IGNITE Broward Returns - Free, Family-Friendly Festival Will Light Up Broward County South Florida Sun Times Jan 21, 2026 IGNITE Broward, South Florida’s premier festival featuring an array of public interactive light- and sound-based art installations, returns for its fifth year from Friday February 13th, 2026 - Sunday, February 22nd, 2026. The 2026 edition is the festival’s most ambitious yet, running for 10 days with over 25 spectacular displays across four Broward County locations: MAD Arts in Dania Beach, Reverend Samuel Delevoe Memorial Park in Fort Lauderdale, ArtsPark at Young Circle in Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. With over 80,000 visitors attending last year, the festival has become a major cultural draw. It includes immersive large-scale projection mapping, interactive light sculptures and installations, sound-based experiences, musical performances and family-friendly programming by local, national and international artists. In addition, this year will feature a showcase of young emerging local artists from MAD Art & Tech Studio Program, who will debut their work at IGNITE Broward. For a list of participating artists, visit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lFkelmrWVltDO4p_QvS-DZs50Y9hv-tiVYyLMK0lpR4/edit?tab=t.0 Notable participants include the Italian new-media art collective Onda Studio, known for immersive, technology-driven experiences that blend art, light and interaction. Their practice explores connections between people, space and technology. Powered by leading no-contract wireless carrier Total Wireless, the installation, “Where are we Going?,” relies on 5G technology, enabling instant participation via a QR code. Also participating is Ana Maria Caballero, a multi-award-winning transdisciplinary artist whose work examines the tension between physicality and selfhood, as well as the relationship between biological processes and their cultural implications. One of last year’s most celebrated artists, Daniel Popper, is returning to IGNITE Broward to present his new work, “Mycelia.” This large-scale figure, crafted in wood and fiberglass, uses projection mapping to illuminate the intrinsic world of fungus and blend elements of nature and humanity. This year’s program will also feature inflatable light sculptures—a new addition to IGNITE Broward—by the renowned national collective Pneuhaus, as well as experimental Super 8 video screenings by artist Phil Evans and the Barcelona-based film collective Dostoopos. IGNITE Broward is presented by the Broward County Cultural Division and produced by MAD Arts, with additional support provided by Visit Lauderdale, City of Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Broward County Parks and Recreation and City of Dania Beach. The festival is free and open to the public, continuing its mission of making art accessible for all. Participating locations include: MAD Arts Address: 481 South Federal Highway, Dania Beach, Florida 33004 Hours: Daily from 12:00 p.m. Noon to 10:00 p.m. MAD Arts, an art and technology museum that immerses audiences in high- and low-tech experiences, will showcase more than 13 new pieces of art and host artist-led events and workshops. Key highlights include: •“Oh Lord!” by Guillaume Marmin - A data-driven work using solar observation research to examine humanity’s evolving relationship with the sun as a cosmic guide, political symbol and source of fear and hope. • “A Walled City” by Dr. Weidi Zhang and Dr. Jieliang (Rodger) Luo - An interactive installation transforming participant-submitted images into an evolving virtual city inspired by Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City. • “Wayfarer 3.0” by Dr. Weidi Zhang - An AI-driven installation reimagining the mythical Tiangou through shifting celestial scenes, tracing its evolution from wandering star to moon-devouring force. • “Face The Raster V2” by Homegrown Visuals and Akomi - An audiovisual installation where guest likenesses are captured and transformed in real time through oscilloscopes, soundscapes and analog-digital experimentation. • “Sugar Coated” by Samantha Salzinger - A candy-colored, hand-built fantasy world that reveals fractures beneath its sweetness, examining excess, decay and the addictive nature of manufactured pleasure. • “Body and Technology” by Performance in Flux - A program of live performances and video works exploring how contemporary bodies interact with sound, light, machines and media. • “In Search of Light 2” by Miguel Gonzalez - An immersive VR and laser-based installation tracing humanity’s evolving philosophical, spiritual and technological relationship with light. • “Pace” by Ana Maria Caballero - An audiovisual work blending dance, AI-generated environments and performative poetry to propose that private joy and deeper self-connection can be catalysts for systemic transformation. • “To Catch a Ghost” by Darius V. Daughtry - A poetic multimedia experience composed of three poem videos and a site-specific installation created in collaboration with MAD Arts. • “Last Human” by The Last Human Collective - An immersive participatory experience exploring identity, authorship and deception within a decaying digital landscape shaped by bots, deepfakes and algorithmic identity. • “VJYOURSELF!” by Playmodes - An interactive dance installation, a contemporary magic mirror where participants dance with repeated, time-shifted versions of themselves through real-time effects. • Artist Studio Program Presentation in MAD Yard- This presentation features works from local artists—Liv Cook, Mark Espinoza, Richard Vergez, Alejandra