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Jacob George’s suicide last month — a few days after President Obama announced that the US was launching its war against ISIS — opens a deep, terrible hole in the national identity. George: singer, banjo player, poet, peace warrior, vet. He served three tours in Afghanistan. He brought the war home. He tried to repair the damage.

Finally, finally, he reached for “the surefire therapy for ending the pain,” as a fellow vet told Truthdig. He was 32.

When New York Times report James Risen published his previous book, State of War, the Times ended its delay of over a year and published his article on warrantless spying rather than be scooped by the book. The Times claimed it hadn't wanted to influence the 2004 presidential election by informing the public of what the President was doing. But this week a Times editor said on 60 Minutes that the White House had warned him that a terrorist attack on the United States would be blamed on the Times if one followed publication -- so it may be that the Times' claim of contempt for democracy was a cover story for fear and patriotism. The Times never did report various other important stories in Risen's book.

I’ve never had a phobia about clowns, but I have to admit that a jealous clown with a knife gave me a few tense moments during the premiere of Pagliacci.

The “Opera on the Edge” production is staged in Shadowbox Live’s Backstage Bistro. Because much of the action takes place in the midst of the restaurant’s tables, I found myself just inches away from the skirmish that erupts when Canio (Clay Hilley) learns his wife, Nedda (Emily Brand), is having an affair.

Even though I assured myself that the actors were pros and that Canio’s knife was merely a stage prop (at least, I hoped it was), the scene was still a little scary.

But think about it: How often does opera offer such a visceral thrill to casual fans like myself? The experience illustrates the appeal of these co-productions of Shadowbox and Opera Columbus.

Just as they did with earlier productions of La Boheme and The Merry Widow, the troupes have shortened the opera, translated it into English and presented it in an informal setting, thus making it more understandable and accessible.

The Ohio Supreme Court’s recent unanimous decision allowing DUI defendants the right to challenge their breathalyzer test is a victory for adults who responsibly consume alcohol and never get behind the wheel when they have had too much, say local and state defense attorneys.

 

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled 7-0 affirming a lower court’s decision to deny prosecution a Cincinnati man’s breathalyzer test as evidence because the state of Ohio refused to hand over computer data showing the breathalyzer machine the man tested on – the Intoxilyzer 8000 – maybe unreliable and has accuracy issues.

 

While the case, City of Cincinnati vs. Daniel Ilg, is about challenging the Intoxilyzer 8000, it is equally about a defendant’s right for discovery of evidence.

 

Since 1984 a controversial Ohio Supreme Court decision, State vs. Vega, has denied any DUI defendant the right to challenge any state-certified breathalyzer machine they tested on, and the City of Cincinnati cited Vega when it refused to hand over the computer data to Daniel Ilg’s attorney.

 

No single review or interview can do justice to “Pay Any Price” -- the new book by James Risen that is the antithesis of what routinely passes for journalism about the “war on terror.” Instead of evasive tunnel vision, the book offers big-picture acuity: focusing on realities that are pervasive and vastly destructive.Published this week, “Pay Any Price” throws down an urgent gauntlet. We should pick it up. After 13 years of militarized zealotry and fear-mongering in the name of fighting terrorism, the book -- subtitled “Greed, Power, and Endless War” -- zeros in on immense horrors being perpetrated in the name of national security.

As an investigative reporter for the New York Times, Risen has been battling dominant power structures for a long time. His new book is an instant landmark in the best of post-9/11 journalism. It’s also a wise response to repressive moves against him by the Bush and Obama administrations.

“...we should be remembered for the things we do. The things we do are the most important things of all. They are more important than what we say or what we look like. The things we do outlast our mortality. The things we do are like monuments that people build to honor heroes after they've died. They're like the pyramids that the Egyptians built to honor the Pharaohs. Only instead of being made out of stone, they're made out of the memories people have of you. That's why your deeds are like your monuments. Built with memories instead of with stone.” 
― R.J. Palacio

Climate scientists warn that continued extraction and burning of fossil fuels will lead to catastrophic climate change. A report released in September by Food & Water Watch, The Urgent Case for a Ban on Fracking, shows how huge amounts of methane are released during the fracking process, which traps 87 times more heat pound for pound than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. 

Participants in Global Frackdown will organize events in their communities united around a common mission statement that calls for a ban on fracking and investment in renewable energy.

The mission statement reads:

Will precinct-by-precinct, 15 minute-by-15 minute election night results that are available only to the Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, compromise the security of the statewide election?

In Ohio’s notorious 2004 presidential election, called by pollster Lou Harris “one of the most corrupt in U.S. history,” one of the signs of election tampering was the impossible results flowing from precincts in Republican rural Ohio. In Cyde, Ohio they initially reported 130 percent voter turnout.

In Perry County, one precinct came in at 120 percent, another at 114 percent. In Miami County, the Concord Southwest precinct claimed 679 out of 689 voters cast ballots overwhelmingly for Bush. They later admitted to The Free Press that only 549 people signed into the polls and that the other votes had been the result of bad computer tallies.

Now with Ohio’s new election night reporting system it is easier than ever to stack the deck and bring in the cybervote at the precinct level.

 

Secretary of State’s strange secret software patches suspected purpose to steal election

 

While some attention is focused on the risks inherent in placing untested software patches on county election tabulators, another election technology is being aggressively deployed throughout Ohio. That technology, the e-pollbook, appears to reduce lines at the polls, increase convenience and be a more modern way to verify voter identity and precinct location. The technology as deployed brings with it new possibilities for tampering with elections and whole new vectors for cyber attack.

What is most alarming is the potential for this technology to compromise the secrecy of the ballot. E-pollbooks could allow people with access, from election officials and private contractors to Ohio Secretary of State John Husted, to know how you voted.

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