Opinion

I clearly remember my first day at an UNRWA school in a refugee camp in Gaza. I was five years of age. It felt like my life was over. 

 The distance from Block 5 of the Nuseirat Refugee Camp to the New Camp – located within the municipal boundaries of Nuseirat - was long, exhausting and terrifying. 

 I had to walk for several miles, on a very dusty journey that compromised my new, specially tailored red suit and orange sandals. 

 On the arduous journey, passing through citrus orchards and heaps of sand, I was accompanied by hundreds of children, some more experienced and confident, and others, like me, crying all the way to the UNRWA Elementary School for Boys. 

 On the way, I learned about the 'crazy man of the orchard', the disheveled guard who chases after unruly children whenever they try to pluck orange fruits from the Hirthani trees. I also learned about the unleashed dogs that belonged to some Bedouin tribe, whose bites may result in many rabies injections and terrible pain. 

We all want the same thing — to live in safety with our families and contribute to our communities. When government policies harm families, the policies should change. And when children are involved, our government should take the greatest care before doing something that changes their lives so irrevocably.

"When someone shows you who they are,” Maya Angelou said, “believe them the first time."

 That should apply to foreign-policy elites who show you who they are, time after time.

 Officials running the Pentagon and State Department have been in overdrive for more than 250 days in support of Israel’s ongoing slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Supposedly dedicated to defense and diplomacy, those officials have worked to implement and disguise Washington’s war policies, which have taken more lives than any other government in this century.

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.

Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org

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 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.”