FOLLOW me on my popular Twitter feed. Just click this photo! @hbbtruth - David - Common sense on #Politics #PublicPolicy #Sports #PopCulture in USA, Great Britain, Sweden and France, via my life in #Texas #Memphis #Miami #IU #Chicago #DC #FL 🛫🌍📺📽️🏈. Photo is of Elvis and Joan Blackman in 'Blue Hawaii'
Beautiful Stockholm at night, looking west towards Gamla Stan
Full of Keys (Anni Bernhard) photographed in Rome, 2012, by Alessandro Leone
Later than I originally planned while I was in Stockholm last month, I'm sharing some new Full of Keys and Anni Bernhardnews today, my first of the new year.
While it's not exactly the first thing I thought I'd be writing about Anni this year while on that long SAS flight home from Stockholm, after over eight days there, it's still well worth you knowing about, especially if you are free this Friday night in Sweden, and most especially if you'll already be in Gotland.
The exact details of the BIG NEWS I have surrounding Anni and her band will have to wait for another day, since I've been sworn to secrecy, but trust me, when it comes out, it will beVERYexciting news for her fans and music-lovers everywhere.
In the meantime, though, until the time is right to spill the beans, I'm happy to tell you that Full Of Keys will be performing Friday night in Visby, Gotland, the hometown of singerAnni'sclever and oh-so creative manager,Andreas Jismark.
The performance will be part of an exclusive visit to Visby for rehearsals for what may/could be an upcoming U.S. tour that... well again, Ican't talk about right now.
FoK will be in Gotland during much of the Spring recording its second album and shooting some videos, so if you happen to be minding your own business one day, and happen to come across a very beautiful brunette somewhere singing with verve and style,please make sure that you look around carefully for any film cameras and lighting technicians BEFORE rushing over to say hello to Anni! :)
Friday is my birthday, but since I can't be there for obvious reasons to enjoy the music, be sure to make enough noise to compensate for my absence.
And don't forget to toast me with a cold Samuel Adams!
Hammersmith Odeon Visby, Adelsgatan 33, Visby, Gotland, Sweden
FullofkeysOFFICIAL YouTube Channel video: Full Of Keys - Snow Glass Apples, the first single from the second album. Written by Anni Bernhard & Robin Hirvonen Palmqvist. Directed by Carlo Roberti. Uploaded October 25, 2012.
ChicagoMayorsOffice YouTube Channel video: Dearborn Bike Lanes. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel officially opens barrier-protected bike lanes on Dearborn Street through the Loop, becoming the first two-way dedicated bike route with traffic signals in Chicagoland. Uploaded December 19, 2012. http://youtu.be/6rzQXhcaFlY
More on this subject from a straight-shooting Chicago-area blog that doesn't miss a thing: Streetsblog Chicago
So why is IDOT delaying designs that several American cities have already been implementing for years?
The agency says it wants to measure safety impacts based on robust statistical evidence, and that three years provides a representative sample. The rationale for requiring this information would be reasonable if Chicago was the first city to ever implement protected bike lanes, but it doesn’t hold up because the results have been the same wherever protected bike lanes have been installed:IDOT, The injury rate of all street users is reduced, be they walking, biking, or driving.
This is one of the few times I've ever been on Rahm Emanuel's side in an argument, but even one of my former nemeses can't be wrongall the time, and on this particular subject, he is clearly not wrong, as bureaucrats in Springfield try to pull the musty wool of bureaucratic self-justification over Chicago-area taxpayers and biking enthusiasts who merely want to use state roads -they've already paid for.
Reminds me of when I was living and working in D.C. area and was pretty involved in international trade issues, which even more than usual, required my attending lots of long, jargon-filled Congressional hearings on Capitol Hill on topics that were often hard to explain to either my friends and family.
Like the "Structural Impediments Initiative."
When the Japanese government -buttressed by powerful Japanese manufacturing companies afraid of fair competition from the United States- kept saying that American-made baseball bats and snow skis should not be imported into Japan because they would have very different performance characteristics in Japan, as if snow on the ground in Japan, real or artificial, was so different from snow in the U.S. that it would cause the skis not to work if properly used, well, those sorry excuses from Japan has a very logical consequence.
Those true-life anecdotes soon turned into fodder for lots of influential scholarly reports and books -and a much-more aggressive approach in U.S. export policy in the early 90's against Japan- that were damning in their conclusions about the power of the Japanese bureaucracy within every Japanese govt., and their complete unwillingness to accept reality and the facts staring at them.
