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Jan 17, 2025 Politics Done Right Interviews Harvey Wasserman, a journalist and environmental activist, urges smart rebuilding from the LA fire and the closure of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant.

On the one hand, there’s no sugarcoating how progressives feel as President Trump retakes office: rough.

Trump and his allies in Congress are already rolling out plans to cut taxes for billionaires, slash services for the rest of us, pollute the planet, and deport people who’ve lived here their whole lives.

But if you look closely, you’ll see signs people aren’t just going to accept all this. Here are five that caught my eye from this past election year.

1. Populist anger is boiling over. 

Americans have had it with economic elites. Union activity has been on an upswing for a few years running now, with union petition filings in 2024 significantly up over 2023.

We welcome the news that a ceasefire agreement has apparently been reached between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza Strip. However, we approach this news with caution for a variety of reasons.

Wednesday, January 8, Governor DeWine officially signed the Paystub Protection Act, with Central Ohio Worker Center (COWC) and Policy Matters Ohio staff by his side. In this important move, Ohio now joins 41 other states in requiring employers to provide earnings and deductions statements to each of the employer's employees.

The bill, which received unanimous support in both the House and the Senate earlier in 2024, goes into effect in April. The bill was sponsored by Representatives Dontravius L Jarrells and P. Scott Lipps, with 14 additional co-sponsors. COWC, along with Policy Matters Ohio, have been working to support the act's passage along the way. During testimony to the Ohio Senate in December, Claudia Cortez, Program Director of COWC, shared that this will “help ensure that workers are paid fairly and transparently by providing them with a clear breakdown of wages and deductions. Pay stubs are also often necessary for workers needing proof of income for housing, loans, and other financial requirements.” 

This article first appeard on World Beyond War

The U.S. Secretary of State has taken a break from demanding more weapons shipments to fuel the genocide in Palestine, to announce that he has “recognized” a genocide in Sudan.

This article first appeared on Ohio Capital Journal

Environmental activists have been pressing the company buying an Ohio coal plant said to be the nation’s deadliest to retire the facility. But that seems unlikely, given statements it made in a regulatory filing that it provided to the Ohio Capital Journal.

The buyer, Energy Capital Partners, has boasted of helping plants make the transition away from coal. It hasn’t answered questions about its plans for Gavin, but in a Dec. 11 filing before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, it expressed no such plans for the Gavin Plant.

“As with any electric generation facility, (Energy Capital Partners) and Javelin expect that the Gavin facility… will continue to operate for so long as they are legally able to do so on an economic basis,” it said.

Last night at 5:49 p.m., the Antrim, Ohio, volunteer fire department chief posted the first of four videos on its Facebook page of a raging fire at a well pad just off State Route 22. 

The location is a 5.7 miles – a seven-minute drive along SR 22 – from the entrance to Salt Fork State Park.

Information soon emerged that the fire was caused by an explosion at the Groh well pad (GIS coordinates 40.110854 N, 81.370555 W), owned by Gulfport Appalachia. Drone footage found one tank had completely collapsed with a second tank breached, the fire chief said.

As flames shot 100 feet into the air, authorities in consultation with Gulfport decided to let the fire burn itself out. SR 22 was closed and would remain closed for several hours.

No one was injured, but an evacuation was called for everyone in a half-mile radius. Residents near Fairground Road, Brushy Fork Road, Dutch Barn Builders, and Rainbow Road were asked to leave their homes and go to the fire station for assistance. 

This article first appeared on the Ohio Capital Journal

Ohio and the United States have a big problem with infant mortality. But the state government can take measures to significantly lessen it, the vast majority of Ohio economists surveyed on the matter said.

When infants die at high rates, it isn’t just a tragedy for them and their families. It also is expensive and it saps economic growth, a group of researchers reported last year in the peer-reviewed Cureus Journal of Medical Science. 

Today, January 1st, 2025, is the first day in the new life of the Octagon in Newark (Ohio) as it opens to full public access after being besieged by a golf course over the previous century.

This Native American-built geometric structure, which has an adjoined circle with an observation mound, is arguably Ohio’s second most popular and mysterious First Nation earthwork when compared to Serpent Mound in Peebles, Ohio. Fascinating is how the Octagon, believed to be a ceremonial pilgrimage site used hundreds if not thousands of years ago, aligns with the northernmost moonrise which occurs every 18.6 years, and 2024 was that year.

Back in October at the Octagon during a public event on a night when the moon aligned nearly perfect with the Octagon (pictured above), the Ohio History Connection’s Dr. Bradley Lepper told the crowd those Native Americans who built and celebrated the Octagon did so to connect to the “rhythm of the cosmos so they would not feel alone.”

People in Palestine have to endure a new hell every day and have faced life-threatening conditions in Gaza and even in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since October 7. That includes journalists, medics, and first responders, who are civilian heroes on the front lines and who face such danger every day.

Here are some examples:

Two days ago, on December 26, five journalists were murdered, and their bodies were burned after the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) targeted their broadcast vehicle near Al-Awda Hospital in Al-Nuseirat Camp, Central Gaza.

The martyred journalists were: