Editorial

We live in surreal times. Columbus’ Mayor pronounces our city safe for immigrants and an area of opportunity for all – on the same day Columbus police corral and mace anti-Trump travel ban demonstrators putting protestors, including children, at risk. Ginther pledges to make Columbus a premier middle-class city at his State of the City address – when at the same time giving away $68 million in tax abatements to wealthy Easton developers.

A city-sponsored review of the city charter pays lip service to the fact that Columbus should finally become more democratic and representative through district elections joining every other major city nationwide – but recommend all district-based candidates run citywide.

Alcohol is a big problem on college campuses and underage drinking is a major slice of the problem. The connection between excessive alcohol consumption and violence and sexual assault is well established.

Ohio State University has its share of student drinking issues, as have most U.S. colleges. When OSU decided to sell beer to students at football games last season, it needed a public relations gimmick to cover over a dubious decision.

So athletic director Gene Smith and his minions came up with the following story line: We'll use some of the beer profits to hire more OSU police officers.

It turns out that the first season of beer peddling netted the athletic department over $1 million. Recently, OSU held a PR fest to announce the hiring of more police with the beer money.  

Last time I checked the OSU athletic department's annual revenue was $167 million and it was turning a tidy profit of $13 million. Smith could put $1 million a year into hiring more police any time he wants to and hardly miss it.

The only section of the New York Times I consistently enjoy is “By the Book.” It is a quick read that offers a glimpse into the reading habits of writers, musicians, and other public figures. When I came to the latest edition with Chelsea Clinton I expected to read a vacuous interview that served no purpose other than to sell a few extra copies of her recent book. But that was not the case. It wasn’t an interview with a writer; it was with a politician.

Healthcare should be about keeping people alive and healthy. Period. It should have nothing to do with business school graduates getting rich or ridiculously large corporations amassing political power. Alas, America’s political elite have no problem with individuals and companies profiting from their constituents’ accidents and general ill health. In fact, they actively assist those entities in their endeavors; the taxes on millionaires and billionaires are inexcusably low, the government is banned by legislation from negotiating for lower drug prices, medical students have to pay exorbitantly high tuition fees, and there has been no movement towards a single-payer program. Unfortunately, those aren’t the only issues. Having a private health insurance system creates problems that directly interfere with the care patients receive.

I gave this letter to DNC Chair Candidate Sam Ronan to give to every DNC candidate. He has promised me that he will deliver it. I am also emailing it to their campaigns.

Greetings,

My name is Bijan Nader Sharifi, I am a former U.S. Army infantryman, first generation Iranian-American, and currently I teach high school art in a juvenile correctional facility. I have been concerned with U.S. policy in the Middle East since my time serving in the Army. I remember watching the events of Sep 11th, 2001 in our company training room on a small television surrounded by 150 other soldiers. We immediately knew after the second plane hit that there would be a war. I remember the conflicted feelings of shame and ethnic pride hitting me in the gut when my platoon sergeant thought out loud “that it was probably the Iranians”. I was relieved to find out that Iran had nothing to do with the attack and that there was a spontaneous candlelight vigil in Tehran that night. Soldiers in my unit unfortunately did not recognize the difference between Arabs and Persians and had not heard of the candlelight vigils all over the Middle East.

Gov. John Kasich, his allies and some media sycophants made great noise during Kasich's failed Presidential campaign that Ohio's governor was the "adult in the room" and the "prince of lightness."

Folks in Ohio wondered who they were talking about. Kasich's hard-ball right-wing politics of rewarding friends and punishing enemies in the Buckeye State was anything but genteel and grown-up.

Now the dust has settled and Kasich's once lofty favorability rating in Ohio has fallen to 50-50. Many state Republicans have turned against him and he breaks even only because some independents and Democrats have come his way because he opposed and refused to vote for Donald Trump.

President Trump has put Kasich in the doghouse by masterminding the defeat of GOP state chair Matt Borges, a Kasich protégé, and replacement with Trumpster Jane Timken.

Kasich's playground has been reduced from 50 states to one, Ohio, and his persuasive powers have been curtailed by term limits that will cause him to leave the governorship in early 2019.

Here is where my dream comes in.

Not that I was getting all that much good sleep before, but I've written off getting much more in the next four years. I've always been a pretty dour person, at least as my external facade, so in some way I'm well equipped for the joy shortage hitting America. It's everyone else I'm worried about, even the Trump voters who aren't open racists. Quite frankly I can't see how anyone smiles or falls in love or achieves transcendence. That part of the Obama administration I took for granted. As much as I have maintained the argument that a capital-dominated elections in a political system designed to suppress real democracy is functionally not that different from a dictatorship, I underestimated the psychological benefit of everyone at least respecting the decorum. The morning of November 9, I was struck with the feeling that this must be how the people in any dictatorship feel. I softened a bit in my defense of one-party socialist states, or at least become more interested in the proposed two-party socialist system that was floating around Yugoslavia back in the day.

The hashtag #DeleteUber has trended amongst the Twitterverse and in doing so has translated into boycott-oriented action on an impressive scale. Thousands have deleted the transportation app Uber and have shared screenshots of their acts of protest on their timelines. This controversy came to fruition on Saturday night in accordance with President Donald J. Trump’s 120-day Refugee Ban and 90-day travelers ban.

January 21st 2017 was a great day for the Ohio Green Party. Greens, DemExiters, and progressive independents from all over the state came together for the first full statewide meeting of the year. Attendees from Bowling Green all the way down to Cincinnati met in Columbus to discuss the growth of the party and a slate of candidates for the 2017-2018 elections.

More than forty people were packed into the private residence at any one time with the party’s diversity being clearly represented. The diversity wasn’t only present in demographics; various politics and philosophies abounded. Individuals identifying as socialists, eco-anarchists, liberals, left libertarians, and more had their voices heard. There was no shutting down of anyone. No-one was deemed too extreme or too moderate to be a part of any discussion, and all policy and campaign ideas were welcomed. The high level of inclusivity ensured that friends were made and regional networks created. Another high point was the very few criticisms of Donald Trump and the total absence of ad hominem attacks. The building was rife with positivity.

President-Elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees are a basket of deplorables. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama is up for Attorney General even though he is well-known as being racist. Ben Carson, nominated to run the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is vehemently anti-intellectual despite his history as a successful neurosurgeon. Betsy DeVos has been selected as the next Education Secretary after advocating for shutting down public schools in favor of for-profit charter establishments. None of those individuals, as well as the rest of Trump’s picks, should be anywhere near positions of power. However, they have the right to a fair, unbiased confirmation process just like all other nominees.