The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby nashvillebrook » Sun Dec 13, 2015 5:38 pm

http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/new ... del/npgwf/

Dealer: Gun linked to Paris attack came through Delray firm

A gun once owned by a Delray Beach arms dealer is among those linked to the Paris attacks that killed 130 people, the head of a Serbian arms factory told The Associated Press.

The M92 semi-automatic pistol’s serial number matched one the Zastava arms factory delivered in May 2013 to the family-owned Century International Arms in Delray Beach, said the arms dealer, Milojko Brzakovic.

How the pistol got from Delray to France remains unclear.

Century owner Michael Sucher did not answer calls Thursday. Doors were locked at the company’s Congress Avenue location just south of Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach, where TV news trucks were gathering Thursday afternoon.

Employees trickling out of the building to go home declined comment. Sarah Levine, who worked next door, said “I had no idea that there was anything connected with guns or arms dealing in this vicinity.”

Century, a buyer and re-seller of military-grade surplus guns, is one of the largest arms dealers in the United States. Its specialty is buying firearms from overseas and reselling to dealers. The Palm Beach County business imports up to 25,000 guns every year from the Serbian firm alone, the AP reported.

In addition to the Delray Beach location, Century also holds federal firearms licenses in Georgia, Vt., a town of about 4,700 residents about 10 miles from the Canadian border.

The Vermont location is licensed to import guns, build guns and import destructive devices, including very large-caliber guns or armor-piercing ammunition. The company also markets its own brand of ammunition, Red Army Standard, which is manufactured in Cold War-era factories.

This is not the first time that Century Arms has wound up in headlines.

In 2011, The Palm Beach Post detailed how Century Arms has prospered — trading in pistols, sniper rifles and assault weapons, sometimes with the help of “unauthorized brokers” — based on secret diplomatic cables made public by WikiLeaks, an international organization that publishes secret information.

One secret cable detailed how World War II-era rifles donated during the Cold War made their way illegally from a Guatemalan government warehouse to Century Arms in 2007 for $130 million.

An Israeli arms dealer and frequent middleman for Century Arms helped carry out the illegal transfer of American M-1 rifles, the cables said.

In 1987, John Rugg, a former police officer and longtime Century Arms employee, told a U.S. Senate committee that the company was involved in supplying arms, including rockets and grenades, to the Contras of Nicaragua during the 1980s-era Iran-Contra scandal.

In 2011, the Center for Public Integrity reported that Century Arms’ Romanian-manufactured WASR-10 “has become a favorite of the Mexican drug cartels and in recent years hundreds of them have been traced to crimes in Mexico.”

At least seven of the weapons used or discovered after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris have been identified as being produced by a factory located in central Serbia. Most were manufactured before Yugoslavia broke up in a civil war in the 1990s, and most are modified versions of the Soviet AK-47, sometimes known as the Kalashnikov.

In fact, Century Arms has a history of buying arms from Eastern Europe. In 2004, Italian authorities temporarily halted shipment of 7,500 AK-47s from Romania to Century Arms. And the Center for Public Integrity reported that Century had extensive business dealings in Romania, even before the fall of the country’s communist dictator, Nikolai Ceausescu.

Century Arms sells to individuals or businesses with a federal firearms license, using its website to direct most retail traffic to a network of dealers.

Tom Cash, a former special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administrations’ Florida and Caribbean operations, said that should make it possible for authorities to track down who bought the gun.

But the purchaser can be anybody, he said, because there are no restrictions on who can get such a license.

William Hartung, a policy analyst with the Center for International Policy in New York, agrees there’s no guarantee the gun won’t wind up in the wrong hands, even when purchased by a licensed buyer. “Sometimes, somebody with a legal right purchases it and then they sell it or they lose it,” he said. “There have been examples of that.”

Marc Adler, president of Allan Adler, a Boca Raton consulting firm that specializes in firearms, said taking a handgun out of the country involves reams of paperwork and approval by federal agencies.

