Rick Scott Returns Florida to Reconstruction-Era Racist Voting Law

Remember the 2000 election debacle, when Florida became the laughingstock of the nation? It wasn’t just punch-card ballots that caused our fair state such embarrassment. It was the wrongful purging of thousands of voters from the rolls because they were misidentified as felons.That mishap brought to light the painful fact…

Marco Rubio: Defender of Marriage

Sen. Marco Rubio offered this statement early this week, re: the legislative branch’s decision to challenge the Obama administration on its decision that DOMA isn’t worth defending:I want to thank Speaker Boehner and the House Republican leadership for taking action to defend this critical law that was enacted by a…

Recall Rick Scott Protest Hits Downtown

Here are some questions I hope to answer in the next several days: — Who is the Broward County School Board member who, prior to his or her election, was accused of making a racial slur at work? Specifically the member was talking about attending an Orange Bowl game in the…

Anti-Evolution Bill Hits State Senate

In a perfect world, we’d have no reason to pause over the language of Florida’s Senate Bill 1854, which reads, in part:Members of the instructional staff of the public schools… shall teach efficiently and faithfully… the following: (a thorough presentation and critical analysis of the scientific theory of evolution.”Critical analysis”…

Mysterious “Jedi” Plays Shady Role in Plantation Races

There’s a mysterious force at work in the Plantation City Council races — and they call him the Jedi.The Jedi is being blamed for a recent negative ad on council candidate Lynn Stoner, who is getting backing by certain Republicans. The ad, which attacks Stoner’s dismal voting record, comes with…

The Sun-Sentinel Gets Raw, Forgets Math

You know, Sun-Sentinel, there’s a certain art to these things.I thought it was cute bordering on precious when, a couple of weeks ago, you tried to emulate the cattier elements of big media by having dueling columnists thrash it out over the merits of Florida’s putative (and now aborted) high-speed…

Sheriff Al Lamberti Hit With Ethics Complaint Over Super Bowl

A former Broward deputy has filed an ethics complaint with the State of Florida against Sheriff Al Lamberti, alleging he violated state law when he engaged in a “fraudulent scheme” to bring his 15-year-old son with him on a security detail at last year’s Super Bowl. In the complaint, ex-deputy DiPerna…

Did Hell Freeze? New Times Gets Shout-Out From State Agency

It’s not often that a government official bothers to read — much less publicly praise– this rag. Politicians usually construct dart boards out of our cover stories and grumble about needing extra security to protect them against columnist Bob Norman.But a recent issue of The PIP Source — an unabashedly…

The Qur’an Is Not a Book of Peace — A Letter to Nezar Hamze

Last week, Rep. Allen West was confronted at a town hall meeting by a “Qur’an-wielding” Muslim who wished to talk to the congressman about his attacks on Islam. He was shouted down. That man, Nezar Hamze, is executive director of the Miami chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or…

The Incredible Mr. Rand

There is no bigger believer in the power of activists in Broward County than the Pulp. When watchdogs in the media fail (which happens more frequently than you can imagine), their hard work and perseverance have helped to bring one scandal after another to light. ​Activists and their less-influential and often…

More Tales of Pain Pill Mill Debauchery

[jump] He is Mladen Antolic, a seemingly mild-mannered physician in Orlando who has been charged with unlawfully dispensing pain pills. But that’s just the start, according to the Orlando Sentinel: “By night, authorities say, Antolic was hosting wild drug and sex parties at his 4,700-square-foot Hunter’s Creek home. The 55-year-old…

The Dalai Lama’s Family Connection to West Palm Beach

It’s no coincidence that Jigme Norbu was on his way to West Palm Beach when he was killed last week on State Road A1A. Norbu, nephew of the Dalai Lama and an activist for Tibetan independence, visited West Palm Beach often as a child because his father was friends with…

Food Not Bombs Clashes With Fort Lauderdale Police

The local collective of Food Not Bombs, an international group dedicated to ending hunger and war, says that members of the group have been harassed recently by Fort Lauderdale police. The group claims that police recently raided a house illegally and that officers are making a concerted effort to stop…

Photos From This Week’s Puppy Palace Protest

Many of the same people who protested cargo shipping company Amerijet until that company announced it would no longer ship monkeys are hoping the Hollywood dog seller Puppy Palace will stop selling commercially bred dogs. And though they’ve shown up regularly at Puppy Palace for more than a year, last…

Allen West Tells Muslim at a Town Hall Event: “You Attacked Us”

At a town hall meeting last night in Pompano, Allen West briefly sparred with a Qur’an-wielding supplicant who was there, in West’s words, to “blow sunshine up his butt.” (West always thinks Muslims want to blow something up.)”You recently told a marine that the terrorists that attacked the United States,…

Memorial Service Planned for Dalai Lama’s Nephew in West Palm Beach

After a car accident killed Jigme Norbu as he walked down State Road A1A last week, his friends and supporters have continued their 300-mile walk for Tibetan independence along Florida’s east coast. The group, which has been joined by Norbu’s brother and two of his sons, plans to end its…