Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Drop by Representative Kathy Castor's district office today

Can you drop by Representative Kathy Castor's district office today, 
Wednesday, March 11, 
while the House is on recess this week and urge her to stand with Elizabeth Warren against Fast Track and the TPP (and thank her if she does)? here  

The GOP's REAL priorities


Tuesday, March 10, 2015

What Stogie Had For Lunch

Artisan Grilled Chicken Ciabatta and Shrimp Scampi Linguine with a Bloody Mary
At  Applebee's in Brandon

'This Florida Bar Is Not For Blacks'


Florida DEP Workers Banned From Saying 'Climate Change'

Employees of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection claim they  were ordered to refrain from using the terms "climate change" and "global warming" in official communications, according to he Florida Center for Investigative Reportin. The unwritten policy went into effect shortly after Gov. Rick Scott, a global warming skeptic, took office. here

Top food bloggers take a bite out of Central Florida


Monday, March 9, 2015

Support Alan Grayson,s Bill to "Shut Down the Shutdowns

Congressman Alan Grayson is seeking co-sponsors for his bill to "Shut Down the Shutdowns."The bill would automatically extend existing appropriations levels for another fiscal year whenever Congress fails to fund agencies before their money expires.That effectively takes shutdowns off the table. It means obstructionist Republicans would no longer hold our economy hostage to push their political agenda."It changes the default from shutdown to the same budget," Grayson said during an interview with The Washington Post. "I don’t think the founders ever intended us to face one shutdown after another."The current system of governing from crisis to crisis just isn’t working. Rep. Grayson's bill is common sense solution that offers a real fix to the problem. Please join us in supporting it.Sign your name: Support the bill to "Shut Down the Shutdowns" here

World famous Ybor City, Florida


Show Your Papers Before You Pee In Florida

Using the restroom is not a crime. Need to use the restroom in Florida? Be sure to bring your birth certificate.Florida state Rep. Frank Artiles just proposed a bill that would jail people for using the “wrong” restroom. here

Sunday, March 8, 2015

International Women's Day 2015

Outstanding Tampa Bay Women
Jan Kaminis Platt - Pat Kemp - Betty Castor
Darden Rice - Kathy Castor - Betty Reed
Arthenia Joyner - Mary Mulhern - Lisa Montelione
Gabrielle Perham - Leilani Polk - Marisol Marquez
Bianca A Garza - Mariella Smith - Alicia M. Gazga
Linda Saul-Sena - Nadine Smith - Deborah Newell Tornello
Helen Gordon Davis - April Griffin - Ella K. Coffee
Catherine Durkin Robinson - Dawn M.Morgan - Jadell Kerr
Susan Smith - Becky Rubright - Cathy Salustri 

Florida's Culture Of Corruption: Marco Rubio

Improper use of credit cards
Double-billing flights
Political committees
The "Taj Mahal" courthouse
Friendship with David Rivera

What Stogie Had For Lunch

Cuban with Spanish Bean Soup
At The Cuban Sandwich Shop in Tampa

The official Raíces en Tampa ‪#‎MayDay‬ shirt!

    Order yours now and get it just in time to participate in International Worker's Day!

Friends Of Ludlam Trail

Saturday, March 7, 2015

First Fridays Seminole Heights At C4G

Florida's First Family of Corporate Welfare

Most Floridians don't even know who they are.  I wish I didn't.  You probably haven't heard of them. But you are paying them.
TIME magazine has called them the "First Family of Corporate Welfare"
John Ellis Bush (JEB), Rick Scott, and other GOP politicians kowtow to this family like no other.  They were a top donor for W. And they are almost singlehandedly destroying our Everglades. Welcome to Keeping up with the Fanjul family of Palm Beach. here

Hillsborough for Transit

Hillsborough County's transportation system is broken and it's time to fix it. Help us draw up the principles to guide how we set our priorities for future investment.
Monday, March 9 at 6:30pm 
St. James House of Prayer in Tampa

Florida Corporate Welfare State

Marco Rubio, Mike Lee Push Plan To Cut Corporate Taxes here

Rick Kriseman #12

“It’s a good time to be in St. Pete.”

Friday, March 6, 2015

Volusia County Deputy Todd Raible Murders Pot Dealer

Cuban Consulate In Ybor City

The board of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce recently unanimously passed a motion in favor of reestablishing a Cuban consulate in Tampa. here


Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2015/03/tampa-angles-for-cuban-consulate-miami-doesnt-want.html#storylink=cpy

Rick Scott Doublespeak

Once again, Rick Scott owes George Orwell a debt of gratitude. Without the classic novel “1984” and its primer on political doublespeak, the governor’s State of the State speech this week would have been way more…let’s say transparent, since that’s a word repeatedly and ridiculously run through Scott’s Orwellian propaganda grinder recently. here

Florida Have You Signed The Petition?


The legislative session has started in Tallahassee - which means the clock is ticking for medical marijuana in Florida.  

In less than 60 days, the legislature will either answer the call of 3.4 million Florida voters - or they will have put full responsibility for passing medical marijuana squarely back in the hands of us - United for Care, you and the rest of our supporters will carry the burden of fulfilling the will of the majority.


That's a big responsibility, folks. And we aren't waiting: 
We can't afford to.   


