Opinion

In the face of the international legal and political systems' paralyzing silence and utter failure to hold Israel accountable for its genocide in Gaza, international civil society has refused to stand idly by. Instead, it continues to forge a path, presenting essential working models for what true justice in Palestine must look like.

 The latest, and arguably most critical, expression of this global conscience is the Gaza Tribunal. Its final session concluded in Istanbul on Sunday, October 26. 

 The Tribunal, launched in London in November 2024 and consciously modeled on the historic Russell Tribunal, has a mission to activate global civil society and provide a comprehensive 'people's record' by rigorously documenting Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people. 

Thank you to the Franklin County Board of Elections for running a fair election on November 4th for the next member of Columbus City Council who will represent the citizens of District 7.

After the primary with three candidates, Jesse Vogel won the majority of votes in District 7. On November 4th he also won the majority of votes in District 7. The tax-paying citizens of District 7 made their voices heard and Jesse Vogel is the person they want to represent them in city government. Right or wrong, District 7 believes in Jesse Vogel.

So what happens now?

Tiara Ross will triumphantly take her chair on City Council and applause will ring throughout city hall: a victory Dick Cheney would be proud of because every step was coordinated to win. Every member of City Council voluntarily donated thousands of dollars to her campaign and knocked on doors to get out loyal members of the Franklin County Democratic Party.

Get over it.

Let him rest in . . . peace?

I don’t know. The irony of those words is a little too much for me to grasp as I sit here contemplating the death of Dicke Cheney at age 84. Cheney, mastermind and primary organizer on the “war on terror,” which, in a 20-year span of insanity, cost the United States some $8 trillion and killed (murdered) nearly a million people, according to Brown University’s Costs of War Project.

And as though that total weren’t high enough, the Project notes that this number is very much an undercount, since it doesn’t include indirect deaths of the war  caused by “disease, displacement and loss of access to food or clean drinking water.”

In November of 2025, Zohran Mamdani—a youthful progressive who, just a few months before, was polling in the single digits—won the mayoral election in New York City. He succeeded in the country’s largest city, home to the highest Jewish population of any city in the world. He achieved this despite the political establishment, billionaires, and media landscape pivoting against him with unusual bipartisan cohesion. For a country that has spent the past decade doubting its own democratic immune system, this is a matter of consequence. It tells us that America may still be able to self-correct when it counts the most.  

As someone who has seen public life in the United States move further away from any moral center—particularly concerning the Middle East, justice, and the worth of Palestinian life—Mamdani’s win represented something I had not experienced in years: American democratic hope.  

Versión en español a continuación

Celebrating our 55th year, the Columbus Free Press will honor five outstanding community activists and a community organization at our November 2025 Salon and Awards event on Saturday, November 8 from 1:30-4:30pm at the First Unitarian Universalist Church, 93 W. Weisheimer Road. One honoree for the Free Press 2025 Outstanding Community Activist is Lezlie Combs. Facebook Event.

Lezlie started the local organization Central Ohio Rainforest Action Group in the late 80s, that provided free educational presentations at schools and other events, held numerous protests, letter writing parties and a benefit concert every year at Chelsea's during World Rainforest Week – among many other activities. The Rainforest Group helped co-found Community Shares of Mid-Ohio (COSMO)and Lezlie served as Vice President and President.

Tucson, AZ — AUDIT USA and its Executive Director, John R. Brakey, have filed a Motion for Reconsideration asking the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division Two, to correct several legal errors in its October 20 ruling in Santa Cruz County v. AUDIT USA. The Court, which sided with AUDIT USA in its Opinion, previously agreed the County’s lawsuit should never have been filed but declined to award attorney fees and sanctions — despite statutes requiring them.

In 2022, Santa Cruz County sued AUDIT USA and John Brakey simply for requesting a copy of an election record – the Cast Vote Record (CVR) – from the August 2022 Primary Election. Although the Superior Court judge promptly dismissed the County’s case, the County continued its unjustified litigation by appealing twice to the Arizona Court of Appeals.

With co-convenor MIKE HERSH doing the honors at GREEP #245 we welcome US Representative Adelina Grijalva of Arizona, elected September 23, now the duly elected USRep with the longest period of denial.

She confirms that the Republicans’ unprecedented refusal to swear her in is “undemocratic” and “dysfunctional to say the least.”

The Denim Revolution’s JENNIE GAGE welcomes the Congresswoman that she voted for in her own home Tucson district.

NY Activist HEIDI VERTAILLER asks how ordinary citizens can end this crisis.

Our Oregon-based Poet Laureate MIMI GERMAN tells of the fascist town council in Waldport that had their duly elected mayor arrested; the town’s citizens are now staging a re-call on the six town council members.

Grassroots theorist GARY KRANE urges pro-democracy activism to stem off the GOP’s fascist putsch.

Legendary Tucson-based democracy activist JOHN BRAKEY reminds us of the essential victory for ballot images in Miami-Dade, Florida.

Our erstwhile engineer STEVE CARUSO underscores the need for a core defense of democracy itself.

By now you’ve seen the November 4 election results. Some good decisions, but some truly bad decisions as well. Of course, there’s Councilmember Remy who has been accused of not treating his legislative aides with the respect they deserve; but still got re-elected. Why? Because WE DIDN’T HAVE A CHOICE.

The inappropriate behavior by Remy is a SYMPTOM OF THE REAL PROBLEM.

Hardin will treat the symptom the only way he knows how by 1. IGNORING IT (tried and failed), 2. Calling his wife to beg for her help (tried and failed), and 3. Paying a CASH SETTLEMENT to the aides he mistreated using OUR TAX DOLLARS.

No punishment for Remy, but the voters get punished by forcing us to re-elect him. Hardin will solve the SYMPTOM instead of curing the PROBLEM. And what is the actual problem?

Many remember the late Dick Cheney for his service as President George W. Bush’s vice president from 2001 to 2009, shaping the War on Terror. Others remember his multi-decade failing heart--”he has his own parking spot on the ER comedians joked”--and how he shot his 78-year-old hunting companion attorney Harry Whittington in the face in 2006.

Fewer know about his love of put-and-take hunting in which game animals are “put” (released) by an organization and hunters pay a fee to “take” them. Real hunters often disdain such no-chase. no-miss pastimes which use no skill.

In 2003, Cheney’s hunting party killed 417 pheasants at the Rolling Rock Club in Ligonier Township, PA, Cheney personally killing 70 pheasants and an undisclosed number of ducks. The birds were donated to Rolling Rock Club staff though the pellets had to be removed before they could be eaten.

The next year, on the day after John Kerry was defeated by Bush, the Veep availed himself of Air Force Two to visit Pierre, SD where a motorcade sped him to a Gettysburg area hunting lodge for what was characterized as a victory hunt.