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Crooked River Cast Show 53
72 Plays11 days ago
Crookedrivercast.com
Crookedrivercast@gmail.com
- 10 Ways To Honor Chuck.
- Iran Update - Oh no our Allies said no!
- Antifa Cell Convicted in TX.
- Meteor In Medina!
- Husted testifies, First Energy Trial goes to jury.
- Husted and Brown “neck and neck” for Senate race.
- Subscribe and share the show. Find me on X.
- New Russia Township votes against “Mega Site”.
- Wellington Village bans data centers.
Critter Corner: Send us a bill.
- HB 767 menopausal hormone therapy.
- SB 230 Pharmacy treatments.
- SB 293 Ballot drop boxes.
- HB 249 Drag time story.
- Browns unclaimed funds.
Good Things:
- Afroman Case.
- Get outside with our great Metroparks.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to The Crooked Rivercast
00:00:12
Speaker
This is the Crooked Rivercast. I am Robert, and the other voice you will hear in your head is Tom, and we are two guys trying to keep track of what is going on in the great state of Ohio.
00:00:24
Speaker
This is show 53 for the week of March 2026. Let's it!
00:00:42
Speaker
There's another show morning and we have more stuff to discuss as usual.
Tom's Flat Tire Adventure
00:00:51
Speaker
How's the week? Do you have a normal week?
00:00:52
Speaker
Anything crazy happen
00:00:57
Speaker
to you? No, you know what? my tyrants but I had some... Pardon me? Sorry.
00:01:04
Speaker
Did you get a flat tire in 71? Did you? No. no Did you? I did get a flat tire in 71 this week. It was quite fun. I haven't got one in a while went with a 15-year-old daughter with her temps. It's like, oh, hey, there's a reminder.
00:01:17
Speaker
Probably show them how to change a tire. Hopefully never on 71. Your truck? A rental truck, actually. I did rent. I was debating on taking my truck on the business trip, and I was like, no, let me rent. And here's the renting. because Oh, oh um did you have the ah just regular street tires on that thing, right?
00:01:35
Speaker
Yeah, it was ah it was a Nissan Frontier, which is their midsize pickup. Yeah. It had 20 miles on it. Oh, nice. It was a Virgin rental.
00:01:46
Speaker
Nice. Gotta love those virgins. yeah Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, popped its tire. And on 71, I think I ran over a bungee.
00:01:58
Speaker
Bungee hook. No, really? i that's I ran one over. And then
ODOT's Heroic Plow Crew
00:02:06
Speaker
not too many minutes later, i got the the the light on the dash.
00:02:09
Speaker
And I was at 15 pounds by the time I clicked over. Pretty crazy. Huh. So i was like, well, I'm not going make the exit. and It's like four miles away. It happened to be that one section of 77 where you don't have a lot of exits. And i was like, well, so i'm I'm changing the tire on the freeway.
00:02:24
Speaker
And here's a shout out. This is one of the reasons main reasons I brought this up. Shout out to ODOT, plow crew, who stopped behind me on the berm with their lights on to block me and shield me from the traffic.
00:02:37
Speaker
Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, that was I was like, they were pulling up. I'm like, ah does he see me? i hope he does. and that Because it was snowing. And, you know, it wasn't snowing the street. but But it was snowing just enough to make the whole side of the road complete mud. So guess we got to do little mud crawl.
00:02:54
Speaker
That was me. You couldn't call ah Yeah, I guess you didn't need to. I could have, and I want to wait a couple hours. Yeah. So it was a, it was a full spare on a truck. So I was like, you know what?
00:03:04
Speaker
And brand new. So nothing's rusted. Right. Right. Came off really easy, but still, yeah, it's kind of unnerving with semis at 70 miles an hour, a foot away.
00:03:20
Speaker
So yeah, heads up to, or shout out to ODOT. So thanks for that. I, uh, thought that was pretty nice of him. look About half of my stop, he was behind me. That's protecting me. So yeah, it keeps, keeps the trucks and pushes them off on, you know, keeps them away and a lot of lights and stuff.
00:03:35
Speaker
So I was pretty happy, at least for that part, even though I was covered in mud. Last time I got stuck on the highway, uh, you know, the i around, it was right close to dead man's curve and,
00:03:47
Speaker
I don't know what they're called, but those guys are like safety guys or something. They come out and help you. And I think they even have, I i think they even have gas with them and they park behind you and they put the arrow on and all that.
00:03:58
Speaker
i thought Rite Aid at one point was doing that. I don't know who does that, but the guy was super friendly. so One of those places can be like one of those. I saw thought I saw something like that on, you would see him on the freeway and in a pickup truck with a cap on it and all that. They had the big sign up that you can put up.
00:04:13
Speaker
Yeah. The thing is I'm driving, those I'm driving 55 miles an hour past them. So I can't see it.
00:04:20
Speaker
Not really paying attention to that one. Um, but yeah, that's a, it was ah always a little wake up call there. So that was my, my, my, uh, my beginning of my trip down to Kentucky bourbon country, which is made up for it when I got there.
00:04:35
Speaker
Yeah. was going to say at least you didn't have the bourbon beforehand. No, but I definitely had one when I got there. Like, well, checking in the hotel. Oh, look, I've been delayed two and a half hours. Oh, I guess I'll just go right to the bar.
00:04:47
Speaker
So what was the lesson for your ah daughter with the temps? Well, teach her how to change a tire. but She was with you? No, I'm just saying it reminded me. Oh, it's probably one of those things when she gets a car.
00:05:00
Speaker
This is how, this is what you have to do. And all, where's your, here's your spare. Now, will she ever use it? Probably not. But in the case that she might need to at least. You don't want her to stick her leg out and.
00:05:12
Speaker
No, I know. No, I don't.
00:05:16
Speaker
Definitely not. What is that. No, don't hitchhike. no Call. called you No, no, not hitchhike. Just put your leg out there. Some guy will stop. even worse or are almost as bad. bad Anyway, moving on that nonsense.
00:05:36
Speaker
Uh, it was, it was exciting. So I guess we'll start the show off on another dud. Like we did. I think last week was a little bit of a downer, but we'll, um, we'll try to bring it up.
00:05:47
Speaker
So we got, uh, we got word.
Remembering Chuck Norris
00:05:50
Speaker
it yesterday? It was yesterday. Yeah. That, uh, was Friday of last week that, uh, The death, death, death now has a Chuck Norris problem.
00:06:02
Speaker
Death has a Chuck Norris problem. Death has a Chuck Norris has allowed death to take him. No, no, no. He's killed death and he's taken on its burden. He's taken on.
00:06:15
Speaker
Yeah, unfortunately, Chuck Norris dies at 86, 86 years old. And he looked really good for 86-year-old. it it was ah I think it was a surprise because he went to the hospital like two days before. They're not saying why he died. Yes. But he was he was in good spirits and he was doing his typical stuff.
00:06:37
Speaker
So it kind of came on sudden. Yeah. And I guess, I guess we can, we can look to, of course, who else? None other than the Babylon Bee to give us a good story about Chuck Norris. 10 ways to honor Chuck Norris.
00:06:58
Speaker
I had a couple of them of number one. Let's see. We'll go start down here. Of course, number 10, subscribe to the Babylon B. It's, it's, it's all, it's what all the tough guys do. Let's see a couple of the ones they have in here. A rescue, a Latina in distress, and then tip your hat, tip your cowboy, cowboy hat to her.
00:07:17
Speaker
Classy way to keep his memory alive. in Make seven bad movies in 1985. It will somehow only make you more of a legend.
00:07:30
Speaker
Uh, let's see, uh, punch a shark in the face. Uh, we're sure Chuck Norris did this at least once. And the number one way to honor Chuck Norris under top 10 list is perform 21 roundhouse kick salute.
00:07:43
Speaker
It's far more impressive than any rifle volley. So there you go. There's, there's a, we all know the Chuck Norris memes. um My favorite probably is the one I posted on X, which is you know, what happened when Chuck Norris went to, I sent this to you. What happened when Chuck Norris went to a feminist rally?
00:08:03
Speaker
What? Came back with a sandwich and his shirt ironed. Wait, I don't even have one of those, do I? Do I have? Yes, I do. i should.
00:08:16
Speaker
There we go. I'm way behind on that one. But the bet. So I heard a story, a couple of things um about Chuck Norris. Apparently when these memes, all these Chuck Norris memes started years ago.
00:08:28
Speaker
Yeah. His wife, I think it was right as the internet was coming up or maybe just before. And the story went from something like this. His wife come came up to him to to Chuck and said, look at this. This has to stop. We've got to stop. This is getting out of hand. And his son came over and said, mom, no.
00:08:46
Speaker
this makes dad the coolest ever. She's like, really? Like, yeah, so they kind of just let it go and kind of feed it, fed into it. So here, what's the best way to say this? Here's some of the best Chuck Norris memes other than Chuck Norris himself saying, here you go. Here's a, here's Chuck on, this is years ago on the best sports show. I think it was.
00:09:04
Speaker
This is some of his top ones. They had top 10. This is top three. This is one of my favorites here. When the boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his posit for Chuck Norris. Yeah.
00:09:21
Speaker
Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming law and order trademark names for his left and right legs.
00:09:32
Speaker
Chuck Norris... Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he never cries, They wanted to put Chuck Norris' face on Mount Rushmore, but the granite wasn't hard enough for his beard. yeah Oh boy. Oh, what a guy. The stories about him. i was listening to Glenn Beck.
00:10:00
Speaker
This clip came on YouTube. He's, he was, I remember listening Glenn Beck years ago, talking about Chuck Norris and friends and all that stuff. And yeah, he's a, he was one of the most famous people in the world and such a regular guy. That's what everybody keeps saying.
00:10:14
Speaker
You know, did you see what variety posted? So this poof, the guy wrote this, Chuck Norris was a great action star, but politics may overshadow his legacy.
00:10:27
Speaker
so Somebody, ah what do they call it when the
00:10:34
Speaker
ah the reader added context to this thing? ah ah Oh, ah on X, you mean? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's commentary. ah um Yeah. No, community notes. that was Yeah. Community noted.
00:10:47
Speaker
Chuck Norris killed his shadow while shadow boxing. That's why you never see his shadow when it comes up behind you. Chuck Norris can never be overshadowed. ah yeah Community notes. um And if you go to the B, you could see some other ones like, fear not.
00:11:08
Speaker
says shook Norris to calm down trembling angels.
00:11:13
Speaker
ah Yep. It was, ah there's all kinds of those there. So check it out. I go, go check out the Babylon Bee. You know, we've got the link in the website or it will be in the show notes at the blog. And there's some funny stuff out there and rest in peace. Prayers to his family. and I'm sure that was it was a huge shock. He's, he was in great health. It looked like, yeah find out what happened.
00:11:38
Speaker
He wasn't, he didn't, he didn't, he didn't succumb to the ah ah pressure during COVID didn and take the vaccine, did he? i I don't know. Sudden death.
00:11:49
Speaker
Sudden death. But I don't, you know, that's. But yeah, it's. No idea, but it comes to mind nowadays. It comes to mind. All right, let's keep moving along, I guess.
00:12:01
Speaker
we We can start with our little little Iran update again. We did last week. i It was all the talk around allies, Tom. They all said no to us, Tom.
00:12:13
Speaker
All our allies said no. Oh, no, they all said no to to help. Why do we give them money?
00:12:20
Speaker
But did they say no? I don't know. I haven't been paid to check. So it's week three and we're still bombing. ah And now talks of ground troops.
00:12:33
Speaker
um Marines have been sent over in the area. Amphibious Marines talked about a little bit last week. Rumors and and spottings of more. So we'll see what happens. um Right now, Department of War is looking for their...
00:12:49
Speaker
They're working up a proposal to Congress for $200 billion, dollars and this is where it's going to get sticky. um And allies said no to helping in the Strait of Hormuz because Donald Trump's mean. He made them all mad because of his tariffs.
00:13:05
Speaker
Or did they? Or did they? Let's hear from Fox News on this and this deal. And i think the I think maybe people coming around a little bit. So 200 billion is the initial ask. He said that I could move in the press conference today. There was a brand new statement from many of our allies, including Japan, about the Strait of Hormuz. Give us the news and we'll react, Julian.
00:13:26
Speaker
So, Bill, this just into the newsroom um ah provided to me from the British embassy here in Washington as we were coming to air. But the allies are now saying um that they are ready to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the strait. We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning. As we all know very well, Bill, because we've been watching this unfold for the last few days, the president has been trying to rally support from the European countries, as has Secretary Rubio. I'm sure Secretary Hegseth has been doing the same behind the scenes.
00:14:03
Speaker
This is maybe too early to say, but sounds like a potentially a capitulation. They're insisting that they want to contribute. And this this came, by the way, Bill, from ah the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan, as mentioned. Okay, thank you, Jillian. Nice to see you there. Rest the voice going to need you, okay?
00:14:20
Speaker
Thank you, Department of State. Just to reiterate that, we express our readiness to contribute. We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning. so Maybe there are more who come on board soon. It's like it's not necessarily that easy to immediately get your – because you have – You have domestic politic issues that you have to deal with. And of course, a lot of these companies countries in Europe are dealing with very left-wing bases that really do not like Israel.
00:14:46
Speaker
yeah so But they also need to get this straight open so that they don't crash their economy. So yeah it's complicated, but it sounds like they're getting there. Yep. So it was all kind of all a bunch of nothing because sounds like they're all coming, coming around. It just was the initial, Hey, hold on, let's check it out. Let's let me, let me push back a little bit for show. And then in the back room, we're going to say, yeah, what do you need?
00:15:10
Speaker
And, and it, and the other thing that no has mentioned is the entire Middle East is like, yeah, what do you need? Yeah. So
00:15:20
Speaker
Yeah. All to do for nothing. That's why I kept seeing it going. Even some of the military channels I was watching are like, well, this is what happens when you, ah bla I'm like, easy guys, just give it a second. Just like everything else, let it play out and see what actually happens. and where you're going to find out is ah it's, it's not what the initial reports are because it's the media doing what the media does.
00:15:37
Speaker
So I guess when still everybody asks a question, when, when will this be done? And I don't think it's going to be done for quite a while.
00:15:50
Speaker
Well, there's rumors of ground troops going to that island. Yes. To secure it. Yep. Krog or whatever it's called. Yeah. Maybe so Israel doesn't bomb it because they they seem to be bombing all the oil sites. I don't, I don't, doesn't sound like with our approval, but.