The more we can collect through volunteer efforts and online, the more money we'll have to fight the lies our opposition is surely going to push out from here until election day.

One of the reasons we fell short last year is because so much of our money went to gathering petitions; money we could have spent answering lies on the airwaves.


Tallahassee legislators are watching carefully to see if our intensity has dropped.  The harder we work, the more pressure they'll be under to pass a good, clean medical marijuana bill that helps people now, not 18 months from now. 

Thank you for your continued support.
 - Ben Pollara

P.S. f you've already signed the new petition, please forward this email to everyone you know!!! If you've already done that, DO IT AGAIN!!! And if you've already done that, please consider a donation to our petition efforts! 

Ybor City going from tobacco to marijuana?

Ybor City: its very foundation is based on taking a plant, rolling it up, and then smoking it.
Of course, that plant was tobacco and for decades, Ybor's prime product was cigars.
But now a group called Common Bond Collaborative is ready to cut in on Ybor's historical tobacco ties with its own smokeable, agricultural product: marijuana. here

Thought Seer - Ybor City

Thursday, March 5, 2015

First Fridays Seminole Heights

Common Bond Collaborative - Ybor City

1302 N19th street, Tampa

Activist Workshop In Clearwater

Monday, March 9th
we're helping to organize an Activist
Workshop at Island In The Sun in Clearwater
(100 Hampton Road, Clearwater, FL 33759).

Sign the pledge: Don't buy these Koch products

Hillsborough County Commissioners Approved a $2.1 MillionCorporate Welfare Package

Designed to persuade Johnson & Johnson Services to build a shared services headquarters operation  in the county. here

Tampa Bay Homeless

Meet Lina
She is from Fort Pierce

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Street vendor fights Ybor City over ordinance

Occupy Orlando - Stone Soup

Wednesday, March 25 at 5:15pm, Orlando City Hall, info

Jeb Bush: The Worst Republican Traits In One Package

Broward County Court; Jury Rules Medical Marijuana Patient “Not Guilty” on All Counts

A jury in the 17th Judicial Circuit in Broward County, Florida ruled that Ft. Lauderdale resident, Jesse Teplicki, was “not guilty” on all criminal charges surrounding his medical use of marijuana for the treatment of his chronic anorexia. Michael C. Minardi, partner at the Kelley Kronenberg law firm and longtime medical marijuana advocate, successfully argued Mr. Teplicki’s medical necessity defense in front of a jury of his peers. Today’s verdict is groundbreaking in that it is the first time that the “medical necessity” defense was successfully argued in a jury trial, since Florida courts established the defense over 20 years ago. 

Florida for Care Executive Director, Ben Pollara, reacted to the verdict with elation, “This verdict that Mr. Minardi won for Jesse Teplicki is a game changer on the eve of the start of the 2015 legislative session. Legislative leaders in Tallahassee now have to look at medical marijuana through the lens of this precedent established by a Florida jury, in addition to the 58% of Floridians who voted for medical marijuana at the polls last November.”

He continued, “the medical use of marijuana is no longer solely a political issue with wide popular support, it is legal precedent in Florida courts. This ruling should be a message to the legislature that they should act this session on establishing a medical marijuana system in our state so that sick and suffering Floridians don’t have to fight in court for the right to use the medicine recommended by their doctors, as Mr. Teplicki did today.”

Tampa Pride 2015 - Ybor City

March 28th, 2015

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Centre for Girls: First Fridays Seminole Heights Art Walk

Please join us this Friday from 7-10pm for our first showcase in the First Fridays 
Seminole Heights Art Walk. info  

Florida DINOS Vote With GOP

Gwen Graham and Patrick Murphy 
Voted with GOP to promote 
government-by-crisis. here

Hillsborough And Pinellas Leaders In “Wage Theft”

Surpassed only by more-populous Miami-Dade County.
Leave it to local Liberals Darden Rice and Kevin Beckner to do something about it. here 

SWFL Scholarship Opportunity Now Open for Undocumented Students

Florida Banana Republicans

lorida Million Dollar Obamacare Alternative and No One Signs Up here

Monday, March 2, 2015

The Real Bob Buckhorn

 He believes the legalization of medical marijuana is a “slippery slope,” and was no fan of Amendment 2. here
He did not endorse anyone in Florida'governors race.here
The case of Bishop Chuck Leigh. here
On Occupy Tampa here
His 6 foot rule here
Right Wing love fest in Tampa here
We do have a choice, VOTE for Jose Vazquez

Florida Deputy Disciplined for Dragging Woman

What Stogie And Pilar Had For Lunch

Chicken Supreme
At D' Italia Pizza, Ybor City
Visit them here

St. Petersburg Black History Celebration


Sunday, March 1, 2015

Hillsborough's Annual Homeless Count

300 volunteers armed with pens and clipboards fanned out around the region, counting, one by one and face to face, people without homes in the annual Point in Time Homeless Count. here

Pat Kemp 2016

 Ms. Kemp is definitely running again in 2016, this time for the Democratic nomination for the countywide District 6 seat that will go before the voters in November of 2016. here

More Hillsborough County Corporate Welfare

$2.1 million to
Johnson & Johnson
Hillsborough County commissioners are scheduled to take up the matter at their Wednesday meeting. here

United For Care Needs Our Help

Leonard Nimoy RIP

March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015