I have been blocked on social media by my own state representative, NY State Senator Marisol Alcantara. I am not alone. I am asking all those constituents who have been deleted or block, to join my petition to ask Marisol to stop violating our 1st Amendment rights. Thank you!

Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) is a game-changing solution. Here's how it works: whenever an eligible voter does business with the DMV or another public office, their information is automatically verified and securely added to the voter rolls, unless they opt out. This simple reform will make our election system much safer, less expensive, and more accessible. It's a much-needed improvement over our cumbersome, outdated voter registration process. Plus, it'd significantly increase the amount of eligible voters who participate in our democracy -- and make sure election results more accurately reflect what the people want. Automatic Voter Registration is just common sense -- and it’s already delivering major results in states across the country. In the 2016 election, Oregon bucked a nationwide low-turnout trend thanks to AVR -- with at least 100,000 newly registered voters showing up to the polls. In California, AVR registered over 250,000 new voters in just over two months. But we need to keep this momentum going! AVR has passed in 4 states this year -- including Massachusetts just this month -- and we must ensure that more follow their lead.

It is 2018 and Federal Employees do not have paid Maternity/Paternity leave options without exhausting our earned Sick Leave or Holiday Leave. It is time things changed!

Since I was first elected to Congress in 1998, I have brought years of experience as a social worker, public servant, and anti-war advocate to Washington, fighting for policies to promote peace, justice, and equality. Now, I'm running to become the first African American woman to lead the House Democratic Caucus, and my candidacy is based on my belief that the strength of our caucus lies in our diversity, we are at our best when everyone has the opportunity to contribute, and we must work to improve the lives of all people. I hope you'll stand with me.

Donald Trump, the bigot-in-chief, is running the country, and profiting off of it at the same time. It's time to do something about it. Take the pledge not to support Trump's bigotry and corruption by boycotting Trump's hotels, golf courses, and any other properties.

The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy -- but it's in danger. Every election, voters face discriminatory laws, needless barriers, and partisan dirty tricks -- and thousands of eligible Americans are denied a fair say in our democracy. The Voting Rights Act (VRA), one of our nation’s proudest civil rights achievements, used to protect us from this sort of voter suppression. States and counties with a history of voting discrimination had to pre-approve any changes to their voting rules with the Department of Justice -- which stopped thousands of bad laws from taking effect. But when the Supreme Court gutted that pre-clearance requirement in 2013, it invited opportunistic politicians to attack voters’ rights, passing new laws that would have never stood up to review, and making it harder for eligible Americans to have their votes counted. That’s why it’s critically important that Congress act NOW to defend voter’s rights from discrimination. The Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R. 2978/S. 1419) would take the proactive, pro-voter approach that worked for nearly 50 years with the VRA and bring it nationwide. The VRA has a long history of bipartisan support -- as recently as 2006 it was renewed nearly unanimously by Congress, and signed by President Bush. But now, our most cherished right has become a partisan political football -- and we can’t allow that to happen. Congress must stand up for the right to vote, and pass the Voting Rights Advancement Act -- tell your lawmakers to co-sponsor this bill and make sure it gets a fair hearing today.

I am struck by the differences between these two candidates on issues where Dark Money plays a role (PolyMet mining and medical coverage). In my opinion Painter is the stronger candidate yet because he takes no Dark Money many haven't enough information about him

In her confirmation hearing, Kathy Kraninger refused to say whether the common-sense rule reining in payday and car title lending abuses should go forward. She also wouldn’t commit to removing political appointees that Acting Director Mulvaney installed to follow around career Bureau professionals. Kraninger offered no evidence that she would take any concrete steps to actually protect consumers, leaving us all more vulnerable to abuse by Wall Street and predatory lenders. Kraninger has zero experience with Consumer Protection or banking regulation, and won’t commit to continuing the Bureau’s strong record of enforcement. Will you email your Senator, and tell them to oppose Kraninger for the CFPB Director?

(SIGNATURES BY ATHENS-CLARKE COUNTY VOTERS ONLY, PLEASE) All counties already own optical scanners that they use for mail ballots and provisional ballots. They can centrally count paper ballots collected at the polling places, and let the touchscreens stay idle. We have had evidence that our electronic voting machines are not secure, and Secretary of State Brian Kemp seems unlikely to do his job to make the necessary changes state-wide. Since we have the right to make the change county-by-county, we should do what we can to make our votes secure locally. We the people need to take control of this loss of faith issue (in the least) and do what we have to do. Demand paper ballots.

Anyone legally prohibited from possessing a firearm can purchase and be able to download plans to 3D print untraceable and undetectable guns, without a background check. This will immediately make the country more susceptible to preventable gun violence. Federal courts ordered an injunction against distribution of these designs, yet the designer of these guns has begun to sell the blueprints, and Congress and the Department of Justice have failed to pass legislation outlawing this once and for all.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb surprised everyone when he announced that the FDA is considering banning terms like "almond milk" on the labels of plant-based milks. Why? “Almonds don’t lactate,” he quipped. He was only half-kidding: it really does come down to lactation. For years, there’s been a standard on the books that specifies that the word milk must refer to the lacteal secretions of a cow. It’s always been the rule that you can’t put the plain-old unadorned label milk on almond milk, soy milk, or even goat’s milk. But now Big Dairy is seeing its sales plummet while almond, soy, oat, and other plant-based milks gain market share. So dairy lobbyists have taken the position that the FDA should ban the word "milk" from plant-based labels altogether, even when it appears after the words almond, soy, or oat. Call it beverage or drink, they say, not milk. The Good Food Institute is a nonprofit organization that works to create a better future of food. Sign the petition and we'll pass along your signature and comments as part of the public feedback period on Docket ID: FDA-2018-N-2381. The deadline is August 27, so we should act fast. Join us in telling Trump’s FDA that the government has no business censoring plant-based labels. Common sense should win out over dairy lobbyists.

I don’t believe any town should be named after a racist.