Opinion
Over half of the money that Congress decides what to do with every year is for wars and war preparations, year after year.
When you add in police and prisons, and the militarization of police and prisons — and of borders and airports — and the Veterans Administration, you’re talking about two-thirds of the money.
So the big question is, of course, why do I hate Veterans?
Oh, go Dick Cheney yourself. I support universal free healthcare and education and guaranteed retirement and childcare and transportation and sustainable energy for every human being, veteran or not.
So the serious question is how the hell am I going to pay for that?
Well, with a fraction of what’s spent now on the militarized budget, of course.
Plus a fraction of what should be taxed from corporations and the ultra rich.
But what about the non-discretionary spending?
What about it? Much of it is for Social Security and healthcare, but a big chunk of it is for militarism — including debt for past wars.
So really I think we’re left with: why do I hate the troops?
Here is my story, my vision of a possible future. I encourage you to think about and write down YOUR vision for the future. How would you create the future if it could be any way you liked? We can create a future utopia if we focus our thoughts, energy and passion on it. And work for change now.
And so it began: the SHIFT, the change, the transformation that we all created together. It is precious and powerful, peaceful and strong.
The new matriarchy is a return to the rule of women, the mothers, nurturers and healers. After millennia of men making a mess of the world, women were going to put things right. Women’s priorities are to provide the basic necessities of life: food, shelter and love.
Dear Editor,
As COVID-19 continues its spread, one thing is clear: Ohio and the nation need paid family and medical leave.
As a mother of two, this need was front and center for me after the birth of my second daughter Ellie. Home alone with Ellie a week after giving birth, I became so sick that I couldn’t get out of bed. I had no way to take care of her, let alone myself. My husband and parents had either exhausted their paid leave and vacation time or simply had none. Things escalated when I had to go back to the hospital for treatment, forcing my husband to come home from his job to help get me there.
During that time I felt so alone, frightened and frustrated. I was told by well meaning people — who couldn’t help because they had no time off left — to just stay in bed all day. That’s a fine option for someone who has adequate assistance at home, but I had a newborn and myself to care for alone. How was I supposed to eat if I couldn’t make it downstairs to get food? How was she supposed to eat?
Is this the future, leaking into the present moment?
“You have good genes, you know that, right? You have good genes. A lot of it is about the genes, isn’t it, don’t you believe? The racehorse theory. You think we’re so different? You have good genes in Minnesota.”
The speaker, of course, is Donald Trump, playing, so it seems, the Nazi card at a campaign rally last week in Bemidji, Minnesota — tossing genetic superiority out to his white supporters.
One underrepresented voice in the police reform movement that’s swept the country this summer is that of the Black police officer. In her new memoir, “Walking The Thin Black Line: Confronting Racism in the Columbus Division of Police,” Melissa McFadden tells the story of her 24-year career, currently as a Black lieutenant with the Columbus Division of Police.
Black officers walk a thin Black line every time they put on their uniforms. On one side is the Black community they strive to serve and protect from unjust treatment; on the other, a racist institution where they experience ongoing discrimination themselves.
McFadden shares her 24-year quest to defend her overpoliced community while coping with the personal trauma of surviving in a racist police department in this new book available now on Amazon.
See/Hear our Emergency Election Protection Zoom #18: Everything about how the 2020 balloting is under attack: https://youtu.be/ZzHjSEdfhI8
Donald Trump has made it clear he will not peacefully relinquish power after the coming election, no matter what the outcome. He will brand any legitimate vote count that shows him losing as “fraudulent” and proclaim himself Emperor for life.
With the devastating departure of our beloved Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Trump’s ability to turn yet another election at the Supreme Court is now dangerously enhanced.
Those of us opposing a permanent Trump dictatorship must first focus our efforts on making sure he is defeated in the popular vote – and that this result is accurately reflected in the official electoral outcome.
The Hilltop Historical Society was going forward with its annual Camp Chase cemetery memorial later this week – when scores of Confederate flags are placed on gravestones – but they canceled the September 27th ceremony due to COVID concerns. This historical society told the Free Press the ongoing social justice movement had nothing to do with the cancelation.
More disconcerting and surreal to some, is what Hilltop Historical Society President Dave Dobos – who is also Vice Chair of the Franklin County Republican Central Committee – told the Free Press in regard to the canceled event.
We asked Dobos: if the event had not been canceled, would the society still have brought out scores of Confederate flags during this summer of all social justice summers?
“If it hadn’t been for the coronavirus, yes,” said Dobos, who was scheduled to speak at the canceled event. “I think anytime you are accurately portraying history, it is appropriate. Folks can make their own opinion.”
As many are aware, Camp Chase on Sullivant Avenue is a VA-owned cemetery where over 2,000 Confederate soldiers and a handful of Union soldiers are laid to rest.
Excerpted from Leaving World War II Behind.
If you were to listen to people justifying WWII today, and using WWII to justify the subsequent 75 years of wars and war preparations, the first thing you would expect to find in reading about what WWII actually was would be a war motivated by the need to save Jews from mass murder. There would be old photographs of posters with Uncle Sam pointing his finger, saying “I want you to save the Jews!”
1. The effort to extradite and prosecute Julian Assange for journalism is a threat to future journalism that challenges power and violence, but a defense of the media practice of propagandizing for war. While the New York Times benefitted from Assange’s work, its only reporting on his current hearing is an article about technical glitches in the court proceedings — utterly avoiding the content of those proceedings, even falsely suggesting that the content was inaudible and otherwise unobtainable. The corporate U.S. media silence is deafening. Not only does President Donald Trump’s effort to imprison Assange (or, as he has publicly advocated in the past, kill him) conflict with media fictions about Russia, and contradict fundamental pretenses about U.S. respect for freedom of the press, but it also serves an important function that is clearly in the interest of media outlets that promote wars. It punishes someone who dared to expose the malevolence, cynicism, and criminality of U.S. wars.