Today on Context Florida:
According to Martin Dyckman, nothing else that government does costs as much as the death penalty in order to accomplish so little. This ought to concern even the most conservative legislators as they cope with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 8-1 decision Tuesday, in Hurst v. Florida that the state’s capital sentencing process is unconstitutional. The choice now is to fix it or repeal it. “Those are our two options,” said Carlos Trujillo, the House Criminal Justice chairman. Dyckman says the second option is the better one.
The Legislature is considering so-called alimony “reform” and a 50/50 “presumption” for child custody decisions. Both are bad ideas, says Robert Doyel. “Reform” legislation almost always seems to be about taking away rights, benefits or protections from less well-off individuals to the advantage of more affluent people and big corporations. Tort “reform” is a prime example. Alimony “reform” continues that oppressive tradition. The proposed alimony legislation is anti-woman, anti-family and arbitrary. In some respects, it’s also anti-man. It’s so convoluted and oppressive that it’s hard to figure out where to start and where to end a critique. But here it is.
It’s late Friday afternoon and Linda Cunningham is trying to cross Truman aka U.S. Route 1 at Mile Marker 1. Traffic to the left. Traffic to the right. No end on either side. Cars are backed up to Duval at one end and the “Welcome to Key West” sign on the other. Miles of tourists, two to five a car, and a handful of locals wishing the visitors were home or wheeling down the Publix aisle. There is one empty parking spot in Key West Friday nights and these cars will drive round and round in an automotive game of musical chairs. Key West has too much company and we’ve not a clue how to manage our guests.
During his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Barack Obama said we have a robust economy, yet Tim Bryce says we have a shrinking middle class and economic confidence is low. The president said his policies in the Middle East are working well, yet Bryce notes that in Syria alone we have thousands of killings and millions of people deserting the country and moving to Europe where they are disrupting the social fabric of the continent. And he is responsible for making Iran and ISIS much bigger than they should be. “ISIS doesn’t threaten our existence…” he said. Really? Let’s ask the victims of San Bernardino, Paris, and the Philadelphia police officer shot last week.
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