IMPORTANT: another report why Adam Putnam DOES NOT DESERVE your vote ... by gimleteye

It only took serial algae blooms around the state, containing Cyanobacteria that can cause long-term brain damage, to wake up Floridians about who the Florida Legislature, Gov, Rick Scott and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam really work for: Big Sugar.Florida voters became immune to Big Sugar's influence on local and state politics -- it needs to organize the political ladder because rules and regulations can harm its profits. But the outbreak...

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Florida Pheonix: more on Maggy Hurchalla v. George Lindemann Jr.

The gargantuan battle between a David versus Goliath (in this case, Maggy Hurchalla against a billionaire, George Lindemann Jr.) has turned into a not-so-quiet fight for First Amendment Rights. The organization for which I serve as a voluntary board member, Friends of the Everglades, recently sought to join as an intervenor in the case. At Eye On Miami, we've written extensively on Hurchalla, a hero of Florida's environmental movement. Read on, from the Florida Pheonix.A 77-year-old South Florida environmentalist speaks out and gets sued, harrassed....

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The planet is on fire. America: VOTE ... by gimleteye

Clouds over the California fires, 30,000 feet up. Photo by: Peter Sin...

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Rick Scott, Adam Putnam, and Matt Caldwell: Turbulent Waters For Florida's Toxic Trio ... by gimleteye

In the winter of 2016, polluted water from Lake Okeechobee turned from brown to guacamole green, thick with toxic algae carrying cyanobacteria to downstream communities, putting people and businesses in harm's way. In the summer of 2018, it is happening again. Right before midterm elections.Gov. Rick Scott. Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. State Representative Matt Caldwell. All are seeking to move up the political ladder in November on the...

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Juliana v US, the federal lawsuit Trump and the GOP despise, just jumped another major hurdle ... by gimleteye

In other news, global heatwave continues to smash records:- Tbilisi: 41°C- Baku: 43°C- Yerevan: 42°C- Iran: 53°C- Montreal: 37°C- Ottawa: 47°C- Denver: 40°C- Los Angeles: 44°C (111°F) and all of Southern Ca- Scotland: 33.2°CIt’s a hot new world and getting hotter. Republicans fiddle while the planet is burning. (If you think — as some Republicans do — that we “can’t afford” to address climate change or that government intervention is “unconstitutional”, just wait until the planet is 10% hotter or more, than it is today.)For Immediate Release:July...

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How did the end of the world become “old news” NY Mag

NOTE: Wake up, voters. It is time to turn the tables on our national response to climate change. Our house — the one we share — is on fire as David Wallace-Wells notes in NY Mag.Republicans, contrary to your interests, are more intent on locking down their prerogatives and privileges than they are in solving the problem of what to do when none of those prerogatives and privileges can be protected because the planet that sustains us, starts crumbling.The Republican Electeds and their funders know. They know that crop cycle failures can happen on...

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Bullsugar primary candidate questionnaire and endorsements ... by gimleteye

The advocacy group Bullsugar has tapped into public focus on the massive pollution of Florida's rivers, bays, estuaries and Everglades as a result of mismanagement of the state's water infrastructure, primarily to benefit Big Sugar.Repetitive toxic algae blooms are triggering enormous damage to the state's prestige, to its tourism-related and fishing industries and to public health. Cyanobacteria is linked to severe health risks including neurological...

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Blunders by the Toxic Trio: Rick Scott, Adam Putnam, and Matt Caldwell created this Florida water crisis ... by gimleteye

Inconveniently for Florida's Toxic Trio: Rick Scott -- running for the US Senate against incumbent Bill Nelson, for Adam Putnam -- the Ag Secretary running to succeed Scott as governor, and for Caldwell -- a state representative aiming for Putnam's job as Ag Secretary -- Florida's weather is conspiring against claims they deserve your vote. They don't.The immediate crisis -- far from the first -- is the reappearance of highly toxic cyanobacteria...

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Does Stephen Cody Play Fair? By Geniusofdespair

Stephen Cody has an ethics complaint against South Miami Mayor Philip Stoddard.Stephen Cody was hired by someone when we were examining ballots for the Lynda Bell/Gene Flinn election -- I was there and he was watching us. As I watched him looking over our shoulders, I thought "scum." After he had his license suspended as a lawyer by the Supreme Court, I made peace with Natacha Seijas's lawyer/friend Stephen Cody - even friending him on Facebook...

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How dirty is Miami real estate? A LOT DIRTIER than you think ... by gimleteye

It is time for reflection, after a long run as a Miami-Dade taxpayer. When I moved from the Keys to Miami in 1992, I embraced the challenge of calling attention to the importance of preserving open space and farmland as a buffer between the intensely developed areas of Florida’s most populous county and the fragile beauty of the Everglades. Previously, I spent nearly four years as an advocate for Monroe County marine resource issues and had become involved for the first time in my life in local county politics, part of a successful effort to run...

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Miami Dolphins Kneel ... by gimleteye

I don’t care about the culture of the NFL. I DO care about free speech in America.I don’t care about Donald Trump. I DO care that his presidency is a dog whistle to racism and Alt R extremism and that he is eroding fundamental American values.I don’t care about billionaire NFL team owners. I do care that racial discrimination tears at our social fabric, bearing most heavily on young African American men.I don’t care that NFL players have chosen to protest by taking a knee. I DO care that freedom of speech is protected.In November: VOTE.&nb...

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Disgusted With Donald Trump: Do This

OPED: Disgusted With Donald Trump, Do ThisFrank Bruni, New York TimesWe got it wrong in 2016. We can get it right in 2018. There’s a far side to this American disgrace, a way to contain the damage, and it’s both utterly straightforward and entirely effective.It’s called voting. And from now until Nov. 6, we must stay fanatically focused on that — on registering voters, turning them out, directing money to the right candidates, donating time in the right places.The moral of the Helsinki freak show, the NATO tragicomedy and the children in cages...

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The Great Congressional Debate Last Night: Big Loser David Richardson. By Geniusofdespair

Miami Dade County Democratic Party Head - Juan Cuba introduces the CandidatesThe Candidates for District 27 of the US Congress: Matt Haggman, Michael Hepburn, David Ricardson, Kristen Rosen Gonzalez and Donna Shalala. Michael Putney was the moderator.David Richardson annoyed the hell out of me when Kristen Rosen Gonzalez questioned him about his getting Big Sugar donations. He didn't address them he just turned it into an attack and said the pollution...

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Fossil fuel companies spent billions to block climate change adaptation ... by gimleteye

Is anyone surprised fossil fuel companies spent billions to block climate change adaptation? Moreover, one political party — the GOP — now reinforces America’s status as a pariah among the world’s nations attempting to deal with humanity's biggest challenge.Legislation to address climate change has repeatedly died in Congress. But a major new study says the policy deaths were not from natural causes — they were caused by humans, just like climate...

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The GOP yard needs to be bulldozed and re-sodded ... by gimleteye

The GOP has stopped, blocked and inhibited at every turn any effort to use state or federal regulation to protect water quality in Florida. Elected Republicans use specious arguments like "federal overreach" and when it is time to loosen state laws, they do things like exchange hard numerical standards for "narrative" ones.Well it turns out those narrative standards are utterly failing at protecting public health and the environment. Public health,...

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