RJD2 is one of Columbus, Ohio’s most beloved local creatives.

RJD2’s newest album, Visions Out Of The Limelight is break heavy, which should please people who loved Dead Ringer’s “Let The Good Times Roll.” I’ve known RJD2 for years. My usual RJD2 interview would mention RJD2’s graffiti friends – me, Wands, and Cram. Or I would ask him if someone who reads Howard Zinn would critique advertising circa Mad Men era? I figured I would avoid my usual questions.

Instead, we find where out where the party’s at.

RJD2’s Visions Out of the Limelight’s release party is Saturday June 22,  2024. Tickets 25 dollars.

We discuss a couple of my favorite RJD2 rap songs. We deconstruct a review I didn’t write with a written podcast.

I quote Playboy’s description of RJD2 – “Hipster Hop.”

I forgot about soliciting RJD2’s opinion about Campus Target.

Wes Flexner: Did you know there is a street called Ramblewood near Bethel Road?

RJD2: Ramblewood. I don’t think so.

The U.S. Green Party condemns  the recent House passage of legislation to automatically register all males ages 18-26 for potential military conscription through the Selective Service System.

The Democratic Amendment to H.R. 8070, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Section 531. Selective Service System:  Automatic Registration.  SEC. 3. (a)(1)  states, “Except as otherwise provided in this title, every male citizen of the United States, and every other male person residing in the United States, between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six, shall be automatically registered under this Act by the Director of the Selective Service System.”

The term is “banal militarism” – that is to say, violence and the preparation for violence so utterly commonplace that most people don’t even notice. Banal militarism is as American as apple pie. It’s also global in scope.

As Richard Rubenstein writes: “Part of the reason for the relative immunity of militarism to criticism is the extraordinary cultural power in American society of pro-military institutions and ways of thought. What some analysts call ‘banal militarism’ is omnipresent, so much so that it becomes virtually invisible, part of the air that one breathes.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is often criticized for failing to produce a vision for the ‘next day’, meaning the day following the end of the Gaza war. 

Some of these criticisms emanate from Israel’s traditional western allies, who are wary of Netanyahu’s personal and political agendas, which are fixated on delaying his corruption trials and ensuring that his extremist allies remain committed to the current government coalition. 

The criticism however is loudest in Israel itself.