Category: Uncategorized

• No surprise that Facebook has already been besieged by misinformation that gives people the wrong details about when, where and how to vote.
• Meanwhile, Facebook is preparing steps to take just in case an election-losing Trump wrongly claims on the site that he had actually won. They include the possibility of a “kill switch” to shut off political advertising after Election Day.
• It’s well within the journalistic purview of media forums such as daily newspapers to include input from the other side of the political spectrum. That’s what op eds and letters to the editor are for. That’s a subset of free speech. Hear from the other side. And these days they’ll likely out themselves with obvious mischaracterizations and fact check-vulnerable misinformation. But nobody has an exclusive on the truth. Having said that, the Tampa Bay Times—battling bottom lines and an eroding reader base like never before—has taken to frequently outsourcing editorial input—most notably to the Wall Street Journal–that reflects a non-progressive point of view. That includes lead editorials. Hugh Hewitt is tough enough to take, but the recent WSJ take on Trump “disruption” was an insulting exercise in rationalization, revisionism and sophistry. Yes, we are noticing.

• The next shot at the Hall of Fame for Tampa’s Lou Piniella, 77, will be December 2022. Ironically, his chances have not been helped by his tenure as a pre-Joe Maddon, losing manager for the home-market Tampa Bay Rays.
• “Football is not like other sports. It is blood, mucus, sweat and spit, bodily meals the virus craves. How can schools even be contemplating the risk when several medical advisers to the NCAA said it was ill advised?”—Buzz Bissinger, author of “Friday Night Lights.”

• “The pattern during this pandemic so far certainly suggests that the world could use much more female leadership.”—Andreas Kluth, Bloomberg Opinion.
• “Those of us who remember the 1990s know that QAnon-type conspiracy theories have been out there for decades; they’ve just become more visible thanks to social media and a president who attributes all his failures to the machinations of the ‘deep state.’”—Paul Krugman, New York Times.
• “(Trump has) devolved into preying upon fears and resentments with narcissism that nurtures only chaos and confusion.”—Michael Steele, former chairman of the RNC and a senior advisor for the anti-Trump Lincoln Project.
• “Do you seriously wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence? It’s you who have created the hate and the division.”–Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler.
• “We have yet to see any activity intended to prevent voting or to change votes, and we continue to think that it would be extraordinarily difficult for foreign adversaries to change vote tallies.”—Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.
• “I’m going to continue to keep Congress informed. But we’ve had a pandemic of information being leaked out of the intelligence community. And I’m going to take the measures to make sure that stops.”—John Ratcliffe, director of National Security.
• “What’s unfolding is a political Ponzi scheme. Inflated claims are being made about Trump’s economic “accomplishments” in order to persuade frightened and uncertain Americans to invest their votes in the scandal-plagued businessman’s re-election run.”—John Nichols, The Nation.
• “Ft. McHenry is meant to symbolize national unity. It was an act of defilement (for VP Mike Pence) to use this place for partisan political rhetoric intended to provoke division and fear.”—Eugene Robinson, Washington Post.
• “The Trump Organization has stalled, withheld documents, and instructed witnesses, including Eric Trump, to refuse to answer questions under oath.”—New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who has stepped up the inquiry into whether President Trump and the Trump Organization committed fraud by overstating assets to get loans and tax benefits.
• “In Trump’s perverse, political calculus, division equals addition.”—Democratic analyst David Axelrod.
• “When all is said and done, I am confident that the ban on oil drilling off of Florida’s coast will remain in place.”—Sen. Marco Rubio, on the moratorium on oil leasing in most of the eastern Gulf of Mexico that is set to expire in two years.
• “Nothing is off the table. We’re going to have to be inventive, innovative and bold.”—David Lechner, USF senior vice president for business and strategy, on proposed budget cuts of $36.7 million.
• “We can’t undo our past, but we can educate ourselves on that history so that we don’t make the same mistakes again. And we can use that history and that past to improve our police department and relationship with the community.”—Mayor Jane Castor.

