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In November and December 2015, over 60,000 folks converged on Paris for the 21st United Nations Meeting of the Countries of the Partnership on the Kyoto Principles for Ecological Impact (COP 21 - UN Framework on Climate Change [UNFCCC]). The final accord agreed to at 7:36 p.m. on December 13, 2015 in Paris by over 185 countries,195 nations in all, is the first climate agreement that addresses, although voluntarily, fossil fuel impact on the global economies.  In this accord, the Global South Nation-State leaders and the Developed Nation-State politicians devised a system to financially sustain (although voluntarily setting up a fund of $100B a year) a global development model that seeks alternatives to fossil fuel energy sources by 2050.

The Grass Skirt Tiki Bar has been a great venue for a number of socially just events! My first encounter with this ambiance-filled restaurant was in Aug 2013 during a coalition effort of several environmental conservation and climate change organizations posing with a bus stating #I WILL ACT ON CLIMATE  (none of which said anything about vegan living as an empowerment strategy so I was happy to be there representing with my vegan shirt). I love what the Liz Lessner restaurants stand for with their vegan empowering offerings as well as their consciousness to local, organic and community building and engaging progressive political efforts. There are several vegan options on their menu and very interesting drink concoctions too. If you want to get a reprieve from the Ohio winter blues and be transported to the tropics (via taste and atmosphere anyway- not weatherL) without the cost of a plane ticket, the Grass Skirt Tiki Bar may be just what you are looking for. They do offer tofu and lots of gluten-free, rice, pineapple and coconut based meals.

Oak Harbor, OH and Rockville, MD—A meeting held today by teleconference, between U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff at the agency’s headquarters near Washington, D.C. and FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) officials from the Lake Erie shoreline atomic reactor in northwest Ohio, revealed that the problem-plagued Davis-Besse plant’s backup diesel generators (EDGs) likely would not work, if called upon to cool the overheating core in an emergency. The reason is the voltage setting has been set too low, for years or even decades. Watchdogs from Beyond Nuclear, Don’t Waste Michigan, Ohio Sierra Club Nuclear-Free Committee, and Union of Concerned Scientists listened in, and members of the public provided comments to NRC.

The voltage, as documented in the plant’s Technical Specifications, has long been set at only 4,031 volts, whereas a minimum of 4,070, or perhaps even 4,088, volts is needed. First in May 2012, and again in April 2015, FENOC has applied to NRC for approval of a License Amendment Request (LAR) to address the still unresolved problem. 

Editor's Note: The following is an article from The Outsider, by Shawn Gaynor, that establishes connections between Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and a vulnerable database should raise the obvious question: Is this another "Dean Scream?" The Clintons have a long history of political dirty tricks.
   In 1992, when I was a platform spokesperson for Governor Jerry Brown's presidential campagin, Bill Clinton campaign operatives knowingly lied and claimed I forged signatures on a death penalty plank. They later apologized. Democratic Party insiders destroyed Howard Dean's presidential bid as an outside in 2004. The Clintons, as the consummate Democratic Party insiders, seem to be doing little more than illegally hijacking Bernie Sanders' campaign database. The irony, of course, is that this is coming from a candidate who was accused of far worse thing in the "Filegate" scandal and has recently had her own computer email problems. ~ Bob Fitrakis

  A good newspaper understands the political sensitivities of the community it serves and reflects that understanding in the newspaper's coverage and opinion-making.
   A newspaper that fails to understand and reflect the nature of its community is bound to lose readers.
   Such is the plight of the Columbus Dispatch that was purchased by GateHouse Media in June.
   The political disconnect between the Dispatch's news and opinion policies and its core readers is likely a key factor  in a one-year drop in circulation of nearly 9 percent. The annual report published in the Dispatch in October stated that the average number of copies sold on the day nearest to the filing date was 127,477, down sharply from 139,696 the average number of copies sold during the previous 12 months.
   A copy of a print newspaper is read by an average of two people, so the Dispatch is reaching about 255,000 people per day.

