Halfway House Coming to Your City!
(You'll never guess which part, either!)
I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but uh… our criminal president and his personal attorney serving as our attorney general don’t care much for the rule of law, that thing Republicans famously care about whenever a Democrat resides in the Oval Office.
Things are starting to look grim. Because if Trump wins re-election, that’s curtains on the American Experiment as we knew it until Hillary Clinton lost the most winnable election in modern history to a man who wasn’t even trying to win.
Deals, of course, did himself no favors by getting impeached over trying to extort Ukraine into a fake investigation of Joe Biden, “the most electable candidate” who finished fifth last night in New Hampshire.
THE HOMELESS ARE COMING TO SOUTHFIELD
Columbus is doing its best to eliminate poor people from downtown, which is why it needed to find a new location for the YMCA’s halfway house.
You’re never going to believe this…. but City Council decided to locate the new establishment in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Columbus. And the neighbors have some NIMBY in them.
From Bill Bush of dispatch.com:
The Southfield neighborhood on Columbus’ South Side will be the first affected by the decision in October to shutter the 235,000-square-foot, nine-story Downtown YMCA building and relocate up to 400 male residents to other city neighborhoods.
A divided Columbus City Council voted 4-3 for a zoning change needed by Community Housing Network to move 80 chronically homeless and disabled YMCA residents to a facility to be built on 6.28 acres at 2565 Lockbourne Road.
The decision came despite strong opposition from about 50 neighborhood residents who showed up at City Hall on Monday evening.
The site is between two homes on the west side of Lockbourne Road, across from Koebel Road and three homes on the east side of Lockbourne, and south of Route 104. The home on the north side of the property separates the site from Starting Point Learning Center, a large preschool operation that one resident said has about 160 children.
“They’re moving people out of Downtown, and they’re not communicating with the community,” said Jerome Ferguson, a Southfield native who has family in the neighborhood but now lives on the East Side.
Ah, the famously progressive city council not effectively communicating with underserved communities? That’s hard to believe.
It’s not hard to believe they chose Southfield, an underdeveloped area away from the bustling downtown. They already know what would have happened if they tried to put a charitable institution in a wealthy neighborhood. People would have rioted, and they might have the money to do something about it in court.
REPUBLICANS TARGETING TRANS TEENS AGAIN
Two Republican brain geniuses are back in the Ohio House with the the rights of trans children in their sites.
From Grant Stancliffe of equalityofohio.com:
The bill ignores the fundamental reality of medical care for transgender youth. Current best medical care practices involve a holistic approach to each individual including a multidisciplinary team and affirming care. Occasionally, puberty is delayed until young people are old enough to make their own decisions about their lived gender.
Scott Leibowitz, MD, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist & Medical Director of Behavioral Health THRIVE Gender Development Program, Nationwide Children’s Hospital: “These types of legislative efforts pit the Hippocratic oath against the law, something that no medical or other healthcare professional should have to choose between. Evidence-based policy statements and clinical guidelines––published by every mainstream pediatric medical professional association––speak for themselves and are paving the path for minors to receive care that promotes the healthy outcomes the youth deserve.”
Kaleidoscope Youth Center Executive Director Erin Upchurch, MSSA, LISW-S: “This bill is not about protecting families or youth. It blatantly perpetuates oppression, marginalization, and discrimination against transgender and non-binary youth; and encourages a harmful and devastating practice that centers ideas and beliefs over the actual lives of young people. Questioning, navigating, and/or exploring gender identity; identity in general, is a natural space of child and adolescent development. Young people in this space are not a threat to themselves or others; and should be supported with the best practices of affirmation and care.”
Hmmm… in one corner you have medical doctors… and in the other you have bigots looking to score cheap political points with some backwater bill.
This issue isn’t as accepted as something like gay marriage, so the Ohio GOP pushes stuff like this — like when Larry Householder threatened a library’s funding over a drag queen reading a story to children — because they know most older Ohioans aren’t as, uh, nuanced on this issue.
