SIX DEGREES

It's time to play Six Degrees of Jeffrey Epstein!!! 

(Announcer) Jack Lang! Come on down and play six degrees of Jeffrey Epstein! 

Emcee: You were France's cultural minister when your family had financial dealings with JE.  Johnny, tell our contestant what he has won.

Announcer: You will be resigning from your current position as head of the Arab World Institute which you have headed since 2013. (Who knew the Arab World had an institute?). And you will be CANCELED and are currently facing at 86 a criminal investigation. 

Our next contestant, Mona Juul, come on down and play six degrees of Jeffrey Epstein! 

Emcee: You were Norway's ambassador to Jordan and Iraq when it was revealed that your husband had financial dealings with Jeffrey Epstein. Johnny, tell our contestant what she has won.

Announcer: You are being forced to resign and quit any participation in Norway politics. You and your husband are now being investigated for criminal wrongdoings. 

Moroslav Lajcak come on down and play six degrees of Jeffrey Epstein! 

Emcee: You were the national security advisor to Slovakia's prime minister when you exchanged emails with Jeffrey Epstein about young girls. Johnny, tell our contestant what he has won.

Announcer: You have been forced to resign and are being ostracized in your home country. 

Peter Mandelson come on down come on down and play six degrees of Jeffrey Epstein! 

Emcee: Peter you were a long-time fixture in British politics and were ending your stellar career with an appointment by current PM Keir Starmer as His Majesty's Ambassador to the United States where weekly parties and high-end dinners and socializing with the top politcos in DC was in your future. Johnny, tell our contestant what he has won. 

Announcer: You have been forced to resign and end your career in shame. 

And finally, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor come on down and play six degrees of Jeffrey Epstein! 

Emcee: Andrew MW, your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein has cost you all your English Titles, a Lordship, several peerages, your home, all of your honorary military titles, and you are now an ostracized figure upon whom scorn is heaped by your fellow countrymen. You have been exiled to a rundown farmhouse where most of the servants that are employed as caretakers have refused to work there if you are living there. 

And that is today's edition of Six Degrees of Separation with Jeffrey Epstein. Don't miss our special upcoming editions where former President Clinton and former secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be testifying before congress about their encounters with Jeffrey Epstein including the former president's trip to Africa on Air-Epstein. 

OLA!

 We are old enough to remember the   English Only crusade that tore into the Magic City in the early 1980's. Indeed, there is now a play about it-  called English Only by Nicholas Griffin, author of the definitive account of the drug wars and Mariel Boat lift- The Year of Dangerous Days: Riots, Refugees, and Cocaine in Miami 1980. 

We thought those days were behind us. We learned enough Spanish to order meals, ask for more beer and the check, and accepted Miami as the international city it had become. 

And now comes this: 

So, here we go again???

Cue Jaws theme: Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the DMV... 

But wait! There's more!! 

While the Florida DMV is English Only, the Super Bowl halftime show was Spanish only courtesy of the Bad Bunny.  That must have gotten the attention of the DEI hatein' maga drones in Tallahassee and DC. 

We nailed the coin toss, Seattle -4.5 and the under 45.5 (barely) and overall had a very good $uper Bowl. See ya in 2027 (maybe). 

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY PART DOS

Update: We once again correctly predicted the coin toss. Heads. We were a bit concerned about Joe Montana's shoulder, as we intimated in the prior post. But when we saw him grip it and rip it, and we saw the rotation on the coin and the height, we knew we had it locked in on heads. 

Now if only our other picks can pay off, we can open an Opus One in the fourth quarter with out chili. 

Defense wins championships. Full stop. Steelers. Bears. Ravens. Giants. Very good to great defenses win championships. Seattle has a very very good and complete defense. Seattle will win the game. They are an exceptionally well balanced and well coached team. What worries us is the -4.5. We Seattle up 31-21 going into the last two minutes of the game and now you can get a Patriots back-door cover with a TD and the final score 31-28 or 29 and you lose having given -4.5. So be careful. Check out our chart below. Seattle is 7-3 vs Patriots in the last ten games. But what jumps out even more is that 7 games were decided by 4 points or less. Youch, 

Even though we predicted the score above, we are leaning towards the under 45.5. Everyone loves the over. It's more fun to root for an exciting game full of scores. But the stat of the day: Drake Maye has been sacked 15 times in the post season. 15. Count em. Seattle can go up 24-10 and run the rock and hold the Patriots off. If over hits, it will be late in the fourth quarter, which makes the line fun to bet either way. 

