Free Parking

Gotta love it one car in this picture is in the right place. All the rest are parked illegally in a bike lane & on a sidewalk. The drivers even had to navigate between bollards to get to their illegal positions.
Where is this place of infamy you ask? Why in front of the Cincinnati FOP HQ...

The Best Reality Your Tax Dollars Can Buy

That's right, folks, it's time for the annual liquor license renewal challenges.
Some of the poop going down in Cincinnati bars and stores is nothing short of a real treat. People selling stolen property, guns, dope...
People who say they can't speak English when they can. People getting into fights with police and inspectors...
And speaking of police? The way they report crime & force business owners into paying CPD overtime rates for security is like watching old time gangster movies with seedy gang bosses in the protection racket.
I'm always forgetting when to watch. Hopefully it won't be as bad as when Janke presided over the police side but Clown in Charge, Chris Smitherman & committee member Winburn should offer some possibility for antics.
The next meeting will be Monday April 13 @ 10AM
You can watch it here on a Windows computer or plug this into VLC (under File/OpenNetwork) on anything, mms://citicable.cincinnati-oh.gov/citicable.
And, of course it's on Slime Warner cable if you waste money on that crap.

In the Penal Colony - the Movie

On the liner notes for the Mothers of Invention album, We're Only in it for The Money, Frank sez to read Franz Kafka's story, In the Penal Colony, first. Kinda nuts for a teenager into comic books, but Franz became one of my faves instantly. I actually took a page from The Hunger Artist at my last job but it didn't seem to shame the sales staff...
Anyway, I think this is a pretty good no budget short.
I really think the device would be good for taggers.
YMMV

Keep Hamilton County Safe

When Dr Sammarco ran for the Hamilton County Coroner's position, she campaigned on a platform of modernization, moving the office into the 21st century, making it a profitable regional department by offering services to nearby counties & such. Her opponent specifically campaigned on a platform of "whatever, we can just do it the way we always have".
So it was kind of odd to see HamCoGOP chair say

The current Coronor [sic] has focused so much on doing things the same old way that has refused to consider new and better ways to do her job.

That's not what she has been doing and he was AOK when his cousin campaigned on that same platform.
He further whines about how we should have a regional crime lab when that's exactly what Sammarco is promoting. Triantifilou & Hartmann would prefer using OPM in a big central government statist manner.
Now the coroner, sheriff, auditor, recorder & others are campaigning to move forward with modernizing a crime lab that will serve the region while Republican commissioners & leadership sit on their hands & gamble with our safety, something they describe as a luxury. Check out keephamiltoncountysafe.org.
The HamCoGOP has had it out for the coroner since Day 1 with their frivolous law suits & character assassination. They will, apparently, not stop spouting lies & twisting the truth to put their friends & relatives into power.

Fishwarp article with the chairman's dervish-like palaver here.

Should Cincinnati neighborhoods establish their own courts ?

In 13th to 16th & maybe 17th century Germany, it was pretty lawless if you went outside your nobleman's territory. The empire wasn't doing so hot in bringing these rogues to justice so a system of courts using lay judges was established, The Vehmic court or as Thomas Keightley referred to them in his 1837 book, Secret Societies of the Middle Ages, The Secret Tribunals Of Westphalia.
The lay judges would travel around, announce their presence & schedule a trial date and the townsfolk could bring their grievances to the court members who would subpoena the accused, sometimes with a document stuck to their door with a dagger, and hold hearings, then dispense justice. Sometimes it was repayment, sometimes, in lieu of a prison system, it was corporal but it was dispensed immediately. Finding a location with a good stout tree was handy for shade and in dealing with capital offenses.
I'm not suggesting the traveling show system but perhaps an extension of the Cincinnati Community Council system. Neighborhood parks could be used. The punishments would be public and send a clear message. Perhaps incarceration could be done using neighborhood recreation centers or, in more blighted neighborhoods, abandoned buildings.
This system could have two fold benefits. It would speed up the justice process and it would relieve the police & county courts of some of their burden, saving them time and money.
The 21st century affords us the opportunity to go all medieval. Besides bringing communities together, this could also be seen as a connection to our German heritage. It would simply be a win win solution for everybody. Well, almost everybody.

∃ ∀ ∈ ⊕

Hey, Big Brother, GET OFF YOUR ASS !

So, OK, my only problem with this is - if the heat has all this kit, how come we have to put up with crack head burglars, crack head hookers, drunk drivers & other auto criminals?
I get why they are not going to go after the drug dealers since they want us stupid and placid but isn't that what the daggone chem-trails are for? I guess maybe that's part of the hookers role, too, tho, so...
dang, the Illuminati reptilian insectoids move in mysterious ways.

Believe it or else !

I'm actually in line with Mo on this one. If you don't take the word of Blogging Isn't Cool as gospel, please leave your home, work addresses and your commute map so my boys can track you down and slaughter you and everybody around you.

