When the NRA says “jump,” Republicans in Florida’s state legislature ask “how high,” and then manage to jump even higher. The state has long been a leader in passing NRA-backed legislation. It’s why we’re known as the “Stand Your Ground” state after all. Florida’s passage of a “shall issue” concealed…
Embattled CareerSource South Florida executive director Rick Beasley, already likely to face criticism week over alleged workplace bullying, has a new problem. Three current and former employees accuse him of religious discrimination. CareerSource, the largest operation of its type in Florida, uses $70 million in state and federal funds to connect local…
Florida was probably the most useless state to the Confederacy. Our population was small, our land was hard to secure, and the biggest thing we really contributed to that controversial cause was salt. For a lot of reasons, its not exactly the most controversial thing in Florida to try and…
House Republicans are in an absolute mess at the moment as they struggle to figure out who will emerge as their new Speaker of the house, but the temporary brouhaha may lead to Rep. Dan Webster’s — and Florida’s — gain. The conservative from Central Florida has emerged as a…
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, so we asked the group, which is led by legendary executive director Howard Simon, to name its top 12 cases. Here are the results. 12. Free Speech on Gun Safety for DoctorsThe Florida Legislature enacted the…
Remember back in 1967 when the Supreme Court ruled that interracial marriage should be legal throughout all of America in Loving vs Virginia? That was a pretty good decision, I think we all agree, don’t we? One interesting note about that is that not one single pastor, priest or minister…
Poll numbers suggest that Florida’s march to medical marijuana is inevitably, but it sure is taken a long time to get there. Sure, law makers approved non-smokable and non-euphoric “Charlotte’s Web” medicinal marijuana for a narrow slice of patients back in 2014, but so far the state has stalled on…
Donald Trump’s popularity shows no signs of slipping in Florida. The latest Quinnipiac poll shows Trump atop all his GOP rival amongst Republican primary voters with 28 percent lining up behind the Donald. That’s actually a rise of 7 percent since the last time Quinnipiac polled Florida in late August. …
Rick Beasley, a stocky, middle-aged man with a bushy handlebar mustache, stood at the head of an oval table on the fifth floor of a building in Doral. Nine nattily dressed managers filed into the windowless private conference room. After Linda Pierre, a petite 29-year-old, took a seat four feet…
We weren’t sure that the sage of Augustus Sol Invictus, the goat blood-drinking pagan running for Senate in Florida as a libertarian, could get any weirder, and yet that was before we found out that there’s a Miley Cyrus connection. Need something to get a bit stranger? Yep, just add…
Floridians can’t agree on a lot. Which is to be expected in such a diverse swing state, and the results of USF’s annual Sunshine State Survey certainly attest to that. Floridians are split on all sorts of hot button issues from Common Core to offshore drilling. In fact, one of…
Rebecca Towers are a relic of another South Beach: A senior housing complex in the heart of multi-million waterfront condos. That’s also made the towers a regular target for conspiracy theorists on the beach for a simple reason: The land the government-run subsidized housing sits on is worth millions amidst…
See this guy? He’s running for Senate in Florida. He’s a young lawyer who claims to have worked his way through law school at USF while homeless. He’s a deeply religious family man. Father of four, actually. Sharply dressed, well groomed, and quite handsome as far as politicians go. Sure,…
Yesterday nine people lost their lives in just the latest act of senseless mass gun violence carried out in America. Today presidentially candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush responded to the national tragedy by exclaiming, “Stuff happens.” “I had this challenge as governor—because we had—look, stuff happens, there’s always…
Jeb Bush may not be anywhere near close to leading the polls anymore, but he does lead in another factor: endorsement. Bush has the backing of more notable politicians than any other candidate in the race, and today he announced another whopping round of endorsement. See, Florida currently has 26…
Jeb Bush is a man of strong opinions, forged in the intellectual fire of pure reason. Pick any contentious topic of the day, and he’ll be happy to share his thoughts. Say, for instance, the Washington Redskins, a team whose name most Native Americans and a whole lot of other…
The political conversation about sea level rise up in the nation’s capitol is a farce of deniers with their head in the sand. Meanwhile, down here in South Florida where literally starting to slowly drown. That’s been quite evident over the past few days as the high tides brought on…
All the attention on Comedy Central late night may be centering on The Daily Show and its new host Trevor Noah this week, but last night on The Nightly Show Larry Wilmore put an epic smackdown on former Florida Governor Jeb Bush for his comments last week implying that African-Americans…
Just two days into an experiment to experience daily life on the minimum wage in Miami, Florida Representative Jose Javier Rodriguez says he failed the test. On Tuesday morning, Rodriguez planned to take the bus from home in Shenandoah to his downtown office. But after waiting for 30 minutes for…
Roderick “Rick” Beasley earns more than Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez. The burly middle-aged bureaucrat with a penchant for bow ties runs CareerSource South Florida, a county agency that connects thousands of local job seekers and employers. With a $70 million budget fed by state and federal funds, it’s the largest…
Back when Jeb Bush first ran for Governor of Florida in 1994 he branded himself as a tough talking, red blooded conservative. This lead to a lot of unfortunate gaffs. When asked during that election what he would do for African Americans in Florida, he replied “probably nothing.” Bush of…
In 2010, Floridians passed a constitutional amendment mandating that all congressional districts should be drawn without political intentions. Earlier this year a judge ruled that Florida’s current Federal Congressional districts don’t meet the standards set by the amendment, which has led to a giant political mess about how to redraw…