“Money doesn’t win. Pre-primary polls don’t win,” said Jason Edwards. “Votes win, and we have the people to go out and get them.”

Edwards was speaking on December 16 outside the Ohio Secretary of State’s office as nearly 6,000 petition signatures were delivered to put presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on the Ohio ballot for the May primary.

Sanders’ prospects for winning the Democratic primary in Ohio are “very good,” said Edwards, a member of Central Ohio Grassroots for Bernie Sanders and a delegate for the national campaign. For the general election, “We’ve got a lot of work to do as volunteers,” he said. “As long as we keep up our grass-roots effort around the country, we’re going to be fine.”

 “I’m very confident that Bernie would win the general election,” said Bianca Davis, a graduate student in physics at Ohio State. “We need his policies. We need universal health care, we need maternity and paternity leave, we need infrastructure, and we need to address climate change. At the first Democratic debate, Bernie was the only one who said that climate change is the biggest security threat.”

In response to the growing intolerance against Islam expressed in Donald Trump’s call for a ban on all Muslims entering the U.S., Jewish activists in 15 cities are celebrating Chanukah by holding vigils against Islamophobia and racial profiling.

Members of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) gathered at the Ohio State University on December 12. They held eight signs representing the candles of the menorah, each with a statement opposing a different form of racism or religious intolerance.

“Islamophobia is a frightening and terrible thing,” said JVP member Charlene Fix. “I don’t want any people to be hurt that way my people were hurt.”

In 1960, two Ohio State students would hang out on folk night at Larry’s Bar, just south of the corner of Woodruff and North High. The two formed the folk duo The Sundowners, and almost certainly played their first show either at Larry’s or down the street at the Sacred Mushroom, across from the student union. The first was named Jim Glover, who subsequently moved to Greenwich Village and had moderate success as part of the duo Jim and Jean. The other was Phil Ochs.  

  Ochs, who had lived intermittently in Columbus even before he attended OSU, would eventually follow Glover to New York in 1962 and began playing Village coffee shops and folk clubs. In early 1964, he released his first album for Elektra records, “All the News That’s Fit to Sing.” He became friends of a sort with Bob Dylan, who the following year went electric at the Newport Folk Festival and transcended into pop stardom with the release of “Like A Rolling Stone.”  

We’ve seen so much horrendous death recently; the annual year-end listings seem insignificant. My favorite thing about the year was watching the human spirit have superior attributes over negative entities.
  After watching the Black Lives matter movement, the pro-choice rallies, legalization of gay marriage, socialized health-care and other displays of enlightenment, I thought there was a sure sign of a majority social enlightenment backed by expansive resilience in the face of adversity.
  Power to the People.

  But now people are getting shot at protests and pretty much everywhere.  It’s weird watching people actually try to induce the apocalypse.
  I would like to explain to ISIS, distraught white men and murderous police that killing random people will not cause Armageddon.
  It will kill innocent people, while the powers that be will leverage this for profit, or limitation of our rights.
  You aren’t even going to war profiteer. The guy selling you weapons will.

Well, nihilist, idealism and/or absurdism shall come hither.

Would it be presumptuous to compare the Black Keys guitarist Dan Auerbach's stunningly textured musical pallet to Michelangelo's abilities to lay on his back and paint heaven on a basilica?
  A little hoity-toity, maybe?
  A bit much perhaps?
  Well, how 'bout comparing Auerbach to another great Italian, soundtrack supremo Ennio Morricone? He was the man who put the sonic spaghetti in the westerns genre (Good, Bad, the Ugly) and 600 other sundry films.
  Because, frankly, my darling, what I heard at the LC Pavilion Dec. 3 from his new band The Arcs put me in a zone of stupefied analytical wonder. This guy is amazing. Give him a handful of minutes, a crazily rocket-shaped guitar and a band wired to his brain, this guy's songs will take you places you've never been.