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Crooked River Cast Show 14
21 Plays11 days ago
Email us at crookedrivercast@gmail.com
Find us on X @CRCOhioNews or Search for Crooked River Cast
Crookedrivercast.com
No King?!?!?!
Ohio connections to Minnesota shootings and the political rhetoric.
Cuyahoga Vally Parks letter from USDI.
Ohio campaign finance oversight.
HB335 - Inside Millage to be removed?
Who should be building Character in our children?
Abortion Ban?
Budget and New marijuana legislation has stalled.
Cuyahoga County board says the Browns are leaving now deal with it.
Cleveland Hts. Update.
Bagworms?
Bacteria on the beaches.
Good Stuff:
Live music on Public Square.
https://www.downtowncleveland.com/summer-music
Cleveland Current playlist.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6QOM5aEfcGTFM94O7EPEBh?go=1&sp_cid=2e7299e6e17d5833001158a78b7b4349&utm_source=embed_player_p&utm_medium=desktop&nd=1&dlsi=4236e38807894b98
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome to the Crooked Rivercast, a show where we attempt to share with some of our insights into what is going on in Northeast Ohio as we attempt to entertain you along the way. This is show 14, recorded June 21st, 2025. your host, Robert, and every week I'm joined by my friend, Tom, who's always up for exploring the great state of Ohio.
00:00:24
Speaker
And that's enough of me blabbering. Let's get into it. Tom, are you doing today? I'm doing good, Rob. How are you doing? I think... um I think it's incredible.
Protests and Demographics Discussion
00:00:36
Speaker
We have no king. No kings? No king. ah I mean, 1776, we had no king. And the protesters did it.
00:00:48
Speaker
that's That's at least, I mean, at least got to have a party horn for that, right? Yay, no king. Woo-hoo.
00:00:55
Speaker
Yeah, there were some protests. There were some protests. some Some people I knew got caught up in the protests. far as oh yeah streets were blocked or streets really yeah yeah no kidding a couple different cities uh one guy i work with uh in parma actually yeah parma was pretty road or something i heard it was a decent turnout uh ridge road near near parma town unless there was another one somewhere in parma yeah i heard a report and it seemed like every city had 500 people
00:01:28
Speaker
according report. I thought that was interesting. About 500 people showed up, and at least 500 people showed up, and 500 people showed up. I was like, wow, that's ah that's a trend. Almost like you guys are just throwing that number out there.
00:01:40
Speaker
But it was raining. They have had a much bigger turnout if it wasn't i don't know. i don't i don't know if they would have bigger turnout. It was um ah here here nearby here, where I live, which is close to Parma.
00:01:57
Speaker
It was... it was a pretty good treat it was It was a bigger turnout than I expected. But what I didn't expect was it was about 70% boomers.
00:02:10
Speaker
Yes. Yes, that would that would and actually trend correctly from what I'm seeing. i think i think that I think the irony was pretty thick in this whole no Kings thing.
Critique of Political Ideologies
00:02:23
Speaker
It was silly. and I'm um'm um'm reading an editor-to-the-letter... editor to the editor a letter to the editor yeah yeah yeah letter to the editor uh on the ohio press network and i think this is jack windsor writing in this yeah and he's pointing out a couple things that seem to be a little little weird um so for one let's just contrast no kings trump The GOP nomination for presidential candidate in 2024 earned 2,291 out of 2,429 primary delegates.
00:02:59
Speaker
How many did Kamala Harris get?
00:03:03
Speaker
Oh, zero. go ah Okay, there's one. um Trump won the electoral and the popular vote to become the 47th president of America. no kings. kings.
00:03:16
Speaker
so
00:03:19
Speaker
Oh, if Kamal Harris isn't enough, let's not forget. This is some of what Jack Winder writing. Let's not forget COVID. Let's not forget COVID. No kings! Oh, they tried.
00:03:30
Speaker
but That side tried to lock everybody up. Demanding schools be shut down, ignoring kids and and learning, the troubles of learning from home. Didn't didn't care.
00:03:42
Speaker
Mask mandates for at least a year past where it should have been. Also, don't forget how they were... censoring actual doctors that were yes and they were actually calling up their buddies and at the time twitter and facebook and telling them to shadow ban or ban these people outright holder um youtube channels off demonetize them all for what because they had a different view.
00:04:11
Speaker
Maybe, maybe their view wasn't, wasn't a hundred percent take the vax. Maybe, maybe, maybe treat it. That was a couple of things, you know, and, and all of a sudden yeah they got, they got banned. That's weird. um It was all about the money.
00:04:25
Speaker
Yes. like Well, here's the another one from Jack. they And I quote, clapped as bureaucrats played God, labeling businesses essential and not essential. Sounds like a king to me.
00:04:38
Speaker
Yep. Yep. So what was a couple of things? Ignored surging non-COVID deaths from delayed care.
00:04:51
Speaker
likeke spiked ah Spike in obesity, a massive increase in substance abuse from COVID.
00:04:57
Speaker
I mean, no kings. and why now we don't And now we don't have a king. so And yeah, it's it's it's it's great. So I also looking at our friends at cleveland.com.
00:05:11
Speaker
And I'm reading article. Here's the article. Fear is a sign we're alive. Ohioans tamed terror to stand against authoritarianism.
00:05:24
Speaker
So i was like, oh, this is interesting. What can I, you know, what can I
Fear and Safety at Protests
00:05:28
Speaker
pull from this? Well, oh, quite a bit. So let's hear from cleveland.com. Today in Ohio, our buddy, our buddies we heard from last week, Chris Quinn is the host, I believe, from this.
00:05:40
Speaker
He sent out a text. He has a group text somehow, and i I'd like to see how we get on that. Who's this? This is Chris Quinn, I think is his name. Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:51
Speaker
Chris Quinn is ah a host of ah Today in Ohio, sounds like. Oh, that guy. Yeah. He sent out a a group text in the morning asking, you know, what their fears were.
00:06:02
Speaker
What their fears were. Okay. Let's hear This is Today in Ohio. You're listening to Today in Ohio. um Lisa, we talked Monday about the No Kings rallies throughout Ohio and the nation, but one element of the coverage stood out to me.
00:06:17
Speaker
Several people said in our stories they had to overcome fear to be at the protests, and I wondered what the fears were. I asked about that on my morning text Monday, and I got all sorts of thoughtful answers.
00:06:30
Speaker
What were people afraid of? Yeah, you got actually over 200 responses to that question. What fears did you overcome to participate in the No Kings protests? And there were some common themes. So a lot of people were worried about extremist violence, random danger like mentally unstable people, lone shooters or rogue drivers driving into crowds.
00:06:51
Speaker
One person said that they almost didn't go after seeing online chatter. and And they were also worried about, you know, gunfire, but they went anyway. They were also worried about police aggressive tactics like tear gas, flashbangs, rubber bullets and the like that we saw in Los Angeles. um One person said to you, my only fear was of the police.
00:07:13
Speaker
But in Cleveland and most of the protests around Northeast Ohio, that was a non-issue. Police actually stood back and watched and they collaborated with the protesters. They were also worried about retaliation. But didn't go after seeing online chatter.
00:07:29
Speaker
And um they were all. are you saying, Tom?
00:07:34
Speaker
This is hilarious. They collaborate. No, you know what? They just didn't get involved because you weren't rioting, you freaking idiot. Yeah. That's what happens when you don't antagonize the police. And then like in the l LA riots, the police won.
00:07:49
Speaker
It was time for the police to leave. They were going back to their, to the precinct. What everybody was telling them to do, get out, get out. And then as soon as they went to leave, they blocked the street. Don't let them leave.
00:08:00
Speaker
And then what are the cops supposed to do? Push their way through and it causes an incident. Does it happen to everyone? No. But at every one of these, no. But this is their tactic.
00:08:11
Speaker
Antagonize the cops until they do something. Yeah. Well, most of these protests are completely fine until about nightfall. And then there's a certain element that show up and they just rile everybody up.
00:08:24
Speaker
Yeah, you know, even here in Parma, i was ah there was a few people that I thought would have started, but I don't think they had enough. um Let's say they they didn't have enough ah people to join in ah because it was mostly boomers.
00:08:41
Speaker
But there were a few younger people that were wearing the type of hoodies and masks that kind of the Antifa type, I guess. Yeah. there was But there's only not even a handful, so they couldn't really get anything done. But I bet you they were waiting for that.
00:08:56
Speaker
Waiting for the opportunity or maybe they're... Maybe they're rookies at it and they just had to get through a few of them and figure out do it. They didn't know how to, how to, ah there weren't, yeah, they didn't know what to expect and maybe they thought that would happen, but yeah that those are those are organized, completely organized.
00:09:14
Speaker
Yeah. you know So let's see what more they have to say. think I may have lost my place, but let's see where. Flashbangs, rubber bullets, and the like that we saw in Los Angeles. um One person said to you, my only fear was of the police.
00:09:28
Speaker
But in Cleveland and most of the protests around Northeast Ohio, that was a non-issue. Police actually stood back and watched and they collaborated with the protesters. wonder so fearful. They were also worried about retaliation by Trump.
00:09:42
Speaker
Would Trump seek revenge on cities and people with unjustified arrests, economic pressure, facial recognition used to ah you know go after people? People were the guys i we also worried about their job and their reputation.
