The actions of one commissioner were being used against the other four members of the board.
It was never right--but I understand the reasons why what happened came to pass. Nobody from the State Attorney's office looked into the withholding of the records---although they were notified of this issue by multiple persons. And the county's staff did not convince Commissioner Underhill to turn over documents that the county considers to be public records. Nobody had administrative rights over social media platforms that only Commissioner Underhill controlled----so nothing was happening.
But now, as of last night, those of us who did no wrong and had no culpability in the withholding of public records are OUT of the lawsuit. It's Done! And it was WAY past time for this to happen.
One of my top priorities as chairman was to get the settlement talks on the fast track; they had been occurring for about 8 months but it was a back and forth, excrutiating slow motion ping pong match that was unbearable to live through.
So we have now made the light-speed jump over the last 48 hours to finish this once and for all. We got a draft of a stipulation of facts and settlement sent to the County Attorney, completed a shade session on this topic particularly, and we culminated this "at-pace" exercise by approving a settlement agreement with David Bear and his attorney yesterday evening at our meeting. It was our last order of business and we got it done.
Now, the other 4 board members are out of a state case and a federal case leaving one commissioner, Doug Underhill, in both cases in his personal capacity (and in his official capacity in the Federal Case).
This is an appropriate outcome: After all, it was never about us, it was always about him, and now he can stand alone and answer the charges and accusations alone as he should.
Read the settlement HERE.
Read the stipulation of facts document approved by a 4-0 vote of the board (Doug Underhill abstained) last night HERE.
The media locally, as per usual, have no idea this happend. They were asleep at the switch talking about the "Insurrection" anniversary.......So what they'll do is poach my site later, copy the documents, and then run a story late this afternoon on this without any attribution or a link to this site where they got the story; sadly, that's what they do and how they operate around here. Easy, lazy, and borderline unethical....😀 Nevertheless this is a big story though, and they should cover it. And they will.
34 comments:
Before I comment on the subject of the post, I want to go on record as saying that it's really disappointing to see you put the word "insurrection" in quotes.
My, but there will be a lot of walking back to do when the die-hard Trumpers who stubbornly continue the attempt to brush aside a coordinated, well-funded attempt at a coup--an active pipe bomb planted at the DNC with our current vice president in the building; open threats against the life of our then vice president--are forced to face the outcome of an investigation that already clearly reveals, for anybody who cares to face facts, the following: the events of that day were orchestrated by a core group of people who included members of the president's administration, officials at the Pentagon, rogue members of the military, the Capitol Police, and the Secret Service, republican members of our Congress, white supremacist militia members, and a motley crew of financier propagandists.
It's a sad day when people choose to be fooled about these events and pull the wool over their own eyes for sake of party allegiance. Hopefully the increasing number of GOP and their own voters who have had it up to here with the nonsense will gain in strength and volume, and contribute to bringing this country back to a firm rule of law and grounding our democracy more strongly than ever. Many of us who are not guided by party idolatry are holding on with the hope that our country--having weathered the incredible strain of continual nation-wide gaslighting that has led people who typically chart their own course to instead participate in clannish non-realties and unwittingly become participants in the fog of disinformation--will regain its status as leader of the free world, instead of being the global laughing stock and disappointment that we have become in the last few years. And that includes the effects of a number of gross failures--Afghanistan, first and foremost-- of the Biden administration, which needs to get it together and deal with the extremist members of the democratic party, as well.
Sorry to start off topic, but since you couldn't resist getting that jab in at those of us who recognize damn well that was an attempted insurrection, I couldn't resist defending reality and the truth, which I have tried to hold as the through-line during my years of advocacy. I'll separate my comments on Doug's violations of our constitution and his gross--in actuality, criminal--refusal to abide by State statute on public records below. The two aren't entirely unconnected, in the end, as Doug would have never been able to get away with what he has been perpetrating over his tenure on a local level if the majority ruling party in the state of Florida hadn't been sanctioning, and even celebrating, its members running rip-shod over all sense of decorum, the constitution, and the rule of law itself as a backdrop.
