Showing posts with label media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label media. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

The news story hiding in plain sight is often news that #SoFL newsrooms simply have no interest in covering, whether fairly or with bias. In any case, Rod Velez's legal qualifications to serve on Broward School Board will soon come to a head, as Gov. DeSantis may again have to replace an elected official in Broward County

The news story hiding in plain sight is often news that #SoFL media newsrooms simply have no interest in covering, whether fairly or with bias. In any case, Rod Velez's legal qualifications to take office on Broward School Board will come to a head soon, as Gov. DeSantis may again have to replace an elected official in Broward County.



For several weeks since the August 23rd primary election, the talk among Broward's political chattering class -and in the South Florida news media, to the the extent it ever appeared- had been about whether or not Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would AGAIN remove Donna Korn if she won the Broward School Board At-Large seat that was the subject of a runoff race last Tuesday vs. Allen Zeman

Their race, which Zeman won 51% to 49%, was the subject of a recent large group email blast of mine as well as a subsequent blog post here on Oct. 19th.

The Korn Conundrum: Broward School Board At-Large candidate Donna Korn, who's already been removed by Gov. Ron DeSantis bec of a Grand Jury's recommendations, remains unpopular with the public and unable to defend her track record. But her opponent, Allen Zeman, is not just someone who is largely unknown, but has a troubling history of claiming things to be true that are NOT. Of actually lying with impunity. What should Broward County voters do?

https://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-korn-conundrum-broward-school-board.html

But while that subject generated at least some attention, what had NOT been discussed publicly in the 1,001 ways that you would expect or anticipate for a subject as serious as whether or not a candidate was even qualified to run for elected office, were many facts coming to light via myriad stories and rumors re Broward School Board District 1 Rod Velez, and his eligibility status to represent Hallandale Beach, Hollywood and Dania Beach if he was, in fact, elected, as a result of a prior felony conviction.

Things first began to dribble out a few weeks ago from his opponent in the runoff, Marie Murray Martin, the daughter of former District One incumbent Ann Murray, who was one of the four School Board members removed in late August by DeSantis, who was running to replace her mother. 

Using her Facebook campaign page and other Social Media of her mother, friends and supporters in SE Broward and elsewhere, Martin was successfully able to get uncorroborated information about Velez into the sunshine and online that local Miami and Fort Lauderdale- based news media had ignored reporting publicly in the ways that, well, they have literally patented over the past 25 years.

(As I have written since starting this blog in 2007, having previously lived in Chicago and Washington, D.C. and knowing dozens of well-known Beltway journalists, columnists and 
editors at top-tier news organizations well enough to go to ball games, movies with them, or, attend barbecues at their homes, no media market in the USA more avidly ignores reporting 
more stories of public interest and consideration than the South Florida news media, print and TV. They think that TOO!
Too many "reporters" here act like wannabe-corporate publicists for the powerful, affluent and influential, not curious investigative reporters, or, at least semi-skeptical representatives of the public pushing back consistently against the taxpayer-paid PIOs of South Florida about what is fact and what is fantasy.) 

That is to say, Marie Murray Martin ran to replace her mother on the Broward School Board dais WITHOUT ever speaking publicly or in-person at any event in Hollywood or Hallandale Beach the past few months about all the many ethics and corruption questions surrounding her mother for the past 12 years, to say nothing of the ones about her mother's consistently poor judgment and inability and unwillingness to tell the truth to area parents.
Or, to even look them in face without Murray having lots of BTU members around her -or Robert Runcie in tow- to run interference and keep the public quiet.

Ann Murray was notorious for being a no-show at education events in Hallandale Beach the past 16 years -even before she ran and got elected- as I have always been quick to remind readers here and my Followers on my Twitter feed, @hbbtruth

As you regular readers of the blog know well, ethically-challenged Ann Murray has been the subject of DOZENS of fact-filled and and photo-filled posts on this blog over the time she has been an embarrassing hand grenade of an elected official, always ready to explode in the faces of residents, parents and stakeholders in this area who want better quality education oversight and accountability.

A week before the election, perhaps sensing that the race was perhaps getting away from her, not surprisingly, a dam broke and a wall of unflattering information about Velez came gushing out, most of which was not independently corroborated. Little wonder where that was coming from, given the glaring apathy of the South Florida news media.


Now, in the days since the election where Velez won 52%-47%, there's finally some reporting.
Some, not much, and to be honest, WLRN radio barely counts.
Once upon a time it might've, especially before the pandemic, but that was YEARS ago.

When I lived and worked in Washington, D.C. from 1988-2003, I listened to NPR's D.C. affiliate, WAMU 91.3 FM, on average about 8 hours a day, Monday thru Friday.
That was largely because I was in an office setting most of the day when I wasn't in a meeting, over on Capitol Hill for a hearing or meeting or doing some handholding of a client over there or some nearby bar or restaurant.
But since I returned to South Florida, well, WLRN has become far too too smarmy, dupliitous, stridently liberal, and too predictable.
Even worse in my opinion, far too incurious or unwilling to challenge the Democratic government orthodoxy that has so badly served the public here for so long in ways large and small, whether housing, transportation, ethics, or business development.

