Opinions to go Online

* That was a notable sigh of relief from NATO and the European Union when right-wing populist Marine Le Pen failed to defeat incumbent French President Emmanuel Macron. That sigh was not unlike the response of Western Europe (except Hungary), which was more than pleased that President Trump–and his “America First,” Putin-friendly agenda–was not re-elected.

* “Warsaw is at capacity. We accepted more than 300,000 people but we cannot accept more. With the escalation by Russia in Eastern Ukraine, we could have a second wave.”–Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.

* Facebook has 23 times the annual revenue of Twitter. It has nearly 2 billion daily users; Twitter has 217 million.

* In the last eight years, the New York Times has gone from about 800,000 digital-only subscribers to 6.8 million paid digital subscribers.

* CNN has said it’s pulling the plug on CNN+, its streaming platform that’s been underwhelmed by subscribers.

* Netflix announced that it had lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter. That’s why shares plunged 35 percent.

* “A sexual agenda for 6-year-olds” that was “creepy as hell.”–Fox News creep-host Tucker Carlson, during his Disney rant.

* You’re getting old when tying one on means fastening your MedicAlert bracelet.

* In the world of Kindles and best-seller hardbacks, the rare occurrence of paperback reading can seem like a literary time machine. I experienced that a few years ago when I decided to revisit “On The Road” by Jack Kerouac. It didn’t hold up the way it did when I was in college, and the relatively tiny print and long paragraphs made it a bid of a slog. As for footnotes, it helped to keep a magnifying glass nearby.

Now I’m in the paperback cross hairs again. This time it’s the 1960 work of Robert F. Kennedy, assessing organized crime in “The Enemy Within.” It’s been on my bookshelf for years staring back at me in accusatory fashion for being an implicit imposter. I finally needed to read it.

Maybe I’ll finish it.

* Flashing back to (Penn State) intercollegiate days and English lit instructors, I still fondly recall a reference by one of the more humorous professors who shared some faculty-lounge ambience. It seemed that some profs—where academic humor meets peer competition—played a “Famous books I’ve never read” game. Even at that level, everybody had something glaringly unread.

Then it was on to the next level: “Famous books in my field that I’ve never read.” That took some candor and chutzpah.

When the field was finally winnowed and only the hard-core remained, it was time for the final segment: “Famous books I’ve taught that I’ve never read.” In other words, literary criticism and research could carry the day in a survey course of American literature. So, maybe this was the wry side of an ethical lapse or maybe he was kidding to relate better to his students. If so, the latter worked. This professor, a Hemingway scholar, acknowledged that for him it was James Fennimore Cooper’s “The Deerslayer.”

No, it wasn’t part of that course’s curriculum, And, no, I’ve still managed to work around it all these years.

* Scientist’s door: “Gone Fission.”

* Office: “We shoot every 3^rd salesman, and the 2^nd one just left.”

* Recall the Rays trading for 41-year-old Nelson Cruz of the Twins last year to provide a right-handed power hitter down the stretch. He helped as a late-July addition, but not nearly enough. What they traded for the Nelson rental included Joe Ryan, a minor league pitcher with consensus major league upside. He was rated the #10 prospect by MLB Pipeline. Ryan began the season with Minnesota as part of their starting rotation. So far, he is 3-1 with a 1.17 E.R.A. Yes, he would be of help right now to the starting pitching-challenged Rays.

* “He transformed Tampa into a true hockey town while leading them to the Promised Land.”–Former Bolt Marty St. Louis, in a tribute video honoring Steven Stamkos who just passed St. Louis as the Lightning’s all-time top scorer.

* GOPster sub-plot: If the Republicans take back the House, will House GOPsters take back Kevin McCarthy as the next Speaker? Thanks to an audio clip making the media rounds, we know that Minority Leaders McCarthy and Mitch McConnell were concerned enough about the Capitol attack to consider the need for President Trump to resign. When asked by Rep. Liz Cheney if there was any chance of Trump resigning, McCarthy said, “I’m seriously thinking of having that conversation with him tonight. … It would be my recommendation (he) should resign.” The context, of course, included Democrats pushing for impeachment. And speaking of said Dems, Sen. Elizabeth Warren summed it up: “Liar and traitor.”

BTW, McCarthy also added that he did “not want to get in any conversation about Pence pardoning.” Have to draw the dissembling line somewhere.

John Boehner and Paul Ryan never looked so good. And Kevin McCarthy deserves to share the same name as the actor who played the lead in “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”

* Selective-memory update: “I don’t recall.” That’s how Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene responded–under oath–when asked (at an administrative law hearing in Atlanta) if she had urged then-President Trump to impose martial law as a way to stay in power. The case was brought by Free Speech for People, a campaign-finance reform organization. The hearing was about whether she was an “insurrectionist” disqualified from seeking re-election.

* “It’s a tragic indictment of the political process these days—and the Republican Party of late—that truth doesn’t matter, words don’t matter. … You cross lines now, and there are no longer consequences.”–Former South Carolina Republican Gov. Mark Sanford.

