"The latest [FlaBagger] embarrassment"

The Sun Sentinel editorial board: "The Republican Party wants you to believe they are more inclusive than ever, reaching out to Hispanics and other groups they have been accused of ignoring."

They may have made inroads with Hispanics, but as far as the gay and lesbian population — which constitutes a big segment of the voting public in South Florida — Republicans continue to take huge steps backward.

The latest embarrassment came this week, when tea party activists sent out fliers and emails strongly criticizing Broward County Commissioner Chip LaMarca and School Board member Heather Brinkworth, both Republicans, for participating in a gay pride parade.

Among other things, the fliers — which nobody in particular will take credit for — asked if it is "worth selling your soul to the devil" to get votes from gays.

Danita Kilcullen, a Republican committeewoman and co-founder of Tea Party Fort Lauderdale, made things infinitely worse by sending out an email version, which began with the statement "whores chasing whores, if you will."

"Intolerance by Broward GOP hurts everyone."




Crist not releasing his wife's tax returns

"As Rick Scott launched a new statewide TV ad criticizing Charlie Crist for not releasing tax returns, Crist released his past three returns, but not his wife Carole’s, and said he won’t." "As Scott ad blasts Crist for ‘hiding’ tax returns, Crist releases them."

The Orlando Sentinel editors contend that "Crist should release wife's tax returns, arguing that "Crist, by ruling out releasing his wife's tax returns, is breaking from a precedent set by the last Democratic nominee for governor, Alex Sink. When she ran in 2010, she released not only her own tax returns for 2005 through 2009, but also those that her husband — a successful lawyer and former candidate for governor himself — had filed separately over the same period."

However, the Sentinel editors observe that "It's ironic that Scott's re-election campaign hammered Crist for being slow to release his tax returns and refusing to release his wife's, because Scott has hardly been a model of transparency himself as governor."




"Scott vetoed precisely one bill"

"Gov. Scott signed the last bill left over from the spring legislative session on Wednesday, leaving unscathed an almost historically high amount of the legislation approved this year."

In addition to the line-item vetoes he issued to strike items from the nearly $77 billion budget, Scott vetoed precisely one bill of the 255 approved by the Legislature, or 0.4 percent of the measures that passed. That is the lowest since at least 1986, according to state records.

"Rick Scott Rarely Wielded Veto Pen in 2014."




Gay marriage fight spilling out onto the campaign trail

"Florida's ban on same-sex marriage is under attack in multiple courtrooms, a fight that's spilling out onto the 2014 campaign trail." "Same-sex marriage is issue in Florida courts and on campaign trail." See also "Same-sex marriage cases."




Florida "the modern equivalent of Hollywood’s fictional Wild West"

Joy-Ann Reid: "The mass shooting at the Liberty Square housing projects Tuesday morning is tragedy enough. A 29-year-old man was killed on the spot. Another victim died at the hospital. In all, nine people were shot, in what must have felt like a scene out of a bad gangland movie."

More than 50 bullet casings littered the ground when it was all over. And as of this writing, no one has been arrested. Liberty Square and the blocks surrounding it near 12th Avenue in Liberty City are festooned with surveillance cameras. More than a quarter of them weren’t working. . . .

Now, Florida has added insult to the serial injury in a state that is quickly becoming the modern equivalent of Hollywood’s fictional Wild West, since in the real “wild west” you had to check your guns at the sheriff’s office before entering Dodge City. In Arizona, Sheriff Wyatt Earp enforced a broad ordinance declaring it “unlawful to carry in the hand or upon the person or otherwise any deadly weapon within the limits of said city of Tombstone, without first obtaining a permit in writing.”

In modern-day Florida, by contrast, if and when the shooter or shooters are tried for this latest shooting, they will be treated to Florida’s expanding form of frontier justice, in which gangsterism and violence are routinely rewarded by the state’s Stand Your Ground law.

"We’re becoming the new ‘wild west’'." See also Fred Grimm's, "Killing scene in Liberty City is all too ordinary."




Walks in the park

"Jeff Atwater and Adam Putnam Sitting Pretty in 2014."




Rubio claims he met some "real people"

"If Sen. Marco Rubio runs for president in 2016, one can look back to a packed room a few blocks from the Capitol on Wednesday as the birthplace of his platform."

For half an hour, wrapping policy details around anecdotes from regular people, the Florida Republican outlined proposals aimed at the middle class, a large swath of the electorate the GOP has had trouble connecting with.

"Sen. Marco Rubio's pitch for middle class looks like 2016 platform.




Gambling

"Poll: Voters want say in whether to expand casinos."