Tag: Florida

The legislators are proceeding as if the initiative passed by voters last year requires an implementing act from them. The assumption is not encouraged by the actual language that was on the ballot.

Ron DeSantis: Florida’s new governor gave the Legislature a Friday deadline to pass a bill that allowed smokable medical marijuana, and wouldn’t you know it, both chambers somehow agreed to do it in time. The winning streak continues for DeSantis and the public is noticing. That places the 40-year-old governor above most of his peers across the country and makes him the most popular in Florida in 10 years. Fueling his popularity, according to the poll? His support for popular bipartisan issues like pardoning the Groveland Four and smokable medical marijuana. Loser Port Richey: Okay, okay, we just picked the mayor of this tiny Pasco County city as a loser last month. But c’mon. We couldn’t resist returning to the well. After Dale Massad, who was then Port Richey’s mayor, was arrested last month and charged with practicing medicine without a license and attempted murder, he was replaced by Terrence Rowe — who then gets arrested last week for allegedly conspiring with Massad to intimidate a Port Richey police officer. But the City Council plans to consult with its attorney to decide what’s next.

Former Florida governor candidate Andrew Gillum on Friday night laid out how Democrats might win the White House in 2020. But homestate audiences noticed when he suggested his most recent electoral contest might have seen a different outcome. Earlier in his conversation with Maher, Gillum noted he and Abrams both lost by “rounding error” margins. But while Gillum lost by a closer margin than previously witnessed in a gubernatorial election, few Democrats label DeSantis’ victory as invalid. Democratic political consultant Matthew Isbell said he’d like to know how Gillum imagines any action could have produced a different outcome in Florida. Someone show me this math.” But days before Gillum makes a “major announcement” in South Florida, panelists seemed most focused on the Florida Democrat’s next move. After former Texas Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke announced he would run for president, Maher noted losing in 2018 didn’t prohibit a run. But he stressed the need for the electorate to witness diversity in the candidate pool. “I’m most interested in your beliefs.” But he did tout his recent run for governor, noting he had been severely outspent in a broad primary field but came out victorious. In the general election, black voters turned out at a rate consistent with the share of the population for the first time.

On average, primary elections in 10 of 67 counties will be closed because of write-ins, Polk County Supervisor of Elections Lori Edwards has said. Candidate’s party affiliation may appear on ballot as provided by law.” The second is “All Voters Vote in Primary Elections for State Legislature, Governor, and Cabinet.” Here’s that summary: “Allows all registered voters to vote in primaries for the state legislature, governor, and cabinet regardless of political party affiliation. “There’s probably 30 different things I could have put in there.” “Sheriff comment by DeSantis causes stir” via the News Service of Florida — DeSantis used part of his State of the State address to tout his decision to suspend Israel. DeSantis delivered his State of the State address. “Lawmakers look at fixing election problems” via Dara Kam of the News Service of Florida —Voters would have more time to “cure” ballot signature discrepancies, county canvassing boards could start counting absentee ballots earlier and election supervisors would have more time to submit recount results, under a sweeping elections proposal approved by a key Senate committee. There’s a commitment from President Galvano, to making sure we address issues there, as well,” he said. The Florida League of Cities, the Florida Association of Counties and Democrats on the panel opposed the bill, but HB 5 passed on a party-line vote. When legislators voted for this last year, legislators thought that they were voting for 30 days,” Asztalos said. Cohen has just 12 percent of the vote. So would a lot of other people.

As the Labour and Conservative parties splinter, the professional political journalist part of me certainly wonders if I should have been back in Westminster for the excitement. We chose our time to be away carefully: half-term is when MPs were also due to take a week's break. So far eight Labour MPs and three Conservatives, all pro-Europeans, have quit their parties to join The Independent Group, now known as TIG for short. TIG has not yet become a new political party but this is still a massive development. Both are also becoming increasingly undemocratic in the full sense of the word. So far it is fair to say that its members were all on the likely list and still only make up 11 out of 650 MPs. It will depend on what happens with Brexit over the next five weeks. If so, will there be a majority for the second referendum which all the TIG group members want? Will Labour facilitate Brexit under Mrs May's deal, probably driving many more pro-European MPs to quit in disgust? If Mrs May presides over that happening, I can't see how either the Conservative Party or Labour will hold together.

