Columns

There are two strikes going against former Gov. Jeb Bush if he decides to run for president in 2016, according to what is termed conventional wisdom.

WASHINGTON -- Former President George W. Bush once said, rather proudly, that he didn't read newspapers. President Barack Obama, a confirmed newsie, has claimed to read the major papers, perhaps to learn what's going on in his own administration.

Memorial Day will likely bring alarmist headlines in the elite media about a populist fever raging in Europe, and manifest in the shocking returns from the elections for the European Parliament.

My college-age children often ask me, How did you make it through school without the Internet?

This story has a very troubling start, but a pretty satisfying conclusion -- if it really is the conclusion.

The summer of 2013 was a watershed event for the Indian River Lagoon -- no pun intended. Its unique flora and fauna were decimated as the result of huge amounts of fresh water and pollutants entering the lagoon, causing lower salinity levels and massive algae blooms.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota says it has 10,000 lakes. The state also has, according to Anthony Sanders, "10,000 campaign finance laws." He exaggerates, but understandably. As an attorney for Minnesota's chapter of the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public-interest law firm, Sanders represents several Minnesotans whose First Amendment rights of free speech and association are burdened by an obviously arbitrary, notably complex and certainly unconstitutional restriction.

WASHINGTON -- Just when you thought American higher learning couldn't get any more ridiculous, along come demands for warning labels on provocative works of literature.

We have all received phishing scams, even though you may not realize it. How many times has a legitimate-looking email come to your in-box asking you to confirm or provide financial information?

LONDON -- British politics has a familiar look to Americans, with a center-right Conservative Party and a center-left Labour Party resembling America's Republicans and Democrats.

WASHINGTON -- Standing on his presidential limousine, Lyndon Johnson, campaigning in Providence, R.I., in September 1964, bellowed through a bullhorn: "We're in favor of a lot of things and we're against mighty few." This was a synopsis of what he had said four months earlier.

There's a debate among economists about why a college degree is worth so much. That the credential is valuable is not in doubt. According to the Pew Research Center, college graduates earn about $17,500 more annually than high school grads. Why?

WASHINGTON -- Mass schoolgirl kidnapping in Nigeria -- to tweet or not to tweet? Is hashtagging one's indignation about some outrage abroad an exercise in moral narcissism or a worthy new way of standing up to bad guys?

CHICAGO -- Democracy can be cruel because elections deprive the demos of the delight of alibis and the comfort of complaining. Illinois voters have used many elections to make theirs the worst-governed state, with about $100 billion in unfunded public pension promises, and $6.7 billion in unpaid bills. The state is a stark illustration of prolonged one-party rule conducted by politicians subservient to government employees unions.

Within the next few weeks, the Legislature will officially deliver the fiscal 2014-15 budget to Gov. Rick Scott for his perusal and ultimate approval.