“It is a basic right to learn in a building that is not 95 degrees. I never had that all four of my years in high school, but I did have an armed officer every single day of the year.”

The 72-hour deadline given by numerous students, alumni, parents, teachers, activist groups and OSU academic departments to Columbus City Schools (CCS) to end its partnership with Columbus Police passed over the weekend, but CCS leadership has not offered an exact answer yet.

Unlike the quick decision the Minneapolis Public School board took in removing police or School Resource Officers (SROs) from its city schools, a definitive response from CCS may not be forthcoming anytime soon, as suggested in a joint statement given by Superintendent/CEO Dr. Talisa Dixon and CCS Board President Jennifer Adair.

“We hear you, and we are listening. We agree it’s an appropriate issue for discussion. We are committed to working tirelessly for change in our schools and in our community,” stated Dixon and Adair’s statement.

By April 15, the number of Americans who died from coronavirus causes was officially tabulated at about 31,000. 

Failing to take control of the public health situation, what were they thinking in the White House? Maybe something like: OK, let’s see, what would be a really good distraction from everyone pointing their fingers at us – how about a deeply meaningful way to honor medical personnel who have risked their lives and suffered higher mortality than the rest of us for the past three months and, probably, well into the future?  

How about a whole bunch of flyovers across the nation by military warplanes designed to kill millions in moments? Perfect! And no chance of infection of the pilots! As President Trump put it on April 22: 

"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day."-- Theodore Roosevelt, April 19, 1906

“It’s ridiculous to talk about freedom in a society dominated by huge corporations. What kind of freedom is there inside a corporation? They’re totalitarian institutions - you take orders from above and maybe give them to people below you. There’s about as much freedom as under Stalinism.”  --Noam Chomsky

A new analysis from the Ohio Immigrant Alliance shows that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Morrow County Correctional Facility failed to follow its own Infectious Disease Control Program (IDCP), as well as the National Detention Standards (NDS) required in its contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Because of this, the Morrow County Correctional Facility is now the first county jail in Ohio, and the first ICE detention center in the United States, to be 100% COVID-positive.

Already we’ve seen, as a result of people taking to the streets in the United States: