State

Professionals who work on the front lines of protecting the rights of people held in Ohio detention centers, jails, and prisons are calling for swift action to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks.

“U.S. immigration detention facilities are the perfect arrangement to cause an explosion of COVID-19 cases,” said Dr. Laura Chambers-Kersh, a family physician based in Beavercreek. Detainees live in “cramped, overcrowded quarters with limited access to basic preventive measures like soap and water, hand sanitizer, and the ability to social distance,” she said in a March 24 press conference.

It’s impossible in U.S. society not to frequently encounter the demand to vote, no matter what, no matter for whom, as a basic civic duty. Voting is supremely important, we’re told, a right, a responsibility, a moral requirement, something people died for which if you don’t use (even if it’s useless) you will effectively be pissing on their graves. I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said “If everyone would vote, it wouldn’t matter what the billionaires wanted.”

Let’s accept all of that at face value for the sake of argument. Let’s suppose it is our primary duty as members of society to vote. Personally, I always do, and it takes about 5 minutes out of my year. Sometimes I even promote candidates, and one might ask why that isn’t a supreme duty too, since it can impact how and whether numerous other people exercise their sacred duty to vote. Or we could extend that line of thinking further and ask why it isn’t the duty of each of us to work to change our culture so that only better candidates can get nominated, since that seems relevant to our duty to vote for some of those candidates. But I want to ask a different question at the moment.

So the state of Virginia is going to be run (House, Senate, and Governorship) by members of the Democratic Party for the first time in decades.

This means either that the go-to excuse of elected Democrats is going to become something other than “It’s the Republicans’ fault,” or that change is actually upon us.

Why not take this opportunity to consider what a changed government might look like?

The state of Virginia could, if it chose, take any number of progressive steps. It could create single-payer healthcare, tax wealth, make college free, make the minimum wage a living wage, end the death penalty, ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, pass the national popular vote bill, replace three-quarters of the mandatory testing in schools with actual teaching, abolish the pledge of allegiance, pay teachers better, enforce the right to unionize, and so on.

The Democratic Party's most powerful donors are running out of options in the presidential race. Their warhorse Joe Biden is stumbling, while the other corporate-minded candidates lag far behind. For party elites, with less than four months to go before voting starts in caucuses and primaries, 2020 looks like Biden or bust.

A key problem for the Democratic establishment is that the "electability" argument is vaporizing in the political heat. Biden's shaky performances on the campaign trail during the last few months have undermined the notion that he's the best bet to defeat Donald Trump. The latest polling matchups say that Biden and his two strong rivals for the nomination, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, would each hypothetically beat Trump by around 10 points.

Columbus, Ohio is a city known for its arts, culture, innovation, politics and the Buckeyes. However, Columbus is the largest city of its kind named after 15th Century Italian-Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus, an explorer who was more known for raping and pillaging indigenous people, and being a kingpin for slavery, rather than sailing across the Atlantic.

There are some people in Columbus who are questioning the city being named after the famed explorer who also did these heinous things to the indigenous.

There is a petition circulating around to have the City of Columbus change the city’s name to Arawak. Local activist Charles Robol is leading the charge into getting the city’s name changed. Robol has been out in the community in recent weeks handing out flyers to spread awareness of Arawak City.

Ohio State University will raise the minimum wage of about 3,800 non-union employees to $15 per hour next year. In making the announcement on August 30, OSU President Michael Drake used the language of free market ideology.

“This effort is in keeping with a competitive marketplace and…the university’s commitment to invest in individuals and families throughout our Buckeye community,” Drake said in a press release. He said nothing about a living wage or economic justice. He used phrases like “competitive marketplace” and “investing” in people — crediting the pay raise to a strong labor market.

In other words, the free market is working as it should. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” John F. Kennedy said. If an economy is strong and growing, everyone will benefit from it. Right?

NO NUKES! Anti-HB6 Protests Scheduled Across Ohio
Scheduled Protests:
TOLEDO: Monday, June 3, 4:30 to 6:30PM, 300 Madison Ave. (Toledo Edison Building.

COLUMBUS: Wednesday, June 5, 4:30 to 6:30PM, Ohio Statehouse, corner of 3rd and State.

AKRON: Friday, June 7, 4:30 to 6:30PM, Venue to be determined.

House Bill 6 would eliminate Ohio's energy efficiency and clean energy programs, and instead replace them with a charge on every Ohioan's electric bill that would go to bailout First Energy's crumbling, leaking Davis-Besse and Perry nuclear plants, as well as two coal fired plants, one in Indiana.

Opponents will be gathering at three locations across the state during the first week in June to protest this unacceptable nuclear power tax on Ohioans. Wind and solar power are cheaper and can easily replace both Davis-Besse and Perry plants. However, the Republican controlling the Ohio state government are hostile to clean energy, and instead want to protect First Energy, one of the largest donors to the Republican Party.

On April 8, two days after the death of Rubén Castilla Herrera, the team that supports Miriam Vargas gathered at First English Lutheran Church on the Near East Side. They met to remember Rubén, who started the sanctuary movement in Columbus. Miriam and her family have been living in sanctuary at First English since June. 

Miriam was overcome with grief. She met with the team as usual but could only say a few words. “He was like my father,” she said. “He was like a grandfather to my daughters.”

Reverend Sally Padgett, senior pastor at First English, did her best to comfort Miriam. “We’re still here to fight for you,” she said.

The team met again two days later to figure out how to carry on the work without Rubén, who left very big shoes to fill. “Rubén was always texting me early in the morning, asking ‘What to you need?’” Miriam said. “He brought me books in Spanish from the library. He would horse around with my daughter Camilla. He gave me strength every single day. He was my angel. I always told him that. He would always say, ‘I’m just here to help.’”