Despite being elected to move away from Trump policies of the past, despite a clear reckoning on our priorities in the wake of COVID, and despite the fact that budgets are moral documents, President Biden is likely to propose a $740 BILLION budget that would keep Pentagon spending at Trump-era levels. Disappointed doesn’t begin to cut it. We’re furious. A growing chorus in Congress is too. But while Congress, not the White House, is ultimately in control of the purse strings, progressive champions can’t stop this budget on their own. That’s why we need to turn the pressure up even higher, and remind everyone in Congress and the White House: We want our priorities put back in order and that means cutting the Pentagon budget.

In this era when congressmembers and state legislators war with each other over the quality and fairness in the administration of elections, one statement on which all sides can agree is that all elections should be free, equal and open. In fact, 30 state constitutions, including North Carolina, California, and South Carolina mandate that all elections should be free, with 18 of these states also stating that elections should be “equal” or “open” and 15 of these states mandating that no "civil or military power shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage". Sadly, despite being the birthplace and resting place of civil rights advocates past and present, from Martin Luther King Jr. to John Lewis, and despite having the youngest state constitution as of 1983, Georgia's state constitution does not yet provide for such a basic expectation that our right to free suffrage shall be free and shall not be intimidated or suppressed by civil or military force. We need an amendment to the Georgia State Constitution mandating free, equal and open elections so that voters have a constitutional standard by which we can judge the integrity of elections administration, redistricting and other aspects of elections law in the State of Georgia. References: https://www.ncsl.org/research/redistricting/free-equal-election-clauses-in-state-constitutions.aspx https://www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/FreeEqualOnePager-9.4.19.pdf http://hrlr.law.columbia.edu/hrlr/free-and-equal-elections-a-new-state-constitutionalism-for-partisan-gerrymandering/

Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. It is also known as Emancipation Day, Juneteenth Independence Day, and Black Independence Day. On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, TX, and announced the end of the civil war and the end of slavery. Although the Emancipation Proclamation came 2½ years earlier on January 1, 1863, many slave owners continued to hold their slaves captive after the announcement, so Juneteenth became a symbolic date representing African American freedom. Juneteenth is not a federal holiday. Forty-five states and the District of Columbia recognize Juneteenth as a holiday or observance.

For at least the past five years, Donald Trump, and his aides and associates, have engaged in a flurry of unethical, unconstitutional, and often criminal activity, culminating with the seditious insurrection on the United States Capitol on January 6th, incited and encouraged by the Trump and his allies. If we are to begin the process of restoring the integrity of the Department of Justice and the rule of law to our nation, it is essential that the Department thoroughly investigate these actions and, where warranted and appropriate, hold accountable those who have violated the nation’s laws.

Less than 0.1% of police body camera video files are ever reviewed. There is simply too much data for a human to review. However, this data contains valuable insights that can be used to generate police performance metrics. Wearing body cameras alone is not enough. The audio data can be analyzed by natural language processing to increase transparency and trust in the police.

It allows persons who have paid their appointed debts to freely, comfortably and successfully reintegrate into society. It also will help bring down the numbers of repeating the same mistakes of the past and ending up a repeat felon.

I lost my dad on October 14 2020, he was a Veteran we lived at Veterans Village in Loma Linda, Ca for the past year plus. I am currently being evicted because my dad died and I am now considered "an unauthorized occupant who has only been here since her dad died". This is how they treat the families of our Veterans, they have lied and kicked our Veterans families out to the street. The fate and future of our Veteran families lies in the hands of the Housing Authority / HACSB and is upon their discretion as to what happens to our Veterans families? Think about that for a second.... I wish for no other family to have to endure what I have had to go through since loosing my dad. I'm advocating for my dad Joe Walker and for all our Veterans and their families. Please help me by signing this petition so that our Veteran's family's will not be thrown out to the streets and help me to enforce awareness and enforce a policy to protect and give security to our Veterans loved ones once they are gone. Take a stand and help our Veterans families sign and share this petition. Thank You and God Bless

Senator Cruz not only abandoned his constituents by flying off to Cancun while tens of thousands of us faced the dire, dangerous consequences of the devastating winter storm this February and then lied about it repeatedly, but more importantly, he participated in stalling the vote certification on January 6, thereby assisting the Capitol insurrectionists with their traitorous goal: to prevent President Biden’s legitimate election win to be certified so that Donald Trump could (theoretically) remain in power. Further, he has denied any responsibility for the devastating consequences of that deadly uprising. His disgraceful, selfish, callous, unprofessional, dishonest, mendacious behavior disqualify him from enjoying the visibility that his committee assignments offer him. Texas deserves better representation. America deserves better.

Representatives from ARC-SouthWest and South first were requested to stay at home until further notice. We were not offered to work from home, just like we have been doing since Covid started. This time, we were not offered any type of solution besides staying at home. On 2/22/21, we were ask to either use PTO or not get paid. There is a third option that upper management decided to ignore "reserved PTO" which is used for "emergencies". However, this option was never offered. This is hurtful, as an ARC employee I feel used. We have been working throughout Covid19 since March of 2020. We never complained about not getting hazardous pay or a raise. This is completely unfair and it should be illegal to steal PTO from employees. Upper management has been stepping all over us, as employee appreciation we got 1 canned water container from Rainwater... Why not using that money and give us at least a .5 raise? In the meantime we are opening 2 new clinics in Austin Texas. Please look into this, is not only ARC, other companies are following the steps of ARC. To top the cherry, most of our spouses are getting covered by "hazardous weather" and they get to keep their hard earned PTO. ARC needs to be brought to light and exposed their unfair treatment to their employees. I know we are not HEB but they should act better than this. Thank you for your time and consideration. Att: Really pissed off ARC employee

The process to hire a new Chief of Police for Prince George’s County must be fully transparent. As PG County residents we must be included in the hiring process in ways that go beyond a mere community survey. The role of the police chief is far too great and needs to be accountable to the members of the community with all police matters.

A nonprofit organization, COVAX, will help with distribution of more than 800,000 of the Astra Zeneca Covid vaccines to the Guatemalan government. These 800,000 vaccines will give priority to vaccinating healthcare workers. However, these 800,000 doses will only be enough to vaccinate approximately 2% of the Guatemalan population, given that two doses are required. Moreover, the efficacy of this vaccine after the 2nd dose is only 70%, which is a much lower efficacy than those vaccines being given in the U.S. Most of the population of Guatemala cannot expect to receive vaccines until at least the end of 2022.

Power bills for some TX residents are now $10,000 and climbing because of a faulty grid system that was not properly maintained and regulated.