We all know Bernie is being starved of Media attention. We all know this is the biggest draw back to his campaign. It may be early to start talking about VP's, but I think this may be just the thing to take the lead and maintain it in the primaries. Bernie Sanders and Jon Stewart for president and vice president. Stewart can handle the media, he can excite his base, he can get and handle all kinds of media attention. He can handle law makers, pundits and citizens alike. I would hate to be his opponent on the debate stage. Bernie Sanders, Jon Stewart, you two could fix the country together. We would be behind you 100% of the way!

Billionaire GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson's just purchased the Las Vegas Review Journal, taking over the most important newspaper in a critical swing state. Adelson’s ownership is already making an impact: last month, journalists at the RJ were instructed to monitor three Clark County judges, including one presiding over a lawsuit against one of Adelson's own companies! That's straight out of the Fox News playbook -- not how an independent newspaper operates. Adelson has already used his $38 billion dollar fortune to buy massive political influence -- the most recent GOP debate was even at one of his luxury hotels. Now he's set his sights on news outlets Americans depend on to make informed decisions at the polls. First he wants to buy our elections, then he buys our news? This needs to stop. The RJ’s already conservative-leaning editorial page is free to push any viewpoints it wants -- but it's absolutely unconscionable if Sheldon Adelson is telling beat reporters to target his political opponents. It’s clear we need a public editor to discourage any ethically-questionable practices. Most investigative journalism still comes from newspaper newsrooms -- even if it ends up on the evening news or online later. That's why it's critically important that the RJ appoint a public editor, whose job is to independently investigate potential breaches of journalistic ethics like this one. We can’t let news outlets that millions of voters rely on become megaphones or attack dogs for Sheldon Adelson -- or any other billionaire with a political agenda. Join us in calling on the Las Vegas Review Journal to appoint a public editor.

Donald Trump is a racist and a bigot, but the political committee that works to elect Republicans to the Senate has been profiting off of his name by selling Trump-branded merchandise since May. North Carolina Senator Richard Burr (R) has criticized some of Trump's remarks, but he's still accepting support from the sale of Trump merchandise to help his 2016 re-election campaign. In a recent email, a Republican committee encouraged supporters to “claim” the “perfect gift” — a Trump koozie for $12 — “just in time for the holidays!” They’re also selling bumper stickers that read “I’m with Trump,” further proof that Republicans like Senator Portman are willing to stand with Trump and his divisive ideas when it leads to a payoff for their campaigns. It is absolutely hypocritical for Republicans to denounce Donald Trump while accepting campaign contributions raised in his name! If Richard Burr truly represents the values of North Carolina, he will demand that the National Republican Senatorial Committee stop using Donald Trump’s racism as a fundraising tool and refuse any donations made in his name. Please join with me in demanding that North Carolina Senator Richard Burr reject all funds raised by Trump’s racism and bigotry!

Democracy Matters students across the country have been organizing on college campuses, raising awareness of the core structural issue of money in politics and how dealing with it is a critical first step to solving all other issues. In recognition of this truth, Bernie Sanders signed our pledge in October 2014 and has made restoring democracy for all a central pillar of his campaign. Despite being asked numerous times directly, the Clinton campaign has decline to join him in support for restoring democracy. On December 8th in New Hampshire, a Democracy Matters student directly asked Secretary Clinton to sign the pledge. Despite declaring that she supported the full text of the pledge, she again refused to sign, but promised to consider it. Almost two weeks later we have heard nothing from the campaign. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cvVvdy9O0Y We are non-partisan and are not supporting any candidate in this primary. However given the broad bi-partisan support for getting big money out of politics, it is important that all 3 democratic candidates publicly pledge to support restoring democracy. Hillary Clinton can make that happen.

We need to speak up for animals. They can't speak for themselves. We owe it to future generations to protect and leave a legacy of undisturbed wild, natural places and the wildlife who rightly call those places home.

A new House resolution [1] threatens to put Congress on record defending Israeli settlements in the West Bank. This resolution is opposed by J Street [2]. The resolution would erase the Green Line by blurring the distinction between Israel and the territory it occupies. The proposed language breaks from longstanding US policy of opposing the expansion and entrenchment of settlements, and of not recognizing the settlements as Israeli territory. The US government requires that settlement products not be identified as “made in Israel.” This resolution claims to support a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, but in practice it does exactly the opposite. Erasing the Green Line between Israel and the territory it occupies undermines the starting point for negotiating a diplomatic resolution. By making it more difficult to distinguish between Israel and the land it occupies, this resolution empowers far-right settlers who oppose any diplomatic compromise. It sets a dangerous precedent that undermines diplomacy and expressly violates existing US policy. Tell Congress to oppose this dangerous resolution by signing our petition. References: 1. https://lowey.house.gov/sites/lowey.house.gov/files/documents/Resolution_EU_Israel_Labeling_12.16.15.pdf 2. http://act.jstreet.org/sign/moment_of_truth_on_settlements

