Ladra is lucky that her puppy is a graduating senior. The rest of you may need to start looking into home schooling after a group of Florida legislators on Tuesday voted to arm public school teachers — calling them “marshals.”
This is what House Bill 7101, proposed urgently by State Rep. Jose Oliva in the wake of the Valentine’s Day school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, would do. Because that’s what we learned we need most from this tragedy, more guns in schools.
If passed by the full House (maybe as early as Thursday), the law would allow up to ten teachers at each public school to be armed. There are 4,200 schools in our 67 counties, according to the Florida Department of Education. That would mean up to 42,000 guns in schools across the state.
“It’s no different than at the movie theatre, where there might be 10, 20 or 50 people with concealed firearms,” State Rep. Carlos Trujillo, chairman of the appropriations committee, told Ladra hours after the vote had been taken.
While there were many concerns about arming teachers — and many questions that are still unanswered — and despite Parkland survivors opposition to the bill, it passed 23-6, with four Democrats voting in favor: They are state reps Lori Berman (Boynton Beach), David Richardson (Miami Beach), Katie Edwards-Walpole (Sunrise) and Jared Moskowitz (Coral Springs). They must have felt like they had to vote yes because of the other parts of the bill — the ban on bump stocks, raising the legal age to own a gun from 18 to 21, a three-day waiting period for all  gun purchases and more power to law enforcement to confiscate firearms from anyone deemed potentially harmful. There was also the creation of a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Public Safety Commission, training for school resource officers, threat assessment teams and mental health programs.
How could Dems vote against all these good ideas being held hostage to the longtime desire by GOP lawmakers to put guns in schools?
It’s almost like the legacy of Parkland will be armed teachers. How sad.
Democrat members of the committee tried to amend the bill. One proposed a ban on assault rifles. That was voted down along party lines. Another wanted to require some document from a medical professional stating that the applicant for a concealed firearm license is not a danger to himself or others. That didn’t pass either.
If the bill becomes law, it would require teachers who want to bring guns to class to undergo background checks and a 130-hour course. “It’s basically a police academy, an abridged version,” Trujillo said of the training. Each sheriff’s department or municipal police agencies like Miami-Dade Police are required to establish these training programs for teachers who want to opt into the “100 percent voluntary program,” where the district’s school board or superintendent has approved it. Trujillo, who has been tapped as the Ambassador to the UN by President Donald Trump,  said he didn’t know that Miami-Dade School Board Superintendent Alberto Carvalho had already blasted the idea. But, while everyone at the committee meeting said that superintendents could opt out, Trujillo told Ladra after the vote that Carvalho is not the last word.
“That’s his choice, but it’s up to the school board,” he said. He knows full well that the nonpartisan group is nonetheless majority Republican, even though one of those, Board Member Lubby Navarro, already came out against arming teachers at Sunday’s school safety town hall at Miami Dade College Kendall Campus.
The law would also give those teachers who opt in a $500 one-time stipend, we assume towards the purchase of a handgun — assault rifles cannot be concealed firearms and, as such, are not allowed — and/or ammunition. Ladra can see the list of supplies parents can donate on the blackboard at next year’s open house night: Copy paper, crayons and a box of .38-caliber conical wadcutters with a beveled base. Students get extra credit for hollow points.
