Emails & Opinions

Blake DowlingDecember 26, 2016

Breaches, hacking, ransomware, cyber threats, weaponized AI, smart toothbrushes are but a few examples of scary tech out there to make your day less than fantastic. Weapons systems that think on its own are in production, with governments racing to catch up on how to regulate these fast-paced advancements. Police and military already use drones […]

Florence SnyderDecember 25, 2016

Jackie Pons is the kind of public official who gave Florida’s Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) a very bad name. After 30 years with the Leon County school system, ten of them as Superintendent, and a DROP-enrollee since 2014, Pons jumped several sharks and was kicked to the curb on election night. The blow to Pons’ ego is cushioned by […]

Martin DyckmanDecember 23, 2016

Thanks to Vladimir Putin‘s hackers and his outlets in the American press, we know that Hillary Clinton said different things in public and in private. Imagine that. But I suspect that you couldn’t find very many politicians (or other people, for that matter) who don’t speak differently depending on who’s listening. Money could safely be […]

Florence SnyderDecember 23, 2016

With apologies to Band Aid… [Paul Young] In Legoland … there’s no need to cry Adam Putnam’s watching over our food supply [Boy George] And in our State of Sunshine, we give thanks for this Wonder Boy Raise your glass of Martini flavored with a big Key lime! [Phil Collins on drums] [George Michael] But […]

Joe HendersonDecember 23, 2016

Let’s say you’re a teenager and you do something stupid. I know, hard to believe, right? Maybe you get caught with a small amount of pot, or you’re in the wrong place when a fight breaks out. Maybe you’re out with the guys and ended up someplace you shouldn’t, or you committed a petty theft. […]

Joe HendersonDecember 22, 2016

I think Will Weatherford’s just-announced decision not to run for governor in 2018 merely delays the inevitable. I believe he will be Florida’s governor eventually, and that will be a good thing. Weatherford, the Land O’Lakes Republican, is a smart, articulate, center-right conservative in the Jeb Bush tradition. He has a strong legislative resume, including […]

Peter SchorschDecember 22, 2016

A recent Weather Channel documentary alleging Lake Okeechobee “pollution” drew a storm of controversy among Florida scientists, farmers – and at least one U.S. Congressman. “Toxic Lake: The Untold Story of Lake Okeechobee,” an online video posted last week, gives what many call an extremely inaccurate and incomplete picture of the environmental circumstances surrounding Lake […]

Peter SchorschDecember 21, 2016

Tip o’ the hat to the Times’ Susan Taylor Martin for covering a blistering audit of the Florida Housing Finance Corp. (FHFC), which is supposed to be the steward of both state and federal affordable housing money. But let’s also give some credit where it’s due: In a series of three articles called “Who watches the […]

Darryl PaulsonDecember 21, 2016

(Part 2 of 2) In the first part of this series, I discussed the process and candidates used by the Republican and Democratic parties to select their national party chairperson. We will now look at the process and candidates used to choose the Florida Republican and Democratic chairs. After a disastrous showing by the Florida […]

Ben PollaraDecember 20, 2016

At last week’s Senate Health Policy Committee workshop on medical marijuana, much of the conversation centered on the question of whether the passage of Amendment 2 necessitated an expansion of the number of licenses to cultivate and sell medical marijuana in Florida. I participated in the workshop at the invitation of Chair Dana Young, and […]

Emails & Opinions

Blake Dowling: Hacking, weaponized artificial intelligence, ransomware and other fun just for you

Jackie Pons to taxpayers: DROP dead

Politicians can learn lesson from LeRoy Collins balance of public, private speech

For your holiday enjoyment: Adam Putnam’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

Push is on to decriminalize minor youth offenses

Will Weatherford’s decision enhances, not removes, future options

Tom Rooney blasts Weather Channel documentary: Lake O is not ‘toxic’

We told you so: Audit blasts Florida Housing Finance Corp.

Darryl Paulson: Selecting party chairs: The Florida experience

Ben Pollara: Expansion of medical marijuana business is necessary and prudent