Opinions to go Online

Signs of generational climate-change activism at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate:

> “March now or swim later.”

> “There is no Planet B.”

 

• Biden and world leadership. Ask leaders not named Putin or Kim who they’d prefer, and it’s sure and hell not “America Fist” Trump.
• A “No Labels” third-party candidate makes “No Sense” unless the intention is to help Trump. Even Joe Manchin knows that.
• No surprise that a 2024 priority is to gin up minority voting. Hardly happenstance that the 2024 Biden-Harris campaign manager is a Latina. And Julie Chavez Rodriguez is not just any gung-ho, Latina Dem. She is the granddaughter of the late Cesar Chavez, the United Farm Workers union leader and iconic activist. It’s no secret that Biden 2024 needs Latino voters to win re-election. And no surprise that the United Farm Workers have formally endorsed the 2024 Biden-Harris ticket.
• “Stay active because your country and I are counting on all of you.”—VP Kamala Harris, at Hampton University, where she kicked off her national “Fight for Our Freedoms” College Tour.
• How do you demean President Biden over his age and occasional gaffes, when your warped fealty is to someone only three years younger and a demonstrably unhinged, uninformed, unethical, narcissistic, nativist, autocratic buffoon? Yes, that’s a rhetorical question.
• “(Biden’s) successful performance in office belies his doddering image.”—Max Boot, Council of Foreign Relations.
• Eight of the 45 men who have served previously as president died in office—four by assassination and four from natural causes. Joe Biden, the oldest-ever president, will be 81 next month.
• Fourteen vice presidents have gone on to become president, as Kamala Harris knows well.

• Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.
• “Boebertjuice”: Wingnut Colorado Republican Lauren Boebert was tossed out of a “Beetlejuice” performance for disruptive behavior–but is still allowed in Congress.
• Preply Business has come out with a survey noting the most annoying buzzword cliches for 2023. Nothing we’re not familiar with—from “low-hanging fruit,” “new-normal” and “win-win” to “boots on the ground,“ “ rock star” and “think outside the box.” But no mention of “awesome,” “not rocket science” and, like, you know, “duh.”
• Marketing nightmare: When escaped murderer Danilo Cavalcanto was finally captured in southeastern Pennsylvania, he was wearing a Philadelphia Eagles hoodie. Yo.

• New Urbanism Recognized. Water Street Tampa became the first community in North America to receive a WELL Community Certification, which recognizes developers that design neighborhoods to promote a healthy lifestyle for residents.
• A land-swap deal between Tampa and 717 Parking has resulted in a Jackson House deal, one that should ultimately result in a Black History Museum. Finally. For too long the city’s last segregation-era black boarding home has been a dilapidated embarrassment to its history and an eyesore insult to the African-American community.
• TIA’s largest carrier is Southwest Airlines with 35 routes. Spirit Airlines will soon become the second largest with 21 routes.
• Happy 90^th, Dick Greco, a true and treasured Tampa icon. But his well-earned legacy deserved more than that ill-fated, “Gimme 5” fifth run for mayor.
• Tampa’s average annual temperature has increased 2.5 degrees since 1891, according to the city’s Climate Action and Equity Plan.

• Gullibles’ Travels: Ron DiSastrous’ campaign treks outside Florida.
• The chief strategist for the Iowa-concentrating, DiSastrous super PAC “Never Back Down” (or is it “Never Not Frown”?) is Jeff Roe, who used to be the campaign manager for Ted Cruz.
• OGAC: DiSastrous’s campaign fundraising now includes signed baseball caps with “Our Great American Comeback”—not “Oh, God, Another Candidate” on them.
• Unsurprisingly, the Florida Republican Party won’t require (March) presidential-primary candidates to pledge to support the nominee. Trump got what he wanted.
• “There are a lot of red flags.” That was Surgeon General Joseph LaDOPEo, in warning against getting the latest COVID-19 vaccine.
• “People are lurching toward this insanity” That was part of the contrived-outrage rhetoric employed by Gov. DiSastrous to emphasize that Florida won’t be joining states that are taking precautionary measures to blunt the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases. Too bad there are no vaccines for infectious, self-serving, bumper-sticker leadership.
• DiSastrous wants the evangelical vote, and he knows his position on abortion is critical and problematic. He knows the political downsides to all-out opposition. The safest approach: restrictions on the procedure should be left to, yes, the states.
• The University of Florida has been rated Number 1 among public universities (and Number 15 overall) in the U.S., according to the Wall Street Journal/College Pulse Rankings. U.S. News & World Report had UF at Number 6 in public universities.
• First in Flight: In a recent four-state (Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas) faculty survey, 46 percent of Florida respondents said they planned to seek employment in a different state within the next year. Yes, it has everything to do with the governor’s compliant, super-majority lawmakers passing legislation that, among other targets, restricted tenure and gutted diversity programs.
• “Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans.” This was a warning from the NAACP. Alas, Florida now seems more welcoming to the Aryan Freedom Network.
• Florida’s Brightline is now running trains between Miami and Orlando. It’s the first private intercity passenger service to begin U.S. operations in a century.
• “A mean, vindictive, petty man.”—Description of the governor by former GOP strategist Mac Stipanovich.
• “It’s way too expensive to insure homes in Florida right now.” –Sen. Rick Scott. Perhaps his successor would agree.

