Make Texting & Driving a Primary Offense in Florida Now!

Please sign our petition to make texting and driving a primary offense in the state of Florida. Together, we can influence Florida legislation to save more lives and make our roads a safer place for everyone.

On November 7th, 2014, a distracted driver killed my son, Anthony Branca. Anthony was only 19 years old. He was killed because someone else chose to make driving less than important. In an instant, Anthony was gone.

• Distracted driving is the leading cause of death among teenagers (surpassing drunk driving) and the numbers are trending upward.
• Distracted driving crashes made up more than 12 percent of all crashes in Florida in 2015.
• Drivers text-messaging or visibly manipulating handheld devices increased from 1.7% in 2013 to 2.2% in 2014.

Currently, it is only a secondary offense to text & drive in the state of Florida. Meaning, you must be doing something else illegal (like speeding or running a red light) for a law enforcement officer to pull you over for texting & driving.

We need help from our elected officials to enact a primary offense law that prevents senseless road tragedies from occurring to other families. 

The Anthony Phoenix Branca Foundation was created in memory of Anthony. We’re starting a revolution to end distracted driving… We’re waging war and building a #BandanaArmy of citizens to help us end distracted driving, #BecauseAnthony. Join the fight, visit our website.

US Climate Heroes: Bypass Trump!

Let’s encourange these climate champions to lead!

One man could destroy our future in 34 days. Yep, Donald Trump.

He doesn’t even need the nuclear codes — he just needs to keep his promise to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, and have massive polluters like India or Russia follow suit!

But we’ve got a silver bullet: bypass Trump.

New York, California and Google have raised their climate ambitions after Trump’s election — if we get them to build a coalition of US cities, states and businesses to collectively meet the US climate target, the Paris agreement can hold. Let’s send a million voices directly to their doorsteps! Click here!

Stop Australia’s epically stupid plan!

They’re trying to put a toxic coal complex next to the magical Great Barrier Reef! It’s a crazy plan, but we’ve got a chance to stop it.

The Australian government wants to give $1 billion to build a massive coal complex that could destroy the sea floor home of turtles and tropical fish. But first an independent panel must approve the loan, and they’ve never come under public pressure.

It’s time to make them feel the heat. Let’s put this reef-killing deal in a global spotlight with a million person petition and a massive campaign in the Australian media — add your name.

DOJ: Investigate the recent string of attacks on Planned Parenthood clinics as domestic terrorism!

Planned Parenthood clinics attacked

DOJ: Investigate the recent string of attacks on Planned Parenthood clinics as domestic terrorism!

On Friday, a heavily armed man, who appears to be a conservative extremist, opened fire in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing three people and injuring nine others.¹

This deadly assault is not an aberration.²

Since August, anti-abortion extremists, among them congressional Republicans, have used deceptively edited, secretly recorded videos to launch a full-scale attack on Planned Parenthood. In that time, there have also been at least five other reported attacks against Planned Parenthood clinics.³ The FBI has been warning about increased attacks on reproductive health care facilities since September.⁴

Congressional Republicans, whose false, incendiary rhetoric demonizes Planned Parenthood doctors and patients, have done nothing about these attacks while continuing to attack women’s health care. It’s time for the Department of Justice to step in.

Tell the Department of Justice: Investigate attacks on Planned Parenthood clinics for what they are — domestic terrorism.

There is a long history of violence against reproductive health care providers, especially those who perform abortions, by fanatics who want to intimidate women and close clinics, including at least 42 bombings, 182 arsons, 99 attempted bombings and arsons and 662 bomb threats between 1977 and 2014.⁵

This violence is a result of extreme right-wing rhetoric that shames and patronizes women, lies about health care providers and positions politicians as the arbiters of women’s decisions about their bodies and their lives.

The despicable attacks on Planned Parenthood are not just acts of hatred but of domestic terrorism, meant to injure, harass and intimidate women, their families and their health care providers — and the Department of Justice should treat them as such. That’s why we’re joining with our friends at NARAL, Courage Campaign and UltraViolet to demand an investigation now.

Click here to tell the Department of Justice: Investigate Planned Parenthood attacks as domestic terrorism.

Thanks for standing up for women.

References:

1. “Gunman kills officer, two others at Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado,” Sandhya Somashekhar, Lindsey Bever and Jerry Markon, Washington Post, 11/27/2015.
2. “Planned Parenthood Shooting Suspect Made Comment About ‘No More Baby Parts’: Sources,” Pete Williams and Andrew Blankstein, NBCNews.com, 11/28/2015.
3. “Four Arsons in 74 Days at Planned Parenthood Clinics,” Bill Morlin, Southern Poverty Law Center, 10/2/2015.
4. “FBI warns of threat to reproductive health care facilities,” CBSnews.com, 9/18/2015.
5. National Abortion Federation Violence and Disruption Statistics

Protect The Great Barrier Reef!

