#February in Tampa Bay

[samanthasgone]

Credit: sportsforthegirls

[hyper-coasters]

Falcon's Fury — North America's tallest free-standing drop tower. Manufactured by Intamin, this 335-foot drop tower is the tallest point in the whole park. It's unique in that, at the top of the tower, it rotates your seats 90° degrees before dropping you 310 ft. in a free fall facing the ground. The worst/best part is that the wait time at the top is randomized! You can be up there from 1-5 seconds, which as a rider scared of heights feels like a life time!

[tampatom12]

your top 5 favorite Gronkady moments?

Anon, this question was both extremely easy and also extremely hard to answer!!!!

Each of these moments means so much to me. They define who they are to each other and furthermore, show how much they truly love one another. 🥺🥹🤧💞

But first, before I get into the moments...!!

If you're new here to my blog or to the NFL fandom in general and don't understand the term "Gronkady":

Gronkady is the ship name for Rob "Gronk" Gronkowski and Tom Brady, two people who used to play for the New England Patriots and then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

As you will see below, their history together is legendary!!

Now, onto the moments themselves. 🤩🥳🔥💯💥

I have decided to start with number five and count backwards to my ultimate Tom and Rob moment.

I also have four other bonus moments in mind that are just as important, but simply didn't make the Top Five overall...let me know if y'all wanna find out what those are!!

So now, without further ado, here are my

Top Five Gronkady Moments!!!!

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5). The first time they met!

Rob has told this story multiple times to a variety of sources over the years and he always tells it the same way:

He was in the locker room, taping up his ankle. Tom came over to him, held out his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Tom."

Instead of saying, "Yeah, I know," or worse, not saying anything at all, Rob said back, "And I'm Rob! Nice to meet you, man!"

This simple interaction between them may not seem like much, but it was the conversation that stated it all, even though at this point, they still had to formally begin building their relationship on and off the field.

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4). Rob's video edit/tribute that he posted back when Tom retired for the first time!

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This video contains so many wonderful highlights of the public time that they spent together!!

It also features key but underrated moments between them. (Like when Rob says hi to Tom when he's in the parade and is *so* happy that Tom got number six!)

Additionally, it a visual representation of what their bond has been like over the years!

PLUS!!!

The entire thing is set to Queen's "You're My Best Friend"!!!!!

Here it is for you to see for yourself on Rob's Insta page and here it is on YouTube.

(((I highly recommend looking at his caption on the Insta post!! ⬇️)))

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3). The time that they were at a Boston Red Sox game together!

This short clip is so damn chaotic in the best possible way. It is simply SO. THEM. through and through!!

We also got this amazing photo out of that specific day!! :D🥺🥹🤧😍🥰

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2). BAD BOYS FOR LIFE!!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tom Brady (@tombrady)

One of the things that I think about the most when it comes to iconic couples is how they all seem to have a little catch-phrase that is theirs and theirs alone.

For Tom and Rob, this catch-phrase is Bad Boys for Life.

It all started back in 2019 for the 2018 season after the Patriots won the NFC championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Tom posted this to his Insta page and though I didn't see it when he first posted it because I wasn't at all a fan of his, when I did finally see it, something about it changed me. Them being all showboaty but also silly *and* alone yet together like this is the stuff that fanfics get written about. 💗💓💞

And real quick, just to clarify, "alone yet together" means that they weren't around anyone else in that video but that they were still together as a couple!!

✨Anyway, now that that's cleared up welcome back to the feature presentation!!:✨

So furthermore, the chosen song and it's lyrics are super important for that moment.

Aside from the key one of "Bad Boy for Life", there's also "We ain't goin' nowhere; we can't be stopped now".

Realistically, I know that this is a reference to the entire team and how they all can't be stopped now/aren't going anywhere now that they have won everything except for the Super Bowl at that point.

However, it is worth reading into and noting that Tom and Rob are the only ones who made a video like this.

They could have chosen anyone else to do that with and yet...!!! They decided to exclusivelymake that video with each other. (((Insert the screeching cat emoji, AHHHHHHHH emoji, all the Kermit heart emojis here)))

Not only that, but it is important to me to note that Tom is the one who is holding the phone/camera and is doing the recording. He clearly *wanted* to be in that moment, making a firm memory of his time and opportunity with Rob.

Of course the editing/song part of it all came later, but I don't feel like Tom would have let his social media people choose that song if he didn't feel that it fully fit the moment. He wanted that song to be a part of their legacy just as much as he wanted the world to see them together like how they are within that video.

✨✨AND!!!✨✨

They remade it in 2021!! 🤩🥳🔥💯🙌🏻💞:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tom Brady (@tombrady)

✨✨So now, the moment you all have been waiting for...

Here is my ULTIMATE Gronkady moment!!!✨✨

1). Absolutely everything about them together Tampa!!

As I'm sure all of you can tell based on my url alone, I LOVE the Tampa version of Tom SO MUCH.

I've said this before but I don't care; I'm sayin' it again:

Tom was very much a difference person in Tampa than what he had been in New England. His work ethic and overall beliefs/philosophies were the same, BUT he also began to show the public more of his true, easy-going personality from the moment that he arrived in Tampa. He clearly felt free to have more fun than what he ever had before and he wasn't afraid to show it.

And it's not like he didn't have lots of fun in New England because I know that he did.

But there was just something about him moving to a year-round sunshine-filled climate that set off who he had secretly been all along and who he wanted to be moving forward.

Basically, he still worked hard and had just as much fun in Tampa as what he had in New England, but Tampa offered him up a new chance to be more easy-going and super goofy at times!!

✨All of that having been said, to get back into the Gronkady of it all:✨

As we all (probably) know, Rob retired for the first time in 2019, after he and the Patriots had won the 2019 Super Bowl for the 2018 season. He left New England and went on to do retired football guy things while Tom suffered through one of the Patriots worst years ever.

Now, fast forward to March of 2020. Tom has announced that he's leaving New England and is going to, out of all of the teams within the NFL, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

A month later, in April of 2020, Rob announces that he is officially coming out of retirement to play with Tom on the Buccaneers.

Alright, and now...

This is the part of the story that everyone still isn't so sure about because both men have had conflicting takes on it.

Not conflicting bad, just conflicting in the sense that for some reason, they don't want the public to find out the behind-the-scenes details of what was really said between them.

