Author: opinionstogo

* The National Labor Relations Board filed a formal complaint against the NCAA and others alleging a misclassification of college athletes as “student athletes” instead of employees. Anyone not see this coming? Too often “student athlete” is an oxymoronic reference to basketball and football mercenaries–many of whom have played the transfer portal game–prepping for a shot at the pros instead of studying serious subjects in classrooms with real students.

Back in the day, room & board, a high-profile campus presence, a diploma and a forum for post-graduate networking were sufficient.

* Ever notice how often the Rays need an interpreter—but the Lightning don’t? Speaking directly to fans—even in the context of a formulaic press conference—helps a franchise and individual players relate even better to this market.

* Congrats to the University of Florida for winning its 5^th NCAA Men’s Golf National Championship. Of course for hard-core Gator fans, it’s not consoling enough after a 6-7 football season.

* “Sportswashing”: The term used to describe Saudi Arabia’s attempt to distract from the country’s human rights abuses.

* Romaine Beckford, a USF high-jumper, became the Bulls’ first national track-and-field national champion in 30 years.

* “I AM AN INNOCENT MAN.”–The multi-count, federally indicted Donald Trump, who hasn’t been “innocent” since helping father Fred red-line New York real estate.

* Trump, of course, is entitled to a jury of his peers. Sounds scary.

* Document bottom line: Not so much what is taken, but what is kept.

* “Trump without the charm.”–How Nikki Haley’s campaign spokesman referred to Ron DeSantis. Too bad the reference couldn’t have been: Trump without the authoritative arrogance.

* Merriam-Webster.com reported that 2017’s most looked up word was “emolument.”

* “Personality transplant”:What DeSantis needs, according–ironically–to Trump.

* “DeSedative”: DeSantis nickname, courtesy of his one-time ally, Matt Gaetz.

* “For four years, we had a close working relationship. It did not end well.”–Mike Pence.

* Iowa will be critically important—from credibility to fund-raising—for GOP presidential-candidate Ron DeSantis. Recall that Trump, for all his early, media-enamored-and-enabled performances at cult rallies, didn’t carry Iowa in 2016. Ted Cruz did.

* “(Trump’s) a guy whose thoughts are often just six fireflies beeping randomly in a jar.”–David Brooks, New York Times.

* “I don’t think Trump can win a general election.”–Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La.

* “Our party is on a collision course toward electoral irrelevance without significant corrective action.”–New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, who had considered running for president.

* For the record, former President Trump once backed raising the retirement age to 70 and called for privatizing Social Security, which he labeled a “Ponzi scheme.” We’ll hear that again.

* “The Holocaust, it didn’t start with guns and death camps. It started with words.”–The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center.

* “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.”–President Abraham Lincoln.

* “… A nation that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.”–Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman.

* “One of the most positive selling points of genuine democracies: They do not war with one another.”–Former UN Security Chief Robert Bruce Adolph.

* “We don’t want to encourage or enable attacks inside Russia.”–U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

* “In diversity, there is beauty, and there is strength.”–Maya Angelou.

* “(A diplomat’s life) is made up of three ingredients: protocol, Geritol and alcohol.”–Adlai Stevenson.

* “The (Supreme) Court should not be the sole lawmaker, judge and enforcer regarding its members’ conduct, in ethics or in any other matter.”–Jeannie Suk Gersen, New Yorker.

* “In a system of checks and balances, power abhors a vacuum.”–Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

* “In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman.”–Margaret Thatcher.

* “Prohibiting ideas in the name of freedom is not freedom at all.”–The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

* “When politics is driven by the need to turn out your base and policy is dominated by the desire to cater to that base, our baser instincts come to the fore.”–Political scientist Norm Ornstein.

* “Socioeconomic status is not a proxy for race.”–Erica Sanders, director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Michigan.

* “It’s important for everyone to understand that children are more vulnerable to heatstroke and that all hot-car deaths are preventable.”–The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

* “Politics is show business for ugly people.”–Political consultant Paul Begala.

* “Being gay or trans isn’t perverse. It isn’t dangerous. What’s dangerous is (legalized) discrimination.”–Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book of Davie.

* “I expect we will build a ballpark in Tampa Bay that will keep the Rays here for generations to come.”–Rays owner Stuart Sternberg.

When it comes to octogenarian President Joe Biden’s re-election run, his approval ratings are an obvious issue. They are nothing, to be sure, that the Dems would approve of—but, then, he has won the passage of meaningful legislation requiring pandemic relief, infrastructure funding and climate-change measures. It won’t necessarily heal “the soul of the nation,” as Biden promised in 2019, but it does help position him to, as he recently underscored, “finish the job” and protect our citizenry from Trump’s Amerika.

And it would help if Vice President Kamala Harris uses her forum to make the galvanizing case on the abortion issue.

And who knows? Trump—being Trump—could wind up going third-party rogue and do for Biden what Ross Perot did for Bill Clinton.