* “Trump and his acolytes didn’t invent this; insecure masculinity is an old phenomenon. … The negative aspects of masculinity are always lurking just beneath the surface.”–Mona Charen, Creators Syndicate.

* How naive it seems that some thought–not just hoped–that when Trump became an ex-president, truculent party loyalty and tribalism would give way to a return to old-school Republican mores and guardrails.

* “The Russian invasion of Ukraine was intended only as a beginning, then they want to capture other countries.”–Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

* “We need a wall between civilization and barbarians striking peaceful cities with missiles.”–Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

* “If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”–George Washington.

* “Gas and grocery prices are the GOP’s best friends right now.”–Hugh Hewitt, Washington Post.

* “I don’t date women my age. There aren’t any.”–Milton Berle.

* “This year’s mid-term elections occur during a moment of existential peril for democracy.”–Leah Aden, deputy director of litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund.

* “It needs to be, and it should be. (Honesty) goes to the core essence of integrity.”–Florida Democratic Congressman Charlie Crist, promising that if he gets through the primary, he will make honesty a key part of his campaign to unseat Gov. Ron DeSantis.

* “Unfortunately, it appears to me our options are very limited regarding potential tax relief the board can authorize at this time.”–Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan.

* “You can’t take taxes that pay for cops on the street and use it to pay for baseball. That’s why we’re limited to the tourist development tax which pays for exactly that kind of thing.”–St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch.

* “You hear St. Pete talk about being the next Austin. Well, Lealman is its next-door neighbor.”–Christopher Moore, assistant Pinellas County administrator, referring to plans for a Tesla showroom and service facility at an old Kane’s Furniture liquidation store in the Lealman section of St. Petersburg at 34^th Street N and 46^th Avenue N.

* “More than 60 Israeli companies have a presence in Florida. And the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator based in Tampa is helping to increase that number.”--Mayor Jane Castor.

I know I’m not the only one. I’m not even the only one in my house to cut back on my TV news viewing.

The emotions fomented by fraught times continue to weigh on us. Emotional stability shouldn’t be a 2022 oxymoron. As a result—even for a news junkie—watching TV news has never been more parlous. That’s because it’s more about unsettling optics and ratings than about relevant societal updates. According to a survey by Digital Third Coast, more than two-thirds of respondents reported feeling “burnt out” by the news. “If it bleeds, it leads” still, alas, resonates—from cell-phone crime scenes and a Russian invasion to pandemic body counts and “weather porn” during hurricane season. “Breaking news” is now a network cliché. And social media remains a self-evident, Faustian deal with the devil.

And then there are the redundant, political-talk shows across the spectrum that all depend on conflict for their ratings. This typically manifests itself in partisan discord, if not vitriol, as well as theatrics. As for modulated discussions—sans interruptions and talk-overs—well, that’s why there’s PBS.

So what’s a news junkie to do? Rely more on the written word, however self-serving that may sound. Being informed should not have to be a visceral experience. Reading is less likely to cause the sort of gut-wrenching stress that leads to anxious mood swings and problematic sleeping.

Speaking of sleeping, not getting ramped up over optics certainly helps—as does cannabis tincture.

* The Biden Administration has disappointed climate activists by not permanently blocking oil and gas development on public land. But the Administration has dramatically limited U.S. public land available for new oil and gas development.

* “Democratic politicians should consider seeking face time on Fox News. That approach has become policy within the Biden White House, which is eyeing the network’s audience of Republicans, independents and Democrats.”–Erik Wemple, WaPo. In short, politicians need to meet viewers where they are. Having said that, however, exceptions should still be considered where Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham are concerned.

* Still feeling the Bern. “While Bernie Sanders will never be president, his two campaigns have transformed the Democratic Party and this country. Old orthodoxies about government spending and foreign policy have crumbled as a result of the unceasing efforts by an old socialist.”–Ari Rabin-Havt, former deputy campaign manager for Bernie Sanders.

* The W.H.O. has calculated the global death toll at approximately 15 million by the end of 2021. That’s more than double the official total of six million reported by countries individually. More than a third of the additional nine million deaths are estimated to have occurred in India, where the government has stood firm on its count of about 500,000. It’s believed India has the highest total in the world.

* The BA.2 mutant is thought to be about 30 percent more contagious than COVID-19. Keeping a surge somewhat in check is a higher level of immunity in the U.S. from vaccination or past infection.

* Total U.S. population that is boosted: 30 percent.

Total Florida population that is boosted: 26 percent.

* Florida positivity rate: 6.2 percent.

Hillsborough County positivity rate: 3.5 percent.

* As the Omicron variant has receded, the airline industry has rebounded. The Adobe Digital Economy Index reported that ticket sales for domestic flights in February exceeded those for the same (pre-pandemic) month in 2019.

* Masks would still be required until at least May 3 for those flying commercially—as well as other transportation settings, including buses, subways and ferries. At least they were until a federal district judge in Tampa (Kathryn Kimball Mizelle) voided it. But, yeah, it’s OK to wear a mandate-free mask just to be on the safer side.