Local
As the nation prepares to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – one of our greatest Americans – on Monday, President Donald Trump offers a stark contrast in leadership.
The best way to react to Mr. Trump’s latest decidedly non-Presidential outburst is not with anger at his incendiary, vulgar and racially-charged remarks this week about immigrants from “shithole countries.”
The best response is to do what Dr. King fought so hard for. It is to get registered to vote and then to cast ballots in massive and historic numbers. The 2018 midterm elections are just around the corner.
Now more than ever, we must continue Dr. King’s movement to “redeem the soul of America.”
Hours after the world-wide fire storm ignited by his vile words, Mr. Trump is denying saying them. But Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois was in the room where it happened and said today at Chicago’s 32rd annual breakfast celebrating the life of Dr. King that it is “exactly what [Mr. Trump] said and he said it repeatedly.”
When it comes to veracity, I’ll put my faith in the Senator from the Land of Lincoln.
Everything above my shoulders is in agony. I’ve spent an entire week rolling my eyes, shaking my head, and gritting my teeth. I actually rolled my eyes so viciously my wife started calling me Liz Lemon. This week regrettably has been one which left my respect for American liberals hanging by a thread. Liberals and devotees of the elected left reminded me how extraordinarily hypocritical they are and how dangerously short their memories are.
Sunday, January 14, 2018, 2pm
Scores of students, community members and people of faith from over 20 campuses across nation will join together with congregation and community members to demonstrate at the Wendy’s located at 2004 N. High St. The protest is a culmination of a weekend of student strategizing alongside the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to further engage their communities and campuses in the Wendy’s Boycott during 2018.
What: Demonstration to call on Wendy’s to sign the CIW’s Fair Food Program and for OSU to cut their contract with the fast food giant.
Where: Wendy’s located at 2004 N High St
When: Sunday, January 14 at 2 PM
We are currently in the political twilight zone. Nothing concrete has been affected since the tax reform vote, and Congress hasn’t been back in session long enough to do its usual damage. Plenty has been said, but it is not yet clear exactly what will happen, or in which direction each action will cause the nation to move. We are effectively stuck between optimism for the new year and a gnawing fear of what is likely to occur.
Saturday, Jan. 13, 6:30-11pm
1021 E. Broad St., Columbus (parking in rear, east side door)
Join progressive friends for food, drink, and great music.
Presentation on the year of cannabis in Ohio.
Contact: colsfreepress@gmail.com or 614-253-2571
Thursday, January 11, 8:30am-4pm, Ohio Statehouse
State Representative Teresa Fedor has worked tirelessly to overcome what she considers to be the human rights issue of our time — Human Trafficking. This year, she is joined by State Representative Tavia Galonski as co-host of the Human Trafficking Awareness Day and partner in fighting human trafficking.
The partnerships that have developed during this period have been invaluable moving this effort forward. As a way to highlight those partnerships and to continue to advance this issue, she will host the Ninth Annual Ohio Human Trafficking Awareness Day at the Ohio Statehouse on Thursday, January 11. The focus this year will be on the survivors! We will be running panels, both morning and afternoon, which will focus on three specific goals:
• End all forms of Human Trafficking
• Increase Housing and Services for Survivors
• Job Training and Employment for Survivors
In order to do this, we have six panels that will run concurrently, both morning and afternoon, along with a luncheon speaker, and, at the end of the day, a survivors’ panel.
Wednesday, January 10, 9:45am
Ohio Statehouse
Once again the Ohio legislature is attacking access to abortion in Ohio. This time by forcing abortion providers to follow different rules for disposal of biological tissues than all other medical providers. These regulations do not improve the health and well being of women in our state. They are regulations aimed at shaming women who chose abortion and forcing abortion clinics to close.
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Email your state senator today and tell them to vote NO on SB 28, and to get to work on bills that improve our health and well being, rather that continue to restrict access to health care services: https://act1.myngp.com/Forms/6061845098440687616
Tuesday, Jan 9, 6:30-9:30pm
777 West State Street, Medical Office Building 2
It's time to put an end to the system that doles out tax abatements to multimillion dollar corporations while every day people call for real change. Join us as we have a conversation with our friends and neighbors during the Franklinton Area Commission meeting.
Resident Donald Trump’s highly criticized so-called Election Integrity Commission, looking into supposed “voter fraud,” was disbanded Wednesday, January 3. The Commission was forged by fire in the tweets of Trump and his bizarre claim that Hillary Clinton’s more than 3 million popular vote win was based on votes by illegal immigrants.
Recently the Commission was in a spat with a dozen or so states when it demanded they submit all of their voter data to them. including partial voter Social Security numbers. Matthew Dunlap, Maine’s Secretary of State and Commission member, sued the commission claiming he was being kept in the dark on the group’s activities.
Ohio’s former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell’s appointment to the Commission resulted in open derision since he best known for suppressing votes in the notorious 2004 Ohio presidential election. Before Election Day, Blackwell rejected voter registration forms that weren’t submitted on 80-bond paper used prior to the advent of computers, instead of today’s standard 20-bond paper.