Csaba Kulin continues connecting-the-dots on Marcum LLP's devastating audit of Hallandale Beach, revealing how city's own rules were routinely broken and leaving taxpayers on the hook

Csaba Kulin continues connecting-the-dots on Marcum LLP's devastating  audit of Hallandale Beach, revealing how city's own rules were routinely broken and leaving taxpayers on the hook

Below is Part 2 of my friend and fellow Hallandale Beach and Broward County civic activist Csaba Kulin's take on the just released audit by Marcum LLP on the longstanding not-so-humorous 'funny business' at Hallandale Beach City Hall while Joy Cooper has been mayor.

Since he was actually there, like me, unlike the South Florida news media that has shown no interest in covering what was taking place here, and was one of the persons fighting hardest to get the audit, even while some of the commissioners clearly resented it, Csaba's understanding and take on it is far superior to what is being written about the audit, including this article that largely misses the larger picture:

Hallandale CRA audit shows incomplete files, mishandled paperwork
By Tonya Alanez, Sun Sentinel
6:28 p.m. EST, March 6, 2012
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-hallandale-cra-audit-20120306,0,640477.story

Ask yourself a simple question after you read what Csaba has written: 
Why have none of the city employees responsible for the YEARS of incompetency and unprofessional conduct not been punished or fired?

And why is nobody from the South Florida press corps even asking that obvious question?

Why is nobody from the press corps sticking a microphone or tape recorder in front of Joy Cooper and asking her why for so many years as mayor, she failed to provide prudent oversight over the CRA, given that the elected City Commission was the CRA's Board of Directors, so she could've called for toughening up reporting rules or made sensible changes for more accountability and transparency any time she wanted?
She never did, and all we get now from the news media is silence.

And as a result of their knowing full well that the press corps is asleep, all Hallandale Beach taxpayers get on this issue from Mayor Cooper and City Manager Mark A. Antonio and his highly-paid staff is a whitewash.

A whitewash may fly with Cooper's pals and cronies since as I've shown on this blog over the years, Cooper's pals and cronies have shown that they are largely oblivious to what goes on in this city outside of their own well-maintained neighborhoods, but it most certainly will NOT fly with the majority of HB taxpayers who will be voting in November.
Yes, consider that a Teaser Alert!

-----

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

As I promised Monday, I've got a more-detailed analysis of the “Agreed-Upon Procedures” report produced by Marcum LLC, and I think that some of my comments below may help you better understand the attached report.

The five types of records that the City of Hallandale Beach (COHB) “agreed” to have examined were:

1.      Developer Agreements
 2.     Vendor Contracts
 3.     Real Estate Acquisition and Disposition Policies
 4.     CRA Commercial Loan Programs
 5.     CRA Expenditures.

COHB also decided the extent to which those records were examined.

In a disclaimer, on page 2, Marcum LLC tells us THE most important fact about this report.

“We were not engaged to, and did NOT, conduct an audit, the objective of which would be the expression of an opinion on the records. Accordingly, we do not express such an opinion. Had we performed additional procedures, other matters might have come to our attention that would have been reported to you”.

In the area of DEVELOPER AGREEMENTS, one exception that's particularly emblematic of COHB's past and present “modus operandi” is how payments due from developers were handled.
The original agreement called for The Cornerstone/Harbour Cove developer to donate $40,000 for improvements to the Hepburn Center and $10,000 to the Hallandale Sports Complex Foundation.

But unknown to most Hallandale Beach taxpayers, then-City Manager Mike Good decided that he'd approve this $50,000 amount being forgiven in exchange for Harbour Cove offering active COHB employees a $50 per month discount on their rent for a period of one year after move-in.
This was NOT considered an exception.

Also NOT mentioned -how many COHB employees actually participated in this program and what that amount was, so taxpayers would know how much of that $50,000 was actually used for that purpose.
 As of today, we simply do NOT know.

The VENDOR CONTRACTS is the area where COHB originally gave $8,931,000 worth of contracts to be examined instead of the $29,174,000, i.e. all the contracts between 2007 and 2010.
Based on the terms of the agreed-upon procedures engagement letter, Marcum’s procedures were simply limited to reviewing the vendor contracts that were included on the original listing provided by COHB.

