Local
Thursday, August 30, 7-8:30pm
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 30 West Woodruff
War, poverty, exploitation and oppression are all products of the capitalist system, a system in which a minority ruling class profits from the labor of the majority. How do we fight capitalism, and what's our alternative? This week, we'll be discussing Where We Stand, a pamphlet that outlines the ISO's politics of revolutionary socialism and a positive vision for a socialist future.
You can access the document here: https://www.internationalsocialist.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Where_We_Stand.pdf
We will also be voting on our schedule for the month of September.
Columbus is still in the running to become the home of HQ2 — the second headquarters of Amazon in North America. Amazon narrowed its list of candidate cities down to 20 finalists in January. The company is expected to further narrow the list very soon.
Cities are competing for the privilege of hosting HQ2 with economic incentives. Columbus is offering a 15-year, 100 percent property tax abatement and a 15-year, 35 percent income tax rebate for new employees at HQ2.
Here is what Amazon is putting on the table: investing over $5 billion in building the HQ2 facility, and creating 50,000 high-paying jobs over ten years. The company’s web site promises even more: “In addition to Amazon’s direct hiring and investment, construction and ongoing operation of Amazon HQ2 is expected to create tens of thousands of additional jobs and tens of billions of dollars in additional investment in the surrounding community.”
Saturday-Sunday, August 25-26
Various locations
Facebook event
Founded in 2017, the Midwest Queer Comedy Festival is dedicated to highlighting diverse talent and showcasing that talent to Midwestern comedy fans. A secondary mission of the festival is to bring about awareness of a deserving local charity.
The inaugural Midwest Queer Comedy Festival (August 22-26) is five nights of LGBTQ+ comedians performing in multiple venues around Columbus. Equitas Health is our main charity partner for the 2018 Festival; proceeds from the festival will be donated to further their mission of Health Care For All.
Don't miss the Third Annual Columbus Vegfest today, Saturday, August 25, 10am-5pm at the Whetstone Community Center, 3923 North High Street, Clintonville. There is free admission, free parking and it is adjacent to the Park of Roses. The Columbus VegFest is a day of education promoting sustainable living, healthier bodies and a more compassionate society. We are pleased to welcome special guest speakers, free workshops, compassionate workshops, The Columbus VegFest is a 501 (C) 3 nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of the health, environmental, and ethical benefits of a whole food plant-based lifestyle. Our event includes healthy living, animal- and Eco-friendly exhibitors, renowned chefs and speakers from around the country, presentations, cooking demonstrations, food trucks, area restaurants, non-profit organizations, author signings, kid’s activities and more. In 2016, we held the first VegFest in Central Ohio and were blessed with more than 1,000 attendees. We invite you to join us in helping Columbus become more veg-friendly.
The members of the Franklin County Board of Elections are the Free Press enemies of the people, after effectively stripping 560,000 Columbus citizens of their right to vote on a ballot measure entitled Community Bill of Rights for Water, Soil, and Air Protection and to Prohibit Gas and Oil Extraction and Related Activities and Projects Ordinance. The local group, Columbus Community Bill of Rights (CCBOR), qualified the measure, gathering more than 12,000 signatures. The Columbus City Council approved the measure to advance to the ballot on July 30.
Denying Columbus voters the right to vote on the initiative were:
Ed Leonard, Franklin County Board of Elections Director (D)
David Payne, Franklin County Board of Elections Deputy Director (R)
Doug Preisse (R)
Brad Sinott (R)
Kim Marinello (D)
Michael Sexton (D)
The speed that hackers were able to breach security on dozens of electronic voting machines at one of the United States’ largest cybersecurity conferences underscores the long-standing problem with computerized electronic voting systems in our country. At the annual DefCon cybersecurity conference this July, hacker managed to break into every voting machine within minutes, according to an article in The Hill.[1]
Thomas Richards, a security consultant, said “It took me only a few minutes to see how to hack it” referring to the Premier Election Solutions voting machine currently used in Georgia.[2]
Computerized voting in the United States was promoted by an interlocking industrial complex of political operatives, technicians and vendors.
Friday, August 24, 10:30 am
Columbus, Ohio, Franklin County Board Of Elections, 1700 Morse Rd, Columbus, OH 43229
Concerned citizens are invited to a special meeting of the Franklin County Board of Elections (BOE), Friday, August 24 at 10:30am, the Columbus Community Bill of Rights attorney Terry Lodge will present the legal arguments in support of the Columbus Community Bill of Rights ordinance to clear its passage on the November ballot. Once on the ballot, all Columbus voters will have a voice in protecting their water.
After the citizen-led initiative qualified with enough signatures and was approved by the Columbus City Council to go on the ballot, a single Columbus citizen, Loretta A. Settlemeyer filed a protest with the BOE. It has been discovered that she is a legal assistant at the law firm Bricker & Eckler LLP, a firm that has been involved in other attempts by residents throughout the state to protect their communities from oil/gas projects. Her attorneys will present her case as to why her single voice should be allowed to take away the voices of all other Columbus voters.
Al Warner was my friend and comrade in arms. He served as board president of the Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism, publisher of the Columbus Free Press, during a tumultuous period. We were exposing corruption from the local school board, to the city, and to the state.
Al was many things, but first and foremost, he was tenacious. Like a pitbull on a pantleg, once he got ahold of an issue involving corruption against schoolkids, he refused to let go.
Al was progressive, intellectual, and thoughtful. And his show “At the Table” was enlightening. The axiom at the table was simple – either you’re at the table or on the menu. And many times Al invited himself to the table to defend the rights of poor and underserved children.
I fondly remember him as my co-host on “Fight Back!” on WVKO where Al did verbal combat in defense of social justice and equality. Al and I also worked very closely to preserve the mission of Columbus’ Africentric School. On more than one occasion, Al personally funded lawsuit to maintain equality for all children and defend staff members under fire from the reactionary forces of the status quo.
Why is the Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) shilling for the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Nationwide Arena boondoggle? The first open forum on GCAC’s proposed 7 percent ticket tax faced stiff opposition Wednesday night, August 22 at the Vanderelli Room art gallery and event space with standing room only. The ticket proposal would place a 7 percent increase to all cultural and sports events only in Columbus except for high school and college sport events.
The tax is estimated to generate $14 million a year. GCAC is straightforward in their fronting for the Arena’s needs. Point Four of their handout entitled “The Proposed Ticket Fee Helps All of Columbus and Franklin County” specifically states that the tax will “…fund up to $4 million annually in efficient, essential renovations to Nationwide Arena, to maintain the facility and attract major concert shows, and sporting events that add so much to our economy and quality of life.”
On Saturday September 9th, join Will Strickler and his six-piece band Waves de Ache as they present a concert dedicated to the music of Latin Jazz legend saxophonist/composer Paquito D’Rivera at Copious Notes in downtown Columbus. Listeners can expect a heavy dose of Cuban Salsa music, mixed with American Jazz and seasoned with elements of hip-hop, rock and funk music.
After several years playing bass guitar as a sideman for numerous artists (including Grammy-award pop singer Daya, finalist on “The Voice” Chris Jamison and Columbus’s favorite neo-funk band, Mojoflo), Strickler stepped away from a life on the road to pursue his longtime dream of writing and playing Cuban-inspired jazz music, in collaboration with his fellow Capital University alumni Max Marsillo and childhood friend Ben Maloney.
Since its inception as part of Strickler’s artist in-residency at the one and only Dick’s Den, Waves de Ache has played numerous venues around Columbus, including The Refectory, Columbus Jazz & Ribs Festival, Brother’s Drake Meadery and more.