Thoughts on spending $34+ million on Boca’s public golf course

Late yesterday, May 8, 2017, the City of Boca Raton and the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District sat down to discuss what to do with a closed private golf course in the Boca Teeca area of Boca Raton. I have talked to many residents about the purchase over the last three weeks and almost all said the price was excessive, especially when they learn that appraisals came in for millions less. But those “in the know” have told me that even though they don’t like it either, I am wasting my time going up against the purchase because it is basically a “done deal.” The residents of Boca Teeca want it and the City Council wants it, so it’s “done.”

The City of Boca Raton is a well-run city overall, though, like most everything, it is not perfect. Members of the City Council are looking to enhance the city at every turn which is their job. But does that include being a bank? If the Beach & Park District wants to buy the golf course, let them get their own financing. Oh, that’s right, they can’t. So, the city should bow out and not be in the banking business.

The privately owned golf course closed the same reason golf courses across the country are closing, fewer people are playing golf, and the situation is not getting better, it is getting worse. Why plunge $24 million to buy the property and another $10 million to improve the property when there is less interest in playing golf.

The last city council meeting I was at, there was a big to-do and proclamation about conserving water. Adding a golf course to city limits is not water conservation.

I guess it comes down to the philosophy of whether governments should be in the golf business and if so, how much are the taxpayers willing to pay each year for the maintenance of that golf course? Although the Beach & Park District presented they would likely make a $1.95 million profit each year, the City of Boca Raton’s western golf course lost just shy of $500,000 last year. Rarely, if ever, do government-run golf courses make a profit. It is hard enough to do in the private sector, which is why this course was closed. Even the famed Arnold Palmer Golf Managment company couldn’t make it work, but apparently, those on City Council and Beach & Park District know better or are willing to roll the dice. We’ll see how it plays out.

NOTE: This post was mentioned in the Palm Beach Free Press.

Lyn Ulbricht says Bilton’s book on her son Ross Ulbricht has glaring factual errors

You may have heard that a book about Ross Ulbricht has come out called American Kingpin. The author, Nick Bilton, asked Ross’s mother, Lyn, to participate in the project but she was warned away by a trusted advisor who said, considering those involved, it would be a regurgitation of the government’s narrative.

Sure enough, he was right.

According to Lyn, Bilton bases his story of murder-for-hire as if it’s fact. Yet these allegations were never proven, prosecuted or even charged at trial and no murders occurred. Former Federal Judge Nancy Gertner joined Ross’ appeal saying it is wrong to use uncharged crimes against a person. Yet Nick Bilton has no compunction in doing this.

Nick Bilton says Ross is dangerous. yet all his convictions were non-violent and he has no record of hurting anyone. No victims came forward at trial to claim that Ross had harmed them in any way. Rather, Ross is widely known as peaceful and compassionate. You can read what 100 people who actually know him have to say.

Ross cannot defend himself or his reputation against this media onslaught. He is helpless to stop the feeding frenzy; sensationalizing, fictionalizing and profiting from his life. He’s just trying to survive each day, living in a cell, hoping that the appellate courts care more about the truth than the media does.

You can help counteract this by commenting on articles about the book and sharing/liking the #FreeRoss posts on social media. The facts speak for themselves. Bottom line: it has never been proven that Ross was involved in murder-for-hire. Even the government didn’t have the confidence to charge him with this at trial.

https://www.facebook.com/freerossulbricht/

https://twitter.com/Free_Ross

Free Ross Youtube Channel

My endorsements for Libertarian Party of Florida office holders

The Libertarian Party of Florida will convene its annual meeting this weekend in Cocoa Beach, Florida where party members will vote in new leadership while also conducting other party business. I rarely, and may have never publicly endorsed anyone for party offices. And frankly, until yesterday, I was going to continue that tradition. But things have gotten so fractured within the party, that I feel compelled to express for whom I expect to vote.

Much like the Democrats and the Republicans, the Libertarians have their own internal party conflicts. But what I particularly despise is when people make conclusions of fact based on assumptions. I have seen this with people who are not a friend and with those I consider friends. How one can come to a conclusion about a subject, an issue or a person without having all the facts is hard for me to understand. There is certainly nothing wrong with questioning things that seem odd, but to conclude without all the information can be reckless, especially when reputations and furthering a cause is at stake. Then when those assumptions are presented to others as fact, it creates a group of people operating under those false assumptions. This is simply not right.

