la liberté avant tout
Quand j’ai vu mes compatriotes dans les rues de Montréal le printemps passé, il n’y avait jamais un doute que ces jeunes révolutionnaires jouaient un rôle pertinent. En pleine conscience, mes anciens collègues se battaient pour un avenir libre d’intimidation, d’incertitude et d’identité imposée par l’état. Quant à moi, si le boycott étudiant avait été…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA — Delegates from 56 U.S. states and territories have come to the Republican National Convention here to represent the desires of millions of GOP voters who participated in presidential primaries in 2012. But party activists, delegates and influential observers allege the national party is using rule changes and sleight of hand…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA — Billed as a national gathering of passionate Republicans unified to support their nominee for president and vice president, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, the Republican National Convention has, of late, shed that image, playing host to a high-stakes rules battle that could change the future of the party itself. The central…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA— As delegates and suit-clad Republican Party officials were busy rewriting the nominating rules for the Republican Party on Monday at the Tampa Bay TimesForum, detractors and protesters were getting their message out three blocks away at the Lykes Gaslight Park. Seemingly undeterred by the growing mass of police officers dressed head to toe in…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA— After a year and a half of the Republican presidential nomination process, it seems that the inevitable nominee will be nominated at the Tampa Bay Times Forum next week. Clinging to the title of presumptive nominee, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney will take to the floor at the Republican National Convention to shed that…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA— People expecting stiff resistance from the New Black Panther Party at the Republican National Convention in Tampa next week can breathe a sigh of relief. Speaking exclusively to Florida Watchdog, Michelle Williams, chief of staff for the local chapter of the New Black Panther Partyin Tampa-St. Petersburg, said her group has no more plans to appear alongside…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA — As county election officials thumbed through the 2 million ballotscast during the Aug. 14 party primary election in Florida, a state judge nearly 1,000 miles away was preparing his ruling on a law closely mirroring the voter identification requirements in the Sunshine State. The next day, Aug. 15, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson rendered…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA — In the business world of today, there is much more to worry about than just the bottom line. Entrepreneurs are forced to not only appeal to consumers, but they must also comply with federal, state and local regulations, keep an eye out for upcoming laws that will…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA— Ceding to the hot temptations of democracy, three Florida judges will shed their traditional black robes for chance to enter the political boxing ring of merit retention elections this November, putting their records on the bench up for popular scrutiny at the ballot box. The measure, adopted by…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog CORAL GABLES—It took only a margin of a few hundred votes to topple a powerful 24-year incumbent of Capitol Hill. That was the fate of U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, of District 6, by political newcomer and large-animal veterinarian Ted Yoho ofGainesville on Tuesday night in the 3rd district’s GOP primary. The latest returns showed Yoho…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog CORAL GABLES — As the words of praise and accomplishment were handed down from the podium, expectations rose at Connie Mack IV’s campaign headquarters in Coral Gables on Tuesday night. The four-term Republican congressman from Naples, fresh off his easy victory in the GOP U.S. Senate primary win over three…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA — In the shadow of Mitt Romney’s visit to Florida with freshly introduced vice presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on Tuesday, more than 8 million registered Florida voters will hit the polls to choose their party’s candidates for local, county and state elections. As the 42nd state…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA— Consider the large grassroots movements of the past four years—including the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street—and you’re likely to conclude countless Americans believe the country is moving in wrong direction. That’s backed up by the latest Ramussen poll from Aug. 8. It reveals that only 27 percent of likely U.S. voters say the country is…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TALLAHASSEE— On Aug. 7, Florida Watchdog Bureau Chief Yaël Ossowski, joined Capitol Vanguard reporter Will Patrick for a discussion about Florida’s top news stories. Topics covered in the podcast include attempts to overcome voter fraud, the growing absentee ballot scandal in Miami-Dade County, politicians protesting military sequestration cuts, and the newly upheld health care reform known as ‘Obamacare’ and its…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST PETERSBURG — A trait that is often regrettably lost when a politician takes office is consistency in both rhetoric and action. The rhetoric that fiscal conservatives in Florida and across the country have been successful in conveying and repeating is the idea that the federal government cannot create…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST PETERSBURG — Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate are blasting private colleges for high tuition rates and uncertain job prospects for students, but some researchers have countered that the problems are emblematic of all higher education, a result of virtuously limitless federal subsidies. A report by the Senate Committee on Health, Education,…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA— In the decades following World War I, a widespread consensus existed in the United States that armed conflicts were not pursued for defense, protection or necessity, but rather for the opportunity of profitable investment enjoyed by the captains of industry. According to the Senate Historical Office, the 1920s and…
Yesterday, I was afforded the opportunity to ask Sen. John McCain a few questions on the collusion between politicians and the defense companies that manufacture weapons. McCain came to Tampa, FL to protest the $500 billion in sequestration cuts slated for the military budget over the next 10 years—less than $50 billion per year. What…
TAMPA — If the proposed cuts to the military budget are not stopped immediately, the United States would be unprepared and unequipped to fight any future wars — despite the growing danger of a deepening national debt. That was the message delivered Monday at a town hall event downtown, where U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., spoke…