We don’t have time to wait: abortion rights are under attack like never before, both federally and nationally. While Dems are in power, our elected officials in the Senate must swiftly abolish the filibuster—it’s an outdated parliamentary maneuver that Speaker Mitch McConnell and others have continued to abuse to halt any national progress in Congress.

As of April 17 2022 there have been over 120 mass shooting in the US in this calendar year alone. This number is only going to continue to rise if we do not make it harder for people to access these guns.

Students with Disabilities need an identity center separate from Disability Services/Accessible Education because the function of this office is to meet accessibility needs and process accommodation requests, not to meet the needs of Students with Disabilities, for whom there are many. With a Disability Cultural Center, the possibility for grant funding is created, as is the ability to hire student staff, have peer-to-peer programming and advocacy, and opportunity for students to connect with others who are marginalized by exceptionally isolating circumstances.

Solitary confinement affects inmates in these three ways 1. Psychological -Inmates often experience a sense of “isolation panic” when initially put into solitary confinement -Those in solitary confinement often suffer from: depression, anxiety, psychosis and suicidal ideation -Those who have a history regarding mental health experience worsened state -The suicide rate amongst former inmates is highest among those who were in solitary confinement 2. Physical -exposure outside and amongst others is vital for “normal” brain function -lack of sensory exposure also leads to quickening memory loss -issues with long distance eyesight -Vitamin D deficiency increases risk for bone breaks and fractures 3. Societal -there is no treatment when released for trauma or solitary confinement -”Do we want people to come out better or worse than they went in” Also, Inmates that are assigned to solitary confinement during their incarceration are 3.2 times as likely to commit an act of self-harm as opposed to those who did not experience solitary confinement. Inmates that experienced solitary confinement were 2.1 times more likely to commit acts of self-harm during solitary confinement as well as 6.6 times more likely to commit acts of self-harm once outside of solitary confinement compared to inmates that never experienced solitary confinement. This study shows that Serious Mental Illness coupled with solitary confinement lead to the highest rates of potentially fatal self-harm. Solitary confinement, age, and serious mental illness overlaps showed that younger inmates were more likely to experience less lethal acts of self-harm, whereas older inmates were likely to commit more lethal acts of self-harm. Knowing this information is a clear indication of a human rights violation and we should stand to correct that. Please sign the petition in solitary to show Gov. Parson that the citizens of Missouri stand in solidarity to put human rights first.

INDICTING THESE INDIVIDUALS IS ONLY FAIR! COMMIT THE CRIME, DO THE TIME! By NOT acting, & indicting them, YOU ARE ENABLING THEM, TOO! By your inaction, you are normalizing terroristic behavior from our elected public officials. Congress has ways to deal with traitors amongst their ranks. THERE ARE LAWS TO DEAL WITH THEM! USE THEM!!!!!! CENSURE THEM! WRITE RESOLUTIONS TO EXPEL THEM! DEMOCRATS, CALL FOR THEM ALL TO BE EXPELLED! DO YOUR JOB TO PROTECT THE AMERICAN PUBLIC FROM FUTURE DOMESTIC ENEMIES. You took the oath, to protect us from enemies, foreign & domestic. HONOR YOUR OATH! If you DON'T indict them, they are emboldened to continue lying to the public, inciting continued violence from their supporters, & not only obstructing a Democratic agenda, but still in office, pressing for their abysmal agenda, which persecutes women, children & families across the nation. Furthermore, since they're not charged with insurrection, they can run for re-election, no problem! And continue terrorizing the country! WE CALL ON CONGRESS & WHITE HOUSE & DOJ TO DO YER JOB!!! CENSURE, CHARGE, REMOVE THESE TRAITORS FROM OFFICE, & BAR THEM FROM FUTURE ELECTIONS. I personally urge all of you to DESIGNATE THE GOP AS TERRORIST ORGANIZATION! Although this sounds fair to me, probably most Americans would not agree with this measure - yet.

Our nation, our state, and our city have a crime and incarceration problem. The US incarcerates a higher fraction of our population than any other country of the world. Yet, this incarceration practice is expensive, traumatizing, and ineffective. For example, the re-arrest and re-incarceration rate (recidivism rate) is extremely high at 70 to 80 %. The underlying cause of this cycle of crime is the epidemic of trauma. More than 2/3 of us have experienced trauma, and research shows that trauma heightens our fight, flight, and freeze responses, leading to more crime and trauma. We need trauma-informed justice. This is why Connection First has developed the Connection First Restorative Justice Program (Plan). What is RJ? It is an evidence-based framework that helps to heal the societal wounds of trauma. RJ brings together those that caused the harm with those who received the harm to ask: What happened? Who was impacted? What needs were not being met during the harm? How can the harm be repaired? How can we avoid future harm? Connection First has partnered with law enforcement, the public defender, and state attorney to develop an RJ program for Leon County and Tallahassee. For more information, visit our website at https://www.connectionfirst.org, or watch this youtube video: https://youtu.be/c2UcW9fzac4 Along with law enforcement and the judicial system, citizens share in the responsibility of maintaining safety and peace. To this end, Connection First proposes to split the funding in three ways: 1/3 from the county, 1/3 from the city, and 1/3 raised by citizens. This division will ensure that no one entity has sole power over the RJ process.

