Greed: The Survival of a Primitive Emotion

Trump and people clapping

Congressional passage of Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” provides the latest evidence that human greed, despite its primitive nature, remains alive and well.

Perhaps most noticeably, the legislation provides for over $3 trillion in tax cuts that disproportionately help the wealthy and their corporations.  This largesse is facilitated by slashing over $1.4 trillion in healthcare and food assistance for low-income Americans and increasing the national debt by $3.3 trillion.  Estimates reveal that at least 16 million Americans will lose health care coverage and 7 million people (including 2 million children) will lose food aid or have their food aid cut significantly.  Meanwhile, according to the Yale Budget Lab, the nation’s top 0.1 percent―people with an annual income over $3.3 million―will receive tax cuts of $103,500 on average.  Condemning the legislation, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops declared simply that it “takes from the poor to give to the wealthy.”

13th Columbus Black Theatre Festival

Details about event

Saturday: July 5th 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm and 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Sunday: July 6th 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
*Doors open ½ hour before each performance time.
Tickets: Early Bird: $10.00 At Door: $15.00 Youth (10 to 16)* At Door Only $5.00

Run for Your Life! The Muslims Are Coming!

The cry echoes up and down New York City’s crowded streets. Out of nowhere has emerged a malevolent Muslim candidate for mayor named Zohran Mamdani. He’s 33 years old and born in Uganda to Indian parents. Uganda was also home of the late Idi Amin. To many horrified New Yorkers, it looks as if he may win!
Jewish old timers on the Upper West Side and Wall Street are having apoplexy, muttering about the Holocaust.

Frickin' With Medicaid

Rewarding bad behavior: City Council gives more money to Sanctuary Night(mare), nothing to the “Saint of Sullivant Avenue”

Kids making heart signs with their hands

Columbus City Council last Monday awarded more money to the beleaguered Franklinton “harm reduction” drop-in center Sanctuary Night yet gave nothing to 1DivineLine2Health, the original and competent West Side drop-in center started by Esther Flores.

Flores, a registered nurse, is a Columbus pioneer. She was the first to open a drop-in center – a much-needed safe house – for the addicted “street sisters” of Franklinton, the Hilltop and the rest of the West Side, for that matter. She took it upon herself in 2015 to create what amounts to a brave and gutsy grassroots movement, risking everything to take care of thousands of sex-trafficked and homeless women and their children. Flores, a Catholic, has earned the nickname “The Saint of Sullivant Avenue” from the Free Press and was the news org’s Libby Award winner for 2021.  

Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness and Call to Duty

Washington in front of a flag and words Disgruntled Citizen

The Fourth of July offers a grand teachable moment for educators, especially progressive ones. As an assignment for my summer sociology classes, I would typically have students read Frederick Douglas’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”; listen to Paul Robeson sing “Ballad for Americans”; and ask them to identify what a citizen’s duty is as explicitly mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. This assignment would likely get me reprimanded, if not fired, today. Yet the liberating truth revealed in these works is more vital today than ever.

Just about everyone is familiar with its opening statement about the self-evident truths that all men are created equal, that they are endowed … with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. But far too few pay attention to, let alone act upon, what follows: that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and institute new Government… Yet the 56 signers this revolutionary Declaration did not stop there, but amplified the urgency to confront tyranny by making it a call to duty:

Let My Robots Vote!

What if the AI bots figure that out? I can imagine R2D2 and Amazon warehouse robo-pickers trundling across the Pettus Bridge in Selma, chanting, “No vote, no work!”  

If the robots go on strike, we can survive the loss of same-day delivery of pantyhose and air-fryers – or maybe not. But after two weeks, humans will begin to starve. Worse, millions will go crazy with the lack of entertainment options and unfilled orders of anti-depressants.

Now the truth is, I would vote for a robot over JD Vance. And let’s face it, humans haven’t done such a good job of picking our presidents.  

And we also have to consider the possibility that they are already taking over electoral politics. Is there any indication at all that Gavin Newsom is a human being? Ask Siri and she barely stifles a giggle.

Democracy, after all, granting the vote to every dickwad, MAGA-naut, crypto-Nazi and cryptocurrency grifter, is a terrible method for choosing our leaders.

Maybe it’s time to turn over these choices to G.O.D., that is the GenerativeAI Overseer of Democracy.

Doo Dah 2025

Details about event

The world-renowned Doo Dah Parade is returning to the streets of Columbus on July 4, 2025, Rain date July 3rd. The 42nd Annual celebration of Liberty and Lunacy Freedom of Speech through Humor will be satirizing the world LIVE from the Fabulous Short North starting at 1 p.m.

The world needs a good laugh or two. Doo Dah Parade Disorganizers are unplanning for a groups of marchers to wind their way through Victorian Village and along High Street in Short North.  Overseeing it all will be Doo Dah Less-Than-Grand Marshal:  NBC4 News Queen Colleen Marshall.

Disorganizers also emphasize that the best way to experience Doo Dah is to be IN the parade. Get your humor out and create a memorable entry! No registration is necessary; all you have to do is show up. Line up for parade participants begins at Noon on Park Street (Enter from Goodale.) 

King Stinks-A-Lot

Can Israel Survive without the West?

The Israeli genocide in Gaza, along with the escalating regional wars it has ignited, has brought two chilling truths into our focus: first, Israel is deliberately and aggressively undermining the security and stability of the entire Middle East and, second, Israel is utterly incapable of surviving on its own.

 These two assertions, though seemingly distinct, are inextricably linked. For if those who relentlessly sustain Israel—militarily, politically, and economically—were to finally withdraw their support, the Middle East would not be the powder keg it has been for decades, a situation that has catastrophically worsened since October 7, 2023.

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