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What You Missed This Week in La Gaceta
La Gaceta Endorses
(To read our full endorsement articles, click here)
State Senate
District 14
Brian Nathan
District 20
Jim Boyd
State Representative
District 64
Luis Salazar
District 65
Karen Gonzalez Pittman
District 66
Jose “Dante” Sanchez Sanchez
District 67
Luis Viera
School Board District 2
Daniela Simic
School Board District 6
Karen Perez
Amendment 1
No
Amendment 2
No
Amendment 3
No
Referendum 1
No
Referendum 2
Yes
Referendum 3
Yes
Supreme Court
Retain Justice Carols Muñiz
No
Second District Court of Appeal
Retain Drew Atkinson
No
Retain Morris Silberman
Yes
Retain Daniel Sleet
Yes
Retain Andrea Teves Smith
Yes
From As We Heard It, by Patrick Manteiga
► Former Congressman David Rivera of Miami received a 10-year prison sentence for being a foreign agent without registering for Venezuela and conspiracy for money laundering. When Rivera was a congressman, and before as a state representative, he was one of the anti-communist Miami types who wanted U.S. policy to be tough on Cuba and Venezuela.
Rivera shared a house with Marco Rubio, a fellow anti-communist crusader. Rivera and Rubio were very tight at one time, with Riera being instrumental in Rubio’s rise to speaker of the Florida House.
Of course, now, it’s obvious Rivera wasn’t actually anti-communist, but being so helped him get elected. When the Maduro government of Venezuela gave him a $50 million contract to get that regime fair treatment from the Trump Administration, Rivera was capitalist enough to support the communist regime.
Rivera still remains popular with many Miami Cuban-American politicians who act as anti-communist crusaders. We wonder how many of Rivera’s friends and colleagues are true believers in anti-communism and how many or just transactional, using the issue for votes, power and money.
Something to think about as Rubio and Trump make plans to invade Cuba.(to read more, buy a paper)
► The history of the building at the southeast corner of Palm Avenue and 15th Street, known as La Benéfica, was honored with a dedication ceremony of a historic marker in front of it on Tuesday, Oct. 6. The event was well planned and very well attended, with approximately 70 to 80 participating.
The beautiful building was erected in 1929 as the United Secret Orders Hall as the home of six secret societies. At its original dedication, La Gaceta founder Victoriano Manteiga was one of the speakers. In 1932, Centro Español opened its clinic and pharmacy on the top floor called La Benéfica Española. It was operated by Dr. Carlos Barbas and his wife, Delia Barbas, who was a midwife. They lived and worked in the building for over 35 years, providing care for those in need at all hours of the day and night.
In 1942, La Gaceta leased half of the bottom floor. In the April 24,1943 edition of La Gaceta, the newspaper’s address in the publisher’s box was 1308 7th Ave. In the April 26, 1943 edition, no address was listed, but a story of the move was prominent, as were ads congratulating La Gaceta on its new home from Seabreeze Restaurant, County Commissioner Nick Nuccio and King-Greco Hardware. In the April 27, 1943 edition, La Gaceta printed its address was 2015 15th St. The newspaper remained there until 1982.
After La Gaceta left, the building was renovated and became the home of the Sugar Palm Ballroom. It was purchased by HCC in 2004, which used it for its Child Development Center and dance program.
Christina Acosta, HC’s professor of dance, was the architect of the great event on Tuesday and deserves praise.
The Barbas family was also instrumental, with Ret. Judge Rex Barbas and attorney Steve Barbas speaking at the program. Rodney Kite-Powell, Ret. Judge E.J. Salcines and John Rañon provided details of the building’s history and that of the Centro Español. Adriana Colina spoke on behalf of the mayor. I was also honored to speak about my remembrances of La Gaceta’s second home.
Since the building is the home of HC’s dance program, the arts were represented in music and dance by performers Carmelo Medina, Dayleen S. and Kolby B., Grettel Méndez d’Ospina and Scarly Dufflart Guillén.(to read more, buy a paper)
From Chairman of the Bored, by Gene Siudut
► For nearly a decade, Jeanine Pirro has been one of Donald Trump’s most dependable public defenders. First as the host of her own weekend show on Fox News, “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” and later as a co-host of “The Five,” she used her highly rated television pulpit to reframe his deepest legal complications into straightforward battles of good versus bad.
