Stephen Colbert would not want to split a check with Bernie Sanders

Last night, Stephen Colbert did an impression "that could forever define Bernie Sanders."

Fabiola Santiago, the Miami Herald's most fraudulent columnist, apparently doesn't bother reading the Miami Herald

"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!"

I immediately thought of that line from the classic 1942 film "Casablanca" as I read Fabiola Santiago's column in this morning's Miami Herald.

Santiago, the Herald's most fraudulent columnist, is just now learning — and she's shocked, SHOCKED! — that Cubans who are in the U.S. thanks to the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, have for years been using their special status to defraud the United States government.

In this morning's paper Santiago writes:

Evidence has been mounting for far too many years that wholesale fraud is being committed by Cubans taking advantage of the extraordinary privileges that U.S. immigration law bestows only upon them.

Cases of Medicare and Medicaid embezzlement by recent waves of Cuban immigrants — now living as U.S. fugitives in Cuba and enjoying their stolen wealth — have been well documented in federal court and by the Miami Herald. And now a year-long investigation by the Sun Sentinel, based on hundreds of documents and reporting trips to Cuba, highlights widespread abuse and theft at a cost to U.S. taxpayers in excess of $2 billion.

The Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 has become a revolving door for these thieves to obtain easy access to Florida, become U.S. residents and return to Cuba to live on fraudulently obtained money.　　

Apparently Santiago would have us believe that despite the fact that she writes almost exclusively about Miami's Cuban community, she was totally unaware — until she read about it in a competing newspaper — that Cuban criminals have been committing Medicare and other kinds of fraud for years.

Back in 2008, Herald federal courts reporter Jay Weaver thoroughly documented cases of Medicare fraud by Cubans, including that of the Benitez brothers.  

Maybe Santiago was on vacation the week Weaver's stories appeared in the paper.

Medicare fraud fugitives evade capture

by Jay Weaver

The Benitez brothers were masters of Medicare fraud, prosecutors say.

They spent their Medicare millions on Mediterranean-style homes, apartments, hotels, boats, a helicopter, even a water park -- all in the resort area of Bavaro, Dominican Republic, court records show.

After they were indicted on fraud charges in late May, Carlos, Jose and Luis Benitez used their Cuban passports to travel from Miami to the Dominican Republic, then to Cuba.

The three brothers are accused of defrauding the U.S. government's health insurance program by billing $110 million in false claims for HIV drug-infusion treatments at their dozen Miami-Dade clinics. Medicare paid their companies about $84 million in reimbursements between 2001 and 2004, according to federal authorities and court records. 

The Benitezes -- who came to this country in 1995 and became U.S. citizens five years later -- have a lot of company. They are among 56 fugitives charged since 2004 with filing at least $272 million in phony Medicare claims before disappearing from Miami-Dade. Collectively, the fugitives absconded with at least $142 million in taxpayer funds.

In 2008, Myriam Marquez, who was then a Herald columnist, followed up on Weaver's piece with a column titled, "Wet or dry, policy should be the same."

U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno, who has handled several Medicare scam cases involving Cuban defendants, is right to warn his colleagues about the flight risks.

"It seems to me that our thinking has to change," Moreno noted during a June hearing when he learned that Carmen Gonzalez, charged in an $11 million scam, had left for Cuba. "We always think here in Miami that if you're a Cuban refugee, you're not going to go back to Cuba.

"I'm wondering whether a Jew leaving Nazi Germany can go back and forth to visit the relatives. I would suspect you couldn't."

Santiago, who is the Herald's Chief Apologist for all things having to do with the Cuban exile community, has argued that Cubans deserve the special status afforded them by the Cuban Adjustment Act.

After all, they're fleeing a brutal dictatorship.

But in this morning's column she writes: "I believe in the humanitarian role of a country open to refugees and in the economic benefit generated by the energy of hard-working immigrants. But an out-of-date law meant to protect the politically persecuted is being made a mockery of by people cashing in on the generosity of Americans."

Better late than never, Fabi.

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Sun Sentinel: U.S. welfare flows to Cuba - “They’re taking benefits from the American taxpayer to subsidize their life in another country.”

Sun Sentinel: Plundering America, the Cuban Criminal Pipeline

Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine wants you to know that his many neighborhoods are 'bone dry' thank you very much

In the newspaper business this is what's known
as "unfortunate ad placement."
via MiamiHerald.com

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On his website, Miami Beach Mayor Philip "Just Get It Done!" Levine says "Our flood mitigation program is just in the early phase with only 10% of the program having been completed to date and we are already seeing encouraging results."

But it's safe to say that Levine never envisioned at least one benefit his "flood mitigation program" would provide Beach residents.

While crews got busy "mitigating" in neighborhoods where Levine has extensive real estate holdings, other areas were neglected.

And that means that many folks on the Beach are now getting to know each other just a little bit better.

Yesterday, veteran Miami Herald photographer Walt Michot captured these images of Miami Beach residents pitching to help neighbors and co-workers who have been affected by the flooding.

Father-and-son Carlos Coello Sr. and Carlos Coello Jr. give 
Maria Posada, 65, a lift back to her condo in Miami Beach 
on Friday, Oct. 9, 2015. 
Photographs by Walt Michot/Miami Herald.

Red South Beach Hotel doorman Jose Salazar carries fellow employee 
Daysi Rodriguez over floodwaters on Miami Beach on Friday, Oct. 9, 2015.
(Click image to enlarge)

Curiously, there aren't any pictures of Miami Beach firefighters helping stranded elderly citizens. That's probably because they're too busy out campaigning for Levine. 

And while Mayor Levine's ad agency is feverishly churning out one ad after another in an attempt to convince Beach residents that he's got the flooding situation under control, the Herald found at least one person who's not convinced.

