PETITION: CTT offer to allow for full USPS tracking of US inbound registered mail. Dear CTT Postal Service of Portugal, We are kindly asking you to redefine your tracked offerings concerning international outgoing registered mail to the USA. Who we are? We are a community of Portuguese crafters and online shops with over 50% of our sales going to the US market. We ship several thousand parcels of sold goods to our private customers in the USA, and are sending you this request due to the continuous problems with deliveries to the USA. What is the issue? Registered airmail tracking numbers (with barcodes) do not appear in USPS tracking systems. CTT only allows us to track up until leaving the country. If USPS continues to not scan the tracking numbers the packages will simply disappear. We don't even receive a message stating that it has arrived in the US. We need to provide proof to our customers that packages have arrived in the US. We are experiencing a huge growth in claims, refunds and negative feedbacks from our US customers and as result we keep loosing business and you too will loose business. We pay the highest possible form of shipping CTT offers, yet it is not supported by USPS systems as seen in this notice on their website: ************************************************************************ International Registered Mail Tracking Suppression of Import Registered Mail Effective October 1, 2015, the Postal Service™ will no longer offer visibility for international import Registered Mail™ items unless International Posts have upgraded to offer their customers U.S. Postal Service® products that come with visibility. The International Posts which have upgraded to offer their customers Postal Service products that offer visibility are listed here: https://about.usps.com/pos.../2015/pb22424/html/info_002.htm ************************************************************************** How will we know when the recipient receives the package? How will we know if the recipient signed for it? How will we know if a notice has been left or unclaimed? How will we know it there is a delay? What do we ask: We would kindly ask you to become compliant with the USPS registered airmail tracking system even if that means the cost to ship Registered mail piece from Portugal will increase significantly. That will allow the USPS to scan packages as soon as they arrive in the US. Would like this information to appear on your website so that all your customers and our customers in the US could have access to this information. If this information does not appear CTT will inevitably receive thousands of customer services complaints and requests to "Reclamações" to search for lost Registered mail, which CTT will have to compensate. We would like all our clients to have a clear understanding that our packages have actually left Portugal and are waiting to be processed in one of the USPS sorting facilities on the US territory. We really hope for your understanding and cooperation. Thank you very much for your time, From the Portuguese online sellers, self employed small businesses, crafters, regular registered mail senders of gifts and of course many thanks from our recipients in the US. * * *

Senators have introduced the “Railway Safety Act of 2023” to address some of the concerns about rail safety that resurfaced after the disastrous Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The bill calls for stronger safety standards for all trains carrying hazardous materials and also expands those standards to trains not currently subject to high-hazard flammable train, or HHFT, regulations (like the train in East Palestine). We need this legislation to pass swiftly in the Senate, so it can go to the House, and then Biden's desk. People deserve protection and regulations so that railroad workers are able to feel safe at work, and residents feel safe knowing trains passing by their communities will be less likely to derail. A second train derailed in Ohio just a few days ago. We don't have time to waste to take widespread action towards rail safety. Photo Credit: The New York Times

Please join me in advocating for raising the Federal Minimum Wage for Tipped Workers. I have watched my mother work her body to exhaustion for over thirty years, never making more than $2.13/hour. She has been afraid of retribution if she advocates for herself. The plight of the average server is often overlooked when we talk about issues with minimum wage even though the tipped worker minimum wage has not increased in 32 years. I am sick and tired of having this vulnerable segment of the working population left out of the conversation. Please join me in championing those without a voice.

