Anti-Fracking Workshop

There will be an anti-fracking workshop at the John F. Germany Library tomorrow.

Pensacola Ordinance Could Kill Homeless People

Via Crooks and Liars: a Pensacola, Florida ordinance could make homeless people freeze to death. Under the ordance, homeless people are not even allowed to have blankets or a sleep bag when they sleep. This is incredibly cruel and people. The elected officials of Pensacola should be a shamed of themselves.

Here is the ordinance.

AN ORDINANCE CREATING SECTION 8-1-22 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF PENSACOLA, FLORIDA; PROHIBITING CAMPING AS DEFINED ON ALL PUBLIC PROPERTY OF THE CITY PROVIDING EXCEPTIONS; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; REPEALING CLAUSE; PROVIDING EFFECTIVE DATE.

WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Pensacola, Florida hereby finds that in order to provide for, secure and promote the aesthetics, sanitation, public health, and safety of its citizens, it is necessary and in the public interest to adopt an Ordinance prohibiting in part and regulating the conduct of camping on public property, as defined, within the city limits.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF PENSACOLA, FLORIDA:

SECTION 1. Section 8-1-22 of the Code of the City of Pensacola, Florida is hereby created to read as follows:

Sec. 8-1-22 Camping prohibited; exceptions

(1) For purposes of this section “camping” is defined as:

(a) Cooking over an open flame or fire out-of-doors; or

(b) Bathing in public for purposes of personal hygiene; or

(c) Sleeping out-of-doors under one of the following circumstances:

(i) Adjacent to or inside a tent or sleeping bag, or

(ii) Atop and/or covered by materials such as a bedroll, cardboard, newspapers, or

(iii) Inside some form of temporary shelter

(2) Camping is prohibited on all public property, except as may be specifically authorized by the appropriate governmental authority.

(3) Camping is prohibited on all property in the City used for residential purposes; provided, however that camping is permitted on such property with permission and consent of the property owner.

(4) An individual in violation of this ordinance, who has no private shelter, shall be advised of available shelter in the City of Pensacola or Escambia County, in addition to any penalties of law.

SECTION 2. In any word, phrase, clause, paragraph, section or provision of this ordinance or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid or unconstitutional, such finding shall not affect the other provision or applications of the ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid or unconstitutional provisions or application, and to this end the provisions of this ordinance are declared severable.

SECTION 3. All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict.

SECTION 4. This ordinance shall take effect on the fifth business day after adoption, unless otherwise provided pursuant to Section 4.03(d) of the City Charter of the City of Pensacola.

Activist Father Nathan Monk has started a petition to end the ordinance. Monk is asking people to email these elected officials.

mayorhayward@cityofpensacola.com

Write the council: jcannada-wynn@cityofpensacola.com, mpratt@cityofpensacola.com, pcwu@cityofpensacola.com, smyers@cityofpensacola.com, aterhaar@cityofpensacola.com, ljohnson@cityofpensacola.com, gwingate@cityofpensacola.com, bspencer@cityofpensacola.com, cbare@cityofpensacola.com

Protest Against David Jolly

A group of senior citizens and the Florida Consumer Action Network will deliver a fake Medicare voucher to the campaign office of Republican congressional candidate David Jolly.

WHEN: Wednesday, February 5th, at 10:30am.

WHERE: David Jolly Campaign Headquarters, 4585 140th Avenue North, Suite 1004, Clearwater.

WHO: Pinellas County seniors, members of the Florida Consumer Action Network, members of the Florida Association of Retired Americans.

David Jolly lobbied to privatize Social Security. Jolly is no fan of the social safety net.

My Charity Challenge to Joe Bardi

I made a joke on Joe Bardi's Facebook wall that he should do a review of only the Maggie scenes from the HBO series The Newsroom. Not the actual show. I don't even know if Bardi has seen The Newsroom. What prompted the comment was Creative Loafing recently did a charity auction. I wondered if Bardi would subject himself to two seasons of Maggie for a worthy cause.

Bardi asked how much I was offering. This originally started as a joke but I thought why not.

I posted this comment.

This started as a joke. Tell you what, set up a PayPal account. Set a price and we see if we can reach it. I will try to fundraise for it on the blog. You must watch all the scenes with Maggie in the two seasons of The Newsroom. Not the actual show. You must write a character analysis of Maggie on Daily Loaf. I will let you pick the charity.

If Bardi is game he will have to watch scenes like this. For the record: I like Allison Pill as an actress. It seems like Aaron Sorkin took a promising young actressand projected all his problems with women on to her character.

Tallahassee Protest Against Government Shutdown

In Tallahassee, seniors and students gathered to protest the federal government shutdown. The protesters demand that GOP Rep. Steve Southerland vote to end the shutdown with s clean CR bill.

