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Bernie Sanders' common sense proposals for dealing with universal health care, college tuition, restoring the infrastructure, confronting poverty and more have encountered predictable scorn from "fiscally responsible" corporatists.

They all scream about the "deficit spending" and tax hikes that might be required to pay for these vital programs. From predictable right-wing corporatists to Hillary Clinton ("free stuff! free stuff!" she mocks) to fictional "left-leaning economists" invented by the New York Times, numerous voices scorn Bernie’s agenda because his proposals "cost too much."

Speaking to a reporter before a screening of Race at OSU’s Mershon Auditorium, one of Jesse Owens’s daughters said several changes were made to the script for the sake of historical accuracy.

That’s nice to hear. The tale of Owens’s participation in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin is intrinsically so dramatic and inspiring that it would be a shame to sully it with blatant inaccuracies.

As you probably know, Owens was the African-American track and field star who symbolically thumbed his nose at Hitler’s theory of Aryan superiority at the pre-World War II Olympics. For Central Ohioans, he also was a hometown hero. After racking up an impressive record as a high school athlete in Cleveland, he came to Ohio State and fell under the tutelage of track coach Larry Snyder.

This is where director Stephen Hopkins’s film takes up the story. Snyder (Jason Sudeikis) calls Owens (Stephen James) into his office and demands to know whether he’s ready to work hard. He also begins plying him with the notion that track records are made to be broken, but medals are forever. In no time, it seems, the two are setting their sights on the 1936 Olympics.

A candlelight vigil  honored the life of Marshawn McCarrel, local community leader, drawing friends and fellow activists together in sadness and solidarity. "Many people spoke, sang songs and cried," said Pejmaan Irani who attended the event at Dodge Park in Franklinton on Tuesday night, February 9 at 6pm. McCarrel committed suicide on the stairs of the Ohio Statehouse on February 8 after posting "My demons won today. I'm sorry." McCarrel was 23 -years-old from Columbus' west side.

McCarrel was a well-known and liked Black Lives Matter activist. Free Press Editor Bob Fitrakis remembers him from a protest in Beavercreek following the John Crawford murder at the WalMart there. Members of the Ohio Student Association had sat in at the Sheriff's office in Beavercreek to demand answers following the police shooting of Crawford.

As the New Hampshire primary lurches toward the finish line, the reality of electronic election theft looms over the vote count. The actual computer voting machines were introduced on a grand scale in New Hampshire’s 1988 primary. The godfather was George H.W. Bush, then the Vice President. As former boss of the CIA, Bush was thoroughly familiar with the methods of changing election outcomes. The Agency had been doing it for decades in client states throughout the world.

In the Granite State, Bush was up against Bob Dole, long-time Senator from Kansas.  Dole was much loved in hard-core Republican circles. But Bush had an ace-in-the-hole. For the first time, the votes would be cast and counted on electronic voting machines, in this case from Shoup Electronics.

Governor John Sununu, later Bush’s White House Chief of Staff, brought the highly-suspect computer voting machines into New Hampshire’s most populous city, Manchester. 

The results were predictable. Former CIA director George H. W. Bush won a huge upset over Dole and the mainstream for-profit corporate media refuses to consider election rigging.

One of the things that I always loved about coming of age in Columbus, Ohio is running into Umar Bin Hassan of the Last Poets randomly at the now-defunct Monkey's Retreat Bookstore. He hung out with Carl who owned Roots, and Adrian Willis aka DJ True Skills, who ran a Hip Hop boutique called Thieves World in the late 90's/early aughts.

I bumped into Umar in late November at the New Harvest Cafe & Urban Arts Center and we had a conversation about Isis, how he got down with the Last Poets, and Kanye West.

Umar had this to say about Isis, “The greatest Jihad is called the Jihad al-nafs. That's the struggle with your own demons. Your own gins. Anyone can go out talking about killing other people.Beheading other people. It's about who you are. What position are you coming from?”

A few weeks later, the shooting occurred at the Eagles of the Death Metal show in France.

So he turned out to be prophetic as a poets often are.

First things first. It must be noted that Young Thug was not wearing a dress when the crowd sang line for like with him from his verse on T.I.'s “If ain't about the money.” from at Newport January 23rd.

If you're not familiar with Young Thug; he is from Atlanta and often referenced by the fact he is a Blood that boasts Rich Gang Affiliations as well as your usual Waka/Gucci overlaps.

He has a stream of consciousness, sing-songy cadence that is post-Lil Wayne/Future in terms skating with melody and sometimes not discernible.

Rappers like Thug, Rich Homie Quan and Migos are developing a nuanced version of Weezy.

Why do I mention him wearing a dress? Because dudes who rock the same circuit as Kevin Gates and Plies with the word Thug in their name don't usually wear dresses. Sort of. 

Young Thug does.

 I could go through several theories on why gender fluidity exists in Blood Branded rappers compared to similar organizations. My guess it boils down to the people involved, molly commerce, prison culture, New Orleans Sissy Bounce and perhaps just the entertainment industry.

Weird, the stuff you find cleaning out your beloved record store of 27 years, preparing it for the Campus Partners/OSU wrecking ball:
--Several still-sealed vinyl copies of the '80s Columbus Police Department unofficial band, Hot Pursuit. The album? Communicate, recorded at Musicol Studios. Engineers: John Hetrick (not me, not my pseudonym), Doug Edwards, Lisa Dale and John Hull. Five of the band's six members were or maybe still are full-fledged members in good standing, I assume, and have never arrested me to the best of my knowledge.

Mitchell’s Ocean Club has created a delicious potato quinoa cake vegan entrée with a tasty sauce, a vibrant fennel salad and perfectly grilled vegetables- all of which also happen to be gluten-free. When you want to enjoy a vegan meal in a fine dining atmosphere, this is certainly one place in Columbus (Easton) that makes that possible. These items are not listed on the menu, however they are always available, you just have to make your vegan requirements known.

In 2006 scientists sounded the alarm that the track humanity is currently on with its increasing human populations, increasing pollution acidifying the water and creating ocean dead zones, as well as the ever increasing five islands of plastic waste each currently the size of Texas, the oceans will be empty of fish by 2048. That was before the BP disaster and Fukushima that continues to spew unknown amounts of radioactive waste into the Pacific.

I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that the Academy Awards’ nominations for “best actress” haven’t raised as much controversy as nominations in other categories.

It’s a good thing that there haven’t been any obvious snubs—nothing on a par with Will Smith (Concussion) or Michael B. Jordan (Creed) in the “best actor” category. But it’s a bad thing that the likely reason there are no obvious snubs is that minority women were given few opportunities to tackle attention-getting roles in 2015.

If there’s one silver lining to this dark cloud, it’s that the “best actress” nominees are as generationally diverse as they are racially homogenous. Though Jennifer Lawrence (Joy), Brie Larson (Room) and Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) are all 20-somethings, Cate Blanchett (Carol) is 46. And Charlotte Rampling will turn 70 on Friday (Feb. 5), which, coincidentally, is the same day 45 Years opens in Columbus.