Political Literacy is exceptionally low in the United States. While K-12 public education covers the fundamental structure of government, the inner workings of national political parties is almost entirely ignored. Political Parties set their own rules. Over the decades, the Presidential Nomination Process has changed and changed again; meaning, the current system is changeable. For 2016, we’ve got to work with what we’ve got and plan ahead for 2018 and 2020! Super Delegates make up 17-20% of delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention. This results in a few hundred party insiders ALWAYS choosing the nominee for the Democratic Party. Such a system blatantly concentrates control into the hands of a very few…while pretending to represent the many. The DNC and Corporate Media are pushing a narrative which promotes Hillary Clinton as the “legitimate” candidate, casting Bernie Sanders (and those who seek his nomination) as a “less than” or “protest vote.” In truth, both are legitimate candidates and no one needs to excuse their interest in one or the other candidate. Ultimately, we need the BEST person for the job, both in the race this Summer and as President for the next four years. A Contested Convention occurs when no candidate earns enough Pledged Delegates to clinch the nomination. In the 1930’s, a Contested Convention gave us FDR. His New Deal gave us Wall Street regulations, high taxes on the upper class, massive investment in America, and resulted in a strong Middle Class. In other words, “We’ve been here before, we’ve succeeded before, and we can do it again.”

As John kasich so eloquently put it, we have gone batshit crazy.

Without a strong showing for the Senate and House we are doomed to continuous gridlock and a right wing Supreme Court. Turning now toward unity is essential for the good of the country and progressive principals. Bernie has the power to create an organization that can pressure elected officials, he also has the power to hamstring us with another right wing Supreme Court.

Experts suggest that the U.S. economy loses more than $71 Billion per year due to the tax exempt status of religious organizations leaving everyone else to pick up the tab whether we exercise a religion or not. Churches are the only organizations that receive this automatic exemption without proof of compliance. The major stipulation required of this exemption is to maintain abstinence from political endeavors which is regularly violated in every region of the Nation. Tax exemption is a government subsidy and cash rich churches are influencing legislation. Under this recommendation, churches may still claim tax deductions in the same manner as other charitable organizations while being held liable to the same scrutiny as said organizations in order to curtail corruption. This shift in policy will allow religious organizations to refrain from the forfeiture of their rights to free speech under the first amendment. This influx in revenue should be utilized to lower the average household tax burden and fund other much needed social programs. Tell Harry Reid and and the rest of congress to enforce the U.S. Constitution and keep religion out of social policy by taking away the world's greatest weapon, money.

There can be no excuse for failing to disown behavior such as threatening violence or throwing chairs. In 2008 a supporter of John McCain publicly called on the media to “peel the bark off Barack Hussein Obama.” Within hours, McCain said “A person who was on the program before I spoke made some disparaging remarks. … I absolutely repudiate such comments.” Importantly, McCain called out the offender who, later that day said “Why would John McCain repudiate me? … I've had it with McCain.” And he stopped supporting McCain. That’s exactly what should happen. Disowning the violent fringe will induce them to change or to leave the Democratic Party. Democrats should at least meet McCain’s standards. Accepting less will only weaken us. [It will encourage others, if you can leave even a small comment when signing.]

After seeing voters across the country being deprived of their voting rights, I am proposing a public hearing, investigation and voter testimony. It is unconscionable that President Obama and Congress are silent on this travesty. The people will be heard!

Colorado and Washington have a tax surplus so large from legalizing marijuana in their respective states that the states' residents are all benefiting financially from the legalization of the plant!

With 1,526 overdose deaths in Massachusetts in 2015, we need to leave no stone unturned in combating the opioid crisis. One easy to way to make it harder to move drugs in Massachusetts? Make it a lot harder to move the money. Most businesses have nothing to hide, but if you do have something to hide, it's easy: You just set up an anonymous shell company -- which in America, requires less personal information than it takes to get a library card. Since you don't even have to report who owns the company, anonymous shell companies are a favorite tool to hide all sorts of unsavory behaviors, from terrorism and drug cartels to tax dodging. “Shells are the No. 1 vehicle for laundering illicit money and criminal proceeds,” explained Lanny A. Breuer, former Asst. U.S. Attorney General to the New York Times. [1] Much of the opioids that are trafficked in Massachusetts come from drug kingpins based in Mexico or Colombia. [2] The biggest of Mexico’s drug gangs is the Los Zetas cartel. From 2008, the Zetas used anonymous companies, including from Oklahoma, in a scheme to launder millions of dollars of drug money into the United States, with the true ownership hidden behind front-men. The money was hidden behind the purchase of race horses, some of whom were given names such as ‘Number One Cartel’ and ‘Morning Cartel’. [3] The Government Accountability Office estimates of the $39 billion in drug money leaves the country each year. Of every $100 that goes south, U.S. law enforcement officers intercept only 25 cents. [4] The ease of money laundering makes it all that much easier to flood our streets with cheap drugs. As Massachusetts communities deal with public health problem created by the rising opioid crisis, we can also help make it harder to launder money through shell companies. But given how money is hidden in shell companies, there is a lot of pressure to maintain the status quo. That's why we need people like you to speak out. 1. http://goo.gl/3JhHc4 2. https://goo.gl/4UNWf1l 3. https://goo.gl/Hz8Tb3 4. http://goo.gl/WXbbTo

