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A hand holding up a candle in the dark

On Sunday, December 18, dozens of supporters will gather at the Ohio statehouse for a candlelight vigils asking Ohio electors to vote their conscience and stop Donald Trump from becoming president. Unite for America launched the effort in response to news of Russia’s involvement in the U.S. election, concerns about foreign bribery and conflicts of interest for Trump, and news of Trump’s team felonious intimidation of Electors have left many questioning whether he is fit to be President.

A bipartisan group of Electors, in response, is demanding President Obama to instruct the CIA to brief them on Russia hacking our democracy before Monday’s vote. Several Electors, including Texas Republican Elector Christopher Suprun, have already vowed not to vote for Trump, instead opting to vote for a “responsible Republican alternative,” such as Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio.

Today, Pope Francis released the annual World Day of Peace Message for January 1, 2017, called “Nonviolence—A Style of Politics for Peace.” This is the Vatican’s fiftieth World Day of Peace message, but it’s the first statement on nonviolence, in the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—in history.

We need to make “active nonviolence our way of life,” Francis writes at the start, and suggests nonviolence become our new style of politics. “I ask God to help all of us to cultivate nonviolence in our most personal thoughts and values,” Francis writes. “May charity and nonviolence govern how we treat each other as individuals, within society and in international life.  When victims of violence are able to resist the temptation to retaliate, they become the most credible promotors of nonviolent peacemaking.  In the most local and ordinary situations and in the international order, may nonviolence become the hallmark of our decisions, our relationships and our actions, and indeed of political life in all its forms.”

 

The CIA conclusion that the Russians intervened in our elections in order to help elect Donald Trump has sent Washington into one of its fabled tizzies.

President Barack Obama has ordered an intelligence agency report before he leaves office. Democrats and responsible Republicans are calling for congressional investigations. Pundits are arguing the Russians — combined with FBI Director James Comey’s outrageous interventions — cost Hillary Clinton the election. In response, President-elect Trump is tweeting furiously about voter fraud, peddling lies about millions of illegal immigrants voting and many other things to distract from the escalating scandal.

Trump, Ryan and Pence at a table looking at each other with flags in the back

Dear members of the Electoral College, 

You have a momentous decision in front of you. That your upcoming vote for the President of the United States on December 19, 2016 matters is an understatement. Your choice magnifies not only your duty to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, but also your conviction that the next president will in good faith do the same.  

Many of you reside in states where “winner take all” prevails, but in truth, no federal law requires an elector to honor that pledge. The Electoral College provides mechanisms by which you can decide what’s best for our country based on your conscience and your duty. 

No doubt, President-elect Donald Trump is a controversial figure. By what measures might you logically decide whether or not he deserves your vote? The three-part test – Right, Moral and Good – can be applied to many difficult decisions in life. (See original essay below.)  Let’s put Mr. Trump to the test. 

Image of fundraiser
The HUB Kickoff fundraiser
Thursday, Dec. 15 6-9pm

1336 East Main Street, Columbus Celebrate the holidays and support the HUB Community Development Corporation!
Speakers include Asad Shabazz, Bernadine Kent, Rev. John Coats, Lynette David, Sharon Gordon, Kevin Boyce. Plus: *SILENT AUCTION *NETWORKING *HUB TOUR *MEMBERSHIP SPECIALS
*BUSINESS NETWORKING *GET INVOLVED!

 

Close up of Jill Stein with famous Moscow building in background

The American people deserve to know that the outcome of this election is actually valid

I am tired of hearing the pundits say that the election is over and there is nothing we can do when there are significant questions raised by the recounts that have been going on in Michigan Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as well issues raised in a recent suit seeking a recount in Florida.

Hillary Clinton has garnered almost 3 million more popular votes than Donald Trump. The polls and exit polls in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania showed Clinton was the winner. The   recount efforts by the Stein campaign have exposed that many votes remained uncounted at the time these States were called for Trump and raised many concerns about the validity of the outcome before the CIA reported the intent of the Russians to influence the results of the election.  Under these circumstances it is absolutely imperative that before the electors are certified and the votes of the Electoral College counted there be a full recount and investigation into potential hacking in these States.

Obama with elbows on table clasping his hands together looking pensive

Parallel narratives of deepening intrigue and outright denial unfolded Friday, as new revelations surfaced about Russian hacking to steer the presidential election while states showed they were afraid to look under hood to see what happened.

The Public Safety Committee of Columbus City Council held a public budget hearing on December 7. Community members showed up to remind Council that city budget priorities have grave consequences for the citizens they represent. 

They were joined by Nia Malika King, the mother of teenager Ty’re King who was killed by Columbus police on September 14. December 7 would have been Ty’re’s 14th birthday.

“Today Ty’re King should be planning for the holidays with his family,” People’s Justice Project organizer Tammy Alsaada told City Council members. “This holiday season the King family will have their first Christmas with a big, unfillable hole in their homes. The People’s Justice Project wants to move from prisons and policing to prevention and programs.  We want to reinvest in evidence-based practices that actually keep our communities safe. Unless we change those priorities, Ty’re will not be the last child we lose.

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