Banned from Facebook pages twice in 2 days!

Posted on by Lenny Cohen

Sometimes, interesting things happen when you read friends’ Facebook pages. I’m not talking about going to look on purpose, which I’ve done before. I’m just referring to seeing something on your news feed and clicking on it. That got me, as the title clearly says, banned from Facebook pages twice in 2 days! The one I care about is a longtime friend I used to respect, but there’s also the radio talk show host full of hate who I’d never heard of until last night.

I may feel bad about one, but can’t regret either.

Regular readers know I don’t like Facebook and friends are leaving it over privacy issues. I personally have concerns over its business practices and censorship (and lack-of when it comes to Holocaust denial). Many business people say 2019 will not be a good year for Facebook. I hope they’re right. The company deserves that.

feature hikes kenney

But in just over the past month, Facebook revealed the truth about people like Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney’s executive director of his Office of LGBT Affairs, Amber Hikes (divisiveness and profanity) and Havertown resident Brad Foden (very close to being a neo-Nazi, if not already one).

feature brad foden

By the way, I got no responses from any of them about my blog posts. I never contacted Foden, and I stopped trying with Kenney and Hikes after learning Kenney’s father died almost a month ago. It’s never my goal to make matters worse during a person’s time of grief, but I had asked both of them for answers several times and neither (nor staff members) bothered to get back to me at all, like decent public servants.

Think of those phrases about aging, and how the older you get, the less you care what people think of you. I’m getting there.

Dr Seuss book

So just a warning: Don’t be surprised if I go after you because you can’t behave like a civilized human being.

And another warning: This next part of the post may not be appropriate for children due to cursing, not the subject matter.

Case in point: a Buffalo hypnotist and radio talk show host who actually spends a lot of time at his home near St. Petersburg, Fla. A friend of mine was a Facebook friend of his until last night.

My friend posted this article from the Daily Mail which showed a MTF transgender person at a GameStop store in New Mexico very angry.

daily mail
At least this overblown tabloid got its references right. See below for links to learn for yourself.

According to the article,

“The woman had just bought an item at the counter.”

Then,

“She demanded her money back after being called ‘sir’ by the male shop attendant, then raged at a fellow shopper who called her ‘sir’ again and asked her to stop swearing as there were children present.”

I don’t know what really happened. The article admits,

“The clip began with the woman already at boiling point.”

Also,

“She complained of being repeatedly misgendered by the store clerk and demanded to have the company’s corporate number in order to make a complaint,”

and it said,

“She aggressively pointed at the clerk as he repeatedly apologized.”

Personally, I wonder why either “sir” or “ma’am” had to be used when a genuinely friendly smile and good customer service should make anyone happy. Less is more!

Transitioning is tough. Nobody can snap their fingers and become the gender they feel they were born to be. There are medical issues, getting experience being “out” as the other gender, and possibly surgeries. That’s plural, for obvious reasons. And don’t forget legal issues over identity. Plus, have some compassion!

Click here for GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program, here for FAQ, here for basic terminology, and here for tips in a list that

“is not exhaustive and cannot include all the ‘right’ things to do or say because often there is no one ‘right’ answer to every situation you might encounter.”

Here are two highlights:

“Transgender people use many different terms to describe their experiences,”

and

“Some transgender and gender non-conforming people may not feel like they match the signs on the restroom door,”

which is why single user, unisex options should be available.

In Philadelphia, according to BillyPenn.com, that’s pretty-much the law!

“Any entity that owns or leases a structure open to the general public, including but not limited to Retail Establishments and City-owned buildings, that currently has or at any time establishes one or more single-occupancy bathroom facilities for public use, shall provide Gender-neutral Signage for such facilities.

An entity that has bathroom facilities with gender usage indicated by art work or design may, if such designs predate the effective date of this Ordinance, retain such designs, provided that they use signage that clearly indicates that the bathroom may be used by any person or persons, regardless of gender identity.”

In other words, quoting from BillyPenn.com:

  • For the past three years, businesses with single-occupancy restrooms must post signs showing they’re gender-neutral,
  • all new city buildings must be built with gender-neutral bathrooms included in the plans, and
  • in cases of no single-occupancy restrooms, transgender individuals can use whichever bathroom the person feels most comfortable in.

My friend’s Facebook post didn’t make me happy. I should note he’s a Florida Republican, but I think the post was a lot better than it would’ve been if we hadn’t started discussing the issue a while back.

nm post

Then, the responses piled up.

responses

In the middle, you can see what I wrote. I don’t know the type of day that person was having, so I’m not going to make judgments about anything other than her creating a very bad scene.

Then I went on to give facts from the American Medical Association to the uneducated, or simply people who don’t know anyone in the situation.

ama

Click here for the AMA’s “Policies on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer (LGBTQ) issues,” which starts by saying it

“supports the equal rights, privileges and freedom of all individuals and opposes discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion, disability, ethnic origin, national origin or age.