And now, I read that into that small straight-jacket of bureaucratic conformity and unreality has jumped theIllinois Dept. of Transportation, and their cadre of management types and engineers, who imagine that something that has worked successfully everywhere it has been tried -and worked safely- would somehow produce completely different results if tried on the roads of Chicagoland.
I lived there for a few years in the 1980's and there are no mountains or canals or natural impediments to this smart plan being adopted other than IDOT's intent to keep it at bay for reasons that don't pass the smell test.
And so, once again, government bureaucrats seek to hold innumerable law-abiding citizens and visitors hostage to their old view of the world, until the citizens learn to either accept that bureaucrats know best -or three very long years pass. Pathetic!
If I ever hear of anything even half as asinine as this by FDOT, policy-wise, you can count on reading about it here in detail, but I doubt they'd try it, because IDOT has set such a jaw-dropping low standard to replicate. They'd have to try awfully hard to fail their taxpayers this badly.
* ImportantThree Islands community meeting tonight at 7 p.m.at the Anchor Bay condo at 300 Three Islands Blvd., located adjacent to the Three Islands south security gate. Park in guest parking.
Besides the two recent unsolved murders in Venetian Park -see below- and the increase in break-ins and robberies in the area, there's likely to be more than a little discussion and gnashing of teeth by HB residents who areVERYfrustrated with the city's laughably insufficient policing policies in the area, which makes it likely that this'll be one of the few public meetings this year where HB City Hall does not have 'plants' at the location to kiss their butts and say what a great job everyone is doing.
Everyone at HB City Hall is NOT doing a great job, and that includes the HB Police Dept.
Almost everyone I speak to in this city, but esp, who those who live in NE and the Venetian Park neighborhood in particular have watched with dismay as whatever visible Police presence the TISND is paying for that's assigned to the area near Scavo Park, seems to spend all or most of their time doing paperwork, NOT actually observing what's going on and interacting with citizens.
It's sort of hard to interact when the assigned off-duty police car that the Three Islands Safe Neighborhood District is paying for always seems to have their tinted windows up -and the A/C is on.
Everyone I know in the area believes this to be the case because they've personally watched it so many times, for so very long. And so have I.
It's become the defacto default position for the police.
I plan on being at the meeting tonight.
-----
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Mystery lingers in Canadian couple's Hallandale Beach slaying
criterioncollection YouTube Channel: Henry Fonda on Young Mr. Lincoln - Henry Fonda describes working with John Ford and playing Abraham Lincoln. Uploaded December 4, 2012. criterioncollectionhttp://youtu.be/c7dj36eo4Vc
The historical inaccuracies depicted in Steven Spielberg's much-lauded film "Lincoln" DO matter, even if screenwriter Tony Kushner claims they don't, and besides, don't we know he's got artistic license to say things that are NOT true; Contrast with John Ford's "Young Mr. Lincoln" with Henry Fonda; Kushner needs to take his lumps like a man for his own mistakes and stop whining about being picked-on
TheWrap Tony Kushner to Congressman on Inaccuracy: 'Lincoln' Is Drama, Not History
By Alexander C. Kaufman
Published: February 08, 2013 @ 9:11 am
Tony Kushner hit back on Friday at a Connecticut congressman who complained about historical inaccuracies in the Oscar-nominated "Lincoln," saying his factual tweaks added to the film's drama.
On Tuesday, Democratic Connecticut Rep. Joe Courtney wrote an open letter to director Steven Spielberg, about the inaccuracies. In the film, two congressmen from his home state vote against 13th Amendment and two voted for -- but archives in the House of Representatives show that the entire Nutmeg State's delegation said "yea" to the abolition of slavery.
When he did 'Young Mr. Lincoln' with Henry Fonda, director John Ford did NOT engage in a multi-month, multi-media publicity tour around the world to pat himself and his production team on the back when telling journos about how much time and care the crew took to be as historically accurate as possible.
He acknowledged that his awesome task in bringing to the screen a telling snapshot of the early history of such a legendary man would inevitably require incorporating some aspects of the Lincoln legend as well, and he was more than willing to do so to help paint the larger picture.
Ford made no excuses for that, and audiences well-understood that when they entered the theater in 1939 to see the film, that it was not a scrupulously-footnoted treatise, rather it was an honest attempt by a very talented director and cast to make better known the character traits of a beloved and martyred American's early life, so they'd better appreciate and understand the later actions and difficult choices he made once elected president in 1860 of a country about to come apart at the seams.
