Cartoon of Trump with yellow hair and orange jumpsuit from prison

Angst, fear and loathing are the overwhelming emotions six months into the disastrous Trump presidency. Just exactly who, or what, do we have at the helm of the United States Ship of State, and the little red button that could end life as we know it?            

This month’s Free Press cover depicts a Trump regime floundering in rough sea waters, with the Don confident, but clueless.

The planet and its leaders are watching in horror as the ship appears to be capsizing. Trump and his fools enrich themselves, all the while gleefully decimating domestic social programs, dooming the environment and destroying our nation’s relationships around the world.

Charles Wince, the artist, is asking: just who is steering this ship of fools?

A buffoon? A bully? An oft-bankrupt billionaire businessman? A Benito Mussolini in the making?

Simply put, what we have is an international criminal hell-bent on continuing his crime spree within and without his corrupt administration. Making the world safe for oligarchy.

Casinos, luxury hotels equals money laundering

Women with dark hair leaning over hiding her face with a book, Saving Banksy

I watched Saving Banksy in my boxers at 4am. This Netflix feature is one of my favorites of this summer next to Rick & Moraty, Dumb and Casual on Hulu. I had just polished off some Ramen with peanut butter, siracha, just a hint of the garlic and random vegetables sauce. I call it “Pad Thai that doesn’t cost 10 dollars.”

After spilling some broth on my shirt, I watched Revok, Risk, Banksy’s bombing partner Ben Eine and various people discuss a Banksy painting that was procured from a rooftop, and raised issues of the commodification of art.

Once the film ended, I noticed Eva Boros was credited with executive producing and screenwriting, I kind of knew this from the Columbus musicians that sound tracked some of the film, and social network feeds that didn’t quite register in my brain prior.

I said, “Hey this women is from Columbus.” I hit her in the DM, and later we exchanged this email. The Free Press had a production deadline looming. If you’re from Columbus, and/or friends with Miss Boro, I apologizes for the brevity.

Where were you a Columbus “local” in Middle School?

Upper Arlington. I went to Jones middle school.

Naked man's back with red glow at the bottom and him holding it as if in pain

Call me crazy, but I’ll never forget how thrilled I was the day I discovered I could crack my own back.

It wasn’t a matter of money. One of my best friends was a chiropractor with a posh if minimalist office just a block or so around the corner from my office at the time, 30 Fifth Avenue. I would swing by during his mid-morning or late afternoon lull and he’d take care of me in a New York minute: cervical, mid-thoracic, sacroiliac joint.

He wasn’t one of those chiros who loaded you up with Standard Process supplements on your way out the door. No, he stuck to his knitting – subluxations of the axial skeleton – and I appreciated that. But was this what I had to look forward to: maintenance care for life? De-kink my neck and back, un-torque the SI joint-- month after month, year upon year? Turns out it wasn’t.

My self-care discovery happened completely by accident. We were on the floor stretching after, what was it, an “Abs of Steel” or “Botsu Booty” class at my gym. All this lying on the floor and exhalation stuff was kind of new to me, but once I gave into it cool things started happening.

Words Columbus Media Insider

You have news organizations that represent, even protect the public, and you have ones that buddy up to powerful institutions.       

The Columbus Dispatch showed just how far in the buddy-up tank it is with Ohio State University July 12 in the way it reported the 5.5 percent tuition and 6 percent housing increase that will drive the total cost of attending OSU to over $26,000 annually.

The Dispatch downplayed the fact that incoming OSU students and their parents were told they must pony up an extra $1,500 just six weeks before classes start.

The newspaper adopted the university's spin that a big tuition increase held steady for four years was a good deal. It sounds like it until you factor in the hundreds of students who will play the inflated rate for a year or two and then drop out. Not to mention that hundreds of other students take 5-6 years to graduate. They will pay an even higher rate for the fifth and sixth years.

Hand typing onto a cellphone

A victim is a person who suffers from a destructive or injurious action or agency. They may suffer from the dishonesty of others, or by some impersonal agency. Victimization, according to the dictionary, is “to single (someone) out for cruel or unjust treatment.”

