CINEMAX has renewed the action series “Banshee” for a second season, scheduled to debut in 2014, it was announced this week by Kary Antholis, president, HBO Miniseries and CINEMAX Programming. The show is currently in its first season, with episodes debuting Friday at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT).

Executive produced by Jonathan Tropper, David Schickler, Peter Macdissi, Alan Ball and Greg Yaitanes, “Banshee” stars Antony Starr (“Rush”) as Lucas Hood, an ex-con and master thief who assumes the identity of the sheriff of Banshee, Pa., where he continues his criminal activities, even as he’s hunted by the shadowy gangsters he betrayed years earlier. Scripts for the first season are conceived and written by Tropper and Schickler. Writers John Romano (“Monk”), Evan Dunsky (“Two and a Half Men”), and Doug Jung (HBO’s “Big Love”) join Schickler and Tropper for season two.

Also starring in season one of the series are: Ivana Milicevic (“Charlie’s Angels,” HBO’s “Mind of the Married Man”), Ulrich Thomsen (‘The Celebration’), Frankie Faison (“The Good Wife,” HBO’s “The Wire”), Hoon Lee (‘Premium Rush’), Rus Blackwell (“Burn Notice,” HBO’s “Recount”), Matt Servitto (HBO’s “The Sopranos”), Demetrius Grosse (“Justified”), Trieste Kelly Dunn (“Brothers and Sisters”), Ryann Shane (“Blue Bloods”), Daniel Ross Owens (“Prison Break”), Lili Simmons (‘Fat Kid Rules the World’) and Ben Cross (‘Star Trek’, “Ben-Hur”).

The ten-episode first season of “Banshee,” which began January 11, has inspired critical raves, with the Hollywood Reporter calling it “taut, entertaining and smart,” and the Wall Street Journal describing the show as “enticing” and “indisputably satisfying.”

For more on the series, visit cinemax.com/banshee, facebook.com/cinemax, twitter.com @Cinemax #Banshee and youtube.com/Cinemax.

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Attorney General Mike DeWine’s Human Trafficking Commission released a report at a meeting Wednesday revealing startling facts about rampant sex trafficking throughout Ohio, putting simply: “Ohio’s response to child sex trafficking is weak.”

The report details factors that contribute to the state’s status as a sex trafficking hot spot, outlines the reforms already put in motion, and recommends what further steps must be taken to eliminate human trafficking in Ohio.

The Report

Victims from Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Cleveland and Toledo were interviewed over a 3-year period, providing data of over 300 women.

Over a hundred of those women were reportedly forced into the trade under the age of 18; some were as young as 12. Of those underage, most were recruited by women involved in the trade who first appeared friendly. The majority of recruits made by men were victims over 18, who first acted as boyfriends before turning abusive.

Many victims experienced childhoods full of abuse, rape and poverty.

The report also reveals customers of sex trafficking to cover a wide array of demographics, including drug dealers, businessmen, police officers, lawyers, truckers, athletes and politicians.

Pay can range from $10 to $150, depending on the requested services.

What’s already been done?

A similar study conducted by the Commission two years ago estimated that more than 1,000 Ohio children were trafficked every year, in addition to over 800 immigrants.

These facts prompted Representative Teresa Fedor of Toledo to introduce House Bill 262, turning human trafficking into a first-degree felony. The bill allows victims the ability to sue their traffickers for damages and see records of prostitution or solicitation expunged. Fedor calls it a “basic human rights issue.” Her bill, dubbed the “safe harbor law,” went into effect in June.

The bill followed Ohio Governor John Kasich’s decision to sign an executive order in March, which created a 90-day task force focused on studying police response to the problem.

“Can you tell me how a 13-year-old kid can be snatched, blackmailed, drugged, raped in our state, in our country?” Kasich said during an emotional signing of the order, thinking of his own 12-year-old twin daughters.

Such slow police response helps contribute to the problem, Wednesday’s study claims.

The report provides evidence of one police call featured on a Primetime special about child sex trafficking in Toledo, in which police took 90 minutes to respond to multiple calls from neighbors who witnessed screams and fighting.

Toledo is the forth largest sex-trafficking city in the U.S, following Miami, Portland and Las Vegas.

Why Ohio?

The report cites multiple reasons in addition to ill-prepared first responders as to why Ohio attracts many traffickers. This includes a growing pool of legal and illegal immigrant populations, its close proximity to the Canadian border, and a high rate of runaways in Ohio. It also reports that the three institutions that should assist in eliminating sex trafficking—the criminal justice system, the social service system, and the health care system—are “either ineffective or insufficient.”

Currently, most individuals prosecuted as a result of sex trafficking are those most easily caught: the victims.

But the juvenile justice system is “not the appropriate place for traumatized victims of the human trafficking,” the study says, and the child welfare system doesn’t provide clear enough language to provide assistance.

Not only do these toothless laws attract traffickers to Ohio—victims end up in a worse position after their arrest.

“Without some form of intervention, 77 percent of sexually exploited youth simply continue to be prostitutes in adulthood,” argued Fedor.

What happens next?

The report offers six recommendations to combat sex trafficking, including a focus on arresting and convicting buyers and engaging schools in the fight.

Very few resources exist for victims of sex trafficking in Ohio, which will change if advocate Theresa Flores has her way. Flores has written a book on her own experience as a sex trafficking victim and is in the process of obtaining a state license for a Columbus-area group home for victims. No such place in Ohio currently exists.

