This article first appeared on Substack.

Will Governor DeWine do the right thing? Or will he cower and cave to his party’s extremists?

He only has a few days left to decide.

Ohio Statehouse Republicans have sent the governor four bills that would cause immense harm to our state. He can choose to sign the bills into law or veto (reject) them.

Three of the bills (HB 129, HB 186, and HB 335) are fake property tax “relief” plans that will devastate Ohio communities while protecting politicians’ wealthy donors.

You’re one of the thousands of homeless in Columbus. You own a tent and found the perfect isolated location, but it’s getting cold. Very cold.

Neither City Council nor the Mayor invest much time thinking about how to solve this problem. They talk about how much they care and post videos online, but have no long-term strategy. Or, maybe it’s that I started to think about it and noticed how little they (and Franklin County) actually do to help the homeless; especially compared to a Woman’s Volleyball Team.

I assumed that there were dozens of shelters and “warming centers” around Columbus to allow people to survive this level of cold. I was wrong.

During the day the homeless are encouraged to visit a public library to get warm (a completely different problem), but at night?

There’s only one “warming center” that operates 24 hours a day.

Read the previous sentence again.

It’s back—the federal government’s push to expand offshore oil drilling. 

As the headline last month in the Long Island newspaper Newsday reported: “Plan for New Oil Drilling Off Fla. and Calif. Coasts.” The following day, November 22, Newsday ran a nationally-syndicated cartoon by Paul Dukinsky depicting President Trump declaring in front of a line of offshore wind turbines: “Wind Turbines Ruin the View!” Then there was Trump in front of a bunch of offshore oil drilling rigs saying: “…But Oil Rigs are Beautiful!”

The New York Times two days later ran a piece with more details headlined: “In One Week, President Makes Moves to Reshape U.S. Environmental Policy.” This involves, it noted,

If you feel as if you have no power to make a positive impact you might be right. The people that we’re electing to government don’t appear motivated to help people; other than themselves and the wealthy.

Honestly, most people in Columbus have silently given up on the future of the city. Only 11 percent voted in the previous November election. You should feel overwhelmed by the lack of power you have to make Columbus a better place to live. It’s frustrating and no one can blame you for wanting to “give up.”

Or… you could be like Peaches.

That’s her name. Peaches Anderson.

She’s a volunteer City Commissioner with the Greater Southeast Commission and mother of four who loves Columbus.

In 2024 one of her kids came home from school and asked why a classmate didn’t have a Christmas tree. Her child wanted to know what could be done to solve that problem.

That bothered Peaches – that some families couldn’t afford a Christmas tree. It had an affect on her and instead of doing nothing, she chose the exact opposite.

Pundits frequently remark on the warm and friendly relationship between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. In explanation, some suggest that Putin possesses compromising material on Trump. Others point to their autocratic style and their rightwing agendas.

But another factor plays a role in the Putin-Trump bromance: their embrace of great power imperialism.

For example, their aggressive policies toward Ukraine and Venezuela are remarkably similar. Putin began his takeover of Ukraine by charging that its government was controlled by “fascists” and, moreover, that its closer relations with Western Europe would irreparably damage Russian national security. Similarly, Trump has sought to overturn the Venezuelan government, arguing that it is controlled by drug traffickers and represents a significant menace to U.S. national security.