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.

First, transparency and accountability from the City Commissioner’s office is critical to ensuring free and fair elections. As elected officials, the City Commissioners must act in good faith and engage in open dialogue with constituents so that we can ensure safe, secure, and equal access to the ballot box. Otherwise, our elections and our democracy will be at risk. Second, a clear plan is needed to address problems that arose in the primary election. From mail-in ballot accessibility to insecure ballot counting, these issues threaten the integrity of our elections: they have the potential to disenfranchise thousands of voters, cast doubt upon our election’s validity, and expose our results to lawsuits. But the City Commissioners have the power to solve them. To do that, they need to act now. All eyes will be on PA this November and, as a result, on Philly. Our health and our votes are at stake if action is not taken starting now.

The President has deployed unidentified federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security and sub-agencies to Portland over the objection of local and state governments. These agents have subsequently escalated conflict, and gleefully beaten, shot, and gassed peaceful protesters, and kidnapped others off the street in unmarked vehicles. The President has threatened to deploy more agents to Chicago and other "Democrat" cities, against the will of the states. It has become clear that the Department of Homeland Security has exceeded its original purpose. It has been transformed into a secret police force used by the President to inflict terror against those with whose politics he disagrees. Although unlikely, we are in a small window of time where it may be possible to undo the damage that has been done, and dismantle this occupying army being deployed against U.S. cities. If we hesitate to take action, the President will only be emboldened, and the precedent of using the Department of Homeland Security for political retribution will be established. Please tell Congress to dismantle the Department of Homeland Security and some sub-agencies.

United States citizens and residents have the freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association. Protesters' civil rights are being trampled on and violated. Putin stops protests in Russia and Xi Jinping hurts protesters in China but this is not acceptable in the United States of America. Photo credit: Skylor Powell

Bryan Brayboy, who is the President’s Professor of Indigenous Education and Justice in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University, says this: “The social science research and literature on this is pretty overwhelming that the use of these caricatures is bad for everyone. Particularly, it’s bad for children. . . For non-native kids, it largely inures them toward racism toward native people. It ends up giving them the sense that native folks and peoples are a thing of the past or are to be caricatured, so they are less likely to have empathy with native peoples, and they come to see us as these relics of the past and stereotypes rather than vibrant, viable, productive human beings.” The American Psychological Association (APA) agrees with Professor Brayboy and has been calling on schools and teams to stop using American “Indian” mascots, symbols, images, and personalities since 2005. The APA says that not only do these symbols, images, and mascots perpetuate inaccuracies about Native American culture, but they teach young minds that it is acceptable to participate in culturally abusive behaviors and discrimination. Twin Lakes has attempted to ensure its representation of indigenous peoples is “respectful”—for instance, discouraging cartoonish depictions of the “Indian” mascot. But turning people into a stereotype causes serious harm even if the stereotype is intended to be or perceived as positive by the local community. One study found that mascots subconsciously reinforce stereotypes, even when exposure to the mascot is only incidental, and that people who live in cities with teams with Native American mascots were more likely to think of Native Americans as warlike. These names and images demean and dehumanize Native American people. When a community reduces rich, varied cultures to a logo on a t-shirt or a wall, the community is saying that those living, breathing people are “other than” and relics and insignificant to the current society. Indigenous people are not artifacts of the past; nor are they peoples who only exist in other places. The United States recognizes 567 tribes today. In 2010, the U.S. Census found that 49,738 American Indian and Alaska Natives live in Indiana. The past is still important to acknowledge, though, because we live in Indiana, the “Land of the Indians,” and there are zero reservations here. When French traders arrived in the area that we now know as White County and Monticello, they encountered the Miami. Later, the Potawatomi people migrated into modern-day Indiana and were soon joined by other tribes as they were pushed out of ancestral homelands in the eastern United States, including the Delaware and Shawnee (who settled Prophetstown). By 1850, however, the Native American populations in Indiana were largely reduced, but not because they had “disappeared.” They were pushed west yet again in forced migrations like the “Potawatomi Trail of Death.” Our ancestors took control of this land by killing and abusing native peoples and forcing them from their homes. It is hollow for us to claim that we are honoring native peoples by plastering stylized images of indigenous bodies and cultural symbols on buildings which stand on land stolen from those same peoples. Some will claim these symbols represent our history, but even if such images could be a genuine way to honor native peoples, the images Twin Lakes uses are offensive in terms of historical inaccuracy. The feathered war bonnet so prominently featured both within and outside our school buildings and on logos has zero ties with the indigenous people who lived in our area. Similarly, tipis, like the one that so long graced our football field, come from the Plains Tribes of the northwestern U.S, not here, and totem poles, like the one featured prominently in the high school gym, originated from traditions in the Pacific Northwest. Around the country, and indeed the world, people are finally recognizing that “Indian” mascots are unacceptable. Stereotyping and appropriating the symbols of people who have been marginalized is wrong. We call on Twin Lakes now to join in this growing tide. Whatever the reasons for the “Indian” mascot, it is time to make a change. This is not about school spirit. It’s about acknowledging that indigenous peoples are not suitable mascots. The children—Native Americans and non-natives alike—deserve better.