During this period the City Manager’s $50,000 spending authority was increased and if the contract went over the authority, the City Commission gave additional approval. Based on the limited number of contracts, no exceptions were noted.

The REAL ESTATE ACQUISITION AND DISPOSITION area is yet another black hole of problems, and it starts from the simple fact that COHB originally only provided 54 out of the 84 acquired property files.
The additional 30 files were subsequently provided, but Marcum did not review the additional 30 purchase files based on the same reason given above.

Of the 84 properties purchased by COHB, 13 were eventually sold.
Unfortunately, the City was “unable to locate supporting documentation”, so Marcum was unable to review the “unavailable files”.

The official guidelines require the gathering of information prior to the purchase on a new property, including assessed value, lot size, legal description, owner of record, lien search, etc.
In other words, perform common sense “due diligence” just as you would have to do if you were purchasing property, except here, COHB is supposedly doing the buying on behalf of Hallandale Beach taxpayers.
Of the 40 acquired properties, Marcum LLC discovered that 39 of them had missing information (See page 10).

COHB acquired 8 properties thru foreclosures, and COHB's written policy requires both the City Attorney and the City Clerk to review the transactions.
Surprise, surprise!
NONE of the 8 had proof of review.

Of the 40 purchased properties, 30 did NOT contain title searches as required by the official guidelines.

COHB guidelines state that the Central Services Director must review all information and write a summary report for the City Manager, either supporting or declining acquisition of the referenced property.
 Only 2 out of the 40 purchased properties contained summary reports.

Further, would you believe that 27 of the 40 purchased properties did NOT contain a purchase authorization from either the City Manager or the City Commission?
Well, believe it, because that's what Marcum said in their report.

In order to confirm that the acquisitions were executed, three documents are required:

(a) purchase contract,
(b) HUD1 closing statement, and
(c) warranty deed.
Approximately 10 of the 54 files did NOT include a copy of the HUD1 closing statement.

CRA COMMERCIAL LOAN PROGRAM had its own fair share of problems with the three types of loan programs it offers.

The Commercial Code Compliance Loan Program has 31 loans outstanding.
The maximum loan value is up to $100,000 per business.
There is an exception made to one unnamed establishment and the loan amount was increased to $150,000 by the authority of City Manager Mike Good (See page 16).
It seems clear from all the available evidence that this was changed for the benefit of The Flashback Diner on U.S.-1.

Of the 31 loan files, insufficient documentation existed in all 31 loan files as to whether application fees were paid.
100%!
Another 9 had miscellaneous other deficiencies.

“All loan terms may be subject to City Manager’s review for approval under special circumstances to ensure the protection of the property owner, the City and the objectives of the City’s loan programs”.

This one statement above explains why loan forgiveness actions, interest rate charges, code compliance requirements and default actions are on an informal basis.
If someone is 3 months behind in making payments, the loan is in default.
COHB, if a loan is 6-to-9 months delinquent, will write a letter or call the borrower to remind them of the oversight. Marcum noted that one file (The Mess A Round) indicated that the borrower was in default. In that instance “forbearance” was granted by the appropriate “levels of authority” and therefore this has NOT been noted as an exception.

The Business Incentive/Enticement Loan Program has 6 loans to 5 borrowers.
The maximum loan amount is $200,000, the borrower must be able to repay and 15% of the loan will be waived.
Again, problems with the records!

One loan was for a property that was not owned by the borrower.
Missing proof of lien searches, paid property tax payments, 5 year budgets, proof of mortgage payments and copy of bank statements.
Again, 3 of the loans were of the result of the owner meeting with the City Manager, Mike Good (See page 23).

There is no system in place to regularly confirm code compliance on loans, and penalties were actually waived on 2 loans.

If someone is 3 months behind in making payments, the loan is considered in default.
Again, according to COHB policy, if a loan is 6-to-9 months delinquent, COHB will write a letter or make a call to the listed borrower(s).
One of the loans that was delinquent belonged to Digital Outhernet, Inc.
You remember them, don't you?
There is NO mention of how long they've been delinquent and what the current status of it is.

The Small Business Retention and Expansion Loan Program is designed to loan up to $50,000, may waive 50% to 80% based on need.
Three such loans were provided to Marcum. (See pages 26-28 describe the details.).
The business must be in compliance with city codes, but NONE of them are.

