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Florida Tag

Posted by Leslie Eastman on August 06, 2016 8 Comments
Some intriguing news has been reported that gives me hope that our bureaucrats are taking the public health threat related to the Zika virus seriously. As you may recall, the last time I reported on the Zika epidemic, 4 Floridians had developed locally-acquired infections (probably from mosquito bites). Now, there are 16 cases and stores in the impacted area of Miami are closing due to the viral spread.
Cafes and art galleries in Miami’s Wynwood Art District would normally be bustling this week, even during some of the hottest days of the year, but with Zika virus spreading in the area, businesses like Wynwood Yard and Gallery 212 are keeping their doors shut. There were 16 cases of mosquito-transmitted Zika reported in the mainland U.S. as of Friday, and health officials have traced most to a square-mile area north of downtown Miami. Empty streets there reminded Gallery 212 owner Michael Perez of when he had to temporarily close a store in New York in 2001, after the Sept. 11 attacks. “I’m just like living my life all over again, with this Zika thing,” he said in a telephone interview. “It’s crazy, the streets are bare right now.”
Florida is not only an important beacon of tourism for this nation; it is a critical swing state in this election. Therefore, it should surprise nobody that the normally slow-moving Food and Drug Administration just approved the releasing of mutant Zika-killing mosquitoes in the Sunshine State.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 30, 2016 10 Comments
I predicted earlier this year that our country would start seeing cases of "home-grown" Zika sometime this summer. Sure enough, Florida is reporting four cases of locally-contracted Zika.
Four individuals in Miami-Dade and Broward counties have been infected with the Zika virus by local mosquitoes, Florida health officials said Friday. These are the first known cases of the virus being transmitted by mosquitoes in the continental United States. "While no mosquitoes trapped tested positive for the Zika virus, the department believes these cases were likely transmitted through infected mosquitoes in this area," according to a statement from the Florida Department of Health. ...Officials believe the local transmission is confined to a small area north of downtown Miami within a single ZIP code. However, local, state and federal health officials are continuing their investigation, which includes going door-to-door to ask residents for urine samples and other information in an effort to determine how many people may be infected. Additional cases are anticipated.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 22, 2016 15 Comments
Last month, we blogged about a 2-year-old who was killed by an alligator at the man-made Seven Seas Lagoon located across the lake from the Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld. The family of the toddler, Lane Graves, has opted to build a foundation in their son's name rather than sue Disney.
"Melissa and I are broken. We will forever struggle to comprehend why this happened to our sweet baby, Lane," Matt and Melissa Graves said in a statement Wednesday. "As each day passes, the pain gets worse, but we truly appreciate the outpouring of sympathy and warm sentiments we have received from around the world."

Posted by Sarah Rumpf on June 22, 2016 28 Comments
Florida Senator Marco Rubio has decided to run for reelection, he confirmed to Fox News' Chris Wallace on Wednesday. Fox News posted a short clip on Twitter; the full interview will air at 6 pm Eastern Time. https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/745621612163039237 “People in politics don’t like to admit that they’ve changed their mind, but I changed my mind, and the people in Florida deserve to know why,” Rubio said, explaining that there were "a lot of reasons."

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on June 21, 2016 17 Comments
A Floridian woman shot and wounded a naked, poop-covered home invader Sunday night. 27-year-old Victor Etherington, who, according to deputies was intoxicated, demanded entry to an Ocala residence. The homeowner (name still unknown), not recognizing him, told him to leave. The poopetrator kicked in the door, prompting the woman to take refuge in her bedroom, grab a .22, and call 911. Etherington chased her upstairs, removed his soiled shorts and forced his way into the closet, and that's when the homeowner shot him once in the gut. When police arrived on the scene, they found Etherington in his birthday suit, bleeding, covered in poop, hiding behind the bedroom door.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 20, 2016 32 Comments
The FBI kept in Omar Mateen's pledge to the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in the 911 transcript, but omitted the terrorist group's name. Mateen called 911 before he murdered 49 people at Pulse, a popular gay club in Orlando, FL. From the FBI news release:
Orlando Police Dispatcher (OD) Shooter (OM) OD: Emergency 911, this is being recorded. OM: In the name of God the Merciful, the beneficial [in Arabic] OD: What? OM: Praise be to God, and prayers as well as peace be upon the prophet of God [in Arabic]. I let you know, I’m in Orlando and I did the shootings. OD: What’s your name? OM: My name is I pledge of allegiance to [omitted]. OD: Ok, What’s your name? OM: I pledge allegiance to [omitted] may God protect him [in Arabic], on behalf of [omitted]. OD: Alright, where are you at? OM: In Orlando. OD: Where in Orlando? [End of call.]

Posted by Leslie Eastman on June 17, 2016 12 Comments
The ISIS-inspired terror attack in Florida has impacted the entire nation. From the American political outback called California, one of the most unexpected responses came from West Hollywood. The community woke up to find images of posters of "Gay Pride" flag (designed with a new, conservative twist) plastered along the streets.
Stickers and posters featuring a rainbow-colored version of the Gadsden flag and the hashtag #ShootBack were raising eyebrows in West Hollywood on Thursday morning in the wake of the massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida. The signage was affixed to electric boxes, light poles, trash cans and other fixtures near West Hollywood City Hall, the Pacific Design Center and along Santa Monica Boulevard. Several were hung near the Abbey Food & Bar, a well-known gay lounge. The posters featured a coiled, striking rattlesnake, similar to the yellow Gadsden flag that reads “Don’t Tread On Me” and often is used by the Tea Party movement. The West Hollywood signs were rainbow-colored, like the gay pride flag.
Welcome to the Tea Party, home of constitutionally inspired activism since 2009!

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 17, 2016 10 Comments
Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen "quit-claimed" his house to his brother-in-law with his wife Noor Salman as a witness in April. Initial reports showed $10 for consideration of the house, but a closer look at the document shows it at $100. https://twitter.com/davereaboi/status/743803321954275329 Did Mateen's family know more about his plans than they let on? The FBI has already toyed with the idea of charging his wife since she never told law enforcement of his desire to commit a terrorist attack on American soil. A quitclaim deed allows a grantor to transfer interest in a property to the grantee. The deed is quite common in divorce cases. It is an active transfer, which means he transferred the property on that day to his brother-in-law Mustafa Abasin and sister Sabrina Abasin.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 17, 2016 17 Comments
CNNMoney spoke with the person who has hacked Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) accounts with porn and gay pride. WauchulaGhost started the campaign a month ago with only pornography, but added gay pride after Omar Mateen killed 49 people at Pulse, a gay club in Orlando, FL. He said:
"There was a few of us... that discovered a vulnerability," he told CNNMoney. "We thought, 'Hey let's go start taking their accounts ... and humiliating them.'" --- "You had all those innocent lives lost," he told CNNMoney. "I just felt there's something I could do against the Islamic State to defend those people."

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 16, 2016 81 Comments
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has blamed due process as the reason why the government cannot pass more gun control. From The Washington Examiner:
"The problem we have, and really the firewall we have right now, is due process. It's all due process," he said Thursday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "We can all say we want the same thing," he continued, "but how do we get there?"
I wonder if he gets that THIS is why our awesome Founding Fathers put in the Fifth Amendment.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 16, 2016 10 Comments
New developments keep popping up with the terrorist attack in Orlando, FL, that left 49 dead and over 50 injured. This is what we know so far. Leslie wrote a post with the names of the victims and some stories about them. Our thoughts and prayers stay with them and their families during this hard time. We also wish a speedy recovery to the injured. Omar Mateen murdered those 49 people at Pulse, a popular gay club, as he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). The terrorist group has taken advantage of this and used his image in their latest recruitment ad, but no evidence exists that that Mateen ever communicated with the group. Officials discovered that Mateen watched numerous ISIS beheadings online. One official told CNN that the terrorist "consumed a hell of a lot of jihadist propaganda." He even wrote on Facebook about his allegiance to ISIS during his attack:
“I pledge my alliance to (ISIS leader) abu bakr al Baghdadi..may Allah accept me,” Mateen wrote in one post early Sunday morning. “The real muslims will never accept the filthy ways of the west” …“You kill innocent women and children by doing us airstrikes..now taste the Islamic state vengeance.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 15, 2016 8 Comments
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) has released a video called "Orlando Attack" that celebrates Omar Mateen and the murder of 49 people at Pulse in Orlando, FL. Mateen called 911 and pledged allegiance to the terrorist group before he opened fire at the popular gay club. ISIS praised the terrorist:
"One of Islamic State's lions, set out to restore the glory of the Ummah and avenge the death of Muslims. He shook the head of kufr America, terrorized it and shed its blood. He is Omar Mateen."

