Local
Friday, Decemberr 28, 6pm
King Arts Complex, 867 Mt. Vernon Ave.
Kwanzaa is community celebration of unity acknowledging the accomplishments we've made thourghout the year while living the principles of the Kwanzaa known as the Nguzo Saba. Kwanzaa is a community event for the entire family where we honor the elders, uplift the adults and showcase our youth.
“I never thought I would come back to this life” - Forced to Flee Again
To make our city government work for the benefit of everyone, Yes We Can Columbus has been advocating for campaign finance reform since 2016. Currently, candidates for Columbus Mayor, City Council, City Attorney, and City Auditor are permitted to receive unlimited campaign cash from wealthy individuals and corporations. Candidates favored by the rich can afford to pay for more air time, canvassing, campaign literature, and yard signs than candidates who depend on the smaller donations that ordinary citizens can afford.
The well-heeled candidates win, because they have more money to sway public opinion. After the election, their wealthy donors expect favors in return. And they get them.
An even playing field is essential for a healthy democracy, where working class people have a say in decisions that affect them. But the idea has had no traction with Mayor Ginther and the current City Council, who were elected under the current pay-to-play system.
Not to imply you were concerned. But I notice if a different gas station clerk is working during my routine. I notice if gas prices decrease. Maybe you noticed I haven't written in the Columbus Free Press a few months. There are myriad of reasons that do tell a story that I needed to wait until the midterms were behind us to comprehend.
If anyone wants to publish a book by me...my 800 words wouldn't suffice.
The short version: I didn't feel comfortable typing pragmatic Democrat writings while someone who works for the paper was running for Governor. I felt like would be undermining someone's hard work. I also knew politics isn't my expertise. I climbed to something that I hadn't intended.
No one from the Columbus Free Press told me what to do. There wasn't a conversation to follow a party line. The Columbus Free Press has worked passionately for social justice since the 70s.
I like rap music and sometimes rock ‘n’ roll. If you feel like you’re the fool. Close your mouth.
American Electric Power (AEP) tells us that “smart” meters – now mandatory on your home electric grid – will save you utility money because the meters are “smart” and more accurate. But perhaps the real reason is that AEP will save themselves money by not paying meter readers anymore.
Not only is this depressing news for the current meter readers and the city’s unemployment rate, but the emergence of smart meters and grids raises much more disturbing issues that call into question how smart we are to adopt these shiny new high-tech meters.
In 2017 AEP began to replace old-school electric meters for 1.5 million local customers on a plan that runs through 2021. Starting in Delaware and then moving into Columbus and the suburbs, AEP is installing “innovative” and “highly-flexible smart metering solutions that provide advanced functionality to meet the evolving Smart Grid system needs,” according to their literature.
Best Restaurant Comeback
One of the best Chinese restaurants in Columbus is back. Helen Asian Kitchen, which owner Helen Jiao sold in 2017 to take care of her husband while he struggled with cancer, reopened in 2018 with Helen Jiao returning to the helm. Her awesome hot stir-fried cauliflower is back, as well as her assortment of handmade dumplings (yes, even soup dumplings). Here’s a great tip for vegans – order the stir-fried cauliflower with added raw tofu. The tofu cooks in the hot oil heated by the sterno that comes lit under the serving dish and adds an extra punch of creamy protein to the dish. It’s amazing.
– Susan Halpern
Best Art and Well-Being Event
When it comes to going incognito online and spouting-off on how you really feel about African-Americans, immigrants, leftists and poor people, the unhinged Right Wing have embraced this ability with unabashed love.
The problem for them is, they sometimes get caught. They are disgraced and lose their job. And if a Columbus Division of Police officer from the under-siege Vice unit is posting on a local progressive-minded activist group’s Facebook page that Columbus sex workers are better off dead, then the FBI needs to investigate.
Everyone knows the story of Donna Dalton, the young mother who was shot 8 times in August by Columbus Vice undercover officer Andrew Mitchell, who was already under investigation by internal affairs.
Public outrage and speculation against Mitchell erupted, and Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs suspended him. Citing the Vice unit’s arrest of porn-actress and Trump liaison Stormy Daniels earlier that summer, Chief Jacobs then suspended all Vice operations. Jacobs subsequently transferred the ongoing Vice investigation to the FBI.
Stop the Bans Day of Action
Thursday, December 27 at 8:30 a.m.
Ohio Statehouse – High Street sidewalk
1 Capitol Square, Columbus, Ohio 43215
Fri, Dec 21, 7pm
Summit on 16th United Methodist Church, 82 E. 16th Ave.
Music, Dances of Universal Peace, meditation, and drumming. Elizabeth (Munira) Reed, Ph.D., ereed@shalemcenter.org. summitumc.org.