Your Evening Sift

Long day for me today so I'm not in the mood to be expansive. Enjoy your Sift.

A- Miami Beach 411 sends up a warning flare about the usability of the new Metrorail Orange line.

While many are excited about Metrorail’s new service to Miami International Airport, familiarize yourself before depending on it for your trip. If you are staying in Miami on the mainland, it will be the quickest, easiest way for you to get where you’re going. But if you are coming to South Beach or Ft . Lauderdale, you’ll need to find other options. We’re making progress here, but nothing in Miami is perfect overnight.

B- A slideshow of the Brickell area has been posted at Miami Condo Investments.

My goal when taking these pictures was to provide those unacquainted with the area the type of scenic tour one would receive if walking the neighborhood by foot. I also included some amazing shots that were taken from a boat that we rented as well as others that were taken from various high-rise buildings throughout Brickell.

C- B-cycle is hiring, says The Miami Bike Scene.

They are looking for someone with experience as a bicycle mechanic who can also drive a truck (must have driver's license and good driving record) to move bikes across stations within the county. Broward B-cycle employees work for Trek USA and are eligible for discounts of up to 60% on bikes and gear. This is an entry-level position but with multiple opportunities for advancement both within the technical field and across Trek's marketing, sales and administrative teams, locally & globally.

D- The old Miami Heart Institute on Miami Beach is going condos, according to Curbed Miami.

The Miami Beach planning board has just approved zoning changes to this new project, by Italian architect Piero Lissoni, and local firm ADD Inc., which will turn the old Miami Heart Institute building into luxury condos, with major sections sliced away to give the building a svelte new form. It will be completely gutted and reclad.

E- Salty Eggs tells us all about an, ummmm, interesting metal band concert at Revolution this past weekend.

Benton’s guttural yelling alternated with blood-curdling high-pitched howls over the band’s whirlpool of metal. As the man’s eyes rolled into the back of his head, the stage lights danced off the still very clear inverted cross branded on his forehead. The blast beats and shredding guitars of songs like “When Satan Rules His World” crawled up the walls to the ceiling, where the sound rained down on the thrashing audience like an acid assault. A man flew from the center of the metal whirlpool at point, flying through the heavily layered crowd and ending on the step next to the bar, a victim of a pit that had grown so violent it was now expelling the weak.

F- Mitt Romney loves socialized medicine and Bark Bark Woof Woof has the quote.

G- Want to get out of The Bazaar for under $50 [excluding tip and alcohol]? Blind Tastes offers up some combos.

Let's face it, with a menu that consists of about 60 items excluding the cured meats & cheeses section, dining at Bazaar can be a tad intimidating. These are just a few ways you can get in and out of Bazaar for under $50 a head. If you add the Rossejat or Secreto de Iberico to any lineup, you can score easily at Bazaar. In fact, a solo diner could opt for either of those dishes along with a beer or two and leave belly full and happy.

H- An open letter to City of Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones from Coconut Grove Grapevine gets the comments buzzing.

And while many of us put the "nut" in Coconut Grove, we are not nuts. We know what we like and don't like. We don't like trees removed for no reason at all other than to line someone's pockets. We don't like industry like Burn Notice removed to place another park in between two parks, we don't like being told what to do and when to do it. But until the powers that be in the Grove have the balls to stand up to bullying, this is going to be the fate of the Grove.

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South Florida Cartoons

Chan Lowe, Sun-Sentinel

Jim Morin, Miami Herald

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SFDB Not So Random Thought Of The Day

James Holmes, exercised his 2nd Amendment rights in Aurora

Jared Lee Loughner, exercised his 2nd Amendment rights in Tucson

-via Jesus' General


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Critical Miami Rides The Metrorail Orange Line To MIA

Leave it to Critical Miami to beat all the other South Florida blogs, including those addressing transit and urban issues, to the punch when it comes to checking out the new Orange Line that links downtown to MIA. Big, bold, wonderful photos are also included.

The post is a must for anyone who is contemplating the ride.


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SFDB Tuesday Morning Start

-via society6


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The Cooler

Not a whole lot going on this morning in the news. Here's what I found somewhat interesting.

A- Herald: Making your MIA experience better.

The final phase of a long-awaited, multi-billion dollar Miami International Airport improvement project wraps up Tuesday.

Almost.

The new $180 million international arrivals center, a 400,000-square-foot facility on three levels, starts processing an average of 22,000 people a day after nearly three years of construction.

Tuesday’s opening essentially completes a $3 billion project to expand, beautify and modernize the airport’s north terminal that has been in the works since the mid-1990s.

B- Herald: This is what you get with Republicans.

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Rick Scott said he was championing transparency in May when he gave the public access to his emails by posting them online for anyone to see.

But what he failed to say at his May 3 news conference launching Project Sunburst was that the emails he made public were not the emails of his official state account. The emails the public read online were from a different account used almost exclusively by conservative supporters.

[...]

“It was always my understanding that all of the governor’s email accounts were going to be listed,” said Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation. “I find it very odd and misleading that we’re only getting the [positive] stuff.”

C- Herald: I'm disliking this guy more and more.

Rene Betancourt, the 22-year-old skateboarder originally thought to have been the victim of a savage beating in downtown Miami, is trying to set the record straight.

He wasn’t attacked by four to five black males, which was the lead police and news media followed for almost two weeks earlier this month. A surveillance video released more than a week ago showed him on his skateboard, without a helmet, slamming face-first into a concrete wall in a parking garage the night of July 6.

Betancourt, who spoke to The Miami Herald Sunday night, said he does not remember what happened, nor does he remember blaming his injuries on anyone.

“I have no recollection,” Betancourt said of his initial questioning by detectives while he was waiting to be taken into surgery for skull fractures and a blood clot on his brain the day after the accident.

D- Herald: Protecting their assets.

Cuban bank assets deposited in an international group of financial institutions showed a second stunning plunge in a row, with the total nose diving from $5.65 billion on Sept. 30 to $2.8 billion at the end of March.

“Two consecutive quarters of massive bank withdrawals signal a drastic policy change in Cuba that is not the result of temporary factors,” wrote Luis F. Luis, a former chief economist at the Organization of American States who has been monitoring the deposits.

