I have been collecting data for those killed in southern California in preparation for the national march to stop police terror and murder in NYC on Oct. 22-24. The brief summaries submitted by the police are heart-rending (and collected by The Guardian US). Something must be done so that these murders are not forgotten as the inexorable news cycle moves on to the next atrocity.

Remember Antonio Weiss? He’s the notorious Wall Street banker whose appointment to the Treasury Department got blocked by Elizabeth Warren and grassroots groups like Rootstrikers because of his outrageous history of helping corporations use ‘inversions’ to avoid U.S. taxes. Now he’s back at it again. He managed to sneak into an unconfirmed position at the Treasury Department and he is currently leading the response to Puerto Rico’s debt crisis. Weiss’s old investment bank, Lazard, has too much to gain from the outcome of the debt crisis in Puerto Rico – and he is way too closely tied to Lazard, having just receiving a $21 million golden parachute from them when he joined the government. Sign the petition to tell Treasury Secretary Jack Lew: Remove Antonio Weiss from the response to Puerto Rico’s debt crisis. Rootstrikers and our allies at Hedge Clippers released a report that makes it clear it’s unacceptable for Weiss to make these decisions: “The Antonio Weiss Files: Vultures, Bribes & Conflicts of Interest in Puerto Rico.”[1] Predatory lending by Weiss’s bank, Lazard, and hedge funds are a big part of what drove Puerto Rico to take on an unsustainable level of debt. Top Lazard bankers were even accused of bribing Puerto Rico’s governor to get better roles in debt deals! Hedge funds have swooped in to buy as much distressed Puerto Rico debt as they can – and made it clear they will use every option available to make sure the pain of resolving the debt crisis falls on Puerto Ricans, through drastic austerity measures. We need a response to this debt crisis that’s fair and equitable for the people of Puerto Rico, not based on what’s most profitable for Lazard and its hedge fund friends. Sign the petition: Tell Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to pull Antonio Weiss off the Treasury’s response to the debt crisis in Puerto Rico and let someone without his conflict of interest lead the effort.

RoundUp, the weed-killer brought to you by Monsanto. It’s sprayed on lawns all throughout the country, including on public parks, school playgrounds, and sports fields. What you probably don’t know is that in March, the cancer research arm of the World Health Organization announced that glyphosate – the key ingredient in RoundUp – is “probably carcinogenic to humans.” And recently the California EPA announced that it plans to label glyphosate as a chemical “known to cause cancer.” In the WHO report, scientists cited evidence from studies showing that glyphosate has been linked to tumors in mice and rats and has caused DNA damage to human cells. Another study found that exposure to this dangerous chemical can result in significant liver and kidney damage. In addition to being used on lawns and parks, glyphosate is the number one herbicide used in agriculture. Nearly all U.S. corn, soy, and cotton is treated with glyphosate. People have a right to know about the serious health risks of this weed-killer. The California EPA’s public comment period ends October 20th, and they need to hear from people like you.

Please join me in making five demands of Congress and President Obama. Our lawmakers should:[1] *stop paying Mexico tens of millions of dollars to intercept and deport these refugees before they reach our border. A high-ranking State Department official has proposed spending $90 million to do more of this in 2016; we should instead spend that money to help these refugees. *help Mexico pay for places for migrants to be held that are humane while their refugee claims are evaluated. *develop a system for these refugees, much like Europe is now doing for Syrians, to equitably allocate people who are fleeing harm throughout this continent — including sending them to safer countries in Latin America, to Canada and to the United States. *increase the number of refugees we allow to pre-9/11 levels — 130,000, from the current 70,000 — to allow more of these families to have a safe harbor here in the U.S. *approve a proposed tripling aid, now before Congress, to the northern triangle Central American countries (El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala) to help reduce the causes of the violence pushing these families out. Source: 1. http://www.enriquesjourney.com/how-to-help/the-refugees-at-our-door/

The recent and anti-immigrant rhetoric spouted by some of the Republican presidential candidates is deeply disturbing and unacceptable. Rather than promoting inclusion, many Republican candidates, such as Donald Trump and Jeb Bush, are fostering racist and xenophobic fears towards Latinos, Asian-Americans, and immigrants. This is creating a hostile and dangerous climate for immigrants and people of color, as evidenced by the recent beating of a homeless Latino man by Trump’s supporters. The Republican Party must stand for tolerant dialogue on these and other issues affecting Americans.

