Monday May 25. 2020 Minneapolis PD murdered an African American man who was unarmed and not dangerous. This whole incident makes me sick. The power that comes with the PD is old news. It's 2020 and we still have racist police officers murdering innocent civilians. This is bull sh*t. I don't care if the officer were to be red, blue, yellow, black, or purple. The man murdered another human being for no reason. He was getting some sick satisfaction of crushing this man's neck. He sat there crushing his neck cutting off his air passages. The man started bleeding from his nose before going unconscious. The Police Department remained completely unphased by it. One officer checked his pulse after the man went unconscious. At this point the man was gone. He was murdered for what reason? This was no medical condition. And even If the man had any medical condition whatsoever he would still be alive today had this officer not spent over 15 minutes crushing his throat. The man was NOT fighting back at this point. Everything was under control. Yet the officer continued using excessive force.  I ask the you [we] the people stand up to the Minneapolis Police Department.  Both officers are to be charged with murder and to be sentenced to the highest possible amount of time in Federal prison.  Enough is enough!!! No more white privileges. No more police privileges. This is beyond old!!!!   "My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts. … (I need) water or something. Please. Please. I can't breathe, officer. … I cannot breathe. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/video-shows-minneapolis-cop-with-knee-on-neck-of-motionless-moaning-man-he-later-died/

George Floyd was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The police officer pinned down George Floyd by his neck, restricting his breathing. George suffocated while the police officer restrained him. On the video of his murder, he is not resisting and is screaming that he cannot breathe. Upon arrival, the EMTs didn’t even attempt CPR or to revive him.  These are the badge numbers of the two police officers involved. 1- Derek Chauvin #1087 2- Tou Thao #7162 We need all FOUR men to be fired from their job and pressed with charges. This cannot go unnoticed. This cannot go unpunished. Black lives matter. Update: All officers involved have been fired but none have been charged. Update 2: Derek Chauvin has been charged with third degree murder. This is not enough. Raise the degree and arrest and charge the three other officers. Update 3: Derek Chauvin has been charged with second degree murder. The three other officers have been arrested. They must be convicted and put behind bars for a very long time.

Twelve states have moved to ban "ex-gay therapy" for young people -- dangerous "therapy" that tries to change someone's sexual orientation. "Ex-gay therapy" has been linked to suicide, depression, isolation and anxiety, and has been condemned by nearly every medical and psychological body as dangerous, destructive and something no child should be forced to undergo. And yet in 38 states -- including states like New York, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Ohio -- "ex-gay therapy" remains a practice that's largely legal under the law. But there is national momentum as more and more states move to ban "ex-gay therapy" and protect minors from attempts to "cure" them of their sexual orientation. Hawaii just became the 12th state to ban "ex-gay therapy," and New Hampshire and Delaware are close to following suit. They join states like California, New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, New Mexico, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Oregon. That's nearly 25% of the country! But it's not enough. LGBT kids are still facing dangerous "ex-gay therapy" attempts in more than 30 states around the country.  All these states have seen bills introduced to ban "ex-gay therapy". New York -- which touts itself as one of the most LGBT-friendly states in the country -- has seen legislation pass the State Assembly three times; Pennsylvania has had a bill introduced several times; Ohio now has a bill as well that legislators are pushing; and activists in Minnesota have been pushing for a ban on "ex-gay therapy" programs for years. Let's build on this national organizing momentum, and work to get these states added to the list of states stepping up to protect LGBT youth, and banning harmful "ex-gay therapy" that tries to "cure" LGBT people and change their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Recently, it has come to the attention of many Minnesota residents of the "loop hole" in Minnesota's sexual assault laws: that if a victim of rape/sexual assault voluntarily became intoxicated, they are not a victim of rape/sexual assault in the court of MN law. Whether someone voluntarily becomes intoxicated, it doesn't change that they did not consent to certain actions that occurred to them. There needs to be a change in Minnesota's sexual assault laws.   https://www.mprnews.org/story/2021/03/25/mn-supreme-court-reverses-rape-conviction-because-woman-wasnt-forced-to-get-drunk