Our purpose is to inform and to promote social change within our education system. We want to focus on the structure first, where the students develop and learn different behaviors and attitudes. This is a vulnerable and important time for students so, we want to advocate for better staff development and implementation of non discriminatory practice in schools. We are advocating towards mental health and trauma-informed practices to be put into schools nationwide. The students need support, not to be reprimanded unfairly with punishment.

Calvin University cannot fire Professor Kuilema over his support for marginalized communities. Professor Kuilema has shown time and time again that he is an excellent faculty member by caring for his students, and teaching them to think critically about the world around them. To fail to reappoint Professor Kuilema over his involvement in a queer wedding would be unfair and unjust to not only him, but the Calvin University community as a whole. This petition was created by Calvin University alum, Nicole Sweda, and current Calvin University student, Isaac Seiler.

For many trans and non-binary students, being forced to use a labeled, gendered restroom is extremely uncomfortable. We should not have to experience any more struggle or discomfort than our cisgender peers. Gender-neutral restrooms should be accessible and available to students without them having to ask to use a staff restroom or be forced to one or two options that are often far away from classes.

Over the last two years, since the pandemic began, America’s roughly 700 billionaires grew their fortunes by $1.7 trillion, or 57%. They are now worth a collective $4.6 trillion―one-third more than the bottom half of American society. A billionaires income tax proposed by President Biden in his newly unveiled budget and also by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), would tax billionaires’ wealth gains each year, just like workers’ wages are taxed each year. The President’s plan would raise at least $360 billion and Sen. Wyden’s plan would raise at least $550 billion. This new revenue would help working families afford healthcare, childcare, eldercare, education, housing and more.

Damning new reports show that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has concealed decades of expensive gifts he received from billionaire Republican megadonor Harlan Crow. These new revelations add a new level of corruption to Thomas's profile. We already knew that Thomas has abused his position—from refusing to recuse himself from cases regarding his wife's involvement in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election to crusading on behalf of his right-wing allies to overturn abortion access and so much more. It has become clear that his wife—longtime conservative activist Ginni Thomas—was actively urging the White House to overturn election results both leading up to January 6 and after the deadly insurrection. Thomas' failure to recuse himself from cases about January 6 warrants immediate investigation and heightened alarm. And it's only the latest in a long history of conflicts of interest in the service of a right-wing agenda and mixing his powerful role with his conservative political activism. He has shown he cannot be an impartial justice and is more concerned with covering up his wife's coup attempts than the health of the Supreme Court. Thomas—who sided with the majority on overturning Roe and removing nationwide legal protections for abortions—made it clear in that ruling what the right-wing court could do next: overturn high court rulings that establish gay rights and contraception rights. And while he carries this right-wing agenda, he accepts hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts from a right-wing megadonors.   Ever since his confirmation hearings more than 30 years ago, the public has questioned Thomas's ethics and behavior. His abuse of power, his conflicts of interest, and his secrecy about his financial and political ties make him unfit to serve. He must resign—or Congress must immediately investigate and impeach.

Absent peace in Ukraine, our countries face escalating confrontation, with grievous additional harm to its population and great risk to the world. Peace requires courageous mold breaking cooperation and reciprocity between Russia and the US in accord with the interests of the government and people of Ukraine. Nuclear plants, humanitarian corridors and safe zones must be secured immediately by UN peace keepers. Following a cease fire, President Putin must withdraw with dispatch all Russian forces from Ukraine. President Biden can create an atmosphere for peace by declaring that the US does not support Ukraine’s membership in NATO and stationing of weapons with offensive potential. Following the precedent of the global solution to the Cuban Missile Crisis, President Biden should end the US embargo and other regime change actions in Cuba just as President Putin abandons such pressure and aspirations for Ukraine. Russia should end its claim to the Donbas and the US should return the land of the Guantanamo base and prison to Cuba. Secretary of State Blinken’s worthy sentiments apply as much to the US with Cuba and Venezuela as they do to Russia with Ukraine and Georgia: "the principle that one country can’t dictate to another the choices that its citizens would make about their future; the principle that we’re past the time of spheres of influence where one country subjugates its neighbors to its will. *********************************** The Mariupole Theater pictured above is reported to have sheltered at least 500 civilians and been visibly marked "children". It was attacked on the 54th anniversary of the My Lai Massacre. Local authorities say over 300 people died in the theater; 504 were killed in My Lai. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/25/ukraine-russia-war-mariupol-theater-death-toll/ *********************************** Additional background on the Ukraine-Cuba link is here https://cubapeopletopeople.blogspot.com/2022/02/cuba-and-ukraine-personal-reflections.html