What has become of the Columbus Dispatch, that cranky, one-sided, right-wing, influence-peddling, friend-rewarding-and-enemy-punishing, black and white with a splash of color and read all over, or at least in break rooms and doctors' offices?

Three years ago, almost to the day, the Capital City's morning friendly was sold by the Wolfe family to New Media Investments/GateHouse Media, owned and controlled by SoftBank, a Japanese conglomerate.

I wrote then that the new ownership had an opportunity to transform it into a newspaper of the people after way too long as a publisher's propaganda play toy.

My reasoning was simple. Once Republican, Columbus and Franklin County have turned dark blue Democratic while the Dispatch was still embracing the Republican good old days.

Wolfe consigliore Ben Marrison, who held the title of executive editor, departed in 2015 to become auditor and attorney general wanna be David Yost's flack. Maybe Marrison's protégé and successor Alan Miller would lead the paper's editorial stands and coverage policies in a more responsible if not Democratic direction.

Last May I was in Russia when fascists held a rally in my hometown of Charlottesville, not to be confused with their larger rally which followed in August.

Now being planned and built in Washington, D.C., which is already just about coated in monuments to wars and particular warriors, are monuments to: World War I, the Gulf War, Native American fighters in wars, African Americans who fought in the U.S. war for independence, and the War on Terrorism, as well as one to Eisenhower the Warrior.

That War on (make that “of” — an easy alteration) Terrorism monument is supposed to be built by 2024, and the war it glorifies is due to end sometime in the next millennium or, as war planners like to say, “imminently.”

Most countries glorify their deeds, but many also mourn and regret and warn against repetition of their worst crimes. Not the good old USA, no sir. George Bush the elder said he’d never apologize and didn’t care what the facts were. That’s telling ’em.

Most Columbus residents assume that our city is safe from the fracking industry. It is not. There are currently 13 injection wells of toxic radioactive frack waste in the Upper Scioto Watershed area, Columbus’ source water protection area.

This waste contains radium 226, which has a half-life of 1600 years, and up to 700 chemicals. Many of the chemicals we know about – some are hidden as “proprietary secrets” – are carcinogens, neurotoxins and hormone disruptors. Each of these injection wells contain millions of gallons of this toxic stew.

Now comes the Columbus Community Bill of Rights (CCBOR) to the rescue. To prevent Columbus residents from being exposed to these dangers and future polluters, an all-volunteer group of concerned citizens has gathered 18,404 signatures over the course of a year for an initiated Columbus city ordinance that would protect our city’s air, water and soil from frack waste. Members submitted all signatures to City Hall at the end of June. Thereafter, the Franklin County Board of Elections validated more than 12,000 signatures, much more than the 8,890 required to put the ordinance before voters for adoption.

It’s a hot day in July and I’m driving into Cleveland, Ohio. I’ll be staying at some nameless and faceless motel in the big-box suburbs, out there with the Home Depots and Olive Gardens. It reminds me of an old song by The Beautiful South – “[t]his could be Rotterdam or anywhere, Liverpool or Rome.”

Cleveland used to have a reputation for being ubiquitous. Tennessee Williams once said that “America has only three cities, New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. “Everywhere else,” he explained, “is Cleveland.” In 2018, though, it seems like it would be lucky to keep even this non-distinction. Now it’s just a nearly abandoned crater, surrounded by suburbs full of white people who love their racist baseball team.

And oh yes, the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. They have that too. I can see dingy signs demanding that I take exit 195A and pay $23.00 for the chance to see some of Keith Richards’ clothing. Or perhaps a moving tribute to the “giants of the blues” or whatnot. Lifetime achievement awards to the bands of the baby boomers. And, more recently, Bon Jovi.