[...]

“A more powerful reason may be concerns regarding the legal vulnerability of having financial assets in Western banks which may be subject to forfeiture by the courts,” Luis added in a report emailed Monday to El Nuevo Herald and others.

Several Cuban exiles have won multi-million dollar judgments against Havana in U.S. courts and are now trying to collect the money.

E- Palm Beach Post: Life in Florida.

Statewide, the waiting list for home-delivered meals has more than doubled in the past nine years, from 2,976 in 2003 to 7,854 last month, reflecting a national problem of hunger among the elderly.
Those in charge of programs to deliver meals to seniors say they face many challenges, including a budget from the federal government that has failed to keep up with inflation, food and transportation costs that have increased the cost of each meal, and an elderly population that is booming in a time of economic hardship.

F- WPLG: Life in South Florida.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - A hit-and-run driver destroyed Local 10's Roger Lohse's 2012 Dodge Ram and his wife's Chrysler Pacifica parked in front of their Hollywood home early Sunday morning.

The incident happened just before 4 a.m.

"All of a sudden I heard what sounded like an explosion 30 feet from my bedroom window," Lohse told Local 10's Jeff Weinsier.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning and Happy Last Day of July 2012.

Back in 1979, Donna Summers' Bad Girls was the number 1 single this week. Here's your very short morning Sift. Enjoy.

A- Justice Building Blog asks his readers who's the best judge they ever appeared before and gives his answers.

Any discussion involving the best at the REGJB usually starts and ends with the late Judge Cowart. A very smart man. Great judicial temperament. A true southern gentleman. Usually responded to most inane objections with "bless your soul", but when he needed to apply his razor sharp legal mind, his reasoning was spot on. Is remembered for telling Ted Bundy when he sentenced him to death that in another circumstance he wished Bundy would have been a lawyer appearing before him "but you chose another path pardner...." A great and memorable line.

B- The Reid Report links to a Newsweek article that questions whether Willard Romney has what it takes to be President of the United States.

C- Eye on Miami explains why judicial candidates need to renounce endorsements from the Christian Family Coalition.

I am calling ON ALL JUDGES and JUDGE CANDIDATES to renounce your CFC endorsement. Don't let this hate group co-opt your reputation and make you appear as hateful as they are. The Christian Family Coalition doesn't just hate and attack Gay Groups...they hate and attack judges that don't side with their positions too.

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Your Evening Sift

Here's hoping your Monday wasn't too bad. You know, it's one less that you have to experience. Enjoy your evening Sift.

A- Eye on Miami and Political Cortadito have some thoughts on the ongoing absentee ballot fraud investigation in Hialeah. From the former...

Obviously putting two looney Hialeah ladies, trying to make a buck, in jail is not going to do any of us much good. One lady is in her 70's and the other is said to be disabled. What we really need to get is the people HIRING these boleteras. The ones that are PAYING for the ballots.

B- Man or Maniac? continues his examination of the Mormon religion.

C- The305.Com is hiring!

We are looking for an individual to help with blogging on a daily basis using WordPress. You can work from home and requires about 2 hours a day, which amounts to about 10 hours or so a week. We can either supply you with the stories and all you have to do is write 3-5 sentences (at minimum per post) and set up the post for publishing. You are also more than welcomed to submit your own post ideas as well in addition to our stories. The ideal candidate is someone knowledgeable of any and everything Miami, with experience using WordPress and basic Photoshop.

D- South Florida Food and Wine posts some upcoming South Florida food and wine events.

E- Gun Free Zone has got the Aurora shooting all figured out.

These type of shooters are not precise planners with rational train of thoughts but untrained individuals with a Hollywood knowledge of how firearms work and what can they do and little on discipline to do a thorough research. In their minds, a plan is prepared to perfection, no variations will happen and the desired reward will come. They probably have not made plans for after the event other tan basking in the “glory” of attention. But if somebody interferes with their plan, everything goes to hell as they did not prepare for armed resistance and contingency plans were never in their minds. In my opinion, the moment the Dumb Clown started to feel the impact of bullets all over his body, his attack would have collapsed, he would probably made a bee line for the emergency/exit doors and leave as fast as he could or give up entirely.

F- Salty Eggs reviews John Waters appearance in Fort Lauderdale this past weekend and includes a bunch of photos.

Of course, though, the highlight of the evening came afterwards, when Waters himself appeared to a standing ovation before he even uttered a word. “You know you’re old when you get a standing ovation without doing anything,” he said. The next hour or so comprised a performance — or rather, an updated reprisal — of his 2006 one-man show, This Filthy World. The “show” was more of a nonstop riff bordering on standup comedy, with biographical anecdotes interlaced with sardonic, often outlandish commentary on pop culture.

G- Curbed Miami has the details of a rumor that involves Genting and the Dade Heritage Trust and the Miami Herald Building.

H- Coconut Grove Grapevine reports in from the Dog Days of Summer event that was held on Sunday at The Barnacle.

The dogs were all a lot of fun and they all seemed to get along with each other. In other words, there were no dog fights the whole day. There were hot dogs for sale, but we opted for the delicious burgers that The Barnacle always has for sale at their many events.

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Like A Moth To A Flame

You knew that it was only a matter of time before America's Grifter, Sarah Palin, weighed in on this...

“Stopped by Chick-fil-A in The Woodlands to support a great business,” the former Alaska governor tweeted on Friday night and posted a picture of her and husband Todd giving a thumbs up to the restaurant."

Sarah is the grandmother of Tripp Palin who recently made an appearance on Bristol Palin's reality TV show...





Makes total sense now, doesn't it?

And for some very appropriate satire on this subject, go here.

SELMA - One-time U.S. vice-presidential contender Sarah Palin has injected herself into the American segregation controversy by posting a photo of herself beside a lunch counter in Selma, Alabama, on the social media site Twitter.

The photo shows Palin standing at the counter and smiling, her husband Todd at her side. Text accompanying the photo reads, "Stopped by a lunch counter restaurant in Selma to support a great business."

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The End Of My Love For Panera?

