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September 15 was a signal day in Ohio politics and journalism.

First, the Republican Rigging Ring proved true all the aspersions I cast about them in my September column ColumbusMediaInsider: The Republican Rigging Ring | ColumbusFreePress.com. The five old white guys rammed through new state legislative districts for 2022 and 2024 that were just as one-sided and just as gerrymandered as the old ones. They did not listen to the hundreds of citizens who testified for fairness and balance. They did listen to their financial backers, crony legislators, and GOP hacks.

Friday, September 17 to Sunday, September 19, this on-line event requires advance registration

Please join us for the 13th Annual TransOhio Trans and Ally Symposium, which will take place, virtually, Friday, September 17 to Sunday, September 19. The theme this year is “Into the Unknown.”

Providers Day: Friday, September 17, 2021

Providers Day is specifically directed towards providers of the greater trans and nonbinary communities. Continuing education credits are offered for qualifying medical and legal professionals at no additional cost. Keynote speaker Dr. Kyl Myers will join us after lunch to share their perspective on gender creative parenting, as well as to give insight and spark meaningful dialog about how we can better care for our transgender youth here in Ohio and beyond.

General Symposium: Saturday, September 18, 2021

Dozens of teachers, support staff, and community members picketed outside of the Zanesville Board of Education (ZEA) meeting on Tuesday, September 14. The teachers’ union in Zanesville has been negotiating for a new contract since July, trying to retain their healthcare plan and secure a raise that, at a minimum, would keep pace with inflation. A federal mediator has been brought in to help facilitate movement, but things have only gotten worse.

On Tuesday, the Board accused the teachers’ union, the ZEA, of lying to the press when they mentioned the fact that their healthcare plan was on the table. The Board called their statements “blatant falsehoods,” adding that “the Board has offered ZEA a competitive salary package, well above the state and area averages.”

The Ohio State University is Columbus’s most well-known landmark. Its national prominence stems primarily from its major, largely male sports teams, with Wexner Medical Center a distant second. Beyond the sports news, one of the nation’s half-dozen largest public universities attracts little attention.  

The Dr. Richard Strauss sexual abuse scandal and alleged misuse of endowment funds at Moritz College of Law – and OSU’s responses – begin to shed light on the unusually opaque institution. This essay is a call for much-needed scrutiny and transparency. After all, OSU is a public university. 

Athletics – and the unbridled quest for championships – dominate all other aspects of OSU, despite its declining revenues. It does not benefit the academic domain. Regardless of financial strains, salaries and perks of the athletic director and head football and basketball coaches only grow, outpacing faculty and staff rates of increase. Passionate Buckeye fans have little interest in OSU as a teaching and research center.  

A recent New York Times op-ed was perhaps the strangest, most awkward and tentative defense of the military-industrial complex — excuse me, the experiment in democracy called America — I’ve ever encountered, and begs to be addressed.

The writer, Andrew Exum, was an Army Ranger who had deployments in the early 2000s to both Iraq and Afghanistan, and a decade later served for several years as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East policy.

Thursday, September 16, 7-8:15pm, this on-line event requires advance registration

The Ohio Legislature will come back into session during September. What will they be talking about? What bills will be coming up?

Join us at 7pm on Thursday, September 16 for a discussion of what to expect this fall at the Ohio Statehouse with Tadd Pinkston of Pinkston Law, Rev. Joan VanBecelaere, and others.

RSVP for this event by using this link.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Hosted by UUJO: Unitarian Universalist Justice Ohio.

I have frequently said to a friend who was born and reared in Jim Crow Nashville that Donald Trump is the spawn of George Wallace, only taller. Like Trump, Wallace was bombastic, rude and in perpetual motion. Pugnacious and argumentative, he also wore a permanent sneer as he railed against the elites whom he imagined were looking down on him, the son of a working class family. The term “the politics of rage” was invented for George Wallace. But unlike Trump who came to politics fairly late in life, politics grabbed Wallace by the lapels at a young age, and refused to let go.

I have frequently said to a friend who was born and reared in Jim Crow Nashville that Donald Trump is the spawn of George Wallace, only taller. Like Trump, Wallace was bombastic, rude and in perpetual motion. Pugnacious and argumentative, he also wore a permanent sneer as he railed against the elites whom he imagined were looking down on him, the son of a working class family. The term “the politics of rage” was invented for George Wallace. But unlike Trump who came to politics fairly late in life, politics grabbed Wallace by the lapels at a young age, and refused to let go.

Wednesday, September 15, 7pm, this on-line event requires advance registration

What do you and your Central Ohio neighbors think and believe about our criminal justice system? Do we trust law enforcement? Can we believe in one another? How do we achieve positive change?

Explore these and other critical issues through a special forum on Wednesday, September 15, starting at 7pm, streaming virtually from partner WBNS at the Lincoln Theatre, as the Columbus Urban League and YWCA Columbus host a critical community conversation in conjunction with the National Urban League (NUL). Note: the event is now 100% virtual.

This event, the first of three to be held across the country, focuses on the first pillar in NUL’s 21 Pillars: A Comprehensive Framework for Redefining Public Safety. This cornerstone calls for community collaboration to build a restorative system and re-envision public safety in an equitable and just way — an issue highly relevant to Columbus right now.

As an active and now retired professor, I live in one of the city of Columbus’ older and more attractive neighborhoods. Called the University District, it abuts the Ohio State University (OSU) campus. Historically, that has been one of its assets but over the past few decades, it has become the major cause of its demise. The Columbus Police Department (CPD), the City of Columbus, the disparate group of large corporate landlords and management companies, and to a lesser extent the city’s media join in responsibility. This pattern of active and passive collusion is rarely admitted or even acknowledged (and if then misrepresented). It is a tragedy in terms of neighborhood decline; dangers to residents young and old; damage to persons, property, and life; and daily crimes and misdemeanors ranging from robbery, assault, and shootings; to property damage; illegal fireworks and gunshots; public drunkenness; noise, trash, and property desecration; and uncivil conduct. This must end now for the best interests of all parties including the students, most of whom are innocent victims.