[mpen-dayton] FW: SPAN Ohio's Big News Fox News deliberately misleads about MLK; #MeToo is coming for Trump; and more

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• FW: BIG NEWS!
• FW: Ohio Health Security Act Introduced
• FW: "the triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism"
• FW: my brother Martin Luther King Jr.
• FW: Fox News deliberately misleads about MLK
• FW: Hang your beliefs … in your window 😍
• FW: #MeToo is coming for Trump
• FW: Sign the petition: Allow Jorge Garcia to return to his family

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From: SPAN Ohio
Subject: BIG NEWS!

Big News

On December 6^th, HB 440, the Ohio Health Security Act, was introduced to the Ohio House by Representatives Teresa Fedor and Bernadine Kennedy Kent.  

Today we received the notice of the first hearing of this bill, the Sponsor's Hearing, on Wednesday, January 24^th at 10:00 am.  The hearing will take place in the Statehouse in Room 116.  

The hearing will be conducted by the Insurance committee. The members of the committee are:   Thomas Brinkman (R), Chair, Michael Henne (R), Vice Chair, John Boccieri (D), Michael Ashford (D), Kristin Boggs (D), Andrew Brenner (R), Bill Dean (R), Anne Gonzales (R), Glenn Holmes (D), Larry Householder (R), Stephen Huffman (R), Sarah LaTourette (R), Wes Rutherford (R).

We need to have as many people as possible show up for this hearing.  We need to fill the room and spill out into the hallway.   The members of the committee need to know that we are serious and that we can show up in large numbers.  As Representative Fedor said to us,

"We would love to see you and plenty of SPAN members at the hearing. The committee needs to see the massive push behind the bill and you have been so dedicated to the cause. It would be amazing for the committee members to be able to see just how much people want this bill passed."

See you there!

 

 

From: Logan Martinez on behalf of SPAN Ohio
Subject: Ohio Health Security Act Introduced

YOU DID IT!

Ohio State Representatives Teresa Fedor and Bernadine Kennedy Kent
introduce HB 440, The Ohio Health Security Act

Please share on Facebook. Thanks.

https://www.facebook.com/MiamiValleyFullEmploymentCouncil/photos/a.1661989310683100.1073741828.1659314877617210/1996125330602828/?type=3&theater

State Representatives Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) and Bernadine Kennedy Kent (D-Columbus) filed the Ohio Health Security Act, which will establish a single-payer health care plan in Ohio. Medical, dental, mental health, and vision services will be covered under the act and payments to healthcare providers for all eligible services will be made from a single fund, the Ohio Health Care Fund.  (The bill has 18 co-sponsors!!!!)

"Too many in Ohio are still struggling to get the care they need when they need it," Fedor said when the bill was first announced. She has followed up on that message, taking to Twitter to express her dedication to a single-payer model of healthcare: "Americans have shown that they care about providing affordable, accessible, and sensible healthcare to people. It's time for elected officials to listen." The two representatives have been adamant about the importance of healthcare: "We all need healthcare at some point in our lives, and we shouldn't have to mortgage our future to get it," Fedor said in a press conference announcing the bill.

Versions of the bill have been introduced in the past but never before have received so much support. Elected officials are, as Fedor called for on Twitter, listening to Ohioans. The bill, which will be heard in committee in the coming weeks, has 18 co-sponsors in addition to Representatives Fedor and Kennedy Kent. Representatives Antonio, Boggs, Boyd, Cera, Galonski, Holmes, Howse, Ingram, Kelly, Leland, Lepore-Hagan, Miller, Patterson, Ramos, Reece, Sheehy, Sykes, and West have all signed on as co-sponsors of the bill.

Wait a minute. What did I do?

This bill has not been introduced since 2013 when it was sponsored by Mike Foley and Bob Hagan.

After that session, they were term limited and did not run for re-election, so we were left with no sponsors.   But, due to the hard work of many of you around the state, Representatives Fedor and Kennedy Kent stepped up to the plate and became the new sponsors of the Ohio Health Security Act. 

The other thing you did was to secure so many legislators as co-sponsors.  The last time this bill was introduced in the house, it had only four co-sponsors:   Representatives Antonio, Boyd (Barbara), Patterson and Ramos.   This time we have 18!   And, even more exciting, this bill has never had so many sponsors!   It was your letters and phone calls and emails that made the difference.

Great job!  Thank you!

 

 

From: Michael Keegan; Presiden, People For the American Way
Subject: "the triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism"

Last year, I sent a Martin Luther King Day message that referenced a 1967 speech by Dr. King. The speech was about the Vietnam War but it discussed what Dr. King called "the triple evils of racism, economic exploitation, and militarism" and it seemed particularly timely in the days leading up to Donald Trump's inauguration.

Unfortunately, one year later, it hits even closer to home.

Those "triple evils" -- especially the first two, so far -- have defined the Trump presidency.

Racism: We thought Trump's campaign was bad, but in his first year of office Trump has:

   

• Defended Nazis and called them "fine people" in wake of Charlottesville violence
• Staffed his White House with white nationalists
• Tweeted anti-Muslim propaganda from far-right English hate group
• Pursued a policy agenda, especially at the Justice Department, that criminalizes communities of color
• Attacked diversity admissions at colleges and universities through the Department of Justice
• Attacked immigrant communities by rescinding DACA, stepping up deportations, ending protective status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who sought refuge here due to disasters in their countries of origin, and pursuing undue restrictions on legal immigration
• Showed profound -- and offensive -- ignorance about the history and achievements of African Americans ("Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is getting recognized more and more.")
• Attacked NFL players for exercising their right to free speech to raise awareness about police brutality and other oppression
• Inspired other Republicans to use his campaign playbook of racial division
• Inflamed fears about violence committed by immigrants -- particularly Latinos and Muslims

Economic Exploitation: The tax scam passed by Trump Republicans in Congress with zero Democratic support is a massive redistribution of wealth to the very top, with corporations and the 1% lining their pockets at the painful expense of middle-class and low-income Americans. In addition, we've seen:
   

• An aggressive deregulation agenda that has removed protections for workers, consumers, and the environment
• Dangerous deregulation of the financial sector, including multiple efforts to neuter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
• Ongoing attempts to rip lifesaving health care away from tens of millions of Americans and drive up health care premiums
• Political brinksmanship regarding the funding of the Children's Health Insurance Program, imperiling the health care of 9 million children
• Legislation to explode the deficit and create the excuse to try to shred safety net programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid

Militarism: We've seen this no more clearly than with Trump's posturing and Twitter antagonism regarding North Korea. Trump's "tough talk" has been aimed at some other countries as well, and his brand of militarism actually includes a very new dynamic in American foreign affairs -- isolating the US with reckless hostility towards international agreements and norms, as well as our own alliances like NATO. Thankfully, Trump's penchant for vindictive lashing out has not led us into an actual war yet, but obviously there is cause for concern and he has certainly demonstrated hawkish impulses with his public -- and oftentimes confusing -- chest thumping.

Today, it's important to remember and celebrate Dr. King's vision and the rights and values he died defending. But it's also important to stay mindful of how drastically at odds King's vision and fight are with the Trump presidency and right-wing Republican rule.

This year, we'll be fighting -- as always -- to advance the values Dr. King championed and, with your support, we have the chance to do it big time at the ballot box this November.

Thank you so much for all you do. And Happy Martin Luther King Day.
  

 

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