"We can never allow this to happen again." That’s what Rep. Barbara Lee said of the 20-year long war in Afghanistan when it finally ended last month.1 Lee was the only member of Congress to vote against the Authorization of Use of Military Force (AUMF) in the fall of 2001, rightly concerned that it would enable endless war. That authorization, and the one passed in 2002 allowing George W. Bush to launch an invasion of Iraq, are still on the books. It’s time for that to change. Congress must end the forever wars by repealing both the Authorization for Military Use of Force (AUMF) from 2001 and 2002. Sign the petition: Tell Congress to repeal both the authorizations to use military force from 2001 and 2002! Every President since 2001 have used these authorizations to justify waging neverending war in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and far beyond. At least 300,000 civilians died as a result of these wars, a staggering death toll.2 Congress took a giant leap forward in ending forever wars and saving civilian lives when the House repealed the 2002 legislation that enabled George W. Bush to invade Iraq.3 But there’s still a long way to go. That same repeal vote needs to pass in the Senate -- and there’s still another military authorization, passed in 2001 to allow Bush to invade Afghanistan, that needs to be repealed too. The Biden administration is changing course away from 20 years of war and suffering, and that’s good! But to fully end our forever wars, and prevent a future president from using 20-year old votes to justify new military action, we need Congress to repeal both of these authorizations. Sign the petition: Tell Congress to repeal both the 2001 and 2002 Congressional authorizations for military force! Sources: 1. Vanity Fair, ““We Can Never Allow This To Happen Again”: Rep. Barbara Lee On Afghanistan’s Spectacular Fall And The Futility Of “Forever Wars”,” August 18, 2021. 2. Independent, “Forgotten victims of 9/11: The 363,000 civilians killed during the War on Terror,” September 10, 2021. 3. NPR, “In Historic, Bipartisan Move, House Votes To Repeal 2002 Iraq War Powers Resolution,” June 17, 2021.

The confederacy's post war wing, The Grand Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) - and their endless acts of terrorism and oppression across GA and most other southern states - were re-constituted, based, expanded, and exported from Stone Mountain. While the state government today owns the mountain, memorial and surrounding land, it is the KKK who are historically credited as the driving force behind the site selection and construction for the memorial. In 2021, Stone Mountain continues its projection of the oppressive and menacing threat of the Confederate States of America, and its terrorist offspring the KKK, and ensures that both of these scars on history continue to live today. Stone Mountain and and its giant Confederate memorial - carved into the mountain's north face - are considered to be the most sacred site for white supremacists across the nation, regardless of which sect of hatred and oppression they subscribe to. Not only was the mountain and the association that runs its park owned and operated by the Klan until GA condemned the land in 1960, it is considered the place where the KKK was reborn in 1915 and then again in the early 1960s in regard to the rise of Dr King and the Civil Rights Movement. In fact, the memorial itself was championed by the uncompromisingly segregationist Governor Marvin Griffin and served as his direct response to the Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown vs the Board of Education and the 1958 founding of the Civil Rights Movement. The haunting memorial's construction began in earnest in 1964, just as racial tensions rose in the south due to calls for equal rights. It was completed in 1972, 4 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and shortly after the federal government awarded minorities many of the rights, including the right to vote, that the local ruling class of the Jim Crow south systematically denied them. Today it stands as a towering symbol of this Old Dixie repression, honoring and normalizing the brutally oppressive and soul crushing institution of slavery. Stone Mountain itself stands 1686 feet above sea water and summits 825 feet above the next highest point for hundreds of miles. At this height, the KKK's frequent giant cross burnings at its summit could be seen for miles, delivering the cold chill of terrorist oppression from the bright light of the Klansmen's flame. The carved memorial, the largest memorial to white supremacy standing anywhere in the world, is brutally carved 42 feet into the mountain's north face beginning 400 feet above its base, towering 90 feet tall and 190 feet long. Envisioned, constructed, and routinely engaged as the KKK's watchful eye of oppression, it continues to serve this task today providing daily reminders for GA's minority communities that Old Dixie, and its values, live to this day through its shrine on Stone Mountain. The time is now to be honest, as a nation, about where we are and where we have been. Its time to turn the page from Old Dixie and the defeated armies that surrendered to the Union so long ago. Its time to call the Confederacy what they were, traders and losers who ripped the country apart in an effort to preserve and expand the oppression and race based divisions of the Confederacy from sea to shining sea. We are calling upon the federal government to finally lead GA away from the anchor of its past and to the promise of tomorrow.

