This article first appeared on Reel Time with Richard Ades.

As a documentary about a woman who deals with trauma with the help of exercise, Jeannette reminds me of a movie I wanted to make years ago. The main difference is that my film never got made, probably because I didn’t know how to create a space in which the woman in question felt safe enough to tell her story.

Director Maris Curran, obviously, does know how. She partly accomplishes this by avoiding the kind of probing interviews one generally sees in documentaries. Instead, she allows her subject to simply live her life in front of the camera.

Curran’s subject is Jeannette Feliciano, a survivor of 2016’s horrific mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Besides being a survivor, Jeannette is also a lesbian, a single mom, a Latina, a personal trainer and a competitive bodybuilder. All of these facets of her life are represented in the documentary’s one hour and 18 minutes, though some are given more space than others.

One of the more interesting aspects of the expanding war between Israel and Iran is the way the media and the crowd of “experts” have avoided any discussion of the possible, or perhaps even likely, upcoming decision of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dig deep into his secret nuclear weapons arsenal to enable the total destruction of Iran’s prime targets. Such targets are likely to include Iran’s own apparently civilian use nuclear develop program, which is protected deep underground in Natanz and elsewhere. Iran’s surviving military and civilian leaders are also now believed to be well protected underground after the recent debacle which saw the Israeli first strike kill a number of generals and other top officials. Netanyahu would like to finish the job by making a leaderless Iran unable to defend itself and maintain sovereignty as an independent nation.

General Wesley Clark, a former NATO commander, claimed that after the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration had a plan to attack seven majority-Muslim countries over five years, starting with Iraq and followed by Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia, and Sudan. Iran was the only country not yet attacked, until this week. But it has been in the cross hairs of the American Empire for a long time. Clark said this was shown to him about 10 days after 9/11.

The American Empire has been consistent over the years in demonizing Iran, using the same playbook that was used to demonize Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi . There is a long list of propaganda tools that are effective. One obvious one is that every event in the Middle East is preceded by “Iranian backed”. Iranian backed Hezbollah, Iranian backed Yemeni, Iranian backed Hamas, Iranian backed Ice Cream.

Tuesday, June 17, 2025, 12:00 – 1:00 PM
West Lawn of the Ohio Statehouse

Across Ohio, parents are working hard and still feeling the squeeze. Families are dealing with soaring costs for childcare, groceries, and housing – and an unfair tax code, making it increasingly difficult for them to make ends meet. Governor DeWine has proposed solutions to provide tax relief and make childcare more affordable for working families through a new Ohio Child Tax Credit and investments in childcare. We are coming together to make sure children and families have the care and resources they need to thrive. We need to show lawmakers that Ohioans are paying attention—and we expect them to act.