My petition signifies a stand to not be judged for hiring purposes on my Locs, which stands for religious reasons. As a born American, I am at a loss because as of September 15, 2016, there has been a ban on Locs (dreadlocks), including Afros, braid, and Bantu knots, which are the natural hair of African Americans. From the beginning of time, our History defines Loc's as our Spiritual/Religious connection to God, as our heritage and what naturally grows out of our heads without chemically disturbing the hair that causes proven damage to our hair and organs. African Americans' Natural hair should never be a part of the economic and educational conversation and has NOTHING to do with our job performance or advancement academically. This ban highlights the racial divide and breakdown systematically. The hiring and firing process should not include race, religion, disability, gender, as well as the new decision banning natural hair. It's like asking a white woman or man that in order to be gainfully employed, they either have to process their hair, cut their hair very short, or dye it black. There is not a ban or emphasis that targets, inflicts, and jeopardizes the livelihood or education of Caucasians, especially since they contribute widely to the daily disruption in schools due to head lice, which causes children to be taken out of classrooms and miss assignments to check for head lice infestation. It interrupts students from gaining knowledge during their school day and possibly spreads lice to others and their families. It is an inherent disrespect and contradiction to continue to plague African Americans insisting "Black Lives Don't Matter". There are more pressing issues that need to be addressed and rectified. Hair that's in its natural state doesn't solidify one the loss of employment or the chance for employment as a pathway to provide for their families. There isn't a ban forcing white children or adults to cut or dye their hair or to find an alternative hairstyle in order to be a productive member of society. No solution has been made or passed into law to stop the spreading of bugs known as head Lice in the workplace and schools. Lice has been a problem and is prone to a majority of white people for centuries and has never been addressed. It is not only demeaning and dehumanizing to have someone's prejudiced feelings about natural hair, but it's a loophole to force the demise of African American's financial productivity. It is a travesty that employers not only have the federal backing along with the US Circuit Court of Appeals to racially and religiously discriminate against African Americans based on our natural hair. I am appalled and have had anxiety because I now have to walk on pins and needles knowing there is a law that is on the side of wrong that I can ultimately be fired or hired not based on my qualifications but because I'm targeted for my spiritual freedom of expression for having natural hair. To allow this on a Federal and U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals level is to openly bully and discriminate against blacks for having natural hair by allowing this legal ban, which does not provide recourse to employers and educational systems to be held accountable for taking away our livelihood in order to survive. This is discrimination, to say the least, and this ban Needs to and Should be overturned.

Our democracy functions best when we we have a strong, diverse set of sources for media. But runaway media consolidation threatens that, and puts power in the hands of a few corporate executives. That’s why we’re alarmed at this week’s news that AT&T wants to merge with Time Warner -- and it’s why we must immediately respond by showing our grassroots power to stop this merger. With media consolidation at an all-time high, we all pay the price with higher bills for fewer choices -- and media consolidation makes it harder for new and diverse talent and content producers to access the platforms they need. We can’t let this anti-consumer, anti-democracy deal go through. Add your name now to say NO to the monopolistic AT&T/Time Warner Merger.

Members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North Dakota have been protesting construction of the Dakota Access pipeline since April. The pipeline, also known as the Bakken Pipeline, will carry fracked crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken shalefields through South Dakota and Iowa to Illinois and then to Texas and Louisiana. In other words, it’s Keystone XL all over again. The planned pipeline threatens to pollute tribal waters and crosses land sacred to tribes, so the Standing Rock Tribe have been gathering at the site where it burrows under the Missouri River — and now the construction company is working with state and local officials to keep the pipeline moving forward. Secretary Hillary Clinton has refused to take a stand on the pipeline. On the one hand, she has pledged to honor tribal sovereignty and re-open the doors of the White House to Native Americans. On the other hand, she has put forth energy and climate policy that calls for "responsible" investments in new oil and gas pipelines and an "energy system that crosses borders." If we are to have any hope at all of staving off climate catastrophe, we need to halt the fracking of North Dakota’s oil shalefields—not build export pipelines that would allow the Bakken oil boom to increase. Halting the Dakota Access pipeline is critical to keeping the Bakken crude in the ground. Protests began in April, but they’ve picked up pace after the Army Corps of Engineers issued a questionable permit for the pipeline to cross the Missouri River, the source of the Standing Rock Sioux’s drinking water. Construction began on that segment on August 10, when the Standing Rock set up a peaceful encampment that put a halt to the work. Now local and state police are attacking and arresting the water protectors. Secretary Clinton, it’s time to take a stand. Members of the Standing Rock Sioux have asked you to oppose the pipeline. Stand with the tribes, and for a livable climate for all.

