Fans should boycott NFL over protests

Letters to the Editor
Palm Beach Post
September 25, 2016

Fans should boycott NFL over protests

Most all American citizens recognize and agree with freedom of speech and peaceful protest given to us in our Constitution.

Kudos to longtime Dolphin fan and World War II veteran John Jordan for The Palm Beach Post article, “Anthem protest rankles WWII vet, fan: I’m done with the Dolphins” (Sept 13), saying he will not watch and will boycott the Dolphins.

I feel that the overwhelming majority of NFL fans do not support the movement started by Colin Kaepernick and then followed by other NFL players, not to stand at attention for the national anthem. Maybe now would be a good time for NFL fans to show their disapproval by boycotting games, NFL products and companies that advertise on NFL games.

RICHARD BRIANT
ROYAL PALM BEACH

Lake Worth's John Jordan is "Done with the Dolphins"

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Our friend and my hero, John Jordan, a World War II veteran, was featured in the Palm Beach Post today--front page!

Love and respect of America is supreme. In an interview with Kevin D. Thompson, John is disgusted with what some NFL players are pulling and their disrespect towards our flag and our country. We agree with John, wholeheartedly. Free speech is one thing--there's a time and a place for everything. But insolence and showing contempt towards our country is another.

 Click here... and see the video.

As Lt. Col (Ret) Allen West said, "Here’s what I’d like to have: a simple discussion with these players who are taking this action over social justice, equal rights, and equal opportunity. I’d like to know what specific policy they believe the United States of America promotes to hinder these ideals. As a matter of fact, I’d like these football players to explain what social justice, equal rights and equal opportunity mean."

NAPC candidate debate tonight

My dictionary defines "moderator" as "the nonpartisan presiding officer of a town meeting."

In Choosing a Moderator:

2. Select a moderator
The moderator should be someone who is well-respected and viewed by the public as politically neutral and nonpartisan. Ideally, the moderator should be someone who lives outside of the voting district. The perceived objectivity of your moderator is crucial to candidates, the media and forum-sponsoring organizations. A journalist is a good person to choose as the moderator due to their experience with being objective and nonpartisan. Actually, he should not just be viewed as non-partisan, he must be non-partisan.

It is your job to prepare your moderator well (give them questions in advance if possible, review process and format with them, help them to shape conversations, and do practice runs).

The League of Womens Voters says:
The Moderator
A well-qualified moderator is essential for a successful candidate meeting. Look for a poised and assertive individual who can maintain control over the meeting's progress without stifling audience and candidate participation. The person must be impartial. The role of the moderator is essential; an alternate should be designated in advance to be ready in event of illness.

When you consider the candidate forums that have been held at the Lake Worth Playhouse by the political NAPC organization, it is a circus event; it is a show and usually the best one in town.  You never know what will come out of the mouth of a candidate or out of the mouth of a moderator.  I'll never forget candidate John Jordan or John Rinaldi as moderator.  The audience is packed with partisan politicos-- banging on walls is not unusual.  It's bad enough with the partisan "enthusiasts" who attend for the one night but a PARTISAN moderator?  You can't beat that with a stick.

See you tonight at the Lake Worth Playhouse, 6:30 pm.

John Jordan's Birthday party

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His walk may be a little slower but his mind is as sharp as a tack. Lots of fun tonight at John's surprise birthday party.

Tonight's Moon

John "Jump" Jordan

Cultural Shock

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Forever young, 87 year old John Jordan recently returned from Bloomington, Indiana which has an established reputation as a livable, healthy, entrepreneurial community known for both big-city amenities and abundant Midwestern charm. It is also known as one of "America’s Best Cities for Doing Business" and as one of Entrepreneur Magazine's Top 50 "Hottest Small Cities for Entrepreneurs."

John said, "I was in a beautiful city, no slum, no blight, no crime, middle America and families who are educated, who pray together and have the entrepreneurial spirit to live the American dream through a good work ethic and close family life, then I returned to Lake Worth."

The French House Cafe

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This morning, John Jordan and I had a delightful and  scrumptious  breakfast at The French House Cafe located at the corner of Lake Avenue and Dixie Highway.  We both had homemade pancakes (French style), with fresh strawberries similar to the above photo. We were served water from a carafe, fresh orange juice and coffee.

Our server, one of the owners, who is French

After breakfast we drove up to the beach to see what's happening. The upper level parking lot was completely filled. "We can no longer drive by and see the ocean," John exclaimed. This is something we have been talking about ever since Cara Jennings and the Rene Varela regime, on up to this present commission. There was time to change the design and put back the 164 upper level spaces but no one wanted to tackle it..another thing off of the plate.

On Tuesday night, the Commission will vote to extend the Interlocal agreement with the County on the beach redevelopment completion date deadline. It seems there are still parts of the project yet to be done. Who knew?

Happy Birthday, John Jordan

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In spite of getting up there in years, and perhaps walking just a little bit slower, his mind is as sharp as ever...he's going strong and still kicking butt.

