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Human trafficking is humanity’s worst atrocity. It is an activity that is illegal worldwide where humans are frequently trafficked for sexual slavery. Every 30 seconds a person is forced into human trafficking! Eighty percent of these cases are girls and women. Human trafficking is a crime that generates billions of dollars worldwide and much of that money is generated in the United States. The numbers are chronically underreported.
In 2022, Ohio was the fifth state with the most victims of human trafficking. In Columbus, human trafficking has to do with the cartel, sometimes with the police, and many times with drug dealers. The victims are of different races and are violated, some murdered and thrown like garbage in alleys and placed in abandoned buildings. We have a huge humanitarian crisis in the capital of Ohio.
This article first appeared on the Buckeye Flame
The staff of The Buckeye Flame arrived at one of Ohio’s largest Pride celebrations in 2024 to find our table sandwiched between a cellphone company and a grocery-store chain.
To our left, the cellphone company was giving out gift cards and T-shirts. To our right, the grocery store chain was giving out high-quality tote bags and industrial strength carabiners. The enthusiastic staffers, with Chappell Roan blaring behind them, beckoned Pride-goers over to their tables to grab their free stuff.
All throughout the day, people would come to our table straight from one of our corporate neighbors, totes open and at the ready.
“What do you have?” people would demand, truly without salutation or preamble.
Our retorts of, “The truth!” or “Queer journalism!” never went over well.
The Trump administration is engineering the most extensive dismantling of the federal workforce in modern history—not through mass firings, but by incentivizing resignations. A new Office of Personnel Management (OPM) program offers federal employees full pay and benefits until September 30, 2025, while exempting them from in-person work. This isn’t just an incentive—it’s a slow-motion purge designed to drain the government of talent without triggering the backlash of forced layoffs.
Many will take this deal, viewing it as a lucrative early retirement with no strings attached. The most likely to leave? The most experienced, skilled employees—the backbone of the federal government. These are the workers with institutional knowledge, those best positioned to find opportunities elsewhere.
For now, the damage will be masked. These employees will technically remain on payroll, but they’ll be ghost workers—paid but absent. This illusion of stability will persist until October 2025, when their exits become official and the full impact takes hold.
Wednesday, February 5, noon-8pm
Ohio Statehouse, 1 Capitol square, Columbus
Join a decentralized self-organized community for a peaceful protest.
Also, there is also a planned meet up at State and Third St. at 11:45 with local activist Meryl Neiman. Meryl is planning to take a group to march down to Bernie Moreno's office in the federal building and have folks go up to talk to staff. Please join her! Showing up at his office is super important.
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Readers no doubt remember Trump’s first term bluster that Mexico would build the border wall, and pay for it. President López brought that racist promise to fruition then, and his hand-picked successor Scheinbaum renewed it February 4th, sending no less than ten thousand additional troops to the U.S. border.
To stop the flow of migrants back in 2019, President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent 15,000 troops to Mexico’s northern border, plus another 6,000 to the southern border with Guatemala. He did that after president Trump threatened tariffs, a menace he took back after Mexico reinforced its borders with its new-fangled National Guard. Sheinbaum folded before the same tactic.
Which is to say, Mexico paid for a wall made of soldiers rather than bricks, and paid their wages.
With so much attention on President Trump, there has been relatively little attention has been paid to Elon Musk, who welds quite a bit of influence in American politics.
Musk may not be as rich or as successful as he and others claim. His net worth may be artificially inflated to attract investors, huge loans, and billions in government subsidies.
Tesla is not really a success story yet. The auto company has had tens of thousands of customer complaints, returns, recalls, and thousands of cars they can't sell. Maybe if Tesla had some models which more people could afford, they might have stronger sales. But there are only a limited number of upper income drivers buying them.
Maybe if Trump really wants to save money for the government, then they could eliminate tax breaks, subsidies, and huge concessions to major money losing companies like Tesla and Space X.
Tuesday, February 4, 5pm, Columbus City Schools Southland Center, 3700 S. High St.
Columbus City Schools parents, students, teachers, and community members will gather at a rally to support the passage of the “Safe Green Schools” resolution by the Columbus School Board. The program will include a D.J. and students and parents speaking about what making green infrastructure improvements means to them. There will be a demonstration of solar panels and composting as visuals demonstrating what a green Columbus City Schools can look like. Participants will have homemade signs with messages affirming their support of board action on climate.
When: Tuesday, February 4
Rally Time: 5pm
Vote Time: During School Board meeting, following the rally, at 6pm
Where: Columbus City Schools Southland Center, 3700 S. High St.
Why: Community members, parents, educators, and students will come together to support the Board’s “yes” vote on a resolution for safe green schools. We will demonstrate strength in numbers to show that our community is united in this effort to prioritize health and sustainability in schools.
Migration is a basic act of being human. It doesn’t matter whether you came from Kansas or Kenya, South Carolina or South Korea — Ohio is your home now.
The slew of anti-immigrant executive orders from the White House, and intimidation tactics against families, communities, schools, and workplaces, mean we need to raises our voices now. Help show that we are UNITED in ensuring local municipalities work for the good of all residents, because immigrants are beloved members of our Ohio family.
Sunday, February 2, 10am-6pm
841 N High St., Columbus, OH, United States, Ohio 43215
We're teaming up with Two Dollar Radio on Sunday 2/2 to collect donations for Appalachian Prison Book Project.
APBP is a non-profit that challenges mass incarceration by providing books and education to incarcerated people.
We're accepting donations of adult coloring books, sudoku puzzles, dictionaries, 2025 world almanacs and more you can find at appalchianprisonbookproject.org
Health care is big business in the United States. So big it can be hard to wrap your head around.
America’s largest health care company, the UnitedHealth Group, pulled in over $100 billion in revenue in just the fourth quarter of 2024 alone. For the full year, the giant’s insurance division, UnitedHealthcare, just reported record revenue of $298.2 billion.
These staggering revenue totals actually fell below investor expectations. Right after the announcement, UnitedHealth Group shares slipped 6 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.
That tells you a lot about what’s important in the healthcare industry: profit, not care. Health insurance companies in particular can only profit by paying out less in claims than they collect in premiums. And that means denying patients coverage for the care they need.