00:09:56
Speaker
ah The one thing that also stood out, they were worried about facial recognition software recording them for later use when the authoritarian movement is in full swing and they're sweeping more people up the street.
00:10:08
Speaker
da la Didn't they do that on ah January 6th? Yes, they did. They actually did. And months and even years later, we're still going after people through facial.
00:10:23
Speaker
So I can't figure out why they're so fearful. I mean, you know. I don't know. They're watching MSNBC. Or Today in Ohio. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. today in ohio yeah exactly Which is, you know, what's the difference really?
00:10:40
Speaker
Except it's local. It's local. um So it actually hits a little closer home for me. It's like, oh, you know, so there's this other story. I guess I'll mix it in. I didn't know where to put this because it's all part of, to me, a similar narrative, rhetoric, whatever you want to call it.
00:11:00
Speaker
In the national parks, there is been a letter sent out or a they're putting out a sign and some of the doors. It happened in Boston Mills, I think was the first place they saw it.
00:11:12
Speaker
ah I'll just get what. So the Department of the Interior has put out notices at the Chicago Valley National Park. And we'll get back to so Kings and and ah more things. so But I just want to but kind of lay this out. This is why people fearful.
00:11:30
Speaker
So that the the letter states, Caga Valley National Park belongs to the American people. And the nation and a National Park Service wants your feedback. Please let us know if you if if you identify one, any areas that need repair,
00:11:48
Speaker
Two, any services that need improvement. Or three, any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of the landscape and other natural features.
00:12:05
Speaker
yeah got little QR code. you got a website. a Oh my gosh. They are flipping out. Uh, uh,
00:12:16
Speaker
And and here's here's, I'll just go right into this this clip from today in Ohio about the national parks. And and again, why why would people be so scared?
00:12:27
Speaker
Well, if you're listening to this all day long, how could you not be scared? Let's just ah get into this. It's striking how much of Donald Trump's
Media Narratives and Misinformation
00:12:35
Speaker
agenda is the authoritarian playbook. I get emails from people when I say that saying,
00:12:39
Speaker
Oh, you can't call this authoritarianism. He's sending out masked police to secretly arrest people all over America. He's sending in the army to quash protests.
00:12:51
Speaker
He's seeking to have people inform on each other in the national parks. This isn't America. This is what authoritarians do. And yet we hear from people say, this isn't authoritarianism. He's just trying to make America great again, whatever the heck that means.
00:13:07
Speaker
You know, it's it's funny. So last night I did a little bit of research to try to understand more about please tell what types of historical content could be muzzled under this new directive.
00:13:19
Speaker
And it's fascinating how the history of the parks coincides with the history of of you know some of the darker aspects of of our history. you know like So one, many national parks, including Trail of Tears National Historic Trail,
00:13:35
Speaker
They explore the forced removal of Native American tribes from their ancestral lands. And, you know, that's a history that includes broken treaties and mass death and cultural erasure.
00:13:46
Speaker
You cannot visit that park and not and not have that. educational experience while you're there. And are they being muzzled from telling that story?
00:13:57
Speaker
are that's That's absolutely just disgusting. stay answer your own question. I think most thoughtful people understand that humans are on a journey toward enlightenment, that we are a species that's made a great many mistakes and we correct them. Everything from the way we treat people to the substances we use. Remember, Coca-Cola used to be cocaine. I mean, we learned that that's not a good idea. we're cut Wait, just pause real quick. He thinks Coca-Cola got better when they took out cocaine?
00:14:31
Speaker
and They just put in something else, almost as addictive, called caffeine. Okay. Well, what else? I mean, like, let's continue. Constantly trying to get better. What?
00:14:44
Speaker
i'm awesome Yeah. You need to take a break. You need to kind of not listen to that voice for a second. or I got more. Go ahead. or we'll We'll talk about it afterwards.
00:14:56
Speaker
So why why are people so scared? I mean, can't figure it out. learning from the many, many mistakes of our past. But if you erase those mistakes, the lessons disappear.
00:15:06
Speaker
The Holocaust deniers want to make the Holocaust disappear. It can never disappear. It's a lesson we need to carry forward for the rest of time. This is the same kind of thing. Let's stamp out the Japanese internment. That was a terrible mistake.
00:15:20
Speaker
It shouldn't have happened. It affected countless lives in the wrong way. we Where does it say anything about stamping out anything? Okay, so let's pay attention to the examples you're using.
00:15:32
Speaker
okay This is almost done good. should learn about it. Every kid should learn about it so that when they're in charge, they don't do it. Donald Trump wants to say everything America ever did was great.
00:15:44
Speaker
We're not going to say anything bad about it, which does that stop with slavery? Slavery, no. Would we wipe out any mention of slavery? Right. Yeah, right. Exactly. It's terrible.
00:15:56
Speaker
It's a terrible move. Terrible. can't wait until he's gone.
00:16:05
Speaker
and Wait till he's gone. Okay. So I can't, I can't imagine why people are so fearful and why, why the rhetoric is being hyped up and people are so on edge. Do you, um do you think they're being disingenuous or they actually believe in this? And when I say they, I mean the, the broadcasters here. yeah That is a great question. I don't know because let's think about, remember I said, pay attention to the examples they're using.
00:16:32
Speaker
Trail of tears. slavery, Japanese internment camps. Don't forget about German internment camps. I'll add that one in. That was World War I. Japanese inter internment camps of World War II. The Holocaust.
00:16:45
Speaker
What all those things have in common? They were all done by Democrats. Well, I don't even want to. I know. I know. But in the Holocaust, it's not obviously that was the Nazis, but but we have to remember history. The Nazis looked to America to get all their evil, and they looked at the progressives.
00:17:05
Speaker
Slavery. Trail of tears. Who was in charge of the South at the time of the trail of tears? Internment camps. Who was president during internment camps? Who was president during the German internment camps? So basically what he's, what he's telling me is, yeah, don't vote for Democrats because he i don't know. it's Nope. First of all, nobody's saying that you can't say this stuff.
00:17:28
Speaker
What are they saying? Maybe. I think they're just looking for, um you know, like, I don't know if you want to call them cell groups, but I think they're just looking for um maybe rogue, rogue actors that are trying to start trouble.
00:17:43
Speaker
This has something to do with, we went through a ah two year period where they were removing, changing the national names of parks and removing this and, you know, tearing down signs or what, what just happened recently.
00:17:57
Speaker
Here's what happened recently in California. maybe Maybe this is one of the reasons they want to have people report things that are you know don't don't add to the beauty in the nature or have an ideology of some sort. Here, here's what happened like a month or so ago in California, El Capitan.
00:18:15
Speaker
Some carry hate. We carry the largest trans pride flag to ever be flown in a national park and unfurled it on the side of El Cap to prove a point. That trans is natural. The Trump administration and transphobes would love to have you believe.
00:18:31
Speaker
That being trans is unnatural, but species that can transition sexes can be found on every continent and in every ocean on planet Earth. I wish I video. So call it a protest, call it a celebration.
00:18:42
Speaker
We are bringing elevation to liberation. They try to erase us from government websites and education systems and libraries. What they do? So we raise this flag higher than ever before so every trans person knows that they have people that love them their wondering for The people united will never be defeated. Never be defeated.
00:19:05
Speaker
Maybe that's kind of what they're talking about. So what they did, because they're erasing us, they unfurled this huge, huge flag. I don't know. Is it just a trans flag?
00:19:16
Speaker
Because it wasn't like thele it wasn't the rainbow discombobulated mix of colors that they now call a flag. It was just a couple those pink and blue or something like that And they, you know, people climbed up the side of Capitan, which people do every day there. It's one of the things you do there. And they spread this ah flag out and made a political statement on the side of El Capitan.
00:19:36
Speaker
Maybe that's what they're talking about. But no, they're swooping people up off the streets, masked men, and and they're trying to get everybody to report on themselves.
Political Rhetoric and Violence
00:19:45
Speaker
That's another one. Like, are they being, do they actually believe...
00:19:49
Speaker
that they're masking themselves. Like, why do they think they're masking themselves? Do they understand? Do they not understand that they get doxed? i mean I mean, I genuinely don't understand, like, are they lying on purpose or do they just not understand?
00:20:09
Speaker
Again, when I say they, the the broadcasters. The hosts of this show particular, I believe in my, I mean, again, it's just a guess. I think they believe it.
00:20:20
Speaker
You really think so? yeah I mean, they're, I mean, think at some level if they're lying, they're doing a hell of a job. Yeah, they're doing a great, great job. I think at some level, there's there's somebody that doesn't believe it and just pushing this this kind of stuff.
00:20:35
Speaker
Who could be and any number of actors? but i really Well, it it doesn't matter who, I mean, like, they just want clicks. I mean, because yeah nobody's listening to this podcast except for you, Rob.
00:20:46
Speaker
Hey, I'm giving them one listen and, and, and I'm getting entertainment out of it all along the way. So, I mean, to me, it's, this is the kind of stuff when they're talking about, they're going through all this terrible stuff that no one said you can't talk about, but maybe if you're, if you're saying untruths at, and you're, and you're,
00:21:09
Speaker
you're lying about founding fathers or you're, you're just being an activist at the national park. Right. Then they should remove you because I don't go there for your activism. I go to, to enjoy the park.
