Bums Cut Work, Go Fishing
Get the last Rooster dispatch until Monday.
NOTICE: I decided just now to redeem two of my remaining ten vacation days.
Normal service will resume Monday, July 8th. Have a safe holiday weekend.
I attended the Greater Hilltop Area Commission meeting last night. I never knew discussions over a convenience store could getting a drive-thru window could get so heated, but 7-5 decision against the owner ended with a local woman damn near ready to rumble with the naysayers in the parking lot outside.
LEGISLATORS GONE FISHING
The Republican governor and legislative supermajorities narrowly avoided a state government shutdown this week when it passed a 17-day emergency budget after two hobgoblins named Larry failed to produce a Constitutionally mandated budget despite sitting on a record surplus.
Because our government officials are normal people, they did what most people do when miserably failing at their jobs and cut work to head to Lake Erie to match wits against fish.
To make matters more hilarious, the legislators posted pictures of their excursion like Millennials with advanced stages of online brain disease.
Credit to Senate president Larry Obhof, who was reprehensible enough to go on the outing usually reserved for legislators that had done the grunt work of passing a budget but at least smart enough not to pose for pictures with dead fish like it’s some sort of accomplishment.
But don’t fret, Ohio taxpayer! At least nine people were tasked with hammering out the final details of a budget that is not yet public.
“Not sure what is happening elsewhere” is a whopper of a lie. I don’t need to be omnipotent to know everyone in that room knows their colleagues were pounding beers on the high seas of Lake Erie. The facial expressions tell the tale.
CAR TYCOON NOT INTERESTED IN WORK, EITHER
A depressing thing about the Ohio House of Representatives is there is always a kook you’ve never heard about lurking around the corner. This week’s winner is Bill Reineke, who comes from the Big Business Tyrant section of the Ohio GOP.
He too is not interested in passing a budget as he has his eyes set on a promotion thanks to his wealthy network of friends that keeps him from interacting with his filthy constituents.
From TiffinOhio.net:
The state budget, however, is at the bottom of the priorities list for State Rep. Bill Reineke (R-Tiffin), who announced his candidacy for Ohio Senate a few months ago.
Reineke is slated to host a “Friends of Bill Reineke Outing,” a high-dollar fundraiser, on Monday, July 15. Reineke and his team have been spending the past week or so making sure this fundraiser is a success.
While Reineke is notorious for avoiding contact with his constituents and has never held a town hall, the 64-year-old car dealership tycoon is excited for this opportunity to raise some big-time cash for his campaign.
“Join us for a day of golf at Mohawk Country Club, a Donald Ross design,” Reineke said in an email to donors.
According to a flyer from Reineke’s campaign website, the top sponsorship level for attendees at the event is $2,500. Prices then fluctuate to $1,500, $750, $500, $250, and $150, among other options you can “add-on.”
It’s depressing knowing guys like this get to pretend to serve the public. I realize not everybody is an Antifa super soldier like myself, but my God—even if I were conservative, I would hope I’d be just as repulsed by a guy like this being in government in the first place.
THINGS STILL NOT GOING WELL FOR IMMIGRANTS IN OHIO
Every member of Ohio’s Congressional contingent, except for Marcy Kaptur and Tim Ryan (who did not cast a vote), voted to fund the migrant concentration camps along the southern border with zero oversight.
As such, it’s no surprise things aren’t going well for immigrants (or their kids) in a state that was already deeply unfriendly to them even before President Business Deals road into the Oval Office on the back of nativist (read: racist) backlash.
One woman who has avoided deportation for two years by residing in a Columbus-area church just got fined half a million dollars in the president’s latest act of cruelty.
From Franco Ordoñez of npr.org:
The Department of Homeland Security sent out a batch of notices across the country to targeted individuals ordering them to pay fines of up to nearly $500,000 for "failing to depart the U.S. as previously agreed," among other factors.
It's the latest hard-line effort by the administration as it clamps down on illegal immigration at the border and increases interior enforcement.
"It is the intention of ICE to order you pay a fine in the amount of $497,777," Lisa Hoechst, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, wrote to Edith Espinal Moreno in a letter dated June 25, 2019, obtained by NPR from lawyers for Moreno.
