Sunday, September 22, 2013

'They think they are terrorists' -Gripping CCTV mobile phone video captures harrowing initial moments of stunned store customers as screams and gunshots ring out at Westgate Mall as team of al-Shabaab terrorists methodically take over Nairobi shopping mall, killing 68, injuring 175 and taking 30 hostage; #Kenya, #Westgate


CCTV Africa mobile phone video shows the initial confusion and shock as shoppers at Nairobi's Westgate Mall tried to decide what to do as they heard more and more gunshots that only got louder and closer to them. http://youtu.be/Zi7Kkot67oA
See this video and analysis of video at Sky News website:
http://news.sky.com/story/1145131/kenya-dramatic-video-shows-moment-of-attack

Related article: 
The Daily Mail
Shouts, screams... and then a sprint for their lives: Raw video footage shows full terror of moment Muslim terrorists struck at Nairobi mall
CCTV Africa reporter filmed clip at Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi
Video shows people running or cowering behind shelves and boxes
Man heard saying on his mobile phone: 'They think they are terrorists'
By MARK DUELL
PUBLISHED: 14:31 EST, 22 September 2013 
UPDATED: 14:39 EST, 22 September 2013
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2429431/Kenya-mall-attack-Gunshots-shouts-screams-heard-terrifying-video-filmed-inside-Nairobi-shopping-centre.html





























In my opinion, this video was the definitive TV news segment on what happened Saturday morning.















As of 6:30 tonight EDT Sunday, the Kenya Red Cross has is still reporting that 58 people were killed and 175 have been injured, confirming reports early this morning from Reuters. As of this afternoon, the second floor of the five-storey Westgate Mall was thought to be the only floor that has not been secured by Kenyan Army Special Forces or Kenyan Police, who are now both above and below the 15 terrorists and what officials believe are approximately 30 hostages. Electricity to the ground floor has been cut-off but there are still fears that more terrorists are holed-up in the large Nakumatt supermarket. 







British, American and Israeli according to reports. Three Britons already known dead, many feared held hostage.

Reminder: Nairobi is 7 hours ahead of Miami and Eastern Daylight Time in the U.S. & Canada. 

 Watch Sky News LIVE thru the day for regular updates on the harrowing situation in Nairobi at 
http://news.sky.com/templates/watch-live

 BBC is streaming reports with lots of details on the standoff here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24193284
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Saturday, September 21, 2013

Even The Drudge Report is now sleeping on weekends! Today's deadly al-Shabab terrorist attack at #WestgateMall in Nairobi is more proof, as if needed, that on Saturdays, in the year 2013, just like the past 15, the U.S. News Media has left the building and only the JV team is manning HQ -and that includes Fox News, which should've been airing Sky News' coverage but didn't. Heaven forbid something bad or important actually happens on a Saturday and we need to know the actual details


Channel Four News video: Kenya attack: Al Shabaab claims responsibility
Story at: http://www.channel4.com/news/kenya-nairobi-mall-shooting-gunmen-killed-shopping

 Latest harrowing ITV video at: http://www.itv.com/news/story/2013-09-21/gunmen-open-fire-in-kenya-mall-nairobi/

 http://www.itv.com/news/




Sky News hasn't updated this tweet in over seven hours even as more and more people have died in the terrorist attack. 
NOT impressive.
https://twitter.com/SkyNews




Keep up with tweets at: https://twitter.com/search?q=%23WestgateMall&src=hash&f=realtime


Toll has gone from 20 dead to 25 to 30 within a few hours.
Sky News is still sticking with 22 dead.

Witnesses say people were executed on scene.
Terrorists yelled out beforehand, "Muslims get out, we are here to rescue you."

Similarities to Mumbai attack already being made.

I've been watching and listening to SkyNews LIVE for hours at:
So should you.

 Disappointingly, but in keeping what I and many other have seen and commented on privately, even The Drudge Report has had nothing about this incident many, many hours after-the-fact.

 That only adds fuel to the, first, speculation, and now, common belief, among myself and people I know throughout the country in the media that despite the record numbers of readers going to that website, the people who are actually physically manning the Drudge Report on weekends, whoever they are, are NOT doing as good a job as readers were used to, and came to expect on weekends years ago.
Boring stories stay up far too long -sometimes 3-4 days- and stories that ought to be up stay unposted after even lamestream media has them.
What the hell is going on? 

