The Other Side of the News January 12, 2018-Ohio voter purges and the Supreme Court

Listen to The Other Side of the News with Bob Fitrakis here http://www.wcrsfm.org/audio/user/157

The Sanctity of Life

Breathe deeply, suck in your fear, value life.

Some psycho-pranksters have made this national conversation unavoidable. The game is called “swatting”: Call the cops, report a terrifying emergency — “they’re holding my mother hostage!” — and wait for the fun to start. A SWAT team swings into action. Police surround a random house with their guns drawn. The occupants inside have no idea what’s going on.

On Dec. 28, a house in Wichita, Kansas was targeted for a swatting prank by a guy in Los Angeles. Andrew Finch, age 28, a father of two, wound up being shot and killed by a police officer as he stepped out of his front door and, apparently, put his hands on his hips. He was unarmed.

Letter from Charlottesville to Ukraine

Nazi rallies in the news in recent years have most prominently been held here in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, and in Ukraine. I want to send thoughts of solidarity to those in Ukraine resisting fascism. And I want to let you know that some of us are urging our government in Washington, D.C., to stop supporting fascism both in the United States and in Ukraine. In addition, we are pointing to the examples being set by so many shithole countries around the world that are 100% free of fascist rallies.

Removing Trump Will Require New Activists; The Old Ones Won’t Do It

It was convenient for the teaching moment that James Risen just

Bury the Monroe Doctrine

Remarks at No Foreign Bases Conference, Baltimore, MD, January 13, 2018

I get to introduce three terrific speakers to you on the topic of Latin America and the Caribbean, but first I’m allowed to say what I’m thinking for five minutes, so I’ll do that. I’m thinking that the first European bases on this coast were foreign bases, that they moved west, and that the practice has never paused. I live almost next door to the former home of James Monroe whose Monroe Doctrine, as evolved and abused over the centuries, ought to be buried. The U.S. policy of antidemocratically and often violently seeking to dominate the nations to its south, in the name of preventing some other force from doing so, has seen its shelf-life expire. The communism excuse is gone. The terrorism and drugs excuses are weak and getting weaker.

Standing Up To Racism Wherever It Appears Is The Best Way To Honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Black man in foreground, Martin Luther King Jr. surrounded by other men with sign above saying Now

As the nation prepares to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – one of our greatest Americans – on Monday, President Donald Trump offers a stark contrast in leadership.

The best way to react to Mr. Trump’s latest decidedly non-Presidential outburst is not with anger at his incendiary, vulgar and racially-charged remarks this week about immigrants from “shithole countries.”

The best response is to do what Dr. King fought so hard for. It is to get registered to vote and then to cast ballots in massive and historic numbers. The 2018 midterm elections are just around the corner.

Now more than ever, we must continue Dr. King’s movement to “redeem the soul of America.”

Hours after the world-wide fire storm ignited by his vile words, Mr. Trump is denying saying them. But Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois was in the room where it happened and said today at Chicago’s 32rd annual breakfast celebrating the life of Dr. King that it is “exactly what [Mr. Trump] said and he said it repeatedly.”

When it comes to veracity, I’ll put my faith in the Senator from the Land of Lincoln.

7 days in … Disbelief

Photo of black woman with shoulder length black curly hair wearing a black top with white collar smiling at the camera

Everything above my shoulders is in agony. I’ve spent an entire week rolling my eyes, shaking my head, and gritting my teeth. I actually rolled my eyes so viciously my wife started calling me Liz Lemon. This week regrettably has been one which left my respect for American liberals hanging by a thread.  Liberals and devotees of the elected left reminded me how extraordinarily hypocritical they are and how dangerously short their memories are.

Prisoner Letter Writing + Film Screening

Black man speaking at a mic wearing a suit, with a sign in the background to his left saying Why We Can't

Monday, January 15, 2018, 5:30 – 8:00 PM. 

Students from across the country picket at flagship Wendy’s store to call for an end to sexual violence and human rights abuse in restaurant’s supply chain

Latino man in foreground with drum around his neck and hitting it with drumsticks, his mouth open chanting, wearing a shirt that says Boycott Wendys with a picture of a girl's head with red pigtails and a No sign around it (circle with line through it) and a Latino woman behind him holding a bright orange and yellow sign also with her mouth open chanting

Sunday, January 14, 2018, 2pm
Scores of students, community members and people of faith from over 20 campuses across nation will join together with congregation and community members to demonstrate at the Wendy’s located at 2004 N. High St. The protest is a culmination of a weekend of student strategizing alongside the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to further engage their communities and campuses in the Wendy’s Boycott during 2018.
What: Demonstration to call on Wendy’s to sign the CIW’s Fair Food Program and for OSU to cut their contract with the fast food giant.
Where: Wendy’s located at 2004 N High St
When: Sunday, January 14  at 2 PM

7 days in...Purgatory

Older man with receding gray hair with a strange look on his face

We are currently in the political twilight zone. Nothing concrete has been affected since the tax reform vote, and Congress hasn’t been back in session long enough to do its usual damage. Plenty has been said, but it is not yet clear exactly what will happen, or in which direction each action will cause the nation to move. We are effectively stuck between optimism for the new year and a gnawing fear of what is likely to occur.

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