It’s embarrassing for our state in 2020. I don’t know why any doctor would move to this state.
THE RETURN OF TAYLOR SAPPINGTON
Taylor Sappington, then a waiter at Texas Road House in Nelsonville, Ohio, waged an unsuccessful campaign against the odious Rep. Jay Edwards (R-Nelsoville) back in 2018.
Honestly, his loss made me feel better about my loss. Because Sappington had a full campaign timeline. He and his team busted their asses every day. He was also the superior candidate to me.
So it’s probably no surprise I’m still typing sentences into the internet while Taylor won an election for Nelsonville Auditor and has already uncovered his first crime!
From Conor Morris of athensnews.com:
Nelsonville’s deputy auditor was indicted today (Feb. 10) on multiple felony counts relating to her allegedly fabricating payrolls records and stealing in excess of $40,000 from the city of Nelsonville.
Stephanie Wilson, 46, of Stewart, was indicted by an Athens County grand jury today on a fourth-degree felony count of tampering with evidence, a fourth-degree felony count of forgery, and a third-degree felony count of telecommunications fraud.
According to a release from Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn’s office, recently elected Nelsonville City Auditor Taylor Sappington reported several “irregularities in the payroll and direct deposit reports” to Blackburn’s office earlier this year.
“Wilson, who worked for the city of Nelsonville as a deputy auditor and was responsible for payroll since 2012, is accused of fabricating payroll records to have money electronically transferred to an account under her control,” the release from Blackburn’s office reads. “The amount of alleged theft is in excess of $40,000.00.”
Generally speaking, we get the government we deserve. We can eliminate garden-variety corruption from our system if we elect quality human beings who care about the overall good. And that’s my boy, Sap! He’s definitely a Dem to watch out in those parts, too, because he’s got the talent to climb the ladder.
WATCH YOUR HEART (AND YOUR POCKETBOOK) THIS VALENTINE’S DAY
Valentine’s Day is a completely made up holiday that Hallmark pushed on us. And what’s better than a night out on the town in February in Ohio?
However, if you are lonely this weekend… do not be deceived by any international man or woman of mystery that slides into your DMs with promise of some hot sex after you wire them $4,000 a bank account in Cypress.
From beaconjournal.com:
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is warning people not to fall for fake love this Valentine’s Day.
Last year, Yost’s Consumer Protection Section received 57 complaints of possible romance scams, with over $4 million in reported losses.
“A fake online romance can break your heart and the bank,” Yost said in a news release. “Knowing how to spot the red flags can keep bad love from getting worse.”
Yost said the scammers often claim to live overseas, and that they need money because of a medical emergency or to leave their country. In many cases, they pretend to be in the military.
A woman in Clinton County lost $475,000 to someone she met on an online dating site. She sent money by credit card, cash and gift cards to a man saying he lived in Egypt, believing the person needed help paying to ship goods internationally.
The military is a common tactic. I had to save my ex-girlfriend’s roommate from a check kiting scheme that she got in the mail. She grew up as an Army brat and she took the line, hook and sinker.
BROWNS OFFSEASON RIGHT ON TRACK
The Cleveland Browns offseason took another turn yesterday when a woman went on a radio show and claimed she sucked off our chunky quarterback in the back of an Escalade truck parked at a Cheesecake Factory.
I could definitely believe that story. It’d actually explain his 2019 performance if he spent most of his time trying to lure strange women to his truck for an afternoon blowie in a Cheesecake Factory.
I’ll let the Mayfields decide the veracity of this report. Either way, not a great start to the offseason for our wayward quarterback.
THOSE WMDs. Virginia Democrats kill pro-union bill after learning CEOs oppose it… How a changing wealth gap can tear long-time friends apart… The abuses of objectivity… I made one simple change and it altered my spending… Was Jean Calmet the oldest woman alive — or a fraud?