Tuesday, February 28, 2017

How Does Husted Know People Are Non-Citizens?

I read through this Enquirer article reporting on an alleged 82 non-citizens voting in
Ohio. This allegation is being made by John Husted, Republican secretary of state for Ohio.

This article lacks a key critical question: How does Husted know anyone is a non-citizen? That question is not answered. The article takes his word for it. This article is credited to multiple reporters, so it is difficult to understand if anyone questioned Husted at a press conference or if this was part of a press release. No matter how the information came about, how can one publish such an allegation without providing at least a basic summary as to how Husted knows these people are non-citizens?

Is he matching names to some type of list? What list is that? Is it outdated? How can he only match names, as names are not a reliable means to identify an individual person on lists, as duplicates complicate things.

Is he using SSN? Since only non-citizens with a green card have a matchable SSN (National ID etc) number, is that how he is matching them up?

Or is Husted making assumptions?  Any objective person should question how he knows, since he is not naming anyone and according to the article he is turning the names over to law enforcement to investigate.  Does this mean he didn't do an investigation to determine this?  If his "review," as he called it, isn't good enough to prove the basic fact to law enforcement that the people named are non-citizens, then how can he honestly claim to the media these are non-citizens?

The Enquirer is too quick to allow Ohio Republicans to appear to be standing up to Trump.  By doing so hey inadvertently provide ways to make their xenophobic readers think they are right about foreigners voting.  This article as written will be the basis for racists, like Richard Jones, to push their claims that non-citizens voting is a huge problem and be the basis for their rhetoric.  Yes, the article goes out of its way, as does Husted, to point out that it is not a problem, but that will not matter to Trump supporters who want the news to 'validate' their preexisting views, not inform them about local, national, and world events to help them form their opinions. This is how effective "Fake News" is born, with a grain of truth.

UPDATE 10:30PM: The Dispatch has more and reports the following:
Husted's office used information from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles to find people who registered illegally.
The Dispatch does not report how that information could be used to know a person is or is not a citizen. It is possible that information gained from this process could be used, but if so, why didn't Husted and each County BOE run this comparison prior to each election, so non-citizens are unable to vote?


Saturday, February 25, 2017

More Positve PXing for Cranley from Enquirer's Williams

I am sure Cranley sycophants around town find it cliche to point out pro-Cranley bias in the local media, but for Jason Williams it is becoming an unhealthy habit. Lazy journalism is a sickness that journalists can get when they are spoon fed stories. It is more damaging to reporters over columnists, but since Williams tries to be both, he's doubling down into a spiral of laziness. Two weeks in a row he has published columns that read as if they are produced, packaged, and minted in the mind of Jay Kincaid, John Cranley's campaign manager. This week his column is filled with direct quotes from Kincaid, so yes evidence of the minting is first hand.

It is funny how Jason tries to drop in some criticism in pointing out Cranley's obviously confrontational personality, but then he writes this whopper of a sentences that takes his PXing to a new low:
After all, Cranley has a track record of following through on his campaign promises and getting things done.
That's a Kincaid line or is the line of a kool-aide drinking supporter willing to sell the most pathetic campaign dogma. It is sycophant level. It is the worst kind of pol-speak that no journalist, even a columnist, would ever use. I unfortunately expect more of the same next week.

Chabot Pushing Racist Memes

A UC professor has an article on Medium that discusses a February 1, 2017 post that Steve Chabot, Representative to the House for the Ohio 1st District, wrote to his blog. It contained what I (and anyone with an fraction of Latino heritage) would call a racist graphic, one common to many grandparents' social media pages. This photoshopped meme makes a racist point similar to Trump's infamous attack on Mexicans.  Chabot should take down that image and apologize. He won't, since anti-Latino racism appears be the norm in his social circle. Just ask known anti-Mexican activist Sheriff Richard Jones of Butler County. Chabot is playing to the Jones clan out there, even though Jones does not live in his district. The GOP needs an enemy and this day it was the Mexicans. The next day it was likely the Muslims. It is starting to look like soon it will be you and me or anyone who dares question what Trump or the GOP does.

Monday, February 20, 2017

February Update to the 2017 City of Cincinnati Council Candidates

This month's list has several new names on it as reports of those actually getting petitions to run was on Twitter as the deadline for the Mayor's race passed.  Candidates still have until August to gather signatures for council so this list will surely change.  I have started to add political affiliations next to the names.  This is a subjective exercise as many of these candidates are unknown. I will attempt to assign these based on public information.  In some cases I am passing judgement if that candidate is not being honest about their affiliations.

Incumbents:
P.G. Sittenfeld (D)
David Mann (D)
Chris Seelbach (D)
Christopher Smitherman (R but pretending to be I)
Wendell Young (D)
Amy Murray (R)

Returning Candidates:
Laure Quinlivan (D)
Greg Landsman (D)
Michelle Dillingham (D)
Brian Garry (D)
Theo Barnes

New Candidates
Ozie Davis III (D)
Kelli Prather (D)
Tamaya Dennard (D)
Cristina Burcica
Jeff Pastor (R)
Derek Bauman(D)
Tonya Dumas (D)
Henry Frondorf (D)
Manuel Foggie
Leslie Jones
Beverly Odoms (D)
Orlando Welborn
Dawud Mustafa
Mary Hall
Damon Lynch IV
Edith Thrower
Matt Teaford (I)
Michael Rachford
Tamie Sullivan (R)
Cedrick Denson


Candidate Twitter List: I have created a list of candidates on Twitter. Here is the actual list Twitter handles for the candidates.


If anyone has any other names please send them my way (cincyblog@aol.com) or if anyone named above wants to confirm they are not running, I'll remove them future postings of this list. Also, since I have added a party affiliation, if there are changes, let me know.

Next month I'll try and start including websites.  It appears some candidates may be limiting themselves to Facebook and Twitter.  Without your own website getting campaign contributions online is more challenging and no matter how much some of the new candidates may thing they can win without any money, they will learn hard way that you need money to do things like mailers and handouts and bumper stickers and lawn signs etc. Please invest in a website and a fundraising application.  Even with specialized application, a candidate needs a personalized website that they can control and use a entrance to any other service they might use to run their campaign.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

When Will Jason Willimans Get Paid For 'PXing' John Cranley?

Jason Williams, sometime columnist and sometime reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer, has unleashed a 'PX' on his latest political extra column. I really can't tell, if other than adding in the 'PX' bit, if this column was written by Williams or a member of Cranley campaign staff. (Maybe it's both.)

When a reporter doesn't get an email response and then extrapolates that into an hatchet job on a political opponent, that is hack journalism. Williams set up John Cranley's opponents by playing Cranely's campaign game and he did it with a gleeful tone.  It's like he enjoyed digging at Yvette Simpson while espousing the most trite political talking point know to modern man: "Where is your Plan?"

As the educated and experience political observers know, this is a red herring like few others.  "A Plan" in politics is as subjective as it comes, where the difference between having one and not having one is as meaningless as arguing if a glass is half full or half empty.  Yes, Williams see's John's glass as half full and Simpson's as half empty, but there is no substance for him to draw upon, except the hollow words from newly found Cranley sycophant Vice Mayor David Mann.  I guess the nearly meaningless title of Vice Mayor matters a lot to Mann, nearly as much as the bullshit Cranley 'Plan' does to Williams.

I really hope this blatantly biased journalism is not what the Editors are going to allow from a sometime columnist and sometime reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer. If they get clicks, then I surmise that's all that will matter.  If I see these editors or Williams championing truth in light of the anti-press fascist behavior from Trump and his blackshirts, then I'll be sure to point out the hypocrisy.

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Campaigning 101 - An Unforced Error From the Cranley Camp

When your voting base consists of Westside Democrats and city Republicans, don't put the cellphone number of a non-local born millennial campaign staffer on a mailer for your campaign's launch event.  Why, you ask?  Well, Westside Democrats and City Republicans are less likely to be millennials and understand that cell phone numbers travel with people when they move to town.  That West Price Hill Boomer who has donated to every Cranley campaign is going to be skeptical about calling a Detroit phone number to RSVP for an event.

