America’s criminal justice system is broken. In recent decades, we have incarcerated far too many people and kept them in prison far longer than necessary to ensure public safety. These policies have resulted in unsustainable costs and unacceptable racial disparities. Each year, over 600,000 people walk out of prison and return to our communities. They seek jobs at our local businesses, relax in our public parks, and stand in line with us at the supermarket. Instead of doing everything we can to help them transition into productive lives, we erect barriers that make it harder for formerly incarcerated individuals to rejoin society. It is time to recalibrate our approach to crime and punishment. The bipartisan REDEEM Act, recently introduced by Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rand Paul (R-KY), would help to protect and restore the lives of individuals who have had contact with the criminal or juvenile justice system, while reducing recidivism. The legislation would repeal the felony drug ban for some people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. It would allow the sealing of criminal records and improve the accuracy of FBI background checks. And it would make necessary improvements to the treatment of young people who encounter the juvenile justice system. By removing barriers to reentry, the REDEEM Act would help returning citizens safely rejoin society and begin new lives. It would restore a measure of justice and fairness to the criminal and juvenile justice systems while promoting better outcomes that improve public safety. I urge you to support this important legislation to protect and restore lives while keeping communities safe. Please sign on today as a cosponsor of the bipartisan REDEEM Act. Sincerely,

Friend - My 12-year-old cousin Tamir Rice was tragically shot to death by Cleveland police on November 22, 2014. My family needs your help to make sure that the police officers who killed Tamir don't get away with murder. Tamir was in a local park playing with an airsoft toy gun when someone called 911. The caller said that the gun was “probably fake” and that the person was likely a juvenile, but even so, two police officers rushed to Tamir’s location. The officers jumped out of their car and shot him twice at point-blank range within 0.792 seconds of arriving -- we know this because the incident was caught on video. The officers then waited for more than four minutes to treat Tamir with first aid. Tamir died from the gunshots the next day. My family wants justice for our Tamir. We are demanding that the Cuyahoga County prosecutor file criminal charges against the officers who killed Tamir. Please click here to sign our petition. The way the police behaved was absolutely unacceptable. After shooting Tamir, Tamir's mom says that the police put his 14-year-old sister in the back of the patrol car when she tried to help her brother. The police even threatened to arrest Tamir's mom as she plead with them to help her dying son. These officers gunned down Tamir in broad daylight, then terrorized his mother and sister when they tried to help. They must be held accountable for their actions. Tamir was a bright, energetic young man who had his whole life ahead of him. He was a loving brother, grandson, nephew and cousin who loved sports and being around people. Now he will never get to live his life, simply because the police decided it was easier to assume a black child was dangerous than to protect him. The federal government recently issued a report detailing the Cleveland Police Department's chronic, disturbing use of excessive force. That won't stop until officers like the ones who killed Tamir are held accountable for their actions. We know that petitions can work in cases like this. After Trayvon Martin was killed, the police refused to arrest his confessed killer, George Zimmerman, until millions of people signed a petition on Change.org. We know we can get justice for Tamir, but we need your help. Please click here to sign our petition to bring criminal charges against the officers who killed Tamir. Thank you for standing with our family, and with children like Tamir all over America. LaTonya Goldsby Cleveland, Ohio

Many of us are current and former workers who love our jobs but are worried for our health and the health of our guests (including many senior citizens and families with children). Cigarette smoke puts all of us at a significantly higher risk for allergies, asthma, heart disease, lung disease, stroke, and cancer. Our communities deserve the same public health protections that apply to non-tribal establishments. Conventional wisdom in the gaming industry is that a smoking ban would hurt business, but according to the California Department of Public Health, 88% of adults in California do not smoke. A smoking ban will likely be good for business in the long term. Please sign and share with your family and friends!

Too many politically conscious citizens are barred from voting in a given election due to technicalities such as not knowing how to register to vote, or being unaware of voter registration deadlines. Enacting a motor-voter law for Virginia that includes I.D. cards will enable our state to become a more representative democracy, and set a good example for other states to follow.

America’s political system is ramping up for the 2016 presidential election. The two leading candidates for the Democratic and Republican parties are Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, respectively. Each has formed a leadership political action committee (PAC) to prepare for a run. Both are expected to announce their candidacies in the coming weeks. The Bushes and Clintons served at the pinnacle of American power without interruption for three decades beginning with Vice President George H.W. Bush in 1981. They remain as power brokers even while holding no political office; Bill Clinton serves as the de facto head of the Democratic Party. Some are concerned that potential Democratic candidates are holding back for fear of the long shadow cast on the party by the Clintons. The Bush family, too, maintains a position of power within the Republican Party. Jeb Bush has been depicted as waiting “his turn” while his brother served as president. Now, with his family and its powerful supporters behind him, his nomination is highly probable. Arthur M. Schlesinger warned forty years ago in “The Imperial Presidency” of an alarming concentration of power in the Executive Branch of the federal government. Despite this warning, power has continued shifting to the presidency at an accelerating pace. Consolidating presidential power further by limiting choice to two families is a major threat to the republic and the interests of its citizens. In the eyes of many the democratic principle of power shared among the citizenry through universal suffrage is in jeopardy. Our political system is intended to bestow equality through the voting process, but the reality is that powerful moneyed elites drive the choices put before the voters in major elections. After elections, those same few advance their priorities through direct and indirect influence that results from financial support of campaigns. The Bushes and Clintons, historically entrenched in this distorted system, are not likely to confront it. On a cultural level, the political division within the country is personified by the Bushes and Clintons. They depend on ideological polarity to muster support and gain the levers of power. To select Bush and Clinton as the party nominees for the 2016 election is to assure continued bitter division in the country for another four to eight years. It is time to move on to new and fresh ideas and faces. Regardless of one’s political affiliation, it is clear to see that the nation’s interest is best served by moving away from these two families. Visit http://www.nobushclinton2016.com for stickers and additional information.

