Opinions to go Online

* Florida’s economy is the 15^th largest in the world.

* According to Planned Parenthood, Florida is among 19 states where access to abortion is now “severely restricted.”

* “Whatever happened to the separation of powers? The fact that the Florida Legislature is just bending over backward to do what the governor wants. I mean, why are we elected?”–State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, in reference to Republican legislative leaders deferring to Gov. DeSantis to draft a new congressional (redistricting) map.

* Banning math textbooks over critical race theory? Go figure.

* Democratic Congresswoman Val Demings, a Senate-candidate opponent of Marco Rubio, nearly doubled the latter’s fundraising in Quarter 1 of 2022. It’s the fourth consecutive quarter Demings has outraised Rubio.

* “I want every woman in Florida to know that when I am the first woman governor of Florida, you’ll have an ally—not an enemy—in the governor’s office,” promised Nikki Fried. “Women in Florida deserve better.”

* Democratic bumper sticker possibility: “Abort DeSantis’ Agenda.”

* DeSantis bumper sticker reality: “Pro-Strife.”

* Tampa Bay inflation was up 10.2 percent in the last year. Nationally, the inflation-rate increase was 8.5 percent—the highest in more than 40 years.

* “Please be patient. It’ll be worth it in the end.”–Brad Baird, Tampa’s deputy administrator for infrastructure, on the city’s two-decade, ($2.9 billion) PIPES project that will begin this summer in East Tampa, MacFarlane Park in West Tampa, Forest Hills in North Tampa and Virginia Park in South Tampa.

* “We are prepared to work with federal and local partners to ensure that refugees of this terrible (Ukraine) crisis have the support and assistance that they need to join our communities—if they so wish.”–From a letter to President Joe Biden from three regional mayors: Tampa’s Jane Castor, St. Petersburg’s Ken Welch and Orlando’s Buddy Dyer.

* “A genocide.”–How President Joe Biden characterized Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

* Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked President Biden to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, a powerful sanction.

* “The city of Mariupol has been wiped off the face of the Earth by the Russian Federation, by those who will never be able to restore it.”–Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of Ukraine’s Donetsk region.

* It’s been a major embarrassment for Russia that its flagship vessel of the Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva, was sunk.

* According to UNICEF, nearly two thirds of all Ukrainian children have been forced from their homes since the start of the Russian invasion.

* S&P Global placed Russia under a “selective default” rating.

* Wouldn’t it speak volumes if Edward Snowden, of leaked-NSA-information infamy, announced that he was leaving Russia as a protest against Vladimir Putin’s unconscionably cruel and tragic invasion of Ukraine. Or is genocide an insufficient reason to leave his Russian safe house?

* NATO expansion? Finland and Sweden could be next up. If that were to happen, Russia would “rebalance the situation,” according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Such euphemistic “rebalancing” could involve moving nuclear weapons near the Baltic Sea.

* A Supreme Court confirmation hearing in 1981 was the first to be televised live. It was that important—and historic: the confirmation of Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman Supreme Court justice. BTW, the vote was 99-0. That was then.

* It remains surprising, if not shocking, that there has never been a movie made of the amazing and tragic career of Dorothy Kilgallen, who was one of the most widely known journalists in the world and a multi-media star. Ernest Hemingway called her “the most powerful female voice in America.”

She also met a beyond-suspicious death—in the context of pushing back against the popular scenario that “Oswald alone” was behind the JFK assassination. She had recently visited New Orleans and had plans to return in pursuit of a Mafia lead. Her phone had been tapped and she was under FBI surveillance.

Kilgallen covered the Jack Ruby trial, secured–via her fame and assertiveness–two interviews with Lee Harvey Oswald’s killer and then outraged the FBI and the Warren Commission by secretly securing transcripts of Ruby’s testimony to the commission and publishing them before they were officially released. She included information ineptly ignored or redacted by the Warren Commission. Maybe Oliver Stone would be interested.

* “I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy. … Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.” That was Elon Musk, whose hostile takeover bid ($43 billion) has been rebuffed so far by Twitter.

* “Easter Kegg Hunt”: Thanks to Pabst Blue Ribbon.

* “Sports is live theater. There’s no retakes.”–Lightning head coach Jon Cooper.