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 15, 2016 5 Comments
Sources have told NBC News that Omar Mateen's wife may face charges because she knew he wanted to carry out a terrorist attack and never told authorities. Noor Zahi Salman told the FBI that Mateen "assured her he was simply going to see friends, although she believed he was actually planning to unleash terror at the Pulse nightclub." She once drove him to the club, a one to two hour drive from their home in St. Lucie, "to scope it out." She also went with him to buy "ammunition and a holster." But now, though, officials have no evidence that she "ever called police to warn them that she believed Mateen was planning an attack."

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 14, 2016 45 Comments
When the Newtown school shooting took place, I was making the long car trek from Ithaca to Rhode Island. And so it was as reports came out on Sunday about the Orlando Pulse gay night club terror attack. As with the Newtown shooting, for the first several hours I had to rely on AM radio coverage -- when it was available. Since then, because I've been attending to family health matters, I have not had a lot of time to focus on the developments or write about it. Thanks to other Legal Insurrection authors for staying on top of the news reports and analysis. Most of what I've learned has been from headlines and Twitter, which are basically the same thing. So I don't want to jump to conclusions, or presume anything. If I have any of the facts wrong, please let me know. I want to get this right. Here's what happened, from what I can tell:

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 14, 2016 7 Comments
Equality Florida's GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $3 million to help the victims and families from the pulse gay club massacre. Over 69,000 people have contributed, including a $100,000 donation from the company:
"We are beyond moved by the support from all corners of the world and all walks of life," Equality Florida wrote. "We do not know the total costs for the victims of this horrific hate crime, therefore are working to raise as much as possible and disperse the funds as fast as possible."

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 13, 2016 19 Comments
Omar Mateen's former coworker has told the media that the murderer regularly made homophobic and racist remarks, but was never fired because he was Muslim. Mateen murdered 49 people at a popular Orlando gay club on Saturday. Daniel Gilroy worked with Mateen at "G4S Security at the PGA Village complex in Port St. Lucie." He told Florida Today that he complained to the company about Mateen's numerous homophobic and racist comments. He claims they never did anything "because he was Muslim." Gilroy quit when Mateen did not stop sending him 20 to 30 text messages and 13 to 15 phone messages everyday:
"Everything he said was toxic," Gilroy told the paper, "and the company wouldn't do anything. This guy was unhinged and unstable. He talked of killing people."

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 12, 2016 13 Comments
Omar Mateen's father Seddique claimed his son's religion had nothing to do with him killing 50 people at a popular gay club in Orlando. But videos show that Seddique supports the Taliban in his native Afghanistan. Seddique hosted a show called the Durand Jirga Show on Payam-e-Afghan, "which broadcasts from California." He then posted some videos from the show on his YouTube Channel, but has not done that for over a year. The Washington Post found that the "phone number and post office box displayed on the show were traced back to the Mateen home in Florida." He also posted a video of him as Afghanistan's president on his Facebook page, Provisional Government of Afghanistan - Seddique Mateen. He posted this only hours before his son opened fire at Pulse:
"I order national army, national police and intelligence department to immediately imprison Karzai, Ashraf Ghani, Zalmay Khalilzad, Atmar, and Sayyaf. They are against our countrymen, and against our homeland," he says, while dressed in army fatigues.
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