Our country is in a state of disarray and disfunction. We have the wedge of racism again splitting our republic and the wounds from centuries of injustice and inequality for people of African. We desperately need a woman from the community to help bring closure on what continues to hinder this country from moving on as a united people of America. The racial divide when it comes to education, health care, police violence, justice system, employment, quality of life and so much more needs a true champion. Having a Black woman at the helm, who can make it her responsibility to right the wrongs of America and give people of colour a true advocate in the White house. Also fitting is the UN declared decade of people of Africa Decent. Having the first Black Vice President in the same decade as the first Black President will prove to the world that America truly is a beacon of hope and a land of opportunity. It is historical fact that the Democrats were the one who supported the institution of slavery and after all of that, the Black community has continued to support you and it is time to thank us for our unrelenting loyalty to the party. We also believe that the youth of this generation are waiting for something to back and believe in again. Having a Black woman on the ballot is the change that millions of potential voters have been waiting on. The energy will be there to work tirelessly towards claiming the greatest political victory of our lifetime not because of who wins but because who loses.

In the United States military we face about 14% of our brothers and sisters suffering from depression. Do we ever sit down and discuss why this number is so damn high? I mean honestly, we have decent pay, free health care, dental, AND we get free college? That's a deal, that most people would give anything to have. So why is it that we have that many military members who are suffering. I do not know about the other branches, but I am here to speak about the Marine Corps. In my time there, I watched myself as well as many others sit back and suffer in silence. I have watched Marines cry out for help and get called “weak” as soon as they walked out of the room. Sadly, these comments come from people who are supposed to lead you. These are people you are told to TRUST. When you are struggling what is the main thing that you would need? Support, love, and most important empathy. Every day there are people who are discriminated against due to having a mental illness in the Marine Corps. If you admit to needing help, then you are perceived as weak. We are known as the strongest fighting force and you are telling me you need "HeLp?". I can hear this clear as day from one of my leaders. From personal experience I have gone to my leadership, the people who are supposed to help me and guide me. I told them that I needed help, that I was depressed and they looked me in my eyes and said "Ok, and?". They knew my situation that I was in. My husband was deployed and I was pregnant working 40 hours a week at 35 weeks pregnant. Not too bad right? Wrong, on top of that I had to chase after my toddler all day, night and weekends. I was exhausted and just needed a break. I was at my last limits, even my therapist said “Honey, I think you are just tired..”. I needed them to see that from my perspective but they never tried. I was shocked at how someone could be so heartless, and how they could lack that much empathy. It was a bit mind boggling. What is worse than that? Oh yea, them treating the most juniors like this. One Marine that I interviewed had said that he heard her leaders laughing at the fact that her marriage was ending and she was having some anxiety. These people took these young Marines business and spread it amongst themselves like it was some kind of joke. I had my subordinates hating coming into work simply because they knew that they were never going to be supported. That is the saddest reality that anyone can face. We had to go to work every day and bury everything that we were feeling. This is not fair to anyone. THe military preaches about the wellness of their people, but that is all just a front. We need this petition to make the process for those who are mentally ill, a lot more smooth and a lot less stressful. We have limited resources for those who are struggling. We get a few counseling sessions and a few classes for a month or two and if that does not work, then you get the boot out. You are deemed unfit. Why not create longer treatment. I know that we are ready to fight at all times, but what is the point if we have Marines burying their feelings. I think that person will be a whole lot more level headed if they knew they were supported if they did cry out for help. If treatment could get just a little more patience and take a tiny more time then I think that there could be a major change. These Marines need more professional support groups. They need to have more resources than just a counselor and a chaplain. It is perfectly okay to not agree with what I have stated, because it is true that every unit is different and every command has different support levels. My issue is, why can’t ALL units and commands have that kind of love and support for their Marines. Why are some of us being the leaders that our Marines need, and why are others getting sweeped under the cracks? These are all issues that need to be addressed. With enough awareness of the subject follows with more talk. More pressure. Therefore, the issue will be revised and hopefully a better treatment will be input. Honestly, I would just be happy if the next time you hear a hateful comment regarding someone's mental health, you speak up. No matter who they are or what power they hold. Stand up for the people that really need it. Thank you for reading!

