“Absolutely these are civil rights complaints of officers using excessive force and making false arrests. Automatically, (BakerHostetler) should have had more time. They had a clause that would have given them all the time they needed,” says Columbus attorney Fred Gittes

In the fallout of the BakerHostetler investigation, where the city spent half-a-million tax-payer dollars to fund what many are calling a “useless” investigation into the Columbus police response to protesters, one question raised is whether Mayor Ginther and City Council have true intentions or the resolve to make real change within the Columbus Division of Police?

Thursday, October 1, 6-8pm, this event will be occurring via Zoom
Facebook Event

Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists is starting up a Marxist study series with the foundational text of modern socialism, Marx and Engels’ “Communist Manifesto.” Join us to discuss the basic ideas of Marxism with a particular focus on how we can use them to understand and change reality today.

This meeting will feature a short summary of the text and a discussion. We will be covering the whole book; reading is not required.

Use this link to read the online text.

Use this link to hear the audio book.

Use this link to join the Zoom Meeting.

Hosted by Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists and Ohio Young Communist League.

The inevitable has finally happened, and the coronavirus pandemic is now ravaging the besieged Gaza Strip. On August 24, a total lockdown was imposed by the Gaza authorities following the discovery of several COVID-19 cases outside designated quarantine areas. Since then, over 1,000 cases have been identified and ten people have died. Experts estimate the number to be significantly higher. 

Businesses, mosques, schools, cafes and virtually everything else is now under lockdown. The local government, alongside the UN Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, and together with many volunteers, are desperately working to keep Gaza functioning and to limit the spread of the pandemic, despite limited and ever-shrinking resources.

Gaza’s crisis is multifaceted. The Israeli siege, combined with the massive destruction from the previous war, has left Gaza in the throes of a major humanitarian disaster. With electricity outages reaching up to twenty hours per day and with fuel supplies running low, Gaza was barely functioning, to begin with. 

Joe Motil, former Columbus City Council candidate and longtime outspoken critic of the Mayor Ginther and City Council’s tax incentive policies states that, “Our city’s income tax revenues are taking a beating during this COVID crisis and property taxes continue to rise while causing rent increases and home foreclosures to those getting hit the hardest by COVID. City Council also just recently had to cut $41.5 million from its operating budget due to a reduction in city income revenues. And yet Mayor Ginther and City Council continue to give tax abatements away to the tune of $56 million since COVID first impacted the city’s revenues in March. And just last week, City Council gave back $10,274, 785 in city income tax revenue to 26 local companies through a Job Growth Incentive Program.       

As Election Day creeps ever nearer, we’ve been inundated with nonfiction books and films telling us just how dangerous and inept the current occupant of the Oval Office is. In the last month or so alone, I’ve seen and reviewed documentaries persuasively arguing that Donald J. Trump is psychologically handicapped (#Unfit) and environmentally hostile (Public Trust).

Combine these with the almost daily threats to our democracy that emanate from 45’s own lips, and you have a situation that leaves our nerves frayed and longing for a break. Fortunately, I found one in the form of a satirical novel that is as politically astute as it is viciously funny.

Released at the end of August, Carl Hiaasen’s Squeeze Me takes place roughly now in the part of north Florida that serves as Trump’s second home. After pulling us in the mysterious disappearance of a wealthy society matron, Hiaasen keeps us turning pages with a plot that involves giant reptiles, jingoistic attacks and one woman’s stubborn search for the truth.