The Price for a Deal with the Devil
Former judge literally dragged to jail in Cincinnati, Mike DeWine spikes a wealthy community's attempt to evade taxes, and more.
Flying back to Ohio today, but only because I miss my cats, who are the light of my life. Otherwise I’d have burned my passport and be on Day 1 of my new life as an illegal alien in Mexico.
I’m more confident than ever I’m cashing out of America in early 2020. No country is perfect but I’m tired of ridiculous rent prices, the incessant rise in the cost of living and having to pay blood-sucking hobgoblins for “access” to a health insurance network that will let me die the second I become unprofitable.
Google Translate changed the game for monolingual dumb-asses like me. After four days in Mexico I’m feeling like I can live anywhere in the world with a magical translator in my pocket. Why limit myself to one geographical area simply because I was born there? Not like I had a choice in that matter. The internet is worldwide, baby.
LARRY HOUSEHOLDER ON VERGE OF PAYING OFF CORPORATE SUGAR DADDIES
The worst feature of Ohio government is Big Business can do anything it wants as long as it lines the right political pockets.
In Ohio, you can’t find a better servant of the corporate agenda than House Speaker Larry Householder, who used massive donations from energy companies and labor unions to field an army of patsies that won enough races throughout the state in 2018 to restore him to the Lincoln Chair.
House Bill 6 is nothing but payback to First Energy, an ostensibly struggling company that lined Householder’s army with millions of dollars and is now on the brink of recouping their investment with a taxpayer-financed bailout of two nuclear power plants built in the 1950s and two coal plants, including one in Indiana.
This is such a big deal for Householder that he was going to send the state’s plane to Chicago to pick-up an unidentified House member for the vote before realizing the terrible optics and the ubiquity of commercial air travel.
The vote will be hold later today.
From Laura Bischoff of mydaytondailynews.com:
COLUMBUS — Leadership in the Ohio House requested use of a state-owned airplane to bring lawmakers back from a conference in Chicago in time to vote on a controversial energy bill Tuesday morning.
Gov. Mike DeWine’s chief of staff signed off on the aircraft use because it is for state business, a DeWine spokeswoman said. The Ohio Department of Transportation, which operates, staffs and maintains the aircraft, said the flight plan was filed and later canceled Monday.
Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, his spokeswoman and chief of staff did not respond to messages about the state plane. Householder scheduled a concurrence vote on House Bill 6 for 11 a.m. Tuesday in Columbus.
Householder has been in the game long enough that you can bank the vote would not be happening if he did not have a guarantee on every single vote he needed to pass a bill that will gut the state’s clean energy standards.
Any Democrat that votes for this corporate handout can go fuck themselves. But the sad thing is Householder probably won’t even need any of their votes to pass the bill with his football this close to the end zone.
I remain sick that the Democrats had to make a deal with this devil for comparative peanuts in return.
FORMER JUDGE LITERALLY DRAGGED TO JAIL IN CINCINNATI AS CHAOS ERUPTS
Wild scenes yesterday in Cincinnati when a local judge was sentenced to six months in jail by a judge who once vehicular manslaughtered a woman and never served a day in jail.
From Justin Wise of thehill.com:
The chaotic scene occurred after a judge announced his decision regarding Tracie Hunter’s 2014 conviction and six-month sentence for using her former job as judge to help a family member. Hunter, a former juvenile court judge, had been convicted for improperly giving information to her brother during a job dispute, NBC News reported.
NBC noted that the conviction was followed by several appeals as well as many letters and recommendations urging Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Dinkelacker not to sentence Hunter.
But Dinkelacker on Monday ordered Hunter to serve the six-month jail sentence, prompting an eruption from protesters inside the courtroom. Video shows one individual wearing a "Justice for Judge Tracie M. Hunter" T-shirt being apprehended by police officers as she rushed to where Hunter was seated.
Hunter then refused to move, leading a bailiff to physically drag her across the courtroom floor as protesters shouted their disapproval.
Cincinnatians whom I trust have labeled this as a miscarriage of justice. And I’m inclined to believe that considering the Hamilton County Prosecutor has already asked Governor Mike DeWine to pardon Hunter.