  “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

• Imagine having to make a case for re-nomination and re-election and somehow work around a collapsing economy, nostalgia for George Wallace, a bromance with Vlad Putin and the globally-noted, derelict mismanagement of a pandemic that has negligently cost AMERICAN LIVES.  
• Nothing epitomized a Trump-fealty GOP convention quite like the McCloskeys—the low-caliber, St. Louis homeowners who pointed guns at protesters this summer.
• “The only way we’re gonna lose this election is if the election is rigged.”—That’s the rigger-in-chief reminding his base–as well as those who value the sanctity of the U.S. Constitution–that he won’t, if he loses, go unescorted. If so, may the optics be not unlike a perp walk.
• Rhetorical retread: “Don’t buy GOODYEAR TIRES—They announced a BAN ON MAGA HATS.” But about those Goodyear tires on the presidential limousine…
• “The stakes have never been higher, and we need your help to send a message that this is YOUR Country, NOT THEIRS.”—From a Mike Pence fund-raising email that cast the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket as a “radical duo.”
• Hardly surprising that the White (Nationalist) House is pushing the Justice Department to crack down on affirmative action, a familiar GOPster target. Most recent case in point: The DOJ has accused Yale University of violating federal civil rights law by discriminating against Asian-American and white applicants. The devil is in the legal and partisan-pandering details—as the DOJ charges Yale with violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which the university is required to comply with as a condition of receiving millions of dollars in taxpayer funding.
• “The future of our country and indeed our civilization is at stake on Nov. 3.” Even the prevaricator-in-chief can on occasion speak the truth about America’s existential threat.
• Steve Bannon charged with fraud? How ironic. There would have been no need for an online crowdfunding “We Build the Wall” campaign had Mexico simply agreed to pay for it.
• That was then: Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez spoke at the Trump coronation—but not in the way she had previously spoken. She had called him “The biggest con man there is” during the 2016 campaign—when she was backing Marco Rubio.
• Political Harlots Speaking for Trump: Campaign advisor Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend and a former Fox News host, raged on about dystopian Democrats and reminded all minions that “President Trump is THE law and order president.” And then there was Tampa’s own Pam Bondi, now a co-chair of “Women For Trump.” She proceeded to attack Joe Biden for nepotism—in the name of a president who is the avatar of familial conflict of interest. She’s also the former Florida attorney general who took a 25-k re-election contribution from Trump while making the calculated call not to go after the fraudulent farce that was Trump University. Beyond embarrassing and infuriating.
• “He has no principles.” That was a long, long-time Trump insider, older sister and former Federal Judge Maryanne Trump Barry. And, oh yeah, “He doesn’t read.”
• Reportedly among those still on Trump’s self-serving, pardon list: Edward Snowden, the former national security contractor who ultimately fled to Russia after leaking information about government surveillance programs. Not that long ago, Trump had referenced him as “a spy who should be executed.” Too bad he can’t negotiate with his Russian handler to bring back Snowden—for a pardon or an execution.
• No, Trump is not trying to scare “suburban housewives” into voting for him to protect their neighborhoods from the “other” who want in via affordable housing. “This is an economic and real estate issue and not a racial one,” explained Paris Dennard, the senior communications adviser for black media affairs at the Republican National Committee. BTW, Dennard, an African-American, is a former CNN commentator who was fired last year after a Washington Post story reported that he had been expelled from Arizona State University in 2014 for sexual harassment. Dennard is also a member of the Black Voices for Trump Advisory Board. Yes, there really is such a thing.
• If Trump loses in November, will that presage the return of normalcy to the Republican Party? That could be wishful thinking. To many Trump enablers, a loss could pave the way for the ascendancy of someone such as hawkish, reactionary Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton.
• “What, Me Worry?”—Alfred E. Trump.

“It is what it is.” May it soon be “It was what it was.”