As I've detailed here on the blog more than a few times before, contemporaneously, largely as a result of MSNBC and CNN continually sleeping on the job while breaking news was happening around the world overnight -while I was awake and listening to the BBC or Sveriges Radio or watching the morning TV shows on SVT and TV4 in Sweden- Fox News Channel is what I usually turn to first when some Breaking News happens, but today they are TOTALLY f-ing missing the boat.

 Watching them today is painful, like watching portfolio videotapes of some once-cute girl doing Community College TV newscasts in Oklahoma, circa 1987.
Why, why, why???

 You have a family relationship with Sky News -you are the younger, dumber and more shallow brother in case you forgot- and yet Fox News is refusing to use any of those amazing resources, including video of the situation and reporters in the area.
Why?
What are you waiting for, an invitation?

 We have a huge country where real news is happening all the time and yet Fox News is doing another story with three guests about funding Obamacare? Really???
Can you you please stop kicking Obama and contemplating your navel and your ass for just a couple of hours?
It's embarrassing for me as a regular Fox News viewer to see this disregard for viewers intelligence and be served up this swill.

And at 2 pm, as I just flipped the TV back to Fox from a college football game, they give us a tan John Boehner, the soon to be ex-Speaker of the House because of what a horrendous job he's been doing the past two years.
(It's a reflection of how much everyone within the House GOP either hates or dislikes Eric Cantor that he can't push over a push-over like Boehner that is barely coherent at times.)
Is everyone in New York today inside a TV studio sleeping?

Also, I've wanted to say this for quite a few days and since i haven't seen anyone else say it anywhere -that I've seen- let me be clear.
IF hundreds of people were missing from New York City's Upper West Side after a flood there, you better believe the national news coverage would've been a lot more intense, professional and lengthy than what we saw in Colorado this past week, which many NY and DC-based news organizations treated like another bus in India or Bangladesh that went off the side of a mountain and killed all aboard.
Colorado, they still consider you "flyover country," even if they come visit you to go skiing.

 Oh well, hurricane season isn't over yet here in South Florida! 
And we all know how the people in New York at the TV networks root for us to get hit hard by one so they can fly in and do stories where they can 'act' like brave journalists facing the elements!
Just saying...
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Friday, September 20, 2013

Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post combs thru the mountain of evidence -and self-inflicted wounds- that is Marco Rubio's disastrous 2013 and asks the logical question, "Who is Marco Rubio?" (¿Quién es Marco Rubio?) But maybe the real question is what is Rubio? Someone to be trusted and counted upon, or someone to be leery of because of his penchant for conflating his own role and ego?; Just as I predicted months ago, no?; #Rubio, #gangofeight, #RubiosFolly




Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post combs thru the mountain of evidence -and self-inflicted wounds- that is Marco Rubio's disastrous 2013 and asks the logical question, "Who is Marco Rubio?" (¿Quién es Marco Rubio?) But maybe the real question is what is Rubio? Someone to be trusted and counted upon, or someone to be leery of because of his penchant for conflating his own role and ego?; Just as I predicted months ago, no?; #Rubio, #gangofeight, #RubiosFolly
I need hardly remind you regular readers of this blog that I predicted all of this very intense scrutiny, personal criticism and second-guessing of Marco Rubio's character many months ago in this space, in a series of posts re immigration comparing what Rubio had said and promised at one point in time with what he actually did and said when it counted, and behind-the-scenes.
This, even while Florida's Mainstream Media -and especially the reporters at The Miami Herald- were predicting clear sailing ahead, even as they scrubbed their own newspapers and websites of anything or anyone critical of Rubio's pro-amnesty approach to immigration reform that put amnesty first and border security second, in keeping consistent with the Editorial Board policies set forth and the personal opinions of many reporters, columnists and editors or news room producers.

