It doesn't matter what city or state you are in, nurses all deal with the same day-to-day challenges. When we encounter people at the hospital its when they are feeling their worst, they're scared, and some don't know how to express what they want so nurses are their advocates. The state of TN's average wage for a nurse in the hospital setting is 32% below national average (mind blowing). When I make this point people say "well the cost of living...". In reality, yes there's no state tax and the cost of buying a home is cheaper. Everything else is relatively the same. Another point I'd like to point out is the minimum wage in TN is $7.25 and a new grad nurse (in the Knoxville area) is started at $19.05/hour. That's a $11.80 difference. The state of CA's minimum wage is $13 hour and starts their nurses around $54/hour - a $41 difference. How are you going to justify that being equal due to the "cost of living". How do you justify a Target employee in Knoxville starting at $15/hour to a Registered Nurse starting at $19.05?? On top of the pay not being justifiable, we don't get holiday pay nor compensation if we end up getting COVID-19. Things need to change, nurses need and should to be paid much better than they are in the state of TN. Please help support us in making efforts to change this and receive the compensation we deserve.

Rahm Emanuel‘s decisions and policies as mayor had a disproportionate and racist impact on Black communities, and his agenda aided corporations and the wealthy at the expense of working Chicagoans. To aid his re-election campaign in 2015, he suppressed video footage of the 2014 murder of a 17-year-old Black child, Laquan McDonald, by Chicago police. He made history by closing 50 public schools across Chicago, primarily in the majority-Black South and West Side communities of the city—the most school closures at one time in any school districts in the nation. During his first year in office, his administration shut down half of the public mental health clinics across Chicago. Soon after taking office, he eliminated the city’s Department of Environment, and as a result, environmental regulation dropped considerably. Communities of color throughout Chicago have borne the brunt of this decision, and thousands of people (primarily Black families) have been exposed to chemical hazards and irritants as a result. And while his administration was consistently slashing public services and utilities, the city funded the construction of a brand-new, $95-million police academy on Chicago’s West Side. The Department of Transportation has unions representing over 38,000 employees at the federal and national level. As mayor of Chicago, in addition to closing 50 schools, Emanuel repeatedly attacked public unions by supporting legislation that would make it harder for teachers to strike, laid off hundreds of school staff, and threatened to lay off hundreds of city employees in order to privatize some city services. Emanuel served big business and corporate interests throughout his time as mayor, and his decisions disproportionately harmed working families and communities of color. We have no reason to believe that he’d act any differently as a member of President-elect Biden’s Cabinet. President-elect Biden is taking office during a time of deep, overlapping crises. His administration will need to be bold, ambitious, and transformative and will need to speak to the needs of everyday people, and he needs to stand up for Black communities, as he said he would last month. His appointees must reflect that vision. Rahm Emanuel's track record is an affront to everything we voted for—especially to Black Americans—and he should have no place in the new administration.

The Climate Justice Committee calls on Biden to turn back Trump's Executive Orders that exacerbate climate change and environmental damage to the world. We call on Biden to sign Executive Orders overturning the damage done by Trump. These are by no means the only Executive Orders that need to go, but this would be a good start for Biden to show the climate justice movement that he takes climate change seriously. To do so requires nothing more than the signing of his pen, which is all it took for Trump to enact them in the first place. We know that is a drop in the bucket for what needs to be done to fight climate change and environmental destruction, so we hope you join the Climate Justice Committee in demanding these Executive Orders are rolled back, and also for real and meaningful action to save our planet. If you would like to co-sponsor this, please do so here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1qk0h4W7FWcu9H_HUFMCLVAaLQRDncWxCXbNpmxMOmyY/edit