• “There is a reason James Madison put freedom of speech and freedom of the press in the very first Amendment. If we can’t speak out, if we cannot challenge those in power, there is no guaranteeing the rights that follow.”—ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl.
• Fox Founding Father Rupert Murdoch, 92, has stepped down. His legacy: Converting highly-charged, right wing-nut political talk radio to TV, even if he turned on Trump.
• Gavin Newsom will debate Ron DiSastrous on Nov. 30. It will be moderated by Fox News host Sean Hannity. It’s billed as a “red vs. blue state debate.” Newsom must be confident; he’ll be outnumbered in a home-game for his opponent.
• “Country-Threatening Treason”: What NBC News and MSNBC “should be investigated for,” according to truth Social Misfit Donald Trump.
• “I have no obligation to be honest with the media, because they’re just as dishonest as anyone else.” That was former Trump campaign manager Cory Lewandowski in 2019.
• “At the end of the day, polling is only a snapshot into a moment and cannot predict anything. Things change all the time in politics.”—Democrat consultant Simon Rosenberg.

• In a perfectly logical world, a new Rays stadium would go in Tampa, the business hub of an asymmetrical, mass-transit-challenged, imperfect market. It’s always been noteworthy that downtown redevelopment catalyst Jeff Vinik has never gotten behind a Tampa option. Maybe it was more complicating than complementary.

Regardless, it’s still the Tampa Bay Rays, not the Gas Plant Redevelopment Rays.

• The Rays, with one of the best records in MLB, saw its attendance increase nearly 28 percent this season. That’s the good news. The Rays finished with an average attendance of 17,800—or 27^th among the 30 MLB franchises.
• Florida ties: Ben Shelton made it to the semifinals of the U.S. Open. Last year he won the NCAA Men’s Singles Championship at the University of Florida. Delray Beach’s Coco Gauff, 19, won this year Women’s U.S. Open.
• Bradenton ranks second in the country (to Detroit) in the number of high school players now on NFL rosters. Yes, IMG (International Management Group) Academy, a “private athletic school,” has everything to do with it.
• It’s now a familiar cliché: Good teams win, great teams cover (the spread). It comes with, alas, a sports-betting-frenzy era.
• Deion Sanders has made a big “Prime Time” splash with his University of Colorado debut. The Fort Myers native was a great two-sport athlete and now seems to be a great transfer recruiter. Enough to overlook the embarrassing “Deion Sanders Rule.”

That goes back to his FSU days. He played in FSU’s 1989 Sugar Bowl win over Auburn, even though he had quit going to classes or taken any final exams the previous semester. Now all college players have to have successfully completed the previous semester in order to be eligible for a bowl game. Chances are, none of his UC players have ever heard of the “Deion Sanders Rule,” but some administrators have.