Abad, Corina Lipavsky, Astrid Maldonado and Claudine Julien—participating in MAD Art & Tech Studio Program, a mentorship program that connects aspiring creators with established global artists. The artists will showcase their projection-mapping works developed over a six-month curriculum with mentors Jaime Reyes, Peter Burr and Amir B. Jahanbinir. • Series of Films by Dostoopos - A looping selection of experimental films, presented in the Cine Lounge at MAD Arts, that explores image plasticity, movement and sound through found footage, animated collage, negative manipulation and Super 8 film. • “Super Zone” by Phil Evans - A 10-minute Super 8 cine video loop animation showcasing analog texture and handcrafted spontaneity, presented in the Cine Lounge at MAD Arts and accompanied by a Super 8 animation workshop. Reverend Samuel Delevoe Memorial Park Address: 2520 Northwest Sixth Street, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Hours: Friday and Saturday from 6:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.; Sunday through Thursday from 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Experience six spectacular installations throughout Reverend Samuel Delevoe Memorial Park, a 36-acre neighborhood space shared with Fort Lauderdale’s African-American Research Library and Cultural Center. The park’s dramatic lake fountain, basketball court and surrounding grounds become the backdrop for new, engaging works, including: • “Mycelia” by Daniel Popper - A sculpture inspired by fungal networks, symbolizing interconnection, shared consciousness and the cyclical relationship between humans and nature. • “Grove” by Pneuhaus - An immersive sculptural environment of illuminated columns branching overhead, inspired by underground root systems and the exchange of energy between trees. • “APOGEE” by Chalk River Labs - A projection-mapped, synthwave-infused installation transforming simple structures into a dreamy, interactive cosmic playground. • “Echoes of sys|calls” by Jaime Reyes and Erik Natanael - A large-scale audiovisual installation translating computational rhythms into a sensory landscape shaped by visitor movement. • “I Was Here Nationwide Broward County” by I Was Here - An outdoor installation combining archival imagery, audio and community storytelling to transform public spaces into sites of remembrance. • “Up-Next” by Oliver Lewis - An interactive sculpture resembling a 1980s TV set. Twenty-eight kaleidoscopes comprise the television screen, producing unique geometric animations. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Address: 100 Terminal Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33315 Hours: Open 24/7 (access varies per installation - see details below) At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), pre-security artworks are accessible 24/7, while post-security installations are available to ticketed passengers only and close when TSA checkpoints shut down. Featured installations include: • Prototypes of “AEONIUM” and “Mycelia” by Daniel Popper - Located by Terminal 1, Arrivals Level (Baggage Claim Area), pre-security. • Original prototypes developed by the artist as the foundational studies for his large-scale installations. “Mycelia” can be experienced at a monumental scale at Reverend Samuel Delevoe Memorial Park as part of IGNITE. • “Interactive ZipOdes Map” by O, Miami - Located by Terminal 2, Arrivals Level (Baggage Claim Area), pre-security. • A public interface inviting audiences to explore South Florida through hyperlocal community-written poems generated from their own zip codes. • “PCC-3333: Will robots dream of World Peace?” by Brian Fox / Media Pollution - Located by Terminal 3-4 Connector, Departures Level, post-security. • A robotic work that explores the relationship between art, science and human connection constructed entirely from recycled and orphaned materials. • “Quantum Jungle” by Robin Baumgarten - Located by Terminal 3, Departures Level, post-security. • An interactive installation using touch-sensitive springs and LEDs to playfully visualize quantum physics concepts, sparking curiosity in children and adults alike. ArtsPark at Young Circle in Hollywood Address: 1 North Young Circle, Hollywood, Florida 33022 Hours: Friday and Saturday from 6:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.; Sunday through Thursday from 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Through the City of Hollywood’s public art initiative, IGNITE Broward introduces an immersive art circuit to ArtsPark at Young Circle, showcasing the city’s vibrant cultural and community landscape. The city presents seven installations, including: • “Geist” by Loop - An interactive installation using mirrors, LEDs and viewer movement to create a floating, shifting sphere of light activated through human presence. • “Aqua Olimpia” by Artur Grycuk - An immersive installation that simulates an underwater world through light, sound and interactive elements that ripple with visitor movement. • “Balloomi” by Artur Grycuk - A glowing pyramid of illuminated balloons forming a minimalist space for quiet gathering, reflection and shared wonder. • “Where are we Going?” by Onda Studio - An interactive web-based audiovisual work prompting reflection on collective direction and the influence of technology on human behavior. • “Helix Seats” by Pneuhaus - An interactive public seating installation featuring intertwined, pressure-responsive helices that illuminate with movement and invite communal engagement. • “Ascendance” by Studio McGuire - A projection-based journey following an astronaut adrift