Local

The arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are a diplomatic disaster for Israel, reported The Economist, a ‘hard stigma’ for the Israeli leader,

The Ohio Coalition To End Qualified Immunity (The OCEQI) announces serious concerns regarding Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s repeated public hostility toward the proposed initiative aimed at ending qualified immunity, prosecutorial immunity, sovereign immunity, and all statutory immunities enjoyed by the government to the detriment of the people.

Over the past two years, Secretary LaRose has engaged in a pattern of false and disparaging statements about the initiative and its sponsors, referring to it as an “assault on our state constitution” and accusing its backers of being financed by “the radical left.” In an article by the Toledo Blade on August 10, 2023, Secretary LaRose claimed the initiative “threatens to unleash a flood of frivolous, politically motivated lawsuits against the brave men and women trying to protect our communities.”

November 30-December 1, 2024

Small Business Saturday encourages Americans across the country to support local small businesses. The day infuses money back into our local economies, promotes vibrant and diverse communities, and celebrates the important role of small businesses in the national economy.

Saturday in Grandview Heights -- Come out and shop small and local and be sure to put Yarn It on your schedule! If even thinking about shopping til you drop exhausts you, then just come by for a relaxing sit & stitch. Either way, we'll be glad to see you! To celebrate, we'll have a wee gift bag for the first 5 sales of the day and we'll be open until 5pm (rather than our usual 4) in case you need a little extra time to get to us.

Sunday -- 

Join the Central Ohio African American Chamber of Commerce (COAACC) for Small Business Sunday on December 1, from 12n - 5:00 p.m. We know... everywhere else nationally celebrates Small Business Saturday, but here in Columbus it's also OSU vs. Michigan and (hate it or love it) we know where Columbusites will be.

This article first appeared on Reel Time with Richard.

When Jesse Eisenberg made his debut as a writer/director with 2022’s When You Finish Saving the World, some found its depiction of familial squabbles heavy-handed and its characters insufferable.

Now Eisenberg is back with another comedy-drama about family relations, and he seems to have taken the criticisms to heart. A Real Pain’s two leading characters are flawed but likable, and its depiction of their squabbles is hardly heavy-handed. To the contrary, Eisenberg makes us work to figure out just what is behind them.

David Kaplan (played by Eisenberg himself) is a successful New Yorker with a wife and young son. His cousin Benji (Kieran Culkin) is single, jobless and lives in his mother’s upstate home.

Skylab’s last party wasn’t a reunion of the history of DIY @ 57 E. Gay Street.

Last Skylab Party: Friday November 22, 2024

The current Skylab community danced with a reunion of late 90’s techno, Friday November 22, 2024. I ain’t saying 90s Techno wasn’t artistic or involved with Columbus culture. I think late 90s techno in 90s DIY circles were at a Space called Fire Exit. I don’t know if Fire Exit utilized FBK, Stevie Zeven, Fractured Eons, and Chris Mckee.

Do you consider Mouse on Mars an electronic group? I saw Mouse on Mars at Fire Exit.

I think the Elemental Crew were the techno deejay’s involved with Fire Exit. Elemental were involved with Titonton, Todd Sines ETC. I’d seen Titonton’s name from Skylab’s Instagram during this year. Titonton, Todd Sines ETC. weren’t at Friday’s event, but I talked with people who attended Fire Exit techno events.

FB, Stevie Zeven, Fractured Eons, and Chris Mckee weren’t wack. I kept realizing I didn’t hate the techno music.

Skylab’s living room was filled people drinking and conversation. People danced in the gallery.

Friday, November 29, 2-24, 7:00 – 8:30 PM
 Maple Grove United Methodist Church, 7 W. Henderson Road, Columbus.  Free parking is available in the parking lot just South of the church.  It’s accessible from Aldrich Road, one street south of Henderson, off north High Street.

Friends. Family. Freedom. Food. Music. Pets. Laughter. Nature. And dozens of other things. Despite political turmoil and a divided nation, we have so much to be thankful for.  Playing piano and guitar, Bill will sing songs linked to a wide variety of folks --- John Denver, Bing Crosby, Phil Ochs, Louis Armstrong, and Don McLean. Even Johnny Appleseed, Jiminy Cricket, and the TV show, “Golden Girls.” 

On several songs, Ann Fisher will add beautiful flute accompaniment, David Maywhoor will add percussion, and Joe Lambert and Joanne Blum will add soothing vocal harmonies. 

A list of the reforms needed by the U.S. election system could fill, and has filled, many a book. But the fundamental reforms without which no others will have the needed impact are:

The people of the state of Maine just voted overwhelmingly to limit the amount of money an individual can give to a Super PAC. While there are serious limits on what an individual can pay to an electoral candidate's campaign, a political action committee called a Super PAC can spend unlimited money promoting a candidate and can take unlimited money from individuals -- or can in the state of OH but not any longer in Maine.

After several years of rejecting the Ohio Coalition To End Qualified Immunity’s (OCTEQI) petition summary, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office on Nov. 25 finally officially accepted their summary of its proposed constitutional amendment seeking to end qualified immunity for peace officers and possibly other government officials in Ohio.

The OCTEQI believes, as other activists do, that the only way to curb police brutality is to change policy. Qualified immunity shields law enforcement and other state actors from personal liability (civil suits).

A November 8 ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court prompted Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to re-evaluate the summary and its title, “Protecting Ohioans Constitutional Rights.” His office had rejected the proposed constitutional amendment nearly ten times before, but the OCTEQI time and time again was unrelenting in its effort to gather the roughly 1,000 signatures for the AG to approve the next step.

Tuesday, November 26, 4-5:45pm
Wexner Center for the Arts [Heirloom Café] [lower level], 1871 N. High St.

This event will be a “table talk” session during which visiting Scholar Essam Elkorghli [Department of Scandinavian Studies, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington] will share and learn of the role of education in imperialism.

Join us on Tuesday, November 26, 4-5:45pm, at the Wexner Center for the Arts [Heirloom Café] [lower level], for a “table talk” on Imperialism.

Use this link to read “Black Agenda Report” articles by Essam Elkorghli.

On Saturday afternoon November 23 a spirited group of local Black church congregations and other activists marched through the Short North after last week’s gross and sad display of hate. They wanted the community to know their response was not based out of anger or vindictiveness. Instead, it was based on compassion and love for each other and their community – and sadness towards those who hide their own personal misery behind hate symbols, masks and guns.

Rev. Victor Davis from Trinity Baptist Church who helped organize the “Jericho March” told the Free Press afterwards that he preaches social justice “every Sunday” and you can’t “preach the Gospel without that message”, and that there is a sense, at this time in American history, progress has been made. Nevertheless, in many ways the song of hate remains the same. Both him and his congregation were shocked and rattled by what they saw on the news and social media from the previous weekend.