Two years ago 37 Main was established in Johns Creek, GA. The live entertainment venue was then given the green light to open by city officials in the commercially zoned area. The city is now changing the "rules" and ticketing the establishment for noise violations. However, there is currently not a noise reading of dB levels in Johns Creek. We are asking for your support to help get this resolved with the city as a fair reading of dB levels like the ones used in surrounding area cities.

Election fraud is becoming the norm in the United States. More that half of the states that have voted in the recent Democratic Primaries have voting discrepencies. Democracy cannot exist without free and fair elections. We need to take action to stop it NOW.

I am a 24 year old male with Cerebral Palsy, and I believe certain properties of the cannabis plant help with spasticity, but I would like to do more research having to do with the brain, specifically the brains of people with CP. Unless we remove marijuana from the Schedule 1 Controlled Substance list, we cannot do this research effectively.

Nina Simone: The purpose of mankind is to be free. Freedom is an idea that is constantly compromised as a result of legislative policy and police who enforce policy designed to infringe on both economic freedom and the natural freedom of every man, woman and child. Considering the large amount of civilian complaints against police officers and the exponentially growing number of violent beatings and deaths at the hands of police, it’s time for a change in thinking, policy and action. Currently, many think is that justice policy is designed to protect the public; the reality is that many of these policies are designed to generate arrests and income for municipalities and judicial officers. The need for policy change is a result of 1. Many judges decide defendant’s fate based on legislative initiative, such as mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines and not judicial precedent 2. There is an obvious conflict of interest present in the judicial system as employees of the justice “process” positions such as police officers, judges, district attorneys and prosecutors work together and have established working relationships. These relationships present a bias when an investigation into police misconduct must be conducted. It is time for a dramatic shift in the rules governing our justice system, specifically allowing police departments to investigate themselves of wrongdoing. 3. The tremendous cost taxpayers are forced to pay the winner of civil law suits against police departments. from 2010-2014, NYC paid 601 million in lawsuit awards Chicago paid 249 million in lawsuit awards L.A. paid 57.1 million in lawsuit awards Philadelphia paid 54.3 million on lawsuit awards Washington D.C. paid 30.5 million in lawsuit awards Taxpayers pay these amounts, not police officers. 4. The lack of punishment for police officers act as a reward for bullying and violations of rights, thereby reinforcing criminal behavior by people sworn to uphold the constitution and protect the Constitution. The time has come to change the rules, using the rules that currently exist. I propose our federal legislators implement a random number generator, based on the voting population, to be called to decide both complaints against police officers and punishments and penalties for misconduct. The cases heard by the civilian justice patrol will range from complaints to misconduct to killings. The rules will be simple: The Nina Simone policy is as follows: • The civilian review task force will be composed of the same people who constitute each municipality’s jury pool. • If an officer has a complaint lodged against him/her, the civilian task force will determine if the complaint had merit. • If the complaint has merit, the officer will receive one negative complaint in their permanent file. • Five merited complaints will result in a two week suspension without pay. • Ten merited complaints will result in an additional two weeks without pay and probation. • Fifteen merited complaints will result in termination. once terminated, former officers are permanently barred from police work. Police officers are not held financially accountable for their violations of individual rights, the taxpayer is. Implementation of this idea, will serve three purposes: • Saving taxpayer revenue, thereby allowing municipalities to spend this money on infrastructure, summer programs for children; creating employment opportunities or any number of needs the nation's many municipalities have. • Hiring and retaining qualified police officers. • Creating trust and transparency between the government and private citizens. Once the changes are implemented in the review, discipline and cause for termination occur, each citizen in this nation must treat officers with respect and dignity. There has to be an overall acknowledgement and understanding that a police officer’s job is difficult and dangerous, one improper move, the implementation of a mistimed tactic could result in their death. As a result, all citizens are required to respect and comply with a police officer’s request. The proposed change in police misconduct review will no longer will allow citizens be targeted and possibly be arrested and forced to pay fines and other penalties which conveniently find it’s way into the paychecks of people with high ranking positions in the judicial system for different municipalities throughout the nation