Monday, December 29, 2014
Pam Bondi Is 'Loser of 2014,' And 'Modern-Day Anita Bryant' Says Top Florida Paper
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Florida Marriage Equality
Friday, November 21, 2014
Crunch Fitness
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Crunch Fitness
New Tax Laws
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Crunch Bee Ridge
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Florida has worst voter turn out in 16 Years
Florida voter turnout was worst in 16 years
TALLAHASSEE
Florida recorded its worst voter turnout in the last 16 years in Tuesday’s primary election.
Only 17.5 percent of the state’s 11.8 million voters made it to the polls. It was the lowest turnout since 16.6 percent of the voters participated in the 1998 primary election.
One of the main reasons for the lack of voter excitement is that there were no exciting statewide races on the ballot. The primary victories of Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist were foregone conclusions. George Sheldon bested state Rep. Perry Thurston for the Democratic nomination for attorney general – but the race drew little attention because neither candidate could afford a television advertising campaign.
The turnout winner was Liberty County, Florida’s smallest county, where nearly 50 percent of the voters made it to the polls. But voter turnout was dismal in Florida’s largest counties, where the major campaigns will be won or lost in the November general election.
Broward County finished next to last in the state with a 10.77 percent turnout. Not too far behind were Palm Beach County at 12 percent and Miami-Dade, Florida’s largest county, at 14.4 percent.
Those three counties happen to be a bastion of Democratic voters, holding 32 percent of the 4.6 million Democrats in the state. Broward and Miami-Dade together have 1.1 million Democrats.
Turnout will be higher in the Nov. 4 general election. But if the trend continues it will favor Scott’s re-election and a defeat for Crist. As a parallel, in 2010, 22 percent of the voters turned out for the primary, with 48.7 percent in the general election.
But Broward finished last in the state in turnout in 2010 at 41 percent in the general election, followed closely by Miami-Dade at 41.5 percent, giving Scott a narrow victory over Alex Sink, his Democratic challenger.
The same scenario may be playing out this year. But there is a wildcard and another reason that explains Florida’s low turnout rates, particularly in the primary elections.
Florida is a closed primary state. That means only Democrats can vote in Democratic primary elections and Republicans in Republican primaries. Yet nearly a quarter of the electorate is now registering as independent – or “no party affiliation” – voters.
NPA voters often have little reason to participate in primaries, having a chance to cast their votes in a handful of school board races, municipal contests or judgeships. But they can fully participate in the general election and with 2.7 million voters can make a difference in a statewide race.
The NPA voters skew to the younger side. An analysis earlier this year by Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida political scientist, showed a quarter of those voters were under the age of 30 and 61 percent of the NPA voters were under the age of 49.
A potential draw for those voters in November will be a constitutional amendment allowing the use of medical marijuana in Florida. The initiative may or may not increase turnout.
Complicating the turnout scenarios is the presence of Adrian Wyllie, a Libertarian candidate for governor who will be on the November ballot. The heavily negative tone of the Scott-Crist contest could drive some voters to Wyllie, particularly if he can raise his profile.
As with the major parties, the battle over the NPA voters will also be waged in Florida’s biggest counties. Some 30 percent the NPA voters are in Southeast Florida, with Miami-Dade holding the largest group with 354,000 NPA voters.
And like the Republicans and Democrats, the biggest question remains: how many of those voters will be coming to the polls?
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Mote Marine
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Ebola
Monday, October 6, 2014
Marriage Equality
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Ukraine Crisis
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Sarasota Company Goes International
Friday, August 15, 2014
Ukraine
Monday, August 11, 2014
Sunday, August 10, 2014
Florida Real Estate
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Jordan Alexander Letschert
Sunday, August 3, 2014
New Crunch Fitness
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Drones are being used daily...
Saturday, July 26, 2014
BLUE FORCE TRACKER MAKING NEWS....AGAIN
Honor and Dignity
Monday, July 21, 2014
Russian Rebels To Hand Over MH17 Black Boxes
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Got 15 seconds?... STRIP RUSSIA OF THE 2018 World Cup
Friday, July 18, 2014
MH17 SHOT DOWN
The people lost onboard MH17 represent approximately .0011 percent of the total Dutch population of 16.8 million.
Many more Americans were killed in the 9/11 attacks — 2,624 in total — but because the US population is so much larger (it was roughly 285 million in 2001), the death toll represented .0009 percent of the overall population.
Obviously, it's impossible to compare the immensity of two tragedies like these, but it shows just how much of an impact the crash will have on the small country.
Regards,
Jordan Letschert
Florida Moves Closer To Equality
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Sarasota Police
Sarasota County
Thursday, July 10, 2014
The World Cup Finals Are Set
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Al Jazeera America
WORLD CUP SEMI FINALS
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Breaking news in Sarasota Fl
Monday, July 7, 2014
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO THOSE MARINES......
What ever happened to the “US Marines urinating on Taliban” case?
by Sharyl Attkisson on July 8, 2014 08:00 PM 1 Comment1,911 ViewsMany Americans remember the video posted on YouTube in January of 2012 showing U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban terrorists in Afghanistan. (VIDEO)
The images provoked international outrage. Some felt the Marines’ unlawful behavior was mitigated by the context of a long and bloody war against a brutal enemy. Others felt there was no excuse.