I've been a fan of Panera Bread for quite some time. First, it was a deep affection for their sandwiches and then I became enamored with their Pick Two salad and soup thing. It was a reasonably healthy meal served quickly in a decent, clean space with friendly service. It was the place to go to in a pinch when I was out of town and didn't know the area very well and I also liked stopping by on the weekends for an afternoon meal.

About a year ago, I noticed some changes but I chalked it up to the place having a bad day or being too busy. Some of the things I experienced were tables not being cleaned off, personnel not getting orders right or orders not being assembled properly. I continued to go, however, hoping things would get better.

But it hasn't. Yesterday at 3 PM in the afternoon, my regular place was packed. Every table was filled, which ordinarily would be a good thing for a restaurant, but when you took a look around you see that most people were on computers or in the middle of business meetings with clients or employees. Yes, Panera Bread has apparently become one of the places where small businesses like to hold meetings and individuals like to park for hours and surf the net. And this is at 3 PM on a Sunday.

The cashier who took our order tried to upsell us ["For an additional $1, you get so much more!"] even though we made it clear a couple times that, yes, all we wanted was a 1/2 salad. There were no water cups back at the beverage machine and we had to go searching for those. Then came the search for the table.

I finally found one but I had to wipe it off myself as there were zero employees circulating through the seating area. In the early days of the restaurant, one might see several employees cleaning the table tops and removing dishes and, in some cases, bringing out orders for customers. No more.

As we're sitting there chatting, I heard my first name yelled from the kitchen area and went to find out that our order was ready and the pager that the cashier had provided wasn't working. In fact, the whole paging system itself was down. So why did they give us...hell with it. Why ask? Naturally, one of the orders was wrong and we had to send it back but soon we were eating.

Last week we listened to telemarketers train their employees at the big community table in the middle of the restaurant on how to cold call potential customers and lasso sales. This week we watched a couple burly guys in logo polo shirts talking to a couple who appeared to be prospective clients or employees.

Despite all the above, the food is still decent and is a lot better for you than most other fast food restaurants. But the experience isn't the same.  I've noticed similar problems at another Panera location in South Florida so it doesn't appear as though my regular place is an anomaly. I'm really hoping things get better soon but I have a nagging feeling that the Panera of old is gone forever.



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SFDB Culinary Adventure Of The Day

Ham Dogger....

For those times when you can't make up mind whether you want a hotdog or a hamburger.



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The Cooler

Not a bad morning for news when you consider it's a Monday. Here's your Cooler.

A- Herald: Excellent.

Starved for revenue, interest groups at the county, the school district and cities are clamoring for tougher enforcement of homestead- exemption rules in hope of bringing in revenue to help save public jobs and programs threatened by the budget ax.

At the same time, the new use of data-mining tools to cross-check property records against an array of data from deaths to marriages to voter registrations to auto tags to water bills holds the promise of weeding out suspect exemptions in bulk, generating more and better leads than the hotlines and anonymous tips that have spawned many cases in the past.

B- Herald: Life in South Florida.

Two boaters were recovering on Sunday from injuries sustained in a hit-and-run crash in the waters off Dinner Key late Saturday evening.

The collision occurred just before 11 p.m. about a mile and half off Coconut Grove when a speeding boat ran over a 13-foot Boston Whaler carrying a man and a woman, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

C- Herald: The Miami Herald finally transfers reporter Marc Caputo's columns to the opinion section where they belong.

Specifically, that was so soooo Barack Obama in 2004, when the little-known state Senator from Illinois made these inspiring comments at the Democratic National Convention. Four years after that, Obama waged his juggernaut of a hope-and-change campaign.

D- Palm Beach Post: Living up to her name.

CONCH KEY, Fla. — Deputies in the Florida Keys say a 62-year-old woman known as "the sea hag" fatally shot a 64-year-old man who refused to give her a beer.

E- TC Palm: Obviously in response to all the hurricanes we've been experiencing lately.

The board of the state's last-resort insurer Citizens backed off proposals to uncap rates for new customers and limit coverage for water claims but approved an 8.9 percent statewide average premium boost for homeowners Friday.

The board voted to study further a plan to limit to $15,000 certain kinds of water damages such as plumbing leaks.

F- CBS4: Video, Miami's new car-sharing program.

G- CBS4: Video, the new Metrorail line out to the airport.

H- WSVN: Exercising their 2nd Amendment rights?

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. (WSVN) -- A waitress is back at work and a man is behind bars after he allegedly shot the woman with a flare gun.

The waitress, only identified as Angelica, returned to work late Friday afternoon with one of her arms in a sling. Co-workers said a customer shot the cafeteria worker with a flare gun after she apparently refused to pay for that customer's beer.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

Monday morning. Ugh. I guess it could be worse. On second thought, maybe not. Enjoy your morning Sift, readers.

A- Go Hydrology! climbs the "swamp ladder" in a video.

B- Beached Miami chats with artist Misael Soto before he departs on his giant beach towel tour.

How did you pick your tour stops?

MS: After looking up the most popular beaches in the country, I made decisions according to efficiency and distance from one another. Of course my first three in South Florida and my last at Rockaway Beach are biased picks. I want to see my friends too!

C- F.A.T. Village Art Walk photos are up at Arterpillar.

D- Political Cortadito explains why Miami-Dade State Attorney may have to recuse herself in a politically charged absentee ballot investigation.

It’s because, at least in this case, the inquiry could implicate one of her own campaign people. And how would that look?

E- Bark Bark Woof Woof provides us a great example of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's extreme right wing perspective.



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Your Evening Sift

Another great weekend comes to a close. The South Florida blogosphere was busier than normal for a Sunday afternoon so I have a decent evening Sift for you. Enjoy!

A- Miami Urbanist shows us the strange fence that has recently been erected in Belle Meade.

B- Long Play Miami documents the Miami music legend named Henry Stone.

Stone had moved to Miami from Los Angeles where he was selling records to jukebox operators. Miami, though, seemed like a good place to do it his own way, be independent. He started a record distribution company from a warehouse on West Flagler Street not far from Overtown. He also kept a recording machine there which came in handy.

In 1950, he encountered a young, Ray Charles performing at a nearby club. After the show, the two got to talking.

