People
On March 23, Amber Evans body was recovered from the Ohio Scioto River. She had been in the river since January 28, 2019. The community of Columbus and people across the nation had been waiting since January 28th for the police to recover Amber’s body as there was clear evidence that she was in fact, in the Scioto River. They found her car near the river, they found her cell phone near the river and all evidence pointed to the fact that Amber would be found in the river. How she got there was to be determined, after they found her body.
I understand the pain, fear and the torture of having to wait for the police to tell you that your loved one, that has been missing for several weeks, has been found. On March 3rd, 1977, on my 21st birthday, my father’s first cousin, a woman that he grew up with, loved and considered his “favorite cousin’s” body was recovered from the river in Indianapolis, Indiana. She had been missing since December 1976, when her family found her door unlocked, her purse and keys on her kitchen table and no signs of her, anywhere.
Wednesday, March 27, 3-9pm
3pm - Community gathering
5:30 - Vigil by the river
7pm - Community dinner
St. Philips Episcopal Church, 166 Woodland Ave.
All who loved Amber are welcome to come for emotional support and community forum. We will convene and then drive to the Scioto Mile for a vigil at 5:15pm. The vigil begins at 5:30pm. Where we will meet at the river will be announced at St. Philips. After the vigil we will meet back at St. Philips for a community dinner at 7pm. Please come with family and friends to uplift Amber. Volunteer to carpool to help folks get to the locations.
Featured during this esteemed film festival is a real life example of biased law-enforcement running roughshod over a community of color. A challenge to our solidarity, a plea to donate to the defense fund for 16 years young Masonique Saunders, who is being charged with Felony Murder (and being charged as an adult has been mentioned), for the murder ACTUALLY committed by a Columbus Police officer and his Columbus Police issued gun. ...and his Columbus Police issued training.
Where's the justice? #FREEMASONIQUE
When blatant antisemitic conspiracy theories were spread against George Soros, President Trump retweeted them. When antisemites carried tiki torches in Charlottesville, Donald Trump called them “very fine people.” Under Trump, well-known antisemites and white supremacists have unprecedented access to positions of power.
Yet when Congresswoman Ilhan Omar criticized AIPAC for behaving like any other powerful lobby, Trump has the audacity to feign concern over antisemitism?
We don’t buy it. Ilhan Omar supports our Constitutional right to boycott, and she criticizes Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights. The sustained attacks on her are in large part fueled by racism and Islamophobia. Even though she’s apologized for the impact of her statements, Ilhan Omar continues to be attacked by a bad-faith smear campaign.
Jewish Voice for Peace is proud to defend Ilhan Omar. We reject attempts to silence her criticism of Israeli policy and her support for Palestinian rights and freedom, just as we reject anti-Semitism and bigotry in all its forms.
Jewish Voice for Peace stands with Ilhan.
This article first appears on Socialistworker.org
On December 7, the Columbus Police Department (CPD) murdered yet another Black person: 16-year-old Julius Ervin Tate Jr.
An undercover SWAT team arranged for one of its agents, posing as a potential buyer, to meet Tate to for a sale of merchandise for cash that had been arranged online. Columbus police are carrying out a series of such sting operations involving buy, sell and trade transactions, in which they anticipate an armed robbery to occur.
Police claim Tate pulled a gun on the agent to rob him, prompting another officer, Eric Richard, to shoot Tate, according to CPD spokesperson Chantal Boxill. The CPD also claims Tate’s gun was recovered at the scene.
I am tired of elected officials acting like they are smarter than we, the people.
I am tired of them acting like we, the people, are Rip Van Winkles, who just woke up from a long sleep.
I am tired of them scheming with and making secret promises to the powerful and keeping we, the people, in the dark.
Case in point: Gov. Mike DeWine's proposed 18-cents-a-gallon gas tax increase for highway and bridge projects.
Do you remember candidate DeWine campaigning on a massive tax hike?
Do you remember the candidates for the Ohio Legislature doing so?
Of course not. Candidate DeWine promised voters to not raise taxes. Now he is a born-again tax-hiker. Coincidentally, he just announced he's paying himself back the $3 million he lent his campaign. It's a good bet he will get lots of donations from highway builders made busy by the gas tax.
The Ohio House seems in a hurry to pass the bill. Speaker Larry Householder, who had to court and make concessions to Democrats to win the job, knows there is lots of money to be raised from contractors in future elections cycles to enshrine him in power for the next six years.
Every day in the U.S., women fight to break the glass ceiling and rise to the top of companies and industries that were predominantly held by men. Forbes magazine published the Power Women 2018 edition showcasing women from around the globe who are changing the look of the future for young women and girls. Taking a look at these forerunners can inspire true feelings of inspiration.
Whether they are joining the Women’s March to leverage the political power of diverse women in their communities to fight for social change or are running a small business, women everywhere are advancing themselves into power positions. Sometimes, this includes heading into jobs that men are leaving, such as animal agriculture in the American West.
At the end of January, the investigation into Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and their potential ties to Russia seemed to focus around one person – Roger Stone. This developed into a weekend news cycle around Stone that prompted some people to ask, “who is Roger Stone?”
Indeed, for normal folks who don’t have an obsession with politics or 2016, Roger Stone is not a name they would know unless they saw the Netflix documentary Get Me Roger Stone. Despite Stone’s reputation of being a dirty trickster and controversial provocateur who can build or destroy political careers on a local or national level, most of the country didn’t know any of that until January 25.
Chief Jacobs is Out
So, Chief Kim Jacobs is leaving her post a few months earlier than previously expected – on February 8, 2019.
The Chief hasn’t been on the job since late October and the department has been operating under acting deputy chiefs. Officially her absence is explained by knee replacement surgery, but that didn’t stop Jacobs from showing up in full regalia at the Michigan-OSU game on November 24.
A Checkered Career
Unlike the Buckeyes, Jacobs had a really bad year.
The Department’s spokesperson was arrested on child pornography charges.
Three members of her Vice Squad were relieved of duty and in an unprecedented move, no doubt with pressure from the Columbus Safety Director Ned Pettus, Jr., Jacobs called in the FBI to investigate Columbus Vice.
A week or so prior to Vice Officer Andrew Mitchell’s controversial shooting death of Donna Dalton in his cruiser, a citizen complaint had come in against Mitchell that he was exchanging sex for rent at one of the apartments he owns.
A fantasy...
January 15, 2019.
Urban Meyer is tooling west on I-70 in Indiana in his Audi S7, tires barely touching the pavement, on his way to an interview at the University of Iowa.
He notices a solitary hitchhiker in a black Columbia coat, hunched over, looking disgruntled, holding a sign that says "Iowa." The person looks familiar. Freed from the requirement to be a role model imposed on him as OSU football coach that would instruct not picking up a hitcher, Meyer slows to take a closer look.
"Urban," the man says. "It's John. Kasich. The, uh, Governor." Meyer motions him into the front passenger's seat.
"I've got an interview for the football job at Iowa," Meyer says. "Why are you going there?"
"I'm running for president. It starts in Iowa," Kasich blurts. "The Lord has a plan for me to be president, but so far he is not providing free transportation. I lost my free security and travel expenses when my term expired yesterday. It was all secret. Taxpayers' money. A few million. No biggee.