State Senator Marty Golden is out of touch with the needs of the Bay Ridge community and America at large. The recent “joke” posted on his Facebook page about the stoning of gay people is distasteful and unacceptable. This incident is merely another in a long line of examples which reveal Senator Golden’s disregard of the community he has been sworn to serve. The Senator needs to recognize all of his constituents as equal citizens.

Governor Christie and his predecessors which include the New Jersey House and Senate have brought about the worst pension crisis in New Jersey history and the very real possibility that public employees will lose part or all of their benefits due to their inability to work together to come to a solution. By adopting an accounting change that will save the state an estimated $2.5 billion annually the state can secure a loan to fully fund the pension with no net cost to employees, no direct cost to public institutions, and no increase in taxes and allow pension fund to be saved. This will allow the state to improve it's credit rating and save the most important asset public employees rely on in retirement. Public employees and tax paying citizens should all join in to force the state government and public institutions to adopt the accounting change in order to save the pension system to avoid the inevitable short term kick the can down the road fix that has led to the current pension crisis. Otherwise, there's a possibility that the fix will come at the expense of everyday taxpayers who are not responsible for their governments inability to solve the pension crisis. Without the $2.5 billion annual accounting change savings, taxpayers will be asked at some point to come to the rescue of the pension system thru higher taxes and public employees will be asked to increase their contributions and give up a big percentage of their benefits, all because the state and public institutions cannot ask for more revenue to put into the system without raising taxes.

DACA students, otherwise known as Undocumented Students with a Legal Presence, are students that were brought to the United States of America for a better life at a young age. In June of 2012, we finally got the opportunity to legally attend college by receiving DACA. That was the first and most important step, but now almost HALF A MILLION of us are not financially stable to be able to afford those out of pocket costs. Many of us are hard-working taxpayers who are just not able to afford an education. Paying Out-of-State Tuition without ANY government help is very difficult for anyone, American Citizen or NOT. Help us bring In-State Tuition for DACA students!

For too long politicians in Washington have sat on their hands and let the NRA use fear to prevent action. It is time to come to grips with the realization that stemming the massive flow of illegal and legal guns into our cities is a fight for the lives of our mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. We have let America down when it comes to addressing the gun violence epidemic in too many of our neighborhoods.

The USA’s National Women’s team just won their THIRD World Cup, but FIFA is still treating our champions as second-class citizens. The high-profile Women’s World Cup final match shattered television records with over 25 million viewers -- making it the most watched soccer game in U.S. history.(1) Yet, our world champions are being paid FORTY TIMES LESS than their male counterparts did for LOSING the World Cup last year during the first round ($576 million vs. $15 million)!(2) FIFA, which generates billions in revenue, also forced women — but not the men — to play this year’s World Cup on artificial turf. This not only increased the risk of injury, but also increased temperatures on the field by 20-30 degrees. During tournament, field temperatures reached 120 degrees.(3) It is no secret that gender-pay disparity runs rampant in the United States with women making 78 cents per dollar to men.(4) And this blatant pay discrimination by FIFA may be the most extreme case yet. It is time for FIFA’s executives to take a stand for equal pay, stop underscoring our heroic female leaders, and provide them with the same awards and privileges as men. Join me to stand alongside women and men all across the globe to right this injustice and ensure that our champions and all women receive equal pay. 1. http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/womens-world-cup-carli-lloyd-usa-win-soccer-ratings-1201534249/ 2. http://www.politico.eu/article/world-cup-women-pay-gap-gender-equality/ 3. http://thinkprogress.org/sports/2015/07/06/3677105/fifa-will-pay-us-womens-championship-team-4-times-less-mens-teams-lost-first-round/ and http://www.sportingnews.com/soccer/story/2015-06-03/womens-world-cup-turf-war-fifa-canada-artificial-turf-natural-grass 4. http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121530/women-color-make-far-less-78-cents-mans-dollar

Donald Trump is running for President and immediately exposed himself as a hateful, anti-immigrant buffoon with his inappropriate remarks about Mexican-Americans. Many companies that have done business with Trump in the past—Macy’s, NBC and Univision—have severed ties with him as a result. But others have not. Trump’s bigotry has no place in our political discourse, and companies that continue to do business with him are only enabling him. Sign the petition to all companies who do business with Donald Trump: Fire him!

It is obvious that most of the fear and terrorism in the world is state sponsored, created and guided by the system in which we all play a role. It is also obvious what must be done to reduce this activity.

Listed among NOW's priorities is ending racism and promoting diversity. However, they are seemingly a part of the patriarchal supremacist thought machine as they have alienated stay-at-home mothers; limited the number of women of color in leadership positions and as members and; had to be publicly embarrassed by their refusal to admit lesbians. It's difficult to understand the lack of diversity in a national organization for women. Where were they for Marissa Alexander, who was jailed and has faced decades in prison for protecting her children and herself from an abusive husband and a jaded judicial system? Where are they now for Bree Newsome and the 12-year-old girl whose ribs and jaw was broken by police officers? NOW has been asked and has yet to answer - "Is the leadership of NOW racially and culturally diverse? Where are the women of color in leadership positions?" They must make moves to include and help all women or get out of the way ~ remake or break, NOW!

To urge the Governor of the State of Illinois to find the resources to support the work of the Chicago, Chief of Police and provide the necessary resources to effectively reduce gun violence in the City of Chicago or declare a state of emergency. We can no longer say that this is a Chicago problem because this great nation that we call America can no longer allow our most vulnerable citizens to be gunned down and remain silent. We must, Save the Children! The children of our country that have not been convinced that they have a future to look forward to.

While school lunch should be affordable, it shouldn't be something that children refuse to purchase and go hungry just because of how terrible school food is.

The bill continues to promote institutional and coercive approaches to inpatient and outpatient treatment instead of investment in effective community-based mental health services.

The U.S. Women's soccer team made history last night after winning the World Cup for the third time. Their prize? $2 million. Not bad until you learn that the men's teams were awarded $8 million--simply for losing in the first round. Why? Because according to FIFA's leadership, equal pay for women is "nonsense." This is outrageous, but with media coverage around the game growing, FIFA's gender pay discrimination is finally getting some attention. If enough of us stand up to FIFA while billions of people and international media are watching, we can force FIFA to start respecting women and end its discriminatory pay practice.