They want to keep that part of it private/to themselves, and as much as the nosy person in me needs to know what went down for real, I also completely respect them saving a part of this story just for themselves. 🥺🥹🤧💗

All of the above having been said...!!

While the main theory about how they reunited is still up for debate, what many think to have happened is that Tom asked Rob to come back and play with him. Did they have discussions between each other about all of this beforehand? Probably. Will we, the general public, ever know for sure if this was the case? Most likely not.

At the end of the day, the bottom line is this:

Rob was fully in retirement, happy to be free of all of the responsibilities that come with being an active NFL player, when all of a sudden, his non-brother best friend and bad boy partner for life decides to leave New England and head south.

No matter how it happened or what they may or may not talked about before hand, Rob literally came. out. of. retirement (!!!!!!!!!!!) just so that he could play football with Tom again. 🥺🥹😭🤧😍🥰🧡🤍

Why else would he have done that if he wasn't at least a little bit in love with Tom?!

The game had always been very hard on Rob's body; he had so many injuries throughout the first part of his career. 😔😥

By all means, it would have made sense for him to simply stay retired while rooting Tom on from the sidelines.

But he didn't. He wanted to reunite with "the only quarterback he ever wanted to play for" in a place that was far away from New England, both geographically as well as culturally.

Them reuniting in Tampa proves how deep their bond is and how much they admire, trust and respect each other.

Additionally, aside from playing together again, they got to make some extremely cute and fun videos together!!!

This video series are a big reason that got me to see and understand Tom and Rob as more than "Tom Brady (™️)" and "Rob 'GRONK!' Gronkowski".

It is important that they agreed to make this video series in the first place and is a true testament to their commitment to have fun and be free with each other in their new home. 🥺🥹🤧💞

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So there you have it!!

My Top Five Gronkady Moments!!!! 🤩🥰🥳🔥💯💥🙌🏻💗

I hope that this gives you a good idea of what Tom and Rob are all about and how much they mean to each other!! :D

Also, thank you so much for your patience!!! I received this ask back in November and meant to answer it then but then got distracted by other life things. 😔

I definitely appreciate that you asked about them though, as it has given me an opportunity to talk about some of my favorite people!!! 💞

So once again, thank you, anon!!

We can definitely talk more sometime if you want to!! ☺️

[sayruq]

NAHLA AL-ARIAN HAS been living a nightmare for the past seven months, watching from afar as Israel carries out its scorched-earth war against her ancestral homeland in the Gaza Strip. Like many Palestinian Americans, the 63-year-old retired fourth-grade teacher from Tampa Bay, Florida, has endured seven months of a steady trickle of WhatsApp messages about the deaths of her relatives. “You see, my father’s family is originally from Gaza, so they are a big family. And they are not only in Gaza City, but also in Deir al Balah and Khan Younis, other parts,” Al-Arian told me. Recently, the trickle of horrors became a flood: “It started with like 27, and then we lost count until I received this message from my relative who said at least 200 had died.” The catastrophe was the backdrop for Al-Arian’s visit last week to Columbia University in New York City. Al-Arian has five children, four of whom are journalists or filmmakers. On April 25, two of her daughters, Laila and Lama, both award-winning TV journalists, visited the encampment established by Columbia students to oppose the war in Gaza. Laila, an executive producer at Al Jazeera English with Emmys and a George Polk Award to her name, is a graduate of Columbia’s journalism school. Lama was the recipient of the prestigious 2021 Alfred I. duPont–Columbia Award for her reporting for Vice News on the 2020 explosion at the port of Beirut. The two sisters traveled to Columbia as journalists to see the campus, and Nahla joined them. “Of course, I tagged along. You know, why would I sit at the hotel by myself? And I wanted to really see those kids. I felt so down,” she said. “I was crying every day for Gaza, for the children being killed, for the women, the destruction of my father’s city, so I wanted to feel better, you know, to see those kids. I heard a lot about them, how smart they are, how organized, you know? So I said, let’s go along with you. So I went.” Nahla Al-Arian was on the campus for less than an hour. She sat and listened to part of a teach-in, and shared some hummus with her daughters and some students. Then she left, feeling a glimmer of hope that people — at least these students — actually cared about the suffering and deaths being inflicted on her family in Gaza. “I didn’t teach them anything. They are the ones who taught me. They are the ones who gave me hope,” she recalled. “I felt much better when I went there because I felt those kids are really very well informed, very well educated. They are the conscience of America. They care about the Palestinian people who they never saw or got to meet.” Her husband posted a picture of Nahla, sitting on the lawn at the tent city erected by the student protesters, on his Twitter feed. “My wife Nahla in solidarity with the brave and very determined Columbia University students,” he wrote. Nahla left New York, inspired by her visit to Columbia, and returned to Virginia to spend time with her grandchildren. A few days later, that one tweet by her husband would thrust Nahla Al-Arian into the center of a spurious narrative promoted by the mayor of New York City and major media outlets. She became the exemplar of the dangerous “outside agitator” who was training the students at Columbia. It was Nahla’s presence, according to Mayor Eric Adams, that was the “tipping point” in his decision to authorize the military-style raids on the campus.