C- South Beach, 1914...at The305.Com.

D- South Florida Food and Wine chats with Master Sommelier Virginia Philip, Wine Director for The Breakers in Palm Beach.

South Florida Food and Wine: What is the best wine advice you ever received?
Virginia Philip: To know what you like to drink and to know what you do not like and why. By using this advice every day, I became a better sommelier and am much more able to aptly describe to a client why I think they may or may not like a particular style of wine.

E- Random Pixels highlights some of the wonderful commentary left at the Miami Herald in response to a story about Ryan Lochte's gold medal win at the Olympics.

F- Looks like Dick Cheney is speaking ill of Caribou Barbie...at Bark Bark Woof Woof.



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Bears Hunting Salmon

So you say you're not in the mood to watch the Olympics on Sunday afternoon?

Watch bears hunt salmon live in Katmai National Park & Preserve in Alaska.

There's no telling what you'll see. Imagine the excitement should a wayward kayaker show up!

Or maybe not.



- via The Daily What


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SFDB Quote Of The Day

"I swear, sometimes I think some Americans shouldn't leave the country. Are you kidding me, stay home if you don't know what to say."

- Olympian Carl Lewis on Willard Romney's overseas oafishness

Link




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SFDB Viral Video

Here's something from New Mexico that may help bolster your faith in your fellow human beings.

Some baby bears got stuck in a dumpster over night. Mama bear sat by the dumpster all night listening to her cubs cry. This kept my aunt's friends awake as well. Watch their rescue!

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

It's a lazy Sunday morning around the SFDB hacienda. We have the ducks visiting from the lake and the cats looking out the window anxiously eying them. Great entertainment. Enjoy your morning Sift, readers.

A- Roy Black shares some impressions from the Olympic Opening Ceremony and takes the International Olympic Committee to task for an omission.

The surviving families asked only for one minute. A minute of silence among the several hours of the opening ceremonies. A few breaths long. A short yet profound period of solemnity. A moment’s reflection on fellow athletes killed by terrorists. Black September. Hardly an imposition. Was it too much to ask?

B- Worst Pizza couldn't be less impressed with Yard House's pizza.

In my opinion I wouldn’t get the pizza there again, unless they do something about their sauce recipe, but that will not stop me from going back. The rest of the food looked great, and my friends swore by the tacos they ate there.

C- Coconut Grove Grapevine urges calm in the wake of the disappearance of additional peacocks from the Grove.

I would say, just be calm and the Peacocks they didn't get will breed and in no time, they will be roaming the streets again, that's what happened last time, they rebred really fast. You'll be zig zagging around them again in no time.

D- Bark Bark Woof Woof has yet another right-wing scandal that really wasn't a scandal.

E- Eye on Miami points a finger at fiscal conservatives for the infrastructure crisis that Miami-Dade County is now experiencing.

Whatever you want to call the outcome, it involves partisan politics ripping apart government capacity to protect. Those claiming to be "fiscal conservatives" perpetrate massive fraud against the very principles of conservatism. They are liars, and the public is as susceptible to those lies as they are to mercury in the Florida environment that government agencies are too timid to regulate.

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SFDB Saturday Night Turndown Service

Poliça, Leading To Death





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Your Evening Sift

Not a bad day for blogging in the South Florida blogosphere. The SFDB Weekend Widget in the right sidebar continues to be active and I have a nice collection of posts for your evening Sift. Enjoy and stop back for the Turndown Service at 10 tonight.

A- With the Herald's paywall looming on the horizon, Random Pixels spells out the things that need to change before he becomes a subscriber.

Re-design the website. What you have now is a complete embarrassment. And while you're at it, perhaps you can hire someone to come up with a site design that allows photographs that are taken by the few remaining staff photographers you have to be displayed in a size that doesn't require viewing with a magnifying glass.

B- Arterpillar takes a look at a piece done by local artist Martin Casuso as part of their Teensy Weensy Solo Exhibition feature.

C- Blogging Black Miami posts a video with the highlights from the recent Miami Times Political Forum.

D- South Florida Classical Review wasn't too pleased with the Symphony of the Americas’ Summerfest concert that they attended in Lauderdale last night.

Intonation in the violins was atrocious, giving the orchestra the sound of a student ensemble. In the first work on the program, C.P.E. Bach’s Sinfonia No. 2, the rapid, overlapping passage work in the strings was a mess throughout, with sloppy execution and terrible intonation, in cascades of notes that need to be played with incisive precision to bring them off. Symphony of the America’s artistic director James Brooks-Bruzzese provided his usual energetic direction, but there’s only so much a conductor can do in such a situation.

E- Romney continues to embarrass himself and the U.S. on his overseas trip, as Discourse notes.

F- Bark Bark Woof Woof provides his impressions of last night's Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Usually these ceremonies are agonizing, but this one was at least entertaining. Too bad Her Majesty didn't find it amusing.

G- Some Blogging Guy provides us his impressions and images from the first day of Dolphin training camp.

HBO films as well as NFL Films were all over the place. The new coach was active and up close with all the players. They worked very, very hard, and the practice was the most interesting in years.

The fans were nuts. Actually I mean that. The entire left section were dressed in the most bizarre costumes. Truly weird.

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It's The NRA's World That We Live In

So you may have missed this story from across the peninsula in Cape Coral...

Rainey, an employee of Blue Ribbon Steak and Seafood, had just knocked on Roop's door at 1815 SW 30th Terrace and gotten no response when Roop pulled into the driveway, driving a pickup, according to an arrest report released Thursday.

Explaining his actions to police after the shooting, Roop said he became "more than a little nervous" as Rainey walked down the driveway toward his truck and appeared to have something in his hand.

As Rainey drew within 4 feet, Roop grabbed his 9mm Glock from his pocket and fired once, striking Rainey in the shoulder, he told police. Rainey fell to the ground, screaming, 'You shot me,' in what Roop described as an "antagonistic" manner, according to the report.

Roop said he was still in fear and thought Rainey was reaching for something, so he shot Rainey once more in the back of the head, "for effect," the report said.

[...]

