Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiJuly 23, 2015

Events this summer have brought the long-simmering debate over the Confederate flag to a hard boil, and the predictable backlash from the hard right, especially but not exclusively in the Southeast, is in full swing. We saw it days ago, when an Inverness gun store owner declared his shop a “Muslim-free zone.“ And we almost […]

Marc YachtJuly 13, 2015

It’s tough looking at a newspaper these days. In fact, any media news is hard on the digestion. Fox commentary focuses on how terrible President Obama is, CNN beats a story to death ad nauseam, MSNBC and HNL have their own array of talking heads, and don’t forget newspapers that relegate any good news to […]

Jac VerSteegJuly 13, 2015

Expect to see the Confederate flag back in the Florida Capitol as an unwanted Christmas present. How? Consider this item from the Broward/Palm Beach New Times. Writer Chris Joseph details plans by Chaz Stevens, described as “a Deerfield Beach activist and blogger,” to erect an elaborate Festivus pole this Christmas in the Capitol Rotunda. Stevens […]

Jac VerSteegJuly 12, 2015

Expect to see the Confederate flag back in the Florida Capitol as an unwanted Christmas present. How? Consider this item from the Broward/Palm Beach New Times. Writer Chris Joseph details plans by Chaz Stevens, described as “a Deerfield Beach activist and blogger,” to erect an elaborate Festivus pole this Christmas in the Capitol Rotunda. Stevens […]

Guest AuthorJuly 9, 2015

When I taught high school, several students believed the Confederate flag to be a symbol of Southern pride. They wore it on t-shirts, belt buckles, or flew it from the back of their pickup trucks. These were someone else’s children, so what they wore or waved was not necessarily my concern. I did encourage them, […]

Associated PressJuly 9, 2015

About a half-dozen people protested a north Florida county’s decision to fly the Confederate flag in front of a government building. People gathered Wednesday in front of the McPherson Governmental Complex in Ocala to show disapproval of Marion County’s decision to fly the banner. The county had taken it down weeks earlier after nine black […]

Guest AuthorJuly 8, 2015

Much was recently made about President Barack Obama uttering “n—-r” during a Los Angeles interview Discussions on racism in America these days tend to much more visceral than intellectual in nature. The recent killings of churchgoers by a white supremacist in Charleston, S.C., not only shocked Americans, but provided the president, and the left, with […]

Associated PressJuly 8, 2015

As lawmakers in South Carolina consider removing the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds, a north Florida county has decided to do the opposite. The Marion County Commission voted Tuesday unanimously to again fly the Confederate flag in front of a government building, weeks after it had been taken down. The interim county administrator had […]

Melissa RossJuly 7, 2015

After downtown Jacksonville’s Andrew Jackson statue was vandalized twice in one week, a spokeswoman for the activist group the Dream Defenders said she’d like to see as much outrage over controversial police-involved shootings as the recent widespread tagging of Confederate monuments in various states. “I always pay attention to what people care more about,” said the group’s […]

Guest AuthorJuly 4, 2015

As we prepare to celebrate the holiday formally called Independence Day but more commonly known as the Fourth of July, visions of fireworks, barbecue and red, white and blue come to mind. But, taking a step back, I think a more apropos name, albeit less patriotic sounding would be to call it Symbols Day. Most […]

Tag: Confederate flag

Jax Westside Republicans cancel “history of Confederate flag” presentation

Marc Yacht: Some good news – Please!

Jac Wilder VerSteeg: This Christmas, we could be walkin’ in a Rebel wonderland

Jac Wilder VerSteeg: This Christmas, we could be walkin’ in a Rebel wonderland

Catherine Durkin Robinson: There are Southerners worth knowing about, who bring pride to our region

Group protests Marion County’s Confederate flag display

Steven Kurlander: Words and flags aside, we are not a racist nation

Marion County votes to fly Confederate flag once again

Dream Defenders ask why statue defacing raises more concern than black man’s death

Gary Stein: Symbols and cymbals light up Fourth of July