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9,091 results
Victory!
Petition to Obama and Romney
When we learned that it's been two decades since a presidential debate was moderated by a woman, weRead more
Emma Axelrod, Elena Tsemberiis, and Sammi SiegelUnited States
57,420 supporters
Created Jul 23, 2012
Petition to The Government of Canada, the Parliament of Canada, Canada's Provincial Governments, Canada's Municipal Governments, Le gouvernement du Canada, Parlement du Canada, Les gouvernements provinciaux du...
as to effectively learn every single lesson that may be learned so as to avoid such a tragedy in theRead more
Arthur HealeCanada
899 supporters
Created Mar 17, 2021
Petition to Conagra
Consumers across the globe are demanding more transparency about where their food comes from — especially with regard to animal welfare. In response, companies are committing to doing better. From General Mills to Kraft-Heinz, corporations are adopting higher welfare standards that eliminate some of the worst forms of abuse commonly used in standard factory farming practices.However, there is one major company that lags behind its competitors by refusing to adopt a comprehensive animal welfare policy: Conagra.
Conagra is one of America's top manufacturers, with many commonly used household brands, such as Healthy Choice, Slim Jim, Marie Callender's, and Duncan Hines. You might think the company behind Birds Eye vegetables —and even Gardein— would take animal welfare seriously, but they're refusing to keep up with industry standards.Chickens raised for meat in Conagra’s supply chain are crammed into filthy, windowless barns — often only with space the size of a piece of paper in which to move. These social, intelligent animals are even forced to live in their own excrement, with ammonia levels so concentrated that many suffer from chemical burns.
Sadly, the torture doesn’t end there.
When these birds — who, like humans, experience pain and emotions — are brought to slaughter, they are violently shackled upside down. Their throats are then slit, often while they’re still conscious. The level of terror and suffering is unfathomable.
If all of these other companies can take action to end this extreme cruelty, why can’t Conagra?
Please join The Humane League in asking Conagra to stop using chickens who are forced to live in agony for their entire lives by signing and sharing this petition.
Thank you for your support.
A more compassionate world is possible with your help.Read more
Taylor WarrenWashington, DC, United States
55,926 supporters
Created Aug 14, 2019
Petition to Ludlow Public School Parents
In the Ludlow Public Elementary Schools, the students are complaining of insufficient lunch times and an inability to finish their lunches. Students have documented lunch times as low as five minutes, even this year. This is a serious problem that the School Administration seems to believe that isn’t happening. According to the Superintendent, Dr. Todd Gazda, this is not an issue that parents are bringing up.Please sign this petition to acknowledge there is a problem and that all students should be given 30 minutes for lunch, since that is the amount of time the teachers are guaranteed for a lunch break. All students deserve time to eat their food and socialize. Students in town who are on reduced and free lunches may be food insecure, and forcing them to throw away their food after five minutes could be taking away half of their calorie intake for the day. The school schedule, including lunch times, is dictated by the Principals, according to the Superintendent and the School Committee. Let’s bring this to their attention so they know that this is a real issue and we want our voices to be heard. Read more
Diana LearnedLudlow, MA, United States
271 supporters
Created Nov 26, 2019
Petition to V. Eskamani, Andrew Learned, State Attorney Amira Fox
DWAYNE is currently awaiting an evidentiary hearing in Collier County, Florida where the alleged crime occurred and consistently declares his innocence. The alleged accuser/victim and a host of upstanding community members and friends have all petitioned the court for leniency for Dwayne. He is only one man and deserves a chance at freedom again. Your voice, persistence, and ongoing support will heighten and enlighten his cause as well as convey to the Court the need for Dwayne's release. Please continue to lend your voice as his steadfast community of supporters and scream "FREE DWAYNE JOHNSON NOW!"
DWAYNE'S STORY:
For twenty-one (23) years now, Dwayne T. Johnson – DC No. 425552, continues to awake in a Florida State Prison after having been convicted and sentenced to two (2) [(30 Year consecutive sentence terms - for a total of sixty (60) years imprisonment (with affixed minimum mandatory penalties)] for the “theft of a gold chain” (Charged in the Information as one count of Armed Robbery); which was the result of a low-level drug deal gone bad. Dwayne was also charged and plead guilty, taking a plea of (8) years for Possession of cocaine charges – to which he also had an addiction. However, he maintains his innocence of the robbery charge of the Gold Chain and the facts of his case clearly supports his claims and refutes that of the victim and the testimony of the one and only “since recanted” teenage witness.