--Melissa Pino
Jan 6, 2021 was not an insurrection.
Do not pay Underhill's fees then you wont have To pay Bear's fees either. Fair enough.
So,so happy to see justice. Thank you, David Bear,for sticking it out and getting this settled once and for all. Doug Underhill has been nothing but a burden and embarrassment to Escambia County. He's attacked many of his constituents online, especially women that disagree with him. I was weary that anything would ever be done about his unethical and narcissistic behavior.
To Bergosh, that last paragraph was really unnecessary and says alot about you, too. I will not forget that you used quotations for Insurrection. I will not forget that you downplayed the anniversary of the attack on our Democratic Republic.
Well, said, Melissa Pino!
Thanks, Laboosy. I want to review the court docs and my own notes on the SAO involvement before responding to some of the points made in Commissioner Bergosh's blog. But this "insurrection" thing didn't exactly spur me on, because when we've got elected officials in this country who either don't understand what happened that day or pretend that they don't, monster that Doug Underhill is locally, he pales in comparison to the far worse problem. Nobody is more relieved than me to see Doug's local reign of terror being put to rest. But compared with a majority of registered republicans drinking the koolaid for dictatorial autocrats trying to upend our democracy, Doug is just one tumor that had to be excised from a system that is nonetheless being overrun by liver problems poisoning the brain.
Everyone has their right to their own views and opinions--and I can agree to disagree and we can still get along. This said, I don't believe January 6th was an "insurrection." I believe it was a protest that got out of hand and became a riot. Those that trespassed and violated our laws should and will face consequences--nothing more, nothing less. And to believe it was a coordinated planned "insurrection" is absolutely ridiculous; a costumed mob with bear spray and flagpoles will never overthrow a nuclear superpower. I find an interesting corollary among most of those who think this was an actual attempt at a coup: They also tend to believe the media that tells them COVID came from a bat flying 600 miles to a Wuhan wet market where it interacted with a wolf pup, which in turn infected a pangolin, which some poor chinese citizen ate, and WHAM--that's the origin of COVID! (And don't bother looking into the high-security institute of viral studies around the corner, LOL) Funny how I never believed it was the bat--and I was looked at like a loon. fast forward a couple of years and I think lots of folks were duped about the bat. And the "insurrection" But hey--what difference does any of that make? This post isn't about that anyway, it's about us settling our case which is something everyone can agree is a good thing I hope.
1.
Good morning Commissioner Bergosh,
I didn't feel like blowing any weekend time on Doug Underhill, so put off a response on that til this morning, and see we're still doing the conspiracy theory promulgation thing. Okay.
It's such a great relief to me that I don't have to funnel my opinion and logic through platform politics, and particularly the GOP's lunacy at this particular moment in time, and deal with the painful effects of the cognitive dissonance that arises from it. Therefore I can hold the two following beliefs, as they are only mutually exclusive if a person's cognitive realities are determined by party dogma:
--From the first moment the potential global threat of covid19 came to my attention, I researched what little was known back then and said, "It's total bullshit this came out of the wet market. This is biowarfare or population control that leaked a lab."
--Successful insurrections and coups work because the people organizing them employ propaganda to harness the masses and, when possible, incite angry mobs to assist in the takeover. That's just 101. So yes, despite the fact that most of the people who breeched the wall didn't recognize that had been whipped into a force of insurrection, their situational awareness of what they were participating in doesn't define what happened that day, which was a pre-organized, systematic, well-financed and earnest attempt to coup our democracy and reinstall Trump by military means, if necessary.
To put it more simply, it's possible to understand that covid9 was very likely engineered at the same time it's possible to understand January 6th was a spontaneous insurrection resulting from a network of powerful people committing treason. It's really that simple.
2.
