The United States Postal Service offers crucial services for Americans nationwide -- including enabling millions to vote safely from home this year. But if Trump’s new postmaster general gets his way, the agency will become so overburdened that it can no longer reliably provide these services. That means voters' ability to cast an absentee ballot during this pandemic will be limited -- potentially disenfranchising countless Americans in November, or forcing them to risk their health at the polls. Since the Postal Service’s founding, USPS workers have been committed to ensuring that every piece of mail gets delivered in a timely, reliable fashion -- and that the mail is picked up from every address every day, even despite staffing shortages. But DeJoy -- a Trump mega-donor with no previous USPS experience -- just implemented extreme new regulations that will inhibit postal workers’ ability to do their jobs. He is eliminating all overtime, cutting all extra trips, and directly instructing mail carriers to leave mail behind at distribution centers -- if delivering it might extend their hours. This will lead to serious delivery delays of everything from life-saving medications to vote-by-mail ballots and 2020 Census forms. And it’s particularly dangerous as we get closer to Election Day -- when there will be a substantial increase in vote-by-mail usage across the country, straining the Postal Service’s now artificially limited capacity. DeJoy claims these changes will cut costs -- but more likely, they’ll put the already beleaguered agency in even deeper financial peril, while also crushing customers’ confidence in the USPS. Instead, our senators need to step up for the Postal Service and follow the House’s lead in passing crucial funding to save it. Right now, we need a massive outcry directed at DeJoy from everyday Americans who rely on the Postal Service. Add your name today.

We would like NFCS to offer free credit recovery for all high school students who require it. COVID-19 has created an extremely difficult experience for all of us, having had to continue to work, support our families, and also learn to be high school teachers, paraprofessionals, etc. Some of us have done this as grandparents on fixed incomes, as parents who have lost employment during this time, as survivors of COVID-19, or just as parents who have been trying to navigate a new terrain of living for which none of us were prepared. Unfortunately, we are now tasked by New Foundations Charter High School to take on the additional burden of paying for summer school for our students who were not successful during remote learning. We applaud the effort of many teachers but as you can imagine, many of our students were, also, not prepared for this event. Our children were conditioned to learning with reliable assistance, with peers, and the shift to remote learning was difficult. Many of us are caregivers for multiple students in multiple grades, of students with disabilities, and people who have had to try and support our kids while trying to sustain our own livelihood. This is why it is extremely disappointing that we are now having to emotionally support our children through the possibility of retention because some of us are not able to afford the cost of summer school. We need you to understand that their inability to pass these courses was not merely a reflection of their academic abilities and effort; any grading of any student during this pandemic was more a grade on a child’s life circumstances than it was on any single child’s academic ability. We ask that New Foundations Charter High School pay the cost of summer school for students who are unable to afford it and reimburse the cost of summer school for the students who were required to pay in order to earn credit. To impose such a financial burden on families during a worldwide crisis is unjust and borderline cruel. Our children could, yes, simply be retained next school year but educators are well aware of the long-term research that links retention to adverse outcomes. Students and families should not be penalized because of a crisis that even our government is struggling to manage. We want nothing more than the best for our students. We are asking that NFCS support us as caregivers with the utmost compassion.

If scientists, doctors, the research community, and public at large do not have the proper information, and proper guidelines based on that information, we are at a greater overall risk of never being able to slow the spread, and needlessly killing tens of thousands additional people. Also, false numbers will impact the decisions of schools to re-open, putting children, teachers, and family members at greater risk. Lastly, at no level should we be lulled into complacency due to false optimistic data. We must trust the data or it is useless.

