April 15, 1970 was a nationwide anti-draft action day. Here in Dayton, there was a sit-in at the local draft board of about 35 people. At Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, there was an anti-draft peace rally. At the end of the rally a student speech pronounced that “it was not enough to protest the war, but people had to take action!” At that point, they marched over and occupied the Navy ROTC building. Later the black students who were organizing for a black studies program and an increase in black enrollment joined the occupation. Over 300 students were arrested, making national news and rocking Ohio.

With the announcement of the invasion of Cambodia, protests occurred across the country with major protests at Ohio State and Ohio University. The week before the Kent State killings, over 1,000 students were arrested at Ohio State University protesting the war and black students there were also demanding a black studies program.

Live online digital film festival - through April 19. 
Now celebrating its 68th year, the festival introduces Central Ohio to the best independent filmmakers from around the world, this year you can attend from the comfort of your home. Unlike physical film festivals where you need to rush to get a good seat, CIF+AF Digital Film Festival is delivered entirely online. Your seat can't get much better than this. Select a few films, an entire film block, or an ALL ACCESS PASS!

It’s up to you! With over 100 filmmakers, the films you want to watch are just a click away: Our selected filmmakers will be screening their films over a 5-day period. If you have a genre that you would love to see, we've got you covered.

Follow your selected film blocks for exclusive screenings completely online: Choose the topics you'd like to follow and we'll keep you up to date with its content, viewing times and pricing.

I get it:  We all must vote by mail—or we die.  There is really no other safe choice.

But there is much to fear, especially for minority and young voters, with a switch to all-mail voting—unless our broken absentee ballot system is fixed.

Here’s what the “Go Postal” crowd doesn’t tell you:  In 2016, 512,696 mail-in ballots—over half a million—were simply rejected, not counted.  That’s official, from the federal Elections Assistance Commission (EAC).

But that’s just the tip of the ballot-berg of uncounted mail-in votes.  A study by MIT, Losing Votes by Mail, puts the total loss of mail-in votes at a breathtaking 22%.

Move to 80% mail-in voting and 25 million will lose their vote.

And not just anyone’s mail-in ballots are dumped in the electoral trashcan.  Overwhelmingly, those junked are ballots mailed by poorer, younger, non-white Americans.

Senator Amy Klobuchar’s proposed bill takes baby steps to expanding vote-by-mail protection but will barely bite into the 22% loss of votes especially among minorities.

This week, soon after Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign, one of its most effective message-crafters summed up a vital challenge ahead. “The best hope to defeat Trump is to positively and constructively motivate a large Democratic turnout,” David Sirota wrote.

This week’s astonishing people’s victory in Wisconsin has shattered the myth of an unbeatable Trump dictatorship.

A gerrymandered legislature and the Trumpite US Supreme Court failed to steal an election they were heavily favored to win.

The big upset victory put liberal challenger Jill Korofsky on to the Wisconsin’s supreme court.  It has upended all the assumptions about November 2020. 

It means people power can beat dirty tricks even when perpetrated by a gerrymandered legislature and a corrupt US Supreme Court. 

Let’s count the ways:

X  In 2016 Wisconsin’s vicious labor-hating Gov. Scott Walker used a wide range of dirty tricks to turn Wisconsin for Donald Trump.  Green attorney Robert Fitrakis found questionable voting machine software and other problems that made the official vote count highly dubious.  (Bob was told by a ranking Trump insider that Walker stole at least five elections).

X  But as in Michigan and Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton—-who won nationwide by nearly three million popular votes—- refused to support legal challenges that might’ve kept Trump out of the White House.