Holiday Schedule
CCPC Recommended will be taking a holiday break next week and will return January 6. CCPC News and events will be going out on Friday, December 26 and Friday, January 2 during the holidays.
Randy's Rants
Why I Write
Randy's Rants is a series of essays by legendary Cleveland author, activist and CCPC Member Randy Cunningham. We'll be featuring a different one each week for as long as Randy is willing to write the articles.
Randy's Rants Survey
CCPC Recommended
National
Gazans face "Not Just a Humanitarian Catastrophe, but an Ecological Collapse” Over the past two years, the UN and global medical and human rights authorities have continuously sounded the alarm on famine and forced starvation in Gaza, widespread environmental destruction, near constant bombardment and violations of international law, deeming Israel's assault a genocide. Israel has murdered over 70,000 Palestinians over the last two years to avenge the 1,200 Israelis killed on October 7, 2023. An eye for an eye?
Young voters could be key to midterm success, but they've soured on both parties. Gen Z and millennial voters are a growing portion of the electorate, estimated to make up roughly half of all eligible voters by 2026. However, these same voters are also feeling increasingly unhappy with the political system that they're poised to dominate in the coming years, notably as they struggle with the high cost of living. Younger voters nationally have 30% approval rating of the Republican Party and a 35% approval rating of the Democratic Party
Republicans spooked by string of disappointing elections Republicans are feeling spooked by recent special elections losses and underperformances in party strongholds, as the White House ramps up Trump's presence on the campaign trail ahead of next year's midterm elections. Last week, Democrats flipped Miami's mayoral office for the first time in 30 years and won a conservative leaning state House district in Georgia that Trump carried by 12 points last year.
Trump signs executive order to block state AI regulations Unregulated AI. What could possibly go wrong? Trump's excuse for signing the executive order blocking states from crafting their own regulations was that the burgeoning industry was at risk of being stifled by a patchwork of onerous rules while in a battle with Chinese competitors for supremacy. Meanwhile, members of Congress from both parties, as well as civil liberties groups and consumer rights groups, are pushing for more regulations on AI.
Democrats want to win back Congress. First they need to weather their primary battles At least a dozen US House Democrats are already facing primary challenges, as progressives seek to transform a party regaining its footing after 2024 by tapping into voters' frustration with its leaders ahead of next year's midterm elections. Progressives believe the party needs to replace incumbents in safe districts with more inspiring candidates who can better respond to Trump. We wish all of the progressive challengers good luck in their primaries.
As Epstein releases near, Americans think Trump knew about Epstein's alleged crimes The Reuters - Ipsos poll asked whether Americans believed that Trump was not aware of Epstein's crimes before they became public. Just 18% said it was "somewhat” or "very” likely that Trump didn't know. Fully 60% said it was “not too” or “not at all” likely that Trump didn't know. That's a 3 to 1 margin believing Trump knew something. Around half of Americans (48%) believe Trump engaged in the crimes with Epstein. What do you think?
Trump's approval rating on the economy hits record low 31% This week's Trump record low approval rating article. 68% of voters, including 44% of Republicans, say the economy is in poor shape. About half of Americans say it's harder than usual to afford holiday gifts this year. About half say they are cutting back on nonessential purchases more than they usually would. And a "vast majority” report seeing higher prices for groceries and electricity underscoring a persistent cost of living strain.
'A very hostile climate for workers': US labor movement struggles under Trump The National Labor Relations Board's five-seat board is tasked with protecting workers' rights, overseeing the labor movement and ruling on disputes between employers and unions. But days after regaining power, in an unprecedented decision, Trump fired Gwynne Wilcox from the board, leaving it without a quorum to make decisions. The NLRB is now toothless to do anything.
RFK Jr. has turned the CDC into a ‘zombie organization’ In less than a year, Kennedy, who has made baseless claims about the dangers posed by vaccines for decades, has turned the CDC, once considered the global "gold Standard” of public health agencies into what Demetre Daskalakis, the former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, describes as a "zombie organization." The latest healthcare catastrophe is the withdrawal of recommending the Hepatitis B vaccine for newborn babies.
'Our message is simple.’ Democrats unite as GOP again struggles to address health care With key Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire within days, Democrats have unified behind a simple message: extend the subsidies and keep health insurance premiums from spiking for more than 20 million Americans. Republicans meanwhile have engaged in a wide-ranging blame game while scrambling to coalesce behind an easily digestible plan to lower health care costs.
Senators brace for another possible shutdown in January Senators in both parties are bracing for another government shutdown next year after Republicans blocked a proposal to extend expiring health insurance subsidies, the issue that triggered the 43-day closure that consumed much of the fall calendar. This has given momentum to liberals to argue that Democrats should use the January 30 government funding as leverage to force Republicans to make major concessions on federal health care spending.
