As Sen. Elizabeth Warren pointed out, bankruptcy is almost always a last resort and not the refuge of deadbeats. Reforming our bankruptcy code to include all student loans is not only the simplest and fairest solution, it is something that will solve the problems of debt-burdened citizens and free up economic growth that is now held back by obscene student debt.

Senator Rubio and his allies in the National Security Council are manipulating President Trump toward military intervention in Venezuela, so far without substantial resistance from Congress. Regardless of opinions about the effectiveness or legitimacy of the Maduro government, direct or indirect military intervention to replace it with a US client regime is an effort to reassert the Monroe Doctrine and will create a far worse situation for Venezuelans and for Americans. Political discussion between all Venezuelan political groups with the assistance of neutral international negotiators such as Mexico and the Contact Group should find ways to peacefully resolve internal conflicts. Important goals of negotiations are likely to include new elections for the President, National Assembly and Governors as well as the end of economic sanctions and domestic policies that bring hardship to the lives of most Venezuelans. Assembly Leader Guaido and the US government are orchestrating delivery of highly politicized aid on February 23 that is intended as a deliberate provocation, as reported in the New York Times: "Gaby Arellano, an opposition lawmaker in charge of the shipment in Colombia, said one of the goals was to force the military, which has remained loyal to the government, to choose between Mr. Maduro and feeding the Venezuelan people. 'Popular pressure to break the military, this is what we’re working toward,' she said.... Omar Lares, a former opposition mayor in exile in Cucuta, said organizers want people to surround an aid truck on the Colombian side and accompany it to the bridge. A crowd of thousands would be gathered on the other side to push through a security cordon, move the containers blocking the bridge, and accompany the aid into Venezuela. ... using a food shipment to challenge Mr. Maduro has concerned the same nongovernmental groups that would normally assist in such an effort. Caritas, the charitable arm of the Catholic Church, and the International Committee of the Red Cross have declined to participate, saying they must remain politically neutral. " https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/world/americas/aid-to-venezuela.html

After 15 years of honorable service in the Navy and seven combat deployments, Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon M. Kent was seeking to commission in pursuit of a Ph.D. in military psychology. SCPO Kent was denied entry into Officer Development School because she was deemed medically unfit under medical standards for accession (DOD Instruction 6130.03) due to a brief bout with thyroid cancer two years prior. SCPO Kent sought a medical waiver from the Navy under MANMED Chap. 15. The Navy denied it. However, under medical standards for retention, the Navy simultaneously deemed SCPO Kent medically fit to deploy to Manbij, Syria where a suicide bomber killed her on January 16, 2019. This is an indefensible outcome as a result of a discriminatory DOD policy. In the wake of SCPO Kent's death, the Navy changed its waiver policy on February 5, 2019. However, if a service member is deemed medically fit to deploy to a war zone, they should not need a waiver for a commission in the officer corps. Thus, the DOD needs to change its medical standards for commissioning to obviate the need for a waiver altogether.

Todos Santos Plaza in Concord, CA has a rich history as a gathering place, event space, and city center. It isn't just about Concord though - as a world citizen I am tired of seeing unique areas of cities being swallowed up by corporations pushing out small and/or unique retailers that we want, homogenizing our shopping experiences to the extent that regardless of where you go - you get to have Chipotle, The Habit, and some wing chain. My 18-year-old son has grown up with the Friday night tradition of walking to Todos Santos Plaza to visit friends at EJ Phair, walk over to Half Price to browse/shop for books/records/whatever - then head on home after picking up a burrito from Taqueria Los Dos Gallos. Why would we want to replace Half Price with a 5th bank location? Or another chain restaurant? Concord is proud of its heritage - but it is being ruined and replaced so that it is no longer unique or appealing at all. My son has always dreamed of taking over our house to remain in the area - but now even he is onboard with turning our home into a rental because the area is no longer charming - it's homogenized and completely uninspiring.

