Unmasking Ohio Politics with The Rooster

[0:00] Can you picture the political chaos when a brave video blogger spills the beans on a scandalous story? Well, that’s exactly what happened with our guest, DJ Byrnes, also known as The Rooster Online, who stirred up a massive controversy when he broke the Urban Meyer lap dance story. And he also played a part in ruining the anointing of Representative Derek Marin as Ohio House Speaker. For an engrossing chat as we sift through his journey from a regular schmo and failed political candidate to becoming a fiery public figure who’s not afraid to bring the murky side of Ohio politics to light. I’m Doug Berger, and this is Secular Left.

[0:45] Music.

[1:00] Joining us today is a video blogger, a malcontent former a candidate for elected office here in Ohio, and it goes by the moniker Rooster, Rooster Ohio on X, and it’s DJ Burns. Thank you for joining us today. What’s going on, brother? All right. Yeah, I’ve been wanting to have you as a guest for quite some time because I really love your, your, uh, content that you put up, both on- Appreciate that. … TikTok and X and- Yeah, Twitter. I call it Twitter. I’ll never call it X. Okay. And Substack. Yeah.

[1:44] So I really like, because, I mean, you don’t suffer any fools, right? I mean, you’re an equal opportunity challenger. Yeah. I mean, I am a fool a little bit, you know, but I don’t approach my work as like a Democrat versus Republican thing, or even a left versus right. There are a lot of fools on both sides at the state house. That’s just the effects of gerrymandering. It affects both parties. But at the same time, there’s only one party that’s a super majority in both caucuses. And a lot of Republicans will be like, why don’t you go after the Democrats more and say, I mean, brother, it’s like kicking a, you know, be like kicking a dog, a starving dog in the street. You know, like.

[2:31] So it’s pretty much just due to the Ohio State focus, you know, it is on the Republicans, but yeah, it’s not a left or right thing with me when I’m on the clock.

[2:41] And I understand that your claim to fame, how you broke into the public consciousness is you broke the Urban Meyer bar story a few years ago. Yeah, yeah, that one, that one was easy. I was half drunk. But I blogged for 11 Warriors for a long time, five years, five years or so really where I cut myself as like, you know, a professional quote unquote writer. And then like an idiot, I quit that job full time job and pursued a suicide run in the statehouse against Jenna Powell. Started the, lost and then all the Democrats that I wanted to go work for, they lost too. It was just a very bad year. Was kind of drinking, really didn’t, drinking too much, like usual, if you can believe that, and didn’t really know what I was going to do. Started the rooster. And I’ve had some big stories, like the Jennings one was probably the all time, like most moneymaker one. But as far as like national reach, the Urban Meyer story was, it was up there. And it cost me, I learned a valuable lesson at that time. You set off a bomb like that, you’re going to get a little burned too. And I was working as an electrical apprentice, doing data on the electrical side for IBW in town. I was working for a contractor at.

[4:03] Fuck it, I’ll name them, the Superior Group. See them in hell. But I actually got fired from that for the whole fallout from that. I did a Wall Street Journal interview, because that’s just who I am. If I’m gonna bomb on you, I’m not gonna do it from some anonymous account. I’m gonna let you know I did it. And yeah, I learned a valuable lesson. Yeah, use fake accounts when you’re doing it. No. Yeah, well, probably in retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have done the Wall Street Journal interview. One day I came home and there was a TV crew like waiting outside my house. Oh. Yeah, like wanting to interview me and stuff. Um, so it was like a whole thing, but, um.

[4:49] Yeah, you know, I eventually persevered and got over it. And at the end of the day, you know, Urban Meyer cost me a career, but I cost him twenty five million dollars and a restaurant. So, you know, not not bad, I guess. And yeah, right. And that actually led to him losing his job eventually. Yeah, it started it. Yeah. I mean, I knew it was going to be a disaster, him going into the pros, but never in my wildest dreams. That I really think. He would lose in Cincinnati on Thursday night football and then, you know.

