There are certain people who spent their life in our little corner of the legal world, and we do well to remember them when they are gone.
Thus, we remember on 10/28/2024 the passing of REGJB legendary Judge Gerald Klein, who passed away on this date in 2012.
For you young judges, prosecutors, PDs, and REGJB staff members, you would do well to ask a colleague about "Fast Gerry."
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
ELECTION CENTRAL - COUNTY COURT - RUNOFF
The polls open today for EARLY VOTING. Over the next 14 days, you can cast your ballot at any of the 33 locations open daily from 7am until 7pm. To find a polling location, you can go to this link. If you pass on this opportunity, you must have ordered your Absentee ballot from the Department of Elections, or, you will need to show up to your own precinct on Election Day, Tuesday, November 5, 2024.
The only judicial race facing voters in Miami-Dade County is a runoff in County Court.
Group 29 (Judge Myriam Lehr retiring)
Christopher Benjamin v. Alina Salcines Restrepo
In the August primary, this was a three-person race. Christopher Benjamin received the most votes garnering 98,108 (39%) of the 253,299 votes cast. Alina Salcines Restrepo received 91,044 (36%). Former Judge Scott Janowitz was eliminated from the three-person race after collecting 64,147 (25%).
Christopher Benjamin has been a member of The Florida Bar for 22 years. He is Of Counsel with International Law Partners, LLP., and a panelist with the ADR firm of Salmon & Dulberg. He works in the areas of general litigation and serves as an arbitrator, mediator, and special magistrate. He has been a certified mediator and arbitrator for 15 years and in 2010 he was appointed as a Hearing Officer in the 11th Judicial Circuit’s Traffic Division where he served until 2020. In 2020 (and again in 2022), he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives to represent the people of District 107.
Benjamin has raised $111,096. Benjamin did not loan his campaign any money. Of note, in his Financial Disclosure, Benjamin lists his Net Worth at NEGATIVE -$292,937.
Alina Salcines Restrepo has been a member of The Florida Bar for 24 years. She has worked in a law firm with her brother who is also a lawyer and she has been a solo practitioner as well. She concentrates her practice in the areas of real estate, probate, criminal, civil, traffic, estate planning, and bankruptcy law.
Salcines Restrepo has raised only $35,014, but she has added $40,000 to her campaign in the form of a loan. She lists her Net Worth at $1,170,733.
The winner earns a six-year term and an annual salary of $186,034.
IN OTHER ELECTION NEWS .....
It looks like a dead heat heading into the final two weeks of the presidential campaign. Seven states will decide the election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada are the only states polling too close to call. In Florida, Rick Scott continues to hold a healthy lead in the polls over his opponent, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
What are your predictions on the outcome of the Presidential race? Regardless of who is declared the winner, will there be endless court battles in some of these key states? Will any of those cases end up before SCOTUS?
It's week seven in the NFL season, and you know who are not watching the games? The residents of Cuba, as the entire island's power grid failed this week due to the unavailability of oil to power the system. Venezuela and Russia have reduced by 50% their shipments of subsidized oil, and Cuba has not been successful seeking fuel from the spot market.
From each according to their abilities, to each according to their ability to live in the dark.
And while it is dark in Cuba, it was not lights out for our NY Mets on Friday who came roaring back after dropping two in Queens (and severely diminishing Rumpole's bankroll). It is game six tonight in LA and we are taking the Miracle Mets +1.5 to keep hope alive and take the pennant series to a game seven.
Cheaters at Jags. Really? What's the line when no one is watching and no one cares? You have to be really desperate to plunk down something on this snoozer.
There are two really interesting games today. Lions at Vikes, and KC at SF.
We will take the Lions getting 1.5 in Minny, and give 1.5 with SF handing KC their first loss. Brock Purdy is really really solid in executing the SF offense and it is time for KC to take a tumble.
The Bengals -6.5 will brat the Browns who stink, and the Eagles /Giants will go under 42.5.
Lets Go Mets!
It's time for another edition of everyone's favorite....THIS OR THAT?
It started this week sitting in a bar when the patrons began a spirited discussion of chicken wings-
Wing or Drumette?
Buffalo or Ranch?
Voir "deer" or Voir "dire"?
REGJB old courtrooms on 2 & 4 or new ones on 7?
3rd DCA or 4th DCA?
PDs or RC3?
Reno or Rundle?
Mets or Yanks?
Cubs or White Sox?
Cazolis or Pickle Barrel or El Gordo?
Briefs or Boxes (any person using any pronoun can answer)
Marino or Elway?
NY Pizza or Chicago Style?
Obama or Clinton?
Reagan or Eisenhower?
Grapes of Wrath or To Kill a Mockingbird?
Disco or Rock or Rap?
and finally....
Markus or Rumpole?
Imagine. Saturday John Lennon's 84th Birthday was celebrated in Central Park. More on this below.
