Tag: florida

Florida stripper sues state over law raising age requirement

A 19-year-old is suing over a Florida law that raises the age requirements to work in adult entertainment establishments, saying it violated her constitutional rights and made her lose her job as a stripper.

In a lawsuit filed Monday, Serenity Michelle Bushey said she and at least eight other performers were fired from Café Risque, a strip club near Gainesville, because of the state law that increased the minimum age to 21.

The lawsuit, which also includes Café Risque and two adult businesses in Jacksonville as plaintiffs, seeks a permanent injunction stopping enforcement of the law.

“As with similar performers around the state, Bushey earned her living through her art while providing entertainment for the benefit and enjoyment of her audience,” the complaint said. “Plaintiffs have a clear legal right to engage in protected speech of this nature.”

The complaint, which was first reported by the Tallahassee Democrat, names Florida’s attorney general and two local prosecutors as defendants. It was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 7063in May, saying it would deter human trafficking.

But the companies in the complaint disputed that, saying they’ve longemployed adult entertainers, cooks, waitresses and security guards younger than 21 with no instances of human trafficking.

The clubs said they hire performers under 21 to increase the talent pool and attract young adult audiences. Many young entertainers use the job to support themselves through college, they said.

The plaintiffs, represented by Gainesville attorney Gary Scott Edinger, saidthe law violates their First Amendment right to free speech.

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Palm Beach judge releases grand jury records from 2008 Jeffrey Epstein case

On Monday afternoon, a Florida judge released transcripts from a grand jury investigation into allegations of sex trafficking and rape involving Jeffrey Epstein, the late millionaire financier.

In his order, Judge Delgado referred to Epstein as “the most infamous pedophile in American history.” “For almost 20 years, the story of how Jeffrey Epstein victimized some of Palm Beach County’s most vulnerable has been the subject of much anger and has at times diminished the public’s perception of the criminal justice system,” Delgado said.

The judge had initially planned a hearing for next week to determine the timing and method of release. Governor Ron DeSantis had previously signed a bill in February authorizing the release on Monday or at any time designated by Circuit Judge Luis Delgado, US News reported.

The records span nearly 200 pages and include testimony from at least one victim who was molested by Epstein. He was a New York financier who allegedly assaulted underage girls at his Palm Beach mansion for decades.

Epstein managed to avoid serious charges, partly because the Palm Beach prosecutor at the time, Barry Krischer, chose to charge him with minor prostitution offenses instead of pursuing a felony sexual assault case.

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Woman spent a MONTH in jail because police mistook dried SpaghettiO’s residue on a spoon for meth before crime lab tests finally realized their error

A Florida woman is free to eat pasta in her car once again after serving a month in jail because cops confused a crusty spoon in her possession with SpaghettiO’s residue as being the drug methamphetamine.

  • Ashley Gabrielle Huff, 23, was arrested on July 2 by police after they suspected her of having meth residue on a spoon that was actually sauce
  • Huff served one month in jail because she could not make court dates or pay bond and even considered admitting to a crime she did not commit
  •  The Crime Lab report showed no controlled substances on the spoon submitted for testing,’ said Judicial Circuit District Attorney Lee Darragh

Ashley Gabrielle Huff, 23, was arrested on July 2 by the Gainesville police department after they suspected her of having meth residue on a spoon in her car that she hard pressed was SpaghettiO’s residue.

She was released from Hall County Jail on Thursday after a crime lab analysis confirmed that the spoon had sauce residue instead of drugs, reports The Gainesville Times.

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A Florida Man Was Arrested for Filming Marion County Sheriff’s Deputies. Now He’s Suing.

A Florida man has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit three years after a Marion County sheriff’s deputy arrested him for filming officers from a public sidewalk.

In 2021, Marion County Sheriff’s Deputy Neil Rosaci arrested George Nathansen and charged him with obstruction of justice for refusing to follow his orders to leave the scene of an investigation. However, body camera footage showed Nathansen standing at least 30 feet away on a public sidewalk before Rosaci walked over and handcuffed him.

In Nathansen’s lawsuit, filed last Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, he alleges that Rosaci and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) violated his Fourth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights by falsely arresting and incarcerating him.