00:16:04
Speaker
Well, we took out everything in that, on that island except for the oil. Right. So I think we want to just secure the oil. Yeah. If you put U.S. s troops on there, Israel's not going to bomb it. So may be maybe that, but we have, it sounds like we have a slightly different strategies. Israel's like, we want to make sure they don't, they can't make any more money.
00:16:23
Speaker
you know, to keep this effort ah alive as far as weapons and all that stuff that they keep stockpiling. So that's some of the rumors are, of course, over, overplay that, Oh my gosh, the U S is mad. No, they're probably, we just have slightly different strategies and work with that.
00:16:39
Speaker
So I'm not sure. I think, yeah I think we're in for a long haul. Now the problem is going to be when they start asking for more money, what's happen then? Cause we don't have, will it pass?
00:16:50
Speaker
I'm, I'm not sure. I don't know. There's a lot of people against it right now. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just even if all the Republicans or if you had a just like most of the bills are going through Congress now, you've got five or six Republicans and sometimes they change names, but most of them are the same.
00:17:06
Speaker
And they've always got a little bit. And now you have you don't even have all those Republicans. there's There's a ton of Republicans that aren't going to vote for this. I think. Yeah. But I think there's enough Democrats that will. You think so, huh? Yeah.
00:17:17
Speaker
Yeah. Unless. Yeah. I don't. Wow. That would be a shock to me.
Iran and U.S. Allies: A Delicate Balance
00:17:21
Speaker
Yeah. Just with previous. I mean, Fetterman's won. at least. That's a good point. That's a good point. Fetterman's won.
00:17:27
Speaker
And there's there's more. You're going to tell me, ah who's the guy from ah Pennsylvania? Shapiro? I forget. Yeah. Wouldn't he vote? Is he still in Congress?
00:17:38
Speaker
I don't know, but it's TDS. It's the Democratic Party. They're pretty lockstep. Yeah. But what is he? Oh, yeah, he's Jewish, but... Yeah, they're not going to vote against him. I mean Israel.
00:17:49
Speaker
i Okay. It's great point. i'm I'm still thinking TDS would be stronger than your ties to Israel. I don't think so. I don't think... I think ah i think ah TDS does not trump the Israel thing. Okay.
00:18:04
Speaker
That's good point. i don't We'll see. It'll be interesting. Good points. You can see all the... you know when when Whenever... Whenever ah the the media starts talking about this, they they all of a sudden the TDS is kind of gone. He's presidential.
00:18:21
Speaker
That's true. When he bombs and kills people, they like, it's really weird. um Well, speaking of Japan, I had to pull this in because um speaking of our allies, this was one of the clips I thought was Um, it could be one of Trump's finest moments in my opinion as a president. So speaking with our allies in the white house with Japan in the oval office, uh, to depress and Japanese, um, reporter asks, Hey, why, uh,
00:18:52
Speaker
why didn't you guys Why didn't you guys tell your allies? Why didn't you tell the Japanese people? We were kind of confused why you didn't tell one of your biggest allies. And again, this is one of Trump's maybe best best moments and funniest moments, whatever.
00:19:03
Speaker
And yes, ah this is what I voted for. Yes. king youan So we are very confused about the Japanese system. Well, so one thing you don't want to signal too much. You know, when we go in, we went in very hard and we didn't tell anybody about it.
00:19:18
Speaker
because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?
00:19:29
Speaker
Right? He's asking me. Now, you believe in surprise, i think much more so than us. And we had a surprise, him and we did.
00:19:40
Speaker
And because of that surprise, we knocked out the first two days, we probably knocked out 50% of what we, and much more than we anticipated doing. So if I go and tell everybody about it, there's no longer a surprise, right?
00:19:55
Speaker
That was a dumb question. I know. And the look on the prime minister's face was like, she she went, Ooh, not sure. Am I supposed to laugh? I'm not sure. Is that a joke? I can't figure it out.
00:20:07
Speaker
Uh, it was pretty good though. Well, it's a subject you don't bring up, right? I mean, and think, I think it's been long enough. I think it's been. Oh, i agree. I think I thought it was funny. it was great. Yeah.
00:20:20
Speaker
And and he I think he knows he knows better than anybody else what the prime minister is actually like. Yes. yes yeah she's Yeah, I think she won because she's that's something she'd probably laugh at, I think. Yeah. That's what everybody...
00:20:35
Speaker
um even though it probably justt She probably just has a little bit more decorum than Trump, so she holds back... Yes, she's she is japan Japanese. Yeah. But after after that statement, if you listen or watch the rest of it, he goes, one more, one more for the prime minister, one more for the prime minister. And everybody's going, ah buth buth but and he's going, for the prime minister? Is there for the prime? Okay, go go ahead.
00:20:55
Speaker
So the person asks the question, and then Trump proceeds to just answer the question. I mean, then he goes, well, I think more, you you know, the ah the prime minister, and he does give her a chance to answer.
00:21:07
Speaker
But ah the reporter asked the question, he jumps right in. And even the like the prime minister is like, oh, look, just kind of smiled and said, oh, hell he'll take this part of it. It was pretty funny. He did give her, he's like, no, but she knows more than I wouldn't. She talked in Japanese. So I don't know what she said.
00:21:23
Speaker
It was something really good, I'm sure. Um, next we'll touch one more little, uh, national story here. Um, Hey Tom, do you, you ever heard of the group called Antifa? There's no such thing.
00:21:35
Speaker
You know, that's what I heard too. And I, in the case anyone disagrees, here's the super cut. Here's, here's a whole bunch of very, very smart people.
00:21:46
Speaker
Oh God. It was hard to say. Very smart people. Um, Oh, it hurt again. telling us, i mean, this is crazy. um There's no such thing as Antifa, but yet there is. There's no Antifa. This is an entirely imaginary organization. There is not an Antifa. Like, I don't even know what Antifa is. There is no group. It's not even like far right groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. Compared to right-wing extremists, Antifa-linked violence is rare and limited. It isn't an organization. it is a it is a in in many ways mythology. It's not like the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers, you know, sort of here we go yeah defined terrorist organizations with leadership ah that leads violence. It's not a highly organized movement. It's a moniker. It's and it's it's it's not a unified group like the Proud Boys are Things like Antifa are things that are thought up. It's all in this guise of going after Antifa, which is nothing. There's no organization called Antifa. Nobody's a member of Antifa because it doesn't exist. are just declaring into existence something that doesn't exist.
Antifa: Terrorist Organization or Not?
00:22:52
Speaker
There is no Antifa organization, so maybe that's good for social media, yeah but it really has is non-existent. They exist on the internet and chat rooms and in 4chan and Discord and places like that where they do run discussion boards, trade tactics, documents, things like that. but But none of them are called Antifa. Sounds kind of terroristic to me if they're on the internet trading tactics and papers and how to...
00:23:21
Speaker
Oh my gosh. How to blow things up. Not definitely just to make believe total farce. um But um then I'm not sure how this is even possible. So here's here's here's what, I mean, we've had arrests of people, the Trump administration is claiming as Antifa.
00:23:38
Speaker
Here's a, here's a report. I do remember hearing this, an attack on an ICE facility last year, or year or so ago in Texas, and we've had some arrests, but it's weird because they're saying Antifa, and we just heard that there's no Antifa.
00:23:54
Speaker
Yeah, Ken, the Department of Justice just released a statement. And to give you some context, normally a statement like this celebrating the outcome of a trial would come from the DOJ's local office. In this case, it comes from the Attorney General Pam Bondi. She wrote, today's verdict on terrorism charges will not be the last as the Trump administration systematically dismantles Antifa and finally halts their violence on America's streets. She refers to it as an organization that has been allowed to flourish in what she calls Democrat-led cities. Out here, though, people in support of those on trial, you can see them, they have been protesting really every day of the trial here, say this is far worse. The verdicts were far worse than what they were expecting. Their fear, they say, is that anyone who protests the government could now be labeled Antifa and a terrorist. Eight people in all were convicted of this terrorism charge, specifically a charge of providing material support to terrorists. The terrorist in this case being Antifa, which some witnesses described as not being any kind of official organization, but really a blanket term for groups on the left that oppose what they feel is government overreach. This was the first time the DOJ has brought a case of domestic terrorism involving Antifa. We also saw Benjamin Song convicted today of attempted murder for shooting an Alvarado police officer in the shoulder or neck area. That officer who survived was responding to a disturbance at the Prairieland Immigration Detention Center in Alvarado. they were...
00:25:20
Speaker
ah so they were
00:25:23
Speaker
They were, there's about a dozen of them outside this ICE facility. It sounded like they were vandalizing vehicles. And one of the officers showed up and saw one of them with a gun and approached him.
00:25:38
Speaker
And that's when they started shooting at the police officers and one of them got wounded. And that's one of the guys that they prosecuted. Now listen to his, his excuse. This is what he's, this is what their defense was.
00:25:50
Speaker
Yes, just to distract
00:26:10
Speaker
those who did not pull the trigger The other significant charge that we saw were convictions for use of the explosive. The explosive that we're talking about here is fireworks, the same kind that you can buy in a store. We spoke to the wife of Autumn Hill, one of the defendants, about that. His wife. Yes, sir.
00:26:30
Speaker
Federal prosecutors in this case told a panel of Northern District of Texas residents with a straight face. I think letting off fireworks on the 4th of July.
00:26:43
Speaker
That's what they were doing. Terrorism. Just lighting fireworks off and throwing it at the cops. I cannot think of anything more un-American than that. And I cannot think of anything more inhumane than the horrors that ICE is inflicting through its state terror on our communities.
00:27:00
Speaker
Not a wife. I'm calling it not a wife. What's your tran-teef? A dude in the dress with, I think he does have boobs though. That's what they call them. Trantifa. Trantifa.
00:27:11
Speaker
Um, huh. No kidding. Really? What a shocker. One of the wives is trans. Oh, couldn't see that one coming. Well, a few of these people that got convicted are, are, are trannies.
00:27:21
Speaker
Yeah. That was all over my bingo card. to Tell you the truth. All over. Oh yeah. I mean, they, uh, yes. Oh, it's so nice of them to, uh, to, uh,
00:27:35
Speaker
To show up at the ICE facility and start shooting it up. i Protesting, Rob. but Protesting, yes. Thank you. Thank you for bringing back. Yes, cause because that's what they're doing. Because protesting means um throwing rocks at police, throwing ohath throwing explosives. It's explosive. The same ones you can get at at the at the store. Yeah, the same ones that they have laws against and and and protecting, quote unquote, protect people from themselves because i people blowing hands off, which doesn't happen. But yes, it's an actual explosive. It has powder in it that explodes.
00:28:09
Speaker
It burns somebody up. It burns somebody pretty bad. And you see, this is a tech that they've been using for a couple years now since… Trump's first term when they were doing in Portland for like months and months on end, they had a federal courthouse seat under siege every night, um, blocking the doors and setting fires.
00:28:28
Speaker
Um, and then trying to concrete the lock shut, this kind of stuff. If they're not a terrorist organization, what are they? These people aren't doing terrorism. What are they doing? Just, just protests.
00:28:39
Speaker
They're just protesting when they vandalize and slash tires. That's not protesting. That's rioting. You know, back then in like 20... When was that happening in Portland? Was it like 2019, 2020? Yeah. Right around that time, right? Yeah.
00:28:53
Speaker
I kind of... Yes. Remember when we... yeah ah That clip that you played, a lot of that lot of those people saying that Antifa doesn't exist comes from that time, I might think.
00:29:03
Speaker
Yep. Around that time. Yes, a lot of people. And all the way through ah when he announced that he made... What? Declared a...
00:29:15
Speaker
Antifa a terrorist group, right? Yep. yeah So i they've been they've been saying that forever. Anyways, back then i did a search on just on Facebook and kind of typed in Antifa. I want to see what came up. And just about every major city, including Cleveland.
00:29:31
Speaker
Yep. had an Antifa group. Cleveland's was, you know, there was hardly anything, any activity on there, but, ah and it's, it's gone now. Most of the, most of the groups are gone now off of, I just looked today uh, most of them are gone off of Facebook. And i think the guy, there's a couple, i don't know if there's two or one main guy of Antifa that doesn't exist, uh, has fled the States. Um,
00:29:59
Speaker
So i think he was more of a figurehead maybe. Well, I don't know about a figurehead, but kind of ah gave him a lot of money. I mean, don't think they're funded a lot of this stuff.
00:30:13
Speaker
I don't think some of those that super cut. I mean, there's some truth to that. there there are They don't really have leaders. There's not like a ah there's not a central orders, not centralized. Yeah, but it is just a decentralized group. I mean, it just because they don't have like a main office doesn't he doesn't have a website and a logo doesn't doesn't. Well, but they do. I mean, you you can find that. no that's true. yeah That's good.
00:30:41
Speaker
ah But just because they're decentralized and don't have somebody that that they call the leader doesn't mean doesn't make it doesn't mean they're not a terrorist organization. It actually would lend you to believe that maybe they are more of a terrorist organization because that's that's kind of done it intentionally so that you can't break them up by just taking their leader.
00:30:59
Speaker
That's one of the reasons they do that is that there's not just one you know chain of command. There's a bunch of different ones. what what we What this really brings though is where's the money coming from? Because this, look, go watch this clip.
00:31:12
Speaker
from I forgot to see who that was from. That was from CBS 11 in Texas. and By the way, yeah let me just i just did a search for a website and there's one called jstore.org and it's it's a New York City Antifa.
00:31:27
Speaker
Come join the movement. I mean, the resistance, I should say. oh So yeah, there's there's so many websites for them. Sorry, ah but you're right I needed to double check that.
00:31:40
Speaker
So who's, who's supporting them? Because if you look at this CBS clip, it's local CBS in Texas. They've got some of the prettiest signs I've ever seen. They have signs with caricatures of all the defendants on the signs with their names, like free so-and-so. Like these are, and there's so all, there's a huge banner behind them. I mean that, you know, where's the, where they get the money from. Mm-hmm.
00:32:06
Speaker
That's where this really comes in is If you can follow the money, you're going to see who's who's leading this, basically. It's not just one person. It's multiple people, multiple organizations and so on.
00:32:18
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Dark money groups. you Well, I think the main players have led. But anyways, this this is going this is a good test to see what... This was a good...
