Columns

The descent of American capitalism into a racket is being greased by professed capitalists in government, in collaboration with professed capitalists in what is called, with decreasing accuracy, the private sector. This is occurring under the auspices of Republicans, and while many Democrats are arguing, with some accuracy but more incoherence, this: The government has become a servant of grasping private interests -- and should be much bigger and more interventionist.

It has been a tougher-than-expected start to the general election campaign for gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis. Since stumbling out of the gate following his solid primary win, the polls have shown his opponent, Andrew Gillum, consistently leading, albeit usually within the margin of error. With a month to go before the election, that is a bridgeable gap, and one DeSantis is now working to cover.

News on most days comes straight out of President Trump's smartphone. Everything else is scraps.

Florida’s economy is booming. With the passage of tax reform and smart regulatory reforms, consumers have more money in their pockets to travel and Florida is a prime location. In fact, Florida tourism numbers reached a record high in the first quarter of 2018 and Florida’s economy recently topped $1 trillion. However, recent legislation co-sponsored by our own Republican Rep. Francis Rooney would hike all Americans’ gas prices and jeopardize Florida’s economy.

The spectacle of the Ford-Kavanaugh hearing last week was riveting, as many of us across the country watched their testimony.

In 1998, while a student at Harvard College, Chris King ran for president of the Harvard student government, the Undergraduate Council. He lost. In reflecting on his campaign the following year in a Newhouse News Service article, King blamed the Harvard student newspaper, the Crimson, for his loss. “I was nailed to the cross,” said King, in referring to the coverage of his race by the Crimson. “And most of the editorial staff that was so hard on me, the vast majority were Jewish.”

Twice during Tuesday night's debate Sen. Bill Nelson bemoaned the state of Florida teachers' salaries -- "they're $10,000 less than the national average for teachers," he said. 

Inconsistencies dogging the Janet Cruz campaign for Florida Senate not only include key political issues but more fundamental representations, such as her name and address.

If you've paid attention even the slightest to the Senate confirmation hearing/roundup/clown show/fiesta-fiasco surrounding Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, then you are aware of the numerous dramatic hysterics that have been attached. Following a moderately contentious hearing, suddenly a rush of “surprise” witnesses have come forward claiming various levels of impropriety by the nominee in his youth -- with one bearing a connection to South Florida.

It has become commonplace to bemoan the state of our democracy. Our institutions are being challenged, and conversations in the public square have coarsened. In a week of drama over the confirmation of Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska had some advice for rectifying the situation: Congress should legislate. 

You know Republican Maria Elvira Salazar is a pretty good candidate when the Florida Democratic Party resorts to treating voters in Congressional District 27 like idiots in order to discredit her.

The Hillsborough Metropolitan Planning Organization is dysfunctional and in need of a big housecleaning: a new executive director and new staff.

Everyone is aware by now how Andrew Gillum won Florida’s gubernatorial Democratic Primary.

Democrats are giddy over Andrew Gillum's September lead, I get that. But the rest of us are hoping they might take a break from blowing raspberries at Gillum's Republican opponent long enough to answer some of the questions we have about this hard-left gubernatorial candidate.

Maybe his South Florida constituency long ago grew numb to U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings' serial unscrupulousness. Certainly nobody kicked up much of a fuss when it was discovered Wednesday the Democratic congressman, serving in the shadow of his own checkered past, promoted a convicted money launderer in his Palm Beach County office to full-time "staff assistant."