History Made Today With Appointment to the Hamilton County Commission

Victoria Parks was appointed today to fill the seat of Todd Portune on the Hamilton County Commission. This puts three women on the Commission. This makes history. The Enquirer's article points this out:

For the first time in history, the three-member Hamilton County Board of Commissioners is all-female and majority black. It's only the second all-female county board of commissioners in the state, the other being Montgomery County just to the north.

Parks is not seeking election to the office, but will serve out the remainder of the term. Previously she was the Chief of Staff for Todd Portune.

The Democratic primary for this office is setting up to be a close one. The GOP have a placeholder candidate in the primary and are taking for granted their voters.

Cincinnati Politics 101 for the 2020's

Hey there! If YOU are a political candidate looking to run for office in the City of Cincinnati there is one REALLY important rule you need to obey: Don't publically support Donald Trump.

Now, for a Democrat that is a no brainer, unless you are the Sheriff or a crusty old washed up former AM Radio DJ who can't fathom life after the 1960's.

For Republicans, well, that can be a problem.  I mean, I can understand how some Republicans who get excited for big wars with tanks and jets and bombs can't help it.  We all have our vices.  For some it is booze or cigars and for others it is getting a stiffy over a war you can watch on TV from the safety of your living room.

What you need to do is pretend you are actually are fighting a war and KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN. On social media, don't starting liking posts from Trump that filled with bile, hate, and represent the worst Republicanism can offer. I know it's difficult to keep that in check, but if you want power, you must do as all Republicans do: hide your true opinions.

Unless you live in Saylor Park, Trumpism doesn't sell.  I means, sure in a few areas there are some closeted brownshirts waiting to get out. Tom Brinkman in Mt. Lookout is one of the few open extremists in the City, but even he only steps into it when it benefits him, which in his district is not as much as it used to do.

Even on local AM Talk radio stations, you need to dodge the questions about Trump.  Stay miles away from a Trump rally or even a visit by Mike Pence.

Now, if you are at an all GOP happy hour in a deep Westside bar or out in the burbs, let your fascist flag fly! Just remember to change out of the boots and brownshirt before you return to the city.

That's About it for 2019

Is there a good reason to reflect on a year? For the world this has been another shit filled 12 months.  For Cincinnati I would call it (at best) a "meh" year.  There were not many big issues to fill news cycles or political chat rooms that were important.

There still were some really crappy moments:

• There were poorly chaperoned teenagers acting shitty in DC.   
• There were many in the media who continued to use tabloid terminology as a means to demean members of Cincinnati City County they don't like personally or politically. If they keep it up into next year, I think I may be forced to come up with term that fits their actions.  The term Cabal comes to mind.
• There was a dumb ass Trump supporter who punched a protester outside the Trump Nuremberg-style rally. That was almost expected and promptly forgotten by the local media.
• There was former Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin demonstrating how horrible a human being he is with his pardons of a murder and of a child rapist. An investigation is underway to determine if the wealthy relatives of the criminals made any type of trade with Bevin for the pardons. His actions are morally corrupt, so the fitting punishment would be his conservative Christian community punishing him would be less than he deserves, but something.  Him behind bars would be the right thing, but it will be likely be tough to prove unless someone turns on him.
• There was the local media in this town collectively focusing on click-bait crap, overall being conservatively biased, and/or just being understaffed because the public is too lazy to read and pay for valid journalism. Two of the three points are common with most local media across the country.  The conservative bias here stems from so much of the exurban areas the TV news and the Enquirer are desperate to keep. Also, there are locals in the media who are actually Republicans.
• There were the seven days the Republicans had a candidate for Hamilton County Commissioner. That ended with the neo-fascist Trump Supporter Dan Hils (also local FOP president) quitting. We are all better for him quitting, but the CPD rank and file are stuck with him now. It would be good for them to vote him out, but the rank and file CPD has too many right-wing Republicans.
• There were Chabot and Wenstrup embarrassing Ohio during the Impeachment hearings. When you can't deal with the facts and instead jump into false process dogma or outright conspiracy BS, you just need to resign.  Neither will, but history will not forget how they chose the political party and the personal futures over the county and the state of our democracy.
• The Suburban Republicans continued to attack the City any chance they could.  This is a regular occurrence, year after year, so nothing new, just something people need to be reminded occurs again and again.

So, kinda shitty.  I wanted to find the positives.  I really didn't find many.  There were some wait and see actions like the music venue at the Banks deal and the Streetcar "divorce," but that was about it.

The only moment that stood out the dignity of Todd Portune. He stands out as a man with a deeply held sense of public service.  The widespread praise given to Todd by all corners of the political spectrum is the lone shining moment for the Cincinnati area this year.

2020 will be a year with lots of turmoil. Most of it will be coming from the national political race. Some of the above shitty moments will repeat.  Some will get worse. There will be many new ones that will drop on the Cincinnati Area like a ton of bricks.  We will be moving from "meh" down to a "fuck this" year, based on history. The more I write about about, maybe the more I can make lemonade with the shit on the horizon. Bring on Bing with Auld Lang Syne.