Numerous federal appeals courts have ruled that filming the police is protected under the First Amendment, but police around the country continue to illegally arrest people for it. The Justice Department released a report this month on pervasive civil rights violations by the Phoenix Police Department, including retaliating against citizens who were trying to record them. Earlier this year, Texas prosecutors dropped charges against a citizen journalist who was arrested, strip-searched, and jailed for filming police.

Nathansen’s case is yet another example of police retaliation against someone for core First Amendment activities.

The incident began on July 24, 2021, when Rosaci arrived at the scene of a car crash. While deputies were talking to the two parties involved in the accident, Nathansen arrived and began filming with his cell phone. There are a growing number of self-styled “First Amendment auditors” around the country who record police interactions and post them online. (In response to alleged harassment, several states have passed dubious “buffer-zone” laws that criminalize being too close to a first responder.) 

Rosaci’s body camera footage, obtained by the Ocala Post, showed that Nathansen was filming near the deputies’ cars when Rosaci first shooed him away and told him, “You can stand on the sidewalk over there.”

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DeSantis Launches ‘Florida Freedom Fund’ To Oppose Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative, As Campaign Reports Millions In New Donations

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has launched a new political action committee to campaign against marijuana legalization and abortion rights initiatives that will appear on the state’s November ballot. At the same time, a newly released campaign finance report shows over $5 million in contributions supporting the cannabis measure have come in over the past two months.

As DeSantis continues his crusade against the marijuana legalization proposal, late last month he started what’s being called the Florida Freedom Fund, aimed at preventing adults from gaining the right to use cannabis. It’s being run by the governor’s chief of staff, James Uthmeier.

A spokesperson for DeSantis told Politico that the PAC “will be championing issues and candidates committed to preserving Floridians’ freedom.” How that stated mission squares with an attempt to restrict adults from accessing marijuana without risking a criminal record and potential jail time is unclear.

According to a Fox News poll released last week, two in three Florida voters support the cannabis initiative—with the issue proving more popular than the governor himself. The survey showed majority support for legalization across the political spectrum, too.

Despite his opposition to the marijuana legalization, DeSantis recently vetoed a bill to ban the sale of intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids in his state. The action came amid reporting that the governor planned to block the hemp prohibition legislation in hopes that the industry would return the favor by financially assisting in his effort to defeat the marijuana initiative.

The governor, who predicted voters will reject the marijuana initiative in November, has argued that the state shouldn’t go beyond the existing medical cannabis program and that broader reform would negatively impact the quality of life for Floridians. The Florida Republican Party also formally came out against Amendment 3 last month.

So far, DeSantis’s PAC hasn’t reported raising any money. The Smart & Safe Florida campaign behind the marijuana initiative, however, reported more than $5.2 million in new contributions from April 1 to May 31, with the bulk of that funding coming from the multi-state cannabis company Trulieve. That’s in addition to the $15 million the campaign raised in the first quarter of the year, a haul that included contributions from other cannabis companies such as Verano Holdings, Curaleaf, Ayr Wellness, Green Thumb Industries and Cresco Labs.

The new first quarter report shows that other marijuana firms are coming to the table in support, including Insa, which donated $144,000, Sunburn parent company Green Sentry Holdings, which chipped in $50,000, and Urban-Gro, which gave $25,000.

The report also shows dozens of small-dollar donations, too.

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US Deploys Sub Hunter P-8 Poseidon Off Florida Coast To ‘Shadow’ Russian Flotilla

According to Newsweek, multiple open-source intelligence analysts have said the US has deployed air and naval assets off Florida’s eastern coast to ‘shadow’ Russian warships. This comes as Russian warships are expected to arrive in Cuba this week ahead of military drills in the Caribbean.

Open source intelligence (OSINT) analysts on Tuesday posted updates showing the CG Stone coastguard vessel, the USS Truxtun and USS Donald Cook destroyers, and the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec travelling southwards down the Florida coast, purportedly following the Russian ships headed to Cuba. Above them, at least one US Navy P-8A Poseidon appeared to be conducting surveillance. -Newsweek

OSINT analysts on X weren’t clear which of Russia’s four-ship grouping, made up of the Gorshkov frigate, the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan, the fleet oil tanker Pashin, and the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker, were transiting in international waters off the coast of Florida. Still, they posted flight tracking data that showed at least one Boeing P-8 Poseidon circling above. 

