News
It’s all over the news. Vaping is dangerous, no it’s better than smoke. The problem involves tobacco. No, THC. Additives should be outlawed – no – marijuana should. If you’re confused, concerned or even cautious, let’s shed some light on this new health problem.
First, who started vaping? Inventor Herbert A. Gilbert first conceptualized a “smokeless non-tobacco cigarette” device for inhaling vapors in 1963. Phil Ray, a NASA engineer and father of the desktop computer,” coined the term “vaping” in the early 1980s as part of his push to reduce cigarette risk with a device that eliminated the toxic byproducts of smoke while leaving nicotine. In the cannabis world, the famed “Volcano” created by Markus Storz and Jürgen Bickel hit the market in the mid-2000s. A 2007 study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Neurology found that "there was virtually no exposure to harmful combustion products using the vaporizing device."
Three members of the Mayor’s Safety Commission are speaking out about the lack of transparency, candor and trust within the Commission.
Janet Jackson, former City Attorney and governing Chair of the Commission is accused of running roughshod over the group’s ability to ask questions and to dialogue about the various issues plaguing the Columbus Police Department.
“At no point in these meetings were we allowed to address the real issues. Our voices were not heard.” said Tammy Fournier Al Saada, organizer for the People’s Justice Project.
Ironically, Mayor Andrew Ginther set up the Safety Commission to study and evaluate the work of the Columbus Police Department (CPD), and to restore public trust and legitimacy to his battered police force which has come under severe public criticism within the last few years. Police killings of unarmed citizens, several incidents of police brutality and charges of racism and sexism swirl around the CPD.
There is an existential threat to all democracies worldwide, a dark corruption, and sinister plot to rip the fundamental rights and duties of a developed civilization from the hands of the most vulnerable. The vicious beast of American exceptionalism (or exclusionism) has been caught in the hen-house of our governance. Evidence of it's racist, elitist, and over-entitled claw-mark's are all over our metaphorical "collective consensus;" our county-level ballot boxes.
On an overcast but otherwise pleasant Saturday morning in late September, about 300 volunteers set out on a litter sweep of the Kokosing River. By the time the mud they stirred up had settled, the volunteers had collected more than six tons of trash. That included nearly two tons of tires — 171 of them.
These folks don’t mess around.
Not that I expected they would. Earlier in September, some of the volunteers — The Kokosing River Rats — helped with the Friends of the Mohican River Watershed cleanup, covering the river from Greer to Brinkhaven. In short, they kicked ass, digging out tires and heavy debris from what is considered one of the most scenic stretches of the Mohican.
On Sept. 21, it was time to return the favor. Representing the Mohican Watershed group, I headed down to Millwood on the Kokosing with my friend, Elaine, and my Grumman canoe. I wanted to help and get down and dirty with these folks on the Kokosing, but I had an ulterior motive. Our Mohican crew is a relatively new group, having only two cleanups under our belts. I wanted to see how a well-established group conducted a river sweep.
Ohio State University will raise the minimum wage of about 3,800 non-union employees to $15 per hour next year. In making the announcement on August 30, OSU President Michael Drake used the language of free market ideology.
“This effort is in keeping with a competitive marketplace and…the university’s commitment to invest in individuals and families throughout our Buckeye community,” Drake said in a press release. He said nothing about a living wage or economic justice. He used phrases like “competitive marketplace” and “investing” in people — crediting the pay raise to a strong labor market.
In other words, the free market is working as it should. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” John F. Kennedy said. If an economy is strong and growing, everyone will benefit from it. Right?
The Pentagon announced on September 20 that it would be sending hundreds of troopsto Saudi Arabia after attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities. The attacks, which took place on September 14, “knocked out more than half of the [oil] output from the world's top exporter – five percent of the global oil supply,” according to Al Jazeera.
While Washington and Riyadh have provided little evidence that Iran is behind such an attack (Saudi Arabia even admitted the evidence provided to them via U.S. intelligence “wasn’t definitive”) the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have all deemed Iran to be the culprit.
Over 500 young people gathered for a climate strike at the Ohio Statehouse at noon on Friday, September 21 Their coalition calls for full implementation of a Green New Deal (immediate action on the climate crisis), a halt in future fossil fuel infrastructure projects, greater consideration and acknowledgment of the scientific consensus surrounding climate change in government decision making, the preservation of our land and wildlife, protection of safe, public water sources, and the incorporation of the scientific veracity of climate change into public education curriculum.
A week of events is planned:
Saturday, September 21st - Community Mindfulness Day @ the Idea Foundry 10:30-11:30pm
Cleveland (Cleveland Public Library) and Cincinnati (First Unitarian Church of Cinci) Games, art project, free store (bring items you no longer use that others could give new life!) (also a great chance to give away excess from your summer gardens!)Sunday, September 22nd - Contact Your Reps Day
WHEN: Tomorrow, Thursday, September 19, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
WHERE: Travelers’ Rest Baptist Church, 1533 Cleveland Avenue
WHO: TWU Local 208 and the People Before Robots Campaign, a statewide coalition of riders, workers, unions, faith-based groups, civil rights organizations, and activists working together to ensure that driverless buses are never a threat to the safety of our community, including: Central Ohio AFL-CIO Labor Council, BCTGM Local No. 19, Ohio AFL-CIO, Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans Retirement Fund, Baptist Ministerial Alliance of Columbus and Vicinity, APRI Ohio, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, OAPSE AFSCME, Franklin County Chapter APRI and the Central Ohio Worker Center.
WHAT: City leaders, COTA, & SMART Columbus are invited to come speak with the coalition and the community, answer questions, and give the rationale for implementing a shuttle here in Linden.
Citizens Rally Over Offsite Contamination at the Portsmouth Nuclear Site
As schools start up across the nation, the Zahn’s Corners Middle School in Piketon, Ohio, remains closed. The reason? Neptunium, a highly radioactive element, was found by a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) air monitor outside the building. Not in a current broadcast, mind you, but hidden in a 2017 DOE report that was made public in January of 2019.
Dr. Michael Ketterer, an expert on radioactive isotopes who happened to be in Ohio in April, took samples from the school and from local streams and attics. His testing found unmistakable evidence of radioactive contamination coming from the Portsmouth Nuclear Site nearby – a 4,000-acre site that once housed a massive uranium enrichment operation. The site name of Portsmouth a misnomer, as it is actually just outside Piketon.