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Stop Calling the Military Budget a ‘Defense’ Budget

It’s bad enough that mainstream news outlets routinely call the Pentagon budget a “defense” budget. But the fact that progressives in Congress and even many antiwar activists also do the same is an indication of how deeply the mindsets of the nation’s warfare state are embedded in the political culture of the United States.

The misleading first name of the Defense Department doesn’t justify using “defense” as an adjective for its budget. On the contrary, the ubiquitous use of phrases like “defense budget” and “defense spending” -- virtually always written with a lower-case “d” -- reinforces the false notion that equates the USA’s humongous military operations with defense.

Album review – the Black River’s Night Fires Burns Innocence

Album cover

Back in the old days, a proto-version of the Black River’s described themselves as something called “Electric Americana.” I don’t know if they are still using that phrase in their marketing materials, but as I was working on this review for their latest album it jumped back into my mind and stayed there.

I am on record as arguing that Americana is not a type of music. Indeed, fresh off a pot of coffee in 2014 I referred to it as “this loathsome catch-all, this black hole of description, this perfidious non-thing.” Perhaps a bit over the top, but the years have not really changed my mind.

Death Penalty Abolition Week for Ohio Faith Communities

Death Penalty Abolition Week for Ohio Faith Communities (“Abolition Week”) officially starts this Thursday, October 8 and runs through October 17. The events are already getting buzz in local media and we know that our decision makers in Columbus are listening!

Here’s an official list of events for Abolition Week:

Abolish the Death Penalty- Official RAC Ohio Campaign Launch

October 7 at 8 pm

Join Ohio’s Reform Jewish congregations as we kick-off our Death Penalty Abolition Campaign. Learn about what Judaism has to say about this issue, hear from those directly impacted and find out the next steps to take action to abolish the death penalty in the Buckeye State.

Featured Speakers: Ricky Jackson, Ohio Death Row Exoneree & Dr. Donna Mayerson, Psychologist.

Open to all, register here.

Hundreds of Indigenous women are missing yearly, where's their media coverage?

Details about missing indigenous women

Over the last decade, 710 Indigenous people have been reported missing, with 466 of those reports coming from Wyoming, the same state in which Gabby Petito went missing.

Media coverage is essential for investigating a missing person because the public can help, and it is often used as a tool for recovering victims. But there is often a hierarchy of victims that get that attention. Those who are female, young or White receive the most help in being found, while Black, Indigenous or Latinx missing people often do not receive the same attention.

Criminologists have created two theories regarding media coverage for missing people. The rarity theory suggests that victims who are seen as ideal –– females, children, and the elderly, unusual stories, or stories that involve more than one victim are considered “newsworthy.” The devaluation theory proposes portrayals of victims of crime as White in the media feed into predicting perceptions of the fear of victimization for White people. 

Being Puerto Rican in Columbus

Esther Flores

Being Puerto Rican is complicated in the capital of Ohio. My descendants come from the native islanders, the Taínos, Spain, and West Africa. Puerto Rico was originally known as El Boriquén and the natives Boricuas. Nowadays, the official language is Spanish with many words influenced by the Taínos.

The tradition is we speak in Spanish with our elders. Unlike my generation and younger we speak Spanglish among each other. Our gene pool is mixed. We are easily mistaken for people from other cultures. Our history involves colonialism, slavery, revolts and resiliency. Puerto Rico politics are complicated. It is a colony of the USA. The US Naval and Marine forces practiced missile bombing on the small islands around it. As a result, people began to suffer from cancer. Environmentalists and advocates have gone to jail by voicing their concerns demanding the demilitarization and clean up from the radioactive waste and missiles.

From JFK-MLK-RFK to the Brooks Brothers Mob to MAGA ... America's Fascist Coup Escalates

America’s long-term fascist coup may have begun on November 22, 1963 with the murder of John Kennedy.

But George W. Bush’s “Brooks Brothers Mob” took it to another level exactly 37 years later.

