On December 9, 2015, the Miami Beach City Commissioners will vote to finally approve and send to referendum the construction of a 10,000 + square foot "Wellness Center" on a plot of land currently filled with green space. We, the undersigned, vehemently oppose the construction of any structure in Allison Park which will reduce our ocean front green space, and particularly, the proposed, three story structure to be owned and maintained by a private entity. Public green space is vital to the health and well being of all residents of Miami Beach. The additional parking congestion will negatively impact quality of life for local residents The lease of public land in this way will set a dangerous precedent: what park is next? We believe it is the duty of the present to safeguard this endangered resource for those of the future. While it is clearly time for the city to rethink its means of beach access for disabled persons, this does not necessitate the sacrifice of an entire plot of land, to the construction of a multi-story structure in an area designated as protected for the nesting of three endangered species of sea turtles. Join us in sending our message to the City of Miami Beach: Stop the proposed construction project in Allison Park—the green space of our city's tiniest park should not be up for grabs.

Tom Byrne, Jr., the son of a former New Jersey governor, chairs the NJ State Investment Council and is charged with managing pension fund investments for public workers, teachers, firefighters, police officers and other dedicated workers that make New Jersey great. For years Tom Byrne and the State Investment Council funneled investments into politically connected hedge funds, private equity firms and other Wall Street entities. As the State’s pension crisis grew, so did scrutiny on these investments. In fact, NJ Hedge Clippers - a coalition of progressive organizations and community activists – released a report in July which found hedge fund investments cost New Jersey’s public workers more than $1 billion in fees and bonuses since 2007. Since then, NJ Hedge Clippers, public worker unions, pension boards, elected leaders, community organizations and academics have been pressing Tom Byrne and the State Investment Council to do a full audit of the fees being charged by politically connected Wall Street firms. But Mr. Byrne dug in his heels – like a true Wall Street apologist – and refused to authorize an audit of the fees and bonuses being taken from the retirements of public workers in New Jersey. Under pressure from all sides, Mr. Byrne claimed that it was an attack on the State Investment Council by people who simply don’t like Wall Street. Then he claimed that hedge fund and private equity managers “work really hard” and deserve to rake in millions of dollars of fees and bonuses. Finally, he relented – kind of – and agreed to issue a report on Wall Street fees and bonuses going back five years, all while continuing his defense of this outrageous Wall Street grab. By signing this petition you can send Tom Byrne a clear message: Protect Pensions from Wall Street Greed! Simply issuing a report isn’t enough. The taxpayers of New Jersey and the public workers who earn every penny of their pension deserve a FULL FORENSIC AUDIT of these Wall Street fees and bonuses going all the way back to 2007. It doesn’t matter if his critics like Wall Street or not. And it certainly doesn’t matter that he thinks wealthy hedge fund managers work hard. The real hard work is done by dedicated public workers who spend their days teaching and caring for our children, protecting us from danger, and responding to life & death emergencies. Public workers are the definition of “hard work” – and it’s time for Tom Byrne to honor the hard work of teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public workers who entrust their retirement security to the NJ State Investment Council.

The Grand Canyon watershed is home to a unique array of native wildlife, hundreds of creeks and springs that millions of people rely on for drinking water, and thousands of acres of ancient forest — including the Southwest’s largest unprotected old-growth ponderosa pine forest. Tribes in the area, especially the Navajo Nation, Havasupai, Hualapai, and Hopi, have come together to help protect a region that is sacred. Right now, this natural and cultural treasure faces threats from many fronts — from unsafe uranium mining to devastating logging practices. There’s only one way to preserve the sanctity of these 1.7 million acres for generations to come: name it as a national monument. Tell President Obama to protect these important lands and designate the Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument.

This petition is directed to all government and religious leaders world wide as well as to citizens of the world who live in relative safety and security. With all of the talk about Syrian refugees we are concerned about the oncoming winter months. The inhumane conditions in refugee camps often breed terrorists. If we could invest many more of our military dollars in camps with infrastructure: clean water source, electrical power, insulated homes, schools, houses of worship and sheltered work shops, we could influence the situation in war torn areas of the world to a much greater extent. A coalition of investors from the Pope, to the US and NATO allies, to Russia and China could make a huge difference. And with the help of the able-bodied refugee men and women this could get done as fast as many of the projects on HGTV! The time is NOW.

