When Rohrabacher and House Republicans celebrated their vote to pass Trumpcare, tens of millions of Americans feared for the future of their families. The GOP plan would lead to higher premiums, higher deductibles, less health coverage, and reduced access for those who are already sick.

The proposed cell transmitter(s) will be ugly, will transmit radio waves at significant intensity to many residents' homes and bodies (including children), will decrease property values, and will incommode movement along the right of way of Calle de Suenos, in the proper senses that it will cause inconvenience, distress and/or worry when passing even near the transmitter pole, let alone on Calle de Suenos itself. The definition of incommode is thus amply met, causing this proposal to be in conflict with regulations/ordinances.

I believe it is unfair that last year this was not put to a vote in the Massachusetts House and Senate. We learned too late that this was being cancelled. It is a proven fact that sales soar during this tax holiday benefiting a vast number of Massachusetts residents like sales associates and their families, small store owners and their employees, but most of all the families that need that relief. It is a win win and I hope you agree.

From Huffington Post (5/31/17): A draft of the Trump administration’s new birth control coverage exemption has leaked, and it is far more wide-reaching than had been predicted. The new rule amends the Obama administration’s coverage requirement to allow any employer, school or insurance company to opt out of covering contraception due to any moral or religious objection, Vox reported Wednesday. Even massive for-profit companies with no religious affiliation will be able to deny birth control coverage to their female employees. “This rule would mean women across the country could be denied insurance coverage for birth control on a whim from their employer or university,” said Dana Singiser, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood. “It makes a farce of the Trump administration’s so-called ‘women’s empowerment’ agenda and endangers a woman’s ability to make the most basic and personal of decisions ― when and if to have a child.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/birth-control-contraception-trump_us_592ed9e7e4b0e09b11ec93c7?bb&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

As Peter Beinart reports in the Forward [1], Hebron's Issa Amro has been preaching nonviolent resistance in the tradition of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr for almost two decades. Amro's organization, Youth Against Settlements, frequently hosts Israeli activists. Amro has won awards from the UN and the EU. Amro doesn’t just oppose violence, he’s also gone to extraordinary lengths to stop it. In retaliation for his advocacy of nonviolence, Beinart reports, Amro faces 18 criminal charges. If convicted, he’ll likely serve a long prison sentence. Amnesty International notes, "Some of the charges ... are not recognizable criminal offences under international standards." [2] The changes include incitement, protesting without a permit and "insulting a soldier." Amro also faces two charges of assault. Amnesty calls these allegations "baseless," noting, "One of the charges of assault refers to an incident ... that took place after he had already been arrested and was therefore not present." [3] Amro faces trial in a military court where the conviction rate exceeds 99%. [4] As the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem reported in 2015, "A Palestinian charged in a military court is as good as convicted." [5] Reps. Mark Pocan, Betty McCollum, Earl Blumenauer and Keith Ellison are circulating a letter urging Secretary of State Tillerson to defend Amro's "rights to due process, freedom of expression and peaceful protest." Urge your Rep. to sign the Pocan letter by signing our petition. References: 1. http://forward.com/opinion/israel/373119/why-israel-should-embrace-this- 2. https://www.amnestyusa.org/files/uaa27816.pdf 3. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/11/israel-opt-drop-baseless-charges-against-palestinian-human-rights-defender/ 4. http://www.haaretz.com/nearly-100-of-all-military-court-cases-in-west-bank-end-in-conviction-haaretz-learns-1.398369 5. http://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20150622_presumed_guilty

There is a growing wave of white supremacist hate crimes unfolding across the country... in Portland, OR where two people were killed following an Islamophobic attack...in Manhattan, NY where a self-proclaimed white supremacist stabbed a Black man with a sword...in Grays Harbor, WA where a driver of a pickup truck intentionally ran down two Quinault tribal members at a campground, killing one and injuring the other. Communities across much of America are grappling with how best to unite against bigotry and racism. Meanwhile, Google--one of America's largest companies--is enabling networks of white supremacists to grow and thrive online. Rather than ending its business ties with racist and extremist websites that promote hate speech, recent policy changes from Google now allow extremist sites to keep collecting ad money on some pages while spreading hate speech on others. That's why ahead of Google's annual stockholder meeting on June 7th, a massive social media campaign from Sleeping Giants is asking Google's three biggest stockholders --Vanguard, Fidelity and Blackrock -- to hold Google accountable for funding sites that promote hate speech and contribute to white supremacist violence, such as Breitbart. Funding online hate speech is not a responsible business practice. Let's ask Google's largest shareholders to commit to vote in favor of Proposal 12 and help us hold the company accountable.

Global warming is the biggest challenge facing humankind in the 21st century. I want my grand-nieces and nephews to have a livable world.

Donald Trump is pulling us out of the Paris Climate Agreement, and he has stacked his cabinet with Big Oil billionaires and Wall Street executives who are trying to rollback all the progress we've made on climate change. Their greed and bigotry is literally threatening our survival, and we must outright reject it. The only way we can stop him is by building state and local resistance that can get in his way, while we continue to build solutions from the grassroots. Most election cycles focus on Presidential and Congressional elections -- but we know that change doesn't come from the top. And by neglecting the power and importance of local elections, we fall into the trap of playing the big money game that makes Washington, DC toxic and dysfunctional. It's time to change the game and get behind local leaders who can take our democracy back, stop threatening fossil fuel projects, and demonstrate the type of bold leadership we need on climate change. Local leaders are starting to run for office, and if we double-down on this strategy we can elect the next generation of bold progressive leaders who will stand for people over profit. Local elections are often decided by only 500-1000 votes, so if we team up, we can have a huge impact. Whether it's donating $27 or volunteering for 2 hours to call local voters to remind them to vote, our impact will add up. It's time to stop waiting for the same old corrupt politicians in Washington, DC to to save us. And it’s time to start investing in a new generation of leaders to take power and lead locally. Let's do it.

The Trump Administration’s proposal to cut the Women’s Bureau’s budget by 70%, eliminating all regional offices, would essentially render the agency unable to fulfill its mission of empowering women to achieve economic security. For nearly 100 years, the Women’s Bureau has served as the only agency in the federal government charged with advocating for the interest of working women and for the economic security of women and their families. It has worked on high priority issues for working women such as paid leave, earned sick time, as well as highlighting the needs of women veterans. It has been at the forefront of addressing equal pay, ensuring breastfeeding and pregnancy accommodation, as well as working with women in the trades. Issues that the Bureau once raised as “women’s issues” have become the standard for all workers today. Sign on now to save the Women’s Bureau from the Trump Administration’s budget cuts!

In the wake of a daylight open rescue showing horrific abuse of animals in San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors has been presented with an animal bill of rights, which offers incremental progress towards the full abolition of animal exploitation. The first tier of this bill of rights asks the city to acknowledge the suffering of animals and legally require all city officials to account for animal suffering in its decisions and policy. By bearing witness to this suffering, city officials will be forced to justify the violence. Every city action that harms animals -- from "pest" management to food policy -- will be subject to public scrutiny and debate. The public will quickly see there is not justification for animal-abusing policies and decisions, setting the city (and state) up for a full animal bill of rights.

I am concerned about climate change, how it will affect the planet over the next 20-50 years, how it will affect every person young or old over the short and long term, and the need to work together to effect change.

The Francis family received a letter from the Arkansas Parole Board inviting Brian Francis to come speak to this issue on June 9, 2017