These days, WLRN is more more like NPR's Junior Varsity, and their JV B team at that, with the same likes and dislikes, and the same fetishizing of some subjects and places beyond anything that makes sense. That is, if it's in Wynwood it gets on air, Hallandale Beach or Hollywood, no chance.
No chance at all!

WLRN is actually worse than Tampa Bay's NPR station, WUSF-FM, where they at least try to have someone on once in a while with an alternative POV.
Here, it's always the same names and same voices saying the same things that make no sense.
 


Now there's some informed talk among some usually-informed people here and in Tallahassee that Gov. DeSantis could simply say that the rules are the rules, and remove Velez and say that he was not in compliance with Florida law regarding former felons voting and being legally qualified to run for office.
Then, presumably, replace Velez with an interim person until another election can take place in a few months, since saying that he broke the law and leaving him in place is even more problematic for a guy like DeSantis, who clearly does not like unnecessary drama that can go sideways.

Here's a snapshot of some of what was going on this weekend while you were watching the Dolphins big 39-16 win against the Cleveland Browns or otherwise staying away from local politics and government.








-----




Tuesday, January 24, 2012

One week from Florida GOP primary, Mainstream Media & Florida's own MSM continue to coddle Ron Paul, and NOT force him to answer self-evident questions re Florida; Ron Paul is missing-in-action



Both the national Mainstream Media & Florida's own MSM continue to coddle Ron Paul and NOT force him to answer self-evident questions, and thus be held accountable.

Paul has not won any of the first three contests and is NOT running a serious campaign in Florida, the fourth-largest state in the country.

As I've written here a few times previously, I was not only born in Texas, I'm a direct descendant of a pioneer Texas Hill Country family that has lived there continuously for well over over 155 years.


And just as the entire country is NOT a small-scale replica of everyday life in Manhattan or Santa Monica, despite what Hollywood and Madison Avenue marketers and network TV execs may attempt to persuade us in films and in television programs and commercials, the entire country is also NOT the south suburban Houston area that is Ron Paul's own congressional district, TX-14.
Map: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=TX&district=14


Voters in Florida next Tuesday, like voters in Iowa and New Hampshire the past few weeks and the upcoming state primaries, quite reasonably believe that they're entitled to be represented by a person as president who at least ATTEMPTS to understand their unique concerns and issues, and who takes those into account when setting national policies and making important decisions.

Given that, how does Ron Paul's failure to even mount a serious effort in Florida to garner their votes, failure to even pretend to try to understand THEIR unique concerns instead of merely repeating his own, now make him a person Floridians should take seriously, now or in the future?

And isn't Paul's behavior towards Florida voters more accurately described as patronizing?
To answer my own question, yes.


So how come nobody in the traveling national press corps or Florida-based news media, print or electronic, will ask them that simple question on camera?
Sometimes, as we've learned, the absence of evidence is evidence of a sort, too, isn't it?


But you don't have to take my word for Paul's patronizing attitude toward Florida voters. 
Let me directly quote the Tampa Bay Times' Alex Leary in their Buzz politics blog today under the headline, Florida presidential primary tracker for Tuesday
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/florida-presidential-primary-tracker-tuesday
Ron Paul: No events scheduled.
Ron Paul is missing-in-action.
Res ipsa loquitur.


And when, exactly, does Ron Paul actually WIN a state primary election?
WHEN?
Name that state?

http://elections.nytimes.com/2012


That's a question that mouthy and opinionated Paul supporters can't or won't answer, for obvious reasons, so when you run into them in-person on see them on TV news segments on the cablenets or C-SPAN sounding loftier than they have any right to sound based on what's actually happened, ask them that simple question.


And tell them that after Paul has ACTUALLY WON SOMETHING, to get get back in-touch, but otherwise, stop annoying everyone with their nonsensical conspiracies about how someone who can't even win a single state presidential primary can be elected president in the year 2012. 
Sorry, it's not the 19th Century anymore. 


It's preposterous.


The truth of the matter is that Paul won't even be able to win the Texas GOP primary on April 3rd.    

Since we don't have a parliamentary system, an American president, whatever else they need to be or do, MUST be seen by both Americans and people overseas as the president of the entire country, not just the small parts of it that happen to agree with him.
And if it's not too much trouble, NOT appear to be overly-contemptuous and dismissive of other Americans.



Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton responds to Barack Obama's recorded comments at a San Francisco fundraiser about residents of small towns in Pennsylvania being "bitter." "Small towns cling to guns or religion" April 2008. http://youtu.be/xNoJ0q6HrK8
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0408/Obama_on_smalltown_PA_Clinging_religion_guns_xenophobia.html


In my view, that's one of President Obama's chief (and unsolvable) problems -he doesn't.
Repeating that same mistake with someone else is NOT a reasonable solution to our current problems.


Pied Piper Ron Paul, go sell crazy somewhere else.
We've already got more than enough of that here in Florida.
-----
Central Florida Political Pulse politics blog of the Orlando Sentinel:
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/


The Buzz politics blog of the Tampa Bay Times
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/

http://www.c-span.org/Campaign2012/