in a dreamlike cosmos, reflecting on fragility, isolation and impermanence. • “Sea of Light” by ITHACA Studio - A responsive installation of thousands of animated lights that transform landscapes into immersive environments shaped by site and audience interaction. List of Special Events • Indoor Media Preview • Date: Wednesday, February 11th, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. • Location: MAD Arts, 481 South Federal Highway, Dania Beach, Florida 33004 • IGNITE Broward Kickoff Event • Date: Friday, February 13th, 2026 at 5:30 p.m. • Location: African-American Research Library and Cultural Center, 2650 Sistrunk Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 • As part of the evening’s festivities, a live performance by BREAKINMIA will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Reverend Samuel Delevoe Memorial Park, located at 2520 Northwest Sixth Street, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311. For a full list of events and festival information, visit: www.IGNITEbroward.com - And follow: @browardarts. About Broward Cultural Division The Broward County Cultural Division invests in and advances the arts and cultural sector across Broward County. The Division provides grants to cultural organizations and artists, manages the County's Public Art & Design Program and supports the growth of the creative economy through community engagement, capacity-building and special projects. By nurturing local talent and fueling Broward's creative infrastructure, the Division enhances the County's cultural environment and economic vitality. For more information, visit: @BrowardArts on Instagram or Facebook. About MAD Arts Located in Dania Beach, just north of Miami and south of Fort Lauderdale, MAD Arts is an art and technology museum that explores new models of culture and business, immersing audiences in high- and low-tech experiences by local, national and international artists. The 50,000-square-foot museum was founded in 2020 by MAD, a full-service digital, marketing, advertising and technology hub with virtual reality and motion capture studios and manufacturing facilities, with the mission of helping artists, creatives and technologists launch their ideas and create experiences that may have otherwise been out of reach. For more information on exhibitions, programs and events, visit: https://www.yeswearemadarts.com/ - Or: @madarts_space on Instagram. About Visit Lauderdale Visit Lauderdale is the official destination marketing organization for Greater Fort Lauderdale and serves as the tourism department for Broward County, Florida. Visit Lauderdale promotes the area’s 31 municipalities to a global audience of leisure and business travelers as the ideal place for Everyone Under the Sun in recognition of the area’s diverse and welcoming vibe, and books conventions into the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center and area hotels and resorts. Find more information at visitlauderdale.com and follow: @VisitLauderdale on Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube. Previous Next

Hurricane Milton, Stormwater Management And A New City Park By Josh Levy Mayor Of Hollywood October 16, 2024 Share Fellow Hollywood Residents, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you for your diligence and preparedness as we faced the potential impact of Hurricane Milton. Your cooperation, readiness, and care for the well-being of one another made a significant difference during this time. I also want to extend my deepest gratitude to our first responders, especially the remarkable teams from our Police Department, Fire Rescue, Public Utilities, and Public Works for their work to prepare our city for the storm. Our teams deployed a record 20 Stormwater Pumps throughout Hollywood to be ready to reduce any flooding. Our new High-Water Rescue Vehicles were placed on standby. Over 12,000 sandbags were distributed to our residents. City parking garages were made available for vehicle storage, essential equipment and teams were ready to respond at a moment’s notice. Throughout this period, our city communications team kept everyone informed via text messages, e-mails, voice alerts and social media. I’m proud to say that while the forecasted rain and wind thankfully did not materialize due to the ultimate structure and trajectory of Hurricane Milton, our city’s level of preparedness for a windstorm has never been higher. Thank you everyone for your resilience and cooperation. Together, we stand strong, ready to meet any future challenges. As we continue to pray for our fellow Floridians who were in the catastrophic path of Hurricane Milton, below I am sharing some updates on our Stormwater Master Plan with Short-Term and Long-Term Flood-Prevention Projects that are being implemented to enhance Hollywood’s resilience for generations to come. I’m also sharing below some great news about a $7.5 Million Federal Grant that we were awarded to assist us in creating what will be our newest green space and largest city-owned park. Yours always, Josh Levy Mayor of Hollywood Implementing our Stormwater Master Plan When more frequent “history-making” rainfall events are coupled with higher water tables, South Florida’s cities and counties understand that we must embark on large Infrastructure upgrades to shore up our region’s Stormwater Defenses. All cities have Stormwater Management Systems that work to contain and control rain water in order to minimize flooding and enable the community to live through rain events with as little interruption to our daily lives as possible. In Hollywood, the Stormwater