Category: Uncategorized

By definition, first impressions don’t allow for do-overs. They matter that much. By all accounts, new USF President Steve Currall nailed his formal USF debut. It was a lot more than an engaging smile and a green-and-gold tie. Given USF’s varied priorities and unique campus composition, he maxed out.

His early-morning, first-day email and press availability emphasized service to USF’s student-faculty-alumni constituency and stewardship and leadership of a major, urban research university that has a catalytic role regionally and globally. “My mission now is to increase the slope of the trajectory of the university and take it forward,” he stressed. His analogy of USF and Tampa Bay to Stanford and Silicon Valley underscored a philosophy of thinking big. His first official order of business was a meeting with faculty, which always appreciates such a symbolic priority.

Then he literally made the rounds via a “listening tour” of the university’s three campuses, noting that his No. 1 job was to “knit together” all three locations. That remains a formidable challenge, one that he may well be up to if first impressions are any indication.

* First things first with the Rays: No reliable closer, no prospect of playing into October.

* As to the ExRays proposal, a lot rides on the meaning of “negotiations.” Is talking to—or conversing with—Montreal’s Stephen Bronfman, sans a paper trail—an actual legal loophole? Or just wink-and-nod rhetoric? Is this not unlike what the meaning of “is” is?

* “Signing the brief was not only the right thing to do, but is also best for our business.” That was Brian Auld, Rays president (and Rowdies’ vice chair), referring to the Rays joining more than 200 major American corporations signing on to an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of workplace rights for the LGTBQ community.

* I was watching—OK, transfixed by–the last 10 minutes of the U.S.-UK Women’s World Cup semifinals from the health club I work out at. But for the first few minutes, it was beyond frustrating to tell which team was which. I’m (obviously) not a hard-core fan and the easily identifiable Megan Rapinoe was not in the game. A small patch on the jersey indicates country. That’s it. Until there is a close up of an individual player, it’s hard to tell the difference between teams, especially when they are demographically similar, in this case mostly white with a player or two of color. If this were Nigeria vs. Iceland, it wouldn’t be a problem.

And BTW, if we’re going to reference a clock, why not actually stop it when there are delays—whether for injuries, controversial calls or when the soccer ball goes careening out of bounds? Having a prominent clock and approximating “stoppage time,” however steeped in tradition, still seems oddly incongruous.

* “We will continue working with our JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) partners–particularly with Germany and France–to keep the (Iranian) nuclear deal in place. This is in our shared security interests.”–James Slack, spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May.

* “Appalled.”—The response of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to conditions that migrants and immigrants face in U.S. detention facilities.

* “News reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the citizenship question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward.”—President Donald Trump.

* “The (Democratic) party should welcome refugee (Republican) ‘Never Trumpers’ with open arms. But they can’t be ‘Never Democrats’ too.”–Eugene Robinson, Washington Post.

* The public pays parks fees to fix national parks and for educational programs, not the president’s parade.”–Theresa Pierno, president and CEO of the National Parks Conservation Association.

* “If you’re a Christian and think there’s nothing wrong with this abuse of innocent (border-crossing, immigrant) children, please imagine trying to explain yourself to Jesus. Play that one out.”–Connie Schultz, Creators.com.

* “Today’s partisan split is anything but a flash in the pan. It now defines the (Supreme) Court and will likely play a key role in court decision-making for the foreseeable future.”–Neal Devins, author of “The Company They Keep.”

* “The chief justice’s efforts to steer the court through partisan shoals is likely to get even more difficult as the justices are called upon to referee hot-button issues left unaddressed by partisan dysfunction in Congress and the White House.”–Carl Hulse, author of “Confirmation Bias.”

* “I do not believe in packing the court. But I do believe that constitutionally we have the power to rotate judges to other courts. And that brings in new blood into the Supreme Court.”–Sen. Bernie Sanders.

* “There’s a concerted effort to equate Elizabeth Warren with Bernie Sanders, to make her seem more radical. (But Wall Street and its allies) are more afraid of her than Bernie, because when she says she’ll change the rules, she’s the one who knows how to do it.”—Luigi Zingales, University of Chicago economist and co-host of the podcast “Capitalisn’t.”

