Florida Sen. Rick Scott doesn't seem to care if Trump's citizenship census question royally screws his own state

Posted By Colin Wolf on Thu, Jun 6, 2019 

• screengrab via Fox News on YouTube

Rather than have an accurate count of everyone that lives in his state, which is the whole point of a census, junior Sen. Rick Scott is now arguing that the Trump Administration’s controversial citizenship question should be included in the next census, a move that just about every expert says would result in less congressional representation and less federal funding to Florida.

The former Florida governor made this unfathomably dumb remark while speaking to Fox News host Dana Perino, when he was asked to respond to a recent op-ed by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Sen. René García. In the op-ed, the two former Republicans lawmakers argue that Trump’s plan to include the citizenship question would undoubtedly result in undocumented immigrants not participating in the 2020 national census, which of course, would then cost Florida congressional seats and a massive loss of funding for programs like Medicare and food stamps.

“‘The state of Florida stands to lose out on millions of dollars in federal funding and as many as two additional congressional seats if the census question on citizenship moves forward and depresses response rates,'” said host Dana Perino, quoting from the op-ed. “Even an additional 1% undercount could greatly jeopardize the purse strings and power of the nation’s third most populous state.”

Scott responds by saying he’s totally fine with that. 


“That’s how we ought to be deciding how many additional congressmen and women Florida gets, it ought to be based on citizenship,” said Scott. “I understand their issue, we lose out some federal funding, but the truth is we should allocate the dollars based on citizenship. We should allocate congressmen and women based on citizenship, so it ought to be on the [census].”

Florida is expected to have 21.6 million residents counted on the 2020 census. However, right now it’s estimated that 900,000 of those residents are currently undocumented immigrants, and as many experts have pointed out, if they don’t participate in the census, the state will lose at least one congressional seat.

Rep. Val Demings, a Democrat from Orlando, recently told the Orlando Sentinel that this is the whole point.

“The administration is trying to suppress the power, funding, and political representation of states like Florida and transfer that power and money to more Republican areas in the center of the country,” said Demings. “An unbiased Supreme Court would reject it.”

A legal challenge to the citizenship question is currently awaiting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Hillsborough schools take final steps to implement Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act

Posted By Ray Roa on Thu, Jun 6, 2019 

Photo by Monivette Cordeiro

The Hillsborough County School Board has taken the final step in implementing the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act.

On Tuesday, the board unanimously voted to adopt a threat assessment teams policy, which helps administrators, teachers and students know what to do if there are any students who may be a threat to others or even themselves.

The end goal of the teams is to get the student help before anyone is harmed.

District spokesperson Tanya Arja told WTSP that the district already had procedures in place, but the vote now makes threat assessment teams part of official policy. Hillsborough schools Supervisor of Clinical Care Michael Kelleher told BN9 that help could come in the form of “mental health support, behavioral modifications or disciplinary actions, depending on the situation.”

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act also requires at least one “Safe School Officer” at every school, but Hillsborough (and Pinellas) schools have already said armed teachers will not be part of the solution.

There will also be increased surveillance of data from public social media, the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Law Enforcement, the Department of Juvenile Justice and local law enforcement. Under the bill, the Florida Department of Education’s (DOE) Office of Safe Schools is supposed to work with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to create a "centralized integrated data repository and data analytics resources."

Improved mental health access has been lauded by some, but the ACLU says that such efforts must also “be supported to ensure full funding and commitment.” The nonprofit added that students’ privacy rights must be prioritized so that those struggling with mental health issues are not villanzied. Other concerns include increased youth arrests and the disparate treatment of minorities like youth of color, LGBTQ+ youth and youth with disabilities, who the organization says are more likely to be arrested.

Kelleher added that the threat assessment policy is not a crystal ball, but a proactive measure.

"We're really trying to hit this early on,” he said, “to hit the threat early on, to notice the threat early, to intervene early." 

Blogs

New poll says a majority of Florida voters support hiking state's minimum wage to $15

By Xander Peters  Jun 7, 2019  

Blogs

This May in Florida was so appallingly hot that it broke state records

By Colin Wolf  Jun 7, 2019  2:15 pm

TWO LITTLE WORDS: CLIMATE EMERGENCY!!!!!!

