Thursday!
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.
Randy’s Rants
Randy’s Rants is a series of essays by legendary Cleveland author, activist and CCPC member Randy Cunningham. We’ll be featuring one each week for as long as Randy is willing to write them.
National
Trump makes it all about the oil It is important to remember that Trump’s claimed interest in Maduro’s alleged drug trafficking stands in marked contrast to his pardon of Juan Orlando Hernandez. The former President of Honduras was convicted of, not alleged to have smuggled more than 400 pounds of cocaine into the United States. And he’s justifying ” running ” Venezuela and seizing the oil fields with the absurd claim that Venezuela stole oil from the U.S.
Trump’s Attack on Venezuela Could Change the World. Here’s How The U.S. intervention in Venezuela is forcing a geopolitical reckoning – in Washington, the Western Hemisphere and around the world. What does this mean for the rest of Latin America? How will adversaries like Russia, China and Iran recalibrate? What will be the impact on the global energy markets? And does this mark a permanent shift in the U.S. projection of power?
Trump escalates aggressive posture on Greenland Trump is escalating his rhetoric about potentially seizing Greenland following the U.S. military action in Venezuela and capture of the country’s leader, Nicholas Madura. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller ramped up the rhetoric by saying ” nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.” Is Greenland next?
On 5th anniversary of the January 6 Capitol insurrection, Trump looks to recast history Trump continued to deny responsibility for the violent January insurrection on the fifth anniversary of the riot last week, launching a White House webpage trying to reframe history and giving a speech to House Republicans blaming his political opponents and the media for the attack like any fascist would do.
Orange rivers and melting glaciers: federal report shows rapid change in the Arctic Hundreds of Arctic rivers and streams are turning bright red – orange, not from chemical pollution, but from naturally occurring iron spilling from long – frozen ground as temperatures warm. The ” rusting rivers ” phenomenon, which has been documented across northern Alaska, offers a vivid example of the effects of climate change. More on climate change below.
DHS begins slashing FEMA disaster response staff as 2026 begins The cuts target FEMA’s On – Call Response and Recovery ( CORE ) teams, which form the backbone of the agency’s operations during and after a disaster. FEMA is also planning to fire thousands of workers who deploy during hurricanes, wildfires and other national emergencies. Which will save money when there are no disasters, but what happens now after a disaster happens?
Health officials slash the number of vaccines recommended for all kids Is a continuation of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ‘s MASA ( Make America Sick Again ) campaign. Kennedy, who has no medical training, has long been skeptical of all vaccines because he is a believer in right – wing conspiracies. The changes were made without public comment, input form vaccine manufacturers and input from competent vaccine scientists.
Donald Trump’s Five Most Shocking Climate Claims in 2025 In the past decade, Trump has made a barrage of unusual, misleading or dubious assertions about the climate crisis, calling it a hoax. But last year he may have outdone himself. Samples from the article include ” putting people over fish, wind energy is driving the whales crazy, coal is clean and beautiful and the world is cooling not warming. ”
Democrats start 2026 with fresh momentum – and lingering challenges The party says it has found a winning strategy by emphasizing the high cost of living under Trump, which helped propel their candidates to victory in a number of competitive races. But even as they feel optimistic about flipping the house in the midterms, Democrats are still struggling with internal divisions between the progressive and centrist wings of the party.
4 reasons Americans are feeling worse about the economy According to this piece, the main reason is that the economy continues to be more and more K – shaped as the gap between the wealthiest 10 percent of us continues to expand. Other factors include the cooling of the job market making the future feel uncertain, everyone sees that their everyday essentials cost more and homeownership seems more and more out of reach.
Socialism Should Give Us Hope for Tomorrow Is an optimistic piece from our friends at Jacobin. After a year of unchecked crony capitalism courtesy of the Trump regime, how about another vision? Socialists believe that the economic resources that support our collective existence should be collectively owned instead of being in the hands of a wealthy minority whose interests always conflict with the interests of the rest of the population. What do you think?
What are the odds? Analyzing global six scenarios for 2026 The odds of Trump pulling off an end to the war in Ukraine are set at 4 to 1. The odds of the bond market collapses are set at 6 to 1, The odds of Netanyahu again surviving are set at 3 to 1. The odds of Hungarian President Viktor winning reelection are set at 2 to 1. The odds of a shadow banking crisis are set at 3 to 1. And finally the odds of Democrats winning the House and Republicans retaining control of the Senate are each set at 2 to 1.
Local
Who Will Pay for Capital Repairs at New Brook Park Browns Dome? It’s Entirely Unclear The Haslam’s will soon build a $2.4 billion dome in Brook Park. And while the funding for the project is pretty much locked up, one looming, lingering question is how exactly repairs will be paid for. Maintenance for a domed stadium will cost twice as much as maintenance for the open aired stadium on the lake and the Sin Tax will not provide nearly enough funds.
Cleveland City Council swears in three new members during celebratory, fiery ceremony The new members include Austin Davis, Nikki Hudson and CCPC endorsed candidate Tanmay Shah. While Davis was complimentary of Mayor Justin Bibb and his administration, Hudson embraced her time as an activist and Shah made clear his priorities are a democratic socialist approach to governing.
State
Organizers Launch Bid to Overturn Ohio’s Latest Marijuana Law Changes Ohioans for Cannabis Choice is mounting a referendum effort against a new law cracking down on intoxicating hemp and making several changes to Ohio’s voter passed recreational marijuana law. They’ll need to collect almost 250.000 signatures to put the question on the November ballot. We wish Ohioans for Cannabis Choice good luck in their effort.
Ohio Cities Rank Among the Most Medically Expensive As Americans struggle to afford groceries and utilities, a new study finds that three Ohio cities are among the most expensive for another essential – medical care. Cleveland ( 2nd most expensive city ), Toledo ( 4th most expensive city ) and Cincinnati ( 11th most expensive city ) are in the top 11 in terms of how big a bite medical expenses take out of their incomes.
Acton announces running mate in Ohio’s governor’s race hours after Ramaswamy confirms his The leading candidates for Ohio governor have picked their running mates a little less than a month before they have to file their official candidate paperwork. Ramaswamy selected Ohio Senate President and fellow MAGA lunatic Rob McColley, Acton selected former Ohio Democratic Party Chair David Pepper.
Immigration
ICE officer kills a Minneapolis driver in a deadly start to Trump’s latest immigration operation The ICE goons murdered the 37 – year – old woman in front of a family member during a traffic stop in a residential neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis just a few blocks from some of the oldest immigrant markets and about a mile from where George Floyd was murdered, Her murder quickly drew a crowd of hundreds of angry protesters.
Immigration – related lawsuits flooded Cleveland federal court in 2025. Here’s a look at each case More than a dozen lawsuits have been filed in northern Ohio this year as Trump’s ICE goons ramped up legal pressure in immigration cases, breaking with decades of precedent and leaving some people jailed for months. Most of the lawsuits filed in federal court have challenged Trump’s claim that immigration judges have no authority to grant bond to those arrested.
ICE Arrests Are Forcing American Moms to Leave Their Jobs A jump in immigration enforcement by Trump’s ICE goons is having a detrimental impact on America’s child care system, reducing the number of immigrant workers available and prompting mothers with young children to leave their jobs as they scramble for stable care. Nationwide, about 1 in 5 childcare workers are immigrants
Steve Holecko
CCPC Political Director
440 220 1874
Connect with CCPC
Facebook | Twitter | Visit Our Website | Donate