[5:21] 24 hours later, he’s gone off six Bud Lights getting a lap dance from a woman that wasn’t his wife. You know, a lot of people like, I don’t know, like a lot of Ohio State fans are pissed about it, but, you know, they attacked me for it. Like one guy called me like irredeemable and stuff, but, you know, like that’s the, you know, that’s the job to me. Left, right, politics, whatever the job is, like putting stuff out there in public that you know these people in power don’t want out there. And if you’re not willing to do that, then you’re running PR, basically. Yeah. Yeah. You don’t want to mess with the Ohio State stuff because, yeah, they come after you. They ran Kirk Herbstreet out of town. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I was working at one of the many data centers out in New Albany, like a weekend after it, and this guy from Boston comes And he turns out to be this bricklayer. He’s like, you got some balls on you, laddie. And I was like, what? And he’s like, you know, I’m in Boston. We just, we just killed you. And I was like, oh, okay. He’s like, you know, like you gotta watch it. He’s like, my wife, you know, she grew up in the Soviet Union and, you know.

[6:27] She got online, couple clicks, you know, she had your Instagram profile. I was like, well, what’d she do? Just type in my name, Instagram. He was just really impressed with his Soviet girlfriend Googling skills, I guess. But in retrospect, that’s probably what I should, Like, it just, I was half drunk, you know what I mean? And I just put it on Twitter and it got out. And then, you know, next thing I know the Wall Street Journal’s calling you and like, how many times in your life is the Wall Street Journal gonna put a guy like me in their pages? But, I mean, that’s on him though. I mean- 100%, 100%, you know? Because he decided to do that in public. Yeah, and not only like in public, but like on a Friday night in the most popular neighborhood in Columbus in his own restaurant, wearing Ohio State gear under like 20 feet away from like a big like life-size mural of him and his wife. Like, and I’m not one to talk like, to me, it’s funny more than anything, but it speaks, and I would know it more than best, you know, just it speaks to the kind of decisions you make, when you start drinking and, you know, you start feeling a little loose you start feeling like you’re above reproach and yeah, it can go sideways.

[7:45] And then you said another big one that you did with that was the Jenna one. Oh, yeah. Yeah. There was the Jenny’s article one that that did. But probably. Oh, yeah, clearly. But the Janet, the Jenna Powell one was is definitely and it’s that and the Derek Maron one that was definitely a widespread thing. Yeah. You ruined Derek Maron’s speakership.

[8:11] I mean, he was all set to take office and rule over his little thing there. And and you just came in and mucked it all up. Well, you know, it’s like it’s one of those things like you don’t know about it unless you know about it. And I was talking with I won’t mention his name, but a prominent right wing media guy at the state house about it, probably back when they were in session. So it’s been a couple of months ago. We were kind of talking about it. He was like, you know, he’s like, you made my life hell for a couple for about a week or two. And I was like, well, you know, I’m not I’m not I’m not going to apologize for that. And he was like, you know, you definitely had an effect on that race. And I was like, oh, I know. Like, I knew I had an effect the second when they, you know, leaked that his dad died hours after I published the article to show that, like, nothing’s wrong. This is just a political hit job.

[9:05] But that was definitely the turning point for the rooster, where it kind of had gone from just a daily grievance newsletter to like, I realize you can just go up to the statehouse.

[9:15] These people actually work up there. It’s much more effective than just quote tweeting them, dunking on them, stuff like that. Yeah, because I mean most most Ohioans don’t understand that you could go into the statehouse.

[9:32] And corner somebody in the hallway and start talking to them. Yeah. So how I would describe it, because when I went up there, I just realized, you know, it’s like high school, except it’s like the worst, nerdiest people stayed around for 20 years and convinced themselves like they’re all powerful because they work at the Capitol. Like they’re just rancid people. And they feel the same way about me, so it’s fine. But how I describe it, you know, I was drinking. I wasn’t drinking. I was with my old one of my old drinking buddies at the patio, Old Town Bar, West Franklin, the true Franklin. And he’s probably as far on the right as I am on the left. And he taught me about this free speech art, free speech artists that they do, and how you can basically go into post offices, police substations, and just like, hey, what are you doing? Oh, I’m just hanging out. You can film people coming and going, like whatever, and that’s when it hit me. The state house is like that. And most people, you’re right, most people don’t know that they can just go in there. Like any, you know, and if there’s people haven’t like, you know, the state of the state dinner, right? Or the state of the state, like luncheon that they do after Dwine comes in and gives a speech to the joint Congress every year, or a joint legislative session every year, you can just go in there.

