Tag: Ohio

Why I Support Michael V. Ryan for Butler County Commissoner Over Roger Reynolds: The Spooky Nook Sports Complex and vision for the future

In the ever-evolving landscape of local politics, decisions about leadership are rarely simple. They require reflection, vision, and a deep understanding of what a community truly needs to thrive. As someone who has stood by Roger Reynolds through difficult times and considers him a personal friend, my decision to endorse Michael Ryan for Butler County Commissioner was not made lightly. It stems from a clear-eyed assessment of the future of Butler County and the kind of leadership that can best guide us there.

A Legacy of Loyalty and Friendship

Let me begin by acknowledging my longstanding support for Roger Reynolds. I’ve stood with him through challenging moments, and I’ve always appreciated his dedication to public service. Roger has contributed meaningfully to Butler County, and I personally like him. But politics isn’t just about personal loyalty—it’s about choosing the right person for the right job at the right time. And in this moment, I believe Michael Ryan is that person. Roger has announced his run for this office knowing the political situation, and he did it anyway, ultimately making it more about what he wants and needs, over what is best for this commissioner seat. He has a desire to justifiably clear his name from a rough period of time. But in that process, he showed a lot of bad judgment in pushing away people who stood by him the strongest through that process, and we don’t need that kind of trouble in a commissioner office.

The Spooky Nook Sports Complex: A Symbol of Visionary Leadership

One of the most compelling reasons I’m supporting Michael Ryan is his instrumental role in the development of the Spooky Nook Sports Complex in Hamilton. Located on the site of the old Champion International Paper factory, this facility is more than just a sports venue—it’s a symbol of economic revitalization, community engagement, and visionary leadership.

Hamilton has long needed a spark to reignite its downtown economy, and the Spooky Nook project has provided just that. It’s the largest sports complex of its kind in North America, and it has transformed a once-depleted industrial site into a vibrant hub of activity. Michael says it’s the second largest, but who’s splitting straws?  It’s a pretty spectacular venue on the Hamilton, Ohio riverfront.  Weekends at Spooky Nook are packed with volleyball tournaments, basketball games, and conventions. The facility includes a hotel and event center, drawing visitors from across the country and injecting new life into local businesses.

This kind of transformation doesn’t happen by accident. It requires leadership that can bring people together, facilitate investment, and create a shared vision for the future. Michael Ryan, as Vice Mayor and City Council member, played a key role in making this happen. He didn’t just support the project—he helped create the conditions that made it possible.

The Power of Communication and Connection

Michael Ryan’s greatest strength is his ability to get people talking. In today’s political climate, shaped in many ways by President Trump’s deal-making influence, the leaders who succeed are those who can build coalitions, foster dialogue, and unite diverse groups around common goals. Michael Ryan is that kind of leader.

He’s personable, approachable, and genuinely interested in what others have to say. When you put him in a room with people from different backgrounds, he doesn’t create division—he creates conversation. That’s a rare and valuable trait in politics, and it’s one of the reasons why the Spooky Nook project was able to move forward. Investors felt confident that the city government would support their efforts, and that confidence was rooted in the kind of leadership Michael Ryan exemplifies.

A New Generation of Politicians

Michael Ryan represents a new generation of politicians—leaders who don’t wait for opportunities to come to them but actively seek out ways to improve their communities. He was elected in 2017, during Trump’s first term, and he brought with him a fresh perspective and a proactive approach to governance.

This isn’t the era of traditional politics anymore. The days of sitting in an office and waiting for constituents to come knocking are over. Today’s leaders need to be out in the world, building relationships, attracting investment, and thinking creatively about the future. Michael Ryan understands this, and he’s already demonstrating it—even before officially becoming commissioner.

Aviation and Economic Development

A perfect example of Michael Ryan’s forward-thinking approach is his involvement with Joby Aviation. He’s been working to establish connections with the Dayton International Airport area, where a new factory is being built to produce air taxis. This is cutting-edge technology, and it represents a major opportunity for Butler County to position itself as a hub for innovation and transportation.

Michael Ryan isn’t waiting for someone else to take the lead—he’s already out there, laying the groundwork for future partnerships and economic growth. That kind of initiative is exactly what we need in a commissioner.

The Contrast with Roger Reynolds

Again, this isn’t personal. Roger Reynolds has had his time in office, and he’s done some good work. But his approach is rooted in a more traditional style of politics—one that doesn’t always align with the demands of today’s rapidly changing world. His decision to run again feels more like an attempt to redeem his personal brand than a genuine effort to serve the community in new and innovative ways.

In contrast, Michael Ryan is focused on the future. He’s thinking about how to revitalize Middletown, attract enterprise zones to Hamilton, and create sustainable growth across Butler County. He’s not just reacting to problems—he’s anticipating opportunities and acting on them.

Leadership for the Right Reasons

Ultimately, leadership is about seeing and doing things that other people can’t do for themselves, or understand at the time. It’s about putting the needs of the community ahead of personal ambition, and I think with Roger Reynolds, he has a need for personal redemption because of what he’s been through.  But he’s had a chance to do things in the past and we know what we’ll get from him.  Michael Ryan has shown that he can do more, and is a fresh start. He’s not running for commissioner to boost his own profile, which comes naturally as part of the job—he’s running because he believes in Butler County and wants to help it reach its full potential.  He’s what the future looks like and he brings with him a lot of fresh perspective.

He’s already proven that he can attract investment, facilitate dialogue, and bring people together. He’s shown that he understands the complexities of economic development and the importance of proactive governance. And he’s demonstrated a commitment to transparency, collaboration, and long-term planning.

A Vision for Butler County’s Future

As we look ahead to the future of Butler County, we need leaders who can think big, act boldly, and unite our communities around a shared vision. We need commissioners who understand the importance of infrastructure, innovation, and investment. We need people who are willing to work around the clock to make our county a better place to live, work, and raise a family.

Michael Ryan is that kind of leader. His work on the Spooky Nook Sports Complex is just the beginning. He has the energy, the ideas, and the relationships to take Butler County to the next level. Whether it’s aviation, tourism, or enterprise development, he’s already laying the foundation for a brighter future.

Conclusion

So yes, I’ve supported Roger Reynolds in the past. I’ve stood by him, and I still consider him a friend. But when it comes to choosing the best person for Butler County Commissioner, my support goes to Michael Ryan. He’s the right leader for this moment, and I believe he will do an outstanding job.

If you haven’t visited the Spooky Nook Sports Complex, I encourage you to go. See for yourself what visionary leadership can accomplish. And when it comes time to vote, you won’t go wrong in supporting Michael Ryan—a leader who listens, connects, and delivers.  And has an eye for a future that people can really get excited about. 

