Category: Uncategorized

So, a bill that would close Florida’s “gun show loophole” will likely not get passed this year. No surprise, but no less a disgrace. The usual blame has been assigned: election-year politics in a GOP-controlled legislature. Alas, there’s nothing about gun legislation that would fire up a GOPster base or please the NRA. So much for an assault weapons ban.

The Gunshine State reality is that the farther removed we are from Parkland, the less priority given to serious gun legislation. We either convert red to blue or we wait for obligatory legislation after the next mass shooting.

Nobody on the Rays, arguably, is regarded with more respect than veteran Charley Morton. The two-time All-Star, 36, was the Rays best pitcher last year; he’s also well-spoken, professional and a mentor for younger players. Prior to last season, he had spent the previous two with the cheating Houston Astros. He has a World Series ring from 2017. He never said anything until the sign-stealing scandal had broken wide open. Many call it guilt by complicity. 

He finally spoke out on the scandal. “Good people made mistakes; it’s as simple as that,” said Morton.  “I really don’t have anything else to say about it. I think mistakes were made, and everybody is just trying to move on.” That said, it’s likely he’s not doing as much mentoring this spring.

* “The steps China has taken to contain the (coronavirus) outbreak at its source appear to have bought the world time.”–Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization.

* “The only solution in Afghanistan is a political agreement. Progress has been made on this front and we’ll have more to report on that soon, I hope.”–Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

* “(The economic) sanctions have changed absolutely nothing in Russia–I am not proposing at all to lift them, I am just stating this.”–French President Emmanuel Macron.

* “Today, when we remember the history of the bombings in our country, we remember both the suffering of people in German cities and the suffering that Germany inflicted on others. We, as Germans, do not forget our guilt, and we remain true to our responsibility. Always.”–German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in officially marking the 75th anniversary of the Allied bombs that destroyed the city of Dresden.

* “You don’t see the world’s vulnerable people risking their lives to skip illegally en masse to countries like Iran or to Cuba.”–Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

* “These days, time frames are shorter. … A single disturbing video put up on social media is enough to spark a revolution, as in did in Tunisia in 2010.”–Jim Bitterman, CNN’s senior international correspondent.

* “The basic perception influencing the Kremlin is that Russia cannot afford to rely on the good will of its former Western competitors, who in Moscow’s view have taken advantage of the Soviet Union’s collapse by, for example, extending NATO membership up to Russia’s borders.”–Kent Brown, former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Georgia.

* “Democrats should be scared to death watching the president play in thuggish type, re-enacting the chilling final payback scenes of “The Godfather,” when Michael Corleone took out all his enemies. It’s not business. It’s strictly personal.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.

* “These are difficult times. … Trump and his enablers have wrought a slow-burn crisis of democracy. … For Trump, this is a government of Trump, for Trump, and by Trump. And his GOP handmaids and tens of millions of Americans are just fine with it.”–David Corn, Mother Jones.

* “Nobody walks into the (Oval) Office on Day 1 with what they need to know, full stop. Do you have the experience to be self-reflective, to have the capacity to grow and to have judgment, and are you secure surrounding yourself with other smart people?”–Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago and former chief of staff to President Barack Obama.

* “I would like to see a new beginning. I’d like it to start over. There’s too much controversy about latecomers.”–Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in urging E.R.A. supporters to set aside their long-running campaign for ratification and start over.

* “Everywhere I travel, I hear from parents and educators about active shooter drills terrifying students, leaving them unable to concentrate in the classroom and unable to sleep at night. … If schools are going to do drills, they need to take steps to ensure the drills do more good than harm.”–Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association.

* “Our field team is making sure that Latino communities understand that Democrats match their values on jobs, healthcare and climate change, and we are working to register tens of thousands of Hispanic voters before the start of the general election season in July 2020.”–Luisana Fernandez, the Florida Democratic Party’s Hispanic media director.

* “Nothing is off the table. We’re looking at single-family homes, small developments that have five to 10 units, all the way up to multi-story apartment and condominium complexes. And then even the tiny homes, the container homes. There is nothing we are not going to explore.”–Mayor Jane Castor on plans to meet Tampa’s need for affordable living.

* I think the Water Department is acting in a rogue fashion.”–Tampa City Council member Bill Carlson, on the city’s intentions about its Tampa Augmentation Project, which would convert highly-treated wastewater to drinking water.

 * “I ran on the promise to make development pay its fair share of our infrastructure costs. For too long, our impact fees have been far too low.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Mariella Smith, in urging support for higher school impact fees being proposed by outgoing superintendent Jeff Eakins.

* “This will be a landmark project that furthers Tampa’s emergence as a next-generation city.”–Mike Hammond, senior vice president of the Related Group of Miami, which has filed plans for two luxury condo towers on Bayshore Boulevard, south of W. Bay-to-Bay Boulevard.

