With the recent release of Hillary Clinton’s emails by Wikileaks, the public now knows exactly how the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) went from a collective defense organization to the new Barbary Coast Pirates of imperialism. Continue reading
If vote-rigging prospers, none may call it vote-rigging. It simply becomes the new norm. Once again, the universal laws of statistics apply only outside U.S. borders. The recall vote in Wisconsin produced another significant 7% discrepancy between the unadjusted exit poll and the so-called “recorded vote.” In actual social science, this level of discrepancy, with the results being so far outside the expected margin of error would not be accepted. Continue reading
News Director Sean Gilbow of WVKO 1580AM recently outed an extreme right-wing organization that is behind the attempt by Taxpayers for Westerville Schools to repeal the Westerville Public School levy. Westerville Schools, considered one of the premier school districts in central Ohio is coming under heavy attack from a small group of anti-government zealots that are bringing the politics of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and the Kochs to Ohio. Continue reading
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) exists today not to defend against aggressive authoritarian Communism, but to steal resources from weaker non-European countries by military force. Its two most recent military actions made the May 2012 NATO Summit in Chicago a gathering of war criminals. Continue reading
Recent events in northern Ohio underscore the new COINTELPRO assault on activism. On Tuesday, May 1, federal authorities arrested five “anarchists” charging them with conspiracy in trying to bomb property used in interstate commerce, according to the Associated Press (AP). The target of this alleged plot was a bridge running through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, 15 miles south of downtown Cleveland. Continue reading
In this election year, the most important companies to watch are two you’ve probably never heard of—Smartech and Triad. Continue reading
On election night 2011 during the evening and into the next morning, Franklin County poll workers contacted the Free Press telling the paper that they were unable to make the electronic voting machines print out precinct-level results as required by law. This prevented poll workers from posting election totals at the polling sites at the end of the night. Continue reading
The late Herbert Marcuse, author of One Dimensional Man, and Noam Chomsky, America’s most cited scholar, both have pointed out the advantage of controlling news through private corporate conglomerates. In 1947, in his seminal book, Inside USA, John Gunther called the Wolfe family of Columbus perhaps America’s most ruthless media monopoly. Continue reading
The original notice that Karl Rove, former senior advisor to President George W. Bush, would be speaking at Cedarville University in Ohio came from Warcriminalswatch.org. What piqued my interest is how a Bible-based fundamentalist university would invite the country’s most famous Machiavellian to speak on Constitution Day. Continue reading
Labor Day has come and gone, but the real battle over whether workers are actually honored and valued in Ohio will be decided on Election Day in November. To understand what’s at stake, one must begin with the concept of American exceptionalism—the notion that America has its own unique political ideology embracing individualism and entrepreneurship. Continue reading
Ohio Secretary of State John Husted has banned all minor political parties in Ohio from the ballot. In an August 5, 2011, letter written to the Libertarian Party of Ohio, Husted made it clear that his interpretation of the draconian Ohio House Bill 194, passed by the Republican-dominated legislature, means that all minor parties have lost their official statewide party status effective September 30, 2011. Continue reading
A new filing in the King Lincoln Bronzeville v. Blackwell case includes a copy of the Ohio Secretary of State election production system configuration that was in use in Ohio’s 2004 presidential election when there was a sudden and unexpected shift in votes for George W. Bush. Continue reading
Another progressive coalition is seeking to repeal a new reactionary Republican election law in Ohio that targets black, elderly and poor voters. Continue reading
You would never know it after reading the July 2 puff piece “In Ohio, a new Governor is off to a smooth start,” but Governor John Kasich is already on the ropes. In the Times’ analysis, the passage of Kasich’s controversial budget “ . . . has been about as smooth as a knife through butter.” Continue reading
Jim Gilbert, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Capital City Lodge 9, claims that the Republican Party’s passing of Senate Bill 5 “has woken a sleeping giant.” By a vote of 53–44, the Republican-dominated Ohio Assembly passed Senate Bill 5 on Wednesday, March 30, to drastically limit collective bargaining for 360,000 public union workers. The new law requires that no salary increases can be based on seniority, only on performance. Continue reading
While Ohio public employees’ rights to bargain collectively are under siege, the Ohio Republican Party executed a perfect sleight of hand by disenfranchising nearly 900,000 Ohio voters. In the most vicious and direct attack on voting rights since Bull Connor ran amok in the deep South, Ohio House Republicans passed HB 159 that requires Ohio voters to produce one of four state photo IDs at the polls. Continue reading
Senator Sherrod Brown apologized after giving a speech on the Senate floor March 4 where he stated the obvious, that Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Egyptian President Mubarak all crushed independent labor unions. No need to apologize, Senator Brown. The Republicans never do, as they endorse the policies of union busters. The only thing, senator, you should be mildly chagrined about is failing to point out Ohio Governor John Kasich and Wisconsin Governor Walker’s similarities to Mussolini’s fascism. Continue reading
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Bernie and the rebirth of Buckeye Socialism
Posted on March 9, 2016 by Bob Fitrakis
It’s Monday night at Dempsey’s, a perennial Democratic Party meet-up spot in downtown Columbus. The Ohio presidential primary is five weeks away. Powerful members of the Franklin County Democratic Central Committee are meeting to plot strategy against an unprecedented grassroots attack upon the party’s ward leaders. The ward leaders are the ones responsible for the official party candidate endorsements. Continue reading →