Deep thoughts with Allan Block

The odious owner of the Toledo Blade on the local GOP Congressional primary, the history of circumcision, when it's okay to call a woman a whore, and more!

An AI-generated image of Toledo Blade owner Allan Block (approximate).

I tweeted Wednesday, if you can believe that, about my latest grievance with The Toledo Blade’s editorial board.

It’s been chapping my ass that The Blade has been running puff pieces about State Rep. Derek Merrin’s Congressional campaign without disclosing that its owner, the odious Allan Block, is a longtime financial supporter of “Mr. Mayor.” It’s journalistic malpractice!

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I’ve written about the Block family before, and it’s a good lesson in how fast a family can fall in a generation.

As recently as two years ago, when I was in the depths of my alcoholism, I would have just left the issue in the form of a tweet for the freeloading hogs on Twitter to enjoy, even if most of them have no clue about who, exactly, owns one of the largest papers left standing in our polluted backwater outpost.

But things have changed over the past 13 months. My Rolodex has swollen with the private numbers of some of the most heinous hobgoblins in Ohio. Those sacred digits usually rest in my phone until a moment of inspiration strikes.

It occurred to me, shortly after I tweeted, that a patriot had forwarded me Mr. Block’s number as recently as last month. As I learned with Jim Renacci and Cleveland restaurateur Tony George, you can just text or call these guys and they’ll talk to you as long as you play to their ego.

I decided to give Mr. Block a ring. And wouldn’t you know it? He answered the phone. Now, I admit, I bamboozled the old man quite easily by saying I was “Don Liberty, a conservative blogger in Columbus” who was “with” the Merrin campaign.

Mr. Block, early in our conversation, at least had the smarts to ask if I was recording. I said no, sir. He said good. Keep it that way! Because it sounded like something “fake” was afoot. He then proceeded to talk to me for the next 18 minutes about everything under the sun.

Topics included his disdain for Defiance County, Merrin running a “weak” campaign, the history of circumcision, when it’s okay to call a woman a whore, and the unknown fate of British princess Kate Middleton—among other hot topics!

You can listen to the unedited audio, lest anyone out there think I’m taking these quotes out of context.

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What follows will be the deepest thoughts from one of the richest men in Ohio.

Allan Block’s LinkedIn Picture

Why The Blade hasn’t been disclosing his Merrin donation history in their pro-Merrin editorials

• “Well, because [the Editorial Board doesn't] know; they haven't checked that. That's why. They haven't checked that. … It takes a lot of work to do that. Find that out. You don't find it out just because you sit down.”

Why Mr. Block supports Merrin over Craig Riedel in the GOP primary

• “Because Riedel comes from Defiance County, and that is unacceptable to Toledo Ohio. Toledo has had a member of Congress, I think since the Civil War. But if not, certainly well into the 1800s. We had a Congressman in 1868 who introduced the impeachment of [President] Andrew Johnson. This idea that we can have someone from Defiance—Reidel is unacceptable—from Defiance. And in a close district, he's going to lose to Marcy Kaptur.”

• “I mean, would I vote for him in November against Marcy? Yes. … [But] her re-election depends on having a Republican from 50 miles away running against her. … I mean, he lost to [J.R.] Majewski last time.”

• “[Republican Congressman] Jim Jordan has not thought this one through [by endorsing Riedel].”

Why Mr. Block supports Sally Culling over State Rep. Haraz Ghanbari (R-Perrysburg) in the nastiest Ohio House GOP primary of the cycle

• “They do have foreign connections, a foreign birth or first-generation American or whatever. Which country would we rather have someone coming from? Britain, the United Kingdom or Iran? I'll take the Kingdom of Iran any day. (Editor’s Note: Rep. Ghanbari is an American-born citizen of Iranian heritage.)

• You know, that doesn't mean people like those who come from Iran or whose ancestry is Iranian. So is he a Muslim? Not that I care. I don't.”

On the current whereabouts of British princess Kate Middleton and general thoughts on the British monarchy

• Block disagreed with my assessment that Middleton was either dead or purposely avoiding the media after her husband cheated on her.

