Monday, January 1, 2018

Florida's 2017 Loser of the Year: Tampa Bay Times

The Tampa Bay Times
Ethically. Financially. Politically. Whoever garnered second place trailed by light years.
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 The evidence is compelling. The hubris is off the charts. The hypocrisy shameless. Tampa Bay’s only remaining daily newspaper and its “nonprofit” parent have been in freefall for more than a decade but the moral cowardice and economic stupidity they displayed over the past year has been stunning. 
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A newspaper endorsement traditionally has served as a lifeline to political candidates but one from the Times in 2017 more closely resembled a concrete life preserver. In its announced effort “to connect” with Donald Trump supporters, Poynter/Times managed to alienate the entire political spectrum in its circulation area.
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The Tampa Bay Times took more lumps than a seasoned oncologist. Its machinations triggered subscription cancellations and a still ongoing investigation by the Internal Revenue Service of Poynter’s claimed status as a 501(c)(3). Tampa Bay Times support for an issue or candidate is now meaningless in its home county of Pinellas; in Hillsborough and Pasco counties it’s kryptonite. 
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By soliciting and accepting wealthy, right wing Republicans for $1.5 million each to bail itself out of a financial morass, Poynter ditched any vestige of impartiality, the vision of founder Nelson Poynter, or pretense of participating nationally in a fast evaporating rich journalistic tradition. Even this stab at influence peddling backfired.
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 Poynter/Times, through its subsidiary Florida Trend, sifted through the state’s 20 million residents and named one of its investors, Kiran Patel, as “Floridian of the Year.” One must assume the other nine investors are waiting their turn to receive the honor through 2026. 
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A quick recap of the Poynter/Times lowlights: 
After going all in for Trumpite Rick Baker on its news and editorial pages, St. Petersburg Mator Rick Kriseman prevailed in his re-election bid. The intemperate, non-inclusive Baker stood no chance when voters read the slanted coverage and outright falsehoods that marked the Times election coverage. The Times not only never called out Baker for his deceitful campaign tactics, it abetted him.
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The resignation of sexual predator Jack Latvala, a Times stooge who, in his memorable, mercurial, disastrous attempt at becoming governor had the paper’s endorsement teed up. Tampa Bay Beat revealed the Republican legislator has a decades-long history of predatory behavior which the Times chose to ignore until his resignation. —Lawtrnce McClure’s landslide win in a Hillsborough County special election for state represrntative produced another Times loss. The newspaper supported Yvonne Fry, a pernicious purveyor of false narratives, and cried foul about mailers to district voters informing them of that fact. Bean 
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The Poynter/Times rightward lurch was most evident in their support for St. Petersburg City Council candidate Justin Bean. With a wafer-thin resumé of civic engagement, the 30-year-old Bean had been arrested six times, a fact that the newspaper never acknowledged. Bean lied about his support for Donald Trump, then got trounced in the runoff by Gina Driscoll. 
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In another council race, the Times supported Barclay Harless over Brandi Gabbard. The contest sparked little controvetsy and Gabbard won easily. —A complaint challenging the Poynter Instiute for Media Studies status as a non-profit has been received by the Internal Revenue Service. If the IRS finds that Poynter misappropriated or co-mingled funds, violated its mission statement, failed to adhere to the wishes of its founder Nelson Poynter or participated in political activity, the Institute would be on the hook for back taxes and penalties. In addition, its status as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization would be revoked. There’s more but you get the picture. Loser. Hands down. Judging from the tone and slant of Tampa Bay Times articles published in the past week, 2017’s comsummate Loser is gearing up to successfully defend its title in the new year.
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By Jim Bleyer - Tampa Bay Beat

The State Of Tampa Politics: Kent Bailey

A strong challenge to the old guard is rising as steadily as the waters of Tampa Bay. Frustrated with the pace of change and energized by presidential excesses, a nascent insurgency of new political activists will engage in 2018. Whatever they lack in experience they will more than make up for with energy and enthusiasm. This coming year I expect many surprises, at least a few major political upsets and possibly radical change.

