Hillsborough County Animal Shelter: Just Let Them Go

Animal lovers in Hillsborough County, are sick and tired of a county shelter that is not doing its job. For months, volunteers have been going public about serious issues with the shelter, the biggest issue being that with the new shelter director, Scott Trebatoski, 
it's all about the numbers and 
NOT about the welfare of the animals. here

Rick Kriseman 2016 State of the City Address

What Stogie Had For Lunch

Chopped Steak

With Mashed Potatoes and Cole Slaw

At Maw's Vittles in Brooksville

Visit them here

Eat Local!

TPP Is Betrayal / March / Protest In Tampa

2.4 - 3 PM

Westshore Plaza
Tampa

info

Draft Linda Saul-Sena For Senate

“I’m flattered when people approach me, but I’m eager to see some fresh faces.”  
She believes the Senate seat is definitely 
viable for her party. 
She’s just not interested at this point in her life in going for it.
. “That’s the seat where we need to find a great Democrat for,” she says. “There’s a lot of conversation about a lot of people, and I’m personally trying to think of wonderful people.” She’s now involved in efforts to try to stop The Florida Department of Transportation’s 
Tampa Bay Express project. here

Ybor Paparazzi

Bryn and Robeto of Mobile Apps Media

And Manny of Mace Multi Media

This week in Floriduh

Florida GOP voted to:

 --allow open carry of guns 

--ban all abortions 

--prevent local governments from banning fracking 

--prohibit citizens from accessing public records
Aren't you proud?

Susan Smith

Josh From Riverview

I am voting  on November 8! Are you? 

Register To Vote Florida

Open Letters From Mayors Of 15 Florida Cities To Marco Rubio And Jeb Bush

Urge both would-be presential candidates to acknowledge the reality of anthropogenic climate change, and to take urgent action to remediate it. here

FBI Wants To Question Tampa Activist Jessica Schwartz

Tampa anti-war activist Jessica Schwartz says a family member handed her an FBI agent’s card. The card was stuck in the front door of the family home and belonged to FBI Special Agent A. Brett Fears. Schwartz found another card stuck in a car window on the driveway and she says, “My brother let me know the FBI left a message on our home phone asking me to contact FBI Special Agent Fears 
for an interview here, on Facebook

Medical Marijuana will be on the 2016 Ballot in Florida

The Florida Division of Elections has confirmed that United for Care has turned in the 683,149 valid petitions to qualify for the ballot. With a petition drive that began in the summer of 2015 and ended at the New Year, over 1 million people in Florida signed a petition to put medical marijuana back on the ballot. here

Florida Frackers Win

The Florida state House passed a controversial measure to regulate fracking, despite significant opposition from Democrats who said the practice could harm the state’s natural resources. here

Michael Schiavo: Jeb Bush ‘Put Me Through Hell’

Michael Schiavo knows as well as anyone what Jeb Bush can do with executive power. 

He thinks you ought to know too.

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He is slamming a pro-Jeb Bush super PAC for invoking her in an ad touting the former Florida governor's record as a social conservative. In an interview with POLITICO, he repeatedly calling the ad “disgusting.” “It sounds like it’s a last-ditch effort to get the right-wing constituents,” here

Florida GOP Rene Garcia Of Hialeah - Gut Sunshine Law

The Florida GOP approved a bill that would weaken public records law by stripping out a guarantee that people could recover legal fees if they won court fights to obtain records. 

The bill was sponsored by state 

Sen. Rene Garcia of Hialeah. here

Marco Rubio Does Not Support Policy Aimed At Curbing Climate Change

He told a crowd in Iowa, he also called environmental groups “radical,” adding that options such as nuclear energy is the cleanest, carbon-free, but you can’t build a nuclear power plant.”here

Deborah Newell: She’s An American Girl

Nicole Sandler Show

On most Wednesday mornings, I’m joined by my friend Deborah Newell for a segment in which we make fun of our state, which we knowingly refer to as FloriDUH. But if you listen carefully, you’ll hear that Deborah has a distinctive accent which sounds nothing like the variety of accents.

That’s because, although she’s lived here for many years, attended college in Gainesville, is married and has raised her three boys here, she never went through the process to become a citizen…. until now.

