Democracy: The Reality Show

Wexler And His Refreshing Staff Get ready, because South Florida’s No. 1 media whore has finally done the inevitable. Robert Wexler is hitting the reality circuit this week. The Democratic Congressman from Boca Raton, who last month moronically told the world he enjoyed cocaine on The Colbert Report, is hitting…

Arrest? What Arrest?

Do You Believe This Guy? Okay, now the Sun-Sentinel is just being stubborn. Again, it didn’t put a story about the JonBenet Ramsey murder arrest on the front page. And again, most every other newspaper did, including the Post and Herald. You almost have to admire the Sentinel’s stick-to-itiveness. And…

I Got Bad News For You: The Story’s Bunk

Remember that great murder story in the Miami Herald yesterday? You know, the one about Covie Smith getting killed while he was on the cell phone with his girlfriend? The one where I said it was the best deadline reporting I’d seen in a while. The one with this passage:…

Suffered A Sept. 11 Tragedy? Call Now!

The Sun-Sentinel today took the extraordinary step of soliciting those directly connected to the national horror of the September 11 attacks. The bottom Digest item on today’s page 3B is headlined “Call us.” The text: Where were you on Sept 11, 2001? We are looking for local residents with a…

JonBenet Ramsey’s Day

Or really, it’s her long-suffering family’s day. This second-grade teacher, John Mark Karr, has admitted to the killing, ending what has to be one of the most poorly handled murders — by both the press and police — in the history of the United States. The supermarket tabloids, in particular,…

Who Crowned Michael Brown?

If there is a driving force behind Riviera Beach’s $2.4 billion redevelopment project, if there is one person who is imprinted on the effort like a cattle brand, it is Michael Brown. The city’s “weak” mayor. Brown’s post is meant to be largely ceremonial — he doesn’t even have a…

Spam Quiz

More fun with spam comments. Match the quotes below (which were sent to the Pulp by penis enlargement and weight loss companies in hopes that I’d publish them) with those who said them: QUOTES 1. I used to dress up and impersonate our next-door neighbor, Miss Cox. She wore rubber…

God and Government Strike Again–UPDATED

That Christian school that killed that kid was unlicensed. That’s the way I would explain the story at the kitchen table. The Miami Herald and Sun-Sentinel had the story. Herald reporters Amy Sherman and Todd Wright whipped the competition, with interesting background on the real force behind Back to Basics…

Is This Smart Marketing?

The Dan Le Batard billboard on Interstate 95 gives a whole new meaning to the term “shit-faced.” It’s a gag, but from the road it just looks drab and dirty…

Morning Rundown

“John Doe” Leader Smith It may have taken the recent spate of senseless killings to awaken the ancient art of deadline murder reporting in South Florida. The Miami Herald’s David Ovalle, Nicholas Spangler and Evan S. Benn give a veritable tutorial on the craft in this morning’s newspaper. They tell…

Archie Bunker Lives

So the Pulp has been getting barraged lately by spammers who want to make penises bigger across America. That’s not news, but it’s interesting the way they are trying to sneak onto the site. Here’s one “comment” they tried to get past the Pulp: “As James Baldwin wrote, The white…

The Weekend Rundown

Epstein The Palm Beach Post behaved like a big-time newspaper this weekend. It was loaded with in-depth stories, ending with Andrew Marra’s utterly fascinating story about Palm Beach billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who has been charged with diddling underaged prostitutes in the confines of his mansion. Marra follows the man’s strange…

The Sun-Sentinel Error That Won’t Die

Mehlman: So Many Lies, So Little Time The Republican Party is STILL propagating the screwed-up Sun-Sentinel story on the infamous speech by U.S. Rep. Jack Murtha at Florida International University in June. In a letter to supporters, Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman writes that Murtha “claims America is more…

Which Are You?

My dad never called himself a journalist. He was either a reporter, or later, an editor during this career at the Louisville Courier-Journal. “Journalist” was too pretentious-sounding for him. So when asked, I always told people that my dad, who is now retired, was a reporter (or newspaperman before that…

DeSoto Disgrace

A reader (and college teacher) sent me this beautifully written e-mail — and it pounds a little newspaper called the DeSoto Sun over the head with a stick. It can get real bad out there, people. Dear Bob, Please clone yourself and send the doppelganger over here to Florida’s West…

The Pulp’s Power Outage

Okay, I just finished an usually well-rounded morning entry — and, as God as my witness, the electricity went out just before I hit the “publish” button. Seriously, right when I was leading the mouse to the button, all the work got killed. I know. You’re saying, save it. Well…

Back in the Game

John DeGroot, the former Sun-Sentinel writing coach and Sheriff Ken Jenne aide, is back at work. His new employer: Gold Coast Magazine. The mag is a glossy mostly for rich folk, but Publisher Bernard McCormick is an old-school journalist who steers the publication into some serious stuff. DeGroot — who…

Our Pro-War Press

The Sentinel Endorses … As the idiotic destruction continues in Beirut, with innocent people being blown up and an entire nation being bombed into oblivion, our local newspapers are basically egging it on. The dunderheads can’t seem to learn. They got it wrong on Iraq and they’re getting it even…

Witness for the Intimidation

When I went to see Fane Lozman on his houseboat, I really didn’t know what to expect. I knew Lozman had tangled with officials in North Bay Village a couple of years ago. That ended with the indictment of a city councilman and the resignation of the town’s police chief…

Reinhard’s Bad Hair Day

I don’t want to seem to be picking on Beth Reinhard, but hey, I go where the material leads me — and I don’t have time to be too choosy. The Miami Herald political writer covered an event for Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Gallagher over the weekend that’s left the…

Beth Reinhard Adjusts Her Attitude

Rod Smith, Sack O’ Shit The Tribune Co.’s Tallahassee team, Linda Kleindienst and Jason Garcia, tell us of the shameless political smear being used against U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, who is vying against Rod Smith in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Seems some unsavory folk are spreading the information that Davis…

A Real Post For Real People

Newspapers are always talking about getting quotes and material from “real people,” i.e. non-officials. But the truth is that corporate rags are afraid of what real people say and cloy onto officials like Mel Gibson onto a bottle of tequila. Sure, they’ll get real people to talk about how their…