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We have three items for you in today’s Weekend Open Thread: the story of brave police whistleblowers, the bravado of a statewide candidate for office, and a bravura performance by Chairman Vern.
(1) Waldo
[We’re able to present the following story from Cary Wedler of the AntiMedia.org to you in full thanks to their Creative Commons License]
WALDO, FL- The city council of Waldo, Florida voted 4-1 this week to disband its corrupt police department. While police in Waldo have been recognized for mistreatment of civilians, the department came under fire over illegal ticket quotas, deceptive court appearances, and unethical storage techniques. Waldo, a town of 1,000 residents and one stop light, was home to one of the most notorious speed traps in the country until aggravated cops reported their superiors.
The city’s seven police officers wrote nearly 12,000 speeding tickets in 2013, earning $400,000 and making up a third of the town’s revenue. These actions were in violation of state law as the police chief ordered officers to write 12 tickets per 12 hour shift or face repercussions.
Resident Pat Burgess told CBS last month:
“They’re just waiting to catch people because they have to write so many tickets in order to meet the budget, and that’s wrong.”
In August, five Waldo officers rebelled against their superiors and made a presentation to the city council about the malpractices. Followed by their testimony, then-chief Mike Szabo was suspended (with pay) pending a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation. Corporal Kenneth Smith was later suspended by Waldo City Manager Kim Worley when a second investigation was launched.
Before the conclusions of these reports, both suspended officers resigned. In early September, Worley arranged a temporary contract with the Alachua County sheriff to employ a lieutenant, but when that month-long deal expired, Worley was left with few choices.
An audit of the department found it needed to upgrade its computer systems and storage facilities to be up to standards for criminal investigation, which the city was too underfunded to do. After State Attorney Bill Cervone advised that he would bring a case before the Alachua Grand Jury that would be “humiliating,” the city council voted to disband the notoriously corrupt police department.
City Councilwoman Carolyn Wade, who voted reluctantly to shut down the force, said:
“Too much has gone too far and I don’t think we can recover.”
It remains to be seen what will happen in Waldo, but for now, the Alachua County Sheriff’s office will provide law enforcement services.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and State Attorney Cervone are still investigating and pursuing the criminal cops who extorted drivers in Waldo.
Though some residents are upset with the decision, Brandon Roberts, leader of the cops who spoke out, expressed no remorse–even considering he had lost his job. He said:
“It’s what was right. A lot of people complain about cops not stepping across the blue line, and this is a prime example, because you have to worry about this kind of stuff.”
He continued:
“If I took down two bad ones, it was worth it.”
First of all, high praise to the cops who blew the police whistle on these practices. Second — while these police practices are indefensible, don’t be so quick to blame the city alone. I’d Were state policies — this is Florida, after all — getting in the way of their sound governing practices, so that raising revenue through fines was the only thing left to them? want to know what their alternatives were for raising revenues. Was this a city that was designed to fail (for lack of an economic base) without these sorts of tricks? If Waldo was greedly, that’s one thing; but if it was forced into the a life of crime for lack of an alternative, that’s something else. “Those who make peaceful taxation impossible make violent expropriation inevitable.”
(2) Betty
Some of you may wonder why I’m so mad for Betty Yee. Part of why is that she had the guts to tell it like it is, even if it meant telling off most of the entire Democratic Party structure (which would later fall in line behind John Perez in the June primary), at the March Democratic Party meeting. Check out this speech!
She’s the real deal. Caring, fair, and brave. Even those of you who aren’t Democrats should appreciate what she has to say. She’s the exact opposite of a “party hack.”
(3) Ludwig
And Vern’s latest video – exciting, entertaining, AND educational! (It explains Sonata form.)
This is your Weekend Open Thread. Talk about that, or anything else you’d like, within reasonable bounds of decency and decorum.
Diamond:
“Hey, let’s switch the last two letters (of terrorist group ISIS) — .. This yields a perfectly serviceable acronym: “ISSA.”
Diamond:
“Talk about that, or anything ..within reasonable bounds of decency and decorum.”
Diamond apparently forgot – or more likely ignored – his admonition for “decency” in his “ISIS-Issa” post. How many more heads must fall before Diamond apologizes for his breach of civility?
Going back to the ancient and longstanding names of the provinces that Islamic State University claims, they are “Syria” (which goes all the way down through Israel) and “Assyria” (which includes Iraq and more.) So ISSA is not just a perfectly good acronym, but a more appropriate one than anything else being considered.
But I published that piece almost a month ago. Did it really take you this long to come up with a response?
By the way — many more heads are falling in Saudi Arabia than at Islamic State University, but many more people are dead in the region from bombings and the like than from beheadings. Beheadings are only as special a way of killing people as we decide to make them. Of course, stoking up fear makes people vote with their lizard brains, which is pretty much your only hope, so it’s no surprise that you’re working hand in glove with Islamic State University to stoke up the horror. I’m fighting back against them in part by ignoring it — and those who would capitalize on it politically.
