It’s time for a revolution in the food system—young and new farmers need support to nourish future generations. Farmers, businesses, policymakers, and educators need to promote agriculture as an intellectually stimulating and economically sustainable career, and to and make jobs in agriculture and the food system “cool” for young people all over the world. With a rapidly aging population of farmers, it’s time to attract more young people to agriculture. This is a global challenge; half the farmers in the United States are 55 years or older while in South Africa, the average age of farmers is around 62 years old. “Agriculture has an image problem,” according to the organization Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD). Yet, according to the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), 2.5 billion people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, and according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 27 percent of the world’s population is under 10 years old while only eight percent is over 65 years old. “For decades, poor farmers were seen as a problem to be solved. But where and when people and governments have been able to give them the support they need and have understood that family farmers are, in fact, part of the solution, we have seen promising results,” said FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva. It’s time to cultivate the next generation of food system leaders—young farmers, agricultural entrepreneurs, agronomists, extension agents, educators, researchers, scientists, and policymakers who can create a more sustainable food system. “Increased access to education means that young people can be a force for innovation on family farms, increasing incomes and well-being for not only farmers but also for local communities. Young people can develop the agricultural sector by applying new technologies to current work methods,” says Mark Holderness, Executive Secretary of GFAR. Agriculture means more than subsistence farming. Today, young people can explore career options in permaculture design, biodynamic farming, communication technologies, forecasting, marketing, logistics, quality assurance, urban agriculture projects, food preparation, environmental sciences, advanced technologies, and more.

Starting the petition so that if Trump wants to run for re-election and be on the ballot in Pennsylvania, he will have to release his tax returns and all future presidential candidates will have to release their tax returns as well. We do not need the US Congress to pass a law like this. If a handful of swing states which Republican and Democratic candidates need to win require tax returns to be on the ballot, every future candidate will do it.

Dog hunting in South Carolina has become an outrageous abuse of the rights of landowners who live in rural areas. Not only can they not walk their land freely without dogs and men following close behind with loaded weapons, their livestock is killed. For women and people of color, it is especially abusive since some of these hunters use their power and connections with lawmakers to continue their abusive behavior. Still hunters have also complained about dog hunters yet law enforcement in rural areas are often friends with these dog hunters and will do nothing to stop them. Help us live in peace. Help us survive without getting murdered by an errant bullet. Most of the dog hunters destroy signs and intimidate for shooting at residents, particularly women. Help us stop this atrocious sport that even still hunters despise. Help us live in peace. Please sign the petition.

The Russian influence and their candidate.

An unprecedented urgent situation requires unprecedented urgent measures. Call on the US Supreme Court/Attorney General to suspend the Jan. 20th Inauguration in order to allow appropriate time to fully review and consider:   1) Official warnings that a Trump presidency represents a top national and global security threat, as issued by top military, security, legal, political and scientific experts (including by Republicans, the standing president, high-level officials, world leaders and top university professors) throughout 2016 to date;  2) The results of full medical & neuropsychiatric exams on Donald Trump prior to transmitting the power of office and the nuclear codes, as formally urged by top Harvard professors of psychiatry and APA member professionals throughout 2016 to date;  3) The results of recent official conclusions on election interference and compromise by Russia, emitted by US Intelligence Agencies, as well as all related pending investigations;  4) Full resolution of conflicts of interest and foreign financial ties according to the Constitutional Emoluments Clause prior to taking office. Basic principles: an election without election integrity is not an election.  We, the people, should not be forced to accept dubious election results, that threaten our national and global security. Whether it is to follow "tradition" or "smooth transition of power" - none of these values will endure if we face a nuclear incident that can occur at any time once Trump is given the nuclear codes, or any number of dangers still pending the serious, thorough consideration required.  According to the results of the above items, SCOTUS options may include, as necessary, election rectification (honoring the popular vote) or reconvening elections (if possible, with UN/OAS election observers to monitor election integrity). _______ This is a national and global security issue affecting us all. This is not a partisan issue, nor even exclusively a national issue. The USA and all the world's nations stand to be fatally affected by how unequivocally we recognize and step up to rectify a compromised election result.  This is a petition for our highest justice authorities to  heed dozens of the world's highest authorities consistently issuing formal urgent warnings about the multiple dangers of a potential Trump presidency.  Ensuring our national and planetary safety, the integrity of our democratic election institutions and of the presidential public mandate, and respect for our national sovereignty must come before all other considerations. Selected Background Information: 1) Well over 200 top experts and authorities have issued formal warnings and concerns on major security issues arising from Trump's incompetence and instability. Here is just one joint letter of many: 50 GOP Officials Warn Donald Trump Would Put Nation’s Security ‘at Risk’ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/us/politics/national-security-gop-donald-trump.html?_r=0 2) Formal communications from numerous highly esteemed Harvard psychiatry professors / APA member professionals, alarmed by Donald Trump's mental instability, symptoms and dubious fitness for office, urging President Obama to command full medical and neuropsychiatric exams of Donald Trump prior to transmitting power and the nuclear codes. One article of many: Is Donald Trump Mentally Ill? 3 ProfessorsoOf Psychiatry Ask President Obama to Conduct ‘A Full Medical and Neuropsychiatric Evaluation’ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-greene/is-donald-trump-mentally_b_13693174.html 3) Recent official conclusive evidence of election interference issued by at least four US Intelligence Agencies, the conclusion of other related pending investigations, and a full recount and audit of the election pending from the official preliminary recount that took place in Nov/Dec 2016 (Jill2016.com/Recount)

