Private prisons profit on human trafficking and misery. We don't want our pension involved in that industry.

They are dangerous to people, animals, plants and the planet. "Flamethrowers, given up by the military, are now being sold to the public" http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/13/smallbusiness/flamethrowers-public-sale/index.html

Our Government shouldn't be bought.

Whereas, Arlington County prides itself on diversity and a welcoming attitude toward all ethnic groups, and *Arlington County, where Freedmans Village was located, was the destination for African Americans liberated by President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War, and *African American soldiers were trained at Camp Casey in Arlington County to fight to end slavery and to preserve the United States, and *Arlington County was never part of the Confederacy, and *Confederate President Jefferson Davis sought to perpetuate the enslavement of African Americans, and has no personal relationship to Arlington County, We, the undersigned, consider continued use of the name Jefferson Davis in connection with Route 1 and Route 110 not only to have no relevance to Arlington County, but also to be a symbol viewed by many as racist, similar to flying the Confederate flag, and therefore petition the Arlington County Board to take appropriate steps to initiate the removal of the name Jefferson Davis from those roadways. For information about Jefferson Davis Highway from the Department of Transportation: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/jdavis.cfm For more information on Camp Casey: https://consortiumnews.com/2015/02/26/the-mystery-of-the-civil-wars-camp-casey/ See also, "Lynching and Jeff Davis Highway:" https://consortiumnews.com/2015/02/12/lynching-and-jeff-davis-highway/

Remember the shocking revelation that the Bush White House let 140 Saudis fly out of the country in the days immediately after the 9/11 attacks, even though it claimed 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis? One of these flights had two dozen bin Laden family members on board and another had elite Saudi royals including Prince Ahmed bin Salman, a reported intermediary between Al Qaeda and the House of Saud. Then, causing great concern to high-ranking members of the Congressional Joint Intelligence Committee which in 2002 produced the first investigative report of the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration blacked out 28 full pages that document members of the Saudi royal family as the principle financiers of the Sept. 11 attacks. Despite promising 9/11 family members that he would release them, President Obama has so far maintained the suppression of these 28 pages. Former Senator Bob Graham, who co-chaired the Joint Intelligence Committees' investigation, has said that the 28 pages “primarily relate to who financed 9/11 and they point a very strong finger at Saudi Arabia as being the principal financier.” Graham has also said that the 28 Pages reveal the Saudi funding came primarily through the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C. The Saudi Arabian Ambassador at the time was Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the very same Bandar nicknamed “Bandar Bush” by George W. because of his longstanding close affiliations with the Bush family. In addition to Graham, both co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission and even former CIA Directors have called for their release. All of the members of Congress who have read the 28 pages are saying that releasing them would not compromise national security. Quite the opposite. On June 2, Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) went so far as to say that the 28 pages contain the "best intelligence" we have for preventing another 9/11. Senator Graham has said the U.S. government’s shielding of Saudi Arabia’s role in funding extremism helped pave the way for the rise of ISIS. The content of the pages is so shocking that Massie has also stated: “I had to stop every couple of pages and … try to rearrange my understanding of history … It challenges you to rethink everything.” On June 2, 2015, Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced a Senate bill, the Transparency for Families of 9/11 Victims and Survivors Act of 2015 (S.B. 1471) – the companion bill to bi-partisan House Resolution 14 (H.RES.14). S.B. 1471 mandates the immediate declassification and release of the 28 Pages. We need your help to get a filibuster-proof majority of Senators to read the pages and become co-sponsors. Over 70 percent of the 400 questions compiled by the 9/11 Families Steering Committee for the 9/11 Commission -- many on the U.S.-Saudi relationship -- were never answered, and now the Supreme Court has allowed the 9/11 victims’ families to sue the Saudis in federal court. They need your help to get the 28 Pages finally released.

This will give a good chance to Africans to better they life and get a training that will help them with the new technology, jobs

Tunisia is the latest example of a nation using truth and reconciliation to address past horrors, specifically torture. The United States has not put an end to torture, to lawless imprisonment, to warrantless spying, or to any of the other criminal elements of its aggressive warmaking, which continues ever more free from even the pretense of adherence to law.

Global justice requires global participation. Partial and biased justice damages the cause of establishing the rule of law and the nonviolent settlement of disputes. To succeed, the ICC must include all nations and treat all crimes equally regardless of where committed or by whom. Here is the list of which countries are members: http://bit.ly/1IDMGbe

Every year, our park is closed to the public for Austin City Limits Music Festival and other events, which affect the citizens of Austin who use this park as a place to exercise. Please consider moving these events to locations that can handle this type of traffic and parking, as it's a nuisance to people who live in these neighborhoods and people who live in this city, as it blocks traffic and destroys the parks due to foot traffic (uproooting of the grass).

