Monthly Archives: May 2016
Movie Review: All the Way (With LBJ?)
HBO’s new All The Way film which premiered last week is a look at one of the most important periods of Presidential leadership – the first year of Lyndon Johnson’s time in the White House and his complicated relationships with Martin Luther King Jr., Hubert Humphrey, Richard Russell, J. Edgar Hoover and his wife Lady Bird […]
Florida voter rolls during reconstruction
Every now and then especially on Holiday weekends I explore through Florida Memory, the outstanding site from the Division of Library & Information Services. This weekend I came across this gem from the Reconstruction era – The voter roles for the state from 1867. The Fifteenth Amendment had yet to be ratified but Republican-led reconstruction […]
The Phlip Side: Proposed Democratic Presidential Primary Changes
We are at the tail end of the process of selecting the Democratic nominee for president, and while there are no serious flaws with the process there are some things that can be done to improve it. The biggest problem that needs to be fixed is a perception problem, especially with the Super Delegates. The […]
Did contributions from John Kirtley influence school “choice” votes by Darren Soto?
Over the last few years, we at TFS have repeatedly cited John Kirtley, a Tampa venture capitalist and the force behind the national pro-voucher group “All Children Matter” as a malign force that was able to use campaign contributions to possibly influence the thoughts of many Democrats on the school “choice” issue. In 2012, Kirtley […]
Flashback Friday: The Tallahassee bus boycott 60 years on
Sixty years ago this week, two FAMU students sat down in the designated whites only area of a City of Tallahassee bus. Carrie Patterson and Wilhelmina Jakes sat in the whites only section of a city bus on May 26, 1956 and were arrested for “attempting to incite a riot.” The previous year Rosa Parks heroic […]
NPR: Rising seas push too much salt into the Florida Everglades
Rising seas are pushing too much salt into the Everglades, NPR reports. No doubt Governor Rick Scott will either ignore this increased threat to Florida’s clean drinking water supply and the ecosystem in general or label it a “hoax” prohibiting state officials both elected and unelected whose job it is to safeguard this state from doing […]
The Phlip Side: Presidential Election Math
By Sean Phillippi The Electoral College is an arcane, and not completely democratic, way of electing a president. That being said, it is the system we have, so we must look at this election through the lens of the Electoral College map. For historical reference, here is the 2012 Electoral College projection I posted two […]
Despite environmental rhetoric Darren Soto loaded with sugar contributions
The Everglades ecosystem and its preservation is a a life or death matter for those living south of Shingle Creek. Last year the Audubon Society awarded Senator Darren Soto the “Champion of the Everglades.” While elements of Soto’s record are admirable from an environmental perspective such as his filing of anti-fracking legislation like so many […]
Flashback Friday: Apollo 10
On June 20, 1969 Apollo 11 landed on the moon and captivated the world’s attention. It’s often forgotten two months earlier a rocket launched from Cape Canaveral that put in place the final building blocks for the moon landing. This week in 1969 Apollo 10, an often forgotten mission launched from Cape Canaveral from the […]
U.S. and Saudi Arabia: A cold “peace”, Part II
Part One can be found here In August of 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait and stationed four tank divisions on the border of Saudi Arabia. Osama Bin Laden offered the services of his mujahidin soldiers, based in Afghanistan, to defend Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia sought the protection of the U.S. military and President George H.W. Bush […]
The Florida Squeeze 