Oval Orifice Update

* “I JUST GOT IMPEACHED FOR MAKING A PERFECT PHONE CALL!” Whatever.

* “No crime, no impeachment,” no criminal trial, no relevance.

* Here’s the take of the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office on President Donald Trump’s decision to hold up military aid to Ukraine, aid that Congress, of course, had authorized. The federal watchdog agency found the presidential intervention to have been illegal. “Faithful execution of the law does not permit the president to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law,” summarized the GAO–not Nancy Pelosi or Adam Schiff or Chuck Schumer or Rachel Maddow.

* In the 18th century, Anglo-Irish statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke cut memorably to the moral chase. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing,” he famously declared. Two centuries later, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. doubled down. “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people, but the silence over that by the good people.” The principle, we are reminded, is timeless; its application ongoing.

Would that Republican senators, sitting in “judgment” of Donald Trump, answer the call to combat evil in our contemporary midst. Would that they muster the rectitude and guts to do the right thing unless, of course, they–as self-serving, political cult followers–don’t identify with “good people.”

* “I think Ken Starr is a lunatic.”–That was President Donald Trump’s disparaging take from back in the Clinton-impeachment day. Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz would get it. Now Starr’s part of Trump’s made-for-Fox, impeachment-defense team.

* Alan Derschowitz clients: O.J. Simpson. Claus von Bulow. Mike Tyson. Jeffrey Epstein. Donald Trump. There’s a pattern. But did Harvey Weinstein not get the memo?

* Speaking of Trump’s legal representation for the Senate impeachment trial, Pam Bondi is prominently–and reprehensibly–back in the news cycle. At least she’s not dating Lev Parnas.

* Trump welcomed the national champion LSU football team to the White House. To whatever degree it was a diversion, it was undermined by the president’s inimitably impulsive reference to his impeachment as he mocked Democratic priorities for “trying to impeach the son of a bitch.” Sometimes a TelePrompTer does help.

* GOPster Mash: “I spent my day talking to my friend & supporter, the President. You spent yours with Al Sharpton.” That’s Matt Gaetz, the Florida congressman, responding in vintage, Trump-punk Gaetz fashion to, ironically, fellow Florida Republican, state Rep. Chris Latvala.

* Next up? It’s now official; Trump’s third Homeland Security and counter-terrorism adviser, Rear Admiral Peter Brown, is out. There may or may not be a replacement, because the best qualified don’t want to work for an impulsive charlatan–or because counterterrorism, cybersecurity and biodefense may or may not be priorities anymore.

* For what it’s worth, the new Trumpian Republican normal includes a budget deficit that is up nearly 12 percent from the same period a year ago. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the deficit for the current 2020 budget year will hit $1 trillion–and will remain at 13 figures for the next decade. At least the Tea Partiers weren’t a menace, just an ideological knee- jerk movement.

* Not OK. It’s likely no one familiar with federal campaign finance laws was anticipating this possible application. Some vested political interests in Oklahoma have proposed specialty license plates that would help market the Trump brand. If approved by the state legislature, “MAGA” plates could be purchased for $35 and ostensibly help the Trump campaign–unless Dems can make the case that such a re-election would surely “Make America Groan Again.”

Dem Notes

* “Let me be very clear. If any of the women on this stage or any of the men on this stage win the nomination–I hope that’s not the case, I hope it’s me–but if they do, I will do everything in my power to make sure that they are elected in order to defeat the most dangerous president in the history of this country.”–That was Bernie Sanders saying what he obviously needed to say. More to the point, his supporters need to heed those words if he is not the candidate. Let’s not revisit 2016. No pouting, no foot-stomping, no sitting out a moral and existential duty–no matter what Hillary Clinton says in her Hulu documentary.

* The New York Times went editorially pragmatic with its recent co-endorsement of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Radical or realist, whatever it takes.

* BTW, Klobuchar’s popularity in Minnesota could be telling. In her most recent re-election, she carried 51 of the state’s 87 counties. In 2016, Hillary Clinton only carried nine of them.

* Not that we need reminding, but Iowa is not always a tell-tale predictor of a party’s presidential nominee–as Presidents Huckabee, Cruz and Santorum can attest.

* “No.” That was Amy Klobuchar’s answer to Chris Matthews’ question: “Do you think the Democrats would have an all-male ticket?”