Also, if anyone is going to this event please take note of the location, the Incline Theater.  That theater is owned by a charitable non-profit and by rule can't be political, so they need to have a separation.  Therefore a few issues come up:

  1. This better be a rental of the space by the Cranley campaign that better have an expense entry on their campaign finance reports.
  2. The Theater better be open to all candidates for event space rental, not just Cranley or his allies.
  3. If the Cranley campaign does more than promotion of the candidate and directly solicit campaign contributions that makes this a fundraiser.  The ethical stance of having a Cranley fundraiser at a charity owned building is not good. It is even worse when you understand that Cranley personally profited from the development of the entire Incline District through a project that included public funds.
If anyone does attended the event and wants to reach out, let me know via email cincyblog@aol.com.

What's Next After the Dennison Fight?

The anti-urbanist forces won a victory with a recent ruling on a last minute court cases, removing the last remotely hopeful effort to block the demolition of the historic Dennison Building.  Some futile efforts are still hanging on to stage protests that will not change minds and may instead turn some people against efforts to preserve the history of the urban core of Cincinnati.  I applaud those who fought a long and passionate fight to save the building, but there comes a time when you must save your strength and channel it towards a new cause or effort that has a real hope of success.

What are those new causes?  This is an election year, so most candidates for Mayor or Council will have issues or causes they are championing.  Most of those causes will best be addressed by supporting that candidate, who then when elected would have power to work toward that cause.

Outside of the candidates, are there other grassroots efforts that can bring out the same passionate people to support?

At this point I don't know of any going on locally, so that leads to the real question: Do you use your time and resources to work with candidates or wait and work independently?  I believe that if you don't have a specific cause with a detailed achievable goal, the only way to affect change is by working with candidates for office.  Waiting for the next cause to come along is not going to help the community. Finding a candidate or candidates to give your time and money to the best way to spend that passion now. I think most of those who were working to save the Dennison understand this and will channel their effort accordingly.  I hope everyone else can see the wisdom in this thinking and find a new way to move the ball down the field.

Friday, February 03, 2017

Hey Chabot, What Federal Funding?

Steve Chabot is in a tizzy about the City of Cincinnati declaring itself a 'Sanctuary City.' He's not sure the City will escape penalty. That's of course just political bullshit.

Immigration was made into a massive political football by Trump and the Republicans. It is a minor issue that has been artificially inflated into an important issue because it creates fear and hate which were effective motivators to get people to vote for Trump and Republicans.

Another surprise here, all of the sudden Chabot wants local officials to do his job and that of Federal officials. He and Trump and their brownshirts (See Richard Jones in Butler County) are foaming at the mouth to round people up they fear and hate, instead of actually effectively fighting crime and providing national security.

Trump and his minions are now so concerned about how local governments enforce laws on immigration, but don't care about any other Federal law. There is an entire constitution that is far more important for the Cincinnati Police to worry about. The next time the Treasury Secretary is in town, Cincinnati Police should inforce federal law and arrest him for his actions while working for Goldman Sachs. Also I am sure Chabot would support the CPD enforcing all Federal Law. I'd also like to have the 14th and 15th Amendment enforced in Cincinnati with the fair redrawing of the 1st Congressional District to be entirely in Hamilton County and included all of the City of Cincinnati, instead of Racial motivated Gerrymandered district Chabot "represents." I'll be looking for that fancy email blast covering the establishment of fair and equal congressional redistricting in Ohio.

Finally, why is Chabot worried about federal funding Trump may use to punish Cincinnati for not being loyal fascists?  Does Chabot just assume Cincinnati gets funding?  I ask that because he has done nothing over the last 20 plus years he has been in office to bring federal dollars to Cincinnati, so we don't have much to loose.  If Trump tries using the Brent Spence Bridge, that will be funny because Kentucky owns that and the current governor there is a Trump supporter. Chabot needs to get Cincinnati some federal funding before he can worry about Cincinnati losing it.

Thursday, February 02, 2017

No More Fun From City’s Commissioner of Fun

For an unknown reason back in 2014, Mayor John Cranley created a "Commissioner of Fun" role for the City of Cincinnati and he picked former radio station owner Frank Wood Jr, a man in his 70's, to be that "Commissioner of Fun."

WCPO is reporting that the City is stating there are no more fun events coming from the Commissioner.  Frank Wood has stepped down and admits that this special position was a failure.  He believe it lacked staff to help him.   To me that seems like a cop-out.  Instead the failure should land squarely at Cranley's feet.  Cranley created this thing and allowed a tiny factional amount of money to be spent on it.  He incorrectly looked back to his youth and WEBN radio and thought Frank Wood did stuff magically.  No, it took money.  Having a drunk fest every Labor Day weekend along the river didn't just happen with access to the City Hall copy machine.  It took money. Also Cranley doesn't get is that the craziness of Riverfest Cranley knew ended 25 years ago.

This idea was pointless.  It was Cranley's vain attempt to appear cool, while not actually doing anything and having something he can point to when it fails. I am pointing at Cranley, so he can forget about letting this slide without notice.  Also, I am not sorry to tell John that there is nothing he can do, ever, to be cool.  I know uncool things very well and John Cranley is the modern day prototype.

WCPO is Reporting 70 Arrested at OU Protest

Based on the article Ohio University officials over reacted to a peaceful event and have now invited violent protest instead of peaceful efforts. In this climate most police forces are giving protesters a chance to blow off steam when they don't do anything violent. Some thick-skulled official at OU instead wanted to make a statement. OU is not the place to do that. OU riots when the bars close early on daylight savings weekend. Myopic people far too often just make things worse.

From the Enquirer: Chabot posts image from anti-Semitic site

I am not going to comment on this, just let the Enquirer story speak for itself: Chabot posts image from anti-Semitic site.

Wednesday, February 01, 2017

Bigotry and Veiled Racism From an Enquirer Guest Column

Anderson Townshop Trump supporter Marilyn Mackenzie wrote a column for the Enquirer and she comes across like a thoughtful bigot and veiled racist. She doesn't like that some groups don't want to instantly adopt her suburbanite way of life and instead cling to their native culture. She invokes growing up as a kid and getting lots of varied foods, but getting along with the different white ethnic groups.

Her ignorance of the past is amaxing. She seems to forget how these ethnic groups were treated by white nativist Americans. The Irish, Germans, Italians, Jews, and Greeks are all examples of groups that held on to their cultures after immigrating to the United States and were discriminated against because of their religion, their culture, and how they looked. It took decades for these groups to be accepted by the majority white culture. Some of them still are not accepted in all areas (Nazi signs on Jewish colleges as an example).

That leads me to a food I grew up with, tacos. I've been eating Tex-Mex food for as long as I remember. Yet, Trump and his followers have attached Mexicans for everything and Hispanics and Latinos overall. Hispanics were here before the English speakers came here and you want them to melt into your pot? We are part of their pot, but you wan to kick out any reminder that someone brown was here before.

Racism, just plain old racism. Cultural bigotry at the max, but racism is the core of this column.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Cranley Refuses to Stand Up to Trump's Racism

As a Mayor who won election only because he got the overwhelming support of Cincinnati Republicans John Cranley can't risk pissing them off. Because of that, he is failing to take a stand and fight racist-in-chief Donald Trump and declare Cincinnati as a Sanctuary City. Instead John makes a lukewarm reminder that he likes immigrants. He just doesn't want to do anything about those who are here but don't have legal status.

This is typical Cranley. He gets free rein at the Enquirer to publish this column that uses the word immigrant and refugee, but takes no stand on the actual issues and ignores his past. The issues are about Trump's racist and religiously bigoted act of restricting people from certain countries the ability to come to America, but allowing Christian refugees. It is also strongly about Trump's actions to force local cities to carry out his fascist edicts and round up Mexicans without legal status.

This is gutless and hypocritical. Cranley's past contain instances where he knowingly played into the hands of conservative voters who don't like non-white people coming into this county.

In 2015 Cranley came out against having any Syrian refugees in Cincinnati.