Of course most of the people who breeched the capitol walls had no idea they had been whipped into a lather by a group of ringleaders and financiers who had been planning it for weeks. A good percentage of those people still breeched the walls with their brains cooked on the idea that they had to "stop the steal"--in other words, disrupt a peaceful transition of power by any means possible, including potential violence. The rule of law does not indicate being under the sway of conspiracy theory as a defense for acts against the state. Do you think that all the rioters who spontaneously took to the streets in Guatemala City, and were bussed in at the last minute--ring any bells?--for the express purpose of manufacturing Black Thursday received an engraved invitation with "Rios Montt, Pending Dictator" calligraphied onto the envelope?
That's how these things are orchestrated. Just because it was a *failure* does not mean it was not a coup organized by an outgoing president of the United States, the propagandists assisting his autocratic goals, federal officials, military, and financiers does not mean it wasn't an attempt. That's a very strange definition of any act: the crime is in the intent, not in the outcome. If you haven't seen the evidence coming out of the January 6th investigations, I would be happy to point you to some sources. Googling "Bennie Thompson" will lead you to a variety of hard and fast information about how "lawmakers" helped coordinate with the network planning the insurrection, including identifying the 6 windows in the capitol buildings that had not been bomb proof reinforced, which is why those windows in particular were targeted and breeched.
I understand that 140 officers wounded, assaulted, and dead either in the moment, from the physical stress of the moment, and from suicide after doesn't rate as serious in your mind. But the fact--fact--is that the real attempt at an organized coup took place in the weeks leading up to Trump, Stone, et al intentionally inciting that protest, whipping it into a mob, and directing it to storm the capitol. (Stone had already brought to fruition a smaller yet successful riot in Miami Dade--look up "Brooks Brothers riot"--when he incited his cult following to invade a polling location in Miami Dade, and DID effectively cut off the count.)
So of course most of the people who breeched the capitol, assaulted cops, shit in the halls of the Capitol, and threatened the lives of lawmakers and Mike Pence weren't smoking the cigars in the back rooms the weeks leading up while the pipe bombs were being planned. Nor did they get the memo that there were indeed para military groups coordinating in advance. Were they very effective paramilitary groups? Thank goodness, no.
But the history of our democracy depends on those of us who are willing and able to shoulder the burden of reality for the people who will do anything to fool themselves that 2 + 2 = 5, because accepting that non reality is a lot more comfortable than pushing back against the forces who promulgate it.
3.
That's the way it always goes when a democracy (or relative democracy) is at its tipping point. It doesn't take a large network of bad actors to perpetrate it, once you've got a big percentage of the public to not just swallow that 2 + 2 = 5, but to kiss the rod raised to strike them. And historically speaking, if the democracy is to be saved, it often comes down to a relatively small percentage of its citizens who can see through the smog of the propaganda, keep their heads clear, and have the courage to speak out. Because in the end, this country's future comes down to whether it will be written by those of us who understand what happened that day, and aren't afraid to look it in the eye, or by those with blind party allegiance who will swallow any absurdity that the GOP's messaging machines can spin out. And yes, although we can agree to be civil in exchanges about that, there is no middle ground in how this historical moment will resolve: we will either be democracy stronger for having fought down the impulse of half our our country to gift their democracy to one of the most dangerous megalomaniacs in the history of the free world, or we will devolve into some form of fascism as yet to be determined.
As for the Bear suit, if the Board/County didn't have any legal culpability in not even attempting to correct the worst of Doug's illegalities, the judge would have dismissed the BOCC at the onset of the trial. She did not dismiss the BOCC, because the BOCC/County was bound to at least try to rectify Doug's refusal to act in accordance with the law, which the BOCC/County did not do, instead leaving it, for the most part, to the hands of a few citizens. Familiar theme, that.
David Bear will be on Rick Outzen WCOA Real talk this morning, so I'll hold further comment on his suits until afterwards. Hopefully he'll take the opportunity to straighten things out legally and procedurally.
--Melissa Pino
Spoken like a true communist propagandist with a one sided bias. Transparent.