Donald Trump and his associates planned, promoted, and paid for a criminal conspiracy that became the January 6 insurrection. According to the U.S. Constitution, that disqualifies him from ever holding office again. Section three of the Fourteenth Amendment, the “insurrection clause,” makes clear that anyone who engaged in attempting to violently overthrow the US government after swearing an oath to protect it is barred from being given that responsibility again. In 2022, a New Mexico county commissioner who was at the January 6 insurrection was kicked out of office when a state court ruled that the insurrection clause barred him from office. And other courts upheld that the insurrection clause was relevant to members of congress, including MAGA Republican Madison Cawthorn, who spoke at Trump's rally on January 6. It applies just as well to people seeking the Oval Office. We need to fight back even harder to hold Trump accountable for his actions to damage our democracy—actions that continue today and are focused on laying the groundwork for his next coup to place him in the White House in 2024 no matter the will of the voters. State elections officials already have the authority and responsibility to bar him from the ballot. And Congress can back them up by passing legislation barring Trump from office under the Fourteenth amendment. Will you sign the petition today to join the fight to disqualify Trump from holding public office and help disrupt plans by Trump and his allies for his next coup in 2024? See the 50 other petitions across the country here: https://sign.moveon.org/efforts/disqualify-trump Sources: 1. “The Jan. 6 Hearings Are Over. These 3 Things Must Happen Now.”, The New York Times, October 14, 2022 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/opinion/january-6-committee-trump.html 2. “How the 14th Amendment Could Disqualify Trump and His Allies,“ Democracy Docket, June 6, 2022 https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/how-the-14th-amendment-could-disqualify-trump-and-his-allies/ 3. "New Mexico removes, bars Couy Griffin from public office," KRQE News, September 6, 2022 https://www.krqe.com/news/politics-government/new-mexico-judge-removes-bars-couy-griffin-from-elected-office/

Donald Trump and his associates planned, promoted, and paid for a criminal conspiracy that became the January 6 insurrection. According to the U.S. Constitution, that disqualifies him from ever holding office again. Section three of the Fourteenth Amendment, the “insurrection clause,” makes clear that anyone who engaged in attempting to violently overthrow the US government after swearing an oath to protect it is barred from being given that responsibility again. In 2022, a New Mexico county commissioner who was at the January 6 insurrection was kicked out of office when a state court ruled that the insurrection clause barred him from office. And other courts upheld that the insurrection clause was relevant to members of congress, including MAGA Republican Madison Cawthorn, who spoke at Trump's rally on January 6. It applies just as well to people seeking the Oval Office. We need to fight back even harder to hold Trump accountable for his actions to damage our democracy—actions that continue today and are focused on laying the groundwork for his next coup to place him in the White House in 2024 no matter the will of the voters. State elections officials already have the authority and responsibility to bar him from the ballot. And Congress can back them up by passing legislation barring Trump from office under the Fourteenth amendment. Will you sign the petition today to join the fight to disqualify Trump from holding public office and help disrupt plans by Trump and his allies for his next coup in 2024? See the 50 other petitions across the country here: https://sign.moveon.org/efforts/disqualify-trump Sources: 1. “The Jan. 6 Hearings Are Over. These 3 Things Must Happen Now.”, The New York Times, October 14, 2022 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/opinion/january-6-committee-trump.html 2. “How the 14th Amendment Could Disqualify Trump and His Allies,“ Democracy Docket, June 6, 2022 https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/how-the-14th-amendment-could-disqualify-trump-and-his-allies/ 3. "New Mexico removes, bars Couy Griffin from public office," KRQE News, September 6, 2022 https://www.krqe.com/news/politics-government/new-mexico-judge-removes-bars-couy-griffin-from-elected-office/