00:32:30
Speaker
outcome. It's the first time Antifa has actually been convicted. ah but this is a good test to see where it goes from here. ah with what Bondi and what's the FBI guy?
00:32:45
Speaker
Uh, cash, cash, but tell are doing if you, because I have not, they are on my shit list to say the least. They have not done a good job, but If they come through on this, which I, you know what? I don't see it happening to tell you truth, but if they do, then. well what's how What do you mean? See what happening? That's, that's what kidding. Convict people.
00:33:09
Speaker
Besides these guys, like convict. Yeah. Yeah. Well, this wasn't easy. That's what I want to see. Yeah. Yeah. No, no. You need to, you need to kill the organization. Yep. follow the money and get somebody, get the, get the big fish, at least one of them. And that would be an accomplishment to me. This, this is cool, but it's not a, this is something that's well overdue and happened a long time ago.
00:33:30
Speaker
Right. I just want to bring up one thing. They bring up this protest all the time and protest and protest and the right to protest. And I'm sorry, these words mean something. You do not have a right to protest. You technically have a right to assemble, peaceably assemble is the words.
00:33:44
Speaker
o So once you start not being peaceable, peace, of peaceful, peaceable, was that once once you stop being peaceful, your rights go away. You don't have the right to be there anymore. And once they, once they deem it a um unlawful assembly,
00:34:00
Speaker
I mean, now you got to fight it in court later on because what are you going to do? What you're going to do is you're going to rocks and explosives at the cops when they try to flush you out. And that's what's that's what's happening here. So nobody's going to get arrested for protesting or for assembling, but these people will because they go way beyond.
00:34:18
Speaker
not it's not It's not about protesting or assembling. It's about fear inciting violence in the masses. That's what they do. They they will, there will 5,000 people show up, they'll inject 20, 15 or 20 people. And you could see them because they're usually the ones in the bright vests, directing people on what to do.
00:34:36
Speaker
And they start, they start, to they start to crap. And that's when the violence comes. You get a bunch of people in the crowd and it's not hard to to get on the All you needed to do is get a couple of people to yeah react to what the instigator does and it becomes a, it becomes a mob.
00:34:54
Speaker
yeah well Yeah. Once somebody sees somebody else doing it, that gives them permission to do it and so on and so on and so on. Look at all the, almost all of the Black Lives Matter protests were exact. They were peaceful during the day.
00:35:04
Speaker
And once dusk hit, things started getting thrown, teary guys started getting in and then that's when the looting started
00:35:13
Speaker
So there's that. There's that. So Antifa, who doesn't exist, currently a terrorist organization that doesn't exist, they got arrested. I mean, I bet they think it exists now.
00:35:24
Speaker
I bet they're pretty convinced. um There are some that people that got off. or or I think they tried to convict four people of murder and only got the one ah one guy because he's the one who actually pulled the trigger, shot the cop. Cops survived. Right. Yeah. Cops survived.
00:35:39
Speaker
um all that and uh all that nonsense so there's that good work i think so far we'll see how much but how much better you can get at it next we have well did you hear the meteor tom
00:35:55
Speaker
Oh, by the way, Mark, I'm sorry, Mark Bray, of Rutgers university University history professor and author of Antifa, the anti-fascist handbook. He's the one who's fled the West. Oh, okay.
00:36:11
Speaker
Well, I could see why. Yeah. I could see why that makes sense. though I'm sorry. go ahead. Oh, you're good. i I was saying, did you hear the meteor the other day? I did not. My wife was at home and she did.
00:36:24
Speaker
She actually ran to the front door to see what happened. Yeah. It felt like, um, I thought something hit was on the roof of my house.
Meteor Sighting in Ohio
00:36:32
Speaker
Oh really? I was walking to the house. It was one, I did one of those, what the heck was that? Kind of duck down kind of things.
00:36:38
Speaker
And I ran to the front door, opened the front door and I heard more. Oh, yeah you heard the, the, the, uh, particles breaking off. Yeah. So I heard the big boom. I think that was a sonic boom.
00:36:50
Speaker
Yeah, probably. And then I opened the front door, looked out over across the street, which is looking West. And I heard crackle, crackle, crackle. You know, you heard the the break. crackling Oh yeah. I was like, what in the world was that? Cause I'm looking West.
00:37:06
Speaker
Um, there's an airport there. so and i woo So I walked outside and my neighbor across street come outside and he's like, did hear that? I go, yeah. He's like thought something hit my house. I go, that's what I came out for.
00:37:17
Speaker
And, uh, And no, we were, I was like, okay like ah i mean, there's dark clouds in the sky. So I thought possibly winter thunder, but no, not, not that much. And then it turns out a meteor, a seven ton meteor. Yeah.
00:37:32
Speaker
so Only six foot two. Yeah. Six foot wide, weighing seven tons, traveling at Southeast at 45,000 miles an hour before breaking apart in Medina County. Apparently people are finding, finding a fragments of it in some parks in Medina.
00:37:49
Speaker
Yeah. I've seen some pretty cool pictures. Yeah. um So that, that, that was, a you know, with everything else going on, you're like, oh crap. I think even somebody here in my city, I'm, you know, I guess I kind of order a border Medina County. They, yeah they found it. They found a little fragment on their deck.
00:38:10
Speaker
Oh, wow. Hmm. Jesus. Crazy. Well, apparently these things happen all the time. yeah Yeah. You know, what's kind of weird about this one though? I, I, wouldn't they, wouldn't it be, wouldn't you be kind of put on notice to look for this?
00:38:23
Speaker
They didn't see it coming. It wasn't big enough. Really? Yeah. It wasn't big enough from what I understand. Oh, okay. And because mainly probably because they figured it will break up into little pieces. So they if you've got to narrow the looking for, you know, earth-destroying comets. or I'm sorry. That quarter-sized defragment still would sting.
00:38:44
Speaker
Oh, it's sting. Yeah. Yeah. It'd be much more than sting. But yeah, they said they didn't see it on any any systems or anything else because its probably because of the size of it. Only seven tons and six foot wide. Yeah.
00:38:56
Speaker
um Yeah. So that's, that's kind of the reason I guess for that. What else is there? up Well, that's what they're telling us. That's what they're telling us. I think they're telling us it's a meteor.
00:39:08
Speaker
I think we should really pay attention to Medina County and in the coming weeks. Lizard people. Lizard. There's all me all kinds of reports of missing dogs and cats and Eyelids going the wrong way.
00:39:23
Speaker
i People with double eyelids. It's going to be interesting. um Yeah, was it was kind of. But there's one place. That sees an opportunity and that's GV art and design.
00:39:37
Speaker
I've never heard of this company, but this is a Fox eight article. I got, we got in the show, in the show notes that, uh, Susan Stanford spoke, uh, with the owner of GV and art designs who confirmed, uh, it was one T they didn't count on having to make this thing. Patrick's day.
00:39:55
Speaker
ah we we weren't ah We weren't sitting on this one for the last few St. Patrick's Day waiting for it to happen. No, of course. He said, but when you get hundreds of requests, we're like, okay, well, let's get something going. So they had a pretty cool T-shirt still up there. ah St. Patrick's Day, um you know, Shamrock in Cleveland with it a little meteorite going into the to the pot of gold. Yeah, it's cool. hu From snow to sunshine to meteors. Yeah.
00:40:23
Speaker
The first comment I saw on social media was a leprechaun farted. Yeah. I heard that too. And let's see, they had, I heard the parade was a dud because of the cold.
00:40:38
Speaker
Yeah, it was freezing, man. Freezing. was like 20 degrees. I mean, the sun came out, but still it's fucking 20 degrees and started snowing. I had somebody I knew went down there, but they have a hotel every year. They get hotel looking over overlooking the route. rootte And he's like, yeah, there was nobody down there.
00:40:51
Speaker
Wow. Yeah, no kidding. So that was the fun, fun Tuesday afternoon. um ah Meteors falling from the sky.
00:41:04
Speaker
Almost kind of kind of almost pooped my pants a little bit. have to admit it's pretty loud. let's go on next on to, uh, I guess some more meaty news.
FirstEnergy Bribery Trial
00:41:14
Speaker
We, uh, we mentioned last week a little bit update on the first energy trial. And this week we, uh, towards the end of the week, Senator John Husted testified for the defense in the trial and the first energy bribery trial.
00:41:30
Speaker
Um, So here, let's do a little bit. So this will kind of cover. And then later in the week, I think towards the end of the week, Thursday, Wednesday or Thursday, the jury, the case was given to the jury.
00:41:41
Speaker
<unk> Deliberation as of this morning and the 21st, the 21st. is not, um, no, uh, no decision has been made from the jury as far as I can see.
00:41:54
Speaker
So, um, they're still going delivering. sounds like they might do it for a while because there's a lot of stuff in this case, but let's, uh, let's get into here from channel news channel five on little bit on Houston's, um, uh, testifying on the stand and a little bit about the trial, i guess.
00:42:10
Speaker
Not, not whole lot here, for, for Houston. Um, but a couple of things we could Ohio Senator John Husted took the witness stand today in the trial of two former First Energy executives who are accused of bribing a state official. The defense called Husted, who served in Governor Mike DeWine's administration as Lieutenant Governor. He was present in multiple wiretap meetings with both Michael Dowling and Chuck Jones. Both of those men have pleaded not guilty to bribery. In his role, Husted advocated for legislation bailing out two nuclear plants now known as House Bill 6.
00:42:43
Speaker
Husted has not been charged with any wrongdoing and denies knowing anything about the scheme. ah no You wouldn't tolerate a chair compromised by secret financial dealings with the utility they regulate, would you?
00:42:55
Speaker
I would not, and I'm sure the governor would not either. He said reportedly received over a million dollars from First Energy through a dark money group to support his 2017 run for governor, along with another two and a half million in 2018 to help him and Governor DeWine. Defense attorneys have continued to paint Sam Randazzo as the person who stole money. Randazzo died by suicide in April of 2024. Always got to blame the dead guy.
00:43:23
Speaker
Why is it, why do want look at this story, this whole thing, it does not feel like the prosecution has a whole lot on these guys. Not really, right? It does not feel like, it's a lot of assumption it sounds like.
00:43:39
Speaker
But, I mean, all that in the context of First Energy has admitted as a company to bribery. So who did the bribing or has somebody has to be, has to have done the bribing.
00:43:55
Speaker
The dead guy is what they're saying. Convenient. Convenience. Um, Houston, couple of things. Houston was in meetings with these guys with Jones and, um, oh, where the other guy came from his name now, um, that were wiretapped.
00:44:12
Speaker
Right, but... Wiretap meetings and... This is the first time I've heard of that they were in wiretap meetings, which tells me they didn't get a whole lot of those meetings. Right. As far as evidence.
00:44:24
Speaker
um Dark money groups, yeah. PACs and stuff like that. It's not necessarily...
00:44:30
Speaker
That's always a sinister, ooh, dark money groups. It is a lot of money coming from First Energy going to Houston and DeWine. So I don't mind the scrutiny. I just, I don't see any, there's nothing there that I can tell.
00:44:41
Speaker
um Other than they pushed for this Randazzle guy
00:44:47
Speaker
Uh, initially first energy wasn't on board with Randazzle supposedly. but after they saw that this guy would, was going to be the front runner, they got on board.
00:44:59
Speaker
Now he does have dealings with first energy. Did anybody know about that? Sounds like they did and they let it go anyway. So. i don't um I don't know. what's What's your take on this? You got anything? anything Nothing of substance. yeah I just, ah I sort of zone out because i don't see anything.
00:45:20
Speaker
So just to recap this, like they said, HB6, this was to help recoup First Energy's money from shutting down the nuke plants. And they supposedly pushed for HB6 so they can get paid back and which wouldn't, so it would not hit their stock price, which for CEOs and board members is how lot of their compensation comes around, increase in stock price and all those stuff your bonuses from it.
00:45:44
Speaker
So that's why, well that's how these, that's how that's what they're saying these top people at First Energy were trying to do. They were trying to shield the company from a loss by putting on the taxpayer, bribing legislatures to get it on there so that their stock price didn't take a hit.
00:46:02
Speaker
Because if they were going to lose $200 million, dollars they weren't going to get a bonus this year. It would be, I don't know, my guess. And look, they maybe lose their jobs and all that fun stuff. So that's kind of the the meat of it. I don't, I'm not sure. I'm not sure what they're gonna do.
00:46:18
Speaker
um i don't know. I get, don't get a good feeling that they're going to, I don't get a feeling either way. just feels it feels like there's a, needs to be more. I don't know I keep thinking what, keep waiting for something else to come out. That's why we, with the trial it this came on trial and I kind just let it sit.
00:46:32
Speaker
Let's let it marinate for a week or so and see what comes out. But there's been nothing. Not really. I mean, a couple of somewhat texts that are somewhat slimy, but nothing incriminating that I could see.
00:46:45
Speaker
slimy Slimy in context or out of context? I mean... When you're complaining, when the CEO of First Energy is complaining because Houston's not getting his bill in the legislature, he's complaining to razz Randazzo, a pc the chairman of the regulatory, PUCO. And that is, i mean, that's the context. he's He's watching the stock price or he's watching the legislation, ah watching for this legislation to become on put on the ballot or on the ah ticket. And it's not. And he's complaining about it.
00:47:19
Speaker
Well, okay, that's a... He was hoping for it, right? Yeah, that's what I mean. It it could be. i mean, in either context, that's what I mean. in the In the correct context, you could you still see that as going, oh, but there has to be more.
00:47:31
Speaker
There be something else. recipe to There's no smoking gun that I can see. And not to say these guys are innocent. I don't i don't know, but... You need more than and he more than that. And the other one I saw, the these are the big ones that I saw. and Someone correct us if ah if we're missing something. But the other one was he sent a text to Randazzo, I think, with a screenshot of the of the First Energy stock price going up, saying, my mama always told me to say thank you.
00:47:57
Speaker
Again, a slightly incriminate, I mean, kind of slimy, little sus, but and there has to be something else behind it, not just that. Mm-hmm.
00:48:07
Speaker
And speaking of Houston, while we're on the on the topic, we've got a couple of stories there for the first time. should just check them out. And you know if you want a good something to put you to sleep, check it out.
00:48:20
Speaker
um Speaking of Houston, though, we've got a ah scene magazine story here while we're talking about polls show U.S. s Senate race statistically tied with health insurance, a big concern among voters.