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

The Link Between Mass Killers and Pot: Robert Westman was a drug user who worked at a pot dispensary

There has been plenty of time to cover this story, but few have, as they are hesitant to address the topic due to its inconvenience.  But there are a lot of reasons why I have a visceral hatred of pot and its consumption, marijuana specifically.  And you can’t discuss mass shootings such as the one committed by Robert Westman recently, where he shot up a church full of children, killing two of them and injuring 17 others, including three elderly workers, during a prayer, without talking about drugs.  The 23-year-old was a trans kid, and there have been a lot of shootings recently that also involved trans kids, obviously having a hard time adjusting to what society has informed them through popular culture, and the nature of human reality.  That is one area where reality collides with the brick wall of social engineering, which goes drastically against biological nature.  But that’s not the root cause of the problem here, and if you study the trend behind the school shootings, it becomes undeniable that the consumption of marijuana is common among all of them.  In this case, with Robert Westman, as of a few months ago, he was working at a marijuana dispensary called RISE that sold medical cannabis.  He also sold handmade skateboard accessories with a girlfriend at local markets as recently as last year.  He was a constant vapor, so much so that he thought he would get cancer from his active consumption.  So this kid was one of those stringy-haired druggie types having a hard time coping with reality and turning to drugs often.  Even mentioning as much in the many notes he left behind.  If you have watched the kind of people who shop at these dispensaries for drugs, whether medical or recreational, they are not our society’s best.  Very little good is ever going to come from people who indulge in recreational drug use—and saying that brings up the real problem that certainly deserves such scrutiny. 

I’ve heard all the debates, and I remain a hard no on recreational marijuana use.  It’s the dumbest thing a society could endorse.  At least one of them, for reasons nobody is talking about.  In some people, the active ingredients in marijuana and other drugs produce psychopathic thoughts that are dangerous.  These active ingredients can trigger reactions in individuals who already have underlying conditions.  And politically, we have a lot of people who want to make money off people’s consumption of pot, because they justify that people are going to do it anyway, so why not make some tax money off it?  It’s a free world; who is anybody to tell other people how to live their lives?  So even Republicans have moved to support recreational marijuana and to legalize it in states that fall for the scam.  And before you know it, there are all these dispensaries going up everywhere, lowering the sidewalk appeal of all other businesses, justified as free market enterprise.  So, for the qualifier, I am against all drug use, even alcohol.  I would say it’s wrong to get an after-work drink to knock the edge off just as much as smoking dope from legal marijuana recently purchased from a dispensary.  Anything that is impairing your mind is dangerous and should be avoided.  When I hear that pot is legal and that should settle the matter, it only represents to me a bad decision by stupid people to legalize a hazardous drug that, in a certain percentage of the population, has a bad reaction to it, and they turn into mass killers.  Most, if not all, of the most recent mass killers had a relationship to marijuana, and the frequency of their killings could be graphed to the same rate of state legalization, where more of the wrong kind of people had easier access to the drug.  In the case of Robert Westman, he was so seduced by the druggie lifestyle that he chose to work at a dispensary.  He could have worked at McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, anywhere.  He decided on the RISE dispensary. 

So why is it so dangerous?  Well, since the beginning of human records, people have consumed drugs to alter their state of mind.  And in that drunken or impaired state, a mind loses its resistance to outside forces, which are always present.  And let’s just put it politely, a mind has a much easier time communicating with quantum characters.  Life forms that live in other-dimensional space.  Some cultures refer to them as demons, while others consider them angels.  Some cultures, such as Islam, call them gin.  Some cultures, such as the Japanese, refer to them as kami.  Shamans in Peru refer to them as ghosts just hanging out beyond our conscious existence, whom they communicate with directly through ayahuasca consumption.  There are spiritual forces that are just as common as mosquitoes, who are ever present everywhere we go, and once you lower your intellectual defenses just a little bit with drunkenness or inebriation from some pot smoke, you find all kinds of really dumb ideas starting to pop into your mind because you lose your resistance to those influences, the drunker you are.  And pretty soon, you are just as dumb as local school board members, such as in my community, at the Lakota school board, dancing naked on table tops at education conferences, and passing out puking and drunk in the bathroom with their panties vanquished to chaos. 

We refer to such influences from outside the logical mind as evil.  And in our society, through mental impairment, we are giving access to our lives to these many evil forces by legalizing intoxicants, such as marijuana.  Oh, I know, the Indians smoked pot, and a lot of other things.  The Canaanites used a lot of drugs.  So did the Egyptians.  Everyone does.  But what happened to all those cultures? An aggressor defeated them.  The root cause of most trouble in all societies from the beginning of time has been in drug consumption and the inherent effects of intoxication on the minds of the participants.  So when you know that this kid, Robert Westman, was doing drugs.  And you see the messages he left behind, such as himself looking in the mirror and seeing a devil, you are seeing a kid stepping away from the rails of his parents, who were divorced, and indulging in intoxication, being vulnerable to the many lifeforms that roam outside of our conscious thoughts.  Lowering those resistances to those characters opens the door to many negative consequences.  And most people don’t go so far.  Those destructive thoughts might pop into their heads, but they logically resist them, as they were taught to do by a healthy parental structure of family support.  But some people can’t, and this kid looked to be one of them.  All the signs were there, but we did not see them because of the legalized nature of marijuana.  We were told we couldn’t judge him as he became a her.  And he was hanging out with the stringy-haired skateboard crowd, which history says is probably experimenting with drugs, such as pot.  And politically, we took away the taboo of pot use by making it legal, because we wanted the tax money.  But in the process, we took away our logic to judge various degrees of intoxication and to call it bad, because we legalized it.  But that doesn’t change the danger that comes from altering a mind that was built to resist such influences.  Then, to make it vulnerable to intoxication that unleashes evil into the participants on a scale that the human race has underestimated.  And if we really want to understand mass violence, we have to understand drug consumption and why people do it.  And what happens when they do? 

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

The Innovations of Michael V. Ryan: Forming an important relationship with Joby Aviation that is the gateway to the future

The plan is for Joby Aviation to conduct some flight tests soon, as early as 2026, in the Miami Valley, where it has a new manufacturing plant in Dayton.  And the Vice Mayor of Hamilton, Ohio, Michael Ryan, wants Butler County to be part of it, as a member of the Hamilton City Council who has done a commendable job of restoring commercial viability to the historic city.  And he has some bigger ideas about helping Butler County as a whole by running for commissioner in an upcoming election, which coincides with the release of Joby Aviation’s new air taxis from its Dayton facility.  Michael recently met with the people involved in this expansion and reported some results to me as part of his campaign platform, which is quite ambitious.  I love the topic of sky taxis, or as they are known to President Trump, eVTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) vehicles.  Joby is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California, and currently has five sky taxis that they are delivering to Dubai as the first flight destination.  As I’ve covered this topic extensively, I believe this is one of the most significant transportation trends to emerge from the human race.  Essentially, these eVTOL vehicles are personal vehicles, much like the Jetsons’ or the flying cars from Back to the Future.  But the technology is real, and it’s happening now, in 2025.  In Dubai, they have already built the infrastructure, which consists of four vertiports: one at the airport and three others located around the city.  They will essentially serve as an Uber experience, but instead of getting into a car and having a driver take you somewhere, you will get into one of these very advanced drones.  Initially, they will be piloted by a real operator.  However, they will soon be completely automated, and you will interact with the experience through your phone. 