Roop told detectives Rainey should have respected his three "No Trespassing" signs and explained he didn't warn Rainey after pulling his weapon because, "I'm not going to give him the chance to do something to me; I was in fear." He told police he believes he possesses 14 firearms.

With over 1 million concealed weapon permits to be issued in Florida, there's no telling how many paranoid Kenneth Roop types are out there packing, seemingly set on a hair trigger, ready to "defend themselves" and their property. Here in South Florida, you can read the blog of one every single day as he warns us how we need to be on guard 24/7 no matter where we are.

This is the America that the NRA and its supporters have created for the rest of us. It's one where you can simply ring the doorbell of the wrong house and be staring down the barrel of a gun...or even worse, as Nick Rainey tragically found out last Wednesday.

Although I'm certainly worried about the bad guys out there, I'm actually more concerned about armed Floridians like Roop who act first, think second [or don't think at all], and seriously believe that everyone is out to do them harm.

And then there's this...

Once Rainey lay face down on the driveway, bleeding after the first shot, Godfrey said Roop sat in his truck for a few seconds before pointing his weapon once more at the back of Rainey's head.

And this...

He said Roop's outlook was similar to "militia-minded, anti-government" types and that he was obsessed with the idea of guarding his home.

And, finally, this...

Roop is listed as the president of Ancient Island Educational Media. The company's website describes Roop as a Christian...

For effect, of course.



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Rene Betancourt Needs To Apologize

Courtesy WPLG

Just noticed Fabiola Santiago's great column in the Herald yesterday that addressed the big lie that skateboarder Rene Betancourt, pictured at right, recently perpetrated on South Florida residents.

After he was found dazed, bloody and bruised with life-threatening head injuries, the 22-year-old told police that he had been jumped by four or five black men in a robbery attempt in downtown Miami.

His story played out for days on television and newspapers: Doctors removed a clot from his brain that could have killed him and inserted a titanium plate in his cracked skull. Jackson Memorial Hospital set up a special fund to take donations to help pay his hospital bills. The skating community rallied in support. Detectives spent countless hours investigating, trying to figure out where the presumed attack took place.

But Betancourt’s story was an ugly lie.

Turns out Betancourt slammed his head into the concrete wall of a Miami parking garage near Northwest 12th Avenue and 14th Street as he was skateboarding without a helmet. Video from the garage’s cameras shows how the young man was injured when he lost control at a turn and slammed into a pillar.

It's a story that has been largely ignored by the local community but Santiago tells us why it's so important...

Betancourt is not old enough to remember, but this was a community torn apart in the 1980s by the killing of black men at the hands of Hispanic and white police officers, and by higher ups who covered it up. The 1960s and ’70s weren’t any better.

A lot of people like Dunn, a professor of psychology at Florida International University, and other civic leaders from the African-American, Cuban-American, and non-Hispanic white communities spent countless hours working to foster racial and ethnic harmony, to heal wounds, to make amends.

“There has been so much progress, and then something like this happens and it reinforces in the minds of black people, here we go again, blaming us,” Dunn says. “It recycles the old feelings.”

Like Santiago, I hope that Betancourt gets well again and realizes why it's so crucial for him to stand before the media and offer up an apology to everyone, especially folks in Miami-Dade County.




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The Colbert Report Weighs In On The Chick-fil-a Controversy

Hilarious...as usual.

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

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SFDB Viral Video

Great, great ad for the new Google Fiber ISP service. The whole thing is genius but I particularly loved the music transition that takes place. You don't quite realize what you're listening to until the last part of the ad. Awesome stuff.






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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

Enjoy your morning Sift, readers, brought to you, in part, by Starbucks coffee. Don't forget to check out the SFDB Weekend Widget in the right sidebar.

A- There's a new 8 Oz. Burger Bar opening up in North Miami Beach, according to Burger Beast.

B- Shorter Gun Free Zone...

Paranoia and fear: two essentials for self-defense and a long life.

C- Culture Designers takes a look at Misael Soto's magical beach towel tour.

Soto says his “social experiment” was sparked after noting how beachgoers blocked out their particular patch of sand; then basically kept to themselves.

“The original idea came about from a process of looking at public places,” he says. “I wanted to take something that people use to separate themselves and turn it on its head.”

D- A Mom, a Blog, and the Life In-Between turns 35 years old...not the blog...the person.




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Your Evening Sift

So I guess you're making your way here from the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. Well, you'll be glad you stopped by because I have a helluva evening Sift for you and a fantastic SFDB Weekend Widget brimming with items in the right sidebar. Relax and enjoy your Sift.

A- Under the Sun has yet another good story from Hurricane Andrew, this one about things lost and found.

B- The 11 most missed dearly departed Miami restaurants, according to Eater Miami readers.

C- The Green Parrot does a wonderful thing for the family of a man that was part of Key West history.

D- Arboles Libres releases a new album and you can listen to it at Beached Miami.

E- Burger Beast loves him some Rebel House.

Rebel House continues the same greatness that I’ve found at Charm and el Jefe. The dishes are well thought out and the flavors are all there. Is everything perfect? No but it’s close and like any good Chef, he’s constantly tweaking here and there to make the dishes as great as possible.

F- PhinPhanatic attends the first day of Dolphin training camp.

The Phins broke off onto each half of the field as I scrambled into tweeting position. Moore led the first team from the middle of the field to the north endzone as David Garrard used the southern half. One of the first things I noticed was Garrard connecting with Michael Egnew, who made a nice catch in traffic. Shortly after, Chad Johnson, made a reception, delivered by Moore and Pat Devlin came in for Garrard, and threw the day’s first interception. Johnson was intense, exchanging words with the defensive backs. I described him as “feisty” in a tweet. I’m not sure whether he was being playful or ultra-competitive.

At this point, my I-Pad stopped responding due to the heat.

G- Curbed Miami highlights a great comment of one of their Bal Harbour readers that remembers the simpler days in that city.

H- Shorter Gun Free Zone...

The writers of the Constitution wanted to insure that Americans also have the right to "large capacity feeding devices such as gun magazines, belts, feed stripes and drums of more than 10 rounds of ammunition."

I- Eye on Miami says the Herald got their story wrong then deleted Eye on Miami's comment when they pointed it out to them.




