Fallujah Forgotten

I don’t know if most people in the United States ever knew what Fallujah meant. It’s hard to believe the U.S. military would still exist if they did. But certainly it has been largely forgotten — a problem that could be remedied if everyone picks up a copy of The Sacking of Fallujah: A People’s History, by Ross Caputi (a U.S. veteran of one of the sieges of Fallujah), Richard Hill, and Donna Mulhearn.

Coalition to Free Masonique Saunders Blocks Buttles and High Intersection

Cops and person lying on ground next to a car with a fire truck

On Saturday May 4, the night of the Columbus Blue Jackets game and Gallery Hop in the Short North, the Coalition to Free Masonique Saunders blocked off the intersection at Buttles Avenue and North High Street for 90 minutes. Their goal was to stop the flow of capital to raise awareness about Columbus Police’s murder of Julius Tate Jr. and the false felony murder and aggravated robbery charges on Masonique Saunders. The Coalition wants people to pack the court at 9am on Thursday, May 9 to prevent Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien from trying Saunders, the falsely charged 17-year-old, as an adult.

Kaiya Gordon, Lainie Rini, and Margie Sarsfield, three out of the four people arrested, drove into the intersection and stopped their car. The police pepper-sprayed the activists near the car and used their bikes to push others onto the sidewalks. Rini and Sarsfield were attached to the car to prevent the cops from towing the vehicle with them in it.

While being brutally pulled, pepper sprayed, and denied medical care, Rini was shouting, “Let go. You’re hurting me. My eyes are burning.”

My View from the Weeds: The Wisdom of Flowers and Three Ways to Explore Spring Plant Medicine

Tulips outside among the grass and a sign in the back that says Green Shop

The color palette of springtime is a delight. Everywhere amongst landscapes are bright, colorful blooms. On a clear day, the most vibrant flower can stop someone dead in their tracks. There is a reason why flowers are given as gifts or used as adornments for dinner tables. Not only do blossoms bring happiness, but they breed life; the flower serves as the reproductive organ for the plant and will produce seeds, if not removed. These amazing plant allies attract pollinators such as bees, butterflies and beneficial insects to the garden. Flowers have a vital function within the ecosystem, one that binds all life together.

MOON HOTEL KABUL Film Review

Most film festivals are categorically determined - by the type of production (Toronto’s Hot Docs only showcases nonfiction films); genre (TCM Classic Film Festival screens vintage pictures); time

(LA Shorts International Film Festival won’t show feature-length movies); and perhaps most importantly, by subject matter (the Pan African Film Festival highlights Black-themed works). The South East European Film Festival mainly focuses on those countries that were formerly part of the so-called “Iron Curtain,” as well as former Yugoslavia.

 

Bail Fund for #FreeMasonique Protesters

Police on bikes facing off at a banner held by people saying Free Masonique

On Saturday May 4th, 2019, protesters outraged at the wrongful incarceration of Masonique Saunders held a march. Shortly after, two activists locked down to a car blocking traffic on High Street. Police maced these folks while they were completely immobilized and unable to move! At least four people were arrested during this peaceful action, and we need your support to bail them out so our comrades can rejoin the fight to #FreeMasonique. Any amount helps! 

Backstory on Masonique’s case: On December 7, 2018, Columbus police murdered 16 year old Julius Ervin Tate Jr.. On December 13, they arrested his 16 year old girlfriend, Masonique Saunders, charging her with the murder they committed. She recently “celebrated” her 17th birthday behind bars while Eric Richards, the officer who killed Julius Tate Jr., was recently awarded SWAT officer of the year. We are sick and tired of the racist police terror killing and caging Black youth! Stay updated on ways to get involved in supporting Masonique by following  @freemasonique on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter or checking freemasonique.home.blog

Write to Chelsea Manning

Young blonde woman in a black outfit raising her fist
Write Chelsea Chelsea Elizabeth Manning, A0181426
William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center
2001 Mill Road
Alexandria, VA 22314   She can NOT accept books or cards.
She can receive letters, as well as newspapers.   Kind Words of Support and Encouragement go a Long Way!   FREEDOM of THE PRESS and FREE SPEECH is AT STAKE!

Exceptionally Innocent

Go right now and get yourself and the nearest house with a flag in front of it a copy of Roberto Sirvent’s and Danny Haiphong’s American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People’s History of Fake News — From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror.

If this book had existed when I published Curing Exceptionalism, I would have said that reading it was part of the cure. The authors provide a rich survey and analysis of how people in the United States manage to believe themselves not only exceptionally qualified to break rules and commit crimes but also exceptionally innocent of all such behavior.

Nonviolence or Nonexistence

Thursday, May 2nd, 2019

 

The day before he died, Martin Luther King said these words at a packed church in Memphis:

“Men for years now have been talking about war and peace. Now no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world, it is nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today.”

That’s where we are today . . . half a century later!

Here in the U.S., we have a military budget pushing a trillion dollars annually, which is a hell of an investment in nonexistence. But we also have a growing peace consciousness that cannot and must not stop until it changes the world.

#FreeMasonique March and Rally

Close up of young black woman smiling

Saturday, May 4, 7pm
Goodale Park, 120 w. Goodale St.
Raise your voice in support of Masonique Saunders, falsely imprisoned in Franklin County. Masonique is 17 years old and charged with murder by the Columbus Police after the police shot and killed her boyfriend, Julius Tate, Jr. 
The National Week of Action to #FreeMasonique is May 3rd-10th, and we invite you to march with us on Saturday May 4th to call attention to the unjust charges this 17-year-old child is facing!
We will meet at the Goodale Park Gazebo at 7:00 PM and march up High St, making noise and raising our voices to demand Masonique’s freedom!

Pompeo Lies, Cheats and Steals (But He’s Still a Good Christian)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently recounted to an audience at Texas A&M University that when he was head of the Central Intelligence Agency he was responsible for “lying, cheating and stealing” to benefit the United States. “Like we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment.”

The Secretary made the comment with a grin, noting that when he was a cadet at West Point he subscribed to the Academy honor code, which stated that “You will not lie, cheat, or steal or tolerate those who do.” The largely student audience clearly appreciated and irony and laughed and applauded, though it is not clear what they made of the “glory of the American experiment.” The normally humorless Pompeo was suggesting ironically that yesterday’s Pompeo would be required to turn today’s Pompeo into the appropriate authorities for lying and also conniving at high crimes and misdemeanors while at the Agency.

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