Our NY Mets start their march to the World Series tonight in LA. Hard to win a road playoff game, but they are rested and have their pitching lineup set, while LA's bullpen is in tatters. Our Mets bets have been beyond $pectacular and we are playing with house money and riding them all the way through the World Series. #LetsGoMets! Game 1 tonight 8pm ish.
Your Cleveland Browns are a disaster. Their QB is a sexual predator, never a good thing, and the have no team cohesiveness. They are in Philly today and it is just what the doctor ordered for the up and down Eagles. 8.5 is a lot to give but we are doing it and under 42.5 because there's no O in Cleveland. The only good news is they are on the glidepath to a top pick in the draft and there are plenty of good QBs coming out of college.
Houston at the Cheaters. The Texans were our "it" team this season and we blew it. We should have tagged the Vikes, at which point we'd be eyeing that flat we have our eye on in London. But whatever. Cheaters starting their rookie QB Drake Maye. Maye-be he does ok. Something just tells us to put a few dollars to work on NE at home +6.5.
The game of the day is the Commanders against the Ravens in Baltimore. Maybe a new rivalry is brewing now that DC has a team. They are fun to root for, so we will take the 6.5 for DC to keep it close.
We are still on a football losing streak so don't go crazy, other than Mets +145 to win the series against LA. Also, a very profitable bet for us this season has been pitcher o/u strikeouts in any particular game (thank you Pirate rookie phenom pitcher Paul Skeenes!). Tonight, we like Mets starter Kodai Senga over 2.5 strikeouts at -110. Parlay that with the Mets +1.5 and a Hundee bet pays 275 which will cover our wine needs for the coming week).
IMAGINE
This was the scene in Central Park Saturday celebrating John Lennon's 84th Birthday (which was October 9). Imagine if he had not been senselessly murdered? Do yourself a favor and mark your calendar and spend an October 9 in Strawberry fields one morning-afternoon. It's kinda sad...kinda bittersweet...and kinda nice being with likeminded people who like to imagine a world with no war, fear, and pain.
Court's will resume "normal" operations (including Hialeah, which is why we put "normal" in quotation marks) Friday. If you work for the court system, you need to report for work. If you're an attorney, you need to send an associate because nothing significant will be accomplished.
Some unique facts about Milton.
Because Milton made landfall south of Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay experienced a "reverse storm surge" in which the effects of Milton pulled (or to use a meteorological term "sucked") all the water out of Tampa Bay instead of flooding Tampa.
The State housed post-storm workers in the Tampa Bay Rays Tropicana stadium. Prepositioning and all that.
As you can see, Milton blew the roof off the stadium.
Where was Rumpole during all of this?
NOT Florida. We learned our lesson after Andrew. We do not stay.
Instead, like Tropicana stadium, we were in another place where a giant shot raised the roof- but this was a good kind.
If you follow baseball at all, what the NY Mets are doing is absolutely unbelievable. In the playoffs- they are 4-0 when down. They have won three games with home runs, and hit two ninth inning home runs to get the lead, including a miraculous shot by Pete Alonso, in Milwaukee, when down to their final two outs of the season. Alonso's HR put the Mets into the Division round of the playoffs about a week ago. Lindor's home run, which we saw live, put the Mets into the Championship round of the playoffs.
Very simply, life is baseball and baseball, when it plays like this, is life.
So here was the scenario on Wednesday. Mets were down 1-0. They had squandered away a prior bases-loaded situation a few innings earlier. They loaded the bases in the 6th, and then Franciso Lindor walked to the plate (and oh yeah, we had him +400 for a Benji to hit a dinger. The odds for a grand salami were +8000 and we kid you not our finger hovered over the bet button before we moved on. Oh well, we will take the 400 which paid for our celebratory dinner in the city afterwards - well not all the tab, bit most of it- the Caymus Cab 2018 was a bit pricy with the restaurant markup).
Enjoy.
Rumpole Request/Rant: Covid redux. Remember the early weeks of the Covid shutdown when a few, very annoying individuals would spam your emails (and the blog) "I have been in constant communication with the chief judges and there is something called Covid which is a very serious virus and everyone needs to wear a mask and courts are closed..." and they would send this over and over for weeks after courts were closed as if anyone on earth had by that time not heard about Covid.
Well, the same people are at it again with the Hurricane, forwarding over and over emails from various officials telling us that there is a hurricane coming, as if anyone in Florida does not know. "Hey honey, did you see the 14 emails from Billy Busybody and his partner Sally Saysitall forwarding the emails about...wow I guess there is a hurricane and courts are closed?"
"Yes dear, I just saw them, and thank goodness they sent them, because despite the two dozen emails from judges, mayors, and various officials, I was not sure what was happening until Busybody resent me all the emails and I am so glad he did because I was wondering how I was going to drive to court in 190 mph winds."
