Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump is refusing to release his tax returns, claiming that “there’s nothing to learn from them.” But we think that’s up to the voters to decide. Before we pick our next president, voters should have a clear picture of every candidate’s background, experience, and business interests -- and if there are any potential conflicts of interest, we have a right to know. So today, we sent a letter to Donald Trump demanding that he release his tax returns dating back at least five years for public scrutiny. He wants to conduct the people’s business from the highest office in the land -- so we deserve to see how he’s conducted his private business too. Trump says he can’t release his returns because the IRS is currently auditing them -- but he didn’t have a problem doing that when his private business interests were at stake. And the commissioner of the IRS gave him the go-ahead too, saying “if you’re being audited, and you want to do something else, share that information with your returns, you can do that.” Even Trump’s predecessor as Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, thinks that Trump needs to come clean, saying: “It is disqualifying for a modern-day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters, especially one who has not been subject to public scrutiny in either military or public service.” The other two candidates still in the race, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, have already released their tax returns. In the interest of transparency and a fully informed electorate, Donald Trump ought to join them.

Our state and the entire nation was shocked when George Zimmerman was exonerated for the murder of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin nearly three years ago. Since the acquittal, Zimmerman has had multiple brushes with the law, including allegations of domestic violence. He has been recorded using racially charged and insensitive language and he has been recorded bragging about "getting away with it." But his most recent actions take the cake. George Zimmerman is auctioning the gun that took Trayvon Martin away from his mother, his father, his family and his future. He is attempting to cash in on injustice. We can't allow this to happen. The Martin family has suffered enough, they should not be reminded of the worst day of their collective lives while a murderer profits off of their loss. United Gun Group must do the right thing and SHUT THIS AUCTION DOWN. Please sign our petition demanding United Gun Group stop profiteering off of injustice and murder.

A healthy democracy depends on every citizen having an equal right and opportunity to vote, yet every election cycle, millions of working class Americans find themselves having to choose between their job or their vote. It's time to honor our democracy and to protect the voting rights of working citizens. Make Election Day a national holiday.

Most Americans are affected by K-12 Ed policies either as parents, students, teachers, administrators, or teacher educators. We now have evidence that testing companies (Pearson and PARCC) have been rigging tests to fail our children. The children, teachers, and parents of America desperately need and demand transparency for the big testing companies that are controlling K-12 education and failing our schools! It is one thing to hold teachers and schools accountable, but the measuring tool matters as much as the measurement. There are no excuses for tests that are not aligned to the standards they claim to be assessing.

There have been a number of bills introduced and a lot of talk about the issue, but none that's gotten a passing vote. As the virus starts in on many parts of the United States, those with poor access to health care are most affected. As a Florida resident, I'm concerned for my neighbors, and myself, and want to see my leaders act to help us.

In 2013, the country was appalled as George Zimmerman was acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin as a result of Florida’s "Stand Your Ground" law. Since then, we have had to watch as Zimmerman has remained in the news through run-ins with law enforcement, racist statements, and efforts to capitalize off of killing Trayvon through a celebrity boxing match and a recent attempt to auction the gun used to kill Trayvon. Sadly, Zimmerman has become an enduring symbol of the physical and political violence, hate, and injustice happening to Black people in our country. Now conservatives and the gun lobby are again pushing "Stand Your Ground" legislation in even more states—providing cover for race-based violence and trigger-happy vigilantes like Zimmerman. The Missouri legislature has introduced a crime bill that was expanded by Senator Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia) to protect killers like Zimmerman. Adding a "Stand Your Ground" measure to the bill, Schaefer believes that people should be able to legally claim fear made them shoot people while on their property or in a public space. The bill is moving rapidly through the legislature and actually getting worse with each vote. As we saw with the killings of Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Mike Brown Davis, Rekia Boyd, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, and many others, an illegitimate fear of Black people, including children, is already a justification for killing them in many courtrooms in America. "Stand Your Ground" laws make it even easier to get away with violence against Black people. "Stand Your Ground" laws are also not applied equally. Black people are far less likely to succeed when using it as a defense. As we saw in the case of Marissa Alexander, even a Black woman firing a warning shot in the presence of a former abuser was not able to take advantage of the same defense that allowed Zimmerman to get away with murder. Help us ensure "Stand Your Ground" laws are not expanded. Tell Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon to veto "Stand Your Ground" when it comes to his desk.

George Zimmerman just posted the pistol he used to kill 17-year-old Trayvon Martin for sale on a firearms auction site called UnitedGunGroup.com. That's right: This man is trying his most desperate—and darkest—plan yet to profit from the time he murdered an unarmed teenager in cold blood and got away with it. Trayvon Martin was unarmed, and his death sparked a national movement demanding racial justice and police accountability. It was Zimmerman's acquittal that led to the first widespread use of #BlackLivesMatter on Twitter. Now, this unconvicted murderer is promising to use the funds from the sale of this gun to attack the Black Lives Matter movement. It's sickening that this man is trying to profit from the taking of an innocent person's life—and it's shameful that any site would help him do it. Demand that UnitedGunGroup.com remove this auction immediately.

Reps. Conyers (MI), Grijalva (AZ), Ellison (MN), and McGovern (MA) have introduced an amendment [1] to the National Defense Authorization Act [2] which would prevent any money in the bill from being used to facilitate the transfer of cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has used U.S.-supplied cluster bombs in civilian areas in Yemen, killing and wounding civilians [3], in defiance of U.S. law. [4] Passage of this amendment would be a step towards compliance with Human Rights Watch's demand [5] that the U.S. stop the production and transfer of cluster bombs completely, consistent with the Convention on Cluster Munitions. [6] It would also be a step towards fulfilling the demands of Sens. Murphy and Paul [7] and Reps. Lieu and Yoho [8] that U.S. weapons transfers to Saudi Arabia be conditioned on efforts to limit casualties in the Saudi war in Yemen. Urge your Representative to support the Conyers-Grijalva-Ellison-McGovern NDAA amendment by signing our petition. References: 1. http://amendments-rules.house.gov/amendments/CONYER_06251116091703173.pdf 2. https://rules.house.gov/bill/114/hr-4909 3. https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/06/yemen-saudis-using-us-cluster-munitions 4. https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/06/dispatch-us-contradictions-landmines-and-cluster-munitions 5. https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/06/yemen-saudis-using-us-cluster-munitions 6. http://www.clusterconvention.org/ 7. http://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-paul-introduce-legislation-to-set-new-conditions-for-us-military-support-to-saudi-arabia- 8. https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-lieu-introduces-bi-partisan-bill-establish-new-guidelines

It's time to take OUR VOTE back!

Railroads were once the way most of us got from place to place and our goods were efficiently and environmentally transported. Over the years we have made our highways into massive parking lots, made it difficult to travel, decimated public transportation except for crowded airports, and increased our dependence on oil, adding to pollution, etc. It is time to stop that and put the trains back on the tracks.

As a citizen of Allegan, I feel that we should be allowed to make the most economical, healthy, healthy and enriching decisions about the food we eat.

As a veteran, it strikes close to home for me to see fellow vets and other poor citizens in need of healthcare go without. Edited to add: because my petition has signers, I can't update the text of the petition, all I can do is change the title(which I did) and put a note in here that the actual program we are looking to expand in NE is Medicaid, NOT Medicare. Sorry for all the confusion this has caused.