In 2006 when Cranley last ran for the US House Ohio 1st District, he attacked his Republican opponent on not being strong enough on illegal immigration.

So ,here we get an unchallenged column in the Enquirer, and we'll have some Dems pretending this is a good thing to promote, when it really doesn't do much, but make Cranley appear to be doing something, when he is hiding from the real issue.

Two times now Cranley has stayed on the sidelines when given the chance to stand up to Trump. Once here and once when thousands of people marched for women's rights the day after Trump inauguration.  Will the number of times Cranley cowers before Trump be higher than the times Trump lies?  Likely no, with Trump's propensity for lying, but I'll be taking note of the times Cranley refuses to stand up to the new fascist state Trump is building.

Friday, January 27, 2017

John Cranley Appoints Top Donor Manuel Chavez III to Port Authority Board

Once again, campaign donations can be tied to John Cranley's actions as Mayor. The Cincinnati Business Courier has the story outlining how Cranley appointed his top donor Manuel Chavez III to the board of the Port Authority.

Cronyism is taking shape and Coranley is flaunting it now.  I guess he thinks the stereotypical low information Trump voter will stick with him. One might conclude he already has the Saylor Park vote sowed up.

Charlie, What's in the Box?


I know you were thinking about this when the stories (Enquirer & Business Courier) broke yesterday about Charlie Winburn's boxes that were sized by the FBI.

What was in them?  Turns out it was a whole lot of Charlie's angst towards Mayor John Cranley and his staff.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Updated List of Current Cincinnati Council Candidates

Here is an updated list of candidates. The GOP still only has two officially named candidates, 1 reported candidate and Smitherman, so they are far from even pretending to get a majority on council.  If everyone on this list runs for office, that will make 25. That is not a record.  It would be a record low for Republicans.


Incumbents:
P.G. Sittenfeld
David Mann
Chris Seelbach
Christopher Smitherman
Wendell Young
Amy Murray

Returning Candidates:
Laure Quinlivan
Greg Landsman
Michelle Dillingham
Brian Garry
Theo Barnes

New Candidates
Ozie Davis III
Kelli Prather
Tamaya Dennard
Tamie Sullivan
Cristina Burcica
Jeff Pastor
Derek Bauman
Cedrick Denson
Tonya Dumas
Henry Frondorf
Manual Foggie
Leslie Jones
Beverly Odoms
Orlando Welborn

If anyone has any other names please send them my way (cincyblog@aol.com) or if anyone named above wants to confirm they are not running, I'll remove them future postings of this list.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Cranley Reportedly to Name His Campaign Treasurer to SORTA Board Seat

Helen "Heidi" Black is being reported by the Enquirer to be John Cranley's next pick for the SORTA Board.

Who is Helen "Heidi" Black, you may ask? Well in the Enquirer article you get a nice bio of a professional who they state is the wife of Cranley's campaign manager, Jay Kincaid. That makes this a controversial pick. It makes this appointment a political favor. It is political cronyism. If anyone else appointed the spouse of their campaign manager, this would have been a banner Enquirer headline with editorials on how ethics matter and the appearance of cronyism is horrible for our political system.  More over the Enquirer would call for Cranley to appoint someone else.

Instead we get an article more puff piece than political story. It has a quote from Cranley in it as if someone in his campaign issued a press release on this. It's like Cranley is knowlingly picking a crony for a political appointment and does not care he is doing it.  It's like he thinks his Trump or something.

What lacking in the article and to this whole story are two things. Firstly it names the appointee as Heidi Black instead of her legal name Helen Black. Secondly it fails to mention one MAJOR element as this screenshot illustrates:
In case you can't read the graphic it states "Paid for by John Cranley for Mayor, Helen Black Treasurer."  This is from the bottom of the front page of John Cranley's campaign website.

Yes, Helen "Heidi" Black is the Treasurer for John Cranley's Mayoral campaign. He's about to appoint a member of his ACTIVE CAMPAIGN STAFF, to a board that governs the Streetcar operation and Metro. Cronyism run amok!

Oh and thanks to the Inquirer who didn't report this fact in their article. Thorough reporting there. Helen also ran for the 17-B seat on the Democratic Central Committee in March of last year, but lost. They didn't report that, either.

Finally, how do I know Helen is Heidi?  A public records search is sufficient to confirm and it's not any type of secret, it was just omitted from this Enquirer article for some reason.


Tuesday, January 24, 2017

John Cranley and Denise Driehaus Skip Cincinnati Women's March

The world took notice as millions of people across the globe came together Saturday to rally and march for women's rights, including but not limited too, reproductive rights.  Here in Cincinnati 10,000 to 14,000 people rallied and marched.  Many, many issues were discussed: religious freedom, the right to affordable healthcare, social justice, and the right of women to not be considered property of men, just to name a few. Many local elected politicians attended, including representatives from the State Legislature, Hamilton County and the City of Cincinnati. Both female and male elected officials were in attendance.

Many locally also took notice of who was missing.  Two local politicians were no present for the Women's March:  Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and newly elected Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus.

Why were they not there?  In the case of Cranley, Vice-Mayor David Mann claimed Cranley was going to a funeral.  I think that funeral was at best a last minute add for Cranley, once it was announced that this was event was expressly a pro-choice and pro-Planned Parenthood event.  John is anti-choice and needs the votes of the GOP in Cincinnati, and needs avoid the optics involved with openly linking himself to a very progressive movement.  Also, he knew he wasn't going to get the option to control the event, so he stayed home instead.

Where was Denise Driehaus?  We'll she's fresh off her December vote as outgoing Ohio member to ban abortions at 20 weeks, an unconstitutional bill, but one she still voted for.  This is after she repeatedly told progressives after her alleged conversion to a pro-choice stance during the 2012 primary when she "moved" across town to the newly formed 31 District. She moved swiftly to hide her endorsement from Cincinnati Right to Life as well for nearly 4 years, but in the end did their bidding, even when she didn't need to for political cover.

At the event Saturday fellow Democrat, Todd Portune represented the County Commission.  A Democratic woman who has claimed to be for women's rights skipped one of the biggest protests in Cincinnati history. Don't let her forgot that she stayed home when women came out in force to take on Trump.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Cincinnati Women Marched Saturday For Rights and Against Trump Oppression



An estimated 10,000 to 12,000 people rallied and marched through Over-the-Rhine and Downtown Cincinnati Saturday joining Millions of other people standing up for women and a wide number of issues relating to freedom and liberty but focused on reproductive rights, healthcare for all, social justice for all, religious freedom for all, and the right for women not to be treated as the property of sexual predators like Donald Trump.

The crowd was massive, far greater than expected.  Speakers consisted of local activists and politicians who voiced issues that will be be made worse under Trump and his crew of fascists who took over the White House last week.

This was a totally peaceful march and showed that women clearly know best how to get people to come out to protest.  The world wide count was around 5 Million people turned out to oppose Trump's  plans to turn the clock back to a time in American when women's rights were a distant dream.

The clearest sign that Trump does not have deep support lies in the numbers he tried to dispute.  Experts stated that three times as many people went to Saturday's Women's March than when to Trump's Inauguration the day before.  That demonstrates the reality that Trump and Republicans seem to ignore, they are only in power due to gerrymandering, voter suppression, and interference of the FBI and Russia in the election process. They don't have a mandate, they are seizing control as a minority party and will likely do as much damage as they can while the country wakes up and pushes them out of power.

Hopefully this turnout will translate to the 2017 location elections and then next year for the midterms.  Logically, those who cared enough to come out to protest at an event like this care enough without question to come out and vote.  That is how we can counter the right wing fascist power grab.  We can't rely on sensible Republicans to protect the county, we must get people to wake up and get control of the election process back.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

In Case You Are Wondering What Fascism Means and Why You Should Know It

Google Defines it as:
fas·cism
ˈfaSHˌizəm/
noun
noun: fascism; noun: Fascism; plural noun: Fascisms
  1. an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.
    synonyms:authoritarianismtotalitarianismdictatorshipdespotismautocracy
    neofascism, neo-Nazism
    "a film depicting the rise of fascism in the 1930s"
    • (in general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice.

