Local
When a podcast titled “Whites of the Roundtable” is focused mainly on Central Ohio’s most prestigious old-money suburb Upper Arlington (UA), by railing against any affordable housing moving in, this old-money suburb probably has a white supremacy problem.
But it’s no laughing matter when on an invite-only and unsearchable Facebook group called “UA Golden Pride,” veiled threats are made against a UA Ohio House of Representative Democrat.
Or when UA’s most vocal right-winger takes his explosive anger to Facebook as UA Golden Pride cheers him on.
The Free Press wants to be clear, UA is not the Republican stronghold it once was even though it still has the lowest percentage of Black residents in metro Columbus.
In 2016 it went Clinton by 15 points (3,300 votes), and while the Free Press was unable to obtain 2020 presidential vote totals, Ohio House of Rep. Catherine Allison Russo, of UA’s District 24, won her re-election over Republican Pat Manley by 15 points (12,000 votes).
UA is jammed with million-dollar homes and good people. For some of them it’s win-at-all-costs, an attitude reflective of Ohio State’s football program.
In 2018, the Trump administration announced its decision to cut all US aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). This agency helps administer critical services and resources such as health care, education, and emergency food assistance to Palestinian refugees throughout the Middle East including in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. UNRWA’s work is even more important now as COVID-19 greatly exacerbates the difficult conditions that Palestinian refugees endure. Without US funding, UNRWA is unable to execute its important activities that serve millions of Palestinians. Before the $360 million dollars in US funding was cut, it accounted for nearly 30 percent of UNRWA’s budget. Today, while COVID continues to rise throughout the world, UNRWA is left without the funds to pay its November and December salaries for all of its 28,000 staff, including health care workers and teachers.
The snow had just finished melting and he had picked up a sandwich from Subway on his way home where his family was waiting his return.
His keys were in the door, with the sandwich and a mask in hand, when he was allegedly shot in the back three times by Franklin County Sheriff deputy Jason Meade. Goodson’s five-year old brother found him lying on the floor in his kitchen.
The latest local officer-involved shooting highlights a disconnect between and inside city leadership and law enforcement. Both claiming to want to earn trust while protecting and serving the community, yet when faced with something like the killing of Casey Goodson, these goals appear to be abandoned. Not only because another Columbus resident has been killed by police, but also the messy investigation of his death that has followed.
The Investigation
https://davidswanson.org/have-a-blessed-pearl-harbor-day/
One of the holiest days of the year is fast approaching. Are you ready? Remember the true meaning of Pearl Harbor Day!
The U.S. government planned, prepared for, and provoked a war with Japan for years, and was in many ways at war already, waiting for Japan to fire the first shot, when Japan attacked the Philippines and Pearl Harbor. What gets lost in the questions of exactly who knew what when in the days before those attacks, and what combination of incompetence and cynicism allowed them to happen, is the fact that major steps had indisputably been taken toward war but none had been taken toward peace.
Monday, December 7, 3pm, 1308 Mt. Vernon Ave. [east of the intersection with N. Champion Ave.]
On December 7 at 3pm, the family of Julius E. Tate will gather in front of 1308 Mt. Vernon Ave. [east of the intersection with N. Champion Ave.] where an electric pole has been decorated in his honor.
It has been two years since the murder of young Julius at the hands of Columbus Police.
According to Columbus Police, Julius’ death was the result of a sting operation gone wrong. An autopsy report released to the media by the Franklin County Coroner’s Office claims that Julius was shot once each in the head and in the chest and three times in the abdomen. This information contradicts the official autopsy given to Jamita Malone, Julius’ mother.
Amidst all of the protest being held after the Presidential election that had just taken place, Julius’ family wants to make sure that his story is known and that his murderers are held accountable.
DECEMBER 6, 2020 - The family of Casey Christopher Goodson, Jr. demands answers after Casey was shot and killed by a police officer on December 4, 2020. Casey was an amazing young man whose life was tragically taken after bein gconfronted by a Franklin County Sheriff’s Deputy who was working with the US Marshal’s Southern Ohio Fugitive Task Force. Casey was not a target of that task force and his death is completely unrelatedt to that investigation. While police claim that Casey drove by, waving a gun, and was confronted by the deputy after exiting his vehicle, that narrative leaves out key details that raise cause for extreme concern.
December 6 - 12, 2020
A Virtual Conference on the Death Penalty
Featuring live/interactive on-line Panel Discussions or events each day. (Additional information is here.)
Five federal executions are scheduled between December 10 (international Human Rights Day) and January 15 (Martin Luther King Jr's birthday), and more could be scheduled. Please join us for a series of on-line panel discussions about this unprecedented federal execution spree and state of the death penalty in the United States today.
To register for this event, click the green TICKETS button in the upper right corner of the registration page.
Saturday, December 5, 12-6pm
299 King Avenue
In coordination with the Dennison Place Neighborhood Association, the Short North Block Watch is asking residents to donate extra food to give back to the NNEMAP Food Pantry this season. (www.nnemappantry.org)