Tuesday, December 22, 2020 was the last day for meetings at the Ohio Statehouse, with the full senate scheduled to meet in the afternoon to pass any remaining legislation. Only one committee was scheduled to meet in the morning – the Ohio Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee. And the committee had only one item on their agenda – Ohio House Bill 104.

HB 104 had passed the Ohio House in June with a vote of 80-11. All Republicans voted yes, and all the nay votes were from Democrats. Why 22 Democrats would vote in favor of this Republican-sponsored boondoggle has its opponents stymied.

Opposing this bizarre nuclear subsidy was a long struggle, lasting over 2 years and continuing until the very last minute. And the way it was sneaked through the legislature, managing to move along with an extremely low profile, and popping up unexpectedly, is nearly unique in the long history of outrageous Ohio legislation.

In 10 poorly-written pages, reduced from 34, House Bill 104 laid out obligations for the state that would have:

2020 will go down in history as the year that terminated the American-sponsored ‘peace process’. While 2021 will not reverse the monumental change in the US attitude and objectives in Palestine, Israel and the Middle East, the new year presents Palestinians with the opportunity to think outside the American box. 

 The previous year began with an unmistakable American push to translate its new political discourse with decisive action. On January 28, the so-called ‘Deal of the Century’ was declared as an actual political doctrine. A new political lexicon began to quickly take hold. The ‘peace process’, which has dominated the American language for several decades, seemed a distant memory. Because the Palestinian Authority has, for decades, molded its own strategy to accommodate American demands and expectations, the shift in Washington left the PA with very few options. 

t can happen four ways.

But one thing is clear: No viable democracy can endure 14 full days ruled by a deranged madman who’s just instigated an armed fascist coup attempt.

Reports from long-time staff and close personal associates working within the White House indicate that Trump is dangerously “out of his mind” and “has lost it.”

Trump has access to nuclear codes that could end all human life on Earth.

As a fear-mongering fascist, he’s just incited the storming of the House and Senate, an armed assault aimed at the processing of the Electoral College votes for president.

At least one person was shot dead while invading the Congress. Three others died under varied circumstances. Countless more who rioted without masks were certainly infected with Trump’s virus, and will soon pour into hospitals that can’t handle them.

Trump could easily instigate further such coup attempts, especially by creating a fake “Reichstag Fire” disaster.

As the New Year asserts itself — a year that begins in global lockdown and political shock-and-awe — an extraordinary question emerges: Are we on the brink of real change?

Are we moving, politically speaking, beyond the small and stupid? Is the era of Trump really over? Assuming that to be the case is far too easy. Trump, after all, was and is part of the change, the breakdown of the status quo. You might say he’s been the coronavirus of American politics — he certainly has been infectious.

But simply “going back to normal” — swearing Biden in, returning to the political clichés we’re used to, appropriating another trillion dollars for national defense and corporate militarism, feigning concern over climate change but essentially ignoring it, yada, yada — leaves us wide open to the looming collapse.

Donald Trump has summoned the first violent fascist attack on the American government, which is now under way. 

Thousands of Trump-inspired neo-nazi attackers have physically assaulted the Capitol with the explicit goal of stopping the Electoral College from certifying the election of Joe Biden to be the next President of the United States. 

In US history, this is the first physical attempt by fascist forces to overthrow American democracy by force.

Under Trump’s direction, law enforcement has been virtually absent.  Had this been a Black Lives Matter assault, or one coming from the Peace Movement, the Capitol grounds would be littered with dead bodies.

Media reports now indicate a woman has been shot and seriously wounded.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has issued feeble tweets and is now allegedly calling out the National Guard. 

Stay tuned….