Global warming is the biggest challenge facing humankind in the 21st century. I want my grand-nieces and nephews to have a livable world.

Donald Trump is pulling us out of the Paris Climate Agreement, and he has stacked his cabinet with Big Oil billionaires and Wall Street executives who are trying to rollback all the progress we've made on climate change. Their greed and bigotry is literally threatening our survival, and we must outright reject it. The only way we can stop him is by building state and local resistance that can get in his way, while we continue to build solutions from the grassroots. Most election cycles focus on Presidential and Congressional elections -- but we know that change doesn't come from the top. And by neglecting the power and importance of local elections, we fall into the trap of playing the big money game that makes Washington, DC toxic and dysfunctional. It's time to change the game and get behind local leaders who can take our democracy back, stop threatening fossil fuel projects, and demonstrate the type of bold leadership we need on climate change. Local leaders are starting to run for office, and if we double-down on this strategy we can elect the next generation of bold progressive leaders who will stand for people over profit. Local elections are often decided by only 500-1000 votes, so if we team up, we can have a huge impact. Whether it's donating $27 or volunteering for 2 hours to call local voters to remind them to vote, our impact will add up. It's time to stop waiting for the same old corrupt politicians in Washington, DC to to save us. And it’s time to start investing in a new generation of leaders to take power and lead locally. Let's do it.

The Trump Administration’s proposal to cut the Women’s Bureau’s budget by 70%, eliminating all regional offices, would essentially render the agency unable to fulfill its mission of empowering women to achieve economic security. For nearly 100 years, the Women’s Bureau has served as the only agency in the federal government charged with advocating for the interest of working women and for the economic security of women and their families. It has worked on high priority issues for working women such as paid leave, earned sick time, as well as highlighting the needs of women veterans. It has been at the forefront of addressing equal pay, ensuring breastfeeding and pregnancy accommodation, as well as working with women in the trades. Issues that the Bureau once raised as “women’s issues” have become the standard for all workers today. Sign on now to save the Women’s Bureau from the Trump Administration’s budget cuts!

In the wake of a daylight open rescue showing horrific abuse of animals in San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors has been presented with an animal bill of rights, which offers incremental progress towards the full abolition of animal exploitation. The first tier of this bill of rights asks the city to acknowledge the suffering of animals and legally require all city officials to account for animal suffering in its decisions and policy. By bearing witness to this suffering, city officials will be forced to justify the violence. Every city action that harms animals -- from "pest" management to food policy -- will be subject to public scrutiny and debate. The public will quickly see there is not justification for animal-abusing policies and decisions, setting the city (and state) up for a full animal bill of rights.

I am concerned about climate change, how it will affect the planet over the next 20-50 years, how it will affect every person young or old over the short and long term, and the need to work together to effect change.

The Francis family received a letter from the Arkansas Parole Board inviting Brian Francis to come speak to this issue on June 9, 2017

Mental health is a huge topic which many people are affected by. My proposal is for a screen to be provided as an option for a barrier to talk to someone about their mental health issues without feeling as awkward.

Dear Sen. Felder, Your constituents in New York's 17th Senate district are requesting an on-the-record meeting with you as soon as possible before the end of the current legislative session so that we can discuss key issues before the New York Senate. Major unresolved issues before the body include: - The New York Health Act (S4840) - Legislation requiring New York to release the state tax returns of federal officials, including Donald Trump (S5572A) - The New York State Liberty Act (S4075A) - The Reproductive Health Act (S2796) - And other important topics affecting New Yorkers everywhere. We have been unable to learn where Sen. Felder stands on many of these matters. It is critical to publicly establish his position on these and other bills - and if he doesn't have a position on them, we want to discuss what information and analysis he is waiting to hear before making a decision. We are happy to discuss the logistics of our request with you (for example, whether Sen. Felder would be able to host one meeting, whether he would prefer several shorter meetings, and whether he would conduct the meetings in person or by phone). By an "on-the-record" meeting, we mean that the conversation can be recorded, so that it can be made publicly available and shared with Sen. Felder's other constituents. Thank you for your consideration, and we eagerly await your reply.