George Floyd was murdered on (Monday) March 25, 2020. Despite his (Floyd) cries for help, officer Derek Chauvin, continued to press down on the back of his neck with his knee, while his fellow officers watched. Bystanders also made it clear that Floyd was asking for help and later became unresponsive. This blatant disregard for human life should not be taken lightly. We call for the arrest and prosecution of not only officer Derek Chauvin but the three other officers who sat around doing nothing while this atrocity took place. 

Wildlife killing contests take place throughout the United States. These contests put cash prizes on Coyote, Lynx, Bobcat, Wolves, Fox, Skunk, and other predators. Contests can be held by weight, amount of predators bagged or largest predator killed within a given amount of time, with teams hauling in truckloads of animals for the count. These contests operate largely under the radar in Minnesota, knowing that public support would be virtually nonexistent.  Wildlife Killing contests are not hunting: they are barbaric practices that promote mass killing of species by any and all means, from baiting and trapping, shooting, and poisons, to running animals down in vehicles. Many of these events will justify the behavior as a form of population control, but experts have largely disputed this claim stating that Wildlife Killing Contests hold no ecological value.  Contests like this are unregulated with no real set rules or limits, and hold no place in Minnesotas traditionally sportsman-like outdoor recreation. With many states choosing to outlaw these grosume contests, Minnesota can be the next to do so with your help. Be a friend to our natural predators, and sign the petition to introduce legislation to end Wildlife Killing Contests in the Land of 10,000 lakes. 

Dolal Idd was shot and killed by police near the same place Geroge Floyd was killed. Idd, 23, was Somali American and lived in the Twin Cities suburb of Eden Prairie. His father told the Sahan Journal that Idd was taking classes at Normandale College. Idd “was a family man, loved by his folks and his friends. Only god knows the pain everyone is feeling today,” said Abdirahman Warsame, who organized a GoFundMe pageto help pay for the family’s funeral costs. According to Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension records, Idd had been convicted of five misdemeanors and two felonies. Records show that he was jailed for possession of marijuana, carrying a firearm without a permit, theft, his involvement in a traffic accident, fleeing a police officer and giving a false name to a police officer. He was just finishing a three-year probation, his father said.  In an incident from 2018, police say Idd, then 21, fired a gun in his family’s basement while two younger children were sleeping on the same level, according to Southwest News Media.  His family is burying Idd on New Year’s Day, said Jaylani Hussein of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Officers were executing a traffic stop, which took place at the Holiday gas station at 36th Street East and Cedar Avenue in south Minneapolis, as part of a “probable cause” weapons investigation. But he didn’t offer more specifics about it. A police spokesperson earlier said that the victim was suspected of a felony. Officers recovered a weapon at the scene. It’s still unclear if Idd shot at police at all because of only one video of body cam footage was released. POLICE SHOULDNT USE DEADLY FORCE!

It's becoming overbearing for Black and Brown people to walk down any street in America without being killed. There is no accountability when a life is taken at the hands of a peace officer. Just recently, the world has witnessed a police officer put his knee in the back of the neck of a handcuffed person. This act cost this man his life; these acts are all too familiar with little to no justice being served. It's time that standards be restored! We, the people, are calling on you to act, be the voice. We are asking for all racially motivated killings to be handled by an outside unit, we are calling for a special counsel for all police-involved killings. Police killings where the murder was malicious that involved officer charged as a federal hate crime. There needs to be an overhaul to police training manuals, officers who receive complaints of excessive force be monitor. There needs to be a mandate that all body cams are running at all times and penalties for them being off.  Blacks live continued to be taken like it's haunting season. Black and Brown people's contribution to America can't be disputed, nor shall the suffering of ancestors be in vain. We are asking for supporting to ensure the safety of all Americans; especially the endangers ones.  

