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Bear tries to open a bear-proof trash can at a testing facility near Yellowstone National Park.

Miami media get all sentimental over the closing of Jumbo's and miss part of the story

Miami Herald, July 23, 2014.
(Click to enlarge. )

Landmark restaurant Jumbo's is serving up its last plate of shrimp today.

The eatery, a Miami mainstay at NW 7th Ave. and 75th Street, is shutting down after almost 60 years in business.

And every single media outlet in town is covering the story. The restaurant's closing even made page one of today's New York Times.

But it would be an understatement to say that much of the coverage of Jumbo's closing is a bit mawkish. (See Calvin Hughes' report above for proof of just how mawkish.)

There's no denying that owner Bobby Flam broke ground in the 1967 or 1968 when he bucked the trend in Miami and hired three black workers.

And in the video below, Flam explains that in early 1968 he stopped the practice of forcing black customers to order their food at Jumbo's back door.





But what's not mentioned in any of this week's coverage of Jumbo's closing is that downtown Miami lunch counters were integrated in August 1960.

(Integration of Dade County schools began as early as 1959.)

Flam was a little late to the party.

________


WTVJ news film of integration of downtown  Miami lunch counters in Aug. 1960.

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Also missing from the fawning and syrupy coverage of the past few days is the fact that for years, Jumbo's was not exactly a groundbreaker when it came to restaurant cleanliness.

In 1973, a WTVJ cub reporter named Bob Mayer followed Dade County restaurant inspectors around Miami for a series of reports he called "Not On the Menu."

One inspector told Mayer that a meat slicer at Jumbo's hadn't been cleaned in a year. Mayer closed out his report by noting that the inspectors had given Jumbo's a sanitation rating of "filthy."

Mayer returned to Jumbo's with inspectors a few days later and interviewed Flam, who astonishingly told him that he wasn't aware of how to "maintain cleanliness" in a restaurant.

Jumbo's manager Bobby Flam being interviewed in 1973 on his
restaurant's lack of cleanliness. "I wasn't aware of what to do."

But that was then.

Forty years later, as the saying goes, "old habits are hard to break.

On September 27 of last year, State restaurant inspectors temporarily shut down Jumbo's after citing the place for 37 violations that included things like rodent activity.

And just last March, inspectors found 27 violations - 8 of them "high priority."

I'm sure Jumbo's regulars will miss the place, but the sad fact is this dump should have been closed 10 years ago.

Miami TV news operations exist for one reason: To scare the sh*t out of you!

So there I was scanning my Facebook newsfeed for important news stories when this headline jumped out at me: "Davie girl OK after bite by garden snake."

I clicked the link which led me to the website of a well-known Miami TV station ... you know, the one with "Plex" in its name.

The only reason I clicked is because I figured there had to be more to the story. After all, if it was a non-poisonous snake and the girl was OK, where's the story?

Here's what I found:

A South Florida girl and her father had a scare Tuesday after she was bitten by a snake in her neighborhood.

Davie resident Martin Castro said he and his daughter were walking outside their home, along Southwest 71st Terrace and 40th Court, when suddenly she started crying.

Castro said he picked her up and saw what had happened. "I started panicking because I didn't know exactly what it was, but I saw the bite on her leg, and that's when I noticed it was a snake because she was pointing it out to it, and I got a little, I got scared."

As it turns out, Castro's daughter had been bitten by a common garden snake, which is not venomous.

That's right, there was no story.

However, there are about a dozen phrases that send Miami TV newsrooms into overdrive...and "snake bite" is one of them. "Shark attack" is another. You get the idea.

But in South Florida, there's a higher likelihood that someone will die a horrible death in a fiery car crash on I-95 than there is that someone will die from a snake bite. (A four-year-old boy from Bryceville, FL, died last month, one week after being bitten by a timber rattler.)

Deaths from snake bites are extremely rare. In the United States, about five people a year die after being bitten by a poisonous snake.

But don't take my word for it.

It has been estimated that 7,000–8,000 people per year receive venomous [snake] bites in the United States, and about 5 of those people die. [Source: CDC]

Thousands of people are stung by insects each year, and as many as 90–100 people in the United States die as a result of allergic reactions. [Source: CDC]

The fact is you have a greater chance of dying from a wasp or bee sting than you do of succumbing to a snake bite. But no Miami TV reporter will ever include those facts in a story of this kind.

Why?

Because TV news directors have a dirty little secret that they don't want you to know: TV news operations don't exist to inform. Their sole mission is to scare the sh*t out of you.

Here's how another TV station covered the story. They even scrambled a helicopter.

Listen to Local 10 reporter Neki Mohan describe how the snake "jumped out of the bushes."

Wow! A jumping snake?

Tell me more, Neki!

Your lunch hour time waster

Dean Potter, famous rock climber, high-liner and human flyer, wingsuit BASE jumps with his dog, Whisper, from the Eiger, Switzerland.

Michael Putney rips Rick Scott for disrespecting Florida voters

During a brief phone conversation today, veteran Miami Herald political reporter Marc Caputo told me that many voters usually wait until two or three weeks before an important election before deciding who to vote for.

If you're in that undecided category when it comes to choosing between Rick Scott and Charlie Crist in the upcoming gubernatorial race, here are a few things to consider.

