Tag: florida

In secret recording, Florida Republican threatens to send Russian-Ukrainian ‘hit squad’ after rival

A little-known GOP candidate in one of Florida’s most competitive congressional seats was secretly recorded threatening to send “a Russian and Ukrainian hit squad” to a fellow Republican opponent to make her “disappear.”

During a 30-minute call with a conservative activist that was recorded before he became a candidate, William Braddock repeatedly warned the activist to not support GOP candidate Anna Paulina Luna in the Republican primary for a Tampa Bay-area congressional seatbecause he had access to assassins. The seat is being vacated by Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Fla.), who is running for governor.

“I really don’t want to have to end anybody’s life for the good of the people of the United States of America,” Braddock said at one point in the conversation last week, according to the recording exclusively obtained by POLITICO. “That will break my heart. But if it needs to be done, it needs to be done. Luna is a f—ing speed bump in the road. She’s a dead squirrel you run over every day when you leave the neighborhood.”

Reached by text message, Braddock refused to say whether he made any threats about Luna to the personwho recorded him, Erin Olszewski.

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Rebekah Jones Admits She Was Never Asked to Delete COVID Deaths in Florida

On Twitter last night, Rebekah Jones confirmed the central case within my long piece on her deception: That she was not, in fact, asked to delete COVID deaths in the state of Florida. In a now-deleted tweet, Jones wrote: “Deleting deaths was never something I was asked to do. I’ve never claimed it was.”

But Jones has claimed it. Indeed, she’s literally claimed it, as this also-deleted tweet clearly shows… This claim — that Florida’s deputy secretary of health, Dr. Shamarial Roberson, told her “to delete cases and deaths” — is at the heart of her case. That she now insists that she never made it is extraordinary.

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Florida releases genetically modified mosquitoes in hopes to reduce spread of disease

Genetically modified mosquitoes have been released for the first time in the United States, taking flight in the Florida Keys in a pilot program intended to reduce the spread of deadly diseases such as dengue, yellow fever and the Zika virus. 

  After an odyssey spanning more than a decade to secure regulatory approval, British-based biotechnology firm Oxitec, along with the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD)launched the project in hope of reducing the Aedes aegypti species that spread the diseases. 

  While Oxitec and local authorities have high hopes for the program, local residents and environmental groups worry that not enough is known about the long-term effects of the new technology. 

  Nevertheless, the Environmental Protection Agency granted an experimental use permit (EUP) to Oxitec on May 1. 

  A half-dozen boxes containing the OX5034 mosquito created by Oxitec have been deployed in the Florida Keys, an archipelago stretching 120 miles (195 km) off the southern tip of the state. 

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Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer Borrowed Billionaires’ Private Jet to Secretly Travel to Florida During Lockdown

As previously reported, Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer vacationed to Florida during Michigan’s Covid-19 surge while telling Michiganders to stay home and avoid travel.

Whitmer specifically attacked Floridians and blamed “snow birds” traveling from the Sunshine State into Michigan for her state’s Covid surge.

The governor’s spokesperson confirmed last month that Whitmer took a “personal trip” to Florida in March during spring break.

But Brown denied the allegation. Brown said Whitmer “did not go on spring break,” but traveled “to assist her elderly father who is battling a chronic illness,” according to a report from Detroit Free Press. Brown added that Gov. Whitmer has left the state three times in the last six months.

Whitmer’s office insisted the governor didn’t travel to Florida on taxpayer dime.

Deadline Detroit reported that Gretchen Whitmer borrowed a private jet from a group of uberwealthy Detroit businessmen.

The Detroit billionaires have major dealings with the state of Michigan so when they were asked by Whitmer if she could mooch their private jet, they said yes.

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Florida Man Sells Homemade ‘1776 Boom Sticks’ At Gun Buyback, City Runs Out Of Cash In 30 Minutes

A so-called “gun buyback” event in Pensacola, Florida did not go according to plan over the weekend, as a local gun club showed up to counteroffer the city by paying actual market value for citizens’ firearms. The only weapons the buyback was able to acquire included BB guns and homemade “Boom Stick 1776” pipe guns, which forced the event to run out of cash in under 30 minutes.

