@craigslistslist We can feed off the shame and anger all day or we can give in to the idea of getting more. It's that simple. Getting more means leadership. Leadership to change what it means to be a Republican. Not a side show, but spine of steel conservatism and fighting for we the people.
@CalECPA_ret@NoahWhey I've read many examples like you have made here. That's really how I base my position. The math here makes little sense to me in order to justify the howling against this proposal. It would be interesting to see this type of straightforward analysis for all counties.
@ByronDonalds@JBPritzker This is not factual. Didn't you sponsor a bill in Florida to raise the shoplifting ceiling for prosecution? Yes, you certainly did. You're all talk and either no or opposite action. You'll never get my vote.
This appears to be legalized theft. A very ill 92-year-old woman lived in this home most of her life and owned it outright. She wanted to pass it on to her family when she died, but instead, the government seized the home ($250k of equity) over an unpaid property tax bill of $3500 (she did not receive any formal notification of this issue until they started the eviction case).
This happened recently in Pennsylvania. I do not want to see the same thing in Florida. Homeowners of all ages need property tax relief!
Local control really means local TAXPAYERS deciding how their hard-earned money is spent, not local politicians treating property taxes like an unlimited ATM for every non-essential project.
Something must be done to rein in the rampant waste and return real savings directly to Floridians. Florida DOGE already uncovered nearly $2B in local government excess, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
True local control should put residents first by forcing governments to prioritize core services public safety, schools, infrastructure, flood control, and debt service, rather than elaborate waterfront city hall buildings, high-priced consultants, parades, equity surveys, ideological events, DEI offices, and pet projects. If cities and counties can't live within their means without constantly hiking taxes on our primary residences, it's fiscal failure on their part.
Floridians deserve lower taxes, real accountability, and complete transparency for how every tax dollar is spent. The waste has to stop, and the savings need to go back to the people who pay the bills. We have tightened our belts. It's time for local governments to do so as well.
Real-dollar examples of wasteful spending:
Miami-Dade County: $9M budgeted as an "Art Allowance" for the new detention center; $17M+ annual impact from the "Art in Public Places" ordinance (1.5% tax on public building construction, plus $1M maintenance contract). $13.7M in grants for private sports/cultural activities (often DEI-themed) and 19 full-time staff in the Office of Community Advocacy for race/ethnic subgroup programs.
Broward County: $175k spent on "virtual art." $9.2M in cultural grants and nearly $900K on DEI training (including topics like gender fluidity).
Orange County: $80M increase in grants to nonprofits (covering "therapeutic art," "food justice," etc.). Also, $223K to LGBT youth services promoting gender ideology.
City of Orlando: $460K since 2020 on a "tree inventory" project; nearly $70K for hot yoga classes for employees; spending on a poet laureate program and employee training on microaggressions and advanced energy equity. Another $150K over 3 years to help illegal immigrants evade deportation.
City of Jacksonville: $75K for a hologram of the mayor to greet airport travelers in multiple languages; $7.5M for a 1-mile sidewalk project (8x the average FDOT cost estimate); $1.9M in grants to DEI-focused arts groups.
City of Pensacola: $150K per year to a management company for drag shows at the Saenger Theater; $300K for an equity-focused strategic plan and residential "equity survey."
Gainesville/Alachua County: City Director of Equity and Inclusion position at $189K salary; $31K to Planned Parenthood for a "Teen Time" program.
Pinellas County: $75K annually to sponsor a Pride festival.
City of St. Petersburg: $258K to support Pride events; $307K on a climate action plan.
Palm Beach County: At least $151K on DEI training (topics like "Living While Black" and employees being "responsible for racism"); $16M on homeless programs since FY 2020-21 that coincided with a rise in homelessness.
Hillsborough County: Assistant county administrator of equity and community impact at $170K salary; $572K external contract for unconscious bias training.
The list goes on and on.
These wasteful "quality of life enhancements" divert our funds from essentials while driving up our property taxes. Government has one job: deliver core services. Everything else is a luxury taxpayers never agreed to fund.
Just imagine what Florida would look like today if Andrew Gillum had won in 2018. Instead, Floridians chose a different pathโone that helped make our state a national model for economic growth, public safety, education, and freedom. We got that election right, and if we want to keep building on Floridaโs success, we must get it right again in 2026.
Lovely. This guy spent 2 weeks behind bars after reaching a plea deal where he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building. This is a picture of him, in the burgundy shirt, holding a metal pole at the Capitol.
The Pentagon says this 40-person counterterrorism unit handles operations so delicate that every single position strictly requires a Top Secret security clearance. How in the world does someone who has a history of breaching the Capitol and deleting phone logs pass a federal background check, let alone obtain a Top Secret clearance???