* If I had been the Speaker of the House, I would have done what Nancy Pelosi did in tearing up her SOTU speech copy. Damn right. She had just sat through–prop-like–a braggadocios Celebrity Apprentice presentation after being blatantly snubbed on a pre-speech handshake. So she tore up a speech after Trump had completed another round of reality-shredding rhetoric in what had morphed into a “Four More Years” rally among sycophantic, Party First GOPsters. This “House of Shards” was an all-too-appropriate forum for going on a symbolic tear. In the context of one who rips the Constitution, this was nothing but a well-deserved, cutting gesture.

But I would still be wrong.   

However understandable and fist-bumpable as a visceral counter punch, it was not helpful. It reduced Pelosi, however briefly and inadvertently, to a perversely complementary act behind the ringmaster. Unfortunately, it will be used and re-used, sans context, as a Trump-rally meme. Optics matter, especially to the “Lock her up,” “Take her out” crowd. Historical archives will not be enriched by its certain inclusion. One has to believe that Michelle Obama, even during this dystopian administration, would still have advised her to “go high when they go low.” Even if AOC thoroughly approved.

BTW, isn’t it way past the time for some furniture rearranging for the annual SOTU speech? No matter who’s giving it. Whether it’s Barack Obama or Donald Trump, the president shouldn’t be sharing a framed, necessarily distracting, TV shot with the vice president and Speaker of the House. Whether it’s Joe Biden or Mike Pence, Paul Ryan or Nancy Pelosi.

This is the president’s forum, and there will always be additional optics and cut-away response shots, but framing the VP and Speaker in the same shot–as they gesture or notably don’t stand or applaud in unison, is an unnecessary distraction. Even if the president is the distracter-in-chief.

* “Ignorance and despotism seem made for each other.” No, that wasn’t Nancy Pelosi. It was Thomas Jefferson.

* The Friday Night Firings: No one was surprised that the recently acquitted president ranted, raged and exercised knee-jerk retribution by summarily jettisoning those–including Lt. Col. Alexander Vidman, the war hero-Purple Heart winner–whose testimonies to the House underscored Trump’s political extortion involving Ukraine. It’s also a reminder of why there are Whistleblower laws requiring anonymity.

As for the ousting of Gordon Sondland, the million-dollar Republican donor who bought his position as envoy to the European Union: Call it karma. Just ask Paul Manafort or Michael Cohen or Jeff Sessions. Faustian deals can end this way–no matter what Rudy Guiliani thinks.

* Not that it’s a shock, but Sen. Mitt Romney, the lone GOPster vote for impeachment conviction, has been officially disinvited from this month’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference convention by CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp. Only Schlapp doubled down on the partisan retribution raining down on Romney by warning that Romney, were he to show up at CPAC, should be “afraid” for his “physical safety.” Yeah, that’s what it’s come down to these days. That’s also how an authoritarian’s surrogates communicate for the bully pulpiteer. But at least Schlapp didn’t advocate “taking him out.”

* “I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong.” That was the president referencing Mitt Romney–not Mike Pence.

* This much we still know: Trump’s base is not enough to re-elect him. The 2018 mid-terms were a reminder that moderate suburban voters, especially women, can be difference-makers in several key states.  A crucial GOPster priority is to win back this demographic. But what, candidly, is still puzzling–despite the punditocracy’s analysis about anti-establishment, anti-elite, populist appeal and anti-Clinton sentiment in 2016–is how anyone defined as “moderate,” could have voted for Donald Trump in the first place. He had a track record, one that was as public as it was notorious.

* “We are part of the problem, as an institution that cannot see beyond the blind political polarization.” That was Alaskan Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, going candid.

* “I cannot vote to convict.” That was Sen. Lisa Murkowski, going along to get along.

* “It’s not a party. It’s a cult. (Trump) can’t be beat in the Republican primary.” The reason, explained former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh, that he ended his Republican primary challenge.

* So Sen. Rick Scott is proposing a constitutional amendment that would make it harder for the House to impeach an elected official. That will be hard; the constitution hasn’t been amended in a generation. Alas, it’s a lot easier to elect an impeachable president.

* “Race-baiting bigot.” That was Sen. Lindsey Graham’s take on Donald Trump before Trump became his unprincipled lodestar and presidential golfing partner.

* Enough of the pettiest of the candidate back-and-forths. Nobody in this field is the next Barack Obama. Get over it.

* “Future former Republicans.”–Pete Buttigieg’s characterization of certain prospective, “Mayor Pete” voters.