“The export of firearms is very heavily regulated,” said Adler, who questions how the gun could have legally left the country. “The only way I think it can happen would be some type of illegal transfer.”

Brzakovic, the Serbian factory official, said all the guns linked to the Paris attacks were delivered legally, including the gun sold to Century Arms.

That gun is a derivative of the AK-47, a military-grade assault rifle. The gun was delivered as a semi-automatic, but it’s unknown if it had been altered to an automatic. The so-called “shortened Kalashnikov” is listed by U.S. arms dealers as selling for about $460 a piece.

The M92 pistol, said Brzakovic, “is a semi-automatic weapon, a hunting and sporting weapon … it cannot fire barrage fire, only single shots … which are legal in America.”

Of the other guns linked to the Paris attack, “One was delivered to Bosnia in 1983, one to Skopje, Macedonia, in December 1987, one to Golubici, near Knin (Croatia) in 1988, one to Zagreb (Croatia) 1987,” he told the AP.

Brzakovic said it would be wrong to accuse his company, Zastava, of selling weapons to terrorists.

“Here’s where the weapons ended, there’s the data. Zastava cannot be blamed for where it went afterward,” Brzakovic said.

But he, too, agreed that an illicit gun deal could have taken place even after arms were delivered legally.

“Wherever there are wars, there are bigger possibilities for abuse and to hide the channels for guns. They end up where they shouldn’t,” he said.

Staff writers Julius Whigham, Gurman Bhatia and researcher Melanie Mena contributed to this story.
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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby cptmarginal » Sun Jun 12, 2016 10:11 am

Thanks for that last post in this thread nashvillebrook, I missed that...

-

Official snared in bribery case dies in suspicious crash - 24 May 2016

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OPA-LOCKA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida city official died in a suspicious single-vehicle crash a day before he was scheduled to surrender in a criminal corruption case involving thousands of dollars in bribes, authorities said Tuesday.

Opa-locka city commissioner Terence Pinder, 43, died Tuesday after the city-owned vehicle he was driving crashed into a large banyan tree, officials said. The tree is located in an undeveloped part of Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport, far from any major road and surrounded mostly by grass.

Police say they are investigating whether the crash was deliberate and how fast Pinder was driving. He was the Chevrolet Tahoe's lone occupant, said Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Jennifer Capote. She said the crash was discovered about 8 a.m. by a woman walking her dog.

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A tow truck leaves with City of Opa-locka Commissioner Terence Pinder's SUV after it crashed into a tree, Tuesday, May 24, 2016, at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport. Pinder was killed in a suspicious single-vehicle crash a day before he was scheduled to surrender in a criminal corruption case. Police said they are investigating whether the crash was deliberate. (AP Photo/Curt Anderson)

"It does appear he was driving inside the grassy area at the airport," Capote said.

Pinder had planned to surrender Wednesday to face bribery and unlawful compensation charges, said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. An arrest warrant says Pinder accepted more than $7,000 in bribes to help a businessman establish a recycling transfer station.

It turned out the businessman was working undercover with police, according to an affidavit. Pinder was accused of taking actions at commission meetings to ensure the businessman received preferential treatment.

In one recorded call last December, the businessman wanted to know if he needed to make another payment to Pinder and offered to stop by the commissioner's house.

"If you want to come see me, that's fine. It's almost Christmas. Where the hell's Santa?" Pinder was recorded as saying.

His death is another blow for Opa-locka, an impoverished city northwest of Miami that is under a broader FBI corruption investigation and struggling with its finances. An emergency city commission meeting on the dire financial situation was scheduled for later Tuesday amid talk that the state may have to take over its operations.

"This is a tragedy for Terence Pinder's family and friends, a tragedy for the City Of Opa-locka and a tragedy for the people of Opa-locka that circumstances surrounding the city's operation have gone this far," Rundle said in a statement.

