Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Tampa Right Wing Pastor Arrested

Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister arrested the pastor after he intentionally and repeatedly violated orders that no gatherings of 10 or more people he held in order to stop of the spread of COVID-19 by holding services 
at his megachurch. HERE

Monday, March 30, 2020

Florida GOP Busted

Gov. Ron DeSantis denied the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times access to a COVID-19 coronavirus briefing, the Herald's Tallahassee Bureau Chief reported Saturday. “Gov. Ron DeSantis decided to violate the state’s public meeting laws and chose to exclude the from a media briefing at the Capitol,” Mary Ellen Klas reported.

Bernie’s Florida campaign office vandalized


A tweet Saturday from the Florida for Bernie account showed two large swastikas painted in black and the words “voting didn’t stop us last time.” It did not say where in Florida the office is located. HERE

Ybor Paparazzi

Carlos at Chillum

If You Went To Florida For Spring Break You Probably Have Coronavirus

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis risking the lives of millions

Since the COVID-19 outbreak began, DeSantis might as well have stood in the middle of I-95 with a giant welcome sign saying, ‘C’mon in! The water’s fine!’ — all while spring breakers came down in droves, scattering among the sandy Petri dishes up and down his state’s coastline.. HERE

Miami Publix Employee Tests Positive For COVID-19

Publix Supermarket has confirmed one of its workers tested positive for the coronavirus. The employee worked at the store located at 9420 SW 56 Street in Miami. HERE

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Rep. Jeffries rips Florida’s governor

 “Governor DeSantis for weeks was in denial. So much so that effectively he kept the beaches open, thousands of young people were partying in close proximity, the very opposite of social distancing, it did great harm and detriment of the people of Florida and throughout the United States because many of these young people, of course, came from all over the country and some cases different parts of the world.” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries 

Stogie Recommends

Some of the best cinematography I have ever seen. Roger Deakins is a master! 
Great direction by  Sam Mendes 

Among its accolades, the film received ten nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won three, including Best Cinematography.

Tampa sets up tent city

City of Tampa is establishing a tent city that will allow up to 100 homeless people to shelter in place. HERE

It cost $120,000 to run a temporary homeless camp for 30 days? At a better price they could  keep it permanently.

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Rick Scott Goes Full Voldemort On Stimulus Bill


Beat Sen. Bill Nelson in 2018 by 10,033 votes out of 8.19 million votes cast.

What an Opposition Party Is Supposed to Sound Like


Bernie Sanders’s moral outrage and devastating sarcasm struck back against a GOP assault on poor and low-income workers. MORE

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Nice cast, funny at times. Critics trashed this film. only getting 11% on Rotten Tomatoes. 
I liked it.

Friday, March 27, 2020

Sky U. White Needs Your Help

She needs 1,800 signatures in order to get her name the 2020 ballot. Help her HERE

Florida GOP Heartless Rick Scott

As governor, Rick Scott was notoriously callous toward jobless Floridians and made it as difficult as possible to collect the nation’s skimpiest unemployment benefits. He hasn’t changed a bit as U.S. senator, even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic that already has triggered record unemployment claims in the state and the nation. HERE

Stogie Recommends


Nice cast, Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, 
Juliette Lewis, and Tom Sizemore.
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Great Si-Fi

Florida Social Distancing

North Port

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Florida's Half-Billion dollars in Corporate Welfare

As Florida’s economy crashes, DeSantis says he’s going ahead with $543 million in tax refunds for corporations. HERE

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Great SiFi, nice cast.Beautiful cinematography
Filmed in Chicago

Rightwinger James Woods

Twitter has suspended the account of the actor for tweeting a photo and linking it without proof to Andrew Gillum, the former Florida gubernatorial candidate who was involved in a suspected drug incident at a hotel in Miami Beach earlier this month. Woods has ramped up his Republican rhetoric since the election of Donald Trump, with whom Gillum has in the past exchanged insults via Twitter. HERE 

Columbia Restaurant finds several ways to help employees amid coronavirus outbreak

