In Pinellas County, an 11-year-old girl, pregnant after her rape by her mother’s 42-year-old boyfriend, is a stark rebuke to the right-to-like and personhood movement, argues Mary Jo Melone.
Florida & Beyond, and All Opinions
The Downside of Tourism Jobs, and What North Carolina Can Teach Florida
Florida is adding jobs, but mostly in tourism and service industry, low-skilled work that has involuntarily forced people into part-time employment. North Carolina has seen more employment grow in the information technology and research sectors. These jobs tend to offer higher pay and more stability.
Federal Judge Rejects Higher Tuition for Florida Children of Undocumented Immigrants
A Miami federal judge has found that Florida is violating the constitutional rights of American-born children of illegal immigrants by requiring them to pay higher tuition rates than other students at state colleges and universities.
In Charlotte, Democrats Welcome Crist as Floridians Wonder Whether to Trust Him
As Charlie Crist takes the stage at the Democratic National Convention to embrace President Barack Obama, Florida Democrats are facing a question that could shape their party’s future: How much do they trust Charlie Crist? It’s part of a soap opera unfolding before partisans in two states.
When Lies Are Elevated to a Campaign Strategy
The lies of presidents could re-carve Rushmore by audacity alone, yet the lies of the Romney-Ryan campaign have taken the art of lying to new lows, but not without the complicity of voters, who, in the golden age of fact-checking, have no excuse to be misinformed.
Prodigal Turtle: Kemp’s Ridley, Smallest of the Seas, Digs First-Ever Nest in Flagler Sands
Once endangered, Kemp’s ridley turtles, usually nesting in the Gulf of Mexico, have flourished, and one made a landing in Flagler Beach, digging only the sixth documented nest in Florida, and the very first in Flagler County.
What Makes Us Exceptional
It is not that American Exceptionalism is being lost, it’s that those who want to “tabe back America” have lost sight of what has made America exceptional, argues Dan Gelber after watching the Republican National Convention.
Romney-Ryan’s Voucher Plan for Medicare, Long the Third Rail of Florida Politics
GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan said the nation must rethink Medicare as he and Mitt Romney propose changing the health-insurance program for 65-and-over Americans to a “fixed-amount” voucher that would essentially privatize the benefit.
Mitt Romney’s Faux Facts, Charlie Crist Explains Himself, Germany’s Assault on Google News
Mitt Romney’s and Paul Ryan’s fact-challenged fair in Tampa, Germany wants to charge Google for news, India opens a “Hitler” store, Delta bans a passenger for wearing a satirical shirt , and Alan Thicke has advice for his out-of-work son.
The Tea Party, Missing from the Republican National Convention’s Big Tent
Despite cluelessness by liberals and Democrats, those outside the tea party movement still don’t grasp that “people like me are the absolute last folks who would be invited to the RNC,” argues tea party leader Henry Kelley.