The City of Miami has recently banned the planting of any new Coconut Palms from Miami’s streets! The beautiful, graceful Coconut Palm has always been part of Miami’s colorful history, Miami’s culture, and Miami’s tropical image. Why did the City ban the Coconut Palm? They say it was for liability reason, to avoid falling coconuts, but that problem can be easily solved by allowing harvesters to pick the coconuts – which they’ve already been doing for years, for free, so they can then sell them to local restaurants and fruit stands. It’s a win-win situation. This ban on the coconut palm was done "in house" without public notice, a public hearing or public input. Please help keep the coconut in Coconut Grove and throughout Miami by signing the petition. It only takes a minute, and then it will be sent to Miami city officials. Miami Herald article on this: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article71672777.html Watch the City Commission discuss the issue: http://miami.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=692 (Scroll halfway down the menu to the second PA.4 item, then click on it.)

This issue affects all residents of Monte Sereno as well as the parents, staff and students at Daves Elementary, across the street from the proposed site.

Democratic Congressional nominee, Jesse Smith, has accepted an invitation to a debate with Republican incumbent Mike Rogers held by WVTM 13. The debate will be held in Birmingham this October if and only if Rogers accepts the debate invitation. He has yet to do so. WVTM 13 is trying to give the voters an opportunity to make an informed decision, and the voters deserve that right. Mike Rogers has been hiding behind his incumbency for 14 years, and it's time to call him out. A representative must face those he represents. Time and again, Rogers has been called out to apologize or acknowledge voters, and he always fails to do so. Alabama Democrats, Progressives, and Independents can no longer stand for taxation without representation. Rogers is beholden to his donors, not his constituents. It's time to make him face the public and defend his poor record. What has Mike Rogers done for you in the last 14 years? We must hold our representatives accountable. Sign our petition to have Congressman Mike Rogers debate his Democratic challenger this October.

I love America

The MJ crying face is iconic in pop culture history, but like all things it's time has come and passed. We believe that the "SynderRoidFace" should be the new standard of failure for all memes to come in the future.

Senator Lindsey Graham has stated that he will not support Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, and has had harsh words about Trump's fitness for the presidency. Yet by being part of the Republican blockade of President Obama's nominee to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court, Sen. Graham is gambling that a "President Trump" will get to pick the next justice. Donald Trump cannot be allowed to get his hands on the Supreme Court. We ask that Senator Graham reconsider his stance and call for a timely hearing and up-or-down vote for President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland.