What can go wrong? 

Darnold can melt down. Unlikely, but always possible.  It is more likely that Maye gets rattled with a strip sack and a few INTs. 

Don't count out NE's D. It is nearly as good as Seattle's. So that brings the game back to QBs, who makes a mistake, and whether Jaxson Smith-Njigba goes off. And if the Patriots manage to do something nearly no other team has done and shuts down JSN, then Cooper Kupp, the aging WR vet will step up. If you have some extra money, throwing some on Kupp to catch a TD (+260) and over 36.5 yards in receptions (-115) is not a bad bet to keep you interested between the buffalo cauliflower dip and the chicken wings. 

     SEAHAWKS V, PATRIOTS (LAST TEN MEETINGS) 

Date	Winner	Score	Venue
Sep 15, 2024	Seattle	23–20 (OT)	Gillette Stadium
Sep 20, 2020	Seattle	35–30	Lumen Field
Nov 13, 2016	Seattle	31–24	Gillette Stadium
Feb 1, 2015	New England	28–24    Super Bowl XLIX	Phoenix
Oct 14, 2012	Seattle	24–23	CenturyLink Field
Dec 7, 2008	New England	24–21	Qwest Field
Oct 17, 2004	New England	30–20	Gillette Stadium
Oct 24, 1993	Seattle	10–9	Kingdome
Sep 19, 1993	Seattle	17–14	Foxboro Stadium
Sep 20, 1992	Seattle	10–6	Foxboro Stadium

 

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY 2026 PART UNO

 Good Super Bowl Sunday. In this post we will handle some preliminary matters. 

As all good MAGA Americans with a GED know, the Super Bowl is a right enshrined in the Bible and Constitution. 

"There shall be unto you this day of rest when all work shall stop and you shall watch two enemies battle over an unclean skin"  Recriminations, I:14; and "Congress shall make no law infringing on a day of rest, within 40 days of the new year, on  Sunday, when a contest all Americans may watch with food." US CONST, Art VIII,  §4.  

Rumpole's Game Day Chili:  People have offered large sums for our secret chili recipe. We provide it here, free of charge. There is a secret ingredient, which if you follow our instructions exactly you cannot help but make great chili. Now we prefer chili without beans (Texas style) but you can use canned black beans. And we use ground turkey, sometimes mixed with ground pork as our protein, but ground beef works just fine. And we roast a half a dozen tomatillos in our air fryer on roast, 400 degrees, 11-12 minutes, drizzling oil and salt on them before roasting before starting anything else.

But here is the secret ingredient you MUST use. Ready? Drum roll please.......FLOUR! 

Now, as Bruce Springsteen sings in Tenth Avenue Freeze Out, in concert, as he gets to the line "The change was made uptown and the big man joined the band" he first says (or sometimes yells) THIS HERE IS THE IMPORTANT PART!:  

Take a cup of flour per pound of protein and place in a cast iron skillet and cook on medium to high heat until the flour browns. You need it to turn brown. That's the secret. Then set aside. Put your protein into the skillet and sauté until cooked. Add the spices you like, including half of the roasted tomatillos, a can of cut up tomatoes with the liquid, onions, garlic, and pepper. Cook until the tomatoes break down and are incorporated into the meat. You can also add a small can of tomato paste. 

Begin to incorporate your browned flour a few large spoonfuls at a time into the meat mix, adding chicken broth (you can use beef broth, but we like chicken broth) into the pan until you have what appears to be a smooth paste. If you are adding canned beans, add them now with the liquid.  Cook until the liquid is mostly absorbed. When that is done, add another cup of broth, add the rest of the flour, turn to low heat, cover and check every 15 minutes and keep adding broth until it is fully incorporated and you like the mixture. Add some more roasted tomatillos and tomato chunks, cook for a few more minutes until they are incorporated, and turn off heat and enjoy. 

OUR PROP BETS. Listed in order of best to far flung. 

Sea George Holani over 1.5 receptions. -125. He's Darnold's go to back for passes out of the backfield. 

Sea Sam Darnold over 1.5 TDs. -175. This is Darnold's fourth team. He's been through the wringer.  He has a chip on his shoulder. He is going to throw the rock. 