00:21:22
Speaker
and I don't know. don't see this as anything other than that. Yeah, no, they're, they're just, they're just, uh, want, uh, I think, I think rogue actors that are maybe, ah defacing the, defacing the park or, um,
00:21:39
Speaker
Yeah, maybe. I don't even know exactly, but they're not like not trying to ah change history. i mean, if you've got five people. That's something that progressives do, actually.
00:21:50
Speaker
Right. and and And why, if you've got five people screaming all kinds of nonsense in front of some monument somewhere, ah and this could be considered, you know, they're they're saying, oh, the founding fathers are racist and bigots and all this other stuff. Well, that's kind of disparaging the founding fathers.
00:22:06
Speaker
I think I'd like you to be removed. Right. I don't know. Maybe it it is a national park, you know, or a federal park for sure. I it was a fine line there. i just, but they that just more importantly is when this rhetoric is, is just churned up and turned up.
00:22:28
Speaker
This is what you have. You have people like this that are saying, they look, they read this and all they hear about is all they see is authoritarianism, authoritarianism. Oh my gosh. They they want people to spy on each other, even though for years, all we've heard is if you see something, say something from multiple yeah administrations on both sides. If you see something, say something.
00:22:48
Speaker
Well, isn't that turning your, turning in your, your, your own citizens? Oh, wait a minute. Let's talk about COVID. And what what what the Biden administration wanted you to do in turning in your your neighbors if they weren't vaxxed or if they weren't wearing masks. Let's have this hotline here and all this other kind of stuff. Okay. so okay Take a deep breath.
00:23:09
Speaker
Thank you. Then I'm watching. and then we have the shooting in Minnesota, which adds all everything to it. This crazy nut job. who the Who the hell knows what he was doing it for? Because there's no information that's that that we can rely on other than there's a whole bunch of insanity going on here. He's got a bunch of scribbles on on a paper, and all a sudden they're calling it a hit list, but it doesn't make any sense.
00:23:35
Speaker
And to tell you truth, they've stopped talking about it, so wondering what really came out. Yeah, all of a sudden crickets. Yep. So I guess Emily Sykes, Chantel Brown, and Marcy Kapdor from Toledo, all Democrats were mentioned in the notes of this guy, not say his name, ah who has been charged with stalking the Minnesota state ramp and he shot and killed one person. You you know, tragedy is complete nuts. He had what, no kings,
00:24:10
Speaker
flyers i guess handwritten his in his in his car he's got um no he actually had the no kings uh flyers like the the printed out ones i think that's what sure i saw was it looked like he had written marker no kings and then photocopied it and he had there were there there was like a stack of them that was the one i saw at least oh maybe there's more interesting um what else is ah just weird, uh, didn't he, some are saying he, he volunteered or worked for the mayor of Minnesota Democrat.
00:24:41
Speaker
Uh, we may know him as Tim Waltz. Is he the mayor or the governor? Excuse me. Governor. Yeah. Um, and you know, there's all kinds of weird stuff. what No, he did. He did work for Tim Walz. That's when things started getting a little quiet.
00:24:56
Speaker
Yes. And, uh, In the Minnesota Star Tribune, which i can't log I can't get back into because it's one of those that just lets you read it once. Oh, yeah. Here you go. um But there was a... Go ahead.
00:25:11
Speaker
So the letter is clear evidence of this guy's mindset after targeting violence. I just put it on this. Yeah, there's a rambling letter. addressed to the FBI alleging ah that ah the assassin claimed that Tim Walts instructed him to kill a Senator Amy Klobuchar and Walts could but run for US Senate, according to two people familiar with the content of the letter, which is two people familiar with the content and the letter, so take it for what it's worth.
00:25:42
Speaker
um Yeah. and So there's all kinds of weirdness going on here. And all of a sudden, as as more and more is coming out, like you said, they' kind of it's kind of like, oh, it's just going to go we're just going to go away.
00:25:54
Speaker
um Yeah. You know, there's there's ah they were calling him and a right-wing extremist. and then And then it was ah kind of starting to get a little quieter. You know, because, you know, both sides were trying to...
00:26:07
Speaker
and trying to say deflect, you know, the the issue here. The federal prosecutors are alleging the letter was left behind in a Buick that the assassin deserted near the home, near his home in Green Isle, Minnesota.
00:26:20
Speaker
Right. So he he went from like a right-wing extremist that, you know, um was trying to kill Democrats to basically silence after more...
00:26:32
Speaker
The more that things came out, the the left isn't talking about him anymore. And that debt is not something they would do if they had evidence.
00:26:44
Speaker
Yes. Or if there wasn't evidence against what they were saying in the first place. So i just I just think there's going to be something, you know, once there's a trial...
00:26:55
Speaker
There's going to be some things coming out that um will embarrass the left. Well, they don't get embarrassed. They just kind of. Red flags went off in my head when I ah heard his roommate said he was x Y, and Z. And then in the next sentence, he's got five kids.
00:27:12
Speaker
he's ah He's a wife and kids, and he has a roommate. Right. Two roommates. Right. it It was bizarre. Some smelly, sweaty guy, looks like. Well, this, I mean, he's... Would not allow would not allow the ah ah the reporters to see his text.
00:27:28
Speaker
whichever Whichever way weird this ends up like leaning, like what if do we find out he's a Democrat? Do we find out he's a Republican? It doesn't matter. he's just He was insane.
00:27:40
Speaker
yeah um um And I'm going through, in there in where else this has this happened? And we come to find with very little effort that this happens quite often nowadays.
00:27:51
Speaker
And it's happened recently to a couple of Ohio Congress critters. um And very recently, Ohio but representative Max Miller and um which was i think the most recent and andrew uh brenner republican delaware all have had this happen to most i'm sure there's more but this is the first two i found um and actually brenner was on the windsor report and i got a little clip we can go over a couple of things i got a clip from ah max miller too if you want to hear it oh yeah we're here i didn't yep let's hear what brenner has to say and max because brenner had a couple of things um
00:28:30
Speaker
he was He was swatted ah couple of times. If you don't that don't know what that is, swatting is- Brenner from? Brenner is ah Republican Delaware, Ohio. Oh, okay.
00:28:42
Speaker
So he had swatting is when they, somebody calls a fake call into the police and says you're being held hostage or some, some really crazy situations to make the cops bust into your house because they have, they feel they have no option because all life is being threatened and then hopefully get you killed.
00:28:59
Speaker
Yeah. If somebody busts in your house, it's not a good thing. Yeah. If they, if they raid your house and you have a gun, you close by, you're going to pull that gun out and they're going to shoot you. So it's a murder, basically. Let's see if we can get anything out of this clip from the Windsor Report, Andrew Brenner.
00:29:19
Speaker
Well, I think everybody bears responsibility for dialing. Windsor, Jack asks, who's responsible for, you know, who's responsible for this rhetoric? Who's responsible for turning it down, toning it down a bit?
00:29:31
Speaker
And that was the question that leads into this. Well, I think everybody bears responsibility for dialing it back. And I think if you've seen since 2011, just the rise in social media and people being able to do and say things in an impersonal manner ah to just raise the rhetoric quickly online. And that's coming from not just, I mean, coming from average citizens, but also from elected officials.
00:29:56
Speaker
They will immediately jump to calling Republicans Nazis or you know, making a suggestion ah that there was an insurrection in the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. Those kind of things inflame people.
00:30:10
Speaker
ah There wasn't an insurrection. Was there a massive riot? Yes, there was. where Did people do bad things in the U.S. Capitol by breaking in? Yes. And so when you're you're enraging people and making them feel like that they're, you know, I saw there was a video clip of this liberal lady from the No Kings rally over the weekend. There you go where you know she was just crying. She was in her mid-70s. She was crying. She just thought that the world was collapsing around her.
00:30:36
Speaker
And the only reason you get to that point is if you are, the rhetoric has been raised so much and you're believing it, that you think the end of the world is about to happen and that you've got to do something.
00:30:48
Speaker
And it's that rhetoric that has caused, I think, a lot of people to take actions that they otherwise wouldn't have. I think that's what led to the the shooting in Minnesota, I think that's what led to the the person you know sending you know the death threats to our state house and to our you know statewide elected officials and and and legislators.
00:31:06
Speaker
Right, there's your blue hair there, screaming and crying and and all spun up because all they're listening to is... Today in Ohio. Is spin up. What do you got? Because I have and another example. Max Miller ah posted a ah clip of him telling telling people yeah what happened to him.
00:31:25
Speaker
So let me play that. I think it was on Instagram.
00:31:32
Speaker
Let's make something abundantly clear to anyone who needs to see this, which apparently is a lot of people. If you have an issue with a legislator, your city councilman, your mayor, anyone like that, the appropriate thing to do is to reach out to them.
00:31:48
Speaker
for a phone call to set up a meeting at one of our district offices. What is not okay is to assault anyone, whether you're a member of Congress or anybody else within our district, while you are driving to work.
00:32:00
Speaker
Ohio 7, this morning, as I was driving to work, Some unhinged, deranged man decided to lay on his horn and run me off the road when he couldn't get my attention to show me a Palestinian flag, not to mention death to Israel, death to me that he wanted to kill me and my family.
00:32:20
Speaker
Thank God my daughter was not in my vehicle or anybody else at the time. We know exactly who you are. i have gone about my day. I've carried on my meetings and we will not hide.
