Donald Trump announced that transgender individuals would no longer be accepted or allowed into the U.S. Military because their cost is a "burden." This is extremely disgraceful and an insult to all those who have already given their lives for this country. This is not equality, and this is not "supporting the LGBT community," as he said he does. This is utterly transphobic. Many people who served are going to be left jobless, and many others will no longer be able to fulfill their dreams. This is not okay, and this should not be legal. Trans people are still people. 

Despite the fact that millions of Americans use the internet each day, the issue regarding net neutrality still remains almost unheard of to the general population. The basic principle of net neutrality is that internet service providers should provide unrestricted access to all content, applications, and website regardless of where it is coming from. This means that internet service providers are required to provide unbiased service to all customers without discrimination such as the slowing of speeds from certain sources or protocols. This issue is currently being debated and voted on throughout the country. This year, after Chairman Pai of the F.C.C. heavily pushed to undo the Net Neutrality laws put in place by the Obama administration. He aims to reduce the amount of regulation on the businesses that provide internet to users, leaving the industry without strict rules. This could lead to companies giving unfair treatment to certain websites and services, effectively harming the online experience for users all over the country. This may seem like an issue that is out of your hands, but there is always something that you can do to fight against the repeals to net neutrality. In order to raise awareness, contact or write to your respective senator or the FCC. By doing this, you can bring your voice into this debate and show that you care about this issue. Help us raise awareness in order to defend net neutrality and protect internet users, not only in Illinois, but across the country.

This petition is for legislation that demands harsher and longer mandatory sentencing for child traffickers and pedophiles that prohibit reduction of sentences for over crowding, good behavior or parole. Offenders will receive automatic sentences that include incarceration and mandatory therapy. Possessing child pornography, or engaging in pedophilia will result in immediate incarceration and prohibit bail as these individuals should be considered both a flight risk and an imminent threat to society.  For possession of child porn there will be a mandatory 10 year sentence for each instance. Possessing 2 files will result in a 20 year mandatory sentence to be carried out to term. 10 instances will result in 100 years. For producing child porn the offender will receive a mandatory 20 years sentence for every instance. Engaging in sexual acts with a child will result in a minumim of 50 years per instance. Any pedophilia acts that engage in kidnapping the child will result in mandatory life sentence.  Any sexual acts resulting in the death of a child will be a mandatory life sentence to be served in full. Intentional death of a child will be a mandatory life sentence to be served in full. Profiting from or engaging in the trafficking of children will carry a 20 year minimum sentence per instance. Finally for the protection of the victims. There will be a mandatory restraining order for life against the offender unless the victim (after turning 18 years of age) decides otherwise. The victim will receive some form of therapy and counselling. Persons under the age of 18 cannot be tried in criminal courts for prostitution charges as they are victims of traffickers. Mandatory drug treatment counselling if that victim was drugged as a result of being trafficked. Redact legislation that charges individuals who report child enticement from online forums with entrapment or stalking. Charge offenders with a mandatory 5 year sentence for each instance of trying to entice a child via social media, email or text. Harsher sentencing and more victim advocacy with a no tolerance policy will  send a grave message to those who view children as a mere commodity to exploit and subjugate. The effects of trauma will affect a child for the rest of their lives often resulting in drug addiction, unhealthy relationships, low self image and high risk for suicide. Children are our most precious resource and we must all act to ensure a generation that doesn't need to recover from their childhood.  View the story that inspired this petition: #justiceforbabyjames #justice4karaskids https://www.facebook.com/Justice4KarasKids/

In Illinois, a police dog trainer is threatening that legalizing marijuana in the state will lead to the euthanization of police K9 dogs — and an Illinois Sheriff is agreeing with him. This is a horrible attempt to use animal cruelty to stop marijuana legalization. In March, voters in Cook County, Illinois where Chicago is located passed a measure in support of legalizing marijuana. Marijuana is now legal in nine states and Washington, D.C. and 61% of Americans now favor of legalization. For Illinois law enforcement to say that they will kill dogs they no longer need for smelling marijuana is awful. No other state has done this and it is completely cruel and unnecessary. They are using these dogs as a scare tactic for the public so they won’t have legal marijuana. Join in me in calling on Illinois Governor and lawmakers to stop any attempt to kill police K9 dogs. These police dogs can absolutely be retired or trained of focus on more harmful drugs.

