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Bill Cohen with candle and guitar

Saturday December 21 at 7 pm
First Unitarian Church, 93 W. Weisheimer Road, Columbus 43214

On the darkest day of the year when daylight will be at its lowest ebb, join me and my musical friends for an uplifting concert that looks ahead to the new year, its emerging sunlight, and its potential for joy and progress.

I’ll sing popular songs from the 1940’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and beyond that represent our hopes, dreams, and prayers for 2025. They’ll be songs that symbolize positive values of peace, community, gratitude, love, courage, justice, friendship, activism, and struggle. These are songs linked to a wide variety of folks –- Mama Cass, Pete Seeger, the Byrds, the Beatles, James Taylor, Carol King, Bob Dylan, Louis Armstrong, and Judy Garland.

Fellow musicians Joanne Blum and Joe Lambert will add beautiful vocal harmonies, and Ann Fisher will add soothing counterpoints with her flute.

The reflective evening will also feature wise sayings about darkness and light. And the concert in the darkened sanctuary will be bathed in the glow of dozens of candles. Expect a couple fun surprises too.

My name is Mahmoud El-Youseph. I am a Palestinian American freelance writer and retired USAF veteran who has lived in the US for nearly half a century. I promise to change my first name to "Mo" if President-elect Donald Trump can get Hamas to release their hostages without the release of 16,000 Palestinian hostages held by Israel, which include four American citizens, that Trump conveniently ignored to mention.
 
After making his direct threat to Hamas about the hostages this week, Trump confounded me even more when he said, "If you hate America and hate Israel, then we don't want you in our country. Hamas supporters will be gone."
 
This statement was aimed at Americans who protested and spoke out against the U.S.-Israeli genocide in Gaza. However, opposing genocide and advocating for Palestinian rights do not equate to supporting Hamas—a distinction Trump appears unable or unwilling to make.
 
Moreover, Trump’s threat to expel individuals from the United States reveals his misunderstanding of constitutional rights.
Mastering Deception and the Hegemonic Code

Back in the ‘80’s of the last century, we spent more than a decade documenting the impact of U.S. foreign, military and nuclear policies on the island nations and peoples of the Pacific.

We start GREEP Zoom #203 with a gorgeous poem from our Laureate MIMI GERMAN, enhanced by our meeting on BEETHOVEN’S birthday.

We then, with a shout-out from MYLA RESON, visit the horrendous case of LEONARD PELTIER, as well as the one of STEVE DONZIGER.

TATANKA BRICCA promises to contact CHASE IRON EYES for next week’s gathering.

JOHN STEINER reminds us that 34 Members of Congress have written Biden asking for Leonard’s freedom.

KARLA SAND and HEDY TRIPP report in from Minnesota on choices for a new Chair of the Democratic National Committee.

The great JERRY ASHTON reports in on his campaign to erase medical debt, having helped retire many billions in medical debt.

We are then joined by the great GREG PALAST who tells us what we do & do not know about mass disenfranchisement in the 2024 election.

ELENA RUMIANTSEVA, LYNN FEINERMAN, CHARLOTTE DENNETT, DONALD SMITH also contribute important insights.

Engineer STEVE CARUSO adds his belief that all is not well with the 2024 outcome.

YONNA PATTON & STELLA FAIR introduce the diversity issue to our screen.

ROB KALL checks in from Op Ed News.

Social media censorship is a global phenomenon, but the war on pro-Palestinian views on social media represents a different kind of censorship, with consequences that can only be described as dire. 

 Long before the current devastating war on Gaza and the escalation of Israeli violence and repression in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian and pro-Palestinian voices have been censored. 

 Some date the censorship to an agreement in 2016 that, according to the Israeli government, sought to “force social networks to remove content that Israel considers to be incitement.”

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Once again, the Ohio legislature has gifted the oil and gas industry with an amendment stuffed into an unrelated bill during its last committee hearing of the lame duck session with no public notice or chance to comment -- this time extending leases to frack our public lands up to eight long years. And once again, Gov. Mike DeWine has signed such a bill against the wishes of Ohio citizens, of whom 98% commenting on fracking Salt Fork State Park were opposed.

Ohioans do not want to see our beloved state parks and wildlife areas turned into industrial zones by out-of-state corporations, ruining our beautiful natural spaces for oil and gas profits. We do not want to see our freshwater sold for one-third of one cent per gallon to the oil and gas industry, turned into toxic and radioactive waste by fracking, removed from the water cycle forever, and injected into wastewater wells where it can easily migrate.

People protesting at Statehouse

In an ongoing struggle for free speech, a dedicated coalition of Ohioans from across the state have worked diligently to defeat legislation that conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism and ties it to heightened criminal penalties. Lawmakers attached the same provisions to multiple bills in a deceptive legislative bundling maneuver to fast-track controversial measures by contributing to ‘Christmas Tree’ bills during the lame duck session. Wednesday night December 18 marked the end of the 135th General Assembly and advocates remain energized and committed to protecting First Amendment rights in 2025. 

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