After hearing the erroneous and egregious verdict, in haste, Dwayne “attempted to run out of the court room” but was (apprehended before leaving the Attorney’s table); Dwayne was then (Charged in the Information with one count of “Escape” – However out on Bond and Not considered In Custody at the time.) He was subsequently found guilty of Escape and handed this cumulative “60 Year Life Sentence (by an all-white jury in a predominantly white and affluent Florida city – Naples, Florida.)
Since the time of his conviction Dwayne has pursued numerous appeals and post-conviction motions which have all been denied. In fact, in May of 2001, only a few months after being found guilty, the trial court conducted a hearing on Dwayne’s motion for new trial based on the affidavit of the one and only State witness, recanting his trial testimony that Dwayne had robbed the victim. Specifically, the witness alleged that the police pressured him to say that Dwayne robbed the victim when he did not know who actually did. The court found this claim to not be credible because the officers who interviewed the victim, who was 16-years-old at the time of trial, disavowed having pressured him to identify Dwayne as the Subject.
THE NEWLY DISCOVERED EVIDENCE:
On Sunday, December 18, 2016, an unknown man “a new witness” came forth and declared under penalty of perjury that he had a casual conversation with the “alleged victim.” At that time, the victim advised him that there was an individual by the name of Dwayne Johnson, also known as “Nino” who was “supposedly” in prison for robbing him back in early 2000. However, the victim told this new witness that Dwayne Johnson did not rob him. Instead, he (the victim) had pawned his jewelry to Dwayne Johnson for some drugs. The “alleged victim” explained that the only reason he claimed that Dwayne Johnson had robbed him was because his step-father was a law enforcement officer and he did not want him or his mother to know that he lost the jewelry because of drugs. After having this conversation with the “alleged victim”, the new witness, looked up Dwayne on the Florida Department of Corrections website and advised him what the “alleged Victim” had told him. He asserts that despite having served some time in prison, he never met Dwayne Johnson nor knew of his existence.
This new witness is someone who was unknown to Dwayne until he was contacted by him with the information he provided regarding the “alleged victim.” Dwayne could not have known the “alleged victim’s impeaching statement to the new witness at the time of his trial through the exercise of due diligence because this “alleged victim” never disclosed that he had described the incident as a robbery to conceal from his parents the fact that he had pawned his jewelry in exchange for drugs. Finally, in his affidavit, the “new witness” identified the man (“alleged victim”) he spoke to from a booking photograph that was obtained from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. This Motion for an Evidentiary Hearing/Mew Trial based on this newly discovered evidence has been awaiting a ruling for the past two (2) years. Meanwhile, Dwayne is just sitting in prison away from his children and our aged and ill parents to which our mother suffers from chronic Parkinson’s Disease.
[Note: The “Alleged Victim has a voluminous and lengthy arrest history for drug use, drug possession, DUI, DWI, etc. in Collier and Lee County, Florida. Of further note, Dwayne plead guilty to drug possession and sale and to date, has served his sentence of nine years in full to include; all of the attached minimum mandatory sentences associated with these charges.]
I am fully aware that you all have focused your reform efforts on those trapped in Federal Prisons however, I am humbly requesting that you all please advocate on those trapped in the State Prison System, namely Florida State Prisons. African Americans in Florida have very little advocacy resources because of the highly Republican base and deep South mentality that impacts minorities and plagued many of our voiceless communities for centuries. The work is certainly here. We just need a blessing from the Lord through your help to gain traction towards significant criminal justice reform. Any type of assistance that you all could provide would be beyond anything we could ever ask for or expect.
THE FACTS AND STATS:
As information, despite the lack of evidence, facts, and mitigating circumstances; Florida sends more of its citizens to prison and keeps them there longer than many other states. That is due in part to mandatory minimum and enhancement laws that require a one-size-fits-all approach to sentencing for certain offenses, regardless of an individual’s circumstances or prior record. In fact, within the last ten (10) years, dozens of states (to include, Texas) have passed reforms that saved lives, families, as well as taxpayers money, reduced crime, and reduced prison populations – Florida is not one of them. Rather, Florida spends more than 2.4 billion dollars a year to incarcerate nearly 100,000 people in prison. Moreover, Florida’s laws require those incarcerated to serve 85% of their sentence regardless of changed laws, proven rehabilitation, or the risk an inmate poses to society.
