Now A Republican Disses Rubio For Skipping Town Halls

Rep. Justin Amash delievers a mean diss to fellow Republican Sen. Marco Rubio for failing to do town hall meetings in Florida. Rubio's office recently said the Senator was in Germany and could not perform town hall meetings. Two amateur videos captured Rubio in Florida.

We finally caught up with Senator Marco Rubio at @FIU. He told us that he won't host a townhall because people act "rude and stupid." pic.twitter.com/DrefDkvrFD

— Tomas Kennedy (@Tomaskenn) February 23, 2017

Sen. Bernie Sanders was extremely hard on Rubio.

Bernie Sanders: "If you don’t have the guts to face your constituents, then you shouldn’t be" in Congress https://t.co/TySrkSyNcT

— CNN (@CNN) February 24, 2017

“If you need police at the meetings, that’s fine, have police at the meetings, have security at the meetings,” Sanders said. “But don’t use that as an excuse to run away from your constituents after you support repealing the Affordable Care Act, throwing 20 million people off of health insurance, doing away with preexisting conditions. If you are going to do all those things, answer the questions that your constituents have.”

Rubio told Jim Defede that town halls aren't town hall meetings, anymore. Rubio's reasoning is that liberal activists are coming to the meetings. Rubio does nopt see it, but those liberal activists are his constituents.

Quote of Day

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Floriduh

Deborah Newell Tornello (aka Litbrit) does the segment "Flori-DUH!"> for The Nicole Sandler Show. Deb and Nicole talk about the latest in Florida stupidity.

Obama & Bill Nye Diss Republican Science Deniers

President Barack Obama and Bill Nye recently visited the Everglades in Florida. Obama and Nye discussed the Republican Party's denying climate change. Despite the scientific evidence saying mankind is contributing to climate change.

When I see members of Congress being part of the climate-denier clubs and basically stiff-arming what we know are facts — and not rebutting them with other facts but rebutting them with anecdote or just being dismissive,” Obama said before Nye interjected.

“‘Oh, I’m not a scientist,'” Nye said, sarcastically repeating a common conservative argument against the phenomenon.

“I’m not a scientist, either, but I know a lot of scientists,” Obama replied. “I have the capacity to understand science. The capacity to look at facts and base my conclusions on evidence. Part of shifting our political culture I think, is we’ve gotta model for our kids that facts matter.”

If these Republicans say they aren't scientists then they shouldn't go around making false claims about science.

Plugs of the Day

Check out Susan Smith's Facebook page "Jeb Fails Education. Jeb Bush's education record in Florida is atrocious. I wrote this post on the lowlights of Bush's education policies during his tenure as Governor.

On a lighter note: check out the Marco Rubio Facebook parody page "Dubious Rubio".

Police Brutality in Broward County

Fort Lauderdale police officer Victor Ramirez slapped Bruce Laclair, a 58 years-old homeless man.

What Ramirez said to Laclair during the incident.

"Relax," Ramirez said. "I'm telling you right now what is going to happen -- you're not supposed to go pee here."

The two men go back and forth a few times before Ramirez is seen trying to grab Laclair's arm and slapping him.

"I'm not fucking around with you," Ramirez is heard saying. "Don't fucking touch me. Don't fucking touch me."

Laclair came into the bus terminal to use the restroom. According to eyewitness Gerald Schorder, Laclair never posed a physical threat to officer Ramirez.

"The guy didn't raise his hand to the officer at all," Schorder said. "The officer just knocked him down with his hands. The guy was defenseless."

Ramirez has been relieved of duty pending an internal investigation. Laclair was arrested for trespassing and released yesterday. I highly doubt Laclair will see anymore time on the trespassing charge.

Another incident happened at the Broward courthouse. Officer Christopher Johnson was videotaped dragging Dasyl Jeanette Riosacross the floor of the courthouse.

Attorney Bill Gelin witnessed the incident and expressed outrage to WSVN-TV.

