My gosh, the Browns won

Just when you think there is still time for them to lose, 

the Browns win over the Atlanta Falcons. 

image credit: onsizzle.com

On Veteran's Day

Veterans Day is a U.S. legal holiday dedicated to American veterans of all wars, and Veterans Day 2018 occurs on Sunday, November 11. In 1918, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in World War I, then known as “the Great War.” Commemorated in many countries as Armistice Day the following year, November 11th became a federal holiday in the United States in 1938. In the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became known as Veterans Day.

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chuckle of the day

Image via DonSurber

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The Pocahontas / Fauxcahontas Factor

 image credit: watcherofweasels.org

Kimberley Strassel at the Wall Street Journal fills in some of the details behind Richard Cordray’s run for Ohio Governor ("Biggest Loser: Elizabeth Warren"):

For a decade Ms. [Elizabeth] Warren, 69, has been busy trying to remake Washington in her progressive image. Her role in creating a new financial regulatory apparatus gave her outsize influence over the bureaucracy. Her successful 2012 Senate bid gave her a megaphone to rail against “billionaires, bigots and Wall Street bankers”—and Donald Trump. The left begged her to challenge Hillary Clinton in 2016 and rebrand the Democratic Party as a populist, progressive force. Ms. Warren demurred, leaving the field to Bernie Sanders.

She instead carefully designed this year’s midterms as her launchpad to the presidency. Ms. Warren seeded into key races several handpicked progressive protégés, in particular Richard Cordray, former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (who ran for Ohio governor), and a former law student, Katie Porter (who ran in a California House district). Ms. Warren geared up a shadow war room, built ties with some 150 campaigns, directed millions of fundraising dollars to select candidates, and thereby earned chits. She dispersed staffers to early primary states and crisscrossed the country herself. A week ago she was dominating Ohio headlines at rallies for Mr. Cordray. If Mr. Trump was on the ballot nationally, Ms. Warren was on it in the Buckeye State.

The lead-up to Tuesday had already been brutal for her. Hoping to elbow her way back into the headlines after Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation, Ms. Warren chose in mid-October to release a five-minute video and piles of documentation aimed at proving she really is at least 1/1,024th Native American. The ridicule was ruthless, matched only by the anger Democrats directed at her for distracting from the election.

But Tuesday compounded the disaster. Ms. Porter—who campaigned in Orange County on single-payer health care, expanded Social Security and debt-free college—flamed out to two-term Rep. Mimi Walters. In Ohio, Mr. Cordray lost to Attorney General Mike DeWine.

Read the rest here.

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When the mask falls off

 image credit: alamy.com

Elizabeth Harrington at the Washington Free Beacon quoted failed gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray:

Losing Democratic politicians say they can finally tell the truth now that they are "freed from the constraints" of needing the support of their constituents.

"It occurred to me that I am now freed from the constraints of running for or holding public office," said Richard Cordray, failed coup-leader and losing candidate in the Ohio governor's race.

Cordray says now that he does not have to be accountable to voters, he can "speak more naturally" about what he really thinks about issues.

Full report is here. More masks will be slipping as we move past the midterms.

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The next two years: Surber's forecast

A.F. Branco cartoon credit: firearmlicense.org

The midterm election did not go as well as many of us had hoped. And looking forward, I found Don Surber’s take pretty realistic:

These Democrats don't care [e.g., about “infrastructure.]. . . .

All they care about is power. Lord Acton said power corrupts. Imagine now what happens when you give power to the already corrupted.

. . .

This is not a parlor game among good sports. Democrats selected Pelosi, Nadler, Schiff, and Waters as leaders because they are ruthless. They do not seek compromise. They do not want to work with President Trump or any Republican.

Under Obama, when they controlled Congress, they refused to work with Republicans on health care or the stimulus. They did not seek compromise.

. . .

The next two years will be rough. I hope the president appreciates the seriousness of the danger the House poses to the Republic.

