The Judicial system has spoken and found George Zimmerman not guilty. This case was not about race nor was it about civil rights.

Our purchasing power is more powerful than we know. What if we signed a petition saying that we would not travel to Florida for any reason, business or pleasure, until the State Legislature repeals Stand Your Ground? What if we made an effort to NOT buy any products exported from Florida? Perhaps other states with Stand Your Ground laws would notice that economic damage and repeal their laws. We must use the power we have - isolate Florida and its barbarian verdict and laws.

The LA Times, NYTimes, NPR and other media report that 158 women have undergone sterilization in California prisons without the required approval of the state medical committee between 2005 and 2010. The sterilizations were not medically necessary and the victims report that they were coerced into the procedure. We demand answers -- the idea of forced sterilizations bring up the worst of eugenics and of 1939 Germany, not 2013 California. Who was responsible for these sterilizations? Why were they performed when not medically necessary? Why was one of the women's ovaries removed when she specifically told her doctor she intended to have children in the future? Involuntarily removing a woman’s ovaries or pressuring her into a sterilization while incarcerated is absolutely unacceptable. Demand Gov. Brown immediately launch an investigation to determine who is responsible and to ensure this never happens again.

Genetically Modified Organisms in our foods have not been proven safe for human consumption and have actually been found to be toxic and even fatal for lab animals they have been tested on. Please help me stand up for our right to not be used as "lab rats" for big money companies like Monsanto. Tell Ohio elected officials we want to know if it's a GMO!

Medical experts say "ex-gay therapy" costs lives, contributing to already epidemic levels of depression and suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. So why is a Roman Catholic Cardinal offering his blessing to a conference that trains therapists and priests in ex-gay therapy? Even as other ex-gay ministries apologize and close their doors, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) continues to promote the view that homosexuality is a disorder and can be "cured." Cardinal Francis George, the Archbishop of Chicago, is scheduled to celebrate Mass at the "Courage Conference" immediately after two therapists affiliated with NARTH, Dr. Bill Consiglio and Dr. Timothy Lock, offer training seminars for clergy and mental health care providers. Regardless of the Roman Catholic Church's official teachings on sexual morality, surely Cardinal George doesn't want to lend his endorsement to bogus and harmful medical techniques.

My Petition is for judges not to be able to send a person to jail for falling behind on child support due to losing a job or layoff. In addition, parent paying support should get credit if they can prove it came out of their check regardless of what child support is doing with the money. In my particular case, Chrysler closed the plant and I was left jobless. I then incurred 12, 800 dollars of back pay child support being that I was ordered to pay $1767.00 per month and unemployment was not enough for me to make a full payment. I am now facing incarceration because I do not have the ability to pay a substantial lump sum of money toward my arrears, but I am paying current with some going toward arrears monthly.

Recently, House Republicans held a special meeting on immigration. It could have been a disaster. But instead of Rep. Steve King (R-IA) winning the day with his anti-immigrant message, key Republicans stood up to say they can’t afford not to get this done. Pundits in Washington have been trying to declare immigration reform dead, but our hard work is proving them wrong….again. Both Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), two of the three top GOP leaders in the House, acknowledged that they "need to move something" on immigration reform. While it's in no way a commitment to a path to citizenship, it’s an important first step. But there’s a third leader in the House we didn't hear from -- Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). His support is critical because he’s in charge of helping Speaker Boehner gather support in the House. We need to tell Rep. McCarthy to be a leader and speak up in support of the path to citizenship. He needs to stand with Latino and immigrant voters, not extremists like Steve King. The path to citizenship already has majority support in the House -- they just need a chance to vote on it. And with more openness from Speaker Boehner and Rep. Cantor, we’ll keep fighting till we get a vote. But an extreme minority in the House, led by Steve King, could disrupt all of that. His anti-immigrant vitriol could derail all the positive gains we've made so far, all because leaders in the House aren't leading. We need Rep. McCarthy to speak up now and gather support in his party. As a Congressman from California, McCarthy knows Latinos have the power to influence -- in fact, they ousted Republicans statewide after anti-immigrant legislation in the 1990s. Rep. McCarthy’s own district is over 30% Latino. Will Rep. McCarthy learn from history, or let Steve King repeat it?

