Defund Injustice urges city of Columbus to adopt ordinance divesting funds from JP Morgan Chase

Girl holding sign about how Chase bank makes investments

Ordinary people have extraordinary power.

That’s the philosophy behind Defund Injustice, a newly formed coalition based in Columbus that seeks to organize the people’s power of the purse. In a consumer-driven economy, the power of the purse is king. Where people choose to spend and invest their money can be a remarkably persuasive driver of social change. The same can be said of where cities choose to spend and invest taxpayer dollars.

Take, for example, the recent consumer-driven change in the production of eggs. Twenty years ago there were three types of eggs widely available to consumers: small, medium and large. The recent, and growing, interest in more humane egg production practices has resulted in the widespread availability of cage-free and free-range eggs. Last year major restaurant chains, like McDonalds, Taco Bell and Dunkin Donuts, promised to use cage-free eggs in their food production.

Dirty Money, Dirty Water

Scene next to a brook with cows

Tuesday, April 4, 12-3pm
OSU Moritz College of Law, 55 W. 12th Ave. FREE
Facebook Event
Ohio has seen a boom in the storing of fracking wastewater, much of it from neighboring states, and this wastewater includes a mix of toxic chemicals—many of which are harmful to human health. Some communities have responded by trying to limit wastewater dumping, but the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that municipalities have no power to regulate or limit the disposal of fracking waste. Many of the Ohio Supreme Court justices who made this decision received large campaign contributions from fracking companies and other fossil fuel interests.
Please save the date for this exclusive event co-sponsored by Why Courts Matter Ohio, Ohio Fair Courts Working Group, OSU American Constitution Society, the Ecologic Institute, Common Cause Ohio, the Ohio Environmental Council, and the Piper Fund. You will receive registration information soon. 

ABSINTHE Spectacle Review

Imported from Las Vegas’ Caesars Palace, Absinthe is a heady mélange of a variety of entertainment forms geared for adult (although, not necessarily grown up) audiences. This naughty, bawdy brew blends circus acrobatics, commedia dell'arte, standup comedy, vaudeville, cabaret, the Rat Pack, cross-dressing, striptease, (taped) rock music and live singing. Imagine the Flying Wallendas meet Purple Owsley meet Cirque du Soleil meet burlesque, and you’ll get some idea of this mind-blowing one-act extravaganza executed minus intermission.

 

It’s all presided over by an over-the-top, sleazy, Trump-like ringmaster called The Gazillionaire, who - along with a kooky female sidekick - intro the acts, interact with the audience and reel off a series of quips and jokes that range from the racial (if not outright racist) to the sexist, often in poor taste. The sheer athleticism of the various performances, many introduced as coming from Russia (with lust), accentuate the human form, and may leave you, like Shakespeare, musing:

 

Interfaith March for Peace and Justice

Dove in a circle with words Interfaith March for Peace & Justice

Sunday, April 2, 2-4pm.
FACEBOOK EVENT
Guiding Principles:
1. We believe that all people in Ohio should be free to practice their faith without fear of discrimination, intimidation, or reprisal. 
2. We believe that multiple religions can coexist peacefully in Ohio and contribute to the common good. 
3. We believe that the government of the great state of Ohio should protect those who are most vulnerable and never turn a blind eye on violence perpetrated against minorities by those who claim superiority or dominance.

4 Dying Nukes vs. Fleet of Gigafactories: Which Will Gov. Cuomo Choose?

Elon Musk's SolarCity is completing the construction of its "Buffalo Billion" Gigafactory for photovoltaic (PV) cells near the Niagara River in Buffalo, New York. It will soon put 500 New Yorkers to work inside the 1.2 million-square-foot facility with another 700 nearby, ramping up to nearly 3,000 over the next few years.

The production of some 10,000 solar panels per day will put thousands of New Yorkers to work doing the installations. The panels will produce electricity cheaper, cleaner, more safely and more reliably than any fossil or nuclear source of power, including fracked gas, thus fueling a bright industrial future for the state.

With a little common sense from the governor, upstate New York could have many more of these massive factories, create many thousands of good, stable, high-paying jobs and solve its energy problems along the way.

Prison Strike Leader Moved to Infirmary after Twenty Four Days Refusing Food.

Two photos side by side, two men, on the left is white he is bald with a gold necklace, on the right he is black with a white hat and a beard.
Siddique Abdullah Hasan, a national prisoner leader has been on hunger strike since Monday, February 27th. On Friday, March 24th he was moved to the infirmary, presumably due to failing health. His appeal to the Rules Infraction Board (RIB) was also denied by Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) Director Gary Mohr. 

The administration at Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) has been targeting and restricting Hasan's communication access on any pretense they can find or invent since his outspoken support for the nation-wide prisoner strike on September 9th of 2016. 

Hasan and another prisoner, Jason Robb began refusing food when the OSP administration put them on a 90 day communication restriction for being interviewed by the Netflix documentary series Captives. Hasan appealed the RIB's decision, arguing that they violated policies regarding timelines, access to witnesses, and prisoners' due process rights. Director Mohr's response to the appeal was a form letter that did not address any of the issues Hasan raised. 

“It’s a hard rain’s gonna fall…”

People marching in the rain with Boycott Wendy's signs
Photo report here The march — and the storm — approaches… In what would become an unforgettable march celebrating the end of the week-long fast by students and alumni at The Ohio State University — and the start of a rolling fast of students across the Fair Food Nation in support of the Wendy’s Boycott — nearly 500 farmworkers and their consumer allies braved cold winds and a soaking rainstorm to march three miles through the streets of Columbus this past Sunday in pursuit of justice for the workers who pick Wendy’s fruits and vegetables.

Big gatherings on April 1

Black men in concert, one in red singing into mic
Fifth Annual Ohio Move To Amend Network Gathering

Saturday, April 1, 9:30am-4:30pm [registration begins at 8:30am], First Unitarian Universalist Church, 93 W. Weisheimer Rd. Facebook Event

A statewide gathering of local chapters of the national Move to Amend organization that is calling for a U.S. Constitutional amendment to reverse several U.S. Supreme Court decisions during the past century and thereby to firmly establish that corporations are not people and that money is not free speech. Join us on April Fools’ Day to debunk several long-standing constitutional hoaxes — including the legal fictions that corporations are “persons” and that money is equivalent to “free speech” — and together build the growing national movement to create real democracy.

Is Donald Trump Losing His Mind?

Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, appears to have achieved an impressive new level of madness. You would think that being Commander-in-Chief and Leader of the Free World is an all-consuming job, starting in the early morning hours and stretching well into the night. Between myriad pressing domestic and global issues such as the economy and fighting terrorism there should be little else that successfully competes for Trump’s attention, right? Guess again. These days, rather than doing his job and promoting the interests of America, he seems more preoccupied with promoting Fox’s television shows and Tweet-shaming everyone from Arnold Schwarzenegger and the New York Times to the GOP’s Freedom Caucus.

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