The Jab & The Media
The Jab
Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson are the companies that brought us the vaccine. I’m familiar with Johnson and Johnson the company that brought us baby powder in 1894 along with ovarian cancer and thousands of lawsuits due to asbestos being found in their product. J&J internal documents were examined and was found they kept that information from regulators namely the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the public.
The FDA is responsible for regulating and approve new prescription drugs before they can be sold to the public which can take many years or a few months. The pharmaceuticals develop, run clinical trials and report findings to the FDA for approval, and according to Johns Hopkins School of Public Health cost of clinical trials for new drug with FDA approval is $19 million dollars. The return on their money is they are making billions on a drug many people can’t afford. I am going to introduce readers to The Epoch (pronounced epic) Times with the story below, and ask yourself why 75 years?
“Judge Gives FDA Just Over 8 Months to Produce Pfizer’s Safety Data”
“The decision rejects the FDA’s request to release the data over what would be 75 years”
“A federal judge on Thursday ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to produce, at a rate of 55,000 pages per month, the documents it relied on to license the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine”
The Media
My preference for the news is Channel 25. When a commercial is aired I switch to Channel 12. Both stations have a black woman and white male as co-hosts so I am unsure what station I was on when I heard a story about Children’s Car Seats. The story was disturbing and was being told by the woman. When she finished the story the male made a comment about the story, when she interrupted him saying “we are not supposed to comment on the story” His response was “I’m not commenting as a reporter but as a father” If this is the new media, I’m not happy.
As I wrote about switching channels to avoid commercials, my 2 least favorite ones are Drugs & Attorney’s, do readers notice many of them are about a particular drug manufactures claim their drug will change your life forever. Now enter the Attorney’s and their commercials. Have you been injured by a particular drug, please call—we’re here to help. If it’s a class action lawsuit, all the better.
While were on the topic of the media the big story for over two years is the Corona Virus and were hearing about it 24/7.
When President Biden and Anthony Fauci, physician-scientist and immunologist serving as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Chief Medical Advisor to the President. When they make a statement concerning the virus, the media run with the story, and once again I share a story from The Epoch Times. I have pulled quotes that drew my attention. Please take the time to read the entire story below, there is so much more to it.
“Five-time Emmy award-winning journalist Sharyl Attkisson said she has seen an increased effort to manipulate the public to appreciate censorship and disapprove of journalism. One of the strategies that has been employed is the use of third-party fact-checkers, she said.”
“Either they’ve been co-opted, in many instances, or created for the purpose of distributing narratives and propaganda,” said Attkisson. “This is all part of a very well-funded, well-organized landscape that dictates and slants the information they want us to have.”
“The pushback came to be more about keeping a story from airing or keeping a study from being reported on the news, not just giving the other side, not just making sure it was accurately reported,” she said of pharmaceutical company stories she was covering at the time.”
“For her book “Smear” she interviewed people who work to spread misinformation and propaganda with the goal of confusing the public. “And they explained to me that, if they do nothing more than confuse the information landscape, maybe you don’t totally buy what they say, but they’ve done enough to make you not sure of anything.”
“Attkisson criticized large news outlets for being a “mouthpiece” of the government or other special interest groups instead of challenging them or holding them accountable, particularly as it relates to the pandemic.”
In closing I would like to recommend a book written by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. titled “The Real Doctor Fauci”and he included Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health. It’s 449 pages of one bombshell after another, and in my opinion should be mandatory reading for high school students.
Attkisson and Kennedy getting the word out. My kind of hero’s.
The end
Police Restart Neighborhood Meetings.
It started with former Mayor Lois Frankel, and former Mayor Jeri Muoio kept the program going for 8 years. They divided the City into 3 separate areas, the Northend, Southend and the Western Communities. The meetings were posted on the City’s website, and automatically sent to residents along with Cancellations.
The Northend meetings were held monthly, Southend held by-monthly and the Western Communities quarterly. All meetings were held at City Hall in the Flagler Room, and was attended by the Mayor, City Administrator, Police Chief, City Commissioner of their district, and heads of other departments.
The purpose of the meetings was to hear the concerns of residents living in their particular area. I attended many of the Northend meetings and was joined by other residents concerned with the crime rate, who spoke up and asked questions which was answered by city staff. In other words the City was listening and paying attention, and it was comforting to the Northend citizens who took the time to attend and many of the same faces appeared at the monthly meetings.
Mayor Keith James was elected and the meetings continued for a few months and then abruptly ended when at the last Northend Neighborhood meeting James stated he couldn’t see the value of these monthly meetings, and would replace meetings with a new program.
