I pray that there will never be another school shooting like the one we lived through in Parkland, Fla. Even just earlier this year, it never occurred to me that we’d be in a situation where we might have a secretary of education consider diverting resources that are used to support poor kids in order to flood schools with more guns. However, that’s exactly what we’re up against right now, since the news broke that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is considering a plan that would allow states to use federal funds to purchase guns for teachers. As the New York Times reported, such a move would reverse a long-standing position taken by the federal government that it should not pay to outfit schools with weapons. And it would also undermine efforts by Congress to restrict the use of federal funding for guns. As recently as March, Congress passed a school safety bill that allocated $50 million a year to local school districts but expressly prohibited the use of the money for firearms. The $1 billion student support program, part of the Every Student Succeeds Act, is intended for academic and enrichment opportunities in the country’s poorest schools, and it calls for school districts to use the money toward meeting three goals: providing a well-rounded education, improving school conditions for learning, and improving the use of technology for digital literacy. Instead of after-school programs or counselors, which are critical for creating safe and welcoming schools and addressing the mental health needs of kids, DeVos wants to turn schools into armed fortresses and make kids and educators less safe. Educators, students and parents have made clear that they don’t want more guns in schools; teachers want to teach and students want to learn. Rather than disregard the demands and needs of the people who know what our schools require, the Department of Education should use Title IV funding to: ● Provide a well-rounded education (examples include expanding AP courses and access to such courses, arts education, civics education, more college and career counseling, environmental education, expanding foreign language options, STEM, and social-emotional learning); ● Ensure safe and healthy students (including asthma management, bullying prevention, drug and violence prevention, indoor air quality, safe schools, mental health, and suicide prevention); and ● Provide effective use of technology. Arming teachers is a bad idea. We know that states with the strongest gun laws see less gun violence. And we know that educators, students and parents want a safe, welcoming place for students to learn, with adequate resources to make this a reality. Stand with the education community now. Send a message to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos that this plan is reckless, dangerous, and will have long-lasting effects on our students and our schools.

Everyone has been affected by this, even people who voted for #45, some of whom are still in denial. I’m starting this petition because our country, our environment, our children’s futures, our democracy, our freedom from the tyranny of ambitious dictators, and the the delicate balance of world peace hang in the balance. Please sign my petition and help support the bipartisan cause of removing a dangerously unhinged man from office.

Just months after passing a massive tax cut for millionaires and billionaires, House Republicans are proposing to reduce food assistance benefits for 2 million people, many of which are low-income working families with children. For more than 15 years, state and federal policymakers have worked on a bipartisan basis to strengthen the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP is the country’s most effective anti-hunger program, helping 1 in 8 Americans afford a basic diet. More than 6 million people with disabilities are estimated to participate in the program, including 4 million non-elderly adults who receive disability benefits, close to another 2 million who don’t receive disability benefits but have work-limiting health conditions, and many children. The House Republican plan will reduce or eliminate benefits for more than 2 million people through significant cuts to SNAP and expanded work requirements that take benefits away from people who don’t meet them. However, the Senate’s bipartisan bill strengthens SNAP and expands promising approaches to job training and other employment-related activities for SNAP participants and would make targeted investments in SNAP to help seniors and people with disabilities, as well as Native American Tribes. The next step in the legislative process is a “conference” between the House and Senate proposals. During the conference, lawmakers will decide whether to take House Republicans proposal to cut SNAP or the bipartisan Senate proposal to strengthen it. That’s why it’s incredibly important that we push Congress RIGHT NOW to pass a farm bill that would support and strengthen SNAP — not make it harder for people to access crucial nutrition assistance. Please join with us and tell Congress that the 2018 farm bill must strengthen the SNAP food assistance program for low income Americans. ——————————————————————————————— Source: https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/house-farm-bill-would-increase-food-insecurity-and-hardship

Trump has started a petition against ESPN for deciding not to air the National Anthem during its football telecasts. We need a counter-petition to show him that his rants against respectful protests highlighting the existence of police brutality are not supported by mainstream America.

To submit a comment to almost any elected official these days, the first thing you are required to submit is a title. You’re included in the pre-set list if you’re a Mr., Mrs., or even a Dr., Honorary, Professor, or Dean. But if you’re a non-gender-conforming individual – and chances are that if you’re not one yourself, someone you care about is – the message is clear: you don’t belong. And it is the hundreds of seemingly small exclusionary instances like this that make life so difficult for non-gender conforming people in the United States and around the world. As it stands, organizations such as the Sierra Club, who strongly believe in building a more inclusive country, are still required to cause potential harm to their supporters by requiring titles whenever comments need to be submitted directly to an elected official. We hope to help all senators and House members to realize their obligation to make their constituents feel heard by offering the gender-neutral “Mx.” option on their web forms by the time the next Congress gets underway in January 2019. While momentum to offer gender-inclusive title options on web forms has made progress in recent months, it remains stalled at the moment, and we hope you’ll join us in getting this one over the finish line!

A Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) investigation at a California dairy farm in Stanislaus County found a mass graveyard of cows and calves piled on top of one another. Investigators also documented baby cows confined in hutches smaller than the length of their bodies for months at a time, forced to sleep each night on a hard wooden floor and live on top of their own waste. Baby calves just weeks old were recorded coughing from the toxicity of the ammonia-rich air in the overcrowded wasteland. This is animal torture and criminal animal cruelty in the state of California. Ask the Stanislaus County Police Department to free the baby cows who are confined in filthy crates barely bigger than their own bodies.

Let's look at the facts. Several of the people closest to Donald Trump, including his former personal lawyer (Michael Cohen), former campaign chairman (Paul Manafort), former national security adviser (Michael Flynn), and others, have either been convicted of or have pleaded guilty to a range of federal offenses—including campaign finance violations allegedly at the direction of candidate Trump. Meanwhile, Brett Kavanaugh, Trump's Supreme Court nominee, has argued that a sitting president cannot be criminally indicted or even a subject of a criminal investigation while in office. The consequences of his confirmation could be enormous: Kavanaugh could become Trump's shield against accountability. We must let Special Counsel Robert Mueller complete his investigation before proceeding with any Supreme Court confirmation hearings. No American citizen under criminal investigation is able to choose their own judge. The president shouldn't be an exception. Sign the petition if you agree that consideration of Supreme Court nominees must be paused while the President of the United States is an alleged co-conspirator in the commission of federal crimes.

President Donald Trump is now an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal investigation. He has been identified - under oath - as a man who willfully violated campaign finance law, and whose staff, advisers and endorsers have been indicted and/or convicted at a breathtaking pace. This man must not have the ability to influence decades of American jurisprudence before the People, newly aware of these troubling allegations and convictions, are able to vote in a new Congress in the midterm elections.

On the 16 August 2018 I. Kerry Scriber, did bring myself to the Emergency Room of the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center complaining of pain in my abdomen similar to pain i had experienced previously when i had been admitted with ulcers of the stomach . At approximately ten or a bit afterwards I proceeded to the front desk of 7 A to advise staff that i would be going down to the front of the byilding to warm up. This caused quite the ruw. I was told thati coulc not leave the confines of unit 7a. To be brief I had been for no legal cause arrested. Tne next day i was discharged without any relief of my stomacf problem or diagnosis. I have heard of other like discharges. even one where the transportation driver found the patient incoherent but was still told to take him home

The text of my petition is to stop putting down dogs or cats who are simply scared for "behavioral". Obviously, these animals are scared in a new environment and they never get a chance. Its disgusting what PAS do and it needs to be stopped! I hate seeing innocent animals being put down in Pueblo over the silliest reasons.

Considering that the President may have criminally colluded and conspired with a foreign adversary to win election, he should not be allowed to influence the Federal Judiciary for years to come. We all may be personally affected by this issue.

We need to be ready for Trump to do the unthinkable. Trump's former campaign chair and longtime associate Paul Manafort was just found guilty of fraud and tax evasion, and there’s no telling how President Trump -- who believes the rule of law doesn’t apply to him -- will retaliate. This is just the latest concrete outcome of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s election meddling and potential conspiracy with Trump’s team -- which has resulted in 35 guilty pleas or indictments in addition to today’s verdict. But despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary, Trump continues to attack Mueller’s investigation as an unfounded “witch hunt” -- which raises the troubling prospect of a pardon for Manafort and other aides convicted of wrongdoing. Trump has already issued politically motivated pardons to Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s contempt of court conviction, Dinesh D’Souza’s campaign finance violations, and Scooter Libby’s perjury and obstruction of justice -- stoking controversies to rile up his base and distract us from his ongoing attacks on our values. Now, he’s refused to rule out a pardon for Manafort as well -- just another effort to have one set of rules for his friends, and another set for the American people. And, his self-interested abuse of the pardon power could constitute obstruction of justice if he’s using it as a reward for loyalty on the Russia investigation. Simply put, pardoning Manafort would show once again how Trump thinks that he and his associates are above the law -- and that he’ll willingly abuse his power to protect himself and his close associates. We must demonstrate that Americans are united in defense of the rule of law -- and that we’re ready to hold any official who abuses their power accountable. Please add your name today to speak out for the rule of law.