* The national media, understandably, seemingly can’t get enough of Rachel Balkovec, the first female manager in professional baseball. She started as a strength and conditioning intern for the St. Louis Cardinals—and now she manages the Tampa Tarpons, a Class A affiliate of the New York Yankees.

* Too bad the Rays can’t play the Orioles more often. They were 18-1 against the them last year and jumpstarted this season by winning all three games against the O’s.

* Not that it’s a surprise, but Donald Trump’s war chest—as well as his galvanizing popularity among his disciples and minions—will make him a force, even if a farce, in the mid-terms. Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America, had amassed $110 million through February. Among the major contributors: Rupert Murdoch, who gave $2 million.

* “It’s flagrant and it looks terrible. Either it was really stupid or really corrupt.” That was Richard W. Painter, the former top ethics lawyer for George W. Bush’s administration, referring to how the Trump administration left office without providing the State Department with an accounting of the gifts former President Trump, former Veep Mike Pence and other White House officials received from foreign governments in 2020. (Under federal law, each government department and agency is legally required to submit a list to the State Department of gifts over $415 its officials received from foreign governments.)

* “Please, please, let us not get used to war.”–Pope Francis.

* “In my 31 years as a humanitarian, I have rarely seen so much damage caused in so little time.”–Manuel Fontaine, emergency programs director for UNICEF.

* “The U.N. is supposed to stand for something good and noble. Removing Putin’s Russia from its permanent seat on the Security Council would go a long way toward making that mean something.”–Robert Bruce Adolph, author of “Surviving the United Nations: The Unexpected Challenge.”

* “If we do not maintain justice, justice will not maintain us.”–Francis Bacon.

* “The world is not converging anymore; it’s diverging. The process of globalization has slowed and, in some cases, even kicked into reverse. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlights these trends.”–David Brooks, NYT.

* “What Americans have lost … what Republicans have trashed in pursuit of power is the willingness and ability to share a common national identity.”–Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald.

* “It would be a disaster if they went out of business. There’s a real fear that without this book chain, the print business would be way off.”–Literary agent Jane Dystel, in reference to Barnes & Noble.

* “We need to recognize that the need to serve the common good vastly outweighs the regulatory opportunities for competitive advantage.”–Microsoft President Brad Smith.

* “When I am governor, I will declare a housing state of emergency—because that’s precisely what we are facing in the state of Florida. I will also immediately work to repeal the state law which pre-empts local governments from targeting price-gouging landlords.”–Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a Democrat, who is running for governor.

* “(DeSantis’) goal is to eliminate minority access seats to build more Republican domination in Congress to give himself an advantage going into the presidency by having more Republicans from Florida in Congress. Everything is about what is good for Ron DeSantis and his election.”–State Rep. Kelly Skidmore, the ranking Democrat on the House congressional redistricting committee.

* “In Florida alone, 91 percent of children and their families would lose out if the expanded child tax credit is not extended; and 700,000 children would be at risk of sliding back back below the poverty line or deeper into poverty.”–State Sen. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa.

In the era of Putin, Trump, DeSantis, Scott, Gaetz, Taylor-Greene, Carlson, QAnon, inflation, climate change, COVID, white nationalism and an insurrection, we needed this. Via Senate vote, America now has its first black female Supreme Court justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson. Moreover, the confirmation was presided over by a historically first female vice president who happens to be a person of color, Kamala Harris. “I believe so strongly that we needed a court that looks like America,” underscored President Joe Biden, who had nominated Judge Jackson and kept a campaign promise.

Rarely have we’ve been privileged to see such real change in American history unfold in real, count-down time. And this was no affirmative action appointment. Jackson’s education and judicial experience actually elevates the court. Who cares if Ted Cruz isn’t celebrating?

Judge Jackson’s perspective was spot on. “It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States,” she pointed out. “We’ve made it, all of us.”

Yes, these are challenging, contentious, fraught times, but knowing someone like Ketanji Brown Jackson can realize her dream–even in an America riven by racial politics–gives us all hope when we’ve never needed it more.

* President Joe Biden says he has “never spoken” to Hunter Biden about “his overseas business dealings.” You don’t have to be a Democrat-demonizing Trumpster to ponder: Why not? Especially when you know your name’s leverage, and you know your kid’s opportunist track record. C’mon, man.

* “Under Biden, child poverty (had) reached its lowest rate in American history.”–Mona Charen, Creators Syndicate.