The FBI had previously confirmed a wide-ranging public corruption investigation involving other city officials and lobbyists, although Pinder's case was separate from that probe. Pinder had previously been charged with several felonies in an earlier bribery investigation that ended in 2014 when he pleaded no contest to reduced violations of city ordinances and was placed on probation. Pinder was first elected in 2004.


(paging Daniel Hopsicker)

See also:

Depleted Uranium Found at Opa-Locka Airport

Opa-locka field was once the site of secret CIA base
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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby 8bitagent » Fri Jun 24, 2016 3:53 am

Heard some weird shit was happening in Florida lately? :)
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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby SonicG » Tue Jul 05, 2016 10:43 pm

Free Guacamole-Algae Sludge at Happy Hour!!

Guacamole-thick' algae causes crisis on Florida coastline

A smelly, "guacamole-thick" muck is fouling a stretch of beaches promoted as Florida's "Treasure Coast," and lawmakers and residents blame the federal government

By JENNIFER KAY and TERRY SPENCER

Associated Press

STUART, Fla. (AP) — A smelly, "guacamole-thick" muck is fouling a stretch of beaches promoted as Florida's "Treasure Coast," where lawmakers and residents blame the federal government, saying the algae crisis is fueled by freshwater flows controlled by Army officials to protect an erosion-prone dike.

The blue-green algae is the latest contaminant featured in yearslong arguments over water flowing from Lake Okeechobee, which is critical to South Florida's water supply and flood control systems.

At Central Marine boat docks in Stuart, pea-green and brown algae coated the water Thursday and smelled strongly like cow manure. Blooms that started last week in the St. Lucie River continue to spread, threatening Atlantic beaches expecting crowds of families for the holiday weekend.

Sarah Chaney, a receptionist at Central Marine, said boaters and fisherman are cancelling reservations after seeing reports of the algae, which she called "horrible and disgusting."

"I would describe them as guacamole-thick. And it stinks," said Gabriella Ferraro, spokeswoman for Martin County.

Florida's U.S. senators, Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Bill Nelson, have joined Martin County commissioners in calling for the Army Corps of Engineers to stop the flow of water between the river and Lake Okeechobee.

Residents and business owners blame the algae on pollutants streaming from the lake.

In a news release Thursday afternoon, the Corps said it would begin reducing the flow from the lake Friday, targeting the Caloosahatchee Estuary and the St. Lucie Estuary.

After touring the St. Lucie River as it passes through downtown Stuart, Nelson said the problems can be traced to Florida's history of diverting water to the ocean.

"We need to repair 75 years of diking and draining, but that takes time," he said. He called on Florida's Legislature to spend money approved by state voters for environmental projects such as purchasing land around Lake Okeechobee for water storage instead of diverting the funds to pay for administrative costs. Rubio is scheduled to visit the area Friday.

When Gov. Rick Scott declared a state emergency for the area Wednesday, he blamed the federal government for neglecting repairs to the lake's aging dike that's considered one of the country's most at-risk for imminent failure. On Thursday, he amended the emergency declaration, adding Lee and Palm Beach counties. Palm Beach County is located directly south of the existing emergency area, while Lee County is located on Florida's Gulf coast.

Some residents blamed Scott instead on Thursday. He hasn't done enough to curb pollution from farms north of the lake or purchase land farther south where lake waters could be stored and cleaned, said Irene Gomes, owner of the Driftwood Motel in Jensen Beach.

The algae has rapidly grown from a beach nuisance to a health concern, as one customer made plans to leave early if the algae triggered breathing issues, said Gomes, whose family has owned the motel's turquoise-colored cabins since 1958.

"At one point, I could say to my customers, 'Come down, it's not at all the beaches,' because it wasn't toxic. Now we're talking about health issues," Gomes said.

Chaney, the Central Marine receptionist, said Scott should visit the area, even if he gets criticized.

"He needs to come see it himself and stop being a coward," she said.

Scott said in a news release Thursday that the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity will immediately activate a virtual business emergency operations center to assess businesses impacted by the blooms. The program will begin to survey businesses affected by the water releases and share the results with various state and local agencies to implement appropriate disaster relief programs.

