Local
News: Youngstown State University follows Ohio State University in appointing a retired military man as president. Radically gerrymandered Ohio US Representative Bill Johnson—best known as a roaring Trumpist and loud election denier—served in the US Air Force for 26 years.
Unlike “Top Gun” Ted Carter who retired as a vice admiral in the Navy and led 1200 student vocational US Naval Academy and briefly the University of Nebraska System but never a large academic campus, Johnson retired as lieutenant colonel. Condemned by all YSU parties including faculty, students, and alumni, much like his OSU football coach predecessor Jim Tressell, Johnson has no relevant preparation or experience. Tressell at least knew the locker room.
That no longer matters in Ohio, much as State Senator Jerry Cirino wishes.
Thru Sun Dec 10
During the Cimate Consciousness Summit 2023, the movie ‘UNCHARITABLE’ will be screened for free. Everything you know about change is about to change! Meet the director, Stephen Gyllenhaal, live on Fri, Dec 8
Register here - https://summit.pocketproject.org/#start-registration
About “UnCharitable”
After three of the most dynamic and successful U.S. charities were shut down by conservative charity watchdogs, destroying lives and cutting off precious resources, many of the top influencers in the field knew something had to be done to overhaul the nonprofit sector.
Led by Dan Pallotta, whose record-breaking TED Talk on the subject has inspired leading philanthropists and changemakers, this feature-length documentary directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal exposes the dark side of philanthropy and introduces a radical new way of giving. In a powerful call to action, Uncharitable demands that charities be freed from the traditional constraints, so that they can truly change the world.
Saturday, December 2, 3-5pm, Whitehall Branch Library, 4445 E. Broad St
Bring the family out to celebrate the release of Step by Step! How the Lincoln School Marchers Blazed a Trail to Justice, by Debbie Riguad and Carlotta Pen.
This event is for all ages — it’s about sharing the important history of the Lincoln School Marchers and supporting literary arts in our community. We will have jewelry and book making, cookies, music, photos, and a reading.
Hosted by Daydreamers Press.
SPAN Ohio and Health Care for All Ohioans are very excited as the winter sets in to start our planning for the future. We have a great year to look back on with wins in August and November helping to protect the healthcare rights of Ohioans. We want to thank everyone for all that you do and ask you to be as involved as you are able.
We have meetings of our State Council, SPAN's governing body, every other month to plan the ongoing work of our organization. Everyone is invited to join us, though to participate in voting you must be a member of the State Council. Our next meeting is this Saturday, December 2nd, at 9am via zoom. The zoom invite is below. We would love to see you there.
Children and farmworker communities will yet again be in harm’s way, as a harmful pesticide is allowed to return to the market. For nearly half of a century, U.S. staple foods such as apples, cherries, peaches, and citrus were sprayed with chlorpyrifos (pronounced: klawr-pir-uh-fos), a dangerous pesticide that poisons farmworkers and in even smaller doses harms the developing brains of children. In 2021, thanks to a court win for farmworkers, civil rights, disability, and public health advocates in partnership with Earthjustice, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned all food uses of chlorpyrifos.
Yesterday afternoon, the Franklin County Board of Elections certified the official results of the November 7, 2023 general election. As an unendorsed major party candidate who was outspent by incumbent corporate Democrat Andy Ginther by over a 60-1 margin, I collected 36 percent of the vote with 76,989 total votes.
My vote total was the highest number of votes that an unendorsed major party candidate has received in the city’s 57 Columbus mayoral elections from the year 1816 to present, and one of only two unendorsed major party candidates to run for mayor in Columbus. The other mayoral election took place 76 years ago in 1947 between insurgent Floyd Green and James Rhodes who were both Republicans.
As a losing candidate, my vote total was the third highest ever recorded. The two election losses with higher vote totals were Michael J. Dorrian’s 92,054 in 1983 and Ben Espy’s1991 loss to Greg Lashutka with 79,083. I also outvoted former mayor Michael Coleman in his 2003 unopposed election and 2007 win over Republican Bill Todd and Andy Ginther in his 2019 mayoral election that he ran unopposed in.
Wednesday, November 29, 2023, 1:00 PM
Join us on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People for a webinar with movement leaders on how you can show up and take action for Palestine. There is no more important moment than now to stand in solidarity. With about 15,000 Palestinian people killed by Israel across Gaza, we must continue pressuring U.S. and international leaders and societies to demand a total ceasefire now. Our voices are powerful. We have watched just how the world has shown up in the millions for Palestine these last few weeks. We are more powerful when we move together for our collective liberation.
Hear from Palestinian analysts like Mohammed El-Kurd, Jehad Abusalim, Noura Erakat, and the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), as well as movement leaders like Aja Monet, Krystal Two Bulls, and Macklemore who are taking a stand on Palestine across movement spaces.
Back in September during a roundtable hosted by the Environmental Professionals Network, the executive director of Columbus’s Metro Parks, Tim Moloney, told the audience his “full-time job now is working on RAPID 5 projects”.
A surprising statement for some fans of Columbus’s Metro Parks, which is regarded as a public agency. Surprising because RAPID 5 claims it’s a public/private endeavor – led in part by high-end developers – seeking to connect more people to nature.
The lingering and disturbing question these Metro Parks fans have about RAPID 5 is: Does it have plans for putting ugly condos and soulless retail within the Metro Parks themselves? One RAPID 5 design shows a gondola winding its way through two Metro Parks where passengers can disembark for a brewery that is also within the Metro Park.
Tuesday, November 28, 2023, 5:00 – 6:00 PM
The Poor Peoples Campaign is a revival of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 Poor Peoples Campaign. Sandwiches, light refreshments, and children’s activities. Plans for 2024 include a rally at the Ohio Statehouse on March 2 and June 15 march on Washington. All are welcome.
Location: Bethany Presbyterian Church, 206 N. Garfield Ave., Columbus 43203
End of a Dream
Shelia watched her girls as they ate their breakfast before school. She was leaning against the kitchen sink, smoking a cigarette. Sara was dressed in her usual pair of blue jeans with bell bottoms and a blouse that was two sizes too big for her, still trying to hide her breasts from the world. Shelia gave up years ago with trying to get her to dress more ‘ladylike’ and was just thankful that she had Jean to pamper with cute dresses and blouses, show her how to wear her make-up properly and just talk girl talk because Sara was always asking questions that Shelia really didn’t have the answers too or cared to answer, like,
"How come they always following us in the store downtown?" with "they" being the White store clerks, or
"When we gonna move out of this project? Who's that man you talking to? Why don’t you like Mr. Jimmy?’
Shelia knew the answers to all of the questions but didn’t want to get into the facts of life or hurt Sara’s feelings since she seemed to have a soft spot for the bowl of jelly.
“Anything going on after school today?” Shelia asked.