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Florida Politics (1 Viewer)

Right....this is pretty bad, even for politics.  Energy sector has always been shady in terms of "dark money" stuff.  I remember an incident in Ohio where all this dark money kept funneling in to the SOS there.  It's certainly not unique to Florida, but it goes way beyond the line IMO.
Also, the article you linked mentions that FPL may have been behind the infamous "ghost candidate" scandal in 2020, where Republicans put up third-party candidates whose names were similar to the Democrat in the race in order to siphon off votes. (Apparently the news of FPL's involvement came out last year, but today was the first I had heard of it.)

 
On a positive note....we just got back from a short little keys trip and mini season might take you all of 15 minutes or so to catch your limit.  With the bull#### that Trump pulled with the tariffs it's been a huge impact on the industry and many companies have gone out of business.  We were at three of our holes over a couple days and there were DOZENS of lobsters livin' it up for a few more days.  It's not going to get any easier than this.
what did Trump do with tariffs to cause what exactly?  couldn't tell from your post and being a rabid fisherman I'm interested.

 
what did Trump do with tariffs to cause what exactly?  couldn't tell from your post and being a rabid fisherman I'm interested.
Remember his love affair with tariffs?  China is a MAJOR purchaser of spiny lobster here in Florida.  Fishermen here got caught up in that whole thing and it's pretty much decimated the industry in the keys.  

 
Trump did the tariffs(I think) with executive orders.  Maine & Florida lobster industry were hurt bad, especially Maine.  I'm curious as to if these tariffs are/were so bad & hurtful why Biden didn't immediately reverse all of them with his own executive orders?

 
Trump did the tariffs(I think) with executive orders.  Maine & Florida lobster industry were hurt bad, especially Maine.  I'm curious as to if these tariffs are/were so bad & hurtful why Biden didn't immediately reverse all of them with his own executive orders?
He likely has no clue of all the various industries the tariffs impacted, just like Trump had no clue.  And to be clear, there isn't a "lobster" tariff.  Industry just got swept up in all the other nonsense.  Of course, I think Biden's a dope on this too.  First thing he should have done as President should have been to roll these moronic tariffs back.

That said, it made the job of mini season an absolute walk in the park.  There are still dozens of them out at our various locations.  We'll be going back down once full season is open to stock up the freezers.  We'll likely have over 100 by the time we're done.

 
He likely has no clue of all the various industries the tariffs impacted, just like Trump had no clue.  And to be clear, there isn't a "lobster" tariff.  Industry just got swept up in all the other nonsense.  Of course, I think Biden's a dope on this too.  First thing he should have done as President should have been to roll these moronic tariffs back.

That said, it made the job of mini season an absolute walk in the park.  There are still dozens of them out at our various locations.  We'll be going back down once full season is open to stock up the freezers.  We'll likely have over 100 by the time we're done.
from shore location(your traps) or offshore traps with marker buoys?

sorry for the hijack but sounds so cool to fish/trap for lobster.

 
from shore location(your traps) or offshore traps with marker buoys?

sorry for the hijack but sounds so cool to fish/trap for lobster.
Only commercial licensed fishermen can use traps.  We have to catch by hand.  Go down with a bag (to hold the lobster while on the dive), a net to help catch them and a tickle stick to coax them out of their hole.  It's one of my favorite things to do ever.

 
Conservatives skeptical of coronavirus vaccines battle to lead a hospital

SARASOTA, Fla — When his blood oxygen dropped to what he described as a critically low level in September, Victor Rohe knew he had “a bad case of covid.”

But like growing numbers of conservatives here in southwest Florida, Rohe didn’t trust the doctors at Sarasota Memorial Hospital to treat him, even though it’s part of one of the state’s largest and highest ranked medical systems.

Rohe, a longtime Republican activist and self-described strict “constitutionalist,” instead rented his own oxygen unit and hooked it up at home. For the next several days, Rohe battled his coronavirus infection in his living room, relying on medical advice from friends and family members.

“If I went to the hospital, I believed I would die,” said Rohe, pointing to online videos and conspiracy theories he watched raising questions about the care some coronavirus patients received at the hospital.

Now a year later, Rohe is part of a slate of four conservative candidates trying to take over control of the board that oversees Sarasota’s flagship public hospital, highlighting how once-obscure offices are emerging as a new front in the political and societal battles that have intensified across the country since the start of the pandemic in 2020.
This one is personal for me. In April 2020, at the outset of the pandemic, my dad came down with Covid and ended up spending 10 days in the Sarasota Memorial ICU. His timing was very fortunate; SMH had very recently adopted the best practice of not defaulting to putting patients on ventilators. Instead they put him on oxygen and treated his pneumonia, and he gradually got better. Two-and-a-half years later, he is fully recovered and has had no lingering symptoms. That hospital saved his life.

