Last year, Commissioner Juan Zapata got caught using his $930,000 office budget to pay for a $30,000 master’s degree from Harvard, justifying it by saying his constituents would benefit from his continued education. That excuse didn’t go over so well. Within days, Zapata was outed by reporter Erika Carrillo of Univision and subsequently…
Donald Trump’s campaign is to presidential elections what the Challenger disaster was to Space Shuttle missions — a loud, fiery disaster no one seems capable of stopping. After Trump was accused of groping more than ten women this week, he’s taken a gigantic swan dive in the polls and has…
When two University of Miami professors decided in 2009 to write a book about the role of conspiracy theories in American politics, they figured the esoteric topic was worthy of more mainstream academic research. At the time, wild accusations about who really planned 9/11 and killed Princess Diana were blooming…
Steven Machat is confident he’d win Florida’s U.S. Senate race — if only he was allowed to get on the debate stage. The music industry veteran running as an independent last month sued the Federal Communications Commission and hosts of two upcoming televised debates, arguing that “as a proper candidate,”…
South Miami Vice Mayor Bob Welsh does not know what the word “badonkadonk” means. Reached on his cell phone today, Welsh insisted the slang term — which references a woman’s large rear-end — was actually a reference to the, ahem, frontal part of a lady’s nether-regions. “Badonkadonk is southern for vajayjay,”…
Conservative Twitter is abuzz this afternoon with a trending hashtag: #BlacksForTrump. The spark is clear: Thousands have retweeted photos from Trump’s rally in Lakeland, Florida this afternoon showing a small group directly behind the Donald enthusiastically waving “Blacks For Trump” signs. “Blacks are for Trump and the left can’t…
Empathy isn’t exactly a major part of Rick Scott’s brand. Before taking the governorship, Scott had the distinct honor of running the company that stole the most money from Medicare, the government agency that gives health care to poor people, in history. Things haven’t progressed much since he took office. Thankfully, Florida…
John Taglieri is a self-described “blue-collar worker kinda guy.” In 2005, the now-70-year-old restaurant owner with a tan that sets off his blue eyes and white hair put money down for a one-bedroom condo in the preconstruction Trump International Hotel & Tower Fort Lauderdale. Lured by the New York businessman’s…
Marco Rubio is a man of principle. You’ll notice we did not use the word “principles” — that would be far too generous. Rubio abides by one single rule in his life: Do whatever the hell he can to appease his voter base and get re-elected. His morals change with…
By most measures, Hillary Clinton seems to be locking up Florida. General polls show her leading by two or three percent in the Sunshine State, while a Friday survey found her destroying Trump by 30 points among the state’s key Latino voters. And all that data came before the GOP nominee…
This afternoon, Donald Trump is huddled up in a New York tower resisting a growing chorus urging him to drop out of the presidential race after a video emerged yesterday of the GOP nominee straight-up bragging about sexually assaulting women and getting away with it. Condemnation has been swift from…
On Thursday, Newsweek investigative reporter Kurt Eichenwald revealed that Donald Trump had violated the Cuban embargo by sending consultants to the communist island in 1997. Though this wasn’t the first time Trump had been accused of illegally dealing in Fidel Castro country, Eichenwald’s report is certainly the most comprehensive evidence yet that Trump…
Donald Trump will have a hard time showing his face in Versailles ever again. Just two days ago, Trump stood on a stage in Miami, said he had a deep love and respect for Miami’s Cuban community and added that Cubans immigrant deserve “the right deal” to renegotiate the American…
Donald Trump lied far more often than it seemed during last night’s presidential debate. Sure, he was called out for his obvious untruths, like misstating his initial support for the Iraq War, and pretending that crime is at epidemic-level rates when it’s actually hitting a low point. But he wasn’t…
“Just look at our skyline and imagine what’s going to be there in five or ten years. If the public knew the extent to which some of those buildings were pushed through, I think it would reflect poorly on the City and the City Attorney’s office.” This is Justin Wales,…
Donald Trump has based his entire, race-baiting presidential campaign around the fact that foreign immigrants are coming to America, stealing people’s jobs, and destroying the economy. Not only is this demonstrably false — there’s been ample evidence since Trump started campaigning to show he doesn’t practice what he preaches. His…
Miami’s Third District Court of Appeal yesterday declined to put a citizen-backed campaign-finance reform bill up for a public vote this November, according to documents published by blogger Al Crespo. The decision likely ends a summer-long fight between a union-backed group pushing the county to get money out of politics,…
Miami is in the midst of the most spirited debate it’s had regarding campaign-finance reform in years. Barring the results of legal appeals and a counter-suit filed this week, a group of activists has forced Miami-Dade County to let its citizens vote on a measure that would cut political donations…
Sixteen years ago, hanging chads sent the nation into a spiraling constitutional crisis. For a month after the November 7, 2000 election, America panicked. Would Texas Gov. George W. Bush or Vice President Al Gore become the new commander-in-chief? Election night ended in a virtual tie. Bush had the edge,…
Less than 48 hours ago, nine Miami-Dade County Commissioners hemmed and hawed over a citizen-backed initiative that would have cut campaign donations to just $250 per person and banned people who get huge checks from the county from donating. Those same commissioners decided Wednesday afternoon to prevent voters from getting…
Just a few short months ago, only a few anti-mosquito wonks had ever heard of a pesticide called naled. But now, thanks to the onslaught of the Zika virus, the mosquito-killing compound has become the touchiest issue in Dade County since LeBron James’ defection back to his hometown. As activists…
More than 127,000 people signed petitions demanding that Miami-Dade reform its campaign finance laws to keep big money out of local politics. So why did the commission vote 9-4 last night to effectively kill the measure? Mostly because the group that collected the petitions, Accountable Miami-Dade, used its own big…