System includes: miles of Pipes, Channels, Ditches, Swales, Natural Waterways and Drainage Easements. It also includes: thousands of Manholes and Inlets, various Pumping Stations and Retention and Detention Basins. Stormwater Systems always need maintenance and frequently need updating, especially when they no longer deliver an adequate level of service for a community experiencing changing climate conditions. The good news for us on this front in the City of Hollywood is that we recently completed a 2-year project that our City Commission embarked upon - to create a comprehensive Stormwater Master Plan for the city. Following 2 years of engineering analysis, the plan provides us with a list of projects, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, enabling us to better address stormwater management throughout the city - with consideration to Flood Control, Water Quality Protection, Aquifer Recharge, Supply Conservation and Reuse Conservation, Operation and Maintenance Stormwater Utility Sufficiency, Long Term Financing, Community Acceptance, Adaptability, Resiliency, Fairness in execution and Sustainability. To reach a better level of service for our city, the 20-year Stormwater Master Plan itemizes and recommends a selection of $980 Million to $1.9 Billion dollars of Infrastructure Improvement Projects, including the upgrading and addition of our Exfiltration Systems, Gravity Pipe Collection Systems and Inlets, Stormwater Pump Stations, Outfalls, Stormwater Gravity and Injection Wells, Storage and Detention Storage, Swales, Backflow Prevention Devices, Raise Seawalls/Shoreline Armoring, and Road Raising in conjunction with new collection systems. Our next steps are to determine the near-term budget and select initial projects within the budget. We’ll also need to determine the city’s Long-Term Financing Plan and continue to pursue Regional, State and Federal Grants in parallel. The same need exists for the hopes of converting and connecting our many septic-tank neighborhoods to our City’s Sewer System for Proper Wastewater Treatment. This is a top-most priority for our city and we will embark on these projects year-after-year to achieve the level of service goals that we desire for neighborhoods throughout our city. Below is an excerpt and example of 3 areas of focus. These same Capital Improvement Plans exist for all areas of our city east to west. Federal Grant Awarded to Create a New City Park - Congratulations Hollywood I am pleased to report that our city has been awarded a $7.5 Million Land and Water Conservation Fund Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program grant (ORLP) for the creation of Sunset Park. (This is the old and long closed-down 45-acre golf course property on the corner of Johnson Street and I-95, which we purchased in 2020 to create a new park for our city.) The ORLP Program is a nationally competitive program that enables urban communities to create new outdoor recreation spaces, reinvigorate existing parks, and form connections between people and the outdoors. The program focuses on voluntary conservation and restoration efforts to address the nature and climate crises, improve equitable access to the outdoors, and strengthen the economy. This award represents the first of four grants that staff is actively pursuing to support the Sunset Park Project. More information about this exciting award and a contract for approval is forthcoming to the City Commission. Established by Congress in 2014 and administered through the National Park Service, this program is processed through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection — and it's a great example of how the shared policy goals of our federal, state and local governments can result in a great outcome for a local community. Thank you to everyone who worked hard on this, from our residents and city staff to our elected officials at the federal and local level. #TeamworkMakesTheDreamWork < Previous News Next News >

Dystopia Disguised as Democracy: All the Ways in Which Freedom Is an Illusion By John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead February 17, 2022 Share “The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”— Frank Zappa We are no longer free. We are living in a world carefully crafted to resemble a representative democracy, but it’s an illusion. We think we have the freedom to elect our leaders, but we’re only allowed to participate in the reassurance ritual of voting. There can be no true electoral choice or real representation when we’re limited in our options to one of two candidates culled from two parties that both march in lockstep with the Deep State and answer to an oligarchic elite. We think we have freedom of speech, but we’re only as free to speak as the government and its corporate partners allow. We think we have the right to freely exercise our religious beliefs, but those rights are quickly overruled if and when they conflict with the government’s priorities, whether it’s COVID-19 mandates or societal values about gender equality, sex and marriage. We think we have the freedom to go where we want and move about freely, but at every turn, we’re hemmed in by laws, fines and penalties that regulate and restrict our autonomy, and surveillance cameras that monitor our movements. We think we have property interests in our homes and our bodies, but there can be no such freedom when the government can seize your property, raid your home, and dictate what you do with your bodies. We think we have the freedom to defend ourselves against outside threats, but there is no right to self-defense