It's almost impossible to look at the City of Miami today without discovering example after example of gross incompetence, graft, corruption and a kind of political fuck you-ism being practiced by both the city's elected and appointed officials. All of it bolstering the claim that Miami continues to be among the most, if not the most corrupt big city in America.

As bad as the history of Miami has been that the New York Times labeled it being labeled, "a city that produces a limitless number of crooked politicians," the situation has actually become demonstrably worse in the last year under the Suarez administration.

In addition to the countless examples of unethical, illegal and even outright criminal behavior that represent a new norm for how the city is being governed, a lot of this behavior is also tied to the way that the overwhelming number of Cuban exile politicians have taken to playing the Cuban Card at every opportunity.

Exploiting ethnic divisions for political gain has always been a cornerstone of municipal politics, and in Miami, Cuban exiles were quick not only understand how the game was played, but equally quick over the last 50 years to exploit any and every opportunity to use, and abuse, the suffering of the Cuban people for their own personal and financial benefit.

The choice by Francis Suarez to use the "Freedom Tower" to deliver his  State of the City address tomorrow is the latest example of this kind of exploitation.

As a result of the recent craziness in Washington, there has developed a new recognition that the locations where politicians deliver speeches such as the State Of The Union, the State iof The State and the State of The City should be places where ALL citizens can feel not only a shared sense of equalness, but where the location is considered politically neutral.

Even Donald Trump understood this when he decided several days ago that delivering his annual State Of The Union speech in any other location other than in the House Chambers of the US Capital would not be appropriate.

Francis Suarez on the other hand decided this year, that for the first time, City Hall was no longer appropriate for a State Of The City address, and that of all of the other possible locations available - of which there are few - chose the "Freedom Tower," to deliver his State Of The City address,

This is a location which not only holds a significant place in the history of the earliest Cuban exiles fleeing Cuba after the takeover by Fidel Castro, but it's also a location which last year was invoked by Jorge Mas, the son of the late Jorge Mas Canosa, the founder of the Cuban American National Foundation, as the location that best demonstrated his family's commitment to the Cuban exile community, the city, and his family's legacy as civic benefactors.

Unfortunately, as inspiring and uplifting as Jorge Mas's claim was that his family donated the "Freedom Tower" to Miami-Dade Community College, "so it could live forever," that claim actually turned out to be nothing more than a self-serving lie which was audacious and brazen for the fact that it could so easily be disproved.

In the first of two lawsuits recently filed by attorney David Winker against the City over a process that included private backroom negotiations between Mayor Francis Suarez and Jorge Mas that leading to the referendum vote giving Mas and David Beckham along with his other partners an exclusive no-bid opportunity to negotiate a contract to take over the Melresse Golf Course , Winker debunked Mas' claim and described how the "Freedom Tower" actually was given to the Miami-Dade Community College.

For a venerable building that has played such an important part in the history of the city, it's a shame that the Freedom Tower has also become a prop used to hustle the citizens of Miami by Jorge Mas, and now Francis Suarez.

This year's State Of The City speech also follows the failure of Suarez to convince residents of Miami that he could be entrusted with the powers of a Strong Mayor last November.

It's now apparent that in 2019, Suarez is attempting to double down by attempting to create an illusion that he is more than a part-time ceremonial mayor, and this staging of his State Of The City address as a major media event in a historic venue to his Cuban base, and that will allow for a larger audience - an audience that common sense can expect to be seeded with Suarez loyalists and others "encouraged" to attend is part of that effort.

No matter how many people he hires to bolster his image, write his speeches and employ the media manipulation tricks that have become a staple of modern political life, or how many claims he makes about the city overcoming sea level rise, income inequality, and the development of housing stock that is affordable for a population whose median family income is $33,999 - according to the US Census, the family median income in the United States is $73,891 - the real facts about the state of Miami are that the city will continue to remain the American city most in peril as a result of sea level rise, it will continue to be a top five contender for the title of city with the highest income inequality, and it will continue to favor and support the construction of housing stock for wealthy individuals, who more often than not are from other countries looking for a place to park some of their money.

And just like last year, and the year before that, and the decade before that, Miami will continue to be a city with levels of political corruption, gross incompetence and unethical behavior that can best be summed up as:

The State Of Miami Is Bad, And Getting Worse!