April 26 marks the 30th anniversary of the catastrophic explosion at theChernobyl nuclear power plant.

It comes as Germany, which is phasing out all its reactors, has asked Belgium to shut two of its nukes because of the threat of terrorism.

It also comes as advancing efficiencies and plunging prices in renewable energy remind us that nukes stand in the way of solving our climate crisis.

Since the April 6 occupation of Bricker Hall, a coalition of student groups has kept up the pressure on the university to end its plans to privatize its energy services and outsource more of its employees.

On April 21 the #ReclaimOSU coalition joined forces with members of Communication Workers of America (CWA), the labor union that represents many OSU workers as well as Verzion employees who are on strike. They gathered at the South Oval and marched to the Ohio Union, shouting, “Hey Drake, step off it! Put people over profit!”

 “When the university sells out energy, that is a direct attack on minority and other workers at Ohio State,” said Maryam Abidi of the OSU Coalition for Black Liberation during a speak-out in the atrium of the Ohio Union. “Privatization is also an attack on the minority communities of Columbus,” she said.

Someone asked me to find war lies during the past few years. Perhaps they had in mind the humanitarian pretenses around attacking Libya in 2011 and Iraq in 2014, or the false claims about chemical weapons in 2013, or the lies about an airplane in Ukraine or the endlessly reported Russian invasions of Ukraine. Maybe they were thinking of the "ISIS Is In Brooklyn" headlines or the routine false claims about the identities of drone victims or the supposedly imminent victory in Afghanistan or in one of the other wars. The lies seem far too numerous for me to fit into an essay, though I've tried many times, and they are layered over a bedrock of more general lies about what works, what is legal, and what is moral. Just a Prince Tribute selection of lies could include Qadaffi's viagra for the troops and CNN's sex-toys flag as evidence of ISIS in Europe. It's hard to scrape the surface of all U.S.

Congressional Briefing April 21, 2016: "How Voter Suppression Efforts Are Threatening Our Democracy"

"It is democracy time!" were words that led into this historic congressional briefing, "How Voter Suppression Efforts Are Threatening Our Democracy." Sponsors were the National Election Defense Coalition and Transformative Justice Coalition. The moderator of the distinguished panel and members of the Congressional Black Caucus was Barbara Arnwine, former Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and presently co-sponsor of the Transformative Justice Coalition. What does the dismal handling of the primaries and caucuses held so far bode for the U.S. Congress?

Arnwine listed members of the Caucus who were present: Reps. John Conyers (former Chair of the House Judiciary Committee), Sheila Jackson Lee, Terry Sewell, Marc Veasey, Maxine Waters, Elijah Cummings, Hank Johnson, and others. 2016 marks the fifth year of intensive voter suppression. Long lines have marred proceedings in so many of the primaries and caucuses. Too