* “As big as the Democratic field is, it actually feels the absence of two significant figures with a proven ability to speak to moderates and traditional, working-class voters. Both Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe chose not to run, presumably at least in part because they thought Mr. Biden would dominate the moderate lane in the race, leaving little room for them.”—Gerald F. Seib, Wall Street Journal.

* “Debates about who is ‘electable’ (or not) have become a smokescreen for lingering discomfort with what we have still, after 243 years as a republic, never seen: the election of a woman president.”—Amy Chozick, Vogue.

* “We’ve done exactly what we set out to do, done exactly what we wanted to do, said what we feel. … We’re such a proud and strong and defiant group of women.”—Megan Rapinoe, in the aftermath of the U.S. defeating the Netherlands, 2-0, to win the Women’s World Cup in Lyon, France.

* “If Florida voters care about the security of our elections, we should insist that our Legislature and our county officials switch to hand-marked paper ballots.”—Paula Dockery, former Florida Republican—now NPA—legislator from Lakeland.

* “If we truly want to help students, let’s drop the misguided grading system and do the work, providing the resources and support to build a more equitable, high-quality system of free neighborhood public schools.”–Fedrick Ingram, president of the Florida Education Association.

* “I remain steadfast in my belief that if baseball remains in Tampa Bay, it’ll be in Tampa.”—Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan.

* “Speed is not the object. … Nobody knows how things turn out, but certainly this was a great day. This was a very legendary, very historic day.” That was vintage Donald Trump-speak after setting foot on North Korean soil to rekindle his beyond-bizarre bromance with Kim Jong Un. It was about autocrat coddling in a worldwide spotlight while he was in the G-20 neighborhood. But the actual bottom line has not changed. Can this Apprentice president–while globally elevating the stature of a thug-murderer–ultimately make something meaningful happen? As in an actual written agreement–sans self-serving ambiguity–that actually defines and implements “denuclearization”? All that rides on it is everything.

No, “speed is not the object,” but timing before the 2020 election just might be a factor.

* We all know somebody who voted for Trump.

But it’s not like knowing somebody who voted for George Romney or John McCain or would have voted for Jeb! Bush, Jon Huntsman or John Kasich.

We have our political differences; this is our system. We know the democratic script. Even if a bit begrudgingly, we come together while remaining in ideological disagreement. But nobody ever thought the Romneys, McCains, Jeb!s or Kasiches were pathologically unhinged, narcissistic, immoral existential threats–merely opposing-party candidates with a different take on the economy, the role of government and foreign policy. There was a place for undemonized compromise. Partisan didn’t mean poisonous.

But having said all that, how do we handle it when our neighbor, our colleague, our client, our family member is a Trumpster? We’ve all experienced it. It is part of our abnormally abhorrent, new normal. Here’s one scribe’s experience.

I know I can’t convert a cult follower, a stock market zombie or an spineless, quisling GOPster. I know I am not alone. So I try keeping it apolitical and civil and avoid awkward discomfort and counterproductive confrontations. But I do invoke a Trump-induced standard: Respect withheld. Yeah, that goes for a neighbor as well as a family member.

* “Don’t meddle with the election.” That was Donald Trump to Vladimir Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Japan. Too bad it was publicly accompanied by a smirk, a finger point and a blatantly joking manner. But that’s how you handle your handler.

* “I think my base is so strong, I’m not sure that I have to do that.” That was Donald Trump’s response, during a recent Time magazine interview, to a question about him reaching out to swing voters. Trump, who lost the popular vote in 2016, remains the only president in the history of Gallup polling to never crack 50 percent approval.

* “If it was up to him, he’d take on the whole world at one time, OK? But that doesn’t matter, because I want both sides.” That was President Trump’s reassurance, of sorts, that we shouldn’t be overly concerned about John Bolton, the hair-trigger hawk who he appointed national security advisor.

* “The White House is afflicted by mental retardation and does not know what to do.” That was Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Normally that would be unconscionably inappropriate language to use in any international forum. But there’s ample precedent. Not that long ago North Korean leader Kim Jong Un referenced the American president as the “mentally deranged U.S. dotard.” Remember when words used to matter?

