Local

Register for this event
To be held Saturday, November 6, 12-12:45pm
Meet here: parking lot on North 4th Street, between Long and Spring Streets, (set your GPS for 144 North 4th Street, and look for the Medicare for All signs at the entrance)

The following is from the author of Boomtown Columbus, Ohio’s Sunbelt City and How Developers Got Their Way

Joe Motil’s article in the Free Press published November 1st makes some excellent points. He is absolutely correct on how Columbus City Council is a closed shop; a case for breaking and entering, though it is very hard to do. What concerns me most here is Joe’s reference to City Council’s incestuous relationship with the developers. How to resolve this subordination isn’t clear, except that discouragingly, the solution is unlikely to be local.

We don’t see very much in the mainstream media about the situation in Palestine since the ceasefire of the 11-day war last May. In that short war, at least 230 Palestinians were killed, including 65 children and 39 women, with 1,710 people wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Twelve people were killed in Israel, including a 5-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl.

That the ceasefire is holding is good news. However, the conditions on the ground that led to that conflict continue, like the expulsions of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem, and there are reports of increased violence. According to the October update of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Violence continues during the ceasefire, with an additional 100 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and Gaza, and thousands injured. One Israeli was killed since the cease fire. Settler violence has increased, including injury and property damage.

U.S. presidential election campaigns have been known to focus on the slogan “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Efforts to explain the behavior of the U.S. government ought to put a little more focus on a different slogan, found in the headline above.

Wednesday, November 3, 7pm, this on-line event requires advance registration

Too often, district attorneys say they’re thinking of victims’ family members when they announce that they’re seeking the death penalty in murder cases. But are they, really?

Aba Gayle, Mattie Scott, and Robert “Renny” Cushing, three victims’ family members, discuss why they oppose the death penalty, despite the pain and anger that they felt when their loved ones were killed. All three have devoted their lives to abolishing capital punishment, channeling their pain and anguish into ending the cycle of violence. As Mattie says, “It’s time to stop the killing and start the healing.”

Ohioans across the political spectrum should appreciate Attorney General Dave Yost for fighting the corruption that has been exposed by the historic HB 6 scandal, but he should go even further. Occasionally in Ohio politics, it’s okay to give credit where credit is due –– Yost’s office has filed a landmark civil racketeering lawsuit against all of the indicted parties (and a few others who are in hot water) which prohibits them from lobbying or holding public office for eight years. “Everyone involved in this sordid matter needs to pay a price,” Yost has said. “The goal is to leave no doubt –– among politicians, the powerful and the rich –– that engaging in public corruption will ruin you."

Humanity is failing to stop the climate crisis. It's now beyond urgent -- the planet is screaming for help.

Right now world leaders are meeting for historic climate talks -- but pledges without real action won't cut it anymore. We need bold, visionary leaders to finally do what's needed to pull us back from the abyss.

I'll be at the talks with inspiring youth leaders like Vanessa Nakate and Dominika Lasota. We'll personally meet dozens of governments -- it's the perfect opportunity to deliver a giant call for urgent action. Join us now: add your name with one click and pass this on.

It can feel incredibly hard to keep hope alive in the face of inaction. But my hope lies in people -- in the millions of us who are rising to save the future. It lies in our marches, in our dogged determination to keep fighting, and in our trembling voices as we speak truth to power. My hope is rooted in action and fueled by a love for humanity and our most beautiful earth. It's what keeps me absolutely convinced that we can do this. And we must do this. Together.

The fact that two Columbus City Hall insiders, Nick Bankston and Lourdes Barroso de Padilla, pulled petitions to run against three incumbent City Council members, immediately drew a red flag that some type of fix was in the works.

Anyone who follows city politics in Columbus knows that City Hall insiders do not run against City Council incumbents.

Instead, City Council has replaced members who vacate their term early by appointing fellow establishment Dems who, as they did, toe the Columbus Partnership and pro-developer line. A blatant un-democratic and underhanded strategy I have called out since I began running for local office in the 1990s.

Councilmembers Priscilla Tyson and Mitchell Brown, two Democratic incumbents, will be serving out their full term until the end of this year. Council President Shannon Hardin, another City Hall insider who was groomed by former-Mayor Coleman, is seeking re-election. That makes three open seats for City Council and four candidates – besides Hardin, Bankston, and Barroso de Padilla, there’s also Tom Sussi. So only one candidate will lose.

The Build Back Better agenda is supposed to be a game-changer to transition the country to renewable energy and off of fossil fuels by 2035. Yet the Build Back Better Act includes $30 billion of infrastructure spending on subsidies for aging, uneconomical nuclear power plants. This would be a costly, counterproductive, job-killing mistake. Speak up and demand that leaders in Washington take action towards a just transition to a 100% renewable energy future - carbon-free and nuclear-free. We’ve come so far in demanding real climate action instead of the false promises of nuclear power that only enrich corrupt corporations while leaving frontline communities behind. And the good news is that we’ve been winning! Over the last six months, the nuclear bailout proposal has been cut back from as much as $200 billion to about $35 billion.  Now, we have to get it cut completely. It has never been a more important time for you to tell your elected leaders to cut wasteful, corrupt nuclear bailouts in the Build Back Better Act.

Saturday, October 30, 6:30pm
Brothers Drake Meadery, 26 E 5th Ave, Columbus, OH 43201