Global
Next steps to address the growing threat of nuclear war
Dr. Ira Helfand spoke Saturday, July 11 at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Columbus, hosted by the Columbus Free Press at our Second Saturday Salon on “Back from the Brink: Addressing the growing threat of nuclear war.”
There is a good thing about having Donald J Trump as president and that is how during a normal week he will say or do a number of incredibly stupid things that make one want to smile or even laugh outright. Unfortunately, however, the fun stops shortly after that point when one recalls that the outright insanity is not only destroying the White House and much of the District of Columbia. It also means engaging in wars against otherwise non-threatening adversaries that waste trillions in taxpayer dollars while doing terrible damage to the United States and also creating economic and political catastrophes that might well wreck much of the world as is happening with Iran right now.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has died suddenly at the age of 71. He served four terms in the U.S. Senate from South Carolina from January 3, 2023 until his death on July 11, 2026.
I will remember him as a U.S. lawmaker who, in my view, betrayed not only the United States but also many of the principles he claimed to stand for. I will not mourn someone whose public record I view as being marked by support for war, anti-Muslim rhetoric, and policies that I believe caused immense suffering.
Here are my reasons:
- He repeatedly called on the White House to bomb Iran.
- Last January, he said, "Hit Iran now. Hit it hard."
- He told Fox & Friends that it would be "terrible" if a DNA test showed he had Iranian ancestry.
- He supported the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, which critics have characterized as ethnic cleansing.
- He was the subject of allegations regarding his personal life that circulated in media reports, although he denied or did not publicly address many of those claims.
Sen. Graham threatened our European allies
The only positive thing about the Iran war heating up again is that Lindsey Graham won’t be around to enjoy it.
Death is the great equalizer. It strips away titles, dissolves influence, and renders meaningless the privileges that once seemed permanent. The senator, the president, the king, and the laborer all arrive at the same destination carrying only one thing: their deeds.
Senator Lindsey Graham has died at the age of seventy-one. His office has confirmed that he passed away after a sudden illness.
For millions, his death is the passing of another American politician. For others—particularly those who watched the devastation of Gaza unfold over the past two years—it marks the end of one of the most influential American voices advocating policies that profoundly shaped the conflict, and affected Palestinian men, women, and children painfully.
This is not the moment to celebrate. Nor is it the moment to erase history.
It is a moment to remember that every life, especially one lived in public service, eventually reaches the point where no speech can be rewritten, no vote recalled, and no interview clarified. The record is closed.
No news story has African Americans more riled up than the death of Nolan Wells, the young African American student-athlete whose lifeless body was pulled from the waters of Horn Island in Mississippi the Monday after he and his friends gathered there for a boating trip on the fourth of July. There are few media outlets, traditional and social that this news story has not saturated thus the details of which will not be rehashed here.
The widely circulated photo of Wells flanked on each side by his white male friends has created a firestorm of suspicion within the African American community, many of whom suspect foul-play. Not everyone however within the Black community is of that opinion.
Fatima Kurtic, a Bosnian genocide survivor and elementary school teacher in Luxembourg, was dismissed after speaking out on social media against the killing of children in Gaza. The Ministry of National Education said the decision was based on posts it considered antisemitic and incompatible with the duties of a civil servant. Fatima disputes that characterization, saying her posts criticized the Israeli government and Zionism—not Jewish people—and that her advocacy has consistently opposed war crimes and the killing of civilians.
Following her dismissal, students, parents, and supporters organized peaceful demonstrations calling for justice and demanding her reinstatement.
Fatima, a Bosnian refugee who arrived in Luxembourg in 20023 at around 8 years and spent 4 years in a refugee camp, spoke to Anadolu after being dismissed last October from her teaching position over social media posts on Palestine. She argues her firing by the Ministry of National Education violates her right to free expression.
Fatima is a fearless truth teller
America's Orange King steps up his attack on voting rights, in an effort to save himself from overwhelming negative views of his administration in the midterm elections. In the past week, this man eliminated the Election Assistance Commission.
EAC Leadership Gutted
President Trump ousted the remaining members of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission, leaving the agency without a quorum just months before the midterm elections. The commission's two Democratic commissioners, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, were fired via email from the White House. Its sole Republican commissioner, Christy McCormick, resigned, and a fourth commissioner had left in April.
The White House justified this action by citing a recent Supreme Court decision (Slaughter) that expanded the president's power to fire members of independent agencies. A White House statement said the president "reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America's elections".