My daughter is embroiled in a horror story involving one such company, Title Max. After paying close to $2,000 against a $2,000 loan, she was three weeks late on a payment. The lender repossessed the vehicle without providing notice, gave her ten days to pay before threatening to sell the vehicle at auction. After paying Titlle Max another $2,000, we made three attempts to reclaim the vehicle. While we did actually get the vehicle, it had been stripped and was undriveable. Police informed us that since numerous companies had custody of the vehicle, we would have a difficult time proving which one actually stripped the vehicle.

American voters are witnessing open election fraud in every primaried state. All of the fraud is occurring on behalf of one candidate. The people of the United States have the right to elect our leaders in legal elections. Free, open elections are the cornerstone of a democracy. That right is being eroded by the Democratic Party. We want justice now.

For tens of thousands of citizens of Sonoma County being evicted from their homes or worried about rising costs, the shortage of attainably priced housing for moderate income people has become the most urgent crisis in the County. Every political candidate and elected representative speaks of the need to address our housing crisis, but nobody in County or local government has developed a plan capable of adding more attainably priced housing units. As a result—and in the absence of an Attainable Housing Solution like the one being proposed below by the politically independent grassroots Sonoma County Attainable Housing Coalition and the SonomaIndependent.org—the current housing crisis will worsen. Without a bold solution to this crisis, only new rentals coming available and the only new homes available for purchase will remain affordable to only the wealthy. Thousands, or even tens of thousands of our neighbors, as well as farm laborers and other moderate-income workers, will continue to be priced out of our communities. Children who have grown up here will be unable to live as adults near their families, and many senior renters, our must vulnerable residents, will be forced from the community in which they have lived for decades or have chosen for their retirement. They will be priced out by escalating costs and replaced by newcomers who can afford skyrocketing rents or the million-dollar-plus homes, which are, effectively, the only type of housing that the County’s existing zoning and permitting laws allow to be built. The Sonoma County Attainable Housing Solution is a three-prong solution that would allow, at zero cost to taxpayers, the creation, during the next 15 years, of 15,000 new small homes rent controlled at under $900 per unit, as well as 10,000 small environmentally friendly homes in non-profit housing clusters, cost-controlled to under $200,000. Our solution could be implemented this year by a simple vote of a majority of our County Supervisors, along with a modest adjustment to the upcoming Community Separator extension that is up for voter renewal this year. If implemented, this Solution could create 25,000 new rent and cost-controlled units of housing to house 30,000 people who will otherwise be forced to leave Sonoma County, or not be able to move here, because of the skyrocketing cost of housing. An April 24 column in the Press Democrat by syndicated Bloomberg columnist Justin Fox titled "Why Housing is Too Expensive" concluded, “I can’t help but think that this is a case where we may need both less government (in the form of a rollback of zoning and other housing regulations) and more government (in the form of housing subsidies for the poor).” Sonoma County’s Supervisors are taking necessary measures to find and fund solutions for the homeless. What they have not done, and what needs to happen now, is a zoning and permitting rollback that is focused, with laser-like precision, on creating thousands of units of attainably priced, new housing. The Sonoma Independent Solution allows the marketplace to create an unprecedented boom in attainably priced housing by reducing expensive regulations on auxiliary dwelling units, and by re-zoning a tiny percentage of private land in the County solely for the creation of attainably priced housing so that small landowners will be empowered to use the free market to address the County’s housing crisis. For a variety of reasons—from density issues to accessibility to a lower carbon footprint—some of these attainably priced homes would be located near cities. With that in mind, our Solution requires amending the upcoming Community Separator initiative that will be on the November 2016 ballot to allow some of this attainably priced cost-controlled housing to be placed on about 5% of the land covered by the law. The Sonoma Independent Attainable Housing Solution would provide the capability for middle-class landowners to either sell currently unsaleable small parcels of land for non-profit housing communities of inexpensive small homes or to become middle-class landlords of rent stabilized small house tenants, while generating millions of dollars in new tax revenue for Sonoma County. Our Solution has built strong safeguards to ensure that for-profit developers will never be able to take advantage of these zoning adjustments for housing that are not attainably priced. All of the rental units will be controlled so that they can never be rentable for more than $900, plus increases pegged to the local rate of inflation. Those built as part of non-profit Community Land Trusts could never be rented for profit, or sold for more than $200,000 (plus the rate of inflation). In addition, all the new homes created would be environmentally friendly and conscious of their neighbors. There would be no more than two housing communities of no more than 20 small homes per square mile. Most of the new modest, small-home communities would have solar panels to be net generators of energy, and would contain organic gardens to sustain our local food supply. All the new communities would be forbidden from using pesticides, Roundup, herbicides, or GMO seed. They would also not be able to build asphalt roads, or to grow commercial grapes or cannabis. The Sonoma Independent and the County Attainable Housing Coalition believes this solution provides a historic opportunity to reverse the current trend of new housing affordable only for the wealthy, and build 25,000 new units of attainably priced small homes, with zero use of taxpayer dollars, while creating $15 million annually in new tax revenue for the County, and more than $100 million in additional income for middle-class landowners. This solution is comprised of three parts: I. Zoning and code variance for auxiliary dwelling units (“ADU’s”), likes tiny homes, garage conversions and mobile units, to be rent controlled at under $900 per month. II. An allowance for small gree...