00:32:31
Speaker
And I will continue to fight against anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and all other forms of hate. You have an issue. Take it to our office. You want to run me off the road. That's a different story.
00:32:42
Speaker
We know who you are, young man, and the police are going to be paying you a visit. And I hope what you did this morning is worth it to you and anyone else who plans on doing this to anybody within our district, state, or country.
00:32:56
Speaker
Oh, this is, this, that has screams for this right here. And that's the bottom line. Costone Cosepso. Dang, he's, he was fired up.
00:33:08
Speaker
Yeah, well, wouldn't you? Yeah. Right. Yeah. And, and here... So they they're talking about now more security for state legislatures. And they're looking at um putting more patrols of state highway patrol and patrolling the houses more.
00:33:27
Speaker
And ah get into this, I'm listening to again today in Ohio, and and they're talking about what kind of security and this and that. And I pulled this clip.
00:33:39
Speaker
What was surprising about this is the fringe right wing immediately turned this into that it's the liberals fault when this was right wing fringe guy talking about two did this. It just made no sense that that's what they're doing. But I think it's because they feel vulnerable.
00:33:57
Speaker
They create all this hate talk and it activates people like this guy to do terrible things. On the part of Senator Weinstein, you know, he said this this incident has struck him and his fellow lawmakers. they They're deeply worried after all this.
00:34:14
Speaker
Yeah, well, but they're also the most divisive people we've ever had in office, and they've created a polarization in America. Where's the rhetoric? I ever seen can't figure out. You're listening to Today in Ohio. and Can't figure out what why people would be all spun up.
00:34:29
Speaker
um how How about this? Well, this is an oldie, but a goodie. So they where they want to talk about both sides need to tone it down. i agree. Both sides need do need to tone it down.
00:34:41
Speaker
But I think the volume knob is a little ah farther ahead on one side than the other. So I think one needs to turn it down a lot more than the other. and And again, both this is complete and utter crap that we're even getting getting to this point.
00:34:56
Speaker
But maybe if you're maybe if you're hearing this stuff all the time. You try to kill the president? Well, let's see let's see what kind of rhetoric we need to tone down.
00:35:10
Speaker
I just don't even know why there aren't uprisings all over the country and maybe there will be. People need to start taking to the streets. This is a dictator. You know, there needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there's unrest in our lives.
00:35:24
Speaker
Enemies of the state. Show me where it says that protests are supposed to be polite and peaceful. Do something about your dad's immigration practices, you feckless. When they go low, we kick them. How do you resist the temptation to run up and wring her neck? Biggest terror threat in this country is white men.
00:35:43
Speaker
Most of them radicalized right up to the right. I thought he should have punched him in the face. Even if he lost, he insulted your wife. He came down the escalator and called Mexicans rapists and murderers. He do you think I should done? I said, think you should have punched him face and then gotten out of the race. You would have been a hero.
00:35:56
Speaker
ah crewz I'd like to punch him the face. I said if we were in high school, i'd take you behind the gym and beat the hell out of Biden. Punch some people in the face. When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?
00:36:07
Speaker
They're still going to have to go out and put a bullet in Donald Trump. Bullet. That's Snoop Dogg. Look, as his character is stabbed to death. Where is John Wilkes Booth when you need I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House.
00:36:25
Speaker
A Missouri state senator is under investigation by the Secret Service after saying she hopes President Trump is assassinated. I will go and take Trump out tonight. And if you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store...
00:36:43
Speaker
at gasoline station you get out and you create a crowd you do what and you push back on them and you tell them they're not welcome anymore anywhere if you think we're rallying now you ain't seen nothing yet so My favorite.
00:37:02
Speaker
You know what's funny is i never i never um hear that type of rhetoric from the other side. So I looked for it. Yeah. And the best I could find was some clips of Trump saying I'd punch him in the face or I would, I'm not sure, but I know I'd go boom, boom, boom.
00:37:22
Speaker
and And a couple of them, I could play it, but a couple of them, ah they played twice in this clip and it was minute and a half long. I could pull... five more minutes easily of of that kind of stuff I just played.
00:37:34
Speaker
yeah And what and some couple of times they played this, they played one part of it twice ah of Trump's had a speech in 2016 or something like that. And he's talking about giving someone a right, a hook or something like that. And what he was talking about was when somebody ran up on stage after him and security had to tackle look guy.
00:37:50
Speaker
But yes, he's going to try to fight that. Exactly, twisted it. But my favorite of all of them is, of course, Miss Nancy Pelosi, Mrs. Nancy Pelosi, who said this little gem, When arena, you gotta be ready to take a punch.
00:38:04
Speaker
You gotta be ready to throw a punch for the children. For the children, yes. So what does all this rhetoric come to? Wow. let's Let's remember this little clip.
00:38:16
Speaker
And you know, that's a little bit old, that chart. That chart's a couple of months old. And if you want to really see something they said, take a look at what happened.
00:38:34
Speaker
let play yeah
00:38:39
Speaker
here
00:38:44
Speaker
So yeah, we need to turn our rhetoric down.
00:38:48
Speaker
Yeah. need to turn rhetoric down for the children. but Punch him for the children. Punch him for the children. Think of the children.
Constructive Political Discourse
00:38:58
Speaker
Won't somebody please think of the children.
00:39:01
Speaker
Come on, when Barney's trying to scream in it, you know, you got to think of the children. ah Wow, that that's that like gives me the chills every time I hear it. Yeah.
00:39:13
Speaker
You know, that that's what I heard. that when Ugh, sorry. I agree, the rhetoric needs to be turned down. But when when you're being told over and over again that someone's coming to get you and his name is Donald Trump,
00:39:33
Speaker
That's all I got to say about that.
00:39:36
Speaker
And we move on. If anyone disagrees with that, as I'm sure many will, ah we have email, crookedrivercast at gmail.com.
00:39:48
Speaker
We are on X at CRC Ohio News or search for Crooked Rivercast. You'll find us there. DM us. Share this with your friends, please. would be very helpful. And we want to get all this information out to as many people as you can. We also have CrookedRivercast.com.
00:40:06
Speaker
Can't remember any of that. At least remember CrookedRivercast.com has all that information on our splash page and while we build our website.
00:40:18
Speaker
yeah we got what what Pull us out of this mess here. i mean, i could go on to campaign finance oversight, which is, which is really not a thing. um Nothing about campaign finance oversight.
00:40:28
Speaker
It's really about the complete and total BS headline again from our news channel five. So what do you want talk about? Well, you want to talk about, ah you want to go right into that or do you want to go somewhere else?
00:40:43
Speaker
I will go right into it. This will be fun. Okay. Why not? um and i go out If I go out of order, then I'll totally get screwed up anyway. So I heard this last week in some of the clips we heard about them cutting out democracy out of the budget.
00:40:57
Speaker
And um so I was like, well, I to look into this. So what's happened in the budget is they've, here's the here a headline from Channel 5. Ohio said <unk> House Senate budget eliminate agency task with campaign finance oversight.
00:41:14
Speaker
I thought, well, that's interesting. I'd like to find out what's going on with that. because i Would you but you say we might need some campaign oversight? Oh, I think so. So I'm thinking, why are the Republicans getting rid of campaign oversight?
00:41:28
Speaker
I'm having none of that, Tom. Let me just dig into it. As I dig into it, yeah, no, um they're not getting rid of it. They just want to change it. um They currently have, it's currently the governor select six of the seven members on the Ohio Election Commission, evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.
00:41:47
Speaker
And the seventh member is selected by those six and must be, must have no partisan affiliation. What they want to do is propose a whole new setup where all the commissioners, commission members would be selected by partisan elected officials, creating a situation where one party will have either two or three to two advantage on the commission.
00:42:09
Speaker
so wait Wait, that is a little confusing. What was that? according to the headline that the Republicans want to get rid of campaign finance oversight.
00:42:20
Speaker
So the governor selects six of the seven. That's the way it is now. Right. governor selects six of the seven for the commission, and the seventh one is picked by those six that the governor picks.
00:42:31
Speaker
and So they basically, you got three Democrats, three Republicans, and then you ah you pick an an independent, basically. And they vote on those six people vote on that. Gotcha. for Right.
00:42:43
Speaker
Which needs to be an, it sounds like it needs to be an independent, right? It says must have no partisan affiliation, which is, well, I have a question, like, how do you, but whatever, that's fine.
00:42:54
Speaker
um But under the new law, under the new commission, but I thought the headline said they were getting rid of the commission. Right. It would just be um elected by the house and Senate.
00:43:10
Speaker
I kind of like that better, right? i I don't know if either way is better than the other. um Seems, well, for the opposition party, yeah, I guess, because the the governor now picks all six of those, picks the majority, the vast majority of the ah do commission, and and then one is independent. So now,
00:43:35
Speaker
It's going to be done. Yeah, I think the legislature is closer to the people. I think that would be better. Yeah, that's what I think. it's it they're They're representing us. so But, I mean, like it does it does kind of put you know whoever... yeah It's going to change over time, but it kind of...
00:43:55
Speaker
puts ah whoever is whoever has fewer representatives in their party. Yeah, has put them goes from from one person picking it, basically, to a group of people picking it.
