I am honored and humbled to be addressing this gathering at this perilous moment, especially as I am here in place of Kathy Kelly, who sends her love and her regrets that she can’t be here. Mairead Maguire just cited Dorothy Day as an influence in her life- Dorothy took me in when I was a teenage dropout long ago. I stayed at the Catholic Worker in New York then for four years and this made all the difference in my life.

The stark reality that we are facing, even the imminent threat extinction, cannot be clearer than it is today and our work cannot be more crucial.

Climate Strike Activists
Thank you, young people of the world, for helping energize the rest of us to address the urgency of climate change! Among the state’s organizers of the local Climate Strike on September 20 are the Columbus area’s Sophie Roome, with the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 campaign, Catherine Adams of Westerville High School, and local environmental activist Elizabeth Hixon. Many, many more teens, youth, and young professionals led the effort in Columbus. Several hundred people gathered mid-day at the Ohio Statehouse to call upon our leaders and the populace to make the changes necessary to prevent climate change from destroying the planet. Kudos to all the kids who bravely walked out of school to join the strike downtown, or to resolutely skip classes to stand outside their school buildings in solidarity with the international strike.

Impeachment finally under way

The long-delayed impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump are finally starting, but at present the focus is on a relatively minor crime - the Ukrane-Biden scandal. However, Trump has committed (and is still committing) major crimes, and these ought to be in the spotlight. Let us look at a few of them.

Let's look at his major crimes, rather than at minor ones

There is so much wrong with Donald Trump that one hardly knows where to start. He is a bully, braggart, narcicist, racist, mysogenist, habitual liar, and tax evader, in addition to being demonstrably ignorant. He has contempt for both domestic and international law, as well as for the US Constitution.  In the words of Michael Moore, he is a “part-time clown and full-time sociopath”. However, it is Trump's climate change denial, withdrawal from the Paris agreement, and sponsorship of fossil fuels that pose the greatest threats to the future of humans society and the biosphere. The general support of the Republican Party for the fossil fuel industry is the reason why Prof. Noam Chomsky has called the party “the most dangerous organization in history”.

Columbus City Council candidate Joe Motil received two key endorsements today from the Columbus Education Association (CEA) and the National Association of Social Workers.
 

Motil stated that, “Today has been a memorable one to say the least. One where I feel that my commitment and outspokenness in supporting our Columbus Public Schools, and advocacy for those who are vulnerable and living in poverty, has been recognized by receiving the endorsements of the Columbus Education Association (CEA) and the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). I am humbled by being identified by these organizations, whose members prepare our children to become the best they can be in so many ways, committing their lives to helping people in need, and fighting for social justice. I will always continue to be a champion for these two organizations and will carry on my dedication to the CEA and NASW when elected to Columbus City Council.”