Contrast that with what we have all witnessed with the marketing of this film, Lincoln.
That's the difference right there -false advertising.
Be what you want to be, but don't keep patting yourself on the back and taking bows for going the extra mile when it's not honestly earned.
Might I strongly suggest that anyone planning on doing a Revolutionary War pic anytime soon -not that there is one- avoid the temptation to rewrite American history as has been done here, and have someone other than Caesar Rodney of Delaware be the person depicted as the sickly delegate to the Continental Congress who rode by horseback for 80 miles to get to Philadelphia.
After all, Caesar Rodney's vote in Philadelphia was as important as the ones cast by Adams, Jefferson or Hancock, but outside the Mid-Atlantic states, few people know of his important role in creating the Declaration of Independence, since he wasn't known as an orator. But guess who's on the U.S. quarter representing the State of Delaware? And in Statuary Hall inside the U.S. Capitol building? Caesar Rodney.
Why?
The reverse was designed and engraved by William Cousins.
Because once there, Rodney -and Delaware- cast the DECIDING vote to make the Declaration of Independence more than just words on a piece of paper, but a living, breathing document.
That's why he's the person on the U.S. quarter representing the State of Delaware -and in Statuary Hall inside the U.S. Capitol building.
Then as well as now, one brave person can make a positive difference.
And isn't that the whole point of the new film?
Americans and film-goers around the world who do NOT know the true facts about certain aspects of U.S. history, for instance, the vote depicted in 'Lincoln,'will believe what they see in the film.
I know this because I received an object lesson in this first-hand while visiting Stockholm for over a week in January. While there, I had a chance to speak to some very well-educated and well-informed people at a social gathering, who at one point mentioned that they'd recently seen the film and liked it very much.
Those particular movie-goers, along with many others around the world and across the U.S., believe the film to be the gospel, in large part because of the high caliber of the people associated with the film, starting from the top.
It wasn't my intention to rain on their parade, but I felt that since they seemed pretty bright, they'd appreciate knowing the truth. But when I told them that there were, in fact, some inaccuracies in the film, they told me that "Spielberg would never do that in a film about a real person" and looked at me angrily.
There's your problem in a nut-shell -facts do matter.
Tony Kushner got caught.
He needs to take his lumps like a man for his own mistakes and stop whining about being picked-on.
Above, looking south from the southwest corner of U.S.-1 & Atlantic Shores Blvd., back when it actually had an operating business, near the entrance of Mardi Gras Casino. The building immediately south of the one in the foreground has NEVER been open in the nine years I have lived here, which gives you some clear idea of both how truly incompetent the former owners were, thinking it'd be a gold mine someday -and then the recession hit!- and how genuinely short-sighted and incompetent the Hallandale Beach City Commission and HB CRA -the same guilty parties!- have been that entire time, allowing a location that should've been a key economic engine along U.S.-1 to simply rot before residents eyes year-after-year. To say nothing of the empty space south of that which used to be the Kelly Chevrolet dealership. That whole area has been largely ignored by HB City hall for years, chronically poorly-lit and dangerous at night. And Joy Cooper has been mayor the entire time that's been the reality. Coincidence? I think not. Nice job, HB Chamber of Commerce!
Friday begins a very bumpy couple of weeks for real estate developer Jerome Hollo and his plan to NOT pay Hallandale Beach taxpayers the $450,000 that Florida East Coast Realty owes them. And a storm is coming... AFTER the city has already given him and his company $25k in a CRA grant to demolish HIS eyesore buildings on U..S.-1, near the eastern entrance to the Mardi Grass Casino. https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=25.994793,-80.14272&spn=0.001432,0.002663&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=25.994793,-80.14272&panoid=lV8wFVvQtGrRxC-Nmi7lHw&cbp=12,222.26,,0,-8.97 Hollo might want to consider putting a construction hat on, because I have it from good authority that a storm is coming, and part of that storm will consist of cold, hard facts raining steadily on the head of him and his company. Facts of the sort that his regular retinue of assorted attorneys, consultants, PR pals and business sycophants will NOT be able to unspin. Agenda item #10 involving Hollo was pulled from Wednesday night's Hallandale Beach City Commission consent agenda and is likely to come back for discussion on Wednesday night February the 20th.