Donald Trump and his associates planned, promoted, and paid for a criminal conspiracy that became the January 6 insurrection. According to the U.S. Constitution, that disqualifies him from ever holding office again. Section three of the Fourteenth Amendment, the “insurrection clause,” makes clear that anyone who engaged in attempting to violently overthrow the US government after swearing an oath to protect it is barred from being given that responsibility again. In 2022, a New Mexico county commissioner who was at the January 6 insurrection was kicked out of office when a state court ruled that the insurrection clause barred him from office. And other courts upheld that the insurrection clause was relevant to members of congress, including MAGA Republican Madison Cawthorn, who spoke at Trump's rally on January 6. It applies just as well to people seeking the Oval Office. We need to fight back even harder to hold Trump accountable for his actions to damage our democracy—actions that continue today and are focused on laying the groundwork for his next coup to place him in the White House in 2024 no matter the will of the voters. State elections officials already have the authority and responsibility to bar him from the ballot. And Congress can back them up by passing legislation barring Trump from office under the Fourteenth amendment. Will you sign the petition today to join the fight to disqualify Trump from holding public office and help disrupt plans by Trump and his allies for his next coup in 2024? See the 50 other petitions across the country here: https://sign.moveon.org/efforts/disqualify-trump Sources: 1. “The Jan. 6 Hearings Are Over. These 3 Things Must Happen Now.”, The New York Times, October 14, 2022 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/opinion/january-6-committee-trump.html 2. “How the 14th Amendment Could Disqualify Trump and His Allies,“ Democracy Docket, June 6, 2022 https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/how-the-14th-amendment-could-disqualify-trump-and-his-allies/ 3. "New Mexico removes, bars Couy Griffin from public office," KRQE News, September 6, 2022 https://www.krqe.com/news/politics-government/new-mexico-judge-removes-bars-couy-griffin-from-elected-office/

Donald Trump and his associates planned, promoted, and paid for a criminal conspiracy that became the January 6 insurrection. According to the U.S. Constitution, that disqualifies him from ever holding office again. Section three of the Fourteenth Amendment, the “insurrection clause,” makes clear that anyone who engaged in attempting to violently overthrow the US government after swearing an oath to protect it is barred from being given that responsibility again. In 2022, a New Mexico county commissioner who was at the January 6 insurrection was kicked out of office when a state court ruled that the insurrection clause barred him from office. And other courts upheld that the insurrection clause was relevant to members of congress, including MAGA Republican Madison Cawthorn, who spoke at Trump's rally on January 6. It applies just as well to people seeking the Oval Office. We need to fight back even harder to hold Trump accountable for his actions to damage our democracy—actions that continue today and are focused on laying the groundwork for his next coup to place him in the White House in 2024 no matter the will of the voters. State elections officials already have the authority and responsibility to bar him from the ballot. And Congress can back them up by passing legislation barring Trump from office under the Fourteenth amendment. Will you sign the petition today to join the fight to disqualify Trump from holding public office and help disrupt plans by Trump and his allies for his next coup in 2024? See the 50 other petitions across the country here: https://sign.moveon.org/efforts/disqualify-trump Sources: 1. “The Jan. 6 Hearings Are Over. These 3 Things Must Happen Now.”, The New York Times, October 14, 2022 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/opinion/january-6-committee-trump.html 2. “How the 14th Amendment Could Disqualify Trump and His Allies,“ Democracy Docket, June 6, 2022 https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/how-the-14th-amendment-could-disqualify-trump-and-his-allies/ 3. "New Mexico removes, bars Couy Griffin from public office," KRQE News, September 6, 2022 https://www.krqe.com/news/politics-government/new-mexico-judge-removes-bars-couy-griffin-from-elected-office/