 Now we'll all get to see how Rubio handles adversity and very strong personal criticism about his integrity and trust-worthiness, and whether he is destined to learn from the experience or simply going to become just the latest one-term Much-Ado-about-nothing Senator in Washington.
As a voter who supported him early on in 2009 and voted for him twice in 2010, this is far from being a settled question right now.
Without the support of voters like me, former Democrats, Rubio's political future is very much in doubt -and completely forget about 2016. 

 The Washington Post
Who is Marco Rubio?
By Jennifer Rubin, 
Updated: September 19, 2013
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is young and eloquent. But he has baffled conservatives who have no idea who the real Rubio is.
Is he the Rubio who embraced immigration reform in the Senate or the Rubio who’s dropped the issue entirely?
Is he the Rubio who talks about a positive agenda including higher education reform or is he the know-nothing who follows Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) in the shutdown cul-de-sac? 
Read the rest of the piece at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2013/09/19/who-is-marco-rubio/

-----
See also my June 12, 2013 post titled,
When Rush Limbaugh admits he's disappointed in Marco Rubio's flip-flop on immigration, it's only going to get worse for Rubio. Only positive of S.744, the Schumer-Rubio “comprehensive” immigration amnesty bill, i.e the #setup4sellout, IF it passes, is that Rubio gets properly 'schooled' and roughed-up a bit to wear off his new car smell and conservatives see his true faults for what they are -he's still too gullible. Consider that Mission (already) Accomplished; Mickey Kaus is masterfully connecting-the-dots on why defeating this is more important to U.S. long-term than getting more info re Benghazi, IRS, NSA snooping scandals
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/mickey-kaus-is-masterfully-connecting.html
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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 - Eighty-seven years ago today, what there was of Miami and South Florida was largely destroyed by a powerful Category 4 hurricane that devastated everything in sight, ending the Florida land boom in a heartbeat, plunging South Florida into an early economic Depression and retarding this area's growth and maturity forever in very profound and fundamental ways that have never been fully explored or understood, even now; The great "IF only" question - what if IT never hit?; And THAT is why they're called the University of Miami Hurricanes


moviemagg YouTube Channel video: The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 Uploaded August 27, 2012. http://youtu.be/3cEfsp3Mn1s
Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 - Eighty-seven years ago today, in 1926, what there was of Miami and South Florida was largely destroyed by a powerful Category 4 hurricane that devastated everything in sight, ending the Florida land boom in a heartbeat, plunging South Florida into an early economic Depression and retarding this area's growth and maturity forever in very profound and fundamental ways that have never been fully explored or understood, even now; The great "IF only" question - what if it never hit?; And THAT is why they're called the University of Miami Hurricanes 





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1926_Miami_hurricane

 "as late as the morning of September 17, less than 24 hours before the category 4 storm's effects would begin in South Florida, no warnings had been issued."
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/?n=miami_hurricane

 "At the height of the storm surge, the water from the Atlantic extended all the way across Miami Beach and Biscayne Bay into the City of Miami for several city blocks."
See map: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/mfl/events/1926hurricane/inundation.jpg

 Pictorial history of the Florida hurricane: forty-seven views and five pages of information, September 18, 1926
http://www.wolfsonian.org/explore/collections/pictorial-history-florida-hurricane-september-18-1926-pictorial-history-florida-

 Photo of Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 historical marker:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/mfl/events/1926hurricane/1926_marker_1.JPG
Don Boyd - Miami's new drydock near Biscayne Blvd. as a result of the Hurricane of 1926
http://www.pbase.com/donboyd/image/77164210/original

 More photos at:
http://www.pbase.com/search?q=1926+Hurricane&b=Search+Photos&c=sp
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Monday, September 16, 2013

Emily Ratajkowski is THE answer. TheWrap's Jeff Sneider's EXCLUSIVE on key casting decision in upcoming David Fincher film, "Gone Girl," starring Ben Affleck is the question; @emrata, @TheWrap, #RosamundPike, #GoneGirl




Because I know that I've been neglecting my important show biz duties a lot here on the blog of late, I have the following important casting news to share with you that will be ricocheting around the globe all day and be common knowledge by the time all of you wake-up tomorrow. 
Causing delight for some people and angst in others, and lots of happine$$ in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where most principal non-LA shooting of Gone Girl will take place.

