All a Fargo Lutheran church wanted to do was be more welcoming of the community...the ENTIRE community. If protecting our freedom to be who we are isn't worth protecting, what is?

British corporation Oxitec has been working since 2011 to release genetically engineered (GMO) mosquitoes in Florida. These GMO mosquitoes would kill off one species of mosquito, but pave the way for possibly more-dangerous mosquitoes to move in, carrying harmful diseases like West Nile virus and dengue fever. Why release these biotech insects if they could cause the introduction of something worse? 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an initial finding of "no significant impact" for allowing these mosquitoes to be released in the Florida Keys. Public comments on this finding are being accepted until May 13. Join us in telling the FDA that it's too risky to allow the release of GMO mosquitoes in Florida — or elsewhere.

Our community doesn't want to change because of some people ! We love something and we are a BIG community !

The dysfunction and chaos of the 2016 Colorado caucuses highlighted the many flaws with this system. Hundreds of Democrats were barred from participating due to overcrowded caucus sites. Republicans did not have a say in their party’s presidential nomination process. Unaffiliated voters were completely shut out of the process. And anyone not available for three or more hours on the evening of March 1st had no way to participate. Luckily, there’s a better way. We have the exciting opportunity to restore the presidential primary in Colorado, while simultaneously preserving caucusing for smaller races. Please take action NOW and urge your legislators to vote YES on HB16-1454, which would allow every Coloradan to have a say in the presidential nomination process. The presidential primary allows more Coloradans to participate in the presidential nomination process. The caucus system bars those who cannot physically participate in the caucus. This includes those serving in the military overseas, parents without access to childcare, and employees who work in the evening. In contrast, the presidential primary will give voters the option to vote by mail, vote early, or vote in-person. In addition, research has shown that turnout rates for presidential primaries are significantly higher than presidential caucuses. The presidential primary gives unaffiliated voters a say in the presidential primary process. Colorado’s current system bars unaffiliated Coloradans—who make up 40% of registered voters—from participating in the presidential caucus. The presidential primary will give voters the option to temporarily affiliate with a party for the primary, and automatically un-affiliate after casting their ballot. The presidential primary amplifies Colorado issues in the national debate. Holding the presidential primary in late February or early March will entice presidential candidates to spend more time in our state, and bring Colorado issues into the national spotlight. It’s time to bring the presidential nomination process in Colorado into the 21st century. Please tell your state legislators to restore the presidential primary in Colorado by voting YES on HB16-1454.

Hollister is the next cheapest place on the border of Silicon Valley. Rents are skyrocketing. Affordable rentals are nearly impossible to find. Long time residents are doubled and tripled up, couch surfing, living in sub-standard units, homeless, or leaving the area. The upper floors of downtown sit empty. A proposed new homeless shelter does not include the "housing first" solution. We could easily fill 200 tiny houses. This is a critical point in the development of this community.

We as yidlifecrisis.com feel, for totally irrational reasons, spited by this and will not rest until it is solved (although for anxiety reasons we just tend not to rest, so if this is not solved, meh, not such a big deal).

On November 2, 2015, I had to have a meeting with my son's school because they restrained him and said a therapist said to do so. My son is 3 years old and disabled. Prior to the meeting on November 2, this is what happened leading up to the meeting: I asked for the name of the therapist, which I could not be provided with from the teacher, nor the principal. I proceeded to call the Boston Public School system and was told that no therapist has been assigned yet!! I then explained this horrific dilemma and they told me, we will call you back. They called back with a recommendation to have a meeting with the principal (who couldn't give me a name before). At this meeting, I was trying to figure out the name of the therapist who prescribed a weighted jacket (10+ lbs) on a child who weighs 25 lbs. and has low muscle tone in his legs and core; I was never provided with the name. I then left the school. Two hours after I left, the principal called DCF/CPS/DSS and stated I was impaired at this meeting. So, if I am impaired at an elementary school, I do not see a principal and/or teacher letting me walk from the 2nd floor through the school, with all these children in school, nor seeing them wait two hours to claim I'm impaired. DCF met with me; I offered a drug screen which was denied, and they took my son from school where my son's father was waiting for him. DCF asked his father to walk into school with them and talk to his son. They refused to let the father or the grandmother have custody of him, so the father went up to talk with him, and while holding his boy, the principal ripped him out of his dad's arms, making my son scream and cry and it was so rough his father said if he didn't let go his son would've been injured. He probably has marks on him. DCF proceeded to take him out the back door and stuff him in the car screaming, crying, and flailing around, so knee to chest and forced him in. His Grandmother was denied because... Still don't know. So I had a court date the next day and offered a drug and alcohol analysis supervised and it was denied. I had not been given any chance to prove the allegation is wrong. Now almost 6 months later, with 12-15 homes, 3 different hospitals, 10 workers at DCF, 6 supervisors, one area program manager, 2 directors, 3 surgeries, parental rights never taken, but no one will give the parents any information to which they are entitled. The hospital told me when I asked if my child arrived dead, would you call me? Ah well...yes or no, would you call me if my boy arrived dead - NO! It's up to the Department of Children and Families if they want to call you. Now why would I ask a harsh question, you may be thinking? Well, in the 12-15 homes he's been kicked out or removed from, mentally, physically, emotionally abused, with pictures and documentation, as well as being starved. When his grandmother, his dad, or I would bring him food, he would shove it in his face so fast he was gagging while trying to eat. They still never proved my impairment, but I've proved no illicit substances are in my system - no alcohol either. I can't get a meeting or one vital question answered; what else or what more can I do to get MY son home?? Almost 6 months, and no answer to this one question. Meetings are canceled, calls are not returned, or when they are returned the subject is avoided or I'm told to ask someone else; always avoided. There is no consistency at all as you see, all the people involved in the case from the department, no schedules for visits, never can I tell my boy on this day, this time, I'll be there. Nope, every day, every time, and almost every visit is in a different place. On the surgery date, I was allowed by the judge to be there. It was suppose to be for all 5 days and 4 overnights as suggested by the surgeon at court and the judge, but right before surgery I was asked if I would like to go in back to hold the mask so he's relaxed while anaesthesia was given - of course I wanted to go in, but DCF said she was going in!!! The doctor and hospital never saw or heard of anything like this. So let's not let another family nor child be tortured through what they call "protective services"! That's the furthest thing I'd call whatever they've done to my 3-year-old disabled child. He's so afraid, lonely, and feeling unloved; he wants to know. why he can't come home??? How do I Answer?? I just tell him that he did nothing wrong; when things get figured out you will be home. I don't know what to say. He went to school, was restrained and never came back and has been tortured; this will affect him for a long time. The longer he's gone, the worse it's getting. One of the homes he was at before and from which he was taken from or kicked out if, he's back staying there. After he went back, his dad saw him the next day and he had a new cut on his face and on his back. His dad asked, what happened? My son said, "A bigger kid tried to take my food and we fight, I'm hungry, it's my food Daddy." Stop this from continuing, please.

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.