00:44:06
Speaker
Right. which And right now, it would it would always be an advantage to the Republicans. Because theyre they control the legislature. Yeah. Democrats can control, then they would have a three or two. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It'll change over time, but...
00:44:22
Speaker
ah okay Yeah, but like it's it's it's a non-story. But why why this sensational headline? and Click. the The house is getting, yeah. It's a click. And I guess to me, I put this so far up close to this, my other rant on this, no kings and and the rhetoric is the American people, unfortunately, live on headlines.
00:44:44
Speaker
So a lot of people would just read the headline. and on up Republicans are getting democracy. Yeah, that well, that's that's what's become of of the news, you know, yeah national and local.
00:44:56
Speaker
Right. It's sensationalized. It's clicks. It's clickbait. You've got to really watch what you're reading. You read farther than two paragraphs because... Listening to No Agenda, John Dvorak said something interesting ah about headlines. And it's not it's they actually have a headline writer. Yeah. they don't Like the person that writes a story never rarely ever gets a chance to write the headline for that story. So, you know, it could be somebody that doing honest work that, you know, somebody will just kind of try to make something more clickable.
00:45:34
Speaker
I guess, and enrage people because yeah getting people angry is actually... Usually like the chief editor, I think, or, you know, depends. Yeah, yeah, something like that. ah they'll They'll try to inen sensationalize it a little bit. yeah But i just again, you got to read more than the headline and and usually farther than two paragraphs. Well, that's what we're trying to help with, too. Yeah, exactly. For the people that don't have time, for the people that don't have time, we get ah we kind of break down some of these stories.
00:45:59
Speaker
Yeah, that's the service that we offer. Speaking of democracy or lack thereof, the next I have is short. We'll touch quickly on House Bill 335, which um couples a lot of, got a city or a story about Solon and North Ridgeville who are complaining. So what does HB 335 do? what's called inside millage.
00:46:25
Speaker
it ah it removes so what's called inside millage And what the heck is inside millage? Well, inside millage apparently is, I did not know this was even a thing.
00:46:37
Speaker
So when you get a levy and they say they want a 20 mil levy, it's millage. It's a way of reporting a rate of aging money. I'm not even gonna attempt to get into it right now.
00:46:49
Speaker
What I wanna pull out of this story is The inside millage counts for the percentage of tax, property tax, that local cities are able to levy on you without your consent.
00:47:04
Speaker
Yeah, and to me it sounded like if you're going to have a school levy and it passes, they can actually use a portion of that for other things. That's what it sounded like to me. and ready Yeah, it sounded like to me like the this is adding on top of anything that gets voted in.
00:47:23
Speaker
like it's they can They can put in an extra 1%. Oh, thought it was more like... Without being voted. I thought it was more taking 1% or 2%.
00:47:35
Speaker
I forget what the percentage was. From that From the lever levy that you voted on. Meaning if you voted for an increase in school funding, they could actually take 1% of that and use it for something else that you didn't really vote for. That you didn't vote for it on. Okay, it's similar.
00:47:53
Speaker
That's what it sounded like to me. You're, you're, you know, they might be asking for more just so they can pull that one or 2% out. Yeah. I don't know. um It's, it's kind of, it is a kind of a, I don't know what you would call it.
00:48:11
Speaker
Well, if you're voting on a levy for certain things and they could pull it out um and and do something else with it, it's kind of. Yeah. It's a dishonest, you know,
00:48:24
Speaker
Totally dishonest. Yeah, i'm just I did a quick search of what inside millage means, and it doesn't really... It it it gives you the the definition of
00:48:37
Speaker
what millage is refers to a tax rate used to calculate the amount of property tax owed expressed in mills. It goes to 1,000...
00:48:45
Speaker
$1,000 of one of a dollar. So inside, meaning it's part of the... I think they're just taking out of what you voted on, but they're yeah using using a portion of that for things that you didn't even consider that they would use it for. This this bill would...
00:49:03
Speaker
prevent that from happening. And some of the cities are freaking out because they rely heavily on this inside knowledge. Yeah. And, you know, could be as much as, you know, 10, 15% of their budget or the revenue comes out of this stuff.
00:49:18
Speaker
I don't know. Does Solon really need that? According to Solon, they do. i don't know. i drive by and I see some of those houses there. I don't think they need that. Again, we can go, you go back over the, all these taxes have gone up and up over the last 10 years, five, 10 years, and their revenue has gone up and up. So maybe not.
00:49:35
Speaker
Maybe again, maybe they're just being lazy and don't know how to, how to budget, how to budget, how to run a, yeah, right. Maybe, maybe all their wives do their checkbooks in their bank accounts and they have no idea how to do it.
00:49:48
Speaker
That's how they got in office. Maybe. I don't know. It makes no sense. But ah so but they keep, keep it up. I mean, we'll we'll keep an eye and see what happens, but this could change a lot. Again, more of a push towards less tax, more accountability in in our schools and in our our taxes.
Character Education Proposal
00:50:07
Speaker
It's kind of what we talked about last week. There's a movement. There's a movement and people are are are tired of getting their pockets picked over and over again. So
00:50:21
Speaker
On to the next story. Where do want to go next, Tom? I got, you pulled this story on character and education. There's a, there's a. of a cool. dish Yeah. We'll talk about it. Let's see. There's a J.D. Davidson. This is from the Ohio press network by J.D. Davidson. Anyways, ah there's a rep, Kevin Ritter from a Republican from Marietta. He's a former school teacher and he is.
00:50:52
Speaker
getting a bill out there. There's no, there's no bill number. So I don't know if, if if it's written up yet or or not, but, uh, he wants to bring back character or how should I say this? He wants to add character education in Ohio schools.
00:51:09
Speaker
and And, uh, what does he say? He says, um, This would be, which which at first, ah it was I'm still kind of like weird about it.
00:51:20
Speaker
ah Shouldn't character be taught by fathers and mothers? and Yeah. He says, um Ohio students need to learn character traits like honesty, loyalty, abstinence before marriage and patriotism patriotism to lead to productive adults.
00:51:36
Speaker
Yeah, it would um he wants a trustworthiness, including honesty, reliability, punctuality, and loyalty. Responsibility, including hard work, accountability, diligence, good judgment, ah perseverance, and self-control.
00:51:51
Speaker
Care for family, including parents, sibling, and future spouses and children. Kindness and generosity. Respect and care for human life. Respect for parental authority, respect for parents' obligation to children, respect for property of others, respect for legitimate authority and law, and et cetera. There's a ton of other things. god Gratitude, charity, courage.
00:52:18
Speaker
So you think he you hit it right in the nose. This is, this is a lot of this stuff from my, my, my point of view is, is learned from example.
00:52:29
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Yeah. that's what That's, I think that in, in certain um and more in the urban but school districts, it's, it's um you know, it's fatherless homes. You're not, you're not getting it Low income. not that Not that the mother can't. Or if you do have a mother and father, they're working too much and they're not watching the kids.
00:52:54
Speaker
I don't know. think it's meant to do it would be... it's meant in um you know it's so to do it would be um
00:53:06
Speaker
Intentions are good. i just don't know if they're good. Yeah. If your kids watch their parents not go to work and steal and take advantage of the system, for lack of a better, they're going to do the same thing.
00:53:21
Speaker
If they're not kind to people, if if all you do is yell at people and cut in line or whatever, i mean. the The other thing, i'm I'm seeing this in the suburbs, too, where the kids don't really have – and ah Any type of real respect further for their adults in their life.
00:53:39
Speaker
um ah Yeah, ah yeah to to keep us away from boomer territory, i think this is an ongoing problem with every generation. It just gets worse and worse, I think. Yeah, it's it's gotten worse. we're We're Gen X. We're not boomers.
00:53:52
Speaker
But, you know, we we you know we we respected our parents growing up. I mean, we might have rebelled here and there, but... But why did you respect your your elders or your parents so youre or your grandparents or your uncles or the person in the grocery store?
00:54:09
Speaker
Why? Well, they were adults. They were adults, and if I didn't... I'd get whooped. Yeah, my dad kicked my butt. Yeah. That's probably some of the... It's that whole um generation of parents that...
00:54:26
Speaker
ah got a participation award. Now they're raising kids and they're even even more kind of disrespectful.
00:54:39
Speaker
Everybody laughs at you. ah My family family members laughed at me when I was like but you get a participation trophy, you should go right in the garbage. Oh no, you got to... So when... ah Oh, I told that to some family members and they got angry. Oh, yeah.
00:54:53
Speaker
I was like, that's kind of worthless. I mean, I had somebody in my family who had a young child just started playing baseball and they didn't keep score. was like, I laughed.
00:55:06
Speaker
The kids are keeping score. Yeah. They were keeping score. I did the same Oh, yeah. You know, the thing is, this this child doesn't play anymore and um because his... Parents are just as bad as the participants.
00:55:23
Speaker
Yeah, you know, it just, it's I don't know, man. i but I think the best way to teach this is by example. um every Yeah. It's just parents. So they wanted to add a program in school. They want all the school districts to offer a program and and put together program.
00:55:40
Speaker
a curriculum for the character. But at at first I was like, oh, this is going to get pushed back because people are going to go into the whole morals thing.
00:55:50
Speaker
Like, is this going to be religious type of... But it looks like it's going to be after-school okay ah thing. So, I don't you know. no it next if It's probably not a bad thing.