For decades, hedge fund and private equity billionaires, like Bruce Rauner, have used an unjustifiable provision in our federal laws to give themselves millions of dollars in tax cuts. In Illinois alone, closing this loophole could generate as much as $1.7 billion in revenue for the state. Seems like a no-brainer, right? Despite national agreement that action is needed, there has been little progress on closing this loophole. Until now. We have the chance to make Illinois the first state to stand up to special interest millionaires and billionaires by closing this loophole. Last week, SB1719 passed the Senate. And a vote in the House is imminent. There is no reason for Illinois to help billionaires find ways to hide their income. Especially not now, when we’re two years into a budget crisis and have all too many examples of the human cost of Governor Rauner’s failed leadership. This bill is the first in the nation to make it through any legislative chamber. If you want tax fairness, if you want hedge fund billionaires to pay their fair share, and if you want Illinois government to be able to afford core services without punishing the middle class, sign our petition to ask the House to support this bill and please pass along to your friends. Daniel

Saudi Arabia is using U.S. weapons to deliberately create famine in Yemen [1]. Trump's Saudi arms deal is widely seen as a U.S. seal of approval for escalation of the famine-producing Saudi-UAE war and blockade. Sens. Chris Murphy [D-CT] and Rand Paul [R-KY] [2] and Reps. Mark Pocan [D-WI] and Justin Amash [R-MI] [3] have introduced resolutions to block the Saudi arms deal. CNN's Fareed Zakaria attacked Trump's Saudi arms deal in a Washington Post op-ed. Zakaria noted that Saudi Arabia has been central to the spread of terrorism; that Saudi Arabia has spread its puritanical and intolerant version of Islam across the Muslim world; that Osama bin Laden was Saudi, as were 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11; that the Saudi government has provided financial and logistic support to ISIS and is in tacit alliance with al-Qaeda in Yemen; that charities 'closely connected with government offices' of Saudi Arabia are funding mosques, schools and imams to disseminate a fundamentalist, intolerant version of Islam throughout Germany; that more than 94% of deaths caused by Islamist terrorism since 2001 were perpetrated by the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other Sunni jihadists; that almost every Islamist terrorist attack in the West has had some connection to Saudi Arabia. [4] But Fareed Zakaria has not yet endorsed the bipartisan Congressional opposition to the Saudi arms deal that could force a change in U.S. policy. Urge Fareed Zakaria to endorse the bipartisan Congressional opposition to the Saudi arms deal by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4670011/murphy-young-yemen-murphy-saudis-deliberately-trying-create-famine-yemen 2. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/42/ 3. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-joint-resolution/102 4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/saudi-arabia-just-played-donald-trump/2017/05/25/d0932702-4184-11e7-8c25-44d09ff5a4a8_story.html