So do us a favor- STOP FORWARDING THE SAME EMAILS WE ALL GET OVER AND OVER. No one needs you to forward the email from the Chief Judge that courts are closed. If anyone has not gotten the email and is stupid enough to actually go to court during the storm, then they deserve what happens to them. If you have this much time on your hands, go take a spoon and head to the beach and volunteer for the Sisyphean task of filling up sandbags.
UPDATE - Courts are closed Wednesday and NOW THURSDAY for a weather related event that the same people who do not believe in a Covid vaccine, do not believe is caused by global warming. This is what happens when you ignore science- science does not ignore you.
Update - the 11th judicial circuit has issued a media advisory
Couple of thoughts: First, why is the 11th circuit advising the media on the hurricane ? Do they feel the media is stretched too thin by the absence of former ace Herald reporter David Ovalle and they are helping the media ?
Second - not too sure, but we think the last 11th circuit media advisory we saw was congratulating President Clinton on his reelection. So let’s just say you’re better off getting updates from TMZ than our own 11th circuit media division. But we applaud the effort.
Federal and State courts are closed Wednesday.
Has anyone seen the Governor’s comments? How does he describe the phenomena without reference to words that he has banned (rhymes with mobile horning)?
Take over 43 KC/ Saints tonight if you need to get even.
More important question if anyone knows- does Starbucks stay open if the courts are closed? We need our Pumpkin Spiced Latte (PSL for the insiders) every day it is available.
MEDIA ADVISORY |
11th Judicial Circuit of Florida
For Immediate Release
October 8, 2024
Contact: Eunice Sigler, Director
Office of Government Liaison & Public Relations
Phone (305)349-7189 - Fax (305)349-7190 - Cell (786) 348-7381
HURRICANE MILTON ADVISORY #1
Miami-Dade Courts Closed
Wednesday, October 9th, Due to Hurricane Milton
The Miami-Dade Courts and all Court Facilities will be closed on Wednesday, October 9th, due to expected weather conditions caused by Hurricane Milton.
First Appearance hearings will take place on a weekend/holiday schedule.
Questions regarding an upcoming hearing should be directed to the presiding judge’s office – a judicial directory is found here.
The Eleventh Judicial Circuit will continue to closely monitor the path of Hurricane Milton in the coming days, and any further closures or changes to court schedules will be announced as soon as possible.
Court closure information may be found at the Eleventh Judicial Circuit’s:
- Emergency Hotline at 305-349-7777
- Website at www.jud11.flcourts.org
- Social Media @miamidadecourts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
Please continue to monitor news and weather reports, and the Eleventh Circuit’s website, hotline, and social media for future announcements.
Who wants to start with the jokes?
Meanwhile check out DOM’s excellent letter to President Biden on using his pardon power as his term winds down.
And the Giants knocked us out of the survivor pool. 😡
We are playing yet another away game this upcoming week, picking a jury Monday as the away team in a strange forum. Where is Rumpole? Let’s just say canned tomato sauce on noodles is their fancy pasta dish, and placed on dry toasted bread is their version of Pizza and when we ordered breakfast they looked confused when we asked for avocado toast ( “Which meats do you want with that?’ “Umm, can I have fruit? I’m trying to avoid angioplasty for another twenty years.” “Well, we have canned peaches….” “Thanks. I’ll pass. Just the toast and coffee please.” ).
Anyway, we are dealing with some significant tech issues which may delay the posting of the survivor pool. To keep things on the up and up, we will post our pick: Seahawks.
This is another challenging week. We have avoided posting the player picks we are making on Draft Kings that is keeping us in Opus One. Yesterday for example, Mets Pitcher Senga over 2.5 strikeouts seemed like a lock. He did cover with three before being pulled in the third. And overall, we have been riding the Mets winning streak and will continue to do so. They keep getting +1.5 on the road and they keep winning and we keep cashing. That game 3 9th inning comeback over the Brewers and Pete Alonso go ahead home run was one of the best baseball moments we have seen in the last 25 years. #LetsgoMets.
As to football, Jets/Vikings under 42.5 in our favorite city- London. Game starts at 930 Miami time so get those bets in now.
Browns/ Commanders under 43.5. Wake us in 2025 when the Browns get a new offense and QB. 28-10 Commanders seems like a reasonable final here.
Bills at Texans. Texans are our team in 2024, but look for Buffalo to make a comeback and take the point,
Cheaters getting 1.5 at home against the suddenly hapless Dolphins looks intriguing- nauseating but intriguing.
And our best bet is the Monday night get even game- Saints at Chiefs over 43.5. Yes we realize KC has no WRs other than our rookie pick X for our faltering FF team. But the Saints have game and the Chiefs will find a way to keep up and hit the over.
