Jim Jordan, a piece of work

Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), who refused to comply with a Congressional subpoena, is now, in his role as chair of the House Judiciary Committee, chastising those who refuse to comply with a Congressional subpoena.

See this report by Winn Sioux Christnot-Peters in Second Nexus, and in particular, watch the video clip in the report.

Ohio politicians found guilty in $60 million utilities bribery scandal

Naveena Sadasivam reports in Grist:

FBI agents arrested one of Ohio’s most recognizable politicians, then-state House of Representatives Speaker Larry Householder, in connection with a $60 million bribery scheme nearly three years ago. The 80-page criminal complaint against him and four collaborators reads like a John Grisham thriller. According to the complaint, Householder and the others controlled a slush fund that received millions of dollars from three utility companies in the state. Householder used this money to help elect like-minded legislators. In exchange, he helped pass House Bill 6, a bailout law that halved the amount of renewable power utilities were required to buy, eliminated energy efficiency measures, and provided billions of dollars to utilities that owned nuclear and coal power plants in the state. It was a classic pay-to-play scheme.

Yesterday, a federal jury largely affirmed those allegations, finding Householder and ex-Ohio Republican Party chair Matt Borges guilty of conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise involving bribery and money laundering. The two men face up to 20 years in prison and will be sentenced in the coming months.

“Larry Householder illegally sold the statehouse, and thus he ultimately betrayed the great people of Ohio he was elected to serve,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Kenneth Parker in a press release.

Borges and Householder plan . . .

Continue reading. There’s much more.

Tobacco is good in a shave

Today I used the 3-band silvertip Prince, and I have to say that I prefer it. It’s not so stiff as the 2-band — more comfortable on my face and, I suspect, with a greater lather capacity. Certainly it had no problem in generating an excellent lather from Wholly Kaw’s Merchant of Tobacco: “Tobacco, Bourbon, Oud, Black Pepper, Vanilla, Peru Balsam, Honey, and Bitter Cocoa.” 

Wholly Kaw’s soaps — which are excellent — come in two versions:

Made with high quality ingredients including Donkey Milk, Castor Oil, Kokum Butter, Cocoa Butter, and Shea Butter for added post shave benefits. Vegan does not contain Donkey Milk.  Vegan includes Soybean Glycerides and Shea Butter Unsaponifiables with Kokum Butter, Cocoa Butter, and Shea Butter.  Hops Extract is incorporated into the formulation as a soothing natural extract for relief of skin inflammation and skin redness.

Ingredients:

Tallow Version
Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua, Donkey Milk, Glycerin, Potassium Tallowate, Sodium Tallowate, Potassium Ricinoleate, Sodium Ricinoleate, Potassium Shea Butterate, Sodium Shea Butterate, Garcinia Indica (Kokum) Butter, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Linoleic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Humulus Lupulus (Hops) Extract, Lanolin, Fragrance

Vegan Version
Potassium Stearate, Sodium Stearate, Aqua, Glycerin, Potassium Ricinoleate, Sodium Ricinoleate, Potassium Mango Stearate, Sodium Mango Stearate, Potassium Shea Butterate, Sodium Shea Butterate, Garcinia Indica (Kokum) Butter, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, Hydrolyzed Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Polyquaternium-10, Linoleic Acid, Linolenic Acid, Humulus Lupulus (Hops) Extract, Soybean Glycerides, Shea Butter Unsaponifiables, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Fragrance

I could not resist using my Quantum again, returning to the Ω baseplate. (The blade,  BTW, is a Swedish Gillette, but that may not be the best blade for you.) The Ω baseplate is better for me. This razor is a delight to use, and after three passes I had a BBS result with no problems and, indeed, no threat of a problem.

A good splash of Tabac Original augmented with a couple of squirts of Grooming Dept’s Aion Hydrating Gel and the weekend is launched. A good week, overall.

The caffeine this morning is Fantastico’s Guatemala Santa Clara Venezia: “Milk chocolate, almond brittle, sultana raisin.”

DuckDuckGo email protection

I’ve been using DuckDuckGo as my regular search engine for a while now. I like it better than Google because Google’s search results now always seem to begin with a page of ads.

And today I learned of a new DuckDuckGo free service: DuckDuckGo has an email protection service that strips emails of trackers, so you can use the @duck email address when you sign up for something, and it forwards to your regular email but strips out all the privacy-violating nonsense. In addition, with the browser extension (which you must install first), you can generate obscure email addresses. I’m now reachable at duck.com, but also I can use their one-time addresses.

You can also do it on smartphones by installing the DuckDuckGo app, I believe.