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Florida Tag

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on September 06, 2017 32 Comments
I get not liking someone and especially elected officials, but for all the talk of Trump's policy decisions being "cruel", you'd think there'd be a bit more self-awareness when wishing a monster storm rain fire, brimstone, and destruction on someone's home. And yet... Many, most in fact, invoked their Climatology religion (that's really what it's become), in their prayers for destruction of Trump's Mar-A-Lago estate.

Posted by Andrew Branca on July 05, 2017 50 Comments
“Stand-Your-Ground” was back in the headlines against over the just-concluded Independence Day weekend, thanks to a 14-page decision by Miami-Dade Circuit judge Milton Hirsch that recent legislative changes to Florida’s self-defense immunity law were unconstitutional, reports the Bradenton Herald newspaper and other sources. (That decision is embedded below.) Specifically, the recently signed law switched the burden of persuasion on pre-trial self-defense immunity from the defendant to the state, and changed the standard of evidence required from a preponderance of the evidence to one of clear and convincing evidence. (We wrote about these changes more extensively here: “Florida Changes Burden of Proof of Self-Defense Immunity.”)

Posted by Andrew Branca on June 10, 2017 14 Comments
Yesterday, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed into a law a modification to the state's self-defense immunity statute, according to Reuters and other news sources. The self-defense immunity, generally mis-identified by media as a "stand your ground" law, provides for criminal and civil immunity for a use of force that is determined to constitute lawful self-defense.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 25, 2017 1 Comment
Investigators in Florida have torn apart a sex trafficking ring in Florida that took place across two counties, which forced women to have sex with at least 100 men a week. Authorities arrested three men who face accusations "of forcing women to have sex with dozens of men a day." CBS12 discovered "at least six women from different counties were sex trafficked out of several brothels" that existed in Martin and Palm Beach Counties and Lake Worth.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on May 11, 2017 15 Comments
Last summer, we blogged about former Florida Rep. Corrine Brown's legal woes. Brown faced, "24 counts ranging fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, making false statements, wire fraud, and more," reported First Coast News in July of 2016. Brown was accused of creating a fake charity called One Door, raising over $800,000, and then using the cash as her own personal slush fund. The charity only dished out $1,200 in donations, according to the prosecutor. Thursday, Brown was convicted on eighteen federal fraud charges.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 04, 2017 5 Comments
The Pentagon has stated that it wants to extend the ban on offshore drilling in the eastern portion of the Gulf of Mexico only a day after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke wants to expand offshore drilling. A.M. Kurta, the Pentagon's under secretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, stressed to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) "that military training and related exercises in the eastern Gulf, which borders Florida, necessitate a continuation of Congress's ban on drilling." The Defense Department has made it known over the years that while "there may be areas of potential oil and gas work in the Atlantic," officials believe the drilling "may not be compatible with defense operations and interests."

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 16, 2017 30 Comments
Florida Governor Rick Scott has decided to reassign the Markeith Loyd case, the man accused of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend and a police officer, after State Attorney Aramis Ayala decided not to seek the death penalty. An executive order handed the case to Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Brad King. The decision today caused outrage in Florida, especially from Orlando Police Chief John Mina:
“If there was any a case for the death penalty, this is the case,” Mina said. “I’ve seen the video, so I know the state attorney has seen the video of (Loyd) standing over defenseless and helpless Lt. Debra Clayton and executing her.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 15, 2017 29 Comments
Publicly funded University of Central Florida has a "leftist fight club" that teaches progressives how to fight Republicans. This club, Knights for Socialism, is the only one like its kind that actually advocates violence:
“In response to the record number of hate crimes against Latinxs, Immigrants, Muslims, Women, the LGBTQIA+ community, Jews, African Americans and other minorities since the rise of Donald Trump and other Alt-Right Neo-Nazis, Knights for Socialism has decided to host a series of self-defense clinics for anyone that wants to learn how to BASH THE FASH,” asserts the Facebook event page for “Leftist Fight Club: The Rumbles at Lake Claire.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 17, 2017 18 Comments
A Florida man faces federal charges because he wanted to blow up Target stores along the east coast in an attempt to lower stock prices. I am not kidding. Federal authorities have charged Mark Charles Barnett, 48, "with possession or a possession of a destructive device affecting commerce by a previously convicted felon." The man he hired to put those bombs on the shelves turned him in.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 15, 2017 27 Comments
The governments in Florida, Washington, and Alabama have begun to consider passing legislation that will allow it to overrule "certain state court decisions." However, some have concerns over this due to separation of powers. Florida GOP Rep. Julio Gonzalez filed two bills that gives the Florida government or the U.S. Congress the ability "to override or nullify court decisions." House Joint Resolution 121 will add an amendment that allows lawmakers to take that step "by a two-thirds vote of each chamber for up to five years after a decision at any level - county, circuit, appeal or supreme court." His House Memorial 125 aims at "Congress to propose a similar amendment, but to the U.S. Constitution, granting Congress the power to nullify federal court decisions." The Washington bill will also allow its legislators "to vote to 'reject the determination of the court,'" if a court rules an act unconstitutional. In Alabama, two legislators have proposed legislation that will not allow a judge to impose the death penalty if the jury recommends life imprisonment.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on January 09, 2017 15 Comments
Details continue to come out about the Fort Lauderdale airport shooter, Esteban Santiago, who appears to have had a history of mental health problems and was under psychiatric care. Slowly, information has also come out about the victims of that horrific attack, which killed five and wounded eight. While not all victim information has been released, it appears at least four couples have been separated by death. Two of the victims were an Ohio couple heading for their 51st wedding anniversary.
Tragedy struck an Ohio family when Shirley Timmons was slain and her husband critically injured during the airport attack. The couple had flown to Fort Lauderdale on Friday to join the rest of their family for a cruise, WILE-FM (http://bit.ly/2iODNWI) reported.
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