Below was taken from the City website, and I encourage readers to read Ms. David’s responsibilities and what was expected of her.
“On June 21, 2019 James announced that Tiffany L. David, AICP joined the City of West Palm Beach as Director of the “Mayor’s Neighborhoods First Initiative and Advisory Group.”
No mention is made about her working on the James campaign.
https://www.wpb.org/our-city/mayor-s-office/mayor-s-neighborhoods-first-initiative
Did the new program established to replace the Northend Monthly meetings do a better job of bringing residents and the City together? You decide! Below are excerpts from a WPB Watch story posted in Nov. 2019, 5 months after Ms. David was appointed to her new position. Entire story can be read below.
“The Northwood Shores Neighborhood Association invited Ms. David to visit and see for herself the problems they are having and also the problems that will happen in the future if the city moves forward with their asinine plans to convert the Broadway Corridor from 4 lanes to two. Ms. David had put them off for months with one excuse after another.
Finally she made an appearance with Assistant Director Armando Fana who according to Mr. Flick, Mr. Fana paid attention to everything that was said, asked the right questions, and was a true professional.
Ms. David on the other hand appeared not to be able to focus, and spent too much time on her phone. Not respectful. I would take it as what you have to say isn’t important enough for me to listen or pay attention.
The North End Coalition of Neighborhoods (NCON) held a meeting last Saturday and the city invitees included James, Deputy Chief Morris, Jose Tagle and Tiffany David.
I spoke with Carl Flick for an update and he said all the speakers did an excellent job and James was outstanding telling the neighborhood the city’s plans for North Flagler and other North End needs. James was pressed for time and introduced Ms. David and told a crowd of 80 people she would introduce herself and answer questions they may have.
Well 15 minutes after James left, so did Ms. David. Mr. Flick immediately texted her and asked her not to leave, she was the next speaker. She didn’t respond.”
https://wpbwatch.com/2019/11/are-city-commissioners-expecting-to-much/
Now I’m receiving invitations to attend meetings held by the police. Below is the schedule for the Southend, Commissioner Lambert’s district, who sent out the notice to a few residents.
“The City of West Palm Beach Chief of Police and Police Department are organizing bi-monthly meetings in each city district.
Residents and business owners are encouraged to attend to voice their concerns and hear directly from our Chief and our local officers. At the meeting, we will be reviewing actionable steps and solutions to address safety concerns in our neighborhoods and businesses south of Okeechobee Blvd. At each meeting, we will receive an update on concerns raised at previous meetings in order to track progress.
The meetings will occur at 6PM on the 3rd Wednesday of every other month beginning January 19, 2022. On January 19, the meeting will take place at the South Florida Science Center STEM building at 4801 Dreher Trail North.
Please see below the list of upcoming meetings and mark your calendar.
MEETING DATES: January 19, 2022, March 16, 2022, May 18, 2022,July 20, 2022, September 21, 2022, November 16, 2022
*Dates may be subject to change due to holidays and other events.”
The notice above was received by a resident who forwarded it to another friend, who in turn emailed Commissioner Fox who responded with an answer below.
“As to your question, the West Palm Beach Police Department will be hosting the Downtown Police Chief’s meetings in their community room at 600 Banyan Blvd on the 3rd Wednesday every other month at 6 pm. The dates for 2022 are below. There’s not really an email list but I will try to remind people when we get closer to the next one in February. Let me know if you have any additional questions.
Best, Christy
2/16/22, 4/20/22, 6/15/22, 8/17/22, 10/19/22, 12/21/22
Christy Fox WPB City Commissioner, District 3
The Palm Beach Post has tracked homicides in Palm Beach County in an online database since 2009. Its findings for 2021 include:
West Palm Beach had 22 homicides, the most of any municipality. Read the story below.
My Opinion
Commissioners Fox & Lambert you should not be responsible for reminding people of the upcoming meetings. They should be posted on the City’s website as previously done, and that makes it the responsibility of residents who wish to attend.
“Dates may be subject to change due to holidays and other events.” Cancelled meetings should be sent out by the city. If a resident drives to a meeting, only to find it’s been cancelled do you think they will return? Trust now has to be re-built between Police and Residents.
If you want this to be successful help the police make it so.
Meetings should be held at City Hall where parking wont be a problem.
The Northend, where most of the crime is committed, should be held monthly as residents are concerned frightened to death with 22 homicides in 2021.
The meeting dates listed above are not posted on the City website, so who’s to know there is such meetings, let alone attend.
The end.
Beware- WPB is Hiring
My comments in italic.