Pino also calls Florida a banana republic. It matters not how long winded and well spoken she appears. She has delusions of intellectual superiority yet is an insignificant, ill informed boor either unable to process information and history or intent on jamming her distorted comprehensions and ideologies down unwilling victim's throats.
Back to the intent of the blog after being rudely hijacked. The PNJ did finally cover this.
Underhill publicly insulted Bear and his family and Bear had plenty of money to spend for pay back. There fixed it for you.
But of course Underhill is saying he is sued for noble reasons. No it is because of him typing smack on ECW about anybody and everybody. Funny Arduini is posting about Santa Rosa commissioners wives using their accounts. Wendy did that and we all know it. It's on a blog here. Underhill doesn't want to release all his Facebook propaganda because it exposes him. Too bad, only nine people threw down like reactions. You can fool some of the people some of the time. What a waste of time and effort spent on Dunderhills.
Didn’t the county used to have a policy against commissioners using social media including blogs to discuss county business. Seems like good policy
It amazes me how many people confuse Mel's ability to write, and she's quite good, for intelligence. If anybody has fallen for conspiracy theories it would be her. She keeps regurgitating falsehoods and fails to acknowledge what we all know as truth. If she sincerely believes the January 6th commission is an unbiased group intent on revealing facts then she is sadly mistaken.
This is a form of blackmail and bribery. If the citizens and board can’t see that, wow!!
Wowsie. 724 is Arduini commenting.
LOL. Somethings remain the same.
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Yes it does attract people like Mel and Alex. Peas in a pod. Squawking about blackmail insurrection.
�� No one thinks a bat flew 600 miles to a Wuhan market.
Seriously?
Are you desperately trying to refer to the exotic and unethical animal markets, where people hunt and bring back animals to the markets, keep them in squalor, and slaughter them in an incredibly unhygienic environment for human consumption? If you're going to try to downplay covid, maybe get the origin story (that for some reason you find unfeasible) correct.
Weird.
Also, the purpose of that "riot" that got out of hand was to overturn a fair election. That's called insurrection. Attempted coup. Whatever. And for a commissioner's blog, you've got a lot of emojis.
Anonymous 9:49: I have actually lived in the far east. For a number of years. I know what a wet market is, naturally. I simply never believed it was the wet market and not the bioweapons lab around the corner that caused COVID-19 like the Chinese Communist Party, WHO, and David Muir have you believing. Looks like I was right all along and folks like you keep drinking the Kool Aid. No, I don't believe that story because it was garbage. No, I don't buy the fiction that January 6th was an "insurrection". And again, I'll state it again for you to read slowly: A mob of folks with walkie-talkies, flagpoles, and pepper spray will never, ever take down the strongest superpower in the world-- a country with servicemembers in 82 countries around the world. That's rank and utter stupidity even from those who HATE the "Orange man". Nope, that's the fallacious clarion call of the derranged left who know what's coming for them in the midterms later this fall: The red wave. Because the current trajectory of our nation under the guy who doesn't even know where he is half the time, complete with the inflation and high gas prices, is a slow-motion train wreck we are all living through. Disaster of the worst sort. But hey, if you want to conflate mistreatment of animals with worldwide pandemics while attempting to act intelligent and serving to excuse the misdeeds of those in power in places like China, go for it. And yes, I sometimes use emojis. And sometimes I'll even start sentences with a preposition. :)
Because it's impossible to debate opinions that are filtered through indoctrination of one kind or another, I chose to exit the discussion of the January 6th insurrection for a while, rather continue to point out the obvious,the definition of that word "insurrection" is the idea of success at overtaking power. An insurrection is an uprising; a coup is an actual seizure of power. (Diction matters for logic.) And as for the nuclear power red herring, "Pitchforks" has become synonymous with uprisings for exactly the reason that it hasn't taken much more to topple empires numerous times in the past.
Figured instead I'd simply wait for the sedition charges that people thinking for themselves on this issue, rather than issuing opinion programmed in by their political party, could see coming a mile away.