We've seen what power the Supreme Court has over what happens in our country. The most outrageous example is the ruling on Texas and its basic ban of all abortions. This is just the beginning of Republicans taking control of the country state by state with the assistance of Trumps nominees. He did irreparable damage already while president and with the help of his Trump Republicans, is still moving our country toward religious control over not only women, but the LGBTQ+ community. How soon will it be before they have control over all aspects of how each and every person in this country lives? Do you want to wait until you are the next person or group they come after? We moved into the 21st century and people with a 19th century mindset is slowly taking over the country. How are we to compete in such a world? We'll lose the respect and backing of each and everyone of our allies. We are the country that's supposed to be representative of how the world should be. We are no better than the Taliban when it comes to the rights of our Mothers, Sisters, Aunts and Nieces. As a gay man, we have fought for equal rights, not more or better rights, just what everyone else has naturally. Am I as your friend, brother, uncle, nephew or son to be treated like I'm not human because of my sexual orientation? Am I to return to being denied human rights? In the 70's in Pittsburgh, PA, I witnessed first hand the not so perfect police protection for gays and lesbians that straight white men and women have. I personally witnessed two of Pittsburgh's finest come into a gay bar, go to the bar, get alcoholic drinks and handed an envelope with money in it. That was our protection. Protection not to be harrased or arrested. The owner, when I wanted to protest begged me not to do so. My mother, at the age of 91, walked myself and my husband down the isle. She was a devout Mormon and yet she loved me unconditionally. When the law passed she made this comment: Better hurry and do it before they changed their minds. Well, she wasn't far off. I believe this is where we are headed and without the support of the gay community and those who love us, we may just end up where we were in the 70's and before.

This petition is a companion to a sign-on letter organizations are invited to sign. Find the letter here. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfywuN-6wKXEOW2Zwqy5dHmhIt2XtwlHxJ2AgiQaA8KRPk8yQ/viewform Here's an excerpt: Kurt Klapkowski, Director of the Bureau of Oil and Gas Planning and Program Management at DEP, told the Council, “We have to be able to defend our decisions with data. And that was the attempt, with working with Penn State, that's what we were attempting to do was to develop that data to be able to have a program that we could go to the Environmental Hearing Board and the Commonwealth Court and Supreme Court under the constitution and under the statutes that we administer, that would be defensible.” He continued, “I don’t think we would have any objection to working with [the Council] and the Legislature to try to figure out a way to develop that data. I think we're hopeful that the study that we funded and expect to have finished will provide data that will allow us to have a program that we can defend in court. But that's really the bottom line for us, I mean we can only exercise the authority that we’re given within the limitations that we have and that's what we're attempting to do.” The study he refers to is the PennState study expected to be completed by the end of the year. A growing body of peer-reviewed research has consistently demonstrated that road spreading of drilling waste damages the environment and poses risks to public health. As is the case with virtually all peer-reviewed research on oil & gas drilling, the trajectory has been one that has broadened and deepened our understanding of impacts already occurring and potential risks, not one that has reversed our thinking in any way. Spending taxpayer dollars in the search for data to support your intended policy shift is an unacceptable professional and ethical breach of your duty to the Constitution you swore to uphold. DEP must halt any plans to develop regulations that would allow road spreading of drilling waste. Instead, the DEP must ban road spreading of drilling waste under any circumstances.