Tea Party grandmas did not take over the House.

Bloodthirsty socialists did.

Surber's full blogpost is here.

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Today is Election Day

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President Trump is FINISHED, according to the media

T'was the Night Before Election Day, and our favorite blogger, Sundance, has posted a short video (just over 3 minutes) that proves that President Trump is FINISHED!  At least according to the ever-breathless media. It would be hilariously funny if it were not so deranged:

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DeWine vs Cordray

Kyle Morris at Breitbart weighs in on the Ohio race for Governor:

Former Sen. Mike DeWine finds himself as the GOP’s nominee for governor in Ohio, walking a fine line between the establishment ways of old in the era of President Donald Trump.

DeWine, interestingly, has not appeared on stage with Trump at any of the president’s rallies in the Buckeye state. However, he has courted Trump supporters at the periphery, perhaps one of the most awkward intra-GOP marriages between the economic nationalist Trump base and the old ways of the fading establishment in the first midterm election in Trump’s presidency.

The strength of the bond between two rival wings of the GOP will be put to the test on Tuesday as voters in the buckle of the nation’s rust belt decide if they want DeWine, or former Obama administration official and Democrat nominee Richard Cordray, to govern the state.

DeWine’s apparent unwillingness or inability to openly embrace the president in the same way GOP candidates in other races nationwide have done highlights the divide within the Republican party. DeWine, who currently serves as Ohio’s Attorney General, served in the United States Senate long before Trump upended the political landscape.

One of the comments at Breitbart refers to DeWine joining “Team Mailman” in 2010. Heh. Anyway, read the rest here. The race does look like a nail-biter between two awful candidates.

More on this tight race at Watchdog Ohio here.

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Setting the clock BACK

The details are wrong. It’s “Stonehenge” – one word. In the fall, we set our clocks BACK an hour, not forward. But the picture is funny enough for me to post to remind everyone to set their clocks BACK one hour this evening.

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The critical race for Ohio’s next Secretary of State

Remember the progressive Secretary of State project?

The Secretary of State Project originated due to the culmination of frustration, anger, bitterness and overall resentment Democrats felt towards Republicans in the wake of President George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004. Still plagued with memories of Katherine Harris and Florida from the 2000 presidential contest, Democrats placed the blame for Senator John Kerry’s loss squarely on the head of former Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, who ruled that provisional ballots in the state would not be counted if they were submitted in the wrong precinct, a decision upheld by the United States Court of Appeals. Bush’s victory in the state – a relatively slim 118,000+ votes – gave him the necessary electoral votes (twenty) to cross the victory threshold of two hundred and seventy.

Democratic founders of the SoS Project saw conspiracy in Blackwell's decision, insisting that those individuals who were elected on the principle of upholding and enforcing election laws were, in fact, political operatives. But rather then push for reform so that the offices of the Secretaries of State reflected a level of neutrality, perhaps making it so holders of those positions were elected on a nonpartisan basis, they instead sought to implement an aggressive agenda exactly the same in nearly every respect that they had just accused Republicans of performing.

Through the strategic process of placing specific candidates, ones that met a certain liberal or progressive criteria set down by the organization, in positions of power that oversaw and administered state elections, the Democratic Party would be "better positioned than in the previous elections to advance traditional Democratic interests," particularly when it came to the administration of election laws.

. . .

The SoS Project has not been active since 2010. It spent just over $50,000 in 2012 and its website was taken down.

The SoS Project may be gone technically, but it seems to be operating under different auspices. Paula Bolyard’s report at PJ Media shows that Ohio voters may yet be vulnerable to progressive, uh, cheating:

Ohio SoS Candidate Who Moved to Keep Trump Off 2020 Ballot

 Vows to 'Impact' Election if She Wins

Ohio has long been known as a battleground state because it often plays a pivotal role in deciding presidential elections. Although the state has a mere 18 electoral votes, Ohio is often a barometer of the nation's political mood. A down-ticket race that hasn't garnered much national attention — but should — is the contest to be Ohio's next secretary of state. Two state lawmakers, Republican Frank LaRose and Democrat Kathleen Clyde, are vying for the position that the Democratic candidate has said could impact the 2020 presidential election.