Marco Rubio's urgent pastor briefing

Sen. Marco Rubio participated in an “urgent pastor briefing” last Thursday that was hosted by the Florida Family Policy Council, a religious right organization headed by anti-LGBTQ activist John Stemberger. Rubio, who has long supported Stemberger
 and his organization.
 When Stemberger asked if there were any plans to provide assistance to churches during this crisis, Rubio stated that he had been tasked with drafting a package that would
 do precisely that. HERE

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

COVID-19 And The Case For Democratic Socialism

The urgent question for the citizens of the United States as we deal with the COVID-19 crisis is, do we repeat with corporate bailouts that we did in 2008/2009 or move to a Democratic Socialist model?   Presently, in  Washington and Tallahassee, we're watching a pathetic show being played out by sycophant politicians trying to expand  corporate welfare. Both Parties leadership are not providing the economic response needed to get working class Americans through this crisis, with the Republican Party  the most irresponsible. In a larger context we're witnessing the  failure of American-style corporate laissez faire capitalism in dealing with this pandemic. From an immoral private healthcare system to a neoliberal market system that over the decades has eroded our public institutions and safety-net programs. All of which has led us to this T.V. and tabloid personality President who's nothing more than a spoiled buffoon that was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. In this writer's opinion, to get out of this mess we're currently in, the Government needs to quickly implement the socialistic and people's approach put forth by Senator Bernie Sanders: allow unemployed people to join  Medicare, give each unemployed american $2000.00 a month until our economy is stabilized- basically a Democratic Socialist approach to governance.

Florida Right Winger Bryant Culpepper

Became an online laughingstock after video spread of him endorsing a widely-debunked cure for COVID-19 (a.k.a. the “coronavirus”) by a right-wing “news” outlet to his colleagues.

Lake Worth Beach city commission meeting turns ugly

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Nina Tatlock's Letter To Dems

Yesterday I called and sent email to our Democratic Party leadership. I thought I would share what I wrote in case any of you might like to call and email also.
This is what I just Emailed to Chuck Schumer (also called Speaker Pelosi.

Dear Senator Schumer,
I would like to request that leadership of the Democratic Party please put Senator Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Progressive Caucus in charge of the response to this corona virus pandemic. We need the full throttle of bold initiatives being put forward at this time. This is a time to ask for the most that our Federal Government can give toward the Constitutionally called for General welfare. This is a time to have a government that works for the people who are not corporations.

Sincerely,

Nina Tatlock
Democratic Precinct Captain in Florida
President, Democratic Progressive Caucus of Tampa Bay

ATTENTION CHILDREN AT THE PLAYGROUND!!!

Your mommys and daddys are all TOTAL NITWITS AND IGNORAMUSES!!! But it’s NOT your fault!!!
So is the President!!!
Tell them it’s time to go home and watch a Peppa Pig marathon for the next 30 days straight!!! That’s right kids, Peppa Pig!!! For 30 days!!! STRAIGHT!!! DOCTOR’S ORDERS!!!
After that, Make a fort with your pillows! Get out your damn coloring books! Play PAC-MAN! Write a letter to grandma while she’s still alive! Learn how to cook your own damn meal for once! Don’t your parents have the God Damn Disney Channel Damn it?!?
Now get your grubby little hands off of those infected monkey bars immediately and go WASH EVERYTHING!
WITH SOAP!!!!
Cause I’m spraying this entire playground down with Bleach Right Freakin NOW!!!!!! 
Kelly Benjamin

Tampa Right Winger Rodney Howard-Browne Mocks The Pansies

Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne of Florida’s River Tampa Bay Church. mocked the “pansies” who are scared of the coronavirus — as he insisted his packed church will only shut its doors “when the Rapture is taking place.” HERE

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Florida Far-Right Gay Blogger

Peddles Alleged Salacious Photo of Andrew Gillum

A week after Florida politician Andrew Gillum was found at the site of a potential meth overdose, a website run by a gay right-wing blogger has published an alleged nude photo from the incident. HERE

Ybor City Ghost Tour

Saturday, March 21, 2020

Ybor Paparazzi

Constance with her guest at The Columbia

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Staring Kate Winslet and Idris Elba
Critics didn't like it . Only getting 39% on Rotten Tomatoes
I liked it. Watching these two great actors together 
was nice.

