Local
Part One
My focus in this essay is what I name “the broken—or the evil—triangle” of Columbus versus its residents. Let me be clear. Although many but far from all of my examples begin with my own neighborhood, the historic but City and OSU abandoned and destroyed University District, my object of scrutiny and criticism is the entire city. To a greater or lesser extent, all the issues—the crimes of commission and omission--exist throughout Columbus. If not recognizable at first or second glances, Weinland Park, Franklinton, Linden, The Hilltop, south Clintonville, the west and east sides excepting much of Victorian and German Village take their place in the puzzles of Columbus.
Indeed, my overarching argument is that recognition of the misconduct, often illegal actions of the Divisions of (Anti-)Zoning and (Anti-)Neighborhoods; Public (aka Private) Services; and the dis-connecting broken thread of 311, one of the City’s jokes on its residents, is critical to understanding Columbus’ public and private collusion and the anti-democratic administration’s priorities. (Every statement is factual and can be supported with documentary materials.)
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
Thursday, August 3, 2023, 5:30 PM
Join us on for a community meeting to protect majority rule! Show up and stand up against this power grab!
Issue 1 of the August Special Election dilutes voter power and grassroots power. Let's make some noise and talk about how we can get the word out! This is an opportunity to get materials to distribute and to get inspired. There will also be information about voting that you can share with friends and family.
Location: IBEU 683 Headquarters, 939 Goodale Boulevard, Columbus. RSVP here.
Hosted by One Person One Vote.
If you have any questions, please send an email to cturcer@commoncause.org.
ONE. The Ohio State legislature approved $24 million to establish “intellectual diversity” centers at five Ohio public universities. English translation from Right-Wing English: “radical right-wing indoctrination” centers with no actual “diversity” permitted.
Ohio State’s fountain of right-wing ideology is named for Salmon P. Chase (1808-1873). Have any readers heard that name? Not likely in your high school or college U.S. history courses. Not even on AP History exams.
Chase was born in born in New Hampshire, not Ohio. He grew up moving between NH and western Ohio. Exceptionally rare for his time and for both lawyers and politicians, he graduated from Dartmouth College as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
A small group of Ohio GOP politicians are leading the effort to pass Issue 1 that will make it almost impossible for any future citizen-led constitutional amendments to succeed.
An Ohio law passed in 1912, or 111 years ago, permits citizens to organize a ballot issue to change or eliminate laws put in place by legislators who are out of touch with the will of the voters.
This right will be virtually eliminated if Ohio GOP politicians are successful in winning the August 8 Special Election for Issue 1.
One key provision of this anti-democratic legislation is to raise the threshold for voter passage of a citizen-led Constitutional Amendment from the current 50 percent, to instead, 60 percent.
If it passes, Issue 1 will allow a minority of 40 percent of the voters to control the outcome of a citizen-led ballot issue supported by 60 percent of the voters.
In response to a criminal complaint filed by Columbus mayoral candidate Joe Motil against a city official, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein referred the matter to Whitehall assistant prosecutor Brad Nicodemus, supposedly for an independent review. Nicodemus had previously been a special prosecutor who declined to pursue charges of alleged misconduct by Columbus police during the 2020 protests over George Floyd’s murder.
Because Nicodemus’ dismissal of Motil’s complaint had serious problems, concerns have resurfaced about his dismissal of the police cases.
Motil’s complaint stemmed from his removal from an April 28 press conference at the Columbus Police Academy. Mayor Andrew Ginther and other city officials were there to discuss the city’s disturbing rise in gun violence. Motil had attended similar events without incident before becoming a candidate for mayor.
But Glenn McEntyre, an assistant director for the city’s Department of Public Safety, told Motil to leave because he wasn’t a member of the press. Motil said McEntyre grabbed his arm in the process.
Let's try to convince the U.S. government that it could be content with one enemy fewer!
It's bad enough that the U.S. government has supported coup-attempts in Venezuela and imposed hurtful economic sanctions on the Venezuelan people. It is now seeking to add to those sanctions.
This December marks 200 years since the speech that created the Monroe Doctrine, when U.S. President James Monroe declared that only the United States -- not European powers -- would dominate other nations in the Western hemisphere. Enough is enough. At long last it is time for friendship and cooperation rather than imperialism from the United States in the Americas.
Click Here to Tell Congress to Cease Hostility Toward Venezuela.
As the unprecedented, unnecessary and expensive special election approaches on August 8, the Libertarian Party of Ohio (LPO) still stands with over 200 other organizations against Issue 1. But now the LPO is taking things further by filing a complaint against one of Issue 1’s biggest proponents, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
On Monday, the LPO filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, saying that LaRose violated the federal Hatch Act as a public official by receiving federal funds for elections, while also using his office to affect an election. LaRose first earned the LPO’s scorn by voting for SB 193 when he was a state senator in 2013, which gutted minor parties’ ballot access.
Jadarrius Rose’s semi was traveling through the middle of Ohio near Circleville on July 4th when a state trooper tried to pull him over for missing a mud flap on one of his tires on a perfectly sunny day.
State troopers often pull over semis for safety reasons, mostly to check if their load is under the legal weight limit. Yet whether 23-year-old Rose, an African American, was profiled may never be revealed.
Why Rose did not at once pull over is a good question. But being profiled causes some to panic. Rose eventually did stop, got out of his truck where state troopers urged him to surrender. Instead, a Circleville police officer and his confused dog showed up – the German Shepard first looked to attack a state trooper, but then mauled Rose. The Circleville officer was fired pending his union’s appeal. Yet Rose, after first going to the hospital, was the individual who ended up behind bars that day.
