Detective Richardson 

Shelia sat in the chair at the police station smoking a Kool cigarette. She appeared on the outside to be cool, but inside she was shaking like a leaf in a thunderstorm. Detective Richardson watched her from outside the room in the two-way mirror. He was tall and thin, black as coal and handsome. Each time Shelia took a puff off her cigarette, he took a hit off his cigar. He raked his ebony eyes from her head to her heels. 

Her brown hair was cut in a short pageboy that framed her oval shaped face, covering her dimples as she held her head down. Her skin was the color of a ripe peach with black flashing eyes that darted around the room like a doe caught in the headlights of a fast-approaching car. It was the only sign that resembled fear. The rest of her one-hundred-and-thirty-pound body was strong as steel. Her beautiful legs were crossed, and her right foot swung back and forth, but not at a fast-moving pace, but a slow deliberate one. She wore a black leather jacket, black mini skirt, red blouse, and black heels. He correctly guessed her age to be between thirty-five and forty.

There’s a cultural rule that holds one’s vote to be exceedingly private. The idea behind such secrecy is more than a matter of privacy: usually people refuse to discuss their political decisions because they lack the reasoning capability to justify their choices. Like the journalist’s pledge to objectivity, I’m breaking that rule.

To Hell with it. I’m a progressive advocate, not a journalist, so here goes: I officially endorse Yes votes on Ohio Issue 1 and Issue 2.

I’m voting Yes on Issue One. This Issue One enshrines certain reproductive rights into the Ohio Constitution in light of the US Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and Ohio’s increasingly draconian anti-birth-control measures. My reasoning for this is beyond the salaciousness of the story of the ten-year-old rape victim forced to carry a fetus to term here. For me, it’s an issue of human rights and self-determination, two tenets of which used to drive the political party whose extreme wing once used the issue as their primary recruiting tool. 

Peace activist David Swanson will speak in Columbus on November 9 at the Free Press 2023 Awards Dinner on “War Abolition and the Ukraine Problem.” David is a regular guest at the Free Press Zoom salons and his weekly articles can be found on freepress.org. His podcast also plays on the local community radio station WGRN 91.9FM. David was one of the first to point out the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq prior to the war and the hypocrisy of the United States lies about them.

This bio is taken from David's website. David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is the director of World BEYOND War, a global nonviolent movement to end war and establish a just and sustainable peace. He is campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org.

Ohio Migration Anthology (Everything Is) Cells and Bodies: Ohio Migration Anthology, Volume Two by Lynn Tramonte (Editor), Marina Manoukian (Foreword by), Gloria Kellon (Illustrator).  Proceeds from the sale of the anthology go to the immigrant writers and artists.  

You can purchase the book from B&N here.

A report from ABC 3 WEAR, reports:

“Chris Lambert is a decorated Vietnam veteran whose battled PTSD for more than 40 years. Lambert’s a three-time Purple Heart recipient, all before his 20th birthday. He says after hearing reports that the suspected gunman in the Maine shooting was treated and released from a facility only weeks later, it’s clear that more long-term care for veterans is needed. However, he feels the shooting suspect’s mental health issues during his service in the military is overplayed. ‘How many people have we watched in these mass shootings and none of them are veterans,’ Lambert said. Stillm, Lambert acknowledged the suspect’s service potentially played a major role in the high number of fatalities. ‘Being a firearms instructor, how accurate he could be, I don’t care if you’re 100-50 yards and you’re jerking a little bit, you’re missing that target. But if he’s instructed and he knows how to breathe, he can take down a lot of people, and that’s tragic,’ Lambert said.”