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Thank You Tampa Bay Berners

Greg Phillips

Russell Giambrone & Timmy Hernandez 

Kristin Hoffman

Laurel Caroline

 Jessica Vaughn

Beth Eriksen Shoup

Lorina Moo Moo

Nina Tatlock & Jodi Cohen

Dayna Lazarus & Ashley

Scott Shoup & Pierre-Louis Francisco

Steve McFarland

Asher Edelson

Kelly Benjamin

Nilesh Kapadia

Wayne Schucker

Russell Patterson

Christopher Cano

Marc Rodrigues

Jason Bardo

And all the others. Great effort, 
on to your next adventure!

Help FSU Teachers and Students

Are there any parents or secondary students homeschooling right now who would be interested in online tutoring in social sciences? there’s a group of bright preservice teachers at FSU that right now are looking to make ends meet. we have taken classes specializing in literacy & reading comprehension, ESOL and special education services. we have all passed our first FCTE general education exam and we graduate this semester with our bachelor’s.
many of my classmates have lost their jobs bc of the university closure, a bunch more still have to go into their dead end food service jobs despite the pandemic. we will graduate saddled with debt & enter the teaching profession as some of the lowest paid in the nation. this pandemic is hitting my cohort super hard, and my cohort is like my family. we are doing our best to financially & emotionally support one another, but there’s only so much 18 working class college students can do for each other.
if anyone is looking for tutors, or knows of any mutual aid networks for educators, please reach out!

Fellow Bernie Supporters

I know you’re hurting right now. You’re angry, frustrated, disappointed, sad, hopeless and quickly pledging never to vote for Biden while calling for a mass DemExit.
Take the time you need to grieve. I’m still grieving from 2016.
But while you’re grieving and cursing the DNC, please think about why you support Bernie. Think about how his entire movement has never been about him, but instead it’s about us. Think about what the issues that we care about will look like if Trump wins a second term. A term with even less accountability.

Also, let me assure you of a few things (again). The DNC doesn’t care if you Dem Exit. The DNC doesn’t care if they lose the election in 2020. All the leaders in the DNC will still continue to hold their privilege and their power even if democrats lose in 2020. And if they lose because you don’t vote for Biden that’s even better, because then they can blame progressives for another four years. You won’t teach them any lessons.
Also, why do you think we only have two parties? It’s because the two parties in power have engineered the election laws so that they stay in power. No third party will be successful until we gain the power from within one of the parties and CHANGE those laws.
Regardless of who you vote for in November, the only way to really support progressive candidates and progressive politics is to gain the majority of power within the Democratic Party. If you want to know what scares the DNC and what will teach them a lesson, it’s progressives gaining any power within the party. Trust me, as a progressive fighting the old guard in the party for years now; they fear you joining your local/state party and changing their bylaws/breaking up their power consolidation WAY more than they fear you withholding your vote for any their candidates.
How do we get the power? First, each and every single one of us need to run at the basic level and win our precinct captain seats. Qualifying for this happens in April and May. I’ll post more about this later.
Either way, please know I’m sending you all so much love. Thank you to all of my friends who worked so hard to support justice. So many people I know sacrificed months and months of their lives for our campaign. Also, thank you to all of my loved ones who voted for Bernie.
As you grieve; please remember that this movement is about us, not one person. We need to stick together more than ever.
Please help those of us who have been fighting the old guard of the Democratic Party (virtually alone) for years. We need your passion and your support desperately! If it was as easy as starting a third party, trust me; I’d start one tomorrow. But they would never make
 it that simple.

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Ybor Chicken at Chillum


Why did the chicken cross the road? To walk inside this CBD shop in Ybor City -- where its furious flapping caused $1,200 in damage 
to glass pipes. MORE

Florida Bars Closed

Ybor City Bartenders
Gov. DeSantis ordered all bars to close for the next 30 days. HERE

SOMEONE SHOULD START A FUNDRAISER TO
 HELP THEM OUT!