SAD BUT SHOWS THE CONSCIOUSNESS, EMPATHY, AND SELF AWARENESS OF COGNITION THEY SHARE WITH US

Blogs

Super sad video shows grieving mother dolphin carrying her dead calf in Florida coastal waters

By Kyla Fields  Jun 6, 2019  8:52 am

Kirsten Gillibrand cuts loose in a gay bar in Iowa, sipping a shot and ...

 June 8, 2019 by Brett T. ... Gillibrand and Eric Swalwell, both members of the 0 percent club, are in a race to run the most embarrassing campaign. .... Journalism: Daily Beast reports Trump brothers skipped out on bar tab, except they didn't ... Tags: dancegay bariowaKirsten Gillibrand Pride Monthshot ...

The Democrats have given us so many cringe-worthy moments during this campaign season, but if you ask us, Kirsten Gillibrand and Eric Swalwell, both members of the 0 percent club, are in a race to run the most embarrassing campaign. Swalwell, who is a white man and apologizes sincerely for it, showed off his tender side by shooting a campaign video while changing a diaper, but now we have Gillibrand “dancing” in a gay bar while modeling some LGBT wear from her campaign store. Yes, she’s sticking with that stupid “Brave” campaign theme.

We’re trying to think of an equally cringe-worthy moment from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and having a tough time — maybe one of her speeches to an African-American audience where she suddenly lapsed into black English vernacular? The hot sauce in her purse?

Watch in horror as we did as this “young mom” gets her groove on.

Kirsten Gillibrand relaxes after working a gay bar in Iowa pic.twitter.com/JYiU3c0Oc9

— 2020 behind the scenes (@Behind2020) June 8, 2019

A Lake County couple's rural paradise went bad when a corporate medical marijuana farm moved in next door

click to enlarge

Photo by Rob Bartlett
Ted and Vickie Miller at home in Eustis

The noise started on an early morning in February, as Ted and Vickie Miller were sound asleep and snoring in the confines of their farm-style home off County Road 44A in Eustis. It sounded like an engine cranking up at first. Ted sat up in bed, confused and panicked, with that feeling of going from unconscious to incensed in a matter of seconds. "What are you doing?" Vickie asked him.

"I think somebody's stealing my tractor," Ted told her, leaping from between the sheets to grab one of his rifles and run outside to the back porch.

The backyard, however, was dark. Ted's equipment was undisturbed. But the noise hadn't stopped.


"What the hell?" Ted wondered aloud, as he peered into the dark, dense woods behind their five-acre plot of land, where they've lived for 29 years. He could smell the skunk-like aroma of cannabis wafting through the air.

That's when it struck him: The noise – the low-hum buzzing, like a gasoline-powered generator humming around the corner, like the sound of a jet engine that's idling on a taxiway – was coming from the weed farm next door.

That was four months ago. The noise hasn't stopped since.

The smell of cannabis coming from the facility is something they can deal with, the Millers say. Though they lean socially conservative in most respects and claim they're not recreational marijuana users, Ted and Vickie acknowledge the importance of the state's medical marijuana program for patients who need it. They also claim to have had no problem with the previous owners of the cannabis cultivation facility next door, the Treadwell Nursery, which used open-air greenhouses and fans – which aren't noisy – and was owned by family members.

That changed when California-based company MedMen bought the Treadwell Nursery in September. The company revamped the facility with massive climate-controlled Dutch-style greenhouses that reduce humidity levels and produce a higher-quality, healthier product. And when MedMen cranked up the dehumidifiers on that morning in February, that's when the trouble started.

It's not just the noise, either, the Millers say. Bright lights from the facility shine onto the front of their property and onto some of their neighbors' properties. Freight truck traffic on what used to be a quiet country road has increased significantly in recent months, which the Millers say worries their neighbors with children who ride the school bus.

