This column is a vehicle for a number of items in a bits-and-pieces, strictly opinion, sometimes irreverent format. Look for "Just Sayin'" to run once a week in this spot.
After 10 Glorious Years, Sunshine State News and I Are Passing the Baton
You probably can't imagine how much fun I've had at Sunshine State News over the last 10 years. I don't think anybody could.
November 1, 2019 - 6:00am
Politics
Columns
There are few Jewish journalists I like and respect as much as Samuel Freedman, a distinguished professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Pulitzer-prize nominee, which is why if he criticizes me I take it seriously.
Let's face it. There is a certain faction of the Jewish community that will never, ever, ever, ever, ever accept Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison as Democratic National Committee Chair, no matter what he does, or how he does it.
Democrats spent the first two decades of the post-Cold War era rather relaxed about Russian provocations and revanchism. President Obama famously mocked Mitt Romney in 2012 for suggesting that Russia was our principal geopolitical adversary. Yet today the Dems are in high dudgeon over the closeness of secretary of state nominee, Rex Tillerson, to Vladimir Putin.
Indiana's Thomas R. Marshall, who was America's vice president 100 years ago, voiced -- he plucked it from a Hoosier humorist -- one of the few long-remembered utterances to issue from that office: "What this country needs is a good 5-cent cigar," which would be $1.11 in today's currency. A century later, what the country needs is a $12 twelve-ounce cup of coffee.
You would not think that a lizard is responsible for this. But let me explain.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently published a report stating that federally issued Direct Student Loans placed in Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans will cost the government $74 billion, which is higher than previously estimated.
Florida's abortion law in all its collective parts is so unAmerican, so unconstitutional and, frankly, so offensive that any day this law is challenged in court is a day I'm ready to throw a party.
On Monday Stephen Bittel sent out an email to Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee members saying activists have encouraged him to run for FDP chair. Well, being the knight in shining armor a la Donald Trump, he is heeding their call.
Congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump for a common-sense and much needed approach to selecting the new Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS): Instead of a lawyer or another bureaucrat, President-elect Trump selected a competent, knowledgeable physician and surgeon, Dr. Tom Price.
Trending Now
By Kevin Derby
Former U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., now the president and the CEO of the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), slammed the U.S. Senate for reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank in a piece at Townhall.com published on Tuesday.
By Kevin Derby
Businessman and Army veteran Todd Wilcox, now running in the Republican primary to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., finished up a tour of the Sunshine State at the end of last week and said his bid was picking up steam.
By Kevin Derby
On Monday, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will expedite concealed weapons permits for active duty military personnel and for veterans.
By
Republican primary nominee Donald Trump has been polling fairly well among Republicans, but he's not just popular among his own party -- he's also pretty hot with cats.
Or, his hair is.
By Nancy Smith
Washington Republicans may be loosening up on medical marijuana.
By Kevin Derby
Former IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, waging a dark horse bid for the Republican presidential nomination, took aim at President Barack Obama on Friday over his comments on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart this week over how the IRS targeted tea party groups.
By Kevin Derby
With the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community bringing in the FBI to look at how then U.S. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton used private emails on classified matters, U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, the chairman of the U.S. House National Security Subcommittee, is calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate.
By Kevin Derby
On Thursday, conservative PAC Maggie’s List endorsed Martin County School Board Member Rebecca Negron in the race to replace U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., in Congress. Murphy is running for the U.S. Senate in 2016.
By Kevin Derby
A new poll shows former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker runs close to former Gov. Charlie Crist in the race for the open congressional seat currently held by U.S Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla.
By Kevin Derby
Brent Bozell, the president of the Conservative Victory Committee, announced in a Web video on Friday that he is backing U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for the Republican presidential nomination.
Live streaming of WBOB Talk Radio, a Sunshine State News Radio Partner.