00:56:02
Speaker
actually It's not a bad thing, but how many people are going to take it? Right. But also... from my experience, they don't have enough time in the day to get done what, what I think they should be getting done. They're so focused on test scores and all this other stuff that, you know, you know, the other thing is the tea butter the teachers can show, you know, be examples themselves. Exactly. That's why i said, not just parents, but everybody.
00:56:27
Speaker
Yeah. Our lawmakers, our teachers, the police, and everybody, just the general public. I mean, like, I mean, let's go back to the rhetoric. Let's everybody, Calm down.
00:56:38
Speaker
We're all in this together. I mean, we, you know, so that it all kind of ties together. so The more society gets nasty is a better way to put it. They see that too.
00:56:50
Speaker
That's the way, that's the example to be. Well, it's that whole, ah you know, online existence. I mean, people are nasty to each other and they can't, you know, you could say anything you want to somebody if they're not in front of you.
00:57:02
Speaker
Yep. Like Drake Road Rage, you're all big and bad behind that vehicle. Yeah, we didn't have that growing up. No. You know, not really. maybe Maybe we caught a little bit of it, but we were already ah old enough to know how to handle it. Yeah.
00:57:19
Speaker
yeah Yeah, that's good point. um Let's see. I mean, like I said, good intentions, I don't think it's anywhere. Yeah. But let's lead by examples. Let's one-up him and just do it ourselves.
00:57:30
Speaker
Don't need the government to ah tell us how to be respectful.
00:57:35
Speaker
Moving on, we got some more budget, little bit of budget talk. Not a whole lot going on. They're actually in committee, um but you've got a story in here. DeWine being cagey? Get out of here.
00:57:47
Speaker
I got a clip here. I'll play it.
00:57:50
Speaker
The two and three quarter percent flat income tax in the Senate budget got the approval of all but one Republican senator. And House Republicans who favor tax cuts seem to like it as well. But there's one key Republican who is showing doubts, and he has the power to strike the idea from the budget.
00:58:08
Speaker
Governor Mike DeWine has not proposed an income tax cut in any of his four budgets and says no company has ever told him they wouldn't come to Ohio because its income taxes were too high. He's not a fan of the flat income tax idea, which is a cut for Ohioans making over $100,000 a year.
00:58:25
Speaker
DeWine says he still likes the $1,000 tax credit for working parents with young kids that he proposed funded by a hike in cigarette taxes. That's the only tax cut I'm in favor of.
00:58:36
Speaker
That tax cut makes makes sense. And it's what we should do. And I hope the legislature, as we go through this process, will will look at that. DeWine's budget director is not forecasting recession, but says the state will likely see a decelerating economy.
00:58:51
Speaker
DeWine has issued 83 line item vetoes in the past three budgets, but none have been on tax cuts. Karen Kassler at the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau.
00:59:03
Speaker
but it I mean, what a rhino. Well, yeah, we can give $1,000 tax credit if we tax somewhere else to pay for it.
Ohio Budget and Tax Discussions
00:59:10
Speaker
So you want to give low-income families $1,000 tax credit.
00:59:15
Speaker
Okay. And then you want to raise cigarette tax. Okay. Who smokes? Yep. Mostly low-income families. taxpay Yeah, he's just a show for the old school Republicans.
00:59:28
Speaker
I want to know, i want here's what I want. I want a re of ah redefining of high earners. Because I didn't say it in that report, but i in a lot of the stories I watched and read, they want a tax cut for a high earners.
00:59:43
Speaker
Well, the higher earner now, I think it starts at, what, $139,000? Yeah, $139,000. That's lower than middle class if you're a single wage earner. If you're a single, for the household, I think, what's middle class now for households? thought it was like $150,000. don't know it could have been. It's right around $160,000, I think. Maybe it went up a little less. You know, I forget. But $139,000 isn't, you know, if you're making that on your own, you're doing pretty good. But if you're...
01:00:12
Speaker
Yeah, but I would consider you a high earner. No, I just consider that like upper upper middle class or middle class middle class, actually. If you're a single mom or a of a family of four with one person working, making $150,000 a year, you're not a high earner.
01:00:30
Speaker
No, no, you're you're just getting by. just getting Yeah, you're getting by. You're doing fine. I'm not just getting by, but you're you're you're not... You're not buying Mercedes. No, no. So i'm i'm I'm sick of hearing and high earners get a tax. And that tax break for the for the so-called high earners starting at $139 probably only saves you a couple hundred bucks a year.
01:00:50
Speaker
it's yeah It's not that huge. It's it's huge for the... ah Well, it's not even huge. I think if you made $1.7 million dollars a year, it would save you $10,000 in taxes.
01:01:01
Speaker
So it's I don't know anybody making that kind of money personally, but... No. But $10,000 to that person who isn't exactly... um It's not going to make or break anything.
01:01:13
Speaker
it's It's nice to have the extra, but I look at it more like this They might hire somebody to clean up their yard, you know, with that extra yeah money. Yeah. Here's two ways I'm looking at it.
01:01:24
Speaker
um You know, I know wages and and labor and construction, let's say union wages, they're up over $70 an hour for a package, right? Yeah. That's including their benefits. Yeah, but that's like everybody else goes, right?
01:01:38
Speaker
Well, I don't look at it that way, but they're making decent money. Right, but that's, if you weren't, if you're not if you're not in the union, you still have a package.
01:01:50
Speaker
Like your healthcare and anything your company contributes to 401k is part of your dear compensation. Right. So if you're a a union contractor and you're a laborer and you've gone through the apprenticeship, it doesn't have to be union, it could be anybody, but um using them because it's a set number.
01:02:08
Speaker
ah You work 40, 50 hours a year, you're getting paid 150 grand a year. I mean, a lot of that goes into your health and welfare, which is- I would say about half of that goes to that.
01:02:20
Speaker
in and It and depends on the union, but in most cases I've seen it's about 25%. Okay. should say. or twenty five bucks an hour ah should like Yeah, that's about what my union is.
01:02:32
Speaker
Yeah, it's like a third or something. I know employers like to say you're making that kind of money, but it doesn't feel like it. But they're paying for your house care. But they're doing good. They're doing Right. I mean, but you're getting- know where you're coming from. Yeah, you're getting the money somehow. They're paying for something or getting retirement. So you don't get in your pocket. I get it. Their rate for that they take home is a lot less than that. It's, you know, depending on contractor or- A carpenter or laborer could be between $35 to $40 an hour take home.
01:03:02
Speaker
um So all that being said is high. So if you're if you're making $135,000 a year, and then you go up, you you make $140,000 a year, you get a raise.
01:03:16
Speaker
You just now tick up to the next tax bracket, and you're now making less a week. You're pulling home less. Right. than you Than you did before. Yep. That's where I think the huge thing is like, oh, yeah, i'm now making, i' oh, I just got a raise. I'm now making $150,000. Wait, my check's less?
01:03:33
Speaker
That's where you get, um that's where you, like, the state thing isn't the worst. It's the federal taxes, income tax, when you kind of hit that um hit that wall.
01:03:45
Speaker
That's where it gets really bad. So my whole point to a lot of this is this is not necessarily high weight. These are working, a lot of this ah dollar amount can easily hit the working class person. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, a good electrician could easily make $150, $200 grand a year.
01:04:03
Speaker
A welder, electrician, carpenter. they They are in high demand. Yeah, any blue-collar job, um, You know, not any job, but any skilled job can get close to that for sure.
01:04:18
Speaker
With overtime, hell. Yeah. And I think there are also arguments. so that's a big and content point of contention for the Republicans in the House and the Senate. They're talking about the Brown Stadium, all the stuff we had already talked about before.
01:04:34
Speaker
um But then, of course, DeWine has to come in and start crying his little game. But they're they're going to work it out. And if he, that's my my question. If he line item vetoes things, can it go, does it go back to the but legislature for them to vote on? i like Like something like this? I think it can. Yeah. Is it a bill?
01:04:53
Speaker
I don't know, but he can, he doesn't have to, he can literally just scratch a line out of a bill and line item veto that, like just one sentence. He could. Yeah. think it gets down that granular. And I'm not on not convinced that they can go back and change all those, but I could be wrong. I don't know.
01:05:09
Speaker
Yeah, i when when they've done bills, he's vetoed bills before where they where they yeah kind of came back and said, f you. I'll have to make a note looking at that. Does it count for a line item vetoes?
01:05:19
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know.
01:05:22
Speaker
And the other thing I was wrote was there ah they're also fighting over, the Republicans are fighting over the marijuana legislation for recreational marijuana. Yeah, I got a clip if you want to hear it.
01:05:34
Speaker
Yeah, go ahead.
Recreational Marijuana Legislation
01:05:36
Speaker
But just hours before the state house was supposed to vote on a compromise, state senators pulled the bill. So News 5's Morgan Trout spoke with both sides about what happened, what are the sticking points, and what's next?
01:05:48
Speaker
Ohio voters spoke loud and clear. Well, I voted for it. Like Republican state rep Jamie Callender, who has been smoking marijuana for decades. He was a large supporter of issue two in 2023, the legalization of recreational cannabis. But since then, other Republican leaders have been trying to change the law. For the past several months, the chambers have been trying to compromise on their separate bills.
