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This article first appeared on the Buckeye Flame

The staff of The Buckeye Flame arrived at one of Ohio’s largest Pride celebrations in 2024 to find our table sandwiched between a cellphone company and a grocery-store chain. 

To our left, the cellphone company was giving out gift cards and T-shirts. To our right, the grocery store chain was giving out high-quality tote bags and industrial strength carabiners. The enthusiastic staffers, with Chappell Roan blaring behind them, beckoned Pride-goers over to their tables to grab their free stuff.

All throughout the day, people would come to our table straight from one of our corporate neighbors, totes open and at the ready.

“What do you have?” people would demand, truly without salutation or preamble. 

Our retorts of, “The truth!” or “Queer journalism!” never went over well. 

The Trump administration is engineering the most extensive dismantling of the federal workforce in modern history—not through mass firings, but by incentivizing resignations. A new Office of Personnel Management (OPM) program offers federal employees full pay and benefits until September 30, 2025, while exempting them from in-person work. This isn’t just an incentive—it’s a slow-motion purge designed to drain the government of talent without triggering the backlash of forced layoffs.

Many will take this deal, viewing it as a lucrative early retirement with no strings attached. The most likely to leave? The most experienced, skilled employees—the backbone of the federal government. These are the workers with institutional knowledge, those best positioned to find opportunities elsewhere.

For now, the damage will be masked. These employees will technically remain on payroll, but they’ll be ghost workers—paid but absent. This illusion of stability will persist until October 2025, when their exits become official and the full impact takes hold.

Wednesday, February 5, noon-8pm
Ohio Statehouse, 1 Capitol square, Columbus
Join a decentralized self-organized community for a peaceful protest. 

Also, there is also a planned meet up at State and Third St. at 11:45 with local activist Meryl Neiman. Meryl is planning to take a group to march down to Bernie Moreno's office in the federal building and have folks go up to talk to staff. Please join her! Showing up at his office is super important.

With so much attention on President Trump, there has been relatively little attention has been paid to Elon Musk, who welds quite a bit of influence in American politics.

Musk may not be as rich or as successful as he and others claim. His net worth may be artificially inflated to attract investors, huge loans, and billions in government subsidies.

Tesla is not really a success story yet. The auto company has had tens of thousands of customer complaints, returns, recalls, and thousands of cars they can't sell. Maybe if Tesla had some models which more people could afford, they might have stronger sales. But there are only a limited number of upper income drivers buying them.

Maybe if Trump really wants to save money for the government, then they could eliminate tax breaks, subsidies, and huge concessions to major money losing companies like Tesla and Space X. 

Tuesday, February 4, 5pm, Columbus City Schools Southland Center, 3700 S. High St.

Columbus City Schools parents, students, teachers, and community members will gather at a rally to support the passage of the “Safe Green Schools” resolution by the Columbus School Board. The program will include a D.J. and students and parents speaking about what making green infrastructure improvements means to them. There will be a demonstration of solar panels and composting as visuals demonstrating what a green Columbus City Schools can look like. Participants will have homemade signs with messages affirming their support of board action on climate.

When: Tuesday, February 4

Rally Time: 5pm

Vote Time: During School Board meeting, following the rally, at 6pm

Where: Columbus City Schools Southland Center, 3700 S. High St.

Why: Community members, parents, educators, and students will come together to support the Board’s “yes” vote on a resolution for safe green schools. We will demonstrate strength in numbers to show that our community is united in this effort to prioritize health and sustainability in schools.

Migration is a basic act of being human. It doesn’t matter whether you came from Kansas or Kenya, South Carolina or South Korea — Ohio is your home now.

The slew of anti-immigrant executive orders from the White House, and intimidation tactics against families, communities, schools, and workplaces, mean we need to raises our voices now. Help show that we are UNITED in ensuring local municipalities work for the good of all residents, because immigrants are beloved members of our Ohio family.

Sunday, February 2, 10am-6pm
841 N High St., Columbus, OH, United States, Ohio 43215

We're teaming up with Two Dollar Radio on Sunday 2/2 to collect donations for Appalachian Prison Book Project.

APBP is a non-profit that challenges mass incarceration by providing books and education to incarcerated people.

We're accepting donations of adult coloring books, sudoku puzzles, dictionaries, 2025 world almanacs and more you can find at appalchianprisonbookproject.org

Health care is big business in the United States. So big it can be hard to wrap your head around.

America’s largest health care company, the UnitedHealth Group, pulled in over $100 billion in revenue in just the fourth quarter of 2024 alone. For the full year, the giant’s insurance division, UnitedHealthcare, just reported record revenue of $298.2 billion.

These staggering revenue totals actually fell below investor expectations. Right after the announcement, UnitedHealth Group shares slipped 6 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

That tells you a lot about what’s important in the healthcare industry: profit, not care. Health insurance companies in particular can only profit by paying out less in claims than they collect in premiums. And that means denying patients coverage for the care they need.

I pranced off the bus at Yellow Springs Brewery Columbus at Indianola. I entered. I saw a sign for Meatless Mondays.

Monday = Half-off vegan sandwiches

I smiled. Craft beer is a almost barista pastry and/or relaxing buzz. Food is a necessity lifestyle.

Meatless Monday implied plant-based food is obtainable and cost effective.

I rode the number 4 while walking up 161 from the Worthington Library. I finished errands. I picked up a series of French New Wave Shorts. Winter is for watching Barbillion, Doniol-Valcroze, Godard, Pialat, Truffaut, Varda etc.

I saw the Yellow Springs Columbus Columbus Brewery Sign off Indianola. I’ve read Dave Chappelle, Coretta Scott King, Winona LaDuke, Francis Cress Welsing, and John Robbins. I’ve known several women who attended OSU after Antioch. I figured Yellow Springs Brewery would offer me booze. I entered. I saw a table sign for Meatless Mondays.

Meatless Monday = Half-off vegan sandwiches

I perused the vegan things which could interact with my body.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken Sandwich
Chicken Melt
Black Bean Burger
No Tuna Salad Sandwich

Saturday, February 1, 7pm, Columbus Mennonite Church, 35 Oakland Park Ave.

Serious and comical love songs, fun trivia questions, and delicious home-made sweets will highlight the 15th annual Valentine’s concert by Bill Cohen and friends from 7pm to 9pm on Saturday, February 1.

With guitar and piano, Bill will sing favorites, from the 1940s through the 1990s, made famous by John Denver, the Everly Brothers, Sam Cooke, James Taylor, Sting, Patti Page, and even “Weird Al” Yankovic.

Ann Fisher will be on hand to add some romantic flute accompaniment on several songs. David Maywhoor will keep the beat on percussion, and Dean Gledhill will add extra sparkle on lead guitar. Plus, the all-girl trio, The Harmonettes, will sing smooth backup vocals.

While the songs will reflect the ecstasy, warmth, heartache, and pain that love can bring, there will be a lighter side too, as Bill poses trivia questions about famous and infamous couples and love songs throughout the decades. Plus, expect a couple of surprises.