I am not here to clear the air. While others may throw arrows, naming names and going down the conspiratorial road, that ain’t my style. I am here in hopes of moving the Libertarian Party of Florida forward in a positive direction while having the party taken seriously in Tallahassee and across the state. I am going to be voting for those who I feel are interested in devoting their time and soul to our cause of freedom and I will not be voting for those that cause conflict or detract from our cause.

I am going to be voting for those who I feel are interested in devoting their time and soul to our cause of freedom and I will not be voting for those that detract from our cause. DISCLAIMER: This is my own opinion and not that of any organization I am involved. Specifically, this is not the opinion of the Libertarian Party of Palm Beach County.

With that, the following are people I feel would be best for their respective offices they seek:

Libertarian Party of Florida Chair

There are two (well three) people who are running for Chair, Char-Lez Braden, Marcos Miralles and of course NOTA (None of the Above).

Char-Lez is the incumbent who has proven himself to be someone that can be fair and knows how to run a meeting. He is doing a better job at running meetings than when I was Chair of LP Florida. He’s a likable guy; though I rarely talk to him and we disagree as much as we agree on things, he is fair and skilled at being Chair. He has led the state party through a few serious rough patches.

Marcos, I do not know as well, because he and the LP Miami-Dade affiliate for which he is Vice-Chair, chooses not to participate in many LP Florida activities. He is a nice guy, seems competent and I like the idea of bringing “new, young blood” to LP Florida leadership. His team at LP Miami-Dade are doing great things and would like to see that translate to the state level. I would have liked Marcos to have been more involved with the state party before jumping in to run for Chair.

For the reasons stated above, I expect to vote Char-Lez Braden for Chair of LP Florida for the next term. If I were to offer Marcos a suggestion, it would be that if not elected, that he run again for Chair after being more involved with the state party.

Libertarian Party of Florida Vice Chair

There are three people that I am aware are running to be the Vice Chair of LP Florida, Dana Moxley-Cummings, Omar Recuero, and Joseph Wendt.

Dana is a fabulous person with a great family and has experience serving in various capacities with LP Florida in addition to serving as Chair. Although she was kind of “thrown into” the position of Chair, she adapted well under quite a bit of pressure. She clearly cares about liberty and I believe she cares about moving LP Florida in a positive direction. I can’t remember the last time we spoke, but I do enjoy her social media posts and her relentless medical marijuana activism.

Omar is an incredibly knowledgeable person about LP Florida. He is its current Vice Chair which entails serving on all its committees. He knows the By-Laws, Standing Rules, and the LP Florida Constitution like I used to recite Bible verses when I was a teen. He deeply cares about LP Florida which I believe is why he is, by far, the one with the most questions during LP Florida Executive Committee meetings. I do not know how much time Omar regularly spends on LP Florida business (let alone other LP business) but it has to be a big number each week. But Omar can be divisive at times which I wish is something he is able to overcome in the future. An email I saw overnight to a local “adversary” showed that I think he can do so. I rarely see or speak with Omar except during LP Florida EC calls and seeing him at LP Broward events.

Joe has the amazing ability to get a convention together like no one else. I have truly been impressed with his organizational capabilities — they certainly surpass my own. And though in the past, I have taken some of his “off the cuff” remarks to some other Libertarians as simple “joking around,” I may have been wrong. Recent events for which I am still looking into, lead me to believe this may be the case. I hope what I discover is incorrect because Joe is a very likable guy.

For the reasons stated above, I expect to vote for Omar Recuero for Vice Chair of LP Florida for the next term.

Libertarian Party of Florida Director At Large 1

The two people I am aware running for this position are Alison Foxall and Thomas Knapp.

Alison has proven herself to be a talented and dedicated soul on LP Florida’s Executive Committee. Her work ethic may outmatch my own which I had thought impossible. Between the different committees she works and her involvement with other LP business, it is impressive. She has helped LP Florida standardize our branding, made us look incredibly professional, and cares deeply about our cause. I was searching for something that I could find she could improve but came up blank. I can think of at least a dozen negative things to say about myself or ways I could improve regarding LP Florida, but nothing comes to mind regarding her and her work with LP Florida.

Thomas is somewhat a legend in LP circles, nationwide and here in the state. Like me, he is a radical, though we differ on many things and he may be a bit more radical than myself. Though he can be brash, it is not done so unfairly, nor without cause. He’s an impressive individual I would desperately want to see on LP Florida’s Executive Committee. Though like Omar, we may butt heads, he is fair and smart. He would be a tremendous asset to the EC which is why I was hoping he would run for another position as I think Alison may carry the vote on Saturday.