00:48:32
Speaker
So this is Scene Magazine. A new poll from a GOP firm has former Ohio Democrat Senator Sherrod Brown two points up on incumbent Ohio represent Republican U.S. Senator John Husted in a 2026 election. Okay.
00:48:50
Speaker
um What's the margin of error for this poll? That would be my first question because two points is nothing in most cases. It's four. Does it it ist say four? Yeah. Cause I thought I looked for it this morning. I didn't see it.
00:49:03
Speaker
Okay. That's usually higher than normal, the reasons. usually it's like three, right? two Two to three. Yeah. And I think one of the reasons is because they only polled 600 people, which is right to me pretty low for a poll. But...
00:49:14
Speaker
I guess pretty low for a poll, but I guess when you, when you just take an, take an Ohio, maybe, maybe not nationwide. It's very low nationwide. They're usually at 1200 or something. When I see it, 1200, 2000. So with the four point margin of error, it's Brown's up 47 to 45. Yeah. But what I went on real clear polling, which is a real clear politics website.
00:49:38
Speaker
Uh, and check that out there right now. Houston in aggregate is leading by 1.4. Same thing though. You got about two point, uh, you know, two points of margin of error, ah race the race, uh, well, it says here, Tom, though, this here's the biggest problem.
00:49:58
Speaker
Uh, the races are closely watched with president Trump's declining popularity. That that was the best line yeah scene seen does a great, uh, job of being TDS. But his polling his polling is going down, his favorability.
00:50:14
Speaker
But that's kind of typical. It's been pretty steady over this this ah time through. and it's I think it's just down right now because of, well, gas prices are higher and the war is happening. And then ah you had all the ice stuff too. So that was kind of bringing his polling down.
00:50:36
Speaker
Yeah, the ice stuff was, mean, was, I mean, when you looked into it, you understood it. But from the from from the normal public's view. Optics, it was bad. Optics, yeah. Optics were really bad. And that i I don't blame Trump for that. that that's That's mainly because of ah GNOME and Well, the news was doing a good job on that, right? the Yeah, um I do blame Noam to some extent. There's only so much that they could really do when when you're clipping videos way, you know, when you're conveniently editing these these ICE videos.
00:51:09
Speaker
Yeah. In certain ways, it's it's almost there's almost nothing you can do, but I don't think she did enough. I don't think she did everything. I mean, she did a really good commercial. Yeah. her Well, her messaging was terrible, though. yeah that's That's a thing. well especially Especially when ah ah that, I forget his name, that started with a P, the guy got shot.
00:51:29
Speaker
Oh, Freddie, wasn't it? Freddie. When he got shot, her messaging was but terrible. like it could have She could have done a little bit better job there. And even with the, what was it, Gabby? ah woman's The woman that got shot through the windshield. That wasn't as bad, but when Freddie got shot, her messaging was terrible.
00:51:49
Speaker
Well, and that, with the with the with the woman who got shot, the mother, it was...
00:51:55
Speaker
I think two days after she was shot, the reports came out that the DOJ was investigating her her wife. And that, like, I'm not saying you shouldn't investigate her wife, but maybe give it a week, maybe give it two weeks.
00:52:07
Speaker
yeah yeah Yeah. It looked, I mean, I get, again, a logical person would say, yeah, I get why you're going to look into it. But these people were stalking ICE agents, but it looked, the optics were horrible. Like they just shot her and they're, now they're investigating your wife. to I'm like, whoa.
00:52:23
Speaker
I mean, balls, I like it, but definitely high T, but ah optics was horrible. Yeah. So thirty s in Ohio, it says 37% said insurance companies.
00:52:34
Speaker
Wait, oh, which part of the healthcare? care Healthcare care is a big thing in the poll. So um ah respondents were asked which part of the healthcare care system gave them the most problems. Gee, what a shock. 37% said insurance companies.
00:52:48
Speaker
14% said pharmaceutical companies and 12% said hospital systems and 6% said drug middlemen known as pharma pharmacy benefit managers. um And that's, I think, a winning strategy for Trump. He's pushing some of these new, you know, getting the middlemen out in the to get the drug prices down, taking the some of the power of the insurance companies away by giving, you know, if you're going give free healthcare care or subsidized healthcare, care give it to the people to pay and not this insurance companies.
00:53:23
Speaker
Won't get passed, but push on it and put, didn't need I think they need to push on that and push on why it won't get passed because Congress is owned by the insurance companies. So I think that's a winning issue if they keep pushing on Cause it's, you know, it's always a top the list, healthcare, healthcare care costs, went along with energy and stuff.
00:53:43
Speaker
that You know what' what else is disingenuous about this article? The New York Times poll tracker showed Houston with consistent leads and surveys conducted last year, but he and Brown are running neck and neck in the three conducted so far in 2026, but they don't they don't mention that Brown wasn't running last year.
00:54:03
Speaker
Oh. Yeah. Okay. And it's a New York Times poll. Should it should it really be, ah should ah any Republican be ahead in a New York Times poll? Well, it's a New York Times poll, but he was the only one running. i mean, this is just a scene not telling you all the facts. i serious i't know yeah oh yeah It's just scene being seen. Yeah, scene being activist. Activist.
00:54:31
Speaker
We'll get more of that later. Don't worry. So yeah, neck and neck. ah We'll see. It's going to be close. They've all been within five to five points. I think this one will be similar. this one's going to be a little closer because Brown's got name recognition.
00:54:44
Speaker
Name recognition. He's been there before too, right? He's been a center. Yeah. he has a chance. Yeah. Yeah, definitely has a chance. yeah that's ice tunees and And if you ask me, the the I was, i you know, i'm expecting...
00:55:01
Speaker
the Republicans to lose the house. I was expecting them to keep the Senate, but I think it's going to depend on what's going on with the economy and the war. Boy, if they lose the Senate, it's going to be a shit show.
00:55:16
Speaker
but it's going to be a shit show regardless, but definitely a major shit show with. Yeah. He'll be convicted. Well, maybe, he'll probably not. He'll be impeached. Well, he, well, you can be impeached, but not convicted. No, he won't because you know you still need 60. Oh, you do. Okay.
00:55:32
Speaker
But it it'll be rap Yeah, that's to me why I think the push is get all the stuff in play before the midterms because don't know how much they're going to be able to after the midterms. Well, I guess we'll see. nothing. mean, boy, at this point, I thought they had a chance to hold onto the house early but the way it's going right now, don't see that at all.
00:56:04
Speaker
I really don't. I mean, again, generally speaking, regardless of popular president is, i mean, Obama lost his midterm for after his first, and he was, mean, he's the most popular president ever, right? That's what I'm told Yeah, but he wasn't really.
00:56:18
Speaker
No, but he wasn't, but he he lost it. I think Trump's approval ratings are actually better than Obama's at this point in presidential election. the second term maybe? Yeah. Yeah, it might be.
00:56:29
Speaker
I looked it up, but, um, yeah, so we'll keep an eye on that race, but next week we'll have some more, uh, there's some Amy acting stuff that's been coming out this week. I'm kind of pulling together for next week's show. Oh, cool. Um, little, a little scandal, little Ohio scandal going on. Maybe.
00:56:44
Speaker
I don't know if it's a scandal, but I don't know, but it's something, uh, So yeah, tell us what you think about Houston. or you know Tell us what you think about the first energy trial.
00:56:55
Speaker
Tell us what we're missing. What's the exciting part? Are we missing some of the information? Did I miss some of these, any texts that we're damning to anybody or anything come out of these silly ah wiretap meetings? Apparently nothing. um So let us know if I'm missing anything on that. We're missing anything on that.
00:57:11
Speaker
Shoot us an email, crookedrivercast at gmail.com. Check out the show. Check out the blog after the show drops on Mondays. You can follow along with most of our, all of our stories and most of our clips, as long as I remember to put them in there.
00:57:23
Speaker
And the then you can tell us where we're wrong or where we're right or all that kind of stuff. So crookedrivercast.com for the blog every Monday. Tell us what you think. Send us, send us a note about,
00:57:37
Speaker
you know, what's going on in your area, maybe. You got some shenanigans from your ah from your local city council? Send it over to us. Maybe it'll put into the show. And if if you're feeling adventurous, try to find me over on that. Me love cookie!
00:57:52
Speaker
And that's that. So check out the show, CricutRiverCast at gmail.com.
00:57:59
Speaker
a long time We've got more data center talk. It's becoming like a ah weekly thing at some, sometimes more and more data centers.
Lorain County vs. Data Centers
00:58:08
Speaker
Uh, got, got more popping up all over every, seems like every week I hear about more projected or starting.
00:58:15
Speaker
And i think we'll go with, Well, New Russia, that we've been talking about them a couple times. This Lorain County, a city or village in Lorain County, and they've been going back and forth with a mega site that that that that some people want to put in the area.
00:58:34
Speaker
And they just had a vote. I think a few weeks ago, the What was it? The committee, i think it was like the development committee in in new Russia count Township, a trustee backed a four to one vote, oh last month's vote for the Township Planning Committee. Last month they voted four to one to reject it and now the trustees of the township and voted three to nothing to temporary put a temporary ban.
00:59:02
Speaker
No, that's not this one, is it? No, they just, they don't want this site. That's the next, we got two stories here, both kind of overlapping. um So they've, that was kind of a question we had. it was like, well, the planning committee says no. Well, the the the village say no. And they have said no, at least for now, because what they wanted to do was take an existing site that they've already approved for um for rezoning and add 600 acres to it to make it over a thousand plus acre mega site.
00:59:32
Speaker
Now, not necessarily for data centers, but they're saying for semiconductor chip manufacturing and other high-tech manufacturing. But let's be honest, the majority of those are going to be data centers.
00:59:45
Speaker
Um, so they X, it looks like the County wants to invest closely $500 million dollars in building a sewer and water system. They want to just put this money in before anybody commits to it.
00:59:58
Speaker
They also want to combine the 622 acres, ah to get more than 900 acres, almost a thousand. Um, that the County, cause they own a bunch of land. They want to add it to this other land and rezone it to get them close to a thousand acres.
01:00:12
Speaker
Just, I mean, that's just, That's a massive site. That's like a, that's like a city, like a small, so small city, small city full of no one. Well, nobody, but nobody, but computers and cooling units. Um, and, uh, let's see what else we have. Uh, they, they don't, the biggest problem is they don't know what's going to be there. So how, how are they supposed to promise the community that, that this is going to be a good thing for the community if they don't know what's going to be in, in these mega sites.
01:00:44
Speaker
But then again, they're saying these companies won't come there unless you you do these things first, which is rezone it. They won't even visit the site unless it's already rezoned. Because why, I mean, and they're in their mind, why bother if it's not, it's not going to happen.
01:00:58
Speaker
Um, that kind of a waste their time. So semiconductor projects in the region near Columbus, West Lafayette, Indiana, and upstate New York have faced delays. And in West Lafayette, Indiana, a case, um, they have a lawsuit going on there.
01:01:11
Speaker
Um, So there's a lot of, a lot of talk. I mean, there's, this has really come to the coming up to the um on top of people's list of issues. Have you heard anything in your end of it? Like what, what are you hearing? Are do you talk to people about this at all? And do they even know what's going on?
01:01:28
Speaker
Cause I'm in a bubble because of my, because of my industry. yeah I know, excellentor you know, if you're in the suburbs, you don't, nobody's talking about this.
01:01:40
Speaker
I don't, and I haven't, you know, ah there's a, i I should reach out to them. Uh, you know, cause I, I know a few people, I think there's a few listeners actually ah live in townships and, uh, in a rural area and should, we should reach out to them and see what they're seeing and see what they're thinking about this too.
01:02:02
Speaker
Consider it done. We just reached out to them. Yeah, okay. Well, I mean, there's i think's's there's a couple that aren't listeners yeah that I know that i should I should reach out to. But I you know i just don't know enough people to
01:02:17
Speaker
to know exactly what's going on.
01:02:21
Speaker
like I've mentioned before, i um I know people that are... Financially gaining from having a data center in their area as far as construction jobs, but also sure at the same time fighting like the the community against, you know, to stop it at some, at some point until it was you know already done. And then you just might as well make some money off if it's it's going to go in anyway.
01:02:44
Speaker
So they're almost diametrically opposed themselves. It's like, yeah, I like to work, but geez, you I bought this house five years ago to retire here and have a nice quiet life. And now i got a data center in my backyard. Yeah, yeah. and It's not cool. It's not cool.
01:02:57
Speaker
and You know what? i I didn't look at the... I knew Russia Township was close to like that ah Route 2, I think. Yeah, it's 2 and 90. It's all in that area. Yeah. ah is Is this like land like right along 2 or is it like in the...
01:03:14
Speaker
Further away. Good question. Let's listen to, I do have for the next story, which is a township has put a temporary ban. Another township in Lorain County that has put a, ah a ban on but at least temporary ban on data centers for the time. yeah And here's, this is ah last articles idea stream, which actually is a pretty good article from idea stream. Had a lot of, had a lot of good stuff in it.
01:03:35
Speaker
As far as facts and stuff. This one is a news channel five. Let's hear from see what they said. Say Wellington a data center ban. More Northeast Ohio communities are joining a growing debate over controversial high-tech development. This week, the village of Wellington became the latest to block the construction of data centers. Lorain County reporter Catherine Ross has been covering the development pushback in rural communities there. She explains now why Wellington leaders say they're being proactive.
01:04:07
Speaker
Wellington wears its history on its sleeve, takes pride in its role in the county fair, and for years it's been carefully preserving its small town charm. It's America's hometown, right? This is what everybody's hometown wants wants to be. It's not a label Wellington Mayor Hans Schneider takes lightly. And in this hometown, he says neighbors have been clear. You want to listen to your residents as much as possible, you know, and try and find common ground. yeah And I just, you know, I just don't think there's a place for them out here. Them refers to data centers, the often sprawling facilities used to store, manage and process our digital information. This week, Wellington formally banned data centers with a one-year moratorium.
01:04:46
Speaker
Many neighbors told us they support that ban. Everybody's against it. Everyone I've ever talked to about it. When it gets built around you. then their property value can take a big plunge. And I would be very scared if I were the people up north of us that that might happen to them.
01:05:06
Speaker
Most people we talk to here in Wellington say they value the town's history. It's ties to agriculture and they don't want to lose that identity. If this all sounds familiar, it's because conversations like this have been taking place around the county for months now. Opposition to a so-called mega site has been at the forefront in New Russia Township.
