After twelve years — including five years of solitary confinement at Belmarsh Prison in London — Julian Assange is free. God bless America! He wasn’t extradited to the U.S. to stand trial, where he faced a sentence of 170 years in prison for violating the so-called Espionage Act.

Instead, he took a plea deal with the U.S. government, pleading guilty to one count of violating that act — you know, threatening America’s freedom — for which he had paid by his time already served. He was officially pronounced free at a U.S. federal court in Saipan, capital of the Northern Mariana Islands (a U.S. territory), after which he flew home to his wife and two children in Australia.

My emotional relief at his escape from the clutches of this government far outweighs my feelings about the broader implications of the guilty plea, which has justifiably stirred concern and controversy. The government got its little triumph: a “legal” acknowledgment of its right to keep monstrous secrets about what it does and punish any unauthorized spilling of the beans as “espionage.”

Introduction

We well know by now that Trump remains the undisputed leader of the Republican Party and seemingly has the unwavering support of an electoral base numbering in the tens of millions. His cult-like base seemingly accepts his statements as absolute truths, even when they contradict or ignore the relevant verifiable evidence. They believe his “big lie” that he won the 2020 presidential election, while the overwhelming evidence refutes it (https://thefulcrum.us/ethics-leadership/trumps-big-lie). They also believe falsely that global warming is a left-wing hoax.

When: Saturday, June 29th
Registration begins at 5:00PM. Bowling begins at 5:30PM

$25-adult bowling ticket
$20-adult non bowling ticket
$15-child bowling ticket
$10-child non bowling ticket

Deadline to Register: Wednesday, June 26th

Where: Columbus Square Bowling Palace
5705 Forest Hills Blvd, Columbus, OH 43231

Trophies will be awarded to:

• Top 3 Adult Teams

• Best Male & Female Bowler

• Medals to Top 3 Child Bowlers

• Teams of 4 players

• $25 Adult Bowling Ticket: 2 games of bowling, shoe rental, pizza and soda

• $20 Adult Non-Bowling Ticket: Pizza and soda

• $15 Child Bowling Ticket: 2 games of bowling, shoe rental, pizza and soda (12 & under)

• $10 Child Bowling Ticket: Pizza and soda (12 & under)

COVID-19 Health and Safety Guidelines:

There's a push in Congress to make military draft registration automatic nationwide.

We have a better idea: make voter registration automatic!

Every election season, thousands of volunteers toil endless hours on a task that need not exist at all: registering voters. And voters are denied the right to vote when told they are not registered.

Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia  have made voter registration automatic. Your state is 100% capable of taking the same step.

We're at 22 states plus DC. But 39 states have automatic registration for a military draft. Where are our priorities?