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Mayor Ginther and photo of protester

A street medic and Mayor Ginther testified Friday, February 26, in the federal protester civil rights suit against the City of Columbus and both recounted a similar storyline: their desperate attempt to put out a raging fire. For the street medic it was the wrath of the Columbus Division of Police inflicted on protesters, and for the Mayor, his effort to rein in what many believe is the long-time rogue Columbus Division of Police

For the second time in the trial’s first weekGinther was questioned for roughly two hours saying George Floyd’s death was a “modern-day lynching” which reinforced his “commitment to reform the Columbus Division of Police and policing in general.”

US Rep Tim Ryan

Letters, I write letters ...

Dear Liz Walters, Ohio Democratic Party Chair:

You've been in office for more than a month now and nothing is happening.

Oh, you're meeting with loyal Democrats, reaching out to the 88 counties, trying to be inclusive and all that, but nothing is happening. If you had a blueprint of how you are going to revitalize the moribund party in your back pocket, it is time take it out, read it aloud and start leading.

I know you have been dealt a bad hand, but time is wasting.

You got a break with Republican Senator Rob Portman said he would not run for re-election in 2022. It is easier to beat a non-incumbent even in red Ohio.

Okay, I understand the finances of the party are shaky, but that is what the phone is made for: to call donors and get them to ante up. The big unions who paved the way for your ascension to the throne should be writing big checks. Your sponsor U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown should be pitching in to fill the coffers.

Details about event

Saturday, February 27, 2021, 4:00 PM
The Sanctions Kill coalition created a new toolkit that anyone can use to educate their organization, group or community about what economic sanctions are, the impact they have, why they are illegal and how they also hurt people in the United States. The toolkit is composed of a 20-minute slideshow, a sample script and resources.  You are invited to a webinar to learn more about the toolkit, hear a sample presentation and ask questions. This is led by members of groups in the Sanctions Kill coalition. All who are interested are welcome. Please spread the word.  Register here

TELL THE NEW U.S. ADMINISTRATION TO END ECONOMIC SANCTIONS IN THE FACE OF THE GLOBAL COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Click here to sign the petition

 

The new White House Team has been in place for more than a month and it is perhaps time to consider where it is going with America’s fractured foreign policy. To be sure, when a new administration brings in a bunch of “old hands” who made their bones by attacking Syria and Libya while also assassinating American citizens by drone one might hope that those mistakes might have served as valuable “lessons learned.” Or maybe not, since no one in the Democratic Party ever mentions the Libya fiasco and President Joe Biden has already made it clear that Syria will continue to be targeted with sanctions as well as with American soldiers based on its soil. And no one will be leaving Afghanistan any time soon. The Biden team will only let up when Afghanistan is “secure” and there is regime change in Damascus.

Most corporate media outlets have depicted President Biden’s effort to win Senate confirmation of Neera Tanden as a battle to overcome Republican hypocrisy about her “mean tweets,” name-calling and nasty partisanship. But there are very important reasons to prevent Tanden from becoming the Office of Management and Budget director. They have nothing to do with her nasty tweets and everything to do with her political orientation.

Tanden has a record as one of the most anti-progressive operators among Democratic Party movers and shakers. Long enmeshed with corporate elites, she has been vehemently hostile to the Bernie Sanders wing of the party. Progressive activists have ample cause to be alarmed at the prospect of her becoming OMB director -- one of the most powerful and consequential positions in the entire Executive Branch.

Yet some leaders of left-leaning groups have bought into spin that carefully ignores Tanden’s fervent embrace of corporate power and touts her as eminently suitable for the OMB job. Media coverage has been a key factor. The newspaper owned by the richest person on the planet, Jeff Bezos, is a good example.

People holding signs that say Solidarity with Edith
Join us Friday, February 26 @ 6:30 to celebrate Edith! Columbus Mennonite Church, 35 Oakland Park While we're unable to gather indoors in close proximity with all of you at the moment, we want to take the opportunity to celebrate Edith's strength, this significant step, and this community with her.​   Please join us at 6:30 pm this Friday as supporters and community gather in the church parking lot to mark this occasion. We'll hear from Edith, share some words, give thanks for this good moment, this community, and how Edith has affected our community life. Looking forward to seeing you there!

For Palestinians, exile is not simply the physical act of being removed from their homes and their inability to return. It is not a casual topic pertaining to politics and international law, either. Nor is it an ethereal notion, a sentiment, a poetic verse. It is all of this, combined.

The death in Amman of Palestinian poet, Mourid Barghouti, an intellectual whose work has intrinsically been linked to exile, brought back to the surface many existential questions: are Palestinians destined to be exiled? Can there be a remedy for this perpetual torment? Is justice a tangible, achievable goal?

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Thursday, February 25, 2021, 7:00 - 8:00 PM
Learn about the recent history of gerrymandering in Ohio, its consequences, the subsequent citizen uproar, and the reforms that Ohioans overwhelmingly passed in 2018. This session will also provide relevant dates and information on how individuals may help design Ohio's new district map. Guest Speaker: Catherine Turcer, Executive Director, Common Cause of Ohio. MoveToAmend WebsiteRegister here.

The cornerstone of every social structure is its belief system, and those who control and benefit the most from the system have one primary job: Keep its myths and scapegoats viable.

That explains the emergence, in recent weeks, among right-wing politicians and media hacks, of a truly bizarre and unexpected scapegoat: the evil windmill!

In the wake of the winter storm that shut down the Texas power grid and deprived much of its population of electricity, warmth and drinkable water, these hacks and pols have been desperate to divert public awareness from basic facts, such as the utter failure of the state’s deregulated power grid to winterize and remain functional in difficult weather, and — ultimately far worse — the looming ecological collapse caused in large part by ongoing fossil fuel extraction and consumption.

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