The Great Barrier Reef is threatened by the world’s largest coal port expansion — and we have just 48 hours to make our voices heard to stop this travesty.

Right now, companies and investors from around the world have their eye on Australia, with dangerous plans to double Australian coal exports and triple carbon emissions over the coming years. These plans will lead us straight to climate catastrophe.

But there’s still hope: Expressing deep concern about these plans, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has threatened to place the Great Barrier Reef on its ‘in danger’ list, which would place significant pressure on the Australian Government to stop these ports from being built. This month, the committee will vote on whether to continue this pressure. And we need your help to make sure they make the right decision.

We know that this decision matters. The Australian Government doesn’t want to be shamed over its treatment of one the world’s most precious natural icons. And potential investors in the coal port expansion have directly cited UNESCO’s concerns as reasons for not financing this project.

To date, UNESCO has done everything it can to stand up for the Reef, and in turn our climate. But the Australian Government, and the coal industry, will be putting significant pressure on them to back down. That’s why we need to show UNESCO that we support their efforts.

Our best chance of stopping this dangerous plan from moving forward is to create a global chorus of voices joining together to urge UNESCO to protect the reef and our climate.

Add your voice to this combined global call to action, and our friends at the World Wildlife Fund for Nature will make sure your voice is delivered to delegates in Doha.

The signature numbers on this page represent the combined total between 350.org and WWF’s Younesco campaign.

SAVE OUR SHARKS!

Reject the Western Australian Government’s proposal to continue the shark cull for the next three years.

This petition will be delivered to:

Australian Commonwealth Department of Environment, The Hon Greg Hunt MP, Australian Commonwealth Department of Environment, Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham

Petition by Hannah Fraser, Ocean Shores, Australia

I ask the Commonwealth Department of Environment to reject the Western Australia Government’s proposal to continue the shark cull for the next three years.

The intended slaughter of 1,000 sharks off the South West coast of Australia is going to do more harm than good.  Sharks play a vital role in the marine ecosystem, keeping it in balance and healthy.  Scientists have articulated the belief that this cull is damaging to the environment but the WA Government has not listened.  White Sharks, Whaler Sharks and Grey Nurse Sharks have been protected for a reason.  So is giving people a false sense of safety worth the killing?  Sharks are more aware, more intelligent and more interactive that I ever expected. After learning their behaviour, I don’t find them to be so threatening and scary, yet I don’t underestimate the danger represented by being in the ocean with one of the world biggest apex predators.  After swimming with them on the ocean floor with no dive gear or protection I realized they are not interested in us as food, but as curiosities to interact with.

Decrease in large predatory sharks and other endangered species as by-catch means an increase of the species that they prey on.  As large sharks decrease, rays, skates and small sharks will increase.  This then means that the prey of these smaller animals will also decrease in numbers.  This imbalance of the ecosystem then trickles down through the food chain, through every trophic level, which then effects local fisheries and communities that depend on a healthy and functional ocean to survive.  Since the large sharks aren’t present in order to keep the ecosystem in check, a healthy ecosystem will not be maintained.  At the rate that sharks are being slaughtered around the world, we can’t afford another 1,000 sharks to die.

Not only is this cull immoral, it is also illogical, with many problems that the WA Government is trying to play off as “successes.”  Great White sharks are suspected to be responsible for many fatal shark bites yet not a single great white was caught in the drum lines while tiger sharks make up 95% of the sharks that were caught when they have no history of fatal bites since 1929.  The slaughter of any shark is cruel, but if the intention of the WA Government is public safety, this cull doesn’t make sense since it doesn’t successfully target the sharks that are responsible for fatal bites.

The WA Government claims that this cull was successful because it has made the public feel safer in the water but this claim is not supported by any surveys or evidence that this is the true public opinion.  When there are so many Australians and beach-goers protesting along with scientists and people all over the world, it is hard to believe that the government is actually articulating the true opinions of its people.

Please consider the cost of losing these beautiful animals.  My awe, respect and wariness will never go away when meeting these magnificent creatures, but the unnecessary fear has washed away in an ocean of appreciation for how amazing, interactive and important sharks are and that is exactly why this cull cannot continue.

To see amazing video of humans interacting with Tiger sharks peacefully please watch : https://vimeo.com/97732688

Related articles

• Tears of a Mermaid – On Location: “Tigress” Tiger Shark Shoot Documentary (becomempowered.wordpress.com)
• Tigress Shark – Woman Dances with Tiger Sharks (becomempowered.wordpress.com)

Monsanto: Withdraw your Roundup herbicide from the market, before it’s too late for the monarch butterflies.