Kent Bailey

Vigil And Remembrance Ceremony For Erica Garner In Tampa

1.3.2018 - 5:30 PM
Downtown Tampa

Your Christmas Present from Florida GOP Dennis Ross

On the morning of December 22, Donald Trump signed into law the most significant change to our nation’s tax structure in recent memory. here
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Proudly standing out in front of this financial disaster was our own Representative Dennis Ross.
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He was proud to lead the charge and push through Washington’s billion-dollar version of Wall Street corporate welfare.
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Visit him at

Sunday, December 31, 2017

The State Of Tampa Politics: Jodi Tripp Perlman Cohen

Going into the new year, I am on the fence about politics in Tampa. Clean energy and juvenile justice are on a good path. Projects like restorative justice, affordable housing, houselessness and mass transit seem stuck in the mud. In addition, public schools are drowning in a quagmire of politics and limited resources.I see hope in the persistent pushing by several progressive organizations to keep human issues in the spotlight and offer up positive solutions. However, our most important goal should be to elect candidates for strategic offices who will fight with a moral compass and undying zeal.

Recent victories featured the election of Pat Kemp and Andrew Warren. There are a number of declared candidates who are focused on our stagnant system and offer supportive ideas to improve the lives of the PEOPLE (not the credit rating) of Tampa. We need to stand behind them and get them into office. As is true in the rest of our nation, contenders outside of The Party have difficulty raising funds to launch and continue their campaigns. If we do nothing else, we should support these folks so that their voices can be heard during the election process. We need to give voters a true choice.....not just a selection of the "least worse."

Jodi Tripp Perlman Cohen

Tampa Bay Progressive Goals 2018

Tampa Paparazzi - Gaspar's Patio









Gaspar's Patio in Temple Terrace
Visit them on Facebook
My second home for over 25 years!

Friday, December 29, 2017

The State Of Tampa Politics: Asher Edelson

The state of Tampa politics is a microcosm of American national politics, and related dramatics. At the federal level, our leadership dwindles with corrupt officials slivering about in pursuit of a maximized payday and egotistical triumph. Petty theatrics follow suit, with genuine pockets of sincere political work amid the bullshit. In Tampa Bay, we have a high degree of potential for more effective governance, as well as less corrupted leadership. Alas, we have a city which is ever nearing the point of self implosion, as the rubber stamp embellishment of Downtown Tampa pompously invites more people into an already crowded region. Greater Tampa Bay aches for true public transit, while higher ups foolishly debate the logistics of constructing new toll roads as our traffic situation becomes more and more dense. Traffic inciting, time consuming construction will be necessary to expand transit; and politicians from Tallahassee to Downtown want to waste said time on their boondoggle tolls. 

Meanwhile, our far right insists on playing the lemming while Washington commits embarrassing atrocities in spite of lessons not learned from the past (Dubya). Our far left insists on little to no compromise, and approaches the point where genuine allies cannot exist in a world where dialogue must be included. Our “middle” is not the true middle, but the right, as it is in most parts of the USA. With all of that being said, we Florida Democrats — Blue Dogs, Progressives, true leftist Activists — move into 2018 to win some elections and make good on issues that matter. The elephant in the room is the extent of deep red pockets in our Sunshine Bay Area. 

We cannot rely on each Republican nominee being a pedophile, nor can we expect right wing voters to turn out against their Murmans and Crists and Hagans and Snivelys in support of a Democrat. I hope that left wing operatives can lend the Blue Party a hand and search out third party opposition to the GOP in upcoming elections. I hope that Democrats can GOTV and raise ample funds. Whatever we do here, if we do it correctly, we Democrats might be on to something for the rest of our country. Until that time, the state of Tampa politics needs a kick in the ass in order to secure decent policy making and sincere leadership.
Pun intended. 