against militarized police who are authorized to probe, poke, pinch, taser, search, seize, strip and generally manhandle anyone they see fit in almost any circumstance, and granted immunity from accountability with the general blessing of the courts. We think we have the right to an assumption of innocence until we are proven guilty, but that burden of proof has been turned on its head by a surveillance state that renders us all suspects and overcriminalization which renders us all lawbreakers. Police-run facial recognition software that mistakenly labels law-abiding citizens as criminals. A social credit system (similar to China’s) that rewards behavior deemed “acceptable” and punishes behavior the government and its corporate allies find offensive, illegal or inappropriate. We think we have the right to due process, but that assurance of justice has been stripped of its power by a judicial system hardwired to act as judge, jury and jailer, leaving us with little recourse for appeal. A perfect example of this rush to judgment can be found in the proliferation of profit-driven speed and red light cameras that do little for safety while padding the pockets of government agencies. We have been saddled with a government that pays lip service to the nation’s freedom principles while working overtime to shred the Constitution. By gradually whittling away at our freedoms—free speech, assembly, due process, privacy, etc.—the government has, in effect, liberated itself from its contractual agreement to respect the constitutional rights of the citizenry. Under the new terms of this revised, one-sided agreement, the government and its many operatives have all the privileges and rights and “we the people” have none. Sold on the idea that safety, security and material comforts are preferable to freedom, we’ve allowed the government to pave over the Constitution in order to erect a concentration camp. The problem with these devil’s bargains, however, is that there is always a catch, always a price to pay for whatever it is we valued so highly as to barter away our most precious possessions. We’ve bartered away our right to self-governance, self-defense, privacy, autonomy and that most important right of all: the right to tell the government to “leave me the hell alone.” In exchange for the promise of safe streets, safe schools, blight-free neighborhoods, lower taxes, lower crime rates, and readily accessible technology, health care, water, food and power, we’ve opened the door to militarized police, government surveillance, asset forfeiture, school zero tolerance policies, license plate readers, red light cameras, SWAT team raids, health care mandates, overcriminalization and government corruption. In the end, such bargains always turn sour. We asked our lawmakers to be tough on crime, and we’ve been saddled with an abundance of laws that criminalize almost every aspect of our lives. So far, we’re up to 4500 criminal laws and 300,000 criminal regulations that result in average Americans unknowingly engaging in criminal acts at least three times a day. We wanted criminals taken off the streets, and we didn’t want to have to pay for their incarceration. What we’ve gotten is a nation that boasts the highest incarceration rate in the world, with more than 2.3 million people locked up, many of them doing time for relatively minor, nonviolent crimes, and a private prison industry fueling the drive for more inmates, who are forced to provide corporations with cheap labor. We wanted law enforcement agencies to have the necessary resources to fight the nation’s wars on terror, crime and drugs. What we got instead were militarized police decked out with M-16 rifles, grenade launchers, silencers, battle tanks and hollow point bullets—gear designed for the battlefield, more than 80,000 SWAT team raids carried out every year (many for routine police tasks, resulting in losses of life and property), and profit-driven schemes that add to the government’s largesse such as asset forfeiture, where police seize property from “suspected criminals.” We fell for the government’s promise of safer roads, only to find ourselves caught in a tangle of profit-driven red-light cameras, which ticket unsuspecting drivers in the so-called name of road safety while ostensibly fattening the coffers of local and state governments. Despite widespread public opposition, corruption and systemic malfunctions, these cameras are particularly popular with municipalities, which look to them as an easy means of extra cash. We’re being subjected to the oldest con game in the books, the magician’s sleight of hand that keeps you focused on the shell game in front of you while your wallet is being picked clean by ruffians in your midst. This is how tyranny rises and freedom falls. With every new law enacted by federal and state legislatures, every new ruling handed down by government courts, and every new military weapon, invasive tactic and egregious protocol employed by government agents, “we the people” are being reminded that we possess no rights except for that which the government grants on an as-needed basis. We can no longer maintain the illusion of freedom. As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, “we the people” have become “we the prisoners.” Editor’s Note:John Whitehead's commentary are his views and he is open for discussion, he can be contacted at: johnw@rutherford.org . Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at: www.rutherford.org < Previous News Next News >