“It wasn’t like this last year,” said Jennifer Hernandez, a supervisor at the Alden Hotel on Indian Creek Drive. She was handing guests trash bags to wrap around their legs as they stepped into the water in front of the hotel.

“We can’t control mother nature,” Hernandez said as she surveyed the wakes created by cars moving through the water.

But over at 10th Street and Alton Road — less than three miles from the Alden Hotel where Hernandez works — it's a different story.

I'll let Miami Beach spokesperson Nannette Rodriguez explain: “Sunset Harbor is bone dry. You used to not be able to get into the Publix, and it’s all dry. Even Purdy Avenue is dry. Tenth and Alton: totally dry,” Rodriguez told the Miami Herald's Joey Flechas a few days ago.

So why are some locations "bone dry" while others are under feet of water?

Call it happenstance, but the building that sits at Tenth and Alton is owned by Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine. Flechas never shared that information with his readers.

And the Sunset Harbor and Purdy Avenue locations also mentioned by Rodriguez? If you guessed that Levine also has real estate holdings at Purdy and Sunset Harbor, you guessed correctly. Flechas also neglected to include that bit of equally important information in his story.

(Click here to see a complete list of Levine's real estate holdings in the Sunset Harbor and Purdy Avenue neighborhoods.)

The video below speaks volumes. It isn't as slick as Levine's campaign ads, but the pictures say it all.

Miami beach Mayor Philip Levine owns this building at 
10th Street and Alton Road, Miami Beach.
Images via Google Street View, July 2015.
(Click photos to enlarge)

Last month, John Blanding of the Boston Globe shot a picture at a movie premiere that started an Internet conversation

“Happiness, not in another place but this place...not for another hour, but this hour.” ― Walt Whitman

John Blanding is a photographer at the Boston Globe.

Last month he covered the U.S. premiere of the movie, "Black Mass."

Blanding took the usual shots of the stars arriving and posing on the red carpet.

But he also took the shot below that's started an Internet conversation.

Click on the image and see if you can spot the reason why everyone is talking about it.

Photograph by John Blanding/Boston Globe.
(Click image to enlarge)

Everyone’s Sharing This Picture To Make A Point About Modern Life
After this crowd photo at a movie premiere in Massachusetts went viral, it started a discussion - are smartphones ruining or enhancing our modern life experience?
Posted by BuzzFeed News on Tuesday, October 6, 2015

VIDEO: Motorcyclist texts while fleeing police

FLEEING MOTORCYCLIST GOES HANDS FREE TO TEXT DURING PURSUIT. MCSO AIR 1, FORCES SUSPECT TO STOP AFTER INTENSE CHASE. STAY WITH MCSO FB FOR ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AND VIDEO.
Posted by Martin County Sheriff's Office on Thursday, October 1, 2015

Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine may not be a dictator....but he's mastered the art of looking like one

Photography was invented sometime in the early 1800s.

But it wasn't until the early to mid-20th century that politicians realized the power of photographs and their ability to sway opinion.

Adolf Hitler was probably the first to use photographs on a regular basis for propaganda purposes.

Starting in 1936, Hitler never went anywhere without his personal photographer in tow.

From TIME.com:

In the late 1930s, very few photographers were using color film. German photographer Hugo Jaeger was an early adopter, and when Adolf Hitler was introduced to Jaeger’s work, he liked what he saw.

“The future,” Hitler reportedly told Jaeger, “belongs to color photography.”

Between 1936 and 1945, Jaeger was granted unprecedented access to Hitler, traveling and chronicling, in color, the Fuhrer and his confidants at small gatherings, public events and, quite often, in private moments. 

Hitler is long gone, but dictators and despots still use photographs to burnish their image.

There's no shortage of images of brutal, sadistic tyrants posing with smiling children, adoring adults, pets, and men in uniform.

I started thinking about this early this morning after looking at some photographs of an event that Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine hosted for seniors last night.

Now no one is saying that Phil Levine is a dictator...although at times he acts like one.

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Earlier: Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine engages in a little 'hero self-worship'

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But as I browsed the photos he posted on Facebook, I couldn't help but notice the similarity to  historic photographs of some of history's most despised dictators.

The caption for the photo below reads: "Amazing campaign Gala with our ‪#‎MiamiBeach‬ seniors! Salsa dancing and wonderful music. ¡Simplemente Hazlo! ‪#‎VoteLevine‬ ‪#‎LevineForMayor‬"

Click this and all images to enlarge.

Notice how similar Levine's expression is to that of Chairman Mao's in the Communist propaganda poster below. I also love how the photographer has masterfully framed the shot that shows Levine surrounded by ecstatic supporters.

Here's another shot from last night's event....

....that bears an eerie similarity to this Soviet-era poster.

Spend any of amount of time looking at Levine's photos and you come away with the feeling that he's being advised by someone who once worked as a political advisor for a Banana Republic dictator, and someone who believes that the occasional use of Photoshop is OK just as long as it's done badly.

Bad Photoshop is better than no Photoshop!

Here's another shot from Levine's Facebook page....

Pair the image above with this shot of North Korea's Kim Jong Un....

Dictators are also fond of posing with men and women in uniform. Levine is no exception.

An absolute must for any dictator's portfolio are shots that show he loves and connects with the little ones!

Fidel Castro with children in 2002.

Fidel Castro with schoolchildren. (1959)
[via]

You can't call yourself a dictator unless your subjects whip themselves into an uncontrollable frenzy while in your presence.

Dictators are also fond of showing that they love their four-legged subjects just like they were people.

So, if you're a Miami Beach voter, you should stop by Levine's Facebook page as often as possible and look at the photographs.

After all, you're paying for this crap.