Once again, Wall Street hopes to attach dangerous and widely unpopular deregulation measures to a “must-pass” omnibus spending bill. Lobbyists are telling their allies they’re putting the “pedal to the metal” and going “all out” to get their way. As a part of their frenzied push, they’re also taking cheap shots at Senator Elizabeth Warren and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with ridiculously over-the-top attack ads. The banks know the year-end spending bill is their best shot – so they’re working every angle they can. Don’t let them succeed. Tell your representatives in Washington that they need to stand up for consumers, and for the public, and not let Wall Street take the budget hostage.

This is part of an on-going effort to get a small donor matching system in Chicago elections. Last February 80% of City voters said yes they support such a system. This would enable more ordinary citizens to run for office and promote fair elections.

Derrell Odom fought in Iraq and earned a Purple Heart serving our country. Now, he struggles to get by on the minimum wage pay he makes at KFC. Even worse: his bosses are stealing from him. Through illegal accounting tricks like shifting hours on paychecks to avoid paying overtime, the KFC franchise where Derrell works is keeping his wages down to bolster their bottom line. This KFC store needs to STOP stealing from Derrell now - and KFC needs to ensure that no employee ever has their wages stolen again at any store.

Muslims are being attacked in America on a daily basis due to vitriol and hate after the Paris attacks. We cannot allow politicians or public officials to spread a hateful message without push back. We must demonstrate that only love can conquer hate; we must drown out their hateful messages with statements of love and solidarity for those targeted by racist, xenophobic violence.

Post production costs are taken out of royalties, gouging landowners.

This is to urge the LAUSD school board to immediately rescind its contract with TFA for special education services. Our most vulnerable students deserve the most qualified professionals possible. Los Angeles Unified School District ratified a contract with Teach For America to provide trainees to fill 25 teaching positions in special education at its November 10, 2015, board meeting. There was no debate on the matter; it was hidden in the consent calendar with attachments of attachments buried deep. While Board member Dr. George McKenna raised important questions about TFA’s retention rate and its commitment to our students, the answers he was provided were misleading because they rely on unchecked data from TFA itself, according to a report in American Prospect (1/5/15). The truth is 87% of TFA recruits plan to leave teaching after their internships end, according to a recent article in Bloomberg News (3/9/15). LAUSD was only the most recent stop by TFA on a statewide campaign over the last few months making the same claims about the need for special ed TFAers. Most school districts from Chula Vista to Santa Ana resisted the sales job after public outcry. But those districts held actual discussions about the controversial contracts with TFA. LAUSD senior staff needs to go back to the drawing board to create partnerships with reputable teaching programs to recruit teachers who will be qualified on Day 1 and are likely to remain committed to the teaching profession. TFA is one of the tools that Eli Broad is using to attack our schools and undermine the very fabric of the public school system in Los Angeles (his foundation is a top funder of TFA). Our elected leaders just endorsed that by approving this contract. It should be rescinded immediately. We are a coalition of public education advocates that includes: Tina Andres, Santa Ana Unified teacher and special education parent Jameson Brewer, Ph.D. candidate, former TFA Anthony Cody, co-founder/board member Network for Public Education Josh Leibner, National Board Certified Teacher Cynthia Liu, K-12 News Network Ellen Lubic, Joining Forces for Education Carl Petersen, Change the LAUSD Sari Rynew, retired teacher Robert D. Skeels, Juris Doctor Candidate and public education advocate Julian Vasquez Heilig, Ph.D., Cloaking Inequity/Education Chair, California NAACP/board member, Network for Public Education Karen Wolfe, PSconnect Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

As the Democratic primaries are showing with increasing insistence, it matters where you campaign money comes from. Large corporations do not give millions of dollars without expecting something in exchange. We have also learned that corporate interests are at extreme variance with citizens' interests. There is no time during this cycle to clean up the campaign contributions system, so the candidates must demonstrate their integrity by refusing corporate money.

It's time corporations start allowing their "partners" to have time with their families for the holidays. No more corporate greed!

As a sexual assault advocate, I believe we all have to work together to prevent sexual violence.

2015 has revealed serious problems with the presidential selection process for regional Federal Reserve Banks. First, Federal Reserve Banks rebuffed requests for transparency and public input. Then, vacancies at the Philadelphia and Dallas Federal Reserve Banks were both filled with individuals involved in their own selection. Now, with the Minneapolis Fed’s selection of Neel Kashkari, all three spots have been filled by former Goldman Sachs insiders, an outcome that undermines the Fed’s claim of independence from influence by major banks. Sign our petition now to demand Janet Yellen commit to reforming the presidential selection process by requiring that each regional Fed bank establish: 1. A public list of candidates being considered for the position of Reserve Bank president. 2. A town hall opportunity for the public to ask questions of the current Reserve Bank president and the chair of the board of directors that is leading the process. 3. A commitment to interviewing at least three candidates who are not Wall Street bankers for the position of Fed President.