* “I just don’t know about the case.” That was Marco Rubio’s self-serving answer when asked for his take on allegations of sexual assault against Trump by writer E. Jean Carroll. It was a calculated response aimed at the Trump base, which could still linger on in 2024 when Rubio hopes to be back on the GOP presidential hustings.

* Mark Esper, the acting secretary of defense, recently met up with counterparts in Brussels to hash out NATO’s role in the looming Iranian crisis. Esper’s goal was to convince allies to take a harder stance against Iran. You have to wonder what the dynamics were like for Esper, given the U.S. role in unilaterally pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and his next-guy-up, acting status as defense secretary. Quite possibly: “Who are you, again?”

* “No.1, she’s not my type. No.2, it never happened.” That was the president’s revealing, hierarchal response to the E. Jean Carroll sexual-assault charge. The all-too-familiar bottom line: Trump would never, ever sexually attack somebody who wasn’t his kind of hot babe. Presumably, that prioritized denial goes for all 16 of the women who have made allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump.

* This just in: The White House is developing a plan to cut taxes by indexing capital gains to inflation. According to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, the top1 percent would receive 86 percent of the benefit. That should certainly please Trump’s populist base.

* We all saw the debates, even if we didn’t all view them through the same lens. That’s the nature of partisan politics and “debates,” which are really performance art for a casting call of candidates and monetized, show-business optics for the networks. We’ll never see a Lincoln-Douglas sequel. A few takeaways:

* Some elements of the punditocracy have been fantasizing about a Kamala Harris-Pete Buttigieg ticket. One that would galvanize progressives and rally the party to a historically big, nation-saving turnout. No, it won’t happen. But as long as there are pundits and fantasizers, why not really double down to go after the menace that is Trump? How about a Harris-Obama ticket? He could legally do it.

No, it won’t happen, but all options–including trenchant warfare–should be under consideration when so much is at stake–and so much more damage, domestically and globally, would be done by a 2020 Trump re-election .

* Two and a half years ago, Joe Biden was one of the most powerful people in the world. He had been vetted by Barack Obama and given an eclectic portfolio that prioritized global strategies and domestic politics. That Joe Biden has to show up later this month in Detroit. If he’s still around.

* As noted, these are not really debates. Too big a field, too much of a premium on performance. Sen. Kamala Harris, an impressive candidate by any measure, underscored that reality with her calculated, orchestrated confrontation with Biden.”I know you’re not a racist….” was unnecessarily insulting as she literally pivoted in his direction for a multi-minute lecture on school busing for integration. It was effective; it was game-changing; and it was pure performance ploy–with an enabling NBC split-screen capturing all the juxtaposed drama.

* Julian Castro still bears an awkward surname for an American presidential candidate. But his “Marshall Plan” reference for Central America makes eminent sense–and should continue to resonate. Not unlike its post-war namesake, a Central American version would be an investment and an exercise in enlightened self interest–not some give-away to those playing Uncle Sam for a “sucker.” Asylum seekers are fleeing horrific violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and, worst of all, Honduras, the murder capital of the world. Hell, we still don’t even have an ambassador in Tegucigalpa.

* It was somewhat revealing, but hardly surprising to hear several candidates work in some Spanish in a Miami debate that was also carried by Telemundo–not far from a border detention center. Even NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio–until he went too far. “Hasta la victoria siempre.” Never a good idea to quote Che Guevara in South Florida. Ay, Dios, Guillermo.

* John Yang got the memo; he just ignored it. Entrepreneurs don’t wear ties anymore.

* Among the off-putting, controversial tweets attributed to St. Pete City Council candidate Scott Orsini is this one: “I thought about getting a bicep tattoo and then remembered it wasn’t 1992 and that I’m not a lesbian.” Maybe that was Orsini’s indirect way of outing himself as a biceptual.

* From the get-go, it was always telling that Jeff Vinik, Tampa’s makeover catalyst, never became a player in a baseball-stadium scenario for Tampa. That was–and still is–a difference maker.

* How, ironically, appropriate that the Hillsborough County Republican Party has a new monthly meeting location: The River of Tampa Bay, an evangelical church. Although some GOPsters are apparently a little uncomfortable with the overlap of religion and politics, it makes sense. The evangelical vote helped elect Trump, an absolute avatar of immorality. Obviously hypocrisy is still not a sin.

