In an earlier column, I looked at the role the abortion issue would play in the 2016 election -- not very much, I concluded -- and promised another column on other cultural issues. Here goes.
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
"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." -- Mr. Micawber in "David Copperfield"
President Barack Obama has launched a new initiative to get American schools to teach computer science. Appearing at a Newark, New Jersey, middle school, the president suggested that students, especially girls and minorities, should learn "not just how to use a smartphone but to create the apps for a smartphone."
Brought before a House inquisition, MIT professor and Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber burbled a recantation of his beliefs about how that triumph of liberalism had been achieved.
WASHINGTON -- It is probably too soon to declare a feminist reformation, but a few signs here and there give one hope.
Hold it, sirs, don't stop reading yet. I realize that seeing the F-word in the first paragraph is like discovering that your bride is wearing pantyhose, but bear with me.
No parent wants to consider the travesty that when he sends his 18-year-old daughter to college, she could be vulnerable to sexual assault. But in the increasingly punitive atmosphere surrounding sexual-assault allegations, he should also fear sending his 18-year-old son to campus, where he may be falsely accused of rape.
Has the time come to reconsider the way we pay for transportation? Should the Highway Trust Fund and its fuel tax revenue continue as the main source of funding for the federal transportation program?
The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice is a relatively young state agency, having been carved out of the old Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services back in 1997.
Rush Limbaugh is a savvy guy who thinks Republican leaders are wrong to shun the idea of another government shutdown. Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," he argued that the only important poll is the one held on Election Day. "(The GOP) won a landslide election 10 months after that so-called shutdown. ... The essence of a poll is an election, and I've got two of them. And we would have won in 2012 if 4 million Republicans hadn't stayed home."
Law enforcement has been taking a beating, and it is getting worse. Police in New York City are being warned that a group of black militants is planning to murder police officers on duty.
Trending Now
By Kevin Derby
A poll from Quinnipiac University released on Thursday finds former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the easy favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, ahead of her Republican rivals in Florida, the largest swing state on the electoral map. The poll shows Clinton besting her possible Republican opponents, including two from the Sunshine State.
By Kevin Derby
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is headed for a landslide victory in the Florida Democratic presidential primary in 2016, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Thursday.
Clinton leads the Democratic pack with 67 percent. Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., are tied in distant second with 8 percent each. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., garners 1 percent. Gov. Martin O'Malley, D-Md., and former Gov. Brian Schweitzer, D-Mont., take below 1 percent.
By Kevin Derby
Two favorite sons lead the pack of Republican presidential candidates in the Sunshine State for 2016 in a poll from Quinnipiac University released on Thursday.
By Kevin Derby
Florida TaxWatch released a report on Thursday showcasing the increased number of jobs in the Sunshine State and insisting it shows the economy is on the rebound.
"Florida's economy is strengthening every day thanks to the policies enacted by the state Legislature and governor, who have made job creation a priority for Floridians," said Dominic Calabro, the president and CEO of Florida TaxWatch. "More Floridians are working in 2014 than ever before."
By Kevin Derby
After former Gov. Charlie Crist, the favorite for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in next months primary, released a TV ad attacking Gov. Rick Scott on education on Wednesday, the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) struck back with an ad of its own.
The RPOFs ad attacks Crists record on education spending and notes media reports calling the Democrats ad misleading.
By Nancy Smith
Dwight Bullard isn't about to be used by anybody, even the woman gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist chose as his running mate before the primary.
Sources close to the Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee claim Annette Taddeo wants the state senator from Miami to replace her as chair of the county party. It's a "peace offering" for the African-American community, they say, because Taddeo knows Bullard is "beloved by the community."
But, wait! He shouldn't get too comfortable.
By Kevin Derby
Rep. Daniel Davis, R-Jacksonville, who is leaving the Florida House to focus on heading up the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, is backing attorney and Navy veteran Paul Renner over banker Jay Fant to replace him.
"Paul fought for America in Desert Storm and Afghanistan, and he fought crime as a state prosecutor, said Davis on Wednesday. He's the proven, trusted leader we need fighting for us in Tallahassee.
By Kevin Derby
Former Gov. Charlie Crist, the favorite for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in next months primary despite spending most of his political career in the GOP, launched a new television ad on Wednesday, hitting Gov. Rick Scott on education.
By Kevin Derby
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., pointed to two conflicting federal appeals court rulings over subsidies in President Barack Obamas federal health-care law and said it proved the law was badly written. On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in a 2-1 decision that the IRS overextended subsidies for Americans who bought health care through the federal governments online marketplace. But, later in the day, in another case, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the subsidies, ensuring the matter will be examined higher up the federal judiciary ladder.
By Kevin Derby
Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera is increasingly going on the attack as he looks to defend Gov. Rick Scott against former Gov. Charlie Crist, the favorite in next months Democratic gubernatorial primary. Having hit Crist earlier in the week on his economic record, Lopez-Cantera went after the new Democrat on Wednesday for supporting more ties to Cuba.
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