Isn’t it an extra insult that theese lawmakers can’t find the funding to properly stock schools with the supplies and tools teachers need to teach but we’re going to pay them to carry guns?
That’s not the only question we have.
Are teachers the only ones who can volunteer? Can staff? Can the janitor be armed? How about the lunch lady? The bus driver? That’s not clear. We know students can’t carry. Except, maybe, for the problematic ones still in high school at 21, the legal age to carry a concealed weapon. That means 18-year-old high school students must leave their AR15s and Colt 45s in their cars in the parking lot.
“Students with guns! Ha! That’s a funny one, Ladra!” Trujillo sure didn’t think so. “Democrats could have offered an amendment to make the legal age 18,” he said, and Ladra does not think he was kidding.
What if an angry or unstable student is able to take a gun from a teacher? Who is responsible for what happens next?
What if a teacher with a gun is confused for an “active shooter” and is killed by police?
What if a student is killed by “friendly fire” from the teacher’s gun?
A retired teacher and self described gun enthusiast asked the lawmakers not to take this step.
“I don’t want to think about target acquisition. I don’t want to think about field of fire in my classroom,” the woman from Escambia County said, choking up. “Do not ask teachers to choose between shepherding students to safety or confronting a gunman, drawing fire toward my students.
“Depend on us to fiercely defend our students. And fund well-prepared law enforcement professionals to do the work they are supposed to do,” she said.
The mother of Scott Biegel, the geography teacher killed at Stoneman Douglas, also begged them to reconsider. Her son became a teacher to mold young minds, not to be “a law enforcement officer,” Linda Beigel Schulman said.
Trujillo kept stressing to Ladra that gun-toting at school is voluntary, but that doesn’t make parents feel better. What kind of teacher would volunteer to carry a gun in class? Could it be the teachers that already have “personnel” issues? The ones that will be in headlines about sleeping with students or selling drugs or writing porn scripts or something? Those will be first in line to get the guns. And others might feel forced to volunteer because, well, if there are going to be 10 guns at work, they want to have one of them.
Other teachers are going to quit.
That’s okay, though, we won’t need as many. Aalot of students are going to withdraw. Watch as full time virtual school and home schooling numbers boom. Wait… oh, wait… could this be a ploy by Republican legislators to get their friends’ more charter schools?
Teachers are people, too. They have emotions. They lose their tempers. Considering that we still have that oh-so-flexible “stand your ground” law in Florida, what happens if an unruly student becomes aggressive with a teacher? We’ve seen that before. And we’ve seen teachers lose their tempers and react inappropriately by striking students. What if that teacher who feels really threatened — or is just over a particular student’s stunts — pulls a gun on a student? You know that is going to happen. You just know.
“If I take a gun to school, someone is eventually going to get shot,” one teacher told Ladra. She teaches 5th grade.
Trujillo told Ladra that this program might be better suited for rural districts where a police station or officer is typically more than 20 minutes away. And where racism and homophobia are more prevalent, too.
Is that a bonus feature — voter suppression?
This “marshal program” is a poor substitute for real gun reform and school and community safety. It does nothing to stop the next school shooting. It only guarantees that bullets will fly in more directions.