In America, there are only three places seriously considering entering the eVTOL market: New York, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area in San Francisco.  However, Michael Ryan is trying to make Butler County the most obvious starting point, as Ohio is the birthplace of aviation, and the new Joby plant is just up the road along the Aviation Corridor.  There are few places in America as aviation-focused as the span of I-75 from Dayton to CVG in Kentucky, and making Hamilton and Butler County, in general, a hub for Joby interaction would be a tremendous commercial opportunity.  All Joby is waiting for is the FAA to complete their review and for some testing flights to occur around Dayton International Airport.  The Trump administration is ready to support this new opportunity, and it won’t take long for everyone to clamor for their own vertiports.  It’s good to see that Michael Ryan isn’t even the commissioner of Butler County yet, and he’s already trying to create opportunities that few in the world have seen yet.  The timeline will be fast; the Dayton facility plans to produce 500 air taxis per year, and it won’t take long for them to become as common as routine airplanes. However, eVTOL vehicles will operate under the flight levels of current commercial airlines and personal planes.  Traffic problems will be significantly reduced because traffic can be stacked in the air.  Infrastructure is relatively simple compared to railroads and highways.  Vertiports typically require an investment of $100,000-$ 200,000 for the pad to operate from, and a few million dollars for a multi-level stack terminal.  However, eVTOL vehicles can operate almost anywhere, including in dense cities, which will be demonstrated in Dubai before 2025 comes to a close. 

Speed is the wave of the future in communication, so the amount of time that people spend interacting with each other will need to increase.  The experimental trend that had been emerging during the COVID-19 pandemic has turned out to be a bust: the work-from-home crowd did not turn out well.  Economic activity, aside from all the socialist experiments, occurs when people who can invest and produce manufacturing can communicate with each other easily, which is why so much industry ends up clustering along highway access.  It used to be railroads.  Starting in 2025 and beyond, access to vertiports will be available, and ultimately, person-to-person travel will be possible from your driveway to your employer.  Ground traffic will become a second-level option.  It will be like riding a horse as compared to a car.  When you can get anywhere within a city in 10 to 15 minutes, that speeds up human interaction, which emerging AI and a new space economy currently are constrained by traditional infrastructure that is much slower than it needs to be.  Many people aren’t thinking about these things yet, but Michael Ryan is.  He is a refreshing new Republican who fits in very nicely with the J.D. Vance generation, as well as Vivek Ramaswamy, who will soon be the governor of Ohio.  As Elon Musk develops Starship to emerge into this new commercial space economy, where SpaceX has just had a very successful test of their flight 10 Starship, things are going to move very fast, not years from now, but within the year.  Therefore, a political vision will become increasingly important in meeting those emerging market trends.  As a city council member, Michael Ryan and his team in Hamilton have been effective at staving off further taxation of a legacy economy that has largely shifted away.

One of the most impressive renovations to Hamilton is part of the good work that Michael Ryan and the Hamilton City Council have brought forth, namely the Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill, which is America’s largest indoor sports complex.  It’s a fantastic facility right on the river, across from downtown Hamilton, and is a testament to what is possible when an old space is historically preserved and transformed into something that everyone enjoys.  The Joby Aviation air taxi technology would be ideal for this specific site, as it would enable people to get in and out of the area much faster than with a car.  It would take a one- to two-hour trip by car from the surrounding area, making it about 15 minutes, as Joby vehicles can travel at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour.  And they are now safe enough to consider them more reliable than traditional cars.  They will quickly prove to be the safest way to travel.  As Michael pointed out to me during our conversation, personalized sky travel won’t even be the most lucrative market.  Logistics will be revolutionized as drone technology soon delivers to our doors, as Amazon has been promising for a long time.  The technology is now here, making it viable to have distribution centers far away from congested traffic corridors.  Because the drones can fly over these areas, Joby technology will enable drop-offs from airports to these centers to occur much faster and more efficiently.  Things are about to get a lot faster, and Michael Ryan is looking to make Butler County the most attractive destination for this new Joby Aviation opportunity.  Michael Ryan has been a city council member in Hamilton since 2017, and it didn’t take long for great things like the Spooky Nook complex to emerge with new economic viability that is bringing new opportunities to the city of Hamilton, which is the best way to keep taxes down, to pay for infrastructure with financial viability, not personal property taxes.  And what Michael Ryan is doing with forming partnerships with Joby Aviation shows an opportunity on a much larger scale.  And he is far ahead of any other politician in the country, which is something to be very proud of. 

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

The Lockdown Lady: Amy Acton should have stayed under her rock

This is going to be fun, the governor’s race in Ohio.  Not that I think it will be close, but it will serve as a cherry on top for a vast evil that transpired, which was never settled.  Because she resigned from her job before the full wrath of anger came down on her for what she did during COVID in Ohio.  We’re talking about Amy Acton, the stringy-haired hippy chick who ran the Health Department in Ohio for Mike DeWine.  She hilariously tried to claim this past week that she was statistically tied with Vivek Ramaswamy in the race for governor, which I find laughable.  However, she’s trying to create excitement among a Democrat base that is flatlining.  Democrats across the country are trying to generate enthusiasm for their campaigns, and in her case, they hope people have forgotten.  After all, she was a media darling for most of 2020 as she reported daily from Columbus on the latest lockdown procedures, which she perfected to an extreme.  And the media loved having a mom telling them to go to bed and telling them what to do about everything.  Amy Acton’s tenure as Director of Health in Ohio was a disaster, but she did reveal what Democrats have in mind for government.  All the metaphorical masks came off during COVID, literally, and in many cases, by putting actual masks on we learned a lot.  However, we learned a great deal about ourselves during that period, despite it being so scary.  We came to know the differences between Republicans and Democrats beyond polite discourse over salary fairness and race relations.  Amy Acton led the nation in lockdown procedures that were statistically insane, essentially stopping the Ohio economy until a virus, created in China and released by very sinister forces, would stop spreading through a crazy strategy of separating people from each other until the case infections stopped. 

I didn’t discuss it at the time, but a couple of the most prominent con artists I have ever known started a company that conducted COVID-19 tests because they thought that was going to be the future.  They were radical lefty types and were dumb as rocks.  However, they had significant, essential jobs that paid them far too much money.  And they left those jobs thinking Covid tests in Ohio were going to be big business.  I explained to them that Amy Acton was not going to last, that Ohio was breaking the law by violating the Constitution, and that COVID was one of the biggest scams in the history of the world.  And I said all this because they tried to recruit me to their cause, wanting me to sell their new COVID-19 testing lab to the political world, and wanted to pay me a lot of money to use my voice to validate their existence.  (a lot of money)  Which anybody who knew me back then should have known better.  I was dressed every day like Mad Max, ready for a fight at any moment with anybody.  I was prepared for a showdown with the tyrannical forces of Amy Acton’s health direction at the drop of a dime. The Government was way out of control and getting worse by the day, and Governor Mike DeWine lost control of his government over fear of the stupid Covid virus, which was killing people who got it left and right.  And that same government was basing all their statistics on these COVID-19 tests, which people ran, like I mentioned, who were essentially designed to give false positives, and that Amy Acton would use those results to grab for more government overreach, as if to justify their actions. 

