Free Press readers gathered Saturday evening, March 9 for a Cyber-Salon.

Link to salon video.

Mark Stansbery, Free Press Board member, started out the salon by introducing the Board President, Pete Johnson.

Pete introduced the primary speaker, Ramzy Baroud, a US-Palestinian journalist, media consultant, an author, internationally-syndicated columnist, Editor of Palestine Chronicle (1999-present), former Managing Editor of London-based Middle East Eye, former Editor-in-Chief of The Brunei Times and former Deputy Managing Editor of Al Jazeera online. Baroud is the author of six books and a contributor to many others; his latest volume is Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out. His books are translated to many languages including French, Turkish, Arabic, Korean, Malayalam, among others. The Free Press has been running Ramzy’s articles for a decade.

Is It You? 

I woke up early this morning without the aid of my mother calling me or Jean pulling the covers off of my body. I was eager to get to Annie to find out if she was the girl in the picture I took from Mr. Jimmy’s room. I avoided Mr. Jimmy’s questions as I ate my breakfast, grabbed my books, and rushed out of the house, dragging Jean with me. 

“So, what are you going to say to her?” Jean asked me as we approached Annie’s house. 

“I’m gonna say, is this you, and then show her the picture.” 

“Well, now, big Sis is following little Sis’s directions. About time.” 

“You have a good thought now and then.” 

“If it’s not her, then what?” 

“Then nothing. It’s not my business if it isn’t Annie.” 

“It’s not your business now? If you hadn’t been snooping in the first place you wouldn’t even know about the picture. You’re just being nosy that’s all.” 

I was getting ready to reply to that remark, because I am not nosy, she is the one that is nosy, but we were at Annie’s house now and she was waiting for us on the porch steps. She jumped up and ran down the steps to meet us.

The twin slaughters in Gaza and Ukraine spew from the ghastly evil of four awful men focused on destroying democracy itself---Netanyahu, Sinwar, Putin and Trump.

Ending those wars demands naming and ousting the perpetrators.

Putin’s monstrous mass murder in Ukraine has been punctuated by the awful execution of Alexi Navalny, the beloved activist he imprisoned, tortured and left for dead.  Putin has followed by arresting those who merely leave flowers at Navalny’s memorial site, or who dare show the slightest opposition to the Ukrainian carnage.  His homophobia extends to arresting anyone who display rainbows on flags, clothing, art, or even earrings. 

Putin has made clear he’ll tolerate nothing resembling freedom or democracy, even when sham “votes” are under his thumb.  A brutal Tsar in Russia’s worst totalitarian traditions, he is regularly serviced by useful American idiots like Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson.