Keep our children safe. Stop taking the children over an allegation and not getting proof or evidence.

Thank you for signing the Lieu-Yoho-Conyers-Mulvaney letter urging that the Saudi arms deal be postponed so that Congress can fully consider it.

You voted for a terrible healthcare bill and I will not forget. I will vote, volunteer, and donate money to repeal and replace you in 2018.

Support human service programs that protect impoverished children, strengthen families, prevent cruelty in our criminal justice system, educate children in impoverished families, break the generational cycle of poverty, and enable the children in needy families to be cared for in their own homes or homes of relatives.

Dear West New York Board of Education Leaders: As former students, colleagues, friends and loved ones of Darcie Eckert Valencei (Mrs. Valencei), we kindly ask that you rename Public School #3 in honor of Mrs. Valencei to help preserve her legacy as one of West New York's most caring and committed educators.  Mrs. Valencei served the West New York Public School system for 25+ years as a teacher at Public School Number Three. Her life was cut short after the morning of December 17, 1999 due to a tragic car accident while on her way to teach her students.  Mrs. Valencei's connection to Public School #3 started when she herself was a student at the school where she would later go on to teach for more than 25 years. She was a lifelong resident of West New York until 3 years before her death. She was named Public School #3's  "Teacher of the Year" as well as "District Teacher of the Year."  She was also a coach of the Memorial High School girls volleyball team, where she brought them four consecutive championships with a record of 88-0.  She left a great impact on many of her students and former colleagues. As one of her former students, I was lucky to have her as my teacher for both 6th and 8th grades. I was one of the students that she was on her way to teach that morning in December and her death greatly impacted me in my 8th grade year. Most significantly, it was her love and commitment to teaching that left the greatest legacy on my heart and the heart of many of her students.  Ms. Valencei always showed up for us as a teacher and caretaker. A lot of her students, including me, lived in low-income, working class households.  Her classroom was a warm respite for many of us who had struggles at home. She would hug us when we were having a hard time navigating our early adolescence. She would tell us to always let her know if we did not have food to eat at home. Even as teenagers, she would read paperback books to us like she was reading us a bedtime story--Willy Wonka was one of my favorites she read to us. She had a jar of candy on her desk that she let us pick from for doing good deeds. Aside from the warm hugs, candy and storytime, what I remember most about her is her commitment to bring social justice issues to the forefront of her curriculum. She invited public speakers to come in to talk to us about human rights and moral courage, took us to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, and was bold enough to include coverage of current events at the time like the genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda. She opened our eyes to the greater issues facing the world far beyond our tiny school in West New York and inspired us to go out and be changemakers.  We ask that our beloved school be named in honor of her to preserve the legacy so that future generations of West New York students can continue to be inspired by her.

Stand up for science and approve public school science textbooks that are based on sound, peer-reviewed scholarship—not the views of politicians and culture warriors whose personal views aren't backed up by real science.

We fight for Women's Rights and for LGBTQ Rights. But why do we leave out Children's Rights? Why is the United States the only nation in the entire world that is not willing to ratify the most successful human rights treaty in history? US children deserve rights like all children in the world! Twitter @UN_CRC

Dear Mayor and Council Members, We, the citizens of San Leandro, are deeply concerned about the serious threats and future costs to our city from severe storms, flooding and sea level rise caused by accelerated global warming. The majority of greenhouse gases that are causing accelerated global warming come from the burning of fossil fuels. We do not want our tax dollars used to continue supporting the industry most responsible for the future destruction of our city and planet. That is why we are formally requesting that our city stop doing business with the banks that fund new construction of fossil fuel pipelines. We ask you to protect San Leandro’s future with the following actions: 1) Include de-funding and divesting from fossil fuel-financing banks in our city’s Climate Action Plan, which established a goal to “reduce carbon emissions by 25% below 2005 levels by the year 2020.” 2) Pass a resolution stating San Leandro’s commitment to discontinue financial relationships with any banking institution that does business with the fossil fuel industry, in adherence to the above carbon emissions reduction goals. 3) Replace our current financial service provider, Wells Fargo, which finances fossil fuel pipeline construction, with bank(s) that invest in a sustainable, regional or green economy. 4) Pass a separate resolution, as neighboring cities like Oakland, Richmond, Brisbane and Fairfax have done, urging CalPERS (manager of our city's pension fund) to immediately halt new investment in fossil fuel companies and to complete divestment by 2020. Thank you for your leadership to protect our city from the negative impacts of climate change.

Of the many only-in-Florida aspects of the Rep. Matt Gaetz sex-crimes investigation, one stands out for its utter weirdness: the story of the Israeli consulate staffer, the cartoonist who created Dilbert and a complicated shakedown scheme tied to a former CIA operative captured in Iran. The most-salacious aspects of the federal probe into Gaetz have received saturation media coverage over the months. But scant attention has been paid to the mysterious cameo of Jake Novak, the broadcast media director of the Consulate General of Israel in New York. Three days before the story broke in March that federal investigators were probing whether Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl, Novak began corresponding with Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams about the scandal. The two were pals on social media. Novak indicated to Adams he had inside knowledge of the probe and also suggested he was personally involved in an effort to get $25 million out of Gaetz’s wealthy father to help free an American hostage in Iran named Bob Levinson. Need I elaborate more on why this man shouldn’t represent anyone let alone be in Congress of the USA. He hasn’t been properly probed, investigated, or questioned as he is a member of Congress & above the law. It’s possible these allegations are false but not much has been proven to be untrue either. If this man and many others have been caught in the lies of Trump & the Republicans about Jan.6th of the year 2021. That’s 21 yr after Mr. Bush won by a small margin & was involved in a recount, no call for fraud from Mr. Gore (both are mature grown men that take a loss like men.

Ban the use of plastic bags Disposable single-use plastic bags, introduced just 25 years ago, are currently consumed at an alarming global rate of 500 billion per year. As a concerned citizen and constituent of New Mexico, I am writing to ask you to consider introducing legislature that taxes these bags, a solution proven effective around the world. Single-use disposable bags present an insidious threat to our environment on multiple levels. They often wind up in waterways or on the landscape, becoming eyesores and degrading water and soil as they break down into tiny toxic bits. Their manufacture, transportation and disposal use large quantities of non-renewable resources and release equally large amounts of global-warming gases. Ecologically, hundreds of thousands of marine animals die every year when they eat plastic bags mistaken for food. These problems can be mitigated by simply advocating—and legislating—the consumption of fewer disposable bags and the use or reusable ones. One easy way to do this is by charging for their usage at the point of purchase. This was successfully done in Ireland where the government introduced a plastic bag tax (PlasTax) that has slashed consumption over 90% and raised $9.6 million for environmental and waste management projects. Retailers were happy, as well: they both saved the costs of bag purchases and improved their public image by doing the right thing. Please consider legislation for a plastic bag ban or a PlasTax here in our home state. It creates a foundation for both consumer responsibility and market-based solutions to environmental problems. And it's an easy, win-win solution to a problem that has gotten out of control. .