01.03.19- We dodged the Gillum bullet
Later this month the Florida Commission in Ethics will conduct a probable cause hearing on the activities of former Tallahassee mayor and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum.
Funding for trips to Costa Rica and New York City with lobbyists and an undercover FBI agent are in question as the trips surrounded the efforts of the agent to secure special consideration from elected officials for a building project in Tallahassee’s Community Redevelopment Area.
In addition to these actions the FBI agent, acting as a developer in his undercover capacity, funded a Gillum fundraising event for his future gubernatorial race.
Evidence provided to the commission was also provided to the press by one participant’s attorney. Looking at this evidence clearly shows Gillum’s participation.
Evidence in the FBI case is not yet public. Gillum has claimed to not be a target of the FBI. I’d guess that means he’s the first informant in.
In either case we dodged the Governor Gillum bullet in November.
02.06.19- The State of the Union: If the President was a Florida Constitutional Amendment- He Passed Overwhelmingly
On Tuesday night President Trump delivered the one week late State of the Union Address. In my estimation it was strong, on target and overall just what a SOTU address should be.
Apparently I am not alone. I am not alone to the point that, among those who watched the SOTU, if the President was a Florida Constitutional Amendment, he would have passed overwhelmingly.
The CBS poll by YouGov surveyed a representative sample of nearly 10,000 Americans who said they would watch the speech. The margin of error was +/- 3%.
Asked after watching the speech if they approved or disapproved, 76% were in favor and only 24% were not.
The results were very similar on immigration, foreign policy, the Middle East and a second summit with North Korea.
So, congratulations Amendment Trump. You passed this week with flying colors. Let’s hope congress can muster the will to support your ideas.
03.11.19- Social Media- a Social Disease
At first it was a wonderful new invention that would change communication as we knew it: Social Media.
But, of late, it’s become a social disease where even those who might be considered the elite among us have been dragged into the bowels of discourse in a race to the very bottom.
The president, state representatives and county commissioners are all suffering from the self-important gaffes that social media allows.
They, along with detractors and supporters, have taken the dialogue into the sewers of political discourse. A few short years ago this would have been unacceptable.
Now officials threaten detractors’ employment and even take the conversation to lower levels than the detractor started.
It’s a race to the bottom. It’s going fast and it needs to stop.
04.08.19- Killing Pedestrians
FDOT may not know it, but they are setting Brevard up for blood in the streets! Every move made by FDOT regarding traffic woes in Brevard is not for the benefit of said traffic, it’s to encourage pedestrians to be stupid!
I will now call pedestrians “walkers” as homage to THE WALKING DEAD. That’s what some will be.
I had it suggested on Monday’s show that walkers have no responsibility to be cautious as they cross the street, yes even in a crosswalk. The caller was astounded I would consider that a walker should not rely on government safety devices like lights and signs.
OK, go ahead, see the light, walk out without looking. And as your parents quake in fear at your poor decision, or spin in their graves, you may just become THE WALKING DEAD or severely injured.
Cars don’t always pay attention. It only makes sense that you would.
05.15.19- Palm Bay Politics is a Dumpster Fire
Vacations for me are fairly rare. I take a week or two and try to visit friends and family in WV each year, but other than that, the days off are scattered.
When I am away, I like to be away and not constantly digging for news and issues that we will have in play on BML. This recent vacation was turned into show prep vacation hell as the FDLE/FBI investigation of potential corruption of and in Palm Bay city government exploded into the news on my first real day out of town.
It involves people I have known for years, some of them friends, and out of control attempts at manipulating the city to bend to the will of developers. It’s sex, drugs and rock & roll, except for maybe that rock & roll part.
Allegations of drug use, cavorting with prostitutes and attempts at obtaining video for blackmail of the involved council members are in play. And it hinges on the word and actions of a confidential source (aka: informant).
It’s everybody’s favorite soap opera and it’s all centered in Palm Bay. Who needs a vacation to be entertained?
06.06.19- We Want Those Responsible, Get Them All!
Former Parkland SRO Scot Peterson has been arrested on charges of child neglect as the Broward community seeks to punish those it deems responsible for the tragic shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School.
While I believe that the chances of conviction on the charges presented are slim, I certainly would like to see those responsible held accountable. But that means going after more than one scapegoat who will take the sins of all on his shoulders and be sacrificed for public viewing.
We have a culture in education that results in criminals being allowed to stay in our schools, multiple agencies including law enforcement and courts agreeing to the nonsense and an environment that has danger as a cornerstone.
So until the authorities go after educators who push these policies, officials who agree to them and ignore enforcing the law on criminals, we’ll not see steps to prevention.
We have our pound of flesh, for now. Seems to me it should be a lot more than that.
07.10.19- Loberblab: Commission Reaction
Tuesday night’s county commission meeting was a night of commentary that was hot and heavy after Bryan Lober. The rookie commissioner dug this hole with his words and acts toward citizens from the dais and on social media.
