Opinion

It has been another exciting week in and around Washington. The murder of Charlie Kirk has produced speculation that has resulted in all the loonies and haters coming out from their various hidey-holes. This has inevitably included the chorus of knuckleheads that makes up the Donald Trump cabinet. Since Kirk’s death, Republican conservatives have called for a crackdown on the left, though it is by no means clear that any identifiable left-of-center group was in any way implicated in the killing.

In several influential European countries, solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinian people is finally translating into action. Though such action may seem belated to the tens of thousands of lives lost in the genocide-stricken Strip, it is, nonetheless, critical for the future of the Palestinian cause. 

 The political shift underway in Europe is a development of strategic importance. This is not because Europe’s voice carries a higher value on the scale of global solidarity, but because of the central role the continent has historically played in the inception of Israel, as well as the sustained political and financial support for its settler-colonial project.

If you care about Central Ohio sustainability or environmental activism, chances are your journey has been touched by Marilyn Welker. As one of Simply Living’s co-founders and a past Executive Director, Marilyn’s gentle wisdom and steadfast commitment to justice helped shape Simply Living’s history and the broader
sustainability movement in our region.

Marilyn traces her values to her parents’ quiet resilience. Before her birth, her mother contracted German measles while pregnant with Marilyn’s older brother, who was born with disabilities and passed away at only 6 years old. Her mother embraced spiritual growth, home gardening, and prioritizing organic foods as acts of love and self-reliance. Her choices were one of Marilyn’s earliest lessons that compassion and resilience are
cultivated through action. Her parents welcomed three more children. Growing up as the youngest of three, she absorbed those lessons deeply.

I had just finished this cartoon and was waiting on one of my proofers to give it the all-clear from typos when the news about Jimmy Kimmel came down.

The fuckers canceled Kimmel. The news is new, and I’m going to draw on this tomorrow, but I’m going to write a little about it now. I’m pissed. Is our democracy over?

Nexstar, one of the biggest owners of local TV stations in the country, including 28 ABC affiliates, said it will pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the immediate future because of comments Jimmy Kimmel made during one of his monologues.

Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr threatened to “take action” against ABC affiliates because of the comments. Now, ABC has “suspended” Kimmel’s show indefinitely.

Carr issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, saying, “I want to thank Nexstar for doing the right thing. Local broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest. While this may be an unprecedented decision, it is important for broadcasters to push back on Disney programming that they determine falls short of community values. I hope that other broadcasters follow Nexstar’s lead.”

We start with our Laureate MIMI GERMAN’s usual brilliant poetry.

We hear from the dis-incarnated Jeffrey Epstein about his money laundering with Donald Trump & V. Putin.

We further discuss the nitty gritty of the Second Amendment and the perils of gun ownership with the great DOROTHY REIK.

We here from former Mormon BRENT MILLER.

Our co-convenor MIKE HERSH introduces the great JENNIE GAGE and her post-Mormon Denim Revolution.

From Jennie we hear a fascinating account of how she broke away from her fundamentalist past.

We later hear from JONATHAN BEARD about the idea of progressives moving to Red States to organize & shift the Electoral College.

From Green Party Presidential candidate HOWIE HAWKINS who discusses the Trump-Putin alliance.

Howie then introduces SVITLANA ROMANKO who explains from Ukraine the hellish conditions in which green activists are trying to shift the nation from fossil/nulear fuel addiction to clean, green wind and solar.

From MICKEY LEADER we get questions about geothermal energy & its possible role in rebuilding Ukraine.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- President Donald Trump is miffed that the U.S. is aced-out by China in processing rare earths which are especially prized for making strategic-use magnets.

Those magnets are critical to create high-tech weaponry and equipment used by military and aerospace industries, including for U.S. warplanes.

China hopes to strengthen its near-monopoly over the world's military-grade processed dysprosium, terbium, and other rare earth elements by securing rebel-held mines in Southeast Asia's war-torn Myanmar while boosting support for its coup-installed military dictatorship.

"China intelligently went in and they sort of took a monopoly of the world’s magnets," Mr. Trump told reporters on August 25 while discussing tariffs.

"Nobody needed magnets until they convinced everybody 20 years ago, ‘let’s all do magnets.’

"It'll take us probably a year to have them. We’re heavy into the world of magnets now, only from a national security standpoint."