In the context of these due process problems – and the ongoing danger of violence faced by Central American refugees – it is irresponsible, dangerous, and inhumane to proceed with large scale deportation raids. Many of the immigrants who recently entered the country are fleeing violence in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala – countries with some of the highest rates of violence in the world. Much of the violence – perpetrated by police, paramilitary gangs, and drug gangs – is the legacy of decades of anti-democratic U.S. intervention in the region. Over and over again in Latin America, the United States government has undermined democracy, supported and trained oppressive military and police forces, and sent weapons. During the cold war, in the name of fighting communism, the CIA helped overthrow democratically elected governments, replacing them with violent dictators friendly to the U.S. The notorious “School of the Americas” – a U.S. military base in Georgia – trained Latin American dictators and their paramilitary foot soldiers in the use of torture and assassinations. The U.S. has an obligation to give refuge to all immigrants who come here to escape violence. But when children and families from Central America come to the U.S. to seek safety from the violence in their countries, the U.S. has a special responsibility, given the role it has played in the region. Instead, the Obama administration is sending people back into a violent environment the U.S. helped create, with very little regard for their safety or rights as human beings.

Chicago is a beautiful city that I love. Chicago deserves to have leadership that looks out for all of the residents in the city no matter what neighborhood they live in. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been bad for the city's middle class and is hurting Chicago. He has pushed people out of their neighborhoods, closed down public schools, sold off Chicago's parking meters, and mishandled police misconduct cases. Chicago voters have lost confidence in Mayor Rahm Emanuel and they should get the opportunity to recall him.

Newly revealed documents show that Exxon’s own scientists were aware of and studying the dangerous impacts of greenhouse gases in the 1970s and 1980s -- until Exxon’s leadership decided to shut down the research and promote climate denial instead, in order to protect the company’s unfathomably large profits. Now Washingtonians -- like all other American citizens -- are suffering from the damages of Exxon's unlimited greenhouse pollution. The unprecedented drought, fueled by global warming, caused over a billion dollars in damages and devastated our farmers. Extreme storms have brought death and mayhem to our state. Intense wildfires are costing the state budget tens of millions of dollars a year. Sea level rise is already harming Washington's coastal communities. And the risks of continued global warming pollution to the state are many times greater. The Washington Attorney General's Office should use all of the tools at its disposal to prosecute Exxon’s deliberate deception -- such as state RICO laws, Washington's Unfair Business Practices statute (Chapter 19.86 RCW), consumer fraud statutes, or any other laws that are intended to protect Washingtonian citizens from deliberate corporate misconduct. The attorneys general of 46 states successfully sued tobacco companies to pay for decades of deadly deceit -- now it’s time for Exxon and the fossil-fuel industry to pay for their climate crimes.

Immigration authorities are carrying out home raids targeting mothers and children who recently escaped violence in their home countries. On Monday, January 4 DHS reported that at least 121 individuals, mostly women and children from Central America, were detained by ICE and are ready to be deported. The ICE raids were conducted primarily in Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina. Sign the petition asking the Obama administration and DHS to stop the ICE raids that are causing fear in our communities. ____________________ Las autoridades de inmigración están llevando a cabo redadas de casas dirigidas a las madres y niños que recientemente escaparon la violencia en sus países de origen. El Departamento de Seguridad Interna (DHS) dio a conocer el lunes 4 de enero que por lo menos 121 personas, en su mayoría mujeres y niños de Centro América, fueron detenidos y serán deportados. Las redadas se llevaron a cabo principalmente en Georgia, Texas, y North Carolina, de acuerdo al comunicado. Firma la petición pidiendo a la administración de Obama y el DHS que ponga un alto a las redadas de ICE que están causando terror en nuestras comunidades.

California is facing a massive health crisis. An estimated 14 percent of Californians have diabetes today, costing the state $24.5 billion in health and work-related costs. Overwhelming evidence from leading academic research institutions shows that liquid sugar is uniquely responsible. And, a whopping 65% of California teens consume a sugar sweetened beverage, such as soda, every day. The science is clear, and the health risks cannot be ignored any longer: we must act fast. One critical step forward is SB 203, a bill that will help families avoid diabetes by printing a clear and visible warning label on the front of all sugary drinks sold in the state. These labels will send a clear message about the very real dangers soda and sugary drinks pose to our health, and empower Californians to make informed decisions about the products they consume. Three Democrats who have taken money from industry groups that market sugary beverages blocked this critical bill last year by refusing to vote on it. They are threatening to block it again – we only need ONE of them to vote yes. We must join together to defeat Big Soda and their attempts to buy our legislators and stop all efforts to inform consumers and protect our kids. Sign the petition today!

Captain Sams Spit is a 150-acre pristine sandy land mass at the southern end of Kiawah Island. The "Spit" is home to one of a handful of dolphin pods known to "strand feed" (chase fish up onto the beach to eat). Captain Sams is also relied upon by the piping plover, diamondback terrapin and other rare and threatened species for nesting and feeding. For eight years, environmental groups have challenged numerous permits issued to Kiawah Development Partners (KDP) and its affiliates that would enable KDP's proposal to build a high-end residential development on the highly dynamic Spit. KDP is based out of North Carolina and backed by the same New York hedge fund that manages some of the New York State retirement fund, continues to push for permits to develop the property. Thwarted by the South Carolina Supreme Court, they are now targeting the protections of our entire coastline. KDP have sought to amend a beachfront management bill (S.139) in our state legislature this session, and actually managed to convince Senator Campbell (R-Berkeley County) to defend its proposal (the "Kiawah Amendment"). The bill in question would set a permanent baseline along our entire coast using data from June 14, 2011, defending taxpayers, homeowners and natural resources from development too close to the ocean. This recommendation came from the Blue Ribbon Committee on Shoreline Management's Final Report (https://www.scdhec.gov/library/CR-010631.pdf), on which Sen. Campbell participated. The "Kiawah Amendment" would delay setting that baseline, allowing road and other construction to occur even closer to the ocean on Captain Sams Spit. Most recently, because of pressure from KDP, the senate committee dealing with bill S.139 has removed the language for a permanent baseline entirely. Sign this petition to tell your state senator to: 1. support putting the permanent baseline language back in bill S.139, and 2. set the baseline using the June 14, 2011 date, per the Blue Ribbon Committee recommendation. Petition: I support South Carolina Senate Bill 139 with the permanent baseline language restored and set for the Blue Ribbon Committee’s recommendation of June 14, 2011. It is important to set a permanent baseline along our state’s beaches. Our beachfront management laws should not be dictated by special interests like Kiawah Development Partners. Web site: http://coastalconservationleague.org/ for more information

I am starting this petition because I am impoverished living in the state of Florida. Our people should be our top priority and the raise is needed in order for us to live better lives.

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/