[10:48] Like, you can just, you know, I like I I probably won’t go in there like painting out. You know Kinko’s pronouns of Derek Marin and Wes Goodman photos like I did. They’re going to have a problem with that, but you can just go in there. You know you can eat off the hors d’oeuvres. Like if you’re ever hungry like they come in, not like lobbyist groups will have like big luncheons and I do it all the time. You know, I’ll just I’ll grab a free lunch. And. It’s it’s how I explained it to like Ohio State fans is like they had the Woody Hayes Athletic works and everything and it’s like. Let’s say if the Woody Hayes Athletic Center was open to the public. Now, you can’t go into Ryan Day’s office. That’s off-limits. But if you, let’s say you have a question about, like.

[11:35] The, you know, the linebacker rotation or something, you can wait outside his office, until he comes out, put him on camera, ask him, and the beauty of it is if he runs, he looks guilty. Because it’s not, you know, most like, it’s not, it’s not busting up, you know, I busted up people in space I probably shouldn’t have. But up there, you know, most people can understand left or right, Republican, Democrat, they can understand like, why is this politician in the place where they’re supposed to be the most powerful, running from, you know, questions like it’s a it’s a fine line to walk. Some people consider harassment, but I mean, I know what harassment is. It’s a public building. The State House is a public building. As long as you get through security and you don’t have anything nefarious on you. Yeah. You know, it’s fair game. You could go to your elected official, your representative’s office and go in and say, hey, how’s it going? Yep. Yep. And.

[12:40] You know, it’s and they’re just not like and what I because that’s my big thing in this day and age. I mean, as you know, like it’s if it doesn’t count if it’s not on video, basically, like you could have the biggest story in the world. Like unless there’s like a video, it’s really it’s hard to go anywhere. And, my biggest critique is that these guys aren’t on camera answering hostile questions enough. You know, like the perfect example is like Dave Dobos, the Dave Dobos story. This guy, he lied about, he went to MIT for a couple of years, but he just lied for 30 years about being a graduate, was on the, he was president of the Columbus City Public School Board, which probably speaks a lot to how we’re in that predicament we are with them.

[13:28] But he got exposed by Jeremy Peltzer and Jake Zuckerman of Cleveland.com. They, you know, they bang up story, but then he never has to address it on public, right? Like the, how the traditional media operates, they’ll be like, they’ll put in a request, but hey, like, do you want to speak about this? Like, he’s obviously never going to speak. He’s a con artist. Yeah, they’re not going to, yeah, they’re not going to put themselves out in public about stuff like that. Yeah, so that was probably like the first big TikTok I had. I was, I was trying to set up on somebody else. And then like, that’s the other beauty of the state house. It’s mirrored, but it’s big and it’s large. And you never really know who’s around the corner and you can see people. And I saw Dobos coming down the stairs of the house gallery and I just set up shop. And I waited until he came into the ambush. And they can sit, you know, some people consider it ambush, but it is. But at the same time, they’re politicians, like their job, like that’s their job. They should be peppered with questions wherever they go. They should be ready to answer questions about their performance. And I just hit him with it. You know, like Dave Dobos, can we get a comment on you lying for 30 years about having an MIT degree.

[14:38] And then he like tries to He gives me his little canned spiel and he had it and he should have just walked away, Right, and I was like that any guy kind of turns and then he’s like and it’s in a moment It’s just pure honesty. He’s like well, they they elected me.

[14:59] That’s our answer for everything that’s like what Larry household or holder said he said I’m not gonna resign I was elected if they don’t want me here because I’ve been, Indicted then they can turn me out of office. It’s like no, that’s not how it works. Yeah, and it’s, Like it’s how it works. It’s so like, you know, that’s a seat where a Democrat wasn’t even gonna win anyway, And there was nobody else even on the ballot Except a write-in campaign now. Ideally we would have you know, uh, and, enough of a formed citizens citizenry, that people would be able to be like, okay, we’re backing this guy. Like you could defeat a guy like Householder after a reco arrest with a write-in campaign. But that’s just not how it works, man. I mean, the average person, like, I would have loved to have seen a poll of voters down in Perry County that day, who like were even familiar with the particulars. You know, cause I mean- Yeah, they wouldn’t know what was going on. Just cause he was, just like they had some big profile of them in the local paper, and he, uh.

