Opinions to go Online

* The CDC has recommended that children 5 to 11 get a 3^rd dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to boost immunity as cases and hospitalizations tick upward.

* Researchers are investigating whether infected animals might become reservoirs for the evolution of new variants.

* The U.S. is averaging more than 100,000 known cases per day for the first time since February.

* Total U.S. population that is fully vaccinated: 67 percent. Total Florida population that is fully vaccinated: 67 percent.

* Total U.S. population that is boosted: 31 percent. Total Florida population that is boosted: 27 percent.

* Positivity rates: Florida—16.9 percent; Hillsborough County—13.1 percent.

* “We must maintain a strong economic embargo and make Cuba’s Communist regime pay for its human rights abuses. … I will always put the Cuban people and their struggle for freedom and democracy first and hold the corrupt regime accountable for its crimes.” That was Democratic Congresswoman Val Demings, former Orlando police chief and current candidate for U.S. Senate, sounding not unlike someone who doesn’t want to concede the South Florida Cuban vote to Marco Rubio. Too bad we can’t embargo certain rhetoric.

* The 1^st District Court of Appeal reinstated a stay against a circuit judge’s decision that had blocked the state’s congressional redistricting plan favored by Gov. DeSantis.

* The Democratic Black Caucus of Florida has voted to endorse Nikki Fried for governor. The final vote: Fried: 67 percent; Charlie Crist: 25 percent; Annette Taddeo: 8 percent.

* The state’s unemployment rate: 3.0 percent. This time last year: 5.1 percent.

* Time Magazine has named St. Petersburg’s Nadine Smith, the founder and director of Equality Florida, one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2022.

* Next UP for DOWNtown? Plans have been filed to build a 54-story, 311-unit residential tower on Ashley Drive, just SE of Curtis Hixon Park. At 633 feet, it would be the tallest tower on the Gulf Coast. The development plans were filed by Kolter Urban, a subsidiary of Delray Beach’s Kolter Group.

* “We’ll make Tampa ‘Crypto Beach.’”–Ben Weiss, founder and CEO of Chicago-based CoinFlip that plans to open an office in Tampa’s Sparkman Wharf and hire 40 tech workers.

* The St. Pete Pier is one of the finalists in the Urban Land Institute’s Americas Awards for Excellence. There are 21 finalists; the Pier was the only one from Florida. The ULI awards recognize superior development efforts in the private, public and nonprofit sectors.

* “America’s alliances in Europe and Asia keep us—and I would argue the world—strong and secure.”–President Joe Biden.

* “Denazify” Ukraine. Even Putin’s spinmeisters should know better than to run that outrageous rhetoric out there. Zelenskyy’s Ukraine is manifestly not Hitler’s Germany.

* Now add Starbucks to the list of major corporate players exiting Russia. Predecessors include McDonald’s, Netflix and ExxonMobil.

* “To rob, replicate and replace.”–How former assistant attorney general John Demers, who headed the Justice Department’s National Security Division and served under both Presidents Trump and Biden, describes China’s strategy for achieving technological superiority.

* According to celebritynetworth.com, Raul Castro is worth $100 million. How’s that for a career in egalitarian Cuban communism?

* The euro is nearly at a one-to-one exchange rate with the dollar.

* The horrific, Buffalo mass murder was streamed on Twitch. While the platform acted quickly to remove it, it was quickly shared across the internet. No wonder social media platforms are facing increased scrutiny about their content moderation policies.

* “Many Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, are upset about the current state of libel law. They believe it is too friendly to media defendants.”–Clay Calvert, law and journalism professor at UF.

* Netflix is planning a series of comedy specials called “Greatest Roasts of All Time”–or “GROAT.” As for “GOAT”–aka Tom Brady–he’ll be part of it and first up.

* Years ago Illinois Sen. Everett Dirkson offered notably sound advice to his son-in-law, Howard Baker, who had recently been elected senator from Tennessee and had just given a rather windy maiden speech in the Senate. “Perhaps you should occasionally allow yourself the luxury of an unexpressed thought.”

* Doctors have prescribed a wheelchair, cane and physical therapy to help heel Pope Francis’ bad knee. The Pope, 85, smiled through the pain and quipped that a shot of tequila would be enough. What would Jesus say? “Cheers”?

* Champa update: Congrats to Jesuit High, which won the state (Class 5A) baseball championship for the sixth time. It was also Jesuit’s third state championship—along with football and wrestling—this school year.

* Since the Supreme Court ruling four years ago cleared the way for legal sports gambling outlets, Americans have bet more than $125 billion on sports. Two thirds of the states have legalized sports betting.

* The Lightning, now back in the Stanley Cup final four, has been named Sports Business Journal’s “Sports Team of the Year.” Criteria include attendance and new-season ticket and sponsorship revenue.

* Steve Bannon’s GOPster priority: “Taking over the Republican Party through the precinct committee strategy. … It’s about winning elections with the right people—MAGA people. We will have our people in at every level.”

* Twenty-seven states will choose a secretary of state this fall, and in more than half at least one of the Republicans actively denies that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.

* “Trump’s real goal isn’t to expand the Republican Party but to solidify his control over it.”–Jonah Goldberg, Tribune Content Agency.

* The Russian Foreign Ministry has officially banned 963 Americans—an eclectic mix ranging from President Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton to Mark Zuckerberg and the actor Morgan Freeman—from entering Russia. Chances are, they all took it well. But, no, Donald Trump is not on that banned list.