01:05:26
Speaker
County leaders say they're not planning on a data center here specifically, but that hasn't stopped neighbors from voicing their concerns about any development displacing farmland. Rural development is also top of mind in nearby Brownhelm Township, where a company recently acquired another large swath of land.
01:05:43
Speaker
After a community survey in Grafton, village leaders there turned down data centers showing interest. Sheffield Village is holding its own meeting this week to talk about a new data warehouse ordinance. all over And just over the county line in Vermillion Township, leaders recently passed their own moratorium.
01:05:59
Speaker
Back in Wellington, neighbors say they prefer to keep data centers out so they can keep the community rural. I moved out here for a reason, to get away from the the city. Mayor Schneider says the village is following its residents' wishes, and as the debate over development gets closer to home, he says he wants to protect the hometown. It gives us time to see how these things start to develop and what course they run, and then you know what what do we need to do on our end ah to either make them viable or not viable. In Wellington, I'm Lorain County reporter Catherine Ross.
01:06:32
Speaker
And some people in Southwest Ohio are taking their fight to the state level. They submitted a petition to the Ohio Attorney General's office to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would ban the building of data centers that would use more than 25 megawatts of electricity a month.
01:06:52
Speaker
So there's, to answer your question, yes, all over. Close to the freeway, far far away from the freeway, all over. It seems like every there's probably six or seven, they i think they went to five or six different sites in just Lorain County alone.
01:07:03
Speaker
That's just Lorain County. Yeah, yeah. It's going up and, you know, therere ah every almost every county in in the state of Ohio is dealing with this in some way, at least. Even Cuyahoga County, I mean...
01:07:17
Speaker
They've got issues too with some same, same kind of deal. So this is an everywhere kind of problem. I, uh, I am not a band things kind of person.
01:07:29
Speaker
I like this temporarily. Like, let's take a look. Let's take, hold on, stop, but pump the brakes. This is getting out of hand. And but in a lot of times, by the time people see what's happening, it's too late. So i I appreciate that part. But i don't know, a statewide ban?
01:07:44
Speaker
I don't know about a statewide ban, but if the residents of a township don't want it, then keep it out. Yes, that's like to see it. And the other thing, too, is there could be two townships right next to each other, and you could be right on the line. that's half of my song. So it needs to be...
01:08:03
Speaker
You know, the community really needs to stick together on this and pay attention. Yeah. Yeah. This, this is what democracy looks like.
01:08:13
Speaker
That's the old, the old chant they always say lefty, lefty protests. This is, but this is actually it. This is the local, local politics is the most important. And this is, couldn't, couldn't be a better example of why.
01:08:27
Speaker
Well, I like what I'm saying. It seems like people are paying attention Yeah. Using, using the voice and in a peaceful way, like, like, like we're like the founding fathers would love to have seen. And I think one of the biggest pluses is because it's the rural community and they tend to be much closer knit communities. They talk to each other more because there's let, you know, you got to rely on your neighbors more kind of thing.
01:08:49
Speaker
So I think that's all the other, if this was happening in the city, not to say could necessarily because of the size of these things, most people wouldn't even know about it. It was already done. No, you know, I have a buddy who owns 20 acres and in a rural township here Northeast Ohio. And he said he lit he had one acre.
01:09:06
Speaker
it was still kind of rural, but like in the city of, of ah I think it was Chardon. And he said he knows his neighbor far better in his area than he did in Chardon, who was like right next door, five feet away. so Yeah, I can see that.
01:09:26
Speaker
I could see that. So yeah, I think that's one of the pluses is it is happening in in these types of communities. So we're seeing much more of it. So good, good for them. ah great. I just love seeing that when when people get, I, you know, whether you agree with her or not, it's still the way the process is supposed to happen. Local politics is most important.
01:09:44
Speaker
So keep up on that. Well, I'm sure there'll be more stories coming out there. You know, there, there's, they want to do this constitutional amendment to ban data centers. We'll see how that goes. Um,
01:09:55
Speaker
be up to date on that as much as we can. Let's moving along. We got a little couple of stories here. Do another critter corner because we got to let these bite babies out there. they They've been chomping at the bit all week. So let's
Critter Corner: Legislative Oddities
01:10:08
Speaker
go. Come on critters.
01:10:11
Speaker
There you go. Still creepy.
01:10:16
Speaker
Still makes me go, ew. Where's your sound effect e Thank you. Thank you All right. First on the list, Critter Corner. First of all, I would like to put this little note in there for me. If you if you see something fishy or something weird or funny or concerning coming through the state legislature or your local ah county or city, send us send us a note. Send us a bill.
01:10:39
Speaker
If you see something, maybe you think we're going to miss it, send it to us. We'll ah take a look at it. Add it maybe to the Critter Corner one segment. First on
Hormone Therapy Insurance Debate
01:10:48
Speaker
the list is ah not necessarily this sort of topic I thought we'd be bringing up on the show ever, but HB 767 is um legislation to help
01:11:01
Speaker
ah force insurance companies to cover menopausal hormonal therapy. Let's listen to the idea stream because who else would have this um on this this little HB 6-7 or 7-6-7.
01:11:20
Speaker
Democrats in the Ohio House want lawmakers to approve a bill that would make it easier for women to get menopausal hormone therapy. Representative Ashley Bryant Bailey says there's an affectionate nickname for the bill she says would make it easier for women suffering with menopausal symptoms like sleep loss or hot flashes.
01:11:39
Speaker
So around the state house, we've also made a nickname for this bill, which is the Hathi Act. Fellow Democratic Rep and OBGYN, Anita Samani says hormone therapy can have positive health impacts for women before, during and after menopause, but it can also be expensive and insurance doesn't often cover it. And I don't think that's how we should provide health care based on who can afford it and who can't.
01:12:02
Speaker
Samani says this bill would align Ohio's insurance standards with updated federal guidance and clinical evidence to ensure women who need hormone therapy during menopause can get it. Joe Ingalls at the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau.
01:12:19
Speaker
Do you think they put need in quotes?
01:12:23
Speaker
Do you need it? No, but... It would be helpful, yes. Yeah. No, it's if if the cost came down, it would be great. My wife did my wife did the ah hormone therapy for a short while. but we We just can't afford it <unk>s to to do it. She did it for a little while. It helps. She feels better. She sleeps better. i can actually raise the furnace temperature at night. Yeah.
01:12:50
Speaker
ah It's, sir she liked it. she she She felt better on it. but ah What's your opinion? Is that something that you think insurance should cover?
01:13:04
Speaker
i don't know. I don't know. You know, I don't know the workings of how how that ah the costs work, but it should it would be nice if it was cheaper. I mean, if we're if we're getting shafted and they're getting it for pennies on the dollar in Mexico, then I'm pissed.
01:13:20
Speaker
And that's maybe where there some of the, the legislation or some of the executive orders or the deals that the Trump administration has been making with pharma or pharmaceutical companies, because for years they've been saying, oh no, all these other countries get caps and they put socialized medicine in.
01:13:35
Speaker
So you can only charge X amount. And they're saying, they talk to the drug companies, yeah let the Americans pay for it. yeah Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know, this, is this a Medicaid, this is a hormone therapy. So it's a little different.
01:13:46
Speaker
I guess. but so like why is it Why is a Tylenol in a hospital $800? Yeah, there's that. you know it's This is all part of that. i i I would like the price to come down. I don't know if insurance yeah has to cover it, but if it and instead of you know a couple of grand for six months, if it was $500, $500 too much, but if it was like,
01:14:13
Speaker
i don't know let's say was a fifty dollars a month that that'd be worth it for a lot of people. And the reason the reason I question, I was going to say and a lot more people can afford it and you just have a lot more happy wives.
01:14:28
Speaker
Well there, that's, I mean,
01:14:33
Speaker
Save marriages, get hormone therapy. I, I, I, my, my pushback is it's for focusing and sleeping. It's not, there's no, like, it's not, you know, it it seems like something that would be an elective cut. And like it sounds like it is. Well, I mean, if if it should be cheaper, that's the biggest, that's, that's my thing is should be cheaper.
01:14:53
Speaker
But, and you you can argue that if you're not getting good sleep, that's very unhealthy too. Okay, good point. You know, ah the the other thing, but from the other side, can, as men, can we get testosterone therapy or cheaper or covered by insurance? Is it even covered, yeah.
01:15:16
Speaker
It's not, and that's not cheap either. But I do think it's a lot cheaper than what women have. Like you can actually find it for about $150 a month. just being consistent because everything for women is more expensive.
01:15:33
Speaker
I guess. Sounds like it. um Having two daughters. It's, ah yeah. and We're not dealing, but i I, sorry. But men aren't dealing with the same thing as women are. where we We just want to have, keep our, i don't know if it's vitality, but just our energy up, you know? Yeah, less crying, you know, at commercials on TV and stuff like that.
01:15:56
Speaker
IT. Keep your T up. Come on. Yeah. ah You can do one. The one thing men can do that women can't from first to some extent is they can, they have an effect on that. You can do exercise. You can do some stuff to increase your T levels. I hear. Yeah, you can. actually so It's not, it's if you're low enough, it doesn't, it's not going to matter, but I don't think women can do that going through menopause.
01:16:15
Speaker
Right. And other thing is it looks like there's a lot of freaking 20 year olds that need more testosterone. Nowadays. That's a good point. I just fear this kind of, is one I mean, this makes insurance more expensive. You just keep adding more onto it. They're not, it's not like they're just going to eat the cost. They're just going to increase your insurance premium. Right.
01:16:35
Speaker
Yeah. I think getting the price down could help both actually. Yeah. I don't, I don't think this bill is good, but we, we, we need to find a way to bring the cost down. It's brought up by two
Pharmacists Prescribing Medications: Pros and Cons
01:16:45
Speaker
Democrats. So right off the bat, you know, was kind of sus, but it's a hottie bill. Definitely. Definitely not.
01:16:52
Speaker
Definitely not a high bill. um So yeah, check out the check that out. Let us know what you think. I don't know. The next one is kind of along the same similar lines in medical. They have a bill in the state legislature, s b in the Senate, SB 230, which...
01:17:08
Speaker
which would allow pharmacy or pharmacologists, yeah, those those people at the pharmacy to treat you for illnesses like cold and COVID and all that kind of stuff. Like you can go get shots from that, which you already kind of can, right?
01:17:31
Speaker
not Just the flu shot. Yeah. obviously saying So you can get, well, COVID too. at COVID. I think COVID, and I think there's a couple more that you can do too. But now they want to make it so that you can, instead of going to a doctor for, let's say you've got a cold and need some antibiotics, you could just get it from a checkup at your pharmacy.
01:17:52
Speaker
I'm like, a I'm not sure. do Will they get more training as a pharmacy, as in the pharmacy, if they, if they're doing these kinds of things, like how are they, they're not doctors. Not even nurses.
01:18:06
Speaker
but What do you think? like You've talked to plenty of pharmacists. pharmacists but I think this is this would be good for rural counties. Yes.
01:18:17
Speaker
Areas. But I don't want this really because i think people kind of... There's so many hypochondriacs. they It's just too much, Rob. Just too much. Well, and that's the first place I go to is we already have a problem with over, at least we did. I'm not sure if it's still, I think i think it's still a thing, but over prescribing antibiotics.
01:18:39
Speaker
Well, is this going to help or hurt? I think this is good ah going to get more prescribed. than But also, if you're if you're prescribing medicine, shouldn't you have some sort, I mean, you got to have a little extra training at least, right?
01:18:55
Speaker
I don't know. Cause in pharmacy school, I don't think they, they talk about like checking their symptoms and say, ah, kind of stuff. Right. Right. And it doesn't really.
01:19:08
Speaker
Doesn't talk about that. It doesn't talk about it at all, which is why I brought it up. I kind of questioned it now cause I'm looking through it again to make sure I didn't miss any, sometimes they sneak it in here and there when I'm skimming over some of these. on on the last last run through, but the bill, now they want ties into hot button issues like chronic absenteeism and truancy. Yeah, I'm sure in this, and like we' we're talking about the Akron or something or no, the and the president or the governor state of the state.
01:19:31
Speaker
Yeah. East Cleveland. I'm sure it's good because ah they can't get access to it. Yeah, that's baloney. I'm sure that's why they're, well, I mean, there is a, ah something to be said. I mean, it's 10% of your school days. You could get sick enough, I guess, but I don't, yeah, I don't think this going to do much, but um re respiratory infections rank amongst amongst the leading causes for school absentee and miss missed work days.
01:19:57
Speaker
yeah I don't care about any of that. They got they have access to a doctor. yeah i think this would be kind of good for a small little town where your nana can't get to the doctor that's an hour away. Yeah, I think it would be good. Definitely rural areas because there's a lot less choices. but When you're in the urban area, you can have your urgent care in every corner. seems like Right, right.
01:20:23
Speaker
Yeah, so I don't know. And I think rural areas kind of have like your little, like yeah i think you have more of the, well, to tell you truth, I'm just assuming, but I would think there's little bit more doctors going to homes yeah rather than having to come to the doctor.
01:20:44
Speaker
not sure. does not allow Does not allow pharmacists to replace or even compete with physicians, nor does it remove referrals or collaborations. Rather, much like House Bill 52, which wisely helped address worker shortages by authorizing broader practices for medical professionals, Senate Bill 230 mutually benefits beneficial design allows pharmacists and doctors to incorporate cooperate more fully easing physician burdens and developing or delivering low risk quality patient care and affordable cost.
01:21:23
Speaker
Okay. I see that, but I just, don't know.
01:21:29
Speaker
don't know. I don't know. Let's see. I don't think, I don't think it's horrible, but I just, well, people just, Here, just take this antibiotic. Take that. Anybody gets an antibiotic. i just I just see it in cities that people would just take advantage of it and probably abuse it.
01:21:47
Speaker
And um most people I know at work, they come to work sick, so don't know what the heck they're talking about.
01:21:55
Speaker
They come to We're not taking a sick day out. Don't worry. It's not COVID. Don't worry. it's Oh, thanks. As long not COVID. I appreciate it. Give me of the other germs, but not the COVID germs. Thanks. um So that's that. That's working through. going to check it out and see what happens.