Ever hear the classic conman expression “If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you”? Well, that’s exactly what Hawaii Gas is trying to do to the people of Hawai'i. They have a bridge to sell us called Liquefied Natural Gas or “LNG.” They tout LNG as a clean ‘bridge fuel’ to help save us money as it gets us to our clean energy future. Despite the deceptive propaganda from the Fossil Fuel Industry, LNG is neither clean nor will it save Hawai'i money. The truth is LNG is still a dirty fossil fuel that makes no economic sense for Hawai'i. The Hawai'i State Legislature has mandated that Hawai'i must be converted to 100% renewable energy sources by 2045. Then why would we want to invest millions of dollars to construct offshore docking facilities for huge LNG tankers, a pipeline system to bring in this volatile fuel onshore, and convert Oahu’s power plant to run on natural gas for something that's supposed to be temporary? Governor Ige has already declared this to be a pointless diversion and strongly opposes it. He knows it will waste time, energy and resources that are needed to meet the clean-energy mandate and address Climate Change in a meaningful way. If that weren’t enough, there’s also the issue that LNG comes from fracking. Fracking leaks methane gas, which turns out to be much worse at trapping heat in our atmosphere than carbon. The process of fracking also pollutes drinking water, damages the land, and causes earthquakes. Families living near fracking sites have high rates of birth defects, and fracking kills fish and wildlife. The people of Hawai'i want no part in this type of devastation. Bottom-line, the science is clear. If we are to keep below the tipping point for Climate Chaos and protect our ‘life support system’ i.e. the planet, scientists have confirmed we must take bold action now to stop burning fossil fuels. The reality is that the proposed LNG plans by Hawaii Gas will exacerbate the Climate Crisis by supporting the burning of fossil fuels for decades, and overlooks the costs Hawai'i is already paying the price for with our loss of coastline, coral reefs, and trades winds, not to mention the destruction caused to communities where fracking occurs. While Hawai'i is already feeling the effects of Climate Change, experts warn that as the climate further destabilizes, we can expect more and stronger hurricanes; severe damage to our economy; beach loss; more disease; closed hotels and lost jobs; water shortages; dying coral reefs; damaged infrastructure; higher average temperatures; decreased trade winds; periods of drought and heavy rain with flooding; sea water mixing with drinking water; endangered fisheries; stressed native animals and plants; increased spread of invasive species; and declining crop production. Hawaii Gas: This is not the future we wish to pass on to our keiki! We refuse to stand idly by and let short-sighted companies wreak havoc on us. We Say No To LNG!

US voters must be offered a better choice on the November ballot than the unpopular Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. If Bernie Sanders is not running, we must fight onward with Jill Stein to take on Clinton and Trump in the presidential debates. By remaining united we can qualify Jill for the debates to make sure our progressive voices are not silenced, but continue to be heard in the 2016 presidential campaign. We will also be building a party for the 99% by merging the Bernie Sanders movement with the Green Party.

Funding Chicago's Future is the Chicago chapter of Funding Illinois' Future, a coalition of over 230 superintendents, community leaders, faith leaders, educators, community organizations, and education reform and civil rights group from across the state united around bringing equity to every school district in Illinois by reforming the state’s education funding system. The coalition has been present in every media market throughout Illinois and engages in grassroots, earned media, social media, paid media, and legislative activities. All activities are non-partisan.

