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Crooked RIver Cast Show 49
0 Playsin 11 hours
Crookedrivercast.com
Crookedrivercast@gmail.com
- Trump takes an L on tariffs for now.
- Dems do Trump a favor and skip State of The Union.
- Ohio’s richest man has some explaining to do.
- Governor’s race update.
- Ohio Universities caught still teaching DEI.
- Critter Corner:
- Ohio GOP support the dismantling of the Dept. Of EDU.
- HB 671 would punish districts who are suing the State.
- HB 693 Tranny child welfare.
- Subscribe and share the show.
- Cuyahoga County Sheriff says it’s not personal.
- Ask Cuyahoga proves there are dumb questions.
- When is the best day to buy gas?
- Free legal clinics for “immigrants”
Good Things:
- St. Jude raffles of an Ohio house.
- Lent fish fry guide.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Hosts' Personal Stories
00:00:12
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Crooked Rivercast. This is Robert and that guy way over there, that's Tom. And we are just two guys from Northeast Ohio just trying to keep track of this great state.
00:00:24
Speaker
This is show 49, the week of February 23rd, 2026. Let's talk about the stuff we have to discuss. Let's do it.
00:00:39
Speaker
Well, I almost love that opener. Almost. Almost. Not that I saved it last second. Saved it last second. In the morning, Tom.
00:00:50
Speaker
Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Everything okay in your neck of the woods, I trust? Yep. Nothing's, you know. All good.
00:01:01
Speaker
It's all the same. Because it cause it's horribly itchy over here. Yeah. Horribly itchy. Yeah. Oh, my jock's all right. but Yeah, mine is too, but my poor dog.
00:01:14
Speaker
Who knew such a tough dog could have such sensitive skin?
00:01:19
Speaker
I have a... Roxy is an American bully. Not an American bulldog. An American bully. Somebody be thinking, ah hell is that?
00:01:31
Speaker
Yeah, so was I when we got her. Probably be in jail if she was in England.
00:01:38
Speaker
You might be right. So she is a mix of, pit, uh, pit bull and American Stratfordshire terrier. and And, when we got her, I looked up what, what they said she was.
00:01:54
Speaker
i was like, I've never heard that breed before. And like that, and I'm a expert at dog breeds or anything, but it didn't sound like one I've ever heard before. Well, and I did a quick search in the first video on YouTube that showed up was, um,
00:02:07
Speaker
Well, it started off with some really cool hip hop music and a very, very deep voice. as said, American Bully, the first and only dog breed created and designed by the hip hop culture.
00:02:23
Speaker
Really? And I said, diversity. Woo-hoo-hoo. Yeah. Yeah. It's basically. Rob sits down starts creating beats.
00:02:33
Speaker
and we yeah I said, how can I be racist? I have a black dog. Even though she's not black. she's Well, she is brown and black. She's Brindle, so she's brown and black. So she's very diverse, both Hispanic and African-American. Where are we going with this?
00:02:48
Speaker
I don't know. I just kind of Anyway, so who knew was such a tough dog would have such sensitive skin? She's allergic. She's got skin issues. She's very itchy, and she's all red, and it's costing me all kinds of money.
00:03:02
Speaker
Oh, no. They're trying to keep her away from the vet. Not away from the vet, but it it's steroids. That's what they give her. Yeah. It's probably, you know, it's probably not good for any animal to just constantly on steroids.
00:03:14
Speaker
No. Is it a cream or is a... No, it's a pill. Yeah, because... It's pregnazoned. It's the same steroid we take. Okay. Yeah. So what over-the-counter stuff can we take? let's Let's look at her food. is it is it the food that we we give her? Good food. It's not, you know, off the grocery store shelf. It's a little higher. Spend a little more money on her.
00:03:34
Speaker
But still grain is still kibble. We mix in regular food and rice and leftovers. we know We'll cook up the ah trimmings from the chicken or whatnot for her and rice and stuff like that. So she doesn't have just kibble. But well, yeah, farmer's dog. Not ah not a not a sponsored ad or read from the farmer's dog.
00:03:53
Speaker
But it's good food. You know it's good because it makes you want to kind of gag and it stinks. So the dog loves it. But they cook it just for her. And man, it's expensive. Yeah, yeah. And it ain't working.
00:04:05
Speaker
had to take her back to the vet yesterday. How long cause has she been been on that food? It's been almost two weeks, week and a half, and off to prednisone. But here's the issue. this The itching is one thing I feel bad for her.
00:04:20
Speaker
But she stinks so bad. That's part of the skin thing. It's like a yeast thing. It's like, yeah oh, she stinks so bad. it because of winter? Yeah. No, because it's all summer. it should She'll do it through the summer. We thought maybe it was environmental at first, but then she's if she's getting it in the wintertime, there's nothing out there. it's It was completely snow for the last two months or whatever.
00:04:41
Speaker
You got to take her back to the hood. Maybe she's just, yeah, maybe she's just had it. She has it too good. Take her for a walk around glen Glenville.
00:04:52
Speaker
You might get out. I might. No, I will. She might not. oh She loves people. Just stay there. said Look, all these people. All these people not working.
00:05:06
Speaker
ah Wait, what? why i don't Tom, ah how are they supposed to with no IDs? yeah How are they supposed to with no IDs? Thank you for that segue. I was wondering where I'm going fit this clip in.
Satirical and Social Commentary
00:05:19
Speaker
I didn't know, we talked about last week real quick on voter ID and the changes in Ohio and the restrictions they put on and then the the SAVE Act where they want to make sure, you know, black people don't vote because black people have a hard time getting IDs apparently. And I thought they're they're wrong. they're how How is that possible?
00:05:44
Speaker
But apparently, the screen report. How they drive? I know. How would they even get there? Well, they don't have IDs. How do they open up a bank account? yes when How do they get into many places? like ah ah How do they buy liquor? Well, yeah, that's a good point. yeah How do you get in federal buildings?
00:06:05
Speaker
um So man on the street report proves this wrong, Tom, because it it is racism. Here we go. Here's a man on the street report. We're here on the scene in this Republican county where African Americans are being oppressed by horrific new voter laws, forcing them to acquire a legal ID to vote. Excuse me, sir.
00:06:21
Speaker
You're unable to acquire an ID, are you not? Actually, I just renewed my ID. It's pretty easy, actually. There you have it. This poor black man has been disenfranchised by racist voter ID laws because he's too ignorant I'm sorry.
00:06:34
Speaker
Ignorant means stupid. Too ignorant to acquire a voter ID. Absolutely tragic. The new laws forbid giving out food, water, and free cash to voters in line. How will black people figure out how to drink water in line to vote?
00:06:49
Speaker
That's illegal. thanks to Republicans. Or did you get that anyway? I brought it. You you didn't bring that. You're too underprivileged. ah That means poor. I'm sorry the evil conservatives are trying to figuratively smack the water out of your hands. You literally just did that.
00:07:06
Speaker
Who are you? You know what? Forget It's my time to vote. Just chill out. We just witnessed a hate crime, a thirsty, dehydrated hate crime. Our thoughts and prayers to his family.
00:07:19
Speaker
A thirsty. That's Babylon B. Oh, okay. That was a Babylon I figured I'd let you go when thinking it was a real report, but yeah, there's more of it. It goes into his house. It was funny. Oh yeah, a thirsty.
00:07:33
Speaker
<unk> thirsty. Deprived black man. oh so anyway, that was that was a laugh to start start to show off with. That was a laugh, but I i actually heard reports like that.
00:07:46
Speaker
Kind of like that. ah Yeah. you know I mean, that CNN was saying that stuff. Not far not far off. Oh, I don't remember. ah Oh, there there was a, I forget where what channel it was on, but it was during the, um what were those, right? Who was the dude that...
00:08:06
Speaker
In Minnesota. Damn it. Floyd? Yeah, with George Floyd riots, where there were white people like talking to black people, and black people were like, what are you guys doing? They're like, we're trying to help you.
00:08:19
Speaker
Oh, when they were spray painting the yeah Black Lives Matter on the side of businesses and the black were like, stop that. This is my community. No, no, really. We're trying to help you. Right. Like they start talking to them like they're dumb. It's hilarious. That's a typical nimbyist white woman.
00:08:38
Speaker
It is modern day racism. Mm-hmm. Oh, no, no, we're helping you. You need our help because you're black and we're white.
00:08:48
Speaker
I think think think some of the most racist people I've ever met her are, um they try to virtue signal that they're not. But when you get into a conversation with them, yeah it it comes pretty clearly how racist they are. They just don't do it in a way that a Southern slave owner would have done it.
00:09:11
Speaker
Well, when you're when you're you've you've been programmed, this this will come up later, we've been programmed to to only think, the racism I've been told is prejudice plus power.
00:09:23
Speaker
So if you're not if you don't have the power, you can't be racist. But also, well, we got down a rat hole on this one. But also, ah if they think if they're doing something good, treating them differently by doing something good for them,
00:09:38
Speaker
Isn't racism. And by definition, it absolutely is. if you're treating them differently. hey treating You're treating them, you're giving them a hand up or a hand out rather because you think they're not capable because they're black.
00:09:52
Speaker
Because of the situation they've been brought up in or whatever. Yeah, it's fine. Yeah, or or we know we're we're ruining your community by helping you. We're ruining your community. Yes, don't worry. We even know better than you. We're not racist. Exactly, exactly.
00:10:06
Speaker
it's It's total identity politics. It's America. it's It's gross, actually. America in 2026.
Supreme Court and Tariff Discussions
00:10:16
Speaker
At least the vocal part of America, unfortunately. Mm-hmm.
00:10:20
Speaker
Oh, all right. We'll start off with, you know, I kind of started the week off like going, stories. i don't know. I don't know. I wasn't feeling them. You know, it was nothing to that was really getting under my skin.
00:10:33
Speaker
And then later in the week, ah you found some things. I read in a few more things. And then, of course, yesterday, yesterday, of course, we had, of course, we got to have
00:10:48
Speaker
All over the place. Breaking news, breaking news, breaking news. Supreme Court delivers a an L for the Trump administration in the White House. The Supreme Court has ruled, i think it was six to four six six to three.
00:11:04
Speaker
you sure? To, ruled against Donald Trump's authority to use the IEEPA, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, to enact tariffs on his own.
00:11:19
Speaker
And Trump was none too happy. None too happy. let's Let's hear a little bit. We'll start off, I guess, with, i don't know if have you heard, have you dug into this? I mean, a little it literally came out yesterday.
00:11:33
Speaker
Have I dug into it? Have you looked into any of the details or any that? I haven't. Not much. No. Go on with this. We'll talk a little after. Yeah, we'll go with the clip. Because answered a couple my questions in the clip.
00:11:46
Speaker
Who voted how and what? Right. I think he says in here, yeah. That I know. The Supreme Court's ruling on tariffs is deeply disappointing.
00:11:58
Speaker
And I'm ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed for not having the courage to do what's right for our country. I'd like to thank and congratulate Justices Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh for their strength and wisdom and love of our country, which is right now very proud of those justices.
00:12:23
Speaker
When you read the dissenting opinions, there's no way that anyone can argue against them, there's no way. Foreign countries that have been ripping us off for years are ecstatic, they're so happy.
00:12:40
Speaker
And they're dancing in the streets, but they won't be dancing for long, that I can assure you. The Democrats on the court are thrilled, but they will automatically vote no. They're an automatic no, just like in Congress, they're an automatic no.
00:12:57
Speaker
They're against anything that makes America strong, healthy, and great again. They also are a frankly, disgrace to our nation, those justices.
00:13:09
Speaker
They're an automatic no, no matter how good a case you have. It's a no. The good news is that there are methods, practices, statutes and authorities as recognized by the entire court in this terrible decision and also is recognized by Congress, which they refer to, that are even stronger than the IEPA tariffs available to me as president of the United States.
00:13:37
Speaker
So he was, as as MS now says, visibly frustrated at the decision. Well, yeah, it's kind of ridiculous. He brings up a great point and later in this clip. he He can bomb all these countries if he wants, unilaterally. He could just say, send send in the planes, I can bomb them, but I can't put a fee on them.
00:13:58
Speaker
How did Jefferson fund the entire government through tariffs? Through tariffs, yeah. How did he do that? like Much smaller government first. Start with that. but ah Do you have more on this? or No, i mean that's the last clip. but yeah that's um Because you ke Kavanaugh's dissent, he wrote a 63-page dissent, and I guess he gave him a he gave Trump a a bunch of ways he he can do it. so Yeah, gave him a little roadmap, I think, is what sounds like. yeah
00:14:30
Speaker
And that's why i was kind of hoping. i would if Again, it takes a while, but It seems that if you had multiple options, you'd pick the weakest one first. That would be a ah what a smart businessman probably would do. Okay.
00:14:44
Speaker
It sounds like that maybe maybe maybe that's what ended up happening, maybe by chance, maybe by by design. But does this mean all the tariffs are gone? Like which tariff? That's kind of what I know. I don't think so. Yeah.
00:14:57
Speaker
I don't think so. It says a good portion of but it doesn't say all tariffs. Yeah, I don't know. Does that mean 10%? Does that mean 50%? I don't know.
00:15:08
Speaker
Does that mean 70%? yeah a good ah Which ones and why? and a good portion of something to me doesn't really say too much. I i don't know exactly which tariffs or ham much.
00:15:21
Speaker
and I think that's we have a good question. We have $137 billion, I think, sitting there from tariffs. And what what happens to that? ah Like how much of that is from this, you know? it's, ah it's gonna be interesting over the next month or two, I guess.
00:15:41
Speaker
ah He, he imposed a 10% tax ah or tariff on everybody right now. So globally. Right. So I don't, does that take, take most of it?