On February 20, 2003, Nahla’s husband, Sami Al-Arian, a professor at the University of South Florida, was arrested and indicted on 53 counts of supporting the armed resistance group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The PIJ had been designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, and the charges against Al-Arian could have put him in prison for multiple life sentences, plus 225 years. It was a centerpiece case of the George W. Bush administration’s domestic “war on terror.” When John Ashcroft, Bush’s notorious attorney general, announced the indictment, he described the Florida-based scholar as “the North American leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Sami Al-Arian.” Among the charges against him was conspiracy to kill or maim persons abroad, specifically in Israel, yet the prosecutors openly admitted Al-Arian had no connection to any violence. He was a well-known and deeply respected figure in the Tampa community, where he and Nahla raised their family. He was also, like many fellow Palestinians, a tenacious critic of U.S. support for Israel and of the burgeoning “global war on terror.” His arrest came just days before the U.S. invaded Iraq, a war Al-Arian was publicly opposed to. The Al-Arian case was, at its core, a political attack waged by Bush’s Justice Department as part of a wider assault on the rights of Muslims in the U.S. The government launched a campaign, echoed in media outlets, to portray Al-Arian as a terror leader at a time when the Bush administration was ratcheting up its so-called global war on terror abroad, and when Muslims in the U.S. were being subjected to harassment, surveillance, and abuse. The legal case against Al-Arian was flimsy, and prosecutors largely sought to portray his protected First Amendment speech and charitable activities as terrorism. The trial against Al-Arian, a legal permanent resident in the U.S., did not go well for federal prosecutors. In December 2005, following a six-month trial, a jury acquitted him on eight of the most serious counts and deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquittal on the other nine. The judge made clear he was not pleased with this outcome, and the prosecutors were intent on relitigating the case. Al-Arian had spent two years in jail already without any conviction and was staring down the prospect of years more. In the face of this reality and the toll the trial against him had taken on his family, Al-Arian agreed to take a plea deal. In 2006, he pleaded guilty to one count of providing nonviolent support to people the government alleged were affiliated with the PIJ. As part of the deal, Al-Arian would serve a short sentence and, with his residency revoked, get an expedited deportation. At no point during the government’s trial against Al-Arian did the prosecution provide evidence he was connected to any acts of violence. For the next eight years following his release from prison in 2008, Al-Arian was kept under house arrest and effectively subjected to prosecutorial harassment as the government sought to place him in what his lawyers characterized as a judicial trap by compelling him to testify in a separate case. His defense lawyers alleged the federal prosecutor in the case, who had a penchant for pursuing high-profile, political cases, held an anti-Palestinian bias. Amnesty International raised concerns that Al-Arian had been abused in prison and he faced the prospect of yet another lengthy, costly court battle. The saga would stretch on for several more years before prosecutors ended the case and Al-Arian was deported from the United States.

“This case remains one of the most troubling chapters in this nation’s crackdown after 9-11,” Al-Arian’s lawyer, Jonathan Turley, wrote in 2014 when the case was officially dropped. “Despite the jury verdict and the agreement reached to allow Dr. Al-Arian to leave the country, the Justice Department continued to fight for his incarceration and for a trial in this case. It will remain one of the most disturbing cases of my career in terms of the actions taken by our government.” That federal prosecutors approved Al-Arian’s plea deal gave a clear indication that the U.S. government knew Al-Arian was not an actual terrorist, terrorist facilitator, or any kind of threat; the Bush administration, after all, was not in the habit of letting suspected terrorists walk. Al-Arian and his family have always maintained his innocence and say that he was being targeted for his political beliefs and activism on behalf of Palestinians. He resisted the deal, Nahla Al-Arian said. “He didn’t even want to accept it. He wanted to move on with another trial,” Nahla said. “But because of our pressure on him, let’s just get done with it [because] in the end, we’re going leave anyway. So that’s why.” Sami and Nahla Al-Arian now live in Turkey. Sami is not allowed to visit his children and grandchildren stateside, but Nahla visits often.

[theoriginalsinner28]

So I saw Hayden Christensen at the tampa bay comic con friday and I was sooo shy. First off, I thought he was going to be out in the celebrity row area where you can see him giving people autographs. I was really hoping to walk by and lose my shit before I actually met him for the picture. But I guess not! He was in a different room where we had to line up and there were different sessions. So I get in the line and instant shaking. And this couple was talking to me and they said he's super sweet they saw him before. So then It comes to be the girls turn in front of me and I peek my head around the wall to see him and oh my God he's even more beautiful in person! So I covered my mouth with my hand and squealed a little. Then it was my turn and he shook my hand and I told him my name and asked if we could hug and he smiled and hugged me for the pic!!!!! I died because we r literally holding each other in the pic!! When I went to go get the pic, the couple I saw in line was trying to tell me how to get my digital download and I told them they r gonna have to repeat that because my head was in a whirl and I was dying! My hands were shaking sooo bad! Then I was trying to decide for an hour if I wanted to do the autograph and I decided to do it. It was worth every penny! So when I went back for the autograph, I was less nervous but still nervous. The first thing he did was pick up the picture and he said "this is a really good picture!" And I died even more! Ahhhh! I Then said yes it was great! I asked him if he rode horses since he has a farm in Canada and he said he doesn't have any on his property right now but he does ride. I asked if he rode western or English and he said western and I smiled and told him I did both but I grew up on a small farm. I started to get red and he didn't respond but looked in my eyes then at my cheeks because I was turning red and then smiled a sort of shy smile and I thanked him and left. Omg I can't believe I was so shy and tried to hide it. I'm sure he saw through it and idk if he thought I was wierd or was caught off guard cuz I asked him something that wasn't star wars related or what he was feeling so im currently going coo coo. Lol! I think he was just being shy but idk! I just can't believe we were holding each other and I got to talk to him for a second! They best time of my life! That morning of the con I literally woke up at 4 am and couldn't go back to sleep. I've never been more excited for something in my life! I'm so happy and thankful I got this experience and it was worth every penny! Once in a lifetime! I have tickets for all 4 days of megacon in orlando in February and I will deff be cosplaying then for the first time and I will not be shy! I really wanted to tell him how special his character is to me but I was sooo shy. Next time! I worked out all month and ate super healthy just to prepare for this and I drove 2 hours to see him. I'm super into fitness anyways but this just motivated me even further. I love him so much and I'm beyond thankful that I got to have this experience. My dream come true! ❤️

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from CNN:

William Fulford moved from Virginia Beach, Virginia, to a new waterfront development in Florida in 2023. Nestled between Sarasota Bay and the southwestern part of Tampa Bay, the new home by Bradenton Beach was everything Fulford, a retired custom homebuilder, ever wished for.

The developers of the new Hunters Point community, Pearl Homes, billed the property as the first “net-zero” single-family home development in the US, meaning residents produce more energy from solar panels than they need, with the excess energy either being stored or sold back to the grid – in a state where most electricity is generated by burning natural gas, a planet-warming fossil fuel.

They also boast some of the most sustainable, energy-efficient and hurricane-proof homes in the country: The streets surrounding the homes are intentionally designed to flood so houses don’t. Power and internet lines are buried to avoid wind damage. The sturdy concrete walls, hurricane-proof windows and doors are fortified with a layer of foam insulation, providing extra safety against the most violent storms.

Climate resiliency and storm protection were built into the fabric of the homes. And while the newly developed homes have endured a few storms since people moved in around February 2023, Hurricanes Helene and Milton put those features to the true test over the last two weeks.

Most of the residents living in Hunters Point heeded the mandatory evacuations ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall but Fulford, 76, stayed behind with wife, Sueann, just as they did during Hurricane Helene last month.