Make Chuck Todd Do His Job Petition

I don't hold out much hope on Chuck Todd being an actual journalist. I do support Nicole Belle's petition as a way to call out Todd on his open hostility to fact-checking.

In a Morning Joe segment this week on misinformation about the Affordable Care Act, NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd made the outrageous claim that it isn’t his job to inform viewers when Republican politicians lie about political issues.

How is it possible that the Political Director of NBC News doesn’t think it is his job to inform NBC viewers with facts about important political issues?

Todd appeared on Morning Joe and made this remark to Ed Rendell.

"What I always love is people say, 'Well, it's you folks' fault in the media.' No! It's the President of the United States' fault for not selling it."

I do agree with Todd that it is not the media's job to sell Obamacare. What angers Belle and other progressives is Todd's glib attitude on fact-checking the MSNBC guests he interviews. Being a member of the Village is more important than journalistic accuracy to Todd.

Susan Smith Wants to End Florida School Grading System

Susan Smith has started the Democracy For America campaign You Power. The goal of You Power is to have Gov. Rick Scott, the State Board of Education, and the Florida Legislature to permanently end the the grading system. I have written before that the grading system wasn't designed to improve public schools but place children in for-profit private schools.

The scandal involving former Florida education commissioner Tony Bennett is a classic example. In emails reported by the Associated Press, Bennett raised the school grade of Indiana Republican donor Christel DeHaan.

"This will be a HUGE problem for us," Bennett wrote. "They need to understand that anything less than an A for Christel House compromises all of our accountability work."

The Jeb Bush education reforms are all about breaking up the teachers' union, campaign dollars and crony capitalism. Go sign the You Power petition.

Religious Leaders Band With Dream Defenders

Religious leaders joined the Dream Defensers during their third week of protests inside the Florida capital.

Imam Rashad Mujahid of the Masjid Al-Nahl mosque in Tallahassee reflected on the role of faith when petitioning a government to change policy.

“One’s faith helps one endure the setbacks sometimes these things take, Mujahid said. “Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, these are people of faith who had a certain discipline and a certain patience that allows them to see beyond their present circumstances.”

It is nice to see an Imam, Rabbi and Episcopal priest band togethet for a good cause. Unfortunately, so much religion had been decisive in our political discourse.

In other news: The Tallahassee Democrat reports Trayvon Martin's parents have taken no position on the Florida boycott started by Stevie Wonder.

Dream Defenders Freedom Rides

The Dream Defenders are attempting to repeal Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law. The Dream Defenders have staged a sit-in in front of Gov. Rick Scott's office. Scott has spoken to the Dream Defenders. Mostly, Scott has avoided the capital.

The Dream Defenders are staging freedom rides acrosd the country to bring more protesters to Tallahassee.

FREEDOM RIDES WILL BE DEPARTING FROM MIAMI, ORLANDO, JACKSONVILLE, TAMPA, ATLANTA, WASHINGTON D.C., RALIEGH, NEW YORK CITY, AND PHILADELPHIA. IF YOU ARE IN OR AROUND THOSE CITIES WE HAVE MADE IT EASY FOR YOU TO BE A PART OF THE MOVEMENT MOMENT OF OUR LIFETIME.

You can join the freedom rides by filling out the online form.

Justice For Travon Rally Photos

Stogie has pictures of the Justice For Trayvon Martin rally at the Sam Gibbons Federal Court House in Tampa.

Justice For Trayvon Rally in Tampa

There will be a Justice For Trayvon rally on July 20th. Here is the information.

WHERE:Sam Gibbons Federal Courthouse

WHEN: 12:00 PM

Contact: PUSH – Persists Until Something Happens 813-325-7715 Jebony21@gmail.com

Check this link to find a rally in your part of the country.

Stand With Women Rally

Here is a shot of the crowd today at the Stand With Women rally in Fort Worth, Texas.

CBS News interview with Wendy Davis on the filibuster.

Tampa ACLU March on July 4

Via Stogie: the Tampa chapter of the ACLU will hold a march on July 4th.

Time: Thursday, July 4, 2013 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm

Location: Greco Middle School 6925 E Fowler Ave, Temple Terrace, FL 33617

Contact: Mike Pheneger at 813-505-7562 or mphenege@tampabay.rr.com

Greco Middle School is near the USF Sun Dome and the MOSI. I would recommend not parking at USF. If you don't have a USF parking pass, the campus police are likely to Denver boot your car.

