Author: opinionstogo

 

• “President Biden and my support for the people of Ukraine is unwavering.”—VP Kamala Harris at the Summit on Peace in Switzerland. For the record, it was the vice president’s 17^th foreign trip.
• “Kamalanomics”: Now finding its way into partisan political parlance.
• An early July Reuters/Ipsos poll looked at a hypothetical Trump-Harris The results: Trump led Harris, 43% to 42%.
• Joe Biden and Barack Obama as part of a successful fundraiser. It’s a given. Only downside: Obama charisma and nostalgia starkly juxtaposed to a president past his prime.
• “Evan is not a spy. Journalism is not a crime. … He is simply being used as a bargaining chip.” That was White House national security spokesman John Kirby, in reference to the Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich, who is charged with espionage and remains in jail in Russia.
• “Biden’s policies are better for the economy. They lead to more growth and less inflation.”—Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.
• Inflation context: Let’s not forget that the ultimate arbiter of the money supply is the Federal Reserve Bank—not Congress and not the president. Independent of the federal government, the Fed alone controls the money supply. Its primary function is to control inflation.
• Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has declared gun violence a public health crisis. His advisory was, no surprise, praised by doctors. The American Academy of Family Physicians has considered gun violence a public health epidemic for more than a decade. Nationwide gun control measures, however, require legislation passed by Congress.

• Diplomacy is thinking twice before saying nothing.
• “The times that tried men’s souls are over.”—Thomas Paine, known more for eloquence than prescience.
• “You look great!” Thanks. “For your age.” Yeah
• Thanks to Gov. DisAstrous and the Indian County School Board, “Floriduh” has been back in the news. That’s what happens when the book, “Ban This Book” is banned. Another gift for late-night comedians. Heavy-handed censorship, partisan self-service and idiocy, obviously, have never been banned.
• “A categorical final warning, forbidding masters of ceremonies to make political wisecracks or to use lewd erotic jokes in their performances.”—No, that wasn’t Gov. DisAstrous who made that warning. It was Joseph Goebbels.

• June 19, 1865 is the day slavery is considered to have ended in America. By then, Tampa had already been emancipated (May, 1864).
• Hillsborough County reported fewer than 155,000 vote-by-mail requests for elections this year. This is in comparison to more than 335,000 requests for the midterms. Changes in state law have everything to do with it. Voter “security” is not a synonym for partisan voter suppression.
• Amid Tampa’s high-profile urban upgrades is a project that is much more than high-rise revitalization. It’s an homage to Tampa’s African-American roots. The Tampa Housing Authority and the Tampa Bay History Museum will be jointly curating the first Black History Museum in Tampa. It will be located at the (restored) former St. James Episcopal Church in the Encore neighborhood. Heritage matters and this project underscores that critically relevant reality.
• According to data from Freddie Mac, the average rate for a 30-year-fixed-rate mortgage: 6.87%.
• Statistics from the Greater Tampa Realtors show that the median home sales price has increased 2% in the last year—to $423,710.

• “Con man” update: Reich-stuff racist Donald Trump, unsurprisingly, claims that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of America. Among prominent, spineless GOPsters who don’t see that as a reason for condemnation: Marco Rubio.

“’Poisoning the blood,’” says Rubio, is simply a “saying that he uses, but it has nothing to do with race, because in the end, he’s talking about the country, not the population.”

In the end, Rubio has shamelessly fallen into line behind the “con man” he once defined and decried.

• In a state that has gone from purple to red to supermajority GOP, Dems have at least found consolation in knowing that the party will field candidates in all 140 legislative seats up for election this year. That hasn’t happened in nearly a generation.
• “I think that the Legislature doesn’t really understand the way things work in academia.”—Sharon Austin, UF political science professor.
• Chaplains are now permitted in public schools. So much for guidance counselors?
• Florida has fewer Fortune 500 companies per capita than any other major state.
• U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of the “2024-25 Best Places to Live” in the nation, Naples ranked 1^st and Sarasota 11^th.
• Florida ranks 46^th in SAT scores in America.
• The National Deer Association still gets $200,000 to promote deer hunting.

• The movie “The Apprentice” was well received at Cannes. It chronicles the relationship between Donald Trump and his mob lawyer-mentor Roy Cohn. Interesting–if not disturbing–timing, to be sure. Distributors have bought the rights in Canada, UK, France, Japan, Germany and a number of other countries. But the filmmakers have yet to secure a deal to release it here. Negotiations are ongoing.
• According to Nielsen, Fox News Channel averaged 2.14 million viewers in prime time in June, with MSNBC at 1.22 million and CNN at 525,000.
• During the Trump Administration, TV networks were forced to hire security guards to accompany their White House correspondents.
• CBS is the media partner of the BBC.