As Covid-19 cases spiral out of control, we’re reminded every day of the very real stakes of this painful, awful virus, and the abject failure of Donald Trump and his apologists in Congress. Among the California congressional delegation, the most irresponsible, anti-science, Trumpian voice has been Rep. Tom McClintock (R-04). In early June, as Covid-19 cases and deaths were beginning to escalate, McClintock urged people to file complaints with the Department of Justice against city and state public health directives. Then, on the cusp of the spike in cases we’re seeing across the country, McClintock said “(experts) substantially overstated the severity of COVID-19.” To top it off, when told by Rep. Jerry Nadler (NY-10) to wear a mask during a congressional hearing, McClintock replied that “I consider masks much more effective at spreading panic and much less effective at stopping a virus." The stakes are too high for ideologues like McClintock to continue misleading the public with dangerous misinformation. For those like McClintock who disparage government action to stem the spread, there is an imperative to take personal responsibility, starting by wearing a mask to protect others. Tell Tom McClintock to stop lying about Covid-19, and wear a mask As Bob Dylan sings, “to live outside the law, you must be honest.” In the case of Covid-19, being honest means acknowledging the danger of the disease, and the effectiveness of measures to confront it -- like wearing a mask. While ignoring the severity of the disease and peddling misinformation, McClintock voted twice to deny relief to Americans who have been harmed. The first time was out of supposed concern for people who might “game the system” to get paid emergency leave or food aid for seniors, while saying nothing about Trump family-connected businesses gaming the system to take millions intended for small business relief. McClintock objected to helping people the second time because he said it would add too much to the debt, while staying silent about the mushrooming annual deficits caused by his vote in 2017 to slash corporate tax rates. Unfortunately, McClintock’s practice of putting ideology before health, science, data, common sense and the common good is his standard operating procedure. In the case of Covid-19, lying about the facts and common-sense protective measures -- like wearing a mask -- means more people dying. Tell McClintock to be part of the Covid-19 solution and wear a mask. Thank you for taking action!

It’s a matter of public health

400 plus years of racial oppression. Black codes. Jim Crow laws. Texas’ convict leasing system. Black lives matter. Brown lives matter. Trayvon Martin. Philando Castile. Eric Garner. Pamela Turner. Michael Brown. Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. George Floyd. No justice. No peace. All our words and images being cried-out in the streets worldwide among protestors, asking for an end to institutional systemic racism. Undeniably, racial disparates have existed for too long in the streets of Texas in the form of police brutality and misconduct. This has also led to, and amplified, disproportionate sentencing of black and brown minorities in the criminal justice system, and has caused Texas to lead the national race in mass incarceration. Adding insult to injury, many inmates have been inappropriately labelled “violent offenders,” when actually many were too young, and thus could potentially outgrow delinquent behavior. Tough-on-crime prosecutors, who often used illegal and deceitful tactics to obtain convictions, never gave them a viable chance. Instead the court’s mentality was overbearingly: “Lock them up, and throw away the key.” Right now, the barbarically outdated attitude is evident. Amid a pandemic, Texas officials have refused to grant “compassionate release” to any of its offenders in a coldhearted effort to unrelentingly warehouse offenders. Meanwhile, mothers and families are crying-out (to unsympathetic official ears) for the lives and welfare of their loved ones -who were sentenced to time, not a COVID-19 related death sentence. In these unprecedented times, the words “I CAN’T BREATHE” ring loud and true for the stifling oppression inmates and their families have yet to find relief from. Rightfully, they want-what we all should want – the removal of the institutional systemic “knee” from their loved ones’ necks. Afterall, the law should apply equally. Needless to say, there are plenty of good “people” in TDCJ that should have been permitted to return to society many years ago. It’s, therefore, high time to level the playing field, and open the political playbook to repeal and replace laws that have adversely and largely impacted black and brown minority communities. Inarguably, our elected, legislative officials can no longer be allowed to hold seats of passiveness or indifference amid these tumultuous times. Prison reform actions, which finely terminates mass incarceration, must began NOW!

Right now, many of the wrongdoings that frequently occur inside the TDCJ and the BPP are shrouded in a veil of secrecy. This lack of transparency enables and perpetuates a broken system – which allows incarcerated individuals and their families alike to suffer. Regrettably, behind this veil of secrecy, inmates are subjected to deadly heat, non-working fans, guards denying access to cool areas when inmates are in medical distress, broken or contaminated water systems, bogus or frivolous disciplinary cases, assaults, harassment and retaliation at the hands of guards, and various other forms of cruel and unusual punishment. In similar respects, families who seek solutions, as well as the humane treatment and safety of their loved ones, suffer through the families’ inability to go beyond the red tape to get answers. Likewise, their frustrations are not alleviated by confrontations with TDCJ officials unwilling to correct a bad situation or wrongdoing instigated by one of its own. Undeniably, this clearly spells out a dire need for an independent, external oversight agency. Without such an independent agency, we are basically asking TDCJ to police itself, and to do what it historically has never done, that is, be totally truthful about its internal misbehavior. Further, it continues to place inmates, families and society at the mercy of the two prominent and failing internal TDCJ processes – which are the Ombudsman’s office and the TDCJ grievance system. Moreover, while both systems are too deeply rooted and connected within TDCJ to truly be effective and unbiased, the Ombudsman does not and will not investigate whether procedures are followed or ignored. Then, amplifying this injury, neither the grievance system or the Ombudsman are vehicles for inmates or their families to address any parole related misapplications of law, discrepancies, or misdeeds. And, since the BPP and inmates’ parole files are also cloaked in layers of secrecy, it’s commonplace for inmates to receive parole denials (set-offs) stipulated in vague, bureaucratic boilerplate language – which leaves the actual reason an unknown mystery. Thus, there has clearly never been a more urgent time than now for legislators to force both the TDCJ and the BPP into transparency and accountability by creating an independent oversight.