Asher Edelson

Tampa Paparazzi

Summer

Women's March 2017 - St. Pete

Tampa NPA's And Progressive Democrats

"We can't stop at getting people to vote. We must challenge local politics. Show up to council, school board, and commission meetings. Dissect ordinances and agendas. Hold elected officials accountable. That's how people who don't vote will vote. That's how NPA will want to join the progressive dem cause." 
Jae Passmore
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As NPA ourselves we recommend the clique free
Where everyone is welcome!

Call Tampa City Council

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Tampa Bay 2017 Superheroes

The Ybor City Rooster

Centennial Park 

Local Photographer Kenya Hughes


Like her on Facebook

Top 10 Conservation Moments of 2017

Join Them Here

Ione Townsend A Graham Fan?

“Certainly, some number of our troops really want someone with more progressive leanings. There are progressive purists who are not tolerant of some of her votes and taking the district that she represented into account.”
 Ione Townsend
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Where some people see a relatable PTA mom promising to shake up the status quo in Tallahassee, others see yet another centrist establishment politician.

Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Ken Hagan 2017

What Stogie Had For Lunch

Picadillo 
With Beans and Rice
At Rio's Cafe in Tampa
EAT LOCAL

Tampa Hoods

Downtown

Working Families Party

Working Families is a growing progressive political organization that fights for an economy that works for all of us, and a democracy in which every voice matters. 
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Today, hundreds of thousands of individuals are part of the Working Families community, along with a growing number of labor, community, environmental, netroots, youth and faith organizations. You can get involved in one of our state chapters in Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania or in Washington, DC. Check it out here
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With Florida full of Fake Progressives, any organizers out there want to start our own chapter?

Tampa Paparazzi

Happy Holidays

Monday, December 25, 2017

New Year's Resolution - Eat Local

What Pilar had for lunch
Tacos with Rice and Beans
Taco Bus - Downtown Tampa
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Hit corporate America where it hurts.
Eat local, help your neighbor, keep your money at home!

Florida's 20 Year Right Wing Infestation

2018, will mark 20 years of one party, one ideology rule in Florida politics. 
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Fight Florida’s right wing establishment
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Energize and mobilize progressive voters
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You can start here

Andrew Gillum for Florida Governor



Lets take Florida back from the GOP 
and Corporate Dems.

Ultra Florida Right Winger Matt Gaetz Wants To End Mueller's Investigation Into Russia


"With the corrupt senior leadership that we see in the Mueller probe at the FBI and at the Department of Justice - this bias is like an infection. It's an incurable cancer that's inoperable, and we've got to end this Mueller probe once and for all." 
Matt Gaetz on FOX news

NO to the "Bathhouse Ordinance" Rally!

January 6, 2018 at 4 PM
Tampa City Hall

Rick Scott's Right Wing Propaganda

The rosy picture Gov. Rick Scott described at nearly every public appearance last week was again dinged by Amy Baker, the state's top legislative economist. 

Saturday, December 23, 2017

Bob Buckhorn 2017

Florida GOP Richard Corcoran Tammany Hall

Corcoran is more ethically challenged than Charles Dickens’ Fagin, as he presides over Tallahassee’s Artful Sammy Glicks in the endless pursuit of power and money. But the Daddy Warbucks of the capital doesn’t come cheap.
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Benefiting from the Republican Party of Florida’s accounts as well as his political committee, Watchdog PAC (really, that’s its name, stop laughing).
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Corcoran has blown through $11,000 for dinners at the chi-chi Morton’s steakhouses, another $15,000 at Ruth’s Chris steakhouse and (belch) $29,000 at Tampa’s Capital Grille, not to mention $8,000 dropped on a single supper at the hotsy-totsy French Laundry eatery in California. Did that include an after-dinner mint? And what have we learned? Apparently the speaker likes steak, with a side 
order of hubris.


here

Tampa Awake The State Rally

 January 9, 4:00 PM
Lykes Gaslight Park

A Tampa Taxi Drivers Day

Florida GOP Ron DeSantis Is Trump's Guy For Governor

Trump has endorsed Republican congressman Ron DeSantis for Florida governor. here

