Petition

A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication.

In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some official and signed by numerous individuals. A petition may be oral rather than written, and in this era may be transmitted via the Internet.

Legal

Petition can also be the title of a legal pleading that initiates a legal case. The initial pleading in a civil lawsuit that seeks only money (damages) might be called (in most U.S. courts) a complaint. An initial pleading in a lawsuit that seeks non-monetary or "equitable" relief, such as a request for a writ of mandamus or habeas corpus, custody of a child, or probate of a will, is instead called a petition.

Early history

In pre-modern Imperial China petitions were always sent to an Office of Transmission (Tongzheng si or 通政司) where court secretaries read petitions aloud to the emperor. Petitions could be sent by anybody, from a scholar-official to a common farmer, although the petitions were more likely read to the emperor if they were persuasive enough to impeach questionable and corrupt local officials from office. When petitions arrived to the throne, multiple copies were made of the original and stored with the Office of Supervising Secretaries before the original written petition was sent to the emperor.

Cenk Uygur

Cenk Kadir Uygur (/ˈdʒɛŋk ˈjuːɡər/, Turkish pronunciation: [ˈdʒɛɲc ˈujɡur]; born March 21, 1970) is an American columnist, political commentator and activist. Uygur is the main host and co-founder of the American liberal/progressive political and social internet commentary program, The Young Turks (TYT) and the co-founder of the associated TYT Network. He worked as an attorney in Washington, D.C. and New York before beginning his career as a political commentator. As a young man, Uygur espoused socially conservative views, criticizing feminism, abortion, and affirmative action. He is now a progressive.

In addition to hosting TYT, Uygur appeared on MSNBC as a political commentator in 2010, later hosting a weeknight commentary show on the channel for nearly six months until being replaced by Al Sharpton. Shortly after leaving MSNBC, Uygur secured a show on Current TV that aired from December 5, 2011 to August 15, 2013. Uygur was from 2012 to 2013 the chief news officer of Current TV, succeeding Keith Olbermann following his departure from the cable television network until Current was acquired by Al Jazeera Media Network.

Ana Kasparian

Anahit Misak Kasparian (Armenian: Անահիտ Միսաք Գասպարեան, pronounced [ɑnɑˈhid miˈsɑkʰ kʰɑsbɑˈɾjɑn]; born July 7 1986) is an American political pundit and the co-host and producer for the online news show The Young Turks. Kasparian began working as a fill-in producer for The Young Turks in 2007, and is now co-host of the main show and host of The Point on the TYT Network. She also appeared on the TV version of the show that aired on Current TV.

Biography

Born in Los Angeles, California, Kasparian is the daughter of Armenian immigrant parents and was raised in the Reseda community of the San Fernando Valley. Kasparian graduated from Valley Alternative Magnet High School of Van Nuys in 2004 and California State University, Northridge (CSUN) in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts, Journalism (BAJ).

Kasparian was an assistant producer with CBS Radio news stations in Los Angeles, first with KFWB and then KNX. She has also worked with AOL News, YouTube, TidalTv and On Point. After becoming a fill-in host in April 2007, Kasparian became the producer and co-host with Cenk Uygur of the progressive talk radio on Sirius XM Satellite Radio and internet show/TV show The Young Turks. Kasparian says that young people are interested in news, but "they see network anchors as simply folks who read tele-prompters." She co-hosted TYT University, a show focused on issues faced by university students for some years, and now hosts another TYT Network show, The Point. Kasparian is an agnostic atheist.

Electoral college

An electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations, political parties, or entities, with each organization, political party or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way. Many times, though, the electors are simply important people whose wisdom would ideally provide a better choice than a larger body. The system can ignore the wishes of a general membership.

Origins of electoral colleges

Early Germanic law stated that the German king led only with the support of his nobles. Thus, Pelayo needed to be elected by his Visigothic nobles before becoming king of Asturias, and so did Pepin the Short by Frankish nobles in order to become the first Carolingian king. While most other Germanic nations had developed a strictly hereditary system by the end of the first millennium, the Holy Roman Empire did not, and the King of the Romans, who would become Holy Roman Emperor or at least Emperor-elect, was selected by the college of prince-electors from the late Middle Ages until 1806 (the last election took place in 1792).

Mark Dice

Mark Shouldice, known professionally as Mark Dice, is an American author and conspiracy theorist based in San Diego, California, who argues that the New World Order secret societies, such as the Illuminati, Bilderberg Group, Skull and Bones and Bohemian Grove, direct human affairs and global politics, particularly those of the United States.

Career

In 2005 Dice wrote The Resistance Manifesto, a book on Illuminati and New World Order conspiracy theories, and quickly gained popularity amongst the Internet conspiracy community. In May 2009 he published The Illuminati: Facts & Fiction discussing the possibility of an Illuminati secret society, and continued writing books on secret societies, conspiracies, and government surveillance issues.

Dice has produced various YouTube videos that have gone viral and have received millions of views and have earned him mentions on ABC's The View, The Fox News Channel, Conan O'Brien, and other shows. In 2010, he shipped a box of garbage to Glenn Beck at the Fox News Channel for what he considered disrespect of the 9/11 truth movement. More recently, Dice produced a series of YouTube videos where he attempts to get random people to sign satirical petitions, such as repealing the Bill of Rights "for Obama" and granting Obama immunity for any and all crimes he commits while in office. The videos have received national attention.