For the last 3 decades, many Americans whether they are regular patients, injured workers or veterans are being denied access to real medical care and other benefits. This effects the poorer folks, the elderly, minorities, the disabled & the sick. Under the Affordable Care Act, this was to stop. It has not. The conditions to deny are worse.Why? Because the insurance industry has impunity against its many humane rights abuses which include denial and refusal of the proper medical care, paying for the wrong care & "care" that will make a patient medical condition worse which will create more injuries or illnesses. such as injecting patients with unknown drugs that not only make the condition worse but actually harms the patient immeasurable for life, preventing them from ever working again. Patients that try to fight back in getting the right care or speaking against the denial or refusal of medical care are retaliated against. One way is to have them under constant and illegal surveillance, in many cases, years of surveillance even by local or top law enforcement such as the FBI. Surveillance that involves stalking the patient while out in public and public or private business and while in vehicles with GPS monitoring and causing car accidents, phone tapping, computer hacking, breaking & entering a patient's home or other owned properties. The police break into patients homes under guise that there are illegal drugs in the home. Private investigators are hired to go into churches to spy on ill or injured patients. There is also the theft of U.S.mail evidence that could prove to win against the insurers. Patients are now claiming that they are afraid of their medications and their food being tampered with. Patients or family members who try and speak out for themselves or their families have been stopped by police, looking for "drugs" and or arrested with no charge. Then there are the insurance doctors reports that are falsely altering medical reports and these same doctors will then deem these patients as mental cases. Now it is happening to our veterans, those who are coming came back from the wars in the Mideast. After listening to patients and injured workers for many years, it has become quite clear that being injured or ill makes one a target of inhumane treatment which includes not getting their right medical care treatment or any other benefit. The SSA & Medicare (tax payer money) should not be the only insurance companies to pick up the tab for insurers who continue to ultimately deny any rightful and owed benefits. This has to stop! AND the only way is for our leadership in our Washington D.C. leadership should hold the insurance cartel/monopoly fully accountable with enforcement of the laws that guarantee us our civil, constitutional & human rights. No insurer should have impunity or immunity that results in the delays and denials for the right to receive medical treatment and benefits or in the targeting with inhumane AND illegal practices on those of whom are the most vulnerable, the sick and injured.

More than three months on, the carnage and devastation in Yemen continues. A scenario of escalating violence contained by a seige blocking food, water and medicine from reaching the people of Yemen, is now being referred to as a 'civil' war. However, the forces at play in Yemen could surely have sorted out their poltical differences without destroying the country, and murdering thousands of civilians. It is time to demand that international institutions do their job! If Saudi Arabia is violating international law, and the United States is acting in a perceived self interest that is distorted and unethical, then we must demand that international institutions stand for justice and peace. That is what they were created for, and they won't be able to serve that purpose until the people of the world demand it. Given that: * Over 600 people (updated) mostly civilian, including 93 children, have been killed by the bombing campaign in Yemen, and 100s more injured so far; * More than 100,000 people have been displaced by the bombing and fighting in major cities of Yemen; * There has been major destruction of the physical infrastructure by the bombing in Yemen since the beginning of the Saudi Campaign a couple of weeks ago; * The United States has regularly bombed Yemeni communities with drones, killing civilians, destroying infrastructure and raining terror on the people for more than 10 years, setting a very bad precedent; * Saudi Arabia has bombed the Houthi homelands in northern Yemen repeatedly over the last decade; * Saudi Arabia has fought 6 wars for control of Yemen over the last 60 years; and Given that: * Prior to the bombing campaign there was indeed conflict in Yemen but the Houthis have not engaged in attacks on civilians and the destruction of homes, farms, factories, fuel supplies, and other infrastructure; * The Houthis have been the only force on the ground mounting a successful resistence to AQAP (al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula); * Since the Saudi bombing began, AQAP has reemerged in Yemen and mounted devastating attacks against the people of Yemen, in concert with and enabled by the escalating Saudi campaign; and Given that: * The Houthis have participated in the political structure to the best of their ability over the last several years; * According to international experts, the Houthis do not receive significant aid from Iran and are not in any way representing Iran in their struggle to be included in the social and political power structure of their country; * The Saudis' target, the Houthis, are a legitimate political actor in Yemen; * This campaign is an intrusion into the internal politics of Yemen; * The Saudi Campaign against Yemen constitutes a Crime Against Peace and the site of numerous War Crimes; It is paramount that the United Nations Security Council act on behalf of the oppressed people of Yemen to put an end to Saudi aggression against them so that they can have the opportunity to find their way to a political reconciliation and have the opportunity to live and develop the potential of the sovereign nation of Yemen independent of outside influence.

Palestine is under brutal occupation, with thousands of their citizens being killed every year. The U.S. protects the security of those who oppress them; it needs to protect Palestinian security, also.