The Voice of Privilege

Some people throw around accusations of racism with wild abandon. While that was my first impression at Cincinnati Mayor, John Cranley's latest statements about immigration, I am not sure if it might just be classism.
From the 'Warp:

If you're fleeing political persecution anywhere in the world, we want you here. Cincinnati has a lot of older, blighted housing that immigrants could rehab and settle in. I would love to take advantage of that as a community redevelopment tool.

great
Be a tool, come live in Cincinnati's slums.
He also mentions luring wealthy people with handouts.
Cranley is finally being the wealthy corporatist Democrat he purported to be with this cynical elitist plan - the commoditization of people as tools and the handouts of other people's money…
I have said before, we need to sell foreign investors on the city's assets but all Cranley has to offer are freebies & cast offs.

More t the 'Warp

Snubbed Again

oh, my minion, the devils at The City Bleat have snubbed this blog agin in their Best of Cincinnati farce.
Know this, Bleaters, my vengeance will be terrible.

Cincinnati by the Sea

While San Diego is known by many Ohioans as Dayton by the Sea, apparently Floridians find Cincinnati & San Diego so similar as to be interchangeable.
Note the last skyline shot in this intro. We're not in Ohio anymore…
HT to Paradox24

The Devolution of the GOP

The Democratic party has hemorrhaged right wingers & the GOP has been sucking them in like vampires for decades. Strom Thurmond lead the first group shortly after WWII & Ronald Reagan opened the doors to them in the 80s. Lyndon Johnson pissed off the racist southern Democrats with the Civil Rights act in 64 and with the failure of George Wallace, the south has just gotten redder ever since.
The GOP is essentially a party of right wing nationalist corporatists nowadays AKA fascists. The old GOP, heck even Nixon's GOP is dead.
If anybody doubts the party snatcher idea, check out their latest move, H.R. 1459 which essentially guts the Antiquities Act of 1906.
The 1906 legislation authorized the president to act independently to protect our natural lands. The latest legislation seeks to politicize the decisions & mire them in debate & bureaucracy.
Both bills were submitted by Republicans & the act in 1906 was signed by Republican environmentalist President Theodore Roosevelt.
Roosevelt was no friend to the corporatists but now the GOP is stacked with corporatists & eschatologists.
Conservative used to have something to do with conservation. Roosevelt got that and it showed in his vision for the future. The people claiming that designation today might as well call themselves woombas or something for their philosophies have nothing to do with the definition of the word.
There is an evil force amongst us in the USA today and it is the Democratic Party's right wing - the GOP.

Legacy of Fear

Bad to BizarreBeing a child during the Reagan administration must have been a traumatic experience. I can only imagine how talk of "killer trees" must have affected the tender mind of an 8 year old John Cranley. Indeed, it must haunt him to this day as he states that 'a wall of trees is creepy'.
After campaigning on a policy of neighborhood balkanization, he states that giving the neighborhoods more control over their own futures is 'scary'. Another trauma from his Reagan childhood?
Coming from the fairly paranoid Green Township probably hasn't helped the boy much, either.
Soapbox has a review the fear crazed mayor's first 100 days

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uh, Al? Alicia? Really?

They say politics makes strange bedfellows. Unfortunately these might just be peas in a pod. Meloweese Richardson, Al Sharpton & Alicia Rece join together to kick of a voter rights act. So, was Smitherman there? I mean, if we are arguing for the rights of crazy people to vote, it only seems logical…

More at the Fishwarp

Another Campaign Promise ?

Read All about it at the Fishwarp, City gives CO    $675,000 to go away.
So how many potholes is this? How many laid off police officers? How many fire station brownouts is this?

Hey Frisch's

COCA COLA

The Damned

A few years ago, I chronicled concerts I had attended but noted that a few had 'gotten away'. I was just made aware that 28 years ago tonight, I was at a Damned concert at the Jockey Club in picturesque Newport Kentucky. The band had done an in store promo at one of those old supermarket sized record stores.
Later, during the show, fluorescent lamps started falling out of the ceiling fixtures into the crowd. Dunno if anybody got hurt. The band probably figured it happened all the time.
Later, my date kept shouting ELOIIIIIISSE!!

Been There Done That

There's one way to get motorist's attention while riding a bike…
When I was young, thin & had long wavy hair, I would ride shirtless in the summer. Frequently I would catch male motorists checking me out & quickly snapping their noggins back into the forward position when they got a look at my hairy chest & ugly mug. How lucky did they think they were? So, I dunno, it might not be a good way to get their attention.
Anyway, when I did ride naked, it was only late at night in a residential area.
With no helmet…

FISH FRY

yup, that time of year again, be sure to check out St Boniface's Fridays through Lent (whenever that is) from 5-7PM.

A Top Vote getter

I got a robocall about this from Chas the other day. I am assuming he is using a Republican phone list. it's heartening to know that this CO    & GOP endorsed city councilman who was one of the top vote getters in the last election has the answers to all my problems. Rumour has it the snake oil salesman might have his eyes on the Ohio state legislature. ~yay~
and Cincinnatians will probably vote for him...