Because I have been victimized by my medical licensing board on behalf of a lying criminal (former patient) who filed a knowingly false complaint to the MA BORIM, and they wrongly launched a year(+) long investigation against me even though I have obtained a Harassment Prevention Order (Restraining order for the unrelated) against the Complainant for her ongoing harassment against me! Despite the BORIM knowing her complaint against me was baseless and fraught with fraud and the fact that I have said restraining order against the Complainant, they continue to persecute me because one of the services I provide at MD Medical Spa and Wellness Center is medical marijuana certifications. I am being victimized on behalf of a criminal and blocked to earn a living by my medical licensing board, all because they refuse to have Complainants attest and sign to thee validity of their complaint and the contents within! Please sign, a statement of attest should be required for complaints made against ALL professionals in MA!!

We are starting this petition because Debbie Wasserman Schultz has rigged the DNC. In doing so, she has given Clinton an unfair advantage and the other democratic candidates an unfair disadvantage. Right now, the minimum she could do is schedule a debate when people will actually watch it!

Far from a mandate in the recent election (November 2015), Mayor Spano received a paltry 16,041 total votes out of just under 100,000 eligible Yonkers voters. In other words, only 20% of eligible Yonkers voters actually endorsed a second term for Mayor Spano. The overwhelming majority of Yonkers residents were NOT in favor of reelecting Mayor Spano, as demonstrated by his exceptionally poor polling numbers. 1. Yonkers Public Schools are underfunded, under-performing, and under threat. Mayor Spano presided over a $44 million budget accounting error in 2014-2015. Eight schools have been classified by New York State as struggling. Unable to obtain the appropriate level of funding himself, Mayor Spano had to accept a $25 million last-minute bailout from New York State for the 2015-2016 school year. Three of every four Yonkers public school students are classified as economically disadvantaged; class sizes exceed the statewide average; there are too few guidance counselors, social workers, and librarians; a number of schools are physically deteriorating; and the sudden resignation of Yonkers Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Yazrulo raises serious ethical and legal concerns. 2. According to a recent report by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, the Yonkers School District misplaced more than $225,000 worth of equipment between July 2013 and April 2015. 3. Beginning earlier this month (December 2015), Mayor Spano has decided to target disability payments for disabled Yonkers firefighters, many of whom are struggling with severe injuries or life-threatening illnesses including stage 4 cancer, serious burns, 9/11-related illnesses, and crippling job-related injuries. His attempt to reduce their disability payments will cost taxpayers untold amounts of public money in costly litigation fees as well as additional and unnecessary pain and suffering for disabled firefighters. 4. Five of the city's seven municipal unions have been working without a contract for at least five years. The Yonkers Uniformed Fire Officers Association, for example, still does not have a contract. 5. Despite perennial budget deficits in the City of Yonkers, the part-time Yonkers City Council recently voted unanimously (7-0) to give themselves a 35-40% pay increase. The vote took place on December 8, 2015, the last City Council meeting of the year. At least one member of the City Council has been in office for only two years (Council Member Corazon Pineda-Isaac). Mayor Spano’s complete silence on the matter can only be interpreted as his unqualified endorsement of their pay increase. 6. With a population of 200,000 inhabitants and a billion-dollar budget, Mayor Spano has failed to implement a viable, sustainable economic model that moves the City from deficit to surplus. The Mayor has failed to attract long-term, growth-based business investment. As a result, the tax base is diminishing as the City can no longer attract home buyers and renters due to poor employment prospects, substandard City services, and under-performing schools. 7. Taxpayer money is spent in an opaque manner with little-to-no accountability, justification, or public input. Public Affairs, the office responsible for the Mayor’s public relations, has increased its budget from $335,000 in 2014 to $1,241,000 through 2016. Constituent Services has increased its budget from $482,000 to $582,000. City departmental expenses are projected to increase $7million annually through 2018. Healthcare costs for City employees are projected to increase 7% annually. 8. Taxes have gone up. The income tax surcharge has increased from 15% to 16.75%, and can be increased to as much as 19%. Water usage fees have increased 10%. City sales tax has increased from 8.375% to 8.875%. Since 2011, red-light camera fines (another form of taxation) in Yonkers have raised nearly $14 million, with about a third of the money going to the company that runs the program, but with no demonstrable increases in safety. Yonkers also has the highest municipal parking fees in Westchester County and some of the highest parking fines in the region. 9. Under successive Spano administrations, patronage has become rampant. We are especially concerned about undue influence on and conflict of interest regarding Yonkers politics and policies by Mayor Spano's brother, convicted felon and tax evader, Nicholas Spano. Hiring practices lack transparency and frequently rely on an insider network of family and/or friends. Candidates often lack the necessary skills and credentials to fulfill basic job requirements. Pay raises are granted arbitrarily without justification or public input. In 2014-2015, the following people were among those within Mayor Spano’s administration that received substantial pay increases: Steven Levy — deputy mayor; $160,000 to $175,000; increase of 9.4%. Susan Gerry — deputy mayor; $165,000 to $175,000; increase of 6%. Denise Egiziaco — chief of staff; $120,000 to $140,000; increase of 14.2%. Christina Gilmartin — communications director; $110,000 to $120,000; increase of 8.3%. Eddie Ayala — promotion to assistant communications director; $80,000 to $85,000; increase of 6.25%. Jason Baker — promotion from assistant communications director to special assistant to the mayor; $85,000 to $105,000; increase of 23.5%. Shanae Williams — assistant; $47,000 to $60,000; increase of 27.6%. Saida Jereis — assistant; $47,000 to $60,000; increase of 27.6%. More recently, the current Head of Constituent Services, Gail Burns, has been named as the Yonkers Parking Authority Executive Director, which carries a salary of $150,000 per year over the course of four years. The basis for hiring the current head of Constituent Services to run the City’s Parking Authority remains unclear. 10. City streets have become more dangerous. Despite increases in the budget by $127 million under the Spano administration, violent crime for the first six months of 2015 has more than...