Wording Matters

* While deflatingly disappointing, it was hardly shocking when the Florida Supreme Court sided with Republican lawmakers on the Amendment 4 decision. The justices ruled that former felons must pay back all court-ordered fees, fines and restitution before registering to vote. This wasn’t just a matter of a Ron De Santis-friendly Court having morphed into a more conservative body.  

This was non-shocking because of the original wording, which stipulated that most non-violent former felons would have their right to vote restored if they had completed “all terms of sentence.” We know what the sentiment and motivation were–and why 65 percent of Florida voters approved it in 2018–but this literal wording betrayed that. The word “ALL” doesn’t even require legal partisans, for whom self-serving language is the first arrow out of the quiver, to do any parsing or nuancing. It’s “all,” alas, there, and a de facto poll tax results. We know that words matter; too bad that a critically important amendment didn’t accurately reflect that.

Worse yet–and not unlike the ultimate rationale for cracking down on texting drivers–is that regardless of politics, this is bad for everybody. Former felons who are not re-integrated into society have huge downsides when it comes to recidivism. That impacts, well, ALL of us. 

Tampa Bay Tidbits

* Social media included, surprisingly, some unfamiliar comments about the Gasparilla Children’s Parade last Saturday. Had to do with loud-speakered rap music, with lyrics that contained some inevitable “mother******” references. Some of those complaining were, in turn, demeaned as “boomers” that can’t get with pop culture. But at a “children’s parade”?

* Scooters and Gasparilla. What could go wrong?

* Wouldn’t it be more fitting if MLK Day were known much, much more for its focus on service than its celebration via parades and parties? Or is that just a “boomer” take?

Sports Shorts

* It’s been a very good fortnight for former Tampa Bay Buccaneer All-Pro John Lynch. He’s the general manager of the San Francisco 49ers, who will be in Super Bowl LIV. He was also named the NFL’s executive of the year. And he could soon be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in Miami. Congrats, John. You’ve always been a class act.

* Maybe it’s a good thing that former MLB manager–and Tampa native–Tony La Russa, 75, is already in the Hall of Fame. Now his name is circulating amid the sign-stealing scandal currently consuming MLB. Former Cy Young Award winner Jack McDowell has accused La Russa of installing a sign-stealing system involving a camera in the 1980s when La Russa was managing the Chicago White Sox. La Russa was elected into the Hall in 2014.

* With the firing of MLB managers in Houston, Boston and New York (Mets), the Rays Kevin Cash looks even classier. It’s what he does with what he has–while remaining loyal to the game and its ethics.

* Who knows if this changes anything about Pete Rose’s pariah status with the Hall of Fame, but if context matters, infamous bet-placing might deserve reconsideration in the post-steroids, post-video sign-stealing eras. What are the odds?

Quoteworthy

* “I’ve enforced the laws and now I write the laws, and I know that nobody is above the law. But the law means nothing if the accused, whether the man who breaks into your house or the president, can destroy evidence, stop witnesses from testifying and blatantly refuse to cooperate in the investigation.”–U.S. Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., former chief of the Orlando Police Department and now one of the seven impeachment managers appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

* “What is the president hiding? … The gravity of these charges is self-evident. The House of Representatives has accused the president of trying to shake down a foreign leader for personal gain.”–Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.

* “This is an example of all the president’s henchmen, and I hope that the senators do not become part of the president’s henchmen.”–House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

* “This isn’t really about Ukraine policy or military money. This has been naked partisanship all along.”–Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

* “It’s all hearsay.”–Florida Sen. Rick Scott.

* “Our Founders left the Senate in charge of creating a fair and transparent impeachment process that is acceptable to the nation as a whole. Our current senators would do well to follow their lead.”–Stetson constitutional law professor Louis J. Virelli III.

* “Class-war progressivism always loses to culture-war conservatism because swing voters in the Midwest care more about their values–guns, patriotism, ending abortion, masculinity, whatever–than they do about proletarian class consciousness.”–David Brooks, New York Times.

* “No country that is permanently at war, that sends soldiers to blockade immigration, that dismisses war crimes and pardons those who commit them, that makes the assassination of leaders of  other nations a proudly proclaimed public strategy, can foster a civic society that truly values peace and harmony.”–Donald Eastman, president of Eckerd College.

* “Do not come to this fight believing that the Trump team views any action, including outright criminality, as off limits.”–Rick Wilson, Republican operative and author of “Running Against the Devil.”

* “Name a single Democrat accomplishment.”–Donald Trump Jr.