Of course, I proved to be right.  Those guys ended up out of a job, Amy Acton resigned.  The court challenges to the lockdown procedures all went against the DeWine administration, and he quickly had to start backtracking once he realized his abortion loving Health Director had screwed up Ohio detrimentally over a government power grab to use a health crisis to control every part of people’s lives.  And every conspiracy that I had talked about regarding the entire process turned out to be exactly as I said it was during that horrible period.  But the lessons learned were extremely valuable, even if a lot of innocent people died in the process, and the mandatory vaccines of the Biden administration damaged many.  It was a bad time, and Amy Acton was the queen of it all.  So I think it is pretty hilarious that she is going to climb out from under a rock and run for governor.  And, that she believes she can run against Vivek Ramaswamy, one of the most intelligent people on planet earth, who can talk the ears off a donkey.  I don’t think so.  If Amy Acton is the best that Democrats have, then they have next to nothing.  However, there is good in all this. I believe that a lot of what was unsettled needs to be settled as a result of that terrible period.  What can, or should, the government do for people?  And that will be a great debate where Vivek Ramaswamy will have many opportunities to discuss during this gubernatorial race in Ohio. I think it will get further worse for Amy Acton with the upcoming race, as Sherrod Brown wants to return to the Senate by challenging the incumbent, Jon Husted, who was Lieutenant Governor at the time Amy Acton was Health Director.  He was on TV with her every day, and there was a lot to discuss regarding the day-to-day operations of COVID management in Ohio, which serves as a warning for all about the power of big government.  And it’s going to get a lot of attention during these campaigns. 

I think it’s crazy for Amy Acton to stick her head out of the ground from which she has been hiding to run for Governor, which is going to expose her in ways she can’t imagine.  However, it’s not her failures as a person that will be so detrimental, but rather the lessons of letting a government, run by people like her, take over the day-to-day management of our lives from the utopian fantasy of communist/Democrat politics.  Amy Acton was among the worst, leading all states with her lockdown approach to managing the virus.  And because she did, she empowered a lot of con artists like those Covid testing people I mentioned, to profit off the demise of Ohio, and the nation, in ways that no fiction writer prior would have dared to put forth a plot because nobody would believe it.  And I think she is going to be destroyed politically by Vivek Ramaswamy, and to a greater extent, the Trump administration that has never been right with Mike DeWine since those many Covid mistakes.  People are going to get a chance to get revenge on Amy Acton for what she did to them, and the wrath will be harsh.  People generally left her alone because she stepped away from politics.  But now she’s climbing right back in, and I don’t think she, nor any of her advisors, know what they are getting into.  This won’t be a friendly election about ideas.  This will be a way for people to take their anger out on Amy Acton, as a result of what she did to their lives.  Amy Acton will, for the rest of her life, be known as the Lockdown Lady.  And people will never let her live it down, especially once they learn that she was the one responsible, which will be the centerpiece of this upcoming election.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

Lakota School Teachers Need to Stop Having Sex with Students: The problem starts at the top

The worst thing about the recent case of 42-year old Lakota school teacher Justin Daniel Dennis from Lakota East, who had sex with a 17-year-old girl in his classroom and many other places, was that we warned about it when it was happening, during the 2021 school year.  And hundreds of people allowed it to happen because of their open sexual attitudes within the public school, from the school board, to other administrators, to the schools’ at all costs supporters.  At that time, we were discussing many administrative problems leading to the school superintendent’s resignation due to his bizarre sexual lifestyle, and many of us warned the Lakota schools that he was just the tip of the iceberg.  And instead of doing anything about it, the school board chose to do what they are known for, dancing on tabletops naked and passing out drunk in dirty bathrooms face down.  No wonder people like Justin Daniel Dennis thought he could get away with it.  And not just once, but according to the victim, the girl, now that she is a few years older and in her 20s, in college, who stated to police, they had sex in the school, in parking lots, all over the place, many times.  Lakota schools, like many public schools, have a permissive attitude toward sex in general, and it’s been out of control for a long time, and it starts at the top.  When you have stories like this one, it’s no wonder teachers think this behavior is acceptable.  Rather than addressing these problems when they arise, the school seeks to conceal the information.  We only became aware of this incident because four years later, the former student provided police with a statement, which they were able to verify, leading to an arrest on the first Monday of August, 2025. 

Justin Dennis taught psychology, economics, government, and cybersecurity at Lakota East and Lakota West, and was a listed advisor for the Hope Squad, a student assistance group.  This is more than an accusation of loose lips; his arrest was based on a recorded statement from the victim to Butler County deputies, provided on August 4, 2025, and they were shown corresponding evidence of a text thread with the teacher discussing their past relationship.  Of course, he is pleading not guilty as he is facing one to five years in prison and a $10K fine, and he’ll have to register as a sex offender.  Most criminals always deny committing the crime.  By the court documents that we have so far, it’s pretty obvious what happened, and it goes far beyond the sex of a 40-something-year-old teacher and a 17-year-old student.  It points to a culture itself that facilitates this kind of loose behavior, and it’s a massive problem.  Most of the teachers engaging in this behavior are not getting caught because nobody ever comes forward to report them.  And when we have discussed these things in the past in a community setting, all the apologists get upset and call us all right-winged extremists, because they think it’s unreasonable that we expect good behavior out of the teachers we pay for with property tax money.  And when something like this happens, they are all a little guilty, from the school board that covers up all these cases, to the school’s cheerleaders who overlook everything for the chance to keep their free babysitting service.  We now have numerous screenshots from this Lakota teacher’s social media accounts, and it’s pretty apparent what he was doing, as many in his position are as well: using the children of the school to mask their failures as individuals.  The shell game of unionized public education employment provides them with a convenient mask to hide their true identity from the public. 

There is an alarming post that Dennis made once this girl graduated from high school, where he said, “We did it, kid.  I’m so proud of you.”  What he didn’t say was that they were having sex in his classroom, at his home, in the parking lot where she worked in Springdale, and many other places.  He was using his position of authority to gain personal sexual fulfillment out of a young person who was at a very vulnerable time in her life. As we learn more about the situation, it appears that this young lady was initially considering becoming a young man but has decided to remain a woman.  And when you reflect on the kind of Biden-era pronoun usage, which this guy Dennis has indications of on his X page, no wonder this kid was so confused.  And under the mask of helping troubled young kids, it gives teachers a mask to hide their sexual perversions.  Even making that statement, many people who live and work in the Lakota school system think that kind of value judgment is unfair.  If you are a man and you walk by a knothole in the fence, you should not feel inclined to stick stuff into it.  As a rational human being, you should know better than to indulge some animal instinct toward pleasure.  And that is even more the case when it comes to other human beings under your care—vulnerable young people who trust the adults in their lives.  And Lakota schools, as a culture, let these kids down time and time again.

And this teacher isn’t some guy stuck in the corner that nobody knew about.  On his X social media account, he only had 370 followers, and Lakota school board president Julie Shaffer is one of them.  And another school board member, Kelly Casper, reposted some of his articles.  So he’s an insider, known to the people who run the school.  And they were either foolish or they were in on it.  And based on what I know of the former school superintendent, who had all kinds of sexual problems of his own, which they worked very hard to cover up, the evidence points to them being in on it.  People were aware of what was happening, but they didn’t take action.  And it’s much bigger than just this case.  These are rotten individuals who often engage in questionable activities, and they exploit children to mask their flawed personalities. This is why the bad behavior from Lakota’s school board, which I was first-hand informed about by another school board member, is so important.  You can’t dance on tabletops with no panties and end the night puking your guts out and expect all the employees of the school to behave themselves.  The Lakota school board has created a permissive environment that is dangerous for children.  Cases like this give us just a hint of the magnitude of the problem.  And all the apologists who are talking about what a good teacher this Justin Dennis guy was, they are part of the problem too.  They are suckers, and they are all contributors to the guilt of this case.  It’s bad enough that an old man was having sex with a kid.  The crime is the abuse of authority that violates a relationship of trust, only to surrender to animal instincts and to act no better than a dog humping somebody’s leg.  And if you are a teacher or someone in authority, you never do it, under any condition.  However, instead, Lakota schools, like most public schools, often yield to primal instincts and surrender to the worst of human nature.  And it’s what they teach, and it’s what their role in the community entails.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