[16:06] He like, it didn’t even mention the Rico arrest. And it’s like, it really gets bad when you get out into like the rural districts and stuff where there are no, you know, there used to be the Dayton Daily News is, you know, the Pickwood Daily Call, and, you know, Troy, and they all had their own, like independent thriving newspapers. And it’s just been completely obliterated, where most people don’t know. And the other and most people don’t even care. Like, they don’t even care. And it’s interesting because that’s the area that elected Ted Strickland a few times, you know? Yeah. And it’s just a whole 180 degrees. Yeah. You know, and that’s been the great conundrum of the Democrats. Like, I really feel like Appalachia and all this, like, Southeastern Ohio, I feel like it’s, like, kind of lost at this point, at least for a generation. I think really Trump was kind of, especially up in Trumbull too, I think Trump has kind of been a catalyst for that. And part of me understands it because, you know, the Democratic Party has had numerous failures with working people. Like I totally get, you know, I say all the time, at least, you know, the Trump voters, at least they get they’re supposed to be angry. You know, I’ll give them that much. Now they’re completely angry at the wrong people and enabling, you know, but at least they get they’re supposed to be angry.

[17:33] Yeah, they think they think that they are having trouble with with their jobs or the economy because of people coming over the border from the south. Yeah, exactly. And that’s like, no, no, it’s because the Republicans gamed the system when they’ve been in power and they took took your money. Ask Governor DeWine where your money is. Yep. Yep, yep, and it’s frustrating. And the other part, too, that’s frustrating is that. You know, when I was running for state house out in Pickle, like an idiot, Steve Huffman, he’s a tip city senator, but at the time he was in the Ohio house and he was running for Senate. And Bob and him and I had, we had, you know, poked each other in the debates a couple of times. But there’s a, you know, we have a repertoire now, but he told me one time after the debates that like 90% of voters really only care who’s in the White House. And so it’s, it’s crazy. Like, you know, and that’s, that’s kind of been the message with the blog is just like, trying to teach people that like, who you’re angry at, and it’s local, like, you don’t have to go to the federal level, like Joe Biden at the end of the day, like Joe, like the border. If you’re in Ohio, like, you know, and it’s like the top.

[18:55] And that’s what they do. Like, it’s really a top issue of Republican voters is like the border. And I just can’t wrap my head around it. I really can’t. Like, I really just can’t be like, oh, you know, the border. We got to get a wall built. Like, if we kicked out all the quote unquote, illegal, illegal aliens, if we kicked all the illegal aliens, as they like to call it, out of this, our economy would collapse overnight. Right, right. You think meat prices are high, just wait till you get rid of all the illegal aliens. Oh yeah, I remember doing a farm tour. Because they’re the ones that work in the packing plants. Yep, and on the farms, I did a farm tour when I ran, went out to all these farms, and it was a good experience for a city boy like me, but it’s like this dairy farmer, and he kept talking about how the migrant workers, weren’t coming around, And this was like the height of Trump, you know, building the wall and he’s like, you know, it’s tough to find workers and, you know, we’re getting our ass kicked by China on these terrorists and dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. And it’s like, you know, like. You know, I like you’re gonna vote for Trump cuz I thought you know, they’re like the tariff farmers again They’re asking they’re gonna want to vote, you know for the Democrat like and he’s like, well, you know Like if you got to send China a message and we got to sacrifice a little bit and that’s a burden I’m willing to take and it’s like, Yeah, this house is burning down but man.

[20:23] Yeah, I remember my pony gender pal is like well why don’t you think the migrants are coming around anymore it’s like gee I wonder, Yeah, I fucking wonder why they’re not coming around. Yeah, cuz in my neck of the woods in Northwest, Ohio, large numbers of migrants Would pick tomatoes and lettuce and not this but yeah, they’re all that stuff and now they hardly ever come around anymore, Yep, and then the farmers are like, hey, we don’t have people to pick stuff and that’s like hmm. I wonder why yeah, I, Mean, I’m not getting out there. I know that much Most people don’t, because they get crappy wages. Yeah, exactly, like no labor protections, crappy wages, you know, and I’ve seen those videos, like, I mean, it’s, it’s not something that just anybody can do. Right, right, it’s backbreaking work, I mean, you make more money working at McDonald’s. Yeah, I believe it.

[21;18] For more information about any of the topics covered in this episode, check out our show show notes at secular left dot us.

