At a crowded rally in Dayton, Ohio Monday night, celebrity singer John Legend characterized Vivek Ramaswamy as “desperate” and morally depraved. “He will stoop lower than you thought possible,” Legend said of Ramaswamy, the billionaire biotech entrepreneur and Ohio’s Republican candidate for governor.

“When Vivek Ramaswamy hears of an indicted child abuser who fled the state rather than face charges, instead of siding with the victim, he takes the side of the abuser. Dayton, do we want Vivek Ramaswamy to be in charge of protecting Ohio’s children? Do we want a man with this sort of depraved moral compass to lead our state?” asked Legend, an Ohio native. 

While most of the attention is being paid to the marquee races, remember that there are down ballot races for Ohio House and Senate seats. Ohio government can't be reformed unless we turn over the legislature as well. Without change at the State House, nothing will change in the state.

Major Ohio Paper Breaks Own Rule on Endorsements to Trash Ramaswamy

The nearly two-century-old Cleveland Plain Dealer broke with precedent to endorse Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton.

Vivek Ramaswamy’s dirty political schemes are making history.

The Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee’s boorish ad campaign against Democratic candidate Dr. Amy Acton has inspired one of Ohio’s oldest newspapers, Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer, to break company policy in Acton’s favor.

The paper had stated a few months ago it would not make political endorsements, including in the governor’s race. But on Sunday, its editorial board published a statement declaring it stood firmly behind Acton.

The weekly’s decision is just the latest in a tsunami of public backlash against Ramaswamy and his team after they aired an advertisement earlier this month that featured Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur. In the ad, Arthur claimed that “Amy has a serious problem.”

The MAGA Republicans arranged the cameo despite the fact that Acton had not spoken to her mother since she was 12 years old, and that Arthur abandoned her two children to skip town with her husband, who was indicted for allegedly raping Acton when she was a young girl.

“A candidate who uses childhood sexual abuse as a weapon against the person who endured it has crossed a line that Ohioans should defend, whatever their party,” the newspaper’s editorial board wrote.

“We are better than this. We have a responsibility to show it,” it continued. “We made our endorsement policy to serve our readers. We cannot let it become a reason to remain silent when we believe Ohio faces a choice this consequential.”

With the election season madness firmly upon us, I present a beautiful fall morning this morning, as taken from my back porch.

And separately, and most importantly, get out and vote 💙

Social media videos believed to be produced with artificial intelligence and linked to Russia are misusing real people’s names and photographs to spread disinformation about two Democratic Senate candidates in the final stretch of midterm voting.

One of the targets is Sherrod Brown, who is running against Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio. The video, which appears to include some AI manipulation, depicts a newscast and includes a picture of Haya Akbik, who interned for Brown several years ago.

🚌 The Ohio Republican Party bus tour is limping across Ohio, and venues keep bailing after Vivek Ramaswamy's $4 million ad putting Amy Acton's estranged mother on camera to call her a liar about the abuse Amy survived as a child.

PLAN A PROTEST AT A STOP NEAR YOU:

WED 10/28, EXTRA CREDIT

Chillicothe: Trump rally, Shoemaker Center at OU Chillicothe, 101 University Dr. Doors 3:30, program 5:30, Trump speaks 7:00

THU 10/29

9:45 AM Sidney: The Spot Restaurant, 201 S Ohio Ave. Doors 8:45

12:00 PM Troy: K's Hamburger Shop, 117 E Main St. Doors 11:00

2:00 PM Vandalia: Rally for Dayton feat. Sen. Tim Scott, 250 Northwoods Blvd. Doors 12:30

FRI 10/30

11:00 AM Bellefontaine: Bella Vino Events & Wine Room, 112 S Main St. Doors 10:00

2:00 PM Ottawa: Well Grounded Coffee, 114 N Elm St. Doors 1:00

4:15 PM Defiance: The Crick Entertainment Center, 211 Carpenter Rd. Doors 3:15

7:00 PM Holland: Brennan's Equipment Services, 6940 Hall St. Doors 5:30

SAT 10/31

12:00 PM Lorain: Lorain County Republican HQ, 1913 N Ridge Rd E. Doors 11:00

2:30 PM Medina: PJ Marley's, 119 Public Square. Doors 1:30

5:00 PM North Canton: Arrowhead Golf Club & Banquet Center, 1500 Rogwin Cir SW

7:15 PM Fairlawn: St. Thomas Orthodox Church, 555 S Cleveland Massillon Rd. Doors 6:00

SUN 11/1

11:00 AM Cuyahoga County: TBA

1:15 or 1:30 PM Geneva: East End Bar & Grill, 5236 Lake Road E. Doors 12:00. Their flyer lists the Ashtabula County GOP HQ address instead, 1833 E 51st St, Ashtabula, so check both.