In the aftermath of another mass shooting, Texas is looking at raising the age to buy AR-style assault rifles from 18 to 21. But a much better way to at least limit massacres—assuming that’s the motivation—is to not allow any assault-type weapons at all, unless you’re law enforcement. Being over 21 in these divisive, hate-themed times doesn’t preclude crazies and de facto terrorists from maxing out on a murderous rampage. Gov. Greg Abbott surely knows that. Surely.

* President Biden signed an executive order that creates the White House Office of Environmental Justice. The order would help ensure that poverty, race and ethnic status do not lead to worse exposure to pollution and environmental harm.

* Signs of a resilient labor market: The unemployment rate fell to 3.4 percent in April—matching a 54-year low.

* The Biden-Harris 2024 re-election campaign has formed a National Advisory Board of 50 leading voices in the Democratic Party who will help deliver the Administration’s message and engage voters across the country. NAB members include South Florida state Sen. Shevrin Jones and U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost of Orlando. Jones is the first openly LGBT, black senator in Florida and a member of the DNC. The 26-year-old Frost is the first member of Generation Z elected to Congress.

* Heads up, Democratic-leaning Senate and wild card West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell—in well-noted defiance of Donald Trump—has recruited West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice to run for Manchin’s Democratic seat.

* The president looked and sounded the part he needed to play at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, including passionate, unequivocal support for the role of journalism in a democracy. It also helps that as an aging, engaging president, he also has a sense of humor—as exemplified in his constitutional reference to his “good friend Jimmy Madison.”

* Speaking of the WHCD, it’s in part a forum that—because of some zinging humor—requires a president to give as good as he gets. Cheap laughs are accepted–and expected. It’s also a reminder that in America we don’t put our president on a pedestal. No surprise that Trump, the pathological narcissist, was a presidential no-show during his tenure.

It takes me back to the ‘70s when I was in West Berlin and heard locals referring to the tippling West German Chancellor Willy Brandt as “Schnapps Willy.” It was a good-natured kind of egalitarian ribbing of somebody they liked. You can bet that nobody on the other side of the Wall ever referenced Erich Honecker in such a funny, fun fashion.

* “Civil war”: the ultimate oxymoron. Other notables: “Truth Social” and “Pat Boone/’Tutti Fruiti.’”

* You can go to the Y and swim, but you can’t go to the A&P.

* Still a favorite spoonerism: “It’s kisstomary to cuss the bride.”

* Business names that resonate: United Skates, The Sod Father, Edifice Wrecks, Plant Parenthood.

* “DeSantisLand”: Now spotted on T-shirts and flags by those backing DeSantis’ bullying of Disney. In short: Don’t say gay, no matter how Goofy that seems.

* Gov. Ron DeSantis says Disney’s lawsuit is political. Oh.

* U.S. Rep. Laurel Lee, the Brandon Republican, was the first Florida member of Congress to endorse DeSantis for president in 2024.

* Gov. DeSantis: “We want education and not indoctrination.” Who knew?

* Signs that underscore DeSantis’ strategy to separate himself from Trump: “Vote For DeSantis. He Doesn’t Assault Women.”

* Rolling Stone: “DeSantis brags about Florida budget that includes billions in federal funds he opposed.”

* “Politicians who are willing to break the law to get votes or applause are extremely dangerous to our nation.” Twice-elected–and then ousted–Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren, a critic of Gov. DeSantis.

* “It’s all about the Ron DeSantis show. … It takes a toll on the culture of (the Legislature) and I’ve heard some lamenting of that.” State Representative Fentrice Driskell, of Tampa, the Democratic minority leader.

* “In the end, governor (DeSantis) … it’s not Jefferson or Madison or Patrick Henry you resemble. It’s King George III.” Charles B. Dew, Williams College history professor emeritus.

* Only two states don’t require a unanimous jury on death penalty cases. The other one is Alabama.

* Scott Atlas, a top adviser to Donald Trump, was named commencement speaker at New College. Steve Bannon was unavailable.

* The new normal. Voter registration in Hillsborough County: Democrats—333,691; Republicans—292,621; Others—298,937. There was a time when “others” didn’t come close to exceeding one of the two major political parties. But one political rule of thumb hasn’t changed: turnout is still the difference maker.

* Fox News prime time ratings dropped 18 percent during the first quarter. Even worse were CNN’s ratings that declined 34 percent during the same period. MSNBC dropped 8 percent.

* Classlessness update: “We’ll be back Monday…see you then.” That was *ucker Carlson, seemingly unaware on a Friday that he was about to be summarily fired by Fox News for his role in the defamation case with Dominion Voting System—the one that Fox settled for $787.5 million. But a summary firing? You’d think he was the only Fox trotter who believed that reality had a liberal bias.

* “Fox without Carlson means some of the worst elements on the right have lost a megaphone.”–Jonah Goldberg, The Dispatch.

* “What Do We Need Men For?”–Title of E. Jean Carroll’s 2019 book.

* “Faction”: Author Alex Haley’s term for the blending of fact and fiction.

* The internet–not books–is a threat to kids.