Additionally, Florida over-incarcerates low-level drug offenders and stack them with enhancements and other charges to ensure that they never see the light of day ever again. Supposedly these laws were designed to target kingpins but they ensnare low-level, often first-time offenders. As of 2015, 36.6 percent of Florida’s prisoners were serving time for non-violent crimes such as drug possession, narcotic possession, and property offenses, often tied to addition. Florida has and continues to keep these low-level offenders behind bars for such a long time which has been expensive and counter-productive.
In closing, systemic and excessive sentencing laws throughout our nation and particularly here in Florida (Namely those with minimum mandatory penalties and enhancements) often create unwarranted disparities by treating similar offenders differently and different offenders the same. It is obvious that all of the relevant facts and circumstances of Dwayne’s “alleged crime” was not carefully considered before he was wrongfully and maliciously handed this unfair punishment and “LIFE/DEATH SENTENCE.” Dwayne is currently 51 years old and his 21 years of incarceration is beyond repaying his debt to society. His continued incarceration is now a debt to Florida taxpayers and citizens. Thus, we are requesting and praying that the facts and evidence in his case be thoroughly reviewed by an Integrity Review Board/Committee and/or the Governor please grant him Clemency or commute his sentence to time served so that Dwayne can be immediately released to his family who desperately needs and misses him. Amen.Read more
Tracy JohnsonTallahassee, United States
90,217 supporters
Created Feb 9, 2021
Victory!
Petition to Barack Obama
My name is Clenesha Garland and over 15 years ago, my mother Sharanda Jones began serving a life sentence with no chance of parole as a first-time non-violent offender under crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity laws. I was 8 years old at the time and my world as I knew it was shattered.
I am now 23-years old and I fully grasp the fact that my mother is set to die in prison for the first crime she ever committed – a non-violent drug crime.
I know that my mother committed a crime and that she has to pay for her actions. However, after over 15 years I feel she has more than paid the price for her crime. She does not deserve to come out of prison in a casket.
Life without parole is the second most severe penalty permitted by law in America. Two co-conspirators testified against my mom in exchange for lessor sentences and received 7-8 years. Her supplier, another co-conspirator who also testified against her in exchange for a lessor sentence, received 19 years. All 3 co-conspirators have been released from prison.
The United States Sentencing Commission has determined that federal sentencing guidelines under which my mother was sentenced were flawed. This determination is evidenced by two guideline adjustments in less than 5 years in the realm of crack‑cocaine federal sentencing that drastically reduce sentences for these offenses.
Being without my mother for over 15 years of my life has been extremely difficult. But the thought that she is set to spend the rest of her life in prison as a first-time non-violent offender is absolutely devastating.
Please support my mother's petition for commutation (reduction) of her sentence. All I pray for everyday is the blessing of being able to spend my life with my mother outside of prison walls.Read more
Clenesha Garlanddallas, TX, United States
277,434 supporters
Created Apr 3, 2013
Petition to U.S. Trade Commission
The world has learned that 2.2 billion Facebook users worldwide may have had their data collectedRead more
Mary YatesUnited States
43,794 supporters
Created Apr 6, 2018
Petition to McDonald's
My name is Brenda Hampton and I live in Lawrence County, Alabama. The drinking water in my community is contaminated with toxic chemicals called PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).
Our drinking water intake valve is located downstream from numerous industrial plants that release these chemicals and one of them is even making PFAS for food packaging. And in 2016, our local water authority told us not to drink the water because it had tested with extremely high levels of these chemicals.
My neighbors and I have been drinking and cooking with bottled water ever since. But members of the community have been drinking poisoned water for decades. And now, my community is experiencing health problems that we're concerned may be due to PFAS exposure.
My own mother, not a smoker or a drinker, experienced renal failure. So I gave her my left kidney to keep her alive. And then later, I developed kidney problems, too. Our community had an 8-year-old with breast cancer and a 17-year-old with prostate cancer. One baby was born with a liver tumor that was 20% of his body weight.
