Local
Asawin Suebsaeng at Rolling Stone is out with a vital article that explains who Ayman Soliman is to his friends, community, and the families at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital — and why the government’s “case” against him isn’t a case at all. See excerpts below and read the full piece.
The kind of person Ayman is
CALL TO ACTION: Show Up to Stop Taxpayer-Funded Genocide
Thursday, July 24
-2:00 PM
Franklin County Treasurer’s Office, 373 S. High St., First Floor Auditorium
Are you heartbroken and outraged watching the ongoing starvation and slaughter of children in Gaza? Do you feel helpless watching your tax dollars continue to fund war, apartheid, and genocide?
This is your chance to DO something.
In February, Franklin County Treasurer Cheryl Brooks Sullivan made the decision not to reinvest $5 million of our public funds in Israel Bonds — a move applauded by community members committed to human rights.
But now, Israel’s economy is being artificially propped up. War profiteering, booming weapons and surveillance industries, and an inflated stock market could all potentially help improve Israel’s credit rating — making it more likely that public officials could consider reinvesting in genocide.
We must show up and say: NO MORE!
The Community Response Hub supports efforts to defend communities at risk of deportation and detention in Central Ohio. The hub does this through advocacy, mobilizing ally organizations and community members.
In the spirit of working in coalition, the Hub coordinates diverse groups, working across different communities and issues, and uses diverse tactics. Our mission includes holding decision makers accountable. Including government and enforcement agencies.
The Hub is independent of any organization and actively partners with Central Ohio Rapid Response Network and Ohio Immigrant Alliance. The Hub connects interested people, community leaders, and organizations.
To join the hub, please complete the form at this link: https://bit.ly/ResponseHubCentralOhio.
It’s bad enough that the Mayor and Columbus City Council hand out tax abatements as though every Monday is Halloween. Central Ohio leads the state in granting tax breaks to the tune of $5.82 billion. Tax abatements for wealthy developers and corporations are contributing to reduced revenue for our public schools, social services, and burdening homeowners with unattainable higher property taxes.
Ohio Revised Code 5709.82 requires the city of Columbus to “pay affected school districts 50 percent (50 percent) of the municipal income tax revenue attributable to tax abated projects where the annual ‘new employee’ payroll for a project is one million dollars for an Enterprise Zone (EZ) or for a Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) two million dollars or more, in a given tax year, during the abatement.”
In recent months, we’ve seen one media conglomerate after another offer what amounted to multimillion-dollar bribes to Trump by settling frivolous Trump lawsuits that these companies could not possibly have lost in court.
Last December, the Disney Company paid Trump a thinly-disguised bribe—$15 million to Trump’s future presidential library—to settle a harassment lawsuit against ABC News over a segment mentioning E. Jean Carroll's victorious case against Trump.
In January, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta made a bribe-like payment of $25 million to Trump to settle a ridiculous lawsuit after the company followed its own well-understood guidelines and suspended Trump from Facebook and Instagram for inciting violence on January 6, 2021 at the Capitol. (Note that Congress did not uphold the same basic standards for removing a president from office.)
President Hardin, esteemed members of City Council, and fellow community members. Thank you for granting me an opportunity to speak before you tonight on harm reduction strategies for a healthier West Side through our compassionate client center and trauma responsive approach via 1DivineLine2Health Hilltop Drop-In Center. We are on frontlines serving those affected by human and drug trafficking. We serve their children and caregivers. An issue of immense importance to our city is the need to implement and advance effective harm reduction strategies as a cornerstone of our public health response towards substance use disorders. This is a subject that is often difficult to discuss but it is critical to the health, safety, and dignity of residents.
Even the experts get it wrong once in a while.
Erected in 1929, on a ridge over a Maumee River floodplain south of Toledo, is an impressive statue commemorating the Battle of Fallen Timbers. It was the height of summer 1794, and a Native American confederacy made what would amount to one of several last stands against the invaders. The battle’s name was inspired by a tornado that had previously torn through the mix of prairie and forest. On the battlefield was future President William Henry Harrison, as was Tecumseh.
Near the statue is a notable rock moved here to honor the battle’s Native casualties. The legend goes a chief rallied his warriors from this rock – his last words before being gunned down. There’s decaying tobacco stuffed into chiseled holes, testimony First Nations continue to make offerings.