Read Full Story

 
Sen. Marco Rubio almost totally blew it.
Okay, yeah, sure, the Republican who has taken $3.3 million from the NRA during his political career was brave for just showing up at the CNN Townhall Wednesday in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High in Broward last week. The crowd at the BB&T Center just a few miles from the school where 14 students and three teachers died was not a friendly one. It was mostly students and parents and teachers from Parkland school. He was booed repeatedly. Ladra almost feared for his safety at one point.
Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson , also there for the Jake Tapper led discussion on gun control and school safety, congratulated Rubio’s courage as did some of the students, parents and teachers who asked him difficult questions nonetheless. Rubio didn’t flinch. He stood there and let people take shots at him, as he should have. And so he gets an A for effort.
He gets a C minus on the rest of the evening, however, and just barely misses flunking because of three things: (1) the foresight to shift a teeny tiny bit on policy, saying he would support increasing the age requirement for all guns from 18 to 21 and better background checks (2) his stand against letting teachers carry guns at schools and (3) his willingness to reconsider magazine clip size.
It’s something. And to repeat what some of the gun control activists have been saying, something is better than nothing.
But, true, it’s not enough. Not quite. And Rubio almost failed because he tripped all over himself trying to defend his position.
Here are some dos and don’ts the senator could use for the next time, and you know there will be a next time before these Parkland students succeed in making change happen:
DON’T correct or “school” the father of one of the dead kids on something you said. “Let me explain,” Rubio told Fred Guttenberg, the father of Jaime Guttenberg, a 14-year-old who was shot in the back as she ran away. As if there could possibly be an explanation at this time and place. How about no? Rubio couldn’t help himself and just had to “explain” or clarify his words. “Here’s what I said: The problems that we’re facing here today cannot be solved by gun laws alone.” Was it because Guttenberg said your comments on this have been “pathetically weak.” Don’t contradict him. Don’t set the record straight. Just say sorry, bro.
DON’T let the perfect get in the way of the good. The explanation was that the ban being considered on assault rifles only applies to about 200 firearms, leaving more than 200 guns that are used exactly the same way in the legal realm. How is this a good argument to be telling a man whose daughter was killed with one of those guns? That you can only prohibit half of them? Baby steps are okay, senator.
DON’T talk so much about “me, me, me” and all that you’ve done for gun safety. This is not a campaign event. You sound arrogant and out of touch. Even if it is true, there is a time and a place for everything.
DON’T say “people buy into my agenda” five times trying to defend taking campaign contributions from the NRA. In fact, don’t say “buy into my agenda” at all. Your agenda should be our agenda, which at this moment is gun control and school safety. Polls consistently show that a majority of Americans support some gun control and almost 100% support universal background checks. Also, if the KKK bought into your agenda, they could contribute, too?
DON’T lose a debate with a 17-year-old. Cameron Kasky, one of the surviving students and one of the founders of the #neveragain movement, seemed far more comfortable on that stage — even chatting with the crowd — than you did, senator. He’s the boy who challenged you to stop taking blood money from the NRA. You know what? At least say you will think about it. Because… aren’t you? Aren’t you thining about declining any more contributions from the NRA? You should be. You don’t have to change your “agenda” but you would gain credibility for it.
DO recognize a watershed movement when you see one. These kids — Cameron and Emma Gonzalez and Alfonso Calderon and David Hogg and Delaney Tarr and Alex Wind — they are going to be Time’s Person of the Year for 2018. You need to start listening to them. They are the future. Even your old Cuban base is impressed by them. Moms like me are going to listen and, more importantly, follow their lead. You should too. Or get out of the way.
DO get with the program. Change is coming. You can taste it in the air. These are not children. These young adults — and the tens of thousands who joined them in student walkouts across the country Wednesday — can vote this year. Gun reform is coming whether you like it or not. So be in front of it. Or gt out of the way.
DO break up with Dana Loesch and the NRA. They don’t support your agenda anymore, since they don’t support changing the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 or, I believe, limiting the size of magazine clips. It’s time you part ways. You might lose some campaign cash but you won’t be elected again if you don’t. It’s going to be an albatross.
This should just be the start of this conversation. There is a lot more to say and ask and debate.
And Rubio is going to have to bone up on what his constituents want and the real steps that need to be taken to make our schools and communities safer — before he gets kicked out of class.

