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

There are and have been too many questionable election results, and we need to put in place checks and balances to stop cheating instances such as what happened in New York.

I love America.

Check signers’ comments below to see why others agree. Please leave a comment, however short, to encourage others. After everyone votes, if Bernie has still lost, then he can only win by lobbying superdelegates to overturn the voters. He should stick to his First Position. As Robert Reich put it: “Let the voters decide — not superdelegates.” 400,000 MoveOn petitioners backed that, as did 200,000 for Robert Reich’s petition. (Bernie can still lobby superdelegates about the platform.) On May 1, Bernie changed. At the National Press Club, Mary Alice Williams asked, “If you DO NOT secure the majority of pledged delegates, do you still believe that superdelegates should switch?” Sanders replied “Yes. ... the responsibility the superdelegates have is to decide what is best for this country." No, “Let the voters decide.” It’s best for Bernie’s reputation and for unifying the Democratic Party. Sharing this petition helps immensely.

Many US citizens have had their constitutional right to vote in the presidential primary denied. Some voters' party affiliations have been changed against their will, others have simply had their votes disregarded, and many more were entirely purged from the voting rolls with no reasonable explanation. Thus far, there have been no repercussions for these events. No purged votes have been reinstated, and no recounts have occurred. It is unlikely that this will be resolved before the respective party conventions. Going forward, we must have international UN observers at all remaining primary elections, and again at the general election in November. In addition, your assistance will be needed at the Democratic National Committee's convention in July to ensure the safety of all attendees.

Free and Fair Elections. For The People, By The People, Of The People

District Attorney Spota must immediately be removed. The corruption, nepotism, and selective prosecution has lead to careers being destroyed, lives being lost, and massive corruption in Suffolk County. The Suffolk County taxpayers cannot withstand one more day of this abuse.

The increase in sales taxes are regressive and hit the poorer Kansans hardest. Income taxes are progressive and based on the ability to pay. Ability of pay is a much fairer tax. Pension, transportation, and tobacco funds should not be raided to pay for current state programs normally funded by income taxes. The state is robbing the future to cover their failed experiment in "supply-side" economics. Additionally, poorer Kansans have lost many safety net programs and the educational systems have suffered severe fund reductions.

Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump is refusing to release his tax returns, claiming that “there’s nothing to learn from them.” But we think that’s up to the voters to decide. Before we pick our next president, voters should have a clear picture of every candidate’s background, experience, and business interests -- and if there are any potential conflicts of interest, we have a right to know. So today, we sent a letter to Donald Trump demanding that he release his tax returns dating back at least five years for public scrutiny. He wants to conduct the people’s business from the highest office in the land -- so we deserve to see how he’s conducted his private business too. Trump says he can’t release his returns because the IRS is currently auditing them -- but he didn’t have a problem doing that when his private business interests were at stake. And the commissioner of the IRS gave him the go-ahead too, saying “if you’re being audited, and you want to do something else, share that information with your returns, you can do that.” Even Trump’s predecessor as Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, thinks that Trump needs to come clean, saying: “It is disqualifying for a modern-day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters, especially one who has not been subject to public scrutiny in either military or public service.” The other two candidates still in the race, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, have already released their tax returns. In the interest of transparency and a fully informed electorate, Donald Trump ought to join them.

A healthy democracy depends on every citizen having an equal right and opportunity to vote, yet every election cycle, millions of working class Americans find themselves having to choose between their job or their vote. It's time to honor our democracy and to protect the voting rights of working citizens. Make Election Day a national holiday.

It's time to take OUR VOTE back!

As a citizen of Allegan, I feel that we should be allowed to make the most economical, healthy, healthy and enriching decisions about the food we eat.