Guessing Game - We need to know our Enemy

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1. 1968, Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by:
a. Superman
b. Jay Leno
c. Harry Potter
d. A Muslim male between the ages of 17 and 40

2. In 1972, at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by:
a. Olga Corbett
b. Sitting Bull
c. Arnold Schwarzenegger
d. Muslim males mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:
a. Lost Norwegians
b. Elvis
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
d . Muslim males mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

4. During the 1980's, a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
a. John Dillinger
b. The King of Sweden
c. The Boy Scouts
d. Muslim males mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
a. A pizza delivery boy
b. Pee Wee Herman
c. Geraldo Rivera
d. Muslim males mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

6. In 1985, the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:
a. The Smurfs
b. Davey Jones
c. The Little Mermaid
d. Muslim males mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

7. In 1985, TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:
a. Captain Kidd
b. Charles Lindberg
c. Mother Teresa
d. Muslim males mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
a. Scooby Doo
b. The Tooth Fairy
c. The Sundance Kid
d. Muslim males mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

9. In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
a. Richard Simmons
b. Grandma Moses
c. Michael Jordan
d. Muslim males mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
a. Mr. Rogers
b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill's women problems
c. The World Wrestling Federation
d. Muslim males mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

11. On 9/11/2001, four airliners were hijacked; two crashed into the World Trade Center towers, one crashed into the Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Almost 3,000 people were killed by:
a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
b. The Supreme Court of Florida
c. Mr. Bean
d. Muslim males mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

12. In 2002, the United States began fighting a war in Afghanistan against:
a. Enron
b. The Lutheran Church
c. The NFL
d. Muslim males mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

13. In 2002, reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and his head was cut off by
a. Bonnie and Clyde
b. Captain Kangaroo
c. Billy Graham
d. Muslim males mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

14. In 2012, the American Embassy in Egypt was stormed and the American flag was burned by:
a. the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu
b. former Governer Mitt Romney
c. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton
d. Muslim males mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

15. In 2012, the American consulate in Libya was stormed and the American Ambassador was killed by:
a. Barak Hussein Obama
b. the unrepentent terrorist, Bill Ayers
c. Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod
d. Muslim males mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

John Jordan, another year younger

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Today is John's birthday. We had a great early dinner and conversation at The Outback Steakhouse. We talked about treachery, old friends, local politics (that is never boring), The Bay of Pigs, John and Robert Kennedy, the Mafia, Batista and Fidel. Lively conversation from a spunky fella.

Stop Creating More Problems Lake Worth

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Below is a good message from Jan Bergemann who is President of Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc. On several occasions people have asked me why don't I blog about the "feel good" issues. On occasion I do but I have learned that people really don't want to read about them. They want to know the nitty gritty and the sometimes very down and dirty side of what is really going on in their little space in paradise.

A message from Jan--

Dear Florida Homeowner and Condo Owner: Foreclosures and unpaid dues are still the No. 1 issue plaguing our community associations, even if some reporters and bloggers don't want to talk about it and rather fill the pages with feel-good issues nobody is really interested in. Ignoring the problems by avoiding to discuss them is sure no way to solve the problems. In my opinion these folks behave like Nero, the Roman emperor who played the fiddle when Rome was burning. Many still paying owners need legislative help in order to deal with these serious financial problems that are bankrupting good families caused by ever increasing dues and/or special assessments necessary because of neighbors who stopped paying.

With prices going up every week just for groceries, and the basics are costing us more and more in order to provide for ourselves and our families, taxes are being raised in Lake Worth, one of the poorest cities in Palm Beach County. All of us in Lake Worth are paying for those who have abandoned their property or have refused to pay their electric bill and that is reflected in higher fees across the board. We, in the condo communities, are dealing with these foreclosures on a personal level, literally picking up the expenses for those who abandon their units. Our values are dropping because of the foreclosures as are all residences across our City. As we in the condos are forced to pay more for those who are not, we are struggling more too.

With the decision by this Commission to now tax us differently with special assessments, it will be off the backs of the working class, some businesses, the poor, tax exempt properties such as churches and the senior on a fixed income. With this special assessment, the city wants to raise a difference of $72,000 because the city manager does not feel it right that some people don't pay for a service (because their property is worth less than $50,000) and that the wealthy pay more. That's how it generally works in America, Commissioners; people pay based on their income and property values. How can you even call paying for outlandish pensions, a service or an improvement.

You can stop this Commissioners. You can stop the bleed of our residents now and in the future by rejecting special assessments. Allow properties to be taxed the way in which they should, by the value of the property, the only way that is fair and a way that has been in existence since the beginning of taxing property. Some clever, greedy person decided to screw the people by dreaming up the special assessment. Look for more ways to stop the spending during these difficult times and ways to protect us, not take advantage of us.

As John Jordan says, "We have problems and we are creating more problems to solve those problems."

We don't want to go backwards in Lake Worth

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The Lake Worth Herald, as we know, has endorsed Tom Ramiccio. No one knows why really. The editor has said that if we are happy with the way things have been going over the last four to five years, then vote your conscience, which does not mean their endorsed candidate.

I can tell you right now that I have NOT been happy with our commission until now. Four or five years ago, we had the likes of Retha Lowe and Dave Vespo, two commissioners that did a lot of damage to our city. Back in 2006, Cara Jennings beat out a big business candidate, George Goyanes who was financed and backed by the Hispanic community, developers and "big sugar." Cara was the one commissioner who thoroughly did her homework and she was in office for 4 years.

In 2007, we ended up with Jeff Clemens as mayor. Everyone knows how he ended up as a "leader." John Jordan was a smarter guy and Mark Drautz was too caring and too ethical to lead this crazy city. He let himself be jerked around by the bullies.

So, I can agree with The Lake Worth Herald. I do not want to go back to much of anything or anyone over the past 4 to 5 years. We now have smart commissioners who are all leading the city in the right direction.

So, listen to the Palm Beach Post endorsement for Mayor--Rachel Waterman.