We must make MN a safe state for the innocents involved in domestic violence!  Minnesota is an extremely progressive state in terms of equal rights and the law.  Unfortunately, we are behind in creating state laws in regards to providing safety for the children who are caught up in a divorce dispute concerning a parent who has a domestic assault conviction. We need to create a safety net and provide assurance for victims of intimate partner domestic assault so that their children will be protected from their abuser if they choose to leave their partner.  Right now, victims are able to leave, but as it stands, a parent with a domestic assault conviction can still fight for sole legal and sole physical custody.  Unfortunately, according to statistics, once a victim of domestic assault leaves the relationship, the offender will then turn their attention towards the children.  Due to current MN state statute limitations, there is no assurance of safety for these children.  In fact, if the victims report abuse against their perpetrator pertaining their children to the officials, they will end up losing their children 90% of the time to their abuser due to "alienation." Minnesota needs to create a law to protect the children that are left behind in a family where domestic assault is the reason for divorce.  In order to protect these innocent children, we need to ensure that these perpetrators are not allowed sole legal or sole physical custody of their children.  Please sign and share so that we can make a difference!

I’m Jenifer Bass, a U.S. Navy veteran, who served for 10 years, one-third in the Asia-Pacific region. It was due to my travel between ports in countries like Japan and Thailand that I first encountered amerasian children, and descendants, of U.S. service members and civilian contractors previously stationed overseas. Filipino Amerasians are abandoned and neglected biracial children of Filipino mothers and American fathers (mostly members of the US armed forces). In the Philippines alone, more than 52,000-plus children were born and left behind after the U.S. Navy withdrew the last of its military personnel in 1992. Right now, the U.S. government won’t legally recognize them as U.S. citizens, despite having been born to an American parent. The Philippine Embassy won't help them either. As a former US colony between 1898 and 1946, the Philippines was home to millions of US soldiers and their dependents, even after its independence. Until 1992, the country hosted two of the largest US military facilities outside the US – Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base, which played major roles during the Vietnam and first Gulf wars. In 1982 US Public Law 97-359, or the Amerasian Act of 1982, allowed children from Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, or Thailand to move to the US and eventually become American citizens, but those who were from the Philippines were excluded from the law, an exclusion which was upheld by the US Senate on the basis that many Filipino Amerasians were “conceived from illicit affairs and prostitution”, and were born during peacetime. Today, there are estimated to be more than 250,000-plus children. Many amerasians are caught in a no-man’s land of discrimination and poverty -- most left behind by U.S. service members who are unaware that they’ve fathered children overseas. My friend John Haines is one of these sailors. In 2011, John discovered he was the father of a half-Filipino daughter, Jannette. He attempted to unite with her through the American Homecoming Act -- but was frustrated to learn that the Act did not apply to Filipino children of U.S. service members. Today, all John wants is to be united with his daughter and grandchildren. He, like so many other veterans are living with a “hole in their hearts” as they search for ways to unite with their children. There is hope. The Uniting Families Act of 2018, HR 1520, creates a specialized visa allowing military veterans and eligible civilian contractors to sponsor their children and grandchildren for U.S. citizenship. Currently, blood relationship must be proven by DNA test and the total number of visas granted will be capped at 5,000 each year. The issue takes on more urgency as so many of our veterans from our wars in Southeast Asia are getting older and dying each day -- without the chance to connect, or in some cases, reconnect with their own children. John’s daughter Jannette has already undertaken the DNA testing process, conclusively proving her relationship to her American father. All she’s waiting for is the opportunity to permanently unite with her father. There is a PBS documentary, "Left by the Ship" (2010), documenting a day in the life and the personal struggles as a Filipino amerasian on the never ending search for identity and their struggles to connect to their American military families. Please sign this petition to tell Congress that these families cannot wait another day. Pass the Uniting Families Act of 2017, HR 1520, now!