Local
On Columbus City Council
I’ve chosen not to follow the mini-election next week very closely. On the one hand, none of the candidates are compelling to me. None are on the level of the present leading councilors like Shayla Favor and Elizabeth Brown, for example.
But, on the other hand, I try not to follow such “elections” because of the fundamentally undemocratic foundations of Columbus’ City Council and the disorganization and opaqueness of Columbus’ city government in general. A full explanation would require a lengthy essay in itself.
For reasons that remain unclear and undiscussed, Columbus retains an at-large, openly elected City Council. This denies all citizens of their democratic and constitutional right to direct representation. The recent shift to one councilor in a specified geographic district is manifestly negated by the maintenance of at large elections. It is little more than a shell-game.
Thursday, October 21, 2021, 5:30 - 6:30 PM
Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio is thrilled to announce our next Virtual Voices event featuring the co-creator and head writer of “The Daily Show” and co-founder of Abortion Access Front, Lizz Winstead! Lizz will be joined in conversation by our own President and CEO Iris E. Harvey and Mason Hickman, Digital Organizer for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio. Join us for this virtual discussion on abortion access, activism, and more. Register here.
At a Walmart on Columbus’ far westside there are 200 job openings, according to frontline workers there.
On a recent Friday afternoon at an eastside Kroger, only three unautomated checkout lines were open, and its state-controlled liquor store shut its doors at 3:30 pm for lack of an employee to staff it.
Giant Eagle, which gobbled up Big Bear with hardly an afterthought for its long-time employees, is now begging for workers – yet still offering only $11-an-hour (so much for being “essential”).
Central Ohio’s fast-food workers, surviving on unlivable wages and treated poorly by demanding suburban soccer moms, might be sporting the biggest of Cheshire Cat smiles. Columbus’s own White Castle, on street placards, is screaming they’re paying $14-an-hour, letting everyone know fast-food workers are in huge demand, as franchise owners sweat bullets over whether they can afford that second or even third country club membership.
The overworked, the underpaid, and those who face the greatest risk from COVID-19 may finally get the pay and respect they deserve. Indeed, Walmarts in Columbus have boosted pay to nearly $15-an-hour.
In the wake of WMD-liar Curveball’s videotaped confession, Colin Powell is demanding to know why nobody warned him about Curveball’s unreliability. The trouble is, they did.
Can you imagine having an opportunity to address the United Nations Security Council about a matter of great global importance, with all the world’s media watching, and using it to… well, to make shit up – to lie with a straight face, and with a CIA director propped up behind you, I mean to spew one world-class, for-the-record-books stream of bull, to utter nary a breath without a couple of whoppers in it, and to look like you really mean it all? What gall. What an insult to the entire world that would be.
Colin Powell doesn’t have to imagine such a thing. He has to live with it. He did it on February 5, 2003. It’s on videotape.
Wednesday, October 20, 5:30-7pm, Grange Insurance Audubon Center, 505 W. Whittier St.
Simply Living’s annual “Gift To Be Simple” fundraiser will be held Wednesday, October 20, 5:30pm, at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center, 505 W. Whittier St.
• Meet and network with Simply Living friends as you enjoy delicious hors d’oeuvres and the beautiful setting of Scioto Audubon Metro Park near downtown Columbus.
• Walk around this lovely building to meet representatives from sponsoring sustainable businesses and organizations.
• Hear how Simply Living has made Central Ohio more sustainable and meet “movers and shakers” from organizations that we have helped to launch during the past 29 years.
• Get a sneak peek at our plans for the future.
Tickets: $50.00.
A new freely downloadable book
I would like to announce the publication of a book which presents the reasons why we urgently need immediate and drastic climate action The book may be freely downloaded and circulated from the following link:
Use of fossil fuels must stop!
The IPCC Report
The 4,000-page report by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was not due to be released until February, 2022, but a copy was leaked to Agence France-Presse. The report calls for a total transformation of our way of life if we wish to avoid catastrophe. The window of opportunity is closing rapidly. Urgent action must be taken within less than a decade.
The Report states that “We need transformational change operating on processes and behavior at all levels: individual, communities, business, institutions and governments. We must redefine our way of life and consumption.”
I was just thinking -- I haven’t seen a single monarch butterfly in my garden this year. And I’m betting I’m not the only one. Monarch populations have plummeted by more than 80% in the last two decades, and toxic pesticides are a key driver of this decline. Take action now.
Glyphosate -- aka Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup -- is wiping out milkweed, the only food source for young monarchs, and pushing this iconic pollinator toward extinction. And researchers have found this toxic weedkiller can impede the growth of bee larvae and impact bees’ ability to navigate and find food.
Central Ohio Workers Center has produced videos on Essential Protections for Essential Work and Navigating Unemployment and Pandemic Assistance. There will more coming. Access the videos here.
Central Ohio Workers Center has produced videos on Essential Protections for Essential Work and Navigating Unemployment and Pandemic Assistance. There will more coming. Access the videos here.
Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant repeatedly stated during her first four months of leadership that she will hold her officers accountable for any misconduct.
As recently as October 6 at the meeting of the Columbus Metropolitan Club, in response to the recent arrests of two Division of Police narcotics officers accused of selling large amounts of fentanyl and cocaine, Bryant told the audience, "Any time we find officers that are doing wrong we want to hold them accountable so if these allegations are proven to be true we will hold every single person accountable for everything they are found to do that are not within the standards of this division. Period."
One month ago, she was given the opportunity to discipline three supervisors who participated in retaliatory actions against Columbus Police Lieutenant Mellissa McFadden in connection with her book, Walking the Thin Black Line: Confronting Racism in the Columbus Division of Police, released September 2020.