They Walk Among Us

Sunnydale? Bon Temps? Add Springfield, Ohio to the list. Once a quaint happy town where everybody knew one another and everybody had a smile for one another.
Now it's overrun with vampires, werewolves & such. Fortunately we've got some middle aged guy & a couple teenage girls fighting to defend us with their Slayer Covenant.
The Daily Mail reports on a middle aged man who took his fantasy world seriously & enlisted teenage girls to join him.
It's kinda strange. I'm into a lot of the crazy science fiction, supernatural stuff Mr Edwards is into and, as such, frequently find myself in contact with young people & even kids online.
A. I keep my fantasy world out of the real world.
B. When I am dealing with yunguns, I am very guarded in what I say & frequently don't say anything. I sure as hell don't recruit kids.
In one of Edwards' videos he talks about how monsters exist. I think he got that right.

The Springfield Noose-Son version

HT to Losantville

Back When the GOP Was Funny

My Buzzfed Personality Crisis

What I have learned about myself from Buzzfeed…
During medieval times I would live in the Astoria neighborhood of New York City transported to the state of New Mexico. If I was president, I'd be Woodrow Wilson. If I were an apostle, I'd be St Phillip. OTOH if I were on the Firefly crew, i'd be Cap'n Tightpants. If I happened to become a comic book villain, I'd be Mr Freeze but as an animated dog, I'd be Mr Peabody. My literary soulmate would be Henry Thoreau.
uh.. yeah
Not a fan of Woody, never heard of Astoria, HATE New Mexico, never read Thoreau, Mr Freeze is kinda dumb, I'm cool with Mr Peabody & medieval times but I alway thought of myself as more of a Wash. St Phillip? beats me…
What's sad is that somebody is probably taking this nonsense to the bank.
Mr Freeze in New Mexico?

Happy BDay, Rob

WANTED

I'm posting this here because I know my vast readership knows a lot of violent juvenile delinquents.
It's an odd bit of advertising - posting the victim's picture on a wanted poster. Why WKRC is so prominent is puzzling, too.
Anyway, after a cold crappy winter, a nice warm sunny day came along & Mr Tramble was sitting on his front porch when accosted by 2 male black teenagers who shot him when he refused to give up his property. The bullet severed his spine, paralyzing him and, as I write this, the guy is on life support at the hospital.
It was a weekday just after noon when the kids should have been in school. The police reported that because truancy is so high in the city, it's hard sorting through all the recorded truants.
Police are distributing these posters thru Northside but the kids likely are not from that neighborhood & are probably steering clear of it. The only description is 2 black boys. That narrows it down….
The maggots were skipping school that Mr Tramble paid for. They probably live in subsidized housing Mr Tramble pays for. They probably get free food Mr Tramble pays for. But that wasn't enough for these vicious toads. Someone knows who these brats are. Someone must suspect them. Are any mothers wondering if it was one of their boys?
This shit is fucked up.

WKRC story here

Springfield Timelapse

You've seen Tokyo, London, New York, Rio…
Now it's time for fuckin' Frogtown, bitches…..

Male Models

Seriously - Tesla guy or Bugatti girl ?
In an article over at the Globe & Mail, the author is pleased to report that more male models are being used at car shows. While women in skimpy, clingy outfits (or just swimsuits (because cars & swimming just go together)) have traditionally been the norm, the guys just wear street clothes and some of 'em are positively dorky. Why aren't the guys rolling around on the hoods in their skateboard culottes?

Globe & Mail article here

…and since it popped into my head, I'm sure it popped into everybody else's.

What Would You Be Caught Dead In ?

not this!This fashion show of funeral gowns rejected by Star Trek was probably a little different for the models who are probably a little more used to runway shows. Dunno why they are lying on mirrors on the floor but what the heck, you usually don't look up at people on runways, either.
So what would you want to be buried in? Your usual attire? Something more formal? A Batman costume?
You can go biodegradable
The Siberian Ice Maiden wore a 3 foot high hat that necessitated an 8 foot coffin.

Some more crap to ponder

Vengeance of a Mad King

Of Cranley's campaign promises, I don't recall him promising to fire any individuals. He said he would look into a new city manager & the current one could apply, but he turned on that promise & fired the guy with no viable replacement to this day.
His claim to protect the taxpayers' dollars by not paying $1.2M to move a tenant with a lease expiring in 2017 might be laudable but since it comes with wanting to blow $12M on a garage that seems to have no future & ditch $60M in private investment that would bring hundreds of jobs & tax paying residents to the city - well, that's a little weird.
From the Currier:

'The support for the development has been overwhelming with the hundreds of new jobs, millions in economic impact, enhancing the downtown skyline, removal of Pogue's Garage - a real eye sore to the downtown - and bringing a needed cutting edge urban grocery,' Flaherty said.

Now Cranley & Seelbach have enlisted 3CDC, not a particularly unbiased actor, to analyse the deal (that's already been analysed).
Meanwhile, Cranley's fiscal prudence has only widened the budget gap.
Read more about this madman at CityBleat

Will the Windbag Investigate ?

Cincinnati road crews are almost $5M over budget this year after buying an extra $2.8M of extra salt. Is this yet another Saltgate? Will Charlie mount another investigation into the city employees who flagrantly squander our tax dollars?

More at WLWT