* “Like Trump too, Bernie Sanders isn’t so much campaigning for office as he is leading a movement. People who join movements aren’t persuaded. They’re converted. Their depth of belief is motivating and infectious.”–Bret Stephens, New York Times.

* “The one sport where the unthinkable can become the inevitable in a matter of weeks or even days is national politics, not the National Football League.”–Bill Weld, former Massachusetts governor and current long-shot candidate for the GOP’s presidential nomination.

* “Today is the oldest you’ve ever been; yet the youngest you’ll ever be.”–Eleanor Roosevelt.

* “I would rather face a player that was taking steroids than face a player that knew every pitch that was coming.”–Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood.

* “As a human being, I am a creature of implicit biases. So I can’t trust my own good intentions. Please don’t ask me to trust yours.”–Miami Herald African-American columnist Leonard Pitts.

* “I’m super fired up. It’s just going to be wonderful to get astronauts back into orbit from American soil after almost a decade of not being able to do so.”–Elon Musk, founder and chief executive of SpaceX, as the countdown continues for the launching of astronauts from Cape Canaveral in the next few months. NASA astronauts have not launched from the U.S. since the space shuttle program ended in 2011.

* “We’ve always outpaced enrollment in other states, and I think it really shows that the marketplace coverage is extremely popular in Florida.”–Anne Swerlick of the Florida Policy Institute, in noting that Florida once again leads the nation in health insurance enrollment under the Affordable Care Act. More than 1.9 million consumers signed up for 2020.

* “We’re going to have to think really critically about the way our population centers have developed.”–Julia Nesheiwat, Florida’s new chief resiliency officer.

* “I don’t get the sense that Tampa and St. Pete are kissing cousins. … More like hissing cousins.”–Orlando Magic co-founder Pat Williams, who leads the campaign to bring a major league baseball team to Orlando.

* “(Trump) says a lot of things that people agree with …that people are embarrassed to admit. Because otherwise, he wouldn’t have carried Pinellas County.”–Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos.

* “Artificial intelligence is one of the great frontiers in the innovation economy. … Tampa is growing to become a promising center of diverse skills and new perspectives that will shape AI’s future.”–USF College of Engineering professor Sudeep Sarkar, chairman of the computer science department and co-chair of the USF Institute for AI+X.

* “If construction crews are an indicator of economic outlook, then things are looking pretty nice in the ‘burg. I have the hard-hat hair to prove it. I haven’t had a good hair day in two years because I spend all my time on construction sites.”–St. Petersburg Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin.

* “(St. Petersburg has) gone from God’s waiting room to God’s craft beer tap room.”–St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.

Trumpster Diving

* When it comes to military matters and potential, geopolitical game-changers that will imperil–and cost–lives, it would really help to have a consensus definition of “imminent.” Otherwise, it has all the credibility of “with all due respect.” But it’s part of the new normal with a real estate-branding prevaricator-in-chief who’s thinking “imminent” domain.

* “We want Iran to behave like a normal nation.”–That was said by an international critic of Iran. Unfortunately that critic, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, represents a parallel-universe administration that now lacks not just normalcy, but the ethical and moral high ground to criticize with credibility.

* Sen. Marco Rubio, who once mocked Trump as a “con man” and an “embarrassment,” has, like many of his fellow GOPsters, fawningly fallen in line behind this demagogic president. In fact, those who have taken issue with Trump’s impulsive escalation of tensions with Iran are, according to Rubio, products of “anti-Trump derangement syndrome.” That, of course, would be the self-serving prism of someone now three years into revisionist “pro-Trump sycophancy syndrome.”

* “I’m as accessible as I can be.”–That was the response of White House PRESS secretary Stephanie Grisham when asked–again–why she doesn’t do press briefings. She’s been on the job for six months–after replacing Sarah Huckabee Sanders–and has yet to hold a briefing for reporters. An improbably candid response would have been: “I work for Donald Trump who, uh, speaks for himself. He has 68 million Twitter followers. I’m simply next up after (Sean) Spicer and Huckabee Sanders, who gave ‘Saturday Night Live’ way too much material.”

* I was over at the gym (actually the Jewish Community Center) pedaling to my heart’s content on cardio equipment, when I saw on CNN that Trump was addressing the media from the Oval Office. Awkwardly seated next to him, arching an occasional brow and rolling an eye or two, was another head of state. It’s what happens when the president doesn’t deign to do actual press conferences, even for really, really important stuff such as the drone assassination of an Iranian general in Iraq. Anyway, that foreign leader looked familiar.

