Gaza has changed the political equation in Palestine. 

Moreover, the repercussions of this devastating war are likely to alter the political equation in the entire Middle East and to re-center Palestine as the world’s most urgent political crisis for years to come. 

 Since the establishment of Israel, facilitated by Britain and protected by the United States and other Western countries, the priorities have been entirely Israeli. 

     ‘Israeli security’, Israel’s ‘military edge’, ‘Israel’s right to defend itself’, and much more, have defined the West’s political discourse on the Israeli occupation and apartheid in Palestine. 

 This bizarre US-western understanding of the so-called conflict, that an oppressor has ‘rights’ over the oppressed, has enabled Israel to maintain a military occupation over Palestinian Territories that has lasted for over 56 years.

After I exposed Ginther’s habitual hollow phrase, “Our top three priorities are neighborhoods, neighborhoods, neighborhoods” at my press conference on Thursday (Columbus Dispatch, October 27, 2023, “Motil Questions Ginther’s support for neighborhoods; Ginther cites millions invested”), we can all add yet another false claim to the endless growing list. The marketing research firm that Andy paid $97,000 to tell him what important to voters, apparently did not do any research about their client.

Ginther’s dishonest campaign TV ad and mailers falsely present my own positions on excessive use of the police force. This refers to the one night in the Short North when he ordered 150 law enforcement, bicycle and foot patrols, canine units, helicopters, drones, motorcycles, and horses. He quotes me completely out of context. He next, lies about his gun buyback event claiming it “took 300 guns off our streets.” With no evidence at all, the campaign also claims that Andy is a "champion" of “Mental health and addiction treatment.” None of this is true.

Today’s news overflows with concerns about the cost and benefits—“is college worth it?”--about higher education itself, its price, public vs. private, preparation of both students and professors, on the one hand, and fears about the maturation of Gen Z caught between social media, AI, and uncertain futures, on the other hand.

Parents and most others assume that established universities are relatively safe spaces for late-teenagers and young adults (now 18-26, no longer 18-22, years old) to grow and learn. They are often not. Irregular reports or alarms do not connect the different elements.

My focus is the failure of public universities because of their commitment to corporate profiteering, sloganeering, and private interests over public, image and finances over student lives. What I describe is true for most universities. My major example is The Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus, Ohio, an especially egregious example of all-too-common problems. It is a very large institution that admits to none.

Political corruption and lack of accountability in the statehouse today are reasons Ohio’s Republican Party supermajority legislators are considering despoiling Ohio’s state parks by fracking, said David Pepper, Cincinnati political activist and author, at a recent Columbus rally.

 Dark money led to “safe” gerrymandered voting districts, where some politicians have never been adequately challenged for re-election, he told about 100 people attending the Save Ohio Parks-sponsored “Rally for State Parks, Climate and Democracy” on Oct. 27.

“We're living in Ohio, but it’s happening around the nation,” said Pepper. “All the incentives are turned upside down; the incentive to serve the people goes away, because you get re-elected no matter how bad a job you do, no matter how poor the schools are…no matter how much you screw up the Ohio parks.”

What dark money has given Ohio politicians is an incentive to keep private players happy, and what do the private players want?

We — by which I mean most of humanity — are still playing with the so-called “just war theory,” the intellectual justification for war dating back to St. Augustine and the early centuries of the Common Era.

You know, violence is morally neutral — and thus, when the cause is just and sacred, go for it! Kill the non-believers. Make the world a better place.