Guns for Everyone, Everywhere
Guns for Everyone, Everywhere
Ohio man explains lost weeding ring with fabricated robbery, high school fires coaches who drank, and more.
I try not to judge people for how they spend their time unless it’s actively making life harder for working folks. That said, millions of people spent two hours last night watching the Democratic presidential debates when the most memorable moment happened on Twitter:
I can’t explain why I find “-V (Tulsi’s sister)” so funny, but I laughed so hard I almost forgot crypto-fascists financed Tulsi Gabbard’s trip to Syria and she came back as an apologist for the genocidal Bashar Al-Bashad.
Anyway, back to Ohio, where the Supreme Court is expected to announce its ruling on Ohio’s gerrymandered Congressional districts at 10:30 a.m.
Given that President Deals can’t win re-election without Ohio, I suspect a party-line vote that keeps the state’s ridiculous districts in tact for one more election.
OHIO MOVES A STEP CLOSER TO LETTING ANY MOTHERFUCKING IDIOT CARRY A CONCEALED GUN
When the slave-owning plutocrats who founded our country wrote the Second Amendment, they envisioned a “well-regulated militia” bearing the arms in defense of America.
Fast forward 243 years and gun-fucking Ohio Republicans have distilled that phrase to “anybody off the street can carry a concealed weapon without training or permit.”
Their vision could soon become reality.
From the Associated Press via 10tv.com:
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio House committee has approved proposed legislation to give Ohioans the legal right to carry concealed firearms without obtaining training or a license.
The House Federalism Committee sent the bill to the Republican dominated House on a 7-4 vote Wednesday. Three Democrats and Republican Rep. Ryan Smith voted against the measure. The panel voted 6-5 to remove a Republican-sponsored amendment requiring licensed firearms dealers to give purchasers a leaflet describing state gun laws after a pro-gun group and Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder objected.
Law enforcement and prosecuting attorney groups oppose the bill, especially a provision removing the duty of gun owners to tell police officers they're carrying a concealed weapon.
The pamphlet that Republicans removed from the statute told gun owners they have a duty to retreat before shooting someone in public (as opposed to their home or vehicle). Accurately stating the law wasn’t good enough for the gun-fuckers:
"And until Ohio fixes our disastrous self-defense laws, [Rep. J. Kyle Koehler’s amendment could get innocent people killed," the [Ohio Gun Owners Group] wrote on its website.
They’re absolutely right innocent people could get killed. Unfortunately it’s not going to be the paranoid, ill-informed maniac with a gun.
WINNING ELECTIONS 101: BRIBE THE CHURCHES
It’s hard for Ohio Republicans to win elected office in cities with more than 30,000 people. So, they have two options:
Move out of a metropolitan area to a location where their views are more acceptable
Cheat
It appears Cincinnati Councilman Jeff Pastor chose door number two.
From Sharon Coolidge and Dan Horn of cincinnati.com:
During the campaign for Cincinnati City Council in 2017, a few candidates complained that future Councilman Jeff Pastor handed out money from the charitable foundation he ran to win votes from local church congregations.
Federal tax records reviewed Wednesday by The Enquirer show the foundation gave $310,000 that year to a dozen Hamilton County churches, all but one of which had never before received a donation from Pastor's foundation.
Most of the churches received $25,000 for "general support" from the Charles L. Shor Foundation for Epilepsy Research, according to the tax return filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Pastor was the foundation's director at the time.
In the four years prior to 2017, tax records show, the foundation gave to Cincinnati churches or temples on two occasions.
Shifting money away from Epilepsy research into the coffers of churches with members whose votes you need to win is as ruthless as it is unethical.
Pastor proved long ago, however, he has no problem with such shenanigans.
From Jason Williams of cincinnati.com in May 2018:
Fact is, no proof has surfaced that the rookie Cincinnati city councilman did anything illegal or even unethical by accepting a $550,000 home from his boss and benefactor – a citizen who happens to want money out of City Hall to fix the wet basement in his own palatial estate.
But at the very least it's sloppy and looks bad, and it probably should be looked into by the Ohio Ethics Commission, City Council and perhaps the Hamilton County prosecutor.
Last week, uber-rich Hyde Park resident Charlie Shor bought the house for Pastor. In January, Shor sent an email to the city manager's office asking the city to help with his $1 million basement problem. He said Pastor advised him to reach out, and Shor's grievance is ongoing.
Nothing illegal? Maybe. Nothing unethical? That’s a bit of a stretch.