01:06:13
Speaker
The Senate's proposal decreases THC content, reduces home growing from 12 plants to six, imposes more criminal penalties, and takes away tax money from local municipalities that have dispensaries.
01:06:26
Speaker
The House's latest version had none of those. The Senate had proposed taking that tax away. We finally had that negotiated so it would stay in. Recently, an agreement was reached on following most of the House version, which mainly focused on preventing children from accessing the drug.
01:06:43
Speaker
The bill was set to hit the House floor Wednesday. But in a turn of events, Republican infighting is preventing the bill from being passed. Apparently, the Senate changed their mind. In a shock to House Speaker Matt Huffman, the Senate pulled out of the compromise. To my surprise, and ah there were and whole new set of issues, additional issues which were raised Monday night.
01:07:07
Speaker
A Senate ultimatum of 16 changes. They wanted to make a mandatory jail sentence for passing a joint between friends. What changed in the past 72 hours to pull the Senate out of the marijuana deal?
01:07:21
Speaker
I wouldn't say anything has changed. I think the conversations have gone pretty well. Maybe there was misunderstanding as to where where we might have been on the bill as both chambers. Senate President Rob McCauley says that he wants to follow his version of the legislation. i think our priorities are in the bill that we already passed.
01:07:37
Speaker
He says that the teams will work together to actually come to an agreement as soon as possible. I would like to get something done by the end of June. We're not going to give up House priorities to do that. Do you believe that the Senate will be going against the will of the voters with all of their requests?
01:07:54
Speaker
yes Because of the dug-in positions among chamber leaders, he was House members now speculate that likely nothing will be passed regarding cannabis before the summer recess. app so You know, we get through the summer with the good weed until fall. This is why i will never be a Republican.
01:08:13
Speaker
but yeah they they don't win. they don't know how to they don't know how to win
01:08:22
Speaker
like No, this is like, why why? I don't understand why they're even doing anything. Right now, they got the majority, right? Yeah. In Ohio. but by By like, yeah, like 70% or something. yeah It's crazy.
01:08:34
Speaker
But this is like what what um kind of gets people, ah this is what activates voters, When you so do stupid, you know, stupid things. And I think there's another story you got coming up that might reiterate what I'm saying. Yes, for sure. um I just wanted to also touch on this.
01:09:01
Speaker
One of the other holdups is the tax revenue. They did ah reference that in the piece. Right. So right now for recreational, there is the the standard 8% sales tax like on everything you buy.
01:09:13
Speaker
um Which is weird because you can eat. I can't. Why is it? and Anyway, I'm just kidding. But 8% taxes on everything. So medical, just like you buy a candy bar, you get or not a candy bar, but sometimes it's taxed at 8%.
01:09:26
Speaker
yeah Okay. So they also add for recreational marijuana. They add an another 10% tax on top of that. And the where that money is going to go is also holdup.
01:09:39
Speaker
But ah in ah in this article, gives us a breakdown of where this money is supposed to be going according to the law. And I thought this was interesting because 36% of that 10% tax that you pay when someone buys but recreational marijuana goes to the social equity fund to help people disproportionately impacted by marijuana-related laws.
01:10:05
Speaker
What the hell is that?
01:10:08
Speaker
It sounds like a slush fund to me. Yeah, yeah. Who disproportionately impacted by marijuana-related laws? Is that like people who have long prison terms because they sold a couple bags? Or is this like, I don't know.
01:10:26
Speaker
you can and there the other There's another 36% that's supposed to go to the host cities. The ones who have- Yeah, but they're changing that. Yes. so And they have not they have yet to really get any money.
01:10:38
Speaker
from the state. Right. Because the state collects this tax, obviously, from the dispensaries, and then they're supposed to divvy it out. And they I think they saw a very small portion, and they cut it right off for some reason. Well, not for some reason. We kind of know. um And 25% is supposed to go to the state's mental health and addicted addiction services department, and 3% goes to the cannabis control department.
01:11:03
Speaker
Huh. But I'd say um I'd like to look into what the where this money goes for disproportionately impacted people. Interesting to see what that's all about.
Abortion Law Proposals
01:11:16
Speaker
And so there's they're they're bickering. The Republicans are bickering in there. You know, this is what happens when you leave it up to the critters in Columbus instead of passing a constitutional amendment.
01:11:30
Speaker
next Didn't we pass a constitutional amendment for this? Oh, no, we didn't. For medical medical, that's right. That's why they can't they can't touch the medical yeah as easily because it's not legislature that has to go s be amended in the Constitution.
01:11:43
Speaker
Yep. All right, just a reminder, crookedrivercast.com. Come by, see where you can get in touch with us ah while we build our site.
01:11:54
Speaker
um crookedrivercast.com or crooked... CrookedRivercast at gmail.com. Yeah, you could just go to Crooked Rivercast, and I think our email link is there and our X link is there.
01:12:09
Speaker
Should be, right? Yep, it's all there. Yeah, it's there. All right. ah Next on my list is um and just a quick rundown on the Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners.
01:12:25
Speaker
is basically saying, um hey, Browns are gone. They're moving. but's yeah Let's deal with it. And i would agree. I'm glad that they're pushing the president of the counts or the commission, whatever it is, Ronayne, to move on. let's let's let's We can all live together in this situation. Yeah.
01:12:46
Speaker
Yeah. it's It's a lost cause. um And the city is just. It was a lost cause a while ago. Yeah. There's poor money down empty hole and just feed in there. Hey, you got a story there. You got a story there. I thought, wow, I thought we were going to get into, but maybe the um abortion ban.
01:13:03
Speaker
i Yeah, sorry, i pulled it from the lineup. um Oh, okay. All right. That's fine. We can touch on it real quick. that um The reason I pulled it is because there's there's no bill. It's just they're talking about a bill and everybody's just kind of like freaking out it. think they're talking about It's not going to go anywhere. But if it does, I think... i think So this is ah this is um a bill to ban abortion, IVF ban, and I think there was something else too. ah so Certain types of... Contraceptance, yeah. Yeah.
01:13:31
Speaker
So... My take on this was i when I looked at it, um this is what this is how ah Republicans lose because it activates a portion of the of the um opposite voting demographic. i don't know if if that's the right word for it.
01:13:49
Speaker
It activates the other side, the opposition. because the conservative side got their asses to them when the abortion happened. it wouldn't abortion law came into um but it's another example of what you're saying too because because they went so hard with the law that they passed yeah that it it swung the pendulum the other way yeah yeah they they got their asses handed handed to them when i went voting all the i mean the the the blue hair dye and the purple hair dye i could it's still affecting me
01:14:25
Speaker
that's give A lot of chemicals, Tom. Yeah. there was there was there were There was just such a big reaction to that. it's yeah It's almost like they know that that that they're doing the Republicans are doing that. it's almost They do it so often that it's almost like they know what they're doing.
01:14:40
Speaker
Okay. And mean is, if you wanted to, I i understand, I'm sympathetic to your cause in this particular issue, but you don't do it all at once.
01:14:51
Speaker
And they try to do it all at once. Yeah, yeah. It shocked everybody and it gave it gave the other it gave the opposition, the pro-abortion side, all the fodder they needed. Yeah, yeah.
01:15:02
Speaker
It's a retarded way to go about this. They do this over and over again. there's but this But this is my take on this. They're going to activate the other side, but I don't think it's going to go anywhere.
01:15:13
Speaker
Okay, so here's here's what I'm thinking. Because they also want to um decide when life starts. That's the whole point of the bill is that they want to pass an amendment saying life starts at conception.
01:15:25
Speaker
right and which gives that which gives that life a right right right yes so it has human rights and it is yeah right so i think what's what what the pro-life um side are trying to do and they're going to do this in other states they're going to try to come up with bills like this and there and some state is going to pass it Right.
01:15:51
Speaker
And then people will sue and then it's going to go to the Supreme court. right Ohio being one of those that would sue. Literally what he said in this story, the guy, proponent who wants to push this bill.
01:16:05
Speaker
Oh, is that what he said? he hopes Yeah, he hopes it goes to the Supreme Court. That's what I think they're trying is going to be sued. He knows yeah there's going to be a lawsuit. Yeah, but yeah, yeah, okay. And he even said in in the quote I pulled out. Rob, I thought i had ah I had good insight here. Damn it. Oh.
01:16:21
Speaker
Sorry. No, he even says um they ask him, ah Would this be against the will of the voters? And he says, I'm trying to figure out what his name is. I can't remember.
01:16:35
Speaker
It's in here somewhere. um Bagel is his name. Beagle? Bagel? He said ah said, it goes against the majority opinion of the ohio of the people of Ohio, and that is something we are proud of because there have been many times in our country's history where the people have asked for something evil.
01:16:55
Speaker
Of course, he brings up slavery, but... right But he's saying, yeah, it is against the will of people and he's he's okay with it. Yeah. Okay. We'll see. So you you think this is done just to push it to the Supreme Court on the, the Republicans want it to the Supreme Court to to make a final decision or what? I think the pro-life side does, which, you know, usually.
01:17:13
Speaker
Let's finish the argument. Is it life or not? I guess. Maybe that's what they're thinking. I don't know. When I say it, does does the um liabella the fetus have rights?
01:17:27
Speaker
That's what they're looking at. that's what they have want That's what they want to go to the Supreme Court. because Because I think one if it does go to the Supreme Court, they will say it has light um has rights.