I have been studying monarch butterflies for over forty years. In just the past 20 years we have lost 90% of them. We are losing our bees at an unsustainable rate of 30% a year. We all have to take action. N.Y.S. is on the monarch migration path and we are contributing to their demise. It is time to stop 30 years of pesticide spraying along all our roads.

Stop the discrimination of others by groups that are attempting to use religion to hide behind. Religious beliefs have no place in our businesses that serve the public. Every citizen deserves to live in peace and be treated with respect and equality. Religions are established in order to help, not to hurt. Should religion begin to merge with secular institutions, all religious institutions should be subject to taxation. What segment of the population will be targeted next for the refusal of services based on religious beliefs? Interracial marriages? Race? The Disabled? How one dresses? Would anyone like to be turned away from a business because they choose to wear shorts, tank tops, a headscarf, open-toed shoes, dreadlocks, tattoos? No. This is discrimination. Practice religion in peace and do not use religion to hurt others. Take a stand for EVERY citizen, including yourself, and end this emerging trend of using religion to discriminate against others. Sign this petition and let America know that Virginians will not tolerate any law that discriminates against our fellow citizens. We are better than this.

Sooner or later, you or someone you love will become disabled. Maybe you know someone now--a parent, friend or other loved one. Being able to remain autonomous and direct our own lives is what gives our lives meaning, instead of being warehoused in a nursing home with limited options decided by others. IRIS allows disabled people to stay in their homes. The IRIS program is a Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services waiver for self-directed, long-term support. The program is an option for adults with long term care needs. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Division of Long Term Care (DLTC), Office of IRIS Management under the authorization of the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) is responsible for oversight of the IRIS program. IRIS is available to Wisconsin residents determined financially eligible for Medicaid, functionally in need of nursing home or Intermediate Care Facility, and/or Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities (ICF/IID) level of care; and living in a county where managed long-term care and IRIS are available. People who are eligible have the choice of IRIS or managed care through their local Aging and Disability Resource Center. The participant has the flexibility to design a cost-effective and personal plan. IRIS provides an alternative to institutional managed care. Nursing homes are quite frankly a big and often faceless business, and who hasn't read the horror stories what happens inside them. Anyone who loves life will do their best to stay out of one as long as possible. People who choose IRIS design a waiver-allowable Individual Services and Supports Plan to meets their functional, vocational, and social long term care needs. Wisconsin has Medicaid Home and Community Based Services waivers 1915(c) and the Self-Directed Personal Care State Plan Amendment 1915(j) approved by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. These CMS approved applications define the types of services and goods included in the IRIS program. Disabled persons enrolled in IRIS are able to manage goods and services to meet their long term care needs and goals. IRIS funding waivers allow eligible recipients to remain in the community and avoid institutionalized care. IRIS program recipients are supported in self-direction by IRIS Consultants and Fiscal Employer Agents. IRIS creates jobs for caregivers outside of institutional settings, and serves the disabled population. Cutting IRIS won't make the disabled go away, but it will certainly make their lives more difficult. Scott Walker's Medicare/Medicaid cuts would kill the IRIS programs, forcing many disabled persons to sell their assets and move into managed care facilities where their quality of life is considerably more limiting and bleak. Please ask your local state representative to tell Scot Walker to preserve the IRIS program from budget cuts.

Have had ENOUGH of politicians and their ME ME ME attitude. Do the job you were put in office for. Governing FOR us the people!

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act legalizes discrimination in the state of Indiana. Our state should never legally discriminate against any person or people based on religion, race, nationality, gender, sexual or gender orientation, age, or any other factor based on discrimination.

The outcry against Indiana's #ReligiousFreedomRestorationAct is a wake up call. #BoycottIndiana not enough. #RecallPence is not enough. Only Civil Rights for All Americans can make a difference. http://incorrigiblycorey.blogspot.com/2015/03/can-last-straw-be-first.html

Indiana has passed SB 101 a law that allows businesses & people to discriminate against ANY group of people that they believe goes against their personally held religious beliefs. While this bill was targeted against the LGBT community, the impact goes beyond that to others of different faiths. Given the fact that Hawaii is the most religiously diverse state in the nation and we pride our selves on our diversity - NO public employee should be purposely put in harms way while on official business and NONE of our taxpayer dollars should go toward supporting this discriminatory law.