For a more in-depth reading, Wikipedia has very good entry.

I want this here so people know what it means when the word is used. I am using this word more now. Many decry it's use. George Orwell long ago criticized its use. With the current Administration of the United States it has meaning that must be applied.

If you have read or listened to Trump's Inaugural Address, here if you haven't, and that speech strongly connected with or appealed to you, then you are most likely a fascist. If you know someone else who strongly connected with it, they are most likely a fascist.

I am being serious.  I am not just trying to lob rhetorical grenades.  I am trying to get people to listen to the whole speech and it's themes and see it as a Trump style fascist manifesto.  People will point to certain minor phrases or sections that they think over-ride these main themes, but they are wrong.  It is a just a ruse, meant to give cover.

I am not saying Trump is going to start creating Concentration Camps.  Seriously not saying that (yet).  That is mostly because I am not calling this a Nazi speech, even though you see that word in the synonyms above.  By using the term "America First" Trump and his speech writers know the history of that term.  They know who used it in the past and they know the meaning it has.  The spokesperson for the America First movement was Charles Lindbergh and his history and sympathies are well known.  This is a part of American history that one would usually want to avoid embracing.  This phrase is the only sense of history that Trump included in his speech.  It is not an accident.  His handlers are not fools.  They are authoritarian and nationalistic ring-wingers who are seeking to lift their brand of white social class back to a place of total dominance.  That is Trump's message put simply and his policy stances and position are pushing that forward

People can pretend otherwise.  They can champion the scraps that Trump throws at them.  They can point to window dressing efforts of Trump to appear different than this fascist stance he has outlined. None of that will make up for the massive shift he is attempting.  I hope he fails, but hope left the White House yesterday and fear, anger, and hate moved in, so count me as a cynic on the subject.

Friday, January 20, 2017

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

With just a couple hours left before the United States collectively is pushed off a cliff by the arcane Electoral College, I'm not going to make things all happy and go lucky.  This is about to be a dark time.  Are we all going to die?  I'm don't know.

I am not trying to be flippant, I am giving analysis here, not just a practical reassuring answer.  In January of 2001 I was not concerned about the country being drawn into a nuclear war or falling into a fascist authoritarian state during the next four years.  I was pissed off at the way the 2000 election went, but I was not worried that the people taking control of the government had no understanding of how our Government and Military work.  I did not worry that George W. Bush understood how the base concepts of honor, dignity, rule of law, and honesty work.  Today I do worry about that, so I don't know if we are all going to die in horrible Trump created Apocalypse.

What those of us not part of Trump's new political army must do, especially those who on the surface won't be the target of revenge or oppression, must not be silent.  We must let our voices be heard at EVERY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT or we will end up in a real fascist state were people like Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones can gain and abuse power over our neighbors and friends and fellow human beings.

Keep your voices smart, honorable, but stand up and meet those who oppose American Democracy with more strength and passion that those out to force fascism,  racism, sexism, and hate on you or others.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

A Case of Bad Journalism From WCPO

The bad journalism from WCPO has two parts. On WCPO's site they have a story about an alleged act of vandalism where "anti-religious" graffiti was painted on two church buildings. So, what's the problem with that? Well, the first part of the problem is in the video portion of the story. That video report does not provide any specifics of what the graffiti stated, only the reporters claim from the Minister who the reporter stated would not tell them what the graffiti said, because the words were so "harsh". No pictures were provided of the graffiti and clean up had occurred on at least one of the structures shown on video. W therefore don't know that is was "anti-religious." We have on claim of something we don't have proof actually happened. The motivation for the vandalism may have been more directed at the actions or beliefs of this church, not against religious in general.  Most crimes are not randomly chosen. It is portrayed as "anti-religious" but this could have been a religious person who just didn't share this church's beliefs.

That does not mean it didn't happen, it just means there could be more to the story and the motivation for why someone targeted this church could have backstory that would give context. Reading their website, this would not be considered a mainline Christian church, it is what I would classify as Pentecostal, so there are possible conflicts with this Church that could be a motive for the vandalism that would not be "anti-religious." The minister went on to claim that he "sensed" this came from a random person. Why does it matter that it was a random person who he senses has no connection to his church? We don't have enough information to judge what the graffiti words stated to know if there could be a connection or reasons this church was targeted. The Church stated they did file a police report, but would not press charges if they get an apology. I sense they may have an idea who the vandal may be, so if that is the case I hope they passed that on to the police and are not using this as a means to gain attention with the media.

So, the second problem is with the online story. In the link above after the video section, there is an article that mostly rehashes the video story. There is a big addition, however, that links this action to the hate crime that occurred at Hebrew Union College where a Swastika was painted on the school's sign. If we don't know what the graffiti on West Chester church stated, how can anyone link these stories by saying both are instances of "religiously targeted graffiti?" We know one was a hate crime, we don't know if they other was, so why link them? It is a bad journalism and WCPO needs to remove that linkage from the story. They also should have reported what the police report stated, assuming it included detail of the graffiti or pictures. If they didn't get the police report prior to running the story, then they failed a third time for this story, not even confirming basic facts.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Where Does One Get Cincinnati Politics Coverage?

Other than this illustrious blog, where can one get coverage of local politics in the Cincinnati area? One reason this blog was started so long ago is that there were not good local media outlets covering the news and specifically political news. Well, there are not as many as there should be, but there are many outlets trying, so here is my list of sources I go to for local political news (in no order):

Local Political News Sources
Cincinnati Enquirer
CityBeat
WVXU 97.1 FM NPR
WCPO TV
Cincinnati Business Courier
FOX 19 TV


For political opinions and commenting, I also regularly read the following sites:

Reddit /r/cincinnati
Greater Cincinnati Politics Group on Facebook (Run by the Enquirer)


There are other local news outlets, but none provide consistent coverage (looking at your WKRC and WLWT) and AM talk radio as you know is just worthless, unless you are looking for sports coverage. There are other outlets that cover local issues, but not the politics around them. Additionally, I am leaving out NKY outlets because I am very ignorant of NKY politics.

What other outlets provide political coverage? I'd don't want blogs that talk about national politics, as that is not Cincinnati related.

If you have good NKY sites, please send those along to help educate me.

Friday, January 13, 2017

A Reminder How John Cranley Worked Against His Fellow Democrats

Lest we Forget: In 2013 Democrat John Cranley after winning the Mayor's office was granted the authority to pick the chair persons of City Council committees. In that same election the Democratic Party endorsed candidates won five of nine seats. Living up to his reputation, Cranley made the choice to punish his fellow Democrats by appointing Republicans and non-Democrats to more Council Committee chairs, including the most important Finance and Public Safety Chairs:
  • Budget and Finance Chair: Charlie Winburn (R) 
  • Economic Growth & Infrastructure Chair: Christopher Smitherman (R)
  • Education & Entrepreneurship Chair: P.G. Sittenfeld (D)
  • Human Services, Youth & Arts Chair: Yvette Simpson (D)
  • Law & Public Safety Chair: Christopher Smitherman (R)
  • Major Transportation & Regional Cooperation Chair: Amy Murray (R)
  • Neighborhoods Chair: David Mann (D)
  • Rules & Audit Chair: Kevin Flynn (C)
So spiteful is Cranley that he excluded two Democrats from any committee chair positions at all, and gave a Republican, Christ Smitherman, two committee chairs.  Why did he punish them, one asks, well most of the Democrats on Council openly supported Cranley's opponent for Mayor.  It wasn't a surprise that he would snub them, but then it makes Tim Burke's comments praising Cranley for support Democratic candidates all the more bullshit.  Cranley only supports Democrats that either support him or don't oppose him. The rest of his term has been filled with opposing the five Democrats on  a large number of issues and turning those battles into public fights that he especially make petty and vicious.  Those issues he's broken with the Party have not shockingly been ones he found allies in Republicans on council and in the community.

