15 Now challenges St. Pete City Hall (1)

Remarks by Rose Roby
St. Petersburg City Hall

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Thank you for coming. I’d like to speak a little about the short life and unnecessary death of Maria Fernandes. She died last month, 32 years old, poisoned by gas fumes in her car as she napped between her four jobs. That’s right, four jobs. According to her friends, she often went five days in a row without sleep because there was no room for sleep in Maria Fernandes’ life — not a real sleep, in her bed for 7-8 hours. That was a luxury she couldn’t afford. So she caught some winks here and there between assignments and last month she pulled into a parking lot, wearing her Dunkin’ Donuts uniform so there would be no need change before going to her next shift; but this time she never woke up. Dead at 32.

Maria Fernandes, dead at 32.

Maria Fernandes, dead at 32.

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15 Now challenges St. Pete City Hall (2)

Remarks by Jeff Roby
St. Petersburg City Hall

Saturday, Sep092714 press conftember 27, 2014

You people of the press have asked, how do we think we can win this? The only logical way to follow that is to talk about gay marriage. Why? Well, I remember back when it was illegal everywhere. Not just illegal, the notion was ridiculous. The leading gay groups hated it, they said it was a distraction. Worse, it was an embarrassment. So what happened?

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Vaccinations and the Left

plague_map

As the vaccination debate heats up, much of the liberal media is trying to paint the anti-vaxxer movement as a purely right wing phenomenon, it’s clear to me that this is a controversy that cuts across ideological lines. I’ve seen some very smart and progressive people pushing the Vaccinations Are Evil line. It’s for this reason I’m going to try to take this seriously while explaining why I think they are wrong and this has potential to become very, very dangerous.

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Grief as a Weapon of Mass Destruction

— Submitted by Rose Roby
Chair, St. Pete Local of the Green Party of Florida

Don't Worry, No Cartoonists Were Harmed In The Blowing Up Of These Buildings

Don’t Worry, No Cartoonists Were Harmed in the Blowing Up of These Buildings

When I was seven years old, I nearly drowned in the frigid crystal clear waters of a serene Vermont lake. Over 37 years have passed, but I can still remember my terror as I gasped desperately for air, as water filled my lungs, and the world began to fade to black. A minute or two can feel like an eternity when you’re fighting for your life. Though others had tried to help, my limbs wildly responded to the panic of drowning by beating off my potential saviors with ferocious kicks and punches, until I was finally pulled to safety by the only man strong enough to subdue me.

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Under color of law

NYPD 1874.

NYPD 1874.

18 U.S. Code § 242

Deprivation of rights under color of law

Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.

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NYPD calls it Wartime

schweik

Schweik.

I am made to recall the novels of the late Hans Hellmut Kirst, best known in this country for Night of the Generals, made into a movie starring Omar Sharif and Peter O’Toole. Kirst writes as a former soldier in the Wehrmacht himself in WWII, as well as a Nazi Party member. Kirst’s Gunner Asch novels are on the surface ordinary pulp war novels, bitterly humorous in the tradition of Good Soldier Schweik, about German soldiers on the Eastern Front, heroes and villains alike, and the civilians back home. Most striking is the utter normalcy, even banality, of their lives, their joys and sorrows, their cowardice and heroism. Yes, heroism, under one of the most murderous regimes in human history. Continue reading

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Report from the Florida Front

florida old mapFlorida, like the rest of the South, is going to be a tough nut to crack. Like much of the South, it is a right-to-work state with a solidly Republican state legislature. Furthermore, Florida statute 218.077(2) forbids local jurisdictions from passing any minimum wage or other employee benefits in excess of those mandated by state or federal law.

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Cannabis Expert MD Challenges Pharmacist’s

View on Medical Marijuana

mr natural 02Cannabis specialist Jeffrey Hergenrather, MD, and President of the Society of Cannabis Clinicians, offers critique of North Florida pharmacist Karl Metzger’s dismissal of Medical Marijuana. Hergenrather introduces us to the field of whole plant therapeutics, and sheds light on the amazing synergistic properties of the cannabinoids and terpenes present in marijuana.

Metzger’s article appeared on the website of the Bay County Green Party of Florida, entitled “The Fallacy of the Medical Marijuana Movement – A Pharmacist’s Perspective.” It can be found here.

With Medical Marijuana appearing on the ballot in Florida in November, as Amendment 2, the battle is heating up for the hearts, minds, and votes of Floridians. It is essential that voters have an informed view. In that interest, Hergenrather’s response to Metzger’s article is presented here.  — submitted by Steve Showen, Green Party of Florida

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It Felt Like Justice

$15 / hr. and the forces in play

You might call it a small skirmish in the opening stages of what promises to be a long, hard war. It is hardly an equal fight, the opposing sides in no way symmetrical.

There were some 75 protestors, with predominantly Black and Latino faces, from organizations as diverse as Fight for 15, 15 Now, Green Party, Socialist Alternative, Awake Pinellas and the Orlando Light Brigade.

together

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Khavari “declines” St. Pete Green Party endorsement for Governor

 St. Pete local bids him farewell

ltrhead st pete

For Immediate Release:
September 18, 2014
Contact: Rose Roby (727) 415-2875
Jeff Roby: (727) 482-9669

Farid Khavari is no longer the endorsed candidate for Governor of Florida by the St. Petersburg local of the Green Party of Florida (GPFL).
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