"This is really barbaric, and I'm just extremely disappointed," attorney Bill Gelin, who caught the incident on cellphone camera, told WSVN-TV. "We all work together in the court system, particularly in the criminal justice system, and this just gives everybody a black eye."

Chief Assistant Public Defender Lynn Desanti saw Johnson drag Jeanette. She wants charges pressed against Johnson.

As chief assistant public defender, Rios' case falls under Desanti's department. She said she wants more than an internal affairs investigation. "I think he should be arrested for what he did," she said. "He committed a battery on her, and the same way that people have to go through the criminal system and defend themselves, he needs to defend his actions, and I plan to go forward to the sheriff. This gentleman does not deserve to wear a badge."

The whole incident started because Jeanette didn't want to leave because she didn't get an opportunity to say goodbye to her mother. There are no reports of Jeanette posing a threat to the safety of Johnson or other officers.

Johnson has been ordered to have no contact with inmates. The incident is under investigation.

Pam Bondi is TBT's Loser of the Week

Steve Bousquet awarded Pam Bondi the well-earned title of political loser of the week.

Pam Bondi. The attorney general, who immediately appealed a South Florida court ruling overturning Florida's same-sex marriage ban, is becoming the face of opposition to marriage equality. All signs point to the tide of history rolling over Bondi, who is up for re-election in November.

Hysterical sidenote: Bondi has been divorced twice. I don't think Bondi's divorces are a threat to the institution of marriage. The same holds true for gay people marrying.

Tampa Church Refuses Gay Man's Funeral

Via Daily Kos: The New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, in Tampa, Florida, denied funeral services to the departed Julion Evans. The late Evans passed away from the rare disease Amyloidosis.

Julie Atwood, the mother of Evans, was informed that the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church would not perform the funeral.

Atwood said she was told it would be "blasphemous" to hold the services at the church because her son, Julion Evans, 42, was gay.

From a First amendment standpoint, the church is within its right not to perform the funeral. Although, I take exception to the church's understanding of the Bible. There is no literal passage in the Bible that states homosexuality as a sin. There is a good argument that the homosexual acts mentioned in Romans is condemning the Romans raping young male slaves.

What many of these so-called Christians lack is compassion. Ms. Atwood was devastated.

"It was devastating," she said. "I did feel like he was being denied the dignity of death."

Pastor T.W. Jenkins gave a bullshit answer to the media on why the funeral was cancelled.

Based on our preaching of the scripture, we would have been in error to allow the service in our church," Jenkins said. "I'm not trying to condemn anyone's lifestyle, but at the same time, I am a man of God, and I have to stand up for my principles."

Bullshit. Jenkins is condemning Evans's lifestyle. He should be man enough to admit it.

SICU Endorses Amendment 2

The Service Employees International Union of Florida has endorsed Amendment 2. If approved the amendment would make prescribed medical marijuana legal in Florida.

“Amendment 2 is about compassion for patients suffering from debilitating conditions, and that is something our members are proud to stand behind,” said Baker. “Seriously ill patients should not have to expose themselves to prosecution for seeking to obtain the medicine they need to relieve their symptoms, and no physician should have to put their freedom or their license at risk for recommending the use of that medicine.”

Denise Glass, RN, a nurse in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami with a career spanning 23 years, also believes the decision to endorse Amendment 2 represents a major step forward for patients’ rights in Florida.

“Expanding the medical options available to patients will positively affect their lives,” said Glass. “Too many people are suffering needlessly because they don’t have legal access to a substance that can alleviate their severe symptoms and offer them a better quality of life. Voting “yes” on Amendment 2 is the right thing to do.”

A recent poll by Cherry Communications found that 58 percent of respondents supported the legalization of medical marijuana.

Public Policy Polling found 66 percent support for Amendment 2. 60 percent of the vote is needed for the amendment to become law.