John is not a good mayor is his first and most important consideration he makes before any choice is how will it effect him and his future.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Ohio Democratic Party Shoots Self in the Ass, Hits Cranley Endorsement

Meet the Ohio Democratic Party, same as the old Ohio Democratic Party.  Once again the Ohio Dems are interfering with a local primary election. The party has done so to the extreme in State House primary races in recent years (picking Anti-Choice Denise Driehaus in the 31st district as an example). This time it is a non-partisan primary as well.  Chris Redfern has been gone for two years, but little has changed.

Last year Ted Strickland was forced on the Ohio Democratic Party voters and he got trounced by Rob Portman.  The State party tipped the scales in favor of Strickland in the primary and we got a weak Conservative Democrat who under-performed Clinton in a state where Strickland's perceived strength, white rural working class voters, actually has some uptick in turnout.

Now we get an effort by the State party to skip local concerns and anoint 'Democratic' incumbent mayors for reelection.  No consideration for their performance.  No consideration for better candidates who have the support of local Democrats. Instead they go for a candidates who relis on Republican money and more importantly Republican votes as the only way to get elected.

Current Party Chairman David Pepper, a former Cincinnati Council Member, and the overwhelming majority of the State Party committee chose to reward John Cranley for colluding with local Republicans to win his election in 2013 and create a GOP funded war chest for his 2017 reelection campaign.  Cranley does not represent Cincinnati Democrats.  He instead has worked against the majority of them throughout his tenure as mayor.  From the start he punished the local Dems by awarding key council committee chairs to Republicans, shutting out his fellow Democrats.

Local Hamilton County Chair Tim Burke needs to go. He has been a hindrance to the local Democratic Party and now is making Trump like claims about what John Cranley did for local Dems in County wide races. I guess if John got Republican donors to give money to Denise Driehaus, Burke sees this as some big accomplishment worthy of repeating. If that's what he's thinking then he must be pushed out of the party.

With the non-Democratic based mindset, this demonstrates that Burke is part of an old dying faction of the party, along with Rhodes and Luken, who have helped drive down Dems in Cincinnati and Hamilton County over the last 40 years. They only seem to know Republicans and go to them for money and cover. They can't get the voters to vote. Instead they can only get the powerful Republicans to give support on certain issues, which allows the GOP donors to buy in on candidates who give them what they want . Well, that type of Conservative politics sells out the Democratic party and the principles it represents. Locally, it is what makes for a Suburbanization of the City. It drives down the culture of the community and pushes a dying Conservative mindset that created the balkanized community we live in.  We don't need a politics of divide on conquer.  We need one that brings us together. Cranley and his mentors of Burke, Luken, and Rhodes are tearing our City and County apart.  That must end.  It is so disappointing that David Pepper and Brigid Kelly are carrying this horrible mindset forward with their votes for the Cranley endorsement.  They should be ashamed.

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Derek Bauman Officially in the Race for Cincinnati City Council



Also a story in the Enquirer.

One really shitty thing the Enquirer is doing, and this may be just how their website works, but they have linked their story to their Streetcar coverage page.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer Website January 10th, 2017
 This is about politics, not the Streetcar. If this is about automatic keyword detection and how their website works, then I understand, but for some readers this can be seen as commentary that the Enquirer is providing that this candidacy is focused on the Streetcar.  If this was a reporter or editor ADDING a Streetcar tag to this story, then that is TOTAL BIAS. He has been and likely will be a Streetcar supporter (including expansion), but that is not what his candidacy or the article is about.  Hopefully the video will add something to offset this spin from the Enquirer, as unintentional as it may be.  I doubt, however, that Cranley has the link, circled in yellow above, on stories about his campaign for Mayor.

Monday, January 09, 2017

Who are the Cincinnati Council Candidates for 2017?

I have combed the local news outlets, social media posts, and general web searches and here is a list of candidates. Now, to be clear, this includes those publicly declared, reportedly declared, and rumored to be running. This list could shrink, but it mostly likely will grow. There are only Three Republicans (not counting self-denying Republican Chris Smitherman) on this list, so I expect them to field a measly five candidates. Charter Committee might have a one or more uni-endorsed candidates as well.


Incumbents:
P.G. Sittenfeld
David Mann
Chris Seelbach
Christopher Smitherman
Wendell Young
Amy Murray

Returning Candidates:
Laure Quinlivan
Greg Landsman
Michelle Dillingham
Brian Garry

New Candidates
Ozie Davis
Kelli Prather
Tamaya Dennard
Tamie Sullivan
Cristina Burcica
Jeff Pastor
Derek Bauman
Cedrick Denson

If anyone has any other names please send them my way (cincyblog@aol.com) or if anyone named above wants to confirm they are not running, I'll remove them future postings of this list.

Friday, January 06, 2017

WCPO Confirms the GOP Likes Cranley and Don't Care About Winning the City

WCPO reports on the GOP's pleasure with John Cranley as Mayor. The telling parts are:
“As far as Cincinnati goes, for a conservative like me, he is about as good as we’re going to get,” former Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann, a Republican, said of Cranley.
And this:
After tough election losses in November, Triantafilou said he would spend much of 2017 prepping candidates for future countywide office runs.
Add this to the big money Cranley has received from GOP donors and it is more than clear that he is the GOP backed candidate. They won't directly endorse him because he can't accept that, but it is clear that Cranley needs the GOP vote to win. Excluding the denials from Cranley's campaign staff and supporters out there, everyone who can casually review voting results knows that in 2013 Cranley ONLY won because he got the overwhelming support of all types of Republicans in the city: Far Right-Wing COASTers, main stream Republicans like Hartmann, moderates, and the Winburn/Smitherman backers.

Cranley needs their money almost as much as he needs their vote. He will being doing a ton of Arafat-type of communications. When talking to Democratic audiences, he'll invoke his support of Hillary, but behind closed doors at his Westside and Hyde Park fundraisers he'll tout his support of the Police Union, Fire Fighters, and city neighborhoods with suburban type homes.

For as much as the GOP likes Cranley, John far more cares about them. He needs them. He even needs those who can't vote in the City but can give him money or the clout he desires.  Political Parties are far less important in City elections, but they do make for a clearer understanding of what one believes.  With Cranley the only thing you know he believes is that the support of the suburbanite Republicans is more important than developing the Urban core. Having a partisan primary would solve some of that, since Cranley would lose that race badly, but with the lack of Republicans actually caring about the city, Cranley could run in a GOP primary and repeat his 2013 coalition with the same type of turnout.

The only way to defeat Cranley is to have a ground game that gets out the vote. If only 29.52% turns out in November, Cranley will win.  If 40% turns out, I think Cranley loses big.  Getting closer to 40% than 30% is the answer and there is no party structure helping make this happen.  Non-partisan elections help and hurt and right now it is hurting.

FBI Seizes Boxes from Republican Charlie Winburn's office

In a very surprising occurrence the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized boxes from Republican Charlie Winburn's City Council Office. The Enquirer's report indicates that Winburn has no idea why they seized his boxes and appeared to deny knowing these boxes existed until the Enquirer's reporting.

What's going on here? Everyone in public office, outside of Charlie, have been quiet about this. Public officials are most often quiet when there is an investigation going on. Could this have anything to do with Winburn's possible connection to money being paid to Sam Malone?

Charlie's Rope-a-Dope game around running for Mayor is pretty clearly over.

Thursday, January 05, 2017

Charlie Winburn's Version of Rope-a-Dope


The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that Charlie Winburn pulled petitions from the Board of Elections to collect signatures to run for the Mayor of Cincinnati. To be clear, he has not declared his candidacy. He, I surmise, is feeling jealous of all of the attention falling upon the declared candidates. I don't fear him actually running with this type of comment from his Party's local chairman:
"Apparently Charlie attended the kickoff for Rob Richardson," said Alex Triantafilou, chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party. "This kind of mixed message concerns us. Charlie is either a Republican or for Richardson. He can't be for both."
Unless he's trying to play spoiler for one of the three candidates, there is only a Trump-type hope he could win. So I guess that means watch out for another miracle?