01:22:11
Speaker
See what
Ballot Drop Boxes and Election Security
01:22:12
Speaker
they deliberate on. Next. Yes. have next Yes. Next is a good one. This is SB 293 ballot box, ballot drop boxes.
01:22:24
Speaker
They want to, they've introduced a bill. Of course, Democrats introducing it, so it's not going to go anywhere. But Secretary of State candidate Robert Sprague criticizes Democratic pro ballot box bill.
01:22:39
Speaker
The Republican Ohio Secretary a State candidate and current Ohio treasury Treasurer of State, Robert Sprague, criticized his Democrat opponent, ah State Rep. Allison Russo, Democrat Upper Arlington, for introducing a bill to place ballot boxes in every at every so every polling location.
01:23:02
Speaker
8,000 drop boxes across Ohio. and That's 10,000% increase. Yep. Uh, if you're looking at ways to completely gut election security in Ohio, these are two policies that would do it. According to Sprague's campaign manager, uh, uh,
01:23:18
Speaker
Wow, that's a nice name. Dalton Throckmorton. That's a hell a name. um He told Ohio, this is Ohio News, how.news article. During the interview, Sprague promised to continue Senate Secretary of State Frank Lurso's voting integrity legacy.
01:23:38
Speaker
So by not passing this, this is not going pass, but i think I think some of the quotes in here were pretty, pretty good. One of them.
01:23:51
Speaker
Many people rely on absentee ballots, whether they are seniors, people with disabilities, dead college students away from their home away from home or workers or and caregivers whose schedules make in-person voting difficult, she said in a release.
01:24:09
Speaker
Making the making the Making the return of absentee ballots more straightforward, reliable, and convenient ensures that these voters are not left out of the democratic process.
01:24:24
Speaker
It's our democracy, Rob. This is Russo that said that. Yes, it's um a month-long voting. Somehow you're you're so busy at work that you can't find the time in a whole month to go and vote.
01:24:37
Speaker
Take the five seconds to go in and vote. Because when you're doing it a month early, there's nobody in line. I mean, shoot, there's barely anybody in line when you go on the day of. Too many barriers. Way too many barriers, Tom. I mean, look at all these barriers.
01:24:50
Speaker
I'd like to add a few more. I was waiting for a one. i didn't I was looking for them. I couldn't see any. So I didn't say any. gosh it's typical i mean oh my gosh it's oh oh no what what are you gonna do how are you gonna vote yeah oh morgan's so morgan so upset when they they're changing the law now you have to have your ballot in on that before it has to be mailed in hand before or at on the time of the ah day of election what are you gonna do on election day, if you go, you can't, there's nothing you can do.
01:25:23
Speaker
I mean, besides go to the voting booth and vote other than that and or the three weeks prior, like I think it needs to be harder to vote. Oh my Did I just say that?
01:25:36
Speaker
Oh, I do. this I think there should be more barriers. Yeah, it should be. It should be harder to vote, not harder to vote, but more secure and spreading out over a month. Most people don't make
Drag Time Story Hour Ban
01:25:48
Speaker
their decision until like two weeks before the, the you know, it's like so much can happen in a month and ah in an election and people have already voted.
01:25:54
Speaker
It's ridiculous. So that's not going to pass anyway. So doesn't really matter. But, but we just always have to cover it and make fun of it.
01:26:05
Speaker
There's that. Oh, the next one's going be a good one, Tom. So we're having a debate in at the state legislature right now and they're, they're hearing testimony.
01:26:17
Speaker
in HB 249, which is banning drag time story hour. I put a lawsuit. It's not a lawsuit. Because the state legislature is debating whether they're going to pass this.
01:26:32
Speaker
And no, I mean, we can't can't get away from a story like this without having a great clip from Morgan. Trowell. this This is a new channel five story. Drag queen testifies against Ohio performance ban.
01:26:46
Speaker
Oh, Morgan.
01:26:51
Speaker
can't Can't play Morgan anymore. In this this case, he's definitely and ah definitely kind of a twat. But, let you know, the horror. Or the horror. What's going to happen to these people? What's going to happen? Let's find out.
01:27:03
Speaker
News 5's Columbus Bureau reporter Morgan Trout tells us why some lawmakers want the ban and how this could impact the arts. Growing up in a conservative family, Andrew Levitt says he hid himself for years. I was also worried that if people truly knew who I was, i would no longer belong or fit in. But in college, he says he found his identity. Drag is something that saved my life. When I met entertainers who are drag queens, like they gave me a place to to call home when I didn't have a place to live, when I didn't have familial support that I was just so desperately needing. Hey!
01:27:38
Speaker
When Levitt gets on stage, he transforms into nationally awarded drag queen Nina West. I'm an entertainer who has proudly worked with incredible companies like Disney. I've written a children's book. I have...
01:27:51
Speaker
released a children's album. But he worries about a bill that would impact his art. We worry about the children. You can't perform that obscene performance with minor being present. Toledo area Republican Josh Williams introduced a bill that would ban drag performances in any places other than adult cabarets, which include nightclubs and sex shops. Ohio has a statute regarding performances that are harmful to juveniles or obscene. This used to just app apply to exotic dancers, but now Williams wants to add a provision on people who exhibit a gender identity that is different from the performers or entertainers gender assigned at birth using clothing or makeup. We've seen performances at public parks that crossed the line. Drag is not a crime and this is a slippery slope when you want to put us in a specific venue or area or part of town, we're compartmentalizing and dangerously yeah um placing people in boxes.
01:28:50
Speaker
Williams says the bill wouldn't apply to appropriate drag, and it's written in a way that obscenity could be determined by individual law enforcement. Previously, House Speaker Matt Huffman said he wasn't sure if this bill was constitutional under the First Amendment, but he has changed course. Local governments and clubs through enabling and legislation have the ability to control these kinds of things. Levitt doesn't want any kid to feel like he did growing up and says this bill could prevent people from finding their circle. What happens if this community goes away?
01:29:22
Speaker
This community is never going away. We will fight this and we will overcome. Love always overcomes hate. Drag in public could result in 18 months in prison. At the Ohio State House, I'm Columbus Bureau reporter Morgan Trow.
01:29:35
Speaker
I mean, seriously. Think of the children. Will somebody please think of the children? I'm not even joking. Let's let's gotta do another one. No, stop. Think of the children. Seriously, we'll do all three of them.
01:29:46
Speaker
For the children. I mean, what's with all the talk about children? Isn't it something else, man? It's so obvious. ah i've I've written a children's book. I've worked with Disney. like maybe That's what we're worried about. I don't get it. like if If somebody is pro-trans rights or whatever you want to call it, that's one thing. But this is drag.
01:30:12
Speaker
And it's like... ah It's almost, I don't know if it's mocking women, but it's definitely like absurd. Like the menstrual shows, right? We talked about that on another show.
01:30:25
Speaker
I don't know if we ever brought it up on the show. I know me and you have talked about it, but I always laugh because feminists seem to always kind of stick up for drag queens. And it's like, it's a menstrual show.
01:30:38
Speaker
And... poking fun or kind of the, everything's exaggerated from the makeup to the tits, to the ass, to the clothes they wear. It's, I don't know, it's kind of mocking women.
01:30:51
Speaker
And it portrays women as big fat people because most of the guys are big fat people. Oftentimes it does. Like heavy set women with exaggerated features, yeah. and And they're these are guys playing women.
01:31:07
Speaker
it's so You have to ask yourself a question. This is what everybody has to ask a question. this is This is what I always ask. I guess where I was going was, like why do drag queens have to read to children, write books? is This guy doesn't dress up in drag during the day. He just does shows. So why does he have to do drag queen story hour or something, you know things to that effect?
01:31:32
Speaker
Yes, that's my question. If it was a trans person that was actually trying to look like what they feel they are, reading to children, i sort of, I wouldn't be, I'd still be against it, but it would it wouldn't be so jarring as to why you want somebody that's dressed in drag reading to children. Now this guy, maybe not, but well, some of the stuff I see, they're, they're dudes dressed as women in a lingerie dancing to children. Oh, I've seen that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The question everybody needs to ask themselves or anybody else who's for this.
01:32:07
Speaker
but really, don't but don't ask you don't need to ask why children need to see drag shows. What you want to ask is, why do drag queens crave an audience of children? Yeah. yeah They're not just, they they are pushing so hard at this.
01:32:21
Speaker
When you got parents going, no, are you crazy? i don't even want this anywhere near my kids. Just like, I don't want to see, I don't want to bring my daughters to have a, hey hey, can we have strip club story hour at the school?
01:32:34
Speaker
How's that? Would that work too? Because that's not a stripping's not a crime either, but we don't let you do it in public. We don't let you do it at the park. We don't let you do it at the library. The church, I guess if it's a private church, you do whatever you want in there. But, hello, same freaking thing.
01:32:52
Speaker
Same freaking thing. um Yeah. Morgan. who The arts, it's going to hurt the arts. That's what the guy said. Oh, it might hurt. This is not... This isn't art.
01:33:04
Speaker
I mean, well, you know what? Art is whatever. I'm kind of okay with that If they want to call it that, that's fine with me. It's it's a performance, so it's art. But it's, how are you ruining it if you're keeping it from children?
01:33:17
Speaker
well Trying to keep it from children. Well, this guy, I mean, he it it saved his life.
01:33:23
Speaker
Damn conservatives. My big fake titties saved my life. Ugh. so i knew i knew this that this but this ah story would kind of get my blood pressure going, so I figured I could slip in a little bit of... a you remember when you remember back when it was just G?
01:33:43
Speaker
Here, let's listen. This is this is Jeff Dye on stage. Remember when it was just G? Remember when LGBTQ was just G? Oh...
01:33:59
Speaker
Simpler times.
01:34:03
Speaker
You know what mean? Now it's LGBTQ2I+. And the plus means more is coming. That's gonna be real long soon.
01:34:17
Speaker
That's fine. You can make up whatever shit you want, but you know it's all gay. It's all gay.
01:34:26
Speaker
I was fine with just G. It's all gay. And they're going, no, it's this. And that's all. Let's go through them. Yes. Let's go through a couple of these. What is L?
01:34:40
Speaker
Lesbian, right? But that's just a gay lady. She's already G. You don't get to be L, too. Just be happy with G. L's out. All right. And then what's B?
01:34:57
Speaker
Bisexual, that's right. sex and And bisexual, that's gay for sure. um Bisexual means you like all the private parts.
01:35:09
Speaker
You know, you can't choose it. And that's, I'm not bisexual, but I can get my mind around it. Yes, I understand, you know. I'm like that with ice cream.
01:35:24
Speaker
Whenever I'm going to get ice cream, I have to give myself a little pep talk like, all right, Jeff, just get one.
01:35:34
Speaker
That's how you got a tummy ache last week. But and then I get to ice cream and I see all the flavors and all the colors and I'm like, yeah, give me one.
01:35:52
Speaker
And the bees feel like that about genitals. um um But I think that's still just gay. I think we're at We're still at G. let you right So bees out. L's out. Remember always was just G?
01:36:11
Speaker
Oh, those were the days. Yeah.
01:36:16
Speaker
Oh, okay. I feel better now. You know, i I feel sorry for the the gay people that are kind of just... just gay. Just gay.
01:36:26
Speaker
A gay white male is what you're- Because I think they hate a lot of this as much as- a Oh yeah. I i knew a ah coworker, he doesn't work for us anymore, but his the son was gay and he was not afraid. He he was a circle back kind of guy. So you know where he he used to listen a lot of press conferences from- That's not gay. Yeah.
01:36:44
Speaker
Because he's always circling back. And ah he he was very proud of his gay son, which, hey, whatever. it's It's not, you know, I don't know it's something to be proud of. ah again.
01:36:56
Speaker
But it's, you know, you love yourself. Yeah. I mean, you know, whatever. You just, you don't have to be proud of it. Just treat your son normal. and Whenever I say that, I just came come up with the Norman Donald skit from, I think I came up with talk show. And I was like, oh yeah, I'm proud of my son. Look, he likes cock.
01:37:13
Speaker
um ah But, you know, he's proud. He brings the way to my son. It comes up and out again. So everybody knows his And I mentioned, I said, you know, what is what's his feeling on this trend? was couple years ago, probably. He's like, this trend was really hot. He's like, what the heck is going on? You know, he was like totally, again like it's he's like, it's horrible and it's not good. He's like, well, yeah, because your your son's a ah white gay man. Like he's not even in he's not mean in the spectrum anymore. He's been pushed so far out of the LGBTQ. He's like, yeah.
01:37:43
Speaker
And it was shocking. it was it was I did not expect to get that reaction. Well, yeah, but i think I think that is the overwhelming feeling among the gay community. I think at first they were you know supportive of it, but then it basically has taken over the whole movement. It's no longer about gay, it's about trans movement.
01:38:01
Speaker
I mean, yes yeah, we'll we'll move on. It's just beating the dead horse, I guess. So they're going to go through this drag. This is like the test. They're debating the bill or whether it's going to pass or not. I think it's going to pass.
01:38:16
Speaker
And the art i just the art scene is just gonna it's never going be the same. And I'm okay with that. Does that mean like I don't like there's a couple places I would like to go to brunch, but I don't have to see them advertising their drag brunch hour or whatever they call it?
01:38:31
Speaker
Yes, exactly. Not going to do it at libraries or public parks. Well, libraries and public parks, i that's good. But what if ah what if a bar that does you know, brunches on Sundays and they want to do a brunch, a drag show brunch hour or whatever. the Drag brunch.
01:38:51
Speaker
Yeah. well It sounds like they want to put this in the same category as, as is stripping, I guess, as a strip club. Like that's, right and that's weak. And it has to be a club. Sounds like to me has to be a place specifically for adult entertainment.
01:39:07
Speaker
Now, okay. That's what it sounds like. But see, i don't know if i don't know if that's right. I think a bar should be able to do it as long as they keep minors out. Yeah.
01:39:18
Speaker
Don't you? ah yeah but like Yeah. I'm not trying to stick up for them, but at the same time, it's weird. Well, you got to weigh the private property rights too. If you want to, if you ever own a bar and you want to have ah this at your bar, I can understand that. And then it's your bar, but you better be carding people at the door.
01:39:35
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's what I do. Just like you would do at, at for alcohol. I mean, you're doing that for alcohol. Uh, you, you can't, you, you have your, on your bar, at your bar, you're allowed to sell alcohol because you have to get a permit because they want to make sure you don't sell it to underage kids is one of the reasons.