00:15:55
Speaker
i Like, i I have no idea. They don't really notice how they don't really go into detail about anything. No, I don't think anybody really knows. I think it's really subject to each tariff maybe or the situation in hand. And some of some have been saying he's gonna have to do investigations or come up with reasons like in some way that country's harming America or do can't just do unilateral ones. You have to actually look into it. Got to give reasons or why.
00:16:21
Speaker
Which, okay, that can happen pretty quick in lu most of these cases, think. they probably have it already. yeah Right? Yeah. Well, you could say, hey. Maybe this was a way to. an art sorry Oh, um no. i was going to say maybe this was a way to get the tariffs going without doing all that, um I guess, legwork.
00:16:41
Speaker
And while the Supreme Court was deciding on this, they did the legwork to figure out how to do this. Well, I guess all depends on what the bar is to to pass. Because, I mean, you could just say, look at the tariffs have on our goods.
00:16:56
Speaker
I just investigated it. Put tariffs on. e I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. A lot of unknowns. Yeah. Almost didn't even want to cover it because we didn't know much. But then I got i saw that clip. and So it sounds like Amy Coney Barrett and... Gorsuch and Roberts. Gorsuch.
00:17:16
Speaker
Roberts, I expected kind of. Expected Roberts, yeah. Gorsuch, I'm surprised. Amy, I'm not surprised, but I wasn't expecting it. It was kind of like that she's up in the air. that That was a bad choice. She was a bad choice.
00:17:31
Speaker
I like, she she has a good... um two-way stance, but other than that, she's been disappointing lately. Yeah, she's been somewhat of a disappointment. Yeah.
00:17:45
Speaker
On most big things, I think, where she where she's voted in in favor of, I don't, you know, a lot of those didn't even need her. so i don't, yeah, that that's true. You're just voting because you know it's going to win anyway.
00:17:57
Speaker
i Well, don I don't know about that. We don't know. yeah I don't know. we don't. I'm just... It seems like that. I mean, I don't think most things she's been wrong on. I just think there have been a handful of things where I'm like, what?
00:18:09
Speaker
Like, how how did you get to this? But, you know, women. Yep. So we move on, and I think this makes the midterms even more important.
00:18:21
Speaker
Okay. But you don't know it's going to do anything. You're right. it if but I don't know if it's going to make a difference, but it just, I mean, without this, not the tariffs.
Political Boycotts and Controversies
00:18:32
Speaker
what This is how he's gotten all these countries to move on NATO and on, on funding and on just, it's been a negotiation.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It's us using our, using our, ah our, our leverage that we have, the, Yeah, so okay. so we'll have to keep an eye on it, see see what's going to happen next, because nobody really knows. I actually don't think it's going to be all that bad. i think i think there's a you know I think they already have a plan in place.
00:19:01
Speaker
I would imagine they knew this was ah a possibility, and maybe as it got closer. Yeah. Grapevine and all, so keep an eye on it. Um, next was going to be our first story, but we put just one in front. We'll go quick on this. I do have a short clip from, uh, from one of our dear friends in the democratic party, uh, Mr. Jeffries, but cause he came up with what What his two options are apparently. So the Dems ah are basically, my opinion, in doing Trump a favor. And there's a bunch of them that aren't going to show up for the State of the Union, which is Tuesday, right?
00:19:34
Speaker
Tuesday the 24th? Yep. 24th. And right now, there's more than a dozen that going to come. And I'm just like, well, sure I'm sure President Trump is is really sweating.
00:19:47
Speaker
i don't know is it doesn't even that much no it's there it's it's it's theater you know it's theater yeah but jeffries had um he come up i mean he's this guy's brilliant he uh he figured out there are only two choices and let's listen to a little bit from mr hakim jeffries well as we approach the State of the Union address, my view drunk or not drunk remains the same, which is that the two options that are in front of us in our house is to either attend with silent defiance or to not attend and send a message to Donald Trump in that fashion, which will include participation in a variety of different alternate
00:20:41
Speaker
programming that is going to take place in and around the Capitol complex. Programming. Yes. That's a good way to put it. He loves Obama so much.
00:20:51
Speaker
He tries to get that, uh, talking, uh, that rhythm rhythm of Obama's speech. Yeah. The cadence. yeah I'm going to say three words and then I'm going to say three more words and i'm go go back and say the previous three words one more time.
00:21:10
Speaker
That was my Obama impression. horrible, horrible, but you know. and Yeah, so he has two choices, by the way. He's pretty smart. hey Well, you know, the he's the best they've got. He's the only one that I know of that, besides like AOC, that has like a little bit of charisma and can actually talk a little bit. Yeah, he's actually not bad. He does sound a little little drunk sometimes, which I know he's not, which just makes it even worse for me. Well, to me to me, he's trying to get that cadence that Obama had, which Obama, I think that was natural to him.
00:21:41
Speaker
i don't know how natural it is to this guy. I think that's just something he's worked on.
00:21:48
Speaker
They cannot give Trump the attention and ratings this weekend. President Trump has spent the first five first year of his administration making all of our lives worse.
00:22:00
Speaker
don't know. My life hasn't gotten worse. But Tom,
00:22:06
Speaker
this thing doesn't lie. It's actually gotten slightly better. not going to say it's... Slashing healthcare. care Slash healthcare, care Tom. Oh, I'm dying. Slashed it! Um... I don't know.
00:22:18
Speaker
I'm paying less. Masked ICE agents. We had to say about masked ICE agents, Tom. Terrorizing our neighbors. Well, if they don't mask, they're going to get terrorized. Right? Passing tax cuts. Here's the whole reason of this clip. This clip is quote.
00:22:35
Speaker
Passing tax cuts for, i have a feeling we're going to hear more of this term, the Epstein class. Oh, Jesus. yeah This is from a move on chief of program.
00:22:47
Speaker
I think they was a misprint chief of programming. i think it's chief of program. Sarah.
00:22:54
Speaker
Hag doost. Hag doosty. Hag do. Yeah. It's H a G H D. O O S T I. Yeah. I can't do that. i so I napped in the English class. I'm sorry.
00:23:08
Speaker
That's what Trump wants. The attention in the reins, but we cannot. Treat this year's State of the Union like business as usual. This is why MoveOn is hosting the People's State of the Union, where we will hear directly from the people facing the consequences of Trump's disastrous administration.
00:23:26
Speaker
wait One more time. This really sends it home when you do that. so yeah, there's a problem. Go read the article or not. um You know, they're still going to have antics. it's still going to be entertaining. We're still going to be able um make fun of plenty of Democrats after the state of the union.
00:23:43
Speaker
And, uh, don't worry about people. It's just a few, no names that you've never heard of before. Should be a lot of clips next week, right? Oh yeah. Should be some good stuff next week. Do you think they're rewriting the state of the union after there's state of the, or SCOTUS ruling? I think they went, that speech writer went, Oh crap.
00:24:00
Speaker
I just finished it. No, I got to change everything. and I don't know about everything, but ah yeah, I think, I think that might, um that might, I don't think, so I don't think it's going to change that much.
00:24:14
Speaker
No, he's got, I know. was just thinking, well, na the guy just probably finished it up the other day for proofreading. Now he's got, I think, I don't know.
00:24:24
Speaker
i Skip it. Go ahead, please. American people, ah you know, go you can watch your programming on the other side. that you can You can have your move on. hope it rains nice and cold. It's supposed to be cold, isn't it? Yeah.
00:24:39
Speaker
Good. So move on this is This is the repurposed moveon.org, if anyone remembers them from back in the day. Don't remember that. You know moveon.org? ah No.
00:24:51
Speaker
Yeah, it like... Early on in his first administration early to no, it was before that early 2000 during Bush. Oh, okay. Wow. They changed it to move on civic action.
00:25:04
Speaker
Um, so, uh, you know, we'll watch that state of the union. It'll be, I'm sure it'll be entertaining as it always is. And, uh, we'll have plenty of clips next week. So I think, uh, there'll be plenty of, he said silent, but they never stay silent.
00:25:19
Speaker
I was like, no, don't stay silent. It's not good for the show. All right. Keep moving. Keep moving. Next story. Oh, because we couldn't, we can only go so long without bringing up the Epstein files on the show.
Financial and Legal Investigations
00:25:33
Speaker
And i who who knew? i didn't I did not realize that one of the biggest funders of Jeffrey Epstein was from Ohio. Did you? No. So, uh, he was a big funder of Epstein. Yeah.
00:25:48
Speaker
Yeah. How did he fund Epstein? Les Wexner. You'll see. Well, it'll, I think it brings up in my clip. Les, Les Wexner. See that a few times fast. and ah Leslie.
00:25:59
Speaker
Leslie Wexner. Les Wexner. It's like, yeah, um He donated nearly $750,000 across political campaigns or groups since 2019. Right, right, right.
00:26:14
Speaker
He is, but he is funding, yeah, it says in the report, we'll listen to the clip, I think he, up to a billion dollars he given to Epstein according to some records. But my, I guess the story here is,
00:26:31
Speaker
We got a bunch of people from Congress, Ohio representatives from Congress flying all the way here to have a press conference on the lawn of a very busy intersection somewhere to talk about a whole lot of nothing.
00:26:45
Speaker
Because my questions are, why why are they here? Like, this guy sounds kind of creepy, very creepy. But what are they going to do? They're coming here to question him. Like what, what authority it have to question him? Just show.
00:26:59
Speaker
i know it's all show. Like what, what are you going do you plan to accomplish? So here is let's start with the clip. This is new channel five. We got Morgan or off the bat this morning. Les Wexner was mentioned hundreds of times in the released Epstein files. And now the U S house oversight committee is trying to find out how much the 88 year old really knew about Jeffrey Epstein's criminal activity. tell switch Here's what we know about the closed door deposition. There is no single person that was more involved in providing Jeffrey Epstein with the financial support to commit his crimes than Les Wexner. Democrats flew in from D.C. to question Leslie Wexner, founder of Elle Brands, which created Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, and Abercrombie & Fitch, questioning him about his longtime business relationship and friendship with Epstein, accused of running a child sex trafficking ring. This community deserves to know why his money was used to traffic, abuse and rape women and children. In a statement to Congress, Wexner says he met and hired Epstein as a financial advisor in the 1980s. He also admitted that he visited Epstein's island. He claimed that he was on the island for one hour and that he walked around with his family. but House Oversight Committee ranking member Robert Garcia says that the Democrats don't believe him. Their investigation has shown that Wexner funded much of Epstein's life, including paying a billion for his services, allowing Epstein to live in his home and use his yachts and planes. But Wexner says he doesn't remember. It is almost inconceivable to be missing but the amounts of money that are missing.
00:28:38
Speaker
And somehow Mr. Wexner have no idea. In his letter, Wexner wrote, I was naive, foolish and gullible to put any trust in Jeffrey Epstein. But the Republican voice was notably missing from the deposition. Democrats say no GOP members came in. But State House Republicans are waiting for the investigation to play out. shows what happens when there's groupthink and people are turning their back in a particular situation.
00:29:06
Speaker
But we'll we'll see what comes out of the the deposition ultimately. And in D.C., Attorney General Pam Bondi downplayed the Epstein files. Americans 401ks and retirement savings are booming. That's what we should be talking about. Will this deposition even matter if Pam Bondi and the DOJ ja are not taking this as a main focus? Look, I think that we have ah my first answer is yes. This deposition absolutely does matter. And it's important to get. This is just the beginning of our work. Don't let him dodge it. Trying to get the truth on Mr. Wexner. And so that it absolutely matters. Any final questions? What happens when the DOJ doesn't do anything with it?
00:29:44
Speaker
ah Well, that's up that's up to the President Trump, which we' we're putting the pressure on. yeah Despite Wexner maintaining his innocence, both federal and state lawmakers are continuing to distance themselves. In New Albany, I'm Morgan Trout reporting.
00:29:57
Speaker
oh yeah, they're distancing themselves. i I just want to point out before i go too far that Miss Sykes or Miss Sykes, what's her name? Jackson? No. No, in that clip, it's, oh, crap.
00:30:11
Speaker
I forgot her name. um The dumb one. she she's Yeah, the dumb one. she says ah twenty different one shes She says, it's almost inconceivable to be missing the amounts of money that have been missing, and somehow Mr. Wexner have no idea what she said, and they corrected it.
00:30:29
Speaker
They pulled a Biden. They gave her the Biden treatment. Yeah, of course. Because she sounded like an idiot when she said that. it's But I guess this is part where the video, not having the video takes away. Because if you saw her, you would go, oh, with the with the audio and then misspeaking a little bit with the way she's looking. Oh, she looks like a complete buffoon.
00:30:52
Speaker
but thought That's the one that's out, right? Look at that. What's that? That's the one that's out. shes they They got rid of her... District? Did they? Yeah. Okay. Crockett.
00:31:03
Speaker
Crockett. That's it. Jasmine Crockett. Yeah. She's running for Senate. Ah. Low IQ. You can see in her eyes. You can see the low IQ in her eyes. You know what? Yeah, you'd think, but that's not how she really talks. That's fake.
00:31:17
Speaker
Oh, good point. I think I've played it for you where she was, yeah before she went got into Congress. She speaks like a college-educated ah student, you know?
00:31:28
Speaker
But when she talks to the people, we got one. That's a total put on. And she she's good at it. I know. got to like Hillary did. i know. There's going to be a time. Oh, I can't remember what she said. Take hot sauce with me everywhere.
00:31:44
Speaker
I remember that. A clean cut. Remember that? think it was different. That was Biden. Yeah, he didn't do an accent. He just said the quiet part out loud. He's clean. He's clean cut. And articulate. That's what it was. Articulate. That's why it reminded me.
