Local
By David Swanson, Executive Director of World BEYOND War; Kathy Kelly, President of World BEYOND War; John Reuwer, Board Member of World BEYOND War; Brad Wolf, Director of Peace Action, Lancaster, PA
Forty-eight hours before a global peace conference in Vienna, Austria, was to begin, the venue host abruptly cancelled. Peace, it seems, cannot be discussed, especially peace in Ukraine.
This news is a disturbing step in a growing trend.
Owners of the venue which was to host the Summit for Peace in Ukraine, announced on Wednesday, 7 June, 2023, their decision to cancel the agreement holding the summit on their premises. Fortunately, a new location was secured in Vienna (and anyone on Earth can sign up to take part online), but not before a smear campaign against the summit had been launched.
The venue owners reportedly explained: “We have decided to comply with the wishes of Ukraine and its embassy operating in Austria and have cancelled the rental of all rooms in the ÖGB catamaran for the event ‘International Summit for Peace in Ukraine’ next weekend.”
Saturday, June 10, 7-8pm, this event will be occurring via Zoom
Theme: “Peace, Love and Revolution”
• Mark Stansbery and Yoshie Furuhasi will report back from their trip to Japan at the G7 Summit.
• M.J. Borden will discuss response to HJR 1.
• Pride Month
• And more!
A question-and-answer period will be included.
If you have any announcements for the progressive community, contact us at <colsfreepress@gmail.com>.
Please use this Zoom link to join this event.
Hosted by The Columbus Free Press.
To paraphrase from Mr. Donte Woods-Spikes, Columbus documentarian and speaker extraordinaire: to anyone who’s been triggered by their memories on their newsfeed in the last fortnight, I empathize with you.
Three years ago last week on Thursday, May 28th, 2020, this city joined in a national reckoning that we have yet to reconcile.
Three days before in Minneapolis, MN, a Black man named George Floyd was recorded while then-officer Derek Chauvin pressed his left knee on George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and twenty-nine seconds as Floyd pled for his life and took his last breath to call for his mother as he expired.
I watched the last three minutes of the video that had by now gone viral on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 27th. That evening – about 7 PM – I walked from my house to the Dollar General on E. Main Street, bought a big bottle of cheap white wine, took it home and drank half of it.
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is the new animated film that follows "Into the Spider-Verse." It will be succeeded by "Beyond the Spider-Verse." The movie is directed by a talented team, including Kemp Powers, known for his exceptional work on "Soul." The writing credits feature Phil Lord and Chris Miller, celebrated for "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" and "The Lego Movie," along with Dave Callaham of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings." Though this film ends with a "to be continued," leading into a part two next year, it still stands firmly on its own despite being a part of a larger narrative.
Attempting a brief plot synopsis for a multiversal film like this is challenging. Like A24's "Everything Everywhere All At Once," its complex, intertwined narratives defy simple summaries. But I'll avoid spoilers and attempt to capture the essence of the story without divulging too much.
Friday, June 9. 6-9pm, Wild Goose Creative, 188 McDowell St.
An art show rejecting the anti-trans bills and laws that are being put in place all over the U.S and instead celebrating the work of LGBTQ+ artists and performers.
Dress code [optional]: “Punk Rock Queer.”
Hosted by Wild Goose Creative.
Friday, June 9. 6-9pm, Wild Goose Creative, 188 McDowell St.
An art show rejecting the anti-trans bills and laws that are being put in place all over the U.S and instead celebrating the work of LGBTQ+ artists and performers.
Dress code [optional]: “Punk Rock Queer.”
Hosted by Wild Goose Creative.
Ohio Attorney General David Yost earlier this week rejected the Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity’s (OCEQI) summary of petition yet again. This will be the fifth time the AG’s office has denied the OCEQI’s ballot language to amend the Ohio Constitution, but these activists are refusing to take ‘No’ for an answer. The OCEQI is re-starting signature gathering this weekend and their legal team has begun re-writing their amendment.
OCEQI spokesperson Cynthia Brown, who lost a nephew to Columbus police, says their Coalition partners – such as the Van Jones Institute for Justice and Campaign Zero – also remain determined to have Ohioans make their own decision at the ballot box to end Qualified Immunity.
“We strongly disagree with Dave Yost,” said Brown. “We can protest in the streets all we want, but if the laws are not on our side this will continue to happen.”
Ohio Attorney General David Yost earlier this week rejected the Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity’s (OCEQI) summary of petition yet again. This will be the fifth time the AG’s office has denied the OCEQI’s ballot language to amend the Ohio Constitution, but these activists are refusing to take ‘No’ for an answer. The OCEQI is re-starting signature gathering this weekend and their legal team has begun re-writing their amendment.
OCEQI spokesperson Cynthia Brown, who lost a nephew to Columbus police, says their financial supporters – such as the Van Jones Institute for Justice – also remain determined to have Ohioans make their own decision at the ballot box to end Qualified Immunity.
“We strongly disagree with Dave Yost,” said Brown. “We can protest in the streets all we want, but if the laws are not on our side this will continue to happen.”
Politico calls the Russian Ambassador to the United States "Lonely Anatoly" because his job is to talk with the U.S. government, but the U.S. government won't talk with him.
The U.S. State Department is not talking with the RussianAmbassador about resolving the Ukraine war, but also not talking about much of anything else.
This is dangerous. Failure to communicate only increases distrust and enmity, heightening the risk of nuclear war.
Four blocks from the White House sits the Russian Ambassador's house, the former Soviet Embassy where then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy met with Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin to de-escalate the Cuban Missile Crisis by talking. Today, another Russian Ambassador, Anatoly Antonov, is there, but the U.S. State Department doesn't speak with him.
Dear Andy, I cannot address you as “mayor.” You take the salary but refuse to do the work. You never accept responsibility, not even for your own staff lobbying for your benefit. You do not tell the truth. You do not lead. You have no policies. Your slogans are poor.
As elected “mayor” and lifelong professional politician (unlike Joe Motil, whom you dishonestly tarnish with that label in your legally actional campaign misconduct), you fail the City and the city of Columbus.
You, Columbus Police Department chiefs, and the city council that knows little about cities in general and Columbus in particular—and the private interests who dictate their orders to you—are collectively responsible for the failing state of our city.
Admit it: Columbus is the site of mounting violence especially with guns and vehicles. Columbus has no visible public safety. This is true even in the favored but declining Short North whose owners give you commands, including discriminating against the day-to-day well-being of food truck owners/workers. You recent claims of safety based on less than two weeks ONLY in the Short North ignore the ongoing violence everywhere else in Columbus.