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Flashback Friday

2007...




The Pinker Tones, The Million Colour Revolution




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SFDB Culinary Adventure Of The Day

Chocolate-Dipped Coffee Ice Cream Glazed Doughnut Sandwiches

It is best to assemble these doughnut sandwiches, dip them in chocolate, and eat them right away while the ice cream is frozen, the doughnuts are fresh, and chocolate is still a little melty.

You could make them in advance, chocolate and all, then freeze them to eat later (we did for a few too many), but the chocolate gets really hard (as do the doughnuts) and actually, we recommend that you NOT freeze-for-later at all. So never mind. Just make them and eat them.

TasteSpotting


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Friday Blog Notes

Time to highlight a few blogs/blog posts from South Florida folks that currently aren't appearing on the SFDB blogroll.


Boom or Bust: Miami

Boom or Bust: Miami has been around for a heckuva a long time documenting Miami's development. Unfortunately, BoB has a habit of going on hiatus for months, sometimes years, at a time. Recently, they did an interesting post on how Starbucks can be a measure of neighborhood economic activity and sampled six of them to demonstrate their point.


Critical Miami

Critical Miami visits a Miami thrift store and finds an interesting book with a photo inside and an unknown story.



SeanWasHere

SeanWasHere is a Tumbler blog that was brought to my attention by Scott of Hello, I'm Scott. All photos, the blog is very Miami Feverish in nature with its style of street photography. Some good stuff. Check it out.



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SFDB Gif Of The Day

Seems about right for a Friday...

 

-via fatfree69



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The Cooler

Someone stole the deer at Wynwood Walls. Seriously. That and more in your Cooler.

A- Herald: However, you can still park there.

The Village of Merrick Park wants to make sure consumers have no doubt about what happens at the open-air Coral Gables property.

That’s why the mixed-use project is changing its name to Merrick Shops. The name change, which was approved this week by the Coral Gables City Commission, will be implemented later this year or in early 2013.

B- Herald: It only took 2 weeks and a petition.

TALLAHASSEE -- After an online petition drive garnered hundreds of signatures demanding her apology, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll on Thursday apologized to the head of an advocacy group saying that her anti-gay comment two weeks ago was "wrong and inexcusable."

Equality Florida, a civil rights group that advocates for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Floridians, launched the online petition campaign this week after Carroll told a Tampa television station on July 14 that "usually black women that look like me don’t engage in relationships like that."

[...]

"It is wrong and inexcusable to make a comment that hurts people, and that was not my intention,’’ Carroll wrote in a letter to Equality Florida director Nadine Smith. "As a Christian, my faith guides me to love and respect all people. The false charges that have been lodged against me are no excuse for what I have said that may have been hurtful to members of your organization and to other Floridians.

C- Herald: All aboard!

Miami-Dade Transit will open the new Orange Line from Dadeland South Station in Kendall to the new airport station at the giant Miami Intermodal Center just east of the airport. It’ll be the first new Metrorail line since the elevated train system opened in 1984.

[...]

The most efficient way to use the new Metrorail service: Have someone drop you off at any station. The trip to MIA by Metrorail from any station is relatively fast.

D- Herald: They write letters.

The right word

Now that Congress has had a hearing into the Colorado shootings and is assured that no foreign or Muslim terrorists were involved, James Holmes should be called a terrorist, not a madman. Munira Motorwala, Miami

E- NBC Miami: Whatever isn't tied down.

Three life-size deer sculptures were stolen from the Wynwood Walls art project at Northwest 2nd Avenue and 25th Street.

The painted deer, which were designed by artist Ron English, were discovered missing on Tuesday morning, said Lauren Bushsinger, spokeswoman for Goldman Properties, which owns Wynwood Walls.

F- WPLG: Now that's a bug.

MARATHON, Fla. - A fisherman made a huge catch in the Florida Keys Thursday, when he snagged a 4-foot lobster on the last day of lobster mini-season.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

TGIF, folks. The SFDB Weekend Widget in the right sidebar has been updated and we're in a Friday kind of mood. Let's take a look at what went on in the SoFla blogosphere last night. Here's your Sift.

A- Reptile!...at Nikon Miami.

B- Random Pixels recounts a memorable day in Miami history.

C- Sensitive Plants from Go Hydrology!

D- Political Cortadito has turned her sights to Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

Gimenez needs to stop denying, denying, denying and start distancing and denouncing.

He can’t continue to say she has nothing to do with his campaign when she obviously does. He needs to own up to it, find out who is responsible — and then distance himself from the diabolical deal he struck with the Hialeah hoodlums. And he needs to do it fast before he loses all credibility.

E- It may as come as some surprise to some Republican ideologues who tend to follow their party line no matter what that a good number of liberals are not on board with what is being done to Chick-Fil-A in response to their position on same-sex marriage. Bark Bark Woof Woof explains.

F- Eye on Miami rescinds their endorsement of South Florida state representative candidate Joe Gibbons.



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SFDB Late Night Politics

Jon Stewart does a number on conservatives and shows us how they create and propagate a falsity for their receptive audiences.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

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Your Evening Sift

Friday eve and all is good. The only thing missing is your evening Sift, so let's get to it.

A- Eater Miami looks at nine of Miami's most exotic dishes.

Here's a map for exotic meats and game that features restaurants serving up dishes for the adventurous palate. You’ll find everything from fine dining establishments to cozy mom ‘n pop joints.

B- Deck 84 in Delray Beach gets a visit from Worst Pizza who finds their pizza just average.

Although the sauce didn’t really taste that great, I was pleased it wasn’t chunky. It actually reminded me a little bit of Ellio’s Frozen Pizza taste, which isn’t a bad thing for some people since they sell over $35 million worth of pizza a year. Just for me, I didn’t love the sauce. The crust was good and crispy on top but soft and soggy on the bottom. The cheese tasted fantastic and I am quite impressed they put such an expensive cheese on this flatbread pizza.

C- Under the Sun is staying focused on Hurricane Andrew so in their latest post they recount the interesting story behind an "iconic image" taken during Andrew that I've never seen before.