The Department of Transportation (DOT) and President Biden are being petitioned by the public to stop the authorization of the bulk transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in rail cars on the nation’s railways. Based on public safety and health concerns, in 2021 DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) proposed federal rulemaking (the “Suspension Rule” RIN 2137–AF55)[1] to suspend the Trump Administration’s 2020 federal rule that lifted the long-standing ban on LNG transport by rail. Public comments and technical submissions to PHMSA during the public comment period provide broad and compelling support for the Suspension Rule and explain why the Trump era LNG rule endangers millions of Americans. The petition calls on PHMSA to first, immediately adopt the Suspension Rule and second, that PHMSA reinstate the permanent ban through federal rulemaking. Lastly, the petition insists that Special Permits for LNG rail transport be denied, including Special Permit DOT-SP 20534 for the proposed Gibbstown/Wyalusing LNG Export Project.[2] Prior to the Trump Rule, a Special Permit (Special Permit DOT-SP 20534), was issued in December 2019 for transport of LNG by rail car from Wyalusing, PA to Gibbstown, NJ for a proposed LNG export terminal on the Delaware River. It expired but PHMSA is currently considering an application for its extension. This is the first and only use in the nation of DOT 113C120W tank cars to transport LNG, which were designed 50 years ago and never used for LNG and it is the only permit to allow daily “unit-train” volumes of LNG over enormous distances (approximately 200 miles). The trains cut through many communities of color and low-income populations already overburdened with environmental injustices, including Scranton, Wilkes Barre, Reading, Allentown, and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania and Camden and other southern municipalities in New Jersey. Transporting LNG in rail cars poses unique hazards. If there is a container breach, such as in a derailment, the super-cooled (-260 degrees F) liquid methane is released as a vapor cloud that is 600-620 times greater than the volume of the contained liquid, causing freeze burns and robbing oxygen from the air for those in proximity, which can be deadly[3]. The vapor cloud can travel miles very quickly. PHMSA’s Environmental Assessment[4] issued in 2019 describes the response to a broken cryogenic tank car as very difficult for first responders and fire companies and risks catastrophe due to the great potential for explosions and large fires. If the highly flammable gas is ignited, it burns so hot the fire cannot be extinguished and must be allowed to burn out, requiring emergency evacuations for up to two miles. A bomb-like explosion known as a BLEVE or Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion can occur with catastrophic impacts. These dangers are amplified in densely populated communities where high-speed and complete evacuation is practically impossible. These public safety hazards are the foundation for the longstanding ban on LNG transport by rail car. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Transportation Research Board (“TRB”), the agency that is charged with conducting LNG by rail research, advises that “quantitative risk analyses” have not been done and need to be performed, and that, prior to any LNG by rail activities, a safety assurance initiative be put in place and further investigation be conducted of the safety performance of the railcars that are proposed to be used (DOT-113C120W9.16). Clearly, there is no assurance that adding LNG to our railways is, by any equitable measure, safe or warranted. The recent push to increase the export of LNG by rail due to the Ukraine crisis has heightened community concerns that the desires of the gas and oil industry will overwhelm government’s responsibility to protect the public and replace dirty fracked gas with truly clean, renewable energy. Public safety and environmental health must come first. LNG is liquefied methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas (GHG) 86 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in heating the atmosphere on a 20-year time scale and 104 times more powerful over a 10-year period, the periods of time when scientists say we must reduce GHG emissions to address the climate crisis. Methane leaks and/or is vented in all phases of the LNG production process, including processing, storage, transport, transloading and use. In light of the high global warming potential of methane, the Biden administration has pledged to slash methane emissions. Pushing LNG onto train tracks, enabling LNG production, and stepping up gas extraction and transportation will exacerbate climate change and undercut our collective climate goals to prevent the earth’s warming. LNG transport by railcar recklessly endangers the public and risks catastrophe such as the disastrous train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio in February. The public health and environmental impacts from the resulting inextinguishable fires and release of vinyl chloride and other highly toxic chemicals to the air, water, and soil will not be fully calculated for some time. However, the resulting state of emergency requiring evacuation of the community, the raging fires and plumes of polluted smoke, the fish kills, and the exposure of people to hazardous pollutants is testimony that high hazard derailments do occur and the consequences can be tragic. We don’t need to add more flammable hazardous materials to the dangers our communities and environment already face from high-risk rail car transport.

You’ve already heard the news that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife Ginni Thomas was involved in the January 6 plot to overthrow our government. And that Justice Thomas refuses to recuse himself from cases related to January 6.1 But Chief Justice John Roberts also has a serious ethics conflict due to the work of his spouse, Jane Roberts. The New York Times recently reported that Jane Roberts, a legal recruiter, has earned millions in commissions for recruiting attorneys for jobs at law firms, which include firms that have cases before the Supreme Court. A significant portion of Jane Roberts' clients are senior government lawyers whom she helps place at private law firms. This is a clear conflict of interest for Chief Justice Roberts, and yet more evidence that we need a strong code of ethics for SCOTUS.2 Chief Justice Roberts has failed to recuse himself from a single case involving law firms working with his spouse. He also has not fully disclosed his wife’s clients or her earnings. Senator Durbin said that these are “troubling issues that once again demonstrate the need” for ethics reforms to “begin the process of restoring faith in the Supreme Court.”2 Public trust in the Supreme Court is already at an all time low. The Court has pursued a right-wing agenda, regularly ignoring long-standing precedents, such as in its overturning of Roe v. Wade. This year the Court will rule on another set of cases that will carry serious implications for civil rights, student debt relief, workers’ right to organize, and more. Following the revelations about the ethics violations of Justice Thomas and Chief Justice Roberts, now is the time to pass the Supreme Court Ethics Act.3 Sources: NPR, “Legal ethics experts agree: Justice Thomas must recuse in insurrection cases,” March 30, 2022. New York Times, “At the Supreme Court, Ethics Questions Over a Spouse’s Business Ties,” January 31, 2023. The Hill, “Calls grow for stronger ethics rules for Supreme Court justices, families,” October 31, 2022.

