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Friday, April 03, 2026

Opinion

Florida Alligator
Opinion

Step out of the way, government haters

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. 


UF coach Will Muschamp speaks during the Southeastern Conference Media Days in Hoover, Ala., on July 14.
Sports

Johnson's Journal: How many wins will fans need to see from Muschamp?

What will it take for the Florida football fanbase to be satiated? What will it take for it to stop calling for Will Muschamp’s head on a silver platter? Some will never be satisfied with his defense-first philosophy and I get that. But can the moderates be swayed into believing that Muschamp is making noticeable improvements? To find the answer, I’ll run through win-loss scenarios.


Florida Alligator
Opinion

Monroe gay marriage denial shows importance of the vote

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

Is it possible to categorize the right?

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

Letter to the editor: Hobby Lobby decision

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 7/17/14

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

Florida and Georgia’s commonality: Lousy governors

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.


Florida Alligator
Opinion

University of Miami sells forest land, soul to Wal-Mart

It’s easy to forget, what with daily strange Gawker headlines and a certain highly anticipated magical theme park opening, that Florida wildlife is in danger. From rising sea levels threatening the southern coast to black bears ransacking neighborhood trash as a result of overdevelopment to Big Oil drilling in the Everglades, Florida’s natural resources are under attack. 


Florida Alligator
Opinion

Republicans can’t ignore Palin and D’Souza’s siren song

In “The Odyssey,” Odysseus must avoid the mythical sirens who lure sailors to their doom on the rocky shoreline of their island. Though the songstresses are enticing, Odysseus and his crew, with the assistance of some beeswax with which they filled their ears, force themselves to ignore the dangerous distraction in order to preserve their best interest.


Florida Alligator
Opinion

Speaking out against Israeli attacks

The situation in Palestine that has taken place over the past four weeks has brought us to speak out against the unjust collective punishment being levied on the Palestinians by the state of Israel. 


Sarah Landauer and the author, Richard Johnson, after a Young Life event in 2010 at Trinity United Methodist Church.
Sports

Remembering a friend, a bet and the 2010 World Cup

I was reminded of 2010 a few nights ago. My memory was thrown back there thanks to an article in The Atlantic about friends who have died, yet still live through Facebook. It is an interesting take on a phenomenon that is now all too real for our ultra plugged-in generation of millennials, including myself. The story prompted me to read back through wall posts and messages of a friend I’d lost, and that brings me to where this summer intersects with that one.


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