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When Trump’s Fascist-leaning, Anti-democratic Collage of Corporatist Multibillionaires, White Supremacists, World Economic Forum Tycoons, Washington DC Insiders, Christian Dominionists, War-Mongering Militarists, Holocaust Deniers and Climate Change Deniers Try to Impose Their Will on the Voters Who Did Not Technically Vote for Fascism

“We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” — H. L. Mencken (Baltimore Sun 26 July 1920)

 

“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” – Voltaire

“It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished – unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” — Voltaire

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The Discovery

This was not going to be a good day. The sky was cloudy, and the ground was still wet from the rain that poured down over Columbus all last night. I was walking hard and fast in my black army boots towards Jimmy’s cab company. I was not supposed to be going over there, and if Sheila knew I was going there, or even knew where there was, I would get an ass whipping that would cause me to not be able to sit down for a week. Sheila didn’t care how old her girls were or how big they were, if an ass whipping was called for, an ass whipping you got! I often wondered if this would still apply when we were grown. I didn’t dwell on it long though because I knew deep down that, yes, Sheila would still whup our butts, grown or not.

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On November 18th, 2023 in Oxford, Ohio, 20-year-old Devin Johnson, a student at Miami University, was arrested and charged with assault, resisting arrest, underage drinking and criminal trespassing. After the arrest the Oxford Police Department claimed it was investigating the use of force, while immediately affirming the use of force was certainly justified. This false narrative immediately planted by the Oxford police department could not be further from the truth.

In recently released videos from the patio, you see the true version of events. Not only is there a stark contrast from the aggressor the department has painted Devin Johnson as, but you also see there was no need for the use of force he received. While being held on the ground by multiple people, Oxford officer Matthew Blauvelt almost immediately began punching Devin as he was held down by other officers. 

This article was written shortly before Israel assassinated the Deputy Head of Hamas Political Bureau Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut on January 2. The assassination is a further illustration of the Israeli government's desire to escape the consequences of its disastrous war in Gaza, by igniting a regional conflict. 

The clashes between Hezbollah and Israel are the closest to an actual war that the Lebanon-Israel border has seen since the war of 2006, which resulted in a rushed Israeli retreat, if not outright defeat. 

 We often refer to the ongoing conflict between Lebanon and Israel as ‘controlled’ clashes, simply because both sides are keen not to instigate or engage in an all-out war. 

Obviously, Hezbollah wants to preserve Lebanese lives and civilian infrastructure, which would surely be seriously damaged, if not destroyed, should Israel decide to launch a war. 

Now that he is safely dead let us praise him,

build monuments to his glory,

sing hosannas to his name.

 

Dead men make such convenient heroes.

They cannot rise to challenge the images

we would fashion from their lives.

 

And besides,

it is easier to build monuments

than to make a better world.” -- Carl Wendell Hines

“Now That He Is Safely Dead” is the poignant poem that was written by black poet/musician Carl Wendell Hines soon after Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965. The poem has since then been appropriately associated with the death of Martin Luther King and his legacy of nonviolent struggle for black liberation, freedom, equality, economic justice and the pursuit of happiness for all.

Scenes from Rag 0 Rama

Clintonville’s Rag-O-Rama – a hipster destination for resale clothes – shut down this past weekend, leaving employees in a lurch and another remnant of Columbus’s soulful and non-corporate past in the proverbial back-alley garbage dumpster.

The Free Press often reminisces on Columbus of the 1960s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, when it was more a hip and quirky college town than a lame playground for young professionals and their corporate overlords.

“I’ve been going there for 25 years. After Bernie’s, Surly Girl, Larry’s, Mamas, Outland, Lil Brothers, King Avenue Coffee Shop, Atlantis, Blue Danube, Tee Jayes, Short North Coffee House, and almost all the entire Short North art district, etc. with nothing ever replacing any of it, Columbus is culturally dead,” wrote Michael Moore on the Crazy Mama’s remembrance page on Facebook. For those not in know, Crazy Mama’s on South High off-campus was Columbus’s answer to the punk, new wave and garage band “underground” which emerged in the 1970s and 1980s.

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