TheWrap
Ben Affleck’s ‘Gone Girl’ Casts ‘Blurred Lines’ Beauty Emily Ratajkowski (Exclusive) 
By Jeff Sneider on September 16, 2013 @ 7:37 am
In her first major movie role, model-actress Emily Ratajkowski is nearing a deal to play the hotly contested role of Ben Affleck’s mistress in David Fincher’s “Gone Girl,” an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap.
Ratajkowski is best known as the bombshell beauty at the center of Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” video, which has nearly 174 million views on YouTube.
Read the rest of ther post at:
http://www.thewrap.com/ben-affleck-gone-girl-cast-blurred-lines-emily-ratajkowski

 If you didn't already know, I really LOVE Rosamund Pike.
She is English moxie personified, and as our cousins in Redditch, Worcestershire would say, she is a bit of alright.
Alright, indeed!!!






 And now, channeling my best legal defense attorney persona, recalling both Perry Mason and Ben Matlock, I present to the jury the following evidence and ask that the bailiff distribute copies of this photo to them so that they may see the evidence for themselves...




 Well, the maxim goes that "a photo speaks a thousand words." 
But some photos speak much more.
I would humbly suggest that this photo on Emily Ratajkowski's Twitter feed does just that.

 It's only my opinion, but winning the genes lottery and the casting lottery is not a bad way to start off a career.
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Saturday, September 14, 2013

Hottest July and August ever -at the blog! Thanks to the blog's readers from Broward County, South Florida and around the world, July and August 2013 have been THE busiest July and August ever at Hallandale Beach Blog, with readers interested in reading more about the absence of ethics in Hallandale Beach and Broward County, and about a very popular DJ and blogger from Sweden, who has since moved to South Florida, Anna Hibbs; Thanks! (Tack så mycket!)





Hottest July and August ever -at the blog! Thanks to the blog's readers from Broward County, South Florida and around the world, July and August 2013 have been THE busiest July and August ever at Hallandale Beach Blog, with readers interested in reading more about the absence of ethics in Hallandale Beach and Broward County, and about a very popular DJ and blogger from Sweden, who has since moved to South Florida, Anna Hibbs; Thanks! (Tack så mycket!) 

July netted  39,587 individual page views, an average of 1277 page views a day, which was better than I expected given the time of year and the lack of big news here, per se. 
August 2013 was the second-busiest month ever in the history of the blog, trailing only last December, and had a total of 39,587 individual page views -more than doubling last year's record total for the month- for a daily average of 1,277 or 53.20 separate page views per hour.
In fact, six days of the dog days of August received over 2,000 separate views with August 14 netting 3,202 and August 21st getting 3,133.

(And even now in September, with many residents of Hallandale Beach I know not returning to town for another week-to-ten days, I'm posting better numbers than ever for a non-holiday month, with well over 2,000 views 70% of the time and with 3 days over 2,500 so far thru the first 12 days of the month.)

 Of the older, non-current posts, the two most-popular posts the past two monhs continue to be one from mid-October of last year, three weeks before the city election, on the subject of ethics and integrity or rather the lack of both plus competency at Hallandale Beach City Hall, 
Ethics? Not for us! Follow-up to my post re Hallandale Beach's unethical "business as usual" attitude, with "special rules for special people" if they are named Joy Cooper, Bill Julian and Anthony A. Sanders; What ethics? What rules? @MayorCooper, @SandersHB
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/ethics-not-for-us-follow-up-to-my-post.html
with my second most-popular post being a very short one from August 2011 regarding popular Swedish DJ and blogger Anna Hibbs, who made the big move from the comfortable and exciting world she knew and loved in Stockholm to Miami Beach a few months back.

Popular Swedish DJ and blogger Anna Hibbs visiting Miami for a while, so mind your manners and be friendly, por favor

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/popular-swedish-dj-and-blogger-anna.html

 As of 3 p.m. Saturday, the first one on ethics has garnered 51,361 views while the one on Anna Hibbs has received 4,294.

 Anna wrote what I consider her best and most-personal work yet while in Sweden over the summer while visiting friends and family, doing lots of serious reflecting and reminiscing on manners great and small, past and future, knowing that everyday she was one day closer to her new life in South Florida.

