The More Things Change

One year ago, Daytonians demanded Mike DeWine do something. He never did.

Here we are in August, normally my least favorite month of the year due to outside temperatures during every day of this 589-day month. I don’t really mind it this year since I’m not looking forward of having to spend the fall and winter inside when it gets dark at 5 p.m. and I can’t even look forward to the Browns bungling away a football game later in the weak.

Oh, well. At least we will have those three days in September where you don’t have to run your heating or air conditioning and can keep your windows open for three entire days before we have to go back to paying one of the corrupt energy conglomerates in our state.

DAYTON MASSACRE ONE YEAR LATER: ANY NUT OFF THE STREET CAN STILL GRAB A GUN CAPABLE OF MURDERING NINE PEOPLE IN 32 SECONDS

Dayton suffered a tragic mass shooting one year ago today when a maniac murdered nine innocent people and psychologically scarred numerous others in 32 seconds.

There was a public outcry. During a speech from Mike DeWine in Dayton, Gem City residents chanted “Do something!” at him until Mayor Nan Whaley hushed them for being uncivil, I guess?

DeWine got the message and in his defense offered a modicum of reforms that were dead on arrival with the gun nut hobgoblins that control our state’s policies on firearms. In fact, the only gun legislation that has moved a modicum of an inch in the Statehouse since the Dayton shooting has been a “Stand Your Ground” bill, which would inevitably lead to even more senseless death.

From Anna Staver of dispatch.com:

Guns will be just as accessible to people experiencing mental health crises on Aug. 4, 2020, as they were on Aug. 4, 2019. No law has been passed to encourage or require background checks for the private sale of firearms. Punishments for certain violent crimes remain the same.

Gun rights groups such as the Buckeye Firearms Association have said that’s OK because even the governor’s plan, which Democrats criticized as watered down, would be “a deprivation of liberty and loss of fundamental rights.”

Democrats say those groups wield too much power at the Statehouse and no gun control bill will ever pass so long as Republicans — especially those in the Ohio House — are in control.

DeWine, a lifelong Republican, told The Dispatch on Friday that he believes a deal is still possible.

Go read about Chris Dorr, the leader of Buckeye Firearms Association, and his grifter ass brothers. Would you be surprised to learn they organized the pro-coronavirus protests that demanded the government re-open the economy way too early?

This reptile has blood on his hands in more ways than one, and he’s influential in the Statehouse to the point of being able to stop any attempt at reform dead in its tracks.

Really all you need to know about how Columbus operates.

THE JUNKYARD DAWG TAKES THE HIGH ROAD

Ohio House Minority Leader Emilia Sykes has been talking to any media outlet will listen about her outrage over the corrupt passage of HB-6.

It’s a good ruse for anyone that doesn’t remember she threw the junkyard dawg himself, former Minority Leader Fred Strahorn, under the bus to broker a deal with Householder that lead to her anointment as Minority Leader and the creation of a feckless HR department of one person.

Strahorn did not vote for Larry Householder to become Speaker of the House like 28 of his fellow Democratic colleagues did. He knew what everyone knew: Householder was a crook, though not even he foresaw Householder trying to commit a $1.3 billion fraud on the public.

From Marty Schladen of ohiocapitaljournals.com:

“I thought he would have some problems, but I never imagined that it would be like this,” he said. “I thought he would do something wrong, but the magnitude of this just blows me away.”

The feds haven’t accused any House Democrats of involvement in the scandal but the fact remains: Without their votes, Householder would never have become speaker. On Friday, Strahorn refused to criticize the members of his caucus who put the now-indicted, now-former Republican speaker over the top.

“I want to refrain from taking a shot at my colleagues,” he said.

Strahorn is a better man than me because no way would I refrain from taking a shot at my colleagues that enabled the largest bribery scheme in Ohio history. There would have to be a reckoning of the public account.

This is also why I would make a bad politician: I always say what’s on my mind.

COLUMBUS COP POSTS HIMSELF INTO HOT WATER

The City of Columbus is set to ink a $50,000 contract with law firm BakerHostetler to investigate any social media violations from the gang of armed thugs its pays to harass brown and poor people.

Cops love blowing off some steam by making racist and violent posts on Facebook. It seems BakerHostetler won’t have to look far for problematic posts if a deputy chief is anything to go off.

From Bill Bush and Bethany Bruner of dispatch.com:

Deputy Chief Ken Kuebler’s Twitter page is full of biting comments — lots of them mocking Columbus’ elected leaders for not strongly backing the police.

He’s attacked mayors and governors as acting like wanna-be kings by making up their own laws; he’s called on elected leaders who want to defund the police to “start with their (police) protection details”; he said that “no known living politician is capable of honesty”; and he once said of Gov. Mike DeWine that “Even a blind squirrel stumbles upon a nut during its travels.”

Remember, these musings are from a mind in the upper echelons of CDP leadership. This is somebody his peers elected to a position of power. In his mind, you don’t support police if you say anything other than “Blue Lives Matter.”

And since Mayor Ginther is technically this man’s boss, it’s easy to see why I have yet to see a single Columbus cop wearing a mask. I guess being asked to wear a piece of cloth over your mouth to help prevent the spread of a deadly infectious diseases goes too far beyond their oath to protect and serve.

I can’t wait to see the final report, if it’s ever released. All this nonsense is what they say in public, so imagine the discourse behind closed doors.

OHIO LEADING THE WAY IN COVID SHIT RESEARCH

The only soothing thought I have about coronavirus at this time is that all of the world’s smartest minds are united in finding a cure. That includes me spending my time typing sentences on the internet for the entertainment of strangers.

Some brainiac has even thought of testing people’s shit to detect outbreaks before they happen.

From Dean Narcisco of beaconjournal.com:

(TNS) - Testing will help determine where coronavirus is about to break out in Ohio, and almost everyone who uses a bathroom will be a "participant." 

The project involves sampling inflow to municipal sewage and wastewater treatment systems across Ohio.

Already begun last week in Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati, samples have been drawn and are currently being analyzed.

The technique requires intercepting samples of raw sewage before it is processed at plants.

Viral RNA fragments — parts of a large molecule (ribonucleic acid), which, like DNA, are considered the building blocks of life — are present in the feces, and can be used to identify communities with COVID-19, whether individuals have symptoms of the illness or not.

So enjoy your next bowel movement, friends! It could literally be some’s lifesaver.

THOSE WMDs. How police unions fight reform… A brief history of the gig… How to make Miles Davis’ famous chili recipe… What fast food reveals about the economy… Prosecutor seeking Trump’s tax returns cite reports of “protracted criminal activity” at the Trump Organization.