Friday, December 22, 2017

No Difference Between Gwen Graham and Adam Putnam

Florida Democrats, not Republicans, will be the ones tested in 2018.
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When it comes to lessons learned, the GOP is the quicker study. 
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Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson leads current Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott by 1 point in a potential 2018 matchup. 1 point, look at the voting record of these 2 men and think how is this possible. 
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49 percent of Floridians ARE not able to assess his job performance. Nelson has been in the Senate since 2001.
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The test for Democrats will be the governor’s race. Graham, the candidate representing the party establishment, leads the polls and in fundraising.
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  Philip Levine, the wealthy mayor of Miami Beach has praised Trump and Chris King talks like a progressive but with no record of public service and low name recognition. 
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That leaves Gillum, the unabashed progressive mayor of Tallahassee.  On the campaign trail,  he has excited Millennials, Latinos, people of color, and true progressives.
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Consider this,  when Graham became a Congresswoman representing the Big Bend,  she announced she would “reach across the aisle.”  She might as well have been sitting across the aisle. According to USA Today.
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She was one of 
12 Democrats to vote for a bill increasing from 30 to 40 the number of hours an employee must work per week to qualify for mandatory health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
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28 Democrats to vote for a bill approving the Keystone XL pipeline.
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8 Democrats to vote for a bill making it tougher for federal agencies to impose new rules without detailed justification.
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29 Democrats to vote for a bill relaxing some Dodd-Frank banking regulations.
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31 Democrats to vote for an intelligence authorization bill to ban the government from transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the U.S.
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19 Democrats to vote for a bill granting states authority to regulate coal ash disposal. The measure would undo a federal EPA rule.
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25 Democrats to vote against a bill approving the nuclear deal with Iran.
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That is not going to excite the demographic Democrats need to win.
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Graham surrogates advocate the erroneous  perception that Graham is their party’s best opportunity to recapture the Florida governorship.  There’s a more compelling argument that her nomination would be business—losing—as usual.
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Graham allies in the press and social media are perpetuating this utter “best bet” balderdash.  She’s scared stiff of Gillum and being exposed as an ideological fraud.
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Her father (Who we have always liked) sits on the Board of the Poynter Foundation. The Poynter Institute is the parent of the Tampa Bay Times.  The paper, discredited in 2017 because of slanted, unethical coverage in several political races, has maliciously attempted to torpedo Gillum’s candidacy.
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An example: a political reporter labeled Gillum’s candidacy “toast” because of an FBI investigation of contracts in Tallahassee.  Outright falsehood.  It is widely known by everyone but the Times’ dwindling readership, that Gillum is not a target of the probe.
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The Graham campaign has resorted to placing fluff pieces in pay-for-play blogs that few voters read and those that do can easily spot an advertorial.
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To Mr. Javellana and all her misinformed supporters. 
We were very good to Ms. Graham when she ran for congress, we thought we were getting her father. We even bought her opponents info domain name.
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Words of Jim Bleyer - Tampa Bay Beat used with permission.

2017 Florida GOP Turkeys

Tracks In Need Of Trains

In Downtown Tampa

Tampa Paparazzi

Jean and Bobby

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Guido Needs To Come Clean

There has been a lot of talk and shock in the local progressive community about Giudo's decision to co-chair a Trump supporter's event. Guido has said that this in no way means he is endorsing him. That he only did it as a favor to Straz for helping him in his campaign. But isn't this what we are all against. The wealthy pouring money into campaigns expecting favors later.
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We at this blog have always been very good to Guido, we like his platform and his voting record. but this is unacceptable. He needs to stop listening to the whispers in his ears and be himself.
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He has been invited to The Democratic Progressive Caucus of Tampa Bay March meeting to talk about this and has accepted. We can't wait to hear what he has to say. 
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Local blogger Jim Bleyer has written about this

several times

Join the conversation here 

Ybor Paparazzi

Bob collecting signatures 

Marco Rubio Votes Yes On GOP Tax Scam

Read more about his other
votes against Americans
here

Tampa Hoods

Downtown

Tampa Bay Homeless

Kirsten