01:39:56
Speaker
Well, the thing, yeah, but they're a allowed to sell out. You could still bring your kid there. Correct. You know, so you got to now now they got to I think I think they should be able to have their drag shows wherever they want to as long as there's no kids there.
01:40:16
Speaker
But who who's going to enforce that? and need sos you Or like you said, is it just going to be a building that's ah specifically for like ah like a strip bar, you know, where they can, oh, topless, we can sell alcohol, but bottomless, you know, it's just a juice bar. what you know i don'm I'm not exactly sure what they do nowadays, but that's how it used to be.
01:40:38
Speaker
And there are some bars that don't allow anybody under drinking age in a lot of cases. I mean, that's, they had that right. If, if, if you've gotten busted there, I've seen going to, I, I actually was talking to my daughter's guitar teacher and he has, they had one venue where he they wouldn't let it like a 12 year old on stage in the bar.
01:40:57
Speaker
Right. I think at night they try to avoid that. I think during the day, if they' so if if it's a place that serves dinners, I don't know how much. yeah Not that people are bringing their kids to ah brunch. I mean, they're going there to have a couple of mimosas and eat and see some weird show. I think the law is...
01:41:15
Speaker
No, I was just going to say, you want you don't want them letting that family that wants their kid to see that. Sure. Right now, I think the law is for a restaurant like that is you're the underage person can't sit at the bar.
01:41:31
Speaker
Right. But they can be in the restaurant and stuff like that. It's probably similar at at at bars. you You just can't sit at the bar, which is a weird thing, but it is a thing. um So, I mean, yeah, there's property rights and you should be able to do it within reason, but there's stipulations. So a lot of stuff, they sell cigarettes there, you can't sell minors, that kind of stuff.
01:41:51
Speaker
So maybe you're right. Maybe that's the happy medium. I i think the way they explained it in the, in the clip there, it's way too complicated. They're like, Oh, if the gender is the same dress and the blah, blah, blah. It's like, um, how somebody gets so subjective. And then, but they did also say it, one of the things they put in there is it's up to the discretion of the officer on scene.
01:42:10
Speaker
Well, see that that's messed up too, because you can, you can, I mean, there are activists freaking cops. yeah Maybe Cleveland isn't so bad, but you know, you go into these other cities, it's,
01:42:21
Speaker
They're communists. um But it's, I mean, I gotta have, somebody's gotta make that decision because it's very subjective on what, what, what could be up of obscene or a drag show or like how much makeup does the guy have to have on to become a drag queen? You know, i don't know How do you, how do you legislate that? That's pretty hard to begin with, but I just think, yeah, you can't have any minors at a drag show would be, but then you have to define drag show.
01:42:50
Speaker
There is that coming through. So we'll see how far that, I think it'll pass. what do you think? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I'm not sure it's going to be a great bill. Like it's going to do a lot, but I think, like I said, the the wording seems a little.
01:43:02
Speaker
I don't think, I don't think here in Ohio, we have that much of an issue. We just, it's a, you know, you just don't want it to get, get bad. Yeah. But you know what? I don't have kids either. And it's I
Browns Stadium Funding Debate
01:43:15
Speaker
don't pay attention to where the drag shows are, except for when I see it come through my feed at a maybe a club that I follow on Instagram.
01:43:23
Speaker
And ah I mean, I know some librarians locally here got upset because they canceled Drag Time Story Hour, which I was like, really? The library was doing this? And I guess the only reason they really canceled it was, mean, well, people did, people did ah complain And it's tax funded.
01:43:43
Speaker
So you deeply they they had to stop it. Yeah. Yeah. I just don't understand the mind of somebody who would say, no, yes, little kids need to see this because you never know. They might be trans.
01:43:59
Speaker
and that's the whole point of that. yeah But how a drag isn't really trans. You know what I mean? true not True. That guy's just dressing up as a woman. He's, he's just a fag walking around during the day, but at night he puts on a dress and that's not exactly trans. If he was walking around like that all day, then I'd be like, well, okay, he's trans. Good point. But without it, he'd be dead right now. He thinks.
01:44:20
Speaker
ah Yeah. Well, yeah. Hey, whatever. Um, all right. We'll keep an eye and we'll see what happens again. We think it'll pass, but, uh, One never knows nowadays. Let's see a see what spineless Republicans can do.
01:44:35
Speaker
um oh How spineless can they be?
01:44:39
Speaker
All right. Next question. Next, we have a little update. We haven't talked about the Browns Stadium very much. It's not a whole lot to talk about. They've gotten some battles in courts. Kucinich, Dennis Kucinich came back in the news for a little while. He was fighting the Browns, the funding of the Browns Stadium mainly. Kucinich did? Kucinich did. he had brought He was part of a lawsuit. brought It got dismissed pretty quick.
01:45:01
Speaker
Oh, that's right. I forgot about that. And the the current one right now is Ohio unclaimed funds for sports stadiums. Law was blocked by court, by state court, but not federal court
01:45:13
Speaker
Um, so a state, state judge, there's two, two suits, ah federal and state, and they're kind of opposed to each other right now. So it kind of got mixed messages of what's going on here, but basically they're kind of pissed because the state took a chunk of the, uh, like they gave 600 million to the Browns, but they, the initial, the whole total is like two and a half million dollars, two and a half billion dollars, I should say, to come out of the unclaims fund.
01:45:40
Speaker
And to put in a, put in a, another fund to help with upgrading or adding ah sports facilities and in the state Ohio.
01:45:51
Speaker
The first one being the Brown Stadium and Brook Park. They're getting 600 million. now To me, if you're Browns fan, we've talked about this before, I think if you're a Browns fan, you you should like this legislation or this funding because it guarantees the Browns cannot move anywhere.
01:46:05
Speaker
Because they're in a state or a publicly funded facility according to state law. They can't move now. Again, that law could be changed and all stuff. As of now, that kind of kind of but what what it's buying for the state is the security of keeping the Browns.
01:46:19
Speaker
Whether that's a plus for the state or not, you can argue. You can argue that, but that's the way it is, I think. I think that's the way I say That's what you're paying for this. That's that's what you're you're paying for, keep the Browns here. Otherwise, if they funded all themselves in 15 years, they could just go, see ya.
01:46:33
Speaker
Nothing holding us back from leaving. And with the way the Browns have been, you got to have something to keep them here otherwise.
01:46:41
Speaker
Um, so they think that this will, uh, I think this is going to get thrown away because they basically, the federal court has stated there's, there should be no injunction because there are plenty of ways for the people to get their money.
01:46:59
Speaker
Like it's not like, it's not keeping people from getting their money. Yeah. The two and a half billion dollars it took is from money. suppose. I mean, it's, it's one big lump sum, but there's a large, there's half of that fund that's been there more than 10 years.
01:47:11
Speaker
in I don't think it's ever going to get claimed at this point. And if it does, you're still going to get your money back. Right. They're just borrowing from the fund. And then over the next 16 years, I think it was, they're going to pay the fund back.
01:47:24
Speaker
It's not really a bad thing. if you not me I mean, we can go through the, we don't want to give any money to billionaires who are building stadiums, but this is the way it's done everywhere, almost everywhere, with very few exceptions.
01:47:38
Speaker
So this is, I think, the best deal I've seen so far as far as it's, you know, it's putting the the the state in debt. So I guess that's a win for me. you know And there's no there's no more like syntax or anything either, right?
01:47:51
Speaker
No, there is. No, I know they're still it's still there, but we're they're not asking for it more that way. No, they're going to pay this back with out of the general fund over the next 16 years. So it's going to be tax dollars paying it back, but it's not an extra tax. We're just going to take money out of the general fund to make payments on it. So.
01:48:08
Speaker
I mean, the way it looks to me, the syntax was crap. I mean, it's it's still crap. we're We're looking at it now that they don't have it Syntax doesn't mean bring enough money to keep maintenance on these buildings. They need something else. They're talking about increasing it or adding another one.
01:48:22
Speaker
Maybe this is what, that's what this fund is for. So when the calves want to put in you know, a hundred million dollar project or $50 million dollar project into the arena and they want the city or state to pay for half of it.
01:48:35
Speaker
here you go. You know, that's, this is going to happen. Cincinnati's already looking to redo their football stadium, which is newer than the Browns. Pretty sure it's newer than the Browns. Yeah. And, ah and I think the Blue Jackets possibly looking at something in Columbus for their arena. It's been there a while.
01:48:51
Speaker
So it's going to keep coming up and, That's that. Tell us what you think. Let us know. Or if you're a Browns fan, what do you think of this legislation? what do you think of my opinion? Is it, you think it, I think it's a good thing if you're a Browns fan, keeps your, keeps your team, our team in the state.
01:49:10
Speaker
All right,
Afro Man's Legal Victory
01:49:11
Speaker
Tom, I've been waiting all day for this, almost all week for this story. So let's hit it. Good things segment.
01:49:22
Speaker
Oh man, what a story. What a story. is and Does anyone remember Afro Man? Somebody was saying Afro Man. Because I Got High. Because I Got High. Of fameed famed ah music, 2000, it was released, Because I Got High.
01:49:39
Speaker
What a song. That song was great. And it it everybody went, all parents were like, oh, but if you listen to the lyrics, he's telling you how everything in his life got screwed up because he got high. Right, right. So this is Afro man. He's still making, he's still doing shows apparently and making, you know, music, I guess, but not really the limelight up but until recently.
01:50:02
Speaker
Uh, so story is Adams County, uh, America one, this is a new, uh, Cincinnati ABC WCPO affiliate, America one jury sides with rapper Afro man in Adams County civil trial.
01:50:15
Speaker
So three years ago, I think it was, he gets, he gets raided by the cops, by the the Adams County Sheriff's Department on a, any informant tip that he is, he's got narcotics and trafficking, human trafficking, kidnapping.
01:50:32
Speaker
Let's hear a little bit from, have a little background from this website called Legal Mindset. I was listening to about this and getting some info on this. It kind of breaks it down. um what um let's Let's go real quick. he They break into his house, find nothing, and and they leave. So break his gate, they break his door, and he decides to start making videos, making fun of the officers because he's got security cameras all through his house, inside of his house.
01:51:00
Speaker
And so he took that footage, started posting videos, songs with videos of them to make money to what he says to repay, to fix his door in his gate. And ah apparently the cops did not like that. So they sued him.
01:51:14
Speaker
Now, this is a civil trial, not ah not a criminal trial. But things are way different as far as the rules and civil trials. you get ah It's a little more colorful than than they normally are. And let's do little background again. This is from Legal Mindset, the YouTube channel.
01:51:27
Speaker
let's get into the case real quick for a background and those that may or may not know obviously we had the defendant here afro man joseph edgar foreman against the plaintiff adams county sheriff these are the parody depictions from one of afro man's videos we got officer pound cake the hunchback uh lick him low lisa as she goes by and all of those cast of characters that were coming against him after a raid on his house. His house was raided under suspicion of narcotics and kidnapping. They smashed his front door open, his gate. They searched his entire house. They took cash. They debatably took pound cake, but they found no drugs, no kidnapping victims. And because that effort, man, was
01:52:10
Speaker
reasonably upset. And because of that, he worked back and did something nonviolent as we do using his speech to parody the incompetence of law enforcement through parody videos he put up on his website. Now, after he used that surveillance footage to create parody videos and mocked them, they decided to sue him for defamation. Now, we have a verdict in that case. And that case, as we can say, did not go well for the sheriffs.
01:52:40
Speaker
It's been an emotional case. It's been a well-tried case. The lawyers did what they should do. The parties did what they should do. In all circumstances, the jury finds in favor of the defendant. No plaintiff verdict prevailed. That means complete Afro-man victory. On all counts, it goes to the defendant that it's Afro-man. Everything in his favor. Not a single officer prevailed against him. That is an absolute and complete victory.
01:53:09
Speaker
Afro man w
01:53:13
Speaker
Yes. So I started looking into the trial and there's five or six officers and the videos he's putting out are so so good. And at one point in the video, there's this heavyset officer, which doesn't, doesn't there damn mean, there's a lot of them out there, I think, but he's walking through the kitchen with his gun out.
01:53:34
Speaker
you know because it's very scary in this effort man's house and uh he he's walking past everyone if you saw it he's walking past the counter with the uh the pound lemon pound cake you know you know on the pedestal and the clear to and he's like keeps going back and looking at it looking at it steps back looks at it again and you just wait for him to take a slice hey so they got him on the stand this officer pound cake and They're asking him like, what, you know, did was this, or he asked him, why do you, why do you, why was this Rogers guy, Afro man, why was he calling you Officer Poundcake?
01:54:10
Speaker
Like, I was like, I don't know why. I'm like, what? Okay, so you sued, but you don't know why you sued? All he knows is that hundreds of ah Lemon Poundcakes were sent to the the station.
01:54:27
Speaker
and I'm saying that's a bad thing. i mean, some of them could be not be that that great, but so what they had, this was part of the beauty of was all these legal channels are saying the beauty of this case is they got to show the cops all the videos in court. Like the fence showed the videos in court.
01:54:44
Speaker
The fence did not the, the cop side. This guy, he's like, okay, well, going to have to show it, you know? So he now he's on so on the stand. He has to watch the video. So what's the video like? Well, it's this, this, he been he did a bunch of songs, four or five songs, I think. One of them, this one's called um lemon Lemon Pound Cake. And um it might recognize the song because it's a...
01:55:08
Speaker
He kind of has a cover. um and ah And he's got this guy in it and and it's it's a great song. So let's take a listen. Hopefully it comes out good, but I tried to fix it a little bit. Let's see. But this is too good. i got it on ah oh you what I got it on Spotify here.
01:55:24
Speaker
Okay, I have it. Oh, okay. I thought you had it. Oh, okay. Go ahead. Yeah, I have a clip of it on. It should be okay.
01:55:40
Speaker
The Adams County Sheriff kicked down my door. Then heard the glass spray.
01:55:50
Speaker
They found no kidnapping victims. Just some lemon pound cake. Mama's lemon pound cake.
01:56:02
Speaker
It takes so long.
01:56:06
Speaker
It made the sheriff want to put down his gun and cut him a slice. Of what? Of what? Lemon pound cake. He want to put down his glass.
01:56:19
Speaker
Lemon pound cake. Trending on TikTok. Lemon pound cake. He's a family guy. Lemon pound cake. the munchies because he got hot. Lemon pound cake.
