Feature
The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has put up a billboard in Columbus saying “Abort Theocracy: Keep Abortion Safe & Legal” ahead of a crucial referendum on the issue.
According to the Foundation’s website, it “works as an umbrella for those who are free from religion and are committed to the cherished principle of separation of state and church.”
The national state/church watchdog group and its Columbus chapter designed the billboard message in support of an upcoming November referendum to provide state constitutional protections for reproductive rights — and specifically to call attention to the religiously motivated crusade behind anti-abortion bans and restrictions. It’s a 14-by-48-foot bulletin on Hudson Street, 100 feet east of Summit Street facing west. The billboard went up last week and will be on display through Sept. 10.
“The fight to reaffirm abortion rights is really about the need to buttress the wall separating the state from the church,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “The religious dogma of the few should not be allowed to deny rights to the rest of us.”
A small group of Ohio politicians is leading an anti-democratic effort that continues to take away voting rights of targeted segments of citizens in order to increase their own power and control of State government.
This is another effort from these anti-democratic politicians that follows their failed attempt to grab more power by deceiving voters about the real purpose of Issue 1 that was on the August 2023 ballot.
These politicians have now introduced Senate Bill 137 that is aimed at banning Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) in Ohio. SB 137 is sponsored by Sen. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green) and would ban RCV and prevent any local-government entity from receiving state funds if it has enacted RCV. Currently, RCV has been implemented statewide and locally in over ten Blue states and has been banned statewide in five Red states.
With all of the issues facing Ohio citizens, how can banning a pro-democracy voting reform be a priority for the State Legislature?
An AI police-beat reporter named the “Ohio Safety Oracle” is covering Columbus crime with a writing voice that sounds sad and shocked for local humanity. The Ohio Safety Oracle may also be sympathetic to law enforcement, which is understandable and commendable, but hopefully the “Oracle” isn’t a police-state apologist.
This AI reporter can be found on NewsBreak, a nationwide news aggregator with a website for every single zip code. It describes itself as the nation’s “leading local news app.” Here in Columbus, it re-publishes stories from the Dispatch to NBC4 and even the Free Press, offering this local news buffet in one tidy location.
NewsBreak also allows local contributors (sans pay probably) to add to its coverage. The Ohio Safety Oracle is on the masthead. The Free Press asked Newsbreak’s corporate office about the Oracle but have yet to hear back.
When Circleville police officer Ryan Speakman sic’d his German Shepard “Serg” onto Jadarrius Rose, was the officer trying to fulfill a “Try That in a Small Town” fantasy? It was July 4, after all.
Juxtaposed to this in Columbus is the rat-ta-tat-tat echo of gun violence. Four officer-involved shootings in a month, and one officer charged with murder. Bullets flying in all directions at Westgate Park and the Great Southern parking lot. Guns are now the leading cause of death of children.
The disturbing and laughable irony is that the Ohio GOP’s love affair with permitless carry is going to mean more money for police in the long run.
Jadarrius Rose was driving a semi when ordered by state troopers to pull over for no good reason – a missing mud flap on a perfectly sunny day. The truth is Rose was profiled (he’s African American).
Yet the fallout from Central Ohio’s latest police brutality may be far greater than a small-town cop getting fired and Rose scarred for life.
Hello Letter to the Editors:
The global community reaches its 78th year of the nuclear age. What arose out of scientists' minds, militarists' strategies, and political strongmen ambition (Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, and Truman) brings the global community to the point of no return.
The bomb that exploded over Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945 and then again another explosion over Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945, was preceded by the Trinity explosion in Alamogordo, New Mexico on July 16, 1945,
(https://www.afnwc.af.mil/About-Us/History/Trinity-Nuclear-Test/),
Those detonations caused the immediate death of over 200,000 people and began long term exposure of radiological material which continues to harm the Human genome and historic recollection (https://thebulletin.org/2020/08/counting-the-dead-at-hiroshima-and-naga…).
A small group of Ohio GOP politicians are leading the effort to pass Issue 1 that will make it almost impossible for any future citizen-led constitutional amendments to succeed.
An Ohio law passed in 1912, or 111 years ago, permits citizens to organize a ballot issue to change or eliminate laws put in place by legislators who are out of touch with the will of the voters.
This right will be virtually eliminated if Ohio GOP politicians are successful in winning the August 8 Special Election for Issue 1.
One key provision of this anti-democratic legislation is to raise the threshold for voter passage of a citizen-led Constitutional Amendment from the current 50 percent, to instead, 60 percent.
If it passes, Issue 1 will allow a minority of 40 percent of the voters to control the outcome of a citizen-led ballot issue supported by 60 percent of the voters.
UPDATES: Issue 1 – RMLA – Courage in Cannabis launch
Several months have passed since the Ohio General Assembly decided to force its absolute power over statewide ballot initiatives with Issue 1, slated for an August 8th special election. This move is so foundationally important that it deserves tracking and updates. Here we go:
THIS JUST IN!!
Issue 1, to be voted on August 8th, wants to raise the number of votes required for citizen-initiated Ohio Constitutional amendments (the ones people bother you about in the Kroger parking lot) to pass from a simple majority (50% + 1) to 60%.
Pushed by right-wing government officials scared of being held accountable for their actions, this is a direct attack against democracy in Ohio. It will give even more power to an increasingly authoritarian and out-of-touch Statehouse. Proponents claim Issue 1 will end outside special interest influence on Ohio’s Constitution, yet Illinois billionaire and 2020 election denier Richard Uihlein has donated $1 million to pass Issue 1. If Issue 1 were to pass, democracy in Ohio would be dead.
Of no interest to anyone in City Hall, any of Columbus’ daily “media” outlets, and any of its Congressional representative except Sen. Sherrod Brown, the United States Postal Service in Columbus ranks as one of the three or four worst in the entire United States. They break the federal postal code daily. In so doing, they knowingly and purposefully violate the legal and civil rights of all persons affected. Both postmasters and “inspectors” who do no inspection lie to Brown’s office, their own regional and national coordinators, and residents who depend on regular postal service six days per week excepting legal holidays.
I have always been interested in religion and its role in American society. My five siblings and I grew up in a religious household. Up until the time I was in third or fourth grade we lived right next door to Hilltop United Methodist Church. Even after moving, we were only one street over from the church, so we could hardly get out of going. We attended Sunday school, church, Vacation Bible School during the summers, and sang in the choir. We also had scripture and prayer before we went to school for several years until sports and school activities wreaked havoc with our schedules and made the logistics of those activities too difficult. If by some miracle any of us managed to skip church one Sunday, we knew that we would not be allowed to go anywhere during the rest of the week.