Yearly Archives: 2014
Charlie Crist finding his voice on GOP’s culture of entitlement
The 60-day legislative session began today in Tallahassee. This is the time of the year when Florida’s citizens are most under threat from over reaching hand of ideologues in state government whose mantra of “less government and lower taxes,” usually means the opposite. As the session approached former Governor Charlie Crist, the Democratic front-runner in […]
Putin’s RealPolitik Catches United States and Allies Flat Footed; Must Respond With United Voice
Authors Note: In this part of our multi-part series “The Liberal Case For US/NATO Intervention In Ukraine,” I’ll examine why the international community should regard Russia’s incursion into Ukraine as an act of war, what options the international community and the United States have at their disposal to punish Vladimir Putin and Russia for said […]
The liberal case for US/NATO intervention in Ukraine crisis (Part I – Overview and History)
Introduction to series This is Part I of a multipart series where TFS’ Justin Snyder and Kartik Krishnaiyer will outline the case against Vladimir Putin and for intervention by the United States in the Ukraine crisis. As the world has watched the last 72 hours, the Russian Federation under the leadership of the world’s most dangerous “democratic” despot Vladimir Putin […]
Trotter’s Take: How the neoconservatives destroyed US foreign policy and American prestige
Sovereignty. This one word is the cornerstone behind the concept of international relations, whether you are a realist, liberal, or proscribe to another theory of IR. The determination as to whether a state can conduct its own affairs without outside interference has been the law of the land since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. […]
The liberal case for US/NATO intervention in Ukraine crisis (Introduction)
As the word has watched the last 72 hours, the Russian Federation under the leadership of the world’s most dangerous “democratic” despot Vladimir Putin has invaded Ukrainian territory. Putin’s pretext is protecting Russian ethnic minorities in the Crimean Peninsula, which of course was the site of one of the world’s most famous military conflicts. The […]
TFS Legislative Session Coverage
The 60-day Florida Legislative Session begins tomorrow. We had planned to spend this past weekend and today previewing the session but instead were overtaken by events in Ukraine which has taken up the bandwidth of most of our writers. However, TFS’ Ryan Ray is at the Capitol today for committee meetings and will be following […]
Water issues will define 2014 session, both parties in Tallahassee
Oh, I know that in one’s youth that beauty, justice, truth / Seem to be what life is all about. But when the facts are faced, you realize that life is based / On water coming in and going out. “The Plumber is the Man” by Garrison Keillor Due to national attention regarding Florida’s choking waterways it’s now […]
Marco Rubio on Russia/Ukraine – War Mongering or Proactivity?
I have already outlined how poorly I believe President Obama is handling Russia and has handled Vladimir Putin for five years in office. However. his approach naive and reactionary as it is still is preferable to what Florida’s Junior Senator is now saying regarding the crisis. Marco Rubio will be on NBC’s Meet the Press […]
Ending 13 years of appeasement – Containing Putin must be the priority of the USA
Regular readers of this website and those who follow me on social media my opinion of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. I have long felt Russia was the most dangerous potential adversary for the United States geopolitically. Nobody should question how I feel about the Russian invasion of Crimea, a clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty. The handling […]
Flashback Friday: Florida Delegation and Civil Rights in the 1960s
Let’s focus today on the two items of momentous congressional legislation pushed in the 1960s by President Lyndon Johnson and passed over the objection over the vast majority of the Florida Delegation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 received zero votes from members from the Deep South and very few from the peripheral south. The […]
The Florida Squeeze 