22 Veterans are committing suicide daily in USA. There is no VA Inpatient Mental Health Facility in Broward County and the very few outpatients facilities are working less hours or close. Veterans that want to go to a Veterans Inpatient Facility to treat for PTSD has to go to the city of Miami or to Riviera Beach.

Tanning salons provide important services, cosmetically, medically, and psychologically. The survival of the independent tanning profession is at risk. We are facing grave professional and financial hardship.

This is important to curve the amount of staff and inmates from contracting the virus. This is important to save lives. The inmates live in close quarters and congregate within close proximity therefore it would be almost impossible to socially distance while incarcerated.

The corrosive combination of coronavirus and capitalism is tearing through our communities to underscore the deepest divide between us, that of the haves and the have-nots. The most egregious assault lands where it always does, in the most marginalized communities among us: the poor, with multi-generational (often multiple) families living together; black and brown communities, who were discarded by society long before coronavirus; single mothers, who are forced into the impossible choice between rent and food for their children; immigrants, who are deprived of any safety nets and devoid of rights; the unhoused, for whom the phrase “stay at home” is cruel and absurd; the out-of-work breadwinners who can no longer provide for their families; domestic abuse victims who are pressed to “shelter” in place with their abusers; the newly unemployed masses now frequenting foodbanks; the imprisoned, detained, or institutionalized; and the anti-stay-at-home protesters, who assert “my job is essential too.” The middle and impoverished classes lack the privilege of escaping to the Hamptons, to their personal island, or to their well-stocked yachts. In many cases, they lack the “luxuries” of running water, the room to socially distance, paid leave when they or their family members are sick, and personal protective gear for their jobs, which – in an act of cruel irony – have now been heralded as “essential.” A contagion of greed infected our society long before the arrival of coronavirus. Lulled into complacency by sleek models, shiny gadgets, and digitized entertainment, we became prime targets for hungry overlords, who amassed their spoils off our labor and consumption. Nursing at the teat of consumption, we became “unpaid data laborers,” while gaping maws scrambled to exploit our data for profit. These titans of industry filled their own pockets on the backs of their workers – fellow humans who markets invisibilized and rendered disposable. This colossal corporate greed is what informs our “Democracy.” Those who usurp our power leave us begging for scraps or working in unsafe conditions, and these immoral deficits have never been more evident than with four rounds of coronavirus stimulus packages. Profiteers advance on the imperiled masses with glee, hoarding the lion’s share of the stimulus and pillaging the coffers designated for the poor. Our representatives listen to the lobbyists in DC, where they’re plied with sweet deals and lavish funds for special interests. The lobbyists work to promote the corporate agendas of those who have money and those who will do anything to protect that money. Whether Democrat or Republican, our representatives evidently and appallingly need greater incentives to look out for the common good and essential needs of the citizens. It is up to us to demand that they do. In a world cracked open by COVID-19, it’s time for the masses to assert their own power – they and we matter. We are not dispensable. We are not disposable. We are not invisible. It is time NOW for the PEOPLE to use the powers that they still have – the powers of their vote, their voice, their pen, their labor, and their consumption. VOTE, WRITE, STRIKE, BOYCOTT together while apart like your life – and the lives of all those you love – depends on it. Because it does. At the nexus of coronavirus and runaway capitalism, it is imperative that we untangle the essential rights of citizens from profit. This is a moral choice. We must IMAGINE a better world where all are deserving of conditions that will enable us to not only survive, but thrive. The time is now for Medicare for All, for a guaranteed basic income, for housing standards that ensure shelter for all, for green jobs with livable wages, with paid sick leave, healthcare that’s not tied to our paychecks, and where workers own the rights of production. While our citizens suffer a devastating mix of uncertainty, isolation, grief, and economic despair, the richest people on the planet are poised to determine our fate. We shelter on this globe together, and the time is ripe for demanding fundamental and lasting improvements to our social safety net. Our top-heavy society is fragile in ways that leave us increasingly vulnerable to coronavirus and future pandemics. We must build resiliency from the bottom up, collaborating with our communities, and honoring the diversity therein to protect us all. We’re riding a slow train of uncertainty amidst an amorphous viral threat. If quarantine teaches us anything, it brings home the truth that the health and wellbeing of ONE is intimately connected to the health and wellbeing of ALL.

Haven’t we learned anything from our current pandemic? Factory farms and processors need to be held accountable. The cruelty animals suffer and the horrifying conditions they live in must stop.

If we can spend over 75 trillion on war and murder,we can spend millions to help end poverty in America.It costs the tax payer more to put someone in prison then to provide housing.Housing is a basic need for life,along with air,food and water-other things we have in abundance.The predatory capitalist system that commodifies essential needs has left homes empty-while billions are on the street in the wealthiest nation on earth.

“All of members of community have suffered due the COVId-19. Students have been impacted in numerous ways: • Changing instructional distance learning • Loss of employment, • Loss of housing • Loss of social and academic support • Grieving and mourning COVID related losses and illness • Many students were not eligible for the stimulus check nor unemployment • Loss of access to campus provided internet • Loss of access to printing • Loss of graduation ceremony and graduation related activities Western Michigan University only provided $40 off the tuition for Summer I which would not even cover the cost of internet for a household in lieu of accessing WMU’s campus as par of our usual tuition. SIGN HERE to ask WMU and President Montgomery to provide more substantial financial relief to students! Universities should support their student and faculty community, not add hardship to hardship!

The future of our country and American Democracy where reason prevails and there are not supposed to be autocratic dictators (if it's not already too late) is at stake.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Colorado teachers have had to adjust to "at-home" virtual classrooms; the demands on them have been longer days (without additional pay), "home-office" expenses, increased utilities during these teaching sessions, and increased workloads to accommodate individual student/parent interactions. Now, Governor Polis is suggesting that these alternative teaching methods (and virtual classrooms) may continue beyond this 2020 spring school year and extend into the fall, impacting the 2020-2021 school year. Our educators cannot physically, emotionally, and psychologically carry this entire burden. Governor Polis needs to publicly support this proposal and sign it as part his upcoming budget approval process.

The University of Colorado (“CU”) wants to build a massive new campus on land that is in and near the South Boulder Creek Floodplain. The new campus could include housing for several thousand students, staff, and faculty; 8 academic buildings; permanent sports facilities; and parking lots. Development at CU South will destroy habitat for endangered species and many other plants and animals that live there now. It would eliminate a hugely popular recreation spot, and put people in harm’s way in the event of another catastrophic flood. CU cannot build unless and until the City annexes the land. We believe that a land swap would be much better than building in the floodplain and ask Council to take the following actions: 1. Prior to decisions about annexation, Council should expedite a planning process and urban services study to evaluate city-owned land in North Boulder suitable for development that could be exchanged for the “CU South” land. The urban services study is the first step towards a land exchange. 2. The Planning Reserve land at Jay Road and 28th St. is the best option and has already been identified as "potentially suitable for new urban development.” 3. Commit to preserving and restoring the wetlands and grasslands in the South Boulder Creek Floodplain for flood mitigation, environmental values, and recreation. CU SHOULD DEVELOP ELSEWHERE 1. Since the 1970s, the popular recreation area now known as “CU South,” has been targeted for official designation as Open Space. The land is bordered by Open Space and a State Natural Area, and is considered the missing piece in Boulder’s Open Space greenway. It's also a key part of the South Boulder Creek Floodplain. 2. CU could build on higher, drier land appropriate for development, not a floodplain containing endangered species as well as rare and irreplaceable habitat. 3. CU's demands for annexation and development at "CU South" would cost the City tens of millions of dollars initially and create long-term financial risks and liabilities for the City. NOW IS THE TIME FOR A LAND EXCHANGE 1. The University of Colorado has stated its willingness to consider a land swap for the Boulder Planning Reserve land. 2. A land exchange would protect wetlands and open space in and adjacent to the South Boulder Creek Floodplain, be consistent with intelligent land use planning and science, and meet CU's need for housing plus 30 acres of playing fields. These are substantial advantages to a “CU North” campus. City Council should ACT NOW on this opportunity for a win-win solution.