So What? I'm still a rock star I got my rock moves And I don't need you And guess what? I'm having more fun Now that we're done I'm gonna show you tonight I'm alright I'm just fine And you're a tool So, so what? I'm still a rock star I got my rock moves And I don't want you tonight...
So What, Pink
Pink had the best "So What?", and the most famous, until Wednesday, when the court in DC ordered a partial disclosure of the evidence against the former president #45 and here's one of the things it showed:
After the former president posted on X (formerly Twitter) that "Mike Pence (formerly the vice president) had let them all down", it enraged his supporters (formerly Americans) and the mob focused their attention on finding and harming (killing) Mike Pence which then caused the Secret Service to take extreme actions to save the Vice President.
According to the Smith/Special Counsel pleading that was unveiled, that caused an aide to rush into the room the President was in watching television. The aide told the President what was occurring and the mob's desire to find and kill Vice President Pence, which caused the President to say.... wait for it....
"SO WHAT?'
From the special counsel's pleading: "The content of the 2:24 p.m. tweet was not a message sent to address a matter of public concern and ease unrest; it was the message of an angry candidate upon the realization that he would lose power."
The "so what" utterance has become the most infamous idiom in American Presidential History.
Lincoln spoke about our better angels.
FDR told the nation that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself.
JFK challenged citizens to ask what they could do for their country.
Ronald Regan spoke of a shinning city on a hill where it would always be, for him, morning in America.
And POTUS 45, after inciting a mob to storm the capitol and kill the vice president, sneered "so what" when told the secret service was worried about their ability to protect the vice president.
Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a mental health condition that causes people to have an inflated sense of self-importance, a need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others. People with NPD may appear boastful, arrogant, or unlikeable.
SO WHAT that we are not a doctor; we can make a diagnosis.
This is one of our favourite non-Springsteen songs, enjoy:
Happy 100th Birthday to James Earl Carter, the 39th President of the United States.
This op ed piece in the NY Times says it better than we can.
I hope you know what it means to white Southerners like me, then and now, to have had your example at a time when there were vanishingly few role models among white Southerners. Or what it means to white Christians like me, then and now, to have had your example of what living by the Gospels really means.
...
You are a child of the Jim Crow South who grew up on a farm at a time when Black sharecroppers were hardly more than slaves. But even raised in that world, you understood the injustice of it. “The time for racial discrimination is over,” you said at your gubernatorial inauguration in 1971. Your audience audibly gasped, but for the rest of your political career, you worked to even the playing field for Black Americans.
...
Your presidency was doomed by wars and unrest in the Middle East that led to oil and gas shortages here and to a hostage crisis in Iran that broke your heart and ours. But you recognized the looming threat of climate change even then, understanding that reliance on foreign oil was not the real danger we faced. I can’t help but wonder where the world would be now if Americans had embraced the environmental policies you initiated nearly 50 years ago.
Much of what you worked to do for the environment during your presidency was nothing less than visionary. Using executive powers, you protected a vast swath of the Alaskan wilderness, in the process doubling the size of the national parks system. You directed federal funds toward the development of renewable energy and installed solar panels on the White House. You began an enormous federal effort to bring the country to energy independence and tried to lead us by calling on our own better angels to make it through the crisis in the meantime.
Before we begin our football picks, let's just have a moment to reflect on our fellow citizens in the big-bend area of Florida- the ones who reliably vote MAGA, who chant "drill baby drill" and "lock her up" at rallies, and most importantly, do not believe in that liberal cancel culture "global warming" nonsense. They got wacked by a gigantic storm- maybe because they didn't pray hard enough. It certainly wasn't because the Gulf Of Mexico waters are warmer than they ever have been.
Back to football.
Talking about disasters, our picks for 2024 have been anything but good. Consider we had Georgia -1 last night, and they come back from 28-0, only to lose to Bama. This is what is called a losing streak. The best touts have them and we are in the middle of one now. (But we did have Skene and the Pirates over the Yankees yesterday- Skenes has been the best bet in Baseball since June).
So what aren't we doing anymore?
1) We aren't betting on the Titans and Will "fumble" Levis.
2) We aren't picking the Fins or the Cowboys anymore.
Personally, we are still able to afford the Opus One we had last night here in Chicago, because of (well Nivida but that's on a different blog) our picks on individual performances- hitting on passing yards and TDs last week for Aaron Rodgers and the Jets.
Ok, let's reset.
Best Bet of the day- risk your Opus One Wine money and a little of the mortgage to get back some losses:
Bengals (who are less than 10 points from being 3-0) over the Panthers -5 in Carolina. We initially like the over, but the weather may affect that, so just take the Bengals, who are an angry bunch today.
Broncos at Jets. Let's play a weather under 39.5 as it has been raining in NYC and NJ all week.
Give the -5.5 and take the Texans at home, angry like the Bengals for getting their ass whopped last week, over a struggling Jaguars who suddenly have big QB questions. Trevor Lawrence has basically disappeared.