Sexual orientation and gender identity are integral aspects of the AMA communities and AMA policies on LGBTQ issues that work to inform individuals about LGBTQ discrimination and abuse. AMA’s policies for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people’s rights represent a multiplicity of identities and issues.”

The response was disappointing. The world is a changing place and there’s too much hate here in America already.

Last night, the person a Buffalo hypnotist and radio talk show host I referred to above wrote on the same string I started with information from the AMA that he doesn’t like transgendered (sic) people and they all need help, or something to that effect. I can’t quote exactly, because we had an exchange, he lost the discussion, got angry, deleted the posts, and blocked me. Note: That’s all his fault, especially not being able to quote him exactly!

Keep in mind, his radio gig is Saturday mornings, and the big promotional teases of energy and controversy have been around for decades. Any idiot can speak into a microphone (or telephone from Florida) and say stupid things. This is just one example.

radio
https://wben.radio.com/shows/show-schedule/robert-saviola-show

I wrote up a six-part Twitter story with evidence on what happened on Facebook. Click the pictures that were cut off to see them in full. (Don’t forget, you can see my Twitter posts on the side of bottom of this website. I haven’t blocked anybody.)

He started by addressing the word all, but killed that post and others, or blocked me, before I saw any of it. Luckily, Facebook emailed to say he mentioned me.

I have no idea why he’d call me “a liberal snowflake,” believe I don’t like Sean Hannity (but he’s right on that one), or insist I don’t study. Where did that come from?

Click here for the article.

So there you have it: The truth about Robert Saviola. I wonder which other groups of people he hates.

Notice I used his Twitter handle in every post. He apparently hasn’t used Twitter since 2014. So much for business and promotion! You’ll also see the radio station’s handle on every post. Hopefully they’ll rethink his employment.

Next is a friend I met 20 years ago, when I moved to Philadelphia. He’s a retired high school math teacher who helped found the former gay synagogue, which has since merged with the big Reform one.

The funny thing is, he’d probably agree on everything I wrote above. The problem is I didn’t agree 100 percent with something he posted yesterday.

jerry 1

He was obviously watching CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage and was happy about what he saw. So were other people.

But media is my field, and we’re both former teachers, which should mean we have higher standards.

Yesterday, I commented like other friends on his post. First, I explained there has been tremendous “progress in LGBTQ rights” but there are also threats.

Then, there’s CNN, which doesn’t have the best reputation these days. I included this story about the very broadcast he was referring to.

Today, he I saw he’d responded to my post that I didn’t get it, but he didn’t bother to explain. Some teacher!

Then, with the media knowledge I have and he lacks, I explained about the people he referenced:

  • Andy Cohen (no relation) does nothing for me, actually works for Bravo (NBC) and SiriusXM, was just moonlighting with CNN for the night, and was responsible for this article.
  • I worked with Don Lemon and ran into him at Woody’s, many years ago. Need I explain his reputation, these days? In fact, this article is from today!
  • Richard Quest is most famous for his accent and his unusual arrest. (Warning: British accents are OK for children but details of Quest’s arrest are definitely not!)
  • At least Anderson Cooper, a respectable journalist, has been nicer to people when he’s off camera than he has been in the past, so I’ve heard.

That’s when the conversation turned to email.

HE EMAILED: “You are over analyzing a totally innocent comment of mine. In my childhood, I saw no openly gay peeps on any TV. 50 years later there are 4 on national TV at the same time. End of story. Has nothing to do with ratings, personal role models, reputations, etc. The others who saw my post totally got it.”

I EMAILED: “Maybe ‘the others’ are older but ‘being there’ shouldn’t cut it in 2018/9.”

HE EMAILED: “Lenny…you and I will have to agree to disagree…you continue to miss my point. You are taking my feeling of joy and amazement and shitting on it.”

As if that was my intention! Keep in mind this was a discussion with a former high school math teacher who was a longtime friend.

I EMAILED: “If ‘ooh, ahh’ does it for you, then enjoy.”

HE EMAILED: “If you feel so strongly, please post your opinions on your own FB page. It’s really not polite to use someone else’s page for your personal platform.”

First, I didn’t watch. I had nothing to post; just a response to his thought like several other Facebook friends of his. That’s how Facebook works!

And keep in mind, I wrote two posts: one on his original, yesterday – and another on his response which I noticed today.

Then I emailed longer:

“I’m sorry. I didn’t watch or bring it up. I just happened to see it on my friend’s timeline (like others did), and shared my thoughts (as others did).

‘It’s really not polite to use someone else’s page for your personal platform.’

Are you trying to silence me because my thought was different?

That wouldn’t be very liberal. I don’t think the ACLU would agree. Most Americans would say I’m entitled to my opinion.

I have plenty of other things to do than add to the discussion. I only did so today because I saw you responded. (Do you think you should’ve taken a moment to explain your response yesterday?)

I’m sorry if you can’t handle so many different thoughts and opinions around the country and the world, but they exist.”

That’s when I realized posts were missing.

“Yes, _____. Censorship is the answer. That’s what the right says about the left and you’ve proven them correct!