Sea Sam Darnold over 235 passing yards + over 1.5 passing TDs. +149.  See above.

Sea Jaxon Smith-Njigba 2Td receptions. +500. Yes, NE is going to double team him. Ask him if he cares. 

NE Drake Maye under 38.5 yards rushing + Rhamonde Stevenson under 50.5 rushing yards. +232. Defense wins championships. 

That's it for now. We will have our game predications up before the game. As to the rock solid, almost never lose coin flip bet, we have had some issues. The constant movement of the seismic plates in San Francisco is an issue, which also affects the earth's magnetic core in that area. The prevalence of wind gusts that are hard to predict, along with a difficult to measure dew point, and some concerning chatter about the shoulder of the coin tosser, have set our algorithms all over the place. Currently our computer simulations are running nearly 50-50 after ten million runs, with the small and slightest edge to heads, depending on the temperature at the time of the flip. We are monitoring this closely.  Spend your money on Darnold going off today, which gives you an insight into who will win the game. 

 

TO TELL THE TRUTH

 When dog bites woman, no news story. When AUSA bites dog....

When an AUSA tells the court during a contempt hearing that her job, and pardon us while we use a technical legal term....SUCKS...it makes news. 

Such was what occurred in a remarkable display of honesty by former (see  below) government lawyer Julie Le, Esq.,  appearing before US District Judge Jerry Blackwell, who was holding a "Trump Hearing" to determine why his orders were not being followed. 

Ms. Le made a few mistakes. First, she volunteered to go to Minneapolis to help with the backlog of immigration cases. As any military vet knows, never volunteer for a mission. 

Second, she told the truth. Her job sucks, and being incarcerated for contempt would give her some much needed rest. (She actually said that). 

What happened next was predictable. 

The government fired her. 

You can google a hundred articles on this mess, or start by clicking here. 

So, SDFL AUSA's, why not follow your colleague and tell the truth?  Or are you going to continue to take your marching orders from Goebbels  Bondi and continue to defy orders of the court they (her and her boss) don't like?

JUDGE FRED HENRY

 Judge Fred Henry is the man! Our new favourite judge. 

Click here and read why. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1172886492/gov.uscourts.txwd.1172886492.9.0.pdf

H/T David Markus. And like him we won’t spoil the order and just post this tidbit: 

With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike,
It is so ORDERED. 

Gotta love this judge. We need more like him. 

And don’t forget to scroll down and read El Capitan’s post about county court. 

JUDICIAL NEWS, PART 2, COUNTY COURT ELECTIONS .......

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS: 

As promised last Thursday, today we present the races in County Court. 

COUNTY COURT JUDICIAL ELECTIONS .....

There are 10 County Court seats up for election in 2026. The term runs from January 6, 2027, for six years. The following is a list of those judges whose term expires on January 5, 2027. An (F) next to their name means they have filed with the Department of Elections for the upcoming election. All ten incumbents have filed. In Group 9, newly appointed Judge Hernandez will not need to face the voters until 2028. In Group 24, we are looking to confirm whether Governor DeSantis has named a replacement for US Attorney Jason Reding. None of the incumbents has drawn opposition yet. Qualifying week runs from April 20-24, with the election scheduled for August 18, 2026.

COUNTY COURT

Donald Cannava (F)

Betty Capote-Erben (F)

Raul Cuervo (F)

Ritamaria Cuervo (F)

Victoria Ferrer (F)

Kevin Hellman (F)

Jennifer Hochstadt - resigned - Group 09 (replaced by Joanne Hernandez)

Natalie Moore (F)

Gordon Murray (F)

Luis Perez-Medina (F)

Jason Reding-Quinones - resigned to become US Atty last August  - Group 24

Stephanie Silver (F)

CIRCUIT COURT UPDATE .....

One update in CIRCUIT COURT. Judge Marcia Caballero, who sits in Group 51, has contacted us to let us know that she is retiring from the bench. She will not serve out her term and will be retiring in a few weeks. That would mean that her seat will be filled by Governor DeSantis instead of the voters. She joins Judge Richard Hersch, Group 69, who is also retiring. We believe, though, that Hersch intends to complete his term in January of 2027. We have not heard back yet from Judge Orlando Prescott (Group 35) and Judge Angelica Zayas (Group 05), both of whom have yet to file for reelection. 

