Aug 9, 2019 Posted by AAfterwit on Aug 9, 2019 | 2 comments

We Get Mail. From John Tobia?

We have mentioned Brevard County Commissioner John Tobia several times on this site previously. Most recently, we wrote about his misguided attempt to limit free speech from citizens, a position which he later pulled back from.

The Brevard County Commission decided not to take up Tobia’s proposal – even the scaled back version.

However, we did get an email blast from Tobia and we think it need to be seen and read by others who aren’t on the Tobia mailing list:

County Commissioners Bust Tax Cap While Spending Frivolously

On July 23rd, the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners voted to bust the voter-approved spending cap by a 4-1 vote. I was the lone dissenter. This cap was imposed by an overwhelming majority of voters (73%) in 2008 to reign in out-of-control government spending.

The Board did this by declaring a “critical need.” This need was said to be increasing funding for public safety. Yet, it did this while still spending money on things that are, without question, not critical needs. For example, the County gives away thousands of your tax dollars to an organization, the Brevard Cultural Alliance, for “arts in public places.” Making things worse, this organization has been accused by a variety of citizens and groups, including arts organizations, of gross mismanagement of funds. I have been, and will continue to, work towards putting a stop to this frivolous spending.
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Aug 8, 2019 Posted by AAfterwit on Aug 8, 2019 | 1 comment

Baltimore Sun Attacks Clean Up Effort.

The Baltimore Sun editorial board came out with a editorial that basically slammed the clean up effort of people in West Baltimore.

We assume it was pure motives that led a Trump supporter to launch a cleanup in Cummings’ district, right?

It made for good photos, compelling videos and catchy Twitter hashtags. A group of conservatives rolled their pickup trucks into one of West Baltimore’s most impoverished neighborhoods Monday for a cleanup day. Loaded down with trash bags and shovels, they cleared alleyways of old tires, food containers, paper and other debris. They pulled up weeds and cut away overgrown grass. The group posted before and after pictures on social media showing their progress.

The effort was organized by pro-Trump activist Scott Presler. He claimed the event was not political. Yes, he was inspired to come by tweets from President Donald Trump describing the area, represented by U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, as a “rodent infested mess.” But the visit wasn’t about showing support or animosity for either man, he said.

Call us skeptical.

This is an interesting perspective. Assume for a moment that the Sun is right – that the clean up was politically motivated by Trump’s description of the area. If that is the case, shouldn’t the opposite have occurred as well? Shouldn’t the people in the district have shown support for Cummings and get out there and prove Trump wrong? Where were the supporters of Cummings running out of their homes to support the effort? Shouldn’t that have happened if the only motivation of people is “political?”

Look, we appreciate anyone who is willing to roll up their sleeves to help Baltimore. More than 170 people came from all over the country and cleaned up nearly 12 tons of trash, according to Mr. Presler’s Twitter feed. He doesn’t post any photos of the totality of the trash, so we’ll have to take his word for it.

Please notice the above picture taken by Baltimore Sun photographer Jerry Jackson, who apparently went to the West Baltimore scene to photo-document the clean up. If there are no pictures of the “totality of the trash,” isn’t that on the Sun, and not on the people cleaning up?

The editorial board then attacks this tweet by Pressler.
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Aug 7, 2019 Posted by AAfterwit on Aug 7, 2019 | 0 comments

You Won’t Hear Much About This Out Of Baltimore.

With all the stuff going on in Baltimore and the back and forth between political groups, you probably won’t hear much about this:

Many a morning, 58-year-old Millie Jefferson finds herself outside her home in West Baltimore, sweeping her front steps and picking up trash on her block. Monday, she had some unexpected visitors.

Dozens of volunteers gathered near her home on North Fulton Avenue and started bagging garbage and weeding, too. They were inspired by Scott Presler, a Republican activist from northern Virginia who started a social media campaign to help clean up Baltimore’s 7th congressional district in the wake of President Donald Trump’s tweets about it last month.

“We can’t do it alone,” Jefferson said. “It makes me feel good to see that there are still some good people and good communities that want to see better.”

The volunteers donned gloves and wielded rakes and weed wackers as they combed through trash dumped in the neighborhood and hacked away grasses peeking through the sidewalks. Beneath a pop-up tent, they signed a poster with the words “Americans Helping Americans.”

What may be more of interest is who organized the effort to do what the City government wouldn’t or couldn’t do:
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Aug 6, 2019 Posted by AAfterwit on Aug 6, 2019 | 9 comments

Palm Bay: More On Rebman And The Homeless.

After our post the other day on homeless “advocate” Tom Rebman’s comments to the City Council, a screenshot of a Facebook post Rebman had made about the alleged incident was put up in a Palm Bay forum. (See below for the post.)