The City does NOT check to see if the borrower performs all the terms of the loan.
Only one of the applicants owned the property on which the business was located, and two did not own the property and hadNO collateral.
COHB guidelines state that real property must be owned by the borrower, but despite this policy, the City Manager granted one waiver and the City Commission granted the other exception.
Bi-Annual Performance Reviews were NOT performed or documented.
Default is similar to the other loans, with a call or a letter to the borrower after 6-to-9 months.

I hope this report connecting-the-dots will help you get a sense of what will be discussed Wednesday night at the City Commission meeting, and may give some of you an idea of areas of questions to pursue yourself.

I have attached the entire report for your information.

Sincerely,

Csaba Kulin

Hallandale AUP DRAFT 02-03-2012.pdf 314K   View   Download

More on the $20 Million of Hallandale Beach city contracts that went unchecked -Csaba Kulin re Marcum LLP's limited audit of "Exceptional" Hallandale Beach City Hall and its longstanding dysfunctional practices that insult HB taxpayers

More on the $20 Million of Hallandale Beach city contracts that went unchecked -Csaba Kulin re Marcum LLP's limited audit of "Exceptional" Hallandale Beach City Hall and its longstanding dysfunctional practices that insult HB taxpayers

Below, some insightful comments from Monday from my friend and fellow Hallandale Beach/Broward County civic activist Csaba Kulin concerning the subject du jour in this poorly-run ocean-side city with so much untapped potential -the auditing 'smoking gun' that not only proves how bad things really have been for years under Mayor Joy Cooper, but also illustrates the city's feeble response to the problems consisted of little more than waving a magic wand and changing the rules after-the-fact.

-----


Dear Friends and Neighbors:

The results of the Marcum LLP limited audit of the city are finally out, but before you begin to review it, a quick overview of how we got to this point is necessary.

Exactly two years ago, concerned residents of Hallandale Beach, myself included, greatly unhappy with years of having witnessed curious policies and inconsistent practices at Hallandale Beach City Hall that seemed designed more to hide financial information from the public than reveal it, began the push to force the City to hire an auditor to perform a special audit. 

Exactly two years ago, concerned residents of Hallandale Beach, myself included, greatly unhappy with years of having witnessed curious policies and inconsistent practices at Hallandale Beach City Hall that seemed designed more to hide financial information from the public than reveal it, began the push to force the City to hire an auditor to perform a special audit.

Over time, with great reluctance and skepticism from some elected City Commissioners, the public finally prevailed upon the City Commission to agree to hire an auditor to perform something called “Agreed-Upon Procedures”.

This was NOT a full-blown "special audit" as you may have come to know the term, but rather something quite short of that, wherein the City was willing to “agree” to have some aspects of their practices audited, but not all of them.

That's why only certain areas were examined in the report that's now on the city's website, but others remain unremarked upon. 

The preliminary report of August 2011 noted 515 “exceptions” to the City’s own written rules and procedures.

The just-released report noted 255 “exceptions” to the City’s procedures.

That is a large number of exceptions, but actually represents a 50% reduction from last summer. 

While some of the reduction in the number of "exceptions' is due to requested city records that were initially "missing" finally being found, and given to the auditor, most of the eliminated "exceptions" were due to what can only be called a very curious sense of after-the-fact rationalization.

It's an after-the-fact rationalization of a sort that most Hallandale Beach residents would find completely unacceptable where they work or do business, since it literally raises more questions than it answers. 

That rationalization consists of simply stamping “subject to City Manager’s review, which has the authority to change the procedure” and in some cases, “subsequently approved by the City Commission” on those "exceptions." 

I am surprised that any “exceptions” were noted in the new report if the City Manager or the City Commission has so much latitude that they can both change or ignore written procedures before or after the fact.

What is the reason for instituting and codifying a series of City Commission-approved city "procedures” if the City Commission, its professional staff and employees does not follow its own written rules, and has the ability to declare anything and everything an exception, after-the-fact, if they so choose? 

Even in its limited scope, the Marcum LLP report we now have been given is a very damning portrait of the last ten years of the city’s operation. No matter how much lipstick the City applies to it, it is still not pretty.

