Tag Archives: Champlain Towers South

Filosofa’s Mind Is Bouncy

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

There was much in yesterday’s news that I could, perhaps should, be writing about.  There was the Supreme Court decision to uphold Arizona’s voter suppression laws, Bill Cosby’s sentence being overturned, even though he has admitted his guilt, Trump organization along with CFO Weisselberg being charged with running a 15-year tax scam, and some other important stories.  However, as I seem to have a very bouncy mind today that cannot focus on one thing for more than 15 seconds, I instead have for you few fleeting thoughts on this, that, and the other from the bouncing mind of Filosofa …

“He’s not just a pig, he’s stupid!”

That was ol’ Tucker Carlson’s rant after hearing that General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified that he believes the military should be well-read and should learn about the past history of the U.S., including its dark, racist parts, in order to better understand where we are today and why.

So, here’s a talk show host who thinks he is smarter and somehow more educated than the well-respected, highest ranking military officer in the country, a man with not one but two Master’s degrees?  Tucker … in a battle of wits with General Milley, he would wipe the floor with you, then throw you to the dogs.

Why is it that so-called conservatives are so easily reduced to spitting insults and name-calling?  Have they not got the education and intellect, the vocabulary to actually carry on a conversation?  F*** Tucker Carlson … most all advertisers have pulled out of his program … it’s time to send him packing before he infects even more of the right wing.  And let him take his equally ignorant counterpart, Laura Ingraham, with him.

One week ago yesterday, the Florida condo Champlain Towers South collapsed into rubble.  A few survivors were found in the rubble on the first day, but after 8 days, there is no longer any hope that the 145 people still unaccounted for will be found alive.  None.  You don’t survive that and live for 8 days in this …

And yet, officials continue to call it a ‘search and rescue’ operation.  No, they are only looking now for dead bodies … this is now a recovery operation, nothing more.  Why prolong the agony of family members, telling them there is hope for their loved ones when there isn’t so much as a shred of hope of finding life in that mess?  It is cruel and heartless.  Thus far, 18 people are confirmed dead, and in my mind the death toll stands at 163.  Be kind, stop lying to the families so that they can stop holding their breath.

When I first saw this headline in the Associated Press (AP) …

Venomous snake captured in North Carolina capital

I thought … oh, goodie, they’ve finally captured and arrested Madison Cawthorn … or Richard Burr … or Thom Tillis!  But no, this was just an innocent snake, aka a reptile of the suborder Serpentes.

Just a venomous zebra-cobra snake.  Frankly, I think he heard about all the other snakes in the North Carolina legislature and figured he should go visit some of his family!  I’d rather cozy up to the zebra-cobra than any of the aforementioned human snakes!  They are far less lethal, less venomous to a much greater number of people than the human snakes!

And on the upside … yesterday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced a moratorium on federal executions, reversing the former guy’s reinstatement of the death penalty in federal cases.  Sadly, it will not bring back the lives of …

  • Daniel Lewis Lee
  • Wesley Ira Purkey
  • Dustin Lee Honken
  • Lezmond Charles Mitchell
  • Keith Dwayne Nelson
  • William Emmett LeCroy
  • Christopher Andre Vialva
  • Orlando Cordia Hall
  • Brandon Bernard
  • Alfred Bourgeois
  • Lisa Montgomery
  • Cory Johnson
  • Dustin John Higgs
  • John Gardner
  • Donnie Lance
  • Abel Ochoa
  • Nicholas Todd Sutton
  • Nathaniel Woods
  • Walter Barton
  • Billy Joe Wardlow

All were executed after the federal death penalty was reinstated in 2019 after a 16-year hiatus.  Of the twenty, 9 were executed in Texas, 3 each in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, 2 in Florida.  Are you starting to see a pattern here?

Thumbs up to AG Garland for ending federal executions.  Now if only we could convince the 24 states who still practice executions to follow suit.  Texas seems to really enjoy killing people, for in the past 45 years, they have led the pack in killing and I mean by a LOT …

Top Ten State executions since 1976

  1. Texas (538)
  2. Oklahoma (113)
  3. Virginia (113)
  4. Florida (99)
  5. Missouri (92)
  6. Georgia (76)
  7. Alabama (62)
  8. Ohio (56)
  9. North Carolina (43)
  10. South Carolina (43)

Way to go, Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, Dan Crenshaw, Louie Gohmert, Ronny Jackson, et al.

Okay, my mind is still bouncing, so I think I’ll take it out for a walk now. 

Heartbreak and Rage

Posted on by under Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Social commentary

I’m sure that by now you’ve all heard about the collapse of Champlain Towers South, a 12-story beachfront condominium building in the Miami suburb of Surfside, Florida in the wee hours of Thursday morning.  You probably already know that there are 5 confirmed dead, 11 injured, and 159 people missing as of this writing.  This story is heartbreaking enough in and of itself, but a couple of things I read earlier this evening … add to the heartbreak and also the rage.

127 people escaped or were evacuated, some from the other side of the building, some from the collapsed side.  They did not have time to pack belongings and most have now lost everything they own.  Some are staying in nearby motels.  Friends and family of the missing have flown in to await word of their loved ones and they, too, are staying at nearby motels.  Those motels, two in particular, the Residence Inn and the Four Seasons, saw an opportunity and they seized it … by raising their rates to between $800 and $1,500 per night!  Is this not the most unconscionable thing imaginable?  If anything, I would have expected them to offer the rooms for free, or at the very least at a greatly reduced rate!  Needless to say, the managers of those motels will NEVER find themselves on Filosofa’s ‘good people’ posts!

The other thing is the report that three years ago, in October 2018, a consultant, Frank Morabito, found alarming evidence of “major structural damage” to the concrete slab below the pool deck and “abundant” cracking and crumbling of the columns, beams and walls of the parking garage under the 13-story building.  As a result, it is reported that a multi-million-dollar repair project was set to “get underway soon” … nearly three years later!

From the New York Times …

In a statement on Saturday, Mr. Morabito’s firm, Morabito Consulting, said it provided the condo association with both an assessment of the “extensive and necessary repairs” needed and an estimate of how much they would cost.

“Among other things, our report detailed significant cracks and breaks in the concrete, which required repairs to ensure the safety of the residents and the public,” the statement said.

Emails show that the secretary of the condo association forwarded the report to an official in the town’s building department on Nov. 13, 2018. The town did not disclose any further correspondence related to the report.

In all likelihood the 159 missing people are dead somewhere under the massive rubble pile.  Meaning that a death toll of 164 people could have been prevented if the condo association had done their job, had taken Morabito’s report seriously and put lives ahead of profit.  I think we will be seeing hundreds of wrongful death lawsuits, the first already having been filed yesterday.  I hope every plaintiff wins his case!  Even those who got out safely have lost all their worldly possessions and have grounds for a lawsuit.  Ignoring the 2018 report was by any measure grossly unconscionable.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava of Miami-Dade announced a 30-day audit of all buildings 40 years and older under the county’s jurisdiction, and she urged cities to do the same for buildings within their borders.  As my grandpa would have said, “Talk about closing the barn door after the cows got out!”

No doubt further details will be coming in the days ahead, there will be stories of survival and of grief, and I may write more about this at some point, but that’s all I know for now.