Yet another special session
"State lawmakers kicked off yet another special session Monday, and they’re ready -- albeit without a full roster in each chamber -- to unleash a new set of congressional maps with weighty implications for Florida’s political landscape."
While the House’s discussion on the process remained fairly succinct and lasted only a few minutes to hammer out scheduling details, the Senate stayed to discuss the redistricting process for much longer."State Lawmakers Two Dozen Short, But Map Redrawing Off and Running." See also "Lawmakers reluctantly convene for another redistricting session" and "Lawsuits, politics, and the House-Senate cold war: Why the real fight over redistricting may be yet to come."Senators had a particularly keen interest in the way the maps would be redrawn -- the chain of events in this special session is bound to play some role for state senators down the road, because another special session to redraw the state Senate districts is set for October.
Taxpayers pay for governor’s misdeeds
"Taxpayers should not be forced to shell out at least $700,000 for governor’s misdeeds." "Pay up, Mr. Scott!."
FloridaStrong
"The liberal group FloridaStrong is back at it with attacks against the Florida Legislature, this time criticizing state lawmakers for their 'blatant disregard for the state constitution.'" "Liberal Group FloridaStrong Attacks State Lawmakers over Redistricting."
Jeb's phony war on Planned Parenthood
Mary Sanchez of the Kansas City Star writes that, "with one careless comment, Jeb Bush revealed a fundamentally indifferent attitude toward half the U.S. electorate."
“I’m not sure we need half a billion dollars for women’s health issues,” he said in a speech at the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville."I don’t believe Bush misspoke. There’s something about abortion he wishes to ignore: Abortion is a women’s health issue. You cannot separate abortion from this context."The inevitable statement soon followed, admitting he “misspoke” and adding that “there are countless community health centers, rural clinics and other women’s health organizations that need to be fully funded.”
Too late. The game was on. Hillary Clinton blasted back, “When you attack women’s health, you attack America’s health.”
The plain truth is that the Republicans really don’t care that the bulk of Planned Parenthood’s work has nothing to do with abortion. Nor do they care about standards of accuracy in the accusations they make against the organization."The phony, unprincipled war on Planned Parenthood."