00:32:01
Speaker
So I think, what what are these? yeah she She is articulate when she needs to be. Yeah. Well, actually, I haven't seen her be articulate in a long time. It was just, it was those pre-Congress days. She was well-spoken.
00:32:18
Speaker
Yeah. Weird. Yeah. um gee So a lot of the Ohio Congress people are donating the money or donating money in in the same amount that was donated by Wexler to to charity that, you know, they don't want to give it back to them, but they're going to and do something with it. Everybody's dissing themselves. And and all of that the burn that Morgan had. Well, there's no Republican...
00:32:44
Speaker
budget slated sure thank you because they they should be back in Washington like actually working I mean I know they're not but they should at least be looking like they're working in Washington and not flying all the way here so they can ask four for so four or five reporters that's literally I think that what was there and if you watch the news article it's like they're on a corner somewhere on the lawn behind a sign that might be for the city or Akron don't know somewhere I think he lives in Akron no he lives in ah they were in Columbus they came all the way there to to to have a meeting with the guy Yeah, yeah.
00:33:17
Speaker
And then let's let's find out what let's find out what we know or what happened in this closed-door meeting. And then what actually We have no idea. Nothing nothing was told it by us. but they They didn't get anything out of the guy. ten Spending $1 billion on Epstein, that sounds that's that doesn't sound real to me.
00:33:37
Speaker
over Over time, yeah. I don't know. I still don't think that's real. That's a lot of money. yeah I mean, I don't care if he's a billionaire or not. That's a lot of freaking money. Since the 80s? Yeah, but he... a 20-year period? You know, I don't know.
00:33:50
Speaker
I still think that's... 20 years? Does that wrapped add up to be... 400 million? Oh, okay. Not even. I still i mean, still, he of... They're saying is one of his main... I don't think it was a billion. I think that's BS. Yeah.
00:34:07
Speaker
Could be. um And he he kind of, he disassociated himself from him in 2007, shortly after a couple, or about a year after Trump did too, I think.
00:34:18
Speaker
Right? Okay. Because Trump kicked him out of yeah Mar-a-Lago. I think that was 2006. I think that might be right. Yeah. And I think, right I think in 2000. For why though?
00:34:30
Speaker
Well, I don't know why Lex Wessner. No, why Trump? problem Oh, Trump? Because he was trying he was trying to get, he was trying to steal young women that work at Mar-a-Lago. Yeah, he was trying to recruit him for the whole thing. right. right But um I don't know why Wessner, but I would think a lot of things were coming out.
00:34:50
Speaker
Yes. At that time. be Because when did he get prosecuted? Was that in... I thought it was 2008, but okay. 2008, okay. Yeah. What if it was 2008? Yeah. Or when he got arrested or... But by 2010, I thought maybe it was... Maybe by 2010, he was back doing it again or something. Something like that. but But yeah, a lot of people were like sitting there going, oh, yeah, this guy's a creep. We got to...
00:35:13
Speaker
cut our ties here wexner was yeah i think i think gus you know i don't know mean this these are lifestyles that nobody nobody can really so he he admits to being on the island yeah so did you hear that did you hear the little clip or the little snip they had in there when he was on the island that he was the island for an hour walking around with his family why not that doesn't I know. So either that's a lie or he just, he went there for a minute and then left, you know, with his family. Yeah.
00:35:47
Speaker
it's the way It would be weird for me to him to go do the things that they're saying are being done on the island with his family. Here's the thing. The way some of these rich people use their jets, like maybe Lex's jet was down and he needed a ride and they were dropping off somebody at the island. They had stop at the island. Yeah. And then flew to Ohio from there. You don't know. That's the thing. They're just giving you the...
00:36:11
Speaker
the things that make him sound awful. And I don't know anything about Lex Wexner. The last time I think I heard his name, you know, was probably back in the 90s because of things like Abercrombie Finch and and well victoria Victoria Secrets. Okay. Because remember back then, those those those they had the TV shows going on and they had those the fashion shows, I guess. yeah They were huge back back in the day. Yeah, they were. Yeah.
00:36:43
Speaker
So they bring up, um, uh, where was I going with this? don't know. Something was my notes say they bring up. So the no members going, flew of them few in, um I don't know.
00:36:58
Speaker
I had something that just poof, right gone. Choo-choo train is down the down the tracks and it's gone. Maybe it'll come back. But I think ah everybody is kind of dissing themselves from him.
00:37:10
Speaker
and That's about the whole story. Yeah, and his donations. Oh, that's what it was. His donations to ah mostly Republican candidates and PACs. yeah ah he did he He did donate quite a bit to Columbus politicians, the mayor, and I forget who else in Columbus.
00:37:30
Speaker
Yeah, two Democrats. And i'm I'm thinking those Democrats were a little bit more... On the right, he probably... centerly Yeah, center. Yeah. pirates And he probably donated because he knew a Republican couldn't win.
00:37:43
Speaker
i mean, it's that's what you do at that point at that level. If you need to get business done, you have to you have to you have to grease both sides. Yeah, yeah, of course. Grease both sides. ah They bring up in here, they make a sort of a deal a out of the fact that this guy's name was redacted from the released files.
00:38:04
Speaker
Mm-hmm. But how do they know if his name's redacted, how do they know he was the files? Maybe they were initially redacted and then now they're open. I don't know. This has been brought up to me.
00:38:16
Speaker
Oh, but they, you know, because if you get them online, that some of the stuff is still redacted. But if you go into, if you actually go there and look at them in person with with clearance, you can see the unredacted parts apparently. Okay.
00:38:28
Speaker
And some of those are still redacted. And that's evidence for some people that a Trump or the rich, protecting the rich. Yeah. Okay. Maybe. It's not the chances in zero, but probably the more, I think the more ah The more got um more plausible part of it is...
00:38:50
Speaker
there's three over, there's hundreds, there's millions of of pieces of paper that need to be redacted. would guess occasionally things get redacted that aren't supposed to be. And what you should do is, kids hey, this is supposed to be redacted. Can I get it redacted? And if they don't redact it then you get up then you can make ah ah an issue out of it. Right, right but this this is like one of the reasons that I think Trump didn't really want these released. It wasn't because of himself. It was all because of the mess it creates.
00:39:20
Speaker
Right. You know, and yeah, you're, or you're protecting your, the rich, protecting the rich. Okay. You know, I would protect my friends too, you know, from, from false accusations or from speculation. it just ruins a person's life. I don't know.
00:39:39
Speaker
This guy, Epstein was so intertwined into, at these levels that there's, there are so many people in the files that Oh, there's ah everybody's in the files.
00:39:51
Speaker
Yeah. Just because your name's in the files, mean, you could been attached to a group email with 30 other people. It had nothing it that there has nothing to do. The thing is, so many people are in the files that never even met Epstein. Right. Just because, like Tony Hawk.
00:40:06
Speaker
He has so far of a reach. he was you know Everybody was investing. Well, the thing is, okay, for Tony Hawk, somebody sent a message to somebody saying, to to the FBI, hey, Tony Hawk was on m Epstein Island.
00:40:22
Speaker
Meanwhile, they it was a photo from his a wedding that was that was actually... actually um They ah they played put it on yeah ESPN. It was broadcast on yeah ESPN.
00:40:36
Speaker
it was It was his wedding that he had on Fiji Island that was broadcast. And in the in the notes, it says on the island, not in the notes, but like, you know how ah you have copyrighted Yep. Like ah what's that called when they put a a stamp on the photo? This metadata or whatever, right? Yeah, the metadata or could have been like, I forget what you call it. Comment or something. Yeah. Anyways, um it said Epstein, photographed by Epstein.
00:41:05
Speaker
But it was um just it was it was a was a photographer with the last same last name. ah So he's in the files. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah you know, there's a whole lot of that and a whole lot of the real awful stuff that they say about Trump comes from 2024 and 2025. People just calling stuff in.
00:41:26
Speaker
Yeah. A lot of that stuff is from 2024 when he's running and 2025.
00:41:33
Speaker
and that And they're just from and a so-called people that have ah a lead that are calling the FBI with ah nonsense, basically. I'm curious on the what, how much Trump was involved with the ah initial arrest of Epstein. It sounds like it he was involved quite a bit there. It does. look As a little bit more comes out, it does sound like that. And and i think, i can't remember where it was brought up, but but somebody had brought up over, you know, over the past year or whatever.
00:42:01
Speaker
Maybe that's one of the things Trump is trying to protect himself with is to make sure they don't want, he doesn't want anybody knowing he was snitching on ah one of the rich and powerful people. Cause it, you know, Well, yeah. Did you snitch on me too, buddy?
00:42:12
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Right. what What else are you going to snitch on? But this is a little different. I mean, yeah. Well, yeah. I will snitch on you too. If you're diddling little girls. Sure. I will. and And the whole, the whole thing ah of being a like on the jet and on the Island, that doesn't mean anything. i mean, it means nothing. It's evidence, but evidence doesn't mean proof.
00:42:33
Speaker
If, if you're going to, there's there's a few things that I can take. ah anecdotal evidence over and make some assumptions too.
00:42:44
Speaker
But if you're going to make these kind of claims, it's it's kind of like, it's it's child abuse, it's racism, there's a couple key things that You better to bring some receipts. It's not just a a, oh, his name is on a list. His name is on an email. It's on some manifesto.
00:43:00
Speaker
There is hours, thousands, tens of thousands of hours of video of that island somewhere. Maybe. i I'm pretty confident it's all gone or anything. Yeah, that that was gone a long time ago. You need to produce that kind of stuff.
00:43:15
Speaker
If you're going to try I'm sorry, this is these are serious claims. I'm not just going to go off of hearsay. off of this. i I personally think there was a whole lot of bad going on on that island.
00:43:27
Speaker
ah But... I mean, Tom, he had a dentist chair in his house. That's that's a whole lot of bad going on in that thing. Well, no, a whole lot of bad, I mean, like, by having ah prostitutes. and Underage prostitutes, you know?
00:43:43
Speaker
but yeah. Massage therapists, if you want to call them that. Sure. Professionals. Yeah, but... but um i You know, the whole, you know, eating babies and all that kind of stuff. That's getting.
00:43:57
Speaker
no it's pure purely for blackmail. There's lots of money in blackmail. Yeah. What? Yeah. you black
00:44:05
Speaker
Speaking of lots of money in blackmail. Nope. can't Can't find anything. Subscribe to the show. Share the show with your friends. I don't know. it Yeah. I couldn't find anything on that. Well, we're going to blackmail you by telling you give us money or we're going to tell your friends that you're on Epstein Island.
00:44:23
Speaker
So send us and send us send us ah send us your stories from your area. Oh, I totally blew this one, Tom. Find me on X. hell Help, help. Find me. Me love cookie. I'm just going to move on. So share the show, comment.
00:44:39
Speaker
Send us your links, crookedrivercast.com. Send us your emails at crookedrivercast.gml.com. And the blog comes out every Monday and with just ah a little synopsis with a little snark adding into there. It's always good. I like, like the way it's turned out as it moves along.
00:44:58
Speaker
So thank you to our webmaster for doing all that work and send us a, send us your feedback. We really want to hear from you. Appreciate you listening to the show and onto the next story, which we'll do a little update, I guess, on,
00:45:15
Speaker
The governor's race in Ohio. Start with this idea stream story. already had it open. Why am I opening it twice? Idea stream leading candidates for Ohio governor talk about tax cuts, but few specifics. Let's do a little explainer as they would call it.
00:45:36
Speaker
Taxes are certain to be a big topic in this year's race for governor, with both of the leading candidates talking about tax cuts. But so far, there have been few details from either on how they would get the money for those cuts.
00:45:47
Speaker
Democrat Dr. Amy Acton supports a working families tax cut with property tax relief, according to her website, which doesn't offer any more details. She says she'll have them soon. There are a number of things we can do in our tax code that would actually lower the burden. And so we'll be doing a combination of cuts, relief, and even benefits. We're going to tax the billionaires. Republican Vivek Ramaswamy has also promised tax cuts with few specifics.
00:46:12
Speaker
We're going to put more money back in your pockets by cutting your income taxes, by cutting your property taxes and cutting regulations that will bring down your electric bills and the cost of housing. Ramaswamy's spokesperson says he'll be doing more formal policy announcements later in the campaign.
00:46:30
Speaker
Karen Kassler at the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau. Did Ramaswamy and Mandambi go to the same school? They sound like opposite ends of the same coin when they speak. Oh, I think any most Ivy League schoolers are like that, sound like that.
00:46:49
Speaker
Because it is very contrasting when you hear the two of them side by side. Mm-hmm. What do you mean? Maybe I misunderstood you. I think they have the same kind of... um No, I'm sorry. No, no, no. I'm sorry. went back to Amy Acton. Yeah, when Vivek and Mamdami, whatever, they sound very slick, smooth, professional, very practiced. Higher educated.
00:47:14
Speaker
Yeah, just completely different ends of the spectrum. But then when you listen to that clip and hear Amy compared to Vivek, it's it's
00:47:27
Speaker
quite a difference. And it really shows, he sounds really slick, almost like ah an Obama slick. Yeah, Obama dot. And she sounds even, it it makes her sound even, it makes him sound even slicker. It makes her sound even, her sound even, but to be nice, less slick. but She just sounds like somebody with no charisma and no. ah Yes. yes it's it's It's tough to overcome what vi vivek Vivek sounds like, you know, because he does sound slick.