• In October, Mexico will have its first female president in Claudia Sheinbaum. A former liberal activist, she has spent academic years (1991-94) in the San Francisco Bay area and speaks English. She has already spoken at length—sans interpreter– with President Biden. That helps.
• “We need to ensure and safeguard a space for proper human control over the choices made by artificial intelligence programs: Human dignity itself depends on it.” That was Pope Francis in an address to the G7 summit in Italy.
• Thailand will allow same-sex marriage. It is the third Asian country to do so. The others: Nepal and Taiwan.
• Iran’s crackdown—via its oxymoronic “morality police”—on women not adhering to dress codes. What would Allah say? Hopefully, “Are you kidding me?”

• Danielle Collins of Petersburg is part of the U.S. Olympic tennis team. She will compete in singles and doubles.
• Tampa’s Erriyon Knighton made the U.S. Olympic track & field team in the 200 meters. He’s a Hillsborough High grad.
• The Lightning’s Jon Cooper will coach Canada’s Olympic team for the 2026 Milan Games.
• 21 of the 30 MLB teams now feature sponsorship patches on uniforms. But, no, it doesn’t look like NASCAR.
• Once again, WTMP-FM will be doing its Spanish-language broadcasts of Bucs’ games this season.

 

• Not a HUGE issue: SCOTUS ruled against a man who wanted to trademark “Trump Too Small.” No, it wasn’t Little Marco.
• According to the DOJ, approximately 1,500 people have been charged for crimes related to the riotous breach of the U.S. Capitol on 6.
• Candidate Loose Lips has referenced Milwaukee, where the upcoming GOP national convention will take place, as a “horrible city.” Unsurprisingly, that hasn’t gone over well in Milwaukee. Also, no surprise that the DNC has turned it into high-profile campaign billboards across Milwaukee. Wisconsin is a key swing state and went from purple to blue enough in 2020.
• Key swing state Michigan has the largest concentration of Arab-Americans—more than 310,000. No surprise that even Trump, the proven Islamophobe, is making hypocritical outreach efforts to Arab Americans.
• Trump’s inimical take on the DOJ “witch hunt” and what’s next: “Haul out the Guillotine.” If you insist.
• “It’s time to save the Republican Party by voting against it.”—The Lincoln Project.
• “Have to admit I’m surprised that Speaker Johnson wants to be in the ‘I cheated on my wife with a porn star’ club. I guess he’s not concerned with teaching morality to our young people at all.”—Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney.

• “History is a lively abode, full of surprises.”—Author Erik Larson.
• “These actions will ratchet up the risk that foreign financial institutions take by dealing with Russia’s war economy.”—National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, in announcing sanctions targeting Chinese companies that help Russia in its war against Ukraine.
• “I’ve often wondered how some people in positions of this kind … manage without having had any acting experience.”—President Ronald Reagan.
• “Love me, love my dog, and if you don’t love my dog, you damn well can’t love me.”—Winston Churchill.
• “Let’s have trial by combat.”—Rudy Giuliani, on Jan. 6, 2021.
• “People argue semantics when they can’t argue anything better.”—Scott Maxwell, Orlando Sentinel.
• “Gender identity is real.”—U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle.
• “As democracies go, we’re no city on a shining hill when it comes to voting.”—Author Barry Golson.
• “He serves his party best who serves the country best.”—President Rutherford B. Hayes.
• “You need a democracy to have effective capitalism. If you don’t, you get cronyism. You get oligarchy. You get crony capitalism.”—Anthony Scaramucci, former communications director for President Trump.
• “I am confident that we at the Fed are on a path to achieving our 2% inflation goal on a sustained basis.”—John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
• “We have to recognize the fact that … teachers can’t afford to be teachers.”—Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar.
• “The project on the west side will be even more transformative (than the Riverwalk).”—Mayor Jane Castor, on plans for the ($56.8 million) West Bank project that will include a network of 12 miles of continuous bike and pedestrian pathways. The federal DOT, in a grant secured by U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, will cover $24 million of it.
• “2021 and 2022 were the crazy years. Too many people wanted homes, and they were going so fast. That was definitely a seller’s market.”—Lei Wedge, associate professor of finance at USF.

A jury agreed unanimously to convict Donald Trump on 34 criminal accounts. An appeal awaits.

Meanwhile, appeals to America’s sense of justice, decency and democratic ideals will be on the November ballot.

Having a (legally) felonious candidate—just three years after a capitol insurrection cost lives and global credibility—makes the U.S. look like one of those “banana republics” that we have long disparaged. And, yeah, Trump could still run from jail. Eugene Debs did that back in 1920.

It’s what happens when an unfit, immoral cult figure has a large following. Bluster, blather, racism, nativism, narcissism and misogynism have become the opioid of the (m)asses. This is what “American exceptionalism” has become in the MAGA era.

Ultimately, history will be the final judge. We’ll be glad we’re not around.