One final note. Someone in the Comments mentioned that the JNC was taking applications for Judge Caballero’s seat. We have been told that the four seats that the JNC is currently taking applications for are all new seats, two in Circuit Court and two in County Court, with all four new seats created by SB 2508.

CAPTAIN OUT .......
Captain4Justice@gmail.com

COLD SUNDAY

 It's a cold  🧊Sunday  in Miami with "feels like" temperatures in the 20's, much like the heart of a new DeSantis judge sentencing a single mother with no priors who lost a jury trial on two counts of resisting with after the judge threatened informed her that she faced ten years in prison. 

It is also the first Sunday with no professional football since the dog days of August. What to do? 

You can, in no particular order, 

Brush your cat; put on a hat; go out for a walk; call a friend and have a talk. 

You can make some soup and bake some bread, and like Admiral William McRaven famously says, make your bed. 

Or you can do what we love best, read a book!

Our recommendations:

A great Biography of Richard Nixon that covers new ground and treats the former president in a very fair light is Richard Nixon The Life, by John A Farrell.  Query: Which president formed the EPA, did more for protecting and preserving clean water than any president since Teddy Roosevelt, supported and signed legislation requiring yearly cost of living updates to social security, tried to enact national health insurance, and in the words of an old Vulcan proverb:  went to China? RMN of course. His sensitivities to personal attacks are reexamined in the historical light of just how fairly or unfairly the press actually treated him, and the result is a very balanced biography that will have you re-thinking your thoughts about Nixon. If you are a history fan like we are, you will luxuriate in the deep examinations of fascinating incidents mostly lost to history like his involvement and probable illegal activities to undermine the peace talks with Vietnam in the waning days of the Johnson administration (as he was running for president) with a character like Madame Anna Chennault.  The examination of his unsurpassed political survival instincts when during his run with Eisenhower for the vice presidency he was accused of running a slush fund will have you shaking your head in admiration. Not only did the Democrats want him off the ticket, so did Eisenhower and most of his inner circle. And yet his famous Checkers Speech saved him from political ignominy and not only rescued his career, but out maneuvered both Democrats and Eisenhower and left many ordinary Americans who watched the speech in tears. 

Well worth a read. 

If your interests are British as ours always are, Henry V The Astonishing Triumph of England's Great Warrior King, by Dan Jones is a very good read. 

And if you need a little fiction in your life see if Atonement by Ian McEwan floats your boat. 

There is more to life than Football on Sunday. Now go brush your cat. 

STREETS OF MINNEAPOLIS

 Thursday is National Curmudgeon day.  A holiday we naturally celebrate.  See below:

And there is this: The Streets of Minneapolis: 

Just don't believe your eyes/ It's our blood and bones/And these whistles and phones/Against Miller and Noemi's dirty lies/ We will remember the names of those who died/On the Streets of Minneapolis

ICE OUT NOW! (rinse and repeat) 

Curmudgeons Day, celebrated on January 29, honors those delightfully grumpy souls who never hesitate to speak their minds. The date marks the birthday of W.C. Fields, the American comedian and actor famous for his sharp wit and hilariously cantankerous personality. Rather than seeing grumpiness as something negative, this day embraces the humor and honesty that often come with it.

A curmudgeon is typically described as someone who is stubborn, opinionated, and resistant to change. However, behind the gruff exterior there is often intelligence, experience, and a refusal to accept nonsense. Curmudgeons remind us that not every trend deserves applause and not every idea is brilliant. Sometimes, a little skepticism keeps the world balanced.

Celebrating Curmudgeons Day can be as simple as watching a classic W.C. Fields film or sharing your own tongue in cheek complaints about modern life. It is also a fun opportunity to appreciate the outspoken people in your life who say what others are thinking but hesitate to voice.

Above all, the day encourages good humor. Being a curmudgeon is not about spreading negativity. It is about clever commentary, playful grumbling, and perhaps offering wisdom wrapped in sarcasm. So on January 29, embrace your inner grouch and do it with a smile.

BLOGGER CERTIFICATION: This post was NOT made with the use of AI or respect for any judicial authorities. Being a curmudgeon we resent even having to do this. 

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JUDICIAL NEWS IN MIAMI-DADE COUNTY .....