I gave the facts and you can’t disprove me. I also explained why.

I also taught the person who wanted to know about lesbians at NBC. I hope that person saw the answer, along with the Philadelphia connection, before you recklessly killed that post.

You ought to be ashamed, thinking Facebook is only for people who agree with you blindly. So much for the exchange of ideas!”

jerry 2

I had realized somebody asked a question and I answered it. I hope they read about Stephanie Gosk and wife Jenna Wolfe, along with her Philadelphia connection as weekend sports anchor on the former WB17 News at 10, before it was deleted from that string! Make that a grand total of *three* Facebook posts I made!

And then I realized he had the nerve to block me!

“This is too much. And then blocking me from your Facebook page when I didn’t insult anyone you know, but simply told the truth about famous people you mentioned!

I don’t think they deserve medals for being gay. I think we should be proud if they do their jobs well, are role models (as I mentioned since we’re both former teachers), and inspire the next generation.

This proves my original point. I expect more from people I rely on for news than just ‘being there’ and the same goes for people I associate with. You don’t qualify.

You’ve shown you don’t care to discuss anything, exchange ideas, or maybe even learn about someone else’s profession. It’s people like you who cause others to #WalkAway.”

He added this post to the bottom of his, as if to apologize for me.

jerry 3

He’s more like the people in these two videos than he realizes!

The vape guy who wouldn’t sell was fired. And by the way, there should be “No Recording” signs at the entrance if it’s not allowed. Without a sign, the person recording should stop at the point they’re told to stop.

My former friend is more like the vape guy than he realizes. I don’t know what caused him to overreact the way he did. Maybe it was a ‘senior moment.’ Maybe he’s stressed. Regardless, I certainly didn’t deserve it. I’m not a student of his and he can’t play dictator with me. I’ve known him for two decades and earned the respect to have my opinion treated with respect. Especially since I still think I’m right!

I should point out CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage beat Fox News Channel and MSNBC’s. Maybe more Americans felt it was the least of the cable evils.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to compare cable ratings with broadcast ratings since I can’t find the number of viewers vs. number of viewers, or ratings points (households or demographics) that can be compared. I looked all over but used Deadline magazine as my source for both broadcast and cable numbers because it was the closest I could find.

So those are two of my Facebook experiences over the past 24 hours. I can only wait for the second story to haunt me but I didn’t cause it, I wasn’t the one who started getting rude, I didn’t name a name even though many people will easily figure it out, and I told the truth as usual.

His loss. I do hope this post isn’t used against me, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. As I mentioned with Dr. Seuss before, I’m not going to live by what others think.

By the way, my year-end post is on its way. Lots of updates! For that delay, and only that, I APOLOGIZE!

If you appreciate what you read here, subscribe with either your email address or WordPress account, and get a notice whenever I publish. Don’t rely on social media with its hacking issues and censoring like this, this and this. I just became certified as an IT Support Specialist and am also available for writing/web contract work. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennycohen

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Exposing hate, close to home (as if acceptable anywhere)

Posted on by Lenny Cohen

My interest started when I was looking at my Facebook feed over the weekend and saw this post from a former coworker. Obviously, we’re Facebook friends. Otherwise, his post wouldn’t have come up. He’s a former Marine. We’d always worked well together and even though he is the most right-wing person I know, he’d never done anything to disrespect me or make me feel uncomfortable.

brad foden 01

The post had to do with Kevin Hart withdrawing as host of the Oscar awards in late February, but it was the comments that followed that got me. I’m just going to show you what I discovered and it was nothing I’d ever seen with my own eyes, targeted toward me, right outside my own city.

I should take this opportunity to warn you about the language and more importantly, the thoughts, that follow.

In case you hadn’t heard, the Philadelphia-born and raised entertainer said the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences asked Hart to apologize for anti-gay tweets and comments he made during stand-up routines nearly 10 years ago, according to Variety, or the organization would cut ties.

Hart eventually did, but apparently it was too late.

Then my former coworker and Facebook friend commented as he tends to on his Facebook page. The third comment you see below is also his, and I’d never seen him go that far. I was very disappointed, but we’re still Facebook friends. That’s Facebook’s term for connections. Instead of questioning or debating him, I decided to learn more about the person who wrote the last two comments, since he only seemed interested in Jewish people.

brad foden 02

Do you see all the “like” and “love” reactions? That’s what we’re dealing with.

This Brad Foden character apparently lives outside Philadelphia and is a former Marine, just like my former coworker and Facebook friend, but younger.

brad foden 03

I clicked his name and saw what he’d posted on his own Facebook page, and everything I’m showing you is public, as you’ll soon see by the “world” icon in the upper right.

brad foden 04

Here is another picture of him, posted just over a month ago but years old.

brad foden 05

Again, this is what I – a complete stranger – found on Foden’s Facebook page. Keep in mind, we’re certainly not friends, have never met, and this is public. I have no idea what may be on there that’s private.