00:47:58
Speaker
And, and like your, to your, to your comment, Bernie ends up doing it. Bernie could do it because he had charisma. Bernie has charisma. Yeah. Yeah. No, he was, he was great. Einstein hair. And he, but but but but but but bla yeah, yeah. Kind of reminds me of Alex Jones in a way.
00:48:15
Speaker
Very, you know, very, bu I'm going to, I don't know. So he could stand up to the so the Obama and the Hillary's. But she's just going to be flat. when She went to Ohio State University. she should She should be a better speaker than she is.
00:48:33
Speaker
I mean, she's, yeah. I don't know. I think the debate's going very interesting. So they're going to cut taxes. it will be They're going cut taxes. Okay. Yeah. yeah Vivek, maybe. not What does a working family's tax cut mean?
00:48:48
Speaker
It means she's going to raise taxes for the ah corporations and the rich. And when that doesn't work, the middle class will get taxed. That's exactly what the direction she's going. She's going the same direction Mandami. She's just not ah putting it out there.
00:49:03
Speaker
Yeah, she's packaged it a little bit differently. Mm-hmm. she's ah She's in Ohio. She can't get away with doing what he did. I should have looked at what the percentages are and stuff in Ohio. Oh, I did. Oh, you did? Who pays what?
00:49:18
Speaker
oh Oh, who pays what? No, I didn't. look I thought you meant who's donating to her. or Is that the next article? Oh, that's the next one. yeah okay yeah Yeah, I got some on that too. It's pretty interesting. Yeah. The working families tax cut to me, it could mean middle class, just a different way of calling it middle class.
00:49:37
Speaker
Or is it below middle class tax cuts? Because from way I've always known, it not going out I didn't look up Ohio. what What percentage of ah who pays what in Ohio taxes? Federally, the lower 30 or 40% in the country don't pay really any federal taxes. They get it all back.
00:49:57
Speaker
Right. Right. So are those the working families? issues she's taught Because when over the years when Republicans have given, and I guess Democrats because Clinton gave tax cuts.
00:50:08
Speaker
Well, I thought it all evened out. no Right? didn't Didn't we just vote? Didn't they just put that in a bill? Not we. Didn't they just vote last year for the tax rate? To make it permanent?
00:50:20
Speaker
Yeah. Hang on. is it ohio What is the income tax rate in Ohio?
00:50:31
Speaker
Go ahead. say Go ahead. Yeah, no, i was saying, I think that if when in the past, when the federally they've given tax cuts for everybody, you're giving tax cuts to people that don't pay taxes.
00:50:42
Speaker
Like when they got tax rebate checks, you know you get those tax rebate checks when they do it. Say Bush would sign a bill and you got a refund from the last year because of taxes, blah, blah, blah. Well, people who didn't pay taxes got tax rebates. It's like, who's a working family? I'd like to know. I got the numbers here.
00:50:59
Speaker
Okay. Okay. This is just Ohio income tax. Okay. So 0% income tax on ah zero to 26,000.
00:51:10
Speaker
20 or 2.75 on taxable income is on taxable income from 26,051 100,000. then 3.125 taxable income over 100,000. But thought, oh, okay. For, for 2026, it's flat rate 2.75 for 26,000 and end up.
00:51:22
Speaker
and then three point one two five textable income over one hundred thousand but i thought oh okay for for two thousand ah twenty six it's a flat rate of two point seven five for um twenty six thousand and end up
00:51:40
Speaker
Okay. That's interesting, but I'm more thinking, for example, federally, I know these numbers, they've probably changed, but it was the top, I think i think it was the top 5% of wage earners in the country paid like 80% of the of their federal income taxes.
00:52:00
Speaker
Something like that. Yeah. That's kind of what I'm looking at. Is that similar in Ohio? Well, no, because it's working families. If you give working families tax cuts, some of those working families don't pay taxes. So what are you cutting?
00:52:11
Speaker
No, I, I just gave you the amount they're being taxed. I know, but what, but what,
00:52:19
Speaker
what part of which wage earners pay the most? Does it say that? that doesn't did that tell me that? Oh, okay. I see what you're saying. If you're making $300,000, people making $300,000 and up pay most of the taxes. in If we're all paying 2.75, though, it's just a matter of whom how many more high-income earners are there. So i would think i would think that two point no it I would think middle income, lower middle to upper middle, pays the most, right? Right.
00:52:49
Speaker
just because there's more of us since we're all, actually, you, but did does it okay, let's see. oh The top over
00:53:01
Speaker
pay about six point three percent what this says here
00:53:08
Speaker
about 12% of their income in the state. That doesn't really tell me. Eh, whatever. Getting down the weeds of it. But i working families tax cuts, i don't I don't know what that means. middle Middle class tax cuts, i'm I'm going to give her the benefit of doubt and say that's probably what she means. um But whatever, i don't... ah Well, I don't believe her at all. i mean No, I don't believe her at all. and Neither of them... When was the last time a Democrat cut taxes?
00:53:33
Speaker
Yeah. Clinton, because he was forced to. Okay. Yeah. True. He was forced to. Yeah. Because they were going to veto the bill anyway or over override his veto.
00:53:44
Speaker
But the the one thing is that neither of these candidates are for, or at least verbally, current currently for abolishing property tax. I know Vivek has made some comments on it that he's, ah he was okay with it and now he's pulled it back.
00:54:01
Speaker
Obviously, Amy's not. She's not for axing the tax. I don't think any anybody in the GOP that I've heard is for abolishing the property tax. So neither of these two are. Vivek would be your best option, but.
00:54:14
Speaker
I don't think he's going to, he wants to abolish it. He he did say that at in the beginning, but now he's kind of walked that back. Sure. which Which is understandable at some some level. but So that's not that's the tax cut I'm looking for, but we'll see.
00:54:32
Speaker
And then ah the next story is same thing on on the the governor's race. Apparently it's become the most expensive in state history already.
00:54:43
Speaker
Let's listen a little bit from more of Morgan from News Channel 5 on the governor's race. We have a major opportunity for Ohio to be the state that leads the United States of America back to greatness. This is a huge moment for our state, for our country.
00:55:03
Speaker
i know. I believe we can turn this around. Similar messages from dramatically different candidates. Both the front runners for Ohio's 2026 gubernatorial race, Republican Cincinnati businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and Democratic COVID era health director Amy Acton are both shattering records when it comes to raising money. Ramaswamy reported raising nearly $20 million since announcing his campaign one year ago. The most that Republican strategist Bob Clegg has seen this early on in a race. Money usually goes to starts going in the direction of who people think are is gonna win. In our analysis of Ramaswamy's campaign finance filing, we found that about 53% of the 9.8 million he's raised this filing period came from Ohioans with donors from California, Florida, Texas, and New York following.
00:55:54
Speaker
About 94% of those contributions came from individuals, not political action committees or PACs. His average donation was $56. The Democrats have probably resigned themselves to the fact that they're going to be greatly, greatly, greatly outspent. An actor has raised $5.3 million over the past year, a record for her party this early into a race. Although they trowel in fundraising, per Lieutenant Governor pick, David Pepper says that they have a strength that Ramaswamy doesn't. The best way to raise support to actually not just win, but be a good governor is is through the grassroots level. In a stark difference to Ramaswamy, Acton's donors were overwhelmingly from Ohio. We found that of the 4 million raised this period, 84% came from Ohioans, with other donors kicking in from California, New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts. About 95% came from individuals, not PACs, with an average donation of $51. All right.
00:56:56
Speaker
Some interesting things in that clip.
00:57:01
Speaker
you What did you have to say about it?
00:57:04
Speaker
You said you had some numbers? Oh, I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I guess, you know, the way I see it is Vivek's got a larger national visibility, so that's and he's got a bigger ah footprint on the internet than Amy does, so he's getting more...
00:57:24
Speaker
donations across the country. I would think he's also, I would think the money amount might be the same from Ohio for both of them. They didn't say that. They just gave you totals. They said the percentage.
00:57:38
Speaker
Yeah. He got 53% of his donations and she got 80. So did he still? 83 or whatever. Okay. So I guess if you do the math, I think he still got more from Ohio than she did. Double. Yeah.
00:57:50
Speaker
Well, I'm talking about just from Ohio. Yeah, it's double. Double? Okay. Yeah, all right. so she's got $5 million total. He's got $20 million total. He's got 53% from Ohio. That's over $10 million. dollars She's got 83% from Ohio, and that's 83%. So he's got $4 million from Ohio. being Yeah, i was thinking he only had $10 million, but that's from this last quarter, right?
00:58:10
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, okay. so yeah yeah yeah so So they keep pushing this that he's getting these outside i'll say donations, which he is. But if you break it down and look at it, he's actually doubling her her fundraising just from Ohio. Yeah, she has more or a higher percentage, but he's got four times the money that she does.
00:58:30
Speaker
And a lot that's because of the internet, because of his his presidential run. Yeah, yeah. Which is exactly why he ran for president, and which is why a lot of people run for president. So they can fail and then go do this, and they have name recognition to some extent.
00:58:42
Speaker
So shes she he's still out-raising her in Ohio two to one. Yeah, it's not even close. And they're they're talking about record-breaking stuff. i I think it's only because this early on. This early.
Fundraising and Legislative Issues
00:58:53
Speaker
That it's unusual to have...
00:58:56
Speaker
ah The candidates that are actually going to be running for governor. you You know what I mean? Like there's nobody, yeah there's no primary really. I mean, that Casey guy sure. He's going to try to primary him, but he won't, he'll get a, he'll get like 0.5%.
00:59:10
Speaker
point five percent Yeah. I think that would be a win if it was me, but if you anybody votes for me besides myself, if I was running, it would be a win for me. um Yeah. I think, I think, ah ah yeah, that's basically that. I think it's a record mainly because Vivek's got 20 million in a bank already because but I don't think we had, when was last time we had an Ohio governor candidate with that much rate name, national name recognition? Yeah. It's been a long Not in my lifetime.
00:59:36
Speaker
ah Yeah, I don't, yeah, I guess not. I don't know. Well, it's a record for the Democrats too at this point. That's true. This early, as they keep saying, because it's so early. thus's Because she's the only one running. That's, yeah that's why.
00:59:48
Speaker
Yes. Let's never be just kind of like, right, that's who going to have. We'll just send it to her. Yeah. Yeah. And you, don't forget, you get, you get all the, you got, you got all the batshit crazy COVID people that loved her.
01:00:02
Speaker
that are Oh, yes. That are sending her a few bucks. Oh, I guarantee you a lot of that's from that. Yeah, they're sacrificing a ah sliver from their mask fund every month so they can send it Amy.
01:00:14
Speaker
Definitely the ones that are driving around their cars still with a mask on. you still You know, you still see that, don't you? Yeah, I do. I actually do. Some people, i think some people, it was it gave some people who should wear it more of a leeway to wear it. I think we see more of that because in some cases you've seen it in the past when it's really cold out that if you've got issues with lung or heart, should wear mask. Oh, definitely. Yeah.
01:00:41
Speaker
Because it helps, it's not because of germs, it helps keep the air warm around your mouth as you're breathing in. Well, I don't. A few things, but yeah. I'm not thinking about anybody that's, you know, like when I see an old person, you know, in 70s, 90s, wearing a mask outside and in the cold or in their car, I don't i don't no judge that at all. But when I see a middle-aged woman with blue hair wearing a mask, then I might, there might be a little judgment there. The 30 something year old at, at my local oh yeah wine store, yeah your liqu liquor store over here.
01:01:14
Speaker
Every time, every time I go in there, she has been a mask on without fail. yeah And I'll give her credit. She's disciplined. I've never seen her go in there with it around. You could tell it's never been pulled down. It's perfectly folded. Like she just put it up there and been there all freaking day.
01:01:27
Speaker
Yeah. It's Blows my mind, man. and And it's close to my house and they got liquor. So it's like, I'm not going to say no. I'm not going to go somewhere else. That's just. Well, I mean, it's. But yeah. Yeah. She doesn't own the store. So what are you going to do?
01:01:40
Speaker
They could peel a couple ah couple of bucks out of their mask mask and and and oh but ah wrote the ah ah cleanser, not cleanser, hand sanitizer. they got I mean, though all those budgets increased and for during COVID and some people's said didn't go down.
01:01:59
Speaker
But they're sacrificing for Amy. They're sacrificing. So that's that. there's a little update on the governor's race. and Again, can't wait for that debate. It's going to be an interesting one.
01:02:10
Speaker
Next, we have a a juicy one. A juicy one. Not a vajoocy. We'll talk about that later in the show. But Ohio universities are caught, have been caught still teaching DEI. No way.
01:02:28
Speaker
I'm shocked. Surprise, surprise. not shocked. So we covered this bill as it as it was coming up and as it passed and went through and all the... Oh my gosh, everybody's going to leave Ohio. oh Yeah. We were like, yes, please go on.
01:02:42
Speaker
Go to other States, please. We don't want you here anyway, if this is what you want to teach. And everybody was going, you know doom and gloom and everything else. Oh wait, it was, oh no, we're not gonna be able to teach DEI. What are we going to do? All the good teachers are going to, or the good teachers, you hear those air quotes?
01:02:59
Speaker
All the good teachers and staff will choose another state. And I think one of us, probably both of us commented on like, no, I think they're just going to change the name. If you change the name of the of the study or the hall or the class and don't exclude anybody and you don't expect additional, you don't expect the state to pay for these things, then you'll be fine.
01:03:24
Speaker
And it sounds like that's what they're doing.
01:03:27
Speaker
ah let's I start with a clip.
01:03:31
Speaker
right, we'll start with Kent State. Start at Kent State. This is accuracy in media, and he did undercover. ah undercover little investigation sent a guy in. Sounds like they sent a yeah ah black man in.