* Who were the winners by the time the Iowa-caucus fiasco was finally finished? Obviously, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg. But also Mike Bloomberg, an outsider taking a pass on a debacle. Then there’s the Oval Orifice incumbent. Adversaries always love the other side’s unforced errors, like a last-minute Anthony Weiner email. There’s also New Hampshire, which would like to go first in primary season–and Florida, which seems less like “Flori-duh” after the silo vote shared its embarrassing, unvetted-app sausage with everyone.

* It’s likely that Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, whom the Dems chose to answer Trump’s SOTU reality-show riff, will be in the conversation when it comes to the Democratic ticket. She’s the articulate, 40-something female governor of a swing state that the Dems must win back as well as an effective, national-stage spokeswoman for solidifying gains with female voters. She pushed back against Trump’s spiking of the economic football, made the case for affordable and inclusive health care and underscored the need to expedite infrastructure improvements and investments. She also spoke from East Lansing High School–where her two daughters are enrolled. Nice touch.

* “Whoever gets the nomination, we have to rally behind them, no matter who it is.” That was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the uber feisty supporter and campaign surrogate for Bernie Sanders. Here’s hoping the “Bernie or Bust” zealots are on board with AOC’s words. And here’s hoping AOC is too.

* “We are not going to be able to out-divide the divider-in-chief.”–Amy Klobuchar.

Nobody around here has a more direct perspective on the Trump Administration’s priorities and their societal and global impact–as well as the value of fighting the good democratic/constitutional fight–than seven-term, Tampa Congresswoman Kathy Castor.

“I know my Tampa neighbors and I will continue to value America’s Constitution, to show that what is right still matters, and demonstrate that we still possess the character essential in ‘keeping our Republic,'” underscores Castor. “The hard fact is President Trump’s behavior and the vote of GOP Senators make it that much harder for us to prove this to the world and to our kids and grandkids.”

* Here’s an out-of-town take we never expected to read; it’s from a column by Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe. He’s commenting on a blockbuster trade by the Red Sox that involved two of their highest-priced players, Mookie Betts and David Price, in order, primarily, to save money. “Welcome to Tampa Bay North. Say hello to your Boston Rays,” wrote Shaughnessy, possibly a back-handed compliment to the Rays, who do more than most, with less than almost everybody.

* Whatever your take on what movie should have won this year’s Oscar, it’s worth recalling that “Citizen Kane” never won an Oscar. “How Green Was My Valley,” which is never mentioned in the context of the greatest movies of all time, won it that year (1942).

Ex-Rays update: “Keeping baseball in Tampa Bay” used to mean what it has always meant: A spot-on, Tampa-centric location and modern facility in this asymmetrical market without mass transit or many corporate headquarters. That was the challenge; that was the reality. Now it’s an unprecedented scenario that would have the Rays sharing baseball seasons with Montreal. Tampa is listening.  Among the most prominent believers: MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. “People continue to believe that the two-city alternative they’re exploring is viable,” says Manfred, “and could be a really good solution for keeping baseball in Tampa Bay.”

* “It doesn’t matter what the president says about the stock market. What matters is that millions of people struggle to get by or don’t have enough money at the end of the month after paying for transportation, students loans or prescription drugs.”–Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, in delivering the Democratic response to President Trump’s SOTU speech.

* “Truth matters little to him. What’s right matters even less, and decency matters not at all.” Rep. Adam Schiff, in his closing arguments to the Senate impeachment jury.

* “An appalling abuse of the public trust.”–Sen. Mitt Romney, on casting his vote to convict the president for attempting to extort Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden.

* “I don’t need any lessons from anybody, especially the president of the United States, about dignity.”–Nancy Pelosi.

* “That Marco Rubio is a Republican prince and Romney a Republican pariah tells you all you need to know about how low a once-proud party has sunk.”–Max Boot, Washington Post.

* “Mr. Trump is on a roll, but there are 271 days left before Election Day. His supporters should remember: What happens the first week of February won’t decide what happens the first Tuesday of November.”–Karl Rove, organizer of the American Crossroads PAC and former George W. Bush adviser.

* “The central fact of America today is not its economic vigor but its profound inequity.”–Nicholas Kristof, New York Times.

* “Suburban women is where he has a challenge. I think the biggest problem that he has with suburban women is the part that so many in his base like about him. His rhetoric. His punching down at his opponents. It’s so different than anything they’ve seen.”–Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D.

* “This (voting) fiasco means the end of the caucuses as a significant American political event. The rest of the country was already losing patience with Iowa anyway and this cooks Iowa’s goose. Frankly, it should.”–David Yepsen, Des Moines Register.

* “Let’s be glad in Florida we have professional election administrators running primaries and not party volunteers running a caucus.”–Michael McDonald, University of Florida political science professor.

* “If we are losing our national identity, it is not because we are becoming browner or speak in more languages than we once did. It is because we are losing our sense of the common good. ‘We’re better than anyone else’ nationalism, tinged with racism, typically emerges in countries where demagogues build their base of power by fueling fears of others outside the nation’s borders.”–Robert Reich, former secretary of labor and author of “The Common Good.”