Here, he managed to turn a gun law into racial hatred for absolutely no reason.

brad foden 06

Obviously, somebody who thinks that way about one group also thinks that way about others. Nobody is immune.

Then, after that string, he continued.

brad foden 07

But wait until I used one of those phrases of his against him!

I decided to engage and find out what makes someone such a hate-monger. He’s probably about 40 years old and lives near a large northeastern city, rather than the south or northwest, where his thinking is more likely to be prevalent.

I tried to elicit responses the best way I could, which involved some lowering me to his level. I also asked questions, but you won’t find any answered. Instead, just names thrown out that he probably saw misrepresented in hate material, either on paper or online.

What you’re about to see directly followed his comment from above, “They run much more than Hollywood.” It’s not edited. I wrote everything myself and he wrote everything himself. Unsubstantiated, like everything else from him.

brad foden 08

At the top, about getting kicked out. I was thinking to myself:

Ferdinand and Isabella kicked the Jews and Moors out of Spain. What happened to Spain afterward? It made some folks there rich from explorers doing what they did, but the country itself was ruined. What could Spain claim for centuries, especially after the British sank the Spanish Armada in 1588?

Then, centuries later, the Holocaust. Europe killed its Jews and so many of the survivors left for overseas. Trace Europe’s downfall in world affairs through the 20th century. Then, Europe made it so easy to let Muslims in and the areas around big cities have certainly changed. How do they feel about that difference in demographics?

Now, look at Israel. It miraculously won independence, survived being severely outnumbered and boycotted, and thrives with technology and innovation.

And that lowlife had the nerve to say Jews got “removed” from so many places! Their losses!

But I kept quiet to read more of him digging his own grave.

brad foden 09

Notice he said, “We are done here,” but that was far from the case.

brad foden 010

brad foden 011

Again, no answers, and this string was over but I wasn’t satisfied.

Instead, after one genius posted, probably to my former coworker and Facebook friend’s original comment, I had already started a new string by updating the original story and tagging good ‘ol Brad!

brad foden 012

I won’t say anything in general about people who can’t spell, use proper English punctuation, etc. Lots of people can’t, but they’re smart in other ways. Even some hate leaders aren’t “stupid,” but I think I’m dealing with one of their followers, who is the lowest of the low and dispensable.

brad foden 013

Once again, it took a few hours but he simply couldn’t resist not responding.

I thought I’d give him a chance to prove his conservative bona-fides by explaining how markets work, but he couldn’t keep up. It seems he’s just hate. That’s all there is to him.

Now, as we get into hours, you can see it took about three hours to get that last response. So much for that “We are done here” from earlier. That’s the least of it, but it gets discussed at the end. Just wait.

brad foden 014

By now, we’ve all seen “((()))” in his writing before. I don’t know why he’d keep trying to hide what he thinks and wanted to say at this point!

But he, himself, continued. Again, none of this was edited except for other people’s names earlier.

brad foden 015

So shalom. He’s done. Yeah right!

In case you’re wondering, my former coworker and Facebook friend had to be fully aware of every comment that got posted, by Facebook notifications as they were happening, since it all appears on his page. He’s still my former coworker (obviously) but also Facebook friend. He didn’t unfriend me at any point, letting this continue. I wonder why but won’t ask.

As for this Brad knowing I write (but certainly not as eloquently as him), I’ll assume it’s on the top of my Facebook page. Almost everything else is set to friends-only, and that’s the default. Somehow, I doubt he got that from my former coworker and Facebook friend.

One last point here: Notice how he asked, “How close are you to reporting me now media man?” Earlier, it was “How long before you report me to your family that runs this place?” As far as I’m concerned, publicizing this was his idea.

brad foden 016

THIS is where he really outdoes himself! Do you see the name of the newspaper? Do you see what he wrote?

brad foden newspaper

This is the picture of the newspapers blown up. I still can’t see as many details as I’d like, and certainly can’t speak for the newspaper or the picture. You’ll just have to notice the similarities and differences between the two sides. Please comment below if you’re more familiar with this graphic.

brad foden 017

So I gave him a hard time for not being able to distinguish between the newspapers or having a clue who owns The Wall Street Journal, throwing in the name of a cable channel he’s probably familiar with, just for good measure.

Then, last night, I let loose and shocked him by showing I knew more about him than he could’ve thought.

brad foden 018

That was the last thing I wrote to him. No more. I gave him the floor after that last post.

Then, I went to bed, listening to the TV and all the rings on my phone, all different responses from him. Brad wouldn’t give up.

You’ll notice he finished the string and started new ones, so look at the time since he posted, so you can follow in order if you think he makes any sense.

brad foden 019

Was this what he was referring to?

brad foden dog

Or this?

brad dog

I wonder if the authorities or Facebook would consider any of this threatening.

brad foden 020

And that’s all, folks! You read every single word of our “conversation.” (I warned you, didn’t I?)

thats all folks

So here are a last few points from me:

And he thought he had a stalker? So many messages from him. So much nonsense. But so much he apparently believes, and he can’t be the only one, so that’s a problem for society.