For the above reasons, I expect to vote for Alison Foxall for LP Florida Director At Large 1.

Libertarian Party of Florida Director At Large 3

There are two people running for this position and they are Greg Peele and Rob Tolp.

Greg is a newbie to me, only met him a couple months ago in Lakeland. Seems like a good guy, smart, capable. He seems to get along with the different factions of LP Florida which I like immensely which speaks positively of a man with great character.

Rob, I have known a while and would feel comfortable him being on the EC. We seem to agree on most, if not all issues. He is dedicated to our cause, he is capable and passionate.

It’s a tough choice here, so I am going to temporarily reserve who I will vote for Director At Large 3 until the day of the convention. I am leaning toward Rob, but Greg may be able to convince me otherwise. Greg, send for my Bitcoin address 🙂

 

With that said, the other positions are all Regional Representative positions, for which, I am one (region 13). Most are uncontested, I only know of two that are contested and frankly, I do not know the people well enough to endorse any. It’s best to leave it up to those regions to elect who they feel can serve them best.

There is a move afoot to get rid of the current EC and as for my position, if there is a better person people in my region (Broward, Hendry, and Palm Beach Counties) would like to elect, then that would be great. I have no ego in any of this. My only desire is to see Florida become a freer state and it is for that I base all my decisions.

AG Jeff Sessions needs to go (ACTION ITEM)

It is no secret that I was against Jeff Sessions being confirmed to be America’s top cop via President Trump’s nomination of him to be our Attorney General. There are many reasons for this and the most prominent, is his anti-freedom attitude toward drugs as he clearly has a strong, uninformed bias. He even wants to go back to the failed Nancy Reagan era of “Just Say No.” While failing to acknowledge that there are thousands of legal things available to Americans that harm them, he has chosen to demonize cannabis (marijuana).

While many Americans were out protesting the election of Trump, they should have been taking action by calling and writing their U.S. Senators to stop the nomination of Sessions, but few did. I predict Sessions is going to be the single worst person and impose the worst actions of any Trump nominees.

While failing to acknowledge there are thousands of legal things available to Americans which harm them, Sessions has demonized cannabis and recently said that it is “only slightly worse than heroin.” He is either lying, grossly misinformed or a complete idiot — one or more of the three. One does not have to smoke, vape or bake cannabis to be in favor of the freedom for others to use the plant. Nor does one have to use the plant to know the science behind the positive benefits of ingesting it.

One does not have to smoke, vape or bake cannabis to be in favor of the freedom for others to use the plant. Nor does one have to use the plant to know the science behind the positive benefits of ingesting it.

But for the Attorney General of the United States to make public statements which are clearly false is irresponsible. It has been scientifically proven that cannabis can help with a large number of ailments and as research continues, I believe we will find many more. Heck, even the federal government holds a patent showing the plant has health benefits.

And while there are many positive health benefits of ingesting cannabis, some choose to take it for fun and to help with their creativity — and it is their right to do so. It is their right to do so, for so long as I am not (or any taxpayer) footing the bill for any (if any) of its effects. What I, as a taxpayer am paying for today, is for the prosecution and jailing of millions of Americans who are not harming anyone else. This needs to end and many states have taken the steps to end this harmful domestic policy.

This needs to end and many states have taken the steps to end the failed “War on Drugs” yet we have a hard right Attorney General who apparently thinks the movie Reefer Madness is a documentary. Please, stop the madness!

Send a tweet to President Trump using this simple, customizable link TODAY!  http://spredd.it/5K4I5aaZ

If you’re not on Twitter, then at least shoot an email to president@whitehouse.gov .

 

New Study Explores Crony Capitalism in Florida

The DeVoe L. Moore Center Blog

A new study published by The James Madison Institute by DeVoe L. Moore Center Policy Analyst Matthew Kelly and Center Director Samuel Staley explores two examples of crony capitalism in Florida’s government policy: sports stadium subsidies and film tax incentives. The authors urge Floridians to remain vigilant over the spending of their tax dollars by government officials and prevent the enrichment of special interests at the public’s expense.

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Charles Murray shouted down at Vermont university

This past week, author Charles Murray was shouted off the stage at a Vermont college before his speech could begin. Murray is often portrayed in the press and with some in the public as being a libertarian; however, many Libertarians would disagree. Murray is really a conservative and not necessarily a Libertarian.

