Yes on 1 sign

Hello, fellow Ohioans, 

I just finished reading, and rereading, and then reading again, what I thought would be a straight forward explanation of Amendment 1. The amendment appears on the November 5, Ohio presidential ballot.. 

But, after actually reading the amendment, I was confused, disappointed, and just plain mad, because I knew I was going to vote, “YES”, but after reading the amendment, I couldn’t decide what a “YES” vote actually means!

The language is purposely deceptive and misleading, as written by our Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, but if voters pass this amendment, gerrymandering by politicians will no longer be legal in our state.

If you find this kind of dishonesty hard to believe, or are just as confused as I was, check the Ohio sample ballot, by following the below link.  Once on the page, you’ll need to click on your county. Then scroll through the candidates and on the third page, you’ll find the sample Issue1 ballot. Just read the first paragraph and you’ll understand my concern.

Brownand Moreno and image from a TV ad

Just days ago at a rally in Pennsylvania, Donald Trump said: “Your child goes to school and they take your child. It was a he and comes back a she. And they do this. And they do it, and often without parental consent.” It is, of course an absurdist lie, now repeated more times than you might believe. The claim is so non-credible that we should wonder why Trump is employing it. The probable answer lies in the race for US Senate in Ohio.

Long before Trump imagined that American children are given sex-change operations at school, the race between Sherrod Brown and car-salesman Bernie Moreno for the US Senate in Ohio devolved to blaring accusations that “Brown backed allowing children to receive sex change surgery.” This too, of course, is a lie except in the technical sense that some children are born with conditions that require procedures to resolve gonadal ambiguity as part of standard health care, obviously with parental consent.

Last night on Saturday Night Live, there was that rare moment when a performer chose to give voice to the 200 million or so of us Americans who, for over two years, have been in a rage that the Supreme Leader in America (aka, the “Supreme Court,” that group of 5 or 6 religious right-wing nutters who rule over what women can and cannot do with their bodies in this country), overturned Roe v. Wade. 

The great Stevie Nicks, in her own rage over this injustice, sang for the first time live on national television her new song about those who have committed this atrocity against women. It’s called “The Lighthouse” — and my jaw dropped as she belted out one fiercely brutal lyric after another aimed squarely at the Court, at Trump, at MAGA Nation — and imploring all women to take a stand, to fight back now, it’s not too late. 

On January 8, 2009, my friend Tammy Obeidallah (known by the moniker "Intifada girl") and I co-authored an open letter to our US Senator Goerge Voinovich to have the name of Meir Dagan, the head of the Israeli Mossad, be added to the US "Terrorist Watch list and " No Fly List. Voinovich died in 2016 at age 79 and we never got a courtesy response letter from him. Mr. Dagen, who also passed away in 2016 at age 71, was notorious for committing war crimes during his military service in the Israeli Defense Forces during the 1970s in Gaza and 1980s in Lebanon.  Meir Dagan established his reputation by severing the heads of innocent and unarmed civilians in both aforementioned locations. Shamefully, Israel's Channel 2 named him the country's "Man of the Year" in 2008.

Trump

This article first appeared on the Ohio Capital Journal

As it sought a massive, corrupt bailout in Ohio, Akron-based FirstEnergy also spent lavishly on Trump-aligned dark money groups and at hotels and golf courses owned by the former president, a new report said this week.

Trump and his aides wanted to provide a federal bailout for the company’s coal and nuclear plants, but they hit a brick wall — first in the form of a regulator, and then by public opposition to corporate bailouts, the report said.

Women on stage at a concert with lots of smoke

Charli XCX walked out ointo the stage wearing a wedding veil. The wedding attire conjured Madonna’s “Like A Virgin” for a second. Queen Brat then said, “Columbus, Ohio. Will You Marry Me?”

During the evening. Charli kept an intimate dialogue during stage banter as if every individual in the packed arena were Charli’s kindred spirit who understood with the deepest emotional connection.

Charli XCX rotated sets with Australian pop singer Troy Sitivan. Charli took the stage with Brit wave rapper-singer ShyGirl. Charli intertwined a marriage proposal for our city while performing 365’s Remix.

One of my hobbies before Saturday’s show was finding Chali XCX rap songs. Everyone I knew cracked up that Charli XCX recorded with Ed Banger’s Uffie. Uffie, and Balam ACAB’s involvement with Charli XCX sorta changed a perception…

Should Charli XCX be a Taylor Swift/Britney Spears star or someone who didn’t quit once Daft Punk and Justice fans couldn’t use Kanye West as their pop sensation.

Ed Banger Records might be Kanye’s political stances biggest casualty.

Logo

You have the power. In your hand at your polling place, in your booth and on your ballot, you can change the world. You can bring peace to the planet, regain your rights, frame your future, and advance the plant. That’s what your vote will do if cast properly.

Via hundreds of email messages and television commercials, you probably know about the importance of this year’s election. It’s both preidential and local. It’s both candidate and issue based. And it’s pivotal: who and what wins will chart the course of the future or become the dust of history.

Leonard Peltier 48 years ago being arrested

From the Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund:  Urge President Biden to Grant Executive Clemency and Free Native Activist Leonard Peltier Now!  

Leonard Peltier is almost 80 years old. He’s a Native activist in the American Indian Movement (AIM), a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, and is now serving his 49th year of incarceration, making him the longest-serving political prisoner in U.S. history.  

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