Global

British author and social commentator H.G. Wells may have coined the expression that originally popularized World War I as The War that Will End War, as his book, based on articles written during that vast military conflict, was titled. In any case, in one version or another, the expression was one of the most common catchphrases of the Great War of 1914-1918 and has survived as an expression, often used with a grimace of sarcasm, ever since.

Fifty years ago, in my twenties, I often hitchhiked the Pacific Coast Highway through Southern California. I slept on pristine beaches, swam in the ocean, and spent endless hours watching seals and dolphins ride the waves just a few yards offshore.

A favorite spot was in Santa Monica, where Sunset Boulevard meets the sea at Will Rogers State Park. This gorgeous stretch of white sand, framed by the Santa Monica pier to the south and the Malibu Hills to the north, seemed like paradise.

Today, fulfilling a lifelong dream, I live in the San Fernando Valley, a forty-minute drive from the Pacific, half of which is through beautiful Topanga Canyon.

This evening there was something else—an unwelcome terror.

This past Friday, I set off for my weekly bike ride along the beach. As usual, I parked at Will Rogers and rode my bike south down the concrete path about six miles to the Venice Pier. The final stretch, through Venice Beach, featured a constant cloud of the cannabis smoke that now flows free and easy in the land of legal pot.

One became the latest “mass shooter” — w

GAYMERS UNITE! Kingmakers and the Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization (Bravo) will be teaming up every third Wednesday of the month for Gayme Night! 18% of the proceeds from the evening will be donated directly to Bravo! 

BRAVO works to eliminate violence perpetrated on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identification, domestic violence, and sexual assault through prevention, education, advocacy, violence documentation, and survivor services, both within and on behalf of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender communities. Everyone welcome! Learn more at http://www.bravo-ohio.org/

You’ve been radically misled to believe that the only thing, or the most important thing, or one of the super important things you can do is vote. Voting in a functioning democracy would be a fairly important thing to do, but wouldn’t somehow eliminate the thousands of important things that would also need doing. Voting in a broken democracy is a mildly important thing to do, for the reasons you know by heart, but also for this reason: Seeing so many people so eager to do something alerts everyone else to the fact that you give a damn.

for The Humanist

Do not celebrate Veterans Day. Celebrate Armistice Day instead.

Do not celebrate Veterans Day — because of what it has become, and even more so because of what it replaced and erased from U.S. culture.

Former American Humanist Association President Kurt Vonnegut once wrote: “Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans’ Day is not. So I will throw Veterans’ Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don’t want to throw away any sacred things.” Vonnegut meant by “sacred” wonderful, valuable, worth treasuring. He listed Romeo and Juliet and music as “sacred” things.

The suspect in today’s mass shooting (well, the biggest one I’ve heard of thus far this morning; the day is young) is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Thank you to the hundreds who made it out on a chilly evening--at very short notice--to support the Mueller investigation and the rule of law! And thank you to everyone for your willingness to stand up for our Democracy and our Constitution! Even if you could not attend tonight, your pressure and perseverance is important.

Please join us in pushing for our demands:
- The Mueller investigation must continue unimpeded until its completion.
- Whitaker must recuse himself from the Mueller investigation oversight.
- All documents must be preserved that are related to the Justice Department investigation.

Here are three ways to help:
- Call/Fax Senators Portman & Brown and your member of Congress and ask them to demand Whitaker's recusal. Ask them to commit to protect Mueller’s investigation.
- Write letters to editor calling out Trump's assault on democracy & the rule of law & asking our MoCs to stand up.
- Speak out on social media and to your friends and remain vigilant and firm in defense of democratic principles.

Contacts
Senator Portman: @senrobportman; 614-469-6774; Fax: 614-469-7419

How much real change manifested itself in the 2018 midterms? How deeply does the outcome reflect the American soul?

Apparently, about 113 million Americans, basically half the electorate, felt compelled to vote in the midterms, revved up either by intense opposition to or support for Donald Trump. This is a lot more than usual for a non-presidential election, but still fairly pathetic for “the world’s greatest democracy.”

How much closer did we move to becoming a nation able and willing to focus on the real issues that threaten the planet?

To the extent that the election was about Trump and Trumpism:

What is Politicon?

Politicon is to politics what San Diego’s annual Comic-Con is to comic books and superheroes - a convention geared for news junkies, avid followers of current affairs, talking points and of the talking heads who spew them in the rarefied realm of cable TV, talk radio, ripped-from-the-headlines books, newspapers, magazines, the Internet and beyond. This fourth annual confab has provided Angelenos with another encounter, live and in person, with pundits, commentators, spinmeisters, speechwriters, journalists of the chattering class, etc., who are mostly based in Washington, DeCeit and Manhattan. There weren’t any current candidates or officeholders per se in the various forums, panels, etc. - but rather those who comment upon and cover politicians and politics.