This, of course, is just the beginning. The Oath Keepers are on the bottom rung of the attempted coup. Watch them flip their way up, up, up the ladder.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/doj-indicts-oath-keepers-leader-members-seditious-conspiracy/story?id=82245950&fbclid=IwAR0oyEs87oEhJxjsoRUEowbF_qmsQ-d_LiIyP-4kO475wneKCUk2R-3sy3I
The national election of 2020 was stolen. At least this local sicko trying to win a local race cannot shut up. It will be interesting to watch just how bad she will lose the D2 race if she will stay the course. Bets on. I bet she will get less than 6 votes. If she drops out who will she blame it on. You.
Clearly the coup began the moment Trump won in 2016 by Soros and his corrupt partisan players in Congress plus globalists, democrats and people just like Melissa Pino.
You have to wonder is she really that stupid.
The Times and Washington Post and other people who hate the Republic of United States of America and also the Constitution keep contributing to the propaganda.
The riot Jan 6 was just the tip of the iceberg of what is coming.
One is a fool to keep thinking otherwise.
Underhill is a loudmouth jerk. It has cost him dearly.
So what. Don't reward that behavior by bailing him out of his legal problems he brought on himself.
Really no point debating the Jan 6 riot with partisan hacks. The danger to our government is happening with the Biden authoratative administration labeling parents domestic terrorists, politicizing the department of Justice with people like Merrick Garland and on a local leval people spreading disinformation conflating even an indictment of sedition with insurrection. No one on the right attempted overthrow the government of the USA on Jan 6. Perhaps they attempted to interrupt a corrupt process when what was supposed to happen was the concerns of voter fraud were to be heard and under the 12th amendment to the US constitution a contingent election could have occurred. True -- violence is what stopped that from happening and no matter how many times the media or the Pelosi crowd or people parroting the ignorance say it was anything but that does not change the facts.
The democrats have summoned up a mighty thunderstorm and they are going to hear from us this next election.
Underhill's mouth/ typing is source of his troubles.
The most disgusting behavior is her/them using race on MLK Jr day to push for Democrat party politics to solidify the ability to cheat and take away authority of states to monitor the polls. To use divisive racial rhetoric to divide to push through American Marxism is incorrigible especially on the anniversary of MLK Jr.
There is a proclamation directly from the white house. They call it voter rights legislation but it is an attempt to solidfy power and push through a socialist agenda. Voter ID is Americanism, as well as a filibuster in the senate to prevent radical ill thought out agenda.
This behavior is beyond reproach. They want one party power and they is no longer equal protection under the law. The USA is in trouble and it's not good trouble.
The NSA and FBI are corrupt as demonstrated during the messaging to the hostage crisis in Texas.. The federal government needs a revamp and we better get these democrats and radicals out of politics.
We have a constutional republic if we can keep it.
At least Underhill isn't a communist sympathizer. We need a republican in office for D2 and don't let anyone posing as an NPA even a toe in the door of local politics.
Hysterical claims of DeSantis being a homicidal maniac and comparing him to Hitler is beyond ridiculous. Someone needs to do a few of these people a favor and advise them to stop while they are ahead. Find something useful and productive to do with your life and stop making fools of yourself publicly. There, that was a freebie.
UNDERHIL YOU PAVED THE WAY to show what not to do.
The D Sewell voter bill named the Lewis bill is terrible. I can't believe anyone with a brain would support that. However all it takes is for someone to say voting rights and dim wits are all in. Fools. It won't pass but it is alarming to witness how stupid people are.
Saveourelections.com
What do you think about Doug Underhill on Escambia Citizens Watch publicly posting that he lives in D5 off the grid with no running water in a RV. So is not against code to live with no septic tank nor running water.
Anonymous 10:50 PM, I have an eerie feeling that Doug will be running against Steven Barry in the next election. He is establishing residency per requirements, and he seems to have some backing with the populace in the area. God, I hope I'm just being a conspiracy theory nut...... regardless, I would never vote for him, not even for Dog Catcher.
Maybe he will run for the FL house D1. I would vote for him over a Democrat.
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