On Monday, December 5, the Free Press and DSCO will honor local community activists at our 2016 Awards event from 7-9pm at The Hub, 1336 E. Main St. One of the two "Libby" awardees is Carolyn Harding. Join the Facebook event here.

Carolyn Harding is a grassroots activist committed to protecting our water, air, and soil for the sake of all life on this planet. Locally, she is an organizer with RadioactiveWasteAlert.org and the Columbus Community Bill of Rights (ColumbusBillofRights.org). Statewide, she works in alliance with other committed activists and organizations focused on clean water, air, soil, and community rights. She is familiar with the intransigent, corporate culture at Columbus City Council, the Ohio State House, the Governor’s administration, and national political parties, and is now certain that it is up to us to make the shift to sustainable energy and agriculture. She is committed to social, racial, economic and environmental justice, as they are all linked and must be given top priority as we work for Pure Water, Clean Air & Safe Soil.

Meanwhile Jill Stein’s grassroots fundraising tally to force recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, where the election actually could be decided, is now over $4 million, according to CBS News. Donations are coming to: https://jillstein.nationbuilder.com/recount

Which will matter more?

As the Holiday Season approaches this year, the family of Tyre King is anticipating a very rough time in their lives. “Tyre was one of the best parts of the holidays,” according to Dearrea King, Tyre’s maternal grandmother. “His birthday is December 7 so he was born right around the holidays. He was always such a joy to be around. He made it fun to prepare for the season because he was always excited about spending time with family and eating all that good food.”

Stein/Baraka Campaign Launches Recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to Restore Confidence in our Voting System

Today, the Stein/Baraka campaign announced their intent to file for a recount of votes in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, leading a multi-partisan effort to check the accuracy of the machine-counted vote tallies in these states in order to ensure the integrity of our elections.

Jill Stein observed, “After a divisive and painful presidential race, reported hacks into voter and party databases and individual email accounts are causing many American to wonder if our election results are reliable. These concerns need to be investigated before the 2016 presidential election is certified. We deserve elections we can trust."

Maybe this much is true. Donald Trump, pseudo-president-elect, loser of the real election, charismatic stump-speech populist whose actual ability to govern may well be non-existent, has inflicted significant damage on America’s political infrastructure.

This is scary, of course, but not necessarily a bad thing. I say this even, or especially, if he manages to assemble a far right, white-nationalist-friendly cabinet and inner circle and start attempting to implement some of the promises he made on the campaign trail. If the Trump pseudo-presidency is “normalized” and we-the-people and the media shrug our shoulders at the rebuilding of Jim Crow Nation — the Wall, the Muslim registry and God knows what happens next — then yes, this is a disaster and moving to Canada is a viable option. But if Trump, instead, is the reincarnation of Bull Connor, someone who makes a dark, hidden ugliness suddenly clear to the public at large, then his rise to power may be the harbinger of profound, positive change.