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Tuesday, July 7, 7-8:30PM
Please join SURJ Columbus for a 90 minute virtual workshop, July 7, 7-8:30pm EDT, discussing the tenets of “white supremacy culture:” what it is and how it shows up in society and how we can dismantle white supremacy culture. We will begin with an overview of Showing Up for Racial Justice and our theory of change, vision and values, and also address the question of “why white people organizing other white people?” There will be live ASL interpretation. (Please mark yes on the RSVP form if you need this)
Dismantling white supremacy and racism requires white folks to do the hard work of looking inward, as well as showing up to the work of collective action and liberation. This workshop will also have small group discussion and end with a call to action and ways to get involved in the fight for racial justice and collective liberation.

A Florida election protection lawsuit filed July 1 could help decide the fall 2020 vote count.

Signed by three Florida Democratic legislators, the suit demands that electronic ballot images be preserved in accordance with federal law. The images are created when computerized scanning devices process paper ballots. Those images can then be counted to give a complete ballot tally within six seconds. The paper ballots are preserved for possible recounts.

By federal law the ballot images are considered part of the public record and, like the actual paper ballots, must be retained at least 22 months. The machines are used in at least 80 percent of the nation's voting stations.

But many Secretary of States and/or State election boards around the country simply erase the images, allowing local officials considerable leeway in determining the vote count. In Florida, which has been notoriously fluid in the accuracy of its outcomes, only 27 out of the 67 counties that we know of are preserving the ballot images.

Monday, July 6, 2020, 12:00 - 1:30 PM

On July 1st, the Israeli government will begin formal annexation of large parts of the West Bank. We certainly don’t expect the Trump administration — Mike Pompeo, Jared Kushner, David Friedman — who have handed Netanyahu this vile opportunity be the ones to stop it so Congress has to STEP UP and introduce legislation. Send an email to your Senators and Representative now.  Take action here. 

There’s an old saying: by their deeds shall ye know them … Or, is it by their words, or by their legacy? Race has become one of the most divisive matters of our time. Sparked by the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police, Americans are experiencing a reckoning with their ghosts of the past. What causes disproportionate use of force? Why are Blacks disadvantaged? What needs to change?

One public policy that may lie at the root of these evils is the “War on Drugs.” Some blame no-knock warrants, militarized police, bloated prisons and sentencing disparities on the drug war. Does this mean it’s racist? To answer this question, let’s start with deeds. 

What is the “War on Drugs”? It’s essentially a government led zealotry to halt use, distribution and trade of selected drugs through long “tough on crime” prison sentences for both dealers and users. It’s prohibition (minus the alcohol) made global by the United States over the last 100 years.

As protests against police brutality continue to rage all over America, it is mind boggling how many conservatives still don’t understand that reforming our criminal justice system is an issue they should support. As a former Libertarian candidate, eliminating systemic racism at all levels of government is something that I and other libertarians have always wanted. In a democratic republic, all lives don’t matter until Black lives matter. After all, how is spending billions of dollars on the futile war on drugs or overcrowded prisons a worthwhile use of taxpayer money? How is the over-militarization of police forces not the very definition of big government? How is “qualified immunity” for police officers who murder innocent citizens not a direct violation of our rights and a trait of tyranny?

Just how at-risk was Dr. Amy Acton when alt-right protesters showed up at the Ohio Statehouse and her home back in May?

And how at-risk could protesters and activists be on July 4th?

There are rumors circulating online saying white nationalists, Proud Boys, and perhaps those who lust for the “Boogaloo” will confront Black Lives Matter protesters this weekend. 

These are rumors, the Free Press has not confirmed whether any alt-right response is official, but don’t forget what happened in Bethel, Ohio, when 800 bikers some armed showed up to confront peaceful protesters. One of the biker gangs that showed in Bethel was confirmed to be the racist-leaning and known drug dealing Iron Horsemen, which was founded in Cincinnati and on a Department of Justice watchlist.

Boogaloos Bois, as we’ve come to learn of late, are a loose-knit network of far-right gun-lovers who secretly yearn for a civil war against the government, lefties, and people of color.

As the vast majority of companies rush to reopen and people rush back to public life, they’re falling into the trap of “getting back to normal.”  They’re not realizing we’re heading into a period of waves of restrictions once again, due to many states reopening too soon.

On my 5th anniversary as a columnist for the Columbus Free Press, I will forgo commenting on the media and political scene and, instead, share my day-to-day reflections on the first two months of the pandemic.

It started on March 15 when I and 11.7 million Ohioans were ordered to shelter in place. I wondered how I would cope. I decided to write my way through it with a nightly post to my 785 Facebook followers and anyone else looking in on the social network.

I initially prefaced my remarks with the following: "Captain's log: Day 1 completed in ContagionNation." After a few posts, I dropped the last part and simply wrote: "Captain's log: Day _." I finally ended the posts on Day 62.

Here they are:

1. I have nothing on my calendar for the next 2 months. Not even tennis. Please do same. Stay home. Hunker down. It makes me sad to stare into the abyss of social isolation, and I'm an introvert. I, we, and you must do our duty to starve this virus into oblivion. We will. More Courage.

2. Lights out.

3. Virus 1. Vote 0. (A reference to Ohio's delayed primary election.)

4. Dogs happy. Owners home.