[21:33] There was the one at one of the places that you like to run into Legislators it was down in the cafeteria down in the bowels of the oh, yeah house. Yeah, What was it the fact that if you’re setting up setting in a table and they just kind of roll their eyes and like oh Crap. Yeah, so there’s like I feel like there was a place until very recent called House Taco. Right. And the state house is phenomenal. It was a phenomenal, phenomenal place. They have a brick and mortar on fourth street that just opened. Listed in Columbus area. Go check it out. Best tacos in downtown. But I actually like had, I demilitarized that area because I didn’t, you know, I didn’t want to like have, cause like one day I was like, I was chasing Rep Ferguson around, one of the first bus stops I ever had. And he like walked into House Taco and I was like, Oh, hold on, hold on.

[22:25] I put my camera away. The next thing I know, he’s got his camera out. And he’s like, he’s busting me up about my views on, call me a communist and like all this stuff. And I’m like, oh, come on, man. Come on, man. But the nice thing about the cafeteria, like the eating area down there is, A, you can bust people out cause you’ll see them eating. And then it’s like, okay, I’m not gonna bust you up here when you’re eating, but I’m gonna get you right outside the door. And, um… Like, the people that are up in Capitol Hill, like, they know me by now. I, you know, I stick out wearing the stuff that I do. But it’s nice when there’s, like, lobbyist groups or, like, you know, political hobgoblins come from all over the state to have their day at the Statehouse. And just, like, the little bits of information that you could, you know, we were meeting with Senator Brenner today, and, like, that you can just glean by just, like, hanging out in the Statehouse cafeteria. I don’t know who’s replacing House Taco, but I hope it’s at least half as delicious, because you can seriously just sit, if you just sit there on an afternoon, and just mind your own business, people talk openly and you can hear about meetings and get that glean, like hear how politicians really talk about issues to.

[23:47] They’re like political hobgoblin people, as opposed to just pretending there’s some moderate out in the press. Okay, so we got a election coming up in November. Yeah. And there’s a constitutional amendment for reproductive rights. Yep. What do you think? What are you speculating? I know there’s a court case now about the language of the ballot. Yeah. I’m thinking they’re going to lose that. I think they’re going to get passed. I think they might take out the unborn child part. Yeah. but do I think they’ll just reproduce the amendment language? I don’t think they’ll go that far. I don’t think so. This is Ohio. I’ve been joking though. I’m surprised they didn’t try to get like, unborn Ohio’s future Ohio State quarterback. But.

[24:37] But what do you think the prospects are? I think they’re pretty good. I think they’re pretty good for a couple of reasons. A, it’s just a popular, you know what I mean? Most people just understand it. Most people like, when these hobgoblins start talking about, You know, abortion after birth, abortion the day before the pregnancy. People just find that weird and off-putting, you know what I mean? Most people understand that they love someone who has had an abortion, more than likely. You know someone that has had an abortion. You might not think you do, but I promise you, it’s a lot more common than you would think. And so it’s already a popular issue, and you can tell the ballot language desperation just reeks of desperation. How they’re trying to make this about, you know, some fictitious term, like late-term abortion, you know, trying to like scare Monger about that is another sign of desperation. And two, Where’s the money gonna come from for these guys?

[25:42] Who’s putting money into the furnace? Dick Euline, he spent the leathery oil in….

[25:49] Yeah, a couple million bucks, four million. Four million bucks. I’m done with the term billionaire. I’m done with oligarchs. You read about these Russian oligarchs and whatever, they have pennies on the dollar. And he’s on the dollar compared to our quote unquote billionaires. But so he put four million on issue one, that went down in flames. He’s now made the curious decision to get behind Frank LaRose, born loser. Yeah, he’s not going to get Trump’s endorsement. I’m sorry. No, no. He’s not. But so he’s out on the abortion issue. And today I was up there, I was observing this Center of Christian Virtue prayer hour, For those who don’t know, it’s one of the most odious, holy roll obvious groups. Yeah, I saw some of the pictures there. And this Dan Fogt, I guess he was a former.

[26:42] House candidate that failed surprisingly. He was a holy roller. He was complaining to Representative Richardson about the pro-abortion groups, how they were going up, they were gonna have ads on Ohio State games, Cleveland Browns games, Cincinnati games, peddling quote unquote lies. And he was like, where are our ads? Like, how are we fighting this? Like, all I’ve seen is a couple of billboards. So it’s really a matter of, you know, I mean, they’re fighting, they’re about, I mean, most polls have them, I mean, that’s why they try to get the 60% vote, you know? Like most polls have it about 50, like 58, 60% support anyway.