For passing Props we like Stroud +250 yards -170 (lay 170 to win 100) or +275 yards +115.
Survivor Pool: It has been very rough year for Survivor players- not just on the blog, but everywhere, with favorites like the Bengals going down week one, and the Bucs tanking at home last week. But we have a few crafty players left, and lets see this week if the 49ers continue the survivor curse of losing as a big home favourite. If you haven't played the Texans yet, that would be our pick, along with an angry Bengals team on the road- and yet we picked San Fran at home to right the ship.
Survivor Pool 2024 Week 4 by Anonymous PbHV4H on Scribd
Florida's Governor has banned the use of a word, starting with H, that is used to describe a weather phenomenon with cyclonic action that rhymes with...well, we cannot think of anything it rhymes with, but it is the name of the U of Miami sports teams.
The tragic news is that the system, which will be named Helene if the winds exceed 74 mph, is bearing down on the west coast of Florida right where ....wait for it....most of Florida's judiciary is now located at their judicial college (Motto: "Sometimes wrong, never in doubt."). This means that their vacation seminars on Thursday and Friday will be canceled and your favourite Judges will be scurrying (adjective intentionally used to make reference to something else which scurries) home ahead of the storm.
Here are the seminars being canceled which will be reset.
Thursday 9-11 am: Gavel Selection: "The gavel chooses the Judge Mr. Potter."
Thursday 1-4 pm: Calendar scheduling. Or "How I show up at 11 for my 9 am calendars and you can too!" (Requires subscription to Instagram Account "@Just_ Judgin" ).
Thursday 5:30-8 pm: Vodka Martini Mixology. Those cutups from the new 6th DCA show off their bartending skills whipping up the best vodka martinis. Highly recommended for the lawyer who is told she cannot use fear in a self-defense case and loses the appeal PCA.
Friday 9-11 am. Voir Dire- who needs it? Strategies to shut lawyers down in jury selection and move the trial along- tee times at 5pm don't open up very often- neither do mani-pedi appointments at your fav salon.
Friday 1-4 pm. Second Continuances? Surely you jest. You tried every case within a month of getting it when in private practice. There's no reason every lawyer cannot be as successful and efficient as you were.
Friday 530-8 pm. Elevator Pitches made simple over wine. The doors close and you find yourself alone with the Governor's chief of staff in an elevator. You have 15 seconds to explain why you should be elevated to circuit court/district court of appeal/ Florida Supreme Court. Choose a wine flight (California Cabs; Interesting Pinot Noirs; Racy Rose's) and sip and learn.
When you see your favourite judge make sure to tell them how sad you were to learn that a pesky storm had the temerity to interfere with their important judicial studies.
Update RIP Mercury Morris Dolphin's great, who is part of the REGJB history.
Trivia: Name the Judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, charge, and what did the Judge say to Morris after sentencing him (case later reversed on appeal).
Update - survivor pool below.
Let's keep the music theme rolling. On this date in 1974 Bachman-Turner Overdrive releases "You Ain't Seen Nothin Yet" which was their only #1 hit. Lead singer Randy Bachman never planned the famous stutter commenting on the song "We thought for fun I'd stutter and we would send it to my brother Gary..." But the stutter remained and the rest is history.
It's BTO baby so turn this one UP!
In case you need to know- Packers QB Love INACTIVE for today and Malik Willis gets his second start and Justin Herbert is starting for Chargers at QB in Pittsburgh.
We are cleaning up the survivor pool and will have it up shortly. Sorry we missed last week- a trial intruded (hung jury late Friday- yuck...have to do it all again).
Not a lot of games we love.
We like the over 46.5 KC and Atlanta and if you want to have fun, take Atlanta for the money line upset +135- should be 150 but a lot of sharpies like this upset.
Miami at Seattle. Sorry Fins fans- they should have kept Mike White as backup QB. Seahawks -4.
Giants at Cleveland. No one wins. Both teams are awful.
Pack at Tennessee. We are still riding the Titans. Wil Levis fixes the stupid and wins today against a Pack team that will be running the ball. Tennesse -3 and under 37.
Survivor Pool Week3 2024 by Anonymous PbHV4H on Scribd
It is Earth Wind And Fire Day!
September 21.
Enjoy while we work on catching up on the survivor pool.
This may be the greatest video in the history of the internet. The laughing is by the person recording it, not us.
Enjoy.
We will update survivor pool as soon as this jury comes back (no we didn't violate our avoid Friday verdict rule- they went out Wednesday night...ughh.)
Bad start week one for 2024 and it only got worse when we took a massive beat down on the Fins Thursday night game. Only bet we won was that no Dolphin would be cuffed by a cop before the game. And we had to lay 250 to win 100 on that on Draftkings.
