When Joe Biden was declared the winner in the US elections last November, expectations in Ramallah were high. A Biden Administration, compared to the brazenly pro-Israel Trump Administration, would surely be much fairer to Palestinians, was the conventional wisdom at the time. 

This past summer the Ohio Environmental Council (OEC) stated that Issue 7 “is thin on details and short-circuits the city’s ability to mitigate the causes of climate change.” 

“Because the city is already moving toward 100% clean energy, the creation of the funds in the ballot initiative is superfluous at best, and outright thievery at worst,” wrote OEC staff attorney Chris Tavenor in an email. “The initiative’s language calls for the transfer of funds into the hands of a privately held corporation, and it further permits that corporation to receive ‘administrative’ fees for the distribution of subsidies. Simply put, a corporation has placed itself in a position to benefit from taxpayer dollars when the city has already created a program in pursuit of similar goals: Clean Energy Columbus. Columbus does not need a private corporation as a financial third party in the pursuit of energy efficiency, clean energy, and electric affordability.”

A recent Dispatch headline offered this scathing condemnation as well, “Weaselly ‘green energy’ group tries to con Columbus voters out of $87 million.”

On October 26 I saw Tom Stoppard interviewed on PBS’ Amanpour & Company and the British playwright stated that “theater is a storytelling art form.” While I hold the bard who wrote 1966’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in high esteem (see my review of A Noise Within’s 2016 production of Arcadia: “Arcadia”: Tom Stoppard’s complex Byronic drama to the manor born – People's World (peoplesworld.org)), there are some intrepid souls in the realm of the stage who’d beg to differ with Stoppard’s definition/description of theater.

Tuesday, October 27, 5:30pm, this on-line event requires advance registration

The OEC [Ohio Environmental Council] Emerging Leaders Council [ELC] invites renters to engage with us and our partners about how to live sustainably and advocate for equitable living conditions as a renter. Being a renter may make a person feel like they don’t have control over their living environment. However, there are some actionable steps the renter community can take to take back some control!

Join the ELC on October 27 at 5:30pm to hear from advocates and experts from Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO), Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio (SWACO), Simply Living, Ohio Student Association, 3 Tree, and GreenSpot.

Following presentations on issues pertaining to sustainability and housing, ELC members and our partners will host different breakout rooms to debrief, discuss, and hear thoughts about each of the topics presented. At the end of the event, you’ll leave with actionable steps that you can use to push your home toward sustainability while also knowing what you can do to make progress for the environment and your community.

When the news circulated that Morocco's leading political group, the Development and Justice Party (PJD), has been trounced in the latest elections, held in September, official media mouthpieces in Egypt celebrated the news as if the PJD's defeat was, in itself, a blow to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood movement. Regionally, political commentators who dedicated much of their time to discredit various Islamic political parties - often on behalf of one Arab government or another - found in the news another supposed proof that political Islam is a failure in both theory and practice.