Why are companies like Uber and Lyft so scared of commonsense safety regulations in Austin? Uber and Lyft, whose drivers are operating in our city, haven’t followed the same regulations as the rest of our taxi industry, and that increases the risk for us all. They are putting profit above safety because they think they’re unstoppable. And now they’re trying to bully our elected leaders in Austin, who approved an ordinance that phases in fingerprinting for drivers and stronger rules for identifying ride-share vehicles, to back down. Now Uber is trying to force the city to hold an expensive election to overturn this ordinance and are threatening to leave town. This bullying has got to stop. Similar regulations have been put in place in Houston and other cities, and Uber continues to operate in those cities without any problems. Tell Austin City Council members and our mayor Steve Adler to not give into Uber’s bullying and to continue to support commonsense regulations to keep riders safe and ensure drivers are treated fairly.

Facebook, you support our gender identities. You advocate for same-sex love. You help us tell our stories, make connections, build communities, and embrace each other worldwide. But actions speak louder than words. Katie Harbath, your Global Politics and Government Outreach Director, is participating in a conference sponsored by openly homophobic and transphobic communications network National Religious Broadcasters -- for the fourth year in a row. This same convention regularly features anti-LGBTQ hate groups and advocates of "ex-gay" reparative therapy, leading anti-immigrant organizations, and extreme Islamophobic rhetoric. If you truly value and support LGBTQI people around the world, there’s no excuse for Katie Harbath to openly represent Facebook at a right-wing conference. If you're serious about being pro-LGBTQI, Katie needs to cancel.

To peacefully protest the unlawful occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by the Bundy gang, lead by Cliven Bundy.

Systematic fraud on Wall Street helped spark a financial crisis in 2008 that cost millions of Americans their jobs and their homes. But federal prosecutors didn’t put a single Wall Street executive in jail. Not one. Instead, spineless regulators told them to pay a fine and asked them nicely not to do it again. It turned into a “get out of jail free” card for the big banks that break the law. You’d think the big banks would be happy with an enforcement system that is so tepid that they could bake fines into the cost of doing business instead of going to jail. But nope, the banks are demanding even less oversight. This week, Wall Street’s buddies in Congress are lining up behind a bill to make it harder to prosecute bank fraud. You heard that right: The House of Representatives will vote this week on the Financial Institution Customer Protection Act, a bill that would make it even tougher to investigate and prosecute bank fraud. Wall Street and their Washington friends don’t think you’re paying attention to what’s going on in Congress this week. They don’t think you’ll care about a complicated, jargon-filled bill that will weaken the rules for corporate criminals. Let’s show Wall Street that the American people are watching – and we want tougher enforcement on banks that break the law, not weaker. Tell Congress to vote NO on Financial Institution Customer Protection Act this week.

Bernie Sanders is the most progressive candidate this country has seen since George McGovern. Though running as a Democrat, he is taking on the establishment of both parties as being complicit in the takeover of the US economy and government by billionaires and corporations. He is even taking on the mainstream media and their corporate owners for their role in aiding and abetting this. If the president of MSNBC wants his network to have any credibility as a practitioner of unbiased, objective journalism, he should be very concerned about a show host who has essentially become a mouthpiece for one of the candidates. Chris Matthews has clearly jumped the shark in his blind adoration for, loyalty to and incessant promotion of one of the candidates for the Democratic nomination. Here is just the latest example of his shilling for Hillary Clinton. In this interview, he enables her fantasy narrative that her 2/10ths of one percent lead over Bernie Sanders in Iowa, a statistical tie, constitutes a win. And he can barely hide his contempt for Bernie Sanders when he spits out invective that he is not a Democrat, even though he is clearly running as a Democrat, in order to discredit Senator Sanders with the viewers. http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/watch/clinton-on-her-chances-in-new-hampshire-614386755972 Here is a magazine columnist's take on it. http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a41754/chris-matthews-hillary-clinton-interview/ Chris’ wife may be egging on his disgraceful behavior towards Bernie Sanders. His wife, Kathleen, is running for Congress just outside Washington, D.C. She has very publicly endorsed Hillary Clinton, has worked closely with the Clinton Foundation, is using footage in her campaign of her interviewing Hillary when she was a news reporter, is getting big bucks from Hillary donors, and her campaign is paying money to firms associated with Hillary. There is a clear conflict of interest between Kathleen’s new political career and Chris Matthews’ journalistic obligations to the public. Several women, including Sen. Sherrod Brown’s Pulitzer Prize-winning wife Connie Schultz and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s famous wife Maria Shriver, have taken leaves from their journalism jobs while their spouses ran for office. There is no reason a man should not have to do likewise. Please sign this petition to suspend Chris Matthews for the duration of the 2016 Presidential campaign. Either that, or he needs to give Bernie Sanders equal time on his show or charge Hillary Clinton for political advertising.

