Arnold Classic Devolves Into Shit Show
We love to see it.
I’m typing today’s dispatch injured due to slicing my finger while cutting an onion yesterday. Nothing some Gorilla Glue couldn’t save.
Please keep that in mind as I begin my usual schtick of pretending to be the smartest guy in the email chain.
I have avoided downtown like a plague for years whenever the Arnold Classic rolls into town. The last thing I want to do is rumble with an insurance agent from Omaha whose mad because I bumped into him at an overcrowded bar and also because he does steroids.
Event organizers cancelled the expo and most of the spectator events due to fears of spreading the coronavirus, for which every athlete arriving in Columbus will be tested at the airport.
However, state officials and the Arnold are still squabbling over exactly how “cancelled” the event is.
From abc6onyourside.com:
Confusion continued as state leaders and festival organizers said competitions will go without spectators until Saturday's finals. Organizers said youth competition would also continue and their parents and guardians would be able to watch.
Several parents messaged ABC 6/FOX 28 to say they haven't received clear information on what events are still happening and if precautions are being taken for youth athletes.
Looking at the Arnold Sports Festival website, there is no mention of the event being adjusted. The latest press release was issued on Jan. 30.
Always heartwarming to see an inept organization argue against public safety because they want to make as much money as possible.
If I were a state leader I would simply laugh and say public health comes before private profits. It’s not like coronavirus appeared last week, either. This is something for which Arnold organizers should have had a contingency plan at the very least.
I feel bad for anybody flying into or out of John Glen International Airport this weekend because it sounds like it could be chaos with a light mix of coronavirus!
JOYCE BEATTY IS CORRUPT
I was at The Main Bar on Monday night, and I came into contact with a staffer of Congresswoman Joyce Beatty.
She said that Morgan Harper, Beatty’s insurgent challenger, has no chance in Hell at winning. I said if that were true then why was Joyce Beatty, a multimillionaire, out knocking doors on the South Side of Columbus last week?
Defeating an incumbent member of Congress is never easy, but it flummoxed me to see a Millennial shitting on another Millennial for having the audacity to challenge a career politician who inherited her first seat from her husband before he left politics to make more money in the private sector as a payday loan lobbyist (among other ventures).
From Matthew Cunningham-Cook of theintercept.org:
IN 2013, REP. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, and her husband made a significant profit on a property sold to a developer, while her husband sat on the zoning board that approved the sale, according to public records and meeting minutes reviewed by The Intercept. The buyer, developer Lifestyle Communities, purchased the property in Columbus from the Beattys one month after Otto Beatty voiced support for Lifestyle to turn the project into luxury condos at the city’s downtown zoning board, the Downtown Commission.
Joyce and Otto Beatty have long been a power couple in Columbus. Otto Beatty served 20 years in the Ohio House before resigning in 1999 immediately before being forced out due to term limits. Joyce Beatty was appointed to take his seat, rising to become minority leader from 2007 to 2008, before becoming a top official at the Ohio State University and, since 2012, the city’s congressional representative. The Beattys have been major players in the transformation of Columbus, as it emerges from its deindustrialization period and rapidly gentrifies. Yet the very changes spurred by the Beattys have now put her own seat in jeopardy, as insurgent challenger Morgan Harper has given her the first competitive primary since Beatty was sworn into Congress. The two are set to face off in the Ohio Democratic primary on March 17, with early voting already underway at a fierce pace.
Otto Beatty has been the longtime vice chair of the Downtown Commission, a zoning board which has enabled a transformation of the city’s downtown. The condos that were developed had no affordable housing requirements, despite an estimated shortage of 35,625 low-income rental units in Columbus. The condos rent from $1,600 for a 700-square-foot one bedroom to $2,600 a month for an 1,100-square-foot two-bedroom apartment in the rapidly gentrifying city. Higher-end apartments are listed without a price. The median rent for apartments in Columbus is $1,295, according to Zillow.
…
While in Congress, Joyce Beatty’s estimated net worth has increased from $2.6 million to over $10 million, according to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics. As of 2016, she was the 35th wealthiest member of the House.
Centrist Democrats love giving Bernie Sanders shit for being worth $2 million, as if he didn’t write a best-selling book (one of the most honorable ways to make a million dollars if you think about it.)