FWIW

From various sources, 1st - nations ranked by vice, drugs & prostitution. 2nd - same countries ranked by overall incarceration.
What's it mean? I dunno...

Vice ranking
U.S. #1
China #2
Japan #3
Germany #4
U.K. #5
France #6
Brazil #7
Italy #8
India #9
Russia #10
----------------------
Incarceration Ranking
U.S. #2
Russia #10
Brazil #42
U.K. #99
China #125
France #145
Italy #150
Germany #168
Japan #198
India #218

Dale's Latest Fail

When Dale Mallory faced ethics & embezzlement charges in Hamilton county where people worship the Mallory dynasty, he got off scot free. Now he's being charged with ethics violations in Franklin County. Will the Teflon still work?
That being said, the ethics rules pertaining to the value of gifts that state legislators can receive seems to make pretty low end gifts illegal. $25? $75?
When were these limits set? $25 is lunch nowadays or maybe a delivered supreme pizza. I'd be fine seeing Dale get keelhauled on a BB riverboat but the monetary level of these gifts really does strike me as being pretty low.
And just because a Bengals ticket costs a lot, it doesn't mean it's worth it.

Pickin' the wrong white guy

There have been assaults on whites by blacks that look pretty racially motivated. Maybe not the act, per se, but the choice of victim at least. The attack might just be plain mad dog visciousness.
But, whether bored beatings or serial beatings, racial charges are never filed.
Until the County Prosecutor's son gets attacked.
Now there's charges of felonious assault, ethnic intimidation, aggravated riot and two misdemeanor counts of assault.
Assistant Ohio Attorney General Woody Breyer sees the racial motivation in this sentence, "let's get the (epithet) white guy"
Seriously? You don't think that might have just been an identification?
Black tweens do sadistically attack white men. There is a race motive. This isn't the first time. It's just the first time somebody with connections got attacked.
typical

Fishwarp story (written worse than usual) here

oh, the humanity...

Here WKRC informs us of a road closure due to streetcar constructure.
They don't mention that it's one block & dead as a doornail.
Here WKRC tells us how construction in downtown Cincinnati is destroying businesses.
So, here's my question - Why didn't they interview the displaced hookers on Henry?
Why didn't they interview the napping mailman who drank his lunch at Charlie's and would then park his truck by the Moerlein loading dock?
why, WKRC, why?

The Pirates of Cow Town

Columbus' raid on the counties, Townships & Municipalities has not gone unnoticed, at least, in Hamilton County. The HamCo Auditor published a rather scathing report discussing what's been taken from the citizens & their local jurisdictions solely to overflow the capitol's coffers.

State support for local governments was never some kind of benevolent gift from Columbus. The Local Government Fund dates back to the 1930s. It was instituted and increased over the years as the State eliminated local tax sources taking the income but promising to share it with local governments. The property tax rollbacks came with the Ohio income tax and its increase in the 1970s and 1980s. The State promised to share that additional revenue with localities to reduce local property taxes.
The past promises have been conveniently forgotten.
Ohio’s latest state surplus almost equals what was taken from the Local Government Fund.

Ed Fitzgerald

Standing Your Ground

11 years ago today, a guy in the Northside neighborhood of Cincinnati, OH, after an uneventful Citizens on Patrol patrol, stopped into a neighborhood bar on his way home. Then things went terribly wrong.
Two guys charged in brandishing guns and announcing a robbery.
The Citizen on Patrol guy pulled out his pistol & shot one of the robbers in the neck. The other one fled but was caught.
The problem was, in Ohio, it was illegal to take a gun into a bar. So, the guy who saved the day got arrested. Folks in the neighborhood quickly pooled resources & raised his bond while one perp couldn't raise bond & the guy who got shot went to the hospital.
Then came the cool part. The Grand Jury refused to indict the shooter. They said people were fed up with crime & chaos.
He still got kicked out of Citizens on Patrol. Police suggested he run for city council.
Later, that fall, there was an open carry march in the neighborhood to promote concealed carry in Ohio which eventually passed.

For two hours, it made Northside what one Ohio police chief called "the safest neighborhood in the state."

City Bleat interviewed the guy

Fishwarp article

Free Republic article about the march

Ohio Open Carry article

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

MORE

While John Cranley wants to hire more police and add to a budget that's already in the red, do we really need more police? A post from the Cincinnati Libertarian from '05 indicates, not necessarily.

Are more police officers always the answer? Lt Rahtz sites an experiment in Kansas City where the police department there took all of their patrols out of one beat, and sent them to a beat with a similar crime rate (the only time a police officer would enter that beat was when dispatched). So for a time, one beat had twice as much police presence as before, and the other one had virtually none.
So, what was the end result? Crime stayed the same in both beats. Police presence had no effect on crime!

