In The Tempest William Shakespeare mused “What’s past is prologue,” which is certainly true for Jan Goodman, whose radical roots set the stage for a lifetime of activism, making her an indispensable part of Los Angeles’ Left. Born 1949 into a progressive family and raised in Watts, her father, printer Eugene Goodman, was named after Eugene V. Debs. Monikered after her dad, Jan was therefore also named in honor of the 1920 Socialist Party candidate who ran for president from a prison cell.

As the Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born’s bail fund holder, Eugene’s father, Morris, posted bail for left activist non-citizens imprisoned at Terminal Island. Morris, who also organized with the Insurance Agents Union, worked closely with Committee founder Rose Chernin; she was arrested during the McCarthy era and charged with conspiring to overthrow the government.

"Developers get handouts, kids get sold out!" rang out from the crowd gathered in front of the office of the Board of Education for Columbus Public Schools on Wednesday evening, July 27.

Members of the Columbus Education Association (CEA), a union representing more than 4,500 teachers and staff members of Columbus City Schools, have mounted a series of demonstrations this year as tensions have escalated between the union, the school district's administration, and the city government. With time running out before the start of a new academic school year in Columbus and negotiations between the union's membership and school officials stalled, members of the union have called for a vote to recommend a strike.. That recommendation could come as soon as August 4.

As the US Senate prepares to vote on next year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), take action NOW to tell your US senators to stop financing deadly police and military repression.  

In El Salvador, prisoners are being denied basic human rights, including food, while journalists have recorded at least 56 people having died in custody due to violence, torture, or a lack of medical attention. There are also many instances of “forced disappearances,” where families have no information on the whereabouts of detained relatives.

Since Bukele came into office, he has dramatically expanded the size and scope of the military in direct violation of the 1992 Peace Accords, including securing a military budget higher than any point during the 12-year civil war. Despite all this, the U.S. continues arming and training the police and military as the largest foreign supporter of Salvadoran security forces. 

If you depart from an "us vs. them" philosophy of life, your first confrontation is likely to be with the cynics.

Perhaps the most important thing I learned was how deeply and intensely people wanted to be listened to.

Last week, for instance, I wrote about the weekend I spent, a decade ago, getting handgun training from the NRA—and what I learned, which is that the things you need to fear are endless, and when one of them pops up in your life you'd better be prepared to kill it. One reader said he wondered "if Robert has ever truly felt as though his life or those he values were threatened" and quickly answered his own question: Of course not! And then he crooned, oh so tenderly: "Must be nice for Robert to live in such an insulated bubble."

Issue solved! Everyone needs a gun, except for the utterly naïve.

If I'd had a gun, I may have taken aim at this snarky fool, but eventually I started calming down and thinking about his words—this monkey wrench of cynicism, as I called it—with slightly more positive energy.

All codependent relationships cause collateral damage. In the case of a failing marriage with children, the parent’s spawn tend to bear the brunt of the damage. In the case of the City of Columbus and big business, our people bear the brunt -- and many while accepting our lot as business-as-usual. In the meantime, our housing crisis puts increasing pressure on our most vulnerable populations. Often those in positions of power and specifically equipped to handle these crises are too far removed from them to understand their urgency on anything but an academic level.

During a podcast interview a few years ago, Council President Shannon Hardin described the nature of his position in business terms: The City of Columbus, in his view, is a corporation. The Mayor is our CEO and the Council President is our head of the Board of Directors.