[27:23] Yeah, I got to put the money into to get a 10 point swing that that’s cost money and, So I it’s Ohio, you know after the issue one defeat It’s kind of like I’m kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop, but with that and then you know, you you kick in that.

[27:44] We’re voting on legal weed now that could be overturned by the legislator the next day and it will be I think it will be, I’d be surprised but I hope that, People should still go out and vote and send the message and I think that will be effective in driving non-traditional voters out, Who I mean there’s gonna be tons of pro-weed, anti-abortion peep voters or definitely in like rural, Ohio, but yeah, they’ll probably regulate it, Overall everything. I mean, they’ll just over regulate it Like you won’t be able to purchase it unless it’s a the third Thursday after the first full moon or yeah bullshit like that, Yeah, there’s a bill, they’re trying to like expand it. Like, here’s the thing, and I’ve written about it before. Like, weed is pretty much already legal in Ohio as it is. Like, I thought, I mean, I don’t smoke anymore because I just, I can’t do any substances in moderation.

[28:37] But I thought it was like, you know, you pretty much had to be dying in Ohio to get like a medical weed license. And it’s like, no, if you have 250 bucks, Because I was involved in a traumatic car accident in June 2020, and so I was like, that’s what I use. I was like, you know, I got pain in my knee for my, but because I thought I would like, you know, I will have records that I could actually verify it. Nope. It didn’t either. It was like, oh, okay, you were in a car accident. All right, here’s your paper, like, go on. And then you go into the dispensaries and, you know, it’s really not a march of, it’s not a death march of the sickly and the ill. No. But it’s easier for them because they want it, but they want it that way because they can control the licensing and they can solicit donations from these people. And it keeps the right people who have the money and can hop through bureaucratic hoops and drive to dispensaries. It keeps them from being punished, whereas we can still, if there’s a couple of black guys playing loud music that smell like weed, we can jack up their car and still send them to jail. Right. So.

[29:46] I hope it passes. I’d be surprised. I hate to say that because this is Ohio. I’d be surprised if they overturned it the day after the election because there is genuine support in a sizable, I’m not sure if it’s a majority, but in a sizable portion of the House caucus on the Republican side that is for legal weed. I’m not sure if they would have the votes for it in the House, But we’ll have to see and frankly, I mean they’re gonna like if abortion passes man, they’re gonna I know they’re gonna drop lawsuits I’ve heard that the lawsuits will be dropped day one and then they’re gonna try to like, you know, though Though they’ll be much they’ll be much more inclined to go after the abortion stuff and they will the weed Oh, yeah, most definitely most definitely. Yeah, cuz that you know, they’re talking about I got I saw that I think you posted it that that image that was going around social media with the markup on the Reproductive Rights Amendment. Oh, yeah, yeah. American Roundtable. Yeah, who doesn’t like opening the mail and thinking you failed a 12th grade English exam? Right. Right. Right. You know, like, go read the language yourself. Right. And what with these annotations, because you’re not smart enough to think for yourself. Yeah, well, I did a deep dive on that group, because I put out a episode the day that we’re taping this.

[31:14] About it and they come from, honestly enough.

[31:20] A Christian ministry. They started as a Christian ministry and then some guy joined this, Dave Zanotti joined up and turn it into a public policy think tank. And they were and they were really big against gambling in Ohio. They opposed the gambling. There was like for, four attempts Put to put an amendment and they opposed all four attempts and then the last one obviously succeeded, Yeah, and and their pro-choice school, Vouchers, of course and all this stuff and it’s like they’re not it’s not neutral They’re not you know, and then they’re like what does viability mean that is undefined. It’s like no, it’s not.

[32:06] You know, there’s medical people medical terms Have a definition It’s like care at standard of care. Yeah, pretty pretty.

[32:18] Like you go watch this you go watch this YouTube video and you’re like, oh, okay. So we watch the YouTube video You know, that’s why I don’t like when Aaron Barrett was busting him up the CCB president And he’s like, sorry to all this. It’s like, okay, I don’t, like, I don’t, he’s like, well, go watch this YouTube video. It’s like, no, I won’t. Like, you know what I mean? I’m sorry, I don’t know like all the details and all the procedures of abortion that you’re trying to hang me up on because I’m a normal guy. Right. I don’t go around like, I don’t go around like researching this stuff and trying to like convince people to take the right. And also the fact is that abortion procedures are generally safer than childbirth. Exactly. Exactly. You know, it’s more routine than going to the dentist. And it’s the pro-life. And that’s why they hate the case about, you know, the 10-year-old rape victim that had to go to Indiana. That’s why they like truly their side. I mean, I’ve seen, they’ve had people up there, I’ve seen Democratic legislators get confronted about it, say, you know, people get called lies because they don’t want to deal with the reality. Of that you are gonna like it’s not just some one off case like that stuff is gonna happen and in your world like oh you know abortion is when you’re going to make a ten year old have a have a child. And and there would you want that for your daughter you know and i am i am i to believe that none of these people if their daughter god forbid god forbid was rate.

