Author

Diane Roberts

Diane Roberts

Diane Roberts is an 8th-generation Floridian, born and bred in Tallahassee, which probably explains her unhealthy fascination with Florida politics. Educated at Florida State University and Oxford University in England, she has been writing for newspapers since 1983. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Times of London, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Oxford American, and Flamingo.

COMMENTARY

Dear Gov: Suppressing Black people (like kids in AP) is a bad look outside the Fox News fever swamp

By: - January 30, 2023

Ron DeSantis, pay attention: you really do not want Ben Crump suing you on behalf of three Florida high schoolers over that pilot AP African American Studies course you shut down. Have you seen those kids? Clean-cut, All-American, telegenic. Have you heard Ben Crump? Smart, eloquent, relentless. Crump gets on national TV more than you. […]

COMMENTARY

Gov. DeSantis’ attack on New College isn’t about philosophy; it’s about votes

By: - January 13, 2023

Ron DeSantis likes to say Florida is where “woke” goes to die. If by “woke” he means tolerance, science, inquiry, free expression, and knowledge, yes, Florida is where “woke” goes to die. Florida is where public education goes to die; Ron DeSantis is poisoning it. Not content with installing the quack Joseph Ladapo at the […]

COMMENTARY

On anniversary of Rosewood attack, it’s sad to see DeSantis embrace FL’s Old South legacy

By: - January 4, 2023

It began in the usual way: A white woman (her name was Frances Taylor) accused a Black man of beating her. That was on New Year’s Day, 1923. It ended in the usual way, with violence, lynching, and destruction. That Jan. 2, a mob of white men drove to Rosewood, a mostly black turpentine village […]

COMMENTARY

The only doctors Florida needs are Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, Dr. Laura, and Dr. Feelgood

By: - December 19, 2022

Doctors! Those guys are a menace to decent Americans. They make us pee in paper cups. They tell us to stop eating Mickey D’s super-sized fries for breakfast. They want us to exercise. Sometimes they demand to take our actual blood, the sick bastards. Worst of all, they shove needles in us and have the […]

COMMENTARY

Democracy has its place — and, apparently, it’s not the Florida Capitol

By: - December 13, 2022

Determined to keep the Free State of Florida the most incredibly free in the Land of the Free where freedom rings 24/7, Gov. Ron DeSantis is going to stop loud, tacky, possibly gay people from waltzing into his Capitol to “protest.” This is serious, people. You can’t let any old bunch of weirdo wokesters into […]

COMMENTARY

Your new Congress: Owning the libs, no matter the cost

By: - November 28, 2022

Are you excited about the 118th Congress? If not, you’re a communist. True, the U.S. Senate is still in the hands of the godless Democrats who want to destroy America, but the House of Representatives now belongs to Republicans, the party of God, AK-47s, F-150s (and not the electric kind, either), manliness, Merry Christmas, and […]

COMMENTARY

Florida is turning its back on the New South, embracing its Dixie-fied past

By: - November 21, 2022

Florida was once a New South state. From the early 1960s to 2000 or so, Florida had leaders who looked to the future, determined to leave Jim Crow behind and separate ourselves from the likes of Alabama. We had governors committed to equal justice, open government, and voting rights — however imperfectly achieved. No more. […]

COMMENTARY

Even the U.K. is falling prey to culture wars over abortion, immigration and history

By: - November 4, 2022

LONDON — If you’re wondering what the U.S. might be like after the midterms, take a look at the U.K. under the disinformation-purveying, dyspeptic, dysfunctional Conservative Party. It’s not an exact parallel, but it may seem familiar. The British Tories are not under the control of evangelical fruitcakes or quite as close as we are […]

COMMENTARY
University of Florida

U.F.’s loudmouth leftists need to straighten up and fly right!

By: - October 24, 2022

Did you see those ungrateful commie brats at the University of Florida hollering and hissy fit-pitching at Emerson Hall just because our wise and benevolent governor chose U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Some State Without A Coastline, to become president of their school? The students, faculty, staff, and those nosy types who think they have a […]

COMMENTARY

Hurricane Ian: This is climate change slapping us upside the head with a 2×4

By: - October 10, 2022

Ian devastated Ft. Myers, reducing hundreds of buildings to filthy, soggy splinters, yanking houses off foundations, throwing trees around like match sticks. One woman, sheltering on the top floor of a resort said, “We saw everything get swept away.” Pine Island is in pieces. The Myakka and Peace Rivers overflowed into the streets and living […]

COMMENTARY

Martha’s Vineyard migrant stunt demonstrates Gov. DeSantis’ inner jerk

By: - September 26, 2022

What kind of weapons-grade jerk celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month by using taxpayer money to lure four dozen frightened, exhausted Latino asylum seekers onto a couple of chartered planes, promising jobs, work permits, and free housing, flies them to Martha’s Vineyard, then brags about it? Why, Florida’s own Ron DeSantis, of course, burnishing his brand. And, […]

COMMENTARY

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott’s epic fail at GOP campaign job: squandered millions, crap candidates

By: - September 12, 2022

Nobody likes Florida Sen. Rick Scott. Dogs don’t like him. Children don’t like him. Even Mitch McConnell struggles to be civil to the man. True, Scott’s company defrauded Medicare, though, it must be said, Republicans usually have no objection to robbing old people. He has the charisma of a week-old ham sandwich and the appeal […]