In the Bloomberg era, the NYPD has stopped New Yorkers over five million times in its controversial stop-and-frisk program. Nearly 90% of those stopped are Black or Latino/a and the vast majority (nearly 90%) have done nothing wrong. New Yorkers have had enough of discriminatory policing – and our elected leaders in the City Council have gotten the message and taken action. Last month, the City Council passed the Community Safety Act (Intro 1079 and 1080), two new landmark laws that will create independent oversight for the NYPD, and protect New Yorkers from discriminatory police profiling based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, immigration status, disability, and housing status. Mayor Bloomberg vetoed the legislation on July 23rd, but that does not seem to be enough for him. In his unique position as New York’s wealthiest citizen (in addition to being mayor), he and his surrogates have threatened to use his wealth to attack City Council Members who vote to override his veto. While it is legal because of the wrong-headed Citizens United Supreme Court decision, this is a gross distortion of government. If a sitting mayor with effectively unlimited wealth can flood a small City Council race with attack ads and mailers solely for the purpose of fighting a law he disagrees with but the legislature has passed, the “checks and balances” and separation of powers are entirely distorted. We are ready for a new era for the NYPD, to repair police-community relations and to embrace policing strategies that ensure everyone feels safe walking the streets. We cannot allow one wealthy mayor to stand in the way of progress.

Why is Governor Corbett prioritizing playing politics with our kids Under Governor Corbett, Pennsylvania's children have been hit by $1 billion in cuts to our schools and the loss of 20,000 laid-off educators and school staff. At the same time the Governor is pushing through corporate tax breaks that perpetuate the underfunding of education. This Governor’s radical agenda of mass school closings, mass firings, mass privatization and mass budget cuts is destroying our public schools, destabilizing communities, and hurting our children. For the children of Pennsylvania Governor Corbett's agenda means: • losing art, music, physical education, libraries and the rich learning environment our kids need • gutting sports and extracurricular activities • fewer social workers, school nurses, counselors, paraprofessionals and teachers and more crowded classrooms with less one-on-one time with kids • cancelled after-school programs that keep kids safe and engaged • losing services that address the social, emotional and health needs of our children • fewer quality neighborhood schools that anchor our communities This petition has been started by two young women: Deionni Martinez, a 9th grader, from Philadelphia and Jamaka Scott, a recent high school graduate, from Pittsburgh. At Kensington School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) in Philadelphia, Deionni is worried about how these cuts will impact her dreams of a future in the performing arts. Deionni practices her clarinet 90 minutes a day and immerses herself in the arts programs at her school. But what will happen when her teachers and the arts programs she loves get cut? "Students talk about the cuts all the time...and everybody is saying the same things. That they stay in school because the arts gives them something to look forward to. It is a reason to stay in school, to get through math class, because here we get to do something that makes it worthwhile. But if they cut out the programs that get us through the day, many students will just leave...they'll be gone." Jamaka just graduated from Pittsburgh Creative And Performing Arts School and knows how destabilizing these budget cuts are to students. In recent years, cuts to the music and the arts program at her school eliminated a mentor and music coach she had practiced with since 5th grade. “These cuts are bad for students because they take away the people we felt most comfortable with. It’s hard for students to do their best when your teacher changes all the time. We need more funding for our schools. Students shouldn’t be denied a good education because politicians cannot stand up for more funding.” We can't afford to turn our backs on Deionni, Jamaka or any of Pennsylvania's children. It's time for Governor Corbett and the state to prioritize children over prisons and corporate tax breaks.

Norfolk police officers are paid by and accountable to the taxpayers of Norfolk. So, when they fail in their duty to protect and serve as in the alleged gross misconduct related to a woman's reported rape by Loredo in the 19th Bay St area in April 2012, we have a right to know, especially since the serial rapist she identified went on to sexually assault two more women and made a thwarted attempt in another one. A female that you or other residents of this city care about could have been a victim due to the careless and unprofessional conduct of the officers involved.

All Florida citizens should take note of those trying to boycott our state in an attempt to cause economic strife and struggle for its business owners and residents. We can fight back by boycotting those in power, and those with celebrity who boycott us by refusing to spend our money on them in any way.

In America we believe that everyone is equal, period. But that's not how our current immigration system works. Under our current immigration laws, immigrants currently living in the US without papers have no way to fix their immigration status and pursue the rights obtained through citizenship. These immigrants -- many of whom are American in every way but on paper -- are doomed to a life in shadows. They are prevented from doing things many US citizens take for granted, like driving, working, applying for credit cards, and even from visiting sick family members overseas. The Senate just passed an immigration bill that will would fix this tragedy by creating a pathway to citizenship for these 11 million Americans without papers. Through this pathway, students, workers, family members, and even some immigrants with deportation orders under the previous broken system would finally be allowed to pursue their American dream and eventual citizenship. Advocates have been fighting for these reforms for years, and we have never seen a better chance for making these dreams a reality. But some anti-immigrant members of Congress -- lead by legislators like Rep. Steve King -- are trying to kill reform by destroying the path to citizenship and promoting inhumane policies that would keep these 11 million people in the shadows so they "self-deport." Our movement has reached a tipping point and we need your help to finish the job. We need you to tell Rep. Joe Heck to support immigration reform with the pathway to citizenship, now more than ever. It's time for Congress to pass this bill. Please tell your representative to vote YES on immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million Americans without papers.