Tom Steyer, billionaire Democratic donor who has singlehandedly put climate change on the White House agenda, may be ... I'm not saying he is, but he may be ... just another rich, greedy, self-serving enviro masquerading as a good guy.

I say that because Steyer is effecting through energy policy pathways to make himself richer -- at taxpayers' expense, as a matter of fact, in the form of the "investment tax credit." Here's the latest.

United for Care, the organization responsible for putting medical marijuana on the 2014 ballot, claimed Tuesday that it's less than 5,000 petitions away from doing the same thing again in 2016.

"We're already close to hitting 100,000 in the number of petitions we've actually collected," Ben Pollara, United for Care campaign manager, told Sunshine State News. "Barring a fire in our headquarters, we'll probably hit it this week. 

I told myself I wasn't going to write about Donald Trump again this year. I told myself he's plain not worth the attention, that he naturally carries enough snuff in his candle to blow himself out of the presidential race somewhere on the road to Iowa. And besides, if I write about him, it means at least on some level, I take him seriously.

No wonder U.S. Supreme Court justices were seven weeks late releasing their financial disclosure reports to the public. They have plenty to hide.

Fix the Court, a national, nonpartisan grassroots organization created to serve as a watchdog for the Supreme Court, calls the Supremes' disclosure reports released Thursday "a minefield of potential conflicts of interest and ethical problems that may do untold -- and unnecessary -- damage to the integrity of the institution."

President Barack Obama is steaming ahead with his plan to normalize relations with Cuba after announcing Wednesday his plan for the United States and Cuba to open embassies in each other's capital. But hold on -- don't for a minute expect Florida Gov. Rick Scott to climb on board. 

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational programs or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

-- From the Preamble to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972

Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday made Florida the 17th state to join in a bipartisan lawsuit challenging the federal government’s attempt to seize regulatory control over large categories of state waters. 

Environmental groups looking for Amendment 1 redemption from the courts probably shouldn't get their hopes up.

If ever a lawsuit looked like a colossal waste of everybody's time and money, it's this one -- filed last week by Earthjustice on behalf of the Florida Wildlife Federation, the St. Johns Riverkeeper, and the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida.

As a conservative who has always supported gay marriage, it's difficult for me to understand why so many people of my generation -- the ones who grew up witnessing some of the worst discrimation of the 20th century -- could consistently rage against it.

Thankfully, the Supreme Court has declared that marriage is a basic civil right, older than the Constitution itself. No more bans. What could be a more conservative opinion than that?

No, Sen. Latvala, the governor didn't declare war on the Legislature. Let's be very clear.

In fact,  Jack Latvala was in the thick of it, where he likes to be, on the one hand defending the governor, on the other helping to light the first fuse.

It was the Senate that declared war on Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida House, and it did so the minute it took up Medicaid expansion.