One of the most iconic images of Hurricane Andrew is a photograph of flamingos, huddling on their toothpick legs in a tiled bathroom. Ron Magill, now communications director for Zoo Miami, snapped that picture after he and other staff (of then Miami Metrozoo) rounded up the flamingos and put them in the bathroom for safety.

D- A die-hard Marlins fan says goodbye to the team that betrayed him at Random Pixels.

I travel every year back to South Florida to see the team in Spring Training and during the regular season, only to constantly have this happen. I’m now done for good. You are like a bad relationship that you keep telling yourself will only get better. You are the definition of insanity – “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

E- Coconut Grove Grapevine is concerned that artists are leaving the Grove.

So many Grove artists have left, even Grove House is gone south somewhere. It's called the Grove House Artists, but they aren't even in the Grove anymore! Many of the Grove artists now show in some sort of Bird Road Artwalk, and they are in Wynwood and other areas. They should be here. They should be working here and be encouraged to work here. I think the tourists who hop on and off the big red buses would love to see an actual artists working as they strolled the village.

F- Political Cortadito is logging some long nights in Hialeah.

Her attorney, Eric Castillo, spent practically the whole morning there and slipped out with another woman, who everyone thought was Cabrera — but Daisy doesn’t drive. Castillo went back in just before 3 p.m. today, but wouldn’t make a statement to me or any other members of the media who were staking out Cabera’s apartment since Wednesday night, when she called Hialeah Police after El Nuevo Herald reporter extraordinaire Enrique Flor went knocking on her door close to midnight (yes, I’ve requested the police report).

G- Salty Eggs posts a large collection of images from last night's Toadies concert in Lauderdale.

The resurgence of a beloved, but near-dead musical group can feel both hopeful and depressing. Hopeful because of the cloud of nostalgia and time; depressing because the reality of said band (and concert atmosphere) living up to the magic delivered back whenever is not a promising one.

H- Eye on Miami is disappointed that the Herald didn't mention them in their recent absentee ballot fraud article.

So this effort to stop Absentee Ballot Fraud is being waged by more than one blog. The Miami Herald left us out in all their reporting. ALSO SEE THE POST BELOW THIS ON ABSENTEE BALLOT STRATEGIES THAT EYE ON MIAMI HAS WORKED ON. Thank you Miami Herald...and after all the free research I have done for your reporters.

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SFDB Thought Of The Day

"The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young."

-Oscar Wilde

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SFDB Name That Spot #42

Name That Spot is a periodic feature in which SFDB readers attempt to identify the South Florida location of the photo that is displayed.

Name the town where you'll find this idyllic public library.

Past winners include Rydel[3], LAX2MIA, Frodnesor, Karendipitee[2], Superbee, C.L.J.[3], Miami Bike Scene, CultureDesigners, Gretchen, Balou[4], Gus, brwass, smedvin, Michael Kain, The Chowfather[6], Lori, CB[2], South Florida Food and Wine, Whack-A-Mole[2] and Alex de Carvalho[2]. There's been four Stumpers and one identified by "Anonymous."



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The Marlins Stadium Does A Big Belly Flop

Remember all the pundits who said that the Marlins Stadium location was genius because it was close to the all people in Miami who loved baseball the most? It was going to be so easy to get to and the local community was going to support it and...

The Miami Marlins’ 2012 reinvention – new name, new uniforms, new ballpark, new players, and a very entertaining new manager – has the club on course to set a modern record.

A record for lowest attendance for the first year of a new ballpark in the 21st century.

That shiny sure wore off quick.

And now with players being traded and yet another season that is a dud, all we have is this...

The Marlins are on pace to draw 2.2 million fans this season, a nice percentage increase from last year’s paltry 1.5 million but still a figure that would distinguish them as the worst-drawing club at a new ballpark since the start of the modern buiding era that kicked off with Chicago‘s new Comiskey Park and Baltimore‘s Camden Yards in the early 1990s.

On the bright side, I hear the food is pretty good and the parking is easy.

Uhh....play ball!



-via Broward-Palm Beach New Times


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SFDB Morning Chuckle

July Fail Compilation.

Yeah, I know. Some of these aren't all that funny.






-via VVV



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The Cooler

Lots of news out there for those of you who are interested. Here's some of it.

A- Herald: Going undercover.

Miguel Exposito, the former Miami police chief who continually sparred with the city’s mayor, secretly wore an FBI wire to try to implicate officials in what he thought was an attempt to bribe or extort him into leaving office.

But ultimately, the FBI declined to bring any charges and passed the case to state authorities.

B- Herald: South Florida blogger helps out the Herald.

Political Cortadito, a local blog run by former Miami Herald reporter Elaine de Valle, reported that two women were detained by police in Hialeah on Wednesday afternoon with about a dozen absentee ballots. Police and prosecutors declined to confirm or deny the report.

C- NBC Miami: Life in South Florida.

A pedestrian who was walking home from the grocery store was hospitalized in critical condition after he was struck by a hit and run driver in Miami Wednesday afternoon, police said.

Miami Police say the incident happened around 4 p.m. in the area of Biscayne Boulevard and 64th Street as the pedestrian was walking in the sidewalk with groceries in his hand.

A man who was driving a white Chevrolet Impala northbound on Biscayne Boulevard hit the pedestrian, got out of his car to look at the victim then got back into his car and sped off, police said.

D- Herald: They write letters.

Restrict gun rights

The First Amendment gives us the freedom of speech, among others. It does not give us the right to yell fire in a crowded movie.

The Second Amendment gives us the right to bear arms, but not the right to fire into a crowded movie theater with military-style assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammo.

There are clear and common-sense constitutional restrictions to the First Amendment; there should also be restrictions to the Second.

Alec J. Rosen, South Miami

E- South Florida Business Journal: New Whole Foods for Pompano Beach.

The 40,000-square-foot store will be located at the intersection of North Federal Highway and Copans Road in the former K-Mart space. It is slated to open in 2014.

F- Miami Today: More than just a zoo.

After nearly 14 years, ZooMiami is close to gaining a multi-million-dollar entertainment and lodging facility and handing south Miami-Dade County an economic boost, officials said Tuesday.