If you are a Hallandale Beach resident who cares about your city's future and Quality of Life, it should be required reading prior to next November’s elections. 

Especially since we still have only seen part of the looming financial iceberg, not all of it.

Today both the Broward Bulldog and the Miami Herald had published an excellent article about the Hallandale Beach audit. I have submitted the above comments after each article. I have below the link to the Broward Bulldog article for your convenience.

I intend to write about the details in the audit report sometime prior to Wednesday evening’s City Commission Meeting. I have also included the February 2012 and the August 2011 report for you to read prior to Wednesday. I hope to see you all with questions ready to be asked at the City Commission meeting. 

Sincerely, 

Csaba Kulin 

http://www.browardbulldog.org/2012/03/hallandale-beach-holds-back-records-in-botched-audit-20-million-in-contracts-go-unchecked/

2 attachments — Download all attachments  

Hallandale AUP DRAFT 02-03-2012.pdf 314K   View   Download

Hallandale AUP DRAFT 8-24-2011.pdf 328K   View   Download

Final shoes start to fall on Mayor Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew's reign of financial ruin: "Hallandale Beach holds back records in “botched” audit; $20 million in contracts go unchecked"

Above, the Hallandale Beach Municipal Complex on U.S.-1 and S.E.. 5th Street. Here, much more egregiously than most places in South Florida where incompetency and a disregard for laws and rules holds sway, the fish stinks from the head down. February 13, 2012 photo by South Beach Hoosier. 

Final shoes start to fall on Mayor Joy Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew's reign of financial ruin: Broward Bulldog: Hallandale Beach holds back records in “botched” audit; $20 million in contracts go unchecked

Or, put another way, when is an exception to a city rule NOT an exception to a rule?


The answer, of course, is whenever the Hallandale Beach City Commission wants to disregard any reasonable standards of logic, reason and fairness, and give taxpayer or CRA money to their pals and friends in the community -especially pals and cronies at non-profits and religious groups with little transparency, and hence, near-invisible paper trails- who will, not surprisingly, be supportive of them politically in the future.


Time-and-again they voted to do this, even if it meant over-riding city requirements, regardless of how bad, parochial or illogical the project proposed was, no matter how little of the application's paperwork was done, no matter how many exceptions were required to make it actually happen.
Mayor Cooper and her Rubber Stamp Crew were "a friend indeed" to their friends


So where was the adult supervision?


Late last night I was going to send an email out to everyone about the Final Marcum, LLP audit report that was finally placed on the city's website on Saturday.
http://www.cohb.org/files/Hallandale%20AUP%20DRAFT%20_CC%20AGENDA%20030712%209G%20CRA%204C%20.pdf


I was going to mention to you what Csaba Kulin and I discovered yesterday over a period of a few hours spent analyzing it and connecting-the-dots back to meetings over several years that we both attended and observed.


Our plan then was to create an easy to understand flow-chart where anyone in the community could compare the Preliminary audit language with the Final report, and see who actually voted for what, and who the people were in the community who benefited -esp. the "exceptions."


It goes without saying that if nearly everything the city does requires making exceptions, and if you have a high preponderance of exceptions, then the template they are using is fatally flawed, esp. those determining the suitability of, say, a CRA loan.


See if you answer this question?
A CRA loan to buy and install TV sets (with accompanying local advertising) at city retailers are to ending blight in the city as... what?


Yes, that loan was approved.


All the information in the report and this Broward Bulldog article about it lead to the same simple question over-and-over: 
WHEN did Mayor Joy Cooper and Commissioners Bill Julian, Anthony A. Sanders and Dotty Ross EVER exercise any reasonable oversight/fiduciary duty over these matters, as required by their elected position, by asking hard questions and demanding that Dept. heads and city employees follow the city's own requirements?


When?
They never did.


When did those four members of the City Commission EVER direct the former or current City Manager to issue an edict to Dept. heads, professional employees and mainline city employees that there would be very real job consequences for their continued failure to properly maintain records, and to do the mandated evaluations that were required by the city before and after CRA loans?
They never did.


Where was the direction from those four members of the City Commission that any and all reasonable efforts to recover funds that were owed to taxpayers and to the CRA, must not only be employed as a basic duty to the taxpayers, but that city employees who failed to perform their job and just looked the other way for years would be terminated?
There wasn't any.


