Opinion
There has been an increase in the things that have separated us as Americans in our nation these past three years. We have been separated by hate. In 2018, the FBI reported that 16,039 law enforcement agencies submitted hate crime reports totaling 7,120 incidents. Of those hate crimes reported 59.6 percent were based on problems related to race, ethnicity, ancestry or bias.
We have been separated by religion. The recent anti-Semitic attacks that occurred in New York and Jersey City – where five victims were stabbed during a Hanukkah celebration, four killed while shopping and one physically attacked while out with her child – has brought attention to the public that anti-Semitic hate crimes continue to plague our cities. There have been shootings in black and white churches last year.
Artists, designers and anyone who wants to be a part of ComFest history, start your pens.
It’s ComFest Logo Design season again, and we need your artistic vision for the 2020 program guide, volunteer T-shirt, and beer mug designs. Each year, the winning ComFest logo is incorporated throughout the festival and becomes part of ComFest’s illustrious history. By tapping into the vast creative energy in our community, ComFest seeks to promote and share our values with a unique visual statement that inspires festival participants, volunteers and attendees. Perhaps your inspiration can do it all this year.
This year’s theme highlights each person’s power to make a difference, actively contribute to community conversations and elevate the political consciousness of everyone around them.
Including these concepts when creating your proposed design will make your entry more competitive in the selection process.
Here’s how it works:
Martin Luther King Jr: “Protest beyond the law is not a departure from democracy; it is absolutely essential to it.”
January should have been a month to celebrate new beginnings and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy. Instead, in Columbus, Dr. King would likely have boycotted his own birthday party after observing how our City leaders practice systemic racism and sexism in our city. At the City’s much touted annual MLK Breakfast, two young Black women interrupted Mayor Ginther’s speech by yelling “Justice for Julius!” It was peaceful protest – an example of the civil disobedience King’s legacy represents and what the City leaders were presumably celebrating. The two women were dragged out of the gathering and arrested.
In 2018, Julius Tate Jr., a 16-year-old African American, was shot five times by an undercover cop after he pulled out a gun. Julius’ 16-year-old African American girlfriend Masonique Saunders was charged for his death and with aggravated robbery. She reported that Julius had no gun and there is an affidavit by another eyewitness that has a different story from Columbus Police Department statements.
Staement from the Columbus Freedom Coalition:
The Google Doodle today honors the Greensboro Four, African American students in North Carolina who took a stand against racial injustice by staging a sit-in at a Woolworth’s counter. As you are no doubt aware this was a controversial stand. People were made uncomfortable as their world view was being challenged by the actions of these 4 young men.
I imagine that the individuals in the room on Monday January 20, 2020 at the Columbus MLK Celebration were uncomfortable. Yet it seems they were also oblivious. As they displayed utter disregard for the teaching and example of the man they had assembled to honor.
Dr King’s example of nonviolent protest was on display as members of the Columbus Freedom Coalition staged a protest at the Greater Columbus Convention Center event. I applaud CFC’s efforts. Remember Dr. King said, “The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage they did not know they had.’
Last Monday a United States Air Force Bombardier E11A communications and intelligence gathering jet was either shot down or crashed in a remote mountainous region of Afghanistan. Almost immediately a story sourcing Taliban officials ran on Iranian State television claiming that the dead had included Michael D’Andrea, the chief of the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.)’s special Iran task force, which goes by the name Iran Mission Center.
U.S. forces were hampered by weather, Taliban gunfire and terrain from reaching the site of the crash for more than 24 hours, and the lack of any kind of definitive commentary from Washington gave the story legs. Given the news vacuum on the story, the Iranian account was picked up throughout the Middle East, to include photos allegedly taken of the downed plane and of burned corpses. Russian Media also featured the story and it was eventually even reported, though with some editorial skepticism, by the Independent and Daily Mail in the United Kingdom.
According to its website, “Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s mission is
to enrich and connect our community through intimate and
transformative musical experiences which exemplify and foster artistic
excellence, education and innovation.” Based on its Jan. 17 Baroque
Brass III performance at The Huntington, which included works by
Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell, Scarlatti, Bach, etc., lucky listeners could add,
to coin a term, “transport-ative” to LACO’s mission statement. In that
the ensemble’s conservatory-trained players transport world weary
audiences far from the workaday domain of routine daily existence,
with all its cares and woes, to a more serendipitous, sonorous higher
realm of bliss.
The evening opened with a quartet enticing German composer Johann
Melchior Molter’s serene 1696 “Symphony in C Major” out of their
brass instruments, setting the stage, so to speak, of a tranquil night
with an exceedingly peaceful six minutes. The four musicians - three
men, one woman - clad in elegant black outfits, played horns and
trumpets, issuing a clarion call for calm in our whirligig, troubled
According to its website, “Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s mission is
to enrich and connect our community through intimate and
transformative musical experiences which exemplify and foster artistic
excellence, education and innovation.” Based on its Jan. 17 Baroque
Brass III performance at The Huntington, which included works by
Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell, Scarlatti, Bach, etc., lucky listeners could add,
to coin a term, “transport-ative” to LACO’s mission statement. In that
the ensemble’s conservatory-trained players transport world weary
audiences far from the workaday domain of routine daily existence,
with all its cares and woes, to a more serendipitous, sonorous higher
realm of bliss.
The evening opened with a quartet enticing German composer Johann
Melchior Molter’s serene 1696 “Symphony in C Major” out of their
brass instruments, setting the stage, so to speak, of a tranquil night
with an exceedingly peaceful six minutes. The four musicians - three
men, one woman - clad in elegant black outfits, played horns and
trumpets, issuing a clarion call for calm in our whirligig, troubled
Satire by comedian Mona Shaikh and Ed Rampell-
The Evangelical magazine Christianity Today's editor rebuked the president in a December op-ed entitled "Trump Should Be Removed From Office." In the interests of equal time we give the devil his due with an editorial response from a periodical on the other side of the fiery aisle:
Trump Should Reign for 1,000 Years
In our founding parchments, Lucifer explains that Satanism Tonight Dispatches will help diabolical Satanists interpret one-sided fake news in a manner that reflects their deep, utter lack of faith. The impeachment of Donald Trump is a significant event in the story of our Lake of Fire. It requires ranting and raving. And if anybody knows about witch-hunts, it’s us!
A new freely downloadable book
I would like to announce the publication of a book, which deals with the world's failure to adequately address the existential danger of catastrophic climate change. The book consists mainly of book chapters and articles that I have previously published, although a considerable amount of new material has been added. It can be freely downloaded and circulated from the following link:
Greta Thunberg's speeches at Davos, 2020
Speaking fearlessly to billionaires and heads of state like a new Joan of Arc, Greta said: