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"In politics stupidity is not a handicap."--Napoleon Bonaparte

Are we really any different than ancient Rome?

You know what the hell I'm talking about so let's cut the bullshit.

We have entered Juggalo political hell, where the Screech Owl on the Left doesn't need Juggalo face paint and Daddy's Little Juggalo on the Right scares even Pittsburgh's evilest bad clowns. I went to the RNC last week. Talked to a lotta people left, right and center and not a single one of 'em isn't in a grim place about this election in this time in America.

Let it be said Thursday night, Public Square in Cleveland, anticipated epicenter of Protest, USA, was one of the most relaxed, mellow even joyful scenes of Americans not particularly angry with each other. Political opposites were actuallytalking to each other.

Festiveness reigned, silly signs of protest were carried straight-faced ("Cargo shorts are sinful"). Free hugs were plentiful. Maybe one anti-Trump guy went Juggalo Detroit. But a free hugger calmed him down. Nice.

Ain't No Love In The Heart is back for some election commentary, because you can take the boy out of the swing state... This piece was written before the DNC. We'll get to Hil-dawg next month.

Alana’s, located in the north campus area on High Street, has a delightfully comprehensive dining experience for the socially-just diner. You can start with a crisp, tasty greens salad with quinoa and citrus overtones that can be veganized, and if you like beets, you can choose a colorful, cold, savory beet soup with lavender and chives.
 

On the night Hillary Clinton became the first woman to accept a major party’s nomination for president, I was watching a drama about women whose lives are decidedly less fulfilling.

Dancing at Lughnasa is a Tony Award-winning memory play set in a remote Irish village in the summer of 1936. Though it’s narrated by Michael Evans (Brian David Evans), an adult looking back on his childhood, it’s set in a household of women.

Michael’s mother, Christina Mundy (Kat Bramley), shares the home with her four sisters. Together, they eke out a tenuous existence, as only oldest sibling Kate (Katherine Scholl) has a steady job. But economic problems brought on by the Great Depression seem to weigh on them less than their social isolation.

As the 1960s gave way to the 1970s, TV newscasts were dominated by the Vietnam War and other controversies that were tearing American society apart. Meanwhile, TV’s fictional offerings stuck to relatively benign topics such as Sister Bertrille (Sally Field) and her amazing ability to defy gravity in The Flying Nun.

Then, on Jan. 12, 1971, everything changed. That’s when an outspoken bigot named Archie Bunker first saw the light of day in the debut of All in the Family.

The singular individual who brought Archie to life is the subject of the new documentary Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You. Co-directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Freakonomics), it gives us some insight into a man whose refusal to play it safe allowed him to dominate network television until the day when he suddenly walked away from it all.

Ohio Governor John Kasich is suspected of giving Dayton and Ohio a black eye by pulling the plug on the presidential debate.

And once again, the “poodles” in the Ohio press corps could not bring themselves to hold Kasich accountable. The “reporters,” who have let Kasich skate on spending Ohio tax dollars on his failed presidential campaign, merely recited the story line given to them by officials at Wright State University instead of holding the governor accountable.

The September 26 debate was to be the first of three featuring Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The smackdown was likely to set audience records, not just in the United States but around the world, and have great impact on the election outcome.

But no more. It was moved to Hofstra University in New York in a surprise announcement by WSU President David Hopkins on July 19.

Radioactivity is on the loose at nuclear sites in Southern Ohio and Kentucky. Two plants that are supposed to process rusting cylinders containing radioactive and chemically dangerous substances are not operating. These facilities need to be restarted without delay.

The Nuclear Free Committee of the Ohio Sierra Club has written to legislators in Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois and to others, sharing our concerns about the stoppage of work at the Babcock & Wilcox Conversion Services at the Portsmouth, Ohio and Paducah, Kentucky Nuclear Sites. The Portsmouth site is just outside the town of Piketon in Southern Ohio.

Why would the Ohio Green Party Co-Chair end up addressing Bernie Sanders delegates in Philly during the Democratic Party convention? I found myself with them in a pizza place in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania at the behest of the mostly-California-based Election Justice organization.

UPS is the world’s biggest package-delivery corporation and has a major hub on the west side. Earlier this year the hub was awarded a property tax abatement by Columbus City Council and it should save UPS $10.4 million over the next decade. City Council claimed it was needed so UPS doesn’t move the hub that employs 800 to the suburbs or even out of state. The tax break would also create 75 additional jobs, said both UPS and city council.

Sat, Aug 6, 6-8pm, University Baptist Church, 50 W. Lane Ave.

This concert will commemorate the 71st anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

Rocco Di Pietro, a local composer and a Columbus State Community College faculty member, has created a new piece entitled “Smiles and Screams: Love to Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” a concert with Taubes (an artistic rendering of how life and art interplay), that, along with community voices, will raise the vision of a world less violence and without nuclear weapons.

The goal of this project is to create a community wide expression of the 71st anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Through the use of artistic and cultural performances, Central Ohio residents will explore visions of a future free of nuclear weapons, war, and violence.

In measuring the success of this project, the organizers seek to achieve: 1) deepened organizational partnerships furthering a vision of a world free of nuclear weapons; and 2) a musical composition that reflects and commits to a world less violent.