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Jac VerSteeg - page 4

Today on Context Florida: Veterans & disability, lying pollsters and ex-offenders returning to the workforce

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Today on Context Florida: It’s Veterans Day Wednesday, and Tom O’Hara is more excited than usual. In researching this column, he learned that as a Vietnam veteran O’Hara might be eligible to collect VA disability benefits due to his diabetes – even though I’m sure a tedious year at Phu Cat Air Force Base has nothing to do with my blood-sugar levels today. It’s a great time to be a veteran, O’Hara says. Jac VerSteeg believes polling accuracy might be worse…

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Today on Context Florida: Sen. Jeb Bush, Rick Scott & hospital regulations and academic librarians

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Today on Context Florida: As the prospects for President Jeb Bush fade, Jac VerSteeg says his fans should consider a fallback plan: U.S. Sen. Jeb Bush, R-Florida. That goal has many advantages. It allows Jeb to concentrate on a single state, and a state that knows him better than Iowa or New Hampshire. He has higher name recognition in Florida than any of the potential Republican or Democratic candidates, even though he has not stood for election in Florida since 2002.…

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Today on Context Florida: Republican Crazy Peak, bad bear week and mastering core subjects

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Today on Context Florida: It’s “Crazy Peak” time for Republican presidential candidates, says Jac VerSteeg. At the moment, that favors two candidates with Florida ties: Donald Trump and Ben Carson. When the peaks flatten, as Trump’s might already be doing, two other Floridians – Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio – will benefit. But Rubio will benefit more than Bush. VerSteeg says when Republican voters decide they want a more electable candidate, they will turn to someone like Jeb Bush or Marco…

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Today on Context Florida: Year of the manufacturer, Rubio’s chutzpah and pharma budgets

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Today on Context Florida: Jac VerSteeg agrees with Gov. Rick Scott’s central message: “It’s the year of the manufacturer.” But he is not attaching quite the same meaning to his words as the governor did. The governor’s intention is to extend a tax break for manufacturing equipment and put plenty of fresh dollars into an incentive pot to lure companies to Florida. But as the 2016 elections approaches, we will see candidates from the presidential election on down to the municipal…

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Jac Wilder VerSteeg: Unelected Supreme Court chastises House members for unelecting themselves

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Politicians who disagree with Supreme Court rulings frequently point out that the justices are “unelected.” That’s true on both the federal and state levels. Florida House Speaker Steve Crisafulli echoed that disdain with comments after a majority of Florida Supreme Court justices agreed with an opinion written by Justice Barbara Pariente, who wrote that the House, under Crisafulli’s leadership, “clearly violated the Constitution” when it adjourned three days early. That ruling came in response to a lawsuit by Democrats. Crisafulli…

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Today on Context Florida: Save Our Rivers, Palestinians & Israel, education reform and custodians

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Today on Context Florida: Floridians want the state to buy sugar industry-owned land south of Lake Okeechobee to store and clean water, says Sally Swartz. Unfortunately, that is not what the sugar industry wants. The “Save Our Rivers/Buy the Land” advocates are not giving up, and Stuart Republican Joe Negron offers a glimmer of hope. Marc Yacht notes that Israelis and Palestinians are weary of conflict. The Palestinians need a contiguous land of their own, as did Israel, he adds. The…

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Today on Context Florida: Banned phrases, repeating history, polluted water and high-stakes cheating

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Today on Context Florida: In light of Gov. Rick Scott banning use of the phrases “climate change” and “global warming” by Department of Environmental Protection staff, Daniel Tilson offers a “Top Ten” list of terms not to use in any form if working for the governor. Terms include “Affordable Care Act” (should be…“Obamacare” or “Socialist health care law”), “Voter suppression” (should be …“Fighting voter fraud” or “Election integrity”), “Bad jobs” (should be…“New opportunities” or “Let’s keep working”) and “Middle-class stagnation” (should…

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