Watch the July 12, 2022 Stand with Cammy protest as Judge Robert Adrian purposefully exploits the Drew Clinton controversy to gain attention for his Retention Campaign July 12, 2022: Robert Adrian is running for retention of his seat on the bench in the Eighth Circuit Court of Illinois, but he has lost the public's trust. Adrian currently has one open complaint filed by the Judicial Inquiry Board. We want Robert Adrian to be removed from office for acting against the Illinois Code of Judicial Conduct and for abusing his position of authority. Please read our story and updates for more information. Memorial Day weekend 2021, a 16 year old girl went to a party. She swam in her underwear. She drank too much, became ill, and passed out on a couch by herself. When she woke up, her face was being pushed into a pillow and a person was sexually assaulting her in the form of vaginal penetration.  She immediately left the scene and woke up friends who were sleeping in a nearby room. They left the house where they had been sleeping and reported the rape to a trusted adult the next morning. The perpetrator of this sexual assault, Drew S. Clinton, who has ties to both the Detroit, Michigan, area and also Quincy, Illinois, area was 18 years old at the time. He was arrested and confirmed that it was true he had penetrated the victim sexually. He was charged with three counts of criminal sexual assault, to which he pled "not guilty," with his defense being he had believed the encounter to be consensual.  At the conclusion of a Bench Trial, on October 15, 2021, Drew S. Clinton was found guilty on one count of criminal sexual assault for digitally penetrating the victim. He was found not guilty of the other two counts.   Judge Robert "Bob" Adrian was the judge who ruled Drew S. Clinton is guilty of criminal sexual assault. However, on January 3, 2022, this very same Judge Adrian reversed his own ruling and declared the defendant was not guilty. In addition, Judge Adrian made a number of intensely gross remarks concerning this case, the victim and her family, and women in general.  These are some of the remarks Judge Adrian made that have been released to the public: "This happened when this teenager … was two weeks past 18 years old. He has no prior record, none whatsoever. By law, the court is supposed to sentence this young man to the Department of Corrections. This court will not do that. That is not just. There is no way for what happened in this case that this teenager should go to the Department of Corrections. I will not do that.” “Mr. Clinton has served almost five months in the county jail, 148 days. For what happened in this case, that is plenty of punishment." "The court is going to reconsider its verdict and is going to find the defendant not guilty. Therefore, the defendant will be released from custody. Bond will be discharged." “This is what happens when parents do not exercise their parental responsibilities, when we have people, adults, having parties for teenagers, and they allow coeds and female people to swim in their underwear in their swimming pool. And, no, underwear is not the same as swimming suits. They allowed 16-year-olds to bring liquor to a party. They provided liquor to underage people, and you wonder how these things happen. Well, that’s how these things happen. The court is totally disgusted with that whole thing." These statements set the precedent that if a victim swims in their underwear and drinks alcohol, "these things happen." They say if a perpetrator is being caught for the first time, he believes they should get a mulligan. They say that Judge Adrian reversed his own ruling because he simply did not want to hand down the sentence that is associated with the crime to which he himself had already found the perpetrator guilty.  That is not how the law is to operate. Judge Adrian does not have the authority to change the law because he wants to. His job is to uphold and defend the law. There is no contest that Drew S. Clinton did sexually penetrate the victim. There was no contest that the victim was 16 years old at the time. By that simple fact alone, the victim was legally unable to offer sexual consent under any circumstances. Additionally, intoxicated persons are not able to offer consent. The sexual assault this young girl experienced is egregious in and of itself - but what Judge Adrian has said and done to not only this survivor but to ALL current and future sexual assault survivors and their loved ones is an irreconcilable deviation from both the spirit and the letter of the law. If he does not have faith and consistency in his own rulings, there is no reason for the public to respect his continuance in the position of power as an authority of the law.  For the reprehensible precedent Judge Adrian has set by not upholding the law, we ask that you censure, suspend, and/or remove him from his position in the Eighth Circuit Court in Illinois. FURTHER READINGS:Guilty, then not guilty: Judge causes tempest by changing verdict in criminal sexual assault case, delivering rebuke from bench – Muddy River News Statement on the Recent Sexual Assault Case in Judge Adrian’s Courtroom - Quanada Judge criticized for reversing teen’s sexual assault verdict, saying 148 days in jail is ‘plenty’ - Washington Post ‘In 15 minutes he destroyed all the healing’: Father blasts judge for ‘muzzling’ daughter by reversing rape verdict - The Independent  

