Pete Hegseth spent most of his career trying to destroy the VA for the Koch brothers.

🧐 THE FINE PRINT #2 WHO GETS TO SEE THE RECEIPTS? Yesterday I asked a simple question: Why did lawmakers use HB 519 for the gas-tax holiday instead of the gas-tax bills already sitting in the legislature? Could a reporter or taxpayer simply request the emails, texts and communications that might help answer that? 🧐 Well, here’s THE FINE PRINT. Last year, tucked inside Ohio’s massive state budget, HB 96, lawmakers changed public-records law as it applies to the General Assembly. Qualifying “legislative documents” generally are NOT considered public records during the General Assembly in which they were created. Important distinction: that does NOT mean every legislative email or text is permanently secret. Some records are treated differently, and records not otherwise exempt can generally become public after the General Assembly ends. But while lawmakers are making decisions, some records that could help Ohioans understand HOW those decisions were made may not be available through a public-records request. And here’s the kicker: Gov. Mike DeWine VETOED this change, objecting to an overly broad exception to Ohio’s Public Records Act. The Republican supermajority overrode him. 🏛️ House: 61–28 🏛️ Senate: 21–11 So why does this matter? Go back to the gas-tax holiday. Dr. Amy Acton called for one first. Hours later, Ramaswamy announced his proposal alongside CURRENT House Speaker Matt Huffman and CURRENT Senate President Rob McColley, Ramaswamy’s running mate, at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, whose PAC endorsed Ramaswamy. And behind Ohio’s legislative leaders? CAMPAIGN SIGNS. 🪧 Ramaswamy publicly emphasized that he was working w/legislative leaders to turn the proposal into action. After lawmakers passed it, he appeared with them AGAIN and described the result as a “preview” of how his administration would work. 🤔 McColley rejected the suggestion that the legislative action was being undertaken for Ramaswamy’s (and his) campaign benefit. Does any of this PROVE an ethics violation? NO. But there’s another piece of THE FINE PRINT: TIMING. ⏰ Lawmakers had been on break and weren’t scheduled to return until AFTER Election Day. Instead, they were called back, passed the gas-tax holiday w/an emergency clause, and it takes effect on October 4, exactly 30 days before Election Day. That timing is especially interesting bc the Ohio House itself has an internal policy restricting certain taxpayer-funded communications from members on the ballot during the 30 days before an election. 🗳️ That policy recognizes an important boundary between OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT activity and CAMPAIGN activity close to an election. So when a candidate appears w/legislative leaders in front of campaign signs, publicly presents their legislative action as evidence of what he could accomplish as Governor, and the resulting policy takes effect exactly 30 days before Election Day… 1/2

Someone should make a book of these.

🧐 THE FINE PRINT: There’s the headline. Then there’s what it actually means. Welcome to THE FINE PRINT, a new series where we get past the talking points, follow the money, and give YOU the information to draw your own conclusions. First up: ⛽️ Ohio’s 90-Day Gas Tax Holiday. THE HEADLINE: 💰 “$725 MILLION IN TAX RELIEF!” Okay. But what does that actually mean? THE FINE PRINT: ⛽️ Ohio’s 38.5¢/gallon gasoline tax and 47¢/gallon diesel tax are reduced to essentially zero for 90 days. For perspective: 10 gallons = about $3.85 in reduced gasoline tax. 15 gallons = about $5.78. 10 gallons/week for the entire 90 days = roughly $50. But Ohio’s roads and bridges don’t stop needing funding for 90 days. According to the nonpartisan Ohio Legislative Service Commission, the holiday is estimated to reduce motor-fuel-tax revenue by about $698 MILLION. So the legislature appropriated $725 MILLION from Ohio’s General Revenue Fund into a “Tax Relief Hold Harmless” fund to replace that revenue. In other words: Ohioans pay less tax AT THE PUMP for 90 days. Another pot of state money replaces the revenue. 💵 SO LET’S FOLLOW THE MONEY: Gas-tax revenue doesn’t just disappear into some giant state checking account. It is distributed to state agencies and local governments for transportation-related purposes. LSC estimates the approximately $698 MILLION impact includes: ➡️ $373.6M Ohio Department of Transportation ➡️ $225.3M Local governments ➡️ $73.1M Debt service ➡️ $16.8M Ohio Public Works Commission ➡️ $6.7M Ohio Department of Natural Resources ➡️ Smaller amounts to Taxation, the Turnpike Commission and PUCO. And that $225.3 MILLION for local governments includes: 🏙️ $94.7M Municipalities 🏛️ $81.6M Counties 🛣️ $49M Townships Those governments aren’t simply going w/out their normal distributions. The General Revenue Fund is replacing them. AND THERE’S MORE FINE PRINT. 💵 HB 519 appropriates an ADDITIONAL $250,000 to the Ohio Department of Taxation to administer the temporary reduction. 📋 The Attorney General’s Office may also incur additional costs investigating or enforcing the requirement that retailers actually pass the tax reduction on to consumers. 🚛 And the $725 million appropriation does NOT cover Ohio’s payments to other jurisdictions under the International Fuel Tax Agreement. LSC notes comparable IFTA payments totaled about $30 MILLION from December 2025 through February 2026 and says a similar amount could still be owed if other states’ rates remain unchanged. 1/2