 For both good and bad, she'd no longer be able to just get together at the drop-of-a-hat with family and friends, or make definite plans in the future to hang-out at favorite spots around the country with friends and former business colleagues when opportunities presented themselves.
And she had to move all her stuff, which always leaves you reminiscing and thinking about the choices you have made, good and bad.
Anna's honesty makes that worthwhile reading.


Me using some technology back in January, Latitude, checking to see who was who, who was free, and where in the world were they in Greater Stockholm when I contacted them after checking-in to the 4trappor B&B in Södermalm, using one of the dozens of maps I had to plot logistics for a get-together, The important parameters after either being on a United and SAS plane or in an airport in Fort Lauderdale, Newark, Oslo and Stockholm for over 24 hours?: Coldest beer, best pizza, best atmosphere to talk.
Ever since President Obama went to Stockholm last week, I've been planning on posting something new here about moxie-filled Anna in the near-future, something that I think will give you some real insight into both Sweden and her own unique personality that I find pleasing and endearing.
In part, perhaps, because in more ways than likely makes sense, it mirrors my own thoughts in some important respects, which perhaps helps explains why I feel so at home there.

The top referring sites for the blog were the blog's own two URLs, followed by the Google Search Parties in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Germany, Sweden and France.
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Friday, September 13, 2013

In Broward County, CRA numbers just don't add up - Broward Bulldog has latest news re Broward County Inspector General's office opening a broad line of inquiry into misuse of property tax dollars by CRAs, including Hallandale Beach's, "with millions at stake"; #audit, #stonecoldfacts, @MayorCooper

Above and below, northbound U.S.-1/Federal Highway as City of Aventura and Miami-Dade County becomes City of Hallandale Beach and Broward County, alongside Gulfstream Park Race Track & Casino and Village at Gulfstream Park retail complex. August 28, 2013 photos by South Beach Hoosier. © 2012 Hallandale Beach Blog, All Rights Reserved.
In Broward County, CRA numbers just don't add up - Broward Bulldog has latest news re Broward County Inspector General's office opening a broad line of inquiry into misuse of property tax dollars by CRAs, including Hallandale Beach's, "with millions at stake"; #audit, #stonecoldfacts, @MayorCooper
Sent out this email this morning to all Friends of the Blog and "all the ships at sea" in Hallandale Beach, Broward County, and in Tallahassee, Florida Governor Rick Scott and FL CFO Jeff Atwater, certain select Florida state Senators and members of the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Committee...

CRA numbers that just don't add up -FYI re Broward Bulldog: Broward opens broad inquiry into misuse of property tax dollars by CRAs; millions at stake

 Yes, it seems like only yesterday that I'd been up half the night penning one in a series of emails to Governor Scott about what's been going on for YEARS at Hallandale Beach City Hall with the CRA Board and its very highly-paid, tone-deaf staffers repeatedly taking advantage of this city's taxpayers and small business owners to further crony capitalism and pure political patronage as best they could, using the cover of fighting social ills like "blight," the word that you never ever hear uttered at HB City Hall.

 Yes, the very same characters at HB City Hall who have an annual Visioning meeting to discuss their individual and collective thoughts and strategies towards the spending of taxes and CRA funds, not that facts matter a great deal.

 They call it a public meeting, but they prefer a public that is seen and not heard, since in this city, the public can't ask questions or ask for clarification or even make suggestions at it, forcing citizens to just sit and observe for hours on end while reality takes a long holiday.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/visioning-and-public-participation.html

 But in this case I'm thinking of, my email to Gov. Scott wasn't from yesterday, it was March, six months ago:
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/my-open-letter-to-florida-governor-rick.html

 The next time you hear someone in Broward County, like one of the usual "experts" or pundits or maybe a self-interested lobbyist like Mayor Joy Cooper's supercilious pal, Broward lobbyist Judy Stern repeat the Conventional Wisdom in this county that nobody really cares about ethical behavior, transparency and accountability in Broward cities, except a handful of people, just keep this in mind.