The notion that it could be led by people like this dude is downright scary. And don't give me that line about how they're just against mandates and in favor of freedom: 

“Calling it a vaccination is a joke,” Rohe said. “All it really is is a government-mandated shot to inoculate people to the fact that the government owns your body, and you do not.”

 
Desantis to have gun free zones at his rallies....

You know the same zones he touted as unsafe
 
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We've listed the myriad of things that need to be addressed that would actually be helpful to citizens in this state. Everything from insurance reform to sea level rise to affordable housing etc. Add hundreds of teaching spots unfilled here in central Florida...you get the picture. Instead, we get this nonsense:

Political Theater
Scratching the Authoritarian Itch (Again)
DeSantis really just a fan of selective "law and order" aka MORE Political Theater

And of course, don't forget about the "we need to protect the children (but only in this one specific instance at this one specific place" stuff that surfaces damn near every day.
 
What is the teacher situation in other parts of the state? Here in Central Florida we are running low on teachers. Many have bailed leaving hundreds of positions unfilled.
 
What is the teacher situation in other parts of the state? Here in Central Florida we are running low on teachers. Many have bailed leaving hundreds of positions unfilled.
I play pickleball with the Dean of Students for Citrus County High and he told me they are severely understaffed.
 
Thanks to being a registered Republican, I was texted this hot garbage from our beloved wannabe Trump.
I left the GOP in 2014 to become a NPA. I still get the garbage in snail mail. It seems to be a huge expense to produce garbage that just goes right back into the garbage.
Head scratch.
Sadly, it must work on many or else they would have stopped wasting money a long time ago.
 
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Really not the issue at hand. Their fear is based on this:

Brought up a few pages back....pretty authoritarian and gross, but he's certainly not the originator. This quest apparently began all the way back with Jeb Bush and has been growing with each governor since him...including Crist.
 
I think Manatee is one of the few counties in the Tampa area where they’re 100%
actually we get emails stating Manatee county is around 300 teachers lower than normal and bus drivers are understaffed ,they are taking volunteers at this point.
 
Awful story. Sixteen-year-old Florida orphan gets pregnant. Court roles she’s not mature enough to have an abortion, so she must become a single mother instead
So was it denied or was it take a little more time to think about options? Maybe adoption.
Everything I've read says it was denied...she's not mature enough to make the decision.
This was the statement I was talking about.


Reading between the lines, it appears that the trial court wanted to give the minor, who was under extra stress due to a friend’s death, additional time to express a keener understanding of the consequences of terminating a pregnancy,” Makar wrote. “This makes some sense given that the minor, at least at one point, says she was open to having a child, but later changed her view after considering her inability to care for a child in her current station in life.”
 
Awful story. Sixteen-year-old Florida orphan gets pregnant. Court roles she’s not mature enough to have an abortion, so she must become a single mother instead
So was it denied or was it take a little more time to think about options? Maybe adoption.
Everything I've read says it was denied...she's not mature enough to make the decision.
This was the statement I was talking about.


Reading between the lines, it appears that the trial court wanted to give the minor, who was under extra stress due to a friend’s death, additional time to express a keener understanding of the consequences of terminating a pregnancy,” Makar wrote. “This makes some sense given that the minor, at least at one point, says she was open to having a child, but later changed her view after considering her inability to care for a child in her current station in life.”
Yeah, that didn't make sense when I read it. If they wanted to give more time, then they shouldn't have ruled. I try my best to avoid the "read between the lines" stuff too, so I didn't put a ton of thought into it.
 
Awful story. Sixteen-year-old Florida orphan gets pregnant. Court roles she’s not mature enough to have an abortion, so she must become a single mother instead
So was it denied or was it take a little more time to think about options? Maybe adoption.
Everything I've read says it was denied...she's not mature enough to make the decision.
This was the statement I was talking about.


Reading between the lines, it appears that the trial court wanted to give the minor, who was under extra stress due to a friend’s death, additional time to express a keener understanding of the consequences of terminating a pregnancy,” Makar wrote. “This makes some sense given that the minor, at least at one point, says she was open to having a child, but later changed her view after considering her inability to care for a child in her current station in life.”
Yeah, that didn't make sense when I read it. If they wanted to give more time, then they shouldn't have ruled. I try my best to avoid the "read between the lines" stuff too, so I didn't put a ton of thought into it.
Yea I'm thinking if they wanted to give her more time to think they should have delayed the ruling . Bad optics for sure.
 