They stocked up on water and groceries. Fulford moved the car to higher ground. He tied up all patio and back deck furniture together. They brought everything from the garage, which made up the entire ground floor, up to the living spaces on the second floor. And, in the event of a worst-case scenario, Sueann insisted on getting life preservers.

“I’m just quite convinced that the strength and everything in this house. They built a great house, a strong house,” Fulford said. “And I just feel comfortable. I feel like we’re high enough up, even if we get a storm surge.”

When Gobuty started the design process for Hunters Point, it was imperative the homes be able to withstand Category 5 hurricanes. It’s the first residential development to get a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) net-zero certification in the world, according to the US Green Building Council.

Each of the three-story homes are designed like this: The ground floor is a garage designed with flood vents to drain rising water. The living spaces start on the second floor, which is intentionally built 16 feet above sea level. From the roof to its foundation, steel straps secure the entire structure. Solar panels are attached to the roofs’ raised vertical seams to prevent them from flying off.

The property also sits in a major flood zone, which meant the homes needed to be elevated to meet Florida’s building codes. Still, the developers went beyond the required 3 feet of fill dirt and used 7 feet instead to be safe.

[goalhofer]

2023-24 1st NHL Goals

October 11, 2023

Connor Bedard (Chicago) at Boston.

October 12, 2023

Brock Faber (Minnesota) vs. Florida.

October 14, 2023

Will Cuylle (New York Rangers) at Columbus.

David Jiříček (Columbus) vs. New York Rangers.

Matthew Coronato (Calgary) at Pittsburgh.

Marco Rossi (Minnesota) at Toronto.

Thomas Bordeleau (San José) vs. Colorado.

October 15, 2023

Pavel Mintyukov (Anaheim) vs. Carolina.

October 16, 2023

Matthew Phillips (Washington) vs. Calgary.

October 17, 2023

Yegor Zamula (Philadelphia) vs. Vancouver.

October 19, 2023

Leo Carlsson (Anaheim) vs. Dallas.

October 21, 2023

Adam Fantilli (Columbus) at Minnesota.

Alex Laferriere (Los Angeles) vs. Boston.

October 22, 2023

Matt Poitras (Boston) at Anaheim.

October 30, 2023

Dmitri Voronkov (Columbus) at Dallas.

October 31, 2023

Andreas Englund (Los Angeles) at Toronto.

November 1, 2023

Brandon Biro (Buffalo) at Philadelphia.

Connor Zary (Calgary) vs. Dallas.

Logan Cooley (Arizona) at Anaheim.

November 4, 2023

Martin Pospíšil (Calgary) at Seattle.

November 6, 2023

Johnny Beecher (Boston) at Dallas.

Mason Lohrei (Boston) at Dallas.

November 9, 2023

Kevin Korchinski (Chicago) at Tampa Bay.

November 10, 2023

Uvis Balinskis (Florida) vs. Carolina.

November 18, 2023

James Hamblin (Edmonton) at Tampa Bay.

November 22, 2023

Zach Benson (Buffalo) at Washington.

November 24, 2023

Spencer Stastney (Nashville) at St. Louis.

November 30, 2023

Tristan Jarry (Pittsburgh) at Tampa Bay.

Tristan Luneau (Anaheim) vs. Washington.

December 7, 2023

Šimon Nemec (New Jersey) at Seattle.

December 9, 2023

Jayden Struble (Montreal) at Buffalo.

December 11, 2023

Michael Kesselring (Arizona) at Buffalo.

December 13, 2023

Sam Malinski (Colorado) vs. Buffalo.

December 15, 2023

Adam Edström (New York Rangers) vs. Anaheim.

December 16, 2023

Bobby McMann (Toronto) vs. Pittsburgh.

December 19, 2023

Angus Crookshank (Ottawa) at Arizona.

December 21, 2023

Nick DeSimone (Calgary) at Anaheim.

December 27, 2023

Valtteri Puustinen (Pittsburgh) at New York Islanders.

January 5, 2024

Vasili Ponomaryov (Carolina) at Washington.

January 9, 2024

Henry Thrun (San José) at Toronto.

January 16, 2024

Jason Polin (Colorado) at Ottawa.

January 17, 2024

Joshua Roy (Montreal) at New Jersey.

January 20, 2024

Jackson LaCombe (Anaheim) at San José.

Brendan Brisson (Vegas) vs. Pittsburgh.

January 23, 2024

Sheldon Rempal (Vegas) at New York Islanders.

January 25, 2024

Mitchell Chaffee (Tampa Bay) vs. Arizona.

January 31, 2024

Alex Turcotte (Los Angeles) at Nashville.

February 6, 2024

Kyle MacLean (New York Islanders) at Toronto.

February 13, 2024

Brandon Gignac (Montreal) vs. Anaheim.

February 14, 2024

John Ludvig (Pittsburgh) vs. Florida.

February 17, 2024

Brandt Clarke (Los Angeles) at Boston.

Declan Chisholm (Minnesota) vs. Buffalo.

February 19, 2024

Justin Brazeau (Boston) vs. Dallas.

Mason Morelli (Vegas) at San José.

February 24, 2024

Zachary Bolduc (St. Louis) at Detroit.

Matt Rempe (New York Rangers) at Philadelphia.

February 26, 2024

Logan Stankoven (Dallas) vs. New York Islanders.

March 2, 2024

Jonathan Gruden (Pittsburgh) at Calgary.

March 6, 2024

Jean-Luc Foudy (Colorado) vs. Detroit.

March 7, 2024

Ivan Miroshnichenko (Washington) at Pittsburgh.

Jacob Moverare (Los Angeles) vs. Ottawa.

March 22, 2024

Ryker Evans (Seattle) at Arizona.

March 26, 2024

Josh Doan (Arizona) vs. Columbus.

March 31, 2024

Olen Zellweger (Anaheim) at Vancouver.

April 4, 2024

Ryan Shea (Pittsburgh) at Washington.

Akil Thomas (Los Angeles) at San José.

April 6, 2024

Adam Ginning (Philadelphia) at Columbus.

Olle Lycksell (Philadelphia) at Columbus.

April 7, 2024

Matt Kessel (St. Louis) at Anaheim.

April 10, 2024

Landon Slaggert (Chicago) at St. Louis.

April 12, 2024

Sam Colangelo (Anaheim) vs. Calgary.