Parking Charge Community Forum July 19 / Patriots Meet July 20 By Beverly Carawan July 15, 2021 Share There is an online petition to sign at: www.Change.org/StoptheHallandaleParkingMeters The Patriots continue seeking transparency in the local government by encouraging Hallandale residents to attend the City Commission of Hallandale Beach Virtual Community Meeting on the Topic of Proposed Parking Charge Ordinance, Monday, July 19th at 6:00 p.m. Those Residents of Hallandale, who wish to learn more or to comment on the City Wide Digital System, you can sign-up to access details for the meeting and/or to speak at: WWW.COHB.ORG/PARKING Two or more members of the City Commission or other City Boards may attend this meeting. To view the full agenda, go to: www.COHB.org/Agenda or visit the City Clerk’s Office. There is an online petition to sign to protest the new parking program at: www.Change.org/StoptheHallandaleParkingMeters The Club will hold its monthly meeting on Tuesday, July 20th at the Las Vegas Cuban Restaurant, located at 1727 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd., Hallandale Beach, FL, the meeting is at 7:15 p.m. The goals are to *Reestablish Family values, Freedom of Speech & Religion;* Establish Transparency & Accountability in LOCAL Government; *Promote equality, legal immigration, Jobs & hard work without divisive rhetoric & division; * Counter the lies & anti American, pro-socialist, Pro Muslim, Anti-Israel indoctrinations of our children by promoting civics, constitution, Civic responsibility & Patriotism; * Stop the wasteful spending going on at local, state & national levels; * Stop defunding & discouraging police. Promote obeying the law; * Stop reducing our energy production capabilities, while simultaneously inflating fuel prices, losing good paying American jobs, raising all of our taxes and much more. Meetings are the third Tuesday of every month at 7:15 p.m. (We suggest to arrive at 6:30 p.m. to order) for an educational, action-packed meeting to learn more & TAKE ACTION!!! Follow us at: Facebook/@SFLPatriots. Or e-mail us at: HallandaleandBeachesPatriots@gmail.com . < Previous News Next News >

7th Annual Adaptive Bowl-A-Thon: Adaptive Athletes To Showcase Resilience One Strike At A Time Thu Sep 28 2023 16:08:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Speak Your Truth: Don’t Let The Government Criminalize Free Speech By John & Nisha Whitehead April 27, 2023 Share What the police state wants is a silent, compliant, oblivious citizenry. What the First Amendment affirms is an engaged citizenry that speaks truth to power using whatever peaceful means are available to us. Speaking one’s truth doesn’t have to be the same for each person and that truth doesn’t have to be palatable or pleasant or even factual. We can be loud. We can be obnoxious. We can be politically incorrect. We can be conspiratorial or mean or offensive. We can be all these things because the First Amendment takes a broad, classically liberal approach to the Free Speech Rights of the citizenry: in a nutshell, the government may not encroach or limit the citizenry’s right to Freedom Of Religion, Speech, Press, Assembly and Protest. This is why the First Amendment is so critical. It gives the citizenry the right to Speak Freely, Protest Peacefully, expose government wrongdoing and criticize the government without fear of retaliation, arrest or incarceration. Nowhere in the First Amendment does it permit the government to limit speech in order to avoid causing offense, hurting someone’s feelings, safeguarding government secrets, protecting government officials, discouraging bullying, penalizing hateful ideas and actions, eliminating terrorism, combating prejudice and intolerance and the like. When expressive activity crosses the line into violence, Free Speech protections end. However, barring actual violence or true threats of violence, there is a vast difference between speech that is socially unpopular and speech that is illegal and it’s an important distinction that depends on our commitment to safeguarding a robust First Amendment. Increasingly, however, the courts and the government are doing away with that critical distinction, adopting the mindset that speech is only permissible if it does not offend, irritate, annoy, threaten someone’s peace of mind or challenge the government’s stranglehold on power. Take the Case of Counterman v. Colorado which is before the U.S. Supreme Court. Under the pretext of clamping down on online stalking, Colorado wants the power to be able to treat expressive activities on social media as threats without having to prove that the messages are both reasonably understood as threatening an illegal act and intended by the speaker as a threat. While protecting people from stalking is certainly a valid concern and may be warranted in this particular case, the law does not require speech to be a “true threat” in order to be criminally punished. The Supreme Court has defined a “true threat” as “statements where the speaker means to communicate a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals.” Indeed, Colorado’s stalking law is so broad that a person can be charged with stalking for repeatedly contacting, surveilling or communicating with an individual in such a way that a reasonable person would feel serious emotional distress. In the absence of any substantive guidelines on what constitutes a true threat on social media, such laws could empower the government to misinterpret any speaker’s intent and meaning in order to criminalize legitimate political speech that is critical of government officials and representatives. Case in point: In Oklahoma, a street preacher who expressed his