It starts with a handful of people and small businesses that the state government thinks it can cut out and run out of business, but where will it stop? They can not be allowed to get away with unfairly competing with small business in the state and causing more problems.

https://ruskcounty.org/supervisors https://youtu.be/9MZ3Lk1Hz5Q (Watch from about 9 minutes to 24:15) https://fb.watch/mkC5U7xVz2/?mibextid=Nif5oz

A common misconception is that writers and actors are all super rich, but it couldn’t be further from the truth, which is that 95% of the 160,000 actors with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) make less than $25,000 per year, and they need to make $26,000 a year to even qualify for health insurance. And not to mention that the top studio executive made 384 times the average writer the past five years. The reality is that the massive wealth inequality that we see between the ultra wealthy and everyday working people is reflected in the entertainment industry too. Streaming companies make BILLIONS of dollars in corporate profits each year, pay top executives hundreds of millions of dollars combined, while giving writers and actors the short end of the stick. This cannot continue, and this is why actors and writers are on strike. And the impact of the companies' greed is not just causing harm to these workers, it is limiting the stories that come from the communities we need to hear from most. As the industry’s business model becomes unsustainable for emerging writers and actors there will potentially be fewer stories penned by historically marginalized communities. The lack of representation impacts us all—and it’s especially jarring given right-wing attacks on sharing diverse stories in classrooms and libraries. It also just means the range of TV shows we get to see will be worse. It's pretty clear that writers and creators should be fairly compensated to ensure creative talent of all backgrounds can contribute to the quality content we all love. Writers and actors simply want a fair contract, and together, we can make that happen. Sign the petition to tell ultrawealthy entertainment executives to put people over corporate greed and give writers and actors a fair contract NOW!

The Board of Supervisors in Grayson County, Virginia is under attack by Evangelical Christian churches seeking to ban abortion care. We can't let that happen. The Virginia Constitution and Virginia Act for Religious Freedom firmly declare that religious extremism has no place in politics. Abortion is still legal in Virginia, and Grayson County does not have the power to countermand state law. This local ordinance was drafted by the FEDERALIST SOCIETY and TEXAS RIGHT TO LIFE for the purpose of sowing division and confusion for people seeking abortion care in rural southwest Virginia – the last central access point in the South for reproductive healthcare. Please join us in asking the Board of Supervisors to reject this harmful ordinance.

Google is well aware of the dangerous and harmful impact that ads from fake clinics have on pregnant people seeking abortion care. Google already came under fire after a report was released in 2021 regarding fake ads about “abortion pill reversal.” But despite their own policies against advertisers promoting “misleading information about products,” they have continued to host (and profit off of) similarly predatory ads. Additionally, they have a policy that clearly states: “if you want to run ads using queries related to getting an abortion, you will first need to be certified as an advertiser that either provides abortions or does not provide abortions. If you are not certified, you won’t be able to run ads using queries related to getting an abortion.” They are clearly not consistently enforcing their own policies.

In Illinois, pain patients are a very marginalized and stigmatized community. Pain medicine prescriptions continue to decrease, as doctors become afraid of legal reprisal, while we have a record number of overdose fatalities. Previously stable patients on long-term pain therapy have taken their lives or, in desperation, been forced to resort to the illicit market, which has caused even more overdoses. Illinois has one of the lowest prescribing rates in the US but the 14th highest number of deadly overdoses. Recent data reveals that not a single overdose fatality is attributable to prescription pain medicine. The state agencies are substituting their judgment for doctors and destroying the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship. Many people are unaware of the toll that restrictive state policies have taken on Illinoisans. Oncologists have decreased prescriptions by 50%. Children with terminal illnesses are denied pain relief. Veterans, who became injured serving our country, have lost access to their medicine—to such an extent that suicides increased by over 1/3. Millions of Illinoisans are one accident away from being a chronic pain patient, and even palliative care and hospice specialists are turning people away because they’re afraid of legal consequences. The American Pain & Disability Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that tries to protect the pain community. We have to fight with hospitals who won't give terminally ill children pain medicine, veterans who served us but are now in terrible pain from combat injuries, and more---but we can't protect doctors and patients as they need to be protected without legislation. The current policies are harming one of the most vulnerable communities in the state. You can visit our website for more information, at www.4APDF.org. Please support HB 2046 to protect pain patients and their healthcare providers—countless lives depend on it! Sign the petition to help get this bill passed now!