Awful story. Sixteen-year-old Florida orphan gets pregnant. Court roles she’s not mature enough to have an abortion, so she must become a single mother instead
So was it denied or was it take a little more time to think about options? Maybe adoption.
Everything I've read says it was denied...she's not mature enough to make the decision.
This was the statement I was talking about.


Reading between the lines, it appears that the trial court wanted to give the minor, who was under extra stress due to a friend’s death, additional time to express a keener understanding of the consequences of terminating a pregnancy,” Makar wrote. “This makes some sense given that the minor, at least at one point, says she was open to having a child, but later changed her view after considering her inability to care for a child in her current station in life.”
Yeah, that didn't make sense when I read it. If they wanted to give more time, then they shouldn't have ruled. I try my best to avoid the "read between the lines" stuff too, so I didn't put a ton of thought into it.
Yea I'm thinking if they wanted to give her more time to think they should have delayed the ruling . Bad optics for sure.
I honestly have no idea if this is a bad ruling from a legal perspective, or one of those cases where the judge feels compelled to rule in a certain way based on existing law, or what. I just think the whole situation is sad. Whether or not she carries the baby to term, I hope this young woman is able to get the help she needs.
 
"candidates like this without a viable resume often are driven to wild statements to get attention"
So, this guy is pretty much the same level as the guy that wanted to go shoot up SCOTUS homes. They should both be labeled as extreme and rejected unconditionally. What you posted here the way you posted it comes across as an excuse/dismissal. Feel free to clarify if that wasn't your intent.
 
‘How did I commit fraud?’ Ex-felon voters confused by arrests, DeSantis’ announcement

Even one of the Republican sponsors of the bill that interpreted Amendment 14 into law had an issue with the arrests:

>>"I think it’s really up to law enforcement and state attorneys to exercise a level of grace and mercy where they believe that their intent was not to defraud,” Brandes said.<<

Some are calling this legal entrapment.

>>When Romona Oliver registered to vote in early 2020 at the Hillsborough Tax Collector’s office, she was asked if she had a felony conviction. She said yes. The women helping her with the form submitted it, Oliver said. She said she was never asked specifically if her right to vote had been restored. Oliver, a Tampa resident, had recently been released from a women’s prison in Florida after serving a 20-year sentence for second-degree murder.

In the last few months of her time in prison, Oliver said she’d read about Amendment 4, a constitutional amendment approved by about 65% of Floridians in 2018, which restored the voting rights of most felons who had completed all terms of their sentence. No one told her she didn’t qualify under Amendment 4; the law doesn’t apply to those with sex offenses or murder charges. She registered as a Democrat and got her voter card in the mail.

In the 2020 presidential election, she voted. It was the first time Oliver, 55, ever did. “It was exciting for me because I felt like after all that time, I want to get out and try to do the right thing,” she said. “Give back to the community.” On Thursday morning, Oliver was arrested on a charge of voting as an unqualified elector and false affirmation. That afternoon, Gov. Ron DeSantis touted the arrests of 20 people, Oliver included, who had voted despite having a felony conviction for murder or a sex offense. Those arrested spanned five different counties: Hillsborough, Orange, Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade...

A few weeks ago, Oliver said she found a Florida Department of Law Enforcement business card in her door frame. She called and was told officers had found something fraudulent on her account.

She thought they meant her bank account. When the officers came to her job and asked if she had voted in 2020, she said yes. Oliver still didn’t understand what was wrong when the police came to her door Thursday morning and put her in cuffs. “I ain’t done nothing but go to work and come home,” she said. Oliver and others were charged with a third-degree felony, which can result in up to $5,000 in fines and up to five years in prison.

Oliver said she worries whether she’ll be able to keep her job as a seamstress with another felony conviction, or if she’ll have to return to jail. She worries about who will look after her

Amendment 4 supporters argue that Thursday’s arrests are another sign that the current system for restoring votes for non-violent felons is broken.

We’ve been banging this drum for years,” Volz said. “If you can’t trust the government to tell you whether you’re eligible in the front end, how can you prosecute somebody in the back end?” The rollout of Amendment 4 in Florida was marred by confusion and legal wrangling after DeSantis pushed state lawmakers to pass a bill that required felons to pay off all fines and fees and restitution before being able to vote, even though Florida has no central database to track court fees. A judge referred to it as an “administrative nightmare.”<<
 
‘How did I commit fraud?’ Ex-felon voters confused by arrests, DeSantis’ announcement

Even one of the Republican sponsors of the bill that interpreted Amendment 14 into law had an issue with the arrests:

>>"I think it’s really up to law enforcement and state attorneys to exercise a level of grace and mercy where they believe that their intent was not to defraud,” Brandes said.<<

Some are calling this legal entrapment.

