A “per adoption” monitoring and oversight fee of $500 was announced last week by the DOS. This per child fee must occur at the time of a family’s acceptance into an adoption program. If the family is ultimately matched with a sibling group, additional fees of $500 per additional child will be applied. According to the Department of State and IAAME, these fees are nonrefundable, even if a family withdraws or if their process does not end with a finalized adoption. While accountability for everyone is extremely important the DOS pushing to increase fees for monitoring by IAAME, a group who has not even published their policies and procedures and has no contractual relationship with agencies is unconscionable.

This is causing pain when families are affected and loss of revenue when business is involved. It is also an improper use of public funds.

Please support keeping rideshare on Long Island. Rideshare (Uber, Lyft, etc.) provides not just an affordable convenience, it performs critical functions in Suffolk County Long Island. Rideshare fills the massive gaps left by an inadequate public transportation system by providing a very affordable option for riders. It keeps drunks off the road, reducing DWIs, accidents and the resulting property damage and fatalities. Living on Long Island is very expensive; we have one of the highest costs of living here. Drivers offer ridershare to supplement their income, in order to be able to remain on Long Island. We pay taxes and contribute towards the economy with this additional income.

The people of the State of South Carolina are currently disenfranchised from political issues that are of importance to them when legislators fail to propose and enact legislative reform on such issues. "Direct democracy" as enshrined in Article 3, Section 1 of the South Carolina Constitution would vest legislative authority not only in the House and Senate but also with the people.

I am not a veteran. I avoided the war and protested against it. But it’s time to welcome the surviving Vietnam Veterans home and give them the parade they never got. This could heal a lot of old wounds.

The petition is about ensuring election security.

Please sign this petition to show the government that we will only vote for politicians fighting for more secure elections. Also go out and march on March 10th in front of the White House or in front of your state capitol. Visit the website at www.marchforvoters.com for more information. We are bringing awareness to voting security and integrity before the midterm elections begin. There have been many problems with voters' rights in the past and we want to make sure this doesn't follow us into the midterms. America's voters' rights have always come from arduous battles. The women's suffrage movement didn't achieve success until 1920 and the Civil Rights Act only passed 54 years ago. This means that for most of our history, we have been fighting to be heard in what The Economist calls a "flawed democracy". Current systems are trying to erode what many have fought for, and so now is our time to speak out against modern disenfranchisement. There are four issues we will mainly address, but if you stand for any one of them, please come out and show how we are united in our goal of fair elections. 1. Foreign Influence US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said, "When a country can come interfere in another country's elections, that is warfare." The intelligence community has spoken out against Russia, and said they will continue to attempt to dismantle our elections. We are rallying to have our leaders speak out against these actors, enforce greater sanctions against those who participated, and enact tough legislation aimed against those who try to do this again. 2. Gerrymandering Gerrymandering is a way of drawing district lines in a state in a way that benefits one party. It is a growing hurdle that is eroding a fair election process. In some districts leaders pick and choose where they would like their voters to come from to gain the most control. In addition to speaking out against foreign influences, we must also try to combat domestic problems with our voting system. 3. Digital Security We are for technology in voting. In many ways it has made it easier and more efficient, but it does have its drawbacks. We are asking for paper receipts on all digital votes to audit results, thereby reducing the chances of digital alteration or failure. This will cut down on the probability of a foreign government or domestic parties from changing votes. If a voter receives a print out of their vote, the print out can then be run through a machine to prove votes are tallied correctly. 4. Voter Registration The underlying philosophy for a free, democratic election is everyone is given a right to vote. Unfortunately, demands for voters are increasing, so we are protesting for automatic and lifelong voter registration, where the electorate will not have to fear unnecessary purges.

Donald Trump is ordering the Pentagon to spend millions of dollars to stage a massive military parade in D.C — soldiers, tanks, jets, all of it. As a veteran, I'm fed up with Trump using our military community as props.It's clear to me that Trump doesn’t actually honor the troops, he wants to force the troops to honor him. For Trump it clearly isn't about the people who serve in uniform. Let's look at Trump's record: he lied about donating to veteran charities until we called him out. He tried to purge transgender troops and immigrants from the military. And he turned the arrival of a fallen soldier's remains in Dover, and the ceremony awarding a wounded soldier his Purple Heart, into gross and exploitative photo ops. He even smeared a Gold Star family! It's time we put our foot down, and stop Trump from using our troops as props for his ego. That's why we call on the Mayor of Washington D.C. to bar Trump from putting on this gross display in our nation's capital. Trump might want to act like an authoritarian dictator, but this is still our democracy.

To show Congress that Americans have faith in the FBI despite recent criticism.

Republicans are now talking about impeaching members of the state supreme court because they didn't get the ruling they wanted.

I was watching Morning Joe this morning and he inspired me to start this petition. "Have the largest veterans parade in American history where veterans can come together from all of these wars and talk through the challenges they still are facing in peacetime thirty, forty years later." – President Trump has asked the Pentagon to plan a Military Parade just for him. I think the Veterans and their families would greatly represent our Military.

Last month, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down the legislature's redistricting plan as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, and ordered that new maps be drawn for the 2018 elections. But Republicans in the legislature, who deliberately drew state and congressional districts to box out Democrats and protect their own incumbents, aren’t taking no for an answer. They've already unsuccessfully petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to let them keep their gerrymandered maps in place. Plus, the Senate President says he'll ignore parts of the ruling -- and he could be held in contempt of court if he follows through. Now, it looks like some Republicans in the state legislature are fast-tracking an attempt to retaliate against the judges who ruled against their crooked maps. Rep. Cris Dush has introduced legislation that would impeach these five justices -- and we must speak out to stop him. Impeaching these five judges would flagrantly violate the principle of separation of powers -- a cornerstone of American democracy. And their ongoing attempts to circumvent the court’s decision deny Pennsylvania voters their constitutional right to fairly select their representatives. The only thing that can stop this brazen power grab is a massive, nationwide, public outcry. Please join us in condemning Rep. Dush, and any other lawmakers who go along with his scheme.