MIKE DEWINE SUPRISINGLY TELLS WEALTHY COMMUNITY TO EAT SHIT, PAY TAXES
Credit to Mike DeWine for shitting on a clandestine effort by one of the wealthiest communities in Ohio (one garrish residence pictured above) to avoid paying their fair share into the local public school system.
From Karen Kasler of statenews.org:
One of Gov. Mike DeWine’s 25 vetoes on the state budget struck a provision that was added at the last minute – a property tax reduction for certain homeowners in one wealthy school district, but not others.
Hunting Valley is a village of 700 people just east of the outerbelt around Cleveland. It’s one of the wealthiest communities in the country. And it’s one of four communities in the Orange City Schools district, but only 25 kids from Hunting Valley go to Orange.
“They didn't particularly want to have to pay for public school education of students because they don't have a lot of kids that go to public school. Most of their students in their area go to private schools,” said Rep. Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland).
Class warfare already exists in America, and it’s the rich preying on the poor. That something like this even got into the state budget should alarm every Ohioan who doesn’t live in a 26-room mansion.
People like those in Huntington Valley believe they are better than the rest of us. It’s not enough that they can send their kids to private schools where poor people don’t exist. They feel like they shouldn’t even have to pay taxes into the schools the rest of society uses.
Frankly, I’m stunned DeWine vetoed the well-financed lobbying effort from a community of GOP donors. As such, I promise not to talk trash about him until he signs HB6 into law.
OHIO PIZZA PARLOR OWNER GUILTY OF SHOOTING AT MAN OVER $1
If owning a gun made you safer, your insurance rates would go down. But insurance companies have crunched the numbers and realized Americans are much, much more likely to do something stupid with their firearm than kill a blood-crazed criminal at a mall or whatever fantasies most gun-owners have.
From ohio.com:
A pizza shop owner was convicted by a Summit County jury of shooting at a man he claimed had stolen $1 from the tip jar at the restaurant.
Jeffrey Straughan, 53, of Cuyahoga Falls, the owner of East of Chicago Pizza on State Road in the Falls, was found guilty Monday of felonious assault, improper discharge of a firearm on a prohibited premises and aggravated menacing. The felonious assault and improper discharge charges include gun specifications.
Summit County Common Pleas Judge Alison Breaux will sentence Straughan at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 26.
Prosecutors say Straughan searched for and confronted a 38-year-old man on Aug. 14 and accused him of stealing from the restaurant’s tips. They say Straughan pulled out a gun and fired it in the man’s direction at Portage Crossing Shopping Center. No one was injured.
One dollar! A man is going to lose his business and go to jail because of $1. I have a feeling he’ll regret firing that shot for the rest of his life.
OHIO SURPRISINGLY NOT A HOT SPOT FOR VACATION HOMES
I’m a believer that if you can’t spend three days anywhere in America and enjoy yourself, you’re a boring person. But owning a vacation home is a different proposition.
And though I love Ohio, I can’t say I’m surprised to learn Americans aren’t purchasing vacation property in the Buckeye State.
From Emily Bench of columbusbusinessfirst.com:
That's according to a new study from IPX1031, a Fidelity National Financial website dedicated to investment property exchanges. It did a data dive into more than 29,000 census tracts to rank the top three locations in each state with the biggest share of houses described as vacation homes, as well as which states have the most total.
Ohio as a whole was in the bottom five nationwide for the share of its total housing stock designated as vacation homes, joined by Indiana, Illinois and Iowa.
"Maybe it’s the brutally cold and long winters, but Midwest states rank low on our list," the company said on its blog.
Here were the top 3 "hot spots" for vacation homes in Ohio:
Kelleys Island, 86%
Put-in-Bay, 84%
Lakeside, 63%
The sad thing is Kelleys Island and Put-in-Bay, two islands that I love to know, will be under water in the next 10 years. Don’t expect our vacation home rates to climb anytime soon.
THOSE WMDs. The crane wife… The village where every cop has been convicted of domestic violence… How the dust in your home may affect your health… Laywer: QAnon fan murdered a mob boss to help Trump… Do our pets really love us or do they just stick around for the food?