7 days in … Surprise

Cartoon of man in suit with tiny hands in the air and a big huge head with lots of wild yellow hair, his mouth open and looking upset

A lot went on in national politics this week. After a benign start to February, the past seven days stunned us by providing plenty of drama to think about and discuss. The Republicans have always been intent on dragging civilization back a few centuries, but it was amazing to see on how many fronts they are now appealing to their base. The Democrats took a big swig of Dutch courage and had someone be on their feet for eight hours straight. There was another shutdown, the vice-president embarrassed himself, and one of the world’s most famous election thieves crawled out of the woodwork to complain about election theft.

Tri-County Coalition of Landowners Say “NO” to Cabot Oil

A barn, silo, fenced in yard, curvy road leading to it, grass on the sides and hill with trees in background

Most people generally feel that their piece of the American dream as landowners is located in the best part of the country. That, as landowners, their slice of heaven on earth is the best, and indeed that may be true for many. This is at the core of our countries declaration stating that "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” are three examples of “unalienable rights" which the Declaration says have been given to all human beings. There are two types of rights, Natural and Legal. Natural rights are those that are not dependent on the laws of government, and so are universal, inalienable and they cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws. Legal rights are those bestowed onto a person by a given legal system, therefore they can be modified, repealed, and restrained by human laws.

Day Six - #BlackPride4 Verdict

Sketch of four young black people, two women, two men, with words BlackPride4

The verdicts have been reached:

Wriply Bennet: Disorderly Conduct - Guilty
Failure to Obey - Guilty
Resisting Arrest - Guilty

Ashley: Disorderly Conduct - Guilty
Failure to Obey - Guilty
Resisting Arrest - Not Guilty

Kendall Denton: Disorderly Conduct - Guilty
Failure to Obey - Not Guilty

Sentences will happen in 3-4 weeks.

Thank you to everyone who has come out to support Wriply, Ashley, and Kendall over the past week. Continue to keep the #BlackPride4 in your thoughts.

British Colombia’s Mount Polley Copper Mining Disaster of 2014, Northern Minnesota’s Equally Flawed PolyMet Tailings Lagoon and the Lethal Risks to the St Louis River Watershed (and Lake Superior)

“ALL tailings "ponds" are problems. If they don't breach and spill massive amounts of toxic sludge into the environment like at Mount Polley, they leach that contamination slowly, poisoning the waters and lands around them.”  -- From: http://canadians.org/blog/update-mount-polley-mine-disaster-imperial-metals-and-government-focus-covering-instead;

 

Last year, the Duluth News-Tribune published a Local News article with the title “EPA signals its support for final PolyMet review”.

 

The article ended with what I regard as an intentionally deceptive and woefully insufficient sentence from the DNT journalist: “Critics say the project is likely to taint downstream waters with acidic runoff.”

 

Central Ohioans for Peace

The word Peace surrounded by lots of other words Righteousness, Justice
Monday, February 12, 7-9pm Columbus Mennonite Church, 35 Oakland Park Ave.

Today’s program: Pat Marida. Pat will speak about Ohio’s nuclear reactors and the Portsmouth Nuclear Site, nuclear threats to the Great Lakes, and bad state and federal legislation. Pat Marida has been an Executive Committee member of the Ohio Sierra Club and chair of their Nuclear Free Committee for the past 10 years. She has been a member of the national Sierra Club Nuclear Free Campaign Core Team since its beginning in 2010.  She was an office volunteer and board member of the Ohio Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign throughout the 1980s. As such she has followed nuclear issues at the state, national and international (with Canada) levels. She will give an overview of nuclear issues in Ohio and beyond. Pat was chair of the Central Ohio Sierra Club for 9 years and edited their newsletter for 11 years in the 90s and early 2000s.

