Two a.m. Boink! My eyes pop open. It’s Christmas Eve, but it’s not that I just heard Santa wandering through the house. It’s far more banal: gotta use the bathroom. I crawl out of bed, step bare-assed into . . . oh my God . . . a learning experience.

Another one!

The heat was off. The furnace had shut down. And it was below-zero outside – apparently way below zero. The previous day, weather advisories had flowed in: lots of snow, cold as hell. And now here I was, naked in a house that had lost its heat. Uh . . . now what?

Step one, of course, was to complete my intended task: go to the bathroom, which I did. But at 2 a.m., I couldn’t envision any further productive action. I crawled back into bed, pulling the covers around me. I fell back to sleep, returned to the coziness of dreaming, at least for a while. But eventually I got up for real. Getting dressed didn’t stop with putting my clothes on. I also wrapped myself in a winter jacket. Then I called the furnace guys. Problem solved, right?

By Ramzy Baroud

My friend is not an elitist. To the contrary, he has spent decades of his life fighting social inequality, racism and championing the rights of disadvantaged groups. Therefore, I was taken aback when he surmised that “football is the opium of the people”. 

The reference, which summons a famous Marxist maxim about religion written in a specific historical context, suggested that governments use mass sports events to distract from political problems or social conflicts. 

He is partly right. Not only do governments invest in sports as a form of distraction, but they also often turn sports into a form of political legitimization. While all governments play this game, the US excels in it.  

By Ramzy Baroud

My friend is not an elitist. To the contrary, he has spent decades of his life fighting social inequality, racism and championing the rights of disadvantaged groups. Therefore, I was taken aback when he surmised that “football is the opium of the people”. 

The reference, which summons a famous Marxist maxim about religion written in a specific historical context, suggested that governments use mass sports events to distract from political problems or social conflicts. 

He is partly right. Not only do governments invest in sports as a form of distraction, but they also often turn sports into a form of political legitimization. While all governments play this game, the US excels in it.  

Wednesday, December 28, 8pm, this on-line event requires advance registration

Join us at 8pm on Wednesday, December 28 for a discussion about executions of protesters and others in Iran. We’ll be joined by Mohammad Shokouh-Amiri, Sara Bana, Hooman Hedayati, and others to discuss the situation in Iran and how it is relevant to each of us no matter where we live.

All of our guests are Iranian-born human rights activists who will bridge the experiences they had in Iran with the lives and work that they have created here in the U.S. Click here to register.

RSVP for this event by using this link.

We apologize to those whom this time does not work. Those who register will receive a link to watch the program at their convenience.

Hosted by Death Penalty Action and Abraham J. Bonowitz.

Facebook Event

On a warm night in October, a small parade of all colors and ages worked their way down a Sullivant Avenue sidewalk on the west side of Columbus in the setting sunlight. At the lead was a young girl, holding up a cardboard placard with the smiling picture of James Johnson III. In 2020, the 29-year-old was ambushed by gunfire as he walked out of a nearby gas station. His murder remains unsolved and his mother is unwavering for answers.

Who will never be seen in such a sad procession is Ohio Attorney General David Yost or the rural county judge he found to put a December 5 temporary restraining order on three new gun laws passed by Columbus City Council. This judge, Fairfield County Common Pleas Judge Richard Berens, represents just a fragment of southeast Columbus, which includes a small stretch of Refugee Road and Blacklick Woods Metro Park.

“The city has knowingly and deliberately overstepped its legislative authority,” stated Yost following Judge Berens’ temporary restraining order.