Read Full Story

 
It was a slam dunk with the absentee ballots.
As soon as the mail-in votes were counted for the Republican primary in House District 114, Andrew Vargas — an insurance attorney who is the law partner of State Rep. Carlos Trujillo — was celebrating a victory with 76% of them. Jose Pazos, a Marine who runs a condo management firm, knew he lost. It ended up 75-25, but really, at this point, does it matter?
So there is nothing indicating any AB fraud in the Vargas campaign, run by Steve Marin and Alex Miranda (former chief of staff to Democrat Philip Levine when he was Miami Beach mayor). It looks like they just had a good strategy made possible by lots and lots of campaign cash — at least $190,000 as of Feb. 15, compared to Pazos $30k.
Read related story: Jose Pazos is best, familiar choice for House 114 special primary  today
It’s hard to say that money didn’t make the difference, since Vargas had quite a bit more promotion in the weeks leading up to the AB drop: at least six mailers, three phone banks and canvassers who swept the absentee voters in the district — twice. In comparison, Pazos had one mailer, one phone bank and canvassers maybe contacted AB voters once. Maybe.
One of the mailers which went to all AB voters for Vargas is this one with newly-minted Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who is popular in the District. So much so, they mailed it twice.
“Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is with Andrew Vargas,” said one side. “Andrew Vargas has, among his qualities, the integrity and leadership that the residents of District 114 deserve. I look forward to working with him to help our communities,” it quoted Suarez on the other side.
Home. Run.
If one really wanted to split hairs, one could say that Trujillo and Suarez won this election. Because if you asked Pepe Voter six weeks ago who Andrew Vargas was they might have guessed. “Un reggeatonero? El cura? Tu tio? El hijo del presidente de Paraguay?” He is relatively new and unknown in the district. In fact, Vargas was the GOP pick to succeed State Rep. Jeannette Nunez, who is termed out, in District 119 where he has roots, but switched to 114 as soon as Daisy Baez resigned for non residency and lying about it — some would say he had his bags packed before she signed on the dotted line and that Trujillo kept putting the pressure on Baez to resign (which was the right thing to do). Vargas still has to campaign, starting tomorrow probably, because this is just to fill Baez’ vacancy until November. So he just wanted the advantage of an incubency won during a  low turnout special election.
And, of course, he still has to beat Democrat lobbyist Javier Fernandez May 1.  That might prove more difficult than beating Pazos in a swing district that is turning bluer and in the Trump backlash timezone. And Ladra and some other political observers believe that Vargas may have a harder time against Fernandez than Pazos would have. He’s already been blamed for the attack ads that started against the Dem even before the primary was over.
Read related story: Limited early voting in House 114 GOP primary could be voter suppression
A series of emails and robocalls that Ladra has not seen or heard, but were reported in the Miami Herald, are made to look like they ame from Fernandez himself.  “My name is Javier Fernandez, but my friends call me Javi “Lobby.” I’m a lobbyist who’s represented casinos, out-of-state developers, professional sports franchises, and, yes, retail sex toy shops,” the email states.
It is distributed by a brand new political actiona committee, People for a Progressive Florida, but Hernandez has blamed Vargas… and c’mon! Pazos couldn’t even raise enough money for his own campaign!
Hernandez, who has demanded a debate to counter the claims, is likely to bring up the fact that Vargas is the second most litigious attorney in the state when it comes to “assignment of benefits” lawsuits against insurance companies, which legislators have said are increasingly fraudulent and which are arguably driving the cost of homeowner insurance up (more on that later).. Ladra can see the mailers now: “You pay more insurance because of this guy,” with an arrow pointing to Vargas. “He wants you to pay even more,” reads the other side.
Hey, he drew first blood.
There are about 34,000 Republicans registered in the District. Only 4,488 voters cast ballots in this race (overseas and provisional ballots still have to be counted but won’t make one iota of a difference).. Because Republicans aren’t that adamant about voting unless it’s against a Democrat. More will come out in May. But they will be joined by about as many Democrats and about as many Independents, who are likely going to be a deciding factor.
Which means only one thing for certain: Vargas is going to spend a lot more money.