THE CAPTAIN REPORTS: 

JUDICIAL NEWS IN MIAMI-DADE COUNTY .....

JUDGE KEVIN EMAS IS RETIRING .....

There’s lots of judicial news going on in Miami-Dade County. Let’s start with the 3rd DCA. Judge Kevin Emas has announced his retirement from the bench effective March 31, 2026. Judge Emas has led a distinguished career, beginning with his employment as an Assistant Public Defender in Bennett Brummer’s office in 1982. He went on to private practice with the law firm of Fine Jacobson, and then with Thornton Rothman & Emas. He then began a 30-year career serving on the bench. He was first appointed to the County Court in 1996 by Governor Lawton Chiles. He was elevated to the Circuit Court in 2001 by Governor Jeb Bush. Finally, he was tapped by Governor Crist to sit on the 3rd DCA in 2010. He has served on the 3rd DCA for the past 16 years and served as Chief Judge of the Third District from 2019 to 2021.

Judge Emas has held numerous leadership roles in the Florida Conference of Circuit Judges. He also served as a faculty member of the Florida Judicial College, New Appellate Judges Program, Florida’s College of Advanced Judicial Studies, and the National Judicial College. He served as an adjunct faculty member at both FIU College of Law and UM Law. He served as a member of the Judicial Qualifications Commission, Chair of the Supreme Court’s Criminal Court Steering Committee, and Chair of the Florida Criminal Procedure Rules Committee.

Thank you, Judge Emas, for your incredible dedication to the citizens of Miami-Dade County and the State of Florida. 

The 3rd DCA JNC is now accepting applications for Judge Emas' replacement, with a deadline of February 26, 2026.

11TH CIRCUIT JUDICIAL NOMINATING COMMITTEE (JNC) .....

The JNC has announced that it is now taking applications for two Circuit Court seats and two County Court seats. These four seats are new and were created by the Florida legislature with the enactment of SB 2508. The deadline to submit your application is February 20, 2026. The JNC expects to conduct interviews on March 13. The Governor is expected to name the four new judges by no later than May 14, 2026.

CIRCUIT COURT JUDICIAL ELECTIONS .....

There are 34 Circuit Court seats up for election in 2026. The six-year term begins on January 6, 2027. Qualifying Week is April 20-24, 2026. The election is scheduled for August 18, 2026.

The following is a list of judges whose terms expire on January 5, 2027. Some of these judges will be retiring. An (F) next to their name means they have filed with the Department of Elections for the upcoming election. Six incumbents have not yet filed, while three newcomers have filed to run.

CIRCUIT COURT

Michelle Alvarez Barakat (F)
Tanya Brinkley (F)
Beatrice Butchko (F)
Marcia Caballero - has not yet filed - Group 51
Carmen Cabarga (F)
Yvonne Colodny (F)
Ivonne Cuesta (F)
Jorge Cueto (F)
Abby Cynamon (F)
Michelle Delancy (F)
Dawn Denaro (F)
Reemberto Diaz (F)
Veronica Diaz (F)
Spencer Eig (F)
Carlos Gamez (F)
Stacy Glick (F)
Laura Gonzalez-Marques (F)
Carlos Guzman (F)
Christine Hernandez (F)
Richard Hersch - has not yet filed* - Group 69
Peter Lopez (F)
Denis Martinez-Scanziani (F)
Alberto Milian (F)
Cristina Miranda - will be filing soon** - Group 48
Spencer Multack (F)
Joseph Perkins (F)
Orlando Prescott - has not yet filed - Group 35
Jose Rodriguez - retired - Group 07 - 
Mavel Ruiz (F)
Migna Sanchez-Llorens (F)
Laura Stuzin (F)
Daryl Trawick (F)
Andrea Wolfson (F)
Angelica Zayas - has not yet filed - Group 05 -

*Judge Hersch is retiring.

We communicated with Judge Miranda, who indicated that she "intends to file shortly and hopes to continue serving the people of Miami-Dade County as she has for almost 29 years."

The three non-incumbent attorneys who have filed to run include:

Group 05 - Attorney Alexander Annunziato

Group 07 - Attorney Cristobal Padron

Group 69 - Attorney Rita Baez

Tomorrow, we will cover the County Court races.

CAPTAIN OUT .......
Captain4Justice@gmail.com