Although his administration signed the UNCRC, President Bill Clinton never pushed the Senate for ratification. Nor did George W. Bush. At a debate on youth issues a month before the 2008 election, then candidate Obama said: “It’s embarrassing to find ourselves in the company of Somalia, a lawless land. I will review this and other treaties to ensure the United States resumes its global leadership in human rights.” (At the time there were only two countries that had not ratified because South Sudan was not yet an independent nation. These two nations have since ratified the treaty.) It is now 2025. Thirteen years have passed. Unfortunately, President Obama has not acted, despite this campaign pledge. President Trump has not acted, as well. The Convention outlines the basic human rights that children everywhere should enjoy, among them the rights to survival, to develop to the fullest and to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation. How am I affected? I am a German citizen who is the father of two young children who are US citizens. Because of US immigration law, I must periodically return to my home country. While I was abroad, in 2014, I was neither able to write to my children or to talk to them via telephone or Skype for over nine months. I am back in Germany again, only to find myself in the same situation. No contact for three months now. Among many essential rights outlined in the convention, there are two articles who could help my girl and my boy since they emphasize the importance of frequent contact between children and their parents: Article 9 (Separation from parents): Children have the right to live with their fit parents. Children whose parents do not live together have the right to stay in contact with both parents, unless this might hurt the child. Article 10 (Family reunification): Families whose members live in different countries should be allowed to move between those countries so that parents and children can stay in contact, or get back together as a family. There is a troubling lack of awareness of and education on child protection issues. However, these issues do not receive any media attention in the U.S. Our leaders like to say the U.S. is the world leader on human rights. That claim is undermined by its failure to join the rest of the world in ratifying this convention. This needs to stop. We owe it to our children. President Obama, please ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child .. because it is the most successful human rights treaty in human history! https://www.facebook.com/UNCRCPetitionUS/ https://www.twitter.com/UN_CRC/

Recently, along with millions of other New Yorkers, I received an emergency text message alert that left out any details of a suspect--other than name and age--asking for the public's help: WANTED: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28-year-old male. See media for pic. Call 9-1-1 if seen." As a New Yorker, I am deeply concerned for our public safety--and criminals threatening our immediate well-being must be caught. But by only providing a name and an age, I was left with the impression that any brown or Muslim man between 25-35 years old could be mistaken for the suspect. Will you join me in holding the federal government accountable for reinforcing dangerous profiling in the Wireless Emergency Alerts system? As a Muslim, I face my own personal dangers from profiling. And with one presidential candidate actually advocating for police to begin racially profiling Muslims living in the United States--sowing fear of all Muslim people into this election--I am compelled more than ever to put an end to this dangerous trend. The WEA system can be critical in giving the public a platform to help catch wanted suspects who may be an imminent threat to public safety, but the potential is there to create a dangerous situation for any person loosely matching a description. The government could build in training requirements for all certified "Alert Operators" of the WAE system--typically federal agencies, as well as state and local government authorities--to avoid language that would lead to dangerous racial profiling and to provide clearer guidelines for when and how the WEA can be used. Join me in holding the Federal Communications Commission, Department of Homeland Security, and Federal Emergency Management Agency accountable for risking dangerous profiling.

Increasingly, county jails are replacing in-person visitation with video visitation. At least eighteen counties in California have eliminated, plan to eliminate, or severely restrict in-person visitation in at least one of their jails. SB 1157 would require facilities that elect to use video visitation to also provide in-person visitation and would require that facilities that do not offer any in-person visitation to offer in-person visitation by January 1, 2022. Being able to have an in-person visit with their loved one who is incarcerated is crucial for family members, many of them children. Please ask Gov. Brown to sign this important bill.

After being cleared of wrongdoing and getting the charges dismissed, AZ DPS is now retaliating against Leslie Merritt Jr and his family by visiting them at their homes and jobs threatening and harassing them to give in to their demands to admit wrongdoing that was never done by them!! This is wrong and needs to stop and the State of AZ and DPS need to be held accountable!!

TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR EDWARD SNOWDEN. Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing revealed the NSA’s massive, secret – and unconstitutional – surveillance programs. He took a huge personal risk to bring these programs to light. And his actions launched a vital national debate on whether the NSA should be spying on innocent Americans. But three years later, Snowden is still being forced to live in exile and threatened with likely spending the rest of his life in prison if he ever comes back to the country he loves. We have less than 125 days to push President Obama to officially pardon this important American whistleblower. Presidential pardons are about justice. They are for when the legal system has failed, or the laws are unjust or when our consciences demand it. Snowden made his sacrifice not for personal gain, but because he knew it was the only real way to expose the unconstitutional spying programs he witnessed. So when the White House tries to claim Snowden “is not a whistleblower” because he didn’t follow the "proper" whistleblower process, they’re just playing cynical word games. Intelligence contractors, like Edward Snowden, are NOT protected by the Intelligence Community’s whistleblower protections. The Intelligence Community’s own lawyer, even admits it. Even had Edward Snowden followed the “proper” process, his whistleblowing wouldn’t have been protected. Presidential pardons exist for exactly this kind of extraordinary situation. It’s time that President Obama uses that power to recognize Snowden’s public service. Snowden acted out of desperation and patriotism to inform Americans of the unconstitutional mass surveillance the NSA was conducting. Even former Attorney General Eric Holder agrees: “I think that he actually performed a public service by raising the debate that we engaged in and by the changes that we made.” Snowden stood up for our rights. Now it’s time we stand up for his. Sign the petition: Stand up for Edward Snowden and tell President Obama that three years is enough. Pardon Snowden and bring him home!

With so much controversy these days over officers who may or may not be abusing their position. We MUST support the cops that are undeniably honorable, like Stephen Mader. For more info, Please Read the Full Story here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2016/09/12/west-virginia-cop-fired-for-not-killing-a-man-with-an-unloaded-gun/?utm_term=.88d8fb3346eb

We cannot allow Police departments to become gangs who decide who lives and who dies. They work for the people, not the 1 percent.

Mass incarceration in low-income communities feeds a cycle of poverty and crime and does little to keep those communities safe. It’s unconscionable that, through a loophole in our tax code, taxpayers are actually padding the profits of private prison owners who are getting rich off of mass incarceration. I’m fighting to end this outrageous, unjust special interest loophole and I hope you’ll join me. Sign the Petition: Tell Congress to end private prison tax breaks! - Ron Wyden

Sign and share. Put your name on something that can actually benefit our State. Studies have proven that marijuana stops the growth and development of cancer and other diseases. Read the research. Cancer is an epidemic in our country! Take the first step and sign. It's our legal right to have access to the cure for cancer and other medical conditions! It will help our economy. Sign now.

My husband was hit with this once he was released from prison in 2011, and also made to register as a Sex Offender for the next 20 years. In the law it states you must have served your time or completed your probation whichever one is greater and then register for 20 years. Not to have 5 more years to do on a 6 year 6 month charge that he already done his time for. This is a Double Jeopardy and it's not fair to them or their family. He completed his classes for the SOTP twice. Paid for a polygraph and passed. Yes we have been affected by this, because my husband Joseph Fulz is a good honest man who deserves to try and rebuild his life. Why make him do more time than he's already done. If they wanted him to do 12 years then I feel the courts should have gave him 12 instead of 6 years and 6 months to only come home on probation. He completed his classes and was following all the rules. The reason for his violations doesn't have anything to do with the underlying offense. He was charged with 2nd degree Rape No Force, but how is it a Rape if there is not Force. It just doesn't make any sense to me. Please help us try and change the SOCD law. If he has done everything the Government request such as register, then the SOCD should be given if you become a Repeat Offender of such a crime as this. Not put you on SOCD and be a registry for 20 years if not a lifetime. We need help because I want my husband back home with his family.

In 2009, New Mexico repealed the death penalty, replacing it with laws providing for new sentences for life in prison and restitution to the families of victims. But today Governor Martinez is calling for a return to the death penalty--making the state the only one in the country calling for a new death penalty, while at least a half-dozen others are moving to repeal their own. Send this message to Governor Martinez and legislators in the State Senate and State House to show your opposition to a return to this vengeful law.

The children should be heard in court and corrupt Judges around the country are destroying their lives! Let's rally and stop the corruption in Family Courts that's destroying families all over the U.S. Please visit https://www.facebook.com/forthefathersofAZ/ to view judges involved in Kids for Money Schemes and other crimes in courts and across the nation. These judges will need to be held accountable and not allowed to commit these crimes and just walk away. These criminals deserve prison time!