• “UNLESS YOU GET EVERYTHING, SHUT IT DOWN!”. Trump’s unnuanced, unconscionable message for House GOPsters.
• Country First? Party on!
• The more Trump indictments, the bigger his political rallies—and the more concern for meaningful democracy.
• While Trump doesn’t have as many big donors as in past cycles, he still has his share, including the former developer Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who recently anted up $1 million. Trump pardoned the senior Kushner on his way out of office.
• Speculation abounds that a Florida jury pool (in the classified documents indictment) could give Trump an advantage. Indeed. He has more than his share of would-be “peers.”
• “No matter how powerful you are, and no matter how much money you think you have, no one is above the law.”—New York Attorney General Letitia James. The state’s lawsuit accuses Trump of fraud.
• For the record, Richard Nixon—not Donald Trump—holds the all-time record for Time magazine covers with 55. Trump was on 14.
• The press as “the enemy of the people.” Trump is in select company: Robespierre, Goebbels, Hitler, Stalin.
• “When I can, I tell the truth.”—Another day at the office for Agent Orange.
• Encouraging decals: “Veterans Against Trump.”
• “Axis of Adults”: That’s what Trump cabinet members John Kelly (chief of staff), James Mattis (secretary of defense) and Rex Tillerson (secretary of state) were known as.
• “If Republicans want to restore and re–embrace real conservatism, optimism, vision, answers and solutions—we can’t continue to follow Trump and his series of defeat, losses, conspiracies and anger; we must abandon him.”—Alfredo Rodriguez, founder and president of Dyce Communications, a Republican consulting firm.
• Trump Vice President Mike Pence is now a primary competitor. He now refers to President Trump as his “former running mate.”
• “What is the former president afraid of?” The Wall Street Journal on Trump’s refusal to join GOP-candidate debates.
• “Donald Duck.” How Chris Christie referenced Trump for skipping the second debate.
• Let’s not forget that Trump added $7.8 trillion to the debt. Ron DiSastrous remembered to remind all debate participants and viewers.
• Mitt Romney says he belongs to the “wise man wing” of the Republican Party. Too bad he is grossly outnumbered by the “wise guy wing.”

• “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”—Ronald Reagan.
• “The main advantage of being famous is that when you bore people at dinner parties, they think it is their fault.”—Henry Kissinger.
• “We generally see increases in hate crimes in election years and around catalytic events.”—Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University.
• “…Ideologies replace faith…”—Pope Francis’ warning about a “reactionary attitude” that opposes him within the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S.
• “Putin Republicans and their enablers will end up on the ash heap of history.”—Former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney.
• “We don’t have a House that represents voters, because most voters don’t participate.”—Karen Tumulty, Washington Post.
• “From Donald Trump to Elon Musk to Tucker Carlson, our society is being deformed by egomaniacs.”—Mona Charen, The Bulwark.
• “Georgia has faced the cottage industry of election denialism and shut it down.”—Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state.
• “We can increase confidence. We’re working on that.”—Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, on ethical concerns surrounding SCOTUS.
• “Government shutdowns are bad news.”—Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell.
• “When you’re young, you’re getting high, and when you’re old you’re using plant medicine.”—Author Ann Patchett.
• “The idea that my car is the only way for me to get where I need to go is being challenged by a new (high speed) product.”—Brightline CEO Mike Reininger.
• “I don’t think the relationship (between school districts and the state Department of Education) has ever been as poor.”—Pinellas County School Board member Carol Cook.
• “It’s in a great location. And it’s survived more than 100 years for a reason.”—Dylan Desai of My Hospitality Hotels, which is converting Balbin Bros. Cigar Factory on N. Howard Avenue into a boutique hotel.
• “If we do a great job, I think we’ll be getting a lot of word-of-mouth referrals.”—Avi Brosh, founder of the small hotel chain Palisociety, which will open a boutique hotel in Hyde Park Village next month.
• “(The Riverwalk) is a jewel, and it’s just going to further expand there while also respecting maritime properties.”—Tampa City Council Chairperson Guido Maniscalso, on concerns about extending the Riverwalk near cruise ship terminals.
• “Developers by their nature are optimists. … They promise things that are outside of their control.”—Former Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

“We are all going to start slitting throats on Day One.”

No, that wasn’t some ISIS monster declaring what looms for helpless hostages. That was presidential candidate Ron DiSastrous, underscoring his priority to clean up the “deep state.”

Words, of course, do matter, especially when they’re spewed—not spoken. Sure, it’s only rhetoric, but it’s abhorrent, dangerous and disgusting—especially at a time when this country needs healing from hateful divisiveness—not a rhetorical doubling down on our worst instincts.

“Carnage” never sounded so benign.