerous situations while trying to protect our nations citizens, and infrastructure firm the fall out and possible collapse of the American and global economy. The brave women and men of this great nation who have and are serving in any of the aforementioned positions deserve the gratitude of the US government and its people just as the US Military receives during combat actions in our nations defense. As we see it, there are currently no differences between the current combat actions abroad and now here at home. The only difference currently is the common enemy. America is facing the global enemy of COVID-19 currently on our home soils. Many have lost their lives and lives of family members and friends in the line of duty against the war on “COVID-19!” While the rest of the economy is getting stimulus payments, moratoriums, and bailouts, healthcare workers, firefighters, emergency services and police departments alike have been hard at work, with little to no relief, in hazardous duty zones, risking our lives to save America and its people with little to no expectations from the American people except a simple “thank you!” We believe it’s time for the US government to step up and do the right thing in support of its frontline providers services to this great nation we call UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! United we have stood, and many have fallen and will continue to fall. Please, be kind, be compassionate like we are, and do the right thing. Provide us COVID-19 Frontliners’ Healthcare, Emergency Services & Police, Tax Exclusion Hazardous Duty Service! Thank you and Be safe America!

Banks in the US collected more than 30 billion dollars in overdraft fees in 2020 amid the public health crisis of Covid-19. For further reference, banks collected 19 billion in overdraft fees in 2019. Additionally, the average overdraft fee soared to $33.47. This is a deeply unethical practice, especially during a time when so many Americans are hurting financially and on the verge of losing everything due to no fault of their own. This is a call to action for an executive order from President Biden to stop this practice of charging for overdraft immediately, protecting the American people who bailed out some of these same banks a few years ago with their tax dollars. Please sign and share widely. Even if you haven’t been personally affected by this, someone you love definitely has. It truly takes all of us. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/01/banks-will-get-30b-in-overdraft-fees-this-year-heres-how-to-avoid-them-.html

We need to support the service industry. Anyone currently working with the public should qualify for a vaccine--I love teachers, and we need to support them, too, but if you aren't teaching in person, I'm sorry, you need to wait. These are the people who have been yelled at and spit on regarding mask requirements, yelled at and threatened regarding various shortages that have occurred, and deal with, BY FAR the largest number of strangers on a day-to-day basis. They can't get a living wage, yet... Can they at least be treated like the essential workers they are and get the vaccine ASAP? For efficiency, sending notices to businesses to post in break rooms regarding when employees will be eligible, where and how to sign up for appointments, etc., would help to get the word out to more people faster, rather than hoping everyone gets contacted in a timely manner individually.

It is an embarrassment to the city of Gainesville, education professionals, UF alumni, and higher education that the nation’s #6 public university is fighting against basic human rights. UF's treatment of their employees is garnering national attention. The university has chosen profit over people, consistently refusing to listen to the protests of their employees. In addition to creating an unsafe work environment, the University of Florida is violating workers' rights by refusing a majority of ADA accommodations. Furthermore, these policies are disproportionately affecting BIPOC and vulnerable community members.

While we believe in a free press and that censorship is offensive to democracy, FNC is gaming the system in a way that is demonstrably harmful. The recent political situation has vividly illustrated how many people have been mislead by FNC propaganda. For example, a large number of their viewers have been conned into believing there were election irregularities when none have been proven; FNC viewers are more likely to believe that the threat of COVID-19 isn’t real or has been overplayed; research has shown that FNC viewers are less well informed than viewers of other news channels. It’s also worth noting that OfCom, the UK broadcast regulator, has found Fox’s programming to be in violation of their impartiality rules for news programs. For these reasons and many others, we urge the Senate or the FCC under your oversight, implement ways to counteract the insidious effect of the Murdoch media conglomerate.

With Michael Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, showing up at the White House in January with written notes to give to Donald Trump that were instructions to overturn the election by way of martial law. I no longer think a great company like Costco should allow MyPillow a place to set up and sell their products. MyPillow should be banned from ALL Costco facilities, as Mr Lindell has engaged in treasonous behavior.

