Local

7 days in … a Spin

Older man with gray hair, a dark suit and pink tie sitting at a mic with glasses halfway down his nose

Much of the news generated by those paid to represent us this week came in the form of the executive branch’s revolving door of staff. Some were fired, some were hired, and some are working with a guillotine blade hanging over them. As bad as the president’s cabinet and his advisors have been, it seems to be getting even worse. But we can all feel better knowing there’s a good chance the Democrats will pick up dozens of seats in November and make the country infinitesimally better.

Ohio needs paper ballots – not new voting machines

Words TrustVote report with checkmark and words Bob Fitrakis with eagle in the background

Ohio’s decision to buy new voting machines will make the difference between hackable -- or less-hackable elections.

Let’s begin by stating the obvious: All computer voting machines can be hacked!

We remember when Ohioans witnessed their votes jumping from John Kerry to George Bush on voting machines in Youngstown during the 2004 election. Voters saw their Kerry selection disappear during the infamous “Franklin County fade” on electronic voting machines in that election as well. Ohio’s former voting machine company, Diebold admitted its system accidentally knocked 10,000 registered voters off the rolls.

Ohio’s previous Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner conducted the seminal Everest Study of Ohio’s voting machines in 2007 and found that all of them had security problems. The study concluded that: “Unfortunately, the findings in this study indicate that the computer-based voting systems in use in Ohio do not meet computer industry security standards and are susceptible to breaches of security that may jeopardize the integrity of the voting process.”

Tom Steyer Event in Columbus: The need to impeach

Trump’s leadership is equivalent to environmental destruction. I’ve been posting #ImpeachTrumpNow after every environmental Trump decision. His immediate order to green light the Dakota Access Pipeline through the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, endangering their water supply and that of millions downstream; his withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord; his permitting 0il and gas drilling in our National Forests and Parks; and appointing Scott Pruitt, oil and gas lackey as EPA Director, former Oklahoma Attorny General, where earthquake frequency and magnitude is escalating daily from their toxic frack waste injection wells disposal. 

Three events on Thursday March 15

Lots of people in the background and in the foreground two heavyset middle aged ladies holding hands with arms above their heads in victory pose

 

Lessons from the West Virginia Teachers' Strike
Thursday, March 15, 7pm
St. Stephens Episcopal Church, 83 W. Woodruff
The successful nine-day strike of over 30,000 teachers and support staff in West Virginia proved that workers still can organize to fight for their interests. With state workers in Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Arizona potentially following West Virginia's lead and staging their own strikes, the possibility of a rank-and-file public sector union movement is closer than it's been in decades. This week, we'll discuss the lessons of the WV strike and the challenges the labor movement continues to face. Sponsored by ISO.

BQIC monthly meeting
Thursday, March 15, 6-8pm
Parsons branch library - 1113 Parsons Ave.
Since the #BP4 sentencing, we will have a lot to debrief and discuss given the unfolding of these events. We will also discuss updates on Community Pride planning and fundraisiefforts. As always, please message us or email us at blackqueercolumbus@gmail.com if you need any accommodations such as an interpreter or childcare.

Book Review: In the Midnight Hour: The Life & Soul of Wilson Pickett by Tony Fletcher

Book cover, black bakground, photo of black man bending over with a mic to his mouth singing and arm swinging backwards and the words In the Midnight Hour the life & soul of Wilson Pickett by Tony Fletcher

In the Midnight Hour chronicles two parallel tracks of twentieth century African American history: the Great Migration, when 1.75 million African Americans left the rural south for the urban north from 1910 through 1940, and the story of the black American experience in the middle of the twentieth century as told through music.  

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