More Rumors to Address: Do Lakota school board members dance on table tops drunk and naked

We’ve already discussed what is on the Rumor Has It website that Lakota schools produce to address a narrative they’d like to control.  But when it comes to public relations, which is what that official website of the school intends, you can learn a lot more about the people behind the website from what they don’t want to talk about, as opposed to what they do.  And in that regard, there is a big rumor running around out there about the school board itself, and how they behave at out-of-town education conferences that come up every time I speak to people in public about Lakota schools.  When the Lakota school board comes up, one particular incident instantly comes to mind, and it permeates the conversation for the duration.  I happen to know that this incident is not a rumor, as I have been informed about it by another school board member with direct knowledge.  But I was also told about it by the wife of the former superintendent, as she was explaining in great detail the crazy sexual exploits of her husband, for which this same school board knew about, and participated in a very destructive cover-up that involved police reports and all kinds of public debate.  While this isn’t a new story, as it involves members of the current school board, many of these individuals have survived several election cycles since.  Their supporters don’t care about any bad behavior exhibited at these social events. I might care about it and think it’s reprehensible.  However, voters who were aware of the trouble voted for these school board members anyway, and as far as I’m concerned, that sets the record straight regarding the kind of people on the school board and how they represent the community. 

https://www.lakotaonline.com/resources/community-resources/rumor-has-it

The incident we are talking about involved a lot of drinking to the point of severe intoxication and dancing on tabletops in full view of the public.  There is some cell phone footage circulating, but these are not pretty people.  It’s not appealing footage.  And the whole evening collapsed into a puking session, face down next to a toilet with clothes missing.  So if the Rumor Has It page wants to address rumors in the community and put a different spin on the kind of people who find that behavior reprehensible, there is a lot they could say to get a positive narrative.  Such as an argument that these same school board members tried to make about the superintendent, who was found to have an excessive sexual lifestyle that they declared was private.  Because they thought his public job was worth the cost of his private faults.  When I hear that kind of thing, I hear dollar signs because it costs a lot of money for people to hide private faults from public opinion.  Which I would argue is the whole reason behind this facility’s plan; it was conceived by people with major private frailties to hide from the public a title of respect gained through the building of new schools.  It is not uncommon for people who have experienced significant personal failures to seek public acceptance through titles and accreditation, in an attempt to hide them from the world.  It happens all the time, and would undoubtedly be something to talk about on the Rumor Has It webpage.  They could say on it that school board members at Lakota are only human and have human needs for drunkenness and sexual repression that need to be expressed through dancing and the removal of clothes, and what they do in their private life is their private business, even though they are on the road representing the Lakota School District.  What happens at education conventions stays at education conventions. 

However, that’s not what’s happening here. The purpose of the Rumor Has It website is to control the narrative, and that incident is one that they would like the public to forget.  They already have their supporters, who don’t see anything wrong with the behavior.  However, for those who find that behavior devastating, they may not have heard much about it unless the school addressed the issue on its website.  Because the local media certainly didn’t cover the story.  But you can’t keep something like that quiet, and among the kind of conservative voters I speak with, the church goers, the family-first GOP types, this whole incident is all the rage.  They certainly didn’t vote for these current school board members. Instead, they worked to replace them with new board members, only to have them resign amid great controversy.  And oddly enough, during all these news stories, this drinking incident that was on the tips of everyone’s tongues never made it into the newspaper or television coverage.  So, people shake their heads, and the story takes on a life of its own, permeating the background of every social gathering.  Because the school’s strategy isn’t transparent, it’s only talking about the kinds of things it wants, even listing the topics it has on the Rumor Has It website as a diversion from the real problems.  It’s not CRT that is the problem, at Lakota, even though that is one problem.  It’s not the policy of public comments.  The transgender bathroom debates.  It’s the quality of the school board members themselves and how they lead other adult employees.  And when stories like the drunken binge are floating around out there, of course the other unionized employees are going to point to it to justify their bad behavior, such as dating other students, getting caught with porn addictions, and other human resource disasters that come from a culture that says, “I’m only human, so don’t judge me.” 

When they don’t talk about it, more is said than what could otherwise be because the point of the page is to direct people’s attention to the topics they want to talk about, and to rally their progressive base.  Not to address serious issues.  A typical PR firm could easily make a statement about the pressures of running a school, noting that while out of town and away from their families, everyone deserves to let off a little steam, even if it involves a bit of indulgence, such as puking, and the clothes end up missing.  Everyone is just trying to do a good job, and what they do during their private time is their own business.  But saying that indicates bad judgment, and how can people who make those bad judgments also be held credible when it comes to asking the community to spend half a billion dollars on new taxes to pay to tear down old buildings and build new ones?  How can people trust those individuals with the quote process, given that they are prone to poor judgment in their private lives?  Why wouldn’t that same bad judgment carry over into their public roles as school board members?  So, to avoid all that, the Rumor Has It page simply avoids addressing it, which tells you everything you need to know about their intentions with the page.  It’s not about finding the truth or clarifying rumors.  It’s about controlling the narrative, and they seem to think so little of the public that they expect to get away with it.  This only makes people angrier and destroys the brand of the school because of the liberal nature of the people who run it and what they expect their roles to be in the process.  And to avoid the opinions of a public that sees such social behavior as expensive camouflage to social causes meant to hide private failures.  To avoid that can of worms, the topic is not mentioned, even though it’s the only thing people care about.

I will never vote for any more money to public schools, I think they are a broken mess that teaches all the wrong things to kids.  I believe government schools are detrimental to our society, so I’m always a hard ‘no’ on any tax increases.  I despise the socialist nature of the way the public education system was created.  However, as a community issue, many voters support or oppose various aspects for a multitude of reasons.  As long as these school board members remain on the board, I don’t see the public supporting any tax increases. If they truly want a chance to pass any levies, they should resign for the good of the school.  If they want to be competitive in a voucher environment, people will take their kids to places that don’t have stories like the one mentioned here hanging in the background all the time.  The mistakes of the past are what will hold back any passage of a levy request and are part of the reason it has been over a decade since a levy has passed.  People have strong feelings about these stories that emerge when a school district requests more funding, and because many people are aware of the issues, even if they don’t mention them on the Rumor Has It website, they still have knowledge and will vote accordingly.  And even if they have gotten away with much, as long as these school board members are running the show, people aren’t going to give them more money off their property taxes.  Because there are just too many damaged relationships with the community to support a tax increase, I think they will probably have to learn that with a few tax attempts that will be very bloody and embarrassing before they learn the hard lesson.  And by then, we’ll have a new governor in Ohio, and School Choice will expand significantly.  And parents aren’t going to want to send their kids to a school where the school board is so messed up.  And the Lakota school will learn all too late that the rumors they didn’t talk about destroyed their economic viability, and they’ll only have themselves to blame.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

Dismantaling the Department of Education: The Ohio House overrides DeWine’s veto on property taxes

Remember, I told you this was going to happen, and now it is.  However, with the July 14th ruling by the Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision, the court granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily pause a federal judge’s order that required the Department of Education to reinstate nearly 1,400 employees fired as part of a reduction-in-force.  The majority ruling lifted the injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Massachusetts, who had concluded that the administration’s actions aimed to dismantle the department without congressional approval and couldn’t be done.  A lot was happening with this ruling, which is why I am so proud of the tie clip I always wear that people comment on so much. I got it at the Supreme Court when I visited there in March, ahead of all these significant rulings.  Regional district judges were not going to be able to stop the Trump administration, and the mass layoffs that would dismantle the Department of Education were going to happen, sending the management of education back to the states, where, in Ohio, we know what that means with the incoming new governor, Vivek Ramaswamy.  Many education-oriented individuals point to a decision like this and argue that we are becoming a country not committed to education.  However, it’s the exact opposite; we need to get the administrative types out of the way so that positive reform in education can happen. This is why a Governor like Ramaswamy in Ohio is so important, as he has many fresh ideas that would improve education.  And getting the Department of Education types out of the way makes all that possible.  There is a lot to be happy about, but it’s hardly a surprise.  I’ve been warning about it for years, and as of 2025, everything is right on schedule. 

