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ne needs a wicked sense of humor these days to fully appreciate the present moment in American history, as a supposedly free country debates which police state practices to adopt, while ignoring any thought that maybe the United States should not be a police state at all.

  The morning after final passage of the USA Freedom Act, while some foes of mass surveillance were celebrating, Thomas Drake sounded decidedly glum. The new law, he told me, is “a new spy program.” It restarts some of the worst aspects of the Patriot Act and further codifies systematic violations of Fourth Amendment rights.

Later on Wednesday, here in Oslo as part of a “Stand Up For Truth” tour, Drake warned at a public forum that “national security” has become “the new state religion.” Meanwhile, his Twitter messages were calling the USA Freedom Act an “itty-bitty step” — and a “stop/restart kabuki shell game” that “starts w/ restarting bulk collection of phone records.”

That downbeat appraisal of the USA Freedom Act should give pause to its celebrants. Drake is a former senior executive of the National Security Agency — and a whistleblower who endured prosecution and faced decades in prison for daring to speak truthfully about NSA activities. He ran afoul of vindictive authorities because he refused to go along with the NSA’s massive surveillance program after 9/11.


The forthcoming film, A Bold Peace: Costa Rica's Path of Demilitarization, should be given every possible means of support and promotion. After all, it documents the blatant violation of laws of physics, human nature, and economics, as understood in the United States -- and the violators seem positively gleeful about it.

In 1948 Costa Rica abolished its military, something widely deemed impossible in the United States. This film documents how that was done and what the results have been. I don't want to give away the ending but let me just say this: there has not been a hostile Muslim takeover of Costa Rica, the Costa Rican economy has not collapsed, and Costa Rican women still seem to find a certain attraction in Costa Rican men.

How is this possible? Wait, it gets stranger.

On Friday, US drones attacked a funeral in Afghanistan’s Khost Province, tearing through a crowd of mourners and leaving at least 34 of them dead. The funeral was reportedly for a Taliban fighter, and the Afghan government insisted that by extension, all the mourners must’ve been Taliban too.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid confirmed the strike, but insisted a number of the victims were innocent civilians from the nomadic tribe the slain fighter was a member of . Afghan MPs from the region similarly claimed a number of civilians were slain.

Oddly, while everyone else was reporting the attack was on a funeral inside a cemetery, Khost provincial police claimed the US strike was against Taliban forces who were “running away” from the police along the Pakistan border.

Action alert about dog bill

Dear Friends and Supporters ~

HB 121 passed unanimously on the House floor - the bill now moves to the Senate for consideration!

Below is a recap of the proponent testimony provided during the 4/29 ( second) hearing on HB 121:

HB 121* AWARENESS WEEK (Stinziano, M., Ruhl, M.) To designate the last week of July as "Service Dog Awareness Week." (REPORTED; 2nd Hearing-All testimony-unanimously passed in State Government committee; moves to House floor for full vote on Wed., 5/6)

Mary O'Connor-Shaver, of Lewis Center, testified in support of the measure on behalf of seven grassroots animal welfare organizations: Animal Cruelty Task Force of Ohio, Joseph's Legacy, Justice for Herbie, Nitro Foundation/Nitro's Ohio Army, Ohio Coalition of Dog Advocates, Ohio Voters of Companion Animals, Paws and the Law and Angels for Animals.

Colt 45

Dear Editor,
  I, for one, am thankful that the Good Lord has blessed our Ohio Republican legislators with an ounce or two of God-given common sense. I am referring, of course, to our right-of-center lawmakers' efforts to further relax gun laws here in Ohio. (Proposals would ease more gun restrictions.)

Front of book

            One may wonder what there is new to say about the civil rights movement.  In the immediate aftermath of Barack Obama’s first election it seemed to some as though the entire movement completed its mission and could be summed up like the ubiquitous tee shirt seen after the votes were counted: Rosa sat so Martin could walk so Jesse could stand so Barack could win so our children can fly.  Oh yeah, and as Julian Bond, long time freedom fighter and a founding member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), would add “and the white kids came down and saved the day.” The truth of the matter is, however, that the many, many books about the 1960s freedom movement have barely scratched the surface.  Arguably there are as many stories as there were participants. 

Photo of smiling guy in a suit

When the Ohio State men’s lacrosse team faced perennial powerhouse Duke in the first round of the NCAA tournament on May 9, it felt a little bit like déjà vu to what the Buckeyes football team went through against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
  Just like their football brethren, the lacrosse team was facing a team with a national championship pedigree from a seemingly unbeatable conference. Duke had won the national title in 2013 and 2014 and had a string of eight consecutive national semifinal appearances. Like the SEC, the ACC and the Blue Devils seemed to be the cream of crop with all five of their teams qualifying for the postseason.
   And finally like the football team, no one gave Ohio State much of a chance. Final score: Ohio State 16, Duke 11.
  “Not many people believed we could win that game,” said senior defensive midfielder Ryan Borcherding, whose team lost to Denver 15-13 in the second round on May 16 to finish 12-7 overall. “A lot of people had written us off before the game. To be honest, I think Duke had written us off before the game, too.

Photo of cop Michael Dowd

  Police misbehavior has been a trending topic for months now. In case after case, officers have been accused of using excessive force, especially against black males.
  It’s in this atmosphere that director Tiller Russell has released The Seven Five, fresh evidence that bad cops were around long before cellphone cameras were available to catch them at their worst.

  And “worst” is the appropriate adjective here.

  The subject of Russell’s documentary is such a blatant example of police corruption that it’s a wonder he got away with it for as long as he did. The best explanation is that his fellow officers either supported his actions or looked the other way due to a misguided sense of loyalty.

  As former New York police officer Michael Dowd explained it, a “good cop” was someone who backed his fellow cops, even when they were breaking the law they were sworn to uphold.

  The film’s title refers to Brooklyn’s 75th Precinct, a reputed hothouse of crooked cops in the 1980s and early ’90s. And Dowd was the crookedest.

  Mad Max: Fury Road, Hollywood’s latest attempt to revive a moribund franchise, drew a lot of attention even before its release by causing outrage among “Men’s Rights Activists” for daring to portray women as capable, heroic human beings. All their fuss is because the titular character (updated from Mel Gibson to Tom Brady) is joined on this outing by Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron), an action hero cast from the same mold as Ellen Ripley and Sarah Conner. In fact, Fury Road is every bit her story; Max is just along for the ride as she helps a post-apocalyptic tyrant’s harem escape to freedom.

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