I am writing to demand a response from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and Congress regarding the April 2015 letter to the IOM from Erin Brockovich and others that was cc’d to thirty members of Congress. It concerned the ‘dietary reference intake’ (DRI) of fluoride established in 1997. The DRI determination was based on the IOM Food and Nutrition Board’s faulty assumption that fluoride, which is neither a mineral or nutrient, was an element that provided a significant dental benefit and had no known adverse health effects up to 10 mgs. per day. The weight of the evidence since 1997 summarized on page 16 of that letter confirms that even at very low doses: - Fluoride is an enzyme poison and an endocrine disruptor - Fluoride is a potent adjuvant… causing or worsening allergies - Fluoride is a proliferative agent... causing or worsening inflammation - Fluoride accumulates in bones and tissue... causing or worsening arthritis and other ailments - Fluoride impacts thyroid hormones… resulting in both hypo and hyper disorders - Fluoride interferes with glucose metabolism… a concern for diabetics - Fluoride causes dental fluorosis… disproportionately by race and social economic status - Fluoride is neurotoxic to fetuses, infants and young children… resulting in permanent deficits - Fluoride is a burden to kidneys... resulting in increased fluoride retention and possible renal damage in those with kidney disease. The 2015 Cochrane Review of fluoridation literature was published in June. Its findings are consistent with the 2000 York Review and earlier critiques referenced in the April letter. Cochrane oral health panelists found no evidence that fluoridation benefits the poor, no evidence of safety, and only low quality limited evidence of minimal reduction in cavities from poorly designed studies that they characterized as having “high risk of bias.” Cochrane voiced low confidence in this evidence of benefit. The Cochrane panel also confirmed the fact agreed to by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that fluoridation causes dental fluorosis in approximately half the population living in fluoridated communities, with about 12.5% finding the fluorosis to be ‘aesthetically displeasing.’ I am confident that an honest examination of 21st century science by the IOM and of the law by Congress, not colored by the machinations of biased agencies defending their reputations and advocacy groups who emphasize endorsements of policy rather than scientific evidence, will result in Congress and the Food and Nutrition Board of the IOM agreeing with 2006 National Research Council Fluoride in Drinking Water panelist, Dr. Robert Isaacson, who said, “The addition of fluorides to drinking water was, and is, a mistake.” Congress, you have the power to instruct the IOM to respond to the April 27, 2015 letter (see attached link). The health and welfare of your constituents depend on it. https://www.aaemonline.org/pdf/LetterIOM_2015.04.27.pdf

The purpose of the petition is to compel the County government of Pacific County Washington to close Mauch's Sundowner RV Park by revoking or denying the licenses that enable the Park to operate. A historically significant parcel at or near sites once occupied by the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery Expedition, the park is situated on the Washington side of the Astoria-Megler Bridge near the mouth of the Columbia River. The park has existed in dilapidated conditions (please see www.closemauchsrvpark.com) for years as a nuisance property that promotes conditions adverse to the public good and hazards the health, safety and general welfare of the community.

Democracy demands transparency and accountability, DWS has violated each of these tenets and should retire.