Ohio Lawmaker Demands Criminal Charges Be Filed Against Governor Mike DeWine Over Coronavirus Health Orders
John Becker made his demand in Clermont Municipal Court under a provision of state law allowing private citizen affidavits.
September 28, 2020
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A conservative lawmaker took his frustration over Ohio’s coronavirus public health orders to a new level Monday by demanding that criminal charges be filed against fellow Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.
Rep. John Becker, a Republican from Cincinnati, says DeWine has exceeded his authority under state law and the Ohio and U.S. constitutions in issuing orders restricting Ohioans movements and activities. He made his demand in Clermont Municipal Court under a provision of state law allowing private citizen affidavits.
A reviewing prosecutor dismissed the request for charges almost immediately, and a DeWine spokesman called the move “absurd.”
Becker filed to have the prosecutor charge DeWine with 10 different crimes, including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, complicity, terrorism, inducing panic and interfering with civil rights.
DeWine has assumed dictatorial powers and “stuck his thumb in the eye of the General Assembly,” Becker said in an interview. Becker, who is term-limited and not running for re-election, is also spearheading an effort to impeach DeWine that currently has four backers among the 99 House lawmakers.
“If this were serious, I would have a comment. Because it is patently absurd, I do not,” said DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney.
Clermont County Municipal Clerk Tim Rudd forwarded Becker’s complaint to county prosecutor Vincent Faris, who reviewed and rejected it.
“I don’t think policy decisions should be criminalized. These are policy matters, not a criminal charge,” Faris said.
Despite the extreme nature of Becker’s move, he’s not alone among conservative critics of DeWine in the Legislature.
House and Senate lawmakers have introduced well over a dozen bills since March attempting to limit DeWine’s ability to respond to the virus through the issuance of public health orders and other emergency measures.
One of those, a Senate bill prohibiting criminal penalties for violations of state or local health orders related to the pandemic, even reached DeWine’s desk in July, when he promptly vetoed it. “In the midst of this pandemic, now is not the time to change tactics and impede local health officials’ ability to protect all Ohioans,” DeWine said in his July 17 veto message to lawmakers.
Last week, he said that, should it arrive on his desk, he would veto a bill moving through the Legislature that would prohibit Health Department quarantine and isolation orders from applying to people who have not been exposed or diagnosed with a disease.
The governor said such a measure would handcuff future governors and health directors trying to address disease outbreaks.
Ohio Lawmaker Demands Criminal Charges Be Filed Against Governor Mike DeWine Over Coronavirus Health Orders
A lawmaker has taken his frustration over Ohio's coronavirus public health orders to a new level by demanding criminal charges be filed against Gov. Mike DeWine.pittsburgh.cbslocal.com
Organizers were threatened with fines ranging from $10,000 to $100,000. Participants were threatened with fines of $880. So, what did the rank and file of #YahooNation do on Saturday?
Well, they gathered in the hundreds at Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square for a protest rally to vent about mandatory mask regulations and new clampdowns on the provincial economy.
And what did law enforcement do?
Far from ticketing the masses, police provided these folks with an escort so they could march up Yonge Street to the Yorkville area and then back to Yonge-Dundas Square!
Surely this was total humiliation for Ontario Premier Doug “The party’s over” Ford.
Premier Ford had earlier warned that given the spike in positive Wuhan virus tests, there would be clampdowns and serious fines for violators to combat that much-feared “second wave” of the pandemic. Thus, indoor gatherings are now limited to 10 people and outdoor gatherings are restricted to 25. And according to Ford, the outdoor gathering limit covers protests, too.
So, there was quite a buzz in the air on Saturday. Would there be a Melbourne, Australia-style crackdown? Or would law enforcement look the other way? What was surely unexpected was Option number three: law enforcement actually facilitating the protest by giving protestors an escort.
While Premier Ford wants people to self-isolate and bake cherry cheesecakes, #YahooNation congregated and marched maskless through the streets of downtown Toronto. And apparently they plan to do so again next Saturday.
Bottom line: a victory was scored for freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.
Surely Premier Ford, who seemingly has all the enforcement wherewithal of a professional wrestling referee these days, must be fuming right now given that all the king’s men and all the king’s horses really aren’t all that into fining and arresting law-abiding citizens who are protesting the ongoing erosion of their rights in the name of “public safety.”
Yes, I completely understand and agree with your very good point.Yes, of course, you can come up with any number of other interpretations. However, what I feel to be important is that the reading be intimately tied to the reader because, in this case, I, myself, am using my own psyche, and am reacting in the moment of reading the cards, using immediate associations and impressions.
Another way to make this point: as a reader you might see a card that "should" mean one thing, but you have an altogether different reaction to it. It's important, as a reader, to keep focused on how your psyche is reacting, and not just what the cards are "supposed" to be saying.
