Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Monday, September 21, 2020
Support Pro Disability Campaigns
Hello friends,
Please consider supporting Kathy Lewis for the Florida State Senate, and Lt. Governor David Zuckerman for Governor of Vermont. Both of these candidates discuss people with disabilities in their platforms. Kathy Lewis needs your help to win. David Zuckerman does, too. State Senator from Vermont, Dick Sears, is also supporting people with disabilities with his bill to provide accessible, commercially available legal cannabis to the people of Vermont. He is running for re-election and needs your help. We need elected officials who will take
our issues seriously.
our issues seriously.
In the United States, we have an underfunded, under-enforced ADA, absolutely subpar public transit, non-equitable housing being made worse by gentrification in working class neighborhoods, poor healthcare, and a loophole that allows for sub minimum wage to be paid to disabled workers. People with serious disabilities who are on disability welfare lose their coverage should they get married. Mental health is frequently forgotten about, and can cause unnecessary danger for people — especially people of color — with LEOs (Law enforcement officers). Education is at times a nightmare for people with disabilities seeking accommodations, or for the desperate parents of children with disabilities. People with disabilities across the spectrum are grossly underrepresented in government.
The state of disability rights in the United States is atrocious. We need candidates and officials to put our rights on the forefront, and often times, to represent our respective communities. We need people with physical, mental, neurological, & developmental disabilities to see political figures fighting for them, and representing their communities. We need to see more people like Senator Tammy Duckworth, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and attorney Haley Moss. We need to support more people like candidate Kathy Lewis, Lt. Governor David Zuckerman,
and Senator Dick Sears.
and Senator Dick Sears.
Please support good, pro disability candidates for public office, and support the Stogie! We are currently banned from posting blog articles on Facebook; please reach out to Facebook and let them know that they made a mistake in censoring the Stogie! Thank you friends.
Stay groovy,
Asher
The Stogie Censored On Facebook
GOP Sandy Murman Fact Check
In her new attack ad she claims Commissioner Pat Kemp is texting lobbyist, May we see
proof of this.
proof of this.
She claims she is ethical....
Florida Ethics Commission Investigation
Campaign contributions from developer
LEARN MORE ABOUT SANDY MURMAN
Brian Gregory Laxton of Riverview
Is accused of fatally running down a bicyclist and then driving off. The impact of the collision threw the bicyclist to the sidewalk. He died at the scene. HERE
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Sunday, September 20, 2020
First Friday Of Bars Open In Ybor
It was crazy out there last night .... looked like back to normal tho ... no masks lol no social distance bars were over 50% hope this is the end of the plandemic here.
Vigil For Immokalee Man Fatally Shot by Collier Sheriff's Office
About 100 people gathered at Farmworkers Village in Immokalee on Friday, just a few feet away from where 37-year-old Nicholas Morales-Bessannia was fatally shot by a Collier County Sheriff’s deputy. HERE
AOC responds to RBG passing
Last night, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and offered her take on what Democrats and activists should do next.
Spanish-language disinformation intensifies among Florida Latinos
Conspiracy theories around the "deep state," billionaire Democrat philanthropist George Soros and QAnon have become a constant fixture on Spanish-language YouTube programs, WhatsApp clips and pro-President Donald Trump Facebook groups aimed at a Latino audience. HERE
Saturday, September 19, 2020
Ella & Jaeden of St. Pete
MaskUP St. Pete is an inspired collection of gender neutral face mask, designed and produced in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The line was born during the Covid-19 quarantine while Ella & Jaeden were quarantined and watching the pandemics chaos unfold. With so little known about Covid-19, you could observe debate everywhere concerning wearing mask and the following panic over the lack of availability of mask.
Looking for a solution this brand has since become Ella & Jaeden's passion project and primary focus.
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VISIT THEM HERE
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VISIT THEM HERE
Vibes of the Bay Festival
Celebrating its 6th year, the Vibes of the Bay Festival is a one-day festival, presented by Symphonic Distribution.
This year we are taking the festival VIRTUAL and highlighting the best in new and emerging music from our community of clients from Florida, Brooklyn, Nashville, Bogota, and the Caribbean. In addition, we’ll be offering curated vendors, food, break-out sessions and more!
This year we will be raising money for Tampa Bay’s iconic music venue, Crowbar, and The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) which are pushing the Save Our Stages campaign. Without our help, they’re sinking.
Fast. Now, it’s up to us to do our part.
Fast. Now, it’s up to us to do our part.
DeSantis Nominates Right-Wing Christian Extremist to State Supreme Court
Florida GOP Ron DeSantis, an ally of Trump and one of the most irresponsible state leaders in the nation when it comes to his handling of COVID, has seen two of his state’s Supreme Court justices get appointed to an appellate court by Republicans in Washington. HERE
Friday, September 18, 2020
Florida Dems Kathy Lewis Confusion
Most of the confusion about why the state Democratic Senate leadership isn’t championing more challengers converges on Kathy Lewis, a writer and disability-rights activist who ran in a red district in 2018 and came closer to winning than anyone expected, taking 46.5 percent of the vote in this traditionally Republican, rural, urban, and suburban district, even though she was outspent more than 10-1 by a longtime
GOP incumbent. HERE
GOP incumbent. HERE
HELP HER HERE
Hillsborough County's Over Staffing Myth
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Teacher and School Board District 3 candidate Jessica Vaughn said when she visits schools she’s seen frustration with understaffing,
not an excess.
not an excess.
