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There are a lot of news articles speculating about what could happen to immigrants under a Trump 2.0 administration. Let’s hear some first-hand accounts of what did happen during Trump’s first term. These are the family separations that didn’t appear in the national spotlight.

“My skin itched of the mud stuck to my body, drying.”

A woman working at Corso’s Garden Center in Sandusky buried herself in a flower bed to hide during the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at her workplace in 2018. What started with an offer of donuts in the break room (a ruse) turned into a dystopian nightmare for people who were working and trying to take care of their families. “I never expected anything like this to happen. When I saw them coming, I ran. And I ran and ran and ran until I hid under a bed of flowers, and I buried myself under the dirt and cried in silence. All I could think about was my kids, I have three. A lot of us have some children who need us.”

Since 1980, RESULTS volunteers have secured billions of dollars in new funding for health, education, and economic opportunity programs worldwide. They have helped pass groundbreaking legislation that will help kids in low-income countries go to school and get life-saving medical treatment. They have mobilized against cuts to vital anti-poverty programs that help millions here in the U.S. put food on the table and get health insurance. They have done it all by building relationships with members of Congress, engaging with the media, and taking their message straight to Capitol Hill.

While many advocates in RESULTS are very disappointed by the election results, we are prepared to continue with our work. That's because RESULTS, which has been around for 44 years, is non-partisan and has been through this before -- many times. We work with both sides of the aisle to get support for policies that are aimed at  ending poverty such as the expanded Child Tax Credit, a fully funded SNAP, a Renter's Tax Credit to help low income renters afford their homes.

Saturday, November 9, 2024, 5:30 – 8:30 PM
COhatch Worthington - The Library, 752 High St., Worthington, Ohio 43085
Facebook Event

Theme: Why is the health of our soil important?
Co-hosted by Simply Living

Speaker: Deb Knapke, The Garden Sage - Horticulturist, Garden Coach, Speaker, Teacher.  She practices and teaches in the following areas: Garden Design, Herbaceous Plants, Taxonomy and Nomenclature, Sustainable Practices and Design/Permaculture, Tea - History, Types, Tasting.  Deb will represent the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association as an advocate for increasing soil health in our gardens and farms. She is one of the soil storytellers.

We will also discuss concerns about the election results.

This article first appeared on Ohio Capital Journal.

Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance will become the next vice president, thus creating a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. 

Former President Donald Trump and his running mate Vance defeated Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in the presidential election that was called Wednesday morning by the Associated Press. Vance will have to resign from his Senate seat before being sworn in as vice president during Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. 

It is now up to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to pick a Republican to fill Vance’s open Senate seat until a special election is held in 2026. Whoever DeWine appoints must run in the 2026 special election if they want to keep their seat. 

This article first appeared on Common Dreams.

Shortly before Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her concession speech on Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders forcefully called out Democratic Party leadership for losing the White House and at least one chamber of Congress to Republicans.

RESULTS is an organization where everyday people advocate for a world free of poverty and oppression.  We have campaigns that address domestic poverty issues and global crises.  In the US, we are advocating for making the Expanded Child Tax Credit permanent and a Renters Tax Credit.  Globally, we support ending tuberculosis, promoting maternal and child health and nutrition, and global education. RESULTS has proven to us that we can make a difference! RESULTS has taught us how to meet with and influence our members of Congress, get published, and reach out to our community to bring them into action. Last year, despite the unprecedented challenges we all faced, we made excellent progress on issues we care about. Advocacy keeps us hopeful!   2024 is ripe with opportunities to make a difference on the changes we need in our community, and the world, to end poverty. If you’re tired of feeling helpless check out the RESULTS group in Central Ohio.  Get connected to people who are learning together and taking action that makes a difference.

This article first appeared on The Buckeye Flame.

With a unprecedented rise in anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-transgender legislation across the country, out LGBTQ+ candidates faced a range of political climates in their own communities.

While some candidates reported intense anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, other experienced overwhelming community support.

In total, 15 out LGBTQ+ Ohioans ran for public office in the 2024 general election, campaigning to represent voters in major cities and small villages and townships across the state.

Bobbie Brooke Arnold

Ohio State Representative, District 40

Bobbie Brooke Arnold lost her campaign to represent Ohioans in District 40 to incumbent and conservative Republican Rep. Rodney Creech (West Alexandria). 

I was asked by a friend and Progressive Democrat of America (PDA) Fellow Traveler to share my thoughts on how PDA will respond to yestersday's election results.  Here's what I wrote:

Tuesday’s election results were dire, but now is not the time for progressives to retreat. American society will be best served by a progressive movement that plays strong defense and offense.

Progressives must continue to be vigilant in defending democracy, the rule of law, and the constitutional republic. In order to be most effective on these matters, we should maintain our recent alliance with liberals and conservatives of conscience.

We must also lead in protecting the environment and vulnerable communities, both at home and abroad.  

The election is just hours away, yet we likely won’t know the winner for a while. The electoral college has shifted all of the significance onto seven swing states, leaving the election up to a small percentage of our country. This article argues that the people who will decide this election is even smaller than seven swing states; it could be decided by a few thousand people in a small town in Pennsylvania called Millcreek Township. 

On Tuesday evening October 29, 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at the Ellipse, supplanting—with unifying oratory— Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric that prompted an attack on the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021. Advocating a platform that both protects and expands freedoms, Harris has donned the mantle of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

During the 2024 Democratic National Convention, most media interpreted the repetition of “freedom” as a reclamation of that word from the Republican Party. But what I heard was FDR’s "Four Freedoms Speech," and I still do. That speech was President Roosevelt’s State of the Union address presented to a joint session of Congress on January 6, 1941. Yes, precisely 80 years prior to Donald Trump’s Outrage on the Ellipse and inside the selfsame Capitol Building where MAGA followers tried violently to usurp power. In addition to defining democratic freedoms, Roosevelt denounced dictatorial tyranny in his address, making his words from that January 6th resonate today as a rebuttal to Trumpism.