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U.S. Government PSYOP Needs to be Zeroed Out and Re-started Under Constitutional Principles

Special Operation Forces Week in Tampa is the premier gathering event for all things related to Special Operations.  On May 9, 2024, at the most recent event in Tampa, there was a session on “Operations in the Information Environment (OIE) Symposium”.  This title is simply another name for Psychological Operations (PSYOP).

Having been to the PSYOP Course at Ft. Bragg (now Ft. Liberty) in 1984, this panel caught my attention.  The name, functional areas, doctrine and tactics have evolved a bit since PSYOP was first introduced in the 1950s to fight Soviet Communism that was on a post-World War II rampage to topple the Western System.  The Doolittle Report, the founding strategy and document for the CIA roles and missions, emphasized the need for methodologies and capabilities to tell the American story and defeat the aggressive Soviet propaganda efforts.  PSYOP was key to the early CIA and the nascent American military special operations community.  It was quite effective in those early and heady days of a battle for survival against Communism.

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Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz wants Congress to OK killing rare whale

Of all the movies ever made in Florida — “Body Heat,” “Cocoon,” and “Spring Breakers,” to name a few — the one with the oddest concept was “The Truman Show.”

Jim Carrey plays a man with a sunny disposition who has no idea that secret cameras are recording every moment of his life for the entertainment of millions.

“Good morning, and in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night,” he’d cheerfully tell his neighbors, not realizing they were actors.

This movie was filmed in a seaside Florida town named Seaside. The town is real, not a movie set. I know someone who grew up in the house that Carrey’s character occupied in the movie, and so do you. His name is Matt Gaetz, and he’s the pompadoured U.S. congressman representing a chunk of the Panhandle.

Lately, though, Gaetz, R-Venmo, seems to be copying a much dourer fictional character. He’s been styling himself after Captain Ahab from “Moby Dick.”

He’s set a course to take out a whale. Or several.

Not a white whale, of course. No, he wants to harm the rarest whale on earth.

The Rice’s whale is the only one that lives entirely in the Gulf of Mexico. The species, discovered only recently, is definitely endangered. Scientists estimate that there are fewer than 100 of them — maybe as few as 51.

And Gaetz wants Congress to OK the military bombing the heck out of them.

Even though the military doesn’t want to do that.

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Florida Marijuana Legalization Campaign Releases New Statewide Ad Warning Of Dangers Of Unregulated Cannabis

The campaign behind a marijuana legalization ballot measure in Florida released a new ad in support of Amendment 3 this week, arguing that cannabis currently available on the state’s illicit market is dangerously unregulated.

“Most Florida marijuana is illegal, produced by criminals and can be laced with dangerous drugs like fentanyl,” a woman says, described in a campaign press release as “a Florida mom and voter who believes adult Floridians deserve the individual freedom to consume safe, tested adult-use marijuana.”

Titled “Fact,” the 30-second ad is set to air statewide “across broadcast, cable, streaming, radio and digital platforms,” according to the campaign, Smart & Safe Florida.

“Millions of Floridians use marijuana. It’s a fact,” it says. “Most Americans have access to legal marijuana that is regulated and tested for safety, but not Florida.”

Amendment 3, which will appear before voters in November, “gives adults access to legal, safe marijuana and the freedom to make their own choices while generating billions for schools and police,” it adds.

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‘An Embarrassing Mistake’: Neil Gorsuch Rails Into Florida’s Use of 6-Person Juries

The right to a trial by jury was designed to be part of “the heart and lungs of liberty,” enshrined into the Constitution to protect people “against being ridden like horses, fleeced like sheep, worked like cattle, and fed and clothed like swine and hogs,” according to John Adams.

It is, in theory, still supposed to do that. But the Founders would likely be dismayed by the ways in which the government has watered down that right since their passing.

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch rebuked one such way today: the use of six-member juries, as opposed to the historical practice of 12-person panels.

His opinion was pegged to Cunningham v. Florida, a case concerning Florida woman Natoya Cunningham who was sentenced to eight years in prison after a six-person jury found her guilty of aggravated battery and retaliation against an informant to whom her nephew sold crack. Florida is one of six states—the others are Arizona, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Utah—that permits either six- or eight-person panels for such criminal trials.

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