Politics
City Council Candidate Liliana Rivera Baiman announced today that her campaign has received the endorsement of the Columbus Education Association (CEA), the union representing more than 4,000 teachers, librarians, nurses, counselors, psychologists, and other education professionals in Columbus City Schools. The endorsement follows a screening process and several rounds of membership votes conducted by Teachers for Better Schools, the CEA Political Action Committee.
“This past year our incredible Columbus teachers demonstrated that with unity and clear purpose we can take on powerful institutions and win major victories for our most vulnerable residents.” said Baiman, “As a member of City Council, I will stand shoulder to shoulder with CEA to prioritize the needs of students and educators instead of tax breaks for wealthy corporations, and to ensure that every child in Columbus has access to the world-class public education they deserve.”
Columbus City Council candidate Joe Motil received two key endorsements today from the Columbus Education Association (CEA) and the National Association of Social Workers.
Motil stated that, “Today has been a memorable one to say the least. One where I feel that my commitment and outspokenness in supporting our Columbus Public Schools, and advocacy for those who are vulnerable and living in poverty, has been recognized by receiving the endorsements of the Columbus Education Association (CEA) and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). I am humbled by being identified by these organizations, whose members prepare our children to become the best they can be in so many ways, committing their lives to helping people in need, and fighting for social justice. I will always continue to be a champion for these two organizations and will carry on my dedication to the CEA and NASW when elected to Columbus City Council.”
Local election season is in full swing and it seems like wherever you go in Central Ohio, alternative political candidates are shaking things up. Here in Columbus, the insurgent progressive group Yes We Can is challenging the unstoppable Franklin County Democratic machine, while down in Athens County, Democratic Socialist candidates are making local power players worried as well. Not to be outdone, a few Libertarian candidates are also running in Franklin County and just like their progressive counterparts, they’re causing quite the ruckus for local political establishments.
TEGNA has taken over WBNS-TV from the Wolfe family. Get ready for big heads to roll.
Jerry Revish, the premier TV news anchor in the Columbus market, already announced his impending retirement.
TEGNA paid more than half a billion dollars for Channel 10, its two sister sports-talk radio stations and a TV station in Indianapolis.
The third largest television chain in the country did not get big by being sentimental toward its employees, like the Wolfe family was. It will relentlessly increase revenue and cut costs.
Several major air personalities are likely to depart because they do not fit in with TEGNA's hard-hitting investigative journalism and aggressive promotion of dynamic on-air personalities.
Yolanda Jackson, Revish's co-anchor, never really fit in at Channel 10 and likely will be let go. Jackson's peppy, tabloid style that led her to prominence at Channel 6 and fit that station's audience, but it turned off Channel 10's more refined viewers.
Scott Light, whose anchoring and Sunday public affairs work might be described as light weight, probably will not be around much longer.
This past September, Alabama governor Kay Ivey was found to have worn blackface while performing in a comedy sketch during her college years. Virginia governor Ralph Northam posed in blackface standing next to another college mate dressed as a Ku Klux Klan member in their 1984 yearbook. In 2013, David Sponheim, a Washington state mayoral candidate, wore blackface dressed as Barack Obama. In 2015, Bill Helton, another political candidate, this time in Oklahoma running for mayor, wore blackface in his drag performance.
It would take more than my word limit to document all of the incidents of a politician being found out and called out for wearing blackface. Who are these people? They are white, male or female, Democrat or Republican, living in the North or South. They all apologize when found out to have this “spot” on their life. Some retire, step-down, but the majority of them apologize and keep on doing what they were doing in their political lives.
As we go to press on Sunday, August 4, we gradually learn details of the horrible mass shooting in Dayton’s Oregon District. The first one this close to home – another young white male “lone gunman” shooting into a crowd – just hours after the heinous Walmart shooting in El Paso.
So why have disaffected white males continued to turn our gathering places slick with blood?
One reason may be that no one is calling it what it is – Domestic Terrorism. Here’s another reason most major media outlets won’t mention:
Stochastic Terrorism
Facebook memes and online articles point out how the words of Donald Trump are likely stirring up hatred and violence. They call it “Stochastic Terrorism.”
Daily Kos defined the phrase:“The use of mass communications to stir up random lone wolves to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable.”
The word stochastic comes from the Greek stochastikos, meaning “proceeding by guesswork” and “skillful in aiming,” Wired Magazine tells us in a January 2019 article warning about stochastic terrorism.
Ignoring criticism that they weren’t going far enough, Columbus City Council used home-rule powers at their July 22 meeting to reduce penalties for low-level marijuana offenses below the state’s penalties.
The legislation makes Columbus the 13th Ohio municipality to reduce marijuana penalties below the state’s punishments. The Free Press and many others feel the legislation is far too late in the making.
What the legislation truly reveals is a painful and obvious history. For decades Columbus police and courts have unfairly enforced marijuana possession laws along racial lines and will continue to do so.
For possessing less than 100 grams or having marijuana paraphernalia in the city, the penalty is now a fine not exceeding $10, while state law provides for a maximum fine of $150.
For possessing 100 or more grams but less than 200, the punishment is a fine not exceeding $25. State law on the other hand allows for penalties up to a $250 fine and 30 days in jail. State law also still makes possessing 200 or more grams a felony.
Ohio House Bill (HB) 6 is a huge proposed bailout of two Chernobyl-in-progress Ohio nuclear power plants, plus two old coal burners. The bailout would go to Akron’s bankrupt FirstEnergy, whose two nuclear reactors sit on Lake Erie, threatening the drinking water of millions.
In 1986 the Perry reactor east of Cleveland became the first U.S. reactor to be damaged by an earthquake. Critical pipes and concrete were cracked, as were nearby roads and bridges. A top-level state study showed soon thereafter that evacuation amidst a major accident would be impossible.
FirstEnergy’s Davis-Besse, east of Toledo, is a 42-year-old Three Mile Island clone. In 2002, boric acid ate through its head, threatening a Chernobyl-scale accident irradiating Toledo, Cleveland, and the Great Lakes. At FirstEnergy’s request, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has exempted Davis-Besse from vital regulations for flooding, fire protection, earthquake vulnerability and security. Its radiation shield building is literally crumbling.
In 2003, when nearby power lines sagged onto tree limbs, FirstEnergy blacked out some 50 million people throughout the northeast and well into Canada.