Opinion

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, has been unaccounted for some time. Now, his lawyer and testimony from his family and fellow prisoners is revealing a picture of brutal Israeli torture. Dr. Safiya was abducted by Israel’s forces along with other medical staff and has been held without charge or trial. He’s also been denied access to legal representation until now.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya has been detained without charge in Ofer Prison. His prolonged detention without charges amid documented accounts of torture and inhumane conditions has raised concerns about his status as a hostage in the ongoing conflict. The Al-Mezan legal rights center has expressed deep concern over his situation, warning that Israel may be using his detention as political leverage in ceasefire negotiations. Despite international calls for his release, Abu Safiya remains in custody, facing a detention hearing that could prolong his arbitrary detention by another six months, according to a recent article by Palestine Chronicle.

Surveys. You see them online from the City of Columbus Department of Development and the Columbus City Schools (CCS). They take a few minutes to finish and afterwards you might have a nice warm feeling of accomplishment. You took the time to share your opinion and those in power will listen to you and act upon it… Right? Not a chance.

Those surveys are not for you.

Those surveys are for the people who write them so that they can tell their supervisors that they asked for public input; and therefore have permission to do whatever they want afterwards.

Phase One of Zone In (AKA the corporate takeover of Columbus) collected surveys from citizens worried about the future of the city. Those surveys were ignored, and in the end, the wealthy developers got EVERYTHING THEY DEMANDED. Again, the survey allowed city government to pretend that they care about the people who pay taxes.

Not to be left behind, CCS published a survey for the public and in true form ignored any of the real problems that the district faces in the future. Their ONE AND ONLY SOLUTION to the budget problem is to cut school busing and maybe sell a few unused schools.

The Columbus Free Press celebrated our 55th anniversary last Saturday, November 8 and honored five community activists, plus one outstanding community organization.

Watch video here

The event was the November Salon and Annual Awards ceremony at the First Unitarian Universalist Church. Dan Dougan served as master of ceremonies.

Any time a public official makes an on-the-record pronouncement to the press, it represents an official statement. If a military man makes a false official statement, it represents a court martial offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Fourth Commandant of The Marine Corps – Colonel Anthony Gale – was convicted by a court martial and cashiered for making just such a statement. The current commandant – General Eric Smith – should suffer similar censure for committing the same offense.

On January 15 of this year, General Smith looked members of the Pentagon press corps in the eye and told them that the Marine Corps had never signed on to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. This was a blatant falsehood. As he was speaking, his staff was frantically disestablishing the Corps' extensive DEI infrastructure and purging its websites of DEI related material. Including its personnel guidance contained in Talent Management 2030 which included the words "reinforcing diversity, promoting equity, and encouraging a culture of inclusion."

Editor's note: The election results from November 4th's Columbus City Council District 7 race between Tiara Ross and Jesse Vogel showed that Vogel won the most votes in District 7, but lost the election to Ross, who won the most votes outside the district. Under Columbus' odd district-based system, district candidates are voted on by the entire city.

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COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL PRESS RELEASE - 11/6/25

Congratulations to Tiara Ross who will be the next Columbus CounciI member from District 7!

TRANSLATION

Without the transfer of tens of thousands of dollars from members of City Council she would have lost. We tipped the scales of local democracy to get what we wanted. She owes her loyalty to City Hall and myself; not you. She will obey everything we tell her.

I look forward to working with her to move Columbus forward. Every neighborhood and every family will benefit from her passion and heart for service. Her victory is not just for her but for every community that needs a fighter.

TRANSLATION

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A coding flaw in China's artificial intelligence application DeepSeek allows it to reveal subversive details about Beijing's extensive censorship, "hundreds of millions of surveillance cameras," human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet, and other contradictions to the Chinese Communist Party.

DeepSeek's AI R-1 artificial intelligence app also warned any Chinese trying to "Make China Great Again" would be charged with sedition.

"DeepSeek is well-suited for use cases such as unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomous surface vessels, and forward fire-control nodes where limited power and communications bandwidth have historically restricted AI use," the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation reported on Oct. 27, analyzing "DeepSeek's use in China's military and public security systems."

China's "public security literature also frames DeepSeek as a tool for intelligence-led governance."

Chinese "official discourse further elevates DeepSeek as critical to a 'new-type public security combat power'," Jamestown said.

Hours before New York City voters elected Zohran Mamdani as their next mayor, right-wing pundit and MAGA podcast superstar Megyn Kelly stated Muslims like New York City's mayor-elect shouldn't hold office in the U.S. Kelly said Mamdani, a U.S. citizen born in Uganda, is "not American" and that Muslims should not be allowed to hold a public office in America because she said that “the tenets of Islam are not consistent with Western civilization.” I will get to that in a minute.

First, one has to wonder if Megyn Kelly had ever met a Muslim in her home state or if her parents are closely related. Either way, this hatemonger thinks that she will not be held accountable for her bigoted and insulting comments about Muslims. Miss Kelly sounded like Archie Bunder with a law degree. She is the one who is un-American and just plain sick. 

American citizens regardless of origin are entitled to run for elected offices as long as they qualify by law. It is up to voters to decide whether they should serve or not. Kelly is basically saying she doesn't like his politics therefore he shouldn't be eligible. 

Dr. Bob and Dan-o Dougan bring us songs about doctors, nurses and medicine, including Dear Doctor, many songs with the name "Doctor, Doctor," Doctor My Eyes, and more!

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation of seven emirates that tightly controls speech and where political parties are illegal. The tiny Gulf state is home to 10 million people of whom just 10 percent are Emirati citizens. The UAE has recently made international new when it deported a Palestinian telecom engineer, identified as S.M., after living in the UAE for 20 years, following a casual comment during a celebration at a government agency in Abu Dhabi in which he refused to drink Pepsi, saying: "Boycott."

According to informed sources quoted by Sunna Files, the Palestinian engineer was summoned to a security agency in Abu Dhabi just two days after the incident and informed that he had to leave the country within days. This forced him to liquidate his business and withdraw his children from their schools before leaving for Jordan with a temporary passport.

UAE's repressive measures against free speech supersede those of Israel and US