moral outrage over public drag queen performances that occur in front of children and churches that endorse same-sex marriage was given a five-year restraining order and threatened with arrest after citing Bible verses on social media about God’s judgment of sin. The Rutherford Institute has taken on the case, warning that the ramifications of it going unchallenged could render anyone who quotes the Bible a criminal if it makes a listener feel unsafe or threatened or judged. This is what it means to criminalize Free Speech: it turns those who exercise their Free Speech Rights into criminals. Over the past decade, Corporate America has taken the lead in policing expressive activity online, with social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube using their formidable dominance in the field to censor, penalize and regulate speech and behavior online by suspending and/or banning users whose content violated the companies’ so-called community standards for obscenity, violence, hate speech, discrimination, conspiracy theories, etc. The fallout is as one would expect. The internet has become a forum for the government—and its corporate partners—to monitor, control and punish the populace for speech that may be controversial but is far from criminal. Everything is now fair game for censorship if it can be construed as hateful, hurtful, bigoted or offensive provided that it runs counter to the established viewpoint. In this way, the most controversial issues of our day—race, religion, sex, sexuality, politics, science, health, government corruption, police brutality, etc.—have become battlegrounds for those who claim to believe in Freedom of Religion, Speech, Assembly, Press, Redress, Privacy, Bodily Integrity, etc. but only when it favors the views and positions they support. In more and more cases, the government is declaring war on what should be protected political speech whenever it challenges the government’s power, reveals the government’s corruption, exposes the government’s lies and encourages the citizenry to push back against the government’s many injustices. Indeed, there is a long and growing list of the kinds of speech that the government considers dangerous enough to red flag and subject to censorship, surveillance, investigation and prosecution: hate speech, conspiratorial speech, treasonous speech, threatening speech, inflammatory speech, radical speech, anti-government speech, extremist speech, etc. In recent years, the government has used the phrase “domestic terrorist” interchangeably with “anti-government,” “extremist” and “terrorist” to describe anyone who might fall somewhere on a very broad spectrum of viewpoints that could be considered “dangerous.” As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, the ramifications are so far-reaching as to render almost every American an extremist in word, deed, thought or by association. You see, the government doesn’t care if you or someone you know has a legitimate grievance. It doesn’t care if your criticisms are well-founded. And it certainly doesn’t care if you have a First Amendment Right to speak truth to power. It just wants you to shut up. Yet no matter what one’s political persuasion might be, the right to disagree with and speak out against the government is the quintessential freedom. When exercised regularly and defended vigorously, these First Amendment Rights serve as a bulwark against tyranny. Editor’s Note: John Whitehead is an Attorney and Author who has written, debated and practiced widely in the area of Constitutional Law, Human Rights and Popular Culture. John Whitehead's Commentary are his views and he is open for discussion, he can be contacted at: johnw@rutherford.org . Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at: www.rutherford.org < Previous News Next News >

What Is the SilverSneakers Program? Thu Oct 19 2023 04:13:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Condo Wars - Part 2 “It’s All About the Documents” By Hallandale Beach Mayor, Joy Cooper September 1, 2022 Share Last week I began to tell the saga of a local condo. I have left off names due to the fact they are still in an appeal process over slander. Over the course of 5 years, they have been struggling with board instability, recalls, president resignations, a husband wife legal team that set up shop in the building without the residents knowing they were married and lastly receivership. In my opinion this saga actually started when the building was turned over to the unit owners in 1966. “It’s all in the documents.” Their documents required 100 percent of the unit owners to cast a vote to be able to pass an assessment. Obviously the elected board was tasked with running day to day operations and able to charge maintenance like all buildings. This regulation meant any large building improvement would need to be voted on by all or put onto the monthly bill in a lump sum. According to the court-appointed receiver who is a CPA with over 20 plus years in condominium accounting showed that the condo had run a deficit for years. While there was not a full forensic audit the CPA went back painstakingly through what checking accounts, bills, payments and records they could find or access through court orders. Accessing accounts took months and with our Police intervention. The CPA calculated the board had run the building on an average of $100 Dollars per month per unit for almost 10 years. Apparently, like many condo boards, they did not want to increase maintenance. They prided themselves on having low fees. When they had to fix items, it was maybe a few thousand