Members of the local Second Admendment advocacy group Escambia Carry showed up to the event with a sign that read “Don’t Get Ripped Off By The City With This Stupid Gun “Buyback’ Program – See Me To Get Fair Market Value For Your Firearm.”

“Other than these rifles, the vast majority were junk,” Escambia Carry’s Jeremy Bosso said in a Facebook post. “Numerous people told us they sold their old junk guns to buy new firearms. Someone sold a Marine Emergency Flare gun. Other attendees had air pistols (BB/pellet guns). The City ran out of money by 9:27am – less than 30 minutes into the event.”

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Florida city fines woman more than $100K for parking incorrectly in her own driveway

Sandy Martinez and the Institute for Justice announced the lawsuit in a news conference Thursday, notifying the public that Martinez had been slapped with over a year’s worth of daily fines for the minor offense of parking her car partially on her front lawn in violation of town codes, WPTV-TV reported.

According to Section 6-30 of the Code of Ordinances of the Town of Lantana, “all off-street parking spaces, including driveways but not including parking spaces located in swale areas as permitted by section 17-34, shall be asphalt, concrete or block and shall be hard surfaced and in good repair in compliance with town codes.”

Martinez reportedly lives with her mother, her sister, and her three children — two of whom are now adults. Given the fact that, in total, the household contains four drivers, it is often the case that four vehicles need to be squeezed into the driveway as best they can. That predicament resulted in one of the four vehicles being parked partially on grass.

Martinez claimed that after she was first cited for the violation, she called the city, but an inspector never came to her residence. Then, more than a year later, she learned that she had been fined $250 a day for 407 days for the offense, totaling $101,750. On top of that, the city fined Martinez $65,000 more in fines for cosmetic violations, such as cracks in the driveway and a broken fence.

“I’ve been living here for 17 years now and I’m being fined over $160,000 for parking on my own property,” Martinez said during the press conference.

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Woman Gets Late-Night Police Visit For Anti-Mask Facebook Posts

Florida hair and makeup artist and mother of three Angelique Contreras received an intimidating late-night knock on the door from a law enforcement officer in Palm Beach County after she published anti-mask posts on Facebook. NATIONAL FILE has obtained video footage of this disturbing 10:30 PM encounter. Contreras verbally confirmed with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office that it was a sheriff’s officer who made the house call.

According to Contreras, Palm Beach County is trying to send citizens who can’t wear masks due to medical exemptions into a parking garage basement while County Commission meetings take place. Local press reporting confirms that mask-exempt citizens who want to speak at meetings will be sent to a separate building beneath a parking garage, instead of being able to address their leaders directly. When a man on Facebook joked about dumping garbage onto a County Administrator’s lawn, Contreras replied with the retort, “thousands of Mask(s).” This was enough to get the sheriff’s office to show up to her house, with the officer making clear that such Facebook posts are monitored in this day and age. Contreras’ children are aged 11, 3, and 1.

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Hacker Tried To Poison Entire Florida Town By Raising Chemical Levels In Water Supply

A town in Florida has been target of a hack which briefly altered chemicals in its water supply to “potentially damaging levels” according to local media reports. Federal and local authorities are currently investigating the computer network intrusion which happened last Friday morning, the alarming details of which are emerging Monday.

Plant operators overseeing the small city of Oldsmar’s water supply began observing strange activity on their monitors. That’s when technicians noticed that sodium hydroxide levels (or lye), which is used to treat the city’s water in small amounts in order to control acidity while removing heavy metals, was being remotely pushed higher.

Technicians noticed the chemical levels being subject of unauthorized external manipulation in real-time and immediately moved to restore the sodium hydroxide input to its safe, correct levels. The AP detailed based on local reporting: “A plant worker first noticed the unusual activity at around 8 a.m. Friday when someone briefly accessed the system.”

“At about 1:30 p.m., someone accessed it again, took control of the mouse, directed it to the software that controls water treatment and increased the amount of sodium hydroxide,“ the report continued.

The hacker or hackers have yet to be uncovered and apprehended.

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