[33:42] That they wouldn’t be going to the abortion clinic. Yeah. Yeah, and they were catterwalling around about parental notification. It’s like that’s already on Ohio law. A minor can go to court and get a court order to get an abortion. Yeah. Without parental notification. Yeah, as it should be, because guess what? Parents, especially step-parents are abusers too. Yeah, yeah, you should assume that a person that wants to get an abortion without telling their parents, the parents don’t need to know. Yeah, but you know, but that’s the thing, you know, about them where it’s like parents, parents have a right to know about everything unless, you know, it disagree, unless like, you know, the parent like agrees, like they want their child to get gender-affirming care. Well, in that case.

[34:43] I’m sorry, but in that case, like parental rights are no longer out the door and you have to do with, you know, parental rights are out the door and you have to do what, you know, some freak from Sandusky like Garrett Click wants you to do. Yeah, I, years ago, I worked for a pharmacy benefit manager at customer service and I got a phone call from an irate mother, wanting to know why we sent her daughter birth control pills.

[35:16] And I could not tell her because it was health-protected, you know, protected information. And I said, well, you need to talk to your daughter, ma’am. And then the dad gets on. You go over there, God damn you better. And I was like, sir, you should look up on the computer, HIPAA.

[35:36] Cause I think the daughter was like 16 or 17. I think it’s 13 was the cutoff at the time, 13. If they were 13 and older, we could not even tell the parents what medications they were ordering or getting. Yeah. And this dad just went off. Why are you sending my daughter birth control pills? I don’t know. She must like the taste. Like she’s eating like Skittles. Well, and it wasn’t, you know, and birth control pills just aren’t to prevent pregnancy. That’s true. Some women use it for hormone therapy and stuff like that. And I was like, sir, you’re just gonna have to talk to your daughter. Well, I pay the bills. I was like, I know, sir, but this is protecting it. It’s just, it was the never ending. Oh, I hated that call. But I’m gonna go ahead and start to wrap up today.

[36:33] And what’s on tap for you in the next few months? What do you have planned? Anything? I’ve got a couple of projects over the stove right now. I’ve got a good one coming. I don’t want to tip my hand too much because it gets out there. Right. I’ve got some good and I’m basically buying my time. The legislature was supposed to be back in session this month, but it’s actually a good thing. I mock them for never working, but it’s actually a good thing when these people aren’t in session. But they’re coming back next month, So I’ll be starting to get some more videos. And on Friday, I’ll be up at the ballot board, or the redistricting commission. Oh man, that was a cluster crapper today, man. Yeah. They couldn’t even decide who the co-chair was gonna be. Yeah, I’m not sure if it’s, because there is an actual feud between Huffman, Senator Huffman and Speaker Stevens. Right. or if it’s just more.

[37:38] Manufactured republican bullshit to you know skirt the deadlines and then ran through like even more unfavorable maps well see they didn’t even work on a map they’re good you’re just gonna submit the map that they ran on this this this most recent election. Yeah or the order or they have been working on one in secret and then i’ll pull one a new one out of the deadline bag will hear it is not a day before and now that they’ve got they know that the supreme court will step in their direction. It’ll be a mess. So hopefully, you know, that will just spur in, drive home the point of the need for like an independent redistricting commission in the first place. Yeah, I had, there was a letter to the editor in the Toledo Blade the other day, somebody complaining about redistricting and having an independent commission. And then they were talking about how it was gonna be corrupt and influenced and all that stuff. And I said, and I had to correct the person and say, they tried to do that and the legislature stepped in and created what we have now, so they wouldn’t get an independent commission. Yeah. They’ve had their chance, now it’s time to kick them out. Yep, and I guess that’s on us for not putting in an enforcement mechanism.