Wednesday, January 04, 2017

Richardson's Entrance Given Solid Footing

If you read the Enquirer's article about Rob Richardson's announcement on the Mayor's race you get a very solid image of the man and his general positions. You also get a clever listing out of the attendees. In an election like this, who is supporting you is important in getting out the vote in varied demographics. This paragraph was blunt:
Also in attendance: several top UC leaders, former local television anchor Clyde Gray; the Rev. Damon Lynch Jr.; City Council candidate Tamaya Dennard; local radio host and attorney Janaya Trotter Bratton; and board of elections administrator Joe Mallory. Noticeably not in attendance: Most elected officials. Only Republican City Councilman Charlie Winburn was spotted in the crowd.
The African-American Community is a very diverse group. Three groups are forming around the three candidates. How and if those groups can influence the voters is yet to be seen, but it is clear that all three candidates find it important to reach or at least affect black voters. It is so important that on social media of that article Jim Clingman (a Smitherman and therefore Cranley supporter) sought to defame Richardson for allegations of actions of his father, who happens to have the same name (adding a Sr.).  A slimy action, but Smitherman and his friends aren't known for their honesty.

This is going to be a nasty campaign and race is going to be part of it. I wish it wasn't, but it will be in more ways than just which candidates get which portion of the black vote. We are about to have two black candidates face of against a white candidate who already has had major support from the GOP. That GOP is now hot off an election in which their national candidate and party used racism and hate as a tool to win over some voters. Their hate-lust is up. I don't see what can stop at least some individuals from exercising that hate somewhere on the campaign trail. A rough ride is ahead.

Tuesday, January 03, 2017

Hebrew Union College Sign Vandalized With Hate Symbol

More hate has come to Cincinnati. A sign at Hebrew Union Has been vandalized with a a horrible symbol of hate and ignorance.

The attached photo was posted to Facebook today from someone passing by on her way to work. This has been reported to Cincinnati police, according commence from the witness.

This makes me sick. I have seen other news reports of similar incidents from all over the county since facsist ideas and methods were used to incite hate and fear as means to motivate people to vote for Trump. When this happens two miles from where I live, the pain in my stomach gets worse. My desire to speak out against this hate grows. Make sure people know this is happening here in Cincinnati. No human being can let hate happen without speaking out, no matter who is saying this.

If you know who did this, report them to the police.

When you final read about this or listen to being talked about on the radio, don't let those dismissing this go on without a rebuke. All people from all parts of our community must come together and defeat this hate.

Monday, January 02, 2017

Mayor Race Shaken Up with Rob Richardson?

The rumors may come to life if the Enquirer's report is true that Rob Richardson Jr., outgoing Chairman of the University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees, enters the Mayor's race. He has schedule a press conference race for tomorrow (Tuesday) at 5PM.

The Cincinnati Mayor's election process is an odd construct and was made even more odd for the 2017 election. A non-partisan primary is held from which the top two vote-getters, regardless of political party, face off in the general election in November. In prior years this primary was held in September. It was a special election with exceedingly low voter turnout. The primary is only held if more than two candidates register.

In 2015 Issue 23 passed which amended the city charter to move the primary to May, along with a normal scheduled election, saving the city a bit of money.  This was viewed as a positive for the incumbent by increasing the time between the elections to use the power of office to sway voters with selective attention to certain groups and neighborhoods.

If Richardson gets into the race, we will have a May 2nd primary between John Cranley, current Mayor, Yvette Simpson, current member of City Council, and Richardson.  This would benefit Cranley who has made a more than obvious play to repeat his 2013 winning strategy of pitting the outlying neighborhoods against the urban core neighborhoods.  This can be accomplished with a summer of grandstanding and "vote buying" to hurt anyone running against him.

The positives for this primary is that it will help with turnout, as other issues may be on the ballot. It also blunts the value of being the top vote-getter. A three way race with these candidates is big question mark. Cranley could take 1st place with a sold vote total, but he would likely gain very few of the other two candidates votes in the general, so unless he's over 50% with solid turnout demographics, he will need to start "vote buying" on May 3rd and not stop until election day in November.

If an actual GOP candidate gets into this race, then Cranley has little path to a primary win, unless he can pull out new voters to the primary. He is an easy target if a Conservative Republican ran against him from the right. He's a conservative Dem, but can't go far right and win in the City. This makes any GOP candidate unlikely this year. Their only hope is to build up a Hyde Park moderate Republican with charisma. The charisma from a Hype Park Republican is kinda lacking.

I am holding judgement on Richardson as a political candidate.  He's never run for public office before, but was a leader in the efforts to get the Streetcar going, especially with the ballot issues.  I don't know what kind of candidate he will or can be.

Sunday, January 01, 2017

'Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition!'

Surprise! It's Election Year Cincinnati! You didn't see that coming did you?  Thought 2016 would be the end of it?  HAHAHAHAHAHAAH!  No, our wonderful City Charter decrees that we have elections this year, so the "fun" will continue.

Just when you thought you had the last Facebook comment war with your fascist uncle, alas the 2017 City of Cincinnati elections are upon us.  Races for all nine seats on City Council and the Mayor's Office are up for grabs.  You can sharpen your barbs and insults that you get to sling at your neighbors as we battle for the control of City Government.  Our own legally sanctioned, hopefully peaceful, non-title of nobility granting game of thrones is underway.

House Cranley has been gathering funds from the Bank of BraavosRepublicans and the GOP votes that come with their backdoor endorsement.  Chris "Cersei Lannister" Smitherman has been plotting vengeance on the City and threatens to burn it all down with Wildfile in the form of his support of Republcans at the State and local levels.

House Simpson stands ready to face off to defend the City of Seven KingdomsHills from the onslaught of the White Walkers fueled by House Cranley. Yvette "Daenerys" Simpson has taken the lead to fight the winter storm now upon us.

It will be epic.  It will be bloody.  Lots of reputations will die and some main characters will dielose elections. I hope there will be credible news reports and opinion pieces that both give facts and the ideas of why one side is better than the other.  This blog will attempt to draw its sword against the onslaught of the Bolton Cavalry and give a portion of that opinion and as many facts as it can compile.  In the age of fake news and emotionally charged social media posts, some level headiness needs to exist.  I wont give an oath to do that, but I promise to try my best.  There's no magic here to make anything easy, so everyone needs to work on making the political process in Cincinnati as fair and honest as possible.

Saturday, December 31, 2016

End of the Year

This has not been a great year in politics, overall.  Locally the Democrats actually made some forward strides in Hamilton County, but not much else looked good in Ohio.  2017 is setting up to be a really tough year.  A nasty mayoral race is coming and the knives are already out.  Expect them to just keep slicing.

I may slice a piece off myself here and there.

Council races should be interesting.  There are many new and old names coming back on the Dem side, but the GOP has been very silent.  Other than the expected Smitherman endorsement, I don't hear of any credible candidates they are putting forward.  The Dems stand a fair chance of getting a veto proof majority on council.

With our country about to led by someone who won an incredibly close race by using neo-fascist positions, we are heading into uncharted territory.  We need local officials and candidates to step up and not let the hateful rhetoric from the national GOP filter down. I fear that we may be too late.  With the tone we got from Hamilton County Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou upon his vote in the Electoral College and the insanity from Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones after burning protest letters on his EC vote, I think we are in for the stank of Trumpism to creep into local politics.  We'll know people go off the deep end if illegal immigration becomes an issue in Cincinnati elections. Hold on tight.  It will get bumpy.

Monday, November 21, 2016

Is the Enquirer's Jason Williams Trolling for Clicks?

Why does the Enquirer and particularly reporter Jason Williams continue to report every possible Streetcar accident like its a scandal? The incident they cite ended up not even being an accident.

The amount of time Williams puts into this can logically only be for one reason: get clicks. He knows the hate that exists for the streetcar and Downtown and he's capitalizing on that hate.  He is ginning up any and all incidents, no matter how trivial, so his click rate goes up.

Reporters now have to worry about readership levels, or the number of clicks their stories get online. Streetcar stories are low hanging fruit. There are 100 other more real newsworthy stories to write about in this city, but we get Streetcar accidents. The funniest part is that this was put in the politics section! It's like they are admitting to why they are doing it, but still do it.

