It is the president's constitutional authority to nominate justices to the Supreme Court. And it is the Senate's constitutional role to "advise and consent." Nowhere in the Constitution is the Senate asked to play partisan games of endless, senseless obstructionism. Outrageously, just hours after the news of Justice Antonin Scalia's death, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that President Obama should not have the opportunity to appoint a justice to the high court. Leaving the seat vacant would create uncertainty, cause real harm to countless Americans, and abdicate the Senate's job under our Constitution to give fair consideration to Supreme Court nominees. The Senate must heed its constitutional responsibility to advise and consent to a highly qualified Supreme Court nominee. That's why we're asking Arizona Senator Jeff Flake to do his duty as a member of the U.S. Senate and allow the President to nominate a replacement for Justice Scalia.

I am starting this petition, because I cannot believe Ivanka condones this behavior, and it would mean so much if she repudiated it. She may be used to it, growing up with him, but she MUST know that this insanity is already affecting the entire country, and if he is elected, will affect the world. Ivanka, if you don't know where this kind of rhetoric and action leads, ask your Jewish family about Nazi Germany. Donald Trump, endorsed by the KKK, says about other Americans, "these are not the people who made America great," "you know what they used to do to THOSE people?" and "get him out of here," "they're rapists, and I assume some are good people," 'Knock the crap out of him, would you? I promise you I will pay for the legal fees," These people are so bad for our country. You have no idea folks, you have no idea.” He is equally scathing to women everywhere and to entire countries and cultures across the globe. Ivanka, your father is responsible for giving every racist and fascist free reign and approval to foist violence, both physical and verbal anywhere and to anyone they deem deserves it ~ which is ANYone not exactly like them. A person wishing to be President should be a moral Leader, not the leader of the lowest common denominator. Please be brave, and speak up before we have the largest most dangerous disaster on our hands we've ever seen.

The Saudi attack has caused thousands of civilian deaths, turned cities to ruins and has brought hunger to millions. Al-Qaeda has exploited the chaos in Yemen as an opportunity to expand. The Saudi monarchy demands total obedience in the name of religion and enforces its will with beheadings and other cruel punishments. It is spending tens of billions to spread its extremist ideas worldwide and we see the result from Iraq to Afghanistan to San Bernardino. No more U.S. support for this Saudi monarchy.

CEO Eric Gordon and the CMSD team walked away from negotiations with the Cleveland Teachers Union on February 17, 2016. With six weeks of previously agreed upon meeting dates remaining, the district chose to put the fate of the Cleveland schools in the hands of a third party Fact Finder. These negotiations are not about money. The Cleveland Metropolitan School District must acknowledge the real issues that members face every day and that these issues can be resolved. The teachers, paraprofessionals, and related service providers want the district to walk back to the table for serious discussions about real issues in our schools. The members of the Cleveland Teachers Union want their concerns heard, understood, and resolved. CEO Gordon and his team need to do their jobs and walk back to the table to negotiate.

My husband received 32 years for a drug deal gone bad,He has never been to prison before and he has been gone for over 17 years,No one was hurt,,He has taken every class offered, He was doing the non scared straight program and he is a brand new man,He has paid his dues for a mistake and bad judgment call in a split second.He has completed all CDCR has to offer.He is rehabilitated and im afraid if he dont get some relief that an adverse effect will take place and all the changes he has made will turn to anger with no hope ,,prop 57 is said to give all the good people that work hard and dont do any of the prison politics and no creeps or weirdos will get a pass,my husband is educated,loves,cries.lives,he wants to come home and hold us and cry, its been his,our life inside prisons hell all alone, help him get a second chance, he deserves it.

For-Profit Prison Industry leaders, the GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) together with the Million Shares Club (major investors owning over one million shares combined of CCA and GEO stock) are largely responsible for racist laws that target people of color and immigrants for incarceration, and expand the police state in poor communities. REIT status saves private prisons' millions in taxes each year and deepens their relationship with politically powerful investors. The Joint Committee on Taxation has the power to revoke private prisons' REIT status and to help end profiteering off of the criminalization of people of color and immigrants. Not only has REIT status increased profits for these companies, but it is attracting other investors to participate in profiting from the caging of bodies of color. REIT status enables this private industry to manipulate laws and politicians to advance a racist agenda. REIT status incentivizes private lobbying for policies like the detention bed mandate and sentencing policies that place more people for longer in for-profit immigrant detention centers, state prisons, and criminal alien requirement prisons. Our Democracy is under attack when private interests can buy laws and votes to increase their power and wealth. The campaign to #RevokeREIT is an effort of the movement for divestment from prisons and reinvestment in communities of color and of immigrants. Join the national Prison Divestment Campaign at enlaceintl.org.

