WE CAN NOT AFFORD ANOTHER ARMS RACE. WE MUST GET RID OF THE NUCLEAR ARMS WE ALL READY HAVE! We STILL have almost 500 nuclear warheads on hair-trigger alert. That's just us, in America. This is crazy. I'm 71 years old, I have spent my whole life and a considerable fortune (money that could have been used to make our country and our entire planet safer and happier) building and placing these terrible weapons in holes in the ground. Thankfully they have not gone off, either by accident, miscalculation or some crazy person. We can NOT use these things and it is insane to build more. We the people must tell our government, ENOUGH is ENOUGH! If Russia is threatening us, we must deal with that, of course. But we must do it in a sane way that includes the whole world working with us. It would be completely insane to start back down that road we have all ready traveled.

Corporations are spending investors’ money and retirement accounts -- maybe even YOURS -- to influence elections and lawmakers. But if we speak out right now we can enlist one of the biggest mutual funds in the country to put a stop to secret influence-trading. Shockingly, most corporate political spending is hidden to even their stockholders. But any publicly traded company has to disclose all of its political spending if enough of its shareholders ask. Here’s the problem: on their own, individual stockholders don’t control enough stock to win majority support for a pro-disclosure shareholder resolution. Most stock is held by institutional investors like mutual funds, who tend let the corporation’s executives call the shots. So even when a majority of people who own stock want disclosure, they can’t get it done without institutional investors. That’s why we’re calling on Vanguard, the largest mutual fund in the nation, to vote FOR disclosure whenever a resolution comes up.

Governor Bruce Rauner refuses to budge on his political positions in order to pass a state budget. Those positions include, stripping public sector workers of the right to bargain collectively, create right to work zones within the state, as well as using children attending Chicago Public Schools as pawns in order to leverage Mayor Rahm Emanuel to allow right to work within the city of Chicago as well as strip collective bargaining from public sector unions. He has also filled his cabinet with lackeys who are way overpaid, yet the state of Illinois is broke. Governor Rauner has shown no interest in compromise and lacks the leadership to be able to govern the state of Illinois effectively.

Oregon Democrats will send 74 delegates to the Democratic National Convention this July in Philadelphia. Most of them will be bound to support the winner of the May 17 primary election, but the 13 'Superdelegates' can support the candidate of their choice. 3 of these 'Superdelegates' have already pledged support to a candidate BEFORE ANYONE IN OREGON HAS VOTED: Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, Rep. Kurt Schrader (CD 5) , Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (CD 1), and Sen. Ron Wyden have already pledged to support Hillary Clinton for President, months before our state's primary election. We're asking for ALL of Oregon's elected Democratic officials to refrain from endorsing or publicly supporting any presidential candidate before Oregon's Democrats have had a chance to express their preference in the May 17th, 2016 Primary. Let the voters decide!

As an individual, and an American citizen, it's quite scary when you come to the realization that the very nation you were born and raised in has such a greatly flawed judicial system. In these two particular cases (against Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey,) improper methods were used by the Manitowoc County sheriff's department to convict them of crimes that they were never proved to have committed beyond a reasonable doubt. If the American Judicial System, and the state of Wisconsin expect to be respected by the citizens of this nation in any way, shape or form, then these two men will need to be completely exonerated. They at VERY LEAST deserve the chance at new trials. For more information on their cases, and to make an informed decision of your own, please watch the Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer" and visit http://stevenavery.org/

H.R. 40 Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act: To acknowledge the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 American colonies between 1619 and 1865, and to establish a commission to examine the institution of slavery, subsequently de jure and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-Americans, and the impact of these forces on living African-Americans, to make recommendations to the Congress on appropriate remedies, and for other purposes.

Governor Snyder is hiding behind executive privilege and preventing the release of important documents and correspondence regarding this disaster.

Governor Snyder is hiding behind executive privilege and preventing the release of important documents and correspondence regarding this disaster.

My Husband is a 37 year, 3 decade war veteran. He worked for the City of Dallas for 30 years. Every Veteran's Day, he was told that he had to take personal time to go march in the parade in downtown Dallas. Why don't they give the veterans the day off anyway? It's a kick in the face, a useless holiday.

The Obama Administration has not yet publicly condemned the Saudi government's execution of a prominent Shia dissident, even though recent Saudi government actions threaten to undermine the Administration's strategy against ISIS. The New York Times notes that the U.S. "has usually looked the other way or issued carefully calibrated warnings in human rights reports as the Saudi royal family cracked down on dissent and free speech and allowed its elite to fund Islamic extremists." [1] But President Obama has called out Saudi Arabia before. In his 2014 address on terrorism to the United Nations, President Obama said, "That means cutting off the funding that fuels this hate. It’s time to end the hypocrisy of those who accumulate wealth through the global economy and then siphon funds to those who teach children to tear it down." [2] This was widely understood to be a reference to Saudi Arabia. [3] Urge President Obama to call out the Saudi government in his State of the Union address by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/05/us/politics/us-struggles-to-explain-alliance-with-saudis.html 2. https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/09/24/remarks-president-obama-address-united-nations-general-assembly 3. http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/09/24/live-blogging-obamas-case-for-war-at-the-united-nations/

While RNTHS is a technology school, there are many benefits to reading paper novels and magazines. Print materials should not be on the "dying art" list. Not all materials are available in electronic format, and so we are missing out on opportunities to read.

Under the direction of the Obama administration, ICE has begun raids to detain and deport parents with children who have fled severe violence in Central America. Unless something is done, these refugee families will be deported back to the very danger they fled their country to escape. Add your name to tell President Obama and his team to stop these raids today and treat these parents and children as refugees!