For years the City of Hallandale Beach has completely failed to perform common sense due diligence on behalf of HB taxpayers, both BEFORE and AFTER the fact.


The City of Hallandale Beach's budget has nearly doubled over the past six years and what tangible results do this city's citizen taxpayers have to show for it?
What can they point to? 


The only thing we have to show for it is this damning limited audit of their longstanding incompetency, misfeasance and nonfeasance.


This audit and its lingering questions will be the subject of the day at Wednesday's HB City Commission meeting.
http://www.cohb.org/files/2012-03-07/Agenda%20Outline%20for%202012-03-07%2013-00.htm
http://www.cohb.org/files/2012-03-07/Staff%20Reports/00009522.htm


Regardless of what it says on the written agenda, I'd be there by 7 p.m. if you plan on actually having a seat to watch the proceedings, and to hear the city try to explain away all the inconvenient facts that are so damning.
In other parts of the country where local governments are held to a higher standard, the pattern of behavior described in this audit would've resulted in more than a few people possibly being terminated from their jobs.
But not here.


This morning, in anticipation of all of this, I received the following in my email inbox from
Mayor Cooper via her personal email account.
It speaks to that longstanding inability of hers that I've described here for years -that inability to see what's right in front of you and to admit your own responsibility for it:
http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=7pp54mhab&v=001fHRgY6J0lNMRBvQz1zoMIw7O-gL-JZXypt6oXJBzT4G8MeJRcJaTRglEqcmACtQRP1K9yJPL1AH4QrCmz1nksibKhgk9DwUw3WULUt3EOQTCthafy6L5H9QmQ4DxbUYV

Hope to see you there speaking up for the short-term and long-term best interests of this city's residents.
The more the merrier...


-----


Broward Bulldog
Hallandale Beach holds back records in “botched” audit; $20 million in contracts go unchecked
By William Gjebre, BrowardBulldog.org  
MARCH 5, 2012 AT 6:09 AM

An outside auditing firm did not review more than $20 million in Hallandale Beach vendor contracts because the city failed to provide the information and limitations on the scope of the audit.

Auditors mention the large deficiency in an updated audit report to be presented to the city commission for review on Wednesday.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://www.browardbulldog.org/2012/03/hallandale-beach-holds-back-records-in-botched-audit-20-million-in-contracts-go-unchecked/ 


The article above, along with reader comments, also appears in today's Miami Herald at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/05/2676566/20-million-in-hallandale-contracts.html


----- 


See also: http://changehallandale.com/

A week later, this essay still resonates: Andrew C. McCarthy in NRO: Why Apologize to Afghanistan?

A week later, after reading many other articles about what's been going on in Afghanistan that either just beat around the bush or which -surprise- made excuses for President Obama, this essay still resonates for a reason:

National Review Online         

Why Apologize to Afghanistan?

By Andrew C. McCarthy

February 25, 2012 4:00 A.M.

We have officially lost our minds.

The New York Times reports that President Obama has sent a formal letter of apology to Afghanistan’s ingrate president, Hamid Karzai, for the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base. The only upside of the apology is that it appears (based on the Times account) to be couched as coming personally from our blindly Islamophilic president — “I wish to express my deep regret for the reported incident. . . . I extend to you and the Afghani people my sincere apologies.” It is not couched as an apology from the American people, whose frame of mind will be outrage, not contrition, as the facts become more widely known.

The facts are that the Korans were seized at a jail because jihadists imprisoned there were using them not for prayer but to communicate incendiary messages. The soldiers dispatched to burn refuse from the jail were not the officials who had seized the books, had no idea they were burning Korans, and tried desperately to retrieve the books when the situation was brought to their attention.

Read the rest of the post at 

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/291925/why-apologize-afghanistan-andrew-c-mccarthy

Andrew C. McCarthy column homepage at NRO: http://www.nationalreview.com/author/52265

-----



The Washington Post
Conflicting accounts emerge over Quran burnings at base in Afghanistan
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/5-us-troops-could-face-review-conflicting-reports-over-quran-burnings-at-base-in-afghanistan/2012/03/03/gIQADm1VoR_story.html

Trending at Hallandale Beach Blog: Prof. Vijay Kumar’s amazing TED2012 presentation on technology & miniature flying robots. Yes, flying robots! Color me dazzled!