dollars here and there for painting, patching and only replacing broken items. The receiver, attorney and manager had to go back to the judge many times. They requested bank accounts access. Some were personal accounts set up by presidents to receive and send condo assets. The major request was to exclude deceased unit owners from the vote. Finally after plenty of work and going unit owner to unit owner a $1.7-Million-Dollar assessment was passed. Next, they had to negotiate and enter into contracts with vendors. In addition to the assessments, they had no reserves. They had many bills that were months behind and unit owners with past due payments. They had to pass an additional flat fee of $5,000 and increase the monthly maintenance. They had success with collection with only one unit taken into collection and eventually paying in full and another filing bankruptcy. They finally thought they were beginning to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel and then COVID-19 hit. Now it gets really weird. While all of this was taking place a unit owner called to report code issues in their unit. There were plumbing leaks, sewage backup, crumbling walls and paint peeling. Now the manager had to deal with code hearings. There were reports of the unit owner placing an outside hose in the unit. Ironically, this was the one unit that did not pay and had to be taken to court. They went to the magistrate for the violations and believed the case was put on hold until they could get permits. This was not what happened. They were given time to file permits but when this did not take place, another hearing was scheduled. Due to COVID-19 there was a scheduling snafu and mailing addresses that were not updated by the manager. They missed a meeting and the magistrate started fines. By 2021 they were in the process of permitting. Surfside happened and everyone was on high alert. Every city like ours began to robustly review their 40-year inspection processes and began following up with ones that were submitted to see if work was completed. Obviously, this building did not do all the work. They were now being faced with a red tag situation. With the assessment in hand, the plumber began to submit plans. The problems with the plans were two-fold. First, we had started to change over our technology. We also were dealing with COVID-19 and reduced staffing levels. During that time some contractors, not all, were having problems working with the system. This particular permit was being rejected due to not addressing structural issues. They were told three times and by spring nothing happened. Then the permit commutations ceased and our Building Official started to look into a Red Tag. Residents were now extremely concerned that no work was being performed and now due to material costs they were being faced with another $5,000 bill. They were lucky a bank lent them $1.7 Million originally, since they were in receivership, many banks would not touch them. So all other major expenses were being billed directly. At this point, the unit owners were getting elected officials involved. I was invited to attend a Zoom Meeting over July to see how I could help. I committed to have a joint meeting with our Staff from Code Enforcement, our Building Official, the CPA, Attorney and the City Manager. They were not aware at the time, but this was their last chance before I along with Commissioner Taub were going to the judge. The meeting lasted over 2 hours. I could not believe the story and was compelled to share it with our readers. At the conclusion of the meeting there was finally an understanding and movement forward. The plumbing contractor and building contractor were at the meeting and a full permit package was submitted for the cooling tower and plumbing. This was the most critical project that needed to be resolved. The Electrical Inspection Report was reviewed and it was found that many items could be handled independently as repairs rather than lumping them all into one permit, saving money and cutting time. Originally five years ago, the painting project was not that extensive. After time, deterioration grows exponentially. There now were much more structural issues that were cited and did require expanded permit reviews. Over the past years, I have heard these sagas over and over. This was a real eye opener for me and it was the first time I ever heard condo docs required a 100 percent participation in a vote. Even with a vote we can see repairs are not guaranteed. Recalls due to fights over needing repairs truly put condos at risk. This is why I am 100 percent behind the new regulations. Responsibilities when living in condominiums do not stop at your front door and maintenance does not pay for major repairs. Sadly, if left to dysfunctional buildings, tragically another Surfside could happen. I like to tell residents there are typically many ways to get from point A to B. It does not mean one is right and the other is wrong. The goal is the same, to address repairs. All repairs must be done to South Florida Building Codes. That is where the City comes in. We do not run buildings. Even then there can be an array of product designs and solutions. I also like to share my opinion that cheaper is rarely better and in the long run can cost more money. As always, I am available for your questions, concerns and ideas to help make our City a better place! Please feel free to reach out at my office: (954) 457-1318. On my cell/text at: (954) 632-5700. Or email at: jcooper@cohb.org . < Previous News Next News >

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