Lake Okeechobee is the largest in Florida and the second largest body of freshwater in the contiguous United States. Flooding there after a major hurricane in 1928 killed at least 2,500 people in surrounding communities of mostly poor, black farmworkers. It inspired the storm central to Zora Neale Hurston's novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God."

To reduce the risk of a breach in the dike built after that hurricane, the Corps of Engineers tries to keep lake water levels between 12.5 feet and 15.5 feet above sea level. Shoring up the dike will take years. Meanwhile, freshwater is released east and west of the lake into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie rivers.

State water managers have said local stormwater runoff and septic tanks also fuel algae blooms. They're working to direct more water south of Lake Okeechobee into the parched Everglades, but federal regulations, conservation mandates and stalled restoration projects complicate those efforts.

In neighboring St. Lucie County, home to the troubled Indian River Lagoon, officials have prohibited homeowners from using fertilizer during the summer and begun working with the state to test waterways for pollution that might be linked to septic tanks.

"A lot of people want to blame Lake Okeechobee, it's an easy target, but there are a lot of factors that contribute to the health of the lagoon," said St. Lucie County spokesman Erick Gill.

Murky waters on southwest Florida's Gulf Coast also are blamed on the lake's discharges. Fort Myers-area lawmakers said Thursday that Scott should extend the state of emergency to Lee County because of water issues in the Caloosahatchee River.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/94e84674 ... nted-algae


(And bitchen' bloomin' algae at all local Chillis!)
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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby Novem5er » Wed Jul 06, 2016 1:47 am

Yep, the algae situation has been in all the local news for about two weeks now.

So here's the gist of it. About 75 years ago, some people decided that all the land south of Lake Okeechobee would be great for growing sugar, if only the land wouldn't flood every year. Lake Okeechobee gathers rainwater from all over and naturally would flood its southern bank, and feed a system of wetlands that would stretch south for about a hundred miles and in turn feed the Everglades. So some rich people convinced the state government and the Army Corp of Engineers to build a dyke that would stop the natural flooding and turn all that wetlands into valuable sugar plantations. North of the lake, they also straightened the Kissimmee river because all the twists and turns would slow down water flow and make the river flood its banks, and some yahoos realized that all that land would make for good cattle ranching if only it weren't so flooded.

Well, with all that water from the north of the lake funneling right into Okeechobee, and with the dyke preventing all southerly flooding, they have to divert the water to the east and west coast along rivers and canals. Of course, with the increase in cattle and agriculture production upriver and around the lake (because it doesn't flood naturally anymore) all that extra nutrient gets into the lake and makes algae. That fresh water hits the brackish water of these canals and it blooms.

Long story short, a bunch of rich men convinced us to geoengineer the waterways of Florida to make a lot of fucking money growing sugar, oranges, and raising cattle, and now every few years the people on the coast who's only real business is tourism get pissed that their water is being polluted. Some blame the feds, some blame the governor, and most everyone blames Big Sugar.

Check out this video to see how NASTY this algae is. It will churn your stomach.

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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby 82_28 » Wed Jul 06, 2016 5:47 am

Looks like what this calls for is a "good" hurricane to sweep through this summer or fall.

Full disclosure I won an all inclusive trip on the Price is Right last week to just that area and cannot wait to bask on the beach, swim with the manatees and drink mojitos in my junior suite with free breakfast.

But yeah. Besides some crazy ass chemicals the joint needs a hurricane, I would think, to "naturally" get rid of it.
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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby Novem5er » Wed Jul 06, 2016 11:23 am

Congratulations on winning the trip! Florida can certainly be a nice vacation destination when mother nature cooperates!