01:03:47
Speaker
And this this guy was good. You could hear him like, oh yeah, oh yeah. you This guy was good. He played it so well. They had nothing they had no clue what was coming. because how why would a There's no way a black person would do this. It's just crazy.
01:04:01
Speaker
Here you go. Kent State. Start here. You got two clips. Kent State University is yet another university where we have found out that the lunatics are in charge of the asylum. In this department, we had an individual who not only bragged about continuing DEI practices, but who had some very strong opinions about white men.
01:04:21
Speaker
As an openly gay woman yeah yeah who is from Rhode Island, who's from New England, we already saw the new England side of it. um Coming here was a culture shock. Culture shock.
01:04:32
Speaker
Culture shock, oh my goodness. Yes, Ms. Walton Fischette? Yeah. I'm Adam Gillette, Accuracy Media. How are you? Good, how are you? Good. We received a report that you were talking about how the DEI law in your university hasn't affected you at all, and how you're continuing to do the same thing, essentially with different wording. Is it true?
01:04:50
Speaker
um One thing I could say about Kansas State University and our teacher programs, and then we're very connected at the state level. So I know all the stuff that's going on at the state level. um like They're all about diversity, equity, inclusion.
01:05:03
Speaker
You told our investigators that it's all about keeping the white man in power and the white man wants to take a little education. Is that true? Walk running away. Well, is this you in the video right here saying that? I will say this. It's not being forced.
01:05:15
Speaker
through a Trumpian lens, it's it's taking away the buzzwords and having to be more careful of how you're talking about oh equity equity and inclusion and- Why is it such a bad thing? Go ahead, I'm sorry. It's just some weird- I mean- stuck out with the camera. Ultimately, it's just to keep white men in power. yeah This is what it's all about. right Ultimately- If we need dumb down education, then we can continue to move that. So that's that's what the ultimate goal is. of course i will say your son's education is not going to be affected. I will tell you that right now.
01:05:50
Speaker
So you still have those values? Oh my gosh. I mean, we made a whole class. Good. Yeah, no, the faculty, I just in a meeting actually with a couple of the faculty members and I know- And the textbooks don't have stuff like marked out. word No. so yeah I'm saying a lot of these things touch so many disciplines. But if that's in the syllabus. To silo it out and say it can only affect these things. If you mention that you're in trouble. yeah That feels very fascistic.
01:06:17
Speaker
Oh, nice. And again, I'd rather... The other thing is anti-higher education, anti-public education. So that's what they're trying to come. They want to keep the white men in power and they want come and try to overtake education. Oh, know. Trust me, I know.
01:06:30
Speaker
That guy's good. Oh, I know. Trust me. I know. That was Jennifer Walton. The set. Of course, she has a half hyphenated last name.
01:06:42
Speaker
Couldn't have guessed that. I, uh, just by listening to her talk. It's a giveaway, right? ah like Yeah. I liked it. Yes, absolutely. i am Man, she looks so familiar. She looks so familiar. She looks like godfreed a buddy of mine from like high school.
01:06:57
Speaker
Yeah, she has that look though, so I think it's just it's just that, but I don't know. It's just for some reason. Yeah, in some ways, yeah. It just has that very... She's definitely a runner.
01:07:10
Speaker
Super thin. it looks like Definitely looks like a runner. that kind of That kind of skinny, long face. I've seen her work somewhere before. it Anyway, so I like the way they present this. They go back and forth. Hey, I never said this. Oh, here you said it.
01:07:22
Speaker
Did you say this? she's She's literally running away. No, I didn't say that at all. And i think lesson learned here is if, if a reporter comes to you, especially at your work or something like that, and they're bothering you or they don't want to answer questions, ask them to leave.
01:07:41
Speaker
Cause they pretty much have to leave. This next clip we'll hear that we won't hear it in the next clip, but next there's two stories here, both from Ohio. dot How that, how, how, how Press Network is one and Ohio.News is the other. Two different videos, two different people. This next one is from Ohio State University.
01:08:00
Speaker
whereas i didn't I just had the end part because it's pretty interesting. and She has a great explanation of why this why this guy has this video. But at one point, this lady, this next woman, Melissa Newhouse is, oh, ah but that, oh my God. And she's totally thrown off guard. And her boss, it seems like her boss comes up and kind of relieves her from the reporter. And he just says, can you leave? And he hell he just, okay, turns or walks away. Because if you're being asked to leave and you don't, now you're trespassing.
01:08:28
Speaker
Now they can call the cops. So a good reporter, if you're asked to leave, they should leave. So just a little tip, I'd noticed that because this woman, he followed her all the way to the office and so and as he walked up to her office door, she closed it and he stood outside of her door. All she had to do was, you please leave? And he would have turned around and walked away.
01:08:45
Speaker
But we wouldn't had those great clips if she did. So there you go. the less let's um for By the way, you were you're kind of there her expertise, this the last one you talked about, the social justice, physical education. She does look like a gym teacher, right?
01:09:01
Speaker
Yeah. Curriculum model and assessment and critical inquiry. Hmm. What was that last one? Critical inquiry.
01:09:12
Speaker
Oh, okay. There's a class for a critical inquiry. Those are, that's her, ah those are her expertises. Oh, that's her expert. Went to a class for
Education Policy Debates
01:09:21
Speaker
that. I take it. I guess. he Paid good money for that.
01:09:23
Speaker
ah And her last one is cetera, et cetera. Et cetera. Yeah. Well, that class, I, I failed that one too. failed that class because if this is all about one thing, i like got to keep white men in power, man, we suck because we're doing a horrible job. If that's our goal, horrible job. Oh boy. Let's go to the next clip. This Melissa Newhouse and the same, this is also accuracy in media. Same guy.
01:09:53
Speaker
and shorter clip but i think this is the her explanation at the end i mean i'm i don't know why he's he's there anymore because explains everything here you go it's like i was at the union the other day and it used to be the multicultural center it's not called that now it's the common center because they don't they want american white people to be in there too but the whole american concept is to be somewhere where you feel you see who you you relate to not just being represented. Sure. i'm just confused by this because you said that you have to allow the whites now. You have to allow the privilege. Those were your, it's not you. That's not you in the video? No, that's AI. I'm sorry. that' a on excited That's AI. That's not me. That's AI.
01:10:45
Speaker
You're going to more and more of that, by the way. yeah I think. Yeah. Yeah. oh Oh, man, go go watch the video. and We have it at the on the blog. Ohio Press Network has this video in embedded. Ohio.News has the first one with Jennifer hyphenated, last name, person.
01:11:05
Speaker
she is They both are, oh, hi how you doing? ohio you know um Accuracy in Media sounds like a little lefty group. Sounds like something about a lefty group like moveon.org or moveonaction, that kind of thing kind of sounds very jingoistic and everything. So they were like, oh, how you doing? And and as soon as he he pulls an iPad out, shows the video and they're like, oh Turn around. ah I got to go. And the the one, the Jennifer chick just starts walking away as fast as she could. This woman doesn't know what to do.
01:11:34
Speaker
She just literally walks around in circles. Oh, dear. Oh, no, that's not. Oh, my gosh. We have a meeting. i can't We're closed now. All of a sudden, we're closed. Go watch. It's so funny. he's just Literally, she just goes around the circles, it looks like. It's hilarious.
01:11:46
Speaker
But yeah, they're doing that. They're just changing the name. it And in some way, i mean...
01:11:55
Speaker
I don't know. is Is this a, I'm not a big fan of DEI, but if they're not excluding people and they're not using tax, tax dollar money to support these groups, they are, they may be in a taxpayer building, taxpayer funded building. That's one thing.
01:12:12
Speaker
But did you notice where they're getting their money from? No. They mentioned it in the article. They're getting grants from Apple. Yeah, that tracks. Apple computers. Yeah. Which, again. i see that, yeah.
01:12:24
Speaker
Again, if that's to what they want to spend their money on, I get it. It's not my tax dollar money. But you are using the school property. Yeah. um I don't know what they're going to, what teeth do they have to do anything? Are they going to take out the funding away? I don't know. What what was in the bill? even if there was anything.
01:12:41
Speaker
Was there any penalties for continuing to teach these things? I don't know. Yeah, no money. Well, we'll see. We'll see how far this goes. ah To some extent, you really can't if they're going to teach it. something they're and teach it You can you could try to monitor it. but and it's um There's too many schools. It's impossible. to Because they're going to do this everywhere.
01:13:02
Speaker
Not for long. There's less and less every year here. There is. yeah but yet no there's There is a ton of schools. and You're right. That's going to be hard. But that's what they're doing. and but Check out the articles. of videos are pretty good.
01:13:15
Speaker
um I don't know. Anything else on that? Nope. think that's good on that one. i sure and truth this is going on in most universities. So Kent State and Ohio State are not unique.
01:13:27
Speaker
Probably happening at most, if not all of them. It's definitely happening at Oberlin. It's happening. It's happening everywhere. It's you got to be vigilant.
01:13:38
Speaker
Yep. Yes, you do. right. Check that one off. Next, we're going to take a ride.
01:13:46
Speaker
down to see what our critter's doing. Little Columbus critters down the hallway. Oh, there they go. Oh, crap. let them out again. hate it when I let them out, Tom. I got rile them up and wrangle them up. It's like like hurting chickens or something. know what? They don't give me any eggs or anything.
01:14:03
Speaker
When we end this segment, we need a sound effect that closes the door. Crap. We don't have a close the door sound effect, do we? Yeah. I got to figure it out. Yeah. Well, that's good because, well,
01:14:17
Speaker
And if I close the door, nevermind. Next on the list, of Critter Corner, Ohio GOP supports dismantling the Department of Education. So we can do one of these. Thank you very much.
01:14:32
Speaker
We agree. This is I believe, a channel, a channel three story. Yeah, channel three story. So basically it's, it's kind of one of those foo-foo bills that the GOP lawmakers are putting through.
01:14:46
Speaker
They've started it in committees or it's just been introduced. Something like has been voted on or anything. i don't think to formally pledge support for dismantling the U S department of education. And apparently, uh, Mr. Dave to or Thomas Jefferson, Dave, sorry, Dave Thomas, Republican Jefferson,
01:15:10
Speaker
I was like, damn. State Rep Dave Thomas. Go back to the beginning of the sentence, Rob. Thank you. ah Why are they doing this? He says, I think that the federal government and our federal partners need state support to be able to push this concept, Thomas says.
01:15:26
Speaker
So I see the impact essentially being ah being a sign of, yes, Ohio agrees this should be done, he says. So that's basically what it is. Hey, Ohio's on board.
01:15:39
Speaker
and
01:15:42
Speaker
I wonder if, so they're going through and and they're saying, you know, ah the all hell is going to break loose because the Department of Education is being dismantled.
01:15:55
Speaker
And what's going to happen? What's going to happen? What's going to happen, Tom? You know what's going to happen? Yeah, but we' we're actually going to move up in the world in education back to where we ought to be.
01:16:07
Speaker
The sort of language in the resolution states that ah education, quote, is not a power delegated to the federal government and historically been governed by states and local communities accountable to families, unquote.
01:16:22
Speaker
And ah Thomas says, I think, um they like I said, they need some more support. And i'm looking for that quote that has... Yeah.
01:16:33
Speaker
So I'm sure a lot of folks think that when you get rid of the Department of Education, ah it gets rid of all the money, Thomas says. it's not that's not been what the That's not what the administration has been saying.
01:16:45
Speaker
It's not what this resolution is supporting. is Thomas is claiming that the money from the federal government to fund education system in Ohio, which is about 10% of the entire budget for funding in schools, would still be received by the state, adding that in addition, Ohio educators would have more control over what they do with the money.
01:17:05
Speaker
So no no strings attached. It's just a blank check for more or less from the federal government. Now, you get federal funding, they put strings on almost all of it. Yep. Almost all of it. You want funding for the roads?
01:17:18
Speaker
That's how we get 55 miles an hour. That's how we got it. That's how we got all the DUI laws around here. Because if you don't do this, you're going to lose your federal funding for roads. And all the states go, okay. Because they have to. Oh, really? It's such a huge.
01:17:29
Speaker
I didn't realize it about the DUI stuff. they They wanted certain standards at DUI. And you couldn't do it federally, but you could you can force their hand by telling them, well, you might or might not lose federal funding. Got you.
01:17:45
Speaker
Um, so, you know, I don't have enough room to put all these in there trying to find the, oh yes, the U S department of, there's ah a group in here that has a quote.
01:17:58
Speaker
Oh, here it is. Um, so first of all, the, one of the groups, did I have another article? Well, I'm trying to think that I have two. Yeah. There's one group that is
01:18:12
Speaker
I'm having a horrible day today. There we go. There's one group that says, you know, all hell's going to break loose and,
01:18:24
Speaker
and and they think for some reason that the, this is unconstitutional. Oh wait, I'm going on, am I going on different? Yes, I am. I'm moving it on to the next one. Hold on a second. me go back to this one. Sorry, folks.
01:18:37
Speaker
Well, let's wrap that. That's about it. They're they're saying, hey, we're goingnna we're going to fund it. The other side saying, oh my gosh, all hell's going to break loose. we don't have the Department Education tell us what to do. And I think this is a good thing.
01:18:52
Speaker
I think it's one of those foo-foo bills that I'm i'm all for because it shows the administration their support from Ohio. That's basically it. yeah
01:19:02
Speaker
And that's, and then we i mean, you can go on for what you're getting for your money from that, but we won't. We'll move on to the next one, which is related to education, which is why i was getting confused. There is a lawsuit right now in the state of Ohio um for that actually has been, they had a stay on it. So there's a lawsuit saying the voucher program, the expansion of the voucher program at choice for private school vouchers is not constitutional.