Marat Khusnutdinov (Minnesota) at Vegas.

April 13, 2024

James Malatesta (Columbus) at Nashville.

Liam Öhgren (Minnesota) at San José.

April 14, 2024

Frank Nazar III (Chicago) vs. Carolina.

April 16, 2024

Jiří Smejkal (Ottawa) at Boston.

Luca Del Bel Belluz (Columbus) vs. Carolina.

April 18, 2024

Nikita Chibrikov (Winnipeg) vs. Vancouver.

Adam Klapka (Calgary) vs. San José.

[beardedmrbean]

Two Florida educators have been arrested after video of a teacher putting a student in a chokehold earlier this year surfaced — with a vice principal nabbed for allegedly trying to bury the disturbing incident.

Bennie Leverett, a teacher at Progress Village Middle School in Tampa, and school vice principal Tashiska Fabian were arrested in connection to the Jan. 18 melee, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.

Leverett, 39, put the student in a chokehold, “restricting the student’s ability to breathe,” according to the sheriff’s office and the video.

Leverett allegedly held the student, who is 14, in the chokehold for around four minutes, even pulling the kid to the ground at one point while still grasping him, according to an arrest affidavit cited by the Tampa Bay Times.

The teacher allegedly made students who recorded the scuffle delete their footage before leaving his classroom, the outlet reported.

Once Fabian, 41, learned of the incident, she met with Leverett and the student, but failed to report it to the police or the child abuse hotline, HCSO said.

She also ordered a student who had recorded the scene to delete their video, it added.

Cops, however, were able to recover the video, in which the teacher said, “He isn’t responding to me,” followed by a student saying, “He can’t! He’s dying! You’re killing him!”

In February, the sheriff’s office and the Department of Children and Families visited the school.

Leverett, who was arrested in March, faces child abuse charges. Fabian, who was busted on Wednesday, faces a charge of failing to report child abuse and is being held on a $2,500 bond.

Fabian was “pulled from duty” in February and “let go,” while Leverett resigned from the district in March, Hillsborough County Public Schools told WFLA.

“It is deeply troubling that a teacher would harm a student, but even more so when a person in a position of authority fails to do the right thing and report the crime,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said.

“This is a complete betrayal of trust within our community.” 

The investigation is ongoing.

[harrisonarchive]

The Beatles with the Dresner family, Miami Florida, February 1964 (photo published in The Australian Women’s Weekly, April 15, 1964); George at the Chelsea Flower Show in May 1999 (photo © Alamy Stock Photo).

“[Sgt. Buddy Dresner, the security detail for The Beatles during their time in Miami, Feb. 64] misses his family. He forgot Valentine’s Day until George reminded him. George sends flowers in Buddy’s name to his wife. […] A couple of days go by. Sgt. Buddy calls home. ‘Sorry I’ve been so secretive,’ he tells his wife, Dorothy. ‘Let’s have a big dinner tonight.’ That afternoon Jeri and her mom arrange tables in the living room. Jeri assumes that her favorite Uncle Harold from California and some cousins must be coming for supper. Uncle Harold is so funny and nice. A limo pulls up. The Beatles trot into the house. You are Jeri Dresner, age 12. The Beatles are in your living room. You love Paul. You tell yourself: ‘Don’t say anything dumb.’ You look at Paul, cuter in person than in his photographs, by the way. Paul says hello. Asks about your life. So do the other Beatles. They're down to earth, funny, unspoiled. Normal! Supper. Jeri’s job is serving the potatoes that accompany mom's roast beef. Her stomach churns with anxiety. George looms ahead. Fumbling with the spoon, she drops a hot potato on George's lap. Oh, my God. But George doesn’t act like it’s the end of the world. He laughs!“ - Tampa Bay Times, January 29, 2014

“[George] was a very romantic person.” - Olivia Harrison, Larry King Live, 2007

“[He spent] hours and hours [in the garden]. I bought him one of those lights you put on your head. He wasn’t just out in the garden, he was IN the garden. He would walk out the door and come back in with the tiniest little thing and he’d go, ‘Look at that!’ — and he'd hand you the tiniest little flower. He’d notice things. We’d walk along in the grass and he’d bend over and go, ‘Oh, look at that little guy’ and it would be a bug. I’d say, ‘How did you see that?’ He was just really present.” - Olivia Harrison, The Sun, June 12, 2009 (x)

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Hurricane Milton strengthens into a Category 5 as Florida begins evacuations (AP) Milton rapidly strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane Monday in the Gulf of Mexico on a path toward Florida, threatening a dangerous storm surge in Tampa Bay, leading to evacuation orders and long gas lines, and lending more urgency to the cleanup from Hurricane Helene, which swamped the same stretch of coastline less than two weeks ago. The storm’s center could come ashore Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area, and it could remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean, forecasters say.

Growing the debt (NPR) A new report has found that both Harris’ and Trump's economic plans would increase the national debt. According to the nonpartisan nonprofit Committee for Responsible Federal Budget, Trump's plan would add an estimated $7.5 trillion to the nation's debt over the next decade, while Harris' proposals would cost the government an estimated $3.5 trillion. The committee has cautioned that there could be a future fiscal crisis if politicians do not take more decisive action on the national debt.

Police seldom disclose use of facial recognition despite false arrests (Washington Post) Hundreds of Americans have been arrested after being connected to a crime by facial recognition software, a Washington Post investigation has found, but many never know it because police seldom disclose their use of the controversial technology. Police departments in 15 states provided The Post with rarely seen records documenting their use of facial recognition in more than 1,000 criminal investigations over the past four years. According to the arrest reports in those cases and interviews with people who were arrested, authorities routinely failed to inform defendants about their use of the software—denying them the opportunity to contest the results of an emerging technology that is prone to error, especially when identifying people of color.

