Columns

When our first Sunshine State News team arrived wide-eyed in Tallahassee in 2010, all hell was about to break loose and we didn't know it.

We all know that politicians tell voters what they want to hear in order to get elected.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is ostensibly a public worker union. In truth, it is nothing more than an appendage of the Democratic Party. One hundred percent of its political contributions go to Democrats, and it works tirelessly to increase government spending and stop Republicans who want to reform state government.

Florida’s Motor Vehicle No-Fault Law, commonly known as “PIP,” is under attack in the Florida Legislature. The outcome -- if trial lawyers succeed -- will be increased insurance rates in 60 of 67 counties in Florida. They are trying to repeal PIP in favor of a lawsuit-based system and mandatory “bodily injury” insurance, which reduces consumer choices.

The Florida Democratic Party strikes me as a spotless leopard right now. Aren't these the folks who in 2016 called themselves the Party of Intellectuals and joined Hillary in crowing about their superiority to "deplorable" Republicans?

When the Republican-controlled Congress first approved its tax bill in December, most Democrats believed it would be a political loser for the GOP. Indeed, a New York Times poll found that just 37 percent of Americans approved of the plan. "To pass a bill of tax cuts and have it be so unpopular with the American people is an amazing achievement for the Republicans -- it's never been done before," Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., crowed.

It's one thing to politicize a tragedy that's left dozens of your constituents grieving. Unsavory as it is, it happens every election year on both sides of the aisle. 

Overturning mistaken decisions is an occasional duty of the Supreme Court, whose noblest achievement was the protracted, piecemeal repudiation, with Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and subsequent decisions, of its 1896 ruling that segregated "separate but equal" public facilities were constitutional. This Monday, the court will hear oral arguments that probably will presage another overdue correction.

The indictment issued on Friday by special counsel Robert Mueller shows a conspiracy of stunning sophistication by Kremlin-connected Russians, posing as American citizens or using stolen U.S. identities, to influence the 2016 presidential election.

It really was -- as Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, called it -- "a disingenuous political stunt ... the very definition of dirty politics." 

You can count on it. Every time there's a mass shooting in this country, the Left comes out of the woodwork to hurl obscenities and point its finger at ... who else? The National Rifle Association.

Like many people throughout Florida and across the nation, I have been praying for those that were murdered or injured in Parkland as well as for their families and the community. Our hearts are broken for them. The grief and sorrow being experienced by this community is no doubt crushing to their souls and we should continue to lift them up in prayer as they live in the aftermath of this tragedy. We should continue our prayers for the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School family and for the Parkland community. We must also come to grips with how this tragedy happened and what can be done to prevent it from happening again.

The Parkland school shooting last week and the 17 deaths that resulted from it are nightmares no child or parent should ever have to experience.

Democrats in the Sunshine State have often opted not to offer serious challenges to Republicans representing red districts across Florida. But things have changed this year as several Republican incumbents are actually facing serious challengers. These GOP incumbents are favorites but they’re going to have to work this year to keep their seats.

When everything was on the line in the 1940s, it was the United States of America that joined the fight and made the difference in defeating Nazi Germany. It was American initiative that led to the atomic bomb and ended the war in the Pacific, saving hundreds of thousands of American lives which likely would have been lost in an invasion of Japan.