Mark A. Parks, Jr. CFO (Chief Financial Officer) MBA (Master of Business Administration) CGFO (Certified Government Finance Officer) CPA (Certified Public Accountant)
Chief Financial Officer City of West Palm Beach Feb 2015 – Aug 2021 6 years 7 month, employed by the city.
What does a city CFO do? Chief Financial Officer (CFO) DEFINITION: “The Chief Financial Officer serves under the administrative direction of the city administrator. The CFO is responsible for planning, organizing, and directing budgeting, accounting, auditing and financial reporting functions of the city.”
Former Mayor Jeri Muoio was responsible for bringing Mr. Parks to the City in Feb. 2015 where he was our CFO for over 6 years, always presented the annual, balanced budget to the Commissioners, and never once did it on the backs of City Employees. Things change:
West Palm Beach places its CFO on administrative leave as budget process begins.
8/3/2021 “West Palm Beach’s chief financial officer has been place on administrative leave pending a management and operational review, leaving the city without its top accounting expert as the annual budget process kicks into high gear”.
“Multiple sources told The Palm Beach Post that the CFO, Mark A. Parks Jr., was escorted by security out of City Hall on Tuesday.”
“The city is crafting its fiscal year 2022 budget, a process where, in most municipal governments, the chief financial officer is heavily involved.”
Mr. Parks was never placed on administrative leave, you don’t have security walk you out the door unless you’ve been fired. See text from Johnson to City Commissioners, as she misled the City Commissioners once again. Double click text to enlarge.
I never witnessed Mr. Parks give a presentation on the 2022 budget, but Ms. Johnson was front and center with her ideas to have a balanced budget on the backs of city employee, with lay offs and furloughs until commissioners and residents spoke up.
“An earlier iteration of the budget called for 30% cuts to the Mandel Public Library and the Parks and Recreation Department. That meant the library would lose 12.5 full-time positions and 12 “on-call” pages. parks stood to lose 36 full-time workers. Members of the public, citing the importance of those public resources, urged the city to back off those cuts.” .
“Under a new proposal, presented to commissioners Monday by City Administrator Faye Johnson, the library instead would lose one full-timer and seven pages, while the parks department would loose about 11 full-timers and five on-call part-timers.”
“But other cuts would have to be spread among various city departments to make up for that, Johnson said. In all, 48 positions would have to go, including five layoffs and 43 vacant positions that would go unfilled.”
“She said the administration might have to come back to the commission for more cuts part-way through the fiscal year, if the budget crunch worsens.” With James and Johnson in charge it will worsen.
The City found another way around the layoffs and furloughs when I learned 275 employees resigned their positions, knowing they had bonuses due between $2,500.00 & $3,800.00 from the Federal Government. When I questioned a few former employees, the response I received was working for the city had become hostile, another said toxic working conditions.
Dr. Philip C. Harris Assistant to the City Administrator: Reads in part.
Assists the City Administrator in the annual budget preparation and presentation Here is what City Commissioners and residents didn’t know, and what Mayor James and City Administrator Johnson did to insure Mr. Harris was hired. James declared a “STATE OF EMERGENCY” so Commissioners wouldn’t vote on his employment and salary, a shoo-in for Harris.
“STATE OF EMERGENCY When normal operations of City departments are suspended or interrupted due to a declaration by the Mayor that a state of emergency exists, all employees will be deemed critical by the City. For the preparation and/or continuation of emergency operations or for special work detail, employees deemed necessary shall be required to work. This is a condition of employment.”
Dr Harris The City’s pay scale salary for level GM17. “Min. $121,330.00 Mid. $151,663.00 Max. $181,995.00. Harris receives a starting salary of $152,000.” (Mid. Level)
Monday, May 24, 2021 “West Palm Beach Mayor Keith A. James is pleased to announce the selection of Dr. Philip C. Harris for the position of Assistant to the City Administrator.”
“Dr. Harris holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication degree from the University of South Florida and a Master and Doctor of Business Administration degree from Argosy University.”
“On February 27, 2019, the US Department of Education stated that they were cutting off federal funding to Argosy University. According to Inside Higher Education, “The Education Department said that the roughly 8,800 students enrolled at Argosy campuses could seek to transfer their credits elsewhere or apply for loan cancellation in the event their campus shuts down.”
All Argosy campuses were officially closed on March 8, 2019″
There are 3 job openings according to the recent Organizational Chart.
WPB Organizational Chart 12-13-2021
WPB Utilities Director, Poonam Kalkat’s last day was 12/3/2021 when her position was sacrificed over the City’s contaminated drinking water, that residents learned 8 days after the fact.
