Local

In the aftermath of the Donovan Lewis shooting, Cynthia Brown, a past Free Press Hero, traveled to eastern and northeastern Ohio seeking signatures and support for her effort to put a citizen-led initiative on a future statewide ballot. The initiative will let Ohio decide on whether it should change the Ohio Constitution by eliminating qualified immunity for law enforcement and other professions.

When Brown was in Akron, word got around to a local group of nuns she was advocating to end qualified immunity. The convent where these nuns live will go unnamed for fear of retaliation.

Not only did the nuns want to sign the petition they also wanted to collect signatures. Brown and her umbrella organization, the Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity, gladly handed over a stack of petitions.

“I’m Catholic,” said Brown, “I should have pitched it to the church myself. But the Catholic church [in Akron] reached out to me first.”

Wednesday, September 14, 6pm, 5100 Kingshill Dr. [we will meet in the back yard if the weather is good]

October 8 will be an International Day of action to defend Julian Assange.

• Without freedom of the press, democracy is not possible.

• Don’t Extradite Assange.

• Journalism is not a crime.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is facing up to 175 years in prison for publishing truthful information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States has hit Assange with an unprecedented Espionage Act indictment and asked that he be extradited from London.

Extraditing Assange to the United States would have disastrous consequences for the freedom of the press and our democracy. Countless journalists, legal scholars, and human rights groups have condemned the politically motivated U.S. efforts to prosecute Assange. If this case goes forward, it would create a precedent that would criminalize the “lifeblood of investigative journalism” and radically change our democracy.

Welcome to Riotsville – a fictional town built by the U.S. military. Using footage shot by the media and the government, the film explores the militarization of the police and the reaction of a nation to the uprisings of the late '60s, creating a counter-narrative to a critical moment in the country's history.

Riotsville, USA, a point in American history when the nation’s rulers, politicians, bureaucrats, and police were faced with the mounting militancy of the late 1960s, and did everything possible to win the war in the streets. Using training footage of Army-built model towns called “Riotsville” where military and police were trained to respond to civil disorder, in addition to nationally broadcast news media, the documentary connects the stagecraft of law and order to the real violence of state practice. Recovering an obscured history whose effects have shaped the present in ways both insidious and explosive, "Riotsville, USA" is a poetic reflection on the rebellions of the 1960s, and the machine that worked to destroy them.

As the Israeli military bombed homes, clinics, and schools in Gaza and threatened to push Palestinian families from their homes in Jerusalem May 2021, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud executives signed a $1.22 billion contract to provide cloud technology to the Israeli government and military. By doing business with Israeli apartheid, Amazon and Google will make it easier for the Israeli government to surveil Palestinians and force them off their land.  

It’s hard to qualify the events of the last two weeks, so I’ll try to recount the first as best as possible and hopefully someone who reads this can decipher their actual meaning. I’m not ready for the most recent week yet:

Two Sundays ago—August 28th, 2022—a group of protestors were arrested at the homes of two Columbus City officials for protesting the proposed September 14th clearing of Camp Shameless. (You might have read about that in my last column, but bear with me here.)

Everyone who’d been detained from that action was released by early morning Monday with no bail set. Court dates for the two arrested at the Council President’s house (who’s since been dubbed Shannon “Get off my Lawn!” Hardin in some circles,) was set for Thursday, the 1st, which was the original date of eviction for the camp. One of the Mayor’s staff attempted to dismiss the action as “political theater.” I don’t think he and I have met yet.

One of my favorite blogs is that of Caitlin Johnstone. Why have I never written about how great it is? I’m not sure. I am too busy to write about most things. I have invited her on my radio show and had no reply. I do know that one of my favorite things to do is also one of hers: correct the mistakes of others. I like to correct my own mistakes too, of course, but it’s not as much fun, and only seems useful to write about when my mistake is shared by millions. I think Ms. Johnstone has now made, in her own talented way, a mistake shared by millions in a post called “In This Disaster We Are All, Ultimately, Innocent,” and I think it’s possibly a horribly dangerous one.

Intel Corporation and the State of Ohio sealed their marriage on Friday with the officiant flying in on Air Force One just in time to pronounce the happy couple forever joined at the chip. 

The groom, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, had thrown a public tantrum in early July, calling off the scheduled ceremony because the bride’s Uncle Sam went on vacation without leaving a credit card number to provide the dowry. He even threatened to elope to Europe with another bride. 

But there was no mention of that hiccup on this sunny September morning in New Albany, Ohio. The couple dozen attendants each gave a speech predicting the most productive marriage ever of any global corporate power and lonely rust belt state. 

Billed as a groundbreaking ceremony, a good deal of ground had been broken before the ceremony began. Earthmovers were lined up around the temporary outdoor seating area, parked in neat rows nearby for aerial cameras to capture, and occasionally paraded behind the speakers, who were each announced by Jerry Revish while the Best Damn Band in the Land played the Ohio State fight song. 

Tuesday, September 13, 5-9pm,
Studio 35 Cinema & Draft House, 3055 Indianola Ave.

The European Union, the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice, and Ohioans To Stop Executions will host a private event on Ohio’s historic chance to end the use of capital punishment. The evening will feature a screening of the film “The Penalty,” a documentary following the extraordinary journey of three people at the center of America’s capital punishment crisis. The screening will be followed by a conversation with diplomats from the European Union, local experts, and business leaders. A reception will follow the screening of this film.

The European Union stands resolute in its opposition to capital punishment and supports the bipartisan effort to make Ohio the 24th state to abolish the death penalty. Please join us for an evening with the Delegation and local leaders working towards abolition to learn more about why Ohio’s repeal of capital punishment is important for human rights, trade, and investment.

What it is. What it does. What happened to it. Is there hope for it?

Cannabis in Ohio has suddenly gone quiet. For a time, the Statehouse buzzed with action. The House had H.B. 60 (medical marijuana for autism), H.B. 356 (lower marijuana penalties from felonies to misdemeanors) and H.B. 210, 382, 498, and 628 (all to permit adult use cannabis). Late last year, the upper chamber fast tracked its approval of Ohio Senate Bill 261 to improve the current medical marijuana program, sending the bill to the House where four hearings were held in the Spring. Nothing since. What happened? The game is called stall ball.   

Where did S.B. 261 originate?

Sunday, September 11, 1-3:30pm., Nocterra Brewing Company, 41 Depot St., Powell, Ohio

He personified American folk music so let’s celebrate his 110th birthday.

When the Depression of the 1930s threw millions of Americans out of work and into poverty, Woody Guthrie told us their stories through song. He saw migrant workers slaving for pennies, penniless hobos riding in empty railroad boxcars, and the infamous Dust Bowl windstorms of Oklahoma stealing the land out from under the farmers.

Always for the underdog, Guthrie challenged America to right wrongs and to live by its ideals of hard work, compassion, equal opportunity, and fairness. His songs made us laugh, cry, remember, and question.

And so, in memory of all that Woody did, on September 11, a month after the 110th anniversary of his birth, Columbus will recall this common man troubadour. Together, we’ll sing some of his famous and unknown songs, hear details of the highs and lows of his life, and enjoy a visit from the spirit of Woody “himself.”