Politics & Government

President Trump’s government shutdown has hit South Florida in several visible ways. Bags of trash are piling up at Everglades National Park. Shipments of produce and flowers are being delayed because federal inspectors have been furloughed. An entire terminal at Miami International Airport was closed because there weren’t enough TSA workers to screen travelers.

Earlier this month, Israeli-born Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anabelle Lima-Taub called Rashida Tlaib, one of America’s first two Muslim congresswomen, a “Hamas-loving anti-Semite” who might someday “become a martyr and blow up Capitol Hill.” Lima-Taub was then widely condemned for her big mouth, even by the Anti-Defamation League. But the commissioner won’t back down…

If you want an example of the painfully transactional and conflicted nature of U.S. congressional committee assignments, consider the case of Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The new, Democrat-controlled House of Representatives was sworn in at the beginning of the month and leaders began handing out committee appointments. Wasserman Schultz, who represents…

Hallandale Beach City Commissioner Anabelle Lima-Taub’s career seems to be dangling on thin ice right now, and for good reason. Earlier this month, she claimed online that Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, one of the first two Muslim women ever elected to U.S. Congress, was a “Hamas-loving anti-Semite” who might one…

This past November, Florida Republicans, conservative TV pundits, and President Donald Trump fabricated claims of “election-rigging” by two Florida elections supervisors in two of the state’s most heavily Democratic counties. Now those same Republicans have attempted to fire both of those elections chiefs. The Florida Democratic Party has already blasted Gov. Rick DeSantis’ latest move as a “politically motivated power grab” and an attempt to “consolidate” control of elections across the state.

Earlier this week, Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anabelle Lima-Taub decided, for some godforsaken reason, to post on Facebook that she was worried that Rashida Tlaib, one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, was a “Hamas-loving anti-Semite” who would “blow up Capitol Hill.” In other words: With zero evidence, she accused a Palestinian-American of being a terrorist. That’s racist, full stop.

New Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony has officially begun the process of turning former Sheriff Scott Israel’s many controversial political hires into political fires. Tony took additional steps to clean house at BSO today, this time taking aim at two of former sheriff Scott Israel’s political cronies who’d been given high-level…

Mary “Mayhem” Mayhew, Florida’s new Medicaid chief, was accused of all kinds of misdeeds while running Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). She was repeatedly sued and fined for failing to follow various rules while working under then-Gov. Paul LePage. Yesterday, New Times recounted how the federal government in…

When Donald Trump chose Mary Mayhew to run the nation’s Medicare and Medicaid programs in 2018, Maine residents were alarmed: From 2011 to 2017, Mayhew had run that state’s medical programs. She was so psychotically focused on cutting medical programs for the poor that she became known as “Mary Mayhem.” Oddly, she stepped down three months later.

A new ordinance would require background checks.

Donald Trump’s tantrum over his absurd border wall has now made life even more frustrating for Miamians

In late December, the feds told the Associated Press that the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children, a migrant camp holding 1,300 immigrant children outside of Miami, would add 1,000 extra beds some time in 2019. While immigrant-rights groups maintain the facility is a humanitarian nightmare — one…

During the last year or so, the #MeToo movement has empowered scores of people to come forward with long-buried allegations of sexual assault. Because most states have statutes of limitations for crimes other than murder, though, victims’ attempts to find justice have often been stymied. In Florida, the statute of…

Jacksonville Democratic Rep. Kimberly Daniels might literally be the craziest person in the Florida Legislature right now. She is a former “exorcist” who called herself the “Demonbuster.” Though she holds multiple theological degrees from a Christian seminary and has written 13 books about Christian spirituality, some of those volumes cover…

Former Miami State Senator Daphne Campbell, one of the most ethically challenged people to ever hold office in the entire state of Florida, has filed to run for office once again. She did so in the most characteristically “Daphne” way possible: by kinda-sorta admitting that she was not living in…

Newly elected Sen. Rick Scott is not, it seems, capable of empathy. If there’s one thing Floridians learned about Scott after eight years as their governor, it’s there is no amount of shameless, Rich Uncle Pennybags-style money-grubbing that is beneath him. Well, now he’s bringing his own, special brand of avarice to Washington…

Given Florida’s reputation as the National Rifle Association-dominated “Gunshine State,” many political observers were surprised state lawmakers passed a relatively long list of gun-safety restrictions after the February 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. For example, legislators approved a “red-flag” law that lets cops temporarily confiscate guns…

Israel’s numerous political hires need to be swept out.

In October 2017, the Associated Press published an audio recording of what the U.S. government, at the time, claimed was a “sonic attack” launched at American diplomats stationed in Havana, Cuba. The recording included a few seconds of a high-pitched, mechanical-sounding, squealing noise, which American officials stressed was some type of nefarious, secret brain onslaught…

The First Amendment protects Americans from being punished by the state for the things they say. The “state” part here is key: You are not being censored, for example, if you’re fired from your job as a newspaper columnist because you got caught hanging out with a neo-Nazi biker gang…

New rail, no mall, and let ’em smoke pot.