The Tipping Point? Even Trump's Loyal MAGAists Are Disgusted by his Vile Commentary on Rob Reiner The gist of his comment was that Reiner deserved to be murdered "due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind-crippling disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome." Since he has entered politics, Trump has demonstrated a measure of the monstrosity that makes up his character. We keep wondering how it could possibly get worse - but it does.
Donald Trump has the ' personality of an alcoholic.' White House staffer admits in odd compliment: He thinks 'there's nothing he can't do’ White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles made a confusing remark about Trump in an interview last week. Wiles admitted the president's behavior is like an alcoholic's; something she knows a lot about since her dad struggled with drinking until he got sober. Trump has said that he has abstained from alcohol for the majority of his life. But do you believe anything he says?
Local
Brook Park takes over Browns stadium property The Haslam Sports Group has transferred the land for its planned $2.4 billion indoor stadium to the city of Brook Park in an incremental step toward setting up a community authority to own the facility and engineer tax incentives for the project. The "community authority” will be carefully selected by Haslam's people to assure maximum tax breaks, The big question that remains is who will pay for maintenance and repairs of the new stadium.
I Team: What's happening now at Browns dome site The I Team found that preparation for construction has already begun. They also found out that we are going to help pay for the massive electrical grid that needs to be installed. The statement that First Energy released to the I Team said, “While some of the cost for this work would be covered by the Browns, electric system upgrades in the area that improve service for the wider community would be shared across all customers.
State
U.S. EPA hits brakes on Ohio's attempt to bypass E-check testing requirements The shocking thing here is that Trump's Environmental Pollution Agency turned down an opportunity to increase pollution. The Generally Clueless Assembly wanted to allow Cleveland-area vehicle owners to avoid E-check emissions testing simply by signing a form attesting that their vehicles meet the program's standards. The Republican-controlled Generally Clueless Assembly is planning to appeal the EPA's decision directly to Trump.
With Human Costs of Gambling Mounting in Ohio, More Are Seeking Help Since online sports gambling became legal in Ohio in 2023, sports scandals have been mounting. Getting less attention is the human toll, which has grown rapidly. There are an estimated 250,000 problem gamblers in Ohio and a recent study showed a "substantial increase in average bankruptcy rates, debt sent to collections, use of debt consolidation loans, and auto loan delinquencies” in states with legalized sports betting.
Immigration
Ohio Has The Second Largest Somali Community in America. Trump's Racist Rant Puts Them in Danger Ohio's Somali community, the second largest in the United States after Minnesota, is terrified that Trump's crackdown on Somali immigrants in Minneapolis will spread to Columbus where an estimated 60,000 Somali Americans live. Trump called American citizens from Somalia "garbage" and vowed to deport them "back to where they came from” because "they contribute nothing” and "I don't want them in our country."
An ever - larger share of ICE's arrested immigrants have no criminal record Immigration arrests under Trump continued to increase through mid-November, reaching rates of more than 30,000 a month. But rather than the convicted criminals Trump has said he's focused on, an ever larger share of the arrests have been solely for immigration violations. Since only a small percentage of immigrants are convicted criminals, ICE has had to make many arrests of non-criminals to meet their monthly quotas.
For - Profit School Opening in For - Profit ICE Family Prison A for-profit virtual education company accused of defrauding investors and other harms is set to run a new school at an immigration prison in Texas, according to job advertisements. The establishment of the school is an effort to sanitize the extended detention of hundreds of children, which violates a court settlement established 28 years ago. Under that settlement, children may not be held in immigration prison for more than 20 days.
Black Lives Matter
Officer who shot Tamir Rice terminated from West Virginia position days after news of hiring spread Timothy Loehmann, the former Cleveland police officer who murdered Tamir Rice in 2014 has been fired from his position as a ranger at Snowshoe Resort Community District in West Virginia just days after news of his hiring spread. This is the fifth time a rural community has hired Loehmann and then fired him after discovering who he is. We'll let you know if there is a sixth attempt.
CCPC January Meeting: RepYourBlockCuyahoga
CCPC January Meeting: RepYourBlockCuyahoga Thursday, January 15 from 6:30 to 8 pm. Are you interested in helping to build a Democratic Party in Cuyahoga County that will fight for all? If so, this meeting and RepYourBlockCuyahoga is for you! Please tune in to find out what RepYourBlockCuyahoga is (hint: it might be you), what the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Central Committee is, how to run for Central Committee (hint: it’s easy) Please click here to register for the meeting. After registering you’ll receive an email with the Zoom link.
And In Case You Missed It
Video of CCPC November Meeting - The Great Betrayal: How America Abandoned the Middle Class
Steve Holecko
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