We recouped our losses yesterday, but that was only because we were with College sharpies who guided up. Bama- check. Plus the over. Tennessee giving 49? No prob- the score was 71-0. Plus some parlays with Texas and Nebraska.
Today is tough pickings.
Only game we have put down money on is Texans at home -6.5 over the Bears.
If you must- Steelers/Broncos under 32. Another Mike Tomlin 17-7 type of game shaping up, but we'd feel better teasing that to under 38...which actually isn't a bad idea!
Jets- Titans- two 0-1 teams facing off. We like the Titans. The Jets are shaping up for another Jets season, so take another home dog +3.5 - we like the Titans and over 41 doesn't seem bad.
Falcons at Eagles. Falcons aren't good. a mediocre Steeler team beat them at home. Eagles are looking good. Lay the 6 and take the over 46.5.
Our "you're on the clock for the first pick in the 2025 draft" pick- Your NY Giants are just awful. The wheels are off the bus and it's only week one. They draft a top WR and have no one who can throw him the ball. Giants losing to rookie QB in DC +1.5 just feels right. Commanders -1.5 for their first win of the season and their rookie QB's first win. And that makes the NY Giants our first candidate for the #1 draft pick in the 2025 draft- which works because there are several good QBs coming out.
Again- we are only risking Rumpole money on the Texans (maybe under Steelers/ Broncos teased to under 38.5)- the other picks are only if you must.
Rumpole Rant:
Number of women who have accused Browns QB os sexual assault: 27.
Number of games Brown QB has started for team since they guaranteed him 230 million: 13.
Karma.
This isn't cancel culture. The Browns are free to employ a man who is most likely a rapist and settled dozens of lawsuits with women who accused him of sexual assault. We just would never root for such a team and would advocate boycotting them- much like when the Vikings overlooked that their star running back Adrian Peterson beat his children with sticks.
Now here's what happens when we do this. Trolls come out and say "what about player X who is on ___ team- why don't you boycott them?" And our response is failure to act on every wrong at every moment doesn't make the current wrong excusable. We might well want to boycott a team that employs another player who is a rapist. What we do know now is the Browns willingly traded for their Qb and willingly gave him 230 million dollars fully knowing the man they were employing had been accused of rape over and over. The current accusation that arose this week is heinous and vile,
You get what you pay for.
Shame on them. Don't watch the Browns until they cut him. That's what we say. We won't - and we won't bet on them or discuss them in the future. As Shark Tank Star Kevin O'leary likes to say: They are dead to us.
He was simply the greatest actor of his generation. He was born to play Othello, which he did on Broadway. And then decades later he gave what we consider to be THE GREATEST speech in the history of the movies. We cannot watch this without feeling goosebumps every time.
He died on Monday at age 93. But we will have this forever and forever.
And with this speech he forever placed his imprimatur on the game of baseball- for this is baseball and this love of the game is something he communicated as only he could. Man meeting the moment? This man met this role and gave the performance and speech of his life and for the ages.
UPDATE: As per MDPD he wasn't thrown to the ground, he was "redirected" to the ground. Oh. That makes a difference. It's bullshit cop Orwellian speak for they grabbed this black guy from his expensive car and threw his ass to the ground because he had the temerity to speak up.
A relevant portion of the body cam footage is below.
Way back in 1987, star Dolphin wide receiver Mark Duper missed a county court criminal traffic case court hearing necessitating a relatively new county court judge to have to issue a bench warrant for one of the most popular Miami athletes of the day.
Demonstrating his ability to both adhere to the law while recognizing the impact of his decision, Judge Federico Moreno, who would later be elevated to circuit court, the federal bench and nominated to the eleventh circuit by president George Herbert Walker Bush (the nomination stalling when Bush lost his reelection bid) wrote on the bench warrant (judges wrote on paper back then)
DO NOT ARREST ON SUNDAYS
Wise words which the Miami Dade Police Department should have adhered to this past Sunday when they threw Dolphin star wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the ground and cuffed him over a traffic stop.
Survivor Pool 2024 by Anonymous PbHV4H on Scribd
And remember to sign up for the world famous REGJB Survivor League. It is legendary.
FBpool12@gmail.com send and email that you want to compete. Fake Alex Michaels has some choice words for you if you're in the league.
Enjoy your holiday weekend.
Here we go.....its FOOTBALL 2024
and you know what rhymes with 2024? MORE
More football all the time.
First up is our work famous, heart stopping, boat rocking, fame makin, viagra takin, underdog pickin, shroom trippin..... SURVIVOR POOL!!!!
All your favourite players should be back...fake Alex Michaels emails us twice a day.
You know the drill...send your picks to Fbpool12@gmail.com before the kickoff. We will have a special contest for the first Thursday night game. Everyone starts off with one pass- meaning they can skip one week. You can earn a second life or earn the right to pick one team you already have.