I would also add on July 21st 2025 in the state of Ohio the Ohio House voted 61-28 to override Governor DeWine’s vetos on property tax measures in the 2026-2027 budgets, specifically Item 66 which eliminates the authority for political subdivisions to levy replacement property tax levies and restricts school districts levying certain types of levies such as fixed-sum emergency, substitute emergency, and combined school district income tax and fixed-sum property tax levies.  That measure is now headed to the Senate, where I fully expect it to pass, and change the way the state sees property tax in general—another benefit of the upcoming Vivek Ramaswamy administration.  Property tax is no longer the crutch for big government that it has been.  Trump’s administration is headed in a similar direction, viewing property as something precious and not forcing owners to become perpetual renters of their property through excessive taxation.  DeWine was concerned about the budget submission, specifically how property taxes are used to fund schools.  What all this means is that public school districts are going to face numerous changes, including how they collect taxes to fund union-run public schools.  It’s not just the elimination of the centralized Department of Education that is coming to them, but also in how they collect funds from local property taxes to run their progressive endeavors.  What is happening here is that education is being redefined into a marketplace value as opposed to what it has been, which has been a kind of Brave New World socialist indoctrination center that seeks to produce more Democrats as voters.  Many people believe that the previous rules have been fueling our nation’s destruction.  And across many changes, that perception is headed in a different direction.

When the Department of Education was created in 1979, it proposed using the power of the central government to protect union employees from the scrutiny of judgment while teaching children the same socialist values.  Such as taking the category of History in school and changing it to “Social Studies.”  And during this period, kids were being taught not that the creation of America was a great thing, but that it was built on the backs of enslaved people, corrupting thousands of children in the process through central government oversight, taking away from the states the ability to compete with other states for a better education system.  Because essentially, everyone was being taught the same flawed information.  Now, the priorities for education will be decided at the state level.  School Choice will become much more common, as it was well represented in Trump’s recent Big Beautiful Bill, meaning that we are moving toward a society where tax money will follow the student, not the zip code.  And that’s why this veto override in Ohio was so important, because it initiates a process of shifting away from property taxes funding all this centralized government and its growing expansion, to the point where people can no longer afford to own their property.  The public schools have, for years, not had to manage their finances well, which the teachers’ unions have been delighted with.  However, it has driven the per-pupil cost of teaching children out of the realm of reality and is too high.  This makes it impossible for the state to determine how to fund education for students, as the costs are so high and dependent on property taxes to cover the state’s funding gaps.  To achieve a truly competitive cost structure, the Department of Education must relinquish its power and be decentralized. 

What that means for public schools like Lakota, which I discuss frequently because they are in the district where I live, is that they will have to rethink everything they do.  And they will have to compete with other schools in the immediate area for the right to teach a student.  This year, in 2025, they have some costly levy requests that add up to half a billion dollars for infrastructure, the building of new schools after tearing down some of the old ones.  And for what, for teaching jobs that are changing dramatically and are being pushed by A.I. for ability.  When states like Ohio apply funding to students, rather than to the zip code institution, the fat cow that government schools have been living on will be gone.  And they are going to have to earn their dollars, which they are not used to.  This union-dominated structure was always poised to fail.  You can see it when you visit the White House; all the big unions are in the buildings just outside the front gates.  Government unions view the collection of taxes from an ever-growing government as the foundation of their existence, which means low performance standards for all involved.  However, we don’t like what these government schools have been producing, and we have been intent on changing it for the better.  And that starts with mass firings at the Department of Education by the Trump administration.  And for all the government school administrators who are tempted to cry foul, I warned you, and you should have listened. They were mad that I said such things, and now they are going to find themselves extinct. And the fault for that will be theirs, because they were told what was going to happen and did not prepare for it.   Reforms to education are necessary because what we have had has been inadequate and expensive.  And at every level, from funding to curriculum, significant changes are coming.  And schools will have to adapt, or fail to exist at all. 

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

Showing Courage on Ohio Property Taxation: It was always a socialist game that should have never started

It takes a lot of guts to try to override a governor’s veto, and that is just what Matt Huffman and the House Republicans are poised to do on July 21st, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio.  They have been trying to reform property taxes in House Bill 96 in three key areas, eliminating replacement levies, which often lead to tax increases.  Republicans want to phase them out.  The second thing is that they wish to implement county-level cuts, giving county budget commissions the authority to lower property taxes if the local governments or schools collect more than they need.  Then the third thing is to adjust the 20-mill floor, changing how the formula is calculated to reduce school funding as property values continue to rise, potentially.  DeWine vetoed these parts of the bill, arguing that they’d create enormous problems for schools by disrupting funding stability.  It takes a lot of guts for Huffman and other Republicans, including the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, to stand behind these reforms and push for a 60-vote majority.  It will be close.  If the House can get it over to the Senate, the Senate has the votes, so it really will come down to whether Republicans dare to part with DeWine and override him as they should.  Many people talk tough on the campaign trail, and this is one of those times when real courage is needed.  It would be beneficial if Republicans could step up and take the lead at this critical juncture.  Many people would take pride in a good government headed in the right direction.  Because what DeWine is protecting is loaded with bad government misery that is headed for reform regardless.  There is no stopping the reforms to private property that are going to take place. 

I feel like everywhere these days, I have to say it, and there are a lot of people who don’t think about these things very much who don’t want to hear it.  However, I’ve been pointing it out for years, so the road to this July 21st vote is a very long one.  And it’s just the start of many things to come.  The next governor, Vivek Ramaswamy, whom I had the chance to discuss this very topic with just a few weeks ago, is looking at major reforms on private property taxation.   President Trump is discussing the same concept, namely, the elimination of private property taxation all together.  It will take several years to get there, but that’s where the current sentiment is headed.  And people like Mike DeWine, who have been a part of building that old system, know that it will disrupt the way they envisioned funding for government and services.  However, those old trends are what have put us in our current budgetary situation.  We are going to have some tough discussions, just as we are currently with the Federal Reserve.  A group of independent bankers can’t be allowed to strangle billions of dollars of opportunity cost out of our economy just to protect lenders’ profit margins, when the growth potential of reform could generate so much more than the old static measures.  For those who think that punishing property ownership is the way to fund the level of government we may want as a society, it essentially comes down to choice: do you trust the free market, or the minds of humanity to impose burdens to pay for government services, such as school funding?  For DeWine, he’s just never going to be ready to admit that years and years of socialism are behind the creation of property tax penalties to pay for public education.  And, of course, the teachers’ unions control that entire industry, leading to cost overruns that our out-of-control local governments must deal with, leaving behind expensive chaos.