* “The extent to which election denialism and pro-insurrectionism are now litmus tests for Republican politicians is clearly attributable to Trump’s huge influence over the Republican Party.”–Jamelle Bouie, NYT.

* Talk about awkward. George P. Bush, 46, the son of Jeb Bush, nephew of George W. Bush and grandson of George H.W. Bush, is running for attorney general of Texas—and has aligned himself with Trump and his followers.

* “It’s my party, and I’ll cry if I want to.”–Lesley Gore. “It’s my party, and I’ll lie if I want to.”–Donald Trump.

* “In America, evil will not win, I promise you. Hate will not prevail, white supremacy will not have the last word.”–President Joe Biden, speaking to victims’ families, local officials and first responders in Buffalo, N.Y.

* “At first, the Western support for Ukraine was mainly designed to defend against the invasion. It is now set on a far grander ambition: to weaken Russia itself.”–Tom Stevenson, NYT.

* “We want to know what’s out there as much as you want to know what’s out there.”–Ronald Moultrie, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence. Lawmakers from both parties say UFOs are a national security concern.

* “Tossing the issue back to the states, as the Alito draft proposes, will not bring the country any closer to a resolution on abortion rights—it will just open up 50 new fronts in the fight.”–Ronald J. Granieri, history professor at the U.S. Army War College.

* “Ron DeSantis is the new Republican Party. … What stands out as a true departure is Mr. DeSantis’ willingness to use government power in the culture war. … Mr. DeSantis is the hottest thing in national Republican politics right now and he is doing everything to lay the groundwork, assuming he wins re-election this year, to run for president.”–Rich Lowry, National Review editor.

* “There’s two types of members of Congress. There’s performance artists and legislators. The performance artists are the ones that get all the attention, the ones you think are more conservative because they know how to say slogans real well, they know how to recite the lines that they know our voters want to hear. …We have grifters in our midst … in the conservative movement. Lie after lie after lie.”–Congressman Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas.

* “In 2020, the plan of Trump and his allies hinged ultimately on getting state legislatures to overturn the will of the voters. If past is prologue, that same strategy is likely to be central to efforts to subvert an election in the future.”–Ben Berwick, counsel at Project Democracy.

* “Something is changing among Trump supporters. … (They) need Trump’s policies, but (they) don’t need him. … ‘Trump establishment?’ That’s the sound of something shifting.”–Peggy Noonan, WSJ.

* “Nicolas Maduro is a tyrant and a thug. … Easing sanctions on Venezuela will empower Maduro and cronies, hurting Venezuelans who are struggling for freedom and democracy.”–Florida Democratic congresswoman Val Demings, who is running for the U.S. Senate.

* “In the United States, rather than increasing trust in government, the relatively mild pandemic public-health measures instituted by the CDC and state governments only inflamed America’s ‘freedom’ fetish.”–Nina Burleigh, The Nation.

* “No elected officials will be more pivotal to protecting democracy—or subverting it—than secretaries of state. … (They) own the bully pulpit on voting, and they control the machinery of elections.”–University of Michigan law professor Barbara McQuade.

* “(You’ve got) a country where ‘Critical Race Theory’ is banned by law, but you can learn ‘great replacement theory’ by turning on Fox. Where voting keeps getting harder and gun ownership easier.”—Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald.

* “(Buffalo shooter) Payton Gendron isn’t mentally ill. He isn’t ‘troubled,’ nor is he just a misguided teen. … The truth is that he’s simply hateful in the same way that right-wing politics have instructed him to be.”–Brian Broome, Washington Post.

* “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”–President James Madison.

* “Recession risks are high. … For the economy to navigate through without suffering a downturn, we need some very deft policymaking from the Fed and a bit of luck.”–Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

* The fight over congressional districts now shifts from the statehouse to the courthouse.”–Ben Diamond, a St. Petersburg Democrat and a member of the Florida House.

* “The hotel business has been around since Mary and Joseph couldn’t get a room, but the landscape has changed dramatically.”–Julianne Corlew, vice president and business partner of Mainsail Lodging & Development. Mainsail is partnering with USF for student hospitality training.

* “It’s clearly a special place, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to lead such a vibrant campus.”–Christian Hardigree, newly named regional chancellor of USF St. Petersburg.

When Ron DeSantis uses the Miami Freedom Tower as a backdrop, you know something’s coming other than an announcement of upcoming innovations. It’s too gratuitously symbolic. So, that’s where he announced that he was approving a bill (HB395) that will require public school students to observe “Victims of Communism Day” on Nov. 7 each year. In vintage DeSantis hyperbole, he labeled it a “blockbuster day for freedom.” Also under the law, a curriculum about various Communist regimes throughout history will be added to high school U.S. government courses.

But it might be perversely good news for those nostalgic for the Cold War McCarthy era and its Red Scare and Lavender Scare witch hunts. Could “Americanism vs. Communism” social studies classes be resurrected in Florida high schools? Could we see shout-outs to the Johns’ Committee for protecting Floridians from subversive activities–if not disingenuous, would-be autocrats? Nothing, we are effectively reminded by Gov. DeSantis, is now off the table when the political agenda is the calculated misappropriation of “freedom” and “liberty” in the portentous era of Trump and his cult followers.