Syria, known throughout history as the “crossroads of civilization,” now finds itself at a crossroads of its own. After 54 years, the Assad family’s brutal dictatorship in Syria has finally ended.

“I never thought I’d live to see this day,” said my dad, who left Aleppo as a teenager. My parents grew up there.

Police Funding Up, Community Safety Measures Down:

This budget goes against public health best practices that tell us to invest in social determinant-focused programs like affordable housing, quality health services, food security, and after-school programs, We must loudly reject this proposal to save lives and keep institutional thugs off our streets. A deep dive into the Columbus 2025 public safety budget reveals potential consequences for community health and safety, link here.

Rising Police Budget: 

The early November detention of Asif Rahman, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer, indicted in a federal national security court in the Eastern District of Virginia on two counts of “willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act,” was largely downplayed in the national media. He was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Tuesday November 5th at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh in Cambodia where he was stationed and was sent to appear in the nearest federal court in Guam on Thursday the 7th to be charged. After his initial court appearance and indictment, Rahman, was transferred to a federal prison in Virginia.

“The difficulty with nuclear power is that it produces the worst industrial waste that’s ever been produced by any industry on earth. This stuff remains deadly for literally, millions of years!” - Gordon Edwards, President, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility

“Your project is a remarkable example of cinema that seeks to raise awareness and drive meaningful change.” - Organizing Committee of the Festival Internacional de Cine Animal y Ambiental (FICAA).

A broad  coalition of democratic organizations from across the state have mobilized to protect free speech rights from a secretive attempt by right-wing lawmakers to make public criticism of the state of Israel illegal in the state of Ohio.

This is the story of how they did it – how people of all different backgrounds came together on short notice, learned to navigate the convoluted cutlure of the Ohio statehouse, and faced down a powerful lobby determined to shield the state of Israel and its supporters in the US government from accountability for the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Faten Odeh, the executive director of the Cleveland chapter of The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR-OH), had heard rumblings of states intending to codify the IHRA definition of antisemitism into law, but could have never anticipated how fast legislation around the definition would develop in Ohio. Perhaps a bigger surprise was how quickly she, along with Ann Ghazy, Jawhara Qutiefan, and a myriad of other organizers were able to mobilize large numbers of people to help protect free speech from government overreach.