Are we all becoming Travis Bickle?

Robert De Niro, youngish white man with a mohawk hairsut and sunglasses smiling with his arms crossed, wearing an army jacket with patches

I've been thinking about a couple of decades-old movies lately, Stanley Kubrick's 1987 Full Metal Jacket and Martin Scorsese's 1976 Taxi Driver.

Don't know why for sure.

It just might be a sign of the times.

Both tell stories of male characters descending into the inhumanity of violent madness – one an individual's, the other an organized societal group. Both involve alienation. Both are disturbing. Neither makes sense we want to be familiar or comfortable with. But I don't see how we have a choice anymore.

Full Metal goes full-bore into the deterioration and death of a mentally and physically unfit recruit in Marine Corps basic training while his cohorts successfully adapt to the dehumanizing process of being turned into our nation's first line of defense – killers, in other words.

That's Jacket's first part. The second is a tale of our now-blooded Marines getting the hell shot out of them by a very young NVA or Viet Cong sniper girl. Kubrick getting in his humiliating anti-American licks.

Rise Up march draws many on a rainy Saturday

Woman in a long green dress with a sash and a cape and crown of flowers with a sign saying It's not nice to frack mother nature

Some 100 or so protesters marched in the steady rain in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday September 8, 2018, as part of over 900 events in 95 countries and on all seven continents, for the "Rise Up For Climate, Jobs, and Justice" day of environmental action. Stops and speakers at the Statehouse, Senator Portman's office, and City Hall, promoted a 100% renewable energy goal for the City of Columbus; the Columbus Community Bill of Rights for clean water, air, and soil voter initiative; and a reinstatement of clean energy standards for development projects in Ohio. Winie Wirth and Nathalia Rhodes as "Mother Nature" and "Sister Water" reminded us that "Water Is Life-Don't Frack it Up"!

Healing in North Lawndale

“This isn’t rocket science,” Jackie Ingram said, humorously downplaying her involvement in the Restorative Justice Community Court, a pilot project of the Cook County Circuit Court, which has brought a new, healing-focused system of justice to her community this past year.

My thought in that moment was: She’s right. Saving kids and reclaiming a troubled, broken community may be more complex than rocket science.

And more crucial.

“This is basic,” she went on. “Give them hope that they have a future.”

Jackie, who lives in the Chicago neighborhood of North Lawndale, is one of the community members involved in the experimental court, which addresses some of the worst failings of the country’s criminal justice system.

Free Press Second Saturday Salon TONIGHT!

People sitting around fancy room listening to a male speaker

Saturday, September 8, 6:30-11pm
1021 E Broad St.
Refreshments, music, art and socializing with progressive friends.
Free, no RSVP required.

UVA’s Miller Center Loves Killers

 


 

The University of Virginia’s Miller Center caught flak for appointing Trumpian Marc Short, but has now announced the appointment of John Negroponte, presumably hoping for little resistance since Negroponte’s not a Trumpman.

But shouldn’t morality still matter? Shouldn’t a center that has yet to ever feature an opponent of war but keeps inviting mercenaries and soldiers and warmongers to speak have to have some limits?

Why I’m Going to Ireland to Try to Fix the United States

 

The United States spends about five times what China does on its military. And it spends more just on its military bases in other people’s countries than any country other than itself or China spends on its entire military. The United States keeps troops in almost every country on earth, including in 800 to 1,000 major military bases outside the United States. The rest of the world’s nations combined (most of them U.S. allies and weapons customers) keep a couple of dozen foreign bases total. Imperialism is a uniquely U.S. illness, although everybody suffers the damage.

 

A Serious Warning About the Toxicity of Aluminum-Adjuvanted Vaccines – Especially for Infants and the Elderly

The following article comes, slightly edited and re-formatted, from a 2015 Frontiers in Neurology Review Article. It was authored byRomain Kroum Gherardi, Housam Eidi, Guillemette Crépeaux, François Jerome Authier and Josette Cadusseau (of the Faculté de Médecine and Faculté des Sciences et Technologie, INSERM U955 Team 10, Université Paris Est-Créteil, Créteil, France)

 

(The original English journal article is available online at https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2015.00004/full)

 

Following are two important passages from the article plus a note from the Duty to Warn editor prefacing the article:

 

Medical Marijuana in Ohio – Comedy or Tragedy?

Drawing of two masks, one smiling, one frowning

As September begins, Ohio’s newly formed medical marijuana program continues to be plagued by various delays and failures. As a direct result, our state’s patients, who are in dire need of the treatment cannabis provides, will have to wait even longer for the legal relief they require.

The program was supposed to be up and running by September 8, but has seemingly hit every speed bump along the way. On July 31, Buckeye Relief in Eastlake planted the first legal seeds, a momentous day only made possible because the cultivating facility finally received its certificate of operation from the state four days before. The state’s department of commerce can only give up to 12 of these certifications before the September 8 deadline, with potentially more on the way. However, the late start with cultivation means the crops won’t be ready until November, and then they must be sent to a processor to be transformed into approved consumable products for patients. As of now, these approved products only include edibles, oils, patches and other non-smokable methods.

Free Press Heroes

Two men in foreground of people sitting in chairs, one younger white man with dark rimmed glasses with his hand over his mouth holding a pen, and the other a white haired white man, both in dark suits

The Free Press Salutes Jeffrey Wadsworth

The Free Press salutes former Ohio State University trustee Jeffrey Wadsworth who resigned from the University’s board after disagreeing with Urban Meyer’s three-game suspension. The New York Times reported that Wadsworth felt the punishment should be stronger. He appears to be the one lone trustee on the OSU board voicing concern about the message the University was sending to the community regarding domestic violence, dishonesty and the destruction of public records.

Enemies of the People – Attorney Don McTigue and the Franklin County Board of Elections

The members of the Franklin County Board of Elections (BOE) are the Free Press enemies of the people, after effectively stripping 560,000 Columbus citizens of their right to vote on a ballot measure entitled Community Bill of Rights for Water, Soil, and Air Protection and to Prohibit Gas and Oil Extraction and Related Activities and Projects Ordinance.

Hemp is Happening: No longer standing in the shadow of its popular cousin, this version of Cannabis sativa L. is finally getting the attention it deserves

Green chart about hemp facts

An amazing thing happened in Washington DC. No, it didn’t involve the President, or at least not yet. But it did come from the Republican camp. Congress’ most powerful politician – Washington’s red light,  green light – is championing the “Hemp Farming Act of 2018.”

This groundbreaking legislation would redefine hemp as an agricultural commodity, regulate it under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and drop it from the list of tightly Controlled Schedule I Substances. Water rights, federal grants and banking accompany this bill. Yes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is leading the pack, and because of him, the Act has a good chance of passing. Once signed by the President, hemp will emerge from 80 years of prohibition darkness and move into the light as a recognized crop like soybeans or corn.

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