* Plaudits to the Tampa Bay Times for joining several other major Florida newspapers plus WLRN Public Media to share content and produce stories about climate change. For once, the Times‘ “Inside the  Newsroom” column wasn’t perfuming the pig about something that is a distraction from letting good people go, not prioritizing proofreaders and limiting coverage of important events because of early deadlines. Times are tough; it’s a daily challenge; but prioritizing the existential issue of our lives in such a collaborative way is commendable.

* “Yesterday” is a romantic comedy. That’s like saying Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer. True, but. Once you accept the premise that anything can happen as a result of a nano-second, global power outage, you’re in for a fun, magical-realism experience featuring classic Beatles tunes.    You go with the fanciful flow and enjoy the tribute.  Especially if you’re of a certain generation.

Catch it while it’s around on the big screen. If convenient, see “Yesterday” today or tomorrow. It’s quality escape–no Marvel heroes; no sequels of sequels. Only gratuitous fun and nostalgia. Now, more than ever.

* This just in. The International Olympic Committee just gave provisional approval of breakdancing to debut at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. Have to wonder if juggling, unicycling and, maybe, corn hole could also get Olympic traction.

* Amid all the cynical, leverage speculation, it’s at least fun to focus on potential names for a MLB team splitting its home stands between Tampa Bay and Montreal. Combining today’s Rays and the erstwhile Expos: From ExRays to Team Timeshareto the North American Rayons de Soleil.

But the stark reality remains this: The Rays deserve credit for being creative with defensive shifts, use of an “opener” and a cashless stadium. But a split season with a Canadian co-franchise? This gives creativity a bad name.

* Megan Rapinoe is an incredibly talented U.S. soccer player. She also has a social conscience and the guts–and forum–to speak out on issues that still haunt U.S. society. You go, Megan, but keep America’s issues on American forums. National Anthem demonstrations that protest gender bias and racism and underscore LGBTQ rights are appropriate where the relevant issues are–in America. On an international stage, it’s awkward, unnecessarily distracting and embarrassing.

And, yes, that principle still applies retroactively to the Black Power salutes in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick exercised a constitutional right and made his point about American racism to fellow Americans. That’s not the same as an American’s World Cup gesture of protest in France. It just isn’t.

Here’s hoping Megan Rapinoe is next known–and lionized–for her outspoken, White House no-show with the racist misogynist-in-chief.

* “The liberal idea has become obsolete. (It has) outlived its purpose.”–Russian President Vladimir Putin.

* “I think Trump may be one of those figures in history who appears from time to time to mark the end of an era and to force it to give up its old pretense.”–Henry Kissinger.

* “(Trump’s) savaging of American diplomacy (has left) our friends confused, our adversaries emboldened and the foundations of the international system we built and preserved for seven decades alarmingly fragile.”–William Burns, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a former ambassador to Russia and the author of “The Back Channel.”

* “There’s no doubt that the Russians did interfere in the election, and I think the interference, although not yet quantified, if fully investigated, would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf.”–Former President Jimmy Carter.

* “Donald Trump’s campaign against journalists should concern every patriotic American. A free, fair, and independent press is essential to our country’s strength and vitality and to every freedom that makes it great.”–A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times.

* “On the left as well as the right, we can get so caught up in our narratives that we lose perspective; nobody has a monopoly on truth. If Trump turns progressives into intolerant agents of incivility, then we have lost our souls.”–Nicholas Kristof, New York Times.

* “Both politics and the Christian witness are now made worse by people of faith actively involving themselves in politics.”–Peter Wehner, the “The Death of Politics.”

* “It is not constitutional, it is not legal, and it is not right to deny people the right to vote because you can’t pay. What this bill does is re-establish a poll tax.”–Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, in response to Gov. Ron DeSantis signing a bill that requires all former felons to pay their financial obligations before being eligible to vote.

* “If the governor and Legislature would just pay attention to what the voters ask of them, citizen initiatives wouldn’t be necessary.”–Paula Dockery, former state Republican legislator–now NPA–from Lakeland.

