* Hillsborough County is doubling down on giving forums to high-profile, low-caliber Trump sycophants. This week there’s a “Reopen America” conference at the River at Tampa Bay Church with featured speakers that include disgraced, pardoned former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn (of coup-advocacy infamy), conspiracy-promoting Mike Lindell, the crackpot MyPillow CEO, and longtime Trump enabler Roger Stone. Then later in the summer there’s the QAnon-enamored conspiracist, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who will speak or shriek at the Hillsborough County Republican Party’s annual fundraising Lincoln Day dinner in August. She and Rep. Matt Gaetz have done a lot of traveling this year to rally conservatives behind their “America First” movement that would embarrass Charles Lindbergh.
* A shout-out to St. Petersburg for its “Hidden Voices” project, a collaboration between the city and PERC (People Empowering & Restoring Communities). It created a street team of community members—including the formerly incarcerated—who go door to door to meet with young people (in the city’s predominantly black community) to connect them with more support and resources to help curb violence. The direct, in-the-hood connection is key to reducing violence, including gang-related shootings. Perhaps “BLM” could help out too. The police would appreciate it.