Maryland’s districts are comically gerrymandered. These maps are drawn behind closed doors, with no meaningful opportunity for public comment or review. As a result, they slice and dice counties, communities, and neighborhoods. Your legislators now need to hear from you that Maryland needs a change in how we draw our districts.

December 1, 2015 letter to the Co-Chairs of Roxbury Strategic Master Plan Oversight Committee (RSMPOC) from the Bartlett Project Review Committee Dear Co-Chairs, The Bartlett PRC is providing written notification that WE OPPOSE DEVELOPMENT PLANS TO ADD THE CONSERVATORY LAB CHARTER SCHOOL TO THE BARTLETT PROJECT. We have consistently rejected the proposal and communicated our opposition to the development team at public meetings, including RSMPOC meetings. The Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) convened a PRC meeting in May 2015 at the District B-3 police station (open public meeting). At that meeting, the PRC, Councilor Jackson, and other community members clearly conveyed opposition of the school proposal to the Bartlett development team and the BRA. We request the RSMPOC support our opposition and communicate this message to the development team and the BRA. Most members of the RSMPOC will recall the long toil and determination of our community commitment to set a vision for Bartlett over a multi-year period. We believed in the strategic planning process for Roxbury and have not wavered on the vision for Bartlett. We remain committed to the RFP requirements that set a foundation of economic development and wealth creation for the Bartlett parcel. We firmly believe the entire site should be anchored to economic drivers (homeownership and commerce opportunities) that will have an immediate and lasting impact on the community. We know that homeownership is central to individuals and families ability to amass wealth. We also believe that commercial and retail space encourage entrepreneurs to create businesses, attract existing businesses, and ultimately increase employment opportunities and wealth generation. The approved development plan also incorporated open space that will allow the economic energy to flourish in a proportionately populated neighborhood village landscape. While we have nothing against The CLCS, it simply does not fit the wealth creation design for Bartlett. Roxbury must increase economic drivers in the community and the Bartlett parcel is committed to that effort. Washington Commons and Heritage Commons are great examples of a community process that created economic opportunity and security for Roxbury residents. Both projects successfully created homeownership wealth and security within the Roxbury community. Bartlett will expand that model and make it possible for many more residents to build wealth within the community. Once again, the community is protecting a transparent and inclusive process that spoke loudly with a voice of community unity. We now face a development team which intends to renege, and disrespect the very people that trusted their sincerity and commitment to the Bartlett RFP process and the Roxbury community; a developer who has decided to disregard the public process and stakeholder voice to pursue their own agenda. We followed the process believing that our voices would not be squashed or diluted by the resources of a developer or the political might of a mayor or city agencies. We respectfully request that you stand with the Bartlett PRC and send a very clear message that DEVELOPERS CANNOT AND WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO PUSH THEIR AGENDA ON THE ROXBURY COMMUNITY! We would be happy to attend a RSMPOC meeting to affirm this letter. Sincerely, Bartlett Project Review Committee Michael Miles - Co-Chair

This Friday, December 11, Donald Trump will be the keynote speaker for the Pennsylvania Republican Party. Tickets to the event cost from $1,000 to $10,000. In light of Trump's recent unconstitutional call to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, we are demanding that the PA GOP rescind their invitation to Trump. If they do not, it means that they support Trump and his outrageous positions.

The Republican party must dump Donald Trump as a candidate and stop promoting his hateful, dangerous words and actions. Trump's idea calling for the ban of all Muslims in the United States is one of the worst ideas to come out of any candidate to run for President of the United States. This type of irresponsible statement is wrong-headed, inconsistent with our American values, and endangers our security. We are not at war with Islam. We should work in partnership with Islamic nations and patriotic Americans from all religions to take on the terrorist group known as ISIS. We should embrace citizens of every religion and recognize the partnership that we are united in taking on terrorist forces.

The NRA’s stranglehold on Congress is unbelievable. Here’s how bad it is: The federal government maintains a watchlist of suspected terrorists. It’s the list we use to keep bad guys off planes. But this is crazy: The federal government can’t use the suspected terrorist watchlist in background checks for guns. You read that right – suspected terrorists are free and clear to buy guns in America, thanks to the NRA. Sign the Petition: Tell Congress to ban gun sales to people on the terrorism watch list!