Contrary to belief, Daylight Savings Time was not to benefit farmers but to reduce energy by giving an extra hour of sunlight in the summer. So let's all wake up and go to sleep at the same time all year!

**Pause in EIS process does not signal the end of the methanol refinery. Continue to comment!** The Green River Coalition and Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition collectively oppose the methanol plant proposed by Northwest Innovation Works. Our major concern relates to the projected 10.4 million gallons of water per day the plant would use from the Tacoma water supply, which is taken from the Green/Duwamish River. The river is already facing critical problems related to low flows. Also, many parts of the river and its tributaries fail to meet water quality standards for dissolved oxygen and temperature. Further withdrawals from the river at the projected magnitude threaten the habitat of existing uses of the river and imperil our efforts to continue restoring the river and bringing it back into compliance with water quality standards. For this reason, among other concerns related to the impact on the environment, our groups are opposed to the proposed methanol plant and demand this proposal be withdrawn.

As Ohio’s unemployment insurance system grapples with insolvency, some lawmakers think working people are to blame. During the 2016 session, HB394 attempted to upend how benefits are received. The unemployment insurance period would have been reduced from 26 weeks to as few as 12 weeks, tying Florida and North Carolina for the shortest systems in the United States. HB394 also went after the most vulnerable Ohioans. Disabled residents receiving most forms of workers’ compensation would no longer qualify for unemployment insurance. Parents would no longer receive additional weekly benefits to help care for their children. After the recession in 2008, the state borrowed $1.6 billion from the federal government to keep the unemployment system going. Employers paid higher taxes for it, but they’re looking to end that. HB394 would have saved corporations $313 million each year in taxes. HB394 fell through, but the unemployment insurance issue isn’t going away. Join us in putting pressure on the state Legislature to expand our benefits, not cut them.

A warming climate is bad news for Pennsylvania's state bird, fish, and tree -- which could all disappear from the Commonwealth's landscape thanks to global warming. Help save these iconic species from the destructive impacts of climate change by showing your support for rapid cuts to climate pollution.

An international company known as Elcon is trying to build a hazardous waste plant in Bucks County, PA, where nearly 600 different hazardous materials, like pharmaceutical waste, petrochemicals, and heavy metals, would be boiled down into toxic sludge and salts. Trucks and possibly trains carrying this waste could travel alongside the Delaware River and through Pennsylvania communities on a daily basis -- posing risks to families' air, water, and health. Tell Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection: don't let this hazardous proposal move forward.

Since last year, CNN has repeatedly invited Jeffrey Lord to appear in political commentary segments on behalf of Donald Trump. In those appearances, Lord has routinely made absurd and outright false claims. After Donald Trump made disparaging comments about fellow candidate Carly Fiorina's face, Lord defended Trump saying he was talking about her "persona." After a man at a Trump rally in New Hampshire asked the candidate about Muslim "training camps," Lord showed up on CNN to claim that he personally knew of such a training camp in a town called Islamberg in upstate New York. These claims have been thoroughly debunked. A CBS profile of the town described it as "the picture of a traditional and tranquil Islamic community — not of immigrants, but of mostly second- or third-generation Americans hailing from cities like New York." After Donald Trump tepidly and belatedly distanced himself from an endorsement by David Duke, Lord nonsensically defended him on CNN by claiming that the KKK was a leftist, progressive organization. And now American Prospect has published a new piece by Lord in which he claims that MoveOn.org is "the new Klu Klux Klan" and naming Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and MoveOn.org, among others, as racists. To compare young black, latino and muslim students protesting Donald Trump's hate speech to a terrorist group that murdered thousands of black Americans is simply horrendous. This man has no place on network television. CNN should do the right thing and refuse to invite Jeffrey Lord to appear again.