 As of Friday September 13th at 2:55 a.m., in the 48 weeks since I first wrote my October 15th 2012 post titled, "Ethics? Not for us! Follow-up to my post re Hallandale Beach's unethical "business as usual" attitude, with "special rules for special people" if they are named Joy Cooper, Bill Julian and  Anthony A. Sanders; What ethics? What rules? @MayorCooper, @SandersHB" it's been seen 51,134 times at  
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/ethics-not-for-us-follow-up-to-my-post.html

 Yes, that's more than a thousand page views a week and more than the total population of this city, even during "the season."
Imagine that! 

 That total doesn't even include the number of people who saw it the day it was first posted, when it was the default post of the blog. 
That's a lot of people who now know a lot more facts about the truth regarding the corruption, unethical conduct and plain old incompetency that have been commonplace in Hallandale Beach all these years while Broward State's Attorney Mike Satz and his staff did NOTHING to help us.
Just saying...

 And now on to today's featured attraction...
-----


Broward Bulldog
Broward opens broad inquiry into misuse of property tax dollars by CRAs; millions at stake
By William Gjebre and Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
September 12, 2013 AT 6:29 AM

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Date: Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 1:33 AM
Subject: FYI re Latest news re prospective audit of Hallandale Beach CRA by JLAC
Cc: "Scott, John W." <InspectorGeneral@broward.org>

Well, after making a phone call this afternoon to JLAC's office up in
Tallahassee,
I received the response below.

Now we at least have some documentation proving who this community's real friends in Tallahassee are -and aren't- these days, and who's just been feeding us lip service about rallying to the cause of giving Hallandale Beach citizens their long overdue accounting of where the HB CRA millions were really going for years, while nobody at HB City Hall was performing
anything close to the level of genuine oversight and scrutiny that was demanded -or which HB taxpayers, residents and business owners had a reasonable right to expect.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: JLAC <jlac@leg.state.fl.us>
Date: Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 4:04 PM
Subject: RE: re prospective audit of Hallandale Beach CRA by JLAC
Mr. Smith:

To date, the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee has not received a request for an audit of the Hallandale Beach CRA from any member of the Legislature.

I apologize for the slow response. After your call today, Debbie mentioned your email on August 19th, but neither of us recalls seeing it before.

Kathy

Kathy DuBose, Coordinator
Joint Legislative Auditing Committee 
___ 
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2013 12:34 PM
To: JLAC

Subject: re prospective audit of Hallandale Beach CRA by JLAC

Monday August 19th, 2013
12:30 p.m.
To Whom It May Concern:
As of this morning, has the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Commission received any correspondence from the following state legislators formally requesting that JLAC perform an audit of the Hallandale Beach CRA: Sen. Eleanor Sobel, Rep. Joe Gibbons and Rep. Shevrin Jones?
Living here, and being very involved in the effort to get your Committee to do one so that
citizens of this community can finally get the financial answers that we have long been
denied, I can tell you that there are no media reports of any of the three of them doing so,
thus far, so I just want to get confirmation of that fact.
Thank you for your assistance! 
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Thursday, September 12, 2013

Drawn-and-quartered for political purposes not our own: A Hallandale Beach perspective on Brandon Larrabee's post, "Documents describe political consultants’ efforts in redistricting" in Florida in 2010; Yes, efforts to keep cities like Hallandale Beach divided to keep some FL politicians' political careers viable

Drawn-and-quartered for political purposes not our own: A Hallandale Beach perspective on Brandon Larrabee's post, "Documents describe political consultants’ efforts in redistricting" in Florida in 2010; Yes, efforts to keep cities like Hallandale Beach divided to keep some FL politicians' political careers viable

Palm Beach Post
Documents describe political consultants’ efforts in redistricting
By Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida
Posted: 1:51 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013
TALLAHASSEE — As Florida lawmakers, politicos and voters held a public discussion about the once-a-decade redistricting process in 2011 and 2012, Republican consultants were quietly and busily drawing maps that they later said were produced largely because of their interest in the process.
Meanwhile, GOP operatives were discussing redistricting with officials in Washington and one consultant was writing to another about an offer of help from “friends with deep pockets.”
Read the rest of the post at
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/documents-describe-political-consultants-efforts-i/nZsy7/


The City of Hallandale Beach, in southeast Broward County, on the north side of the Miami-Dade County line, is hemmed in by the Atlantic Ocean on the east and I-95 on the west, is 4.2 square miles and has just under 39,00 residents, including myself. 