The dedication of the Monaghan Statue in 1906 was tinged with anti-Sāmoan racism and white supremacy, and the statue has served as a rallying point and a justification for these attitudes ever since. This monument - like the war it memorializes - is unjust. The monument represents an injustice in that it attempts to honor Monaghan using a distorted and false depiction of both the war and an entire people. For Spokanites unfamiliar with our Pacific Islander community, the monument represents an injustice in that it perpetuates a single, erroneous story about Sāmoans and Sāmoan-Americans as a savage foe and robs both them and us of our humanity. For Spokanites and the many U.S. veterans whose roots are in the Pacific, the monument represents an injustice by inflicting ongoing pain and offense in its misrepresentation of their ancestors and the devastating impact of that war on their community. That pain and offense extends beyond our local community to Pacific Islanders throughout the U.S. and overseas, for whom Spokane, Washington, is known as the place with the offensive Monaghan Statue. The widespread reputation of this monument is a humiliation to our Spokane community and it must be removed.

Hard working individuals and families across southeast Michigan have been adversely impacted by DTE Energy's continued failure as our sole electrical service provider for far too long. From frequent brownouts to complete power outages – citizens are left without much needed power and often significant financial loss resulting from damaged appliances and spoiled food with no compensation. DTE Energy continues to respond to outages with only promises made for improved infrastructure investment and maintenance that simply does not take place or produce lasting results. DTE Energy must be held accountable for the poor state of their system and make real financial investment to provide lasting and sustainable improvements that greatly reduce the frequency and duration of power outages.

FROM COMMON CAUSE: " The two bills really depend on each other. While the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will protect the right to vote, which is absolutely crucial as state legislatures across the country are creating new barriers to voting, the For the People Act will also move the ball forward by creating new national standards that expands the freedom to vote and makes our elections more accessible. Without the For the People Act, the Voting Rights Act would only combat current voter suppression efforts. Both the For the People Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act can combat efforts by Republican state legislators to restrict the right to vote (like the outrageous bill recently passed in Georgia). The For the People Act sets national standards so that every voter, regardless of our zip code, race, or background, has equal access to the ballot box. Likewise, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act includes checks and balances on state efforts that may suppress voting rights. The reason Congress may pass the For the People Act first is because in order for the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to be effective, Congress needs more time to hold more hearings and gather evidence of contemporaneous voter suppression for the record to back up the provisions in the bill. This will put the bill on the soundest footing. We need both to protect the right to vote and expand it to make our elections more accessible, safe, and fair with national standards for all voters. That’s why Congress needs to pass both the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act."

Ben & Jerry’s recently announced that they would no longer sell their products in occupied Palestinian territories — after years of pressure from advocates.¹ Their decision should prompt more corporations to take a principled stance and exit the territories, and Airbnb should be among the first, since they already made that decision years ago. If Ben & Jerry’s won’t sell ice cream in illegal settlements, Airbnb shouldn’t rent homes there either. In 2018, after years of intense campaigning by grassroots activists and an internal audit by Airbnb, the company announced they’d stop allowing rentals in the occupied West Bank.² The reaction was swift — and a barrage of lawsuits coerced Airbnb to backpedal on the decision five months later.³ When Airbnb announced the reversal they also signaled the company’s ambivalence when they stated: “Any profits generated for Airbnb by any Airbnb host activity in the entire West Bank will be donated to nonprofit organizations dedicated to humanitarian aid that serve people in different parts of the world.”⁴ 146 Palestinian NGOs issued a statement saying that they would refuse any funds from Airbnb and called for humanitarian groups from around the world to also refuse funds from rentals in the occupied West Bank.⁵ Funds too controversial for Airbnb to take shouldn’t be passed on to humanitarian groups with a commitment to human rights and international law. In 2020, the UN published a list of 112 companies doing business with Israeli settlements in occupied territories.⁶ Airbnb is among a handful of U.S. companies included. In response to the UN list, Human Rights Watch stated that “to do business with illegal settlements is to aid in the commission of war crimes.”⁶ Sign the petition telling Airbnb to stop pretending to toe the line. Donating fees from rentals does not absolve the corporation. By allowing rentals in occupied Palestine, Airbnb is breaking international law and facilitating war crimes. Sources: 1. “Ben & Jerry's Says It Will Stop Ice Cream Sales In Occupied Territories,” NPR, July 19, 2021 https://www.npr.org/2021/07/19/1018039737/ben-jerrys-says-it-will-stop-ice-cream-sales-in-occupied-territories 2. “Listings in Disputed Regions,” Airbnb Newsroom, November, 2019 https://news.airbnb.com/listings-in-disputed-regions/ 3. “Airbnb Reverses Policy Banning Listings in Israeli Settlements in West Bank,” The New York Times, April 9, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/09/world/middleeast/airbnb-israel-west-bank.html 4. “Update on Listings in Disputed Regions,“ Airbnb Newsroom, April 9, 2019 https://news.airbnb.com/update-listings-disputed-regions/ 5. “To Humanitarian Groups and NonProfits Receiving Airbnb Funds: Say No to Dirty Money,” Al-Haq, Nov. 19, 2019 https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/16195.html 6. “U.N. Publishes List of Firms Doing Business with Israeli Settlements,” The New York Times, February 12, 2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/world/middleeast/un-israeli-settlements-companies-list.html