Let Ce Ce Moore do DNA testing to get the killer or killers of Angie Housman. DNA testing has come such a long way. Most police have been waiting for this type of DNA advancement their whole careers. Now here we are where this type of DNA testing has helped to even get the Golden State Killer. Ce Ce Moore has offered her services to the Police for FREE! Yet her help is being denied. Please sign this petition so that police are forced to use Ce Ce Moore to do the Familial DNA testing in hopes it will get this little girl's killer or killers. Twenty-five years is too long. Imagine waiting 25 years not knowing who murdered and raped and tortured your child. Angie's mothered died waiting and never knew who murdered her daughter. It is time to stop waiting ! 25 years is long enough. It is time to help bring Justice for Angie Housman. Angie Housman was a 9-year-old girl who loved life. She wanted to grow up to be a nurse. She was very outgoing and loved others. Angie vanished into thin air getting off at her bus stop on November 18th of 1993. Angie would be kept somewhere for 9 days being tortured, raped, and given hardly any food or water. Her final fate was being left alive tied and her whole head duct taped with only her nose exposed. The temperatures were freezing and Angie died alone scared to death in the woods. Her wrists had been slit and a cut on her thigh was present. The final cause of death was hypothermia. It has been 25 years and her killer or killers have not been caught. The police have DNA and a fingerprint, yet there have been no arrests. The killer or killers have remained to walk free. It is Beyond TIME for Angie to get the justice she so deserves and to let the family and the public know who killed this precious girl, whether the killer or killers are dead or alive. Please sign this petition today.

To have voices heard for the current individuals that are going through foreclosure/loan modifications/loan restructuring. Also investigate past foreclosures where individuals lost their homes. Wells Fargo, Chase and Bank of America needs to be confronted and held accountable for their false promises, their destruction of individuals credit, removal of their clients from their homes and their continued lying about help. Their are individuals that are going on years and years of fighting them.

It kills me to see turtles choking on straws, dolphins and whales full of plastic bags. It is just so wrong to disregard other lives for our so-called convenience. The EU has banned single use plastics. We need to do the same.

I believe that Indigenous problems are American problems, and all of us as Americans should be concerned with what is happening to the original people of this land. Senator Tester's legislation would give tribes funds for victims of violent crime to get access to medical, psychological, and emotional resources, and receive counseling on the justice system.

Animal abuse MUST stop. My heart is with the animals; however, most serial killers start with animals. If there were harsher punishments for animal abuse, we would not only be saving these innocent animals, we would probably be saving human lives.

Equal Vote America Corp. (EVA) has filed a lawsuit against Congress at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (CASE # 1:19-cv-311) on the ground that the existing apportionment laws since 1929 are unconstitutional. Many Fellow Americans from 18 states have joined as co-plaintiffs to this lawsuit. If you want to be part of this historic action, please click this link to sign up: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1z0MhsNgf2vHoqANRJ-rhGUMCwl0pcmaQ7teGNSMhc5M • Wyoming’s pop. of 563,626 gets 1 house seat => 1 HS per 563,626 persons, fully represented; • Florida’s pop. of 18,801,310 gets 27 house seats => 1 HS per 696,345 persons, 19% of Floridians taxed without representation; • Texas’s pop. of 25,145,561 gets 36 house seats => 1 HS per 698,488 persons, 19% of Texans taxed without representation; • California’s pop. of 37,253,956 gets 53 house seats => 1 HS per 702,905 persons, 20% of Californians taxed without representation; • New York’s pop. of 19,378,102 gets 27 house seats => 1 HS per 717,707 persons, 21% of New Yorkers taxed without representation; • Montana’s pop. of 989,415 gets 1 house seat, the worst among all states, 43% of Montanans taxed without representation In fact, Residents of 39 states (over 95% of national population including our state) have been under-represented by at least 110 house seats in total. For more details, visit us at: http://equalvoteamerica.org/equalrepresentation/ Almost 80% of poll-takers agree Congress must pass a new reapportionment law to ensure Equal Representation in the House for all Americans: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/5/12/1857202/-Lawsuit-For-Equal-Representation-Initial-Conference-Held-at-the-USDC-SDNY-on-04-26-2019

The Constitution ensures checks and balances between different branches of government, these guard against abuses of power. My kids learned that as early as first grade, and as an elected official in my hometown I took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. Emergencies such as wildfires, floods, and hurricanes have left millions of Americans homeless and destitute, resources and attention need to be focused on these emergencies and on the protections afforded everyone under our Constitution and Democracy.

Electric utilities and their allies in Frankfort are trying to jam SB 100 through the legislature before the public has a chance to act. Thankfully, lawmakers in the House worked hard to improve the horrible bill which flew through the Senate, and now we need the Senate to concur with the greatly improved House version. The utilities and their allies are desperate to keep the public in the dark in order to steal the sun, so please take action today! This bill started as an effort to allow the electric utilities to own the sun, and limit individual rate-payers' ability to get a fair, dependable deal for the energy they produce on their own roofs. Kentucky's solar industry is modest, but growing. Frankfort should be doing more to encourage Kentucky's clean energy future, and the original SB 100 introduced and passed in the Senate takes the commonwealth backwards. Tell your Senator to concur with the House-passed SB 100 and stop the solar power grab! For more information, please visit the Kentucky Conservation Committee website: http://kyconservation.org.