Dear Friends and Allies, Building off the momentum from the success of the Soil Not Oil Conference, we are reaching out to invite you to support THE SOIL NOT OIL PLEDGE, as part of our ongoing campaign in defense of soils worldwide. (Please forward widely)

**Please add a comment when you sign in order to ensure that with every signature, a copy of our petition is delivered directly to our targets' inboxes! Most of us already know of the problems of Aramark in UChicago's dining halls: poor quality food, incorrect allergen labelings, shortages of dishes and failed health inspections. But the problems with Aramark extend far beyond our dining halls. Aramark is a massive corporation, with a revenue of almost $15 billion in 2014. And Aramark makes many of these profits from prisons, which means Aramark is a major beneficiary of the prison industrial complex. Aramark provides food in over 600 prisons and has been under fire for years for prisoner abuse: -In Ohio, Aramark failed to provide sufficient food and understaffed their kitchens. There were allegations of relationships between inmates and Aramark workers, and maggots in the food preparation area. -The state of Michigan canceled its contract with Aramark after food which had been thrown in the trash, partially eaten by rodents or allowed to rot was served in prisons. -In New Jersey, prisoners were underfed, causing persistent hunger, and Aramark gave them food which made them sick for days. -Aramark employees have been charged with delivering marijuana and cell phones to prisoners and having sex with prisoners. Dozens of Aramark staff have been banned from Michigan state prisons because of their actions. -And this barely scratches the surface; there are hundreds of documentations of misconduct by Aramark, the majority of these cases in prisons. -These conditions have lead to demonstrations, hunger strikes and protests by prisoners in Ohio, New Mexico, Kentucky and elsewhere. In 2011, Indiana’s ACLU filed a lawsuit against the Department of Corrections because of the substandard food Aramark provided. Mass incarceration exists because it is profitable. More people in prison means more money for companies that build prisons, operate prisons, produce products used in prisons, use prison labor or provide food in prisons—like Aramark, Sodexo, and Compass Group. As long as UChicago Dining contracts with any company that serves food in prisons, we are funding the prison industrial complex. Aramark makes hundreds of millions of dollars from prisons, and their problems aren’t just in prisons: -After the Chicago Public Schools outsourced their janitorial services to Aramark, there has been a lack of custodians, which leads to dirty classrooms and a lack of basic necessities like soap and toilet paper. -Aramark has been accused of withholding wages and underpaying workers. Joseph Neubauer, who spent three decades as the CEO and Board Chairman of Aramark, is the chair of the University of Chicago Board of Trustees. He is also the chair of the University’s $4.5 billion fundraising campaign. What are the other options? Other food service providers the University is considering, including Sodexo and Compass Group, also profit from prisons. In order to stop supporting mass incarceration and start supporting its workers more, UChicago Dining should self-operate its food service. Many colleges self-operate, meaning that they run their own dining programs without an outside contractor. In 2008, Yale switched from contracting with Aramark to self-operation. The University of Chicago could and should do the same because self-operation: -Ends the University’s support for prison privatization and prisoner abuse. -Makes dining hall staff full members of the University community. -Allows for direct student input in the University’s food service. -Enables the University to more effectively respond to students’ concerns. -Equips the University to provide food service that is on par with that of its peer institutions. The University of Chicago’s contract with Aramark is ending at the end of this academic year. We are calling on the University of Chicago to: 1. Commit to transitioning to self-operation of their dining service within three years. 2. Give 40% of the new dining contract to local South Side businesses in order to minimize UChicago's complicity with the prison industrial complex during the transition to self-operation. 3. Ensure that the dining hall workers’ current contract continues to be respected during any transition. 4. Provide transparency and seriously consider student input throughout the contract renegotiation process. Join us by signing the petition! -------- Sources: http://chicagomaroon.com/2015/10/16/cathey-dining-hall-hires-new-nutritionist/ http://chicagomaroon.com/2012/11/29/breaking-cathey-dining-commons-closed-until-further-notice/ http://www.aramark.com/about-us/News/aramark-general/fourth-quarter-full-year-2014-results http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/15/prison-maggots-food_n_5588439.html http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2015/07/michigan_cancels_aramark_contr.html http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/food_behind_bars_isnt_fit_for_your_dog_20131222 http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/28501-five-corporations-you-ve-never-heard-of-making-millions-from-mass-incarceration http://www.privateci.org/rap_aramark.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/15/prison-maggots-food_n_5588439.html http://inthesetimes.com/prison-complex/entry/16206/private_contractor_accused_of_skimping_on_prisoner_food http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/08/chicago-public-schools-dirty_n_5922982.html http://www.knowmore.org/wiki/index.php?title=Aramark http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/08/education/student-life-a-food-fight-over-private-prisons.html https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2015/dec/2/aramarks-correctional-food-services-meals-maggots-and-misconduct/