01:19:33
Speaker
And the first court ruled in favor of the lawsuit, but they put a stay on it because it's going to go up up the court, up to the appeals court, Supreme Court of ah the state, I would imagine.
01:19:46
Speaker
So a state lawmaker has put in HB 617, which would punish- 671. Is 671? Yeah. Yeah, you're right. It is 671. because it six seven one yeah yeah you're right it is six seven one I have 617 in my notes.
01:20:01
Speaker
Change that. Would punish, in quotes, districts who are so who are suing the state. There's over 300, almost half the school districts in Ohio are currently in a class action lawsuit with the state over this. That's who put this into play.
01:20:20
Speaker
And Jamie Callender, Republican out Concord, wants to put all, originally for 671, he wanted to put all of their state funding into escrow out of any of the schools that have joined this lawsuit.
01:20:36
Speaker
And they freaked out. They completely freaked out. See, the original draft was to take away all the funding. And as the state's an article, after the news reports, the outrage, Jamie Callen decided he's going to he wants to put an amendment in the law now to only escrow the money that the districts were spending on the lawsuit.
01:20:55
Speaker
So here are school districts complaining they don't have money. They don't have enough money. But they're spending tens of thousands of dollars to to lawyers to sue the state for more money. And whose money is that? It'd be our money. Yep. They're using our money. And that's his, his point to this is the misappropriation of funds.
01:21:14
Speaker
Yep. And for city, the city of Cleveland right now is paid. they i think they said a total of about $72,000 already, I think. Yeah. Yep. 72,000 for the Cleveland public schools is for example, that's what they're spending now.
01:21:29
Speaker
I mean, i I'm pretty confident the school's got the money for the lawsuit from what we've what we've learned over the year past year. They got plenty of cash. They carry over 30 to 40% of their cash every year. This is for this, apparently, for suing the state.
01:21:46
Speaker
I don't know. Again, part of the issue is they the school districts think if the if the last budget had a billion dollar, last year I think the amount spent approached a billion dollars on school vouchers for private schools. And they believe if if you get rid of the school expansion for EdChoice that that money would go to the schools, districts, and it's not.
01:22:06
Speaker
The Columbus has said outright, just because if you can cut these programs off, you're not getting the money. We're not right. We've already increased it year in, year out. We gave you increase in year. Every year we're getting your increase and you're still complaining.
01:22:18
Speaker
your role Your voter rolls or your enrollment is down in most large school districts and you still want more money. Again, we talked about last week week before Canton, Stark County is $22,000 a year, year for a seventy three percent graduation weight graduation rates So just because they they can cancel school vouchers, um they are not doesn't mean that Columbus is going to give the school districts money.
01:22:45
Speaker
um So the quote here, piece that this piece of legislation is not serious. It's not a serious piece of legislation because it's obviously unconstitutional. This is Mark Wallach, an attorney for McCarthy, Libet, Crystal, and Lifman that represent vouchers. Vouchers hurt Ohio.
01:23:07
Speaker
what What's unconstitutional about pulling the funding? Is there something the Constitution said you can't do that? I don't know. Seems weird.
01:23:19
Speaker
um i don't know. What do you think, Tom? I don't know. This is just a way for schools to stay lazy and not compete.
01:23:28
Speaker
to be to stay lazy and not compete Yeah, that's that's kind of but the way I look at it is they're very afraid of these vouchers program this voucher program being expanded to public schools too. if you can if you don't and I think it's as the number spent on vouchers on EdChoice is as low as it is because I don't think most people know about it.
01:23:51
Speaker
I think every year more and more people know about it and more and more people take advantage of it. Yeah. Because why not? I mean, it's your tax dollars. You're paying into it. You're paying twice if you take take your kids to private school. Why should you be so stuck in a crappy school district where you live? Oh, well then move. Oh, thanks.
01:24:08
Speaker
Is that like when I can't afford my property taxes, I should just move to?
01:24:13
Speaker
Because you keep raising them. So 300 districts, they all start started this vouchers hurt Ohio coalition and they're suing it. We'll see we'll see how far this gets. I'm not sure the GOP has the balls to to actually pass this, but we'll see. i don't know. i think that I think it'll, we'll see. I think it passes.
01:24:34
Speaker
And if you looked at something like Stark County who had, think their $170 million dollars was their yearly budget for schools. It seems astronomical me to me, but yeah, okay, 70 grand.
01:24:48
Speaker
just you know Something like that number is probably not to hurt them, but they should, I mean, i don't know, just make any sense to me. Does it make any sense to you? No, it doesn't. and I answered it for you, Tom. Next, moving on, moving along, Rambling.
01:25:03
Speaker
Next, we got to talk about some trannies, Tom. Can't go too many shows without talking about trannies nowadays. Six-speed, auto, manual, what kind? Oh, I like, well, you know, kind of worried about my... Cock, no cock.
01:25:17
Speaker
Transmit. Oh, yeah, we are talking about that kind of trannies. I was kind of worried, you know, truck trannies sometimes ships a little differently and than I like, but, you know, nowadays these new trannies, you can never tell the difference.
01:25:30
Speaker
ah So the the ah there's some legislation. I was kind of confused on it and ah um for a minute until... ah Until I actually heard this, well, of course, i was it was originally a Cleveland.com story. And then as typical, they decided to put a paywall front of it. So I said, no more. See ya. We're going to use your story. We'll use somebody else's story. So now we have a cap o state state house news bureau.
01:25:55
Speaker
New bill protects Ohio parents who reject their kids' gender identity. What a headline that is.
01:26:05
Speaker
Parents who reject their children, their kids' gender identity, need they need protection, says who? So here's the here's the story. We'll just start with the explainer here from the Statehouse.
01:26:19
Speaker
Two GOP state lawmakers have introduced an extensive bill restricting the actions doctors, nurses and social workers can take against parents or guardians who reject a child's gender identity.
01:26:31
Speaker
It's the most thorough of its kind nationwide, according to conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation. Conservative think tank. Named the Affirming Families First Act, it offers parents broad protections from being investigated for abuse or neglect and from custody decisions based solely on their, quote, affirming a child's sex rather than a child's gender identity.
01:26:52
Speaker
Here's Republican Representative Josh Williams. They should not have to choose between maintaining their moral beliefs or abandoning those beliefs just to raise their own children or provide a safe home for children that are the most vulnerable in our state. Professionals who don't follow suit could lose their licenses.
01:27:08
Speaker
LGBTQ rights organizations and legislative Democrats are denouncing the bill, which has yet to get its first hearing. Sarah Donaldson, the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau. I talk like this because I want people to think I'm smart.
01:27:23
Speaker
That's what I was i was i was ah planning on getting the clip. I have i think i I tried this before and I forgot again. Remember The Ring? The movie The Ring? Yeah. ah That's so scary. I think we talked about it before. That's what's that. where my I've heard her before. It's probably the same woman that went and made the clip.
01:27:40
Speaker
So the um these horrible Republicans... Don't want to punish parents who reject their gender identity of their kids. These bastards. I tell you what.
01:27:52
Speaker
That's what I was stumbling over last show or the last story was right wing Heritage Foundation. But the Vouchers Hurt Ohio Coalition, not left wing.
01:28:06
Speaker
just Just a standard vouchers hurt Ohio coalition. right But they had the, ah at one point they had the, I forget, Ohio ah America First Foundation was talking about, you know, the GOP Department Education. and And again, they have here the right-wing Heritage Foundation. But there's there's never any left-wing foundations. I feel bad for them.
01:28:26
Speaker
I feel bad for them. So basically in current law, you could use the you could do You could use this against parents who were in a custody battle or if the kid went to Child Protective Services and said, oh, my my parents won't acknowledge my gender identity.
01:28:44
Speaker
You could technically, I think, get your kid taken away. I don't think anyone that's has that I know of But that's kind of what they're looking at. And then any kind of funding, um I think school funding and healthcare funding and that kind of stuff, you could have all that stuff could be taken away in the current form if you rejected. It's not about right to you.
01:29:08
Speaker
I have no idea. what like So if I have a daughter that thinks she's a boy, i i can reject that idea, right?
01:29:22
Speaker
Yes. They're trying to make it legal for me to reject that. But trying to protect you from <unk>s trying to protect you from being punished for common sense.
01:29:33
Speaker
So currently in the law now, there is no nothing that says, because I think the law is general enough where it says if you're harming your kid or if you're, you know, mental or physical abuse, then you you can have your kid taken away. Or if you're going through custody battle and the wife wants transition, the dad doesn't, or in very rare cases, vice versa.
01:29:55
Speaker
Uh, you could lose a custody battle because of that that could be considered as harm i think is where they're going with it um and this would prevent that from happening because at first i was confused i wasn't sure which which way the i knew was gop bill but it doesn't mean anything to me um and i thought maybe it was going the other way but it's not gotcha well i mean iing i guess if if i i think the Boy, i mean, I guess I don't know enough about this.
01:30:24
Speaker
um I guess if you're in a custody battle and the mom wants to transition her kid and you don't, and this offers protection for you? That's what it's saying. Okay, and then that's a good thing. don't know.
01:30:37
Speaker
I don't know. And the name of it, they even put it. I can't believe we even have to talk about this, but. Yeah, exactly. They even trolled in the name of the the bill, the affirming family's first act introduced by Gary Glick, a Republican out of Vickery, Ohio and Republican representative of Josh Williams out of Republican out of Sylvania Township. Bill 693 offers parents broad protection from being investigated or for abuse or neglect.
01:31:08
Speaker
And from custody decisions based solely on their affirming of a child's sex rather than a child's gender identity. Right. So yeah, that kind of explains it right there. So that's good. I like that.
01:31:20
Speaker
ah Unfortunately, we do need that. I guess so. Yeah. I mean, sucks. that I have to say that, but we do need that. Yeah. Yeah. yeah It's messed up. We didn't have, I wish we didn't have to have so many laws, but.
01:31:35
Speaker
Actually, why we can't get rid of things I want to get rid of all the laws and start over except for yeah the bill of rights. Yes. We'll start with those first 10. Well, we may have the first 20 or so. No, 19 needs go. Not in order.
01:31:49
Speaker
Okay. Not in order. I'm just saying. Okay. Out of the first 24, 25, we can take a few out like the 19th and just keep tech 10 or 15 of them. I'm sure there's some other ones in there we could take out.
01:32:01
Speaker
Okay. And tell us tell us where ah what ones you would take out ah the of those first 24 or 25 by sending us an email, crookedrivercast.gmail.com.
01:32:12
Speaker
Check out the website. Share it with your friends, crookedrivercast.com. Shared it with with a friend of mine a couple days ago. I think we might got a new listener. He was very excited, thought we were, we sounded great.
01:32:26
Speaker
So it's always good to hear back from an old friend I hadn't seen in a while and talk to him about it. so He downloaded it once. Let's hope he downloads it more. And then he tells his friends.
01:32:38
Speaker
And he tells his friends, yes. And he shares it with his friends. And he tells his mom and his dad and his sister and everybody. Leaves a comment even on your favorite podcasting app. Send us your feedback. Send us your stories. Help us out. We we always we get we do get some some boots on the ground reports. Rate us on Apple too.
01:32:56
Speaker
Yeah, rate us, please. it's good. If it's bad, just send us an email. Yeah, if it's bad, just, yeah, send us an email or or not. No, send us an email. We don't want to hear what you think and what we're missing. Give us some help with some stories in your area. Give us, um you know, sometimes when you get user refresher, it pulls back in into stories that we get off topic. We get off the rails on certain, or we get away from, I should say.
01:33:19
Speaker
um And bring us back in sometimes. It's help from listeners. Always a good idea. So crookedrivercast.com every Monday. Check out the blog. If you want to read the stories that we are reading,
01:33:31
Speaker
You know what? We've gotten a couple of emails from couple different listeners ah with constructive criticism. Yes. We'd like more of that, actually. We want to improve.
01:33:42
Speaker
Yeah. We want to make sure we ah we're doing it the way you guys like it and ah not annoying you. It was probably a good idea, Mm-hmm. It usually helps to build a show, but yeah, send us your feedback. We really appreciate it. And thank you for listening.
01:33:58
Speaker
right, next we have follow-up from last week's story. The Sheriff's Department. Cuyahoga County is highly, well I mean, wildly over budget for overtime, apparently.
Local Governance and Legal Conflicts
01:34:14
Speaker
40 some million dollars over of of overtime, 27 million of it for the sheriff's department alone. Talk about last week had now they're shooting. Now they're fighting.
01:34:25
Speaker
Mom and dad are fighting. i Who's the mommy? Oh, I know who's mommy. So they, now we talked about there's a possible lawsuit last week and apparently it was filed.
01:34:36
Speaker
Sheriff's department is suing the county executor's office for
01:34:43
Speaker
overstepping they're they're overstepping it and taking control of what he is calling a independent sheriff's department, according to the law, which he might be right on. But let's listen to the clip.
01:34:57
Speaker
This is not personal. It's not political. i have ah great respect for the executive. Cuyahoga County Sheriff Harold Pretell has filed a civil lawsuit against county executive Chris Ronain.
01:35:09
Speaker
But I can tell you that there was extensive ah discussion, deliberation and and and intentional thought on this filing. In the lawsuit, Pratel accuses Ronayne of improperly trying to take over his department's finances, payroll and human resources. Pratel argues those powers belong solely to the sheriff under the county charter and 2019 voter approved amendment that expanded the office's autonomy. And the charter is very specific when it states that the office of the sheriff, the sheriff's department shall be independent. The lawsuit comes amid scrutiny over the department spending. In 2024, we reported the sheriff's office was $12 million dollars over budget with overtime drawing particular attention.