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE 

Florida open-government advocates sue over Cabinet meeting held in Israel
May 29, 2019

Florida’s Governor just signed a bill that will censor criticism of Israel throughout the state’s public school

On May 31, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that prohibits anti-Semitism in public schools and universities throughout the state. However, the legislation also equates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, effectively censoring the advocacy of Palestinian rights.

An ethics complaint claims NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer has been living high on the hog, breaking state lobbyist regulations in the process 

Carl Fredrik Reutersward

"The Knotted Gun"

click to enlarge



Hammer takes a blow

By Xander Peters
State Rep. Anna Eskamani and state Sen. Perry Thurston filed formal complaints with the state Senate and House oversight last week seeking an investigation into National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer. Eskamani and Thurston claim that Hammer broke state law by failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars in payment for her services.

Under Florida law, lobbying firms and contractors are required to file reports that detail compensation received for their lobbying work. The complaints stem from reporting by a watchdog website, the Florida Bulldog, which found that Hammer has not filed a compensation report since at least 2007. Hammer is a former NRA president who's credited with influencing many of the state's gun laws, including the controversial 2005 Stand Your Ground law.

As the nation observed the loss of 17 lives in the weeks following the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Hammer, according to the complaints, got paid. She reportedly received $270,000 from the NRA last year for "consulting services and legislative lobbying in Florida." In 2017, she reportedly was paid an additional $134,000 "for legislative lobbyist services in Florida." Yet neither of those payments, described in internal documents obtained by the Bulldog, was disclosed in quarterly lobbyist compensation reports as required by the state Legislature.


The Bulldog found that Hammer also reportedly received $147,000 in 2014, $172,000 in 2015 and $206,000 in 2016 – a total of $929,000, none of which was ever reported according to state regulations, according to the report.

"It speaks to a lack of oversight where one of the largest organizations in the country, much less the state of Florida, is not being audited to the point where we don't know how much money is actually being involved in the legislative process," Eskamani, who filed her sworn complaint with the House Public Integrity and Ethics committee, told Orlando Weekly.

In a press release announcing the ethics complaint, Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, said the failure to comply year after year with the state's disclosure laws "calls into question what else might have been done to circumvent transparency in the legislative process."

In his complaint, filed with the Florida Senate and the state ethics commission, Thurston noted Hammer's influence in lobbying pro-gun reform legislation such as concealed-carry permits. He also pointed to state law mandating that since Hammer is not an in-house, salaried lobbyist for the NRA, she is required to submit a compensation report for each calendar year she was registered as a lobbyist for the organization.

Hammer is listed in the IRS filings as a registered lobbyist for the Unified Sportsmen of Florida, where she also serves as executive director, and the NRA, where she serves as a board member and consultant. Consultants are not employees, per Florida law.

However, Hammer is a contract lobbyist who's paid fees for her services, and state law requires her to register and disclose. So far, it seems, she's failed to do so.

The NRA did not return Orlando Weekly's request for comment.

Last September the Tampa Bay Times published hundreds of Hammer's emails to and from members of the state's Department of Agriculture. From 2014 to 2017, the emails show, Hammer involved herself at nearly every step of the legislative process, and received prompt responses to her questions and instructions – often within minutes.

In 2013, the state settled a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by a Department of Agriculture employee who claimed that when she questioned handling of gun permit applications, she was told she "worked for the NRA." That was during the tenure of former Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who famously called himself a "proud NRA sellout."

Just after she was elected to the post, new Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried sent out a letter saying her administration would "not be run by unelected special interests," a thinly veiled reference to the NRA lobby. Hammer hammered back with a statement calling Fried an "anti-gun extremist who will eliminate our freedoms."

Eskamani says she suspects the lack of regulation of Hammer's activities is grounded in fear of retribution against those who speak out against the powerful lobbyist and/or the NRA. In regards to this lack of oversight, Eskamani says, "I can't think of a moment where we've held Marion Hammer accountable."

The White House is said to be vetting Judy Shelton for a seat on the Fed board. She told us what she would bring to a central bank whose policies she has long criticized.

Shelton told Markets Insider she has been contacted by the Office of Presidential Personnel.

The potential nominee has been critical of the central bank and would like to change some of the core ways it operates.