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Politicians reversing themselves on key policy positions is often portrayed as weakness. Governor John Kasich has surprised both Republicans and Democrats by taking principled positions that directly contravene the positions of his party – most notably on health care and immigration reforms. Whatever else you might think of him, it’s a hard sell to call Governor Kasich weak.

My dad slumbered quietly as the Twin Towers fell sixteen years ago. He stirred and murmured, “What’s that?” I replied, “Nothing Daddy,” even though my eyes glued to the TV in disbelief. In that moment, I was glad Alzheimer’s had stolen his memory.

As a kid, I wondered why my dad, a brilliant steel industry engineer, jetted each week to New York and back. When the World Trade Center complex opened in 1973, I knew. He bragged in 1993, “We build them to last!” when terrorists detonated a bomb in a garage below one of the Towers, injuring many, but leaving the structure intact. This time, I watched in horror and wondered how Saudi pilots could destroy America’s most iconic buildings. I needed to look back only one week for a possible answer.

Seven hundred miles away in rural southwest Michigan, the feds were cleaning up a bloody standoff that left marijuana advocates Tom Crosslin and his partner Rollie Rohm dead at the hands of FBI snipers.

Well, our President in Twitter Chief, Donald Trump, has once again trumped his own self.  This time he’s taking on the rights of athletes to protest the injustices inflicted on people of color in America during NFL games. Our Twitter Chief, President Trump, feels that it’s more important for him, as President of the United States, to tweet about the right for people to protest peacefully, than it is for him to tweet about the horrific plight of the people of Puerto Rico, who are in desperate need of drastic help to rebuild and survive after hurricane Maria.

As of September 27, our Twitter Chief had tweeted twenty-three plus times about his anger at the NFL players for not “standing and being respectful during the national anthem” and only six times about how he was going to help Puerto Rico, which by the way is a part of the United States since 1898, which makes the people of Puerto Rico AMERICAN citizens.  But wait a minute, hold up, seems like we have been down this road before with the President of the United States being slow to help its “Brown” American citizens after a natural disaster.

Free Press Hero

The Free Press honors the anonymous man who bravely trained his cell phone camera on Timothy Davis during his horrendous beating at the hands of the Columbus Police. We thank you for having the courage to be the eyes and ears for the rest of us to witness the inexcusable and incomprehensible acts of our police department and how these racist officers, sworn to “serve and protect” us and uphold the U.S. Constitution, cavalierly and gleefully take out their immature macho aggressions on our citizens.

The superiority of the male sex was on the line when Bobby Riggs took on Billie Jean King in the 1973 tennis match known as the “Battle of the Sexes.” At least, that’s what organizers of the overblown spectacle claimed, and a sizable portion of the population actually believed it.

I was traveling out West at the time, and I happened to drop by a local restaurant in time to hear some macho types at the next table grouse about Riggs’s ignominious loss. It meant nothing, they insisted, except that the 55-year-old, out-of-shape Riggs was no match for the 29-year-old, top-of-her-game King.

Well, of course it meant nothing. Then again, it meant quite a lot in an age when women athletes—and women in general—were struggling to claim their rightful place in a society that had long been defined by male privilege. What makes the new comedy Battle of the Sexes so enjoyable is that it simultaneously treats the match as a ridiculous publicity stunt and as a historic milestone in the fight for gender equality.
 

Your first experience at Columbus’ Oktoberfest is the sensation of being gouged on parking at the fairgrounds. Your irritation will be soothed in the coming minutes by the pleasant surprise of no admission fee, but you don’t know that yet so you say “seriously, ten dollars? What do they have in there, fucking golden pandas?” And your wife asks why they would have pandas at Oktoberfest, and you explain that it is figure of speech, and she gives you one of those looks.

So you walk in, and are greeted by runners staggering through the Oktoberfest Meiler Vier, a four mile run in which 20 percent of participants are wearing lederhosen or other Bavarian alpine gear. If you miss them, don’t worry – you’ll find them later at the biergarten tossing back mugs of Bitburger.  From the looks of it, most of them chugged a couple before the race even started.  

At this point they hand you a menu, and you may hear a lively discussion about the merits of cabbage and noodles. This will end with an authoritative “as long as I get a dunkel I’m good.” This is fine advice, and you should probably take it.

Tuesday, Oct 3
3:00-4:20pm - Columbus State Community College Workforce Development building room 407, 315 Cleveland Ave.
Facebook event
and
7pm - Ohio Communities Rising Tour: Merrily Mazza Speaking and “We the People 2.0” film showing, Northwood-High building, room 100, 2231 N. High St.
Councilwoman Mazza will discuss Lafayette, Colorado’s successful and first Climate Bill of Rights and will present the new Community Rights documentary film, “We the People, 2.0.” Sponsored by Columbus Community Bill of Rights and Ohio Community Rights Network. Hosted by Columbus Community Bill of Rights.

For security officers in central Ohio, the struggle for a union contract has been a long one. In April 2013, security officers and janitors held a rally for a living wage and affordable health care outside the Motorists Insurance building in downtown Columbus.

“I’m committed to my job, but it’s hard to get by on low wages with no benefits,” said Thurman Elliot, a full-time security officer employed by Allied Universal. “My wife is sick, and because I don’t have affordable health care through my job, we both have to rely on Medicaid.” 

Decades ago, downtown office buildings employed security workers in-house, with decent pay, benefits, and pensions. But in recent years these jobs have been outsourced to contract companies who have paid security officers only slightly over the state minimum wage, with few or no company benefits.

Saturday, Sept 30, 12-3pm
Franklinton Gardens
Facebook Event
Franklinton Garden's 3rd Annual Fall Festival is coming up! 
The event will be held in the outdoor space with benches across the street from St. John's Episcopal Church on Avondale and Town St. 
We will be making cider on-site with a ciderpress and distributing it to guests. Free food will be provided by Abe's Kitchen, and Jenni's has graciously agreed to donate some icecream.
Local band Blue Spectrum will be providing the tunes, along with local rapper Frances. Activities such as pumpkin tossing, corn hole and face painting will be put on as well.
It's tradition that farms celebrate their harvest, and what better way to usher in the fall harvest than bringing the community together around our food? Hope to see you there! Bring your friends! Free.

Once had friend tell me he could not stand to hear Black Sabbath albums, covered sampled or remixed, because they were perfect. Now, I love Black Sabbath as much. However, growing up writing graffiti, you embraced Black Sabbath aura.

Obviously this is the most dominant aesthetic in music. 

My friend’s sentiment had a valid point.

Jack White and the Black Keys are both examples of how difficult it is to filter the blues and gospel into rock in roll without sounding like a complete cornball. My assumption regarding the mediocre current state of mainstream rock music is that most people who want to start bands probably haven’t gone thru the processes that Jack White or the Black Keys have so they just can’t….

Ok...so we know Black Sabbath is amazing. How is the movie?

Well, the best way I can explain is this: Ozzy Osborne obviously is most famous member of Black Sabbath. Black Sabbath is where the antics that made Ozzy a reality show spectacle are removed, and he is known more for important artistry.

This documentary is for the fans that want to enjoy the high quality of the group they love. It’s a film of mutual respect.