“OK, Scott, here’s the deal. We got a lot of time to fill, so your slot is two and a half hours instead of fifteen minutes. Good chance to show those smart-ass liberals that we can be just as free-form and improvisational as they are! Anyway, you’re on in five, here’s a double shot of tequila and a dexedrine! Let 'er rip!”
I’m actually surprised The Donald himself is not speaking each night at the convention. I know it’s traditional for the nominee to wait and only take the podium on the final night, but this is Trump. It’s going to drive him (even more) crazy to have to let others take the spotlight for three days while he waits in the wings.
I have to say, Kasich is right. He has no authority to do so. That said, I would hope that people would use a little common sense about their right to open carry near the convention site.
I have heard (in passing–no cite) that both a pro-Trump demonstration and a New Black Panther demonstration that had intended to open carry are rethinking the plan.
Stephen Loomis should be relieved of his duties. Do we really want officers who openly admit that they don’t care if something is constitutional or not? :dubious:
Yeah, I hate Kasich but it’s the right call. OTOH, I don’t believe the phrase “common sense” should be used anywhere in the same paragraph as a reference to the open carry nuts that support the Donald.
Here’s how it really went down. [
](Scott Baio Hand-Picked by a Desperate Trump to Speak at His D-List RNC)
As usual, the truth is even weirder.
Ooh ooh! I hope he says “Hey Hillary, up your nose with a rubber hose!” That would be awesome!
They couldn’t get Kirk Cameron?
Donnie loves Chachi.
So the prime time slots include five Trumps and no Paul Ryan, McConnell, Cruz, Walker… but we get soap opera actress Kimberlin Brown?
What the serious fuck?
IANAL, but I think Kasich is wrong and is being a typical right-wing ass. What does the Constitution say about open carry, say, in front of the podium where the president is giving a speech? What does the Constitution say about open carry along the route of a parade or motorcade involving the president and other government officials? What does the Constitution say about open carry in and around the Capitol building in Washington – or indeed anywhere in DC?
Even Scalia, the most strident gun nut involved in the Heller decision, the most extreme pro-gun ruling ever, said that nevertheless the Second Amendment “is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose”. Not only does a little common sense have a place in our world, sometimes it can even survive the scrutiny of constitutional textualism.
What makes you think Stephen Loomis’s job is to enforce the Constitution?
He thinks this is the “best meme ever,” so maybe he will.
Except the people performing open carry are not going to be near the podium, or even in the convention center. The police want to ban it throughout the city. The president of the police union said he doesn’t care if stopping open carry is constitutional or not, he wants it banned. That is the exact opposite of the attitude I want in police officers.
DC has its laws about guns, where, how, and be whom they can be carried. And Ohio has our laws. If the police union wants things to be different, they should get behind changing those laws, not asking the governor to just ignore them.
That wasn’t a smart statement for the union guy to make, especially because it isn’t true. If other states can permanently ban open carry, why would it be unconstitutional for Ohio to ban it temporarily in a limited area? This is not a constitutional issue, it’s a statutory issue, and it’s not clear to me (but IANAL) why Kasich couldn’t issue an executive order (which he seems to do frequently – many of them with “emergency” in their title) that would suspend open carry for the duration of the convention and perhaps only within a delimited area around the site.
It’s ridiculous that gun laws are so lax that this would even have to be an issue, but it would at least be something providing a little bit more safety.
Not necessarily to enforce it, but his job requires him to operate under the boundaries of the Constitution.
I don’t see anything in Fox News’s TV listings that indicate that they are going to be doing special convention coverage, though I imagine they will have coverage from Hannity of O’Reilly. The Big Three will only do one hour a night, and PBS is doing three. I guess they’ll break in if rioting breaks out or somebody shoots up the arena.
The constitution of the state of Ohio, Article I Section 4
Not even any waffling over “a well-regulated militia.” And having read all 127 pages of the Ohio state constitution, I don’t see anything that says the governor, the head of a police union, or even Scott Baio can suspend Article I Section 4, just because some batshit crazy demonstrators may make trouble.
I know I mentioned this somewhere before, but I’ll mention it again – quite a number of talk shows will be focusing on convention coverage, but this is the one I look forward to, featuring my hero: 
If you love presidential nominating convention coverage but think it’s disappointingly lacking in profanity, then you’re in luck. Real Time with Bill Maher host Bill Maher will be hosting live coverage of both the Republican National Convention in Cleveland and the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia this summer …
These will be two half-hour bits on Wednesday and Thursday nights for the Republican fiasco this week and the Democratic one next week. They’re unique in that they will be live (like his show), but also live-streamed free on YouTube and the next day free on Maher’s Facebook page. Presumably they will also be on HBO, but HBO’s decision to provide free streaming is commendable and is something Maher was pushing for. Too bad it’s just half an hour apiece, though. But then his usual live one-hour show on HBO follows the next day and ought to have lots more!
More info: Bill Maher Pushes HBO's Limits By Live-Streaming 'Real Time' - Variety