* “Trump is utterly irreplaceable as the living id of the American right, an existentially satisfying demagogue who has proven himself capable of lashing out at the elements of American society they despise as much in deed as in word.”–Osita Nwanevu, New Republic.

* “The market can only ever provide what is profitable. It is utterly indifferent to human needs.”–Leigh Phillips, Jacobin.

* “A game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons.”–Rush Limbaugh’s characterization of the NFL.

* “We want this to be known as one of the top startup cities in the country, and we will get there. I think a reasonable time frame is five to 10 years.”–Jeff Vinik, the developer of Embarc Collective, a former downtown warehouse that is now home to dozens of startup companies.

* “The most effective way to combat hate is to build bridges within our greater Tampa community, especially between the Jewish and African-American communities, through dialogue and education. The more we know and understand about each other and our histories, the less likely vitriolic rhetoric will be tolerated.”–Joseph A. Probasco, president of the board of directors of the Tampa Jewish Community Centers & Federation.

* “I think there’s going to be a very big push for these (‘attainable housing’) types of projects in the next two years. We (architects) need to be in the forefront in leading the community discussion.”–Mickey Cohen, principal of the Design Studio at BDG Architects.

* “The old adage that you get what you pay for is true in education as well. It’s hard to recruit and keep good teachers if you are not paying them.”–Craig Richard, president and CEO of the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council.

* “I think the Water Department is acting in a rogue fashion.”–Tampa City Council member Bill Carlson on the city’s intentions about its Tampa Augmentation Project, which would convert highly-treated wastewater to drinking water.

* Trump and history: Donald Trump will be the first impeached president to run for re-election. Alas, given his character and track record, we likely haven’t seen the last of “impeachable” acts from this impulsive, historically unprecedented occupant of the Oval Orifice.

* In all likelihood Trump will be further emboldened by his impeachment acquittal. Ironically, had it not been for the Bidens and Burisma, however mischaracterized, there would have been no impeachment at all. 

* Retiring GOP Sen. Lamar Alexander, a key “no” vote on witnesses, finally had his moment of equivocal discernment on acquittal. What Trump did was, indeed, “inappropriate,” conceded Alexander. But “The Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are ‘inappropriate.'”

His head should go, appropriately enough, on a pike anyhow. Rhetorically speaking, of course.

* The Bolton book, (“The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir”): Do we wait for the retitled movie, “Nondisclosure Agreement Be Damned”?

* For those Republican senators who keep enabling Trump’s democratic devolution, two points. First, country and conscience first. How quaint. Second, you are part of a representative–not direct–democracy. Your role, whatever your label and fealty, doesn’t mandate being a rubber stamp for constituents, no matter their number or vociferance.

* “Just because actions meet a standard of impeachment does not mean it is in the best interest of the country to remove a president from office.” Even a self-serving, disingenuous GOPster such as Marco Rubio should be able to make a better argument against conviction than that.

* “I’m going to take my cues from the president’s lawyers.”–That was vintage Mitch McConnell before the impeachment hearings and the witness-free “trial” began. Being a “man of your word” has never seemed so dishonorable.   

* When is a trial not a trial? When the jury is the judge.

* Nobody is thwarting U.S. sanction plans for regime change in Venezuela more than Russia, which has extended a life line of crude oil purchases and currency to help prop up Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s authoritarian leader. But it would likely be even more problematic if Donald Trump and Vlad Putin weren’t such good friends.

* More irony in that the two countries actively seeking to undermine European security, Turkey and Russia, are run by two of Trump’s favorite authoritarians, Recep Erdogan and Trump’s aforementioned bromantic buddy.

* You say you want a devolution: Partisan political banter has always had its off-putting side. But new lows are practically a daily occurrence in the era of Trump. Here’s the rhetorician-in-chief’s recent put-down of Michael Bloomberg, a potential opponent: “I just think of ‘little.’ You know, now he wants a box for the debates to stand on. OK, it’s OK. There’s nothing wrong. You can be short.”

That resulted in this retort from Bloomberg’s spokesperson, Julie Wood. “(Trump) is a pathological liar, who lies about everything: his fake hair, his obesity and his spray-on tan.”

Nobody looks good, but we know who started it. Just ask Marco Rubio.

* “Normalization of lawlessness.” Adam Schiff’s analogy of the Nixon and Trump Administrations.

* “This is not a banana republic.” That was the response of Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., in rejecting the White House counsel’s suggestion there was nothing wrong with seeking foreign election interference. Problem was he was admonishing Banana Republicans.

* “Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs … You represented the great state of Kansas and, in fact, the entire USA, so very well. Our country is proud of you.” Whatever.