Daryl Metcalfe is an outrageous PA legislator whose over-the-top behavior finally forced the House GOP leadership to remove him as chair of the powerful State Government Committee. So what did they do with him? They made him chair of the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. This petition is a companion to the letter we are submitting to Speaker Turzai calling on him to remove Metcalfe from his seat as Chair and from any seat on the committee. Here is the letter in full: Speaker Turzai, We, the undersigned, call on you to remove Representative Daryl Metcalfe from his seat as chair of the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and from any seat on that committee. We have little time left to address the climate crisis. Representative Metcalfe’s record of unabashed climate denial, obstructionism, and unprofessional behavior makes him a wholly inappropriate person to chair or even serve on the committee that should be leading the efforts in the House to address the most important issue of our time. Representative Metcalfe’s views on climate change have been well documented over the past decade. Here is his reaction in 2009 to Operation Free. "As a veteran, I believe that any veteran lending their name, to promote the leftist propaganda of global warming and climate change, in an effort to control more of the wealth created in our economy, through cap and tax type policies, all in the name of national security, is a traitor to the oath he or she took to defend the Constitution of our great nation!" Mr. Metcalfe's email reads. "Remember Benedict Arnold before giving credibility to a veteran who uses their service as a means to promote a leftist agenda. Drill Baby Drill!!!" (Post-Gazette, October 20, 2009) In February of this year, soon after you made him chair of the committee, he said the following and posted it on his Facebook page, “Just to be on record, I enjoy my vegetables, and plants need CO2, so I want to make sure we have plenty of CO2 out there so we have green grass and green vegetables growing... We need CO2, we can’t eliminate all CO2. We are going to have an interesting debate for those that want to reduce something that is actually needed by our environment. And claiming that they are improving the environment.” (Representative Metcalfe’s Facebook page, February 2019) In fact, Metcalfe has used his Facebook page and the Metcalfe Minute videos he posts there to expound on his views of climate change more than once,” In reality, the very real threat to responsible environmental stewardship and effective energy management comes from radical Progressives who are generating fake fear (a.k.a. "man-made" climate change) to take more money from the people who actually work for it!” (Representative Metcalfe’s Facebook page, September 2019) Here’s a post from August, “Climate change? Of course it does! Although, it is not and does not threaten the existence of life as we know it! The leftist, big government, we know better than you, nanny state, tyrant types are spreading their lies to instill fear amongst the masses in hopes of mobilizing some of them in their effort to rob us of our wealth and liberty! They would tax the oxygen we breathe if they thought they could get away with it, but have settled on attempting to tax CO2. Let’s stand together and fight for TRUTH to dispel the error!” (Representative Metcalfe’s Facebook page, August 2019) His rhetoric and behavior were no different in the three-hour hearing he held on October 28th wherein he shared similarly ignorant views, shushed and threatened to remove an invited University of Pennsylvania climate scientist who countered one of the climate deniers also invited to testify, interrupted Democratic committee members when they tried to ask questions, and reached over and shut off Representative Greg Vitali’s microphone when he disagreed with something he was saying. It is your responsibility to make sure the representatives you assign to chair and sit on committees are up to the task. Clearly, Representative Metcalfe is not. We call on you to use your authority as the leader of the House GOP to remove Representative Metcalfe from the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee in consequence of his false and dangerous beliefs and inappropriate actions and replace him with someone who acknowledges the crisis we face and is prepared to act accordingly.

Workers at Tufts Medical Center Boston are saying enough to empty promises and together they are joining the UFCW Local 1445 union. No workers should be intimidated for choosing a better life for their families and communities. Join us in demanding Tufts management to respect their workers rights to join the union.

Raising awareness of the needs of the Community in Hope's of rebuilding/restoring a Community built on Love and Safety.

A new expose of over 900 emails sent by Stephen Miller to Breitbart news confirm what we’ve known for years: he’s a white nationalist. The Southern Poverty Law Center reported on hundreds of emails Miller sent to Breitbart (provided by a former Breitbart employee), emails that tout eugenics, include links to whit nationalist sites, and sent them tips on anti-immigrant and anti-Black stories to run. A white nationalist has no place dictating immigration policy in the White House.

