Celebrating our 55th year, the Columbus Free Press will honor five outstanding community activists and a community organization at our November 2025 Salon and Awards event on Saturday, November 8 from 1:30-4:30pm at the First Unitarian Universalist Church, 93 W. Weisheimer Road. One of our "Libby" Award honorees is Palestinian activist Jawhara Qutiefan.

Jawhara Qutiefan (Jay) is a writer, activist, and community organizer whose work bridges advocacy, journalism, and grassroots mobilization. Raised in Ohio, she is guided by a deep belief that writing and sharing information are acts of resistance

I met with Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez just days after he was kidnapped. I’ll tell you about that, and the current President Nicolas Maduro’s visit to my New York office. But first, you must know three things about Venezuela to understand why Donald Trump has ordered a covert operation to overthrow their government.

• 1.     Venezuela has the largest reserves of oil on the planet.

• 2.     Venezuela has the largest reserves of oil on the planet.

• 3.     Venezuela has the largest reserves of oil on the planet.

Look it up: According to OPEC’s own site, Venezuela’s 303 billion barrels in proven reserves are four times the reserves of Saudi Arabia.

(By the way, Donald, when you announce a “covert” operation, it’s no longer covert. But never mind.)

For years, I was BBC Television’s correspondent covering Venezuela and US attempts to overthrow their elected government. Trump invented nothing. This is at least the fourth US-backed attempt at overthrow and assassination of a Venezuelan president.

One of the symptoms of late state capitalism is CORPORATOCRACY; the merging of government with the greed of the business world. Now you know what to call it!

Ohio experienced this when Republicans sold their souls to AEP and coordinated the largest corruption scandal in state history. Not to be outdone, Columbus City government has adopted the same strategy embracing Zone-In as a disguise for the corporate take-over of the city. Phase one was a MASTERPIECE of political theater coordinated by a professional marketing company (that worked behind the scenes with developers and real estate investors). Still no master plan, less than 4 percent of the city involved in the decisions, and MILLIONS of TAX-PAYER DOLLARS spent on hiring outside consultants to help make the decisions. Need another example?

You may have heard about the federal SAVE Act, which would prevent millions of eligible American citizens from voting.

But there’s also an Ohio version of the SAVE Act moving through the Statehouse. It’s even more dangerous, and more likely to pass.

The Orange King, Donald Trump, has given people literally thousands of reasons to hate him. A few current issues: $172 million so Kristi Noem can have two private jets, $200 million to build Trump a ballroom, $40 billion to bail out Argentina—for a MAGA billionaire. But no bailout for soybean farmers crushed by tariffs, No support for families drowning in grocery prices, No help for anyone who can’t find a job in this economy and no mercy for immigrants.

I will explain my hatred of Trump by considering 3 categories: Character, Domestic policy, Foreign policy.

Character: The entire world knows that Trump is a narcissist, a racist, a misogynist, and a pedophile. We also know that he lacks empathy, and is cruel beyond imagination. He is a stupid man, not well educated, not well read, not a student of history. He may be the only person in America who has never visited a National Park, with the exception of photo ops at Arlington Cemetery. He is simply a clueless, bumbling idiot.