Human history is all-too-full of ghastly acts of cruelty and torment. They are our ultimate downfall.

But 80 years ago, the people of Denmark—-often a great personal risk—-saved some 8,000 Jewish Danes from occupying Nazi murderers.

On October 1-- 1943’s Jewish New Year-- Denmark's King and its underground resistance helped mobilize the nation to ferry nearly all resident Jews to safety in Sweden.

The story is complex, but among the most moving and powerful in the annals of our species.

Hitler’s Wehrmacht had occupied Denmark in 1940. Recognizing the Germans’ overpowering might and love of slaughter, the Danes watched the Nazis march into their country with little violent resistance.  

Conversely, Hitler desperately needed Danish agricultural supplies. The result was an uneasy coexistence. Alone amongst the countries he occupied, Der Fuhrer abstained from slaughtering en masse the country’s Jews, who were generally well integrated into Denmark’s social mainstream.

If the right gets its way, maybe in a decade or two, the United States will be free of its slave-owning past.

All gone – gone with the wind. It’s just not taught anymore. Yeah, we had a civil war – about “states’ rights” – and then we moved on: We conquered the West, saved the world first from the Nazis, then from the commies, and remain the greatest country ever. Hurray for capitalism! Any questions?

I've never dabbled in stock trading, but after watching Craig Gillespie's "Dumb Money," based on a remarkable true story, I regret sitting out of the 2021 GameStop frenzy. During that pivotal moment, a pack of average Joe's flipped the script on Wall Street, turning GameStop, a declining company, into a cultural phenomenon.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Keith Gill, known as "Roaring Kitty" on the WallStreetBets subreddit, invested his life savings in GameStop stock. As his posts gained traction, what began as a simple stock tip evolved into a David vs. Goliath movement, enriching millions until the billionaires fought back.

This tale of disruption in the financial world, sparked by a band of Redditors, highlights the influence of social media when a group of people are united for the same cause. Craig Gillespie captures the highs and lows of trading during that period. Especially when Robinhood (a trading app) suddenly restricted its users from buying GameStop stock. Gillespie sheds light on a world grappling with isolation, economic disparities, and rising social movements.

Press release from Joe Motil 

Rumors have swirled for some time that the City’s Development Department is preparing another bulldozing of an encampment near Williams Road on the city’s far southside.

The City of Columbus has spent more than $200,000 this year to bulldoze more than a dozen encampments. I was recently informed by a homeless advocate that a couple of months ago, city hired contractors struck a tent with a front loader while the tent was occupied by an unhoused citizen who could have been seriously injured or killed. This incident occurred at Wilson Park.  

Columbus’ shelters are understaffed and far over capacity. The waiting list for those in need of temporary shelter numbers is in the hundreds. With winter approaching, where are our warming centers?

After last year’s failure by Ginther to provide properly staffed and adequate warming centers, I proposed that the city begin constructing its own warming and cooling centers instead of addressing the issue with knee jerk solutions at the last minute while trying to find suitable temporary warming centers.  

Act I of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 1787 Don Giovanni (the opera is sung in Italian; in Spanish the character is known as “Don Juan”), LA Opera’s radiant season opener, is a sublime experience that made me feel glad to be alive, with some of the very best music ever composed for opera. Set in mid-17th century Seville, the story is about the legendary seducer, Don Giovanni (lustily played by tall, well-proportioned North Carolina baritone Lucas Meachem), who cuts a sensual swath across Europe.

Indeed, the number of Don Giovanni’s sexual “conquests” surpasses 1,800, which his much put-upon servant Leporello (the scene-stealing California bass-baritone Craig Colclough) lists in the funny “Catalogue Song,” wherein he sings the names of the countless women his “master” has bedded to the deserted Donna Elvira (New York mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard), after she has confronted her onetime lover. The lovers’ many names are cleverly projected on English scenic designer Es Devlin’s moving set.