We, the people of Ulster County, are facing unprecedented economic challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic.The systems we have operated within have been catastrophically disrupted and, in the process, we’ve seen just how tragically broken they were. Returning to the pre-COVID version of “normal” is not an option. In our society, electricity and internet access are basic needs, especially with many working from and schooling from home. Individuals and families are suffering from the impacts of Coronavirus—lost income, added expenses from being home, and stress from a global pandemic. COVID has hurt small businesses in dire ways. Business has slowed due to life-saving safety measures and illness, which has caused small businesses all across Ulster County to close their doors. Particularly, utility costs are crushing small businesses, causing them to make the horrible decision between making payroll for Ulster County residents and keeping the lights on. Meanwhile, Spectrum and Central Hudson are shutting down people’s service for non-payment. For Spectrum, First-quarter revenues increased to $11.7 billion. Profits reached about $396 million and their CEO made 98 million in 2016 while we struggle. Central Hudson’s parent company Fortis had 2019 revenue of $8.8 billion and total assets of $57 billion as of March 31, 2020. In the first two months of the pandemic, community members rallied around their neighbors experiencing financial hardship, by supporting the Radio Kingston Community Fund and raising over $400,000 to provide emergency financial support. Of these donations, $107,000 went directly to Central Hudson & Spectrum to thwart shut-offs. The people of Kingston cannot allow corporations to profit off our pain. We demand a cancellation of all internet and electric charges for Kingston residents.

There can be no true justice in America until there is actions coupled with the apologies for the North America slave trade.

We should not have a defeated President naming a Justice for life in the last few months of his term. McConnell blocked Obama’s Garland appointment in Obama’s last YEAR.

It affects all aspects of our lives. Women's rights concerning their own bodies, and many other key issues.

The hardships, experienced at the local municipality level, are not being addressed in a timely or efficient manner by the State Govenor and Legislators. There are requests that have been made to the state that have been disapproved even though the requests fit the guidance policies published by the US Treasury. The application, review and funds disbursement would occur more rapidly and in a timely manner if the funds were released to the municipalities for local management and distribution.

Trump is trying to starve the Post Office to swing the election

Everyone knows that the income payroll tax funds Social Security and Medicare -- two vitally important programs for Americans. Cutting, reducing, or "defraying" these taxes will decimate these two popular and badly needed programs for seniors; seniors who have paid into these funds all of their working lives. Trump and the GOP have already decimated American tax reveues through their tax cut for billionaires and big corporations -- revenues badly needed for education, healthcare, combatting climate change, funding the Postal Services, to name a few needs of a healthy and vibrant democratic society. Don't let him decimate Social Security and Medicare as well.

Originally, license suspensions were used to promote driving safety by punishing and removing unsafe drivers from the road and thereby encouraging safe driving. However, the scope of license suspensions has expanded greatly. Instead of suspending driver’s licenses only where public safety is at stake, courts now use license suspensions as a tool for collecting this unpaid traffic citation debt. These suspensions make it harder for people to get and keep jobs, often start them on a path to incarceration, and raise public safety concerns. Ultimately they keep people in long cycles of poverty that are difficult, if not impossible, for many to overcome. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. People should make restitution and pay their debts, but we believe driver’s license suspension should not be the first step to trying to make that happen. Since 2015, the states of California, Mississippi, Virginia, Texas, Montana, Idaho, Maine and Washington, D.C, have passed laws discontinuing the practice of suspending a person's driver's licenses simply because an individual can't afford to pay the ticket in the time allotted. Surprisingly, the collection of fines in these states has increased, not gone down. What they've found is that if you make it easier -- not harder -- for people to pay, the more likely they will. This can be the practice in Kansas and with this policy change, we will be a safer state and one where our citizens can adequately contribute to the economy, since they will be able to drive to jobs where they can earn a reasonable income, and subsequently stay of state-supported services. It's a policy that only makes sense and it works.

Getting relief to the families left in the dust, and getting aid to them IMMEDIATELY. Not excuses or you’ll get a tax credit. Time is up we have waited LONG ENOUGH. It’s time to stand up and fight back for our rights too!!!!!!