Florida

CBS and NBC continued on Thursday night to harp on the so-called refusal of Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott to initially debate his opponent, Democrat and former Florida Governor Charlie Crist, on Wednesday because of Crist’s usage of a fan that broke the rules of the debate. After each of the “big three” (ABC, CBS, and NBC) mentioned it on their morning newscasts, the CBS Evening News …

Attorneys for NBC News are feverishly working to get a judge to toss out a defamation lawsuit filed by George Zimmerman, claiming, oddly enough, that Mr. Zimmerman's prior work seeking to get justice for a homeless black man made him a "limited purpose" public figure. Nevermind that that's a side of Zimmerman's community involvement which the peacock network didn't really care to report as its…

Here's another entry for the "name that party" file. Ambulance-chasing lawyer cum melodramatically hyper-partisan Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson (Fla.) has been accused by his estranged wife of violently shoving her during a dispute. The Orlando Sentinel has the story. The paper buried the party affiliation at the tail-end of the article, but they at least mentioned the "die quickly!"…

At the rate he's going, South Florida Sun Sentinel cartoonist and variable-length commentator Chan Lowe may turn out to be this decade's Ted Rall. On Tuesday, Lowe had a column and cartoon (link may require subscription) satirizing the Sunshine State's "Stand Your Ground" law and gun owners in general ("Angry White Males," of course), characterizing them as treating their weapons with…

"Dunn verdict renews call for gun reform" blares the teaser headline for the number one item in the lightbox at MSNBC.com. The corresponding story by Michele Richinick was front-loaded with calls from liberal activists to exploit the outcome of a murder trial to promote an effort to repeal Florida's Stand Your Ground law, which was not even invoked as a defense in the recently-concluded trial of…

Adam Wollner at NPR’s It’s All Politics blog reported that longtime “Price Is Right” host Bob Barker is endorsing a Republican for Congress in the special election to replace Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young, who recently died in office. Barker, who's just turned 90 and retired from the popular CBS daytime show in 2007 after 35 years, appeared in a television ad Thursday on behalf of David Jolly, a…

Matthew Archbold at Creative Minority Report passed along that "A reporter for a small town in Florida went on a crusade to have a nativity scene removed. And they wonder why people don't trust the media. This guy might as well be the Grinch." He found a report from WJHG-TV in Panama City, Florida, in the Panhandle:

A search at Google News on "Anne Packham" (in quotes) returns nine items. That's an amazingly low number, considering Ms. Packham's aggressive attempts to gain visibility in her job as a lead Obamacare navigator in Florida, and the utterly ridiculous assertion she made earlier this week about the impact of credit scores on healthcare premiums — an assertion she has retracted without anything…

On Thursday morning, MSNBC guest host Mara Schiavocampo devoted a segment of the show to discussing the story of Marissa Alexander, a Florida woman who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot into a wall at the home of her ex-husband. She brought on Joy-Ann Reid, TheGrio.com editor and blogger, to discuss the comparability of this case to the Trayvon Martin case as well as…

MSNBC's Al Sharpton become a "millionaire celebrity" by "stirring the flames of racial discord," but the "Lean Forward" network won't ever admit that to its viewers, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity on the July 18 edition of his eponymous program. "They won't talk about Al Sharpton's record. They won't talk about Crown Heights and the racial discord that…

Black liberals keep bemoaning the danger to their own teenage sons after the "not guilty" verdict in George Zimmerman's murder trial. To avoid what happened to Trayvon Martin, their boys need only follow this advice: Don't walk up to a stranger and punch him, ground-and-pound him, MMA-style, and repeatedly smash his head against the pavement. The Justice-for-Trayvon crowd keeps pretending…

Welcome to the Obama administration's cringe-inducing non sequitur of the week. On Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder continued stoking the fires of racial resentment over a Florida jury's acquittal of George Zimmerman. In an address to NAACP leaders, who are demanding federal intervention, Holder attacked Stand Your Ground self-defense laws. All together now: Squirrel!

MSNBC's initial -- not to mention its ongoing -- reaction to acquittal of George Zimmerman on charges of second degree murder and manslaughter was predictably heavily focused on race and laden with melodramatic hand-wringing. But it may be anchor Chris Jansing who took the cake in early Sunday morning coverage when she asserted that pre-teen boys were "crawling into bed" with their parents in…

This week, instead of attacking a Hispanic senator, Marco Rubio, I will defend a Hispanic citizen, George Zimmerman, on trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin. (Zimmerman would make a better senator.) It's becoming painfully obvious why no charges were brought against Zimmerman in this case -- until Al Sharpton got involved. All the eyewitness accounts, testimony, ballistics and forensics…