TED.com video: University of Pennsylvania professor Vijay Kumar: Robots that fly ... and cooperate. Filmed February 2012.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/vijay_kumar_robots_that_fly_and_cooperate.html

Trending at Hallandale Beach Blog: Vijay Kumar’s TED2012 talk on technology and miniature flying robots

Yes, you read that correctly, flying robots.
Multiple flying robots. 

Color me amazed!


Now if we could only get things moving a lot faster on the production of individual lightweight jetpacks!


See what's really going on in the world among some of the world's most creative thinkers and doers at http://www.ted.com/

Calling all Super Sleuths: Are you a good enough detective to solve this Mainstream Media news mystery?; Kathleen Parker and the Miami Herald's longstanding lack of columnist diversity

Calling all Super Sleuths: Are you a good enough detective to solve this Mainstream Media news mystery?; Kathleen Parker and the Miami Herald's longstanding lack of columnist diversity

If you saw the following five headlines in print or online, what would be your first guess as to what you'd just come across?

Mitt’s convention speech -In his own words. Well, almost.

Santorum’s failed pander - A false and snobbish attack on the president.

Out-of-touch Republicans - Romney and Santorum’s struggles bode ill for GOP.

Santorum’s war against elites - Campaigning with a chip on his shoulder.

Pushing Michigan away - Why the GOP won’t win the state in November.

What would be your guess for the source of this rather limited political perspective?

a.) A subscriber-only website for wealthy Democratic bundlers, all of whom are members in good standing of "Friends of O"?

b.) A college newspaper of a mid-sized Liberal Arts college in Ohio, with lots of high-minded, moralistic and incurious young women columnists who never attend their own school's home football or basketball games, and who aim to fit right in at some large East Coast newspaper, and just so they leave no doubt about where their political allegiances lie, they make sure they're right there in black & white.

c.) A special preview of the forthcoming print version of the monthly KosKooks4America comic book that will be bankrolled by George Soros?

d.) Your own local area's weekly VillageVoice-owned free newspaper that runs all those escort ads in the back, which opts NOT to do very much original enterprise reporting on local government or politics, opting instead to wait for the MSM to actually report their Conventional Wisdom take on the news, at which point the free newspaper's so-called reporters will run ten sentences of rants based on whatever the MSM headline is.

Those of you who are more Sherlock Holmes and Patrick Jane than Inspector Clouseau in your sleuthing will no doubt be pleased to discover that your intuition and instincts are still well-developed and accurate.

You've still got IT!

The correct answer is that the headlines above all came from today's Opinions page of The Washington Post.  http://view.ed4.net/v/PSLW3N/FXIPE2/YHHH8W4/0Z22UB/MAILACTION=1&FORMAT=H?wpisrc=nl_opinions

My screenshot of today's Washington Post Opinions page email, which I receive everyday.

Yes, that bastion of journalism diversity, where you too can find gainful employment as a reporter, editor or columnist, regardless of your sex, race, sexual persuasion or whichever Ivy League school you graduated from, as long as you are a team player and know how to sing in a choir without being asked.

You will NOT ad lib or deviate from the gospel according to The Washington Post.

The guilty parties above are, respectively:

Dana Milbank, Mitt’s convention speech, In his own words. Well, almost.

Kathleen Parker, Santorum’s failed pander, A false and snobbish attack on the president.

Harold Meyerson, Out-of-touch Republicans, Romney and Santorum’s struggles bode ill for GOP.

Ruth Marcus, Santorum’s war against elites, Campaigning with a chip on his shoulder.

Katrina vanden Heuvel, Pushing Michigan away, Why the GOP won’t win the state in November.


If there's anything above that deserves special attention due to its ironic nature, it's Kathleen Parker calling out Rick Santorum for calling President Obama being a snob.
Ironic because the worst kind of insufferable snob is one that won't admit it, and that's what Kathleen Parker is.


Well, that is besides being a journalist with a rather convenient memory, which is almost mandatory to be a card-carrying member of the MSM.
Which is to say that when reality bursts her version of the world, she finds it easy to either compartmentalize what challenges that view, or forget it entirely.
But aren't the facts supposed to matter?