Transphobia is rampant in our current society. In the BLM movement, transgender black women are the most targeted for hate crimes. Black transgender women have an average lifespan of thirty. According to the Human Rights Campaign, In 2019, at least 27 deaths of transgender people were recorded, with a majority of black transgender women. That number has almost doubled this year alone, with a total number of 43 deaths. Consider this stat with the understanding that transgender people only make up 1% of the population. It is clear we need change on both fronts. As we fight for justice within our judicial system, we must also consider how all of this came to be. Understanding that lack of education can cause fear and hate towards a group of people is the first step to uprooting culturally ingrained hated. Violence and discrimination towards transgender people, or those who were born outside of the realm of the binary genders, is a learned behavior based on ignorance. By teaching to unlearn these behaviors, we can begin to make change. In health class, previously and presently, students learn about the anatomy and science of their genitalia and how to have protected sex. That being said, it is statistically proven that 1.7% of people are intersex. That means at least one person each school year is not getting an education. That is nearly one million high school students as of 2020 who are not getting a proper sex education. Add on those who are transgender, and it becomes 1.53 million in the United States. This does not account for those whose lives were detrimentally affected by a lack of education, and now spend their lives with an internalized hate towards these groups. Educating students on their transgender and intersex peers will be a significant and important step in erasing hatred from our schools. Proposed topics of learning include: The different ways someone can be biologically intersex, how to practice safe sex with varying sexes, the effects of hormones on the human body, the science of gender dysphoria including non-binary transgenders, the difference between social and physical dysphoria, the difference between sexuality and gender, and gender confirming clothing items, procedures, and/or hormones and hormone replacement therapy. It is not the education system’s job to teach why someone might want to change their gender, but it is their job to give children a Sex Education, whatever their gender or sex may be. If we do not begin change in our schools, this problem will continue. Transgender and intersex hate crimes will continue. We need change to begin at the start of these learned behaviors and remove the ignorance on the subject, so that hate towards these groups will subside. It is imperative to add to the Sex Ed and Health curriculum some part that acknowledges both of these groups, because we want to have a progressive curriculum. If you are not apart of this change, then you are allowing this to continue. Please support intersex and transgender rights by giving your students the rights to an education.