10. CONSENT AGENDAA. A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF HALLANDALE BEACH, FLORIDA, AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO FULLY MITIGATE ALL CODE COMPLIANCE LIENS ON REAL PROPERTY LOCATED AT 801, 805, 811 AND 821 NORTH FEDERAL HIGHWAY, HALLANDALE BEACH, FLORIDA, AND TO AUTHORIZE THE RELEASE OF SAID CODE ENFORCEMENT LIENS; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. (STAFF: DEVELOPMENT SERVICES) (SEE BACKUP) (Staff Report, Supporting Docs)
Channel 4 News video: Australia's Justice Minister Jason Clare and Sports Minister Kate Lundy discuss shocking details of "Project Aperio,' the year-long findings of the Australian Crime Commission. Aired February 7, 2013. http://bcove.me/rsmlfpgg
Australian sports world rocked by scandal! "Project Aperio" details Aussie sports world's secret: widespread drug use by top athletes, organised crime's connections to athletes, possible match fixing and much more; Australian Football League and National Rugby League are cooperating with Australian Crime Commission, but fallout is expected to be heavy; @krishgm
SNTVonline YouTube Channel video: Aussie sport doping scandal revealed by Australian Crime Commission. Uploaded February 7, 2013.
Robin Quivers YouTube Channel video: Ang Lee on The Virgin Spring. Uploaded August 25, 2012. http://youtu.be/GmFGB3hMluk
DVR Alert! Thursday morning's Turner Classic Movies schedule features three of my all-time favorites: Ingmar Bergman's 'Wild Strawberries' & 'The Virgin Spring,' and Lasse Hallström's 'My Life as a Dog', all from Svensk Film Industri (SFI) Reminiscing on a life that could have been and seeing the uneasy co-existence of good and evil in our hearts, Bergman-style; Youthful lessons learned that are sad and knowing, funny and absolutely amazing. All on DirecTV Channel 256
"I think it's right for the public to ask, 'Is it government's role to pick winners and losers in the marketplace, to give taxpayer money to one company versus its competitors?"-Dan Krassner, Integrity Florida
Is it government's role to pick winners and losers in the marketplace? Does job creation in Florida depend too much upon corporate welfare and self-dealing? Are Enterprise Florida's attempts to create economic activity and new jobs simply a matter of keeping up with the Joneses, or a foolish waste of tax dollars thrown down a black hole that could have been better spent? WTSP-TV examines what Florida has been doing and why Integrity Florida has been raising red flags about those policies Fox 13/Tampa video Job creation or corporate welfare? Posted: Feb 04, 2013 4:43 PM EST Updated: Feb 04, 2013 10:20 PM EST By: Doug Smith, FOX 13
Most of us have heard the old adage, 'It takes money to make money.' In Florida, some leaders in state government also believe it takes money to make jobs.
Governor Rick Scott has made it clear that job creation is a top priority, but are lucrative corporate incentives really necessary or nothing more than corporate welfare?
Read the rest of the related article at: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/20960694/2013/02/04/florida-job-creation-incentives After reading the article, see this other WTSP-TV video from April of 2011 profiling Mike Fasano when he was still in the Florida Senate, who stated above, "government shouldn't be involved in picking winners and losers." Exactly! Perfectly stated common sense that has been desperately needed in Hallandale Beach the past nine years as crony capitalism has flourished with taxpayer and CRA dollars.
Fox 13/Tampa video Mike Fasano: Florida's renegade Republican Reporter Noah Pransky profilesthethen-FL State senator 10:53 PM, Apr 25, 2011 http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/article/188885/8/Mike-Fasano-Floridas-renegade-Republican?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Ct Meanwhile, feeling the negative effects of being under the gun because his heretofore largely ignored group is getting lots of publicity throughout Florida, most of it negative, Enterprise Florida CEOGray Swoope feels it necessary to publicly attack Integrity Florida and Dan Krassner and their damning report on Swoope's group, by mentioning that a group opposed to what he calls financial incentives -but which you and I might call corporate welfare- is supportive of Integrity Florida. Wow, imagine that? So how is a group being consistent about their policy negative news? It really shows how desperate things are getting with the spotlight on him. Tampa Bay Times Venture blog Who is Gray Swoope and how can he reignite Florida's stumbling economy? Posted by Robert Trigaux at 6:23:41 am on August 08, 2011 http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/venturebiz/content/who-gray-swoope-and-how-can-he-reignite-floridas-stumbling-economy
Orlando Sentinel
Central Florida Political Pulse blog
More on the Enterprise Florida-Integrity Florida cage-match
Posted by Aaron Deslatte on February, 5 2013 4:20 PM
Maryland National Guard Humvee outside Baltimore City Hall waiting for the Ravens police-escorted buses to navigate the traffic gridlock from training camp and arrive for Head Coach John Harbaugh to stand in the turret for parade.