TO SIGN UP ( read carefully because we enforce this more harshly than a judge in civil court when a litigant is a day late answering interrogatories) you MUST send an email to Fbpool12@gmail saying you are playing. If you send it to our regular email it is like a default. And not one of those meaningless clerk defaults. But a real default and you will have to show excusable neglect and a meritorious defense beyond "I am dumb and cannot follow directions".
FANTASY FOOTBALL
Here is the sign up info- if we can fill the league, we will play.
We think this is the sign up if not- email us and we will send an invite
https://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1/589691/invitation?key=b9b0dc2f43723a12&soc_trk=lnk&ikey=6eab63acf1dd8396
Draft is Tuesday Sept 3 8 pm subject to change if people want it.
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?
We are.
It's been a long, hot summer.
THE CAPTAIN REPORTS:
MILT HIRSCH'S CONSTITUTIONAL CALENDAR .....
John Provoo passed away 23 years ago this week. Who is John Provoo you ask:
"In the weeks and months before December 7, 1941 – that “day that will live forever in infamy” – the plan was simple. When the armies of Imperial Japan came sweeping through southeast Asia, the American forces based in the Philippines would fall back upon positions in and around Manilla Bay, there to await rescue by America’s Pacific Fleet. The plan was simple because it had to be. America’s military presence in that part of the South Pacific was inadequate for any purpose but tactical retreat, and Americans burdened by the Great Depression were in no mood to fund an expanded military presence on the far side of the globe.
In the wake of their surprise attack on Hawaii, the Japanese destroyed Clark Field, America’s airbase in the Philippines, as well as other military and naval installations in and around Manilla Bay. The Pacific Fleet, which according to the plan was to rescue the American forces in the Philippines, had been sent to the bottom of Pearl Harbor.
American and allied forces fell back upon such positions as were available to them, chiefly upon a barren rock called Corregidor. Bereft of supplies, bereft of reinforcements, bereft of hope, they held out for four full months, obliging the enemy to engage them until April 9, 1942. The fate that awaited the souls who surrendered was reported in the American press as the “Bataan Death March.”
During and after the Death March one American soldier, John Provoo, formed an alliance with his Japanese captors. He was given decent nutrition and sanitary living conditions. In return, he acted as a guard and informer against his own comrades, and later even made radio broadcasts for Imperial Japan.
It was not until 1949 that the United States Department of Justice was prepared to go forward against Provoo on charges of treason and related crimes. The delay was entirely understandable. Provoo’s crimes, committed in 1942, were beyond the reach of the law until the war ended. Even then, there were military, economic, and other claims on the nation’s post-war attention that took priority over the prosecution of Provoo. And when prosecutors did begin to assemble their case, they had precious little to work with: most of the witnesses were dead, and many of the survivors were in far-off Japan or Australia.
In the meantime, on September 5, 1946, Provoo had found the perfect hiding place: incredible as it seems, he had quietly reenlisted in the United States Army. He was stationed at Ft. Meade, in Maryland.
In June of 1949, the Department of Justice arranged to have Provoo taken into custody at Ft. Meade; transported under guard to Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York; and ordered to accept an “undesirable discharge” from the Army. He was then turned over to agents of the F.B.I. who arrested him for treason. Provoo was tried in the Southern District of New York, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Provoo’s lead counsel on appeal was George A. Spiegelberg. Spiegelberg, the grandson of German-Jewish immigrants, was a Harvard Law grad; served prominently in World War II; and after the war was among the founders of the law firm that is today Fried, Frank . He had little criminal-law experience, but when the Second Circuit appellate panel – an all-star team of Swan, Medina, and Harlan – asked him to undertake Provoo’s appeal, he agreed to do so on condition that he and his colleagues receive no compensation at all. He would represent Provoo for principle, but not for money.
On appeal, Spiegelberg had a powerful argument grounded in 18 U.S.C. 3238, which at that time provided that, “The trial of all offenses begun or committed . . . out of the jurisdiction of any particular state or district, shall be in the district where the offender is found.” Provoo was “found” at Ft. Meade, in the District of Maryland. His travel to New York was a contrivance of the Department of Justice. It could not create venue. In the words of the appellate court:
“We cannot blind our eyes to the fact that the real purpose in bringing [Provoo] to New York was to meet the wish of the Department of Justice to have him tried for treason under the indictment subsequently filed here. Consequently we hold that the continuance of Provoo’s restraint in Ft. Meade . . . for the purpose of bringing him to New York for trial, was an apprehension for treason and that he was ‘found’ in Maryland within the meaning of the venue statute.” United States v. Provoo, 214 F. 2d 531, 538 (2nd Cir. 1954).
The Second Circuit’s opinion reversing Provoo’s conviction was dated August 27, 1954. Of course the appellate ruling did not bar re-trial; on the contrary, it invited it. On October 27, Provoo was indicted in the District of Maryland.