Banks had their bail out at the US tax payers expense so now it's the Banking Industries turn to take one for the team.  #TEAMAMERICA Sign this petition in support for your local small business who employ many within your community.  Employees working for companies with less than 50 employees are excluded from the Covid -19 Stimulus Package totalling 8 Billion dollars.  They will not receive  2 weeks sick pay should they need to take off from work.  Why?  Mom and Pop businesses make up over 50% of the nation's companies.  Their workers deserve the same opportunity as their neighbor working for a large corporation. Please show your support for small business.  Ex:  local restaurants, coffee shops,  boutique, beauty salons, all types of shops owners, printing, specialty stores, your dentist, and millions of other service oriented industries and vendors who service closed schools and closed  local governments.  The affect will hit for countless additional industries, like DHL, Federal Express and UPS employees when the demand for deliveries are no longer there.  There are countless more business types affected for unknown reasons that come from our need to social distance in order to help prevent the spread of the virus. Help their landlord say to their small business tenant, " you can push back the next month's rent due". As Americans following the President's and CDC guidelines to stay home, work from home which is impossible in many industries,  and not gather in groups to help prevent the spread of Covid -19. over the next few months, these small business, should have been equally considered with the travel industries bail out plans in the Stimulus package being reviewed before Congress to encourage them to cease transportation. For the next three months,  millions of small businesses expect to have severe revenue hardships that will detrimentally affect millions of families salaries if smal employers must  chose to pay a loan or make payroll.  Let us not force them to shut their doors sending employees hiking to the unemployment lines.  These small businesses are very fragile during this period and could greatly benefit.  It could keep them out from filing bankruptcy when income and revenue are severly limited due to obstacles in their operations.  They arent asking for a hand out.  They are asking to delay payments due without added interest assessed.  They deserve to receive a 3 month reprieve from making loan payments to all types of financial institutions and banks without penalty, without default for non payment or fear of receiving a negative report from credit agencies.  Why three months?  This is the period that the Global pandemic is expected to consume and move through our nation altering our everyday behavior.  While temporary, it is enough to throw every single small business into a dark tunnel never to see the light of day again.  These small businesses are owned by the average middle class person.  He could be your neighbor.   By signing this petition, you are letting our nation's leaders know you support the working man and small business over the billions of dollars in profits taken by the banking industry in interest payments made by small business owners and their employees.  The money these financial institutions charge us is often used to lobby congress against our immediate interests. We need to maintain our economic strength of the people by supporting these people.    So without your signature, we will be letting big banks win over the working man during the most critical period in our nation's economic history. Sign the Petition and say we are #teamamerica. God bless all of us!!!        

Hi. My name is Kerry and I’m a zebra. Now, before you think I'm crazy, I hope you'll please let me have a minute of your time to explain. In medical school, doctors-to-be are often taught the adage “If you hear hoof beats, think horse”. In other words, the most obvious answer is usually the right answer. But sometimes the hoof beats come from something rarer: a zebra perhaps. For nearly 5 years, doctors heard hoof beats as they looked at scans of my liver and saw some small “things” taking up residence. And, for nearly 5 years, they thought horse. They did blood tests, colonoscopies, upper endoscopies; all of the tests you would do looking for the “normal” cancers such as colon cancer, but the tests were negative. So they concluded that my liver had some benign growths on it. Nothing to worry about. In January of 2016 a biopsy of my liver resolved the mystery. I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Carcinoid or Neuroendocrine Tumor (NET). The disease is so rare it is referred to as the zebra of cancers and represents only about 2% of cancers treated each year. In honor of its rarity, the zebra has been adopted as the official mascot of those who suffer from it and we, the patients, are called zebras. In my desperate quest for solutions to my problem, I read about a treatment called Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy, or PRRT for short. It has been available in Europe for more than a decade and clinical trials here in the United States have recently concluded. The results have been very promising. According to one of the doctors who participated in the phase 3 clinical trial, “The findings were, in my opinion, extraordinarily impressive, the median progression-free survival improved by nearly 80%, which is fairly unprecedented in oncologic studies. The finding is important because limited therapeutic options exist for such patients, who comprise 20% to 45% of neuroendocrine tumor cases.” (1) As you can imagine, I have been following these trials with great interest as I am their target patient: my tumors are inoperable and are known to respond to the drug being used in the treatment. Earlier this year, there was hope the treatment would be approved by mid-year 2016. Then it was sometime in the fourth quarter of 2016. The latest timeframe for approval is now early 2017. I understand and appreciate the fact that the FDA has to perform their due diligence to insure that new drugs are safe and effective. None of us want unsafe drugs to be hurried to market. In the case of PRRT, it appears to have proven its worth, both in US clinical trials as well as in more than 10 years of use in Europe. I don’t profess to know or understand what the holdup is in obtaining approval. I’m certainly not a doctor. What I do know is that every day that passes without this treatment being approved thousands of us zebras get sicker and closer to the point where treatments won’t matter any longer. Will you please join me in urging the FDA to keep the approval of PRRT at the top of their priority list? I’m only 55 years old and I’m not ready to leave this world yet. I and my fellow zebras thank you. Kerry (1) Full article discussing PRRT can be found online at http://www.carcinoid.org/2016/05/03/one-step-closer-us-peptide-receptor-radionuclide-therapy-prrt-neuroendocrine-cancers/