Baltimore Ravens victory parade delayed by traffic gridlock as fans throng to downtown Baltimore and M&T Bank Stadium; watch the parade LIVE;
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/live-video/ 12:02 p.m. Floats now leaving Baltimore City Hall 12:07 p.m. Ed Reed carrying Lombardi Trophy and letting fans along parade route touch it...
Skychopper 13's view looking southwest towards Oriole Park at Camden Yards in foreground and purple-colored M&T Bank Stadium across the expressway as crowds begin to fill the stadium.
By 11:20 a.m., the entire top deck of the stadium was full and fans, allowed on the field for the first time, was nearing the safety capacity.
At 11:30 a.m., Coach John Harbaugh along with team owner Steve Bisciotti, arrived at the stadium, where Harbaugh addressed the crowd and apologized for being late but told them that he and the entire team and organization would be back in an hour after a tour of the downtown area, and for them NOT to leave.
The last point is important as Baltimore Police are concerned that throngs of fans will try to follow team buses back from City Hall to M&T and put it over capacity.
Rumors are also circulating that there may be some 'surprise' entertainers arriving for the ceremony at the stadium.
Above, the Baltimore Ravens t-shirt I wore during Sunday's Super Bowl win over the 49ers, and back on January 12th for the Ravens at Texans playoff game that I watched in Stockholm. I had to watch that game and the other divisional playoff games online via nfl.com from the B&B I was staying at in Stockholm, after paying the bargain price of $40 to watch all the playoff games and the Super Bowl outside of the U.S., because the Stockholm sports bars wouldn't be staying open late enough for me and other fans to see all of the the games. One place that I was told was among the best sports bars was going to close at Midnight, roughly the start of the fourth quarter of the Ravens at Texans game, and because the Packers at 49ers Saturday night game started at 2:30 am Stockholm time, well, you can imagine. I didn't go to sleep until about 6:30 a.m. More on that watching football on a computer from thousands of miles away in the coming days, which I'd originally hoped to LIVE blog but couldn't due to technical reasons. Naturally, since the Ravens won, I couldn't wash it during the intervening weeks, so I kept it in a zip-lock bag during the intervening weeks to keep the magic "fresh." ----- http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Saw this attention to detail at the joint Pepsi and Tostitos display almost immediately after taking a few steps into the Publix grocery store in Hallandale Beach earlier this week. So, do you see it? The Roman numerals? Correct, XLVII. As in Super Bowl 47. When I saw it, it was almost like it was a message that intended just for me, given how much I appreciate attention to detail and context. If you think most kids at Hallandale High and other area high schools would recognize it, you obviously aren't paying attention. Kids in this area are woefully ignorant, which explains a lot, but that's a subject for another time. http://youtu.be/OrYTsVw53iA For about the 15th year in a row, I will skip the Super Bowl halftime show tomorrow and either take a short walk outside, or check online for any interesting Super Bowl-related news stories, especially anecdotal ones that will either later prove to be untrue, or be so asinine that I'll wonder why they're even being mentioned. While I was in Sweden for about 8 days in January, I noticed many interesting things that I'll be dropping on you readers of the blog in the weeks and months to come as they seem particularly germane. Today, though, as it concerns Tostitos, I noticed one amusing thing worth mentioning here while twice stopping at the Subway restaurant at Kungsgatan 61, next to the always-busy 7/11 at the corner of Vasagatan in downtown Stockholm -a few blocks from my hotel- where I was waited upon by the very friendly owner/general manager. (It's opposite the Kebab House; tell the manager at Subway that the guy from South Florida with the Dolphins cap he spoke to sent you.) View Larger Map Instead of calling their Cool Ranch chips just that, in Scandinavia and Northern Europe, Tostitos markets them as "Cool American," as the photos below makes clear.
See also http://metrobloggen.se/americaninsweden/i_miss_doritos_but_olw_chips_will_do/ By the way, for whatever it's worth, Google Maps and Pepsi in South Florida might want to get on the same page because as I found out today, their entry seem to be run by the same folks that gave me such bad directions in Stockholm a few times last month, as the following makes clear. View Larger Map
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