Senator Brown - The Retirement You've Earned

Right now, the pension plans of thousands of Ohioans are at risk of massive cuts. This crisis affects the Building Material Drivers Union Local 436, Composition Roofers Local 42, Southwest Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters, Teamsters Union Local 73, Asbestos Workers Local 8, Bricklayers Local 55, Bricklayers Local 7, Ironworkers Local 17, Laborers Local 265, GCIU, CWA ITU, Central States, Bakery and Confectionery Union and Industry, National Integrated Group, and PACE Industry Union Management.

It’s bad enough that Wall Street squandered workers’ money – and it’s worse that the government that’s supposed to look out for these folks is trying to break the promise made to these workers.

Not on our watch. We won’t allow that to happen.
I’ve rolled out a plan to fix this crisis, without cutting a cent of these Americans’ retirement. It’s called the Butch Lewis Act, named for the former retired head of Teamsters Local 100 in Evendale, Ohio. You can learn more about it HERE.

Now is the time of year when Congress negotiates over a lot of priorities that have to get done – and guaranteeing these pensions has to be at the very top of the list.
Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate have endorsed the Butch Lewis Act, and together we are fighting to get it across the finish line.

As Butch often said, you didn’t work 40 years to get 40 percent of your retirement.

You’ve done your part. Now it’s time for Congress to do theirs.

Sherrod

MegaVote for Ohio Senate and 10th Congressional District

December 11, 2017 In this MegaVote for Ohio's 10th Congressional District: Recent Congressional Votes Senate: Nielsen Nomination - Confirmation Senate: Balash Nomination - Confirmation Senate: Short-Term Fiscal 2018 Continuing Appropriations House: Tax Overhaul – Motion to Request Conference House: Concealed Carry Reciprocity Between States House: Small Business Mergers Regulatory Exemption House: Short-Term Fiscal 2018 Continuing Appropriations Upcoming Congressional Bills Senate: Grasz Nomination Senate: Willett Nomination Senate: Ho Nomination House: Mortgage Escrow Requirements House: Investigate Assets of Iranian Leaders House: Iranian Aircraft Purchases Financing House: Annual Financial Privacy Notices

Recent Senate Votes

Nielsen Nomination - Confirmation - Vote Confirmed (62-37, 1 Not Voting) The Senate confirmed Kirstjen Nielsen to be secretary of Homeland Security. Sen. Rob Portman voted YES Sen. Sherrod Brown voted NO Balash Nomination - Confirmation - Vote Confirmed (61-38, 1 Not Voting) The Senate confirmed Joseph Balash to be assistant secretary of the Interior. Sen. Rob Portman voted YES Sen. Sherrod Brown voted NO Short-Term Fiscal 2018 Continuing Appropriations - Vote Agreed to (81-14, 5 Not Voting)

Judicial Watch - Obama IG guy flags ‘strategic coordination’ of State, Clinton on emails

Obama IG guy flags ‘strategic coordination’ of State, Clinton on emails Source: The Washington Times Here’s something you don’t hear every day — but an inspector general who was actually appointed by Barack Obama told Tucker Carlson of Fox News that there was “strategic coordination” taking place among the State Department, Campaign Team Hillary Clinton, certain key legal minds and politicos on Capitol Hill, regarding the behind-scenes talk of The Emails. Yes, those emails — the ones that were marked classified and top secret and that were found on Clinton’s private and unsecured email system. READ MORE

Photo of the Day

Photo from Scott Wilson, President of The Connecticut Citizen's Defense League.

If you have a great photo from anywhere in the south central Ohio vicinity (or elsewhere) that you would like to share, please forward it for consideration for the Photo of the Day to SouthCentalBulldog@gmail.com.
(Unless otherwise credited, all photos are taken by the editor.)

The White House - 1600 Daily: Our long journey to the stars—and the Moon

First Lady Melania Trump visits with children for Christmas at Children’s National Hospital | December 7, 2017 (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks) 

Our long journey to the stars—and the Moon
Forty-five years ago today, NASA’s final Apollo mission landed on the surface of the Moon. No human has walked there since.

This afternoon, President Donald J. Trump will tell the country that it’s time to refocus our vision for American space exploration.

In signing Space Policy Directive 1 today—the first recommendation of the recently reconvened National Space Council—the President will shift NASA’s resources and attention toward the Moon and Mars. Given its relative closeness, the Moon in particular offers humans the best hope for long-term exploration and utilization.

President Ronald Reagan once eloquently captured the sweep of mankind as “his long climb from the swamp to the stars.” With President Trump’s order today, America commits itself once again to writing the next chapter of that story.

Watch the signing ceremony today at 3:00 p.m. EST.

‘The sacred birthright of equality’
President Trump listened closely as Reuben Anderson, Mississippi's first African-American Supreme Court justice, led a small tour group through the newly opened Mississippi Civil Rights Museum on Saturday.