Sadly, we are not alone. Today, millions of U.S. residents are drinking PFAS-contaminated water. No community should go through what we have suffered.
Scientists have linked PFAS chemicals to devastating health problems from cancer to kidney problems to immune suppression. Especially now, the ability of PFAS to weaken immune systems could mean that we are more vulnerable to Covid-19 and its complications.
As a grandma, this worries me to no end.
What does this have to do with McDonald’s? Recent lab testing found the presence of fluorine on a McDonald’s Big Mac box, fry bag, and cookie bag. These results suggest that these food packaging items are all treated with PFAS chemicals and made national headlines in CNN and other major outlets.
Companies use PFAS to make paper grease-resistant—they put very long-lasting, toxic chemicals on paper that people will only use for a few minutes.
McDonald’s is serving millions of people a day. How many of those people are eating from packaging that could be poisoning someone’s drinking water?
One of the plants that poisoned the water in my community, owned by a company called Daikin, actually makes these chemicals for food packaging. We don’t know if this plant makes chemicals for McDonald’s packaging—but it doesn’t matter. These chemicals have no place in my community, and they have no place in McDonald’s packaging.
As the largest fast-food chain in the world, McDonald’s is driving demand for these chemicals. And they have the power to make a change.
McDonald’s has the opportunity to be a leader. If they stop using these chemicals, it can help affect the packaging used by the whole fast-food industry. Safer alternatives are available and in fact, many of the items tested from McDonald’s were PFAS-free. They just have to make a policy to use only PFAS-free packaging.
Until big corporations stop manufacturing these chemicals and the government bans PFAS, more and more people will have their drinking water contaminated just like we have.
Enough is enough!
Will you help me send a message to the CEO of McDonald’s? Tell him to stop using packaging that can contaminate our food and drinking water. Clean, safe food and water is a right, not a privilege. Read more
Brenda Hampton and Mind the StoreCourtland, AL, United States
74,834 supporters
Created Sep 17, 2020
Petition to McDonald's
we don’t need empty promises. We need real change.
I have learned a lot about how animals raised forRead more
ShaRhonda DawsonChicago, IL, United States
310,753 supporters
Created Mar 23, 2018
Petition to Delhi Charter School, Chris Broussard, Nikki Roark, Albert Chistman
As a former teen mom, I know how hard it is to stay in school and graduate on time when you're pregnant or taking care of a new baby. So I was shocked to learn that the Delhi Charter School in Delhi, Louisiana is shaming and suspending pregnant students -- and imposing mandatory pregnancy tests on students who "might" be pregnant.
Students at Delhi Charter School -- which is publicly funded -- who are suspected of being pregnant are forced to take mandatory pregnancy tests. If they refuse, they're told to stay home or transfer. And if they test positive, they're told to stay home or transfer.
This discrimination is illegal. But the administration at Delhi Charter School seems to be more interested in making sure pregnant girls can't get an education than in obeying federal law.
That's why I started this petition to tell the Delhi Charter School administration to stop forcing girls to take pregnancy tests, and to stop shaming and suspending pregnant students and students who refuse to take the tests.
Does this kind of shaming stop teen pregnancies and build stronger, better educated communities? No. I know because I was a teen mom at 17, and now I work with teen moms every day in Boston.
7 years ago, I told teachers and administrators at my high school I was pregnant, thinking they'd want to help me graduate and build a future for myself and my child. Instead, they made me feel ashamed and unwelcome, and made it almost impossible for me to attend classes, jeopardizing my education and my future.
I was lucky enough to be able to transfer and, today, I work with other teen moms to support them in graduating on time and growing into successful adults. But the wonderful young women I work with have to overcome huge obstacles -- 30% of all teen girls who drop out of high school leave because of pregnancy, and 70% of teen girls who give birth end up leaving school.
Advocacy groups and legal experts have already told Delhi Charter School their policy of mandatory pregnancy tests and suspending pregnant students breaks several federal laws because it discriminates against female students -- it also violates the Constitution.
The Delhi Charter School says it "may rethink" the policy, but in the meantime, they can still shame pregnant students. Tell the school to immediately eliminate mandatory pregnancy tests and commit to giving pregnant students the same the same education, in the same place and at the same time, as all other students.Read more
Natasha ViannaCalifornia, United States
125,235 supporters
Created Aug 7, 2012
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