Florida’s new attorney general has barely been on the job two weeks, but she’s already reached a conclusion: “Like it or not, we’re going to have to start upping our game.” In one of her first interviews since taking office, Ashley Moody pledged to get better at going after people and corporations defrauding Floridians, vowed to take the lead on the state’s opioid epidemic, and said she wanted to do it without the stain of partisanship that has blemished other attorneys general across the country. One of her battles over the next four years, however, will be shaking off accusations that she’s “Pam Bondi 2.0.” During two terms in office, Bondi courted controversy in national television appearances, through opposition to gay marriage and work with partisan groups such as the Republican Attorneys General Association. She hasn’t been on Fox News. Moody, who spent 10 years as a Hillsborough circuit judge before running for attorney general, has been meeting with her office’s lawyers and identifying some of their top concerns. She said she’s looking at new ways to analyze cases and stop them. To tackle fraud, Moody is touting two new hires with experience on both sides of corporate malfeasance. Moody stopped short of calling for the office to be reinstated, but said someone should be coordinating efforts, and it could be her office. He said he will advise bringing back the drug czar. Moody says she hopes over the next four years that Floridians will see that her decisions are based not on politics, but the rule of law. “I don’t think she will politicize this office,” Barnett said.

“I applaud President Trump for proposing a compromise that re-opens government, protects our borders and takes care of those brought to this country illegally through no fault of their own,” he said. Now it’s time for Democrats to decide if they want to negotiate in good faith and accept a compromise that secures our borders and protects DREAMers or if they want to continue playing politics. “Reopen the government, Mr. President. “Good to see the President offer a bipartisan olive branch to end the government shutdown,” he tweeted. “By proposing previously rejected initiatives, @POTUS clearly isn’t taking any real action to end the #TrumpShutdown and negotiate in good faith with Democrats. “@POTUS is offering a compromise to Democratic leadership which protects our national security and addresses #DREAMers and #TPS. Will Speaker Pelosi and Leader [Charles] Schumer finally operate in good faith to address the humanitarian and security crisis on our border and reopen our federal agencies, or will they continue to distract, oppose, and obstruct? ZERO,” she tweeted. If President Trump is serious about negotiating in good faith then he will open government first before offering concessions,” she wrote on Twitter. House Democrats support smart border security and we have voted nine times to open government and allow 800,000 federal employees to return to work.

Expected live at 9:15 am ET: The Florida Senator holds a press conference on "the ongoing dysfunction in Washington." The partial government shutdown reaches day 27. FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking…

WMNF News interviewed Keyan Bliss, a grassroots volunteer coordinator with the Move to Amend coalition. “To accomplish this vision, Move to Amend is seeking to amend the U.S. Constitution to unequivocally state that corporations – artificial entities created by state law – are not people with the same inalienable constitutional rights as human beings. “For the past nine years, Move to Amend has been clear in how we get to the root of the problem. It’s the now-infamous Supreme Court decision, Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, from 2010. We believe we must abolish the court-created doctrines of corporate constitutional rights and get big money out of politics at the same time, leaving for no loopholes. “Together our coalition drafted and supports the ‘We the People amendment,’ which was introduced into Congress in the last session as House Joint Resolution 48. This is the only proposed amendment that would address both of these court-created doctrines: corporate constitutional rights and money equals speech, which are the very foundations of corporate rule in the United States. “Last year we were able to secure the support of some 66 House representatives from both sides of the aisle. And right now we’re currently working to reintroduce the We the People amendment in the current Congress and in the U.S. Senate for the first time as well.” Listen to a longer version of this interview here: On Monday, Move to Amend will table at the Martin Luther King Day Parade in Tampa and host an event that day at 6:30 p.m. It’s at Bounce Boy in Columbus Plaza at 5008 East 10th Avenue. Then, on Tuesday they’ll be in Sarasota at Fogartyville at 525 Kumquat Court at 6:30 p.m.

Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott reacts to Nancy Pelosi's request that President Trump delays the State of the Union in light of the shutdown. On the subject of government shutdown legislation, Scott says that if federal employees aren’t getting paid,…