Surprisingly, the Hamilton County GOP, which (rightfully) cried murder in the aftermath of the Democratic City Council’s “Gang of Five” text messaging scandal, has had nothing to say about this dubious behavior from one of their own.
Calling Cincinnati’s politics a shit show is insulting to shit shows, which are at least entertaining.
HIGH SCHOOL WAXES ENTIRE COACHING STAFF FOR IMBIBING ON THE JOB AT DRY CAMPUS
Schools usually grant football coaches ethical leeway due to the revenue and morale-boosting their programs bring to the schools at large. (See: Urban Meyer and Ohio State.)
Revere High School in Richland, Ohio, is not one of those schools. It whacked its entire football staff when it discovered they drank during a camp outing at Heidelberg University.
From Emily Mills of ohio.com:
Revere High School parents, football players and community members turned out in force Tuesday to learn more about the district’s decision to remove all of the school’s football coaches from their posts.
The nine coaches — two of whom are staff members — admitted to drinking alcohol at an offseason football camp — a violation of school and state codes of conduct, officials said.
…
The coaches consumed alcohol on the lower level of the dorm where students were staying on the night of June 10, Montgomery said. No students were injured or involved.
“Our coaches brought alcohol to a dry campus,” he said. “They disposed of the empty alcohol canisters on private property. One of them engaged in other highly inappropriate conduct at that time.”
Montgomery said university officials contacted Revere officials June 11 and said the former coaches were “allegedly drinking alcohol at the time when they were responsible for student supervision.”
Parents attacked administrators for giving the coaches “the death penalty,” which might have a new meaning with which I’m not yet familiar.
What’s unfortunate for the coaches is obviously a lot of planning went into those beers. And who amongst us hasn’t enjoyed a cold glass of suds after a hard day of yelling at beefy teenagers under the hot summer sun?
I’m shocked they went the route of firing the entire staff, but props to Revere High School for sticking to their standards. It’s something of which you don’t see a lot in this day in age when football coaches are involved, although it’s probably easier when they went 6-4 and not 10-0 last season.
FRANK LaROSE DOING EVERYTHING HE CAN TO STOP PURGING VOTERS EXCEPT STOP PURGING VOTERS
Ohio will spend more taxpayer money to prevent people from being purged from the voter rolls instead of just stopping the purging in the first place.
From Julie Carr Smyth of the Associated Press:
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio's elections chief launched a program Wednesday that will enlist the help of community and social service groups to find voters who are at risk of being removed from the state's registration rolls.
The initiative is included in an order that Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued to the 88 county election boards in Ohio, a perennial battleground state. It requires them to send his office names for a "registration reset list" he plans to share with local organizations that work closely with populations vulnerable to removal.
"I want to partner with some of these community organizations that are, in many cases, better equipped than any government office to actually go out and find people in the communities, because they are local, on-the-ground, grassroots organizations," LaRose said in an interview.
LaRose's order maintains Ohio's stringent "supplemental process" for removing voters from the rolls. Voters who have failed to participate in election activity from a given address for two years are sent a confirmation notice that triggers a four-year clock for canceling their registration.
LaRose is like Lieutenant Governor John Husted (who earns a higher salary than his millionaire boss Governor Mike DeWine). They’re both capable of buffing their anti-democratic views and servitude to big business with words that make it seem like they’re just two guys who bring their lunch pails to work every day.
They can trick you if you’re not paying attention to the actions and consequences behind those words.
OHIO MAN LOSES WEDDING RING, COMPOUNDS PROBLEM BY LYING TO POLICE ABOUT A FABRICATED ROBBERY
Word of advice to any man who loses their wedding ring and fears the retribution of their wife: The dumbest thing you can do is compound your problem by filing a false police report.
From Natasha Anderson of fox8.com:
GENOA TOWNSHIP, Ohio — An Ohio man is facing charges after he allegedly lied to police, saying he had been robbed at knife point.
According to police, officers were called to a car wash on Monday for reports of a robbery in progress.
When they arrived the victim reportedly told officers two men approached him and robbed him at gunpoint, taking his ring. He gave officers a description of the men and their vehicle, sending officers searching through the area for the suspects.
Continuing their investigation, officers reviewed video feeds from the car wash and saw the man sitting in his vehicle, however they say he was never approached by anyone.
After several hours of further investigation, police learned the man had reportedly made up the entire story because he was afraid to tell his wife he lost his ring.
You know that guy was terrified about what his wife was going to do to him, because he didn’t even think about surveillance cameras before staging his fake-robbery.
If you’re going to that route, you have to at least enlist one of your equally stupid friends to don a ski mask and pistol whip you at the carwash to make it at least look real for police.
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