I don’t recall Joyce Beatty ever writing a best-selling book. It seems to me like her and her husband have been lining their pockets with insurance, real estate, and fossil fuel money while self-dealing throughout their respective careers.
The Beattys live in a multimillion dollar mansion with a pool on the outskirts of the East Side, and I’m supposed to believe they give a fuck about anybody in Franklinton? Give me a break.
I feel bad for people that look at Beatty’s career and think she’s a friend of working people. They’re naive.
CLEVELAND CITY COUNCILMAN SAYS POLICE NEED TO GET CREATIVE TO HASSLE HOMELESS PEOPLE
It’s legal to panhandle in Ohio. But a lot of Ohioans can’t be troubled with the sight of another human asking for money. They call their legislators (or even worse, the cops) to get the poor shunted away to some place where wealthy people can’t be reminded that homeless people exist.
This psychosis then works its way into the minds of elected officials.
From Joe Pagonakis of news5cleveland.com:
CLEVELAND — Cleveland Councilman Brian Kazy […] told News 5 he understands people have the constitutional right to ask for money, but said it's an issue if panhandlers are breaking the law or are jeopardizing highway safety.
“We’re going to start using enforcement by Cleveland police to get them off of the off ramps and out from underneath the bridges,” Kazy said.
"There’s loitering, there’s impeding the flow of traffic, there’s a couple of creative ways that CPD can go ahead and enforce them.”
This motherfucker Brian Kazy apparently thinks people panhandle in the middle of the road, as if a majority of Americans wouldn’t gladly drive over them in order to get to their destination 30 seconds faster.
If I were in Kazy’s position, I’d figure out a way to help homeless people rather than sic the city’s gym teacher gestapo upon them.
THIRD HAND-WRITTEN LETTER ABOUT MISSING NEW JERSEY GIRL ARRIVES IN OHIO
Whoever is torturing the family of a missing New Jersey girl is definitely going to Hell.
From Matt Gray of nj.com:
The third anonymous letter received by Ohio police concerning the disappearance of 5-year-old New Jersey resident Dulce Maria Alavez was found in the mailbox of an ice cream shop, according to Ohio investigators.
Dulce was reported missing from Bridgeton City Park in South Jersey during a family outing on Sept. 16 of last year. The case has drawn national interest and a reward stands at $75,000.
A letter and an index card referencing Dulce were recently mailed to a local library and casino/racetrack in Austintown, Ohio, located in the eastern part of the state, close to the Pennsylvania border. Details in the postcard prompted a search of a large wooded area in Austintown over the weekend, but nothing was found.
The third item, also an index card, turned up this week in Weathersfield Township, which is a few miles from Austintown.
I’m not sure what would be worse. If her abductors are writing these letters or it’s just some loser-ass hoaxer looking to add extra misery to the lives of a grieving family. Either way I hope these attention-seekers get what they have coming to them.
LEGAL WEED IN OHIO? WE CAN ONLY HOPE.
Drug War Dinosaurs control our state government to the point they sabotage our medical marijuana program to make it as inefficient and as expensive as possible because as we all know the devil’s lettuce is a gateway drug to fentanyl.
But there is hope for those of us that don’t believe abortion is murder and are forced to live in this state for various reasons. A petition to legalize marijuana is one step closer to the ballot.
From Tyler Buchanan of ohiocapitaljournal.com:
Will marijuana become fully legalized in Ohio next year?
That’s the hope of a group behind the proposed “Amendment to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.” The group recently submitted initial paperwork to the Ohio Attorney General office for this constitutional amendment to appear on the 2020 General Election ballot in November.
The amendment, if passed, would legalize marijuana possession and consumption in mid-2021 for individuals who are at least 21 years old. It would allow the state to enact a special sales tax on marijuana and related products, with most of the proceeds being earmarked toward local governments.
Though legalizing marijuana on a statewide level, the amendment would allow for some local control and for employers to place their own restrictions on employees’ consumption.
Something like this would pass in Ohio, which is why the Republicans will never let it make the ballot in the first place.
THOSE WMDs. Let’s get to know our new Democratic frontrunner, Joe Biden, in his own words… A fast mile is more impressive than a slow marathon… The rise and fall of the English sentence… I have been in finance for 30 years — this is how I teach my kids about money… Can you die from a broken heart?