Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Donate Now
Logo of The Independent Florida Alligator
Newsletter
Apartments in Gainesville, FL
We inform. You decide.
Friday, September 19, 2025

Opinion

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  EDITORIALS

See your opinions in print: Become a Fall 2014 columnist

Aug. 4, 2014

There’s never been a better time to become an Alligator columnist — OK, maybe that’s a hyperbole. Regardless, as we prepare for Fall 2014, we have a lot of unanswered questions: Who will win the Florida gubernatorial election? Will Amendment 2 (that one about medical marijuana) pass? Will voters overturn the Florida gay marriage ban? Will Pitbull do us a favor and just run for governor already?

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Redistricting leads to gridlock in Capitol

July 30, 2014

Throughout the school year, students are rewarded for their hard work with occasional breaks from the rigors of academia. Following the grueling ends of each semester, we are released from the clutches of term papers, exams and presentations to spend a few precious weeks relaxing and recharging our batteries. 

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Hamas hasn’t and won’t respond to Israel’s plea for peace

July 28, 2014

You walk into a restaurant at 6:55 p.m. in anticipation of your 7 p.m. date. When 7:10 p.m. approaches, there is no sign of your date. And when you cautiously pick up the phone to call, there is no answer. You wait a little longer and call again. Someone picks up the phone, and within a mere second, the call is ended.

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  EDITORIALS

Negative ads undermine FL gubernatorial race

July 28, 2014

Unless you’re a TV-less hipster (getting all your shows on Hulu/Netflix/HBO Go — yeah, we’re on to you), you’ve been bombarded with the predictable mud-flinging political ads as November elections draw closer and closer. As they’d have you believe, Rick Scott is a reptilian warlord in a human skin suit, and Charlie Crist is a slick turncoat pushing for education cuts. 

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

World events don’t need US’ blessing

July 28, 2014

America must come to grips with an uncomfortable reality: Our world influence is beginning to wane. The two main crises that have dominated the airwaves for the past few weeks, the Malaysian Airline downed by Russian-backed Ukrainian separatist forces and the latest chapter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, have made this development perfectly clear. We have overstretched, overreached and overplayed our influence for too long.  

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Step out of the way, government haters

July 23, 2014

As late July turns to August, a few events are certain: Fall semester starts in just four short weeks, Gator football kicks off and the home stretch 2014 election begins. With the election looming, along with the glut of negative advertising, constant phone calls, campaign emails and fundraising requests, it’s time we broach a serious topic. 

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  EDITORIALS

Monroe gay marriage denial shows importance of the vote

July 21, 2014

For a brief moment at the end of last week, it seemed that Florida would claim a victory in the fight for gay rights. On Thursday, Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Luis Garcia overturned Florida’s 2008 ban on gay marriage and ordered that the two men who appealed for a marriage license, along with all other gay couples, be allowed to wed. 

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Is it possible to categorize the right?

July 21, 2014

Because the political right is full of an interesting bunch of characters, many in the media struggle to properly identify and categorize its different ideological camps. The right is said to be made up of mainstream, business-friendly, Tea Party, libertarian, neoconservative, religious-minded or simply extremist groups. 

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letter to the editor: Hobby Lobby decision

July 16, 2014

Let’s not be distracted by the hype. At the heart of the recent Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision, the issue was solely about power. The majority decision, delivered by Justice Samuel Alito, and even the oral arguments from Hobby Lobby, instead tried to cloak the corporation’s discriminatory, anti-woman, anti-family practice of denying to cover certain birth control methods under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. Since corporations are currently granted “personhood” under the law, the rights of corporations now officially seem to outweigh those of women.

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  DARTS LAURELS

Darts & Laurels 7/17/14

July 16, 2014

We hate to start Darts & Laurels off on a bad note, but animal cruelty is something this editorial board passionately stands against. Two Clay County girls are being investigated by Florida law enforcement officers after they posted a video of themselves burning a Gopher tortoise and torturing it to death. The Gopher tortoise, which is an endangered species in Florida, was lit on fire several times as the girls filmed it and said things like: “Burn baby, burn baby,” and “Now you’re scared of us, huh?” The girls also repeatedly threw it against the concrete and stomped on it, crushing its shell.

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Florida and Georgia’s commonality: Lousy governors

July 16, 2014

Florida and Georgia are rivals on a sizable scale. The annual football game between UF and the University of Georgia in Jacksonville can resemble preparations for a large war between two enemies, but it seems that the two rivals have more in common than we think.

Popular
Calendar
No events at this time.
Submit an event
Classifieds
Submit classified
Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2025 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.