Chief Financial Officer, Mark Parks Jr. last day was 8/3/2021 when he was escorted from City Hall per orders of Faye Johnson. In my opinion Mr. Parks was removed either because he disagreed with Johnson’s idea of how to balance the budget or room was needed for Harris.
Director of Human Resources, Jose-Luis Rodriguez was promoted to Assistant City Administrator, which left his former position open.
The end
IS WPB Growing To Fast To Keep Residents Safe?
What is the population of West Palm Beach Florida 2017 106,805
What is the population of West Palm Beach Florida 2020 117,415 West Palm Beach is the 17th most populated city in the state of Florida out of 919 cities.
10,610 new residents in just 3 years. WPB is on the move and moving quickly.
11 Reasons Why People Are Moving to West Palm Beach
(1) Great Job Market (2) No State Income Tax (3) The Beaches (4) A Growing Arts and Culture Scene (5) Rosemary Square (6) Big But Not Too Big (7) Beautiful Natural Areas (8) An International Airport (9) It’s a Golfer’s Paradise (10) Great Restaurants (11) Travel to the Islands
“These are some of the reasons that people have decided to make West Palm Beach their home. Once famous for all the ex-New Yorker’s, West Palm Beach now is attracting people from across the country, with plenty of natives also staying and helping create one of the best cities in Florida.” Read the story below.
https://greekmoving.com/11-reasons-why-people-are-moving-to-west-palm-beach/
You only have to look at the skyline to see how WPB has grown, with thousands of class A office space and new luxury apartments already built and hundreds more in the making. Look at the new Bristol where apartments sell for many millions of dollars.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) —” West Palm Beach Fire Rescue responded to a record-breaking 30,000 calls this year, an increase of nearly 3,000 emergencies from the previous year.
30,000 calls for our fire department is an exhaustive amount of calls,” Jayson French, President West Palm Beach Association of Firefighters said in an interview with CBS12 News. “It still takes a toll on you physically and mentally.
French says the increase in calls was fueled by the city’s rapid growth, and made worse by the pandemic.
Meanwhile, the increase in calls comes as French says West Palm Beach Fire Rescue is short on first responders and facing cuts to the overtime budget, which is used to fill openings for rescuers who take time off or call out sick and to temporarily staff positions that have not yet been filled.
The City of West Palm Beach confirms that the department’s overtime budget was slashed in half, from $2,723,000 during the 2020-21 budget to $1,057,000 in the new 2021-22 budget.”
New safety worries following recent spike in West Palm Beach homicides.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The mayor of West Palm Beach and police are speaking about a recent string of fatal shootings in the city.
“Since the weekend, there have been two shootings that have left three dead.
One of the victims was a 16-year-old girl, who police said was an innocent bystander when she was gunned down Friday night at Spruce Avenue and 17th Street.
A separate shooting also occurred last Wednesday, killing a 17-year-old boy and injuring a 16-year-old.
Even one is too many. We continue and work and talk with the police chief, incorporating as many policy changes as possible and increasing our community policing efforts,” James said.
West Palm Beach police said this year has now seen 21 homicides, compared to 17 last year.”
Now lets use our common sense.
I attended both the Police and Firefighters negotiations held in 2020, between the union, Mayor James and City Administrator Faye Johnson and was shocked to hear the city declare an impasse in the talks. It took a Special Magistrate to bring our first responders from the bottom of the heap to making a decent wage to keep us safe.
The City’s constant complaint was overtime. I understand the overtime situation.
Both the Police and Firefighters are seriously understaffed, and more hiring should be at the forefront, but it’s not happening in either department.
The City is growing which is why I gave readers the information above.
In 3 years we have 10,610 new residents and still growing. How can the City justify the same amount of first responder’s it had years ago?
A first responder calls in sick, goes on vacation, is injured on the job, retires or moves away, the shift must be covered. By who? Here’s where the overtime comes in.
Your suffering a heart attack or you wake up in the middle of the night and realize some stranger is attempting to break in, or God forbid he’s already in your home. What do you do? You call 911 seeking help, hoping they reach you in time.
Do you ever think the people helping you are exhausted from working overtime and a mistake may be made?
All these first class offices and apartments how comfortable are the residents reading about the murders happening right under their noses. How soon before people start the migration to safer shores?
City Administrators must take immediate steps to insure that first Responders are fully staffed. Until personnel is hired and trained, the focus must be on safety. Overtime is a must.
Streamline the budget without cutting overtime for first responders.
The end