No Bailout for Ohio’s Coal and Nuclear Plants! Protest H.B. 6!

Big government building with round tower at top and white columns and lots of people on the grounds in front
Wednesday, June 5, 4:30-6:30pm, Ohio Statehouse [corner of S. Third St. and E. State St.]

Ohio House Bill 6 would eliminate Ohio’s energy efficiency and clean energy programs. It would replace them with a charge on every Ohioan’s electric bill that would go to bail out First Energy’s crumbling leaking nuclear plants and two coal-fired plants, one of which is in Indiana.

Opponents to H.B. 6 will be gathering at three locations across the state during the first week in June [Toledo on June 3, Columbus on June 5, and Akron on June 7] to protest this unacceptable dirty energy tax on Ohioans. Wind and solar power are cheaper and can replace nukes and coal, but not if we are subsidizing the dirty power.

Contact: Joe DeMare, 419-973-5841 or joe@joedemareforagreenfuture.org

Bob Bites Back: Orwell Goes Airborne

White man with black hair with his mouth open yelling into a mic and the words Bob Bites Back

The Central Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (COADCDL) wants to know whether law enforcement in Ohio is using the controversial Stingray surveillance device in the Buckeye State. Some people think it is.

Technically, the Stingray is an IMSI-catcher. ISMI stands for International Mobile Subscriber Identity, meaning this device is meant to “catch” your conversations and communications, but also to extract stored data from your cell phone. The Stingray is a cellular phone spying device initially created by the Harris Corporation for the Deep State. Not only does the device track and locate you, it is designed to unlock encrypted content.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) tracks which federal, state and local law enforcement and intelligence use these devices for “spying without a warrant.” Ohio is listed as a state where it is “unknown” if the device is in operation. The ACLU lists 13 federal agencies as using the spying device, among them are the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Army/Navy/Marines, the National Security Agency, and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Updated Data: Mass Shooters Still Disproportionately Veterans

Mother Jones magazine has updated its database of U.S. mass shootings. I’ve downloaded it and made a few changes, before posting it here.

NO EVIL EYE, a new politically charged micro-cinema in Columbus

Black woman standing next to a large film reel that says No Evil Eye on it

Cinephiles and movie lovers are treated as passive and apolitical consumers in the profit driven commercial film industry. The new leftist, radical, and underground micro-cinema, NO EVIL EYE, offers audiences and artists in Columbus a politically charged space to nurture their love for the art of films. The personal is political. Art is personal and political.

Ingrid Raphaël and Rooney Elmi envisioned and materialized NO EVIL EYE. Ingrid is a video creator, archivist, educator and co-creator of GRID zine, a physical and digital zine highlighting the stories and experiences of black, brown, indigenous, people of color, immigrants and refugees living in the US. Rooney Elmi is a writer, programmer, and editor-in-chief of SVLLY(wood), an annual print and digital movie magazine geared toward curating a radical cinephilia. Their manifesto highlights their belief in bridging their leftist politics of anti-colonialism, internationalism, and solidarity with art.

A Third Brazilian Mine Tailings Dam Disaster is About to Occur (and the Story Elicits Silence from Northeast Minnesota’s Media Outlets)

I plead with the readers of this column to click on the following links and read about the Vale Mining Corporation’s warning of an impending dissolution of yet another Brazilian mine tailings dam. Here is the link to the developing story.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-48391767

 

The most important part of the report is the accompanying video which should be required viewing for every Minnesotan, every politician and every lover of drinkable water, the St Louis River, Lake Superior, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) and Canada’s Quetico Provincial Park.

 

HARVEY Theater Review

Seventy-five years ago playwright Mary Chase’s Harvey started hip-hopping across the stage for four and a half years, as this whimsical classic about a great white rabbit went on to have one of the longest theatrical runs in Great White Way history. Chase’s three act play rather famously depicted well-to-do Ellwood P. Dowd, owner of a posh home somewhere in the Far West, also inhabited by his sister Veta Louise Simmons, his 20-ish niece Myrtle Mae and - much to the chagrin of the mother and daughter - the titular six-foot, three-and-one-half-inch, invisible rabbit. Ellwood regards Harvey to be his best friend, but his sister and niece consider the hare’s purported existence to be apocryphal and a source of embarrassment. Hilarity ensues.

 

Why Joe Biden Was Afraid to Face California’s Democratic Party

Joe Biden’s glaring absence from the California Democratic Party convention has thrown a national spotlight on his eagerness to detour around the party’s progressive base. While dodging an overt clash for now, Biden is on a collision course with grassroots Democrats across the country who are learning more about his actual record and don’t like it. 

 

Inside the statewide convention in San Francisco over the weekend, I spoke with hundreds of delegates about Biden while leafletting with information on his record. I was struck by the frequent intensity of distrust and even animosity; within seconds, after glancing at his name and photo at the top of the flyer, many delegates launched into some form of denunciation.

 

Orwell Goes Airborne

Bob's article on Ohio Sneaky Stinkray in the Sky.

Speak Up: Columbus Community Pride Spoken Word

Pink background, image of black woman to left, words Community Pride 2019: Decades of Resistance June 15th and Speak Up: CP Spoken Word 6/4

Tuesday, June 4, 8pm-10pm
The Vanderelli Room, 218 McDowell St, Columbus OH 43215
This event will feature local LGBTQIA+ artists of color through live art, live music, and spoken word.

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