>>When Romona Oliver registered to vote in early 2020 at the Hillsborough Tax Collector’s office, she was asked if she had a felony conviction. She said yes. The women helping her with the form submitted it, Oliver said. She said she was never asked specifically if her right to vote had been restored. Oliver, a Tampa resident, had recently been released from a women’s prison in Florida after serving a 20-year sentence for second-degree murder.

In the last few months of her time in prison, Oliver said she’d read about Amendment 4, a constitutional amendment approved by about 65% of Floridians in 2018, which restored the voting rights of most felons who had completed all terms of their sentence. No one told her she didn’t qualify under Amendment 4; the law doesn’t apply to those with sex offenses or murder charges. She registered as a Democrat and got her voter card in the mail.

In the 2020 presidential election, she voted. It was the first time Oliver, 55, ever did. “It was exciting for me because I felt like after all that time, I want to get out and try to do the right thing,” she said. “Give back to the community.” On Thursday morning, Oliver was arrested on a charge of voting as an unqualified elector and false affirmation. That afternoon, Gov. Ron DeSantis touted the arrests of 20 people, Oliver included, who had voted despite having a felony conviction for murder or a sex offense. Those arrested spanned five different counties: Hillsborough, Orange, Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade...

A few weeks ago, Oliver said she found a Florida Department of Law Enforcement business card in her door frame. She called and was told officers had found something fraudulent on her account.

She thought they meant her bank account. When the officers came to her job and asked if she had voted in 2020, she said yes. Oliver still didn’t understand what was wrong when the police came to her door Thursday morning and put her in cuffs. “I ain’t done nothing but go to work and come home,” she said. Oliver and others were charged with a third-degree felony, which can result in up to $5,000 in fines and up to five years in prison.

Oliver said she worries whether she’ll be able to keep her job as a seamstress with another felony conviction, or if she’ll have to return to jail. She worries about who will look after her

Amendment 4 supporters argue that Thursday’s arrests are another sign that the current system for restoring votes for non-violent felons is broken.

We’ve been banging this drum for years,” Volz said. “If you can’t trust the government to tell you whether you’re eligible in the front end, how can you prosecute somebody in the back end?” The rollout of Amendment 4 in Florida was marred by confusion and legal wrangling after DeSantis pushed state lawmakers to pass a bill that required felons to pay off all fines and fees and restitution before being able to vote, even though Florida has no central database to track court fees. A judge referred to it as an “administrative nightmare.”<<
The confusion is the point.

There are three consequences of creating such a Kafkaesque system, all of which benefit DeSantis and the state GOP: One, a bunch of people will be unable to navigate the bureaucracy and register. Two, they get to hold these types of high-profile photo ops where they "prove" the existence of voter fraud. And three, plenty of other ex-felons -- many of whom may be fully eligible to vote -- will see these headlines and conclude it's not worth the risk.
 
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SO . . . Rebekah Jones is staying on the ballot. Lying under oath is back to being a good thing is you're keeping score. If you're a Democrat.
 
"candidates like this without a viable resume often are driven to wild statements to get attention"
So, this guy is pretty much the same level as the guy that wanted to go shoot up SCOTUS homes. They should both be labeled as extreme and rejected unconditionally. What you posted here the way you posted it comes across as an excuse/dismissal. Feel free to clarify if that wasn't your intent.
I was quoting from the article he posted to illustrate people like him and Captain Cranks are doing exactly what that candidate wants.
 
SO . . . Rebekah Jones is staying on the ballot. Lying under oath is back to being a good thing is you're keeping score. If you're a Democrat.
Definitely NOT unique to Democrats.....see all the GOP candidates sailing to victory on the back of the 2020 election lie.

If ones somehow convinced themselves that "under oath" is meaningfully different then Id suggest youre doing it wrong and your bar needs major adjustment.
 
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"candidates like this without a viable resume often are driven to wild statements to get attention"
So, this guy is pretty much the same level as the guy that wanted to go shoot up SCOTUS homes. They should both be labeled as extreme and rejected unconditionally. What you posted here the way you posted it comes across as an excuse/dismissal. Feel free to clarify if that wasn't your intent.
I was quoting from the article he posted to illustrate people like him and Captain Cranks are doing exactly what that candidate wants.
No idea what youre saying and I think im ok with that.
 

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