The last person you want making decisions for your children is Betsy DeVos. As Trump’s Education Secretary, DeVos has been a disaster from Day 1. But during the pandemic she’s only gotten worse. Secretary DeVos wants to hold federal school funding hostage to pressure schools to reopen in a couple of weeks, despite the nation still seeing spikes in COVID-19 cases.[1] Sign the petition: Tell Congress to block DeVos from using federal funds to pressure schools to reopen! Our nation’s schools are already massively underfunded. In a dangerous public health nightmare scenario like the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government should be funding schools to do whatever is necessary to protect students, teachers and staff, and slow the spread of the virus. Instead, if DeVos has her way, schools will have to reopen if they want federal funding that most districts desperately need. In short, DeVos wants to force cities and states to "re-open" - and doesn't seem to care if children, teachers, and school staff get sick or even die in the process. It’s worth remembering that DeVos has never once taught in a classroom, holds no degrees in education, and until Trump appointed her as Secretary of Education, had no government experience. DeVos is a right-wing billionaire donor whose pet project has been dismantling public education. Every year Trump has been in office, DeVos proposed massive budget cuts to the Department of Education. Now she’s only willing to put funds into schools if students, teachers, and school staff risk their health and their lives in the middle of an out-of-control pandemic. There’s not much time left to act before schools start in the fall. That’s why you need to tell Congress to stop DeVos immediately. Sign the petition: Tell Congress to block DeVos from using federal funds to pressure schools to reopen! [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/us/politics/trump-schools-reopening.html

On March 29, 2020, the state of Ohio shut down. The US Government passed the CARES act to ensure that US Citizens had a necessary financial lifeline to pay their bills in the midst of the global Covid-19 pandemic. The state of Ohio's unemployment system was grossly outdated and lacked the necessary infrastructure to facilitate the federal CARES act to supply Pandemic Unemployment Assistance to millions of Ohioans. As a result, there was a massive delay in providing assistance to those individuals and families who needed it the most. The tip waged, the contract employed, the freelance, gig-workers and the self-employed. These are some of Ohio's lowest paid workforce. The Ohio PUA system did not go live until May 12th, over a month after the shut down, a time when many fell egregiously behind on their bills and struggled to provide. They were assured that back pay would be given. On July 15, the ODJFS erroneously and maliciously flagged over 226,000 Ohioan's PUA claims as fraud, most of which are erroneous flags as these individuals did provide their proof of income, proof of identity and banking information upon filing and these claims were not approved until they did so. The Ohio Unemployment system was already exhaustively overwhelmed by the sheer number of claims which they are responsible to process. Now hundreds of thousands of workers and their families have had their only source of income taken from them without notice, without cause, and without explanation. Calls to the PUA hotline went unanswered as did calls to the adjudication centers. Individuals who did manage to reach a representative were given a plethora of flimsy excuses and outright lies as to what was going on. The reality is, they didn't know either and could offer no help whatsoever. The amount of misinformation provided by the agency was staggering. Calls and letters to the governor, the state representatives, and the news media went ignored for over a week. According to a recent interview with the news media, Kimberly Hall of the ODJFS finally addressed the situation and claimed that these 226,000 individuals are legitimate cases of fraud. She employed this excuse to justify not paying benefits to already struggling Ohio families in the midst of a global pandemic. There is no logical or conscionable reasoning for Ms. Hall's handling of this matter. There is no logical or conscionable reasoning for withholding benefits to individuals who have already submitted their information upon applying for assistance. Above all else, there is no logical or conscionable reasoning for the director of the ODJFS to be so concerned with fraud in the middle of a global pandemic as to go so far as to erroneously deny benefits to hundreds of thousands of Ohioans who are the most at risk for homelessness due to this crisis. With the abundance of resources available, to say that there was no other way to detect and address fraud in this system is not only irresponsible, but an immense dereliction of her duty to the people of Ohio to whom she is responsible for assisting. The reasons Ms. Hall has cited do not hold up. Her reasons were that individuals were having their personal bank accounts compromised, particularly online banking institutions and prepaid card systems. It is the responsibility of the individual and their financial institution to investigate fraudulent transactions to their personal bank accounts. It is the agency's duty to ensure those individuals are paid on time. Stopping the payments injures innocent citizens and does nothing to punish the criminals. Other reasons cited were failure to prove identity or income, to which each application could not be approved without, and if so, that responsibility falls on those who approved the claims without verifying the information from the start. The excuses are invalid, there is no justification in the world that the state of Ohio or the ODJFS can provide which can justify the course of action that they used to address this matter and their own incompetence. The already overburdened unemployment system cannot support the abundance of claims it currently has. We've spent 81 million on this failed system and now will require many more millions of dollars to adequately train and employ enough workers to facilitate the correction of Ms. Hall's incompetence. In the meantime, 226,000+ Ohioans are at risk of being homeless by next week when their rent or mortgages are unable to be paid. Children will go hungry as the lifeline providing for them has been unceremoniously cut without remorse or resolution. The freeze on evictions and foreclosures has been lifted and the food banks are empty. Ohio has failed it's most at risk populations by the choices and political motivations of one individual. This issue requires IMMEDIATE resolution to those affected. If Ms. Hall and the ODJFS is incapable of fulfilling that resolution, then further action by the State of Ohio to ensure that IMMEDIATE action is taken to prevent homelessness, hunger and poverty to those impacted by this crisis. The people of Ohio deserve answers. They deserve to be paid. They deserve a state that is aimed to see them succeed in the midst of this crisis. In the midst of a pandemic, there is a responsibility to ensure the livelihoods of ALL Ohioans, this was the very PURPOSE of the federal CARES act and the PUA. Ms. Hall has utilized this opportunity to facilitate an unnecessary fraud investigation against the people of Ohio with regard to their financial institutions. It is the responsibility of the individual and their financial institution to determine fraud, and is a gross overreach of the ODJFS Director. The State of Ohio has ignored its citizens for too long in this matter and immediate resolution is now sought.