Scrap the Florida Teacher Evaluation System

The Bradenton Herald has a good op-ed on the serious flaws of the Florida's teacher evaluation system

Boca Raton Racist Flies KKK Flag

Only in Florida.

A Boca Raton resident going by the name "Mr. Hayes" is flying the Klu Klux Klan flag, a noose and the Confederate flag in his front yard. This guy is proud of being a racist.

"As many people know, the white families are producing less children because the father and mother work and you have interracial marriages and gay marriages, so there are less and less white children being born every day," the man, who would only identify himself as Mr. Hayes, told Local 10's Roger Lohse. "So we're against that."

"Mr. Hayes" says he does not practice violence. However, the noose is a symbol of the lynching of black people during the ugly Jim Crow era of American history. Mr. Hayes is from New York yet hangs a Conferate flag. He isn't hanging that flag to celebrate his Southern heritage. That is for damn sure.

Renewable Energy Fight In Cape Coral

Cape Coral resident Robin Speronis is using solar power and rain water for her home. Special Magistrate Harold S. Eskin told Speronis that she must pay for water service she does not use. Speronis uses waste water for her garden.

“I know how to live off the grid completely and in a sanitary way,” Speronis responded in an email to the action. “That's what seven months in living in the woods taught me. I do have an alternative toilet from my days of living in the woods.”

At issue is Speronis is not paying for waste water.

“This resident provided testimony at the code compliance hearing that she has been living in the home for the past year and using the city’s wastewater system without paying for the service,” said Connie Barron, a spokeswoman for the city.

Speronis intends to fight the Cape Coral city codes. I am interested in how this will play out. The Koch Brothers and ALEC are behind an effort to making solar panel users pay a fee to utility companies.

The solar power industry called the new rule a victory only because power companies in the state were demanding assessments of as much as $100 a month — more than high enough to deter families from considering switching to solar.

Renewable energy is not in the financial interest of the oil industry.

Write A Caption: Alligator Edition

This image is by ABC 7 Sarasota - WWSB. Apparently the gator got itself stuck.

Revisiting the Financial Crisis: the HSBC Florida Connection

HSBC was a major player in the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007. HSBC had debt of $10.5bn because of of the housing crisis. The bad decision making of HSBC shouldn't be surprising. HSBC was arguably the biggest money laundering bank in the world. The scope of the money laundering operations by HSBC are listed in a 339 report by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. HSBC was involved in money laundering operations to Iran, drug cartels and third party banks dealing with terrorist organizations. No banker for HSBC has been charged by the United States.

Attorney General Eric Holder told Sen. Charles Grassley that HSBC is too big to jail.

Mr. Holder said: “I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy.”

The HSBC Florida Connection

Miami Beach residents Mauricio Cohen Assor and Leon Cohen Levy are a father and son who were sentenced to 10 years for hiding $33 million from a secret hotel sales. In 2000, the Cohens sold the New York Flatotel for $33 million. The Cohens placed the $33 million in the Swiss branch of HSBC Holdings Plc. The Cohens hid the money in a bearer share accounts. Here is the Investopedia definition.

An equity security that is wholly owned by whoever holds the physical stock certificate. The issuing firm neither registers the owner of the stock, nor does it track transfers of ownership. The company disperses dividends to bearer shares when a physical coupon is presented to the firm.

The bearer share accounts was a way that HSBC used to not keep track of the Cohens' money. The Cohens used friends and family members to pretend they owned shares of the stock. The stock was registered to the Panamanian company Blue Ocean Finance Ltd., and Whitebury Shipping Time Sharing Ltd., a BVI bearer share company.

In April of 2007, HBUS executive Claude Mandel, the Relationship Manager, removed Mauricio Cohen's name from the Whitebury account. Mandel attempted to covert the Whitebury account from a BVI to a Bahamian bearer share corporation. The catch was Cohen would have to declare ownership. Transcripts show that Cohen would not do that.