As she told us this morning, Deborah always said that if Bernie Sanders were to run for president, she would become a citizen. He is, so she did and is now an American citizen! We celebrated this morning! here

Ban Fracking In Florida: Support Rep. Evan Jenne

Rep. Evan Jenne,D-Hollywood, is sponsoring legislation that would ban fracking in Florida. He condemned House Republican leaders. He said the election-year push for more fracking was designed merely to placate the oil and gas industry, a steady GOP contributor. Jenne said the House will “do anything, if it’s going to help their backers make a buck.” here

WMNF Tells You How To Vote

more

Florida GOP Always Trashing Obama

Marco Rubio maintains that President Barack Obama is more interested in providing money to Planned Parenthood than for the nation's armed forces.
Jeb Bush says the Obama administration has "gutted" every weapons system in the U.S. military's inventory.

FACTS

Money spent on weapons modernization is on par with the George W. Bush administration. The military cuts were approved by Republicans and Democrats. The military budget is being squeezed by the insistence of lawmakers in both parties that money be spent on bases and equipment that the Pentagon says it doesn't need. here

And the government spends roughly 1,000 times more on the armed forces than on Planned Parenthood.

Stop Giving Your Money To Disney

They are laying off American workers and replacing them with immigrant workers. here

Florida DINOS Back Hillary over Bernie

Alex Sink and Other Conservative Florida Democrats Who Have Been Losing Statewide Races for Years Back Hillary over Bernie. here

Their leader had this to say:

"It's okay to be right, but it's more important to win. And if you don't win, you can't govern. When all is said and done — certainly in Florida — Hillary has a much, much better chance of prevailing than Sen. Sanders." Bob Buckhorn

What Stogie Had For Lunch

Garlic Parmesan Wings

Just the right size and awesome flavor. 

At WING KING Chicken Shack In Englewood

more

Welcome To Tampa

Expect Delays

Florida Ghost Towns: Mannfield

Read more about it here

Florida GOP Carlos Curbelo owes Planned Parenthood an apology

"DISGUSTING"
"A DISGRACE"
"CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR"
"DISCONCERTING"
"ABUSING THEIR POWER"
"TAKING ADVANTAGE OF PEOPLE IN VULNERABLE SITUATIONS"
"ASSAULT ON HUMAN DIGNITY"

That’s how Congressman Carlos Curbelo talked about Planned Parenthood in an official press release.

A grand jury investigating the outrageous accusations against Planned Parenthood rejected all charges. And now: the anti-choice activists who created the slanderous videos accusing Planned Parenthood of selling fetal tissue are facing felony charges.
Carlos Curbelo owes Planned Parenthood an apology. Here

Tampa Bay Homeless

Meet Troy

A local, homeless 1 year.

Pack Tampa City Hall for Marijuana Decriminalization

Please come show your support to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana in Tampa. Let's have a rational conversation about drug enforcement in our communities.

info
2.18 - 9 AM

Florida's Right Wing Infestation: Charles Van Zant

By an 8-3 vote Monday afternoon, a House criminal justice panel voted to advance the more sweeping legislation (HB 865), which would make performing an abortion or operating an abortion clinic a first-degree felony in Florida, punishable by up to 30 years in prison. 
Rep. Charles Van Zant, is the bill's sponsor. here

Vélo Champ: Heights Vibes #StopTBX Bicycle Ride

Starting at Vélo Champ on Central Ave. #StopTBX bike rides is a casual, informative bicycle ride through the Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights and the V.M. Ybor neighborhoods. The ride is intended to help realize a brick-by-brick understanding of just how destructive the proposed Tampa Bay Express (TBX) interstate expansion plan will be. The ride will visit key properties, streets and areas that will be impacted, demolished or completely eleminated by FDOT's plan to further expand I-275 and I-4 interstate systems. here

Florida INC. Welcomes Polluters

Dump hazardous materials

No Fines

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is not enforcing laws against companies responsible for hazardous materials pollution or collecting the fines it could from polluters, according to a study released Thursday by an environmental group. here

SUPPORT THE COMPETITIVE WORKFORCE ACT!

For the first time in history, this Tuesday, January 26, the Florida legislature will vote on the Florida Competitive Workforce Act.  Send a message to your legislators today and tell them to support this non-discrimination protection for LGBT Floridians! here

Jeb Bush: Rick Synder Is A “Great Governor For Michigan”

Jeb Bush said Sunday that Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder should not have to resign for how the state handled the contaminated water crisis 

in Flint. here

Florida DOT Artsy Wall

I4 and 50th St. Tampa

Florida GOP On Climate Change

Marco Rubio “We are not going to make America a harder place to create jobs in order to pursue policies that will do absolutely nothing, nothing to change our climate, to change our weather, because America is a lot of things, the greatest country in the world, absolutely,” 

Jeb Bush "President Obama’s climate rule, is “irresponsible and ineffective,” and private-sector innovation is “the source of a lot more solutions than any government-imposed idea.”

here

Rick Scott’s Corporate Welfare Plan Doused With Cold Water

Rick Scott’s push to secure $250 million

 in economic incentive money this year 

was doused with cold water, 

as one of the state’s top economists said alternative plans would create more jobs and come with a 

higher return on investment. here

Tampa Bay Homeless

Meet Andrew

A local, homeless 10 years.

