Opinion

Republicans aren’t the only people who support private schools in Ohio.

The Columbus City Schools (CCS) Board of Education also wants to make private schools the best they can be. Need proof?

There are lots of cuts that the Board of Education are talking about to save money, but they keep ignoring the two most obvious. They ignore these two choices, because not to, would affect the administrators in the Central Office (over 250 full-time plus their support staff).

On December 8, 2019, the former superintendent got the paperwork approved for CCS to pay the retirement contribution for everyone in the Central Office. That means that every year since 2019 an additional 5-6 million dollars have gone into the pockets of the administrators in the Central Office instead of helping the students. Now with budget cuts on the horizon the entire Board of Education has suddenly forgotten this selfish decision.

Showing how selfish and greedy they are? That’s a great way to help promote Columbus private schools!

Introduction

This post offers a position against Trump and his administration policies during his first and second presidential terms of authorizing the separation of children from their families and treating them in abhorrent ways. It’s part of their efforts to deport immigrants and the promises they made to their base to do so. Such policies deserve our criticism and scorn. There is also something new currently, that is, to push for the end of birthright citizenship. 

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Looking Back to Trump’s first presidential term

 Caitlin Dickerson looks Back at the Family Separation Policy of Trump’s first term, writing for the American Immigration Council, Oct 30, 2025

(https://americanimmigrationcouncil.org/report/family-separation-policy). Here are comments and excerpts. 

Family separation during the first Trump administration

atch Palast on the Thom Hartmann Show today, November 24, at 10 AM Pacific.

Forgive me, but I have to send a little thank you to Jeffrey Epstein. The latest cache of the predator’s memos have finally brought down Lawrence Summers, once President of Harvard University, once US Secretary of the Treasury and the dark eminence behind banking deregulation and mass home foreclosures. And worse.

The newly released emails revealed that Epstein agreed to be Summers’ “wing man,” advising Summers on how to use coercive power to maneuver his female protégé into the sack.

I should write, “The Honorable” Larry Summers. He keeps his “Hon.” honorific as a former Cabinet member, though I wonder how honored Larry’s wife feels having to read the icky Epstein emails in the New York Times.

Summers was also a frequent flyer on Air Epstein.

Unless you’ve recently been abducted by ICE you already know about Columbus City Councilmember Emanuel Remy and the $84,700 paid to his staff member for his verbal abuse (our tax dollars mind you, not his). He has lost the trust of the people he is supposed to represent, but ran unopposed on November 4 thanks to the gerrymandered “At-Large” voting system where all competition is crushed without mercy… but you’re missing something.

One of the last independent journalists in Columbus, D.J. Byrnes AKA “The Rooster,” broke the story before the November 4 election. If you subscribe to his online news you would know about it (you should). Would that news have affected the Vogel vs. Ross District 7 race? Yes, it would have.

So what did all of the corporate-owned media outlets do about it? Didn’t they do their civic duty to inform the people of Columbus all about what a terrible person Emanuel Remy has been?

Nope. They did nothing. They sat on the story for after the election.

Those of us whose memories trace back to the afternoon of November 22, 1963, remember exactly where we were, to the moment, when we learned President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Sister Justicia, the Principal of Cleveland’s St. John Cantius Catholic High School called me from the study hall I was monitoring and shared the shocking news that President Kennedy had been shot. I suggested we link the school’s public address system to a network radio broadcast, so that the entire student body would know.

It had been a little more than a week since I had joined my senior classmates on a trip to Washington, D.C., where we excitedly witnessed, on November 11, 1963, President Kennedy laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier.

It was the closest I had come to the President who spoke to my soul , and I am sure to the soul of many young Americans when, in his Inaugural Speech he said:

“Let the word go forth, from this time and place, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans…”.

A little over two weeks after endorsing his rival on Election Eve, President Donald Trump will welcome New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office on Nov. 21.

Trump is going to get SCHOOLED on class, wit, and intelligence. Trump with his 2nd grade way of speaking and juvenile behavior that only flies with MAGA. Their sit-down is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET, according to the White House. It is currently listed as being closed to the press. That's the sad part. Perhaps the White House is trying to avoid Zelenskyy's style fiasco or another embarrassment like of MBS that happened yesterday with ABC News courageous reporter Mary Bruce.  

My advice to Mamdani before meeting Trump:

* Tell President Trump, "Do not stop me from making NYC Great Again,"

* Don't cut off the federal funds which is a fraction of federal taxes New Yorkers pay.

* Show the President little gratitude by saying "Thank you for endorsing Cuomo!"  

A Pickaway County resident spoke out last night against re-zoning for the Anduril Arsenal-1 Hypersonic Missile plant proposed for his community, warning that a munitions facility in central Ohio could be a target in future wars.

Free Press reporters attended the Pickaway County, Madison Township Zoning Commission meeting Thursday, November 20, observing a presentation by proponents of re-zoning requests by Anduril plant representatives and witnessed the adamant remarks from the opposition.

Ohio Nuclear Free Network (ONFN) spokesperson Pat Marida spoke out against the zoning: “I don’t know if the commissioners understand the magnitude of what’s going on here. That this is going to turn this into an industrial zone – noisy, polluted…Anduril came to Pickaway County in 2023 and started wooing elected officials. The public knew nothing of this until February 2025, when Madison Township trustees voted to rezone a site near Rickenbacker -- even though a crowded room of neighbors spoke out against it at the public hearing.”

De La Soul’s David Jolicoeur aka Dove died Feb 12, 2023. Dave was the Andre 3000 of De La Soul. Dove was soft-spoken, vulnerable and clever. David Jolicoeur’s death is central for comprehending De La Soul’s new album Cabin the Sky as an artistic innovation.

De La Soul is one of the most important groups in music. In Hip Hop, I liked to think about De La Soul as our Sonic Youth or Velvet Underground. De La Soul in a recent interview with the Breakfast Club said Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt were who De La Soul relates with from the newest generation.

De La Soul were the smart kids who were funny. De La Soul is a weird catch in music. De La Soul’s 3 Feet High And Rising, De La Soul is Dead and Buhlune Mind-state are experimental and artistic in the realm of Daydream Nation or Velvet Underground and Nico.

De La Soul then went minimal and serious.

Columbus Free Press Libby Award, November 9, 2025
Bob Krasen, Healthcare for All Ohioans
Comments after the award presentation

A TV Commercial ad is based on 3 simple questions. “What’s the bad news? What’s the good news? And What’s the difference?”

The Bad News?

The people in the USA have a 3 year shorter life expectancy than our neighbors to the north in Canada.

The USA is not one of the 58 countries in the world which provide necessary healthcare to their people.

Our infant and maternal mortality are the highest among first world nations.

Hospitals are closing where they are most needed: in the inner cities and rural communities.

Doctors are tired of playing “Mommy may I?” with insurers, drug companies, and hospitals, having to get prior authorizations.

Clearly, the USA healthcare payment system not working for us.

The good news?