The Department of Justice is leading negotiations with JPMorganChase right now, specifically for sell the toxic mortgage backed securities they and other Wall Street criminals use to destroy our economy and steal our homes. The reported amount is a record-setting $13 billion. However, corporate tax law likely allows Chase to deduct all or some of the record penalty they will be paying. That’s outrageous. First they strip the wealth from our homes with predatory loans, then use those loans to blow up our economy, then use the Great Recession as an excuse to steal our homes through foreclosure, and now want to use our tax dollars to help pay their fine. Tell Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorganChase: No tax breaks for Wall Street crime. Our tax dollars will not go to subsidize Chase’s role in causing the Great Recession, creating the foreclosure crisis, and stealing our homes. 1 One of the reasons that Chase is facing this record penalty in the first place is because of work by Action for the Common Good's Campaign for a Fair Settlement and others to push the Obama Adminstration to stand up for struggling homeowners and foreclosure victims. In March, when Attorney General Holder testified before Congress that Wall Street banks couldn’t be prosecuted because of their outsized wealth, people like you joined with 333,000 others from Action for the Common Good, CREDO, MoveOn, Campaign for America’s Future, and the Courage Campaign to demand the Obama Administration end “Too Big to Jail”. Some of you helped deliver those petitions to US Attorneys in cities across the country. And you stood with 500 home defenders from around the country who risked arrest at the Department of Justice in order to demand accountability for Wall Street criminals in May. That action ended with 28 arrests and non-violent protestors tazed, while seven more were arrested at the high-end Wall Street law firm Covington and Burling protesting the revolving door between the DOJ and Wall Street. Then just two weeks ago over 500 of you called AG Holder’s office demanding a strong deal with Chase. You and people like you are true warriors for justice. That’s why it is simply unacceptable for any of us, as taxpayers, to pick up part of the $13 billion tab for Chase’s wrong doing. Tell Dimon: Don’t demand any tax deductions from this settlement. [1] Recent agreements between the DOJ and other corporations show clear precedent here, including one from November 2012 with BP, forbidding them from deducting any of the $4 billion they owe for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. “Government doing more to prevent corporations from deducting settlements,” Washington Post, December 31, 2012 http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-12-31/business/36103880_1_tax-deductions-million-settlement-federal-agencies [2] "Exclusive: JPMorgan settlement could cost bank closer to $9 billion," Reuters, Oct. 22, 2013. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/22/us-jpmorgan-penalties-idUSBRE99L19720131022?ak_proof=1

Senator Ted Cruz is holding the Federal Communications Commission hostage by preventing a vote on Thomas Wheeler, the Administration’s nominee for FCC chair -- unless Wheeler promises not to improve disclosure in federal campaigns. Outrageous! Many believe the FCC has the administrative power to compel groups that buy political ads on TV and radio to release the names of their donors. Polls show that an overwhelming percentage of voters across party lines want more disclosure. They know nothing's more important to our democracy than making sure billionaires and other special interests can't hide their massive secret spending to buy elections. Conservative Justice Scalia said it best: "I do not look forward to a society which ... campaigns anonymously and even exercises the direct democracy of initiative and referendum hidden from public scrutiny and protected from public criticism… This does not resemble the Home of the Brave." Sign and share this petition to ask Senator Cruz what he's afraid to disclose and why he disagrees with Justice Scalia!

Black folks are being routinely stopped outside of Barneys NY by NYPD officers after making an expensive purchase at the luxury department store in New York City. The NYPD has become notorious for targeting Black and Latino residents — subjecting our communities to thousands of illegal and discriminatory stops, searches, and frisks each day that lead to unlawful arrests, constant harassment, and in some cases, serious injury or death. Please join us in urging NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to conduct a full investigation of the arrests made outside of Barneys and to release information about the racial breakdown of suspects arrested, the number of people actually charged, and details about Barneys' role in these incidents.

I was recently informed that i cannot bring in a small bag of toys to celebrate the season. This is elementary school. We used to have Halloween parades where the smaller children would parade proudly in their costumes, followed by a small party at the end of the day. Children need to celebrate things in life. To have fun at school. So they will want to be there. Little by little this is being taken from them. They will not want to go to school, or learn. Make learning fun. They will have plenty of time for political and religious unrest and pressure to succeed. A little down time is not a bad thing! I can understand the need for healthy snacks, and I think it's great that in America we can all choose what religion we want to practice. If you don't want to celebrate, you don't have to, but why because you don't, does my children have to suddenly abide by your views??? If you agree, sign. I don't know if it will make a change, but I do want the administration to know, there is a voice on the other side of this argument!

