FL: Vote fraud denier Ted Deutch calls for investigation into voter fraud

By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — It was just a few months ago that Democratic U.S. Rep.Ted Deutch, of District 19, was ridiculing claims of voter fraud in Florida elections, accusing Republicans and ballot integrity groups of succumbing to the “voter fraud bogeyman.” “The story they tell is one of rampant voter fraud that threatens the integrity of our…

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HUMAN EVENTS: Swing State Report, Week 2

More from my contribution to this week’s Human Events magazine: FLORIDA Video leak turns debate from Medicare and entitlement to taxes and foreign policy What began as a battle over who could best uphold Medicare and tackle entitlement issues in the Sunshine State has now turned full steam into a debate rooted in taxes and foreign…

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FL: Millionaire Grayson continues his caustic push against the ‘rich’

By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — A quick glance at former Democratic U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson’s professional record and one would guess he’d hold fiscally conservative sympathies. As a former private-sector economist and telecommunications executive, Grayson made millions of dollars providing goods and services and creating jobs, accumulating a level of wealth which…

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OSSOWSKI: ‘Makers’ and ‘takers’ are what America is all about

By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — Renewed by the efforts of Democratic activists and a leading progressive publication, the national discourse has turned once more to the essential philosophical issue of taxation, a citizen’s most direct, albeit unpleasant, interaction with the government. At issue is the dividing line between Americans who actively…

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FL: Bill Young’s change of heart signals Afghan war shift for GOP

By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — As a lawmaker who has been in federal office since the Vietnam War, U.S. Rep. Bill Young has never shied away from advocating American intervention and military power abroad. At the peak of his 41 year career, he chaired — from 1999-2005 — the powerful Appropriations Committee, directly responsible for allocating trillions…

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HUMAN EVENTS: Swing State Report, Week 1

I made it into Human Events, the magazine and online publication, for the first time. This is part of the Swing State Report. Florida Campaigns speed through Sunshine State in race for its 29 electoral votes The U.S. Justice Department decided to drop its lawsuit over Florida’s early voting reductions–reducing the number of early voting…

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FL: Ryan’s critique of Federal Reserve could be new populist pitch

By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — Always willing to take on President Barack Obama‘s fiscal policies, Republican vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan explored the other side of the economic coin by criticizing the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve.The Wisconsin U.S. representative portrayed the latest move from the nation’s central bank, a $40 billion per month mortgage bond…

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FL: Debbie Wasserman Schultz sinks to new low, say fact checkers and media critics

By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — South Florida’s most prominent congresswoman, Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, has not been held in high regard following her party’s nominating convention in Charlotte, a fact that ultimately could trouble her re-election campaign at home. In just a matter of weeks, Wasserman Schultz has received criticism from media critics and…

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OSSOWSKI: Political parties are no longer engines of democracy

By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG, Fl. — Twice now, visible to all on national television, Americans have witnessed a democratic process snuffed by inner political party elites. First came the complaints of grassroots conservative activists in Tampa, Fla., at the Republican National Convention, upset by the national committee’s maneuvering granting future presumptive nominees the…

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FL: Charlie Crist auditions for Democrats in Charlotte

By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — Seizing the opportunity of a lifetime,Democratic politicians from all parts of the country are taking to the well-lit podium at theDemocratic National Convention in Charlotte, hoping to play the audience’s heartstrings and secure their own political futures. They have historical reasons to be hopeful: It was at the 2004…

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DNC: Charlotte ‘convention bump’ enough to help Democrats’ uphill battle in NC?

By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org CHARLOTTE — The whole point of a Democratic Convention in North Carolina was to support President Barack Obama‘s effort to capture the state’s critical 15 electoral votes. But a funny thing happened on the way to Charlotte: the popular local Democrats who might show up at the president’s side — lending him their credibility…

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