HB3888 will protect IL communities from cancer-causing ethylene oxide gas that is emitted in the air our children breathe.

A criminal should not be allowed to solicit money to pay for his illegal act.

Imagine having a job interview, not with a human being, but an AI algorithm, that will decide your "employability" based on hundreds of data points about your micro-facial expressions and tiny inflections of your voice. Are you sweating yet? A tech company, HireVue, is already making this a terrifying reality for job seekers. But their AI algorithm process is not just super-secret, it's rife with the potential for employment discrimination. People with accents, speech impediments, non-native English speakers, and even just people who speak in a different rhythm or cadence could be rejected for job opportunities even when they meet other job qualifications. Instead of waiting for Congress to "catch up" with tech companies, we need to act now and demand they nip unfair algorithms like this in the bud.

I have had a beautiful vision of the irony and hilarity of this becoming a reality that should be shared with the world.

The state of Massachusetts is profiting from Saudi Arabia's brutal war in Yemen. How? The Massachusetts pension fund invests in companies that sell weapons to Saudi Arabia. Four of the biggest companies selling arms to the Saudi dictatorship are Raytheon, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Lockheed Martin. And Saudi Arabia has used these weapons to kill thousands of civilians in Yemen. Right now, the Massachusetts state legislature is considering a bill that would divest the state of Massachusetts pension fund from arms companies that sell weapons to Saudi Arabia. That legislation is Massachusetts House Bill 2349, introduced by MA State Rep. Denise Provost. The bill already has 20 sponsors. There are many ways to grow the Massachusetts state pension fund. We don't need to profit off of industries of death and destruction in order to take care of retired state employees who have devoted their careers to public service. FULL TEXT OF BILL H.2349: "Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, within 60 days of the effective date of this act, the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board established in section 23 of chapter 32 of the General Laws shall divest from the Pension Reserves Investment Trust Fund all stocks, securities and other obligations of any company selling weapons to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, unless the company announces, within 30 days of the effective date of this act that it will not renew or enter into contracts for weapon sales to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." SOURCE: "Bill H.2349, An Act relative to pension divestment from companies selling weapons to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," Viewed Nov. 11, 2019, https://malegislature.gov/Bills/191/H2349

Many people in my neighborhood have dogs and would love a dog park closer. There is so much room at Olathe Lake.

No child should get humiliated for not being able to pay for school lunch. Sometimes that's the only meal a child receives and they depend or rely on that to cure their hunger. My son was told to throw his food away, just because it wasn't open. Now, I don't understand why anyone would do that to a child. Now, my kids don't go hungry; they are very well fed. It's just not right that there are children out there starving and that one school meal could just be what gets them through the day.

When impeachment proceedings against President Nixon began, the public wasn’t convinced. By the time he left office, Americans of all parties were overwhelmingly in support of his removal. What changed? A major factor was PBS’s decision to broadcast the Watergate hearings in full — 247 hours in total. Millions of public TV viewers tuned in as the story of the Watergate break-in, the cover-up, payoffs, and dirty tricks unfolded before their eyes. They heard testimony from presidential advisors, the attorney general, former spies, and bagmen. Public accountability can make all the difference. That’s why, as Congress begins public hearings into Trump’s impeachment this Wednesday, PBS must broadcast them in full once again. The American people deserve to hear and see the full case against Donald Trump firsthand because they have a right to participate in the impeachment process and make an informed decision for themselves. PBS’s job is more important than ever today — because we’re in a political climate marked by disinformation and distractions that would be unheard of in the 1970s. The ONLY way to cut through all that is with the absolute, unvarnished truth. We need to show the American people exactly what happened, instead of filtering it through cable news spin or the President’s tweets. A full, public reckoning of the President’s conduct is an absolutely vital part of the impeachment process. The American people deserve to hear and judge the full case for themselves. Plus, Mitch McConnell’s Senate lockdown is powerless to interfere with the House’s hearings. If you agree, then I hope you’ll stand with me by adding your name and calling on PBS to live up to its solemn duty to the public.