“We have allowed this to happen,” said Flores. “We don’t like to think that it happens here, but slavery is alive and well in the U.S.”

U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach of Cleveland agrees that a community effort is necessary to end sex trafficking.

“It’s all around, literally hiding in plain sight,” said Dettelbach, who has made human trafficking a high priority for his office. “If you see something, you have to say something.”

Dettelbach says anyone suspicious of trafficking should call the FBI at 216-522-1400.

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The Republican National Convention will be held this year at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, from August 27 to 30. Nearly 50,000 people are expected at the event. The Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has announced the first list of headliners that would address the Convention; additional speakers will be announced in the next days.

The list includes:

• South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who is the youngest sitting governor in the country and South Carolina first female governor. Her official website describes her as “one of the strongest fiscal conservatives in state government.”
• Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who is one of the most popular conservatives, author of nine books, and a radio and television show host. He recently organized the Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day.
• Ohio Governor John Kasich, who was elected to the Ohio State Senate at the age of 26 and to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982 at the age of 30, he was also former House Budget Committee chairman
• New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, who has become the first female Hispanic Governor in the country and the first female governor of New Mexico. Her official website explains that “She was elected on November 2, 2010, pledging to cut wasteful spending, lower taxes to create more jobs, end “pay-to-play” practices and other corruption in government and fight to reform education. She was sworn in as Governor of New Mexico on January 1, 2011, making her the first Latina governor in United States history.
• Arizona Senator John McCain, who was the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, he is a war veteran that is now serving his fifth term in the U.S. Senate. McCain was taken as a prisoner of war in Vietnam in 1967, where he was denied medical treatment and was often beaten by the North Vietnamese.
• Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was the first African-American female to hold this position. From 2005 to 2009 she served as the 66th Secretary of State, she also served from 2001 to 2005 as President George W. Bush’s Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, becoming the first woman to hold this position. According to her official profile she is currently a “professor of Political Economy in the Graduate School of Business; the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution; and a professor of Political Science at Stanford University. She is also a founding partner of Rice Hadley Gates.”
• Florida Governor Rick Scott, representing the convention host state, Scott is Florida’s 45th Governor; his official website explains that “Rick is focused on creating jobs and turning Florida’s economy around.”

Image Courtesy of  NewsHour

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Without the boisterous protests of Wisconsin, legislation in Ohio that would severely curb collective bargaining is speeding toward passage.  The Ohio bill narrowly passed in the state senate on Wednesday by a margin of 17-16.  Although protests have been held daily at Ohio’s capital for the past two weeks, the numbers have been nowhere near as large as the numbers in Wisconsin.

Ohio’s bill could go to House committee hearings as early as next week. The measure is likely to receive strong support from the full chamber and Republican Gov. John Kasich.  The legislation is even more damaging to unions than the proposed measure in Wisconsin.  It would restrict the bargaining rights of roughly 350,000 teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees. They would no longer be able to negotiate health care benefits or certain working conditions, and they would be barred from striking.  The bill would also eliminate all paid sick days for teachers.  Whereas in Wisconsin the limits on collective bargaining would not apply to firefighters and police officers, in Ohio—there is no exemptions.  The attack on the middle class is not hidden anymore, but plainly obvious.

Protesters and union members were surprised at the speed in which the bill was pushed through in Ohio.  Democrats are far outnumbered in the state and were helpless to try to stop the bill.  “For as far-reaching this thing is and how many lives it will affect, I can’t believe how fast it moved,” said Columbus Police Sgt. Shaun Laird.

Like in Wisconsin, the government claims that they need to limit collective bargaining to fix a budget shortfall.  What is not well-reported is that Ohio has done all sorts of idiotic things that do the opposite of saving money.  For starters, they eliminated corporate income tax a couple of years ago.  Hey, that might have something to do with your budget shortfall, dudes.  Now, the state, under Kasich, is trying to repeal the estate tax.  Another money saving idea.  These people are brilliant.  Kasich, a multi-millionaire who raised money on Fox News where he used to work, also has rejected a $400 million federal grant to upgrade the state’s passenger rail system, which would have created at least a thousand direct jobs and thousands more indirectly, along with a jump in state tax revenue.  Kasich meanwhile gave a huge raise to his chief of staff paying him $40,000 more than the chief of staff of his predecessor.  He has hired at least four commissioners to sit on a “job creation” panel with annual salaries of roughly $150,000 each.   The commission has been structured to operate without formal accountability to the legislature or taxpayers of the state. After he was elected governor, Kasich refused to live in the governor’s house in Bexley and instead maintained residence in Westerville. This cost taxpayers a few million dollars in security overhauls for his own personal house, plus transportation costs.  He also rented the 30th floor of the Riffe Center for his primary office, not in the Statehouse, which would be free.

And, yes, this complete idiot and his cronies in the state GOP have the nerve to ask firefighters, teachers, and police officers to sacrifice.  They do not know the first thing about sacrifice.  I, along with many others in America, can talk about difficult choices, crushing debt, and overdue bills.  Kasich obviously has no clue what that is like.  It would seem to be that either Republicans are brain dead morons – a distinct possibility – or Kasich is hiding these public numbers pretty good.  Unless you are in the top .1 percent of earners in Ohio, I haven’t got a clue why this attack on the middle class is justifiable.  It is time for a recall.  No one should get away with this complete abuse of power in the name of austerity.

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