It is the poster child of a city that ought to be compact and contiguous, not broken up for political spare parts -and yet it is.
Again.

In order to satisfy base political and ethnic needs of politicians from outside the immediate area that have nothing at all to do with the letter and spirit of the Fair Districts legislation that I and many millions of other Florida voters passed, or giving this city's residents a degree of power that approximates their location and size, it is sliced and diced every which way.

Until last year's election, this city of under five square miles was represented by two U.S. Congresspersons, two state Representatives, two Broward County Commissioners and one state Senator.
Seven people instead of four.

Some people, uninformed people, say that's actually great for the city and means that its residents get more representation that way.

 A great theory, but in practice, the reality was and is that Hallandale Beach residents are always merely a fraction in a political equation in how a bill becomes a law, and the first to be ignored and the first to be thrown overboard 

 For the simplest and most-expedient reason of all -we were and are always deemed less important than some other larger city or area within the district because we have been intentionally drawn-and-quartered to appease other interests that are deemed more important than us having the meaningful representation we're entitled to. 
Just saying...
This is my 18th blog post here on redistricting. 
Prior posts on this subject can be seen here:
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search?q=redistricting

For a great example of gerrymandering outside of HB but nearby, see the map of Rep. Alcee Hastings FL-20 district in Lake Worth, which at one point is just slightly wider than the area taken up by one high school's complex -Lake Worth High's.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/FL

Brandon Larrabee @BylineBrandon  https://twitter.com/BylineBrandon

News Service of Florida newsserviceflorida.com

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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Latest news re prospective audit of Hallandale Beach CRA by Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Committee: Now HB residents know for sure who their real friends in Tallahassee are -and aren't- and they are NOT named Eleanor Sobel, Joe Gibbons or Shevrin Jones. But this merely confirms what we've already known and long suspected -Hallandale Beach's 3 state legislators are NOT representing us well in Tallahassee and are putting personal politics and relationships above their duty to us. Now we know for sure!

My short and to-the-point email of Monday afternoon to dozens of concerned people throughout Southeast Broward, Tallahassee and certain TV stations, websites and blogs, went something like this:

 Well, after making a phone call this afternoon to JLAC's office up in Tallahassee,
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/cgi-bin/View_Page.pl?Directory=committees/joint/Jcla/&File=index_css.html&Tab=committees
I received the response below.

 Now we at least have some documentation proving who this community's real friends in Tallahassee are -and aren't- these days, and who's just been feeding us lip service about rallying to the cause of giving Hallandale Beach citizens their long overdue accounting of where the HB CRA millions were really going for years, while nobody at HB City Hall was performing anything close to the level of genuine oversight and scrutiny that was demanded -or which HB taxpayers, residents and business owners had a reasonable right to expect.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: JLAC
Date: Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 4:04 PM
Subject: RE: re prospective audit of Hallandale Beach CRA by JLAC

 Mr. Smith:

 To date, the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee has not received a request for an audit of the Hallandale Beach CRA from any member of the Legislature.

 I apologize for the slow response. After your call today, Debbie mentioned your email on August 19th, but neither of us recalls seeing it before.

 Kathy

 Kathy DuBose, Coordinator

 Joint Legislative Auditing Committee

 (850) 487-4110

___

Sent: Monday, August 19, 2013 12:34 PM
To: JLAC

 Subject: re prospective audit of Hallandale Beach CRA by JLAC

 Monday August 19th, 2013
12:30 p.m.

 To Whom It May Concern:

 As of this morning, has the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Commission received any correspondence from the following state legislators formally requesting that JLAC perform an audit of the Hallandale Beach CRA: Sen. Eleanor Sobel, Rep.  Joe Gibbons and Rep. Shevrin Jones?

 Living here, and being very involved in the effort to get your Committee to do one so that citizens of this community can finally get the financial answers that we have long been denied, I can tell you that there are no media reports of any of the three of them doing so, thus far, so I just want to get confirmation of that fact.

 Thank you for your assistance!

 DBS, Nine-year Hallandale Beach resident
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