In Maricopa County, the Sheriff is in charge of guarding the ballots. The DOJ shouldn't let him do it unwatched. Historic voter registration deserves historic protection of democracy. More than 150,000 people registered to be new voters and will seek to cast their ballot against Arpaio for the first time. Groups across the area are doing their part for a successful election and the Department of Justice needs to do the same. For the first time in years, the Department of Justice announced that it won't send federal monitors to the County where Trump ally and criminally-charged Sheriff Arpaio is running for re-election. The Department's decision to be absent is a dangerous one given that the Sheriff is the one in charge of guarding the ballots cast on election day. The County recorder has already gotten caught sending out wrong polling information in one instance. And local polling became a national embarrassment during the primaries when fewer locations led to hours-long lines.

On Tuesday, former acting CIA director and Hillary Clinton adviser Michael Morell advocated going to war with Iran for the sake of securing Saudi Arabia’s domination of Yemen. [1] The last thing the Saudi war in Yemen needs is U.S. military escalation. The Saudi war in Yemen needs a lasting ceasefire and a political and diplomatic resolution. That is much more likely if the U.S. threatens to withdraw from the war than if the U.S. threatens to escalate the war. MoveOn and CREDO blasted Morell's remarks. MoveOn said: "Michael Morell’s comments at CAP yesterday are alarming. That sort of bellicose rhetoric leads to unnecessary wars." [2] CREDO said: "Morell’s suggestion that the U.S. Navy should start a war with Iran is wildly irresponsible and detrimental to our national security. Publicly advocating such a reckless position should disqualify Morell from playing a role in any future administration.” [3] Urge your Representative and Senators to repudiate Morell's remarks and oppose his nomination to any position in the next Administration by signing our petition. References: 1. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/10/clinton-adviser-lets-attack-iran-to-aid-saudis-in-yemen.html 2. https://twitter.com/MoveOn/status/791423412501569540 3. https://twitter.com/CREDOMobile/status/791681734685315072

A change to Medicaid rules set to take effect in January will result in more drug-related crime and more overdose deaths and will harm our ability to effectively address the drug epidemic. Every day in this country 129 people die from drug overdose, and many thousands more are treated in emergency rooms. Many of those are people without commercial health insurance, either because they were born and raised in poverty or because they were once comfortable, before drugs took everything they had. The “why” doesn’t matter. They are still human beings and our fellow citizens and we should care for them. And we do. Medicaid, a federally funded program, working in conjunction with states that accept its assistance, provides necessary medical care for indigent Americans. This past summer the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the division of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) which oversees the administration of Medicaid, drafted new rules aimed at better serving Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries. Some of the changes CMS came up with may be good. One, in particular, is not. Currently, states that accept federal Medicaid matching funds are able to use that money to provide in-patient treatment for their indigent citizens with substance abuse issues for as long as they need that care. 42 CFR § 438.3(u) would change this long standing practice. The new rule limits the federal Medicaid match for drug addiction treatment for the poor to 15 days a month. The new rule is the result of CMS viewing mental health and substance use disorder patients in the same light and concluding that if a 15 day per month in-patient stay is appropriate treatment for the mentally ill it is also appropriate treatment for the substance abuser. It is not. Research tells us that effective inpatient treatment leads to long term sobriety and fewer relapses. A minimum of 90 to 120 days, not a maximum of 15 days, is what is needed for effective treatment. 29 U.S. Senators and 46 Governors are on record opposing implementation of the new Medicaid rule. Fifteen days is simply not enough time to recover from the assault addictive drugs make on the body and to restore the life skills that keep a person from relapsing. The implementation of this rule will harm our fellow citizens with addictions who are poor, including pregnant addicted women, women with dependent children and low-level drug offenders coming out of jails and prisons. Without adequate treatment many will turn, or return, to crime to get the drugs their diseased brain tells them they must have. Many will ultimately die. In addition to the terrible human toll, substance abuse costs the U.S. economy between 400 and 600 billion dollars annually, depending on whose numbers you use. Effective treatment, including treatment paid for by Medicaid, can dramatically reduce these costs. According to several conservative estimates, every dollar invested in addiction treatment programs yields a return of between $4 and $12 in reduced crime and reduced healthcare and criminal justice costs. So spending money on treatment saves money in the long run. PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION AND TELL PRESIDENT OBAMA TO HALT IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW 15-DAY LIMIT ON MEDICAID COVERAGE FOR ADDICTION TREATMENT AND ELIMINATE OTHER MEDICAID BARRIERS TO ADDICTION TREATMENT BY EXECUTIVE ORDER.