"The [civil rights] movement was very uncomfortable," Museum Director Pamela Junior says, adding that guests should feel some of that discomfort to better understand what victims went through.
“The Civil Rights Museum records the oppression, cruelty and injustice inflicted on the African-American community,” President Trump said, as well as “the fight to end slavery, to break down Jim Crow, to end segregation, to gain the right to vote, and to achieve the sacred birthright of equality here.”

“Their memories are carved in stone as American heroes.”

Read the President’s full remarks here.

A look inside the White House at Christmas

Meriam-Webster Word of the Day - Sustain

WORD OF THE DAY December 12, 2017

sustain    verb | suh-STAYN     Definition   1 : to provide with nourishment   2 : keep up, prolong   3 : to support the weight of : prop; also : to carry or withstand (a weight or pressure)   4 a : to buoy up   b : suffer, undergo   5 a : to support as true, legal, or just   b : to allow or admit as valid   Scroll down for more about sustain       WORD GAMES AND QUIZZES: WEEKLY CHALLENGE   Intact Latin Quiz   What did each of these words mean to ancient Romans?     PLAY NOW     Nailed this quiz? We have plenty more to try!  TAKE ME THERE     Plus:   SEE WHAT LOOKUPS ARE TRENDING NOW!         Did You Know?   Sustain, prop, buttress, and brace all mean "to provide support for something or someone." Sustain (from Latin sus-, meaning "up," plus tenēre, meaning "to hold") may suggest constantly holding up or maintaining ("the floor sustains the weight of dozens of bookcases"). Prop often implies a tendency to fall, sink, or recede on the part of the thing being treated—and therefore, a need for

Washington C.H. City Council to Meet Tomorrow Night

Tomorrow night at 7:30, the Washington C.H. City Council will meet in the second floor Council Chamber at 105 N. Main St.

This month's agenda includes the first reading of resolutions to confirm Joseph Denen for another four year term as City Manager, reappointment of Tom Riley to the Fayette County Travel and Tourism Board, reappointment of Ladonna Jackson to The Community Fair Housing Board and reappointment of Ronald Sockman to The Board of Tax Review.

Other matters up for discussion include an ordinance adopting a recommendation concerning the city's response to the legalization of marijuana, an ordinance appropriations for current and other expenses for the upcoming fiscal year and an ordinance concerning a deferred compensation plan for firemen.

To read the complete agenda, go here.

The City Council meets on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month.

Roots in Ripon - He Won’t Fight!

1861 photograph by Mathew Brady - Wiki

Roots in Ripon

Chuck Roots

11 December 2017

www.chuckroots.com

The Ripon Bulletin

Recently, I wrote an article about General Robert E. Lee, commanding officer of the Confederate Army during our American Civil War. Lee very nearly pulled off the upset of American history by outmaneuvering the apparently hapless Union generals called upon by President Abraham Lincoln to carry the fight to the outnumbered Southern forces. By most historical accounts, the Civil War should have been over in a matter of months, not the four long years and 700 thousand deaths it extolled from a war-weary nation.

My sister Joy, came over for Thanksgiving last month, bringing me a couple of magazines she ran across that she knew I would treasure. As a Civil War buff, I have accumulated over the years a small library of books, magazines and other items pertaining to this horrific war. The two magazines Joy acquired for me are both copies of The Civil War Times: one dated August 1968, and the other August 1962. A section in the 1962 edition focused on the centennial edition of the Battle of Antietam. The summer months of 1862 are considered the high summer of the Confederacy. Never again would the cause of the South and her fight for independence come as close to success as it did under the leadership of Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Jeb Stuart, and other notable Southern generals. 

Historians argue over the ineptness of Union (or Northern) military leaders. In my research, I have found two primary reasons for the Union army failing repeatedly to secure major victories in the early stages of the war. First, the Northern forces were not defending their homeland against an aggressor the same way the Southern forces were. This is one of the reasons the war was referred to by southerners as the “War of Northern Aggression.” 

Second, the Union general selected to head the Army of the Potomac (later to be called the Union army) was not willing to fight. General George B. McClellan, like his counterpart of the Confederate army, General Robert E. Lee, was second in his class at West Point. And like Lee, McClellan was a military engineer. He never commanded troops in the field against an enemy until the Civil War. And this was his undoing. 

Democrat Party Imploding

Photo of the Day

Blue Lions Junior Varsity Cheerleaders at their home game against Hillsboro.  Photo by Cheerleader-in-Chief, Tara Knisley-Bivens

If you have a great photo from anywhere in the south central Ohio vicinity (or elsewhere) that you would like to share, please forward it for consideration for the Photo of the Day to SouthCentalBulldog@gmail.com.
(Unless otherwise credited, all photos are taken by the editor.)