Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has been named Ambassador to Japan, but he hasn't yet been confirmed for the position. Emanuel had an absolutely disastrous record as mayor between 2011 and 2019. His decisions and policies had a disproportionate and racist impact on Black communities, and his agenda aided corporations and the wealthy at the expense of working Chicagoans. To aid his re-election campaign in 2015, he suppressed video footage of the 2014 murder of a 17-year-old Black child, Laquan McDonald, by Chicago police. He made history by closing 50 public schools across Chicago, primarily in the majority-Black South Side and West Side communities of the city—the most school closures at one time in any school districts in the nation. During his first year in office, his administration shut down half of the public mental health clinics across Chicago. Soon after taking office, he eliminated the city’s Department of Environment, and as a result, environmental regulation dropped considerably. Communities of color throughout Chicago have borne the brunt of this decision, and thousands of people (primarily Black and Latinx families) have been exposed to chemical hazards and irritants as a result. And while his administration was consistently slashing public services and utilities, the city funded the construction of a brand-new, $95-million police academy on Chicago’s West Side. As mayor of Chicago, in addition to closing 50 schools, Emanuel repeatedly attacked public unions by supporting legislation that would make it harder for teachers to strike, laid off hundreds of school staff, and threatened to lay off hundreds of city employees in order to privatize some city services. Emanuel served big business and corporate interests throughout his time as mayor, and his decisions disproportionately harmed working families and communities of color. There's no reason why he should be rewarded with a public office, especially one in which he is representing the United States on a global stage. We are asking that President Biden withdraws Emanuel's nomination—and we're also calling on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to vote to oppose it.

The Trump Administration and members of the House and Republican Senators have refused to speak truth to power and have enabled POTUS are enabling a culture of violence. This includes William Barr. -Steve Bannon Former top Trump aide - Steve Bannon’s podcast was permanently suspended by Twitter and had an episode yanked from YouTube when he " implied that FBI Director Christopher Wray and government infectious-diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci should be beheaded and have their heads put on pikes outside the White House."( Mangan, CNBC. ) - Bannon lost his Twitter and YouTube accounts as well as his lawyer. Why isn't he being prosecuted? - Gabriel Sterling from the Georgia , Secretary of State Elections office called out Potus, the Republican Senators in Washington ( as well as those running for their seats in Georgia in January for egging on the party's base. - Sterling said , " Someone's going to get Killed", the Secretary of State is getting death threats and his wife is receiving sexually explicit threats. A young technician involved in transferring some files was threatened with a call to be "hanged for treason"! -This is a culture that has been promoted by the Trump Administration and his enablers. -POTUS may "speak in code", but "Stand back and Stand by" is proof that Trump supports violence for his own political purposes. -The Attorney General, William Barr , has done nothing to help this situation as an enabler to the President. He came out on December 1 and said there was no fraud in the election uncovered that would have changed the outcome of the election. Big deal. - Action needs to be taken right now. DiGenova and Bannon should not be protected for these statements under the First Amendment. They are threats about individuals who have spoken truth to power during their official duties to our federal government. - If Barr is not willing to do this then perhaps he needs to be disbarred as well. - This is the United States of America, not an episode of "the Godfather".

Because Rahm Emanuel has a history of being hostile to policies that help The People!

If we want real Climate.and Environmental mitigation now. If we want legal authority for Social and Civil Rights now. If we want a Health Care System that is accessible to everyone. If we want to go Beyond War and put an end to the Corporate Industrial Arms manufacturing enterprise paid with our tax dollars. If we want Community Policing and not a criminalized national defense holding our most vulnerable citizens accountable while allowing white collar crime to go minimally punished. If we want real Criminal Justice Reform. Plus many more reasons we are agitating for real change.

For reasons of national security - and because voters expect it to start - the transition from the Trump administration to the new Biden administration should start, NOW!

Fossil fuel companies have they proven, with years of disinformation campaigns and efforts to slow climate action, that they will always stand in the way of true action on climate.

This is very important because our loved ones are possibly going to get sick and not make it home to their families, wife’s and children by the prison spreading the virus and treating them as if they are not human.

This is important to all Mount Horeb community members regardless of whether they have children in the district or not. Runaway COVID-19 rates in Wisconsin mean everyone needs to do everything they can to control the spread of this disease. We need to stop looking for loopholes and exemptions and do everything we can to prevent more COVID-19 cases and more COVID-19 deaths. Our teachers are under more scrutiny than ever before, and they are working incredibly hard to meet the demands coming at them from every direction. Dr. Salerno's Return to Work plan, unanimously approved by the board, includes the requirement for every teacher without ADA accommodations to work 20 hours in their empty classrooms. This requirement has been called "petty," "outdated," and "paternalistic," and with the county and state rates we're now seeing, we need to add "dangerous." To protect its teachers and the wider community, MHASD must remove this requirement immediately. Doing so will require board approval, and in the meantime, building principals should be telling staff they will not be enforcing the on-site work hours for 100% virtual teachers.

Due to the pandemic our university has chosen to make most of our classes virtual. Although this was a noble decision made for the greater good, it has impacted many students negatively. Many feel as though the workload has actually increased with online classes. There is no direct blame for this as we are all still trying to adjust. To many of us, it appears there is not much of a difference from the abrupt change in Spring 2020. Online classes are hard enough, so why should we still have the same grading system as we did with in person classes? Struggles such as having class at home and trying to find a quiet environment, fighting mental struggles as we are away from social life, and the pressure of achieving grades that will impact our future plans is simply unfair if the grading scale is not adjusted. We should be given the option to pass/fail our classes as we all face different hardships during these difficult times.

We are a team of Gandhian activists in San Jose, CA. We have been teaching principled nonviolence, and training peace ambassadors, and have helped secure numerous marches and assemblies in our city since 2016. Because we worry about the effect on our democracy of some elected officials' recent accusations that the election was illegitimate, on grounds for which we have not heard sufficient evidence, we have pledged to do what we can to make sure that all ballots, especially mail-in, are counted. So we had three meetings with various Santa Clara County supervisors, and with our city police chief and county sheriff. Our elections and our vote-counting here have been very orderly and we trust that the reported outcomes reflect all the votes cast. We pray that your run-off elections may be as orderly and as peaceful and that all of Georgia's legitimate votes will be counted. And we wish you and your wife the best in dealing with the coronavirus! We pray that she will recover quickly.

Virtual learning is too difficult for kids to stay on track and for their caregivers to help complete.

This is important because people are dying from the out of control spreading of Covid-19 and there is no plan to recover set in place.