Despite Mr. Mandel’s insisting that his bearer shares would need to be registered, Mr. Cohen convinced Mr. Mandel to check if he could convert Whitebury into a Panamanian bearer share corporation. Mr. Cohen indicated again that he did not want to put names on the shares; when Mr. Mandel said that the shares would need to state the names, Mr. Cohen said: “But, I can’t put that, otherwise I have to declare them in the United States? I can’t do that, I don’t want to declare… otherwise, I have to close the accounts with you and go to Geneva.”

There is much more on HSBC to I plan on writing about in the future. The banking practices of HSBC and other financial institutions show that the financial crisis of 2008 didn't happen by accident. Greed and recklessness played a huge role in the crash of 2008.

U.S. Vulnerabilities to Money Laundering, Drugs, and Terrorist Financing: HSBC Case History by Michael Robert Hussey

The Horribe Tech Services of Deloitte

I wrote about auditing scandals involving Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited. I questioned why the Federal Reserve of New York renew the contract with Deloitte after auditing scandal with Adelphia Communications Corp. and companies based in China.

Apparently, government agencies updating their technical services have trusted Deloitte that has proved to be a grave error.

In 2003, the California court system hired Deloitte to connect the computer systems.

Officials hired Deloitte and another firm in 2003 to create a statewide case management system, connecting 58 county courts, as well as appellate courts. By 2010, Deloitte was running the entire job, and the contract had been amended 102 times, ballooning in cost to $310 million from $33 million, according to a state audit.

Worse, the cost to install the software had been wildly underestimated. The total price tag soared to a projected $1.9 billion, so expensive that the courts could not afford to put the system into operation.

The integrated computer system was to be called the California Court Case Management System. The California's Judicial Council ended the contract with Deloitte. The financial loss to California taxpayers is estimated to be $2 billion. Even if the system was installed it would soon be outdated. The worst part was reimbursed for $16 million when the contract was ended.

Deloitte once again had problems with in California in 2013. The state's unemployment website Employment Development Department was backlogged with 300,000 claims.

Now lawmakers want answers. The Assembly is setting up a hearing to determine what went wrong with a system that cost taxpayers $110 million, almost double the original estimate.

Some blame the EDD's slow response to the problem that created the massive backlog of claims. Others are pointing fingers at a familiar name around the halls of Sacramento: Deloitte Consulting.

State employees warned government officials that the system set up by Deloitte would not be ready. Their warnings were ignored. EDD was forced to admit to the Assembly Insurance Committee. CBS Sacramento reported as many as 600 people didn't receive payment on their unemployment claims.

Deloitte set up the unemployment claim system for Florida's Department of Economic Opportunity. Many people were not able to log into the system.

The main contractor of the project, Deloitte Consulting, won the bid to modernize Florida’s unemployment compensation system by beating out nine other firms. In early 2011, the company negotiated with Florida that it could do all the work for $39.8 million and finish by December 2012, a deadline it blew — badly.

As contracts go, this wasn’t a big one for Deloitte Consulting, a U.S. company that’s part of an international British conglomerate better known as Deloitte & Touche. Since 2007, Deloitte Consulting has won $283.4 million in contracts with Florida agencies. Gov Rick Scott has been rather unresponsive to complaints about the glitches in the unemployment website. One reason maybe it is because the lobbyist for Deloitte is Brian Ballard. Mr. Ballard served as Co-Chair of Governor-Elect Rick Scott's Inaugural Committee. Scott was a guest at Ballard's Super Bowl party. Don't expect Scott to say to end Deloitte's contract any time soon.

Adam Putnam's Horrible Conceal Carry permit Legacy

Ana Marie Cox points out the stupidity of the way the Florida Department of Agriculture hands out concealed carry permits. There is no federal background check on the people applying for permits.