Supposedly they are slowing the release of lake water into the canals to give the algae time to decay, break down, and get flushed out to sea. It's funny you mention a good hurricane, because a good storm can certainly be healthy for the environment! It can clear weak tree limbs and wash away some of the grim that collects in areas. Maybe a good storm would blow away some of the politicians out of Tallahassee, too :)
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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby Novem5er » Wed Jul 20, 2016 4:13 pm

Just a note from my particular corner of Florida - the CENTCOM bombing field has been VERY active this week. CENTCOM (Central Command), which covers all operations in the Mid East has its HQ over in Tampa, but I live near an airfield and bombing range where they practice maneuvers and bombing (occasionally with live ammunition!).

I noticed the day before the Turkey coup that the jets were buzzing town again, which I think was just a coincidence. However, its continued every day since then, and its picked up the last 24 hours. Last night I heard a jet engine burning at full throttle (a deep, loud, continuous roar that tore the air) followed by a boom; most likely an afterburner followed by the jet breaking the sound barrier). I've heard similar sounds all day today. I believe that US aircraft have been running operations against ISIS for months now, so this is not entirely unusual, but the length of these latest exercises is unusual.

Just a heads up . . .
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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby Novem5er » Sun Jul 24, 2016 11:07 am

Appropriate to thread title . . .

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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby Col. Quisp » Sun Jul 24, 2016 7:16 pm

Congrats on the trip 82...what part of FL will you visit? I'm here in Saint Petersburg, the best part of Florida!
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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby Novem5er » Sun Jul 24, 2016 8:19 pm

Cool to meet another Floridian Col. Quisp! I live about two hours SE of you, in the dark splotch in the middle of the state (in the map above); aka Cracker Country.
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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby Nordic » Mon Jul 25, 2016 1:01 am

My son showed me something fun to do. Maybe this is common knowledge, but it was new to me.

Go to google and type in "Florida man". Then hit "news"

You get a seemingly endless list of seriously whacked out shit that Florida men have been charged with, caught doing, whatever. It's hilarious (in a dark and troubling way).
"He who wounds the ecosphere literally wounds God" -- Philip K. Dick
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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby Pele'sDaughter » Mon Jul 25, 2016 8:22 am

There's a sub-Reddit of that name.
Don't believe anything they say.
And at the same time,
Don't believe that they say anything without a reason.
---Immanuel Kant
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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby Novem5er » Sat Jul 30, 2016 3:00 pm

Just a side-note of sorts . . .

Only July 20th, I posted that there had been heavy military air traffic around the CENTCOM bombing range that I live near. I'd reported several days of constant jet activity flying above my town, and at least one case of what I believe was an afterburner and sonic boom. I realize that the military is constantly in training, but I have noticed several times that heavier training occurs before major air operations in the Middle East. So I ran into this article today:

http://time.com/4430718/u-s-military-admits-airstrikes-in-syria-may-have-killed-more-civilians/

On Thursday (July 28) , 19 strikes were conducted near Manbij, Syria

U.S airstrikes near Manbij, Syria on Thursday, may have resulted in more civilian casualties, the U.S. Central Command said.

“We can confirm the Coalition conducted airstrikes in the area in the last 24 hours,” the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

That day, coalition military forces continued attacking ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Aircraft conducted 22 strikes in Syria, 19 of which were near Manbij and nine strikes in Iraq.

The U.S. Central Command said it will review any information about the incident, saying that it takes all measures during the targeting process to avoid or minimize civilian casualties or collateral damage.

On July 19, at least 56 civilians were killed in airstrikes near Manbij, Reuters reports.

From July 28, 2015 to April 29, 2016, U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria have resulted in the deaths of 14 civilians, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. “We deeply regret the unintentional loss of life and injuries resulting from our airstrikes and express our sympathies to those affected.”
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Re: The Dark Weird Topology Of Florida

Postby Nordic » Sat Jul 30, 2016 4:28 pm

Pele'sDaughter » Mon Jul 25, 2016 7:22 am wrote:There's a sub-Reddit of that name.


Sometimes I am very far behind.
"He who wounds the ecosphere literally wounds God" -- Philip K. Dick
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