In September, the county will solicit proposals through an invitation to negotiate to develop a hotel and motel, or a hotel and campgrounds, along with retail stores, restaurants and a family entertainment center, officials said.

"We're marching ahead," said county Commissioner Dennis Moss. "We've got some interest that we think is promising at this time and we're going to pursue those individuals."

G- WSVN: When the "seek" component breaks down.

MIAMI (WSVN) -- A little girl is now in the hospital after she got lost during a popular children's game.

The 5-year-old girl was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital after she was found inside her mother's car in the area of Northwest 12th Avenue and 65th Street.

The girl was playing Hide and Seek, when the other children noticed she was gone.

The child's mother found her in the vehicle, weak and exhausted. "With the kids out of school and out here playing around, you need to make sure that you have somebody responsible watching the children at all times," cautioned Miami Fire Rescue Lieutenant Ignatius Carroll.

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Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

The SFDB Weekend Widget is alive and well in the right sidebar and I have a wrap up of what was posted in the South Florida blogosphere while you were sleeping last night. Let's get the show on the road with your morning Sift.

A- Searching for Signs injects the "American spirit" into the current Chick-Fil-A controversy.

B- Midtown Chic-a finds a guest poster to tell us about a special dining event that was recently held at Yardbird.

And finally, Chef McInnis rang the bell, like my mom did many times when I was a kid, calling us to the dinner table to introduce the night’s guest chef, John Suley, who designed a southern inspired menu while adding his modern and creative touch and applying his ever present motto of keeping things simple. Suley is not only the Director of Culinary Operations at Celebrity Cruises, he also happens to be a long-time friend of McInnis, which made the whole experience even more special because, really, is there anything better than sharing great food with great friends?

C- Beached Miami's Instapix Pic of the Week is up.

D- The Street has 20 new photos up.

E- You know the weekend is near when the South Florida Theatre Scene releases its weekly theater guide.

F- Bark Bark Woof Woof shares your Republican Hypocrisy of the Day.




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Your Evening Sift

We're on the downslide into the weekend, readers. Here's a little bit of what I found interesting while cruising around the internet today. Enjoy your evening Sift, folks.

A- Eye on Miami endorses Joe Gibbons for State Representative in District 100.

I support Joe Gibbons for State Rep. in District 100. He is also recommended by the Miami Herald. We have no room for small minds like Shelly Lisbon's.

B- Annush gives up smoking.

For the past couple of days I’ve been thinking that maybe I should quit smoking again and for good this time. It seems like for the first time in a long time, all the reasons that made it difficult for me to quit smoking and stick with it are no longer there so I should take advantage of this opportunity.

C- Arterpillar offers an idea of how to spend your Thursday night if you live close to Lauderdale and enjoy documentary films.

D- The Grove's Charles Street has been declared a Historic Roadway, according to Curbed Miami.

It was the main drag of West Coconut Grove's Bahamian community, was first settled in the 1880s by employees of the nearby Peacock Inn. The neighborhood would remain a predominantly black enclave, rich in wooden vernacular architecture from the late 19th century, and an early center of black life in the first decades of Miami's history.

E- Miamism reposts a very good discussion of Mediterranean Revival architecture in Miami-Dade County they compiled in 2008.

The style popular in South Florida in the 1920′s is now called “Mediterranean Revival” which was influenced by the architecture of the countries bordering the Mediterranean coast, namely Spain, France, Italy and North Africa. Historic architecture in Miami Shores is comprised of mostly Mediterranean Revival homes and we thought it would be valuable for home owners to be able to identify different elements, learn about them and hopefully inspire them into renovating and restoring our historic core. This same style of architecture can be seen in other historic districts in South Florida like Historic Morningside, Coral Gables, Miami Springs, Historic Bayside, Coconut Grove, and of course Miami Beach.

F- Eater Miami collects all the links that give us a picture of what is being said about the new Georgia's Union in Wynwood.

G- It doesn't sound like Key West's Rooftop Cafe is going to be getting a return visit from Florida Keys Girl.

So when the waiter came to clear our salad plates, he removed my knife from my salad plate and stuck it back on the table. This is a place with $30 entrees. This is absolutely not OK. Yes, I know it is a little thing, but more often than not it is the little things that either make a meal great or terrible.

H- Political Cortadito reports that they're "detaining" absentee ballot collectors in Hialeah.

Miami-Dade Police have detained and questioned two women in connection with the county mayoral race — caught with a dozen or so absentee ballots in their possession.

I- Roy Black remembers Hollywood screenwriter Frank Pierson.

Frank Pierson, a prolific Hollywood screenwriter, died this week. He wrote scripts for Dog Day Afternoon, Cat Ballou, and many TV shows, including consulting on the recent hits Mad Men and The Good Wife. He even directed films like The Looking Glass War and A Star is Born. Despite all this success he will always be remembered for one line of dialogue. One transcendent line that captured an entire Zeitgeist.

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SFDB Post Of The Week

SFDB selects its Post of the Week by going back and reviewing all the Sifts that we've done over the past 7 days. We find the best post of the week and note the runners ups as we judge them to be.

Looking at the selections for this week's SFDB Post of the Week reminds me of all the great reading we have available to us in the South Florida blogosphere. I think you'll agree after reviewing them with me. Let's do it.

Runners-Up: Sex and the Beach's story of her wonderful visit with Miami puppeteer Pablo Cano was one of those special posts that demonstrates just how unique a place South Florida can be sometimes. Burgers by the Beach did a nice job documenting the action at the Boca Burger Battle. Courtney Hambright came though for Salty Eggs with her well-written and very readable post on Beach Day's recent gig at Radio-Active Records



Winner:  There may be no other South Florida blogger more qualified to write a post as boldly titled as State of the Union (of Miami Dining) than Food for Thought. Although he mourns the loss of a few of his favorite eateries, Food for Thought declares the state of Miami dining to be excellent. The writing is concise and descriptive, as it always is, and the post is appropriately imaged. The useful footnotes that regular readers have come to expect, are also included. Most importantly, you can be confidant that the opinion and insights that you are getting are spot on and worth your attention. And so, it's with great pleasure that I recognize Food for Thought's efforts with this week's SFDB Post of the Week.

'Til next time, keep on blogging!



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