During the first Democratic presidential debate, CNN journalist Anderson Cooper challenged Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders about his supposed “electability” issues in this way: “The question is really about electability here, and that’s what I’m trying to get at. You — the — the Republican attack ad against you in a general election — it writes itself. You supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. You honeymooned in the Soviet Union. And just this weekend, you said you’re not a capitalist. Doesn’t — doesn’t that ad write itself?” [1] Anderson Cooper is showing his pro-Empire bias by trying to re-write the history of U.S. foreign policy in Nicaragua on the side of the Empire. Millions of Americans “supported the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.” In 1979, the Sandinista National Liberation Front overthrew the US government-installed Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua, promising to address Nicaragua’s extreme poverty and the lack of basic government services like education and health care for the majority of the population. In 1982, Nicaragua was recognized by the World Health Organization as the third world country that had made the most progress in health care. Under the Reagan Administration, the CIA organized a terrorist army (the “Contras”) to attack the Nicaraguan government. Millions of Americans participated in a solidarity movement to oppose US military intervention in Nicaragua, including public radio host Ira Glass [2], actors Ed Asner, Mike Farrell and Diane Ladd, civil rights leader Julian Bond [3] and engineer Ben Linder, who was killed in a terrorist attack by the CIA’s army. [4] The US-Nicaragua solidarity movement succeeded in passing the Boland Amendment in Congress, cutting off US funding to the CIA’s terrorist army, which led the Reagan Administration to try to fund the Contras illegally through arms sales to Iran. When this illegal arrangement was exposed, it became the Iran-Contra scandal. [5] Challenge Anderson Cooper to provide evidence for his unsubstantiated claim that having opposed the CIA’s illegal war against Nicaragua in the 1980s is a political liability in the United States today by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/14/us/politics/democratic-debate-transcript.html 2. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/378/transcript 3. http://www.csmonitor.com/1984/1123/112357.html 4. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/09/23/in-search-of-ben-linders-killers 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boland_Amendment

This television show is one of the all time most dreadful things in existence. The fact that humans actually indulge in torturing innocent animals is bad enough, but to glorify it by creating a mock competition is unredeemable and repugnant, comparable to the mass slaughter of Christians and Jews and all the disenfranchised throughout history.

Too often, unauthorized gun buyers are able to sneak past background checks; this is because background checks are conducted by fax machine, voice mail, and email. Too many straw purchasers are arming inner city gangs; they do this because we have no data analytics on bulk purchases (nor do we analyze who habitually reports bulk gun thefts). I have no faith in the Congress to pass meaningful gun legislation. Thus, it is up to the Executive branch to manifest change via legal executive action. The Executive branch has been tasked with conducting background checks, and have been blessed with a budget to execute these laws. It is well within the legal purview of the executive branch to implement these tools. It would take a big effort, but at least its possible. Legislative change, sadly, is not. We need to modernize the system anyway; it is no longer the 1990's. Let's stop talking about banning guns, and start banning fax machines instead.

Our health is at stake. Leaf blowers are deleterious for many reasons: the horrendous noise, the carcinogenic emissions, and, the stirred -up particulate matter. There is a reason why many communities around the country are banning leaf blowers, and, not other landscaping equipment. In November, 2015 the Newton Aldermen will be voting on an ordinance to limit the use of leaf blowers. It is crucial that citizens sign this petition and write their Aldermen, now!

Texas A&M is changing, and sometimes those changes happen too quickly. Such is the case with Cain Hall. Moving student services to West Campus creates considerable distance between students and the help many of them need to successfully matriculate through A&M. Students in crisis can't get a counselor without travel; physically disabled students must travel on buses to reach accommodations. This means that our more vulnerable populations are at risk. And we ask President Young to refrain from moving these offices until new on-campus accommodations are built or found.

When this petition is signed by 100,000 people I will deliver it to my representatives in the Senate. Senator Ben Cardin and Senator Barbara Mikulski.

As the mother of two elementary school children, I believe that schools should remain gun free zones. Weapons do not belong in the classroom, concealed or otherwise. Guns on schools premises, other than on trained law enforcement officers, allow for a greater chance of an unintentional or accidental shootings. Vote NO on Senate Bills 442 and 561!