Local

The Ohio Immigrant Alliance (OIA) is hosting its first ever Family Reunion and Fundraiser on November 15 at Chez Rama from 4-7pm (3669 E. Livingston Ave. in Columbus), a popular Senegalese restaurant. The entire community is invited! 

Performer: Habi Gawlo, renowned West African griot and Columbus resident. Find additional examples of Habi’s beautiful performances on OIA’s TikTok page, from Pulaagam: A Celebration of Fulani Heritage. Reunion attendees will be invited to participate in the juurgal and should bring dollar bills.

From Democratic Socialists of America:

Union Starbucks workers across the country are launching a nationwide strike today, Thursday, November 13. More than a year after the company stopped bargaining in good faith, stonewalling any progress at the table, Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) members in 19 cities across 14 states will go on the picket lines at Red Cup Rallies. The SBWU strike will keep going until the company comes to the table.

The Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) is a community of sustainable and organic farmers, handlers, producers, and consumers across the U.S. The challenges faced by those in our network are unique to diversified and usually small- or mid-scale farms that provide healthy food to their communities. 

The government shutdown, tariff negotiations, staffing changes at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and other recent events have specific implications for these farms and the local communities that benefit from their products. We have been actively connecting with individuals who want to share their stories to uplift some of the experiences of those in our community.

I sawTariq Ali while watching Democracy Now. Tariq is a British Pakistani intellectual who was discussing Palestine. Tariq Ali shouldn’t be confused with Al Tariq of the Beatnuts.

Are You Ready?

The Rolling Stones wrote Street Fighting Man about Tariq Ali in the late 60’s. Street Fighting Man’s lyrics discuss social revolution against authoritarianism during economic, social oppression and the Vietnam War.

One of my ideas around my ANONROCKNROLL radio show is an idea that Rock N Roll was the soundtrack for Black Panthers, Weathermen, and 70’s leftist social revolution. I applied our reverence for the term Hip Hop determining Rock N Roll is proto-Hip Hop if you respect Panthers and reject COINTELPRO.

I decided I should read Tariq Ali because a left-wing culture was consistent with bands like Turnstile, Clairo, El-Michels Affair, Earl Sweatshirt and Badbadnotgood’s support of Palestine. El Michels Affair, and Badbadnotgood specialize in returning sampling into musicians by studying sampling. I suspect Earl Sweatshirt would like both Tariq Ali and Al Tariq’s debut,the Beatnuts Intoxicated Demons EP.

The DSA’s grassroots is music.

Buckeye Environmental Network (BEN), represented by Earthjustice, has filed a lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and its Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management for unlawfully approving two new Class II oil and gas waste injection wells proposed by DeepRock Disposal Solutions, LLC near Marietta.

The suit, filed in the Tenth District Court of Appeals, challenges ODNR’s approval of the Stephan #1 and American Growers #4 wells. The lawsuit argues that ODNR issued these permits using outdated, less protective rules that no longer meet current legal or scientific standards. Both wells would inject millions of gallons of toxic and radioactive oil and gas waste into underground formations less than two miles from Marietta’s public drinking water source.

Congress is on the verge of passing legislation that will devastate access to life-saving hemp products for over 40 million Americans - including veterans, seniors, children with epilepsy and autism, and countless others who rely on hemp-derived cannabinoids for their health and well-being.

Buried deep in the federal spending bill is language that would ban nearly all hemp-derived THC products, including non-intoxicating CBD items that contain even trace amounts of THC.

The bill redefines hemp so narrowly that even full-spectrum CBD products will become illegal, banning any product with more than 0.4 milligrams of total THC per container, a threshold so low it would eliminate nearly every hemp-derived product currently on the market.

This reckless move would:

This is a public health crisis in the making.

We must act NOW.

Abstract

Surveys. You see them online from the City of Columbus Department of Development and the Columbus City Schools (CCS). They take a few minutes to finish and afterwards you might have a nice warm feeling of accomplishment. You took the time to share your opinion and those in power will listen to you and act upon it… Right? Not a chance.

Those surveys are not for you.

Those surveys are for the people who write them so that they can tell their supervisors that they asked for public input; and therefore have permission to do whatever they want afterwards.

Phase One of Zone In (AKA the corporate takeover of Columbus) collected surveys from citizens worried about the future of the city. Those surveys were ignored, and in the end, the wealthy developers got EVERYTHING THEY DEMANDED. Again, the survey allowed city government to pretend that they care about the people who pay taxes.

Not to be left behind, CCS published a survey for the public and in true form ignored any of the real problems that the district faces in the future. Their ONE AND ONLY SOLUTION to the budget problem is to cut school busing and maybe sell a few unused schools.

The Columbus Free Press celebrated our 55th anniversary last Saturday, November 8 and honored five community activists, plus one outstanding community organization.

Watch video here

The event was the November Salon and Annual Awards ceremony at the First Unitarian Universalist Church. Dan Dougan served as master of ceremonies.

Any time a public official makes an on-the-record pronouncement to the press, it represents an official statement. If a military man makes a false official statement, it represents a court martial offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Fourth Commandant of The Marine Corps – Colonel Anthony Gale – was convicted by a court martial and cashiered for making just such a statement. The current commandant – General Eric Smith – should suffer similar censure for committing the same offense.

On January 15 of this year, General Smith looked members of the Pentagon press corps in the eye and told them that the Marine Corps had never signed on to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. This was a blatant falsehood. As he was speaking, his staff was frantically disestablishing the Corps' extensive DEI infrastructure and purging its websites of DEI related material. Including its personnel guidance contained in Talent Management 2030 which included the words "reinforcing diversity, promoting equity, and encouraging a culture of inclusion."