Juvenile Cyber Criminals (WSJ) The February 2022 hack of AI chip-maker Nvidia was one of the strangest cases ever. Someone—or some group—had stolen the crown jewels from one of the world’s most important tech companies and then acted like a bunch of kids on Telegram. They said they’d stolen some “juicy ass source code,” and demanded that Nvidia make its products easier for videogame players to use. It turned out that the Nvidia hackers acted like kids because they were, in fact, kids. They’re part of a new cybersecurity community that has become a bigger and bigger problem for law enforcement over the past few years. Calling themselves the Com, the kids have moved from giving each other grief in online games to stealing cryptocurrency and extorting some of the world’s most important companies, including Microsoft, Samsung, Uber and Rockstar Games. One of these hackers was Arion Kurtaj. Last year, fearing Kurtaj would simply never stop hacking, a British judge ordered him confined to a secure mental-health ward until doctors deem him to no longer be a public danger. Kurtaj was 17 when he hacked Nvidia, but he was just 11 when he started his life of cybercrime. He’s now the most notorious member of the Com. Other members are often so young that they have little fear of incarceration. They’re also so destructive that it’s hard to predict what they will do when they break into a computer network. A few months before the Nvidia hack, Kurtaj and his associates had deleted Brazil’s database of Covid vaccinations.

Mexican mayor assassinated days after taking office (Reuters) The mayor of the capital of Mexico’s violence-plagued state of Guerrero was killed on Sunday less than a week after he took office, the state’s governor confirmed. Alejandro Arcos was killed just six days after he took office as mayor of the city of Chilpancingo, a city of around 280,000 people in southwestern Mexico. The official confirmation came after photos circulated on messaging app WhatsApp depicting a severed head on top of a pick-up truck, appearing to be that of Arcos. Guerrero has become one of the deadliest states for aspiring and elected public officials, as well as for journalists.

Freed Russian arms dealer Bout back in weapons business, WSJ reports (Reuters) Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer who was jailed in the United States and then swapped two years ago for the U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, is back in international arms trade, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Citing an unnamed European security source and other anonymous sources familiar with the matter, the WSJ wrote that Bout, dubbed “the merchant of death” is trying to broker the sale of small arms to Yemen’s Houthi militants. “When Houthi emissaries went to Moscow in August to negotiate the purchase of $10 million worth of automatic weapons, they encountered a familiar face: the mustachioed Bout,” the newspaper reported, citing its sources. The potential arms transfers stop well short of the sale of Russian anti-ship or anti-air missiles that could pose a significant threat to the U.S. military’s efforts to protect international shipping from the Houthis’ attacks, it added. Bout was one of the world’s most wanted men prior to his 2008 arrest in Thailand on multiple charges related to arms trafficking. His notoriety was such that his life helped inspire a Hollywood film, 2005’s Lord of War, starring Nicolas Cage.

Ukraine’s Donbas Strategy: Retreat Slowly and Maximize Russia’s Losses (NYT) Throughout the year, Ukraine has lost a series of cities, towns and villages in its eastern Donbas region to Russia, typically withdrawing its troops after hard-fought battles that sometimes lasted for months. To outside observers, Ukraine’s slow but steady retreat from the Donbas region, the main theater of the war today, may seem to signal the beginning of the endgame, with Moscow firmly gaining the upper hand on the battlefield, leveraging its overwhelming advantage in manpower and firepower. But Ukrainian commanders and military experts dispute that, saying that a more crucial fight is unfolding in the region that goes beyond simple territorial gains and losses. It is now a war of attrition, they say, with each side trying to exhaust the other by inflicting maximum losses, hoping to break the enemy’s capacity and will to continue the war.

Water stress in the Middle East and North Africa (Rane Worldview) In recent years, water stress in the Middle East and North Africa has become a more acute threat to the stability of both individual states and the broader region amid a constant struggle for control and management of this increasingly scarce vital resource. Countries’ mismanagement of their water supplies over the decades has worsened the situation in the region, where the predominantly hot and dry climate already exacerbates water shortages. The rapid population growth many countries are experiencing has also heightened the demand for limited fresh water. Against this backdrop, access to water supplies has become an increasing driver of conflict between both states and non-state actors in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as a catalyst for social unrest.

U.S. Citizens in Lebanon Feel Abandoned by the State Department as Israel Invades (The Intercept) After Israel dropped more than 80 bombs, including American-made 2,000-lb bombs, on residential buildings in a suburb of Beirut, Hana Bechara, one of 86,000 U.S. citizens who live in Lebanon, decided it was time to leave. She reached out to the U.S. embassy in Beirut. As the strikes continue, Bechara said the response from the U.S. has been vague and unhelpful. State Department officials have sent her generic security alerts urging her to contact commercial airlines directly for flights out, while acknowledging that airlines were “at reduced capacity,” according to emails reviewed by The Intercept. The most recent email from the embassy sent Monday said they were unable to assist her family but offered to “help U.S. citizens and immediate family members leave Lebanon very soon” without further elaborating on a timeline or the type of assistance. (Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Bulgaria, and Cyprus have all begun to evacuate their citizens on charter flights or government planes.) “We, and the U.S. citizens in Palestine, are being treated differently than other U.S. citizens who are in way less danger than we are,” Bechara said. Bechara and many other Americans stuck in Lebanon have contrasted the State Department’s responses to the sense of urgency and level of assistance Americans in Israel received following the October 7 attacks. Within several days of the attacks, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem offered American citizens prearranged charter flights and boat rides to leave the country.

One Year After Oct. 7, Israel Sees a Future at War (WSJ) Weathering an Iranian missile assault, ignoring calls for a Gaza cease-fire, masterminding attacks against Hezbollah, targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen, rooting out militancy in the occupied West Bank and planning its next steps against Iran mark a shift in Israel’s security posture. For years, the military aimed for long stretches of peace that were only momentarily punctured by short conflicts with Palestinian militants. Much of Israel’s security establishment now believes this lay the groundwork for the Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage. Israel can no longer allow its enemies the time and space to build arsenals, many have come to believe. “Pre-emptive wars will be in the future part of the Israeli tool kit,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former Israeli national security adviser. Without seeking political and diplomatic solutions, “it’s a matter of endless war,” said Tamir Hayman, a former head of Israeli military intelligence and executive director of the Tel Aviv-based think tank Institute for National Security Studies.

‘Violence begets violence’ (Foreign Policy) Pope Francis said “the fuse of hatred” had been lit a year ago and “exploded in a spiral of violence—in the shameful inability of the international community and the most powerful countries to silence the weapons and put an end to the tragedy of war.” “The war that has raged over the past year continues to shatter lives and inflict profound human suffering for Israelis, Palestinians, and now the people of Lebanon,” said Tor Wennesland, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process. “Violence begets violence, and in these moments of grief, we must reaffirm our commitment to peace.”

