A Primer Concerning US Military War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Committed in the Middle East Post-9/11

Definitions:


War Crimes: serious breaches of international humanitarian law that have been committed against civilians or enemy combatants during an organized, international or domestic armed conflict. (Examples of war crimes include acts of violence such as; murder, willfully causing suffering, injury to body or health, rape, attacks on civilian populations, pillage, and arbitrary destruction of civilian goods, especially those that are essential to the survival of the civilian population (farmland, food, water, clothing, shelter, etc).

 

Crimes Against Humanity: murder, extermination, rape, persecution and all other inhumane acts of a similar character that are committed by armed combatants as part of an organized, systematic attack directed against any civilian population.

 

Do LGBTQ Employees Have a Harder Time Achieving Work-Life Balance?

Two white guys one in a beret drinking wine and cuddling outside

As a population that is still largely stigmatized and oppressed in most areas of the world, the LGBTQ community is used to an extra set of challenges in their lives, including finding a work-life balance. In the U.S., this is an area where many Americans struggle in general, with about 26% of employees working between 45 to 59 hours each week, and 12% working over 60 hours a week.

How much an employee works directly affects their work-life balance, but factor in how comfortable they feel at work and this may further affect it. According to a qualitative study of 53 LGB employees across various industries in the U.S., most LGBTQ families feel that their family identity is stigmatized at their workplace. This has a large effect on their work-life balance because they feel forced to separate their work from their home-life.

Becoming, by Michelle Obama

Pretty black woman smiling with long black hair waving in the wind wearing a white shirt that is off one shoulder and words Becoming at top and MIchelle Obama below

Never in the history of First Ladies’ memoirs has there been a book so eagerly awaited as the one written by Michelle Obama. When Becoming hit the stores on November 13, 2018, it took only a week for the book to rocket to No. 1 in the New York Times Book Review, and is still a top ranked book in a dozen countries. According to Crown Publishing, more than six million units in all formats and editions have been sold in the U. S. and Canada, andBecoming has been translated into forty-four languages. The hardcover version of Becoming has sold more copies than any other nonfiction hardcover book published since 2007; it has sold more copies in 2018 than any other book published that year.

Mrs. Obama embarked on a tour that took her throughout the United States and Europe where she spoke in sold out venues; additional dates were added in the last several months. She has been met with rapturous crowds that are more common for rock stars than authors.

Hoping For The Best, Just Hoping Nothing Happens

Black man turning to look behind him

Columbus-based bestselling author Astone Jackson’s second volume of poetry, “Hoping For The Best, Just Hoping Nothing Happens,” was released June 14 and is a follow-up to his first collection of poetry, “The Secrets We Keep That Keep Us From Sleeping,” also an Amazon bestseller, published in 2017. The book is available on Amazon as well as local bookstores such as The Book Loft in the German Village neighborhood of Columbus.

The second volume debuted at No. 1 for new releases in Amazon LGBTQ+ poetry over Pride Weekend in Columbus. In his second book, Jackson, who identifies as bisexual, opens up about his sexuality, writing about same-sex as well as opposite-sex relationships. In this way, Jackson is “coming out” to readers and some people in his life with this volume.

Jackson, 28, is originally from Findlay, Ohio, and lived in West Chester before moving to the Columbus area in 2018. He explained how his passion for writing developed as he coped with the fallout from past relationships and explored new ones.

Poetry is all about honesty and human connection, Jackson said, and in his writing he never pulls a punch.

Who do you want to be the next police chief?

A man and woman cartoon cops one swinging handcuffs standing next to a police car
JUNE 18
Event: Reeb Avenue Community Dinner and Engagement Forum
Location: Reeb Avenue Center, 280 Reeb Avenue Time: 6/18/2019 JUNE 19
Event: Chief and Me-Community Engagement Forum
Location: Marion-Franklin High School Cafeteria, 1265 Koebel Road Time: 6/19/2019

Share you thoughts about what you want in the next Columbus Chief of Police!

https://www.columbus.gov/policechiefsearch/

Mary Jane’s Guide: In one word, what’s wrong with Ohio’s medical marijuana program?

Blue background sky with a tall rectangular sign that is blank on a city street

Everyone’s a buzz. No, not that kind! Both traditional and social media seem to be buzzing about what’s wrong with the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program. Missed deadlines. Onerous restrictions. Exorbitant license fees. Sky high prices. Poor supply. Even illnesses. What gives?

First, the good news. From January to May 19th, 892 pounds of plant material and 6,719 units of processed product were sold, generating 51,278 receipts totaling $7.3 million. Patient purchasers numbered 15,339, representing about half of those eligible.

Sounds OK, right? If removing the sickest from the drug war battlefield was the objective, then success! Despite the poundage and product, no one got arrested, no one went to jail, no one forfeited assets, and no one carried a lifetime scar on their record for possessing, buying or selling.

That said, comparatively, other states evidence Ohio’s short comings.

THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY Film Review

 

As America ponders the impeachment of Trump and investigating him for crimes a young South American female director has made a documentary about another large democratic nation that recently underwent the ordeals of impeaching one president plus the trial and imprisonment of an ex-president. Petra Costa’s The Edge of Democracy is a sprawling nonfiction epic depicting the rise then fall from power of Brazil’s Workers’ Party (TP), with the senate’s removal from office of left-leaning President Dilma Rousseff.

 

The former guerrilla’s ouster was followed by the conviction of her mentor, TP co-founder and ex-President Lula de Silva. Being found guilty prevented the popular labor leader from running for the presidency again to replace his protégée Dilma. Strangely, in his trial the absence of a crucial piece of evidence is viewed as “proof” of Lula’s alleged corruption in the Alice in Wonderland judicial proceedings.

 

War on Iran Stupidest Idea Yet Recorded in a Human Brain

Scientists not employed by ExxonMobil or named Neil DeGrasse Tyson have reached a universal consensus. Wanting the United States to attack Iran is the single stupidest idea yet recorded in a human brain. In the words of one, “It isn’t even close.”

In a peer-reviewed report on a controlled laboratory experiment, sample humans were presented with the following 12 items of information.

False Identities Become the New Weapon: War with Iran Promoted by Fake Journalists

One of the claims made about alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election was that Kremlin-controlled entities were using fake identities to create dissension and confusion on social network sites. This should surprise no one, if it is true, as intelligence operatives have been using false names since Sumerian times.

The concern over fake identities no doubt comes from the deception involved, meaning that if you are dealing with a real person you at least have some handle on making as assessment of what something means and what is likely to occur. A false persona, however, can pretend to be anything and can advocate or do something without any yardstick to measure what is actually taking place. In other words, if Mike Pompeo says something you know that he is a liar and can judge his words accordingly but if it is someone otherwise unknown named Qwert Uiop you have to wonder if he or she just might be telling the truth. You might even give them the benefit of the doubt.

La Traviata Opera Review

Originally taking place in the sensuous demi-monde of 1840s Paris, in LA Opera’s current iteration director/production designer Marta Domingo has reset Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata during the Roaring Twenties. This revival of Domingo’s Art Deco vision of Verdi’s vintage version injects new visual flare into the opera that was first performed in Venice in 1853. Although the original’s “demi-mondaine” dames (who, in today’s parlance, might be called “high class hookers”) have been replaced by flappers in Domingo’s rendition, the plot of Verdi’s opera (Francesco Maria Piave’s libretto adapted Alexandre Dumas fils’ 1848 novel La Dame aux Camélias) is essentially the same.

 

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