Curtis Reeves was a retired police officer, the very definition of a good guy. He may also prove to be unbalanced in a legally-applicable way, but that wouldn't have prevented him from getting a concealed carry permit in Florida. Since Florida grants concealed carry permits via its Department of Agriculture, rather than, say a criminal justice agency, the state cannot use the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to screen applicants. To put that another way, Florida simply doesn't have the federal background check required in every other state that grants concealed carry permits.

Indeed, even if Florida had a more stringent conceal carry screening process – or if it didn't have a concealed carry law at all – Reeves could have had his weapon on him. Retired law enforcement personnel are allowed by federal law to carry a concealed weapon in any jurisdiction except where it's explicitly banned by law or the property owner. This is a loophole that may seem natural (again: good guys!), but it's actually a reflection of just how deeply we've bought into the myth that guns aren't the problem and we only need worry about who has them. That's not true: we need to worry about guns, no matter who has them.

Adam Putnam publicly bragged about the Department of Agriculture handing out 1 million coneal carry permits. Putnam campaigned as a pro-gun Republican. Putnam isn't about to have gun lovers submit to more thorough background checks. Putnam wants to keep getting NRA endorsements.

Shooting At Tampa Movie Theater

Two people have been shot at the Cobb Theaters Grove 16 in the Wesley Chapel section of Tampa. A male suapect is in police custody. The shoot victims were sent by helicopter to a hospital. I will update this post as more information comes in.

This is so sad. What a stupid reason to kill someone.

A man was shot dead and his wife wounded after an argument over texting in a movie theater Monday afternoon in Wesley Chapel, Florida, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said.

The suspect, Curtis Reeves, is a retired Tampa police officer, Nocco said. He will be charged with second-degree homicide, according to Nocco.

It is horrifying to think that Curtis Reeves once had a badge.

Apparently, Reeves and Chad Oulson argued over the use of Oulson's cell phone. Oulson told Reeves that he was texting his daughter.

"Their voices started going up. There seemed to almost be a confrontation," Cummings said. "Somebody throws popcorn; I'm not sure who threw it. And then bang, he was shot."

The victim staggered over and fell on Cummings and his son. A nurse who was in the theater performed CPR on the victim until the paramedics arrived, said Cummings, who like his son, had spatters of blood on his clothes.

Reeves shot and killed Oulson right in front of a young boy. What is wrong with this man?

Wages Aren't Keeping Up With Cost of Living In Florida

A report released by the Alliance for a Just Society finds that current wages do not keep up with the cost of living.

The National Job Gap: 7 Job-Seekers for Every Job that Pays Above the Low-Wage Threshold: For every projected job opening above a low-wage threshold of $15 an hour, there were 7 job-seekers in 2012.

Nearly 18 Million Job-Seekers Out of Luck: With 20.8 million job-seekers and 2.9 million projected job openings that pay better than $15 an hour in 2012, there were 17.9 million more job-seekers than jobs that pay above the low-wage threshold.

An Increasing Share of Low-Wage Jobs since End of Great Recession: In terms of actual employment rather than projected openings, the share of U.S. jobs that pay below the $15 an hour low-wage threshold increased from 36.55% in 2009 to 39.45% in 2012. There were 51.4 million low-wage jobs in 2012.

“Jobless Recovery” Masks Loss of Higher-Wage Jobs, Replacement with Low-Wage Jobs: The number of jobs in occupational categories with median wages above $15 an hour dropped by 4 million from 2009 to 2012, masked by an increase of 3.6 million jobs with median wages below $15 an hour.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren pointed out that the minimum wage hasn't kept up with productivity. If the minimum wage did keep up with productivity the minimum wage would be $22.00 hr.

Dumbass of the Day: Racism Edition

Two Florida men decided it would be a good idea to dress as George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin for Halloween. Greg Cimeno, 22, dressed as Zimmerman with a "Neighborhood Watch" T-shirt. The very white William Filene, 25, dressed as Martin and wore black face make-up. The photo above was posted on the Facebook page of Caitlin Cimeno.