The bill is bad because: 1. Its intention, as stated in it own project report, is to have an unprecedented mandate to prevent an independent private childcare business from expelling a child. 2. It misses the important opportunity to provide the real service that a childcare needs when caring for a child with challenging behaviors, which is an aide to work one-on-one, or relieve the experienced teacher to work one-on-one, to teach the child the skills s/he needs to be successful. 3. A statewide and state-funded program already provides the exact same service that the bill is asking for more money to do. There is no waiting list for the existing program. To spend more money on this would be a shameful waste of money. The citizens of Maine need to trust the integrity of the process by which a bill gets passed into law. The people we elected to vote on these potential laws rely heavily on the committee that a bill gets assigned to, to do the work of listening to the pros and cons of the issues in order to fairly determine the likely impact the law would have on the citizens of Maine, BEFORE they are asked to place their VOTE. It is particularly important that the integrity of the Committee process ensures the voice of Mainers in getting a fair, honest, and balanced assessment when there are too many bills for legislators to be able to look into each one before they must cast a vote. That INTEGRITY and TRUST was BROKEN by the Education Committee on a childcare bill, LD1321 sponsored by Senator Cathy Breen when it passed into law WITHOUT consideration of any opposition! The bill was passed into law without either the House or Senate even casting their individual votes after legislators relied on the Education Committee's report saying there was "no opposition" to the bill, even though there WAS CLEARLY OPPOSITION posted on the State website. AND the bill was passed into law without either the House or Senate casting their individual votes, even though there was no committee consensus that it "ought to pass"! How did this happen? 1. Only supporters knew when the Public Hearing was held. Proper full 2-week notice of the Public Hearing on LD 1321 was not given to the public. 11 days prior to the hearing, notice was sent that a waiver to schedule the hearing without giving the public a full 2-week notice, was pending and needed confirmation. Then NO NOTICE was sent to the public of the date and time for the Public Hearing! As a result, ONLY supporters, including mostly lobbyists and people benefitting financially from the bill, were present to give testimony of support. 2. Without knowledge of the legislature or public, the Education Committee did not allow submission of written testimony beyond the end of the public comment time, even though this had previously not allowed. Since the public wasn't notified, they did not know when to show up for the public comment, so they weren't given the opportunity to be there and subsequently they were also prevented from submitting written testimony into the official record! Within 10 hours of close of Public Comment, there were many letters from childcare businesses opposing the bill, that were sent to the Education Committee members and secretary. 3. Against all odds, one professional childcare business owner got her opposition to LD1321 officially submitted to the record and it was posted on the State website. However, the Policy Analyst for the Education Committee STILL gave an OFFICIAL REPORT to the Committee that there was "NO OPPOSITION" at the start of the work session for the bill! The work session is intended to work out the details and solve differences in pros and cons, to create laws that make sense, are cost effective to taxpayers and citizens are more likely to comply with. The misleading statement that there was "no opposition" usurped the work session's legislative duty to explore the opposition's perspective on this bill before recommending that the bill becomes law. 4. The Education Committee failed to address concerns of the independent childcare business owners opposition to the bill during the work session, even though the Education Committee Secretary and many of the Committee Members acknowledged getting multiple letters of opposition, by responding through email to the senders of the opposition testimonies. The Education Committee ended the Work Session without a consensus, with 4 minority votes of "ought NOT to pass". 5. The full Senate and then the full House of Representatives unanimously passed LD1321 into law based on the recommendation of the Education Committee that it "ought to pass" and had NO OPPOSITION! Sign on to this petition if you want the following: Governor LePage, please VETO LD1321 because Maine citizens were prevented from their legal right to take part in the process of making this law. Senate President Michael Thibodeau, Majority Leader Garret Mason, Minority Leader Troy Jackson, please address the Senate, in your official capacity, to sustain the Governors VETO of LD1321 due to the fact that proper protocols were not followed by the Education Committee, thereby preventing Maine citizens from their legal right to take part in the process of making this law. Speaker of the House Sara Gideon, Majority Leader Erin Herbig, and Minority Leader Ellie Espling, please address the House, in your official capacity, to sustain the Governors VETO of LD1321 due to the fact that proper protocols were not followed by the Education Committee, thereby preventing Maine citizens from their legal right to take part in the process of making this law. Senate Chair of Government Oversight Committee Sen. Roger J Katz, and House Chair Rep. Anne-Marie Mastraccio: Investigate the Education Committee to determine the implication of gross negligence for the legal rights of the citizens of Maine to have fair access to the lawmaking process and to determine disciplinary action for individuals involved in obstructing th...

As a Harley owner and rider and former USW LOCAL MEMBER for 38 years, I was so disappointed when I walked out of a Harley Dealership empty handed after going there to buy my grandson and myself matching Tee-Shirts. Not one shirt MADE IN USA to fit us. All the merchandise in the store was made in some other country except for three shirts and sizes were all M. As I got on my NEW HARLEY TRIKE and rode home empty handed I told myself "This is not right" Harley is an American icon. I will NOT buy Harley merchandise made in other countries. Now they are wanting to move Harley PRODUCTION JOBS overseas. Join me in signing this petition.