Gaza is in ruins (AP) The Gaza Strip is in ruins. There are hills of rubble where apartment blocks stood, and pools of sewage-tainted water spreading disease. City streets have been churned into dirt canyons and, in many places, the air is filled with the stench of unrecovered corpses. Israel’s yearlong offensive against Hamas, one of the deadliest and most destructive in recent history, has killed more than 41,000 people, a little over half of them women and children, according to local health officials (with another 97,000 other injured). With no end in sight to the war and no plan for the day after, it is impossible to say when—or even if—anything will be rebuilt. Even after the fighting stops, hundreds of thousands of people could be stuck living in squalid tent camps for years. Experts say reconstruction could take decades. The fighting left roughly a quarter of all structures in Gaza destroyed or severely damaged, according to a U.N. assessment in September based on satellite footage. The U.N. estimates the war has left some 40 million tons of debris and rubble in Gaza, enough to fill New York’s Central Park to a depth of eight meters (about 25 feet). It could take up to 15 years and nearly $650 million to clear it all away, it said. Gaza’s water and sanitation system has collapsed. More than 80% of its health facilities—and even more of its roads—are damaged or destroyed. Around 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced by the war, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands have crowded into sprawling tent camps near the coast with no electricity, running water or toilets. Hunger is widespread.

Deadly Marburg Virus Hits Rwanda’s Doctors and Nurses Hard (NYT) Rwanda’s fragile health care system could become overwhelmed by the deadly Marburg virus, doctors fear, because most of those currently infected are medical professionals, and some have already died. Since the first outbreak in the country last month, at least 30 medical workers have been infected, and at least four have died. Among the infected are two of the country’s scarce anesthesiologists. More medical staff members are isolated in hospital wards in the capital, Kigali. The health care system, with approximately 1,500 doctors and fewer than 40 anesthesiologists for a nation of just over 13 million people, could face significant strain.

[bumblebeebichette]

an update:

115 Days Until Spring Training | February 24, 2024

Vs Philadelphia Phillies

148 Days Until the Regular Season | March 28, 2024

@ Tampa Bay Rays

159 Days Until the Home Opener | April 8, 2024

Vs Seattle Mariners

[st-louis]

TAMPA, FL - FEBRUARY 29: Martin St. Louis #26 of the Tampa Bay Lightning holds his helmet during the national anthem before the start of the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at St. Pete Times Forum on February 29, 2008 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 2.25

Holidays

Armed Forces Day (Dominican Republic)

Big Bang Theory Day

Choiseul Province Day (Solomon Islands)

Colt Revolver Day

Commedia dell’Arte Day

Coronado Day (Mexico)

Cuddle Day

Dag van de Revolutie (Day of Liberation and Innovation; Suriname)

Dance of the Secret Places

Day of Liberation and Innovation (Suriname)

Deinonychus Day

DNA Discovery Day

EDSA Revolution Day (Philippines)

Februaristaking (Netherlands)

Flag Day (Bangladesh)

George Harrison Day

Gray Day (Scotland)

High Five Day

Imam Ali Day (Iran)

International Cochlear Implant Day

Ireland Reads Day (Ireland)

Italian Buckthorn Day (French Republic)

Meher Baba Day

Memorial Day for the Victims of the Communist Dictatorships (Hungary)

National Billy Day

National Day (Kuwait)

National Don't Utter a Word Day

National Jessica Day

National Kathy Day

National Masturbation Day (Poland)

National Nicholas Day

National radio Day (Thailand)

National Reparations Awareness Day

Peace Memorial Holiday (Taiwan)

People Power Day (Anniversary of EDSA Revolution; Philippines)

Pistol Patent Day

Revolution Day (Suriname)

Russian Warship GFY Day

Quiet Day

Sister Wendy Day

Soviet Occupation Day (Georgia)

Time of the Old Woman begins (until March 4)

Tristan da Cunha (a.k.a. Queen’s Day, Saint Helena)

Women’s Day (Iceland)

World Bookmark Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Chocolate-Covered Peanuts Day

Let's All Eat Right Day

National Chocolate-Covered Nuts Day

National Chocolate-Covered Peanuts Day

National Clam Chowder Day

National Muffin Day

Tastykake Day

4th & Last Sunday in February

College Goal Sunday [Last Sunday]

Freedom Sunday [Last Sunday]

National Woman’s Day (original date; 1909) [Last Sunday]

Weekly Holidays beginning February 25 (4th Week)

Peace Corp Week [thru 3.2]

Telecommuter Appreciation Week [thru 3.2]

Independence & Related Days

Choiseul Province Day (Solomon Islands)

Kuwait (from UK, 1961)

Pigeon Island (Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

Texas Independence Day Celebration, Day 1 (of 2; Texas)

Festivals Beginning February 25, 2024

Popsicle Bridge Contest (Richmond, Virginia)

Tampa Bay Jewish Food Festival (Tampa Bay, Florida)

Feast Days

Æthelberht of Kent (1st Christian Anglo-Saxon King) [current date]

Anthony Burgess (Writerism)

Bd Robert of Arbrissel (Christian; Saint)

Burke Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Caesarius, Physician of Constantinople (Christian; Saint)

Ciriaco María Sancha y Hervás (Positivist; Blessed)

Dance of the Secret Places (Shamanism)

Day of Mut (Mother Goddess; Ancient Egypt)

Elizabeth Fedde (Lutheran Church)

Ethelbert of Kent (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Fflur (Celtic Book of Days)

Feast of the Blessed Regina Marriam of Vattalil (India)

Feast of Montu (Egyptian Falcon-Headed War God; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Feast of the Stinky Butts

Festival of Ptah (Ancient Egypt)

Gerland of Agrigento (Christian; Saint)

Giuseppe De Nittis (Artology)

Hare Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Hermie (Muppetism)

Jacques Philippe Caresme (Artology)

John Roberts, writer and missionary (Christian; Saint)

Kitano Baika-sai (Plum Blossom Festival; Kyoto, Japan; Shinto)

Maria Adeodata Pisani (Positivist; Blessed)

Media Hiems I (Pagan)

Octopus Enjoyment Day (Pastafarian)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Artology)

2nd Sunday in Lent (a.k.a. ... 

