Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Guest AuthorOctober 7, 2014

If you haven’t yet heard about political writer Matt Bai’s book on the failed presidential hopes of Gary Hart, you will. Bai, once political editor for the New York Times’ Sunday magazine and current political editor for Yahoo, asserts that one week in 1987 forever changed politics in America. Bai is on the interview circuit […]

Martin DyckmanSeptember 14, 2014

The widely denounced Citizens United decision that did a great disservice to the nation and disgraces five Supreme Court justices is only the tip of a hulking iceberg. An urgent effort to melt that iceberg began in the U.S. Senate last week. You probably didn’t hear about it. The foundation for Citizens in 2010 was […]

Guest AuthorAugust 21, 2014

When a telephone and a stamp were the social media of choice, smacking down trolls was pretty simple: hang up or toss it in the trash can. It could have been that simple in the wicked web world. Today, it’s easy to troll. A handful of keystrokes, dump, run, repeat. The anonymity, the ease of […]

Julie DelegalJuly 21, 2014

Judge Terry Lewis’ ruling invalidating the boundaries of two congressional districts was issued on July 10 — a Thursday. Lawmakers quietly “considered” whether to appeal on Friday. They deliberated over the weekend, and thought some more on Monday. It turns out, as we’ll see below, that their period of deliberation may have been, well, deliberate. […]

Martin DyckmanJuly 13, 2014

Amidst the national obsession over whether a hugely overpaid athlete is returning to a city he once deserted, something immensely more important happened in Washington Thursday. Scarcely anyone noticed. You most likely did not see it in your newspaper or hear it on TV. It was reported by the “Voice of Russia” but not by […]

Martin DyckmanJuly 9, 2014

Among the flock of on-line petitions I declined to sign last week was one calling for the impeachment of Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Much as I and others might wish them gone and forgotten, impeachment is a terrible idea. The merits aside, it […]

Guest AuthorJune 4, 2014

Columnists are called to dissect and analyze tragedies, and last week’s horrible killing spree in California is no exception. We try to draw conclusions about why it happened, and how it might be prevented in the future. More gun laws. Better education about women’s equality. More and better services for people in psychological crisis. More and better services […]

Guest AuthorMay 20, 2014

He was a coffee-drinking, chain-smoking Southern Baptist Democrat — early 1970s model — and he owned the weekly newspaper in southwest Virginia. He called me “little girl” in the same sentence that he named me editor. When his backroom banking buddies wouldn’t give me a credit card (you’re married, they said; you can use your […]

Martin DyckmanMay 12, 2014

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The dinosaurs and many lesser species became extinct in the blink of an archaeological moment some 65 million years ago. Scientists attribute that to an asteroid more than six miles wide striking the earth with climate-changing force. That was a warning. Our solar neighborhood is still perilous, teeming with asteroids. Smaller ones strike earth with […]

Daniel TilsonMay 10, 2014

An eye-opening new report makes clear there’s no “debate” about whether manmade, industrially driven climate change is happening. It is. And we’ve only just begun paying the price. The 2014 National Climate Assessment Report released this week was not the work of a liberal think tank or some environmental organization. It’s the third such exhaustive […]

Tag: New York Times

Doug Clifton: Miami Herald was right to pursue tip about Gary Hart dalliance

Martin Dyckman: Media must report nascent efforts to curb power of money in politics

Linda Grist Cunningham: Web trolls are winning because the rest of us won’t smack them down

Julie Delegal: Timing of decision not to appeal districts ruling was questionable

Martin Dyckman: Vote to curb political contributions didn’t get proper coverage

Martin Dyckman: We should limit terms of U.S. Supreme Court justices to 18 years

Julie Delegal: The California killer is a stranger who is very familiar

Linda Cunningham: We should not be discussing editor’s tenure in gender terms

Martin Dyckman: Our leaders fiddle (and avoid comment) while the world burns

Daniel Tilson: Silence and inaction won’t do on climate change