In 2012, the workers at Bröd Kitchen (formerly Hot & Crusty) on Manhattan's Upper East Side fought and won a historic campaign for fair and decent working conditions. In January 2016, on the eve of contract renegotiation, Bröd owners suddenly announced that they planned to close the location and fire all 19 union employees. These workers fought hard to keep the restaurant open in 2012 and 2014; their labor has grown the business and enabled Bröd to expand to West 4th St; and they deserve to keep their jobs and their contract! Defend The Hot and Crusty Workers Association! In an act of retaliation, and less than 24 hours after 200+ supporters rallied in support of workers at Bröd Kitchen (formerly Hot and Crusty), owner Hugo Uys fired the Hot and Crusty Workers Association President Mahoma Lopez, and worker leader Marcelino Cano. This is the latest in a series of attacks by Bröd Kitchen on the rights of working people. For months, after opening a new location, Bröd Kitchen has threatened employees to avoid bargaining with the Union. We demand the immediate reinstatement of Mahoma and Marcellino, and an end to all retaliation and intimidation of Bröd workers! We demand the company respect the union contract, and return to the negotiating table in good faith! The courageous struggle of the Bröd Kitchen/ Hot & Crusty workers was organized by Laundry Workers Center and documented in the award-winning documentary The Hand That Feeds. To see short videos of the people affected by this petition and learn more, please visit http://lwcu.org/campaigns/hot-crusty-workers-association/ and http://thehandthatfeedsfilm.com/.

The United States is just one of a few countries that allows drug companies to advertise directly to patients. The public is barraged on a daily basis with costly advertisements that offer misleading information, promote a pill as the panacea for everything, and drive up the cost of prescription meds. If we want to get health care costs, and addiction issues, under control and make genuine health and wellness a priority in the U.S., now is the time to act by demanding that Congress enact legislation to ban all Big Pharma advertising on television, radio and in print.

I am calling for a national month of no payments to Navient/Sallie Mae in the month of March 2016. I am calling for a march on Washington DC and in every major city of the United States to stop Navient/Sallie Mae from collecting another dime from students who have been paying this debt for years and cannot get out from under it until they retire or die, whichever comes first. I am calling on the Justice Department to further investigate Navient/Sallie Mae for abusive interest rates, and ruining the lives of previous students who cannot fulfill their aspirations in this Country. I am calling on the Justice Department to hold Navient/Sallie Mae liable for criminal intent to overcharge our young people who are students and previous students who will never get out of the debt. I am calling on the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau to alleviate the debt of students so that they can move on with their lives after sometimes paying 2, 3, and 4 times the amount of the original debt. I am calling on the Justice Department to investigate Navient/Sallie Mae with the Rico Act in addition to any other criminal intent. I can no longer stand seeing my daughter, after over 20 yers of payments for a small amount being charged 3 times that amount or more. Please sign this petition and let us get a class action suit going because Navient/Sallie Mae and the Federal Government will not adjudicate this issue. Please send your name, amount of original student debt and the amoutn of deb ensued and for how many years. The future of our Country depends on young people being able to help the nation's economy grow. It is not right now. Let us legally demonstrate and use the courts to bring Navient/Sallie Mae to their knees with the information you can provide.

What happened in Flint is a tragedy and can be avoided if the citizens are educated to the insidiously injurious actions of their elected officials. Our water rests in our State and our State is not for sale.

The DeVos family has underwritten the Michigan Republican Party's disastrous cost-cutting policies in Flint. They should help foot the bill for Flint's ongoing public health emergency.

Charter Communications has a dangerous plan to merge with Time Warner Cable, consolidating the two companies into a massive cable and Internet conglomerate. The proposed deal would further reduce competition and choices for consumers — likely leading to higher prices, less diversity, and poorer service. The cable industry already has a horrible record of diversity in ownership and programming, and this deal would make things even worse. If approved, the new monster corporation, “New Charter” would also increase the threat to the open Internet, which has created so many new opportunities for Latinos to organize our communities, create our own media, and start our own businesses.

I depend on watching Bernie2016TV to stay informed about and involved in the Bernie Sanders Democratic Presidential campaign. Our democracy is harmed when grass-roots political movements are censored, and our constitutional rights to freedom of speech and assembly are violated.