It was shortly after joining the Libertarian Party in 1996 and I began exploring Libertarian circles that Charles Murray’s book What It Means to be a Libertarian came out (1997). With many of my new Libertarian friends, the book was met with dismay, as it was thought to confuse the public as to what it meant to be a Libertarian. There are many valid Libertarian points brought forth in Murray’s book; however, there are more which are clearly non-Libertarian. It is also important to point out that this was his own personal interpretation of what it means to be a libertarian.

While Murray is no stranger to controversy and contrary thinking, it is important to note that disrupting his speech is inexcusable. It is the opposite of what should have happened this past Thursday in Vermont. The “protestors” should have let him have his say, then hit him up during the Q & A with tough questions or comments. The students could have been prepared with contrary arguments; instead, they chose a far less productive means of influence. Contrary ideas should be challenged and met with skepticism; this is the best way to find whether those ideas hold water or are full of holes. But to shout down those ideas indiscriminately does a disservice to all.

 

It is because of people like Murray and yes, those students who protested on Thursday in Vermont, that there is such confusion about Libertarianism. It is why I am sometimes stupidly called a racist for being a Libertarian when racism is the antithesis of Libertarianism. It is because people do not take the time to sit down and have a civil discourse that we have this divide.

While the well-respected Mises Institute is not a fan of Murray’s, nor is the horrible Southern Poverty Law Center which, I think, mislabels Murray as a “White Nationalist.”

This is not to say Murray does not have some valid Libertarian views, most Americans do as well, it is simply to say, that Murray is not a straight up Libertarian.

Make your voice heard in the upcoming hearings in Florida regarding medical marijuana regulation

The Department of Health has proposed rules for Amendment 2 Here is an article about the proposed Department of Health Hearings. February 6-9, 2017 staff members from the DOH Office of Compassionate Use are visiting five Florida cities. The tour is an effort by the Department to fulfill the public comment requirements.   Anyone can make a comment about the implementation of Amendment 2 through the Departments’ online form found here.  If you are passionate about ensuring patients have safe, legal access to cannabis, consider attending and speaking at a meeting near you. Items to speak out about! Changing the definition of caregiver – Any close blood relative should be allowed to act as a caregiver without a background check. A level 1 background check won’t exclude a con artist or swindler from becoming a caregiver and extorting a patient, unless the rules exempt people convicted of fraud or elder abuse.  Don’t ask Doctors to order specific quantities of cannabis. The proposed rules require doctors to “order” specific quantities of cannabis, which is too much like an unlawful prescription and puts doctors at risk under federal law. If doctors don’t participate, patients won’t be able to enroll. Let the doctor make the decision if cannabis is right for the patient. The proposed rules give the Florida Board of Medicine — not the patient’s doctor — the ability to determine whether the patient’s condition is “substantially similar” to those listed in the amendment. Ensure doctors can re-authorize our recommendation every 45-days without a subsequent visit! Patients can’t afford to pay a doctor, often out of pocket, every 45-days just to stay on the registry. When preparing to speak, here are some things to consider.  Know what you’re talking about. Read the proposed rules carefully and look up the references.  The DOH can only implement the laws as written in the Constitution or written in Florida Statute. Make sure you understand the difference and speak to what DOH can actually do. Here is the full statute as it exists. Don’t try to cover more than one or two items when you speak. Pick your point, have your facts on hand and make it relevant. There will be forms available before the meeting, get there early and fill one out. Your statement becomes part of the official record and the information you provide is public. Your time will be limited to three minutes or less. If enough people ask to speak you could get one minute. Get to your point quickly. Don’t waste time introducing yourself. They have your form. Get to your point quickly. Here are the times and locations of the public hearings. You don’t have to attend to be heard. Remember, everyone can comment through this online form. Feb 6 – 2:00 pm Office of Compassionate Use Public Hearing – Duval County Health Department, 900 University Blvd. North in Jacksonville Feb 7 – 10:00 am – Office of Compassionate Use Public Hearing – Broward County Health Department, 780 SW 24th Street in Fort Lauderdale Feb 8 – 9:00 am – Office of Compassionate Use Public Hearing – Florida Department of Health, Tampa Branch Laboratory, 3602 Spectrum Blvd. Feb 8 – 6:00 pm – Office of Compassionate Use Public Hearing – Orange County Health Department, 6102 Lake Ellenor Drive in Orlando Feb 9 – 4:00 pm – Office of Compassionate Use Public Hearing – Betty Easley Conference Center, 4075 Esplanade Way, Room 148 in Tallahassee.