01:35:57
Speaker
But Pertel says about 60 percent of overtime costs are tied to negotiated union contract increases. He also points to staffing shortages, court security mandates and hospital transports as major drivers. Our physical functions have been audited by the Ohio auditor. None of these had any fraud, abuse, anything like that. The lawsuit asked the judge to declare that Ronane exceeded his authority and to reverse any actions taken against the department. Ronane's office says it is aware of the lawsuit and declined an interview. In a statement, it said in part, quote, We are disappointed that Sheriff Pretell has chosen to waste public taxpayer money on a meritless lawsuit.
01:36:43
Speaker
Well, I'd like to know what these contractual agreements are that forces you to, does it force you into overtime? i don't understand what that meant. The union contract would be a part of the reason why they're so far over budget on overtime.
01:36:57
Speaker
don't understand how that would work. I think it's mismanagement. I don't see how, you either don't have enough people or i Right. And that's what they're like, well, it's well well what are we supposed to do? but Okay. You're $12 million dollars over a budget. And he's saying, well, it's not fraud. Okay, great. That's that's great. i don't necessarily believe you, but that's great.
01:37:18
Speaker
You get audited and all that stuff, but it's not just about fraud, you dipshit. It's also, let's, let's start with um so public safety. Let's start with officers who have working 80 hours a week and our 72 people,
01:37:34
Speaker
how act How good is that guy at his shot at hour 72 of the week? think he's ah You think he's well-rested working 12-hour days, 14-hour days all the time? Because that's what we're talking about here. I wouldn't want to be pulled over by that guy because no you know they're going to have a short temper and most likely, I would imagine.
01:37:55
Speaker
Yeah. but We get it. you need more Maybe you need more officers. That's the point. It's not just to give a few officers hundreds of thousands of dollars of if people don't remember or didn't hear and didn't hear. We're talking some five or six officers who got paid more in overtime than they did in their regular pay. Yeah, more overtime than straight pay. I think one...
01:38:16
Speaker
Officer made over $300,000 that year where their salary salary was around $125,000. one twenty five Yeah. Yeah. Something like that. $175,000 in overtime. That is insane.
01:38:30
Speaker
And you're going to need a probably more officers considering not you're going to put the the county jail, don't know, 20 minutes outside of downtown. You're going to need more, those hospital transports and all that kind of stuff.
01:38:42
Speaker
And the other thing, oh, we wait we we need these hospital transports because we don't have a doctor. Okay. $12 million dollars over budget, which is $27 million dollars of overtime. you You budgeted $15 million dollars of overtime.
01:38:56
Speaker
How about you to take a million dollars and buy and hire two doctors? probably get a couple of good doctors for $500,000 a year, you'd think. I don't even think you need to spend that much. No, you don't. But I'm just, let's get good doctors. Let's just throw caution to the wind.
01:39:10
Speaker
Price is no object because apparently that's what he's doing. But just get a couple of really good doctors. And that way the the prisoners can have class A healthcare and you'd still be saving a ton of cash.
01:39:22
Speaker
ridiculous i'm just trying to be crazy with it let's get like a brain surgeon to take care of the the uh the anal warts for the uh the inmates you know really good guy uh so they're suing each other and guess who's paying for it we are yay yeah right
01:39:43
Speaker
unelected officials awesome so who who's overseeing this guy Who oversees them? Apparently nobody. If the executive, the top lawman of the county can't put checks and balances on the sheriff's department, who does?
01:40:00
Speaker
Because we can't. We don't elect them. This bozo did. Renane. e Who's up for re-election? probably talk Maybe we'll talk about it next week, but. he's He's going to skate right in. I think last time he was he he won by 40%. He's to skate right in. I don't think he he didn't have anybody running against him, did he? Oh, is that it? I don't know. and he still me Yeah, I you i think you might be right.
01:40:24
Speaker
and This is one of those offices on the ballot where it only has one person on it, and I just skip right past it because what's the point? Like judges and stuff, i don't know who you are, and it's only one of you, so what does it doesn't really matter.
01:40:40
Speaker
So there you have that. They're still fighting. And ah as usual, the lawyers will be the only ones who win. they're going to get a new house or another Mercedes out of it?
01:40:52
Speaker
And let's see, going on to the next one. This is a quick one here. I don't know. i don't know. Maybe I read this wrong. I didn't see this. I mean, i so is this the podcast thing?
01:41:03
Speaker
Yeah. Did you hear it? No, no, no, I didn't. Oh, so actually maybe I'm. It didn't play for me. so Oh, maybe I'm being little too harsh, but it seems that there's a podcast. I guess it can't you it it was it it came, it's coming back or something. It says this because this was a post on X. Ask Cuyahoga coming back. And here's the clip that they posted. And I i thought but Ask Ohio has proven that you can ask dumb questions.
01:41:29
Speaker
Here's the Ask Ohio.
01:41:35
Speaker
If we can protect our iPhones with a passcode, why can't we store this firearm with the same type of code to ensure that our children and our family are safe?
Consumer Advice and Economic Insights
01:41:49
Speaker
And I thought, you know, if we had, if we had like a large metal box, Or small, you could have various sizes. And we put this passcode that she's talking about, on this weird thing called a passcode.
01:42:02
Speaker
And then you would put this passcode in to unlock the box that you put your gun in to keep it safe. Tom, I think this might be an exit strategy. don't know. That's the way I took it. If we can only have a way to, something with a code on it to protect our guns. Does she want to mandate it? Is that what is? Like gun safe? Yeah.
01:42:20
Speaker
un see i have no idea i just saw that clip and i'm like yeah it's it's a stupid clip but does she does she know we have that already yeah but i'm i'm guessing i'm guessing she wants to mandate it like some other states and a ah countries even have a mandate for that she did not uh explain herself so you have to listen to the whole podcast and you throw up a little Probably, and i I didn't do that. I'm sorry. i didn't i should I should really know better. I should have sacrificed for the audience and our listeners.
01:42:52
Speaker
But I did not thought i was I was like, huh, yeah, maybe a gun safe. could probably make those things and make some money off it. This is America, by the way. I know it's hard to think of what we could do with that. That had 300 views and...
01:43:03
Speaker
Two comments, one of them being us. Yeah. And one bookmark, which is probably... Probably me. Yeah. Probably me. And three likes. So... One of them, not me. Again, Cuyahoga County, nobody... We get what we deserve.
01:43:22
Speaker
We get what we deserve. ah And next, I think we're going to have, where is my story? Here it is. This is Cleveland. ah Oh, this is, what channel is this?
01:43:34
Speaker
Channel nine out of the Cincinnati. And the story is again, not not nothing to, I just wanted to ask a couple of questions. i and So the story is study. Ohio price cycling makes Mondays the best day for gas savings.
01:43:48
Speaker
And I'm thinking they spent money
01:43:54
Speaker
On this study. I tried to look real quick before and I couldn't find it. Who did the study? I don't know. I don't think think I even found that part of it. who they question and What study? i don't think it's a year-long study.
01:44:07
Speaker
Oh, yeah so was somebody a year-long study. Somebody just took ah prices from GasBuddy and put it in a yes like a spreadsheet type of thing. That's all.
01:44:21
Speaker
Yes. Okay. So there wasn't, I was, I was wondering how much money they spent because. This, this wasn't like a study study. I don't think. Oh, okay. This is a, this is a, not, not, Hey, some days gas is cheaper than other days.
01:44:32
Speaker
I wouldn't. Apparently Mondays is the best. you know You know what? I was, I saw this article and I was like thinking about it and I've been watching that lately and around here, it's more like a Tuesday. Yeah. But how much does it go down?
01:44:47
Speaker
Dude, it's been jumping up and down 20, 30 cents. Okay. because i like and It was literally $2.59 on Thursday, Wednesday or Thursday.
01:45:00
Speaker
And then I'm going to work the next day. i was like, well, I'm going to stop if it's still $2.59. fifty nine And even though I wasn't, you know, I still had like a little less than a half a tank because I knew it was going to go up, but it went up to three bucks. $2.99. So yeah, it makes a difference.
01:45:19
Speaker
I guess. I mean, but. It does. i mean, a couple cents doesn't make a, you know, I don't care about that. That's my point. but but Most most of the time it's a couple cents. No, it's not. Not lately. Not not lately.
01:45:32
Speaker
Lately it's been anywhere between 10 to 30 cents. And yeah, you know, when you're doing fine, it's not a lot, but it is to some people. So if if if it's $0.04 more a gallon or $0.04 less, and you go to this to so the one, if you go down a day that's $0.04 less, you've saved $0.40 to $0.80. Yeah, I'm not talking about $0.04. I'm talking about $0.30. Yeah, what's the way to bring up in the art? The difference on what day you can fill up can be $0.04 to $0.09 a gallon. Yeah, yeah, that's BS. Around here it is, at least. Maybe that's the average ah across the country or something.
01:46:13
Speaker
Oh yeah. If it's 20 or 30 or 40 cents, you can start talking dollars, but even at, even at 10 cents a gallon, you save a dollar for, again, it's a dollar. I'm not counting up, discounting the dollar, but I, I, I had a friend that would, she would go to, to the ends of the earth for two cents less on a, on the, on the gas. I mean, she would wait five extra, 10 extra minutes in traffic to go to one across the street.
01:46:38
Speaker
And I was i like, for what? You saved like eight cents. Yeah, no, I know people that go will drive five miles out of their way because it's 10 cents cheaper. I don't do that, but I yeah i pass up, what, i don't know, four or five ah gas stations on the way home or's on the way to work. And i'll ill i won't go to the cheapest one because the cheapest one, I think, I don't like too much, but I will try to get it on a day that and it's less.
01:47:09
Speaker
Yeah, I know. I just go when I need to go. Yeah, I get it. You're doing fine.
01:47:16
Speaker
i I know because you know, because I'd be doing so much better if I save $4 every couple of weeks. Well, I'm okay, yeah, but i'm not I've never seen it just move I've seen it move or in a day.
01:47:32
Speaker
But when, when, uh, what I've been noticing is like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, it's cheaper. And then it's 30, it's 20, 30 cents more on a, on a Thursday, Friday. And then I don't know when it starts dropping again. Right. And then on an average tank of gas, you'd save three to $5. Yeah. Okay.
01:47:51
Speaker
That's cool. Yeah. It's cool. It doesn't move the needle for me though. Even mean I don't care how well you're doing. That doesn't. If somebody's paycheck to paycheck, that is a difference. You got okay get one extra gallon.
01:48:03
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Okay. That's an extra day of driving. It's something. I don't think it's like this boon of, oh, if you wait till Mondays, you're going to save all this money. I think that's being very arrogant there. I think to some people does make a big difference. I'm not saying it doesn't. I'm saying they're making it like, oh, well, you could really save a lot of money. not really. It's an article. You could save like $10 a year. Look, they suckered us into talking about this. I know as I'm making fun of them. That's why, that's why I'm trying to push my point now, dammit. I put this whole story was so I can make fun of them. Stop it.
01:48:32
Speaker
I, it says study. This was no study. Somebody took, somebody took an hour, uh, and took the info from gas buddy and kind of made a store, um, made a article here.
01:48:43
Speaker
An article. So Mondays, the best bet. That's what they say. I think it's more like Tuesday and Wednesday around here. Yeah. I don't know. I've never, never really paid attention. I mean, it's always been what it is. You know, it's like, cause you're doing great. I got it. Cause I'm doing great. So when I was 22 and I wasn't, and was paycheck to paycheck and I still did the same thing.
01:49:04
Speaker
Well, that's just stupid then. No, it's not. It doesn't make, it doesn't cert. It doesn't help me at all to waste my time to spend an extra for an extra $2 to spend three extra minutes to go to the next gas station. It's not worth my time.
01:49:15
Speaker
My time's more valuable than that. You're talking about going to another gas station for two cents. I'm talking about 30 cents. waiting And I'm talking about 30 cents. Even at 30 cents, it doesn't move me for three a half dollars. okay it does do My time is more valuable than that. It's not time though.
01:49:33
Speaker
if you're It is. No, it's not. ah Yeah, if you're going out of your way, but if you're not going of your way. This is just talking about what day it's on. Yeah. Well, okay. So if i if i can if I can wait a day later to get the gas to save a few bucks, I'll do that. Or if I get it a day early, I'll do that.
01:49:51
Speaker
Right. I've always just been... But I'm not driving out on my way to save, you you know, save a dollar. that That's is retarded, but... Right. that's That's kind of why I look at it. That's what it feels like to me. Like, oh, you got but you're better wait a day and, well, it's convenient today, not tomorrow. So just get your gas. It doesn't matter.
01:50:11
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
01:50:16
Speaker
Silliness. Okay. Talked about it for 10 minutes now. You're the one who talked about it. I could have gone, kept going. I know, but you're the one saying it's a big deal. You saved $3. I didn't say it was a big deal. I just said, if I can, I'm going to try to save a few bucks.
01:50:31
Speaker
Yeah. Eh, I'm just so rich. I'm just swinging. I know. You're one of the riches, obviously. I'm screwed. Obviously. Obviously. Because I
Immigrant Legal Aid and Community Support
01:50:40
Speaker
don't want to spend. I spend three. Whoa.
01:50:42
Speaker
Big spender I am. Big spender am. I just think the older I get, the more I'm a more looking at time. feel like time's winding down for me. I don't see how. Well, okay. Yeah, mean, if you're driving. well do i get them with but The older I get, the more valuable my time is.
01:50:59
Speaker
Let's see. Oh, yeah. Next. This was a good one. We'll round it out with the main stories with this one. Cleveland Heights. always hit, why always going back to Cleveland Heights?