UO Dining is currently in the process of taking away free shift meals as part of the compensation for their student workers. Free shift meals are a normal form of compensation in the dining industry, and have a long tradition at UO. Previously dining employees received a free meal with every shift. Students relied on those meals. Unilaterally cutting compensation in this manner is unacceptable. Currently, the price of shift meals has been raised to $1, but Dining has said that starting January they will be $3. Over the course of a year that is over $700. If we can afford to Pay President Schill $800,000 a year, we don't need to nickel and dime our hard working student employees.

The KCC put strict limits in place on wastewater injection wells in 5 counties in southern Kansas, 8,000 barrels, in July of 2015. It worked! So they decided this September to increase that to 16,000 barrels, that's 704,000 gallons, and that is double the amount. Guess when the earthquakes started getting past 3.0 magnitude again? In September! And now that Colorado is bringing their waste to dump in Kansas we have earthquakes in Ellis where the limits don't apply. Ask them exactly how they plan to deal with this failed experiment. Oct 24 3.5 18 km E of Anthony Oct 24 2.8 16 km E of Anthony Oct 20 3.6 13 km SSW of Caldwell Sept 18 3.2 8 km NNW of Ellis Sept 16 3.1 13 km N of Ellis Sept 14 3.5 7 km N of Ellis Sept 13 3.2 10 km NW of Harper

The Pentagon has not responded to a memorandum Amnesty International sent to the U.S. Department of Defense on September 28 to raise questions about the conduct of U.S. forces in Syria. The memorandum provided evidence suggesting that U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which directs U.S. forces in Syria, may have failed to take necessary precautions to spare civilians and carried out unlawful attacks that have killed and injured civilians. [1] Failure by the Pentagon to adequately and transparently investigate reports of civilian casualties and of violations of international humanitarian law by U.S. forces in Syria would fall short of international standards and commitments made by President Obama. It would also establish a bad precedent for anticipated U.S. military operations against ISIS in Mosul in Iraq. Urge President Obama and Congress to insist on transparency and accountability concerning civilian casualties from U.S. military actions in Syria by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/10/usa-must-come-clean-about-civilian-deaths-caused-by-coalition-air-strikes-in-syria/

To stop the Elkhart community school board's decision to merge the two high schools, Elkhart Memorial High School and Central High School. This should not be something the board votes on; it should be a public decision and the public should have the right to vote on it, not the school board. Ask the Mayor of Elkhart to allow the residents to vote on the issue. Remember to sign the online petition and also the paper petition that will be going around!

Some Minnesota elected officials are calling on Minnesota authorities not to send police officers to the Dakota Access Pipeline protest at Standing Rock after it was revealed that the Hennepin County Sheriff had done so. [1] "If the sheriff has the money to send people to North Dakota, we can take that money back and reinvest it in our communities," said Minneapolis city council member Alondra Cano. "We need to be doing the work here at home, not intervening in other projects in other states." State Rep. Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth band of Ojibwe, urged county officials to stay away from the pipeline protest: "This request came in. And it's simple. No." Urge Governor Dayton and Minnesota legislators to discourage Minnesota law enforcement agencies from sending police officers to the #NoDAPL protest at Standing Rock by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/10/25/hennepin-county-sheriff-equipment-staff-dakota-access-pipeline-protest

Earlier this month the Obama administration said continuing military assistance hinged on Saudi Arabia accepting a ceasefire in Yemen. The ceasefire has come and gone and after just a few short days, the Saudis have returned to bombing civilians. This is unacceptable. It is time for us to make good on our threat to suspend lethal aid.