Kathleen Clyde, who, as a member of the Ohio House introduced the TRUMP Act last year to try and force President Trump to release his tax returns, has vowed to play a role in the 2020 presidential election should she win next Tuesday. Clyde, who did not return PJM's request for a comment, said in February, “It is a very powerful and important position, impacting the presidential election because of our importance as a battleground state and the redistricting process” [emphasis added]. She explained, “It matters who runs the elections in this critical state.”

LaRose, 39, is a combat veteran and U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret, who earned a Bronze Star for his service in Iraq. The father of three has served in the Ohio Senate since 2011. Clyde, also 39, has served in the Ohio House since 2011. A lawyer by trade, Clyde, according to her website, is a "dedicated defender of voters and voting rights" who "wants to take her life’s work to the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office to secure and modernize Ohio elections so every Ohioan’s vote counts."

 A Baldwin-Wallace University poll earlier this month showed the race in a dead heat, with LaRose and Clyde deadlocked at 32.6 percent. A Libertarian candidate, Dustin Hanna, had 7.2 percent, while nearly a third of voters were undecided, likely owing to the fact that neither candidate had statewide name recognition going into the contest.

The fact that impacting the election is on Clyde's mind "should give every Ohioan great cause for concern," LaRose told PJM. "Let me be clear. The secretary of state does not get to impact Ohio's election, the voters do." LaRose added that if he's elected to be Ohio's next chief elections officer, he "will run fair elections, assuring that the voices of Ohioans are heard."

But Democrats clearly have a different idea. That's why Democrats far and wide — from Hillary Clinton to Elizabeth Warren to Eric Holder to Tom Steyer — are focusing their attention on the race and pouring pallets full of cash into it.

Grant Schaffer, LaRose's campaign manager, told PJM, "We're facing an unprecedented wave of out-of-state spending in the secretary of state's race.

National figures like George Soros, Donald Sussman, Eric Holder, Tom Steyer and his wife, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, and Hilary Clinton have all made large personal investments in the race." All, he said, "have publicly stated interests in defeating Trump or want to run for president themselves." He said outside groups like OMG-WTF and iVote are targeting the race.

If the money is pouring in from out-of-state to promote Clyde’s campaign for SoS, that’s bad news for Ohio. And the Libertarian candidate usually splits the conservative vote. 

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#WalkAway follow-up

Photo by Brandon Straka, 

founder of the "Walk Away" movement,

 via The Daily Signal

Despite the unprecedented number of Tea Party people who rallied in the 2009 Taxpayer March in DC, the media ignored it. Including The Plain Dealer. Although the turn-out was much smaller (possibly as many as 3,500 –despite lousy weather), the #WalkAway march in DC last weekend was similarly ignored by the media. However, the Daily Signal filed a follow-up report:

The founder of the #WalkAway Campaign, a movement showcasing stories of why Americans walk away from leftist ideology and the Democratic Party, says he is pleased with an organized march last weekend in the nation’s capital and plans to take the idea on the road.

“I thought it was spectacular. I am so proud of the entire weekend from beginning to end,” Brandon Straka said in an interview with The Daily Signal.

“I have very high expectations, which is why I usually feel let down all the time, but it was one of the rare moments in life where you have the highest possible hopes and expectations and it goes so far beyond,” Straka said.

Straka, 41, a former liberal who voted for Hillary Clinton in the past but now calls himself a “gay conservative,” said he estimates that 3,000 to 3,500 attended.

The #WalkAway events started Oct. 26 with a gala dinner at Trump International Hotel, a march Oct. 27 from John Marshall Park to Freedom Plaza, and a closing brunch Oct. 28.