* “I would say the most unpleasant part about my job when I was mayor was dealing with the Tampa Bay Rays.”–Former St. Pete Mayor Rick Baker.

* “If Mr. Sternberg is serious about this (shared-cities) idea or any other, it will require the re-establishment of a good working relationship with my office.”–St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman.

* “Look, if it comes to it and I have to do this with the next mayor, I’ll do it with the next mayor.”–Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg.

Trump, Rubio, Biden, Pride Parade, Rays

Trumpster Diving

* Call it Trump-Supporter Epiphany. Yes, it sounds oxymoronic, but there’s an existential fear. “Yeah, he was my guy–damn right–and I was with him–right up until he ____.” Just fill in the foreboding, conceivably apocalyptic, scenario blank that resulted in such a political pivot.

Can’t we, at least in 2020, eliminate this on-going, unhinged menace–and, meanwhile, hope that it won’t already be too late by then? This is manifestly about so much more than partisan politics and the business-as-usual process of over-analyzing voter demographics and motivations and what turns purple states red or blue–yada, yada. This is an end game for America.

* The Iran bottom line: Isn’t this diplomatic malpractice? Ramp up. Wind down. Threaten to “obliterate like you’ve never seen before.” Back off. But this isn’t  negotiating with intimidated, leverage-challenged, New York subcontractors.

” The fact is we’re not going to have Iran have a nuclear weapon. And when they agree to that, they are going to have a wealthy country, they’re going to be so happy and I’m going to be their best friend.” Whatever.

* You know what is still, uh, awkward? The only country to ever actually use the ultimate weapon of mass destruction is the U.S. Yes, we know the context, but you know that’s not rationale enough for some non-allies and is part of what fuels levels of resentment and animus.

* “Appreciating the political judging faculty and extraordinary courage of President Trump, Kim Jong Un said that he would seriously contemplate the interesting content.” That was the official statement by the Korean Central News Agency, in response to the “excellent content” letter that Trump had sent Kim. Two takeaways. First,  this is where beyond-nuanced diplomacy-speak meets awkward, calculated translation to English. Second, wonder what Kim really thinks? Did he fall “in love” too?

* Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. John Bolton and Mike Pompeo. Are we any better off?

* Trump complained that networks didn’t cover all of his re-election campaign event in Orlando. Beyond ironic. Frankly, the networks–notably the mainstream, non-Fox ones–helped elect him. Recall all the cutaways from CNN and MSNBC talk shows to go live to one of his “lock her up” rallies? Trump was ratings manna, and this was the new normal of politics as show business. It continues to happen–and to haunt.

* So plans continue, as it were, in the delay to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Technical reasons, according to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. We’re now likely looking at 2026 instead of 2020.

Does anyone really doubt the real reason? Does anyone really think this racist, Obama-birther president would countenance replacing his favorite president with an African-American abolitionist on HIS watch? So much for unveiling a Tubman $20 on next year’s centennial of the 19th Amendment, the one that gave women the right to vote.

* Those who will most miss Sarah Huckleberry Sandbag: Donald Trump, late-night comics, cartoonists, “SNL.”

* “The president must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria–big mistake if he does not!” That was Donald Trump’s tweeted take about a president acting unilaterally without congressional approval in 2013. That was then; this is not–even close.

* Imagine America ever needing to have a “family arrest plan” at the border.

* A prominent politician recently published “American Investment in the 21st Century.” It’s a shot-across-the-corporate-bow analysis of how U.S. businesses are sacrificing long-term viability for short-term market gains. It criticizes, among other things, the impact of intemperately prioritizing the boosting of shares. “The stock market is not the economy,” underscored the author. “We now have two or maybe three networks who dedicate most of their time to covering the stock market–they’re like the ESPN of stock markets. There’s a lot more to the economy than the stock market.”

No, that wasn’t Elizabeth Warren or Andrew Yang or Paul Krugman. That was Marco Rubio, who says just enough–but not on Cuba or Venezuela–to get some Trump separation without leaving the reservation or resuming “con man” insults. For “Little Marco,” 2024 still looms big.

* Say it’s so, Joe. Best advice for familial baggage Hunter Biden: Out yourself as a closet Republican and then disappear for a while.