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For the first time since 1975, Columbus City School (CCS) teachers over the weekend voted to strike and now the entire nation is paying attention.

On CNN this morning, its bottom-of-the-screen news ticker is telling the story of how Columbus – considered one of the last American-boom towns with Intel poised to invest billions into the region – can’t provide all of its students air conditioning, among other head-scratching short comings for Ohio’s largest school district.

On Day 1 of the strike teachers were picketing out in front of the Columbus school’s admin buildings at 3700 S. High Street, among many other locations.

Overnight, teachers and supporters took to Reddit and other online platforms seeking solidarity and action from the public.

There is truth in the old saying that “you can’t sue City Hall”—especially with any likelihood of either winning more than your costs or winning at all. That’s what attorneys who I’ve consulted tell me. This is true despite the fact that the “mayor,” City administrators and senior staff, City-appointed commission members, and City Councilors blend an exceptional combination of ignorance or dismissal/neglect of city, county, state, and federal laws.

Of course, they follow the lead of the State of Ohio where the Governor owns stock in corporations in which the State invests, the Lieutenant Governor accepts a paid position on a private-for profit Board of Trustees (rationalizing it as “educational” [but to whom?]); and the Attorney General and Secretary of State regularly express ignorance of State laws, State Constitution, and federal Constitution. So too do Republican senator and representatives especially but not only with collusion with corrupt firms like First Energy.

As predicted, Nan Whaley’s campaign is stuck in the mud having gained no ground and perhaps lost some to Mike DeWine in the three-and-a-half months after the May 3 primary. Only two-and-a-half months remain until the Nov. 8 election.

The Emerson College poll released by the pollster Aug. 18, showed Gov. DeWine, the GOP nominee, solidly ahead by 49% to Dem nominee Whaley’s 33%. The margin of error was 3.2% meaning that there is a high probability that DeWine has a 52.2% to 45.8% support while Whaley’s backing fluctuates between 36.2% and 29.8%.

The only other respectable poll in the gubernatorial race, The USA Today/Suffolk Poll, taken shortly after the primary, showed DeWine ahead by 15%, 45% to 30%, with a margin of error of 4.4%.

Any way you slice it, Whaley has not closed the gap in three months and may have lost some. The failure to gain has set off alarm bells among prominent Ohio Democrats who increasingly fear that Whaley’s campaign is cratering and will take the rest of the ticket down to an ignominious defeat on Nov. 8.

From the American Friends Service Committee
Recent Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 47 Palestinians, including 16 children, and injured hundreds more. While a ceasefire is welcome, the violence of Israel’s ongoing blockade and military occupation continues to impact 2.2 million people living in Gaza. The blockade has gone on for more than 15 years, with devastating effects.

Restrictions on the import and export of goods from Gaza has led to unemployment rates of 45%, even higher among women and youth. The Gaza economy has been destroyed, and today, over 80% of people depend on international assistance to survive. That means that even when the bombs stop falling, the deprivation continues.

People are unable to rebuild or make repairs to damaged homes. They also lack reliable access to health care, clean water, electricity, and vital services.  

Mental health, suicides and addiction were serious problems before the pandemic, and the fallout threw gas on a raging fire.

Thankfully, the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS), with help from the federal government, rolled out ‘988’ back in July, a nationwide suicide and crisis lifeline. Ohioans in all 88 counties can now call or text 988 for free 24/7 crisis support.

“Mental health is just as important as physical health,” said Gov. Mike DeWine back in July.

“The 988 program is the front door into Ohio’s behavioral healthcare response,” stated OhioMHAS in a press release.

This mental health hotline, which was previously the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, fielded nearly 80,000 calls from Ohioans in 12 months prior to the 988 roll out. OhioMHAS is predicting 988 could receive 200,000 calls from Ohioans for its first year.

For years now, the people of Montenegro have sought to protect the Sinjajevina mountain plateau from the destruction to be brought by creating a military training ground vastly larger than the entire military of Montenegro could ever use. The NATO nations for whom the project actually exists have sought to keep their roles quiet. But after people put their bodies in the way in October 2020 and prevented the use of their mountains for war training, a popular movement rapidly grew. In recent months it has threatened to make permanent the protection of their environment and way of life. The European Union and the Prime Minister of Montenegro promised them success in July.

Friday, August 19, 2022, 7:30 PM
Location:  Overbrook Presbyterian Church’s social hall, 4131 N. High St., Columbus 43214. 

He will be doing hit songs made famous by the likes of Chubby Checker, Ricky Nelson, the Everly Brothers, Sam Cooke, Paul Anka, Del Shannon, Fabian, the Drifters, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, and others. 

Beautiful doo-wop background vocals will be added by the Harmonettes (Jackie LaMuth, Renilda Marshall, and Teresa Schleifer.)  And we’ll be backed by instrumental wizards Brian Szuch on electric lead guitar and Renilda Marshall on bass.  Plus, we’ll have fun with trivia questions about 1950’s songs, fads, and singers.  And, as usual, we’ll have a couple surprises that will be pretty “neat,” to use the parlance of the times.  

We’re suggesting $15 per person donations at the door, with proceeds going to senior citizen programs of the Clintonville Resource Center.  In other words, we’re doing “oldies but goodies” music to help “oldies but goodies” people.  

By day, young women show religious devotion through purity and perfection. By night, they form a vigilante girl gang, roving the streets of Brazil to punish sinners. When an attack goes wrong, Mari (Mariana Oliveira) is forced to confront her inner demons.

Mari and her friends broadcast their spiritual devotion through pastel pinks and catchy evangelical songs about purity and perfection, but underneath it all they harbor a deep rage. By day they hide behind their manicured facade, and by night they form a masked, vigilante girl gang, prowling the streets in search of sinners who've deviated from the rightful path. After an attack goes wrong, leaving Mari scarred and unemployed, her view of community, religion, and her peers begin to shift. Nightmares of repressed desires and haunting visions of alluring temptation become undeniable and the urge to scream and release her paralyzing inner demons is more powerful than ever before. A neon-tinged genre-bender that gives provocative form to the overwhelming feminine fury coursing through modern life.

Kendrick Lamar’s Schottenstein Center show’s futuristic art-film introduction led into a Stevie Wonder warmness which explored the Diaspora of entertainment, human experience and culture during Kendrick’s complete captivating performance.

A series of dancers entered a catwalk which in flesh form and mimed Lamar’s Big Steppers album namesake.

After the first of a series of large square objects accompanied this waltz, next unveiled the Compton performers’ entrance of rapping from a piano the song “United in Grief” from Kendrick’s newest album which explores the layers of traumas our society inflicts on itself.

Whether it’s racism or basic human mistakes…

Kendrick performed “N95,” “Element,” then “Worldwide Stepper’s.”

I was impressed with the Terry Gilliam-meets-Dave Hammons opulence.

The second I had fallen into field trip to museum zone… Kendrick returned us to the Compton beaches by nailing “Backseat Freestyle” in which the stacked Schott erupted with glee after being seduced with the cerebral build-up.

“Backseat Freestyle” extols Hip Hop celebration of sexual prowess.

Thursday, August 18, 2022, 2:00 PM
Please join us for a discussion on how the fear of “The Great Replacement” has provided motivation for many heinous attacks on racial and religious minorities and what should be the role of religious communities in dispelling this myth perpetuated by white supremacist groups. 

 Join Religions for Peace USA Live! Via Zoom & Facebook.  

Register for the webinar here.