Then it dawned on me. It was Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who the day before had been in Tarpon Springs for the Epiphany Celebration that included the Cross Dive from the sponge docks. Then I thought, that’s actually pretty good prep to visit someone who deserves his own dunk tank.

* New-normal update. Carnival Cruise Lines has a “cruise-casual” dress code, including a ban on bathing suit attire and men’s tank-tops in the main dining rooms. We get it. Now it has added overall bans on clothing considered offensive or hateful. Wonder if  “MAGA” hats played a part?

* If former national security adviser John Bolton doesn’t testify at the impeachment trial, maybe we’ll find out some impeachment-pertinent information from his book, which could be, well, imminent. Meanwhile, it’s good marketing for unconscionably bad priorities.

* As is Constitutionally mandated, Chief Justice John Roberts presides over the Senate impeachment trial of the president. The one who otherwise presides over the Senate is the vice president. Presumably, the always-prescient Founding Fathers foresaw conflict of interest if the vice president presided over an impeachment trial that could conceivably end with the Veep replacing his boss in the Oval Office. Plus, the 21st-century optics of Mike Pence presiding over the Senate trial of Donald Trump is beyond even an “SNL” cold opening.

* We are reminded, again, why Florida’s Lieutenant Governor is Jeanette Núñez. She co-chairs “Latinos for Trump.”

*Must Donald Trump also look, all too often, like “Il Duce”? Not even Alec Baldwin pulls that off.

Dem Notes

* With so much so obviously at stake–and the choices so starkly differentiated–why does it still require a massive, motivational get-out-the-vote campaign to rid ourselves of Unprecedented Trump and the threat he manifestly represents nationally and internationally? This shouldn’t be political business as usual–from the grass roots to brass tacks. Making the case for the female vote, the African-American vote, the Hispanic vote, the suburban vote, the evangelical vote, the rural vote, the college-degree vote and the “swing state” vote, as if the case wasn’t being made–and remade–with every presidential tweet, lie and self-serving abuse of power.

Maybe it’s human nature, democratic governments and their hallowed institutions notwithstanding. People are busy. They have other priorities, from family to wage earning. Social media too easily manipulates and masquerades as news. Or maybe it’s the ongoing impact of the culturally-embedded, political consultant-adviser industrial complex. Or maybe it’s an ironic part of “American exceptionalism.”

History will inform us.

* “Now I can rest easy tonight. I was sooo concerned that I would someday have to go head to head with him.”–That was Donald Trump sophomorically mocking Sen. Cory Booker, who has ended his presidential campaign. At some level, maybe even Trump knows that he hasn’t heard the last from Booker. The New Jersey senator is an impeachment jurist, a viable vice presidential candidate, an articulate campaigner who can help gin up the post-Obama African-American vote–and one who reportedly doesn’t handle Trump disparagement well.

Fine Time For Texters

It’s official. Those who text while driving in Florida will get ticketed. The issuance of warnings no longer applies. Enforcement time is here. Finally. No longer a “secondary” offense; it’s now a primary offense. First offense is a $30 fine plus court costs. It jumps to $60 with a second offense within five years. Arguably, it should be a lot more. This is a serious public safety issue.

The new law (HB 107) isn’t just about serial texters or even the occasional texting-while-driving motorist. It’s really about the rest of us who have to be on the road–or even nearby sidewalks–while someone is cluelessly or impudently texting away. 

Resilient Leadership

When it comes to regional issues, we have typically thought in terms of marketing, transit and the Rays. But there’s something more compelling: the impact of climate change. It’s existential–from the environment to the economy to future generations.

So it was encouraging to see that for the first time Tampa Bay area leaders gathered to affirm and discuss the challenges of climate change under the auspices of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council’s Resiliency Coalition. Along with the state’s chief resiliency officer, Julia Nesheiwat, Tampa Bay Mayor Jane Castor, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman and Clearwater Mayor George Cretekos were prominent in a summit-like gathering that included scientists, academics and government officials. Time, not unlike Rick Scott, is no ally for one of the most flood-vulnerable regions in the country. Regional is the only approach, with the state as key catalyst.

The Planning Council hopes to make the summit an annual event. Indeed, it only makes sense to address–with more than rhetoric–a crisis that ominously encroaches more each year.