Read the rest here. Good photos, too

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Vote NO on Issue One

RE-POSTED FROM Oct. 2

A very contentious Issue 1 will be on the ballot this November.  Issue 1 is a very dangerous issue that will weaken drug laws in Ohio to almost the weakest in the nation.  Passage of Issue 1 will much put out the welcome mat for drug users to flock to Ohio!

In addition to weakening our drug laws - the dangerous thing about Issue 1 is that instead of making these changes how they should be - through the legislative process of our elected officials - Issue 1 will make these weak drug laws part of our Ohio Constitution.  

It is important to not get caught up in the "helping the marginal user or addict that needs help" argument.  Without a a doubt some of the drug laws in our state need to be reviewed.  But we do not want to put out a welcome mat and become enablers!

Below is part of an Op-Ed from Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor of the Ohio Supreme Court... 

The lack of consequences for fentanyl possession also applies to possession of other lethal substances, (cocaine, K2, meth and heroin, etc.). Current possession felonies become misdemeanors.

What criminal wouldn’t want to set up their drug business in Ohio?

The adoption of Issue 1 will, I predict, have a devastating consequence on our drug courts. We know, through multiple studies, that drug courts are highly effective but only when they combine the "carrot" of treatment and support with the "stick" of judicial accountability, including incarceration when needed. The courts will be unable to incentivize an addict’s participation in drug court because the "carrot" of not having a felony conviction record is gone. There would be no felony!

Who would want to participate in a drug court program knowing that they only face probation for possession of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, K2, heroin, and so forth? I predict that we will see a severe drop-off in drug court participation at the very moment when it is needed most. Lives will be lost.

To make matters worse, Issue 1 would freeze our criminal drug offense laws in time. It expressly mandates that its provisions be implemented based on the laws in effect on Jan. 1, 2018. Our General Assembly couldn’t, by passing a statute, fix all that is wrong with Issue 1.

Keep in mind that out-of-state special interest groups spent more than $4 million to put Issue 1 on the ballot and will spend more to mislead and confuse you regarding Issue 1.

The proponents seek to address a very real problem: the impact of substance abuse on our society and our criminal justice system. But by taking a hammer to that problem, the proponents have set Ohio on a dangerous course of lenient drug laws. Issue 1’s passage would gravely endanger Ohioans while doing very little, if anything, to help our addicted population. Lives will be lost. Read More....

For more details on Issue 1 Click Here.

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Judicial candidates

RE-POSTED from Oct 22

Just days away from the Nov 6 election, time to prepare to vote. You can find your sample ballot for Cuyahoga County here. You should have your Cuyahoga County voter registration postcard at hand with your precinct details. (For Lake County voters, go here. For Geauga County voters, go here.)

Most of the candidate lists with recommendations are focused on the top of the ticket races. But I’ve been researching judicial candidates and found some ratings, endorsements, and report cards. One source was the <Judge4yourself> website, which collects ratings from the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Associationm the Cuyahoga Criminal Defense Lawyer's Association, the Norman S. Minor Bar Association, and the Ohio Women’s Bar Association.

But it also specifies which candidates receive an endorsement from the Editorial Board of the PD / cleveland.com. Since there will be some Tea Party readers who would not consider a cleveland.com endorsement as a positive, I searched further.  

The <Ohio.ivoteconservative> website represents the collective recommendations of its signatories, many of which Tea Party members will recognize. If you visit their home page and fill in three boxes of info, you will get a list of recommended candidates who will appear on your ballot. It prints out on one page, so you can take it with you when you go to vote. Below is the list of recommended judicial candidates in a downtown Cleveland precinct (if you vote elsewhere, including in another county, you’ll want to go the website and enter your details to get your list of recommended candidates.):

Oh Supreme Court (1/1/19)

  Craig Baldwin

Oh Supreme Court (1/2/19)

  Mary Degenaro

  

Ohio Court Of Appeals #8

  Raymond Headen

Cuyahoga Cnty Cmn Pleas Court (1/1/19)