No, I’m not afraid. I don’t believe in living in fear, and plenty of other journalists have faced much more when reporting. I live in a secure building and don’t have a regular schedule.

And no, he doesn’t know the journalism business, or the turmoil and turnover that goes on in newsrooms.

As for my former coworker and Facebook friend, he’s not completely innocent. Far from it. He wrote some similar things. I’m not happy about that. But I don’t plan to unfriend him, simply because I can read what he writes and he can read what I write, so unfriending is up to him. Hopefully this can be a learning experience but my hopes are very low.

Furthermore, I didn’t name any other person involved in a few of the posts you saw. I blocked off their names. The reason is simply because I had a “discussion” with one person and gave that one person plenty of opportunities to explain himself. He took me up on those opportunities, more than I ever could’ve thought, and I’m letting his words speak for themselves. Nobody else got that chance. And don’t forget he asked, “How long before you report me to your family that runs this place?” and “How close are you to reporting me now media man?”

So let me ask you this, especially for people in and around Philadelphia: If think you know Brad Foder, do you really? Has this changed your opinion of him?

If you don’t, would you want to be associated with him? Do you think he’d really like and respect you?  Would you want him working for you? Would you go as far as warning others about him?

If you do know of him, then I hope your answer to the last question would be “yes,” and you’ll forward this web link to everyone you think also knows of him, as a friendly warning.

Personally, I think I know what I’m going to do about what I perceive to be threats, but certainly won’t reveal any decisions here.

Folks, this is America, 2018. As we approach Christmas, which I don’t celebrate, I’ll end with a phrase millions of other people will be reciting:

“Peace on Earth, and goodwill toward men” (and women).

Christmas

Santa Claus christmas

If you appreciate what you read here, subscribe with either your email address or WordPress account, and get a notice whenever I publish. Don’t rely on social media with its hacking issues and censoring like this, this and this. I’m also available for writing/web contract work. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennycohen

Killing kids and desecrating the name of Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Posted on by Lenny Cohen

I didn’t plan on writing two blogs in two days completely from scratch, but the news calls for it.

Yesterday, around this time, I was cramming on another blog and then dragged out even though I couldn’t care less about St. Valentine’s Day. Despite personal protests as long as I can remember, it’s not my holiday. That’s why I didn’t find out about the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland until today.

wikipedia MSD hs
Wikipedia file

In case you’re just learning about it, click here for the latest article on this blog at the moment, since you can always come here for the latest news – on the side on your desktop, or on the bottom on your tablet or phone.

Notice I wrote Parkland, rather than adding Florida, because I grew up down there, and have family and friends nearby, so I consider the deadly mayhem a local news story on several levels.

Parkland’s website calls it “a tranquil city nestled in a serene, wooded environment in Northwest (sic) Broward County, Florida,” which means in the outskirts rather than an urban environment — too close to Douglas’ beloved Everglades National Park, if you ask me.

parkland map
Parkland sits at the very edge of the Everglades. Think about what was there before Parkland. (Google Maps)
everglades national park map
Everglades National Park (National Park Service)

I’m disgusted for all the same reasons you are. There’s no need to explain the obvious.

This is also a disgrace to Marjory Stoneman Douglas’ name. She was known most throughout her long life as an environmentalist — which by “nature” has to do with life — first getting involved in the Everglades way back in the 1920s. She promoted responsible urban planning when Miami saw a population boom of 100,000 people in the decade.

MSD friends of the everglades
Friends of the Everglades

Then, according to Wikipedia,

“By the 1960s, the Everglades were in imminent danger of disappearing forever because of gross mismanagement in the name of progress and real estate and agricultural development. Encouraged to get involved by the leaders of environmental groups, in 1969—at the age of 79—Douglas founded Friends of the Everglades to protest the construction of a jetport in the Big Cypress portion of the Everglades. She justified her involvement saying, ‘It is a woman’s business to be interested in the environment. It’s an extended form of housekeeping.'”

MSD 3MSD 2

Photos via Wikipedia

Douglas had been honored by practically every environmental group for defending the Everglades against efforts to drain it and reclaim land for development. She convinced people it’s a treasured river instead of a worthless swamp.

Unfortunately for so many people in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, suburban sprawl has taken its toll. This isn’t like areas around other cities because it’s obvious from maps, including those in this article, you can’t build east. There’s the Atlantic Ocean. You also can’t build too far south. There’s Biscayne Bay and the Florida Straits, if you don’t hit the Everglades first.

But builders and sugar farmers try to make their livings further and further west. They keep fighting to move Miami-Dade’s Urban Development Boundary back, and commissioners keep approving, affecting the Everglades and its rural and natural resource protection areas.

Douglas wasn’t just about the environment. She also supported the ACLU, Equal Rights Amendment and mental health support, due to her mother’s deterioration.

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She served as a as a society columnist — writing about tea parties and society events, starting in 1915 — since her father, Frank Stoneman, was the first publisher of the paper that became The Miami Herald. From 1920 to 1990, Douglas published 109 fiction articles and stories.