Contact: cohioansforpeace@gmail.com

   

Tackling Trump On Stage, Page and Workout Videos

With the persona of a maniacal Bond villain hell-bent on world domination who’s so unbelievable he’d be more at home in Austin Powers spy spoofs than in the 007 film franchise, Trump is a big, tempting, easy target. He’s a blowhard with perpetual bad hair days who can dish it out but can’t take it, the man you love to hate. Bashing Trump is big business, fodder for hosts of late night shows and comedy clubs, endless cable “news” programs, and along with Alec Baldwin’s impersonations on SNL, he has even spawned entire TV series: Comedy Central’s The President Show (the fate of Anthony Atamanuik’s hilarious send-up currently seems unclear) and Our Cartoon President, exec produced by Stephen Colbert, premiering Feb. 11 on

Showtime. Detractors are also taking shots at the tweeter-in-chief onstage, on the page and in workout videos. Here’s a few recent examples.

 

Onstage: The Final Frontier: Trump In Space

 

U.S. Pentagon is "Not a Declining Power"

BANGKOK, Thailand -- U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine
Corps Gen. Joe Dunford has arrived in Bangkok after visiting
Australia, emphasizing the U.S. is "not a declining power" and will
improve military relations with Thailand's armed forces which seized
control in a 2014 coup.
   He met on February 7 Thailand's coup-installed Prime Minister
Prayuth Chan-ocha, Gen. Dunford's counterpart Armed Forces Supreme
Commander Gen. Thanchaiyan Srisuwan, and Defense Minister Prawit
Wongsuwon.
   Mr. Prawit is currently under investigation by the junta's National
Anti-Corruption Commission for possession of up to 25 expensive
wristwatches worth $1.24 million but is a lifetime colleague of the
prime minister and not expected to suffer punishment.
   He denied wrongdoing, offered to resign, and said the timepieces
were "loaned" to him by friends, including a wealthy man who died one
year ago.
   Critics did not believe that explanation and said even if it were
true, expensive loans should be illegal because it could result in a
conflict of interest.

Students For Opioid Solutions Declares Legislative Victory #3 at THE Ohio State University

Circle with words Students for Opioid Solutions and a blue cartoon of a brain in the middle

Students For Opioid Solutions, a grassroots movement to prevent opioid deaths on college campuses, is proud to announce that February 7, the Undergraduate Student Government at THE Ohio State University unanimously passed SOS’s trademark legislation.
 

This legislation will reduce the number of deaths from opioid overdoses on college campuses to zero through a five part process: 1) Pass student government legislation calling upon school administrators to require that residential life and campus police officers receive training in the recognition of an opioid overdose. 2) Encourage residential life staff to receive training in the use of naloxone and either carry it or have reasonably quick access. 3) Ensure that schools record and report the number of opioid overdoses and deaths in their annual public drug and alcohol report. 4) Ensure amnesty for students who report overdoses. 5) Enact a Good Samaritan clause protecting students who come to the aid of someone suffering from an opioid overdose.
 

Governor Grants Reprieve for Execution

Black background with white letters saying Gov Kasich don't resume executions in Ohio

Great news! Today, Governor John Kasich announced he will grant a reprieve until October 17, 2018 to Ray Tibbetts, who had been scheduled for execution on Tuesday, February 13, 2018. The purpose of this temporary reprieve is to allow the Ohio Parole Board to convene a hearing to consider new evidence bearing on Ray's clemency request. 

Thanks to you and many others taking action, there will not be an execution next week. There is a lot of work that goes into stopping executions. That's why we are so grateful to you for being an Ohioan to Stop Executions. Thank you.

Since there will not be an execution Feb. 13, we've decided to postpone the activity at the Statehouse to April 11, the date of Ohio's next scheduled execution. OTSE will post information and actions on the case of William T. Montgomery in the coming weeks.

Following is a statement from Erin Barnhart, attorney for Ray Tibbetts:

#BlackPride4 Trial - Jury Deliberation

Sketch of four young black people with fists in air and words BlackPride4

The jury in the #BlackPride4 trial deliberated until 7pm on Friday, February 9. They broke for the weekend. Their deliberation will continue on Monday, February 12.

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