The (pardon my) French officially refer to Islamic State as “DAESH”. The term is used in a derogatory way in the middle east, and apparently enrages the Daesh-ers so much that they vow to cut out the tongue of anyone who would dare to call them this name.
where is curtis lemay when we need him
To which story do you refer?
He thinks Curtis woulda played a better Beethoven’s 5th.
Nah. Maybe a better version of the Doors’s “The End,” with Martin Sheen superimposed on the imagery.
The 5th? Hell, yes. He could have brought in the Air Force Orchestra to back him up on the piano.
any and all stories
curtis lemay would have added gravitas, creativity and a wide range of aerial ordinance to any and all conversations
*The Ghost of Curtis LeMay lives…….TDM…..he resides in the alter ego of Lindsay Graham. He has never met a place he didn’t want to bomb in the 9th Century….
*The debacle at the Coliseum today was great. Congratulations to the Sun Devils and at the Rose Bowl Congrats to Utah too! We told everyone that Orgeron was the cool Coach and that St. Pat Haden should go along with his junior partner Sarkie Boy. We said that Sark didn’t have it. Boy were we ever wrong….his whole Coach Staff doesn’t have it. NO D…….NO D……feel like we are talking about the Lakers and D’Antoni again. The Sun Devils put up 38 points………..what a great joy to see Strong leap in front of four Trojans and nab the victory. Hey, we love our USC Players……but this rah, rah, ziss, boom, bah Straw Hat and Beaver Coat trip…..has got to go. We had predicted that the ToeJams would lose four games this season. Well, so far we have lost to Boston College and Arizona State. We have not met Arizona (Congrats to the Wildcats for knocking the little “O’s” out of the top four.) Notre Dame – (Because the Golden Dome is still blessed by Pope John – he was a great Pope too – but they will still need Pope Frank to drop by too….if they plan on making the top four.) Then they still have the UCLA’s – which on their worst day will still beat the ToeJams with “The Sark” at the helm. That means USC Loses at least Five this year. If we are not careful, we will not even get a shot at playing San Diego State in the Flush and Fart Bowl.
The Poor Princess is getting desperate. Ten grand? WTF? Will that even get you half a robocall in Anaheim?
I sure hope DanCe doesn’t get wind of this. He’s likely to go into melt down mode. Come to think of it, I hope he does see it.
——————————————–
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$10,000 by October 10th
Anaheim cannot afford four more years of the status quo. With less than 30 days until the election, the Galloway for Mayor 2014 team has determined that we must raise $10,000 by October 10th in order to produce the necessary campaign materials and assets we need to finish off our campaign as strong as possible.
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Ten grand and an actual plan to change policy.
If I were her, I’d be a little more concerned with the latter.
Betty Yee also stood up against the establishment in calling for legalization and normalization and total decriminalization of cannabis in CA. She has always been an advocate for this and has proven her bonafides time and time again.
Now that the Angels are out the lease discussion can’t be swayed in small Business of Baseball minds by playoff hysteria. So there’s your silver lining, Anaheim.
But they’re still trying to convince everyone that *gasp* the Angels are leaving Anaheim because *gasp* Tom Tait was a meanie to them! I hope there’s enough people with half a brain in your town that’ll ask themselves, “If this agreement was so great, why didn’t the other four just pass it?”
I noticed Kring inferred that Moreno was a dummy. I bet that went over well.
She is so desperate that she blamed the lack of a deal on Moreno not understanding Anaheim’s political constitution. As if that explained why 3 of the kleptos couldn’t have passed the deal in January anyway and given Arte everything Charles Black offered!
Implied, brother, implied, not inferred. Now THAT’S something that gets my goat. And you know better, “smartest guy in the county!”
The OCGOP has allocated $6,703 apiece to independent expenditures against Joe Shaw and Connie Boardman of Huntington Beach, which is probably the cost of one or more mailers (depending on the size and other factors.)
When you Beachers get that mailer, would you please get us a copy? Aside from pulling it apart, I want to see if it also mentions Mark Bixby. The FPPC would want to know.
Probably doesn’t, Mark is not considered a threat to win … although I hope he is one.
*We said that the Angels would face a tough series. They did. OK, where does that leave Arte the Magnificent? Contemplating his nasal……..not navel……. Whatever happens now will require a whole lot creativity…….and thought. You add a greedy owner and a disconnected political system and your are usually left with some very poor choices which serve neither. We will hold our fire for the time being and wait and see what Arte comes up……some “deferred capital expense” concept….we are sure.
LA Times on the Governor’s Visit to the site of the OC Veterans’ Cemetery:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-in-brown-irvine-veterans-cemetery-20141007-story.html
He gives Sharon Quirk-Silva credit for “twisting his arm” to approve spending the (relatively limited amount of) money.
(We are still awaiting word on whether or not Young Kim supports the cemetery.)
Holy Cannoli — they used to be our competitor!
Maybe Chumley is just desperately seeking attention. We can stop worrying about him now.
Well, that’d improve if Chris wrote more.
Hey, Chris, write more.
Better yet, write here.
Perhaps admiring the clever in nature would be a welcome break from bemoaning the stupid in politics?
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews/this-spider-s-crafty-way-of-building-web-will-scare-you-184200305.html