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Atomic Energy’s death spiral has spawned a run to green power.
But the toxic mineral lithium has become a critical pitfall…with clear ways around it that demand attention.
Humankind’s 400+ licensed large commercial reactors embody history’s most expensive technological failure.
Once hyped as “too cheap to meter,” just three “Peaceful Atom” plants have opened in the US since 1996, all of them very late and hugely over budget. Four at Japan’s Fukushima blew up in 2011, with ever-escalating economic, ecological and biological costs. Two in South Carolina are outright $9 billion failures. Projects in Georgia (US), Finland, France and the UK have come with catastrophic delays, overruns and cancellations. So have much-hyped Small Modular Reactors, and the taxpayer-funded idea of restarting nukes already dead.
And in the post DeepSeek era, gargantuan projected power demands for Artificial Intelligence and crypto are coming back to Earth.
As Israel expands conflicts in the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria, and resumes the genocide in Gaza, in part due to the Trump administration’s expressed desire to ethnically cleanse Gaza, questions remain about the status of Franklin County government investments in Israeli bonds.
There was a time, not too long ago, when Ohio State University (OSU) was truly a “State” school. If a young person from Ohio could get their high school diploma with a C+ average, had the financial means through help or loans, and the will to balance school and fun, they would have a good chance to earn a degree from Thee, and do so at the main campus.
The days of OSU students scraping by together in aging but cozy off-campus homes or rowhouses – drinking beer from $10 shared buckets at Mustards or Papa Johns to make sure everyone could pay rent, for instance – is slowly becoming a distant memory.
A halcyon era heartlessly tossed into the dustbin by (rich white) elitists. The good struggle for Ohioans of modest means dashed. Just ask any of the thousands of young people who were recently rejected by OSU. Some were made to choose Miami University as their second choice ironically, which used to be the first choice of many Ohioans. History reveals it was Gordon Gee who eliminated open enrollment for in-state students, and since then, OSU’s average GPA went from 2.5 to 3.6 while tuition has doubled.
Thursday, March 27, April 24, 2025, 7:30 PM
University students are making their voices heard at The Ohio State University, amidst conversations surrounding the Trump administration’s dismantling of the Department of Education, and Ohio Senate Bill 1 which would overhaul higher education policies.
On Tuesday afternoon, OSU students took to the Oval, speaking out against the university’s preemptive compliance with both federal and state initiatives to rollback public education. They demanded that their right to a holistic and quality education not be infringed upon nor politicized, and that their constitutionally-protected civil liberties be respected.
Janis Ian was only 14 when she wrote one of the most influential—and controversial—songs of a generation. The story behind the anthem is told in Varda Bar-Kar’s new biographical documentary, Janis Ian: Breaking Silence.
A Jewish girl growing up in a mostly Black New Jersey neighborhood, the then-Janis Fink was inspired after seeing a young interracial couple cuddling on a bus despite the disapproving glares of those around them. The result was “Society’s Child,” about a White girl whose romance with a Black boy sets her up for harassment and demands to “stick to your own kind.”
Recorded in 1965, the song touched on such a raw nerve that it almost didn’t get released. Ian’s producer, Shadow Morton, had anticipated the problem and suggested that she play it safe by changing its first line: “Pick me up from school, baby, face is clean and shining black as night.” When Ian refused, Morton was forced to pitch the song to more than 20 record labels before finding one that was willing to take a chance on it.
More than 150,000 people have signed a petition begun by a Black church to boycott Target department and multi-purpose stores, because of their abandonment of their diversity, equity, and inclusion or DEI program. I haven’t been in a Target for years, and I’m definitely not going in there now.
After Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced his intention to help break a potential filibuster of the Republican spending bill, America’s fascist president, Donald Trump, took to Truth Social to praise his old friend: “Congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing,” he wrote. “This could lead to something big for the USA, a whole new direction and beginning.”
Schumer’s stance justifiably angered the Democratic base, as it gave away all leverage the anti-fascist coalition has for the foreseeable future to stop Trump’s illegal power grab. The minority leader defended himself from progressive criticism, saying he had the overwhelming support of his caucus, which I actually don’t doubt, despite the fact only nine other Democratic senators voted with him.
I’m no expert in Senate procedure, but it’s my understanding any member of the body could have denied the bill unanimous consent, forcing a debate which would give the opposition time to mobilize against the legislation. No Democratic-aligned senator did that, including various liberal darlings. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion this was all carefully-coordinated political theater.
For half a decade, Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist, films his community of Masafer Yatta being destroyed by Israel's occupation, as he builds an unlikely alliance with an Israeli journalist who wants to join his fight. No Other Land is an unflinching account of a community's mass expulsion and acts as a creative resistance to Apartheid and a search for a path towards equality and justice.
About the filmmaker:
Basel Adraisa Palestinian lawyer, journalist, and filmmaker from Masafer Yatta. He has been an activist and documentarian since 2015, fighting against Israel’s mass expulsion of his community.
Rachel Szor is an Israeli cinematographer, editor, and director from Jerusalem.
Hamdan Ballalisa Palestinian photographer, filmmaker, and farmer from Susya, and has worked as a researcher for several anti-occupation human rights groups.
Yuval Abraham is an Israeli filmmaker and investigative journalist from Jerusalem.