AUTHOR’S NOTE: For those who want to see Sen. Franken remain in office at least until the Ethics Committee process has run its course, there’s a “We support Al Franken” petition at change.org with over 60,000 signatures as of December 8 – https://www.change.org/p/charles-schumer-we-support-al-franken

Evian is not just a bottled water company. And the town of Évian-les-Baines in France on the south shore of Lake Geneva is not just a location for luxury hotels. It’s also the location where, in July 1938, the first international effort was ever made (or feigned) to alleviate a refugee crisis.

With the Democratic Party’s “Unity Reform Commission” now history, major political forces are entering a new stage of contention over the future of the party. Seven months after the commission’s first meeting -- and nine months after Hillary Clinton backer Tom Perez won a close election over Bernie Sanders supporter Keith Ellison to become chair of the Democratic National Committee -- the battle lines are coming into focus for next year.

As Congress scrambles to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the GOP tax bill before Christmas, a nascent resistance movement is growing. On December 9 students and working people marched from the Ohio Statehouse to the office of Senator Rob Portman, a key architect and proponent of the tax bill.

The Republican tax plan “is nothing more than blatant class warfare waged on the working class, especially women and people of color,” said Alex Davis, a graduate student at OSU and member of Socialist Alternative. “It’s raising taxes on the poor while reducing taxes on the rich. By 2019, nine percent of taxpayers would pay higher taxes, which would expand to 50 percent by 2027. And that’s not even counting the cuts to vital social services that will be used to help fund the tax cuts.”

“Tax the greedy, not the needy!” the crowd shouted.