The majority of speakers were seeking some redress from Lober’s acts by the body on which he serves. To this point the commission is failing in this response.
Bryan Lober is doing more than representing himself personally in these actions. None of these actions would be taken seriously, or important if they were, if Lober were not a commissioner. Some of these acts have resulted in direct negative action being taken by people toward Lober critics.
This is reprehensible.
The commission took no action in the meeting (and I understand that with the meeting lasting until 11:30pm anyway); this debate was likely to last a while.
But when they return the commission needs to censure Lober for his bad acts as a commissioner regardless of where the acts took place.
08.29.19- Bart Simpson Politics
It was odd. There stood the sheriff, a state representative and a county commissioner making an announcement about an investigation that resulted in no prosecution.
While that call is in the hands of the State Attorney and not the sheriff, it’s rare for a sheriff to tout such an investigation. But this was not the sheriff’s event. The event was orchestrated by Representative Randy Fine and County Commissioner Bryan Lober.
Both officials have been engaged in social media battles with Brevard democrats and others. In this case the democrats slipped up. And Florida law says that slip can be criminal. That’s what the sheriff lined out in the press conference. He stayed away from specific politics.
Brevard democrats should be embarrassed by this. Their hypocrisy is glaring as the ip address of the purported identity theft was at the home of a top operative and activist.
The democrats have been caught with their pants down…now, what will they do about it?
09.18.19- Big Tony plays Lucy and the School District is Charlie Brown
For a couple of weeks now we’ve been hearing how Brevard Public Schools and the Brevard Federation of Teachers were going to be working together in a more cooperative manner as the next teachers’ contract was being negotiated.
Translation: Lucy has the football.
Explanation: BPS is Charlie Brown and he’s been fooled again.
Entering negotiations in good faith, the district countered the union’s initial offer with a VERY GOOD offer of its own. Remember these were to be INITIAL offers. This was to be a negotiation.
Alas, it was not to be as Lucy pulled away the football just as the district began to play. BIG TONY, union president Anthony Colucci, became irate and ended the session when his first (and apparently last) offer was not accepted on demand. That’s just not how negotiations work.
In spite of promises of a cooperative effort, Colucci’s antics under serve his membership and undermine the district’s efforts to grant good raises to Brevard’s teachers.
10.03.19- OK, is OK unless you aren’t
A Universal character actor was fired after a family complained he included the OK symbol as he was photographed with their children. Last week the ADL had added the symbol to their list of such hateful symbols.
So, after the OK has been hate for 5 minutes Universal fires its actor following their investigation. We do not know what that investigation revealed. We do know the couple’s son was flashing the same symbol, which by the way is some kind of “gotcha to look” game played by the perpetually bored crowd.
Mom says the act by the character ruined her special warm feelings of their Florida trip. She claimed Universal was responsible for her daughter’s first exposure to racism. Wrong!
Mom would not let the girl use the photo in a class project because of the “hate” in the image. Mom was the first to expose the girl to the supposed hate. The girl was previously clueless.
We need to take ownership of our acts and our feelings and not let others determine our intent!
11.04.19- Nostradamus and Impeachment
Recent polling from Harvard CAPS/Harris and another from USA Today shows impeachment is not a popular option with the American people.
The Democrats have their own Nostradamus telling them as much in the person of comedian and talk host Bill Maher. His Real Time show on HBO is often the forum for his predictions and admonitions. Maher has warned Democrats that they are going down the wrong path.
In September and again on Friday Maher warned that impeachment was not going to play well in Middle America. He called it a “loser” issue and pointed to battleground states where a majority opposes impeachment.
Maher sounded the warning for Democrats to not pursue this course. Yet, the bell has rung, the bullet’s been fired and you can’t take it back.
Today, every news story about the president includes the word impeachment. It will echo across the land and come back to haunt the Democrats who were warned by their own Nostradamus.
12.02.19- BPS Lawsuit Guinea Pig
In an inexplicable move the Brevard School Board voted 4-1 to make the district a guinea pig for a lawsuit.
Falling prey to the vaping hysteria that engulfed the country in this past year Brevard Schools, by the board’s action, has joined (read that as allowed itself to be used for) a lawsuit against vape maker JUUL labs.
The Maher Law Firm of Winter Park had approached the board last month asking them to be a plaintiff. You see, law firms needs plaintiffs to be able to file a suit and then bring in the big bucks that even a settlement without a trial can bring.
The board is giving the law firm, and implicitly others, approval of these kinds of suits. I believe the board was distracted by the promise of big money on the other side, regardless of the merits of the case. The merits, the reasons the suits would be likely to succeed, seem to be few.
Kids break all kinds of school rules and this is just another one. To blame JUUL or any other entity for the actions of kids is wrong. If there is a failure here it’s the district not enforcing its own rules and no amount of money will help in fixing that.
CONGRATULATIONS Michael Williams.YOU’VE WON THIS WEEK’S BML INSIDER MUG.
Email AidanSherman@iHeartMedia.com within 30 days of this email date to schedule pick up of your mug!