Local

As the first African American woman and first public defender to sit on the United States Supreme Court, Ketanji Brown Jackson’s place in history is assured. Educated at public schools and the daughter of teachers, Jackson’s high school ambition was to graduate from law school and obtain a judicial appointment.

Like many African Americans, Jackson can document a history of slavery in her family. She also knows firsthand the sting of racism; after all, she was reared in the South and has been a Black woman in America for 54 years. Yet her immediate and extended family told her all her life that she was destined for greatness and above engaging with the prejudice that lingered even after the African American freedom movement of the 1960s. One incident during her childhood was especially distressing.    

Below we suggest three options for getting out of the Russia-Ukraine stalemate and in the process review briefly the relevant history. It’s time to up the ante. We write this exploration in the form of a hypothetical letter President Donald Trump might send to President Vladimir Putin.

_________________________________________

Dear Vladimir,
            Russia continues to resist entering into peace talks with Ukraine or even to consider a ceasefire and, instead, insists on continuing hostilities, aimed primarily at civilians. This was yet again evident from your absence at direct talks with President Zelensky (and me) in Istambul, Turkey, last Thursday (5/15/25), even though you yourself called for these face-to-face negotiations. This was also evident from your massive drone attack ahead of our today's (5/19/25) telephone call on ending the war.

A key first step in restoring the executive branch of the U.S. government to what was supposed to be a branch of government for executing the will of Congress would be to abolish an agency that, unlike various agencies recently abolished or cut back, does only evil.

ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) kidnaps people off the street with no warrants, and no identification, and ships them to a foreign prison. In recent days, ICE smashed a couple's car window and dragged them out of the car, snatched people from a courthouse, burst into a house in the middle of the night and forced the inhabitants outside while confiscating their possessions, snatched a man from a gas station and left his children behind in his truck, and held a young girl's face to the ground as she screamed.

Click here to tell Congress to abolish ICE.

The Case Against ICE

•          ICE was created in 2003 as part of a shameful and disastrous "war on terror," at which time warrantless spying, arrests, and "renditions" were widely deemed outrageous and shocking.

Haga clic aquí para la traducción al español

Renewable Energy Leads New Generation

Solar and wind accounted for almost 98 percent of all of the new electrical generating capacity added to the U.S. grid in the first quarter of 2025 and were the only sources of new generating capacity in the month of March.

According to recent data from FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, March 2025 was the 19th consecutive month where solar was the largest single source of electrical generating capacity on the U.S. grid, dating back to September of 2023.

For the first quarter of this year, solar accounted for 72.3 percent of new generating capacity. Generation from wind turbines provided nearly 25 percent of the nation's new electrical resources.

Generation from wind accounts for 11.8 percent of the nation's electricity, followed by solar with 10.7 percent. 

Israel has been massacring and starving Palestinian families in Gaza while violently invading the West Bank. These acts of genocide are directly funded through our taxpayer dollars. Gaza can't wait. The West Bank can't wait. And we can't look away while our tax dollars enable these atrocities.

Email your members of Congress now to demand: Support an immediate ARMS EMBARGO to halt all weapons to Israel, Enforce U.S. law that prohibits military funding for human rights violations, and Push for unobstructed humanitarian aid and a permanent ceasefire.

Our tax dollars should fund care, not killing. Books not bombs. Homes not drones. Healthcare not warfare. 

We need your help to Stop Senate Bill 153, an attack on Ohio voters' rights and our democratic process.

One of my favorite sections of an afternoon. I'm eating lunch in my living room while reading a new book: Fearless Vampire Killers….Bad Brains Photographs by Akashic Books———> By Glen E. Friedman.

I now am using a Flex Capacitor. Now, I'm at A7 in the 1980’s New York looking at Bad Brains perform is a space the size of either Skylab or the Legion of Doom. I'm looking at PMA inspiring cultural evolution in the context of rejection of our fascist government.

In Fearless Vampire Killers, Friedman follows Bad Brains from A7 into the L.A. Sunset Strip. A7 is a small NY punk venue. L.A. is where Bad Brains sneak Black Flag on stage because Black Flag was banned because of punk riots. Fearless Vampire Killers is Glen E. Friedman in a moment working for skateboard media while participating in hardcore punk. Punk, and Hip Hop unleashed Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, Public Enemy, BDP, Beastie Boys etc.  Friedman took iconic flicks of all of these icons.

Punk and Hip Hop REJECTED 80s fascism until Hip Hop and grunge changed all of society. Friedman is legendary for documenting our culture’s icons – Dischord, Def Jam, and of course BAD BRAINS.

Sunday, May 18, 12 noon
Grandview Theater, 1247 Grandview Ave.
The eye-opening documentary about microplastics and their impact on our health and ecosystems followed by a post-film discussion with local sustainability advocates and experts. Doors at 11:30am, film at 12:00pm, $8 per person. Sponsored by Simply Living. 

TransOhio and Equality Ohio strongly condemn the decision by the Ohio Government Oversight and Reform Committee to reject public testimony submitted by both organizations and community members regarding harmful anti-transgender language proposed in the state budget: “It is the policy of the state of Ohio to recognize two sexes, male and female. These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”

“This testimony was submitted in accordance with all legislative rules, and it was explicitly relevant to language in the budget that aims to strip trans, nonbinary and intersex Ohioans of legal recognition,” said Dara Adkison, Executive Director, TransOhio. “Rejecting our public testimony is just another egregious attempt to silence trans voices and the voices of community members who respect our right to life, liberty, and happiness. This language has the potential to affect people receiving services from every agency in Ohio.”

Haga clic aquí para la traducción al español

In April, several federal agencies brought about arresting a Columbus man they claim is a member of Tren de Aragua,  without offering any details . Since then, they've been blasting his picture all over social media. 

When I saw his blurred face and rumpled clothes, flanked by federal agents in riot gear, my heart sank. I didn't see anyone to fear. I saw a regular man at the dawn of what should have been another day of work. In his blurred face, I also saw the ghost of a person who might soon be “disappeared” to a torture camp in El Salvador, by our own US government.