And the MAGA Monster’s attack on January 6, 2021, is far from over.

Early voting in Franklin County has begun

I voted sticker

IN-PERSON ABSENTEE VOTING
Franklin County Board of Elections, 1700 Morse Rd,, Columbus, Ohio 43229

DATES AND HOURS (subject to change)

October 5 - October 22 (Weekdays Only - Monday through Friday) 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM

CLOSED - Monday, October 11, 2021

October 25 - October 29 (Weekdays Only - Monday through Friday) 8:00 AM – 7:00 PM

Saturday, October 30 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Sunday, October 31. 1:00 – 5:00 PM

Monday, November 1 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM

ELECTION DAY - Tuesday, November 2

REQUEST ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATION ONLINE AND BY MAIL

You are entitled to vote by absentee ballot in Ohio without providing a reason.

Absentee ballot applications may be obtained from the Franklin County Board of Elections or the Secretary of State. The Ohio Secretary of State’s website is www.voteohio.gov, and their phone number is 1-877-767-6446.
https://vote.franklincountyohio.gov/Voters/Absentee-Voting#

Unanswered Questions: A Book Review

“Unanswered Questions” looks at the events of 9/11 from the perspective of 9/11 families. The author follows the journey of the well known “Jersey Girls” as well as many groups or organizations that grew out of the frustration experienced by the families. Although I began to doubt the official story of 9/11 early on, I had not heard of the Family Steering Committee, Families of September 11, 9/11 Families for a Secure America, 9/11 Families to Bankrupt terrorism, Coalition of 9/11 families, Fix the Fund, Give Your Voice, LMDC Families Advisory Council, Skyscraper Safety Campaign, Tuesdays Children and several more. Intertwined with the experiences of the families is mention of the loved ones lost. Where were they on that morning, how did they die that morning? What was the final communication with family?

According to author Ray McGinnis, only 11% of the questions posted to the 9/11 commission were answered. Entire chapters are devoted to questions posed but not answered of NORAD, the FBI, Mayor Giuliani, President Bush, Vice President Cheney, the Port Authority, Donald Rumsfeld, as well as the FAA, CIA, Security and Exchange Commission.

River-Rich Laos Invites Bitcoin Miners

BANGKOK, Thailand -- After China's recent cryptocurrency crackdown,
impoverished Laos is now allowing Bitcoin mining, fueled by abundant
hydroelectric power from the Mekong River and shrugging off U.S.
warnings of disastrous environmental problems.

The surprise announcement on September 9 by the Prime Minister's
Office, allowing the creation of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other
blockchain-based currencies, makes Laos the only Southeast Asian
country to officially permit and participate in it.

China had allowed Bitcoin miners to feed on its cheap electricity for
several years -- mostly in the provinces of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang,
Sichuan and Yunnan -- but shut down their systems in May, by
tightening regulations.

Worried foreign investors struggled to export expensive, delicate,
massive computers out of China while scouring the world for fresh
places to set up.

China's central bank also banned on all cryptocurrency transactions,
in an effort to control the flow of money in and out of the country.

Wrestling with Infinity

I use walking sticks when I walk nowadays, kind of like cross-country skiing in late summer, but I had no idea doing so would connect me with a guy named Joe and open a flow of aching love and the deep desire to matter.

“Can I give you a cane?” he asked.

This was in the alley two blocks from my house. I was pushing myself along — I love to walk in alleys for some reason, maybe because I never know what I’ll come upon — and I passed an older guy (around my age, that is) whose garage door was open. He was working at his bandsaw. As I walked past him, he turned and called out his cane offer to me.

I stopped, shrugged. In my 75 years on Planet Earth, no one had ever offered me a free cane before. We stood looking at each other. “Hi,” I said. We introduced ourselves. He stepped away from his bandsaw and I explained that I already had a cane., but thanked him. “This is what I do,” he said. “I make stuff. I give it away.”

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