Lawsuit: Columbus, OH Must Take Action to Preserve Direct Democracy During the Pandemic

Chalk words on ground Yes Columbus Community Bill of Rights

COLUMBUS, OH: June 17, 2020 - Today a lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio, demanding the immediate suspension of a unique Columbus City Charter provision which places a one year timeline on ballot initiative petition gathering. The City’s June 18 deadline on signature gathering for the petitioners is unconstitutional during the Covid-19 pandemic, because it effectively kills ballot access, according to the lawsuit.

“The City cannot have its cake and eat it too,” says volunteer petitioner Kathy McGlone. “One day they say democracy and a safe response to the pandemic can co-exist. Yet they refuse to take action to safeguard the petition process, effectively killing our promising ballot initiative drive.”

On March 12, 2020 petitioners were forced to suspend their petition campaign. They had secured almost 9,000 signatures to place a Columbus Community Bill of Rights (CCBOR) city charter amendment on the November 2020 ballot that would assert the right of people and ecosystems to “clean water, air, and soil, and to be free from activities that would violate this right.” The current deadline to turn in 9,870 valid signatures is June 18.

Peace Letters in Yemen

By peace journalist Salem Bin Sahel from Yemen (@pjyemen on Instagram) and Terese Teoh from Singapore (@aletterforpeace), World BEYOND War, June 19, 2020
https://worldbeyondwar.org/peace-letters-in-yemen/

700 Appeal to Charlottesville City Council to Show Some Sign of Life in This Moment of Change

Over 700 people have now signed

Time to throw away the “bad apples” still working for Columbus Police

Faces of the people in the article
The protesters in our streets have spurred action by our local and state leaders, and it’s long overdue considering the Columbus Division of Police (CDP) officers who have killed our neighbors are still on the force and facing no indictments.

Mayor Ginther has taken action on a few fronts: Ginther signed an executive order last week that would require all police killings and uses of lethal force to be investigated by Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigations working under the Ohio Attorney General, ordering tear gas and mace to no longer be used against peaceful protestors, announcing that Columbus will join the ‘8 can’t wait’ campaign, and establishing a panel to advise Chief Thomas Quinlan.

But what about the CDP officers who have killed Columbus residents yet still work for CDP and facing no indictments? It is often said there are only a few “bad apples” tarnishing the entire force.

Although Ginther didn’t specify whether these independent investigations on CDP would include reopening ones from the past, perhaps it would be beneficial to set a new precedent by seeking out justice for the unheard victims of CDP.

Juneteenth celebrations

Columbus, Ohio Defend Black Lives Event
Friday, June 19, 2020, 11:30 AM
Juneteenth, celebrated on June nineteenth, is a day that honors Black freedom and Black resistance. This Juneteenth join MAG & the nationwide 6.19 Day of Action by attending this local event! Come join us for a few hours of celebration to commemorate Juneteenth at the MPACC BoxPark, 925 Mt. Vernon Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43203.  More information and sign up here. 

The CIA, Prostitutes & Wars: Bangkok's Patpong Museum

BANGKOK, Thailand -- When the CIA's most macabre paramilitary officer
Tony "Poe" Poshepny demanded and received the hacked-off ears and
heads of communists in Laos during the Vietnam War, no one predicted
he would become an exhibit in a new museum in Bangkok's red-light
zone.

The Patpong Museum, on Patpong Road, also describes why U.S.
intelligence and military officers, airlines, IBM, and others rented
buildings alongside sleazy bars packed with prostitutes, especially
during the Vietnam War which ended in 1975.

"In 1957, we have the American Chamber of Commerce here. We have the
U.S. Information Service Library here. We have Shell Oil here. Pan Am,
TWA," the museum's founder and curator Michael Messner said in an
interview.

The CIA's clandestine Air America secretly flew troops, casualties,
refugees, ammunition, rice and other supplies in Laos and elsewhere
and staffed an office here until 1972.

On display is a 1963 letter with an Air America logo from 3 Patpong

Jeffrey Epstein: There’s much more to the story

1980 Jeffrey Epstein

Epstein came to my attention when I was an investigative journalist for one of Columbus, Ohio's alternative newsweeklies, Columbus Alive. Not many people know that the infamous Jeffrey Epstein spent a lot of time in Columbus in the 1990s and owned the second most valuable house in Franklin County (where Columbus resides), in the plush Stepford suburb known as New Albany. I investigated central Ohio billionaire Les Wexner's and Jeff Epstein’s ties to the intelligence community more than 20 years ago. Much of this is captured in two books – The Fitrakis Files: Spooks, Nukes, and Nazis and The Fitrakis Files: Cops, Coverups, and Corruption (CICJ Books, freepress.org).

Jeffrey Epstein: There’s much more to the story

1980 Jeffrey Epstein

Epstein came to my attention when I was an investigative journalist for one of Columbus, Ohio's alternative newsweeklies, Columbus Alive. Not many people know that the infamous Jeffrey Epstein spent a lot of time in Columbus in the 1990s and owned the second most valuable house in Franklin County (where Columbus resides), in the plush Stepford suburb known as New Albany. I investigated central Ohio billionaire Les Wexner's and Jeff Epstein’s ties to the intelligence community more than 20 years ago. Much of this is captured in two books – The Fitrakis Files: Spooks, Nukes, and Nazis and The Fitrakis Files: Cops, Coverups, and Corruption (CICJ Books, freepress.org).

Jeffrey Epstein: There’s much more to the story

1980 Jeffrey Epstein

Epstein came to my attention when I was an investigative journalist for one of Columbus, Ohio's alternative newsweeklies, Columbus Alive. Not many people know that the infamous Jeffrey Epstein spent a lot of time in Columbus in the 1990s and owned the second most valuable house in Franklin County (where Columbus resides), in the plush Stepford suburb known as New Albany. I investigated central Ohio billionaire Les Wexner's and Jeff Epstein’s ties to the intelligence community more than 20 years ago. Much of this is captured in two books – The Fitrakis Files: Spooks, Nukes, and Nazis and The Fitrakis Files: Cops, Coverups, and Corruption (CICJ Books, freepress.org).

Jeffrey Epstein: There’s much more to the story

1980 Jeffrey Epstein

Epstein came to my attention when I was an investigative journalist for one of Columbus, Ohio's alternative newsweeklies, Columbus Alive. Not many people know that the infamous Jeffrey Epstein spent a lot of time in Columbus in the 1990s and owned the second most valuable house in Franklin County (where Columbus resides), in the plush Stepford suburb known as New Albany. I investigated central Ohio billionaire Les Wexner's and Jeff Epstein’s ties to the intelligence community more than 20 years ago. Much of this is captured in two books – The Fitrakis Files: Spooks, Nukes, and Nazis and The Fitrakis Files: Cops, Coverups, and Corruption (CICJ Books, freepress.org).

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