Columns

Whoever said midterm elections lack enthusiasm haven't been following the progress of the Florida Sunshine Summit. The Summit is the election season's main event -- its heart and soul, the excitement generator for Republican leadership across the state clear up until Aug. 28. And it all happens Thursday and Friday.

After years of smearing good people with false charges of bigotry, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has finally been held to account. A former Islamic radical named Maajid Nawaz sued the center for including him in its bogus "Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists," and this week the SPLC agreed to pay him a $3.375 million settlement and issued a public apology.

An email I received Thursday pointed out a glaring omission in my Wednesday column, "Russians Are Using Florida Environmental Groups to Manipulate the Energy Market." I think it deserves a public reply.

I guess we should have expected it.

It sure helps when the board chairman of an agency charged with deciding whether your environmental impact plan meets muster is also your bought-and-paid-for consultant. So, approval worked out very nicely, thank you, for All Aboard Florida/Brightline.

There's a tangible money trail that links Vladimir Putin’s Russian government with U.S. environmental groups -- and, yes, some of those groups are in Florida.

I read "POINT OF VIEW: Army Corps should swim in our increasingly toxic water," a guest column in Sunday's Palm Beach Post by Congressman Brian Mast. I would love the opportunity to respond.

It's well known political issues can cause candidates to change position in an election year. In a stark advancement of that premise, Bill Nelson just proved he's in such a nervous position with his reelection campaign, he had to change his position on a judicial nominee he recommended for a U.S. District Court post in Florida. 

Well, that didn't take long. President Trump had barely departed Singapore when Democrats in Washington unleashed scathing attacks over his meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. "What the United States has gained is vague and unverifiable at best. What North Korea has gained, however, is tangible and lasting," Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., fumed. "In his haste to reach an agreement, President Trump elevated North Korea to the level of the United States while preserving the regime's status quo," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., protested.

California, probably the only state whose cuckoo complex can rival Florida's, this week came up with the granddaddy of all OMG ballot proposals.

Philip Levine really should stop touting his "successful" police reforms in Miami Beach. He doesn't have any.

On Wednesday, the American Medical Association passed a series of gun-related resolutions, including calling for a ban on “assault weapons” and came out against arming teachers to fight what it claims is a public health crisis.

There has to be a better way to find good leaders for Florida than riding the checkbook of another self-financing, mouthy millionaire or -- in Jeff Greene's case -- billionaire.

Right on schedule, state Sens. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, and Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach -- water carriers for a giddy Florida Democratic Party -- have called for a special Senate investigation of Concealed Carrygate. 

Anti-gun activists are falsely stating that Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who is running for governor with a strong NRA rating, let thousands of people buy guns illegally while in charge of the Department of Agriculture.