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Wednesday, February 4, 12-1pm
Ohio Statehouse Rotunda, 1 Capitol Square

There will be a litany, prayers, and songs.  Participants’ thoughts, poems, prayers, and songs welcome.  General and handicapped parking may be available under the statehouse.  Even when the sign says FULL, there may handicapped parking available; please ask attendants.

People outside holding candles

On a bitter cold street corner nurses, union workers, musicians, and other folks gathered to remember the life of Veterans Administration (VA) Intensive Care Unit nurse and American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3669 Union member Alex Pretti and mother of three, writer, and musician Renee Good. 

Pretti and Good were murdered in separate incidents by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis last month. Both were participating in peaceful protests against ICE violence in the city at the time of their murders.

In response, the Ohio AFL-CIO organized a vigil across from the Chalmers P. Wylie Ambulatory Care VA hospital in Whitehall. 

Jason Perlman, Political Director of the Ohio AFL-CIO was among those who spoke: “Tonight, we honor the lives of our union brother, Alex Pretti, Renee Good, Keith Porter, Jr. and the countless names we don’t know who have died in these for-profit, so-called detention centers. Columbus, do we believe our own eyes? Do we know what we saw? Two citizens were  gunned down because they chose love over fear.”

Straw Hat flag

In facing off against repression and standing firm against growing autocracy in one place or another, there’s a weird and powerful de facto alliance taking shape that’s worth learning more about: Boomers and Gen Z are at the frontlines.

With the caveat that any survey that is more self-selected than random, The Economist reported a scholarly effort by several researchers at the American University on protestors. They polled 7500 “people who signed up for the ‘Free America Walkout,’ a national protest that took place on January 20th.” Here’s what they found:

“…84 percent of respondents were female, three-quarters were college-educated, and that the media age was 71. Some 99 percent of these aging boomers, said they were supporting nonviolent civil disobedience, and 65 percent of them said they would be willing to take part themselves.”

This conservative journal notes that Republicans have absolutely noticed this phenomenon. They have a name for it: AWFULS, for affluent white female urban liberals.

Two men hugging

DHS Secretary Noem announced that federal agents in Minnesota will begin wearing body cameras. This comes after the world has been outraged about their behavior in U.S. communities — behavior that resulted in death and serious bodily injury.

In recent weeks, the United Arab Emirates has begun to put forward an initiative concerning the management of civilian affairs in the Gaza Strip after the war through organizing economic and service sectors, managing markets and commercial activities, and establishing logistical centers for distributing goods within the Strip.

What is striking about this initiative is that it was not presented within a comprehensive Palestinian or Arab framework but rather through direct talks with the United States and Israel, in a clear attempt to obtain their political and security approval. This suggests that the administration of Gaza is a matter to be decided in consultation with the occupying power and its main ally, not with the people of the land themselves.

Details about event

Tuesday, February 3, 2026 8:30 PM - 9:30 PM ET

On Tuesday, Feb. 3. at 11:59 pm, 15,000 Haitian immigrants are set to lose their "Temporary Protected Status" in Springfield, Ohio (population 60,000). Local residents are preparing for a 30-day ICE surge - even though conditions in Haiti are more dangerous than ever, thousands of children could be separated from their parents, and the Haitian community has helped fuel the small town's economic comeback. We stood up for Springfield, Ohio, when JD Vance and Donald Trump lied about Haitians who live and work there during the 2024 campaign, and we're doing it again now. Join us to hear from local residents and legal experts, help raise funds for local groups providing direct support to Haitian families in Springfield, and take action, no matter where you live.

See you there! https://redwine-blue.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BgPz8QNES5y9Bws4PL3O1w

Welcome to Springfield sign
As ICE and the Border Patrol threaten to surge in Ohio, people around the state and country are wondering what they can do.
Elizabeth Wareen speaking at podium about Medicare for All

Amid widespread revulsion at the behavior of the second Trump administration and its Republican loyalists, there is a curious tendency to blame Democrats for the slide of the United States toward fascism. As one enraged commentator put it recently, “the Democrats” have “let us down day by day by day.”

But, in fact, “the Democrats”―at the grassroots and at the federal government level―have repeatedly displayed overwhelming opposition to the rightwing Republican onslaught. By contrast, Republicans have almost uniformly backed Trump’s priorities. Indeed, the gap between the two parties on most key issues has been enormous.

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