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“Renee sparkled. She literally sparkled. I mean, she didn’t wear glitter but I swear she had sparkles coming out of her pores. All the time. You might think it was just my love talking but her family said the same thing. Renee was made of sunshine.”
The words are those of Renee Good’s wife Becca. They cut to our heart – our humanity. She was shot in the face by an ICE agent, who then muttered: “Fuckin’ bitch.” The murder of this 37-year-old mom as she tried to drive around the ICE guys who stopped her is national news, of course. Almost everyone has seen at least one of the many videos of the incident and, you might say, the national dialogue about virtually anything else has been put on hold.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested, detained, deported, and/or imprisoned many people that it has unilaterally determined to be undesirables. At first, they claimed they would deport only criminals, but it has already gone beyond that. We at the Free Press consider every person who has been sent to the Tecoluca (El Salvador prison), Guantanamo naval base, or detained in other prisons throughout the country to be innocent until proven guilty. We will include students who have been expelled for protesting genocide. It appears the government will revoke Visa's to get rid of undesirable students. This article will be updated as long as is necessary.
A couple of cool cats, Dr. Bob and Dan-o Dougan, play tunes on the theme of cool-ness. Songs with cool in them, songs by artists named Cool, songs they thought were cool back in the day, and just songs they think are cool.
Listen live at 11pm Fridays, August 7 and 14, and Mondays at 10am August 10 and 17, streaming at wgrn.org or on the radio at 91.9FM
and
Mondays at 2pm streaming August 10 and 17 at wcrsfm.org or on the radio at 92.7 or 98.3FM.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- When you come to Bangkok, a visit to the capital's sprawling, inexpensive, amulet market will take you on a trip into another dimension.
Here in the market's crowded riverside amulet market, a two-headed baby "zombie" is the most terrifying thing you can buy, but if you promise to feed it every day, the undead spirit could become your loyal slave and protect you against misfortune.
"In Thailand, the lowest level of believers buy these zombies and other amulets like this," said a saffron-robed Buddhist monk, warily examining the grotesque doll-like totem.
"The next highest level of believers buy amulets which have the faces of Buddhist monks.
"The highest level of believers are people like me, who believe only in Buddha," the monk said.
Most Thais are Buddhists, but they also mix a bewildering slew of other beliefs -- including Hindu, animist, and superstitious -- into their spiritual outlook.
Buddha was not into amulets, and advised followers to ignore such illusions.
The events in Tell, southwest of Nablus, were not an isolated act of violence. They were a warning.
For years, Israel has treated Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank as open spaces for military raids, settler invasions, land theft and collective punishment. The expectation was that Palestinians would endure the violence, bury their dead and return to the same unbearable routine.
In Tell, however, that carefully maintained equation was briefly disrupted.
The confrontation began when armed Israeli settlers entered the area near the village, attempting to attack Palestinian homes. Villagers confronted them. Israeli soldiers and armed settlement personnel then intervened, transforming the settler attack into a broader military assault.
The introduction of the Anti-Corruption Bureau Creation Act marks a significant potential shift in how ordinary citizens can check governmental overreach. By empowering citizens and state attorneys general to sue federal officials—up to the President—to claw back funds obtained through corruption, this federal proposal opens a compelling dialogue about structural accountability.
When examining how initiatives like "Protecting Ohioans' Constitutional Rights" align with this federal framework, we see a shared underlying philosophy: the belief that immunity doctrines and bureaucratic red tape should never place public officials above the law. At its core, the movement to protect constitutional rights—whether on a state level regarding qualified immunity or on a federal level regarding executive corruption—asserts that rights are meaningless without a direct mechanism for enforcement and remedy.
I felt both saddened and angered after reading the Associated Press story on August 5 reporting that "Trump's immigration crackdown has detained more than 50 military spouses and parents."
When the parents or spouses of military service members are taken into ICE custody, nobody may be available to care for their children or their property if those service members are deployed overseas to a war zone. Why should there be no exception for such extenuating circumstances?
Whether the spouse or parent of a military service member was once undocumented is, in my view, beside the point. Consider a simple analogy: if my car insurance or registration lapsed, I would be driving illegally until I renewed them. Once I obtained valid insurance and registration, I would be legal again, and my previous lapse would not continue to define my status.
We start GREEP #276 in Ukraine with the Green Party’s HOWIE HAWKINS and an opposing view from VINNIE DISTEFANO, both of whom ask “When will this awful war end?”
For the fabulous new film SELMA SISTERS we hear from CHARLES THOMAS, JR., and LISA LIDDLE about the nitty-gritty of the legendary Selma March.
We further speak with DENISE JARIGAN-HOLT & PLEZE MOORE about risking their lives as young people in this monumental civil action.
From ANDREA MILLER we hear about new tools including “Make it Fast” and “See Something Say Something” aiming to stop election theft this fall.
Long-time participants STEVE CARUSO, MYLA RESON and JOHN STEINER add critical links & feedback to the dialogue.
For our on-going HOMEBREW2 discussion on AI we’re joined by founding GodFathers LEE FELSENSTEIN and TATANKA BRICCA, whose historic perspective is completely priceless.
From media maven DAVID SALTMAN we get a haunting question about librarians.