On April 21, 2016, CBS's new show, “The Odd Couple” aired an episode containing a scene that was offensive, inappropriate and a direct insult to the victims and survivors of the Bosnian war, and in particular, the Srebrenica Genocide. In the aforementioned scene, a male character, played by actor Thomas Lennon, asks a female character, played by actress Lindsay Sloane, out to the “new Serbian restaurant called A Taste of Srebrenica” and in the same breath makes a sexual innuendo about the “meat sticks” of that restaurant. Since Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, it has faced some of the greatest challenges seen in Europe since World War II. The war of aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina left over 100,000 dead, over 2 million displaced and according to the United Nations (UN), between 20,000 – 50,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) women and girls victims of sexual violence. On April 16, 1993, the United Nations Security Council declared Srebrenica a "safe area" in Resolution 819, placing the Bosnian town of Srebrenica under the protection of the UN. However, on July 11, 1995, over 8,372 innocent Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys were systematically separated from their mothers, sisters, grandmothers and slaughtered by Serb forces within a five day period - the youngest victim being a newborn baby who in 2013, was buried next to her father, also a victim of the genocide. Srebrenica marked the final act of brutal genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. While the Srebrenica Genocide continues to be denied by Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb leadership as well as neighboring Serbia, it is important to note that in 2004, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a UN court of law dealing with war crimes that took place during the conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990's, was the first international criminal tribunal to enter a conviction for genocide in Europe when it ruled that the Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide against Srebrenica’s non-Serb population. Moreover, in March of 2016, the ICTY ruled that Radovan Karadzic, Bosnian Serb wartime leader committed genocide in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica against its non-Serb population. Further, the United States Congress unanimously adopted H. Res. 199 which was introduced by Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) and S. Res. 134, introduced by then Senator and now Vice President, Joseph Biden which states that "the policies of aggression and ethnic cleansing as implemented by Serb forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 and 1995 meet the terms defining the crime of genocide in Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, created in Paris on December 9, 1948, and entered into force on January 12, 1951." Despite the fact that it has been twenty years since the genocide occurred, widespread genocide denial and the revision of history continues to threaten peace, progress and reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region. On July 11th of each year, the surviving family members of the Srebrenica Genocide along with supporters from the local and international community gather in Srebrenica for a burial ceremony. Last year, 136 newly identified victims were laid to rest but countless remain missing, their body parts hidden in mass graves as their surviving family members painstakingly wait for their bones to be discovered so they can give them a proper burial. According to the International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP), which deals with DNA identification, there are approximately 1,200 people left to find. According to the numerous associations within Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as multiple research and studies done, it is estimated that the PTSD rates in Srebrenica survivors are at 70% (Hasanovic, 2012) and that PTSD is prevalent in a minimum of 50% of the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina, although some studies estimate that number is as high as 70%. Given the above facts, it is incomprehensible that CBS would attempt to make the Srebrenica Genocide into a joke. Today, there are over 250,000 Bosnian Americans living in the United States as a result of the war and genocide that happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992-1995 and CBS's insensitive joke dehumanizes genocide survivors and minimizes the pain they have experienced. We demand a public apology from the CBS television network itself and request an apology from the show’s writers. We ask that the person who wrote this inappropriate joke be immediately dismissed as Srebrenica is a painful topic for all Bosnians and we deserve more than to let the crime of genocide, where innocent people are still searching for the bones of their loved ones be the butt of a TV joke. I, alongside the hundreds of thousands of genocide survivors, demand a public apology issued on all of CBS's social media platforms. As an act of good faith, we demand that CBS and their TV show “The Odd Couple” donate to the "Movement of Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves", a non-profit organization in Bosnia and Herzegovina that works with survivors and family members of the victims, who have disappeared or been killed in Srebrenica and Zepa during the fall of UN "Safe Haven" in 1995.

The question of whether we allow or do not allow an outside developer to come to the city exclusively for the purpose of establishing local gambling is an issue that should not be made by the city council alone.

The mixing of residential and and commercial living space will adversely affect the small town feel of our neighborhoods located between Germantown Rd/118 and Great Seneca Highway from the Germantown Marc Station to Clopper Road. This addition to our neighborhood will not only affect the feel of our community, but Dawson Farm Road and Liberty Mill Road, both roads that our children use to walk to Germantown Elementary School, will be overwhelmed with traffic coming in and out of an already congested area during school start/end times. Please sign and forward this petition to let our voices be heard in this matter.

Creating awareness to the community about how the effects of being happy with yourself can benefit a person physically, emotionally, and mentally. It will stop society's views on the human body. Staying positive in any situation is key! Men and Women should each be happy with the body they have and love every inch of it. In 2015 students from around the world participated in the 'Science of Happiness' experiment created by the Greater Good of Science Club. Throughout the 10 weeks as the students were involved in more activities that made them feel good, their outlook on themselves also changed. They felt more confident to take more risks, try new things, and become leaders in their community spreading awareness of how important happiness is. It is important for young boys and girls to accept themselves in who they are so that they can begin breaking down walls and creating successful paths to the new generation. Be happy with your eyes, nose, tummy, heart, smile, and laugh. You are you and you are great!

As a person of color, I'm not always startled by racism. The two Jimmy John's commercials that I saw back-to-back did shock me , though. They both play on stereotypes about Hispanics and Asians that are openly racist.

We should ban the Confederate flag from being displayed on school grounds outside of the context of the teaching curriculum because it is a symbol of hate. There has been escalating problem of racial tension at my school, AMES high school. Students and teachers on both sides of this issue are getting increasingly upset, and I am concerned for the well-being of my peers.