Reminiscere Sunday

The Transfiguration

Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople (Christian; Saint)

Victornius and six companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Virgil (Positivist; Saint)

Walpurga (Christian; Saint; she was canonised on 5.1 c. 870 and Walpurgis Night is celebrated 4.30) [Crops]

Wendy Beckett (Christian; Sister) [Art]

Wenchang Wang Day (Chinese God of Literature)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [9 of 53]

Premieres

Belle Epoque (Film; 1994)

Boat Builders (Disney Cartoon; 1938)

Boom at the Top or Bullwinkle Loses His Head (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 259; 1964)

Boris Talks to Himself or Mockingbird Heel (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S5, Ep. 260; 1964)

Born to Peck (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1952)

The Bourne Ultimatum, by Robert Ludlum (Novel; 1990)

Broom-Stick Bunny (WB LT Cartoon; 1956)

Camelot (TV Series; 2011)

The Carnival of the Animals, by Camille Saint-Saëns (Musical Suite; 1922)

The Cat Above and the Mouse Below (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1964)

Count Screwloose and J.R. the Wonder Dog (MGM Cartoon; 1939)

DC Showcase: The Phantom Stranger (WB MM Cartoon; 2020)

Drive Angry (Film; 2011)

Gold Rush Daze (WB MM Cartoon; 1939)

Hall Pass (Film; 2011)

Henry IV, Part 1, by William Shakespeare (Play; 1598)

In the Name of the Father (Film; 1993)

The Lady Eve (Film; 1941)

Little Earthquakes, by Tori Amos (Album; 1992)

Modern Times (Film; 1936)

The Mouse on 57th Street (WB MM Cartoon; 1961)

On the Beach, by Nevil Shute (Novel; 1957)

Ooooooohhh… On the TLC Tip, by TLC (Album; 1992)

The Passion of the Christ (Film; 2004)

Phoney Booths, Parts 1 & 2 (Underdog Cartoon, S3, Eps. 37 & 38; 1967)

Please Please Me, by The Beatles (US Song; 1963)

Reindeer Games (Film; 2000)

Rubber Duckie, sung by Ernie (Song; 1970)

Slap Shot (Film; 1977)

Soldiers' Pay, by William Faulkner (Novel; 1926)

Songs from the Big Chair, by Tears for Fears (Album; 1985)

Superman: Red Son (WB Animated Film; 2020)

Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle, by Carl Jung (Science Book; 1952)

Ten Summoner’s Tales, by Sting (Album; 1993)

Terror Island (Animated TV Show;Jonny Quest #24; 1965)

That’ll Be the Day, recorded by Buddy Holly (Song; 1957)

Vikings: Valhalla (TV Series; 2022)

Wonder Boys (Film; 2000)

Yes Minister (UK TV Series; 1980)

Your Show of Shows (TV Series; 1950)

Today’s Name Days

Walburga (Austria)

Berislav, Hrvoje, Nestorije (Croatia)

Liliana (Czech Republic)

Victorinus (Denmark)

Tormi, Tuule, Tuuli, Tuulike (Estonia)

Tuija, Tuire, Vanessa (Finland)

Roméo (France)

Edeltraud, Walburga (Germany)

Riginos, Tarasios, Tarsi (Greece)

Mátyás (Hungary)

Cesario, Costanza, Vittorino (Italy)

Alma, Grants, Zalga (Latvia)

Margiris, Rasa, Regimantas, Viktoras (Lithuania)

Viktor, Viktoria (Norway)

Bolebor, Cezary, Konstancjusz, Maciej, Małgorzata, Modest, Nicefor (Poland)

Tarasie (Romania)

Frederik (Slovakia)

Donato, Valerio (Spain)

Sigvard, Sivert (Sweden)

Artema, Artemis, Welden, Weldon (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 56 of 2024; 310 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 7 of week 8 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Nuin (Ash) [Day 8 of 28]

Chinese: Month 1 (Bing-Yin), Day 16 (Ji-Wei)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025)

Hebrew: 16 Adair I 5784

Islamic: 15 Sha’ban 1445

J Cal: 26 Grey; Fryday [26 of 30]

Julian: 11 February 2024

Moon: 98%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 28 Homer (2nd Month) [Virgil]

Runic Half Month: Tyr (Cosmic Pillar) [Day 2 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 67 of 89)

Week: 4th Week of February

Zodiac: Pisces (Day 7 of 30)

[tampatom12]

Camille Kostek and Gisele Bündchen at Raymond James Stadium, celebrating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning Super Bowl LV // Sunday, February 7th, 2021

[noonesgaylikegatson]

February 10, 2024

The day before a man fatally shot John Walter Lay in his favorite Tampa dog park, Lay stood in the park and recorded a video.

He had just had a run-in with a man who, according to Lay’s friends and family, had been harassing him at the park for months, hurling homophobic slurs and threatening him.

Standing near one of the park’s towering trees, the morning sun shining on his face, Lay talked into his phone’s camera.

“So this morning while I’m walking — and we’re the only two here — he comes up to me and screams at me, ‘You’re going to die, you’re going to die,’ and I asked him to just leave me alone, and so far he has,” Lay says in the video.

Friends say that the next morning, at the same park and at about the same time as the previous morning’s encounter, the man shot Lay dead. He was 52.

As of Thursday, the shooter has not been arrested or charged. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has released few details about what happened and didn’t issue a news release about the shooting until four days after it occurred, and only after a Tampa Bay Times reporter asked about it. The agency said the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office will decide whether to file criminal charges in the case.

The sheriff’s office on Thursday confirmed that 65-year-old Gerald Declan Radford was the shooter.

In a text message to a Times reporter, Radford indicated he shot Lay in self-defense.

“I was attacked. I defended myself. End of story,” the text said.

He sent a second text advising the Times to contact the sheriff’s office for information. When asked for a phone interview, he responded that the sheriff’s office has his phone, and he declined a request to meet in person, saying that he was “in no fit state.”

Asked if he had an attorney, he responded: “I have done nothing wrong.”

Lay’s family and friends told the Times that they don’t believe Radford’s account. They said Lay had been going out of his way to avoid Radford and they believed he would only have gotten in a fight to defend himself.

Albert Darlington, Lay’s friend and landlord, said Radford, who goes by Dec, sent him a text the next day claiming Lay “attacked me at the park and I had to defend myself.”

“In my opinion, there’s no way in hell this is really self-defense,” said Darlington, 68. “For over a year, Dec has done nothing but harass Walt. He screams and hollers and calls him a f----t every time he gets to the dog park. He’ll sit there and he’ll say, ‘I’d like to punch him right in the f--king mouth’ ... and it has gotten worse and worse and worse.”