The lawyers who represented him there dropped a bombshell: they moved to dismiss the charges against him on constitutional speedy trial grounds. See Petition of Provoo, 17 F.R.D. 183 (D. Md. 1955). In essence, the motion to dismiss claimed that the delay of approximately five years associated with trial and appeal in New York had prejudiced Provoo’s defense irremediably. The motion identified defense witnesses who had died, and evidence that had become unavailable, in the intervening period.
The resolution of the motion would turn in substantial part on the government’s reason for having Provoo transferred to New York for trial. In the America of the 1950's, all television and radio networks were headquartered in New York City, as were several of the nation’s largest daily newspapers. It was almost certainly the case that the prosecution’s real reason for trying to manufacture venue in New York was so that a notorious traitor could be tried and convicted before the largest possible audience.
The Maryland case would proceed before U.S. District Judge Roszel C. Thomsen, who had been on the bench for no more than eight or nine months when the case came before him. But what Judge Thomsen lacked in experience he made up for in fidelity to the Constitution. To the unspoken argument that so vile a traitor as Provoo should not be permitted to go unwhipped of justice for a violation of his right to a speedy trial – a violation of the sort that the lay public refers to as a “technicality” – Judge Thomsen replied: “The offenses charged could not be more serious. But it would be a poor tribute to [a fellow-soldier whom Provoo was accused of betraying] to deny to this defendant the rights for which [that fellow-soldier] gave his life.” Petition of Provoo, 17 F.R.D. at 196. He explained:
“It . . . appears that Provoo . . . was taken to New York in September, 1949, charged with treason, and held in custody for more than five years before being indicted and brought to trial in a district having jurisdiction to try the case.
“The government must have known that venue in New York was at least doubtful . . . yet the government caused Provoo to be taken under guard from Fort Meade to Fort Jay, for the supposed advantage of proceeding in New York rather than in Maryland. It therefore appears that a large part of the long delay – at least five years – has been due to the deliberate choice of the government, exercised for a supposed advantage.
. . .
“. . . The long periods of imprisonment have caused other prejudice to the defendant beside the deprivation of his freedom, with a capital charge hanging over him. He has been handicapped in his ability to locate and keep in touch with possible witnesses. But even more serious has been the effect on Provoo himself. . . . His ability to cooperate with his counsel in preparing his defense, and to testify in his own behalf with respect to matters which occurred from 1942 to 1945, has obviously deteriorated during the years in prison.” Id. at 195.
The case was dismissed. Provoo went free. But his story doesn’t end there.
It ends with a small piece in a Honolulu newspaper – just a small piece down in the corner on the obituaries page. It was dated August 28, 2001, exactly two weeks before the debacle of September 11, and it noted the quiet death of an 84-year-old Buddhist priest at Hilo Medical Center in Hawaii. His name was John Provoo, and he was buried at Hawaii Veterans’ Cemetery. "
JASON BLOCH, POSTSCRIPT:
The Comments section from our last post was filled with a back-and-forth about Judge-Elect Jason Bloch. (To the educated reader it would appear that Jason or someone very close to him wrote many of the replies to the somewhat negative comments about his last stint on the bench, how he won the election this time, his net worth, how he earned that money, and on and on and on).
As Joe Friday liked to say "just the facts". So here are the actual facts:
Jason Bloch reported raising $13,300 for his campaign. He contributed (loaned his campaign) an additional $170,975. He spent $313,978 on his campaign. (I have not figured out how that is actually possible - he spent $129,703 more than he had in his campaign account. Maybe Judge Bloch can weigh in on that matter in the Comments section or privately email us).
His opponent, Bonita Jones-Peabody, raised $50,270 and loaned her campaign $80,025. She spent $90,790.
According to the publically available documents, Jason's net worth indicates he had about $68,000,000 as of December 31, 2023. How he acquired that wealth has also been the subject of debate in the comments. But, strictly for argument's sake, who cares. If Jason Bloch wants to serve the public as a judge, and if the people of Miami-Dade County choose to elect him, then why does it matter how much he is worth on paper, or how he acquired that money. Certainly, his abilities on the bench are fair game, and he will once again be judged by the attorneys that appear before him over the next six years. But his net worth - sounds like just a little bit of jealousy out there.
As for past elections, Jason ran twice in contested elections for Circuit Court Judge. He spent 20 years working at the Miami-Dade County Attorney's office before being appointed to the bench by Governor Rick Scott in 2014.
Two years later, in 2016, he ran as the incumbent against challenger Marcia Del Rey. Bloch lost that election 52% - 48%.
In 2022, Bloch challenged incumbent Judge Oscar Rodriguez-Fonts. Bloch lost that contest 50.4% - 49.6% (a total of 262,589 votes were cast - Bloch lost by 1,851 votes).
Those are the facts.
