Monthly Archives: April 2014
Vouchers: Is this it?
Republicans in the House are still doggedly pushing forward this year’s educational “choice” initiatives, despite Senate enthusiasm for voucher expansion resembling the fevered excitement of a 12-year-old picking at a limpid beef bolognese. On the eve of the final vote on HB 7167, what remains of Speaker Weatherford’s priority legislation is little more than a […]
Thursday IPE Bookshelf: Reagan Official and Liberal Economist Agree; Crony Capitalism is Destroying America From Within
Today for our IPE Section in the TFS Bookstore, I’ve reviewed two outstanding and informative books that the health of our economy and democracy. The authors of these books come two totally different sides of the political spectrum, but both have many of the same conclusions- America’s economy is in peril and being looted, democracy […]
Two big pieces of TFS News will be revealed tomorrow
Tomorrow morning we will have two major announcements regarding the future of this website. Stay tuned!
Spirit Airlines likely to begin Miami operations – MIA punching back at Fort Lauderdale? (UPDATED 11:30 pm ET)
Ten months ago, I wrote about the aggressive expansion plans of New York-based JetBlue Airways into international markets from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL). The big question at the time was how this would impact Spirit Airlines, an “Ultra Low Cost Carrier” based in Broward County, whose largest hub operation is at Fort Lauderdale. […]
What Leader Chris Smith got right about the “warning shot” debate
The debates over the so-called “warning shot” legislation in both the House and Senate have been impassioned and contentious rounds of sparring, revealing harsh divides between and within the parties. The bills were an ideological mire for Democrats. And for Republicans, it was another opportunity to manipulate the very real and pressing imbalances created by SYG, which disproportionately […]
Legislative Democrats beginning to score policy successes
Last week, my colleague Justin Snyder called out the Florida Democratic Party for a lack of policy ideas. While we have seen the party itself slow to embrace the type of progressive agenda that moved voters strongly towards Florida Democrats in the 1970s, 1980s and to a lesser extent in the 1990s, many Democratic legislators […]
Is it morning again for Jeb Bush?
Jeb Bush is taking a page out of the Ronald Reagan playbook and, unlike other Republicans who cite the late President ad nauseum, the former Florida Governor is making some sense politically in both what he is saying and how he is articulating it. My view of Jeb Bush, particularly on education issues, are well-documented. As […]
The controversial past of big GOP donor Mel Sembler
Last week, Governor Rick Scott held a fundraiser at the home of Pinellas County based developer Mel Sembler. Over the course of the past two decades Sembler, his family and his companies have donated over a $1,000,000 to the coffers of various Florida Republicans or the RPOF. Sembler has long been one of the go-to […]
New comment policy on TFS
In the past several weeks while our readership has increased dramatically, we have also been forced to delete about a dozen comments which have been nasty and personal in nature about members of the legislature, activists, FDP staff and even our writers. This will not be tolerated in the future. Today we are instituting a new […]
Flashback Friday: Reagan Tax Cuts and Florida
Perhaps no piece of legislation has been more damaging to the ideal of the American dream than Ronald Reagan’s irresponsible tax cuts passed in 1981. These tax cuts sent the US economy into a deep recession and allowed Reagan to build up a bigger Federal deficit than the every previous President combined. Much of the […]
The Florida Squeeze 