CSAM is a global crisis that exists in every corner of the internet. Increasingly, these horrific images feature very young children --infants and toddlers -- and are growing more violent and extreme. The coronavirus pandemic has created an explosion of CSAM, with reports increasing 400% over the past few months. Last year tech companies made 17 million reports of CSAM. Of those 17 million, Amazon made 8. Other big companies made hundreds of thousands to millions of reports, but Amazon, with the third of the internet they control, only made 8 reports. By failing to find and report CSAM, Amazon is hurting kids and creating a safe space for child predators to buy, sell, store, and share these illegal images. Amazon's refusal to report CSAM is part of a growing trend of big tech companies pushing the full responsibility of keeping kids safe online onto parents -- many of whom are now in the impossible position of working, parenting, teaching, and policing technology all at the same time. Tech companies like Amazon are making billions off families, and they must share the responsibility to keep kids safe. By proactively searching for and reporting CSAM photos and videos, Amazon could save thousands of children from abuse and revictimization. Parents across the country are demanding Amazon do their part to keep kids safe online by finding and reporting CSAM.

Buried in the 177-page GOP COVID-19 relief proposal are BILLIONS of dollars for weapons of war wish list: fighter jets, helicopters, and missile defense systems. That’s right, while they’re nickel and diming families who desperately need protections and benefits to put food on their tables and keep roofs over their heads — Senate Republicans are ready to hand out $29 BILLION for Pentagon pet projects completely unrelated to COVID-19. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has the power to reject this absurd proposal and stop it entering the final bill, because nothing the Senate has proposed can become law without House approval. Add your name to tell Speaker Pelosi: NO COVID-19 relief money for weapons of war!

So that we still have a Democracy and have laws protecting protestors and press and not fall into an authoritarian regime and fascism. Thanks so much, Mateo Zapata Zachai

Mr. Lindbergh contributed to the US not entering WWII soon enough. He said the Jews were one of three current world problems. He also said one thing people couldn't discuss was the 'Jewish problem.' A city that wants to appear accepting, wants socially conscious businesses to be founded or re-locate there, and wants to tackle hate doesn't welcome people to their environs via Mr. Lindbergh. As to their rationale that Lindbergh did x, y, and z, Germany created the first jet. Does that mean we ignore everything else they did back then? Dr. Mengele might have had redeeming qualities. I wouldn't suggest pointing that out.

Traffic data collection has not kept up with the current patterns of population growth and a simple restriction of this main artery between King county and Kittitas county causes backups of up to 3 hours and 16 miles between Bandera and Cle Elum. This causes a very dangerous situation for the people stuck in that bottleneck, as well as reducing the free travel and economic commerce between these two counties. A simple reshuffling of schedules that would accompany this priority would cost the state absolutely nothing, but benefit the state greatly. Are you tired of waiting or changing your plans because of the WSDOT construction schedule? Tell them so.