Douglas was best known for her 1947 call to arms, The Everglades: River of Grass, which she began simply, ”There are no other Everglades in the world.”

According to The New York Times, her now-famous phrase

“‘river of grass’ caught the public imagination but it was also a reference to the fact that the Everglades is really a vast, slow-moving stream of shallow water and saw grass that covers much of the final 100 miles of South Florida.”

Of the people of South Florida, The Times reported she said,

“They could not get it through their heads that they had produced some of the worst conditions themselves, by their lack of cooperation, their selfishness, their mutual distrust and their willful refusal to consider the truth of the whole situation.”

She added that unless people acted more responsibly, ”overdrainage will go on” and ”the soil will shrink and burn and be wasted and destroyed, in a continuing ruin.”

Douglas died at the age of 108 on May 14, 1998. 

The next week, The Times reported,

“Once an area of more than 4,000 square miles, the Everglades has shrunk to less than half its original size, the result of overdrainage, urban sprawl and pollution from government-supported sugar cane and dairy farming. Many think its long-range future is still tenuous.”

(The article has much more on government attempts to buy land, how the sugar farmers blamed the government for the Everglades’ problems, sugar farmers convincing Florida voters to reject a penny-a-pound tax on sugar, other attempts to restore the Everglades’ natural water flow — and much more on Douglas’ life, short marriage and accomplishments. Click here for even more, from longtime Miami Herald managing editor Rick Hirsch, published two years ago tomorrow.)

Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles explained her impact, saying,

“Marjory was the first voice to really wake a lot of us up to what we were doing to our quality of life. She was not just a pioneer of the environmental movement, she was a prophet, calling out to us to save the environment for our children and our grandchildren.”

Tallahassee building
Marjory Stoneman Douglas Building in Tallahassee, headquarters of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (Wikimedia Commons)
Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom

In 1993, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Chicago Tribune wrote she “was thrilled when President Clinton called and invited her to the White House” for the nation’s highest civilian honor.

On April 22, 2015, while giving an Earth Day speech in the Everglades, President Obama announced that Interior Secretary Sally Jewell had designated her house in the Coconut Grove section of Miami — built in 1924, and where she wrote all of her major books and stories — a National Historic Landmark.

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It’s now owned by the state of Florida and a park ranger lives there to maintain it from the disrepair it had suffered from as early as the 1926 Miami Hurricane and also an infestation of bees.

One tidbit from PBS: Marjory Stoneman Douglas didn’t like to go out in the buggy Everglades!

It’s hard for me to believe the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary School in Miami-Dade County weren’t even born when she was alive. Both schools opened in 1990. Douglas was still alive. I wonder what she thought about the schools’ openings and more specifically, their locations.

I look at the maps and consider both locations suburban sprawl, since the schools had to be built as late as 1990, and that meant families moving into places nobody hadn’t been living before.

hs for blog

high school website (west of Miami)

elementary website (Parkland, Broward Co.)

elem for blog

One would think Douglas would’ve been against that. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find details on Douglas’ reaction to schools bearing her name being built in such places. I’d really like to know.

However, The New York Times wrote, “In 1990, on her 100th birthday, when she was blind and frail, she continued to speak out against those who plundered the Everglades.”

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
Honored at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, which she fought for in the 1930s and called “one of the greatest achievements for the entire area.”

But look at where we’re talking about: a place that’ll probably be underwater sooner rather than later, due to global warming, at the rate we’re going.

In 2003, the Miami Herald reported,

“In 1990, the (Miami-Dade County School) board hired Roma Construction to build Marjory Stoneman Douglas Elementary. The project was 390 days late, and Roma forfeited $45,000 for pulling out before the work was complete. Just four years later, the board rehired the company to build Paul Bell Middle”…

School, but that was also a disaster.

This evening, the same paper reported,

“Two South Florida Republicans, Senator Marco Rubio, who received millions of dollars in political help from the National Rifle Association, and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, the single largest recipient of direct NRA campaign cash among Floridians in the House of Representatives since 1998, said gun control legislation won’t stop mass shootings.”

R.I.P. to Marjory Stoneman Douglas and also yesterday’s victims. Unfortunately, I don’t see progress in solving South Florida’s, or the country’s, problems.

demos

Eagle eye: Most Philadelphia media ignore possibility of local terrorism

Posted on by Lenny Cohen

You would think anytime there’s a possibility of terrorism in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia media would report it. Apparently that wasn’t the case this week.

Maybe hysteria over the Eagles in the Super Bowl is to blame.

By all reported accounts, Khalil Lawal of Arlington, Va., drove a car into a pedestrian in South Philadelphia.

It happened at about 7:30 Monday morning near Broad and Bigler streets. Then, Lawal attacked the off-duty officer who confronted him.

I checked for the latest web articles from the city’s five TV news sites (3, 6, 10, 17 and 29), plus the newspaper’s.

According to WPVI, Tuesday afternoon,

“Investigators say Lawal apparently tried to use his black Honda hit a person who had just gotten out of a car.