Tell me, in this April 2008 video, who is Hillary Clinton accusing of being an elitist snob?



Hillary Clinton responds to Barack Obama's remarks to Democratic Party supporters at San Francisco fundraiser that "Small towns cling to guns or religion"
http://youtu.be/xNoJ0q6HrK8

"Pennsylvanians don't need a president who looks down on them. They need a president who stands up for them, who fights for them, who works hard for your futures, your jobs, your families." 

-Hillary Clinton

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/us/politics/13campaign.html

Oh, now you remember!

A close examination of Parker's own past columns over the years show what a genuine hypocrite and snob she is, when, at various times, in order to make herself more marketable, she's tried to create new identities for herself.


For a while, Parker tried to cultivate a public image of herself as the 'thoughtful Moderate,' who called-out the excesses of both liberals and conservatives, or, if she thought that it would play better, cast herself as the  modern-day educated "Southern" woman columnist, someone who was game to play at being semi-folksy in calculated ways once in a while to differentiate herself from the gray blather around her, esp. when she was  in Orlando.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/kathleen/parker091008.php3?printer_friendly


Sure, because Orlando was the South!
Maybe to someone who never leaves Manhattan. 


Locally, there's really no telling why the Miami Herald foolishly has persisted in running Parker's all-so-predictable columns, or even worse, running those of awful Mary Sanchez of the Kansas City Star, whose dreary and unoriginal columns sound exactly like the Herald's own Editorial Board's predictable and myopic view of the world, esp. on illegal immigration, rather than make any serious effort to develop their own clever and original South Florida-based conservative or moderate columnist, whose fresh, idea-filled columns would run in the OpEd section, not in the State & Local section, which as most sharp-eyed observers would agree, is THE most predictable section of a newspaper its size in America.
Stale and reeking of moth balls.


If you agree, and I know that many of you do, given the feedback I get about the state of the Herald in emails and at various public policy or govt. events throughout South Florida, where I run into and speak to friends and colleagues and people who at least claim to read the blog, maybe you should share your concerns about that (and the Miami Herald's general state of listlessness) with Herald publisher David Landsberg about his singular lack of vision and ambition for the paper in the 21st Century.


In case you forgot, I already have -a few times.
And publicly posted it here on the blog for all to see.


In any case, for whatever illogical reason they have, the Herald keeps running Parker and yet when push comes to shove, how does her column really differ fundamentally in its message from reflexively liberal Dana Milbank's or Eugene Robinson's?


That's just it, it doesn't.
It's the chorus effect.
Lots and lots of the very same perspective are NOT equivalent to a diversity of opinions. 

It's all been downhill since they modified the classic logo...

Monday afternoon was a sad day for a proud NMB alum like me, Class of 1979, when I witnessed so many current NMB students so willingly to make complete asses out of themselves -just because they could. Like there was some doubt?
In my opinion, these kids need to be publicly punished and royally ostracized, but I wouldn't hold my breath that it'll happen now if I were you! 
Former NMBHS Principal Marvin Weiner would NOT have tolerated that one bit, and neither would most of my classmates at the time. Give how new our school was when I first got there in 1975 for 9th grade, just four years-old, my friends and I wanted our school to become well-known throughout the area for the character, smarts, class and sportsmanship of our students and athletes,
NOT become infamous for what the social misfits of no real accomplishment could manage to do. In those pre-Internet days, my friends and I would've put our heads together and figured-out a clever, practical and fitting way to make sure we made real examples of the ringleaders of a stunt like this, so that they'd feel rightly humiliated for embarrassing the rest of us. 
But today, these particular NMB kids feel so emboldened and free to do whatever they want, that they laugh their asses off for wasting the time of the police thru their own intimidation tactics. 

Flash mob of screaming/laughing North Miami Beach Sr. High School students attempted to swarm the 163rd Street Walmart with M-D Metro Police in pursuit with flashing lights

Shades of the Chicago Teen Mobs and the Summer of 2011!