This is they type of journalism that is killing discourse and politics. This misinforms the public. This is knowingly misleading the public. If fender benders mattered, there would be a rolling news-wire service dedicated to them, since they happen somewhere practically constantly. We are in another election season and the click rates matter and the political candidates reporters are rooting for are less hidden.

Monday, November 07, 2016

Where are the Election Night Parties?

As if you need any additional reason to drink this election season, there are still the time honored tradition of the Election Night parties.  This year I am sure they will have the high bar tabs in recent memory for all parties.

Here are those known:

Democratic Party: Lachey's in OTR
Republican Party: Horse & Barell in Downtown
Green Party: Boswell's in Northside
Libertarian Party: Firehouse Grill in Blue Ash


If you want something really cool and different and filled with humor and booze, check out the Know Theatre's DEMOCRACY, YEAH! YEAH! starting at 7PM.
for

In Person Early Voting Up Over 11% in Hamilton County

The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that in person early voting is up 11.11% this year over 2012 through Sunday, with 1 more partial day of early voting to go. This occurred even with the shorted period of early voting this year, thanks to the efforts of the GOP to suppress the vote. It is great that people have taken the time to vote and made it clear that the need for more early voting is there. Waiting in line for nearly three hours to vote is just ludicrous. Ohio and the whole county needs to overhaul our election processes. We need to make voting easier and get turnout as close to 100% as possible.

Tuesday, November 01, 2016

Enquirer Now Using Outsourced Reporters

In a non-surprising move, the Enquirer is using outsourced (duplicated) news reports from FOX19. Here's the latest example.  The Enquirer lists footer calling FOX19 a "media partner."  To be fair, the Enquirer is listing it as part of the by-line.  This time around that was especially helpful to news junkies like me who were confused to read Jennifer Baker's name as reporter on the Enquirer article, but the FOX19 after it does make it more noticeable.  Jennifer Baker is a former Enquirer reporter who now is a reporter for FOX19.  It was going to be surprising to see her return after another round of layoffs just occurred with Gannett.

Tuesday, July 05, 2016

Anti-Clinton Bias From the Enquirer

If you squint you might see something other than Republican Propaganda in this biased article on the Enquirer's website.  When an article has the headline "Local reaction to the FBI's investigation into Clinton's emails," but goes on to list multiple tweets from Trump as examples of those local reactions, you can see the carelessness from a mile away. It is like this reporter is trying out for a job running the website for a conservative talk radio station. Give him the job and get a real journalist instead.

Monday, July 04, 2016

Happy Fourth of July!

Hope you have a safe and mindful holiday. Today is the day we should be thinking about why this country was founded, but also how we can make it better for everyone.

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Trump Twitter Account Author Lying about West Chester Rally

The person running the Trump Twitter account is lying, and the Kaiser is still dead:

The facts: For unconfirmed reasons, the Trump Campaign on Friday evening announced to the media that the rally they were to hold Sunday at the Duke Energy Convention Center in Downtown Cincinnati was cancelled. This happened just before the event in Chicago with the protesters was cancelled. On Saturday morning the Trump campaign announced they were holding an event on Sunday in West Chester, Ohio, an exurb of Cincinnati. The media did nothing but report the event. The event in Cincinnati was cancelled, one is West Chester was added. The Report from the Enquirer.

The real story here is that Trump went from an urban core setting for a rally, like the one in Chicago last night, to one of the most Republican friendly areas of the state. Fear of the 'leftist' protesters must be that great for him to up and move his rally to John Boehner's back yard. Butler County Sheriff and anti-Mexican racist Richard Jones is reportedly set to speak at the Trump event. So Eric Deters and Dick Jones are backing Trump. Who could have possibly guessed that would happen.

Here's how you get tickets to the rally in West Chester.  If you go, please be peaceful.

Thursday, March 03, 2016

Trump's Fascist Follower Matthew Heimbach Not Registered to Vote in HC

The racist thug who 'allegedly' attached a protester at a Trump Rally in Louisville this week is not not listed on the voter registration list for Hamilton County. That means he does not live in Cincinnati or has not bothered to register to vote in Hamilton County. According to a Facebook search he also goes by"Matthew-John Heimbach," but there is no name close to any combination listed on the registration list. This thug, who at best could be described as an asshat, deserves to be prosecuted to fullest extent of the law. I shall not lose a wink of sleep over any heavy fines or civil lawsuits he or Donald Trump face. This type of person does not respect the rule of law and therefore has no place in our society.

Wednesday, November 04, 2015

No On Issue 22 Got More Votes than Cranley For Mayor

The Mayor John Cranley scheme to create a political slush fund went down in defeat last night. To add an additional insult to the Mayor, more people voted against the Mayor's pet issue (34,246), than voted for the Mayor two years ago, (33,428). The voter turnout was higher this year as well. The vote totals for the 2013 race are official, but the No on 22 votes is unofficial and based on not having any provisional votes included, therefore that number should only go up.

Cranley will need to work on getting his GOP vote back for 2017, since he lost that this round.  I think this should remove the last sliver of faux doubt from the Cranley backers claiming he didn't win in 2013 on backs of the GOP voters.

Other than John Cranley, the other big local loser was the Hamilton County Board of Elections. They did not have their act together and that forced a local judge to order the polls stay open an additional 90 minutes.  New technology is never something to not promote to the public.  I had no idea the process changed, and I do honestly pay pretty close attention to such things.  The Local media didn't seem to have that story either.  Our voting process needs a big change.  It won't get that until the state stops being controlled by Republicans bent on voter suppression.

Thursday, October 08, 2015

Cranley Gets the Enquirer to Edit Article

Not a big surprise, but Mayor John Cranley was able to get the Enquirer to pull and edit a story that he initially refused to provide a comment. The article makes this admission subtlety:
Cranley, who initially declined comment but reversed course after an unedited version of this story was inadvertenly (sic) posted Sunday to Cincinnati.com, said he had nothing to do with Harris’ exit or the board appointments.
The article was originally published on Saturday and was back up yesterday after his and the City Manager Black's comments and B.S. denials. It was also conveniently  after the Mayor's awkward State of City infomercial (Cranleymerical?). We don't know how the Mayor's office was able to convince Editors at the Enquirer to make this change, but it happened in a very public and embarrassing way.

Cranley is clearly LYING when he told the Enquirer he had "nothing to do with Harris’ exit or the board appointments." We know this because of who was picked for the board. To say that those were the best choices to serve on a the Historic Conservation Board is something that would ONLY be stated by the Mayor or a member of his staff. You don't get that many Cranley donors together in one place via natural selection. Due to his legal training, Cranley likely has no email trail to Black telling him what to do, but how often do the men hold meetings or phone calls? If they do it often, which I am sure they do, why else would they be doing that if it was not a means for Cranley to tell Black what he wants done on every significant issue put before Black.  We have Mayor who is knowingly overstepping his limited power as Mayor and a City Manager who is so fearful of losing his job that he does what ever the Mayor says, even though he's not his boss.  We have dysfunctional leadership at City Hall and a fractured City Council that can't get six members to consistently stand against the Mayor's over-reaching. Mann and Flynn need to step up and stop walking the fence.

Cranley is a politician and knows how to tell a lie that won't get him into legal trouble. The more Cranley acts as Mayor the more lies we get and the worse our city becomes.

Wednesday, October 07, 2015

FOP Payoffs? More OT and Electronic Paperwork?

City Manager Black's has put out a loose outline of how he would spend the budget surplus. Surprisingly it has 500K for more police OT and 2 Million so cops can sit in their cruisers and do paperwork on their computers.

His plan has nothing that address's the Mayor's plan to get 10,000 kids out of poverty. So, that effort is off to the expected lack of a start.

Yvette Simpson Column Cleary Demonstrates Cranley's Hollow Plan

Cincinnati Council member Yevette Simpson demonstrated she understands the issues facing the city and shows up Mayor Cranley for his failure to effectively communicate what needs to happen and what is happening in this city. We have a Mayor who lacks credibility, but more importantly lacks any real vision to achieve a goal. He called for bringing 10,000 children in Cincinnati out of poverty in Five years, but his only action to move that forward is to create a meaningless commission to deal with it. Yes, a commission. We all know what that means in political speak: do nothing. To be fair the commission does have a purpose: to make those on it look like they are doing something WITHOUT having to actually do anything to help get children out of poverty.