  Jeffrery C. Sindelar Jr

Cuyahoga Cnty Cmn Pleas Court (1/2/19)

  Bradley Hull IV

Cuyahoga Cnty Cmn Pleas Court (1/3/19)

  Lorraine Coyne

Cuyahoga Cnty Cmn Pleas Court (1/5/19)

  Lon Cherie D. Billingsley

Cuyahoga Cnty Cmn Pleas Court (1/6/19)

  Wanda C. Jones

Cuyahoga Cnty Cmn Pleas Court (1/7/19)

  Kathleen Ann Sutula

Cuyahoga Cnty Cmn Pleas Court (1/8/19)

  Jarrett J. Northup

Cuyahoga Cnty Cmn Pleas Court (1/9/19)

  Brian Darling

Cuyahoga Cnty Cmn Pleas Court (1/11/19)

  Lori Anne Dyke

Cuyahoga Cnty Cmn Pleas Court (1/1/19)

  Denise Nancy Rini

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Trump rally in Cleveland next Monday

Donald J Trump backstage with Cleveland Tea Party's 

Ralph King before the 2016 rally at the IX Center

President Trump will visit Cleveland one day before the mid-term election. 10tv.com reports:

President Donald Trump plans a stop in Cleveland as part of a last-minute pre-election swing through several states.

Ohio's midterm elections include a close governor's race and a pair of tight congressional campaigns.

The Republican president will be in Cleveland the afternoon of Nov. 5, the day before the election . . .

DETAILS:

Mon, November 05, 2018

Cleveland, OH

03:00 pm (EST)

DOORS OPEN 12:00PM (EST)

IX Center

1 I-X Center Drive

Cleveland, OH 44136

You can register for free tickets here.

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Happy Halloween!

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This is not a Halloween prank

photo credit: 2popcornmovies.blogspot.com

IRONY ALERT! Joshua Caplan at Breitbart has the not-a-joke headline: “Facebook Suffers Data Protection Mishap at London Security Event”:

Facebook was left red-faced earlier this month after the social network giant suffered a data protection mishap during a cybersecurity conference hosted in London, according to reports.

The blunder occurred when Facebook misplaced an email list of the summit’s participants.

Financial News London reports:

The privacy breach was not at any old seminar though, it happened at an event entitled “Cyber security: the next 50 years”, which was hosted by Facebook and The Fulbright Commission, the US-UK scholarship programme, at their offices in Brock Street.

The panel discussion was headed by Gail Kent, Facebook’s global public policy lead on security. Fulbright scholars and security experts Jamie Collier, Cameron Colquhoun and Karen Renaud also spoke and the talk was followed by a networking reception.

But the next day guests were shocked to receive an email from Chris Horry, chief operating officer at the Fulbright Commission, which has been forwarded to Capital.

…

Attendees initially assumed the message was an ironic joke, given the theme of the event, and wondered whether a Facebook employee had grabbed the guest list in view of the company’s track record on this issue.

“Unfortunately, I have to inform you that in the course of yesterday evening’s cyber security event, a printed guest list with the name of the invitee and email address has been mislaid,” an email via Horry to participants read. “Whilst we do not expect that the list has been misappropriated, we cannot exclude that possibility. Please rest assured we very much value your data privacy and sincerely apologise for this unfortunate incident.”

Read the rest here.

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Tax cuts and Ohio take-home pay

image credit: walorski.house.gov

The Daily Signal website has a report on the real dollars-and-cents impact of the Trump tax cuts. It also has an interactive map, so you can select Ohio and find how much the tax cuts benefit taxpayers in your district.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has been one of the strongest and boldest reforms of President Donald Trump’s first term in office. According to analysis from The Heritage Foundation, the tax law will give hardworking Americans tax breaks in every congressional district and in every state.

Across the nation at large, the average American will take home on average $1,400 more of their paycheck in 2018. For married couples with two children, that figure doubles to just under $3,000.

>>> You can find the average tax cut in your district here [interactive map].