…
Espinal, 42, said she could not believe the U.S. government thought she would have almost half a million dollars. She has been living in sanctuary at an Ohio church since an immigration judge ordered her removed two years ago. The church, its congregation and the community have largely supported her and her family.
"They want to scare me," Espinal said, adding, "because they know I am in sanctuary. And they know I don't have this amount of money."
Espinal said she came to the United States from Mexico with her father when she was 16. She now has three children of her own, including two who are U.S. citizens. She said her whole life is in the United States and she cannot return to Mexico.
The behavior of the Trump administration will only get more cruel as we get closer to America’s chance to evict their sorry asses. At least Espinal can see right through their scare tactics. Hopefully America can meet our challenges with similar courage.
But it’s not just Trump making life harder for immigrants. Some children of immigrants, who are legal United States citizens, can’t obtain Ohio identification cards needed to live a normal teenage life.
From Rita Price of dispatch.com:
Now that she is 16, Concha figures she should be helping her mom. Even a few hours a week at a summer or after-school job would put more food on the table. Or keep them from falling behind on rent and facing yet another move.
“The longest we’ve ever been in one place is a year,” Concha said. “Middle school alone was five or six places. But my mom always makes sure I stay in school.”
Knowing that she would need identification to work and to open a bank account, the teen first went to an Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles office months ago to obtain a state identification card. She was born in Ohio and is a U.S. citizen. “I’ve never been out of the state at all,” she said.
Still, Concha said, she has been turned away each time she sought an ID because her mother — who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border on foot more than 20 years ago — does not have legal status or identifying documents acceptable to the BMV. She hasn’t been permitted to sign for her minor daughter to get an ID or driver’s license.
…
Legal advocates estimate that at least 3,000 other 16- and 17-year-old Ohioans, most of them from poor or working-class families, face a similar barrier this summer even though they are citizens or immigrants with legal status. They are eligible for state identification cards, temporary permits or driver’s licenses but don’t have a parent or guardian who can meet the co-signing requirement.
Seems like an easy fix for the children that the Ohio Legislature claims to care about. Instead they want to declare porn a health crisis and take fishing trips to Lake Erie.
CHILDREN WITNESS TOLEDO MAN BECOME FIRST CASUALTY OF FOURTH OF JULY FESTIVITIES
If I’m unfortunate enough to live to 61, I hope I’m doing something cooler than killing myself with cheap Chinese fireworks in front of neighborhood children.
From the Associated Press via 10tv.com:
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Police say an Ohio man shooting off fireworks in his yard has died after a mortar exploded in his chest.
Witnesses told media outlets in Toledo that several children witnessed the accident Tuesday.
Authorities say 61-year-old Floyd Temple died at the scene.
They say he had been putting on a fireworks display for the neighborhood and that one of the mortars tipped over and hit him in the chest.
Don’t think those kids will ever see the need for fireworks again.
CASUAL DRINKS BETWEEN CO-WORKERS ENDS WITH GUITAR ASSAULT
Poisoning your brain with alcohol to the point y’all forget about living in Hell World is a classic way for American workers to bond with each other. Most of the time it ends fine, albeit with a crippling hangover that cuts office GDP in half the following the day.
Other times, it goes sideways.
From ohio.com:
Akron resident Jonathan J. Oldham, 29, was arrested and is facing felonious assault charges for allegedly beating a man with an electric bass guitar Sunday.
Akron police say Oldham hit the victim in the head Sunday morning with the guitar. The man was found lying in the devil strip on South Balch Street.
The injured man, who was not identified, was found by police about 11:30, Akron police said. He was taken to Cleveland Clinic Akron General with serious injuries, including a head wound.
He told police he was invited to a work colleague’s home and that the two men were drinking.
Few things worse in life than a drunk white guy busting out the ol’ guitar to tickle a couple of strings. Being beaten unconscious with said guitar is a preferable outcome.
THOSE WMDs. The moochers of Middle America… The lingering of loss… Why an accurate Census count is so important… Spending time with your friends is one of the best things you can do for your health… Whatever happened to Breitbart?
what in the actual ohio fuck is a devil strip?