I believe that the October shutdown of our government was a criminal act that should be imvesigated and prosecuted. No minority can be allowed to obstruct our democratically created laws.

On September 19, management at the St. Paul Public Schools walked out of negotiations and asked the state mediator to close our negotiations to the public so parents and other members of the community couldn’t hear what we were talking about. At the Saint Paul Federation of Teachers, we have worked hard over the last year to partner with parents, students and community members to identify the top priorities to deliver the schools St. Paul children deserve. Combined with research, we have turned these priorities into the strongest and most innovative set of contract proposals ever introduced by a teachers union. Our report and proposals can be seen at www.spft.org. Over the last few weeks, our members have been having conversations and collecting signatures from over a thousand community members on this petition. Please join those that have already pledged their support by signing today.

It is hard to know how many transgender inmates are in U.S. prisons, but difficulties and hardships of them is common and needed to be paid attention. The Eighth Amendment proscribes the infliction of cruel or unusual punishment, being limited to take hormones therapy is one of the cruelest punishment for transgender prisoners, who have right to live healthy.

The Administration has claimed that its drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen are legal under U.S. law, but it has never shared with Congress or the American people all of its legal memos purportedly giving legal justification for the policy. The Administration has also not told Congress or the American people who we are at war with - which groups the Administration claims it has the authority to target with drone strikes under U.S. law. By introducing legislation to compel the Administration to share this information with Congress and the public, Senator Paul will give Americans concerned about the drone strike policy a way to engage Members of Congress on the issue.

A statue called "the Bear Hunt" is proudly displayed at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont, CA. The statue offers is a chilling example of children being taught to celebrate racism. The statue offers a grizzly scene of a stereotypical Native American having his arm eaten by a bear and his privates mauled at the same time. Why is that statue openly displayed on a campus for Deaf American children? Why are they being taught to celebrate racism? The statue being celebrated is not the example of a world class education that state claims to offer.

Our small North Berkeley community already has FOUR drug stores, including CVS, Safeway Pharmacy, Pharmaca, and Sal's, in less than one mile from each other on Solano Avenue. Furthermore, there are already FIVE Walgreens in Berkeley and one is on Shattuck Avenue 1.4 miles away from the proposed site on 1830 Solano Avenue. The proposed Walgreens is to replace our only neighborhood gas station on Solano Avenue. A more reasonable alternative would be a multi use building with several smaller retail spaces and residential units above. There is tremendous opposition in the community to this Michigan based developer building a "just shy of" 10,000 SF Walgreens in this location. If Walgreens succeeds in opening, existing small businesses, local traffic and surrounding residential housing will suffer major negative impacts. Think gridlock. There is not enough parking as it is on Solano Ave. and the proposed 22 parking spaces are not enough for a 10,000 SF Walgreens! The community is outraged and, in a recent community meeting with the developer, expressed 100% opposition to having a Walgreens in our neighborhood!

Almost immediately after the August 24, 2013 spraying my wife came down with a bladder and throat irritations. Tests run on her urine confirmed the existence of numerous contaminates. The health of all Vermonters is at stake as well as the agricultural businesses in the state. The medical profession has ignored these complaints as well as government agencies. Check these sites for additional information: http://naturalsociety.com/chemtrails-obvious-overhead-pollutant-ignored-denied/ http://www.nationofchange.org/neurologist-warns-neurodegenerative-disease-surge-due-chemtrail-spraying-1378712902

Sergio's Deli has only two more months before its doors close for good and the construction of another luxury high-rise begins. The landlord has sold the property and is giving the owner every excuse why he hasn't renewed the lease but promises they will still have a store once the building is finished. I'm sure the people from the Lower East Side, especially the ones who has lived on Ave D for over three decades would love to see great changes that we all can benefit from. Closing down another "mom & pop" store I doubt is one of them. If they want to change the AVENUE, they need to start by relocating the half-way house that's located on 4th street.