“Then, on foot, Lawal chased another person who had tried to detain him, and then charged at the off-duty officer after he approached, leading to a violent struggle.

“During the struggle, the officer fired about ten shots, hitting Lawal in the torso, legs, and face.”

 

gun outline

Lawal was killed, and the officer was treated for minor injuries and released from the hospital.

Thursday morning, WCAU identified the officer as Det. James Powell, a 23-year veteran assigned to External Services and was off duty at the time.

Investigators told the station, before the shooting,

“Lawal continued driving east on Bigler before making a U-turn and returning toward the intersection of Broad and Bigler near Marconi Plaza. … A Good Samaritan used his truck to block his path. … Lawal then allegedly chased the Good Samaritan on foot before walking back to his Honda.”

Wednesday night, WTXF reported at least three video cameras recorded the incident which WCAU reported police “have no plan to release.”

WCAU also said, “Police don’t believe the incident was a case of domestic terrorism.”

daily express

However, Monday, England’s Daily Express reported,

“A police spokesman confirmed this afternoon terror was being considered as motivation.

“He said: ‘Anytime someone is trying to run people over we got to look at that angle and see what the investigation leads us.’”

That, and the line from WCAU, were the only mentions I could find of possible terrorism.

isis islamic state flag

Note just yesterday, Edward Archer was convicted of shooting police officer Jesse Hartnett in an ambush, two years ago. Archer had pledged his allegiance to ISIS and said he had acted out of religious inspiration. So terrorism on a local level has been in the news this week, but in a different story.

However, in this week’s case, WTXF reported,

“The detective fired several shots, knocking the man to the ground and then continued firing—striking the man 13 times in all.”

Commissioner Richard Ross
Police Commissioner Richard Ross leads the fourth largest police department in the nation
LKDA
New district attorney Larry Krasner, sworn in exactly one month ago

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That had Police Commissioner Richard Ross (left) concerned.

Tuesday, the Inquirer reported “Ross said he had reviewed surveillance video of the shooting and had ‘some concerns’ about ‘whether all the shots were necessary.’”

New district attorney Larry Krasner (right) promised WTXF “an ‘even-handed’ review of” the shooting.

The Inky reported Powell will be assigned to administrative duties while Internal Affairs investigates the shooting.

The Philadelphia Police website has nothing on the shooting, including a press release. It hasn’t yet made the list of officer-involved shootings.

2018 officer involved shootings

There’s also nothing on its Facebook page. And the only thing I could find from the department on Twitter was this:

From what I could tell, this story that made international headlines and possibly involved terrorism deserved more news coverage than it got locally: one station reporting police didn’t think it was.

At least there are things on the department’s Facebook page everyone in the area can agree on. Come to think of it, maybe it’s the reason we haven’t heard more about the shooting.

Every media organization sent crews to the Super Bowl in Minneapolis. Those journalists, no matter how good they are, couldn’t be in two places at once. And the police department is planning for fans celebrating the Eagles victory over the New England Patriots — or that other possibility.

New England Patriots

Sad stereotypes too strong to silence (for now)

Posted on by Lenny Cohen

Texas Flip n Move logo

Last night, I did something I rarely do: open a Facebook post to the public, rather than just friends.

Today, I’m blogging about the online battle that followed, something I hadn’t planned to do.

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The story was about one of the hosts of a show on the DIY Network — part of Scripps Networks Interactive and sister to HGTV, the Food Network, Travel Channel, Cooking Channel, Great American Country, TVN, Fine Living and the Asian Food Channel.

You’re certainly familiar with some of them unless you’ve been living under a rock.

Unfortunately, it has since been reinforced to me that too many Americans have been living under figurative rocks.

diy network logo

Texas Flip N Move host Toni Snow — who along with her sister Donna — are “real estate entrepreneurs” who “compete head-to-head in a fast-paced and thrilling real estate flipping competition,” according to the show’s website.

It goes on, if you understand flipping, “Our flippers are under the gun to buy low, work fast and sell high.”

budget

And in a recent episode that was shot, produced and edited, Toni Snow asked a participant who was willing to pay full asking price for a refurbished school bus, “You’re not even gonna bicker a little bit, Jew us down?” according to CNN and People magazine.

Toni Snow NY Post Fox
Toni Snow from the New York Post, captured from http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/01/17/diy-apologizes-for-anti-semitic-slur-that-made-it-on-to-air.html

I’m not a regular watcher of that channel nor show, although I think I once saw part of an episode that was shown on HGTV.

I could say things about people from Texas but I won’t.

The network told CNN in an apology, “An inappropriate comment unfortunately made it past our team” and that they “immediately pulled the episode to edit it for future broadcast.”

im sorry

My original point was that Toni Snow needed to be edited out. In other words, she should be fired and the episode should never be shown again.

fired

That’s not hard to do.