As individuals, we can sometimes find ourselves, because of our personal beliefs, emotions or ignorance, becoming the perpetrator of our own victimization. Social media, in my opinion, has enabled individuals who tend to feel victimized by their family and society, with a powerful tool that will either help them overcome their victimization mentality or keep them feeling they are victims who will remain victims. 

Hand holding joint

“We're setting sail to the place on the map from which no one has ever returned. Drawn by the promise of the joker and the fool by the light of the crosses that burned. Drawn by the promise of the women and the lace and the gold and the cotton and pearls. …  You will pay tomorrow. You’re gonna pay tomorrow … Save me. Save me from tomorrow. I don't want to sail with this ship of fools.” – World Party, 1985

Blonde woman in pink with Code Pink crown holding a sign that says End racism Stop Sessions

Wednesday, August 2, 11:30am-1:30pm
Columbus Citizen Police Academy, 1000 N Hague Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43204
*****Emergency Call to Action*****
Jeff Sessions is a fascist, racist man who has no place in the White House. Sessions has white supremacist ties, a racist and homophobic legislative record, and a history of opposing voting rights, however, is the top law enforcement officer in the country.
When Sessions was up for a federal judgeship in 1986, Coretta Scott King — the late widow of Martin Luther King, Jr. — begged the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote against his appointment. Senators on both sides of the aisle ultimately considered him too racist for the job, based on his disparaging comments about African Americans. He reportedly said the NAACP and ACLU were “Communist-inspired” and “un-American,” calledone of his black staff members “boy,” and joked that the worst thing about the KKK was its marijuana-smoking members.
In 2007, he argued that immigrants “create culture problems,” steal jobs from Americans, and that their “numbers cannot be too great.”

Three photos showing people sitting on the floor and the words Sit in to #Stop Trumpcare

Free Press Heroes

This month the Free Press honors the dedicated people holding weekly demonstrations at Republican Senator Rob Portman’s office in an attempt to keep him from voting to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. In particular, five brave and dedicated occupiers even camped out at his office overnight on July 6. In addition, the Free Press recognizes the group of ADAPT individuals who joined local activists continuing the vigil on July 7 who were brutally attacked and arrested by the Columbus Police. The Columbus Police made national news by throwing a woman out of her wheelchair. The police also confiscated a disabled woman’s scooter and refusing to release it (for no apparent reason) for a week. Thank you to Junto Unsilenced, Socialist Alternative, DSA, Ultraviolent, Planned Parenthood and other groups organizing the Portman actions for all of us. Shame again, on the defiantly deplorable Columbus Police.
 

The Free Press Salutes

Mushroom cloud in a circle

Nuclear News: One good, two bad -- Take Action Now

Good News: Historic Treaty Prohibiting Nuclear Weapons Adopted at United Nations

The United Nations Draft Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted on July 7, 2017. The Treaty commits signatory governments to criminalize all forms of nuclear weapons research, manufacturing, testing, possession, use or threats to use nuclear weapons, among other provisions. At least 130 countries participated in the negotiations, with only one voting against. Nuclear-armed states, including the United States, did not participate. The Treaty will be opened for signature on September 20, 2017. The Treaty will enter enforcement 90 days after at least 50 countries have ratified it.

Bad News: Congress pushing through a “Mobile Chernobyl” Bill

Cupcake-looking desserts, round, each one a different color, yellow, brown and dark brown with white chocolate chips on a blue plate

Marlee’s Beany Baked Goods is an exciting, new vegan treat business entering the Columbus food scene with a high protein bean and oat based alternative to conventional wheat flour-based baked goods. She does chocolate brownies, blondies (with vegan white chocolate chips) and no-bake cookies. She is also experimenting with a new, red velvet brownie made with beet juice. Super stoked to try that since her initial offerings are fantastic, and everyone is raving about them. She is happy to provide modified recipes for other avoidant dietary needs such as no-oil, no-sugar or make other baked goods, upon request.

Marlees Beany Baked Goods are now available daily at the Yeah, Me Too coffee house on Indianola.

Pages

Subscribe to Freepress.org RSS