I enjoy walking around in the nude, so to speak, so I don’t pretend to live in a glass house. I am truly, truly sorry to see misfortune befall anyone in the political industry, but… Last week, Tea Party, um, leader Doug Guetzloe was decrying the ‘culture of corruption’ in Tallahassee in a column for [...]
Matt Yglesias: One of the useful things the federal government does for the economy is produce information as a public good. And the American Community Survey is chock full of information that’s useful to researchers, companies, curious individuals, policymakers at different levels of government, etc. But House Republicans have decided that they want to kill it, [...]
Get your checkbooks ready, PAC chairs and uber-lobbyists, there are several fundraisers for political candidates throughout the state planned for this week. Here’s a partial lineup. Pinellas County Commissioner Neil Brickfield has a fundraiser planned for his re-election on Monday. Speaker Designate Will Weatherford is the draw for a major fundraiser for Rep. Peter Nehr [...]
There was an interesting moment last week as the National Defense Authorization Act was being voted on. An amendment, introduced by two Congressmen, would have terminated the F-35B program in favor of buying the Marine Corps more F/A 18s. When the amendment reached the floor, House Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith (D-WA) spoke out [...]
A shocking exposé of the violence at Rikers Island: Under a practice known as “the Program,” guards were deputizing inmates, often in the teen jail [RNDC], and pitting them against one another in fights as a way to keep order and extort them for phone, food, and television privileges. … Serious injury reports show that since January 1, inmates [...]
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI-14) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN-5) have put forth an amendment to HR 4320, the FY13 National Defense Authorization Bill, that is attempting to terminate the F-35B aircraft program. – This amendment, #103, is opposed by the Department of Defense, the Marine Corps, the Navy and the Air Force. – The F-35B [...]
An organization opposed to gay marriage is asking a federal appeals court to reject parts of a Florida election law that seeks to rein in outside political groups, reports Jim Saunders of the News Service of Florida. The National Organization for Marriage is challenging the constitutionality of 2010 legislation that dealt with what are known [...]
Congress should require U.S. Senate candidates and their committees to file campaign finance data electronically rather than on paper, the Federal Election Commission said Wednesday in its annual list of recommendations for campaign finance law changes. The law already requires some electronic filing by candidates, but because Senate candidates file with the Secretary of the [...]
In 2010, there were about 360,000 Americans with masters degrees or higher on public assistance. Stacey Patton reports on them: Some are struggling to pay back student loans and cover basic living expenses as they submit scores of applications for a limited pool of full-time academic positions. Others are trying to raise families or pay for their [...]
Although American warriors have returned from Iraq and many are re- turning from Afghanistan, our nation still faces serious and continuing security threats. The return – and painful loss – of U.S. combat troops should serve as a reminder that as a nation, we have a solemn duty to provide our military professionals with the [...]