Pick almost any subject, issue, or topic of political discussion, in the past 36 years and you'll realize that the progressive voice has been systematically smothered under a pillow of right-wing ideals and money. Our government has been auctioned off to the highest bidders by the very system we've created through our ignorance and apathy. Under both parties our standard of living and dignity have both plummeted as our ability support ourselves has steadily declined over that same period of time. Under a Democrat, in cooperation with all Republicans, laws were passed that gave tax incentives to companies to take our good paying jobs overseas. This, in turn, left millions of prosperous, hard working, American's unemployed, destitute, depressed and fending for themselves. Our good paying jobs were systematically stolen from us and given to destitute people around the world willing to work for slave wages and working unspeakable hours while leaving them no time to be with their families. Eight years ago, Wall Street crashed the global economy by lying to the world about the quality of the mortgages their banks were underwriting. They stole billions of dollars from the American people through 'bail outs' and credit tightening measures while they gave themselves hundreds of millions of dollars in "performance bonuses." The result? Nobody went to jail or was even tried. British Petroleum (BP) ruined the Gulf of Mexico's seafood industry, our food supply and the financial future & health, of millions of people in the fishing industry depending on that food supply. The result? Nobody went to jail or was even tried. Under a Republican governor, over 100,000 people in Flint, Michigan were poisoned with lead because government officials wanted to "save money" by changing their water supply. Two years later, no one has done anything to fix the problem. Still… The result? As of yet, nobody has been tried in court or gone to jail. Both Parties currently have candidates that the public CLEARLY Prefers and yet both parties are doing everything in their power to sabotage and subvert the will of the people. At this point, it is clear that neither political Party represents their constituents any longer and that our country now responds only to the desires of billionaires and big business. It has been made abundantly clear to us that our voice no longer carries any weight with our political representation. Senator Bernie Sanders has distinguished himself as the political voice that most closely mirrors the value system at the core of the American spirit. That American spirit is best embodied in the following description: Being Honest & Living With Integrity Being Industrious & Hard-Working Being Helpful and Considerate of Your Neighbors, and Standing Up For Those Weaker Than Us Senator Sanders has proven his ability to convert our belief in his integrity into close to $50 million dollars per month in political contributions. That enormous sum of money translates into $2.4 billion dollars every four years. This is plenty of money to start a new political party that thinks like we do; a Party that believes in unity, prosperity, social justice and capitalism, as we do. It is for these reasons that we've come to the conclusion that it is time to harvest the best ideals from the decaying carcass of what’s left of the Democratic Party and bravely move into a future filled with the promise of a government responsive to the will and needs of it's citizens. Please join us and sign this petition to indicate your desire to help us form “a more perfect union” through your support of the American Change Party. We have only until June 5th to get 2 million signatures. Please sign our other MoveOn petition. It is our effort to control the Superdelegate vote in the different way. That petition plays on their worst fears. It is a nightmare, scenario that they will do ANYTHING to avoid having happen to them because it causes their entire down-ticket party structure to collapse. Check it out here: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/superdelegates-if-you?source=c.em&r_by=15635646 Please visit our informational site at: American-Change-Party.org as well and then "Like" and "Share" that site, if you would. For more information please visit www.American-Change-Party.org

After reading the open letter from Dr. Jill Stein to Bernie Sanders, the Dr recognized their common goals, but only offered partnership if Sanders loses against the Democratic Party system corruption. She didn'the offer partnership if he and his supporters win against the corruption of that machine. We want that.

Privatizing our water is a mistake. It'll enable a corporation to price-gouge us on our utility bills, and worse, if they cut corners -- which most private water utilities do -- they could cause devastating environmental disasters. Providence's water system serves most of the state of Rhode Island, so it's not just one city that would be in trouble. Cutting costs for short-term money is how Flint began its water crisis. Water is too important to risk. We all need it to live and we need it to be safe and clean for everyone. Source: http://wpri.com/2016/04/25/12-ways-providence-could-solve-its-money-problems/

We the undersigned voters petition you--in the interest of Party unity and keeping the White House in the hands of Democrats--to adhere to and carry out the following three conditions for securing our votes during the 2016 general election: 1) Cease all campaign fund raising efforts that privilege wealthy donors and/or corporations; this includes, but is not exclusive to, the following activities: large donor events (meal or social gathering-related); ending your campaign's coordination with super PACs (you will not be needing the services of David Brock any longer). Focus on raising money from the small donation contributors that made Bernie Sanders' unlikely bid so competitive. 2) Immediate halt to Clinton Global Initiatives fund raising from foreign governments, foreign dignatories and their respective agents or intermediaries 3) End all ties to Wall Street, fossil fuel industry and the defense contractor community. No phone calls, emails, speeches, or communication of any kind with said interest groups or their lobbyists. Complying with the three stipulations will earn you the credibility your campaign currently is in want of. Should Donald Trump win the Republican presidential nomination, he will not hesitate to bludgeon your already compromised campaign. You cannot expect to win the presidency without the support of Bernie voters; and you cannot secure their support without adopting these three stipulations.

This petition is to let local elected officials know that there is strong community support for Plato Academy Charter School to give parents an innovative and viable educational opportunity for their children.

Government of, by and for the people has become government of, by and for the corporations. We must wrest back our voice and our power through Free and Fair Elections. Signers of this petition are asking that the FBI and the FEC collaborate with California's Election Boards to ensure California voting machines do not harbor software to override voters' choices. This action must occur immediately so that it is in place for the upcoming California Republican and Democratic Primaries. We recommend that the FBI impound and examine a random sample of voting machines throughout California's election districts IMMEDIATELY following the close of the polls. In order to ensure that late removal of anything to alter the actual votes as cast does not happen, we need an official presence throughout the hours the polls are open. It should be broadly announced that such a random examination will occur and that prosecution of anyone involved in breaking election laws will also happen. California's voting results should NOT be certified until the examination of the machines and possible correction of the outcomes has occurred.