Last March, a Tampa Bay Times editorial said this of Scott: "In three years Scott has done more harm [to Florida] than any modern governor."

Not convinced?

How about this? During Scott's 2010 campaign, he got a dog. After he won the election, he gave the dog away! We all know what good judges of character dogs are, and "Reagan" - that was the dog's name - apparently couldn't stand to live in the same house with Scott.

This time around Scott is showing his "human" side by Tweeting lots of pictures of his grandson.

Hopefully he won't put the little tyke up for adoption if he's re-elected.

Scott

And here's one more thing to consider:

Imagine you're stopped at a red light in a sketchy part of town at 11:30 at night.

You're a bit distracted because you're shuffling through some papers in your briefcase which is sitting on the passenger seat.

Suddenly you hear a tap on the window. You look over and see the guy on the left, peering through the window and holding up a sign: "Got Any Spare Change?"

What would you do? You'd hit the gas, of course.

So why would we want to hand over the keys to the Governor's Mansion for another four years to a guy who looks like that?

But on a more serious note, why would Floridians vote for a candidate who disrespects them every chance he gets?

Over the weekend, Local 10's Michael Putney closed out his Sunday show by talking about the many ways in which Scott disrespects the people whose votes he seeks.

Putney

Before we leave you this morning, a personal perspective about our Governor Rick Scott, and his refusal to answer direct and legitimate questions.

He just doesn't do it, and that is troubling.

Now let's be clear. We're not talking about inconsequential, or questions that are too personal. Any politician can ignore those with impunity. The questions Rick Scott ignores, or simply refuses to answer, are legitimate.

For example, on Friday, one day after a judge in the Keys ruled that Florida's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional, I asked the governor about a statement that his office had issued. Take a listen. 

Putney: "Aren't gay people, people of the same sex when they try to get a marriage license, and can't, is that not discrimination? Scott: "I'm against any discrimination. But in 2008 the voters decided this would be a traditional marriage state." 

Well, he is against discrimination and for traditional marriage....that's his story and he is sticking to it. 

[Read the full transcript of Putney's exchange with Gov. Scott below via the Miami Herald's Naked Politics blog.]

You ask Rick Scott a question, he will fix you with a big smile and recite a prepared response that usually is evasive and off point. Ask him again, he says virtually the same thing word for word.

He repeats his talking points to the point of stupefaction. And this week, [CNN's] Anderson Cooper ridiculed the governor for doing that. He says Scott's repetitive canned answers "insult our intelligence."

 

And he is right. They certainly do. One reason the governor can get away with this is because reporters are held in slightly lower esteem than politicians. 

We understand that. But what you should remember is that we are your surrogates. We are asking these questions because that's our job, that's what you want to know. And when the governor doesn't answer, he's really refusing to answer you. 

I will keep asking Governor Scott questions that matter on your behalf. And when he refuses to answer just understand, it is not me he is disrespecting, it's you.

 
One last thought: If Scott is this evasive and vague during an election campaign, just imagine the bullshit that awaits us if he gets re-elected.

From the Herald's Naked Politics blog, by Marc Caputo:

What used to be well-known only to political print reporters in Florida is now seeping into local TV news across the state: Rick Scott won’t directly answer questions about most topics of the day.

The most-recent example: Gay marriage and the decision Thursday by a Florida Keys judge to declare the 2008 voter-approved same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. On Friday at two events, the governor wouldn’t really say what he thought of the ruling or Florida Attorney Pam Bondi's appeal.

“Nobody wants discrimination in our state,” Scott said in Bonita Springs, adding that he believes “in traditional marriage” and citizens’ access to the courts.

Gay-rights groups say the same-sex marriage ban discriminates against them, but the ban’s backers say their votes are being discriminated against by judicial activism.

So what discrimination is Scott against? Scott won’t say.

“Aren’t you trying to have it both ways?” WPLG’s Michael Putney asked Scott Friday in Miami. “People have different view about it in our state,” Scott replied. “But in 2008, the voters decided that this state would be a traditional marriage state. It’s going through the court system. But what’s important to me is I don’t want anybody discriminated against.”

Putney: "Aren’t gays being discriminated against?"

Scott: “I’m against any discrimination. But in 2008, the voters decided this would be a traditional marriage state.”

Putney: “Are you…”

Scott (cutting him off): “Let’s talk about jobs – 37,000 jobs in a month! It’s the biggest jump! Michael! Michael! This is our biggest month since I got elected,” Scott said. “We’re over 620,000 jobs [created]. When I ran in 2010, I said seven steps to 700,000 jobs over seven years. And a lot of people questioned whether we could do that…. We’re at 620,000. What’s so exciting is 37,000 a month. I mean I just still think about my dad, watching his face when the only car we had got repossessed. That’s what I want to help with.”

Putney: “Well, congratulations on these numbers.”

How to raise a wimp

America's moms and dads, according to one academic, have micromanaged the lives of their sons to such an extent that they're not prepared to do much of anything ... except live at home with mom and dad.

Via NPR: According to Michael Kimmel, a professor at Stony Brook University and director of the Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities, "Millennial males are significantly more likely than millennial females to live at home. We are talking about 40 percent compared to 32 percent."

["Millennial males are] also the most over-parented generation in history. They've had their parents micromanaging every nanosecond of their life." - sociologist Michael Kimmel