Congress gave Cleveland $30 million for event security, so the Ohio town is really gearing up to greet the 50,000 visiting GOP conventioneers, including Donald Trump’s legion of goons, bikers, and KKK followers. Suburban law enforcement will lend officers to bring the Cleveland force up to 5,000, but maybe Governor Kasich can have his confetti bomber on call for emergency crowd immobilization, just in case.
Residents of Toledo and environs, all 500,000 of them, have been warned not to drink or or wash with their tap water. The region’s water treatment plant found microcystin, a toxin that can cause nausea and liver damage. Boiling the water only concentrates the toxin. The source of the poison is a blue-green algae bloom on the west side of Lake Erie, thought to be caused by excessive phosphorous from agricultural runoff.
More:
“Water crisis grips hundreds of thousands in Toledo area, state of emergency declared,” Tom Henry, Toledo Blade
“A toxic algae scare has left 500,000 people in Ohio without drinking water,” Brad Plumer , Vox
“7 Things You Need To Know About The Toxin That’s Poisoned Ohio’s Drinking Water,” Emily Atkin, Think Progress
“Cyanobacteria and Cyanotoxins: Information for Drinking Water Systems, EPA Office of Water
Joe the Plumber has won the Republican nomination for Ohio’s 9th District Congressional race, narrowly defeating an opponent with a more impressive resume by outspending him 6-to-1. Loser Steve Kraus is an auctioneer, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and the Christian Coalition, a college graduate, an engineer, and a real estate agent.
Republican celebrity Joe the Plumber, who isn’t a licensed plumber and whose name is really Sam, seeks the trust of the people of Ohio. He says he wants to run for Congress there, so naturally he’s campaigning in Washington DC. He’s at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference. Of course, nobody cares. And by “nobody,” we mean Herman Cain.
Joe’s book, like his biography and politics, is fiction. His political aspirations, however, are real — his greatest accomplishment to date is his recent election as one of only 400 Republican Party committee members in Ohio’s Lucas County (37,258 registered Republicans).