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This article first appeared in the Buckeye Flame

Ohio Democrats have introduced two bills in both the state Senate and House of Representatives that would ban conversion therapy on minors, the universally discredited practice attempting to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity. 

Neither bill has been given a single hearing in the Republican-controlled Statehouse, and there isn’t a clear path to advance the legislation there.

Meanwhile, miles away from Columbus, LGBTQ+ activist Brandon West is working with local officials to ban conversion therapy on minors in his corner of Northeast Ohio.

West successfully pushed Lorain City Council in September 2024 to pass an ordinance that banned conversion therapy on minors. Now, he is working with Cuyahoga County officials to get a similar ordinance approved at the county level. West also has his sights set on Summit County and the city of Vermillion, he said.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- U.S.-backed Thailand and China-assisted Cambodia signed an extended 13-point peace agreement on August 7 silencing their five-day border war, but the stench from uncollected corpses and fear of their shadowy ghosts are haunting troops and residents along their disputed frontier.

"Both sides agree to a ceasefire involving all types of weapons, including attacks on civilians and civilian objects and military objectives of either side, in all cases and all areas," the document signed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, stated.

"There shall be no troop movements, including patrols, towards the other side's position.

"Both sides agree not to increase forces along the entire Cambodia-Thailand border," which curves 500 miles long and has been disputed for the past 100 years because of squabbling over vague and imprecise French colonial maps.

The new ceasefire agreement also "includes military activities to enter the other side's air space and territory, or positions."

Proposed dietary guidelines promote increased animal fat consumption while ignoring a dangerous truth: Nearly 700 pharmaceutical compounds and pesticide residues contaminate America's meat supply, many of which concentrate in fat.

As the 2025 USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans take shape, a serious disconnect threatens public health. Some advocates are calling for higher intake of animal fats and promoting so called ancestral or animal based keto diets, citing traditional wisdom and nutrient density. But these arguments overlook a central fact:

In reality, diets like Keto often rely on meat and dairy from industrial production systems, where contamination with drugs and chemicals is routine. The promise of healing through meat and fat collapses when those foods carry residues of antibiotics, steroid hormones, synthetic preservatives, arsenicals, cocciodiostats, and pesticides. Many of these toxins accumulate precisely in the fats and organs being celebrated as nutrient rich.

The speaker of the United States House of Representatives is commonly known as the speaker of the House or House speaker. He holds the third most powerful position the US government. Our current speaker of the House this week was leading a tour of newly elected Republican lawmakers to Israel. It is all a paid trip by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
 
Rather than meeting with their constituents in their home districts during summer recess, Speaker Mike Johnson and his troops were in Israel lobbying and defending Israel's genocidal policies. Mr. Speaker told the world that the West Bank belongs to Jews "by right" during a settlement visit. He is following a misguided form of Christianity and does not understand the virtues of separation of church and State.
 
People around the world don't like to see Israeli ownership because that claim comes from old BS fairy tales and not the Bible.

The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem released a comprehensive report on July 27 describing the Israeli war on Gaza as genocide. However, the delay in publishing such an indictment is troubling and adds to an existing problem of politically motivated decision-making processes that have, in their own right, prolonged the ongoing Israeli war crimes.

 The report accused Israel of committing genocide, a conclusion reached after a detailed analysis of the military campaign’s intent, the systematic destruction of civilian life, and the government-engineered famine. This finding is significant because it adds to the massive body of legal and testimonial evidence affirming the Palestinian position that Israel's actions in Gaza constitute a genocide.

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What: The Farce. The Fix. The Force. The * …

You support legalizing marijuana, aka cannabis, in Ohio. In fact, you have followed this issue for years. A few citizens you knew were putting the subject on the ballot. You signed their petition, confident that you understood its contents. Sufficient signatures and plentiful petitions placed the issue on the statewide ballot in November 2023 as Issue 2. You made sure your voter registration was current so you could participate in the early vote. After election day, you woke up happily to find that over 2 million other Ohioans voted just like you. Ohio legalized adult use cannabis. The new law went into effect on December 7. And Ohioans lived happily ever after … or not. You recently learned that Ohio legislators are trying to gut the new law. Your reaction? WTF!

WHAT: THE FRAMEWORK

Maps and buildings

Earlier this year when Kaufman Development sold one of its “Gravity” apartment buildings in Franklinton, it was another canary-in-the-coal mine moment for a West Side activist. Just a month prior, the Columbus-based developer had sold the nearby Idea Foundry and Gravity Park Experience, which is best described as a playground for adults with its pickle ball courts.

“They are cheap-ass apartments from what we’ve seen at Gravity,” says Rebecca Hunley, a Franklinton homeowner and also the current chair of the Franklinton Area Neighbors Civic Association, an organization she founded. “Yet I don’t see anything telling me, or anybody from our neighborhood, we can move in. I have never paid a mortgage like what they are asking for rent. Gravity, the great flop that it is. It’s a failure.”

Details about event

Sign up for the Saturday, August 9, 2025, 2:00 – 3:30 PM Hands Along High Street event 

Join the final big resistance event of the summer before the beginning of the new school year!

With your participation, we will form a human chain of resistance 8 miles long on the public sidewalk along the west side of High Street from Route 161 in Worthington to downtown Columbus, delivering the message that WE STAND UNITED in defense of fundamental American values and against the corruption and tyranny of the Trump administration. 

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