Let's do some math. So 5 years is 260 weeks. That means Cranley needs to average getting 38.41 kids out of poverty in Cincinnati per week to meet his self imposed goal. While that is a noble idea, it is not something he has shown he has any intention of making happen, let alone proposing any policies that could make it happen. If he has those policies in mind, he might have at least shared some that could actually work and get support from City council. It's not like he can do this all by his lonesome, unless he's planning on using his Issue 22 slush fund to actually funnel money to something other than the parks.  It's not like Issue 22 cold stop that from happening.

To help keep him focused on his goal. I suggest we keep a weekly count. The local media should set up a day, say next Monday, one week after Cranley's speech, and ask him or his staff how many kids his policies have gotten out of poverty. Anything below 38 means he's behind on his goal.

I think we all know this is Bullshit from Cranley and we know this because of the lack of plans to use the Budget surplus (created by the vibrant city we are thanks to efforts of the Eight years prior to Cranley getting into office) to meet the goals. Where is the plan to put that surplus into job programs or other assistance for poor families? Assuming that is really Cranley's goal. In order to get a kid out of poverty, you actually have to get the parents out of poverty too. So I guess that raises the number of 10,000 a bit. So let's say it doubles it (accounting for multi-kid and single parents), so that means 20,000 people need to be out of poverty for Cranley to make his goal. So instead of 38.41 per week, we're now up to 76.92. 77 people per week need to be out of poverty to make the Five year goal. This can be done, but it takes someone with the actual will to make it happen, not just pretending to make it happen.

I wonder how many journalists are willing to question the Mayor on this an actually HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE. It won't take much money, it will just take someone sending an email and then publishing the response to the email on a mainstream media outlet. Here's an example email:
Dear Mr. Mayor,


As per you goal to get 10,000 kids out of poverty in five years, which really means getting 20,000 people out of poverty, you would need to average about 77 per week. Please provide me the number of people who got out of poverty over the last seven days and document how your policies achieved that act.


Sincerely,


Cincinnati Reporter
Now I am sure that crack staff at the Mayor's office will have those numbers at their finger tips and this plucky reporter will be able to get the facts reported before the end of the day on Monday. Then that same reporter could repeat this act every day for the next 259 weeks or until the running total exceeds 20,000!


Yes, I jest. Yes, I know the media won't do this. They won't do it because the Mayor's office won't have an answer. The question is how often will the media remind the public what the Mayor pledged to do? Will the Enquirer hold Cranley's feet tot he fire? It is the perfect type of conflict. It is an objective (mostly) race for them to cover. As long as they make Cranley prove his numbers, they can watch the number grow and have a horse race (of sorts) to cover.

That assumes the Enquirer actually covers the coming Mayor's race. They have gotten a bye this year, when we should have a council election, except for the foolish four year term fiasco. Since they have off time, they should start the Cranley poverty Tote-Board. Maybe get the Mayor to put it on Fountain Square. We can all watch the number grow over the next couple years like an extended-acid-induced Labor Day Telethon. Or maybe not.

I would prefer hearing more from Yvette Simpson. She is showing that she has the skills, temperament, and honesty to lead this City. I hope she considers challenging Cranley. We need 20,000 fewer people in poverty, but it will take more people like her in office, the Mayor's office, to make that possible.

Saturday, October 03, 2015

Luken and Cranley Appear to Be Chicken

Charlie Luken has bowed out of the debate on October 12th on Issue 22, an amendment to the City Charter giving the Mayor a huge slush fund to help buy votes from a few key neighborhood leaders in hopes of getting elected in 2017. Luken, political mentor and co-destroyer of city finances with John Cranley, was replacing Cranley who refused to debate unless his diva-style debate riders were met. I guess his need for only blue M&Ms and Miller Lite in only cans can be a tough request to fulfill.

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Enquirer Demonstrates Bias or Laziness?

In their article this week, discussing who may run for the GOP nomination to fill Boehner's seat, the Enquirer made the choice to outright declare the GOP to be the winners of the special election not even scheduled yet.

It is true that Boehner's district is heavily Republican. It would have been fair opinion journalism to focus on the GOP and state that Dems are unlikely to win. This article is trying to be a straight news story, but failed.  It just skiped over the Democratic party. It was as if they didn't bother to call anyone and picked the least flattering email reference they could find, 'surely' by chance.

It's not like a different Ohio newspaper hundreds of miles away didn't get a hold of Cincinnatian David Pepper, the Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party. I wonder if anyone from the Enquirer even tried to call him or the other possible local Dem candidates.

Instead we get a poll that states "Who Will Replace John Boehner?" and below it we read the long list of Republicans. I guess the Enquirer will decide all elections this way? They won't bother to list anyone who they judge has no chance to win, unless they are a Republican, because they need to save time for articles about the sister of soon-to-be former Speaker of the House.

So, biased or just laziness.  I am thinking both.

Friday, September 25, 2015

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Truth About the Mayor of Cincinnati

WCPO's Kevin Necessary has a cartoon that sums up a big problem with the Mayor of Cincinnati.

Please note that is no the only problem with the Mayor, just one of many.

Wednesday, September 09, 2015

Did City Manager Black Just Cost the City a Ton of Money?

Chris Wetterich of the Cincinnati Business Courier has an in-depth article that brings up the Cincinnati City Charter and the section of it that deals with how the City Manager is required to provide the Chief written charges and the right to have a hearing on them prior to being fired. Statements reported, and not yet denied by the City Manager or Mayor, indicate that Chief was just fired and not given a written copy of the chargers and not given the chance to have a hearing prior to being fired.

So a key element to a wrongful termination lawsuit has evidence. When you have a prescribed rule on how to fire someone and you don't follow it, you have a problem.  This is the type of problem that an employment lawyer would cringe upon hearing. When that rule is a city law, well you have mountain of a problem to overcome.

This situation could not have been more poorly handled.  It was an administrative failure.  It was a political failure.  It was a moral failure.  Cranley and Black should be ashamed.

It would be interesting to see how many similar types of documents provided in this case by the City Manager could be produced upon request on any of the prior two police chiefs.  I believe there would be no doubt that Streicher or Craig would have some number of similar complaints.  I doubt those records would be found if requested, however, or someone might create a special power to keep them private.  Some special rule that an elected office might claim doesn't exist, but won't stop invoking.

Sunday, September 06, 2015

Marian Spencer Opposes Park Levy

The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that political leader Marian Spencer has removed her support for the Charter Amendment for a Parks levy that is being pushed by Mayor John Cranley.

This presents another good reason this effort should be thoroughly reviewed and not supported without careful consideration of the pitfalls and hidden agendas within this scheme.

Sunday, August 09, 2015

Major Donor to Cranley Campaign Gets Appointment to Historic Board

Shree Kulkarni, a local developer and major campaign donor to Mayor John Cranley's 2013 election, has been appointed to the Cincinnati Historical Conservation Board.

In 2013 the Kulkarni family and 4 of his companies contributed $8,300 to Cranley's campaign. The individual limit is $1,100 for both the primary and general election periods. This week he was appointed tot he board by the City Manager Harry Black who takes no action without approval of Mayor John Cranley. Buying your way onto a public board appears to be acceptable to the Mayor. How man other suburban based developers have gotten their money's worth?

As the Business Courier's article points out, Kulkarni's appointment is being questioned by the the OTR Foundation.  Over-the-Rhinre (OTR,) in case you are new, has the most historic buildings for the board to review and is a nationally recognized district of historical buildings.  The OTR Foundation's questions, according to the article, appear to rest on Kulkarni's comments on the recent action of the Conservation Board on the Davis Furniture Building.  As a suburban developer, Kulkarni's belief in conservation of history seems to not extend beyond the best interests of the developers who don't seek to preserve the history and architecture.

We need urbanists to make decisions about urban areas.  We don't need Cranley's strip mall mindset to have more power in our city's government.