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In a symbolic gesture, proactive residents of Ashland, Holmes and Richland County temporarily blocked access to an exploratory well pad under construction in Green Township, Ashland County, Ohio. The horizontal drilling being conducted by Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation is extremely unwanted and unwelcome. The vast majority of folks who live here, about 98% according to door to door polling, are against this type of extractive industrialization in this north central Ohio country community known for beautiful scenery, rural farming and the millions of visitors  who have come to enjoy outdoor recreation in the area’s two state parks, Malabar farm and Mohican.

An amazing amount of progress has been made over the past month or so. America has catapulted itself all the way from the 1990s to 2016. The furthest-right elements of both major parties were again successful in the primaries. Another woman is seeking a powerful job on the back of behaving like the worst men. North Korea continues to consume headlines. Not even two years of an irredeemable president and declining enthusiasm on the left could convince our national leaders to change.

Four states held primary elections last week. Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Indiana went to the polls to select who will battle for office in November. There were no results to excite or inspire genuine progressives. As in the year of the Donald, Republicans competed to be the most disgraceful candidate, and, in many cases, the worst-of-the-worst won. The Democratic Party forced out progressives before the primaries and went medieval on those who dared to stay in the race.

Well, not really a vacuum. The past three weeks have been more like the space between our planets which is actually full of all kinds of stuff but doesn’t have much happening. The bloated Congress has been typically idle, and the administration has spent most of its time battling through an increasingly large number of scandals. Then there’s the solar wind that blows in all directions, constantly moving but achieving no forward progress. That’s been the Democrats’ lackadaisical plans for the next couple of years and the executive branch’s staffing changes. It is said that a lot can happen in a day, but following national politics makes it impossible to believe.

As the mid-terms loom, Democrats could regain control of Congress in 2018, and make a move for impeachment of Trump. But will progressive-minded voters be denied their constitutional right to vote, especially minorities? Or what about younger voters, who are energized to vote against candidates who support the National Rifle Association?

Citing a recent a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the national office of the ACLU recently told the Free Press that 16 million people experienced difficulty voting in the 2016 presidential election. Of the 16 million, an estimated 1.2 million were turned away or their vote not counted.

The ACLU says over two-hundred thousand walked away from a long line, but an equal amount were denied because they lacked proper photo ID due to stricter voter ID laws. Registration issues resulted in 300,000 votes not being counted, and 250,000 votes were “lost”, which means the voter refused to vote provisionally or their provisional ballot wasn’t counted.

Back when “tin soldiers and Nixon” were “cutting us down” in 1970, a group of Ohio State University students and campus activists started an underground newspaper in Columbus. Driven mostly by the murder of four students at Kent State – Allison Krause, Jeff Miller, Sandy Scheuer and Bill Schroeder – shot during a demonstration that was opposing President Nixon’s illegal attack on Cambodia and the Vietnam War, the Columbus Free Press was born.

Not surprisingly, the Free Press was the first western newspaper to expose Cambodia’s killing fields thanks to international law professor John Quigley’s reporting from Southeast Asia. In the first issue of the Free Press, the October 11, 1970 issue, a Free Press opinion attacked a special grand jury’s decision not to indict Ohio National Guardsmen for the Kent State killings.

It's 2018 and Columbus is gearing up for another year's Pride Celebration... But the question beckons even after last year's demonstration.

“Why do We need our own Pride?”

“Why can’t they compromise with Stonewall?”

“What could they possibly be mad about?”

And my all-time favorite: “Does anybody know who Marsha P. Johnson is?”

We all revere the Stonewall riots as one of the most popular and powerful demonstrations/riots that kicked off the "Gay Liberation" movement for the LGBTQIA community.

However, in all that glory and all that accomplishment, throughout all of these years, that's led us to where we are today. There still seems to be a misconception among the white gay community and a few folks of color (due to purposeful mis-education and whitewashing of our history) about who actually started the Stonewall riots – the very riots that the "Gay rights" movement for the LGBTQIA community is built on.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Husted, Counties Sued to Prevent Planned Destruction of Election Records

Columbus, OH, April 20, 2018 – Ohio voters are suing Secretary of State Jon Husted and the Boards of Election of Franklin and Cuyahoga in order to protect key election materials from next month’s primary election that they say the counties plan to destroy.

At issue are the “digital ballot images” created by the digital scanners that tabulate votes on paper ballots. Digital scanners are in use in 15 counties, including Cuyahoga and Franklin. These records are essential for verifying the accuracy of the election results, according to the suit.

“We’ve had indications that most of the counties that use this technology are following the law and preserving the digital ballot images,” said attorney Robert J. Fitrakis of Columbus, who filed the suit yesterday in the Ohio Supreme court. “As a precaution, we’re seeking a court order that these crucial records be protected in every county where they exist.”

 Operation Warm Continues Supporting Low-Income Kids with Help from Community

Chadds Ford, PA – Since 1998, Operation Warm, a national nonprofit dedicated to providing brand new winter coats to children in need, has gifted more than 2.5 million coats. Due to the expansion of giving efforts across the U.S., Operation Warm has launched its first ever ‘Volunteer Brigade,’ a highly trained force to give more coats to kids in need.

This past year, Operation Warm was able to give coats to 325,000 children with the help of community organizations, foundations, and business partners. This was an especially impressive feat, given that the organization has under 25 full time staff members. According to school administrators, Operation Warm coats provided not just warmth, but confidence and hope as well.

History books often contain a chapter that tries to answer the question: What caused such-and-such a revolt or revolution?
For example: What caused the “Boston Massacre” in 1770 when British troops stationed in Boston fired on a crowd that was pelting them with frozen snowballs and oyster shells? What caused the “Boston Tea Party” of 1773 when chest after chest of tea imported from Great Britain was thrown into Boston harbor? (Hint: There had not been a new tax.) What caused the beginning of actual warfare at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775?

The truth is that it is very difficult to be sure why human beings suddenly throw caution to the winds, and, knowing that there may be enormous consequences, take a stand and risk everything. Unsure as to the real causes of a rebellion, the historian may take refuge in a chapter title like “The Gathering Storm.”

Let’s see if we can do better regarding the causes of the longest prison uprising in United States history in which lives were lost, at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (SOCF) in Lucasville, April 11-21, 1993.

The Authorities’ Account of Causes

We had yet another week of very little to be joyful about. The executive branch is fixated on destroying our environment and living out childhood fantasies by playing around with the military. We are yet to see a sanguine and inspiring candidate for the midterms rallying the people on the scale of Ralph Nader or Bernie Sanders. Even beautiful actions by teachers calling for higher wages and better educational conditions have a demoralizing side. They are receiving meager support from national political figures, and they show us how poorly the most important people in our communities are treated. The last seven days become even more unacceptable when they are just a continuation of the garbage we had to endure throughout March. I’ll begin with a recap of the month to put this week’s news into perspective.