Snowfall expected in the Midwest this winter:

Listen to Poppy. We should all be like Poppy

Since when does justice involve butchery and torture: Christa Pike on a ventilator and unconscious after failed Tennessee execution, attorneys say yahoo.com/news/us/articles/c… via @@YahooNews

"How long have you been distilling Whiskey?" "Senator, that was Jack Daniels."

'It has become very dire in a lot of places': New map reveals exactly where humans are adding and removing precious fresh water on Earth livescience.com/planet-earth…

Palmer Luckey, Newt Gingrich, Elon Musk

An American showed me his kitchen. He pointed to a drawer beside the stove. "That's the junk drawer." I opened it. It contained three rubber bands, four batteries of unknown charge, a 2014 receipt from AutoZone, a single brass key to a door that does not exist, and half a roll of duct tape. I asked what the sorting principle was. He looked offended. "You don't sort it. You just put things in it." "What things?" "Things that aren't trash, but don't deserve a shelf." Inside I said: THIS IS PURGATORY. THIS DRAWER IS WHERE HOUSEHOLD GOODS AWAIT REINCARNATION. Two weeks later, my remote control died. I did not go to the store. I walked to the drawer with my eyes closed, reached into the dark, and pulled out an AA battery. It had 40 percent life remaining. The drawer provides. The drawer requires no faith, only surrender.

"Many people have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early. These symptoms of poor sleep can occur in many conditions like anxiety or depression. Effective treatments are available to help you sleep better without taking medicines." veteranshealthlibrary.va.gov…

8 sailors died by suicide at Oklahoma base in one year, Navy confirms militarytimes.com/news/your-…

Files Without Borders: The Diffusion of 3D-Printed Weapons Designs from the Russo-Ukrainian War open.substack.com/pub/milita…

Time has stopped sanewashing Trump. No other human would be able to fill up an interview in a news magazine with such garbage. It’s time to stop covering what he says to get attention and cover what is actually real.

"The CLARITY Act, which failed in a procedural vote on Sept. 15, and a new venture by the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency company made us think it was time to write about the cryptocurrency legislation." govtrack.us/posts/627/2026-0…

Ohio farmers feel the squeeze of diesel, fertilizer prices. Will that affect how they vote? wosu.org/politics-government…

Earlier today, a letter from Pope Leo XIV arrived at Rate Field. Go White Sox!

The LA28 Olympic Torch Relay is coming to your home state! 🇺🇸 For the first time ever, a U.S. Torch Relay will visit all 50 states, making for an epic journey that touches on the spaces and places that make this country so special. If you want to be part of carrying forward the next chapter of Games history, sign up for the LA28 newsletter at LINK BELOW. ​ 🔗: bit.ly/3TaHHwT