Brandeis University faces a critical emergency of racial inequity that requires immediate and concrete action for greater diversity and inclusion for students, staff, and faculty of color. Past mechanisms have not brought the reforms needed. We join our voices to the protesters and urge the University to act for racial equity by implementing a plan that incorporates the concrete measures called for.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency. OSC's primary mission is to safeguard the merit system by protecting federal employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices, especially reprisal for whistleblowing. In July 2013, a federal employee (disabled veteran) went to OSC and disclosed what she believed to be White House vetting improprieties and contract fraud by senior officials at the National Council on Disability (NCD). In March 2013, the White House appointed Jeffrey Rosen, a former NCD employee as the Chairperson of the agency. Shortly thereafter the whistleblower discovered that Rosen had a background of DUI and was previously found guilty of criminal misconduct in the agency, which led to his resignation prior to his punishment in 2007. In 1994, Rosen was stopped in Montgomery County, Maryland for erratic driving. He failed a field sobriety test and, after signing a consent form, failed a breath test. Rosen was then arrested and taken to the station house, where he signed a form that explained his rights and gave consent to a chemical test. The test registered a reading indicating blood-alcohol content above the legal limit. Rosen was given probation before judgment, fined, and ordered to attend six alcoholics’ anonymous meetings as a condition of having his conviction expunged. The question looms “did Rosen complete his meetings” because it appears that his record was not expunged and is public record online. The White House employee involved in Rosen’s vetting was hired within 30-days of Rosen’s appointment as Chairperson and was awarded a $59K pay increase despite not having any relevant position or managerial experience. Managerial experience possessed by this employee was retail experience working in Victoria Secrets. Her lack of experience caused great harm to the agency. Rosen and this employee were also involved in the contract fraud reported by the whistleblower, whereas these individuals were improperly awarding contracts without competition, extending expired contracts and using expired government funds to pay for these contracts. With knowledge of Rosen’s past misconduct, it’s hard to understand how Special Counsel Lerner entrusted him to be honest. Nonetheless, she referred these matters back to Rosen for investigation, which allowed Rosen and other responsible parties to investigate themselves. Special Counsel Lerner purposely omitted pertinent details of the facts prior to referring the matters to Rosen for investigation. And despite having an abundance of evidence to substantiate the whistleblower’s claims of audit and contract fraud, Special Counsel Lerner and her staff lied to the President and Congress in her official report. In fact, Special Counsel Lerner's three (3) page report failed to address many factual and documented issues the whistleblower raised in her comments and the use of expired government funds. Special Counsel Lerner started out lying in her report by stating that “members of Rosen’s in-house investigative team were not implicated in any way in the wrongdoings and could conduct a fair and impartial investigation." She even made defenses for the agency that the agency did not mention in it's report and made false statements against the whistleblower in order to strategically conceal the whistleblower’s official comments to the agency investigative report from the general public by not posting them to OSC’s website. Special Council Lerner had in her possession evidence from agency employees corroborating the whistleblowers claims. In an email to the whistleblower, NCD Council Member Gary Blumenthal, who was named in the wrongdoings and who was a member of Rosen’s in-house investigative team writes “I agree with you that a substantial amount of observations you have made about contracts are clearly accurate.” He goes on to say “you inherited a very problematic set of issues when you joined NCD. Federal procedures, contractual rules and internal controls were minimally respected at best.” Despite Blumenthal’s admission to contract violations, he and other members of Rosen’s in-house investigative team erroneously found no violations during their investigation. In another email, the Legislative Affairs Director “expressed her concerns and the concerns of others flagged over the last couple of years regarding the agency’s IT contract being inadequate. She stated “it was during the course of that review and contrast against solid contracts for the same services that I came to more fully appreciate the concerns the whistleblower’s been raising and how vulnerable NCD is as a result of a less than adequate original contract.” Despite having an abundance of incriminating evidence in her possession, in her report to the President and the Congress, Special Counsel Lerner states “she did not find any violations of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).” And although the Senate Help Committee was given a “sneak preview” of the reports by OSC staff, the committee was encouraged not to take action by Special Counsel Lerner. Special Counsel Lerner stalled releasing investigative findings allowing Rosen time to complete his term as Chairperson without any actions being taken against him. Rosen left office around September 18, 2015 and soon thereafter Special Counsel Lerner conveniently released her findings to the President on September 30, 2015; over two (2) years after the issues were originally reported to her office by the whistleblower. What’s more alarming is in December 2013, the whistleblower disclosed to OSC what she believed to be improprieties with the agency’s 2013 audit. The whistleblower also disclosed that agency employees were destroying incriminating contracting files. However, Special Counsel Lerner’s office took no action, not even to open an inquiry. According to Rosen “Ms. Lerner sent a letter to auditors at the com...

The unfairness of the system, the sentence given life/w out parole, enabling the commissioners to keep inmate in prison without justice. No family help, and mental stress to inmate to find help in system

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 Oregonians -- like all other American citizens -- are suffering from the damages of Exxon's unlimited greenhouse pollution. The unprecedented drought, fueled by global warming, has already caused billions in damages and forced widespread water cutbacks. Intense wildfires are costing the state budget tens of millions of dollars a year. Sea level rise is already harming Oregon's coastal communities. And the risks of continued global warming pollution to the state are many times greater. The Oregon Attorney General's Office should use all of the tools at its disposal to prosecute Exxon’s deliberate deception -- such as state RICO laws, Oregon’s Unlawful Practices statute (ORS 646.607), consumer fraud statutes, or any other laws that are intended to protect Oregonian 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.

Southern Colorado rancher Tom Davis sold nearly 1,800 wild horses for slaughter in New Mexico he purchased from the Bureau of Land Management....BLM claims no knowledge of this transaction for the slaughter of the horses. No charges are being filed for this crime. It is only right that a federal crime be appropriately paid for; what better way than to improve the Wild Horses environments in the holding pens.

Donald Trump is promoting fascism by supporting special databases and registration for Muslims. He promotes hate against anyone who is not white. This goes against every principle America is supposed to stand for. Why are our leaders, on both the state and federal levels, silent? I want to see the people we elected, who are supposed to protect our country and Constitution, speak out against Donald Trump.

In today's Family Court environment, judges often make decisions contrary to the best interest of children; at times depriving parents of their due process and reaching decisions based on personal bias. This behavior will continue as long as these public servants' power go unchecked and they continue to hide behind their judicial immunity with no oversight and no accountability.

People with heroin addictions have no place to go in Central NY for Treatment. 22,700,000 need treatment, only about 2 million get it. Our children are dying, our jails are filling up. Jails and cemeteries are not enough.