#AloneTogether

• U.S. mortality rate: 52 deaths per 100,000 people. New Zealand mortality rate: 0.45 deaths per 100,000 people.
• 94,352: The number of ventilators that have been produced for the federal government’s stockpile since the start of the pandemic.
• Statewide: 25 percent of hospital beds and 21 percent of ICU beds are available.           Tampa Bay: 23 percent of hospital beds and 18 percent of ICU beds are available.
• Hillsborough tourist tax collections for July: $1.56 million. In July 2019: $2.5 million.
• In the U.S., 4 million schoolchildren do not have internet access at home.
• A recent Gallup Poll found that one third of people would not get a COVID-19 vaccine when it’s ready—even if it were free.
• The S&P 500 recently closed at an all-time high (3,508.01). Too bad the stock market is not the economy.
• 38: The number (so far) of MLB games postponed because of positive tests with Miami, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Cincinnati and New York (Mets).

• “And make no mistake, united we can and will overcome this season of darkness in America.”—Joe Biden, in accepting the DNC presidential nomination—and underscoring that America, now saddled with an unhinged authoritarian, needs a unifier, not an idealistic revolutionary. Biden played his “Ally of the light, not the darkness” part well in juxtaposition to Trump’s alarmist law-and-order messaging that would have impressed George Wallace and Bull Connor.
• Fortunately for America, Biden has tested positive for empathy and competence.
• The original speaking order for the next-to-last night of the virtual Democratic National Convention was Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris and then wrapping up with the orator-in-chief, former President Barack Obama. That order was transposed at the suggestion of Obama who wanted Harris to have the culminating spotlight. Unsurprising, appropriate, classy move.
• That same Wednesday night featured Hillary Clinton, Obama and Harris. The overlapping, overwhelming theme: These are dire times and this is an urgent WARNING of what awaits if an energized, patriotic American electorate doesn’t pull this country back from nativist, authoritarian chaos that is undermining democracy.
• “Vote like our lives and livelihoods are on the line, because they are.”—Hillary Clinton.
• “This administration has shown that it will tear our democracy down if that’s what it takes to win.”—Barack Obama.
• “Donald Trump’s failure of leadership has cost lives and livelihoods.”—Kamala Harris.
• The telethon-convention strategically featured a VOTE theme, as well as young Americans, women and Dems of color—critical demographics for November that harken to the Obama-Biden coalition. And, BTW, the final night’s host, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, was spot-on.
• It speaks non-partisan, parlous volumes when a 74-signee letter from former national security officials in the Ronald Reagan and both Bush administrations endorses Biden. “We have concluded that Donald Trump has failed our country and that Vice President Joe Biden should be elected the next president of the United States,” said the heat-seeking missive. The signatories ranged from former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and former CIA Director Michael Hayden to former Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte and former U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills.
• Talk of Sen. Elizabeth Warren joining a Biden Administration (Treasury Secretary) should please progressives. Especially if Massachusetts can do an effective (replacement) workaround with its Republican governor. There’s precedent.
• Populism, including the perverted version of a narcissistic, “anti-establishment” billionaire, is very much in play. It’s worth noting that Biden, a graduate of the University of Delaware, would be—if he wins—the first elected president to graduate from an American state university since Lyndon Johnson (Southwest Texas State College).
• A recent Marquette Law School poll showed Biden leading by 67 points among those planning to vote absentee by mail.
• Local input: Tampa’s own Congresswoman, Rep. Kathy Castor—now in her seventh term and a legislative player—was a member of the influential DNC platform committee. She chairs the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and is an advisor on climate change for the Biden campaign.
• When the Dems take back the White House, it will be nigh on to historic. Just one incumbent president (George H.W. Bush) has been defeated in the last four decades.
• Word is that influential Democrats would like to see Florida Congresswoman Val Demings, the former Orlando police chief who was vetted for vice president, take a shot at Marco Rubio’s Senate seat.