There is much concern that fake news is effecting election campaigns of all parties. I want our elected officials, both state and federal to make an effort to find a legislative solution that provides an incentive to not publish fake news while at the same time not infringing on the first amendment guarantee of a free press.

My granddaughter, age 10, has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. If this is eliminated, she will be unable to ever get health insurance.

On Friday, civil rights hero and longtime congressman John Lewis, who organized the March on Washington as a student and whose skull was broken by police as he crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, called Trump's election illegitimate and said we would not attend the inauguration. Predictably, Donald Trump attacked Rep. Lewis. And since then, in the past 24 hours, the number of Congress members who have said they'd join Representative Lewis and skip the inauguration has grown to nearly twenty. Thank you Representatives Blumenauer and Schrader for joining them! "It will be the first one that I miss since I've been in Congress," Lewis said. "You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong, is not right." Rep. Lewis has said that he cannot see Trump as a "legitimate president" because of the now widely understood effort of Russia to influence November's election on behalf of Trump. Every member of Congress has a choice: stand with Rep. Lewis or stand with Trump. Sign the petition—tell your members of Congress to skip the inauguration. Rep. Lewis has shown yet again that when a leader takes a courageous action, others follow. If more members of Congress join Rep. Lewis and skip the inauguration, we can strengthen the power of the opposition. Thank you Representatives Blumenauer and Schrader for standing strong and boycotting Trump's inauguration. Let's join them and show the power of the opposition movement. Democratic lawmakers must boycott Trump's inauguration lest they normalize and legitimize an unhinged demagogue who's an abject threat to our nation.

"When the president does it, that means it is not illegal." This infamous quote, which ultimately brought down Nixon's presidency, seems to be Trump's justification for refusing the financial disclosures expected of any holder of higher office. Trump has so far refused to release his taxes, divest himself from his businesses, and disclose his financial entanglements and debts he has all over the world. The bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee is probing into the involvement of Russian intelligence agencies in the 2016 election, including possible illegal ties between Russia and Trump's team. We must urge the investigating panel to subpoena Trump's tax returns to check if Trump is beholden to any foreign entity. The Senate Intelligence Committee stated that it would use "subpoenas if necessary". Now that the Trump administration has taken over the national intelligence agencies, it is more urgent than ever that his tax returns are released because: 1. Trump's tax returns will confirm the nature of his financial ties with Russia; 2. They will reveal Trump's conflicts of interest and possible violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution; 3. The investigating panel has the legal grounds now to demand that Trump release his tax returns, as all requests from an ethical and moral standpoint were willfully ignored. Let's put a stop to all the lies, spins, diversions, and excuses spouted by the Trump regime and concentrate on how we can hold him accountable by demanding the subpoena and release of his tax returns. Please sign this petition and share the link.

On Friday, civil rights hero and longtime congressman John Lewis, who organized the March on Washington as a student and whose skull was broken by police as he crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, called Trump's election illegitimate and said he would not attend the inauguration. Predictably, Donald Trump attacked Rep. Lewis. And since then, in the past 24 hours, the number of Congress members who have said they'd join Representative Lewis and skip the inauguration has grown to nearly twenty. Thank you Representatives Blumenauer and Schrader for joining them! "It will be the first one that I miss since I've been in Congress," Lewis said. "You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong, is not right." Rep. Lewis has said that he cannot see Trump as a "legitimate president" because of the now widely understood effort of Russia to influence November's election on behalf of Trump. Every member of Congress has a choice: stand with Rep. Lewis or stand with Trump. Sign the petition—tell your members of Congress to skip the inauguration. Rep. Lewis has shown yet again that when a leader takes a courageous action, others follow. If more members of Congress join Rep. Lewis and skip the inauguration, we can strengthen the power of the opposition. Thank you Representatives Blumenauer and Schrader for standing strong and boycotting Trump's inauguration. Let's join them and show the power of the opposition movement. Democratic lawmakers must boycott Trump's inauguration lest they normalize and legitimize an unhinged demagogue who's an abject threat to our nation.

The Office of Government Ethics is a nonpartisan ethics office that has served presidents for the last 4 decades to help ensure a high level of integrity in the president, cabinet members and all appointees. It should not be punished for doing its job for the American people.

Free my uncle my grandma haven't seen her son in 23 years.