Americans are once again faced with the real “reality show” of life in regards to what happens when you are a person of color, male or female, and are arrested by a racist police officer.

  On July 10, 2015 Sandra Bland, a twenty-eight year old African American woman from Illinois was pulled over while driving her car, in the southern state of Texas, and arrested. We’re not able to see the actual “take-down” and physical arrest from the troopers’ dash cam because the State Trooper conveniently moved Ms. Bland out of the vision of the camera. The only reason we know what happened, outside of the vivid verbal description given “blow by blow” from Ms. Bland on the dash cam, is due to the brave witness who documented the troopers’ abuse on video and posted it on social media for the world to see. The last words we hear Ms. Bland say to this person is “Thank you for taping this, thank you.” Words I’m sure that person will never forget.

Aug. 6: Peace Vigil at Goodale Park Gazebo and Pond, Park Street and Buttles Avenue, northeast side of the park. 7:30-8:30pm for a sunset ceremony marking the 70th year of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

Aug. 7: "Message from Hiroshima" film, Belle's Bread in Kenny Centre, 5pm. Narrated by George Takai, This powerful and intimate documentary provides an inside look at the devastating effects of the first atomic bomb ever used, as depicted in heart wrenching testimonials from survivors, and computer generated recreations of the city and way of life that were lost.

Aug. 8: Peace Conference at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 93 Weisheimer Road, Columbus. 10am-4pm. The History calls US to resist Wars and Oppression. Participants include John Carlarne, Greg Elish, Julie Hart, Ruben Herrera, Kevin Kamps, Janet McLaughlin, Marc Simon, Aramis Sundiata and Harvey Wasserman.

What conditions bring peace? What conditions bring war? How do people address them?  Many families and communities have split over these topics, as they can bring a great divide of opinion and historical recollection.
   This year, August 6 marks the 70th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bomb “Little Boy” was dropped on the Hiroshima population of 255,000, causing 135,000 casualties: 66,000 dead and 69,000 injured. On August 9, another bomb “Fat Man” was dropped on a population of 195,000 in Nagasaki, causing approximately 64,000 casualties: 39,000 dead and 25,000 injured. These are the Manhattan Engineer District's best available figures.
   Mark Stansbery is president of the Columbus Campaign for Arms Control, a local affiliate of Peace Action. He does not believe that a large military society brings peace.

Bernie Sanders brought  100,000 supporters together on Wed evening via video conference to 3500 events.   Events large and small were held around the country at house parties and larger venues.

 

Locally, the largest event was held at the Ohio Democratic Headquarters on Fulton Street.  The largest room held at least 100 supporters, but more supporters were in adjacent rooms.  There were several house parties in the area as well.  Signs, stickers, t-shirts and other material was available.

 

After brief introductions, Bernie gave a short presentation detailing his policy positions.  Unlike the other major Democratic contender, Mr. Sanders believes strongly that the US must tackle climate change.  He has opposed Kestone XL pipeline consistently for years, and is strongly in favor of supporting renewable energy.  

 

If you use a computer with either Windows 7 or Windows 8, you’ve probably seen a notification recently about Windows 10. (What happened to 9? Don’t ask. Just roll with it.) You may have even been prompted to update already, or, if you’re impatient, you may have updated your computer manually using the installation tool released by Microsoft.
   And Windows 10 is surprisingly good, especially if you’ve been using Windows 7 or trying to use Windows 8 without a touchscreen. It takes up less hard drive space, boots faster, and unlike previous Windows updates it doesn’t expect you to upgrade your hardware. It moves the Windows 8 Start screen tiles to the side of the Start menu, opens everything in windowed mode instead of the previous full-screen “Metro” apps, and gives everything a modern graphical overhaul. It generally behaves more like a computer OS and less like a tablet one. Unless you tell it otherwise; there’s an optional Tablet Mode.