Rick Scott Points Florida in Same Direction as Flint, Michigan

Public clamor for a veto and against Florida Governor Rick Scott's signing, of a new "water policy" bill lands in the governor's bubble like a muted, padded sound. Scott doesn't see and he doesn't hear, except through the filter of political ambition. Motivated by the same set of drivers that helped propel Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to the governor's office in Michigan in 2010: strip environmental rules and regulations that are enforceable and replace them with lawyerly garbage. here

Pam Bondi's Millennium Laboratories Scandal

Someone should be going to prison in the Millennium Laboratories fraud scandal that was aided and abetted by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office. here

DWS Has The Skin Of A Gator

"The party chair is going to absorb criticism from any candidates, partisans, and it's just the way it is,'' she said after a press conference on guns in the Florida Capitol. "These are people that simply are expressing the normal, understandable frustration over what they think is a sinister thing over every corner. I have to just block that 

noise out and focus on doing my job. 
I'm from Florida. 

I have the skin of an alligator."  
Debbie Wasserman Schultz 

Rick Scott's Corporate Welfare Package In Trouble

Tumbling financial markets are further clouding Gov.Rick Scott's push for $1 billion in tax cuts as the Legislature deals with a suddenly less rosy financial outlook and less money to divvy up. here

After All The Shit! Floridians Still Want Alan Grayson

Grayson still holds a 7-point lead after months of negative press generated by the Patrick Murphy campaign throwing everything including the kitchen sink at him, while the former South Florida Republican has endured virtually no critical attention from the media. here

What Stogie Had For Lunch

Rib Eye Steak

With Black Beans and Rice

At Brocato sandwich shop in East Tampa

Visit them here

Florida Frakers: Ddisaster For The Everglades

Environmentalists are warning of a potential ecological disaster for the Everglades if state lawmakers approve a measure that would open the door to fracking in the sensitive wetlands. here

No Publix At USF

University of South Florida students, community members tell university administration: “Publix can’t set up shop on our campus until they respect farmworkers’ human rights!”

And they want you to help!  Here’s how…info

Free Screening: Coal Ash Stories - Tampa

1.29 - 7 PM

Seminole Heights Branch Library

info

Jessica Rose - "Maybe"

Tix

Pam Bondi: Florida GOP Pawn

Bondi is a party pawn intent on carrying out partisan agendas through selective 

legal enforcement  Her failed political causes have mounted:

Taking a gay marriage challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court, fighting tooth and nail against medical marijuana and Obamacare, and even punting on taking on the banks responsible for Florida's historic foreclosure crisis. Her quixotic battles have made her a national darling of conservatives. She scans as a smart, sane version of Sarah Palin. here

"She is the most substantive attorney general we have had in recent memory," says state Rep. Dana Young, a Republican lawmaker from Tampa
----------
"You get the sense that rather than being the watchdog for the state, she is a mouthpiece for national political organizations," says state 
Rep. Jose Javier Rodriguez, a Democrat from Miami

What Stogie Had For Lunch

Best Cuban north of Havana

At The Crazy Cuban in Masaryktown

more

Florida What’s So Bad About Fracking?

Besides leaking methane under and above ground, which makes people sick (ask Los Angeles), wasting millions of gallons of valuable water (ask California), causing earthquakes (ask Oklahoma), contaminated waste water no one wants, explosions that kill people (ask lots of places), there is one more big effect of fracking: undisclosed toxic chemicals put into our earth. here

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The current bills in our Florida legislation purport to “regulate” fracking, but as one representative stated, it is nothing more than a “welcome mat” to 

promote fracking. 

Ruby Ridge 2 In Florida

Inverness

The Peasants Of Florida INC.

With its low incomes and comparatively high cost of living, Florida ranks No. 5 on a list of states whose residents are most likely to live paycheck to paycheck.  

----------

Florida trails only 
Hawaii, California, New York and Alaska 
on the list compiled by Go Banking Rates. here
Let's Get To Work

Susan Smith To Talk Policy With Alan Grayson

"I'm very excited that Congressman Alan Grayson invited me, Nancy Carola Jacobson and Brook Hines to attend the Progressive Congress Strategy Summit in Baltimore next month. It's a great opportunity to network with other progressives and talk policy. Thank you, Congressman!" Susan Smith