Over the last two weeks, we’ve seen heavily armed federal troops controlled by Donald Trump descend on Portland: snatching peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters off the streets and putting them in unmarked vans. They tear-gassed, beat, and shot protesters with “less lethal” rounds, injuring several and almost killing one. Portland’s mayor and city council, Oregon’s governor and state legislators have denounced Trump’s authoritarian tactics and called on the feds to leave. Now, the president of Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), John Catanzara, is helping bring Trump’s goons to Chicago. Catanzara—who has had more than 35 official complaints against him, and been suspended 6 times—sent a letter to Trump asking him to send federal agents to “bring civility back to the streets of Chicago.” Just days later, Trump announced that he’s sending troops to Chicago and other cities across the country, and he referenced the Chicago FOP’s letter to him to help justify it. Trump is attempting to create a national, federal police force that operates in secret and is accountable only to him, not to local communities or their elected officials. With outrage erupting at these plans, the Trump administration is claiming the officers they’re sending to Chicago and other cities are there to fight violent crime, not to crack down on protesters like in Portland. But Trump and his allies in the FOP (and other police unions) are blaming a rise in violent crime on a climate of hostility to police, saying that federal troops are needed to “restore order.” Trump’s enthusiasm for using law enforcement to target his political enemies is clear. He’s been practicing in Washington D.C. and Portland, and now he wants to bring the same repressive federal police to Chicago and other cities. It’s a direct power grab, and a dog whistle to the violent racists in Trump’s base that crave violence against protesters and people of color. It’s likely a preparation for using these same federal forces to suppress the vote and steal the election in November. And now, police unions are going over the heads of their own police chiefs and mayors to invite Trump’s federal police into their cities, to collaborate with them in a violent crackdown on peaceful protest and dissent. The national FOP is strongly supporting Trump’s move (while defending Catanzara and helping him attack Chicago’s mayor). The president of Portland’s police union had a friendly meeting with Trump’s Director of Homeland Security to discuss the federal agents there—without the knowledge of Portland’s chief of police, and while Portland’s leaders were calling for the feds to leave. The ACLU is suing the Trump administration to stop his federal agents from attacking journalists in Portland, and the National Police Association filed a legal brief against the ACLU and in support of Trump—arguing that police need to be able to use violence against journalists and legal observers. It is long past time for Chicago’s political leaders to refuse to negotiate or work with the FOP in any way. Chicago’s FOP is notorious for attacking, intimidating, and threatening activists and political leaders who get in their way. It takes extreme measures to undermine reform and block accountability for violent and abusive officers. Chicago’s FOP and other police unions have long promoted violent, unaccountable, and authoritarian policing on the local level. Now they are inviting in federal troops to help escalate violence and repression against those who are challenging the police and demanding change in Chicago. They are signing up to work with Trump—a would-be totalitarian dictator—as he sets up a secret, nationwide, personal police force. It’s incredibly dangerous, and we can’t allow it to go unchecked. Join us in calling on Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the Chicago city council, and other leaders to denounce the FOP and refuse to negotiate with them on any aspect of police accountability and reform until they drastically reverse course.

Donald Trump is the antithesis of every value upon which the New York Yankees community is based, and has gone out of his way many times over to offend, dehumanize, and harm the very people upon whom the organization depends, both players and fans. He has no business stepping foot through the stadium doors, let alone onto the mound in a position of honor.

The COVID-19 pandemic is something that could have been mitigated from the beginning. Our Governor waited until the problem became a full blown crisis to do anything and now, the people of Arizona are having to deal with the consequences. We have been facing a housing crisis for the last couple years, but now we are staring down the barrel of a homelessness crisis. The Governor has continued to skirt responsibility for the repercussions of his own inaction. It is now time for him to step up and fill the shoes that the people of Arizona elected him to wear. An estimated 365,000 rental households (or 577,000 individual renters) are at high risk of being displaced from their homes due to changes in financial income, loss of job, or unexpected sickness from COVID-19. The funds we request are monies that are, to our knowledge, unallocated and sitting in state coffers controlled by the executive, Governor Ducey. Without action now, it will be too late and Arizonans will suffer. Arizonans did not choose this hardship. They have been made the collateral damage of an unprecedented hardship that could have been handled better by those in charge.

Citizens may be reliant on available credit in order to stave off eviction or put food on the table.

The level of the barriers are the same height as handle grips of most bikes. Even at slow speeds once grip hits the barrier the bike's front tire turns and rider falls off. Since installed barriers have damaged bikes and worse caused bodily harm.