Read Full Story

Today is the day we find out if homegrown grassroots can beat big money when the votes are counted in the Republican primary for the House District 114 seat.
The former would be Jose “Pep” Pazos, 42, a Marine who runs a condo management business and who has lived in the district all his life. His partner is former State Rep. Julio “The Good One” Robaina and his former partner is ex Miami-Dade Commissioner Juan “Zorro” Zapata — two of the few good guys who represented their constituents not special interests.
The latter would be Andrew Vargas, 35, an insurance lawyer who just moved into the neighborhood and a law office partner of State Rep. Carlos Trujillo, the appropriations chair, which is the main reason why Pazos lags behind in campaign cash: Nobody wants to piss Trujillo off.
This is why Vargas has almost $190,000 in contributions — including bundled donations from charter school interests, lobbyists like Ron Book and the Munilla family — and loaned himself another $50K for $24o,000 as of last Thursday (Feb. 15), according to the last campaign finance report. He’s been able to spend it on multiple mailers and Pazos has a measly $30,000. It’s a David and Goliath battle many political observers believe Gov. Rick Scott scheduled intentionally in order for Vargas to have an advantage.
Of the 34,000 registered Republicans in the district, a little over 3,900 have been returned so far. That includes 3,691 absentee ballots returned to the  Miami-Dade Elections Department as of Friday and the 210 votes during early voting last week. The Coral Gables library has the highest number of early voting ballots cast at 160. That’s three times the 50 cast at the two southern library branches — where soneone named Andrew might do better — combined.
The winner of today’s race could very well already be decided.
Pazos has his base in the northern end of the district, where voting performance is high and absentee ballots are more tyupical. He has both the mayor of West Miami and Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes, whose district overlaps with 114, as allies. And we know him. He’s the son of a former Cuban political prisoner. And he’s run for office twice before, once losing to State Rep. Michael Bileca, before the district was redrawn, and another time in 2014, but he withdrew before qualification because his father was ill. We feel like we know him and/or want to know him.
The Miami Herald endorsement, which doesn’t always get it right, was spot on when it said that Pazos has more experience and more passion than Vargas. Las malas lenguas tell Ladra that Vargas is really running to please Trujillo, that he’s going to be Trujillo’s proxy after the state rep leaves to be an Ambassador for Donald Trump.
We do know that Vargas wasn’t going to run in this seat as recently as last summer. He was filed to run in House District 119, where State Rep. Jeanette Nunez is termed out, because he lived and grew up in Lakes of the Meadows. He only moved into 114 recently and changed seats only after former Democrat State Rep. Daisy Baez was caught living outside the district and lying about it. She was forced to resign after protesters showed up at her Coral Gables house and demanded it — protesters that some say were sent by Trujillo, who has been reportedly parading Vargas around Tallahassee, office by office.
This district has been plagued by controversy and it needs to have someone whose backstory is not so convoluted.
Ladra also thinks Pazos has the best chances against the Democrat candidate, lobbyist Javier Fernandez — if that’s what you Republivans want.
 

Read Full Story

Political consultant and gypsy conartist Vanessa Brito is scheduled to appear in Miami-Dade Court Tuesday, but not on a campaign violation or the defemation charge against her.
No, this time she is defending a petite theft charge that stems from a shoplifting incident at the Target store in Midtown. Stealing clothes instead of votes.
It happened around 4 p.m. last Aug. 28. Brito — who has worked on several local political and judicial campaigns, including the 2011 recall of Mayor Carlos Alvarez — was seen going through the store, stuffing clothes, shoes, houseware items and a phone charger into a large silver bag before walking out, “passing all available cashiers and checkout points,”  and walking out, reads the arrest report. Store personnel stopped her outside. Total value of the items was $118.24.
The docket history found online seems to suggest that Vanessa entered a”deferred prosecution” program in October — in which defendant’s usually pledge to take some kind of class and/or to pay the victim back — and hasn’t followed through. Because the deal was revoked on Jan. 22. The court records also indicate that she got a stay away order for the Target at 3401 N. Miami Ave.
Brito’s case is on the calendar for 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, and she will be represented by attorney Rick Yabor, not former attorney Michael Pizzi, who has represented her in other matters. Yabor would not comment on the case. Not even to tell what Brito’s got on him.
Ladra was not able to reach Brito, although I did leave messages and send texts to the cellphone I have. The number listed on the police report was disconnected. And the address on the report, 43 NW 41st St., is the New Horizons Community Mental Health Center, which provides services to the homeless as well as people with emotional or behavioral health issues. But las malas lenguas say she doesn’t live there anymore and that she moved to Daytona Beach, where she plans on getting a tattoo, according to a post on Facebook.
Daytona is where she was arrested in December for trespassing, according to the Volusia County Corrections Department. No longer the dewy ingenue, she looks in the mugshot like she was shooting up or doing meth. And that may explain the shoplifting.
Why is Ladra bringing you this news? Why is it important? Because this gifted snakeoil saleswoman continues to pretend to be a political analyst and legitimate activist. Because you never know what movement or campaign she will crawl into next, what out-of-towner will hire her to collect petition signatures, what fake recall she will conviince someone to fund, what smear campaign she will stage.
Because she is up to something.
After several months, perhaps a year or more absent from Facebook, she recently shared Miami-Dade Commissioner Rebeca Sosa‘s photos from the soccer announcement and has also posted items about Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho.
Maybe she’s trying to elbow her way into one of the county campaigns this year, having worked with some of the commissioners and judges before.
That would be another crime.

Read Full Story