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.

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

Award winning journalist James Risen has recently described in some detail his sometimes painful relationship with The New York Times. His lengthy account is well worth reading as it demonstrates how successive editors of the paper frequently cooperated with the government to suppress stories on torture and illegal activity while also self-censoring to make sure that nothing outside the framework provided by the “war on terror” should be seriously discussed. It became a faithful lap dog for an American role as global hegemon, promoting government half-truths and suppressing information that it knew to be true but which would embarrass the administration in power, be they Democrats or Republicans.