The USSR had Sergei Eisenstein, while Bulgaria had Angel Wagenstein. The life and work of the 94-year-old screenwriter and novelist is wonderfully depicted in Andrea Simon’s top notch documentary, Angel Wagenstein: Art is a Weapon, which had its West Coast premiere at Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills during the 12th annual South East European Film Festival.

This extremely well-directed, enlightening nonfiction biopic paints a fascinating portrait of this leftwing Jewish writer who was born 1922 in Plovdiv. The son of a Bulgarian dedicated Communist - who, the son quips, naively “expected the world revolution to take place next Tuesday” - little Angel met his father on a visit to the prison where he was confined for his role in what Weapon contends was the first armed uprising against a fascist regime. Wagenstein (alternatively spelled as “Vagenshtain”) would recount this largely overlooked 1923 rebellion in one of his first scripts, 1954’s The Heroes of September.

As of this writing, 7,269 people in the United States, and rising steadily, have posted messages of friendship to the people of Russia.

People laying outside on the ground holding tombstone signs that say ACA Repeal killed me

Wednesday, May 10, 4:30-6:30pm
104 E Main St, Lancaster, OH
Join us to illustrate how Steve Stivers' vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with tax breaks for billionaires affects his constituents! Please bring headstones and chalk
 

Young looking man with brown hair receding hairline against trees in background

I could begin by stating that the world, despite small and justified protests, is celebrating Emmanuel Macron’s recent victory in the French presidential election. On the surface, it would be an accurate statement. People across the world from Western Europe to the United States are writing and posting about Macron and his saving the continent. But the excitement is really over Marine Le Pen’s loss. The French, overall, didn’t want to be seen as racist and isolationist. The rest of the world didn’t want another Donald Trump in power. Amidst all the hubbub since the election, it would be easy to think Macron is a progressive warrior who ended racism and nationalism in one fell swoop. That description isn’t even remotely close to who he really is, and it is a shining example of the problem with people thinking about politics in relative, rather than absolute, terms.

Corporate Democrats and liberal commentators love to scapegoat the activist left for their catastrophic failures. The blame game just fell to a new low with Bill Maher’s latest attack on Jill Stein.

Like Hillary branding Trump supporters as “deplorables,” Bill tells American grassroots activists to “go f*** yourselves with a locally grown organic cucumber.”

Hillary says she was “on her way to victory” when FBI Director James Comey and “the Russians” intervened. Maher and others say Stein caused her defeat, as they blamed Ralph Nader for George W. Bush in 2000.

Hillary now pledges to “resist” Trump Fascism. Maher and other liberal pundits have been relentless in their attacks on him.

And the rest of us struggle with the keys to nonviolent resistance in the Dark Age now upon us.

People holding banner outside of Wayne National Forest saying Up for Auction Our Wayne National Forest to the Highest Bidder

Tuesday, May 9, 7pm presentation
Northwood-High building, 2231 N. HIgh St., room 100, if you park in the rear, park in "R" spots only
Joy Adams from Keep Wayne Wild will report on the efforts to keep fracking out of the Wayne National Forest. 
fcgreenparty@gmail.com

Photo of Bill Maher

Also online at Reader Supported News  

Corporate Democrats and liberal commentators love to scapegoat the activist left for their catastrophic failures. The blame game just fell to a new low with Bill Maher’s latest attack on Jill Stein.

Like Hillary branding Trump supporters as “deplorables,” Bill tells American grassroots activists to “go f*** yourselves with a locally grown organic cucumber.”

Hillary says she was “on her way to victory” when FBI Director James Comey and “the Russians” intervened. Maher and others say Stein caused her defeat, as they blamed Ralph Nader for George W. Bush in 2000.

Hillary now pledges to “resist” Trump Fascism. Maher and other liberal pundits have been relentless in their attacks on him.

And the rest of us struggle with the keys to nonviolent resistance in the Dark Age now upon us.

 

onald Trump’s latest insane excursion into US history has been to claim that his great hero, Andrew Jackson, might have prevented the Civil War.

Given his racist, genocidal nature, our seventh president could only have done that by giving up slavery in the South, spreading it into the North or giving the Southwest back to Mexico.

Jackson, of course, would never have given up slavery, which was the cause of the war and the core of his fortune.

As a young man, like a cowboy driving cattle, Jackson personally drove slaves to market. He eventually owned more than a hundred of them, and defended America’s “peculiar institution” at every opportunity.

In addition to their authoritarian temperaments, Jackson and Trump share “accomplishments” such as trashing the Constitution, personally profiting from the presidency, and inciting imperial conquest. Jackson did stand for the Union against South Carolina’s threatened secession, but that was about tariffs, not slavery.

People rallying against Trump healthcare plan

Monday, May 8, 11:30am-12:30pm
1739 N High St, Columbus, OH 
Senator Portman will be speaking inside the Armstrong Space Symposium and Chair Installation at the Ohio Union at OSU this Monday. Let's take this opportunity to gather outside the building and show Senator Portman that Ohioans support quality, affordable healthcare for all Americans, including those with pre-existing conditions.

Speaker Jacob Carruthers, will share his story with the protesters to illustrate why Senator Portman has a duty to protect Ohioans with pre-existing conditions. 

Meet us with your healthcare-related signs at 11:30 on the College Rd. side of the building. The event will last about an hour. Parking can be located at meters or at the following locations:

Parking Garage Attached to the Student Union
1560 N High St. Columbus, OH 43201
75 E 11th Ave. Columbus, OH 43201

Even if you can't attend, join our social media storm by using the following hashtags:

Purple baseball cap that says Restore Sanity

Also by Lila Garrett, Bob Fitrakis, Suzanne Patzer, David Swanson, Ilene Proctor, Jan Goodman, Jerry Manpearl, Myla Reson, Alan Minsky, Linda Seeley, and many more

The unthinkable is upon us.

A president of the United States poses a clear and present danger to our global survival. He is mentally unstable, dangerously incompetent, throughly dishonest and can’t be trusted with the safety of our children or our planet.

It’s become our duty to remove him soon, beyond the electoral system, and strictly without violence. 

At primary issue are Trump’s imminent threat of nuclear war; his assault on the global ecosystems and green infrastructure on which our ecological and economic future depends; the outrageous culture of theft permeating his regime; its on-going attacks on women, and more.

Trump embodies a classic corporatist reaction against a powerful social democratic uprising. The volcanic energy generated by the Sanders, Green, Libertarian. Occupy and other campaigns for social justice and ecological sanity are at the core of American life.

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