Advertisement

Columbus Media Insider logo

Gov. John Kasich, his allies and some media sycophants made great noise during Kasich's failed Presidential campaign that Ohio's governor was the "adult in the room" and the "prince of lightness."

Folks in Ohio wondered who they were talking about. Kasich's hard-ball right-wing politics of rewarding friends and punishing enemies in the Buckeye State was anything but genteel and grown-up.

Now the dust has settled and Kasich's once lofty favorability rating in Ohio has fallen to 50-50. Many state Republicans have turned against him and he breaks even only because some independents and Democrats have come his way because he opposed and refused to vote for Donald Trump.

President Trump has put Kasich in the doghouse by masterminding the defeat of GOP state chair Matt Borges, a Kasich protégé, and replacement with Trumpster Jane Timken.

Kasich's playground has been reduced from 50 states to one, Ohio, and his persuasive powers have been curtailed by term limits that will cause him to leave the governorship in early 2019.

Here is where my dream comes in.

Long shot of firey emission out of smokestack

“We The People” in Ohio just had another nail pounded into the casket lid of our “presumed Democracy.” Our constitutional right to pass our own local laws in our communities is now all but disallowed. Over the past two years, we have witnessed that the judicial system has been turned against We The People as they politicize constitutionally-presumed precedents by flipping them in favor of moneyed interests. For two years in a row, the Supreme Court upheld the latest vaporization in the separation of powers by allowing our Secretary of State to cheat We The People. He does this by illegitimately instructing our boards of elections to nix our rights of initiative through refusing their path to the ballot.

Newspaper about David Bromberg Band

Hey everyone, David Bromberg has a new CD out. It’s called “The Blues, the Whole Blues, and Nothing but the Blues.” Do you think you’ll be able to appreciate it properly? Do you have a proper blues education?

Oh yeah, education. That’s how I was introduced to the blues; something you were expected to learn about if you wanted to know music. Like algebra or The Great Gatsby. Learn about it, respect it and insist that others do the same, because it is self-evidently great. When I was in high school, all of us wanted to play guitar like Pantera’s Dimebag Darrell or Sepultura’s Max Cavalera. But we all professed to be huge BB King and Eric Clapton fans, although their recordings secretly made us squirm with boredom. To say otherwise would show a lack of respect to the elders, the depressing but mystical spawning pool of Rock ’n Roll.

Black man in blue t-shirt standing next to a boxing ring

“First Person Singular” is an occasional column that focuses on impactful personalities in Central Ohio. 

It is written by JP Marat, a DJ and Producer for WCRS FM Community Radio in Columbus.
 

Super Heroes
 

When I was a kid my idols were super heroes like The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man and Luke Cage. When I got a bit older, I gravitated towards military commanders (oh youth!). It’s only as an adult that I’ve come to appreciate the last great hero of our age . . . a Columbus Parks and Recreation Department staff worker.
 

Everett Smith

Blonde woman speaking to a crowd in front of a sign with names of people who were victims of human trafficking
Thursday, February 2, 8:30am-4:30pm; Friday, February 3, 9am-2:30pm; Ohio Statehouse Atrium

Purpose: to facilitate and further the conversation about the rise of human trafficking in Ohio.

Hosted by State Representative Teresa Fedor; details will follow.

Participation is free but tickets are required. For tickets, please register at Eventbrite to keep up to date with our speakers and program information.

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/8th-annual-ohio-human-trafficking-awareness...

Please note: backpacks are not allowed in the Ohio Statehouse.

Contact: Jen Stack, 614-644-6017 or jen.stack@ohiohouse.gov

https://www.facebook.com/Representative-Teresa-Fedor-112183629770/

Green plant on a stem with buds at top

Like a flashback from a distant memory, an egg cracked into a frying pan. Ominous words followed, “This is your brain on drugs…” The replay of a bizarre commercial from the 1990s? No, it was the 21st Century iteration of the Partnership for a Drug Free America, once again smearing marijuana with “alternative facts”.

It is one of the ghosts of the past from which the present day resistance movement might take lessons.

The morning after the fall election, a host of progressive movements awoke in aftershock.  Climate Change. LTBTQ. Black Lives Matter. Water Protectors. And numerous others. Groups like Muslim Americans and even reporters felt a heightened sense of trepidation as they found themselves in unexpected crosshairs. Others, like the women’s and environmental movements, which have enjoyed decades of progress, now shared the same heartache as their mothers and fathers in the 1960s and 1970s.

One social cause that has traveled this same rocky road is marijuana reform. For all that is new and frightening about Trump, this movement has been living with daily, for decades.

Putin's face, white guy with balding brown hair and a suit

Not that I was getting all that much good sleep before, but I've written off getting much more in the next four years. I've always been a pretty dour person, at least as my external facade, so in some way I'm well equipped for the joy shortage hitting America. It's everyone else I'm worried about, even the Trump voters who aren't open racists. Quite frankly I can't see how anyone smiles or falls in love or achieves transcendence. That part of the Obama administration I took for granted. As much as I have maintained the argument that a capital-dominated elections in a political system designed to suppress real democracy is functionally not that different from a dictatorship, I underestimated the psychological benefit of everyone at least respecting the decorum. The morning of November 9, I was struck with the feeling that this must be how the people in any dictatorship feel. I softened a bit in my defense of one-party socialist states, or at least become more interested in the proposed two-party socialist system that was floating around Yugoslavia back in the day.

A black man wearing a blue baseball cap looking sad

Run The Jewels ended their sold-out Columbus show by playing deceased Columbus icon and friend of El-P, Camu Tao’s “Hold The Floor.” It's a record produced by DJ PRZM who is another deceased Columbus Hip Hop icon.

Philly Phil entertainment is releasing DJ PRZM”s LLABTIPS 3 vinyl on Record Store Day. April 22nd.Philly Phil gave me the PRZM record last month. I’ve been so aghast in regards to the behavior of the President that I haven’t been much use for music.

Video ideas for 4 of the 11 songs on LLabtips 3.

Heavy Metal Maniacs:

The production has a sinister, slow march baseline that picks up with a small subtle melody, and a gritty vocal hook by PRZM. The video should start with PRZM hopping into a car in his leaving Native Detroit at sunset. It’s ‘Devil’s Night” so there are several teenagers riding bikes around a fire in the middle of the road.

Black and white sketch of old city hall

The Columbus Charter Review Committee is considering possible recommendations for changing Columbus City Council. City officials announced the committee just weeks before the August 2, 2016 special election on Issue 1. Columbus voters in that election turned down a citizens' initiative to expand the size of council and add district representation. Before the vote, city officials said the committee would use a better process for studying reforms of council.

The committee sees problems with the present council of seven members all elected at large. They recognize that council's size is smaller than in similar cities. They likely think each council member cannot be familiar with all of Columbus' more than 200 neighborhoods. And they're concerned that some areas have had no representative on council for decades.

Black woman giving a speech raising her arm in the air

Hero: Nina Turner
 

“We can't have testimony without a test, and we are being tested right now for whether or not we've got courage enough, hope enough, fight enough and love enough to do what is necessary. Donald Trump's election was a wake-up call—it's up to all of us to keep our mission for social, economic and political justice alive,” pronounced former Ohio State Senator and Minority Whip Nina Turner, chosen as this month's Free Press hero for resurrecting the true legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in her rousing speech at his memorial on January 14.  King's legacy, above all else, is activism in the name of social justice and Nina Turner is calling for a new mass movement of the people.
 

Heroes: Hundreds protesting at airports after Muslim ban
 

Pages

Subscribe to Freepress.org RSS