Do you know what I mean?
That's what makes a reading specific. It is specific to the psyche of the hopefully adept reader. Others can come along, as you have, and offer other interpretations, which is fine. But to me that's losing the value of the reader's in the moment impressions. Also, over time, readers develop a short hand, which, again, is intimately tied to themselves.
I don't at all claim to be an expert when it comes the tarot, per se. However, I do claim some expertise related to my own psyche. For me, the cards are just a means of communicating with myself in a highly focused way.
His disclosure that he has tested positive will likely add new urgency to the ongoing discussion about setting up routine testing in the Capitol. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a separate statement on Friday that Trump's diagnosis underscored the need for testing in the Capitol, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also discussed the issue on Friday.
GOP Sen. Mike Lee tests positive for coronavirus
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said on Friday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus, news that came as the nation was reeling from President Trump’s own coronavirus diagnosis. Lee…thehill.com
Yes: we shall see what we shall see. But, yes, it seems instructive to analyze those strong gut reactions since they must be telling us something.Yes, I completely understand and agree with your very good point.
I used to look into Tarot maybe 35-40 years ago. I'd forgotten a lot about it. Lately I've had in mind to study again, maybe make my own cards with illustrations particularly resonant with me (I'm an artist). Characters and figures are in my mind and on the back burner for such use. Anyway, when I looked at your spread (before doing the study of the cards today), my strong gut impression (possibly wishful thinking) was that the pitiful couple in Pentacles 5 represented a man and woman other than the Trumps, but was one well known to them. This couple was outside of the realm of good influence.
As we like to say here... pass the popcorn.
Guess all those fires at the BLM protests annihilated any covid infection risk.Maxine Waters and Azar in heated exchange at coronavirus hearing: 'We're very unhappy'
California Rep. Maxine Waters (D) got into a heated exchange with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar during his testimony before Congress on Friday, with the congresswoman saying she was “very unhappy” with the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Waters’s remarks came after she questioned Azar about the effect of President Trump’s campaign rallies and whether he thought they increased COVID-19 infections.
The president and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday following multiple rallies and events that public health experts warned were dangerous amid the pandemic.
Maxine Waters and Azar in heated exchange at coronavirus hearing: ‘We’re very unhappy’
California Rep. Maxine Waters (D) got into a heated exchange with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar during his testimony before Congress on Friday, with the congresswoman saying sh…thehill.com
White House physician Sean Conley said Friday that President Trump “remains fatigued but in good spirits” and received a cocktail of polyclonal antibodies as a precautionary measure after being diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.
“As a precautionary measure he received a single 8 gram dose of Regeneron’s polyclonal antibody cocktail. He completed the infusion without incident,” Conley said in a memorandum issued Friday afternoon.
“In addition to the polyclonal antibodies, the President has been taking zinc, vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin and a daily aspirin.”
"As of this afternoon the President remains fatigued but in good spirits. He’s being evaluated by a team of experts, and together we’ll be making recommendations to the President and First Lady in regards to next best steps,” Coney continued.
First lady Melania Trump, who along with the president tested positive in the early hours of Friday morning, “remains well with only a mild cough and headache,” the White House physician said.
Trump has remained quiet throughout the day on Friday after testing positive for COVID-19 – a development that rattled the White House and roiled an already volatile reelection campaign. The president and first lady are self-quarantining, and Trump has put off in-person campaigning for the time being.
Trump, who is 74 and overweight, falls into a high-risk category for the coronavirus, which has been found to be particularly deadly among senior populations.
White House aides have also described Trump as having “mild symptoms."
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany declined to specify Trump’s symptoms earlier Friday. However sources with knowledge of the situation told both the New York Times and NBC News that Trump has a low-grade fever and nasal congestion.
Trump tested positive after one of his top aides, Hope Hicks, was diagnosed with the virus early Thursday, a development that became public knowledge on Thursday evening.
[...]
Meanwhile, other White House officials have tested negative for the virus, including Vice President Pence, chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump as well as her husband Jared Kushner, both of whom are senior White House advisers.
Trump arrives at Walter Reed after positive coronavirus test
President Trump has arrived at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center where he will remain "for the next few days" following his positive test for the coronavirus.thehill.com
I imagine it is part of the Agenda. I am sorry for the President, maybe they want to kill him under the corona virus excuse. Oh, he is old they say, at risk. yeah. Anyway, what will be will be. Better to take the situation with stoicism I think so.More positives and testing tsunami in the works:
RNC chair tests positive for coronavirus
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel has tested positive for the coronavirus and is recovering at home in Michigan.“After a member of her family tested positive for …thehill.com
I'm thinking all these new positive test results of highly-visible public officials will cause more people to choose absentee voting over voting in person - a plus for the opposition.