01:51:10
Speaker
They are so wacky. they're ja yes they're they're fun They're fun to make fun of. Cleveland Heights, man, they've really got, they've really got it down. they're they are They are proposing free clinics, free legal clinics for immigrants.
01:51:27
Speaker
Immigrants or Immigrants.
01:51:30
Speaker
Immigrants, Tom. Okay, they're all immigrants. They're all immigrants. they're no and Notice how they've gone completely away from migrants to illegal. you know They haven't used the illegal in a long time, but you know now now they're just all immigrants.
01:51:45
Speaker
All immigrants. And it's all fun and games until you want to start spending money. So let's listen to Channel 19 News on what Cleveland Heights wants to do. See if we can see if you can find a a common commonality here with this stories and who, who were, you know, who's kind of pushing this whole thing. Maybe, maybe can point it out.
01:52:08
Speaker
The fear among immigrants in Cleveland Heights began last January with ice raids at Cilantro Taqueria on Coventry Road. Councilwoman Jessica Cohen says the issue is personal for her. She's worked with the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association to offer free virtual legal clinics for immigrants immigrants. We provided with Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights the name and the commitment of a bilingual immigration attorney who is willing to offer at least three legal clinics for the Cleveland Heights community, i'm in particular immigrants. Groups like Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights have pushed for immigrant support, holding rallies and events. A member, Carly Whitaker, told counsel she praised their work.
01:52:51
Speaker
So far. Putting some legal clinics um in place for um members of our community, um immigrant members of our community, that will can happen as as early as the end of this month.
01:53:03
Speaker
At the last meeting, Cleveland Heights City Council members agreed with the concept of the free immigration legal clinics, but the question, would the city put any money toward them? To contribute $200,000 of taxpayer money to legal aid for immigrants in need of those services, we have heard you. Council member Gail Larson supports the clinics, but Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights are now pushing for more than clinics. They want money put toward representation of immigrants in civil court cases. to help our residents who might be afraid right now for what's going on and give them some good advice. The group has also worked to get 85 businesses in Cleveland Heights to sign a pledge to protect the rights of immigrants while council discusses the issue again on Tuesday night to be determined when the clinics will be held and how to sign up.
01:53:51
Speaker
Vic Gideon, 19 News. So why do why do immigrants need so much legal assistance? So much legal advice. Unless, unless they're not all immigrants.
01:54:07
Speaker
Could that be? i don't know. Maybe. Did you notice the commonality in there? No. Hey, where all the white women at? Yeah, they're all in Cleveland Heights bitching about immigrants.
01:54:19
Speaker
I think we should just make a parking lot out of Cleveland Heights. so ah Suicidal empathy. um the Cleveland Heights is is okay. they're They're supporting the concept of legal clinics, um but they want now they now they want 200 grand for legal clinics because they had some raid at one of the Mexican, I think we covered it, on one of the Mexican restaurants. Cilantro.
01:54:43
Speaker
Cilantro thing, yeah. Cilantro taqueria. That was one of the first ones. I remember hearing about it at work because I think we occasionally get lunch from there.
01:54:55
Speaker
It was like, oh no, no more to lunch.
01:55:01
Speaker
Sorry. Lunch is going to be ah tied up for a little while. No, I don't, i mean, i don't think they, i think they, ICE did go in there and arrest a few people, but it was.
01:55:12
Speaker
I think one person or something like that. Three something. I forget. It wasn't, it wasn't a lot. This is what we talked about i think last week when they were like, we they could go and they can look at your what you look like and your language and where you're working. They shouldn't be able to do any of that. Like, oh, okay. Serve me a taco. I'm looking at you funny.
01:55:29
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'm not saying, I mean, get my taco done first. I mean, if ice can just wait till my taco gets done, i'd be much appreciated. um Because i um mean I would be hungry if I was going in there. So they're all fun and games until they bring up the cash. That was early on too. So i' met I'd imagine those were pretty... um you know, like real criminals criminals probably wanted not, not just, uh, illegal immigrants.
01:55:58
Speaker
Yes. You know what I mean? Like I, I would think they weren't just going in, just looking for people that are here illegally at that time. Cause that was like real early on. I think it was, I think they were looking for, ah people that are wanted or. Yes. They have specific war, you know, people they're looking for, I don't know if they had warrants. They had, um Not warrants, but um orders of removal. Mm-hmm. And they were looking for specific people, yes. And then if you if you didn't have papers, if you don't have papers, if you don't have your ID, they're going to take you in and check on you until you until they can you can prove who you are. if you if you're
01:56:33
Speaker
If you're caught in the crossfire, you're going to go along with the people they were looking for. If you're not going to cooperate, if you're not going to give them your name. Mm-hmm. or if you do them your name and doesn't check out and you don't have any IDs, valid IDs, then you're gonna go you're going downtown, as they say, and they're going to check you out until they figure, I mean, like this is not abnormal behavior from law enforcement.
01:56:57
Speaker
and This is just virtue signaling. And then it got real when they wanted 200 grand in cash. They went, where is it at? There it is. hold Hold the phone here. Wait, you want how much?
01:57:10
Speaker
No, no, we don't like you that much. Yeah. You see how much money we we don't have? Yeah, Cleveland Heights ain't got no money, so what are they going to But they they probably will spend it on this. will they I was going to say, they'll they'll probably try to find a way.
01:57:22
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. With all the people I saw in the council meeting or whatever it is, it's definitely. stop painting the Stop painting the crosswalks, you know, rainbow colors. You might save enough money to give it to the illegal aliens.
01:57:35
Speaker
um But it really makes, it really makes the gay people feel comfortable and wanted when you paint cross crosswalks. I'm trying to, yeah, that doesn't, still doesn't make sense. Yeah.
01:57:48
Speaker
All right, we will um we will continue on with our final segment. We bring good things to life. Which is our good things segment. You know, I guess I'm going apologize ahead of time.
01:58:04
Speaker
have a lame good segment this week, but it is what it is. But this one's kind of cool. I was hoping it's it's already done, so you really can't
Community Events and Engagement
01:58:12
Speaker
do anything. So 2026 St. Jude Dream Home.
01:58:15
Speaker
Tickets are sold out, but the Dream Home they're giving away, they're raffling off, is in Ohio, Northeast Ohio. They raffled off, I think, 28,000 tickets all got raffled off in about a day and a half, two days.
01:58:30
Speaker
And they helped raise $2.8 million for St. Jude Research Hospital. ah This year is the 14th Fox St. Jude dream home.
01:58:42
Speaker
And it looks like i was trying to figure out where they're putting it at. Does it tell you where it's Northeast Ohio? It doesn't give you the city, but it did. Oh yeah, it is. It's in Brexville.
01:58:53
Speaker
Oh, cool. Yeah. know it's always worthy about eight hundred It's always Northeast Ohio. Is it? Is it? ah yeah I thought the last one was like Westlake or something. I i forget. Fox News teams up with but St. Jude, it seems like. Gotcha. Right. um value The house raffled off is valuable valued at about $800,000. So it's like a 1,200 square foot one bedroom.
01:59:17
Speaker
And no, it's thirty thirty over 3,000 square foot finished living space, four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, and two-car garage. Nice. Yeah. Jesus. First floor includes a dedicated mudroom.
01:59:30
Speaker
Yeah, I want one of those. study. Yeah. And it has an auxiliary fifth bedroom with a walk-in pantry. Oh, shoot. so The study would be my podcast room.
01:59:42
Speaker
What a great and an open concept kitchen flows into the dining and living areas. Yep. So there other prizes. ah So you got second and third round. it Just us that one prize. You got a bunch of stuff on there. Check it out. Well, don't check it out because you can't buy any tickets anymore.
01:59:59
Speaker
But if you did, good luck to you. So more charity. And last but not least, definitely not least, it's fish fry season.
02:00:15
Speaker
Said no kid ever. ah it it is It is Lent season and i did not go to a fish fry this weekend because going to a fish fry in the first weekend of Lent is just crazy.
02:00:27
Speaker
Got to wait a couple weeks. Let the let the crowds die down. But here's a list. We'll put it in the show notes. Check it out. The blog. Just a list of Northeast Ohio fish fries at your local church and community centers.
02:00:40
Speaker
Go check them out. Go on a little ah fish fry Road trip. o Check out different ones. You have, ah what is it? Five weeks? Six weeks? Six weeks. yep Five weeks left now.
02:00:55
Speaker
There is a ton of them. So you got a map here with bunch of fish everywhere. You can tell you exactly where we need to go. Imagine that. It's all really clustered on one one area.
02:01:07
Speaker
Damn Polox. And check it out. Tell us what you think. Tell us what your favorite at fish fry is. I don't know if I have a favorite fish fry. I'm trying to think. You know, last year I went to ah my favorite fish fry locally here was at the Brew Wall. And I i don't like that place. I don't like going there.
02:01:29
Speaker
But they did have a good fish fry. Is that Antonio's Brew Wall? Yeah, Antonio's. ah Runs it. And they have a, it's out in... I don't know. Is that Broadview Heights or North of Royalton? Yeah. I've been to one in Fairlawn.
02:01:43
Speaker
Yeah. You know, I don't like the experience there because it's not like a, I'd rather sit at a bar or at a table where you get waited on. yeah' so Yeah. You walk up in order at the, at the, like ah when you walk up to a normal place and and get your table, that's where you order. And then you go sit down they bring it out to you. It's very weird, but they do have lots of beers.
02:02:00
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. No, the brew wall is cool. I just wish it was, it was a weight you were weighted on that. Yeah. It feels like a ah concept brought out of COVID. Like less staffing, you know, you need, don't need couple people running the place. i don't know. You're touching everything everything though.
02:02:16
Speaker
Well, I mean like, yeah, they can't find enough people. Oh, I got you. To fill the place. So it's, it's a low staff kind of idea. That's what feels like to me, but. I don't know if there were, it didn't feel like there was less people there. as There were still people coming up to the table. They could have been waiting, but i yeah Maybe it's easier to find people because you're actually paying them. up you know they They're not really working for tips.
02:02:36
Speaker
Yeah. So maybe maybe they're paying them a little bit more and it's easier to find people. Yeah, a few less there and pay them more, get a better service, possibly. But yeah, it does feel weird. It doesn't feel like... like i don't know if it's better service. i You pay them more. i I don't know. A good waitress makes pretty good dollars if at at the right place, not every place. But ah a good waitress can...
02:03:00
Speaker
Rack it in, man, with the tips, man. she can afford to buy gas like on a Friday. Well, like you know, that crazy kind of stuff. ah Yeah. I, I good rate. I love good. I take good waitresses much I possibly can because I go over the 20% mark eat for a good waitress. Anytime. i almost have to know 20% doesn't seem like enough anymore, but for a good one, definitely, definitely upwards of 30% sometimes. 20% is kind of like my minimum, unless they're really bad.
02:03:32
Speaker
Which is rare now. But, ah yeah you know, yeah, 20 to 30%. So it was good there, though? it was good at The food that' was good, though, right? The food was great. Yeah, at Antonio's food.
02:03:43
Speaker
And the fish fry was really good. Yeah, i had ah had a really good smash burger there once. It was odd from a pizza place. Okay. From a traditionally pizza place. You're right. But it was really good. ive i've I've been there two or three times. I've been there one. it's It's been good. But, yeah, it is is a little weird on the service part. but And then, you know, you sit there.
02:04:01
Speaker
and you get the little wristband. Yeah. And it just calls to you. I'll go try another one. And you just look at that long wall of beer and you just go, okay, try another one. It talks to you. Then you figure out how much those beers cost you. And you're like, oh oh my gosh.
02:04:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's crazy. I thought I put 20 bucks down. I'm done already. I had two sips. and for the For the people that don't know what we're talking about, you could buy beer by the ounce. So they have a wall of beer taps and you could... ah You know, it's kind of it's fun if you're really into beer, it's kind of cool because you could try ah you know three ounces at a time, but you're getting charged ah a premium for that.
02:04:41
Speaker
Yeah, per the ounce, which is ridiculous. I think $20 was like two glasses of beer. Basically, that's what it turns Two half glasses. I'm like, holy cow. Good thing now good thing is I got an expense account.
02:04:52
Speaker
Yeah, if you're doing that for work, that's awesome. but ah Yeah, but you really can't. They they do have a ah wall with ah like old-fashioned walls. Yeah, they have walls. And wall and a wine. And wine. wo Yeah, so it's cool. I just wish the atmosphere was a little different, I guess. Yeah, it's it's almost a yeah little like fast food kind of feel. Yeah, it's weird. Even if they had a bar to sit at. But that doesn't make sense either because it's a brew wall, right?
02:05:18
Speaker
it's It's just a... Yeah, it's yeah it's it's a whole deepening purpose. Anyway, Lent, fish fries. Go check them out. Let us know. Seriously, let us know if you have like one that that you always go to and it's really good or unique in some ways because I'm always looking for something different to go to for a fish fries and I'm always going to different areas. So it's funny. I got menus on this site and everything else tell you you know how much everything costs. mean, it's pretty nice. So about 15 pages of, there's probably 30 or 40 different fish fry places on this website. So check it out and send us your favorite fish fry in the area to
02:05:53
Speaker
crookedrivercast at gmail.com. Shoot us an email. Tell us what you think of the show. Really appreciate you listening. And next week we're going to be back at it again with another, another show. Probably talk about things in Ohio, you know, cause that's what we do. And, uh, send us an email, check out the website, check out the blog when it comes out Monday. And, uh, we really thank you for listening and, uh, we'll talk to you next week.
02:06:18
Speaker
Peace.