We don’t know the impact of the toxic chemical explosions on people’s health yet, but residents have reported experiencing nausea, shortness of breath, dizziness, and headaches. It’s also been confirmed that chemicals have spilled into the Ohio River, which covers 14 states and provides drinking water to more than 5 million people. This water basin also leads directly into the Mississippi River, a major water source in the United States. President Biden already called Gov. DeWine and said the administration would give him whatever he needed, so why hasn’t DeWine declared a state of emergency? It is critical that Gov. DeWine declare a state of emergency and formally request President Joe Biden for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) aid so residents affected by the explosion can get the help they deserve.

“Shoot first and think later.” That’s how Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor describes the doctrine of qualified immunity. Qualified immunity is a rule that protects government officials (including police officers) from facing the consequences when they violate our constitutional rights. This doctrine allows police officers to escape accountability for their misconduct and signals to the public that cops are above the law. In any other job, individuals who cause harm are held accountable for their actions. Police cannot continue to be an exception, especially at the expense of Black lives. The police officers who brutally killed Tyre Nichols were dismissed from their jobs, but that won’t bring Tyre back to his family. And a single action against this group of officers won’t prevent police brutality against more Black and brown communities. Police officers remain unchecked, and will continue to wield their power against other people, as long as they’re seen as “above the law.” One way of taking away their unchecked power is ending qualified immunity.

Donald Trump and his associates planned, promoted, and paid for a criminal conspiracy that became the January 6 insurrection. According to the U.S. Constitution, that disqualifies him from ever holding office again. Section three of the Fourteenth Amendment, the “insurrection clause,” makes clear that anyone who engaged in attempting to violently overthrow the US government after swearing an oath to protect it is barred from being given that responsibility again. In 2022, a New Mexico county commissioner who was at the January 6 insurrection was kicked out of office when a state court ruled that the insurrection clause barred him from office. And other courts upheld that the insurrection clause was relevant to members of congress, including MAGA Republican Madison Cawthorn, who spoke at Trump's rally on January 6. It applies just as well to people seeking the Oval Office. We need to fight back even harder to hold Trump accountable for his actions to damage our democracy—actions that continue today and are focused on laying the groundwork for his next coup to place him in the White House in 2024 no matter the will of the voters. State elections officials already have the authority and responsibility to bar him from the ballot. And Congress can back them up by passing legislation barring Trump from office under the Fourteenth amendment. Will you sign the petition today to join the fight to disqualify Trump from holding public office and help disrupt plans by Trump and his allies for his next coup in 2024? See the 50 other petitions across the country here: https://sign.moveon.org/efforts/disqualify-trump Sources: 1. “The Jan. 6 Hearings Are Over. These 3 Things Must Happen Now.”, The New York Times, October 14, 2022 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/opinion/january-6-committee-trump.html 2. “How the 14th Amendment Could Disqualify Trump and His Allies,“ Democracy Docket, June 6, 2022 https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/how-the-14th-amendment-could-disqualify-trump-and-his-allies/ 3. "New Mexico removes, bars Couy Griffin from public office," KRQE News, September 6, 2022 https://www.krqe.com/news/politics-government/new-mexico-judge-removes-bars-couy-griffin-from-elected-office/