It's unclear whether Irizarry actually has a Top Secret clearance yet, or whether he's operating on a temporary interim clearance while the admin pushes him through. Kinda like they did with Jared Kushner during Trump 1.0. In that case, career security experts actually denied Kushner's top clearance due to foreign influence red flags, but a political appointee stepped in & overruled them anyway.
Even with a 2025 presidential pardon wiping the convictions, the underlying conduct of J6ers remains. You cannot convince me that THIS guy is the best option we have for a role as critically important as this.
24 hours ago I walked up and saw a tiny little girl in the worst possible state imaginable. She's only a tiny puppy and I first feared she was paralyzed. She was covered in thousands of little fleas, too weak to move, and we'd been alerted by locals who had heard her screaming alone at night.
I'm sorry. It's amazing the difference you can make in 24 hours, though, because since she's come into the hospital, she's been cleaned up, got all her medicines, and has got past that critical stage. Looking at her little clean body, it's easy to forget that she's just a tiny little young puppy who's been through so much.
The good news is her spine is not broken but she has suffered an injury in her leg, which has fused back together already because she's such a young puppy. So she will have a lifelong injury but there's a very good chance that she'll have good mobility and be able to walk around albeit with a slight disability.
Skye is her name and my reasoning was that it ... Represents the clear, open, and limitless horizon of her brand-new life. We also found her under a dark stormy sky where her life was set to end alone and in pain.
The recovery won't be easy and I've definitely cherry-picked the best bits for this video of her standing up on her first day but we'll give her all the support, medicines, and veterinary care that she needs to hopefully make a full recovery. Love you so much already little Skye โค๏ธ
Wonderful Wednesday, you beautiful degenerates of X and the great beyond!
Yesterday, for the first time in what feels like a geological era, I actually looked at the world instead of just trudging through it like a distracted zombie. Trees? Blooming like show-offs. Flowers? Doing their whole colorful thing. Grass? So green itโs basically flexing on winter. Even the air smelled... suspiciously nice. Like nature was trying to sell me something.
I go outside every damn day and somehow my brain usually filters it all out like "yeah yeah, more oxygen, whatever." But yesterday the squirrels were putting on a full acrobatic routine, the birds were chirping like they had a gossip podcast, and I was just standing there like a moron realizing: holy shit, I'm not dead yet. What a plot twist.
I'm ridiculously lucky I can still sprint out there without my knees flat out falling off. So if you're able-bodied and currently glued to your couch turning into a human potato โ get your ass outside. Run. Walk. Hike. Touch some grass, you absolute gremlin. Age is just a number my 83-year-old mother proves every day when she power-walks with her dog... who still looks at me like I owe him money and possibly his childhood trauma.
Life's for the living, people. Stop doomscrolling for five minutes and go exist in the real world before it gets too hot and we all start melting like the fragile little vampires we are.
Thank you for reading the latest unhinged episode of Nathan's Neighborhood Chronicles. Back tomorrow for more suburban Baltimore County wisdom and mild existential crises.
Be well (or at least fake it convincingly). ๐ณ
@manuraven74 Yes! This! Our morning dog walks are such a recharge. Our neighborhood is beautiful, the dogs absolutely love it and just waving or saying hi to your neighbors is a reminder that life is pretty darn good! ๐
Zach Lahn has defeated Trump-endorsed Rep. Randy Feenstra in Iowaโs gubernatorial race.
Lahn campaigned on an โIowa Firstโ agenda, rejecting outside influence and funding, including money from AIPAC.
He was endorsed by RFK Jr.โs MAHA Action and has pledged to bar illegal immigrants from receiving state benefits, while ending H-1B visas for state government and university jobs.
Follow: @AFpost
Crooks go where the $$$ is. Today, gov't has all the $$$. Every county, town, state and Federal agency contains crooks.
They work their way toward the money until they can snatch some.
Keeping gov't small and underfunded is our primary job as good citizens.
@FloridaEA Itโs not under funded itโs over administrated and money is wasted on things other than teaching and building and infrastructure. Administrative costs are skyrocketing, the NEA is part of the problem.
DON'T YOU JUST LOVE WHEN A SITTING U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA TRIES TO TRASH OUR FLORIDA...
HERE'S HIS GAME...
TRASH GOVERNOR DESANTIS
PUSH BANK FRAUD BYRON DONALDS...
THIS ASSWIPE NEEDS TO RESIGN
@JackLinFLL I'll never use my real name on this trash heap of an app for the exact reasons you posted, well minus traveling to the Middle East. That guy is a total dick bag.
The first thing I learned on here was that carpetbaggers and grifters try and win X arguments with lawfare, swatting and attacking your business. The shit Rebekah Jones put Christina Pushaw through was enough for me to understand to stay semi anonymous on here.