Look at what’s happening over sexual misconduct these days. Kevin Spacey’s role in the movie All the Money in the World was recast with Christopher Plummer. Scenes from the film about J. Paul Getty’s grandson’s kidnapping were reshot in nine days, costing millions of dollars, a month before its opening. All the promotions/trailers had to be reworked. (See trailer #1 and trailer #2.)

all the money in the world
Sony-TriStar-Imperative Entertainment-Scott Free

Toni Snow reminds me of Hillary Clinton saying half of now-President Trump’s supporters fit into a “basket of deplorables,” back in Sept., 2016, less than two months before losing the election (watch here). I also thought about President Obama, competing against Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, saying economically struggling Americans “get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy towards people who aren’t like them” back in 2008 (watch here).

This is an embed of the Facebook post. Be warned, not all is polite.

I have to note how hateful some Toni Schroeder Schwind comes across like those quotes politicians used above, just clinging to the past. I don’t know her but her profile pictures indicate she’s not Jewish, yet she insisted more than once,

“This comment has been around for ages and I think somewhat over reaction was an over reaction. Get over it.”

(Yes, her words.)

I’d say to ask a black person about the N-word, or another minority about slurs about them. Who is she to judge what’s offensive to most Jewish people?

And I wrote “most Jewish people” because some of my friends say it’s no big deal, or it’s the intent that matters.

I also originally angrily posted, “Only #Jews! What other group would tolerate that?”

jewish symbols
Jewish symbols
menorah
Even a menorah at the Bristol Motor Speedway‘s Speedway in Lights!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seems liberalism has replaced religion for many non-Orthodox Jews and that bothers me. Their thoughts and practices are certainly up to them, but it leaves me with a bad taste. I wonder what will be in the generations to come.

Others would say I should be doing more. Again, that’s their opinion. Most of us know stereotypes like “two Jews, three opinions” carry a bit of truth.

As for the speaker’s intent, who knows? I’m not a mind-reader. I did write in a private message off Facebook,

“I find people who say things like that about Jews and prices to have bad intent. The reason is simply, one side wants the price higher and the other wants it lower. It’s adversarial by nature.”

One friend wrote there are worse words and phrases.

I responded late last night,

“Look at the reaction from the post at this hour, and also all the news articles. It’s not exactly like the president using SHole because he’s the president. Besides, if people hear it on TV, they think it’s acceptable. Don’t give the public too much credit.”

girl watching tv

Something very similar happened at the TV station I worked at in the northeast Tennessee/southwest Virginia Tri-Cities region after I left.

I explained it,

“Are slurs against any minority group tolerable in 2018? After I left the Tri-Cities, a member of the local synagogue – the only one between Knoxville and Charlottesville – contacted me after the station I worked for did a story about a guy holding an auction and using the same phrase, just like his father taught him! It aired at 5:30. At 11, there was an apology. But he was just white trash and not on the payroll. What gets me is that it’s missed in the editing process. Of course, so do curse words on signs at anti-Trump rallies.”

 

cbs fuck trump pence
Like this. Can you find it? From the CBS Evening News, captured from http://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2018/1/17/you-might-want-to-look-a-bit-closer

Yes, I used a phrase where the stereotype fit (and not about somebody from Texas, as I promised earlier). I’m certainly not perfect. I tend to be middle of the road politically, but absolutely not politically correct. Society needs civilized discussion.

I’m guessing a photographer who grew up locally shot the interview, wrote the script and edited it. That’s what happens in small non-union markets.

jew people down wcyb

I have files of both the original piece and the apology but won’t show them publicly because the anchorwoman on air had nothing to do with putting together the story. She just read it, along with having to read the apology hours later with her face on air. Her co-worker who should’ve known better caused her to suffer enough embarrassment, and she was simply subbing on someone else’s newscast while that person was on vacation!

wcyb flag
Casey is innocent

I had this last thought while trying to fall asleep last night:

archie meathead cellar
Archie and Meathead (Mike)

“This conversation reminds me of an episode of All in the Family. It definitely was not my favorite because there was more drama than comedy. Archie and Meathead were locked in the basement and opening up to each other while drinking. Mike tried to convince Archie their fathers were very similar, but wrong as it turned out. Mike had changed completely, becoming a leftist. Archie, his older father-in-law, was more defensive and blindly insisted his father could do no wrong. Most of us have (had) relatives like that, even those who came to this country as immigrants. They lived among each other (in shtetels?) and had no way of understanding anybody else’s feelings or experiences until getting out in the real world. That’s the way things were then. Today, whether traveling a few blocks or watching TV, most people become exposed to others and realize it’s wrong to use and perpetuate stereotypes.”

You can click here to watch 14 minutes of the 1973 episode. They start talking about their fathers just before 8:30 in.

all in the family

At last check, the (very slightly edited) episode “Snow Sisters’ School Bus Flip” is scheduled to air again Friday, Jan. 26 at 8pm ET, Saturday, Jan. 27 at 3am ET and Sunday, Feb. 4 at 3pm ET.

Shame on DIY and Scripps Networks Interactive for having low standards, avoiding a teaching moment and not dumping it.

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