The lives of Arkansas children and families are in jeopardy. We can not afford to not delay the start of our schools until these measures are in place.

In June 2020—the day before my 75th birthday—I was approved for home confinement under a provision in the to limit the spread of COVID in American federal prisons. It was a very strict criteria: people had to have completed more than 50 percent of their sentence, never engaged in violence, committed no disciplinary infractions in the past year and received the lowest score on the department’s risk-assessment tool. We are being incarcerated for low level offenses, and President Biden can act now to keep us with our families. I was fitted with an ankle monitor that tracked every move I made, and I could not go anywhere without permission from my case manager. But I was aware of the restrictions and grateful to be at home with my 95-year-old mother and family. I had signed up for a computer class administered by the Maryland Justice Project, which was being held in a building owned by the Baltimore City Police Department. I didn’t know the building was designed to prevent GPS and other signals as a security measure, so the ankle monitor I was required to wear lost its signal. My case manager called me, but I’d turned off my phone so I could focus in class—I’d been labeled an escapee, and had to return to prison over this minor misunderstanding. Luckily, I was released after three weeks, and was given a compassionate release by a judge—but this was only after national media coverage and public pressure. Thousands of other people are continuing to live in constant fear, worried that at any given moment, they’ll be ripped away from their families, homes, and communities, and sent back to prison. And in fact, there’s a chance that all of the people currently serving out their sentences in home confinement will have to return to prison once the federal COVID emergency order ends—this was the Trump DoJ’s order, and the Biden administration has shown no signs of changing that. President Biden, please act now to keep these people home. They are doing everything right, yet they wake up every day not knowing where they will be in a few months, and that uncertainty makes it impossible to plan for their futures. Please remove that cloud. Commute their sentences now. I wrote about my experience for the Washington Post in July, and you can read the full story here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/15/gwen-levi-home-confinement-prison-biden/

We don’t have the luxury of hanging up on reality. There is so much at stake: Healthcare, poverty, racial equity, public safety, housing, social programs — the list goes on. We cannot let the Conservative party win and implement policies that sow hate and division and take away what we have worked so hard for. The party that embraces Trump and all that he stands for — xenophobia, racism, classism, white supremacy, extremism, snd so much more. Their top candidate is a Trump Republican who will unravel all that is good in our State, including the progress that we have made. The struggle for equity and dismantling of hate will be under attack. If you still aren’t feeling the pressure — remember that the power of a governor is immense. Imagine meaningful legislation that we have advocated for never being signed into law. Our hands will be tied. The poll results are in and show that if we don’t show up to vote, the recall will 100% happen. If you do nothing else in this stressful year, please make it voting and reaching out to others to VOTE NO on the recall. Please contact the author of this petition for details on how to GET INVOLVED and SPRED THE WORD. And vote. Vote. VOTE. Kimberly Adams roomforhope@yahoo.com 714-325-5303

Did you know? Gardening has many positive effects, including but not limited to: - Increased well-being, physical activity, and overall health. - Helps encourage healthier eating habits (adolescents are more likely to eat veggies when participating in gardening!). - Provides a productive outlet for community members. - Beautifies communities and freshens the air we breathe!