• “I don't know why abdominal surgery would put you in the hospital for two weeks. But, apparently, they have a tradition. They don't talk about the health of the royal family and in media and this business of getting out of hand just a little [bit and] makes it much worse than not saying anything at all.

• “Most Americans are interested in [the Royal Family]. Not politically, but in a celebrity way.”

• “I understand that something like a third to 40 percent of British polls say that the monarchy should be overthrown there, only 250 years later than us. But there’s a significant Republican movement. I don’t think it would be right for them personally because of the history and the way the Monarch connects them to the former British empire.”

• “[The Royal Family] isn’t about tourism. It’s about the connection that they get to the former British Empire that uniquely can be accomplished and carried out and made possible by the Monarchy.”

• “But a lot of people there are against the Monarchy. But I would be disappointed in [British-born House candidate Sally Culling] if she were one of those people. Those people are leftist. They are the ones that want a republic in Britain—the ones that tend to be hard labor socialists, you know?”

On when it’s acceptable to call a woman a whore

• This part centers on a story from January 2021, when Governor Mike DeWine requested the resignation of Susan Allan Block from the Ohio Arts Council after a series of “offensive” Facebook posts in defense of the January 6th insurrection.

• “She was online on January 7th, 2021… making statements about the election was stolen. She said the election was stolen and referred to Kamala Harris as quote, “The Whore Vice President.” You don’t ever call a woman a whore… but in the case of Kamala Harris, she came up as the girlfriend of Willie Brown, the most powerful Democrat in California. She obviously had a sexual relationship with him. Only after she was Willie Brown’s girlfriend did she become a political appointee and then an elected official as a prosecutor. Although it’s not nice to call a woman a whore… You go and sleep with a guy, and then you get benefits that, in my opinion, would make you a whore.”

On the history of circumcision

On his support in the 2024 GOP Senate primary

• “They're all acceptable to me. I mean, I've been asked for money from all of them. I may have given an early donation to [businessman Bernie Moreno] when no one else was in the race because he contacted me early.”

• “I like Frank LaRose.”

• “[State Senator Matt] Dolan, I don’t know much about him but he ran last time and was a pretty good candidate. And I know he is of the same family that founded Cable Vision Systems. ... Chuck Dole, I think was his uncle maybe. I don’t know. And I believe it’s the same family. I knew Chuck Dole; he was a very quality guy. Very, very successful man from Ohio. From Cleveland, originally.”

• “Moreno’s story about being a businessman. An immigrant, you know, legal immigrant, a successful—I mean, we are not against immigration. We’re against immigrants who come in and do not speak the language. Who don’t want to work. Who want to be paid by the government immediately and get major government [help] from the taxpayers and do not add to the economy. Someone who comes in with education, with language, or will learn the language, it’s going to work. … We’d rather have a doctor than an indignant or an illiterate. We’d rather have a doctor or architect than an illiterate. That only makes sense, you know?”

• “Maybe I’ll see an ad on Monday night and that will determine who I’ll vote for.”

On Merrin running “a weak” campaign

• “The truth is he’s run a weak campaign. He didn’t know if he wanted [to enter the race] He was shocked by being overturned—by the stab in the back in [the 2023 Ohio House] Speaker’s election. Then his father died, and people deal with their parent dying in different ways.”

• “He got in late with no money. … His best argument is he’s from Lucas County and was taken seriously in the Legislature.”

On how he reconciles wanting to stamp out any state legislator connected with disgraced former House Speaker Larry Householder with his support of Merrin, one of Householder’s top lieutenants

• “I don’t know. I wasn’t in Columbus. I don’t know. But he obviously doesn’t have the connection. He’s not getting money from the Householder side now. Even if everybody liked him in the past, you don’t know him now. He’s in jail for 20 years or whatever.”

THOSE WMDs. FTC goes undercover against fake antivirus companies… There are dark corners of the internet, and then there’s 764… How Evangelicals use digital surveillance to target the unconverted… For $120,000 a year, this man promises to turn any student into Ivy League bait… A seamless dystopia: What happened to the 21st-century city?