“The mission of the social work profession is rooted in a set of core values. These core values, embraced by social workers throughout the profession’s history, are the foundation of social work’s unique purpose and perspective: -service -social justice -dignity and worth of the person -importance of human relationships -integrity -competence.” (NASW) Social Work Core Competencies: Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior Competency 2: Advance Human Rights and Social, Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice Competency 3: Engage Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ADEI) in Practice Competency 4: Engage in Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed Practice Competency 5: Engage in Policy Practice Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities Competency 8: Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities Competency 9: Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities The links between human-animal violence have long been evidenced and recorded. The white supremacist patriarchal capitalist colonial machine objectifies and commodifies the living Earth through processes of social stratification, hierarchy, and psychological wages. Between factory farming, food deserts, social-economic inequities, health disparities, social determinants of health, environmental racism, colonial and patriarchal constructs of medicine, rape-culture, human-trafficking, drug-trafficking, wildlife-trafficking, global climate change, intimate partner violence, family violence, intergenerational abuses and traumas, urbanization, industrialization, housing injustices, genocide, displacement, and political-economic constructs of kyriarchal conglomerates of the Earth(ling) industrial complex, spawning from a culture of toxic masculinity, white supremacy, patriarchal, and imperialist senses of entitlement to the exploitation, abuse, domination, and possession of Earth(lings’) bodies, perpetuating cultures of exploitation and violence, the empirical evidence of the interconnectedness is irrefutable. The recognition of sentience and life in all beings is critical for fostering empathy and compassion for a harmonic and peaceful society and OTH animals deserve rights of their own. Several of our human clients’ main social support and sometimes only trusted social support, consists of their interspecies families. This ranges from the child who is bullied in school with little to no human friends, who cannot wait to go home to their canine family member, the cat being burned alive by the youth who feels helpless and enraged identifying with dad who is beating his mom while he is intoxicated as he learned it from his dad, and then that young person grows up to beat his partner, people experiencing poverty where there closest confidant and sometimes only confidante is their OTH companion or family member, the person who doesn’t attempt suicide and holds on, because of the love and connection they feel with their companion or family member, the examples are endless. The more-than-human world and re-connecting with our “roots” is essential for collective and individual healing, with more access to Our shared Nature as belonging to Earth, embracing values of connection, reciprocity, reverence, and compassion for all living beings. For more information on OTH animals in social work: https://socialwork.du.edu/humananimalconnection/about-institute-human-animal-connection https://www.routledge.com/Post-Anthropocentric-Social-Work-Critical-Posthuman-and-New-Materialist/Bozalek-Pease/p/book/9780367677855 https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/janimalethics.7.1.0096 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10560-020-00697-x https://socialworksynergy.org/2014/12/03/social-work-beyond-human-rights/ https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230306868 https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137372291 For more information about the links between human-animal violence: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/animal-oppression-and-human-violence/9780231151887 https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742517769/Animal-Rights-Human-Rights-Entanglements-of-Oppression-and-Liberation https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-19201-2 https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvxhrmr1 https://burningbooks.com/products/racism-as-zoological-witchcraft http://blackyouthproject.com/three-ways-black-veganism-challenges-white-supremacy-unlike-conventional-veganism/ https://www.routledge.com/Gender-Violence-in-Ecofeminist-Perspective-Intersections-of-Animal-Oppression/Hunnicutt/p/book/9780367776916 https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781786606464/Critical-Animal-Studies-Towards-Trans-species-Social-Justice https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/the-link-between-animal-cruelty-and-human-violence#:~:text=Animal%20cruelty%20is%20a%20predictor,and%20sexual%20abuse%20of%20children. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7246522/#:~:text=Often%2C%20companion%20animals%20can%20become,43%2C44%2C45%5D. https://nationallinkcoalition.org/what-is-the-link https://vetsocialwork.utk.edu/ https://www.fordham.edu/info/20361/gss_continuing

It will help ease suffering to many families, provide more research opportunities, and give newborns / kids a chance to thrive even with a rare illness or genetic disorder

More than half of US states are almost certain or likely to ban abortion now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v Wade. Several states already have abortion bans on the books, which are now put in motion with the federal government no longer protecting reproductive rights. With new and proposed abortion bans, tens of millions of people have lost access to this fundamental healthcare. We need to ensure that our Congressman does everything he can to preserve women's rights to bodily autonomy.

Recent scientific analysis shows that the Earth is at a critical tipping point and needs to make a quick shift to sustainable energy sources. Installing new fossil fuel equipment is the wrong decision for the planet -- and for Philadelphia. Our city is the 28th most polluted area in the country, according to the American Lung Association's 2023 State of Air report. Local entities, such as the National Park Service and Amtrak, need to demonstrate their concern for the health of Philadelphians living near their facilities. Currently, the Steam Loop, managed by Vicinity Energy, provides heat to the historic buildings and the station. Vicinity Energy has committed to moving toward sustainable energy in the near future. If the National Park Service and Amtrak would stay on with the Steam Loop, they would eventually go green without making additional investments. Other options, such as solar and geothermal, deserve consideration as well.

Recent reports reveal that AmerisourceBergen—the country's sole distributor of mifepristone, the safe and vital abortion pill-—circulated a list to corporate clients of 31 states where it will not distribute the pill to pharmacies. Mifepristone is still legal, and it's critical for health care—we can't let right-wing tactics limit access to this medication. It's a cruel plan that, if implemented, will have devastating consequences on people of color, people with low incomes, disabled people, immigrants, and those who live in medically underserved communities—all of whom already face barriers to receiving abortion care. Despite the lies of anti-abortion extremists, mifepristone, which has been widely and safely used by millions of people for 23 years, accounts for more than half of all abortions in the U.S. and is a necessary medication for those experiencing miscarriages as well. It is supported by hundreds of studies and has a proven safety rating of 99%. And let's be clear: despite efforts of right-wing judges, it is still legal, as well as being safe, common, and essential. That's why we need to let the pharmaceutical giant know that we are onto it and will not let up the pressure until it answers to public health needs rather than extremist bullies.

My family is among those caregiving families that have been heavily impacted by the loss of SNAP food benefits. My spouse, Jon, is profoundly disabled with ALS and several other serious medical conditions. He requires continual care which precludes any outside employment by myself. We have struggled to make ends meet solely on Jon’s monthly disability payment. In January, we were notified that our monthly SNAP benefit would be reduced from $516 to $13. This cut in benefits represents a 97.5% reduction in SNAP benefits and is nearly 30% of our monthly income! This severe benefit cut dramatically increases the risks to my ability to continue to care for Jon at home. To avoid Jon's forced return to institutionalized care, we have been forced to depend upon a GoFundMe campaign to replace our lost food benefits. While our story is deeply personal, it is also illustrative of the injury being inflicted upon the many families caring for disabled loved ones nationwide. (To learn more about this issue, our personal story, and our GoFundMe effort; please see the excellent recent video and print article that appeared on Scripps News via the following link: https://scrippsnews.com/stories/families-are-struggling-with-reduced-snap-benefits/ ) I have started this petition out of a deep conviction that no family already struggling under the strain of providing care to a seriously ill or injured loved one should ever have the additional worry about how to put food on the table! Please join me in telling President Biden to take immediate action to make this crucial change in SNAP benefit rules to to end this cruel food insecurity and support low-income disabled persons and their caregiving families. Thank you so very much for your support of this petition! (and please share it on your social media platforms.)