While higher-taxed districts will see more in dollar savings as a result of the tax cuts, they are certainly not the only winners from the Trump tax cuts. In fact, lower-income districts will feel more relief in their tax burden, as they will see a higher percentage of their taxes cut than Americans in higher-income areas.

Taxpayers in the 11^th District (represented by Marcia Fudge) saw approx. $898 more in annual take-home pay.

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Jailbreak and Ohio Issue #1

art credit: uclu.org

Paul Mirengoff at PowerLineblog was considering the case of the dud bomber – what was this guy doing out on the streets and not in jail for priors.

Our Under-Incarceration Problem, Explosive Packages Edition

Inevitably, Democrats and their partners in the mainstream media want to focus on the political leanings of the man suspected of sending packages to leading leftists. However, Daniel Horowitz contends that the real story here is “jailbreak,” i.e., the failure to put criminals behind bars and keep them there.

I agree that this is a key element of the story. The suspect apparently has a lengthy rap sheet that included dealing drugs, theft, traffic violations, and battery. A close analysis of his record will likely show he should have been in jail.

This is a recurring but almost always ignored phenomenon. In one high-profile case after another, we learn that the criminal is a chronic offender with a rap sheet that, in a properly functioning society, would have mandated his incarceration at the time of his latest offense.

Yet, Democrats and too many Republicans, including some in the White House, are dead set on increasing the number of convicted felons, including dealers of drugs like fentanyl, on the streets. They want shorter sentences for such offenders and they want them released from jail early — an obvious recipe for more crime faster.

In short, the bipartisan leniency-for-felons crowd seeks to make our under-incarceration problem worse, even though doing so can only increase the occurrence of crime, including violent crime. The consequences of this perverse policy are there for all to see, but the leniency crowd averts its eyes.

This line of reasoning also relates to Ohio Issue #1, on the ballot in just over a week. Issue #1 would reduce penalties for drug offenses. An earlier CTP blog quoted Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor’s views on Issue 1. Click here.   

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#WalkAway™ March today

From the Canada Free Press:

#WalkAway™ March LIVE Stream. The #WalkAway Campaign, founded by former liberal Brandon Straka, is a true grassroots movement. It is a Facebook video campaign movement, dedicated to sharing the stories of people who can no longer accept the current ideology of liberalism and what the Democratic Party has become. Some of us left long ago, while many have recently been “red-pilled.” Some have wanted to leave for some time but have feared the consequences they might suffer from friends or family if they were to walk away.

The group is here to encourage and support those on the left to walk away from the divisive tenets by allowing people to share their stories, watch the video testimonies, and read the posts of others who have walked away.

The campaign also serves another very important purpose. For far too long, the left has controlled the narrative in this country within the news media, while the “silent majority” on the right have done what they always do – remain silent. The left has been allowed to reinforce the narrative that everybody on the right is a bigot, a racist, a homophobe, a misogynist, etc. The left has become so extreme and hateful that it is now time to fight back! We want people on the right to use their voices and tell the world the truth about whom they are by making videos telling everyone what it means to be a conservative in America and what your values really are. Tell minorities on the left, who have been told their whole lives that they are not welcome on the right because of the bigotry and hatred, that they are welcome. Tell them there is a seat at the table on the right for everybody.

The coverage has been sporadic and mostly online rather than on network news. Most people can't watch live streaming all day. But for short video clips, check out Chicks on the Right here. Looks like the #WalkAway™ March is a success.

UPDATE: More coverage here at Business & Politics Review, with video of Fox & Friends.

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Pumpkins at Public Square

Weekend fun in downtown Cleveland . . .

Yesterday’s headline from the son of a mailman

art credit: politicalclownparade.blogspot.com

The headline from Gov. John Kasich appearance on CNN’s “Newsroom” via Breitbart:

Kasich: ‘The Lord Doesn’t Want’ 

Americans Opposing the Migrant Caravan

How does he know this?

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