Our monarch butterflies are vanishing — and all signs point to Monsanto as the main culprit.

Major press outlets worldwide reported earlier this month that the butterflies are in “grave danger”. Their population has reached the lowest numbers ever recorded. Now, an independent study has linked the monarch’s decline with Monsanto’s Roundup pesticide.

This corporate giant knows what it’s doing. But Monsanto says we should balance the butterfly’s survival with what it calls “productive agriculture” (read: Monsanto’s bottom line). We need to fight this now, before it’s too late for the butterflies.

Tell Monsanto to pull its butterfly-killing herbicide before it’s too late.

The annual mass migration of 60 million monarchs from Canada to Mexico is one of the most beautiful phenomena in the natural world. But it’s now on the verge of being a relic of history, and a key link in our food chain is under threat.

The monarch butterfly is in a serious, decades-long decline. The WWF has reported that this winter, the monarchs are only occupying an area of 1.7 acres in Mexico, down from 45 acres in 1996. An evolutionary strategy based on eating a common weed seemed smart — until Monsanto came along. Just one state along the monarchs’ migration route, Iowa, is reported to have lost 98 percent of its milkweed.

Monsanto products like Roundup dominate the agricultural market worldwide. This corporate giant sells matching genetically-engineered plants resistant to its pesticides — and encourages factory farms to douse fields with gallons of Monsanto’s herbicides.

But sprayed over vast areas, these poisons effect the entire ecosystem. Monsanto’s Roundup is also wiping out the monarchs’ primary food source — a plant called milkweed. Scientists have linked the monarch’s rapid population decline to the spread of Monsanto’s pesticides. Losing these butterflies means wiping out insects, birds and small mammals that rely on the monarch and its place in the food chain.

Tell Monsanto to save the monarchs by pulling its ecosystem-threatening herbicide.

Every second we wait is another second closer to the monarch’s extinction. We helped wake up the world to the danger of Bayer’s pesticides on the bees. Now let’s harness that awareness to save the monarchs from Monsanto!

**********
More information:

Slate: The Missing Monarch, 30 January, 2014

Reject Agent Orange-Resistant GMO Crops

Will you sign this petition? Click here!

PETITION BACKGROUND

Do you want to eat crops that have been doused with a component of Agent Orange?

The USDA just began accepting public comments on a plan allowing farmers to plant 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) resistant corn and soy and we only have a few weeks to tell them to reject it. Not only does the plan allow farmers to plant these crops wherever they please without any government oversight, but USDA predictably downplays any and all impacts.

2,4-D is a toxic herbicide associated with serious health impacts. Dow AgroScience created these 2,4-D resistant crops so farmers could spray it without killing their corn and soy. But when the same herbicide is sprayed on a field repeatedly, a few naturally resistant weeds survive, reproduce and eventually take over. Because farmers did this with Monsanto’s Roundup-resistant crops, fields across the U.S. are now chocked with Roundup-resistant weeds. Industry’s solution is to genetically engineer crops to resist a different, more toxic herbicide, to kill those resistant weeds.

But make no mistake, these GMO crops will, like their predecessors, lead to much greater use of even more dangerous chemicals, the development of more herbicide-resistant weeds, destruction and genetic contamination of neighboring crops, and severe economic impacts on other farmers.

Please tell the USDA to look at the effects of high 2,4-D use and growing GMO crops on people, plants and wildlife before approving use of these crops. USDA must do a thorough environmental review of these potential threats before allowing these crops to go to market.

Will you sign this petition? Click here!

Paedophile’s dream, child’s nightmare

Perverts are directing porn films, live, with girls as young as 6 on the other side of the world. So far they’ve got away with it, leaving the girls struggling to recover from the horror, but if enough of us act today, we can stop this new abuse of the internet. 

An estimated 750,000 pedophiles are online, but only six men have so far been convicted of paying young people to perform sex acts in front of webcams. Incredible investigative research has lifted the lid on this emerging vile practice, and shown the devastating psychological trauma it inflicts on young minds.

The research and media attention won’t be enough. But if we now call on police and child protection authorities to crack down on the webcam predators, we can ensure that people trying this know they may be caught. Stand with the young victims, to prevent more of them.

To see a video about the new method being used to catch pedophiles, go to the post Watch What This Make-Believe Girl Means To 1,000 Sexual Predators.

This method could bring to justice 100,000 pedophiles a year!

Watch What This Make-Believe Girl Means To 1,000 Sexual Predators

Click here to stop webcam child sex tourism!

Video found on Upworthy.com.
Article written by Ray Flores.