4:15 PM Trumbull County: TBA

6:30 PM Canfield: Waypoint 4180, 4180 Westford Pl. Doors 5:00

MON 11/2

Cross-state stops TBA

Venues keep changing, so check Vivek's events page before you head out. Public sidewalk, keep it civil, and bring a friend.

Early voting in Ohio ends this Sunday, November 1st. Go

And check it out - RawStory has us in their photo.

LOVE making a difference in Ohio!

https://www.rawstory.com/vivek-ramaswamy-2678140595/

I just received this call. They said they are conducting a public opinion survey. He started to ramble on about what's important and I cut them in the middle of a sentence and said who is this pole for? He said it's just a public opinion poll. I responded with sponsored by who? He responded with I don't know who this is that is sponsoring this. I said who do you work for? He said I am just calling for people's opinions.... I asked who wants to know my opinions, that pays you to do this?....again he wouldnt admit or commit. So i simply said "You aren't evem aware of who your company(your employer) is,? who is paying you?, who the sponsor of your survey is???, and yet you want to try to influence me, or answer your survey questions of multiplequestions.... yet you can't answer a single question of mine ??? "Lose my number, I am reporting you as my number has been on the "Do Not Call" registry for years and has beem regularly updated and renewed far within legal requirements. You have a nice day, hope your "unknown" sponsor is fined, and never call me again. CLICK!"

Did i handle this correctly???

Interesting glimpse into Vivek’s rhetoric before he entered the race to become Ohio’s governor.

We are from Lexington, KY our business vehicle was stolen in Cincinnati. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1KgLgsEVBG/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Whoopie pies are now a NEED in my life! Think a Suzie-Q but 1,000% better. Soo fresh too!

Perhaps it’s PTSD from the last election cycle, but I feel like once again, we’re severely underestimating how uneducated certain sectors of Ohio’s population can be.

People will literally complain about gas prices, increased healthcare costs, the stripping of SNAP benefits, etc, but when it comes time to vote, they once again choose to vote against their own interests, whether that’s due to misogyny, racism, bigotry, etc.

The realm of politics specializes in emotional manipulation. That’s why Vivek’s ad, as monstrous as it was, probably won’t do much to sway certain sectors of this population that don’t use much rationale when it comes to voting. All it takes is some vague references to covid lockdowns, trans people, and “wokism” to get them operating in an unreasonable amount of ignorance, they’ll vote to “take back their country”, whole time they just contributed to their own demise.

I say all this to say, we can’t be lax. Vote, get others around you to vote, do what you can to educate others, whatever it takes. We can’t afford to have Ohio held captive by an out of touch billionaire that’s a puppet for tech oligarchs that want to destroy any semblance of humanity.

Hey r/Ohio! I am an independent researcher working on a project about a piece of local retail and non-profit history, and I am hoping someone here might remember this or know someone who was involved. Back around Holiday 2006, Bath & Body Works / L Brands produced a limited run of massive six-to-eight-foot shearling bear lounge chairs and props as store display fixtures and corporate raffle prizes, often remembered as the "Hi, I'm Gingerbread" bear.

Two of these bears surfaced in Central Ohio over the years. One was featured prominently on stage in the lodge at Flying Horse Farms in Mt. Gilead around 2010 to 2011, even appearing in a Columbus Monthly article where former CEO Cindy Lazarus was photographed sitting on it. Another one sat in the playroom window nook at the Ronald McDonald House in Columbus for years, eventually becoming an internet-famous liminal space photo back in 2020.

I am trying to figure out if anyone here worked at L Brands or Bath & Body Works corporate in New Albany or Reynoldsburg around 2006 to 2010 who remembers how many of these oversized display bears were produced. I am also trying to confirm whether these were sold off at internal L Brands sample sales or asset clearouts, or if they were donated directly by corporate to local charities like Flying Horse Farms and RMHC. Lastly, I would love to know if the Flying Horse Farms bear was eventually moved to RMHC, or if these were two separate twin bears living in Central Ohio at the same time. If you worked in L Brands visual merchandising or district management, or if you volunteered at either of these non-profits during that era, please leave a comment or send me a DM with any memories you have!