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On October 7 members and supporters of the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA) held a rally outside Bricker Hall at the Ohio State University, calling on the administration to terminate its contract with the Wendy’s Corporation. The fast food chain has lucrative contracts with universities across the country. Wendy’s operates a restaurant in the Wexner Medical Center at OSU.

Two years ago OSU administrators signed an agreement with the SFA, promising to end its contract with Wendy’s if the fast food chain did not make a verifiable commitment to fair labor practices in its Florida tomato supply chain. This would have meant joining the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ Fair Food Program, which includes a commitment to source its produce only from farms that provide fair pay and safe working conditions to their workers. The program also includes a zero-tolerance policy for slave labor and sexual harassment.

People standing with fists in air

Monday, October 10, 2016, 2:00 – 4:00 PM This gathering is to peacefully support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s stance against the Dakota Access Pipeline, call for environmental justice across Indian Country, encourage Ohio to transition to clean energy, and raise awareness around issues faced by today’s Native Americans in Ohio.  Location:  Columbus City Hall, 90 W. Broad St., Columbus, 43215.  Potluck Afterwards:  Sierra Club Office, 131 N High Street, 3rd Floor, Columbus, OH 43215.  Please bring a dish or dessert of your choosing to the potluck. https://www.facebook.com/events/1516925708333014/

People marching with large banner about climate catastrophe

Ohioans will unite this Saturday, October 08, 2016 at the Statehouse to rally and march for fair trade and against the TPP and other secret trade agreements. This event begins at 1:00 PM. During the rally, a series of speakers will share concerns about the proposed deal.
This rally and march is to bring attention to the disastrous Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that would expand the same failed “free trade” policies that have already cost millions of jobs across the United States. This trade deal will have significant impacts to our jobs, wages, healthcare, and the environment. Last year President Obama sought, and won, approval from Congress to “fast track” trade deals. That means that he can submit the TPP to Congress and put it up for a vote without any amendments. Congress can approve it as-is, or reject it; those are their only choices.

On October 6 followers of evangelist Franklin Graham gathered by the thousands at the Statehouse for a prayer rally. Supporters who arrived on the south side of the Capitol were greeted by counterdemonstrators holding a rainbow banner with the message “Stop the Hate!”

 “We’re here to say that we are human beings,” said Shannon Glatz. “We deserve love, we deserve equal rights, and their hate is not going to be tolerated.”

Graham’s rhetoric at the prayer rally was non-partisan on the surface. But he opposes gay marriage and warned Christians to keep LGBT people away from their children and churches. He also supports Donald Trump’s proposal to end Muslim immigration. Trump supporters were conspicuous in the crowd.

“This politics of fear has actually delivered everything we were afraid of.”

Well, OK, let’s think about these words of Jill Stein for a moment, as the 2016 presidential race enters, oh Lord, it’s final month — and the possibility still looms that this country could elect a hybrid of Benito Mussolini and Jim Crow its next, uh, commander in chief.

Politics of fear, indeed! Most of the people I know are going to vote for Hillary Clinton, and I get it. The other guy is the most unapologetic “greater evil” the Democrats have ever been blessed with.

"Russia Wants to Undermine Faith in the U.S. Election. Don't Fall For It." Thus reads the cover of Time magazine with a photo of Vladimir Putin on the cover staring at me from shelves as I sit in an airport. Genuinely curious, I check out Massimo Calabresi's article online.

Of course, U.S. elections are almost completely unverifiable and do not even pretend to meet international standards. Jimmy Carter doesn't even try to monitor them because there's no way to do it. Much voting is done on machines that simply must be trusted on faith. Whether they accurately count the votes entered is simply unknowable, and reason to wonder is fueled by the machines' frequently changing a vote visibly just as it's cast, and by the ease with which people have been able to hack the machines. Never mind all the problems with registration, intimidation, inconvenience, discrimination, etc.

Dar Williams: 

Every new album from Dar Williams represents her thoughts and feelings about both her own life and larger forces in the world. But her ninth studio record, Emerald, marks a particularly dramatic confluence between her experiences and broader contemporary culture—and what it means to be a songwriter at this moment in history.

In the past few years, Williams has been involved in a wide range of different efforts and projects: teaching a course titled “Music Movements in a Capitalist Democracy” at her alma mater, Wesleyan University; working with children at several summer camps; leading songwriting workshops; getting involved with the workings of her village; and writing a book about the ways she’s seen towns becoming more independent and prosperous over her twenty years of touring. In addition, in the face of dramatic transformations in the music industry, she is releasing Emerald on her own after choosing to part ways with Razor & Tie, her label for almost twenty years.

Greeting Sisters and Brothers: dapl.jpg

I have been asked to write a SOLIDARITY statement to everyone about the Camp of the Sacred Stones on Standing Rock. Thank you for this great honor. I must admit it is very difficult for me to even begin this statement as my eyes get so blurred from tears and my heart swells with pride, as chills run up and down my neck and back. I’m so proud of all of you young people and others there.

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