While having more police to respond & investigate might be on the table, mere presence doesn't seem to be any deterrent.
Add to that, that The Queen City is near the top 10 of officers per capita in the nation and that we had only about 300 police around 1890 when the city population & footprint were about the same…
Maybe holograms are the answer.

Motivaations

One has to wonder why some people are so concerned with building a new bridge over the Ohio River to help facilitate Interstates 71, 74 & 75.
A new report indicates that human trafficking tends to follow the interstates & cites a concentration along I-75.
The hottest areas for the sex trade are listed in Northern Kentucky where folks are most adamant about a free ride and in Sharonville, OH, home of the CCV.
hm

Read more at the 'Warp.

Smitherman - Round Up The Usual Suspects

Christopher Smitherman wants more cops on the streets of Cincinnati and stricter enforcement of the law. While a major number of people arrested in Cincinnati are black and many people wail about the disproportionate number of blacks incarcerated, Smitherman pays this no mind.

We’ll deal with a little blowback from people in the community who have a little more liberal perspective, this committee supports you, chief. I want your officers to know this committee supports you.

Of course it might just be Smitherman kissing some union butt, who knows?
Smitherman's term as president of the Cincinnati NAACP hasn't seen a great drop in black criminal activity or black victimization. Between his 'advancement' agenda & fellow councilman Winburn's jobs, jobs jobs agenda, black poverty in Cincinnati has only worsened.
The chief of police, Jeffery Blackwell, wants to replace officers lost to attrition over the last few years which would put Cincinnati back to having a lot of police per citizen. More than some comparable cities. He also wants to utilize technology better.

We are desperately short of officers. Additionally, we need to improve our technology platform.

Unfortunately, Smitherman spearheaded a campaign to outlaw technology that could free up highly skilled officers from fairly mundane tasks. He cited the racist deployment of monitoring devices as a reason. Deployment would have been handled by the police, of course, so does Smitherman support the police or believe they are racist? Who does Smitherman think his stepped up police efforts are going to snare?

More at the Fishwarp.

Stolen Musical Instruments

The following instruments were stolen form Justin Todhunter’s Westwood home. He plays with Jake Speed & the Freddies and the Rattlesnakin’ Daddies.

• 2000 blue Fender Stratocaster
• Eastman mandolin with red finish
• 1949 National 1088 Triplex Lap steel guitar
• 1985 Kentucky KM-1000 mandolin
• 2005 Martin OOO-M acoustic guitar
• 2009 Douglas bass guitar

Weird Fishwarp article here

Can You See Me ?

The Fishwarp asks, Are police visible enough?. The new Cincinnati police chief has decided that officers should wear their hats in crowds & drive their patrol cars with more lights on. If you really want to make these giys more visible, tho, I'm thinking something more like the outfit the lead character in The Electric Horseman wore. We could use LEDs, now, of course, instead of the high voltage mess Redford wore. But getting some height would be a good idea, too. Since horses have been deemed too expensive (although this shouldn't be a problem for Cranley), I'm thinking...
MONSTER TRUCKS
Camels would be cool, too, but to be practical, you pretty much need the power of a monster truck.
But the plain white cap could be done better, too and in keeping with the monster truck theme, I'm thinking full head helmets with skull faces & embedded gas jets so the officers could go for the whole flaming skull thing.
And make no mistake, that helmet could be loaded with all sorts of futuristic Iron Man type crime fighting crap.
I'm also thinking motion sensor triggered laser sighting devices mounted on the monster trucks. Anybody who doesn't freeze in their tracks when a cop drove by would instantly see the dreaded red dot on their body scaring porktowners into being model citizens.
Police visibility is important and Cincinnati can lead the world in this endeavour. It might cost a fortune and be hokey as hell and maybe a little bit mad, but that's what Cincinnati is all about nowadays.

ContrastsThe differences in the handling of the cases of Pat Mahaney in Ohio and Trayvon Martin in Florida are interesting. With the recent passing of Mr Mahaney, the comparisons are clearer - sort of.
Mr Mahaney's death may or may not be attributed to his savage, pointless attack perpetrated by a pack out for blood. HamCo Prosecutor Joe Deters has requested an autopsy.
Mr Martin's death, while physically apparent, was due to either murder or self defense.
While the prosecution of Mr Zimmerman has bent over backwards to make a case against him that even the police department felt had no merit, the prosecution of the juvenile pack that beat Mr Mahaney to within an inch of his life, and maybe further, has bent over backward to give the vicious thugs another chance.
Now we are warned of riots/rebellions if Mr Zimmerman is acquitted. There was a peaceful protest regarding Mr Mahaney's beating staged by Five members of National Alliance. It was met with a rowdy counter protest 7 times greater in number with one counter protester getting arrested for his disorderly conduct. Source
What brings the courts, media & general populace to such wildly different conclusions & strategies? God have mercy on us all.