01:17:40
Speaker
ah I think there's a good chance, it better than it ever has in a long time, but I'm not convinced. Mm-hmm. not convinced. I don't know. i've I've seen so many decisions come out of Supreme Court that you're like, huh? huh but Yeah.
01:17:52
Speaker
Plus, you're from like Gorsuch and... yeah um ah not of Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett. Barrett. but Well, Barrett's been... urban but But I don't know. She's she's got a six kiss. pro-life.
01:18:06
Speaker
Yeah. But like I said, things going to go, huh? Maybe this may go too far for her. Who knows? I don't know. It is pretty... is a pretty don't know.
01:18:18
Speaker
It's a pretty bold idea, I think. I think the ultimate thing and that they want is not to really ban it. I think they just want to um make it so it's, you know, maybe it's eight weeks.
01:18:29
Speaker
Yeah, well, you screwed that up already. You already missed that chance because you could have done that um but initially and you would a I bet you wouldn't be in this position. If they would have done this originally with the law after War Weewe was overturned and they put a more reasonable approach to it, like you're saying.
01:18:45
Speaker
Right. they go for the the They go for the home run, the grand slam every time, and they're always swinging and missing. Yeah. Hopping out. So don't know. All right.
Community Announcements and Safety Warnings
01:18:55
Speaker
On to what the heck is a bagworm?
01:19:00
Speaker
It's something you should kill. Okay. It looks pretty weird. Well, it's a caterpillar. if you um Okay, so this is from, I think it's Fox 8.
01:19:10
Speaker
Yeah, Fox 8, Cleveland. And it's just a PSA here. um If you see a bag worm, kill it because it's ah invasive. It's destroying um leafage.
01:19:24
Speaker
It looks like it's like a... Like a bunch of sticks. That's how it's hiding. Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah, because it it kind of, um the larvae the larvae kind of makes it look like it's part of the tree that it's on.
01:19:40
Speaker
um i would recommend everybody go to ah just Google bagworms so you know what to look for. And if you if you work in the yard and you're you know you like your trees and you like your garden and your shrubs that you have, if you see this, make sure you're killing...
01:19:58
Speaker
killing them because they're gonna destroy a lot of things yeah a couple weeks ago we had um we had the lantern bugs lantern moths was it called oh yeah yeah yeah people were needed need to kill because those just came from china and i don't know where i don't know where these came from actually it didn't say in the story has it has to be china yeah well okay i'm gonna china blame china But if you see these things, that they got good pictures on Fox 8. And I'm sure if you just Google it, you could find it. And that they remind me of the um
01:20:32
Speaker
sharpshooter. What would be called? Like a and a Navy SEAL or something. All, you know, sitting in a field somewhere. Oh, yeah, like a sniper. Yeah, sniper. That's it. All in his ghillie suit. That's what was looking for. looks sniper in his ghillie suit. That's pretty cool, actually, but creepy all the same time.
01:20:47
Speaker
Yeah. Well, maybe one problem could take over another problem because you've got another story here. There's bacteria and algae prompting a warning in Cleveland beaches. Yeah. The bacteria can kill the bag moths. That would be nice, right?
01:21:01
Speaker
Well, okay. So it's getting hot. It's going to be what? Today's supposed to be almost 90. Tomorrow, 90, 91, 92 for the next few days. And people are going to head to the water. ah Be careful with Edgewater Beach and Villa Angela Beach, part of the Metro Park system. Villa Angela, i never heard of that beach, but it's part of the Euclid Reservation.
01:21:22
Speaker
And there an 87% probability of E. coli right now and at edgewater and ninety three point seven at villa angela beach of bacteria or e coli, and they they have an algae problem too. So, you know, um make make sure you ask somebody there if you can go in the water because it doesn't sound too good.
01:21:51
Speaker
Yeah, this has to do with just abundance of algae in the lake. They had algae plumes over the last few years they've been trying to get rid of her.
01:22:03
Speaker
I think the ah the excess rain that we've had over the last week and a half or two has kind of spiked everything. Yeah, they I remember seeing a story on this. A lot of it, they were thinking has to do with a lot of the fertilizer that we use and and gets washed into the rain and you know we have all this extra nutrients gets into this into the lake and it promotes a lot of ah this algae growth.
01:22:24
Speaker
like It could, I guess. There's some study, I forget when the when they, I think 2020 or 2021 when they they were doing a study and I think a lot of the ah farmers, maybe it wasn't then, was before then, there was a year there was a lot of rain and they couldn't ah fertilize like they normally do because of the rain.
01:22:43
Speaker
And then the algae blooms highly were highly reduced that year or something that effect. I saw some documentary somewhere on it. was interesting. Huh. It may have a lot to do with rain went off from from farmland. and They just dump in nitrous, you know, a lot of fertilizers. Yeah. I heard a ah blurb on the radio too. It was something about the excess rain causing the water.
01:23:04
Speaker
They might've been talking about more about the algae than the e coli, but. Yeah. Yeah. This is particularly the algae blooms that they're having problems with but last few years. And it all gets, you know, it's pretty gross actually.
01:23:16
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So careful when you're out there, ah you know, I guess and like normal, when you go into Lake Erie, pop a couple of penicillin and you'll be good. Just kidding. Don't do that. That's not true.
01:23:28
Speaker
Talk your doctor. Yeah. This is specifically are Edgewater beach and Villa Angela beach, but I don't know if I would even bother going to like Huntington or, or, well, you know, Geneva, who knows, but be careful.
01:23:46
Speaker
Go in a pool. Yeah. I mean, i I guess you should be a little bit better. And it depends on the pool you go into. Yeah. Put a sprinkler on and start running through it in your yard. Your neighbors will love it. There you go.
01:23:58
Speaker
but As long as you work clothes. All right. And next on to, we have the good stuff.
Local Music and Cultural Events
01:24:14
Speaker
Just like GE, Tom, we bring good things to life. little blast in the past there. All right, and the good and good things. I think I was watching Brady Bunch...
01:24:25
Speaker
the last time i've heard that i know might have been easily the 80s easily yeah i'm thinking i need a jingle i remember that jingle this is funny well maybe so um good stuff good things we're bringing good things to life there is a uh live music at public square going on this year again um and they are It got a lineup going on. And I think every week for starting in two weeks.
01:24:54
Speaker
Oh, course. July 9th through September 24th. Yeah, there it is. I think it's on Wednesdays. Yeah. Wednesdays at public square from five to eight. Yeah. And with bands that I've never heard of, but a lot of local bands, which is good. And that's actually, I've, I've heard a lot of these. Uh, geez, you got, uh,
01:25:16
Speaker
Well, Becky Boyd, which is a um and that's on July 30th, but she's a blues artist. And then there's August 6th is the Country Honk, which we talked about a week or two ago. Yeah.
01:25:28
Speaker
actually might go see that. That sounds fun. ah Yeah, they're Sugar Magnolia. They've been around for a while. Yeah, go check it out. there's There's bands every week, every Wednesday from July 9th September 24th. Yeah, they're going have food trucks and and all kinds of stuff to keep you cool and fed and hydrated because it'll be warm, but it's going to be it's cool. I like it.
01:25:53
Speaker
Let's get some music and live music downtown. The more the merrier. Yeah. On that note, lastly, is I ran into this Cleveland Current playlist on Spotify. Yeah, we talked about that a few weeks ago. I brought it up.
01:26:08
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, you did bring this. That's why. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I started playing it. I think they put this out once a month or something. Okay. So, and I was going through it and I heard, heard this, this song, I will play a little clip from it.
01:26:23
Speaker
Um, but it is a it's by a band called, um, Matthew Alec. It's Matthew Alec and the soul electric nominated as Cleveland's best jazz for 2024 by the Cleveland music awards explosive fusion super group, uh, Matthew Alec and the soul electric bring old school swagger to their fresh, exciting, innovative blend of jazz, pop, and funk.
01:26:53
Speaker
And I thought that sounded good. let's Let's see if this music thing will work. Let's see if we can get a good clip for you guys. This is called Blue Train. Off the album Blue Train, it seems like.
01:27:05
Speaker
Let's listen. Let's listen.
01:27:10
Speaker
Let's listen.
01:27:34
Speaker
Jazz. Hip-Hop Jazz. Hip-Hop Jazz. Hip-Hop Jazz.
01:27:46
Speaker
Hip-Hop Jazz. Blast from the past train off the track. Jazz cold train from the cul-de-sac. Known to snap on the track.
01:27:58
Speaker
Drummer throw to scratch. Warm up the phone to So it's a little different. It's a little different. I can see why they they start they stand out. i don't know. It's jazz, and it's got a little rap in there. I don't know.
01:28:12
Speaker
Different. Okay. All right. It may not be up to everybody's taste, but... but My cup of tea. Sounded something something that the Stood out to me. So that's pretty good. So check out Cleveland current playlist on Spotify again. Apparently the baseline was cool. And that baseline was cool. That's what, that's what caught me. I want to listen to rest it. I listened to most of it, but don't think a baseline was really cool.
01:28:34
Speaker
Okay. So think on that lovely note, go check out their playlist and we're wrapping it up for the day. Go, go jam this some music while you cut the grass before rains or after it rains or they stay hydrated and we'll talk to you next week.