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Maybe it’s the phrase — “commander in chief” — that best captures the transcendent absurdity and unaddressed horrors of the 2016 election season and the business as usual that will follow.

I don’t want to elect anyone commander in chief: not the xenophobic misogynist and egomaniac, not the Henry Kissinger acolyte and Libya hawk. The big hole in this democracy is not the candidates; it’s the bedrock, founding belief that the rest of the world is our potential enemy, that war with someone is always inevitable and only a strong military will keep us safe.

  As I drove my van into the main gate at the Standing Rock Sioux encampment on the Cannon Ball River in North Dakota few weeks ago, I was greeted by a smiling young Original Nations man. I told him that I was arriving from Ohio, was supportive of the cause, wanted to learn more, but mainly that I was there to help in any way they felt might be useful. He asked how long I thought I would be stay. I told him I did have to be back in Ohio for three or four weeks weeks.   
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A common reason given by progressives for continuing to support the Democrats is party loyalty. “They gave us the New Deal,” they say, “they always save the economy.” Those who use those talking points are absolutely correct. The Democratic Party has done a lot of good for this country; most social and environmental programs were enacted by Democrats. They are also correct when they discuss how Republicans want a Christian theocracy and always ruin the economy.

However, those individuals are deliberately forgetting huge pieces of history. The Republicans ended slavery, started the Environmental Protection Agency, and built the Interstate Highway System. The Democrats dropped the atomic bomb on Japan, resegregated the federal government, and gave us the Defense of Marriage Act. No individual or political party is perfect but everyone must acknowledge their shortcomings in addition to their strengths. Blind, unwavering loyalty guarantees someone support solely because of the (D) next to their name, not because of their policy positions or track record.

Trump don't grab my - then a picture of a cat - on a billboard

Donald Trump has said so many inflammatory things this past year that it's hard to keep track of them all. Yet, as divisive as The Donald's public comments have been, it was the word he thought he was saying in private that raised the hackles of a local activist group. The now-famous Access Hollywood tape that emerged recently in which the phrase “grab them by the pussy” was uttered by the current Republican Presidential nominee some 11 years ago has brought American politics to a new low. But here in the epicenter of the most crucial of swing states, a litter of self-described pussies is having more fun with the whole thing than a kitten with a ball of string.

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Attached is the report from the September 2016 Pre-Election Citizens Grassroots Congress.



BANGKOK, Thailand -- China is achieving fresh diplomatic successes in
Thailand and the Philippines, thanks to security arrangements which
blocked Hong Kong's pro-democracy dissident Joshua Wong from visiting
Bangkok in October and an unexpected anti-U.S. spiral in Manila
impacting President Obama's Asian "pivot."
   China eyes Thailand as a modern, southwest overland commercial
route to the vast Indian Ocean, where navies from the U.S., India and
elsewhere are preparing to counter-balance Beijing's advances.
   "Since relations with Myanmar [Burma] soured, China has looked to
Thailand for a route from southwest China to the sea, particularly to
the Indian Ocean," said Thailand-based political analyst and author
Chris Baker, 68, in an interview.
   "All of mainland Southeast Asia has come under heavy Chinese
influence through trade, investment, and migration. But this is not
colonialism. It's just having a very powerful neighbor.
   "The current military junta in Thailand does not know how to handle

The 2016 Republican presidential primary was rigged. It wasn't rigged by the Republicans, the Democrats, Russians, space aliens, or voters. It was rigged by the owners of television networks who believed that giving one candidate far more coverage than others was good for their ratings. The CEO of CBS Leslie Moonves said of this decision: "It may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS." Justifying that choice based on polling gets the chronology backwards, ignores Moonves' actual motivation, and avoids the problem, which is that there ought to be fair coverage for all qualified candidates (and a democratic way to determine who is qualified).

People protesting at Ohio Statehouse

Unity March to protest police brutality.

Friday, October 28, 12noon, Goodale and High Street.

Marching south on high to the state house where there will speeches and then we'll continue the march south on High to the Franklin County Court House. 

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