So you can’t help but talk about socialism, communism, and Marxism in general when we discuss how taxation against private property came into our culture to begin with, because we have gone through a period where Democrats and soft shelled Republicans didn’t want to believe to what level Karl Marx influenced legislative policy making going back to the beginning of the last century.  Much of the American expansion period, from 1850 on, saw a significant influx of European socialists who entered the country and introduced their Karl Marx-inspired ideas, which ultimately infected our free enterprise system with penalties against private property.  And it has gone on for so long that we just assumed that’s the way it has to be.  However, this has led to runaway costs, as we have seen in public schools currently, and penalties against those who own property, as they pay more for the same services than, say, an apartment dweller who requires far more tax services, far more than they pay.  It’s a very unfair system that undermines the premise of private property, destroying the American idea, and it was baked into all the progressive taxation policies that came with the creation of the Fed in 1913, a mistake at its inception that has only worsened over time.  There are old politicians, like DeWine, who have carried these mistaken ideas throughout their entire political life, and they are trying to preserve them for all kinds of unhealthy reasons.  However, the temperament lies in reforming that basic concept. 

Of course, what would replace these revenue devices would be a use tax of some kind, as well as sales tax in general.  However, that relies on the market’s growth mechanisms, similar to Trump’s tariffs.  People were against those for the same reason, and only now, a few months into his second term, are people beginning to see the logic, fruitfully.  After a few years of Trump, many significant economic developments will become a reality that people cannot see now.  Yet, as with the trend on private property, we should incentivize people to own as much private property as possible.  The taxes on it are part of a socialist scheme from the beginning that was always part of the plan to grow government.  There is no way to determine the correct funding model for public schools if property owners bear the burden for the benefit of those who can’t afford property.  It’s a wealth redistribution scam that’s baked into the policy of collecting taxes to grow government in ways that nobody can reliably control, because it’s a tax against the few for the needs of the many.  And it takes away the incentive to invest and create.  What we know now is that encouraging growth would generate significantly more revenue through optimism, as opposed to the current system of oppression.  In short, take the socialism, communism, and Marxism out of the legislative process, and the economy works far better, and at that point, you can see what your actual revenue stream would be, and can make much better decisions for how to construct society, such as elements of school funding and per-pupil budget needs.  With the system as it is, we can’t even have the discussion.  There is a significant chance for the Ohio House to take a bold, Trump-like action.  However, the trend, regardless, is working against old politicians like DeWine and is moving away from penalizing private property ownership.  Whether that happens on July 21st, 2025, or at a later time, the taxation of private property is headed for significant reform and disruption of the current methods.  It would be better sooner if people could find the courage.  But eventually, it’s happening anyway, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it.  Because it never should have been created in the first place.

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

Vivek Ramaswamy’s Ohio Campaign for Governor is all About Family First: Getting rid of red tape in Liberty Township

Vivek Ramaswamy discussing taking the red tape out of a red state!

It was good to see Vivek Ramaswamy again.  Mark and Leslie Williams had a nice, private event for him to talk about the campaign status and the going-forward steps and probably the best thing I have heard in politics so far was what Vivek said about Ohio, that it was a deep red state, but that it would not be the state of red tape.  That his run for governor was committed to restoring Ohio to the nation’s greatest status in wealth generation among all the states.  And given his understanding of things and personality, I think it is very much possible.  The moment I found out that he was running for governor, I was excited about it.  And since he launched his campaign just a few months ago, he has turned his efforts into a nice running machine that will cascade into many exciting opportunities that many have never thought possible.  Vivek Ramaswamy understands, and as I have watched these GOP events develop over the years, there was something very different going on that was exciting —a festivity to it that was not politics as usual.  But before we get into all that, I have to say, Mark and Leslie did a great job with the event, including the fantastic food table set up with finger foods that they had in the middle of the gathering space, established for this meet and greet for Vivek.  I took a picture of what was left of it after a few hours, but it was quite something to see.  All the little things in the event were done with just a little extra flair that makes spending time with people on a Saturday night of political talk more enjoyable.  And once Vivek gave his speech, took pictures with people, and had to get on to the next thing, people stayed around talking and catching up because they didn’t want to leave such a wonderful occasion.

When this started it was quite an exhibition. It was a lot of food!

I was one of them, I was happy to see so many people I like to talk to all in the same place.  I enjoyed seeing most of Nancy Nix’s family there, mom, sister, aunts, grandchildren, her husband Bob, we all like each other naturally, and it was nice to catch up under those conditions.  Everyone knows I love Nancy Nix; she is one of the best for a reason, and a lot of it is that she has a nice and loving family, which is evident to everyone who can see.  I had just spent time with one of my favorite trustees, Todd Minniear, a few nights before.  With his wife Jamie, they are a couple of my absolute favorite people and they were there.  Thomas Hall and his family were there too.  His mom and dad are good, solid people, and if you haven’t noticed, there is a pattern to my accolades.  I often judge the value of people by the kind of families they come from and are creating for themselves, and for me, it was a great evening because I had a break from the broken dysfunction that often comes with associating with a lot of people from diverse backgrounds and social structures.  Here, almost everyone shared the same strong family values that I greatly appreciate, making it a great evening for me.  My wife doesn’t always get to come to all these events.  When we launched the campaign event for Vivek a few months prior, she had to miss it due to other family commitments that we had.  However, this time we were able to coordinate things in a way that allowed her to attend, and she enjoyed herself as well.

As usual, I always enjoy seeing George and Debbie Lang when they are in a place where things go as well as the Williams event allowed.  Where the accommodations are set up thoughtfully, so that people can easily discuss essential political matters.  As a critical Senator in Ohio, everyone wants to talk to George, so my time with him is often spent with me looming in the background to discuss as many important things as possible.  However, in a large group like that, it’s not easy to convey everything in brief statements, as time may not allow.  But when people wonder why I like George and Debbie so much, it’s that core value system again. They are a great family that really loves each other, and I value their sincerity, both with each other and with the world around them.  When people wonder why George Lang is good at his job, a common theme among those who have come out in early support of Vivek Ramaswamy for Governor of Ohio is that they see the state in the same way they see their families, with love and care.  And those are their primary political motivations.  No matter what personal success they have had in life, and I know that is the case with Mark and Leslie Williams too, who hosted the event, they want to put that same effort into making Ohio the top state in the country, and the world, for people to live in and raise good families.  If you are a family-first kind of person, knowing these kinds of people makes sense.  And I enjoyed myself for all those reasons.  One of the primary values that everyone I knew shared at this event was a love of family, and they all did just a little bit more than average to have good families. 