But few people know what became of the case once it left the public eye: it collapsed under claims of unlawful interference at the highest level of the U.S. Marine Corps. And the key whistleblower leveling allegations is one of the prosecutors: Deputy Judge Advocate Maj. James Weirick.
“I knew something was wrong from the start,” Weirick tells me, explaining that nobody at Marine Corps would answer why Commandant James Amos, a four star general, abruptly replaced the original prosecuting team after just a few weeks. (Weirick is speaking to Blue Force Tracker on his own behalf, not on behalf of the government or military).
“I think it’s unfortunate that the system of justice was not allowed to run its course,” says Eugene R. Fidell, who teaches military justice at Yale Law School, “as a result of Gen. Amos’s blatantly improper conduct.”
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Friday, July 4, 2014
We Are Live
The Blue Force Tracker team is proud to announce the full rollout of Blue Force Tracker with the launch today of our website:http://www.blueforcetracker.com/
Our smartphone app is already available for download on both iTunes and Google Play, just search for: Blue Force Tracker
We aggregate, report and analyze stories related to the U.S. military and the world in which it operates.
Our intent is to help close the growing civilian-military divide by giving our audience an unbiased, unfiltered and realistic account of what the military does and the world in which they operate — from writers who have "boots on the ground' experience.
Our team of journalists include veterans of the military, intelligence agencies, diplomatic corps, as well as other journalists who share in our vision and have unique, real-world experience on the topics and regions about which they report.
The voice of veterans and those who value unbiased journalism is underrepresented in the media. We aim to change that.
Stay tuned this week from some exciting stories from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Jordan and another exclusive piece from Sharyl Attkisson.
And, as always, thank you for your support.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
New Military Media App
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Sarasota App Launched
IT'S HERE... AND FREE.... SO DOWNLOAD IT NOW!
We are a team of journalists - veterans of the military, intelligence agencies and diplomats - who will report, analyze and aggregate the stories that other media outlets ignore.
Our intent - Close the civilian-military divide in America by giving our audience a realistic account of what our military does and the threats facing our country from a team of writers who actually know what they're talking about.
http://www.blueforcetracker.com/
Sarasota Group Launches Military News App
It's a must read. And in case you missed the announcement - our app is live and available for free on both iTunes and Google Play. Just search for 'Blue Force Tracker.'
http://
Sunday, June 22, 2014
ICBM
Monday, June 16, 2014
Siesta Key
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Jordan Letschert Sarasota Florida
Thursday, June 5, 2014
JORDAN A LETSCHERT : COUNRTY
Could you imagine?....
F-16 PILOT WAS READY TO GIVE HER LIFE ON SEPT. 11:
With no ammunition, pilot was ordered to take down United Flight 93
Late in the morning of the Tuesday that changed everything, Lt. Heather “Lucky” Penney was on a runway at Andrews Air Force Base and ready to fly. She had her hand on the throttle of an F-16 and she had her orders: Bring down United Airlines Flight 93. The day’s fourth hijacked airliner seemed to be hurtling toward Washington. Penney, one of the first two combat pilots in the air that morning, was told to stop it.
The one thing she didn’t have as she roared into the crystalline sky was live ammunition. Or missiles. Or anything at all to throw at a hostile aircraft.
Except her own plane. So that was the plan.
Because the surprise attacks were unfolding faster than they could arm war planes, Penney and her commanding officer went up to fly their jets straight into a Boeing 757.
“We wouldn’t be shooting it down. We’d be ramming the aircraft,” Penney recalls. “I would essentially be a kamikaze pilot.”
But she didn’t have to die. She didn’t have to knock down an airliner full of kids and salesmen and girlfriends. They did that themselves.
“The real heroes are the passengers on Flight 93 who were willing to sacrifice themselves,” Penney says. “I was just an accidental witness to history.”
JORDAN LETSCHERT
Blue Force Tracker added 2 new photos.
The night before D-Day, June 5, 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, distributed a note to his troops:
"Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory!
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!
Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking."
-- Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, June 5, 1944.
Friday, May 30, 2014
VETERAN AFFAIRS SHAKE UP
Thursday, May 29, 2014
JORDAN LETSCHERT
The Pentagon is moving an amphibious warship closer to Libya following an attack on the prime minister’s home, a defense official told USNI News on Wednesday.
USS Bataan (LHD-5) and about 1,000 embarked Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary unit are currently in the Eastern Mediterranean moving closer to the country.
The ship transited the Suez Canal on Tuesday and could be off the Libyan coast as early as Thursday.
The ship is embarked with a collection of MV-22 Ospreys, AV-8B Harrier II tactical fighters and AH-1 Cobra helicopter gunships.
Bataan’s move is in response to increasing tensions in a post- Moammar Gadhafi Libya.
Early Tuesday morning gunmen attacked the Tripoli home of Libyan Prime Minister Ahmed Miitig, according to a report in Reuters.
An aide told the wire service, “there was an attack with rockets and small arms on the prime minister’s house.”
Miitig and his family escaped unharmed.
JORDAN LETSCHERT
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Jordan Letschert
Until then follow us and like our page Blue Force Tracker. Stay in touch with Americas Military. (8 photos)