Think Judge Judy with more influence and no moral compass.
Yet the nature of that relationship fundamentally shifted when the president appointed her as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Suddenly, the battle moved from the consequence-free arena of cable television to a federal office with actual statutory boundaries. And that new reality has now collided with a wall over something as inconsequential as the National Mall’s Reflecting Pool. …(to read more, buy a paper)
From O’Pionions to Go, by Joe O’Neill
► Cog Test: More hand-bruise speculation. More embarrassing, high-profile nodding off. Another “aced” cognition test. We’ve seen this presidential pattern; we’ll see it again. And again.
But we haven’t, until now, actually seen the Trump cognition test. Some likely samples: Solve Hocus-Focus, count backwards from 3, name the day of the week, current century, two SCOTUS justices, three NATO members and the main ingredients of a cheeseburger.
Atorvastatin, Azerbaijan, Acetaminaphen: Which one is a country? What is Stormy Daniels real name? Name two books other than “Art of the Deal” and “Mein Kampf,” that you have read. What is Melania’s phone number?
Party of Lincoln: How can Republicans still maintain that their party is “the party of Lincoln”? Shouldn’t these Lincoln Day Dinners be realistically renamed? How about the Bull Connor or George Wallace Day Dinners? Stop using Lincoln as a disingenuous, hypocritical model. …(to read more, buy a paper)
From In Context, by Doris Weatherford
► I see that the Justice Department is suing Harvard, again. Again, the suit is about what the Trump administration sees as Harvard’s failure to release complete data on its admission process. Let’s get this straight: Harvard is a private entity, not a public one. It has been private since 1636. (Yes, that is a 400th anniversary coming up soon, as opposed to the 250th anniversary of the United States.) It is operated by a board elected by its alumni and has no legal reason to respond to the demands of Agent Orange.
In the interest of transparency, though, there is one admission record I’d like to see: did young Donnie apply back in 1964, when he instead went to Fordham, a much inferior Catholic school in New York City? If his snit with Harvard is based on rejection, was Daddy’s promised donation insufficient to bend Harvard’s high standards? Or was he a victim of the discrimination against white men that Harvard historically upheld? Yes, I’m being sarcastic: it was impossible for a woman of any color or even wealth to enter as an undergraduatethe college back then. Not until 1977 were Harvard’s admissions “gendersex-blind.” Color-blindness came in the 70’s as well.And my daughter still is angry that her 1995 diploma credits Radcliffe equally with Harvard. …(to read more, buy a paper)
From Silhouettes, an interview with Bill Weber, by Tiffany Razzano
► For more than four decades, Bill Weber has built a career around mobility and independence.
Since opening his Tampa-area business in the early 1980s, Weber has helped many people —from aging adults to injured veterans and people living with disabilities—find the wheelchairs, scooters and wheelchair-accessible vehicles that allow them to continue working, traveling and living on their own terms. …(to read more, buy a paper)
From Líneas de la memoria, por Gabriel Cartaya
► La doctora Madeline Cámara, profesora en la Universidad del Sur de la Florida por varios años, reconocida como crítica literaria y autora de varios libros, me acaba de enviar unas líneas suyas inspiradas en El secreto de la andaluza. Las comparto con los atentos lectores de “Líneas de la memoria”, muchos de los cuales han leído esta novela, concebida en el mismo tiempo en que escribimos las breves líneas semanales de La Gaceta. … (to read more, buy a paper)
From Briznas culturales, por Leonardo Venta
► En el texto La invención de España: literatura y nacionalismo, su autor, E. Inman Fox, hace un análisis de España hacia finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX, cuando el país se encontraba en-vuelto en una transición hacia la industrialización. Esta transición vino aparejada con un cambio en la estructura social definida por la consolidación de la clase media adinerada, una emergente y organizada clase trabajadora, y por consiguiente la oscilante pequeña burguesía.
Por otro lado, la estructura política, caracterizada por la ineficiencia administrativa, un corrupto sistema electoral, un 75 por ciento de la población analfabeta, y un anacrónico sistema educati-vo, no permitió que en España se consolidara una democracia capitalista al mismo nivel que el resto de Europa. …(