The Smoking Gun reports that Filene is listed on the Florida Department of Corrections web site for auto theft. I also found that Filene has been charged with loitering or prowling.Filene was sentenced to 18 months probation.

Filene was left a trail of racist remarks in social media.

In Facebook posts last year, Cimeno referred to elderly women who wore tight pants and tube tops as “tacos,” and, when requesting that a friend contact her, she wrote, “Text ne niggs.” In August, Cimeno also posted a photo of an African American girl wearing a t-shirt reading “Black Girls Rock.” In her accompanying caption, Cimeno wrote, “First of all, sorry Hun but mommy lied to you & secondly if I was wearing a shirt that said something like the truth 'white girls rock' I would be stared at and called a racist cracker.”

Sorry pal but you really do come off as a racist.

Rick Scott's Bogus White Paper

The white paper from Gov. Rick Scott is not an actual white paper. It is a piece of Scott propangda white paper is an academic policy paper. A piece of campaign propaganda contains paragraphs like this. Economic papers don't contain a cute gif of a piggy bank.

Under Governor Scott, the state has fundamentally changed the way it makes decisions with its taxpayers’ money. Florida has rejected the short-sighted state-level policies that worsened the fallout of the economic downturn and Florida now stands in stark contrast to the policies of the federal government that discourage private investment, job creation and stability for families.

If you are a government employee you are not going to get a raise. You might even get a pay cut.

Since October 2012, 16 different state agencies and more than 45 private sector businesses have been recognized for identifying more than $146.3 million in cost savings and $34.2 million in services.

Scott's commit to saving taxpayers money is rather dubious. Scott backed private prisons. Corrections Corporation of America were major campaign donors to Scott and the Republican Party of Florida. Scott wanted private prisons with no-bid contracts. Dr. Michael Hallett, Professor & Chair for the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, warned Sen. Mike Fasano of the dangers of giving a single state prison a no bid contract.

"It renders the state subject to captivity once the contract is awarded, by giving one corporation so much power and control over such a significant segment of the state budget," he said. "You can’t turn this around on a moments notice."

Scott killed to high speed rail project which would mostly be funded with federal and private money. Scott did approve of the Sunrail. Former Sen. JD Alexander was a big backer of the Sun Rail project. I wrote this when the project was approved by Scott.

The blog Stop CSX in Polk County broke the story that Alexander's was purchasing Phoenix Industries. Alexander owns Altantic Blue. The company bought Phoenix Industries, a frozen food vender that does business with CSX. The transporation bill would have placed CSX's new hub near Alexander's warehouse. One needs a scorecard to track Alexander's conflicts of interest.

It should be noted that Alexander was the biggest backer of private prisons in the Florida legislature. Even the Republican controlled Florida Senate would approve of the private prison deal. Scott is not a fiscal conservative. Scott is a crony capitalist.

Florida has serious infrastructure problems. It won't get any better under Scott.

To continue this practice of guarding taxpayer debt obligations, Governor Scott will not allow the State of Florida to take on new long-term debt obligations to fund roads, land purchases or education facility construction without specific and accountable returns on investment for taxpayers. Where possible, the state budget will include the use of cash, rather than bonds to further protect the state from consequences associated with massive amounts of taxpayer funded debt.

Scott promises $500 million in tax cuts. Scott fails to say what taxes he will cut.Scott is a governor who takes pains avoiding policy specifics. Another reason there may be no specific tax cuts is because this bogus white paper was not written by an economist. No author is listed. This is campaign material proclaiming the awesomeness of Rick Scott.

The previous tax cuts Scott lists are a Florida Chamber of Commerce wet dream. Scott fails to say how the tax cut on the surchange phosphate mining or reducing taxes to fund unemployment is creating jobs. Those tax cuts were never about job creation. The tax cuts are about increasing corporate profits.

Rick Scott's Bogus Economic White Paper