The United States harbors an enduring legacy of anti-Asian racism, from the murderous violence of the so-called "Yellow Peril" in the 19th and 20th centuries to the surge in hate crimes committed against Asian Americans in the wake of COVID-19. The continued use of "oriental" in the profession of East Asian Medicine in the US perpetuates this injustice. In 2016, the term was removed from all US federal regulations through a bill authored by New York State Representatives Grace Meng (D) and Hakeem Jeffries (D). It received unanimous, bipartisan congressional support and was signed into law by President Obama. The bill also struck the terms “Negro,” “Eskimo,” and “Spanish surname” (to honor Latinx folks), which are the associates of "oriental." Our profession is dangerously out of step with what progress has been made outside our community. We will fail in our institutional anti-racism efforts before they begin if we persist in using this racist, obsolete term.

We as Citizen should not have to stand by helplessly and watch another Citizen Beaten or Murdered right in front of US, just because the Murderer is wearing a police uniform.

For several weeks, the people of Chicago have stood resolute in the fight against systemic racism in policing. The implementation of this pilot program will contribute to racial injustice in law enforcement, by inspiring average citizens to operate as honorary ICE agents in our city's streets, utilizing racial profiling to target victims. Chicago demands an end to racialized policing, not an expansion incorporating private citizens. This petition is a demand for Senators Richard Durbin and Tammy Duckworth to stand by Chicago's immigrant communities, and prevent ICE from implementing the Citizens Academy pilot program in Chicago. Sources: ICE Press Release: https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-offers-first-citizens-academy-public-learn-more-about-agencys-mission-chicago#wcm-survey-target-id Yahoo News Report: https://news.yahoo.com/ice-to-launch-citizens-academy-to-teach-civilians-about-targeted-arrests-172430342.html

Children are at higher risk for contracting the illness as well as every staff member in the school system leading to more and more illness and possible death with exposure of the virus and bringing home that exposure to each persons family. If one person is infected and they are in that classroom, now all the students in that classroom are exposed, as well as the teacher. If that student goes to another classroom or nurses office, now those students and those faculty members have been exposed and it will just keep spreading. Then our now exposed children come home to their family, that family member goes to work and now has exposed every person at their job. It is safer for our children to be home using a virtual classroom. They aren’t being exposed to any of the illness being home.

Blatant voter suppression efforts in states like Wisconsin and Georgia. Corporations pouring unlimited money into our elections through super PACs. Elected officials hiding behind weak disclosure laws. Our democracy is facing serious challenges -- and the American people need a president who is ready to face them head on. Joe Biden’s campaign teamed up with former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to assemble and collaborate with a collection of six “task forces.” These working groups are comprised of members of Congress and subject experts -- and they address crucial issues: health care, immigration, criminal justice reform, education, climate change, and the economy. Notably absent from this list? Democracy reform. Biden called democracy the “wellspring of our power.” He claims that if elected, he’ll fight to restore the Voting Rights Act, overturn Citizens United, and more. [1] But if democracy reform is really a priority for Biden and his campaign -- they must invest time, manpower, and resources into it. Just like he assembled strategists to develop the best environmental and economic policies, Biden must also consult a team of experts to form a plan to strengthen our democracy. After all -- we can’t make any progress on the issues we care about in a rigged democracy. If you agree that Biden must form a Democracy Reform Task Force, add your name now. 1) https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-erodes-america-s-foundation-fourth-july-i-pledge-rebuild-ncna1232887