“This over-staffing myth is something that I have yet to see or experience or really understand where that’s coming from,” Vaughn said. Both Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins with the Hillsborough classroom teachers association and Vaughn agreed that the District should look at recent software spending before threatening teaching and support jobs. HERE
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With just a few months on the job under his belt, Davis has already spent more than $12 million on computer-based learning systems for the district, including a $3.7 million purchase from a company that employs his brother
as an executive.
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With just a few months on the job under his belt, Davis has already spent more than $12 million on computer-based learning systems for the district, including a $3.7 million purchase from a company that employs his brother
as an executive.
Ivanka Trump Rewriting History At The Columbia In Ybor City
With Pam Bondi
No word on Nancy Milan's attendance
Florida GOP Voter Suppression
In 2018, Florida voters agreed by a nearly 2-1 margin that ex-felons who have served their time should be permitted to participate in the political process. They approved a referendum (Amendment 4)
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Afraid that ex-felons would disproportionately vote Democratic, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature quickly acted to gut Amendment 4 by enacting a law (Section 0751)
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In a split that exactly tracked the party of the President who appointed them, six Republican-appointed judges outvoted four Democratic appointees to uphold Section 0751. HERE
An Accurate Census? Don’t Count on It!
Every ten years the public is reminded, through news reports, commentary, and public service announcements just how important census-inspired statistics are to our economic well being and representative government.
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Dozens of critical social services, education, and infrastructure programs depend on census-guided federal grants that provide many billions of dollars to states and local areas each year.
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Bill Person On The School Board Race
Come Tuesday, November 3rd General Election Day, voters in Hillsborough County have a major opportunity to save public education, as we know it, for decades to come. In early 2020, our current school board appointed a new leader, Superintendent Addison Davis, just prior to a district shutdown due to COVID 19. This leader has restructured the entire district, from instructional delivery, to support personnel and now he is implementing across the board unit cuts, including financial paring and key personnel adjustments to affect a leaner, more efficient school district. Now is a great time to change membership on our often dysfunctional and seemingly inept school board. Let's take a critical look at the four races in districts 1,3 5 and at-large 7.
District 3: Pro-privatization and supporter of for-profit managed charter schools, Incumbent Cindy Stuart, has resigned her seat to become the newly elected Clerk of the Circuit Court. The two winners in the primary are Jessica Vaughn, an educator and businessman Mitch Thrower. These two are polar opposites. Vaughn is a real people person with a strong progressive stance toward improving public education for ALL students and instructional staff. She is opposed to vouchers, for-profit managed charter schools and privatization of public education.Thrower is supported by the private sector, which includes big bucks from the corporate world of for-profit charter schools, vouchers and privatization. He is funded by private sector friends and helpers in Tallahassee and developers and the like in our county. Thrower is another version of District 1 incumbent,Steve Cona III.
District 1 incumbent is a businessman, anti-union board member, promoter of for-profit managed charter schools,vouchers and Steve Cona, along with Stuart pressed hard in the past to privatize nearly 1500 district school custodians by moving to a contractor bid process for custodial services. He is being challenged by former teacher and educational business woman, Nadia Combs, a highly respected teacher and staff member previously employed by the school system. Combs dominated Cona in the primary election and she has a great chance to unseat this two-year incumbent who is supported by Mean-Girl Cindy Stuart and Mean-Girl Susan Valdes, a former school board member and current Florida State Representative. Valdes is also being challenged for re-election by Hillsborough classroom teacher, NPA, Laurie Rodriguez-Person and a Trump Republican supporter, Angle Urbina, in the general election.
District 5: This is an extremely heated race in the central Tampa/Temple Terrace/Seminole Heights areas between incumbent Tamara Shamburger and retired district Area Superintendent Henry "Shake" Washington. Neither have seemed greatly opposed to either Vouchers or for-profit managed Charter schools. Shamburger was initally opposed to the appointment of Superintendent Davis while Washington's campaign staff appears to be fully supportive of both Cona and Davis, Both Washington and his campaign staff and Superintendent Davis have stated publicly, "Charter Schools are here to Stay!" Political local office holder incumbents appear to lean in support of Shamburger but this race has proven to be a real show! Here, sparks really fly all the way to November.
District 7, at-large, county wide seat: This race is between incumbent and former teacher Lynn Gray and former school board member and former school district employee and private school owner Sally Harris. Gray has taught at many Hillsborough schools and also at Jesuit High School. She has the ear and support of the unions and school district employees. She is opposed to for-profit managed charter schools, generally, along with an aversion to vouchers and privatization. As a board member, she has been unafraid to "be an Army of One" pressing hard for kids, teachers and school communities. Harris was the fourth-wheel of the infamous "Mean Girls Four" along with long-gone, failed politican April Griffin, Susan Valdes and now Cindy Stuart. Harris lost her seat in 2018 to new board member and educator, Dr. Stacy Hahn, in South Tampa/South County/ South Shore areas.
As a three-time candidate, unsuccessful at that, for School Board District one in 2016, 2018 and in 2020 and as a 35 year teacher, principal, director and general director, I recommend you support and elect: Jessica Vaughn, Nadia Combs, Lynn Gray and Henry "Shake" Washington and help save our
beloved school district. Bill Person
beloved school district. Bill Person
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