White nationalists and conspiracy theorists already attempted a failed coup on our government because they believe the election was stolen from Trump. After they overwhelmed law enforcement, they went back into our communities to stay at rental properties after some hotels closed ahead of their arrival. Now they are coming back. Vrbo should provide incentives for people to not rent out their properties in the DC metro area from Jan. 16th-Jan. 21st in order to keep our communities safe. Vrbo should follow the lead of Airbnb and provide funding to help those who are struggling and not rely on individual Vrbo hosts to cancel or block out reservations. Many Vrbo hosts rely on renting their space in order to make monthly rent or obtain another source of income as a result of the unemployment or underemployment during the pandemic. Also, many local DC Vrbo guests are don't have stable housing or are unhoused. Let's hold corporations accountable in actively fighting against white supremacy. Words are empty with action!

Lawmakers who knowingly spread falsehoods about the election, and then vote to undermine our democracy, must pay a price. Companies must recognize this and choose their campaign donations accordingly. We must pressure them to do so. As our congressional leaders weigh steps against Trump and members of congress who deliberately undermined our elections, let us force them to do the right thing by stopping the flow of corporate money: Enough is enough! As we go past Trump and into Biden's term, maintain the pressure: Enough is enough! As we move to the next election cycle, keep up the pressure: Enough is enough! Turn off the money spigots. Now.

The assault on January 6th, 2021 to our Nation's congress and our Capitol Building was an aberration, and a direct threat to our democracy. This violent attack was instigated by Mr. Trump and Mr. Trump Jr.. The rioters attempted to destroy the institutions that make us the strongest democracy in the world. These rioters displayed Neo-nazi, racist, and fascist symbols. As more footage of the incident is brought to light, we all are witnessing the violent nature of the groups that forced themselves into The People's House. A police officer was murdered and four other people died in this violent event. It is one of the darkest days in the history of our country. We must make sure that his name is not glorified in any way, because if we do not act we will have normalized the behavior Mr. Trump and his rioting mob of followers displayed. We Chicagoans and Americans ask you to do what is in your power to remove the sign that is now a stain to a city we are proud to call home. Thank you.

On January 6th, 2021, a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to block the U.S. Congress from certifying Joe Biden's election as President of the United States. Thanks to poisonous right-wing propaganda from Fox News and others, millions of Americans now believe the total lie that Donald Trump won the 2020 elections. There is zero evidence to support this propaganda, and U.S. courts have repeatedly rejected such claims. It is time to hold corporate advertisers and right-wing donors publicly accountable. We must stop their support for insurrectionist politicians and propaganda platforms that threaten the survival of our democracy.

Back in June, an OAN host suggested that “traitors" who "stole" the election should be executed. OAN spreads dangerous messages like these every single day, powered by the income from AT&T.  And court records show that not only does AT&T provide tens of millions of dollars in revenue for OAN, AT&T allegedly proposed the idea of a right-wing show for its satellite service, DirecTV, the only cable provider that gives OAN a platform to spread its dangerous messages. Even OAN lawyer Patrick Nellies acknowledged that if OAN loses or isn’t renewed by AT&T's DirecTV, the company would “go out of business tomorrow,” which shows just how much power AT&T has to stop OAN. And AT&T isn’t just giving a platform and singlehandedly bankrolling conspiracy theory network OAN, it also donated almost $300,000 to the Texas lawmakers who sponsored or co-sponsored the horrible abortion ban. Unfortunately, that’s not all. AT&T was also among the corporations that committed to stop donating PAC money to Republicans who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election and fueled the insurrection, but it broke that commitment and has since donated thousands, hoping we wouldn't notice. AT&T is fueling attacks on our democracy by propping up and enabling white supremacy propaganda and conspiracy theory network OAN and by funneling PAC donations to insurrectionists. AT&T must drop OAN from DirecTV now.

As long as a large national platform like Parler is allowed to spread incendiary rhetoric, attacks on our government and country are likely.