Stop Getting Down With The Sickness

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.

DJ PRZM: LLABTIPS 3

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.

Charter Review Committee's focus narrower than what's needed

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.

Freep Heroes

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
 

Peaceful Protest: Muslim & Refugee Ban

Drawing of woman in Muslim headgear tat is red white and blue

Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 12 PM - 2 PM at the Ohio Statehouse.

We are gathering together in opposition to President Donald Trump's unlawful attack against the entire Muslim community and refugees worldwide. The recently signed executive order, the "Muslim Ban", prevents Muslims from a select set of Muslim-Majority countries in the Middle East and Africa to enter the United States, and also poses a threat to permanent residents (green card holders). Come out and show your support!

Seth Jones of the Columbus Blue Jackets

Seth Jones a black hockey player

When Columbus Blue Jackets defensemen Seth Jones was traded to Columbus two years ago hardly anyone took notice because the team was in their usual mid-season funk and headed for another year out of the playoffs.

But now the entire city is beginning to jump out of their seats – even African-Americans, a group not often associated as hockey fans because almost all NHLers are white. They’re taking notice because Seth Jones is black and a star-in-the-making. He made the NHL all-star roster this year. Better yet, he embraces the fact he’s an African-American role model in a sport that has slowly warmed to African-Americans. In a way, he’s a pioneer for the 21st century.

“There have been a few African-American kids who have come up to me and said, ‘You’re my favorite player,’ ” said the 22-year-old Jones to the website The Undefeated recently.

Columbus in the past has been labeled a “Black middle-class” capital of the world. Yet many young African-American children have lamented the city lacks a “pro team.” But there is a pro-team and local African-American children are starting to take notice.

Reviews: Grief-stricken mom at center of Almodovar’s latest and I Am Not Your Negro

Black and white photo of protest in streets from 50s with sign saying something about race mixing

Do you prefer to have your cinematic guilt and grief delivered with a Boston accent? If so, you might enjoy the Oscar-nominated Manchester by the Sea. (Well, maybe “enjoy” is the wrong verb, since Jimmy Fallon accurately described it as “the only thing from 2016 that was more depressing than 2016.”)

If, on the other hand, you prefer to have your guilt and grief delivered in Spanish—and leavened with a faint ray of hope—you might try Pedro Almodovar’s Julieta. It’s not a great film, and it’s certainly not the director’s best, but it does have its charms.

Fans of Almodovar (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) won’t be surprised to learn that the central character is a woman going through a very rough time. They also won’t be shocked to discover that the film shows the influence of an earlier filmmaker—in this case, Alfred Hitchcock. Many scenes are tinged with a feeling of ominousness that’s reinforced by Alberto Iglesias’s relentlessly Hitchcockian score.

Socially Just Dining: Oddfellows Liquor Bar

Pictured (Flynn 2016): Gingerbread French Toast, Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Rosemary Garlic Potatoes, Biscuits and Gravy, Kale and Quinoa Salad and Corn Chowder.

Oddfellows Liquor Bar in the Short North launched into the scene and created more vegan community buzz for bar food options. Cara Woodhouse has made great strides in developing a surprisingly comprehensive vegan brunch food selection in her “Classy Brunch Party” buffet for an affordable $8 that runs 10am to 3pm on both Saturday and Sunday. You can find uncommon vegan options that include home fried potatoes, pancakes, French toast, biscuits and gravy, and if you need a gluten-free accommodation, there is a quinoa and kale green salad and often a soup or chowder.

InfoSec for protestors

Big blue apostrophe-looking symbol with a key hole in the middle

For a lot of IT geeks, information security – InfoSec – has been little more than a hobby that lets us delve into the world of online spy tech. Most of us haven’t been doing anything any more illegal than the occasional movie torrent or text to a pot dealer, and the average InfoSec geek has traditionally been more likely to be a Breitbart-reading Reddit troll than someone who is actually part of a marginalized group.

That’s got to change, and soon, because the Breitbart-reading Reddit trolls are now running the asylum, and the only free speech they actually care about is their own.

In December’s issue I went over some basics: turn off geotagging, use encrypted cloud services, use the Tor browser whenever you can. But those were kinder, gentler days, when we didn’t yet know that we were walking right into the worst case scenario, as much as we may have suspected it.

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