Before our eyes, a tide of hatred, violence, and suspicion is rising in America. Just a few months ago, Donald Trump took his hate a step further and called on the U.S. to ban all Muslims—including U.S. citizens who may be traveling abroad—from entering the country. These are not the statements of an isolated demagogue, but the Republican presidential nominee. The United States was founded in part on the core belief that all people should have the freedom to practice their religion. If we don't stop this now—if we don't stand with our Muslim friends and neighbors—then we will be tacitly supporting this new and dangerous wave of hatred and xenophobia. In similarly dire times in the past, Americans have stood together in solidarity—both symbolically and in actual gatherings to show that we will not be divided. We will let members of the media know the number of Americans who are ready and able to resist hateful fearmongering in order to change the current narrative driven by Trump and other demagogues. Then, with a host of partners, we'll begin to organize actions all across the country that demonstrate what Americans really believe and continue a steady drumbeat of solidarity to back up our words. We are a nation at a crossroads. The paths before us are clear: we can choose to be divided by hatred, or we can continue to build a just, inclusive, and safe country, together.

UPDATE: The Legislature passed Senate Bill 13 late at night on December 16th, and it is on its way to Governor Snyder. Tell Gov. Snyder to veto it today: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/gov-snyder-protect-michigan This idea has been proposed before in Michigan and rejected by a vote of the people. This time, they've added an appropriation so it can't be overturned at the ballot box. The bill has passed the Senate and the House, but the versions are slightly different so this is not yet done. Please take a moment to let your legislator know that you are watching, and want them to work on solutions that will help people to vote (such as no reason absentee, early voting, same day registration), NOT disenfranchise Michigan voters. More about the bill: http://michiganradio.org/post/local-clerks-blast-bill-eliminate-straight-ticket-voting-michigan

Children are not getting the education they need. The information they obtain in the classroom from teachers and textbooks is only half of the learning spectrum. The other half is experience and the way students get this is from participating in field trips. In the U.S. however, school field trips are in a decline that is as bad as 40-60%. There are organizations and programs in place now that are offered from the private sector to stop this decline, but they cannot meet the demand that they need to. These programs can allocate only so much money and it is not enough for all the schools in the nation that are being hurt in this situation. The U.S. government needs to implement a policy that will keep field trips in the curriculum for students, and also will create a team that is dedicated to finding out ways to make field trips live up to their full potential so that the students can benefit in the greatest way possible from them. By creating this team and having them in place it will ensure that the bill passed forth will stay on track even into the local sector, and will also research new ways for students to obtain the experiential learning they require. Having this program in place will greatly heighten children’s education because of the field trips that they will be experiencing.

I am a teacher educator. My students spend four years preparing to be teachers, including spending three years in k-12 schools, hands-on learning how to work with kids. They learn curriculum, methods, learning sciences, motivation, multicultural education, how to work with students with disabilities, and many other skills necessary to prepare America's children for the world they'll live in. The Every Student Succeeds Act (to replace No Child Left Behind) includes provisions for the establishment of nationwide 'Teacher Preparation Academies'--fast tracks to teacher licenses that leave out almost every essential aspect of teacher education. These academies are run by corporations. They don't take into consideration the needs of the particular areas where they are established. Their only purpose is to instruct teachers to "teach to the test." Worst of all, the ESSA requires states to consider these 'teacher factories' the equivalent of Master's degrees! States are no longer allowed to decide what is best for their teachers. The Washington Post's Valerie Strauss explains just how this law works to undermine university programs in her recent blog (1). This is Teach for America on steroids--placing unqualified teachers with no experience and little training in the poorest of our nation's schools. However, because these academies will be funded by the government and venture philanthropists, they present a grave threat to university programs, whose budgets are being cut every day. The ESSA has already passed the House. We need to tell the U.S. Senate not to pass the ESSA with this provision in place. Please sign, and call your senators! 1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/12/05/the-disturbing-provisions-about-teacher-preparation-in-no-child-left-behind-rewrite/

Many spouses and dependents of disabled veterans rated 30% and higher must give extra care to their veterans due to physical and or mental handicaps. Spousal and dependents' stipends paid to disabled veterans need to be increased to a higher percentage of spousal-dependents' stipend amount. I am sure that I along with many other disabled veterans believe our spouses and dependents deserve more for their loyalty and dedication to care for us veterans.

Gun ownership should be subject to sensible regulation. President Obama recently called on Congress to pass legislation preventing someone who is on a "no-fly" list from being able to purchase a firearm. He also called for stricter regulations for assault weapons. These common sense proposals for gun ownership make sense.

With anti-Muslim bigotry and fear-mongering on the rise, politicians across the country have been rushing to block Syrian refugees from settling in the United States. And now organizations that help refugees are under attack. Catholic Charities in Indianapolis had courageously committed to help resettle a Syrian refugee family -- but now the governor is publicly pressuring the local archbishop to back down. Archbishop Joseph Tobin met privately with Governor Mike Pence this week and left saying he would give the governor's request "serious consideration." If Archbishop Tobin is forced to give in to xenophobia, it could unleash a tsunami of political pressure to stop helping refugee families who desperately need our compassion. We need to make sure he stays strong.