2020 Election – Hillsborough County Sheriff

This entry is part 4 of 9 in the series 2020 Election

The incumbent is “married into money” Chad Chronister opposed by Independent Ron McMullen and Democrat Gary Pruitt. Pruitt is the only candidate who returned my calls (and you know my rule). I didn’t expect to hear from Chronister. Chronister is the recommendation of Times Editorial Board, and we could do worse. In my conversations with Gary Pruitt I found him to be genuine and level-headed. He seems to care a lot more about “law enforcement” than about politics. He wants body cams and windshield cams. He also favors an actual “Citizens’ Oversight” function over just an “advisory committee.” I’m recommending Gary Pruitt.

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Judge William Jung-Douchebag of the Day

This entry is part 53 of 54 in the series Daily Douche-Bag

In 2017, Tampa passed an ordinance that prohibited conversion therapy for children under 18. As they always do, Liberty Counsel and their perpetual “client,” Las Vegas-based Robert Vazzo (not even a resident of Florida), and a David Pickup of Dallas (not licensed in Florida) filed a lawsuit to get the ordinance overturned. However, Republican Trump-appointee William Jung had to bend himself into a Gordian Knot of legal reasoning to give them that win.

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Immigrant Child Detention Protest

Tuesday morning I received a Move-on email announcing a protest against the Child Detention Centers at the local office of U.S. Representative Kathy Castor. I decided to attend. News stories estimated the crowd at a few dozen, I’d put it a little higher, but it was not a huge crowd. It seemed somewhat hastily called, so that may account for it.

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Remembering Mr. Deal

I know that today, somewhere on a football field in heaven, a band of angels is trying to keep up eight to five, and a bald-headed guy is getting right in front of them and yelling through a megaphone to pick up their knees. I also know at the end of the day they’ll not only be a better band but better angels. Thank you, Mr. Deal, for calling all of us to be our better angels. Godspeed and “horns up.”

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Politicians and Pride

This past Saturday I went with some friends to the annual Tampa Bay Pride parade over in Ybor City. The parade was led off by a couple of Grand Masters of course, but then came all the candidates (Tampa is having municipal election runoffs) and local office holders. They kept coming and coming, and finally when the first actual float came by I looked at my watch, and it had taken nearly 25 minutes for all the pols to get by.

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Deviled Pig – A Restaurant Review

The Deviled Pig opened within the past few months at 3307 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33629. I was getting good comments on a neighborhood message, and over 4.5 stars on Yelp. It does turn out it didn’t rate quite that high once Yelp realized that there were a sizeable number of recently created accounts that one review giving the location 5 stars (guess who that restaurant was). However, once that was cleaned out, it still had decent reviews, so we decided to try it last night (Friday) early.

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Entitled Tampans And Tampa Airport

I don’t know if some people just don’t think, or feel entitled in some extreme sort of royalty-like way. I recently came across a Facebook Group for people who are complaining about the sound of airplanes landing at Tampa International Airport, despite having bought homes they knew to be right under the primary approach path. Go figure.

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Honor a Veteran – Wreaths Across America

There are 1200 Veterans who are buried at Mountain Rest Cemetery in Kings Mountain, NC, and countless others in both National and local cemeteries across the nation. They are the Veterans who we hope to honor when we participate in Wreaths Across America Day on December 15, 2018. Find out how you can help.

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Hillsborough County Commission District 7

This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series 2018 Elections

There are three candidates for this at-large seat on the County Commission. In keeping with my commitment to talk to people running in local elections, I’ve talked to Kimberly Overman and Todd Marks. I’m endorsing Kimberly Overman.

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