Clearly something is amiss here.

In the post, Rebman claims that a Code Enforcement officer told the people in the camp they had to leave the property. Rebman claims the Code Enforcement officer was accompanied by a police officer.

On July 26, in response to Rebman’s remarks on the alleged incident, both City Manager Lise Morrell and Chief of Police Moya said no one was told they had to leave the property by any officer or person from the City. One can take this as a “he said / they said” type situation. Neither Rebman, Morrell nor Moya was at the camp when the the residents were supposedly told they had to leave. Moya and Morrell are relying on the statements of City employees while Rebman is relying on information from the camp’s inhabitants.

Who to believe?

The problem in believing Rebman is that the Code Enforcement officer cannot demand or remove people from the property. That would be a function of a complaint to the property owner, who it appears was unaware of the camp on his property. We find it difficult to believe that a Code Enforcement officer was doing anything other than inspecting the property after other residents had complained.
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Aug 5, 2019 Posted by AAfterwit on Aug 5, 2019 | 0 comments

The Racist Test.

Somehow it seems that merely disagreeing with someone now opens up a person to charges of “racism.”

We’ve talked about how that is often a charge to simply end meaningful and honest debate by those who aren’t interested in any form of exchange of ideas. “Let’s have a conversation” means “you will listen to me and do what I say!”

Lately, the charge of “racist” has been repeatedly hurled at President Donald Trump and supporters.

Columnist Dennis Prager has come up with three questions to ask a “Trump supporter” or anyone for that matter, to determine if someone is actually a “racist” or not:

But this we do know: If you repeat something often enough, and if your Weltanschauung (worldview) and that which gives your life meaning are dependent upon believing something, you will eventually believe it.

So here is a way to show it is a lie.
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Aug 4, 2019 Posted by AAfterwit on Aug 4, 2019 | 2 comments

Palm Bay: No Trespassing For Homeless?

The other day, we were looking at the Palm Bay City Council agenda for August 1. On the agenda was the approval of the minutes for the July 26, 2019 meeting. What caught our eye was the minutes from the Citizen Comments part of the meeting, specifically the comments by Tom Redman, a self purported advocate for the homeless.

Here’s how the minutes summarized his comment:

3. Tom Rebman, resident, said that individuals from homeless camps were being trespassed and removed from properties. He wanted Council to assure that no homeless camps would ever be trespassed from properties without services being offered first.

We were surprised as it seems that Redman was saying that property owners had no right to trespass people from their own property. Surely someone as “learned” as Redman would never advocate such a thing.

We went back and transcribed his comments:

I’m having a difficult time forming my words today.

I care very much about my city. It pains me very much every time I see a negative news article. It pains me every time I see negative comments on Facebook. I want to see our community known for the people we are and the great work that we do.

Something has recently happened and I’m not asking for answers on why it happened. I’m not worried about going backwards, on who shot John, but I do know for a fact that the things I am about to state are facts because I am getting my information from the City’s Public Information request they provided me.
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Aug 3, 2019 Posted by AAfterwit on Aug 3, 2019 | Comments Off on Operation Defensive Shield.

Operation Defensive Shield.

From A.F. Branco at Comically Incorrect:

Democrats call their opponents racist in order to shield their disastrous policies such as Detroit, Baltimore, and other intercity issues they’ve caused across the country from the public.

One of our staff members is from Baltimore and has family and friends in the city.

What you have heard about Baltimore in the news is not correct.

It is much worse.
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Aug 2, 2019 Posted by AAfterwit on Aug 2, 2019 | Comments Off on Speed, Texting And Spectrum.

Speed, Texting And Spectrum.

This is going to be post with three separate things that are too small to make a whole post out of. Think of it as a “small cornucopia of thoughts.”

In case you missed it, Florida has a new “texting and driving law” in place.

We aren’t fans of texting and driving. Having to look down at a cell phone screen while driving a 2000 pound vehicle is a recipe for disaster and sadly, it often is.

We had to laugh when we saw this comment from Indialantic new police chief Mike Connor.

(By “laugh,” we mean that the comment made us smile. We are not disagreeing with his overall point on texting and driving. It’s just that the example he used was a little “over the top” in a humorous way.)

In regard to the law, Chief Connor told the Florida Today:

“It seems like common sense,” Connor said. “Especially traveling at highway speeds, you take your eyes off the road and you’ll be a couple of thousand yards down the road in a blink of an eye, and you never know if a kid runs out in front of you … I’m glad to see legislators allow this law to make it enforceable.”

You may have caught where we are about to go with this…..
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