(In case you forgot about that or never heard about it, see the Chicago CBS-TV affiliate WBBM's story from last summer, Mag Mile Shops On Alert After Flash Mob Thefts

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/03/02/mag-mile-shops-on-alert-after-flash-mob-thefts/)

I arrived at the Walmart Supercenter on N.E. 163rd Street in North Miami Beach on Monday afternoon around 2:30 p.m., ostensibly to use the Dade County Federal Credit Union facility located inside, since it's the closest branch to me here in Hallandale Beach.

As I was walking from the far side of the parking lot and was about to walk over to the area directly adjacent to and in front of the store -and checking to make sure I had my cell phone on me!- I was startled to hear hundreds of screaming, yelling voices and then turned to my left and saw hundreds of kids walking quickly from the west towards the store like they were marching in a parade.

But a very disheveled mess of a parade to be sure.

And just about the point that the kids were near the front doors, six Miami-Dade Metro Police squad cars with their lights flashing came up quickly behind them from the west, dozens of yelling kids made a mad dash thru the front doors, with more soon following.

People in the parking lot around me were so dumbfounded, they just stood there motionless, almost in disbelief that this was happening on an otherwise boring and hot Monday afternoon in NMB.

One of the officers driving a Metro police car yelled for someone parked in front of the store to move their car, and then he quickly brought his squad car to a quick start in that vacated spot. And then from across the street I watched as probably 6-10 police officers went running into the store, walkie-talkies in hand.

I stayed outside and unfortunately, by the time I thought to dig my camera out of my bag to shoot some video, the students had either already run into the store or had run towards N.E. 15th Avenue, the east border, where the Miami-Dade Metro buses going south and west are located, and where, after school, it's natural that there are lots of kids hanging-around waiting for their bus ride home.

Which is why the video I have for you is NOT so exciting or enlightening.
I guess I was a little more dumbfounded than I originally thought, huh?

(As most of you regular readers of the blog know from my having mentioned it here, I grew-up in North Miami Beach, having lived there from second grade thru graduation from North Miami Beach High School in 1979, and had first come to know that retail area as the original 163rd Street Shopping Center, where I worked at the Burdines in high school. My last six years in NMB, I lived  only four blocks away, on the corner of N.E. 159th Street & 14th Avenue in the 1970's.)

The Metro police seemed pretty intent on forcing anyone who looked like they were in high school to get out of the store, and as I stood out of the way near the packs of interlocked shopping carts, it was like being outside of an arena exit door after a concert, people just streaming out for what seemed like forever.

And Monday afternoon, all very pleased with themselves.

I waited 2-3 minutes to go in and when I finally did, there were still dozens of kids inside

near the front where the McDonald's is located, all waiting to get out as the Metro police

tried to herd them forward like lambs, with some outliers just not interested in going-with-the-flow. 

Surprise!

I would've shot video from inside the store but thought better of it since, among other things, 

a.) my father had been a M-D Metro policeman for 25 years, and,

b.) it was clear that the kids wanted attention and were not the least bit afraid of trying

to provoke something, so why add fuel to the fire and give the kids a forum to act out?

Or give the clearly frustrated police a new target to vent at?

Once I got inside, the rattled Walmart employees and mostly middle-aged and older

customers, many of them Orthodox Jews dressed in their long clothes, still seemed a bit shaken-up, and once I got towards the Credit Union, I could already hear exasperated voices on cell phones extrapolating theories out of thin air about what had just happened and why.

The answer, of course, is that the kids did it because they could.

And because they thought they could either get away with it, or not get punished if caught.

About an hour later, roughly 3:30 p.m., as I was coming out of the store, there were still

six Metro squad cars outside the Walmart instead of the usual one, near the front door.

Definitely would be interesting to see the Walmart security feed of the incident.

By the way, before I forget to mention it, I tried to send this information to Miami-Dade County Public School Supt. Alberto Carvalho via his email, but it was rejected -twice.
Maybe it only accepts positive news.

My previous posts on the explosive subject of flash mobs were on June 12, 2011,

Chicago Trib readers screw w/Trib execs: "The board for this story has been closed because of excessive violations of the Tribune's comment policies"

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/chicago-trib-readers-screw-wtrib-execs.html

and June 29, 2011,

While crime and flash mobs roil Chicago-area residents, City Hall, Police, Tourism & Business Establishment act like ostriches. Sounds familiar!

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/while-crime-and-flash-mobs-roil-chicago.html