01:56:33
Speaker
Pound cake. You may recognize that song. The other one I saw was, will you repair my door? And that's all security video of them going through his house.
01:56:46
Speaker
And he's like, well, did you find any kidnap victims in my suit pockets? Did you find, did you find a thousand pounds of weed in my suit pockets? um So they, um the next one, play the next clip because this is testimony from the trial.
01:57:03
Speaker
And One of the ones that I saw was, so this, this officer, Lisa, lick him low, Lisa, Lisa, lick him lows. She's there. They're playing his song. And I mean, I kind of, I, I mean, she was, she's in tears listening to the song of him making fun of her.
01:57:25
Speaker
You're an officer. You're a sheriff, the deputy get a little tougher skin than that. i mean, he, all he's saying that she likes, She's a lesbian and she's another reason that women should not be cops. No, she, she is. She's got a, she's got a very deep voice.
01:57:40
Speaker
Um, I don't think, I think it's, I mean, apparently she has a, she has kids. So as long as she didn't adopt those kids, she's probably not trans, but they were making fun of being trans. She licks them low.
01:57:51
Speaker
you So I don't, i think it's an actual female, not, not a trans, but, uh, I would hope that would come out in the case, but I think he was saying she's a lesbian, right? I don't, ah maybe, I don't, I don't know what they actually said.
01:58:03
Speaker
Yeah, but, but no, I, yes, I do know that. I don't know she was actually a lesbian or not, but what he did was after this, after this incident, he started, you know, in the town as he's running into people because Afro man probably sticks out with his Afro and people are talking to him what happened and they're giving him feedback. Well, this officer is like this and I know this officer when he was in school and they're giving him all this information. So he starts making videos on it.
01:58:29
Speaker
One of them videos is he's he's claiming that um he had sex with all the officers' wives. and He's claiming this is hurting him. And this is a clip from the testimony. and This is a good one because his reaction is a little odd, if you ask me.
01:58:45
Speaker
But the clips didn't stop there. There's even more ridiculous moments from the courtroom with the officers. The next one is one that I couldn't believe. So you're claiming that is the defamation statement is that he said he had sex with your wife?
01:59:01
Speaker
Yes. And that's painted you in a false light? It's caused tremendous pain in my life. I'll get to that. We have to go through false light first. So does it paint you in a false light? Yes, that my wife is cheating on me with Mr. Foreman.
01:59:14
Speaker
But we all know that's not true, correct? I don't know. He doesn't know if his wife is cheating on him with Afro man. That look of genuine shock where he's like, I don't know whether my wife is. ah Well, you're claiming this is false, but now you're saying you don't even know if your wife is out there. going and running it off with Afro man in the middle of the night. You're actually this injected, this parody video injected doubt in this man. This is something I have never seen in a courtroom before. Genuine, genuine questions of marital fidelity over a rap video mocking and parodying this guy.
01:59:54
Speaker
Absolutely. Once again, I've not seen clips like this and quotes like this from a case anywhere else, but it doesn't. Once again, they don't stop. There. Now we get into another clip where we're talking about one of the female officers. Mr. Foreman posted that Lisa Phillips likes to have with other women. He used other words. She ate my ex-wife just like pizza.
02:00:17
Speaker
I never thought I would hear she ate my ex-wife just like pizza in a courtroom. I never really thought I would hear that really ever. But here we are in the Afro man case.
02:00:29
Speaker
eating blah blah blah. In court and over thousands of times on the internet. It's the best part people saw it. People laughed people from out of out of state.
02:00:41
Speaker
But people here in Adams County would sometimes yell at her when they saw her. Hey, Lisa um low Phillips. That was his nickname for it.
02:00:53
Speaker
man Oh, I mean, I got to say the lawyers did not prep these cops at all. No, they're that' that the lawyers. And then we'll get to that because of the next one.
02:01:05
Speaker
actually have Afro man on the stand and this lawyer, what a slime ball, but he doesn't seem like he, ah, I don't, I don't think there's much of a case there. That's part of the problem.
02:01:16
Speaker
No, there's no, you I mean, to, to claim defamation, you, i mean, that's, that's hard to do. Really hard to do. I think the closest part was he claims one of the got one of the cops as a pedophile.
02:01:29
Speaker
And I think that was, I saw some previous videos of this legal mindset guy before before the trial started. And he's like, this might be the one that they may get him on because it's it's provable or disprovable. and this And the the lawyer botched it so bad. He just, he he just like, well, I heard from this person that he did and his brother has been convicted of a sex, to be a sex predator who's on the registry.
02:01:51
Speaker
So I just assumed he was the same. and And that was the end of it. They they got him on nothing. So here's, Let's hit Afro man takes the stand. This is from a, um, a YouTube channel called here's the deal legal channel.
02:02:05
Speaker
And, there's, there's some trying to get him on why he didn't get the police report right away. It took him three years. He didn't actually see the investigation report.
02:02:16
Speaker
So he claims that they didn't give, they took cash and didn't give them all back. Like 400 bucks is missing. And they started looking into it and the lawyer was trying to make it out like he didn't really care too much about it until the publicity started catching on or something to that effect.
02:02:31
Speaker
And yeah, when Afro man tears apart your argument, you should really just, you just hang up that law degree. Here, the attorney representing the deputies grills Afro man on why years after the break he had not seen the investigation report himself.
02:02:51
Speaker
You knew, didn't you, Mr. Foreman, that there had been an investigation by the Claremont County Sheriff's Office into the miss into the discrepancy about the cash that was missing from your home, correct?
02:03:08
Speaker
You knew there was an investigation. Yeah, I knew the sheriff was investigating themselves. That's how you saw Yes, sir. Okay. And did you ever ask for a report so you could see how bad this investigation of themselves really was? Yes, I was trying to i was trying to get involved any way I can. The investigation was going on without any of my participation. Did you ask for a copy of the report? did I asked for everything. I was trying to be involved. i So you've seen the report? No, I have not. Okay. So a little of context here. and right now Right about now, he tries to trick them.
02:03:44
Speaker
And the lawyers, this is, he tries to say, hey, why didn't you ask for the police report when you came and picked up the cash? on He goes, because didn't know it was missing and until after I picked it. Like, why ah why how would i ask for a report that didn't happen yet, basically?
02:03:57
Speaker
um But also keep in mind, go back to the blog when when you get this and check out the story because you've got a custom-made suit on. Of little, of of American flags. Just a whole bunch of American flags. He's got American flag glasses on along with a large, lots of large rings on his fingers. One of them with a big old pot leaf on it.
02:04:18
Speaker
He's American dream. American dream. All right, let's continue. A few minutes ago. Well, you had an attorney when you got the cash returned, correct? At the station? Yes.
02:04:32
Speaker
I had a turn. Yeah, my attorney was present. Did your attorney ask for a copy of this report? It wasn't in it. When I got my cash back from the station, it wasn't an investigation until we realized money was missing. Well, did you contact your attorney and say, hey, get me a copy of that report? Your testimony is you never saw a copy of Detective Robinson's report until today. Yes, sir.
02:04:55
Speaker
And that's because you didn't want to see a copy of the investigation? want to see You don't know what I want. I did want to see it. You did. i wanted I wanted everything that had something to do with my money coming out of this. And that was three and a half years ago, correct?
02:05:10
Speaker
And you haven't seen a copy of that report that you wanted to see until this afternoon. Is that right? That's right. That's right.
02:05:23
Speaker
i never had my money taken by cops. i didn't know how this goes. i don't know about reports. All I know is live on watchnots Fox 19 News, the lady admits that her department is short $400 of my money. That's all I know. I don't know how to investigate police officers taking money. That's all you know, and that's all you know today, isn't it?
02:05:44
Speaker
That's the whole basis of your claim that your money was stolen is that the amount of money that was in the bags is different from the amount of money that was written on the bag. Yeah, my whole thing is they never should have rated me in the first place. That's your whole thing. That's my whole thing. That's the point. That's my whole thing. If they never would have showed up, there would be no songs about them. I wouldn't know who they are.
02:06:04
Speaker
Their faces would not be on my video cameras. None of this, we wouldn't be in this room right now if they hadn't raided my house and didn't press no charges, didn't even know what they was doing.
02:06:16
Speaker
This whole thing is their fault and they're suing me for their mistake. And so you don't really care if they stole your money or not. You're just mad about what they did. do care about it if they stole them. Police officers shouldn't be stealing the civilians' money. So I do care. um ah if All of it is an outrage.
02:06:32
Speaker
but This whole thing is an outrage. Exactly. Exactly. There we go yeah we go. Thank you very much, asshole, man. Thank you very much.
02:06:45
Speaker
Well, I got to say, I thought this was a dumb case and it's so hard to prove defamation. And mainly because if somebody is a public official or a public figure and you say something, you have to know you're lying. Yeah, it's a high bar.
02:07:02
Speaker
Yeah, that's a really high bar to... ah to pass But Tom, they's mad. They's big time mad. they Well, these these oh Ohio cops should be ah disgraced.
02:07:15
Speaker
Yeah, they they are. They're currently being disgraced by Afro men. Well, they should they should be fired. And his videos have millions of views. and Most of them are over a million views for his. And and the the Lemon Pound Cake video, part of the video is the the surveillance camera. the other part of the video is him playing it live in front of audiences. I don't know if they they did that for the video or not, but he's still, I mean, this is, he's back in the limelight because of the Yeah.
02:07:46
Speaker
And he got just ah a tip from an informant saying that he's kidnapping and sex trafficking or whatever. i don't know if it was trafficking or kidnapping and narcotics. Even in the one video, it's like the, the he says that the line is like the, the warrant said narcotics and kidnapping.
02:08:01
Speaker
Why does it say narcotic? Well, i know why narcotics, but why kidnapping?
02:08:07
Speaker
So good, good for him. Yeah. I don't even get the case. Like, don't even, but like This is bizarre. ah Good mix for Afro man. Makes it worse for the, ah for the, for the sheriff's office, for the deputies and stuff. It's all over the place.
02:08:24
Speaker
This is all in national news. It's all over the place. If you know, they don't sue them and never goes anywhere. Never goes anywhere. So there's going to be even more.
Outdoor Activities in Cleveland Metro Parks
02:08:33
Speaker
They're going to get, yeah, they're going to.
02:08:37
Speaker
I just want to hear that. drive him Hey, you look, because it's Lickam Low, Lisa. Lisa, Lickam Low.
02:08:45
Speaker
ah Yeah. And and that that other cop was like, later on, then shortly after that clip where he's like, I don't know if my wife's, and the the lawyer's like, the Afro man's lawyer's like, so you you don't you don't know if she's cheating on you? And he just looks at her.
02:09:00
Speaker
Do you want to go there? And the lawyer's like, no, but i you have to answer the question. Do you think she's cheating on her with Afro man? Well, I hope not. I've known her, I've known that woman since grade school.
02:09:10
Speaker
I sure hope not. But I, you know, I'm like, wow. What happens when your wife sees that?
02:09:20
Speaker
Anywho. Anywho, let's wrap this baby up with ah one last story from the good things segment, which is come on, get out and touch grass people. Come on. The springtime is here. We got nice weather this weekend. Cleveland Metro parks. We have little article about outdoor recreation. Try it, learn it, live it.
02:09:38
Speaker
and They got a bunch of programs in Metro parks for outdoor recreation. um Backpacking, camping, rock climbing. Tom, we got to get the mountain bikes out this year. dust yeah Dust those bad boys off.
02:09:50
Speaker
Like seriously dust Yeah, it's been couple years since I've gone. I got to get, yeah, I sit way too much for work. I got to get, I got to get out and take more walks and stuff. And o I'm getting, I'm getting up there and man it's getting harder to keep that muscle mass. So let's get out and touch grass.
02:10:06
Speaker
What I'm saying. yeah raise that tea Raise the T up. That's right. That's the one of the natural natural ways can raise your T is do some exercise and manly work, chop some wood and stuff.
02:10:20
Speaker
Snowshoeing. That's a thing. I, walking in the snow on snowshoes. no shooting there's There's some good trails in the metro parks for that. Yeah. I would say one of the biggest things that is going for Northeast Ohio is the metro parks.
02:10:36
Speaker
It's one of the few places in the country that has any, I've had people come here before, especially when I was younger than a teenager, because that's where you went to drink. Yeah. Because I lived on, for a while i lived, we could walk to the metro parks.
02:10:47
Speaker
It was, it was 10 blocks maybe, but we'd walk there or get dropped off, you know and they walk back later. But yeah, um we get people from out of town, even just like Pittsburgh. You like, what is metro parks? What are you guys talking about? Like, oh, it's just, they they do that? Well, yeah, it's all over the place.
02:11:02
Speaker
um So take advantage of it. It's not something that a lot of places have. And we do. And it's, it's a great place, I think. Great place to take the family. We've had parties there, all kinds of stuff. I think first birthday parties we had there.
02:11:17
Speaker
My dog is great. I mean, you like photography, if you like backpack, I mean, like camping, all kinds of stuff. Yeah. It's huge, a huge asset that we have in this region. And it's, it's a great thing. So utilize it while you can check out the article. there's all kinds of
Show Closing and Listener Engagement
02:11:31
Speaker
places you can, with information to sign up for all kinds of and trails. I mean, the mountain biking trails are an insane. her I mean, I go on a mountain biking app and within my house, i mean, there's gotta be a dozen trails, like easy, yeah easy to go on. Yeah.
02:11:44
Speaker
So check it out, go out and touch grass. It's a good thing. It's some vitamin D helps everybody out. And on that note, I think that's about it. I think, I think we covered all the stories. We got, I mean, a full plate already for next week.
02:11:58
Speaker
It looks like they're already, already piling up for next week, but let us know if you find any shenanigans going on in your area. you know I swear to God, I'll pistol whip the next guy that says shenanigans.
02:12:09
Speaker
Send it our way. We always like to hear about local shenanigans in your in your local region, city, council, or village, or whatever it is. And send us a link or so or shoot us an email with anything you've got going on.
02:12:22
Speaker
Share the show with your friends. share it Send it to your mom. Send it to your dad. Send it to your brother. Leave us a comment on on your favorite podcasting app. If you don't mind, it definitely helps spread the show, spread the word and really appreciate everything. Thank you for your time. We'll talk to you next week.
02:12:37
Speaker
Peace.