[39:00] Into the language, but I mean, And that’s why, and people be like, well, what about Illinois? I don’t care, I don’t live in, first of all, I don’t live in Illinois. They’ll be like, well, Vern Reif, who gives a shit? Vern Reif has been dead for 30 years. I was playing Nintendo 64 when he was in power. You think I cared about state government? It was wrong then, it’s wrong now. No matter what happens, when politicians pick their voters, bad things happen. Bad things happen. These guys, right or left, these guys should have, Politicians should have to be groveling in the street for you to beg for their vote. And, Jerry, you know, and gerrymandering, it hurts, you know, and I’ve talked to that, you know, them leadership to it. It hurts the party ranks too, because there’s seats for Democrats, you know, Republicans can’t win and it just creates shitty. It’s a vacuum for like shitty, just politically connected people to just wither in and do nothing. Do not like I’ll talk to some, I’ll talk to some state legislators sometimes. And I’ll be like, Oh, well, you you clear like you clearly have no idea what’s going on. You clearly have no idea what’s going on around here.

[40:15] So I just, and it’s not, I don’t want to present it as like, I’ve used the term Holy Grail in terms of that project and independent commission. It’s not like it would usher in a utopia or fix all of our problems overnight, or even that, you know, Ohio would become a democratic state. You know, Ohio might is probably a Republican state at this point, but I know it’s not super majorities of both. No, it’s not 67% That’s for sure. No, so and I just think if we could get that done that would go a long way in.

[40:49] Kind of deradicalizing them and Getting some of these fucking loons out of the process, I think it would go a long way to fixing a lot of problems in our state government. So, fingers crossed You know, people are working on it, and that’s just another thing where they’re gonna have to fight on lies. Because most people, you know, like guys like us that are like ideologically consistent or even have an ideology, like we’re the perverts, you know what I mean? Like, but I recognize that, you know? And most people, when they go and read the language on that, on that ballot issue, they’re gonna support that. Like most people can understand, yes, it’s bad. Like, regardless, it’s bad. Like, it’s bad if politicians pick their voters. I get that. And so, I mean, there’s- Well, they’ve already, yeah, they’ve already passed two amendments by- Yeah, 78, like- 70%. Yeah, 70%. So, you know, it would basically, it’d be another one of those issues where they would need every single Republican to vote in their favor. And I don’t think every single, you know, I know for a fact every single Republican wouldn’t.

[42:01] So, you know, I’m getting a little off, you know, this like, they always say it’s darkness before the dawn, but brother, I mean, if we knock down issue, we already put issue one in the trash, if we enshrine abortion rights, if we at least get legal weed, if we at least make the corrupt legislator rescind the will of the people with legal weed.

[42:23] And then, you know, a year later, we enshrined an independent commission. I mean, that’s, you know, that’s a hell of a three-piece combo. Yeah, but don’t you want to see Aaron Barr trying to drum up support for an amendment to repeal the reproductive amendment? Oh, yeah, yeah, that’ll definitely happen, that’ll definitely happen. But it’s going to be the same issue for them, too, is like, well, who’s going to pay for this, brother? Like, I mean, rich people write the checks, but rich people generally don’t get rich by just throwing money into lost causes. And most people will be able to read polls. So I don’t know. You know, I’ve been optimistic. I’ve been more optimistic about Ohio politics than I have in a while. And I’m, you know, I’m sure, don’t quote me on this, but you know, yeah, next spring, We could be doing this podcast from a gulag, uh, high patrol pick you up, but they’ll say governor DeWine wants to talk to you. Yeah.

[43:31] All right. Right. All right. DJ. Well, I really appreciate you, uh, uh, joining us today and, uh, um, you are at rooster underscore Ohio. Yep. On X on X and tick tock and rooster.info I just rooster.info no.com. Nothing about that online. Okay. merch store and yeah yeah I saw some shirts yeah I’m not making I’m not making any money on the shirts but I just you know people if people want to just rep my stuff I appreciate that and it definitely helps I like seeing that out there to feel free to buy a shirt and all that all right well thanks again and and good luck with the coming election thank you brother you too Thank you for listening to this episode. You can check out more information including links, to sources used in our show notes on our website at SecularLeft.us. Secular Left is hosted, written and produced by Doug Berger and he is solely responsible for the content. Send, Send us your comments either using the contact form on the website or by sending us a note, at comments at secularleft.us. Our theme music is dank and nasty, composed using Amplify Studio.

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