I Am Bradley Manning

Here is the trailer for the website I Am Bradley Manning. The website is to raise awareness for Manning's legal troubles. Manning gave diplomatic communications to Wikileaks. Manning became troubled by the U.S. government supporting death squads and torture in Iraq. Manning went to his superiors and told to keep his mouth shut.

Code Pink Disrupts Obama's Drones Speech

I continue to marvel at how Code Pink gets past Secret Service and police security. The drone campaign has been a major cause for Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin. She has written the book "Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control." Benjamin and Code Pink traveled to Pakistan to raise awareness on President Obama's drone campaign.

Here is Obama's response to Benjamin. Whatever you think about Obama (and I have my misgivings), he is a skilled politician. He doesn't get rattled when he's heckled.

Marco Rubio/NRA Petition

CREDO is running a petition urging Sen. Marco Rubio to condemn to Wayne LaPierre's ""ugly racism." I doubt Rubio will ever say a cross word towards LaPierre. In 2010, Rubio backed harsh anti-immigration policies. Rubio's State of the Union response is testiment that the Senator isn't known for his courage.

LaPierre went on a bizarre conspiracy theory rant against Hispanics.

Mr. LaPierre

Latin America drug gangs have invaded every city of significant size in the United States. Phoenix is already one of the kidnapping capitals in the world, and though the states on the U.S./Mexico border may be the first places in the nation to suffer from cartel violence, by no means are they the last.

I recently talked to someone moving back to Phoenix. He told me it is nicer than Tampa. He never once mentioned kidnapping. LaPierre never cites statistics to prove his kidnapping or drug cartel invasion theories.

Exactly why would drug cartels stage a military invasion of the United States? Cartels kill people in Mexico that intervere with their drug trade. If the cartels would be staging mass killings and kidnappings, it would be against U.S. law enforcement. Furthermore, LaPierre is citing a kidnapping myth started by Pheonix Police Sgt and pathological liar Phil Roberts.

The Phoenix New Times found Roberts lied to propel his career. Roberts told the media and lecture audiences that there were 359 kidnappings in 2007. What should have set alarms is that Roberts said every one of those kidnappings involved drug cartels. The chances of that are nearly impossible. However, Phoenix was now being labeled as America's kidnapping capital. The actual number of kidnappings was between 20 to 30 a year.

LaPierre would deny that the Phoenix kidnapping numbers were made up. THere is just one problem Sgt. Roberts admitted he inflated the number after reporters started asking questions.

In 2009, Roberts announced that the Phoenix PD task force handling kidnap and home invasion was nothing more than a "golden ticket" for detectives to build their resumes. He started downplaying the figures he'd been touting. In his voluminous memos, Roberts claimed that Phoenix kidnapping statistics were bogus and intentionally inflated by police officials to defraud the federal government of grant money.

LaPierre is citing a scam artist police detective to defend his imaginary war. This is the man Marco Rubio and other Republicans fear.

Protesters at John Breenan Hearing

Spencer Ackerman took this picture before the start of the John Brennan confirmation. There is already a huge crowd of protesters.

Update: Politico reports that the hearing was temporarily suspended because of the Code Pink protest. How those women are able to sneak into high security places continues to amaze me.

Gun Control Vigil at Vern Buchanan's Office

This likely will not change Rep. Vern Buchanan's position, but gun control activists and religious leaders plan on holding a candlelight vigil outside the Congressman's Sarasota office. Activists also plan to give Buchanan a letter urging him to support gun control legislation.

The candlelight vigil will be held today.

The vigil is scheduled to begin at 5:15 p.m. Thursday outside Buchanan’s office at 111 S. Orange Ave.

Naked Protest on Speaker Boehner

This is the best news story of the day. A group of naked protesters stormed into House Speaker John Boehner's office.

BuzzFeed reporter Chris Geidner, who was tweeting from the scene, reports that the protesters were demonstrating against budget cuts to federal funding to fight AIDS, and entered the office chanting: “Boehner, Boehner, don’t be a dick. Budget cuts will make us sick."

No word on if Boehner wasat his office at the time of the protest. I imagine all the nudity would have made Boehner go from orange to beet red.

Occupy Tampa Black Friday Protest

Occupy Tampa will be meeting at Voice of Freedom Park to protest Black Friday. Occupy Tampa has several different activities planned.

The details for our Black Friday actions are solidifying. The actions will be taking place Thursday Evening and Friday Morning. Thursday evening we will have actions going in Tampa, as well as a Light Brigade contingent heading to Orlando to assist with an action up there. For the Tampa actions, we'll meet up at Voice of Freedom park at 9pm and go over the details. Friday morning at 7 AM we'll have a series of carpools going to support a big action with Our Walmart in Orlando.

Check with the Occupy Tampa website and Occupy Tampa Facebook page.