I enjoyed catching up with Darbi Boddy.  People have been wondering about her since her time as a Lakota school board member concluded in legal gymnastics.  People have asked me a lot why I like Darbi so much.  She is a good mom who talks to God frequently.  And since she left the Lakota school board, she has been hanging out with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago.  My wife noticed the pin she was wearing, and it was the same one that she had.  Let me say, Darbi is doing some great things that will manifest into goodness in a few years.  She is more deeply engaged in politics than ever, and I am very happy and proud of her for all that she has accomplished.  A common theme I have been discussing is that many people are unaware of Darby: she loves her family, and her involvement in politics is aimed at helping more families emerge in the world. I have a lot of respect for her hard work in this regard.  I like her kids, and I like her husband.  I want to see people like that succeed in the world.  I also enjoyed catching up with Bob Hutsenpiller.  We have a long history together. Similarly, he and his wife have been together for a long time, and his business has been a family affair throughout his long career.  And he’s just a good person trying to make things just a bit better in the world.  My joke with Bob is that he usually comes to these political events with work shoes because he is always on construction sites and has worked hard all the years I have known him.  And I would say that was the common theme among all the people I mentioned, and many more that there isn’t enough time to discuss.  But Vivek Ramaswamy makes it easy, just as President Trump has; these are all people who value family, and they are treating their state and country with the same love they pour into their families.  And it shows.  I met Vivek’s parents and got to know his wife at the event we had at CTL Aerospace, and I was happy that he recognized me out of all the people he has spoken to over the last several months.  But Vivek loves his kids.  He loves his wife.  He loves his parents.  And anyone who is that caring about the people in their life can show the same love to the state they are running.   And for me, that’s why I care so much about the people who were at that event.  The common theme was family first, even if nobody explicitly stated it.  You won’t catch any of the people I mentioned in some sex scandal where they are cheating on their spouses for power and prestige.  In most cases, everyone at that Vivek event already had power and prestige.  But what they were fighting for was something much more important: the power of family and the values that come from it, and carrying that attention over into political office, where it can genuinely make a significant impact.  And for me, being around such people is the best evening I could hope for.  I’m very much looking forward to Vivek Ramaswamy being the governor of Ohio.  That will be a good day!

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707

The Bike Paths of Agenda 21: They cost a lot of money and very few people use them, especially in conservative West Chester

I’m probably the last person not to like bike paths.  I use the newly created bike paths and trails in the West Chester and Liberty Township areas extensively for the videos I make with these articles I write.  I have spent thousands of hours on them filming these videos, so I would say it’s safe to say I am an extensive user and have walked every mile of all of them many times over.  However, I understand why West Chester Trustee Mark Welch is not a fan of the proposed connecting bike path that has been discussed for running through West Chester, from the Mason area, aiming to link the Little Miami River to the Great Miami.  There is a long-planned fantasy to connect those rivers through this part of southern Ohio, and logic is not at the center of any considerations.  This issue recently arose when I was writing an article about vertiports in West Chester, and Mark and I discussed the bike paths and parks that are part of the United Nations’ Agenda 21 and 2030 sustainability plans, which end up in local planning offices across the United States.  The blind commitment to bike paths from foreign planning commissions that cost a lot of money is going to be a centerpiece to the re-election of Mark Welch and whether we embrace a future off the lessons of the past, or we follow the mindless dictates of foreign influence and their radical ideas about climate science that are at the heart of building more green space to inspire humans not to use their cars so much, and to get healthier lifestyles that don’t put too much burden on the top heavy cost health care industry that is corrupted by labor unions and pharmaceutical company monopoly status. 

The current dream is to connect bike path infrastructure along Tylersville Road, West Chester and to meet up with the existing bike path built near the Trinity Pub in Port Union.  Before I outline my next comments, I see numerous positive uses for these bike paths. I have a grandson who is riding them all over the state.  He and his dad are planning a trip to Cleveland from their home along the Loveland Bike Trail, which is used pretty extensively. However, proportionally speaking, we are still talking about under 2% of the population that uses them at any particular time.  They are not being used in the way that Agenda 21 sustainability planners envisioned in their communist fantasies.  Nothing ever works out as planned.  However, I think they are pretty neat in a luxury-oriented culture.  It’s nice to have them, but they are not used by most taxpayers, not even occasionally.  So Mark’s position in West Chester is to put the issue to a vote, and if people vote in favor of spending money on the bike paths, then he’d be all for it.  However, paying good money from the current tax base is not a good idea, as it is using government power in the wrong way.  Bike paths are not a core competency of government, and for the trustees of West Chester, it’s too much to ask them to take on.  But for the bottom feeders who are trying to knock Mark out of this race and to take his seat, completing these bike paths with taxpayer money will be one of the foundations of their campaigns as a feel-good sentiment that does not have broad appeal, but might sound like a good idea without context. 

The bike path that starts at Port Union, near the Trinity Pub, cost approximately $13.8 million to construct.  It was relatively easy because it runs along the property that used to be part of the Erie Canal, which ran from Hamilton down into downtown Cincinnati through the Mill Creek Valley.  Before there was even a railroad, or I-75, there was the Erie Canal.  That’s why Port Union is named that way, because that was a port of entry for getting on the canal.  So, what was left of it was open, unused land that was perfect for building a bike path to preserve parts of it for historical perspective.  The land was relatively easy to acquire, and to the north of it was raw farmland with minimal residential properties to contend with.  And that is the constant theme of most of the bike paths that have sprung up all over Ohio, including the one my nine-year-old grandson plans to use to ride to Cleveland and back.  I think it’s a pretty bold and cool idea for him and his dad to do, as I show them here using the bike paths for training for that adventure together.  But most of those bike paths are built along rivers and railroads, and don’t involve much eminent domain.  However, to cut through West Chester, it will be costly to create the bike path because there is a lot of private property to acquire, and numerous eminent domain cases will be a significant issue.  So it’s nowhere near as easy as building the bike path at Port Union.  Bike paths, under the best conditions, cost approximately $ 250,000 to $ 500,000 per mile.  The cost increases significantly when private property is involved, as it would be in West Chester, Ohio.  A concept that the Agenda 21 planners never anticipated, given that their monetary policy was based on Modern Monetary Theory, where they planned for governments to print fake money. In Europe, the concept of private property often takes a back seat to state needs and desires.  The people who want bike paths in West Chester are those kinds of Democrat thinkers. 

So, I spend a lot of time at the one by Trinity Pub, and I hardly ever see anybody there.  When the Trinity Pub was built, it was intended to be a hub for the bike path, and it would be a great idea if people used the trail.  But that little restaurant has barely hung on and is under its latest set of owners, who are trying to get things going there, but without much success.  I’d like to see them make it, but the bike path hasn’t helped them at all because nobody uses it.  So with all this expense involved, why do them?  Although I like and use them, the cost does not make sense.  Especially when private property acquisition is involved, these bike paths form an extensive network, and I was surprised to see how nice they are, even in remote areas between Middletown, Ohio, and Franklin, along the Great Miami River.  They are nice to have, but they are part of a luxury culture that can afford them.  They will never be used in the way the Agenda 21 planners envisioned, as a means to replace cars, save the planet from human beings, and keep people from traveling on vacation because they had plenty of parks in their neighborhoods to visit.  All the central planners involved in America got suckered by this European fantasy, and Mark Welch has declared himself not to be one of those suckers.  If voters want to raise their taxes to pay for something that they will never use, then fine.  But in the back of all logic, it says that people don’t care.  Especially if they have to pay for it out of their own pockets, and when it comes to the West Chester Bike Path to connect the Little Miami River to the Great Miami River, they just won’t. 

Rich Hoffman

Click Here to Protect Yourself with Second Call Defense https://www.secondcalldefense.org/?affiliate=20707