• Before long, Michael Cohen’s book, “Disloyal,” will be highlighting, so to speak, the news cycle. Here’s a tease passage from its foreward. “I bore witness to the real man, in strip clubs, shady business meetings, and in the unguarded moments when he revealed who he really was: a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man.”
• South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Its endorsement of Joe Biden was the first general election endorsement by a Florida newspaper.
• Facebook just rolled out its Voting Information Center, an online hub for authoritative voting information. Helpful—but still seems like an exercise in trying to rebottle the monetized genie of politically-partisan misinformation.
• “The thing that we treasure in this country is the peaceful transition of power. This is troubling.”—Fox News’ Chris Wallace, on Trump’s orchestration of election scenarios that could provide cover for vote nullification.

• After 24 years announcing Lightning games, Rick Peckam has retired. Appropriately, his last game was that 5-4 OT win against Columbus that clinched the first-round playoff series. What will be missed: his preparation, his enthusiasm, his professionalism. And being an all-around nice guy who was really good at what he did. I still remember his answer to what I thought was a probing media query. After having perceptively noted that hockey is all about quick, sometimes frenetic, back-and-forth action with personnel and puck direction constantly changing, I asked him how he kept track of it all. “I don’t” was his candid, initial—possibly obvious–response. He then went on to explain that he had to convey the bigger picture and not try in vain to mention everything going on. Of course.
• Last week’s Rays-Yankees series included a match-up of Rays pitcher Chaz Roe and Yankees infielder Tyler Wade. That’s right: Roe v Wade.
• For what it’s worth, the Bucs are 4-point underdogs to the Saints in the Sept. 13 NFL opener in New Orleans.

• “I found the best way through pain and loss and grief is to find purpose.”—Joe Biden.
• “We have got to vote for Joe Biden like our lives depend on it.”—Michelle Obama.
• “At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center. Instead, it’s a storm center. There’s only chaos.”—Former President Bill Clinton.
• “Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfs.”—Bernie Sanders.
• “Outrage fatigue is real. (Trump) has worn us out. … I’ve never seen a candidate so incapable of reaching out to anyone other than his calcified base.”—Former Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.
• “We need a president who is ready on Day One to begin the hard work of putting back together the pieces of what Donald Trump has smashed apart.”—Former Secretary of State John Kerry.
• “Make no mistake. It didn’t have to be this way. In the early days of the virus, Donald Trump didn’t listen to the experts.”—Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, speaking at the virtual Democratic National Convention.
• “The administration’s failure to contain the coronavirus deserves something akin to a 9/11 commission.”—Michelle Goldberg, New York Times.
• “I struggle to speak, but I have not lost my voice. Vote, vote, vote.”—Former Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head while meeting with constituents nearly a decade ago.
• “Somebody has to start being willing to break down this tribalism.”—Biden-voting, former Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich, who was a presidential candidate in 2016.
• “There are many people who are voting for Trump who are in environments where it’s politically untenable to admit it because he’s become so toxic.”—Republican pollster Whit Ayres.
• “We used to say racism is dog whistles. Now it’s a fog horn.”—Angela Rye, former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus.
• “The soul of this nation is being sacrificed to assuage the abject terror felt by too many white people in knowing that people of color will outnumber them in about 20 years.”—Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald.
• “They are our most loyal voters, and I think that the black women of America deserved a black vice-presidential candidate.”—Harry Reid, former Senate Majority Leader.
• “We assess with a high degree of likelihood that November’s elections will be marked by a chaotic legal and political landscape. (President Trump) is likely to contest the result by both legal and extralegal means.”—The bipartisan Transition Integrity Project.
• “America deserves better, our men and women in uniform deserve better. … It is in the best interest of the United States to elect Joe Biden as our Commander-in-chief, and I will vote for him.”—Retired Brig. Gen. Remo Butler, former Director of the Center for Command Support, U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill AFB.
• “We have a message for President Trump: Don’t mess with the USPS.”—U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor.
• “I think the American people should be able to vote by mail. I’m going to vote by mail myself.”—Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
• “Joe Biden is the Democratic equivalent of George H.W. Bush—another ambitious vice president who believed in loyalty and decency more than in any particular set of ideas.”—Bret Stephens, New York Times.
• “We expect cases, we expect closures at least of classrooms, and then potentially schools based on the outcomes of our investigation.”—Dr. Douglas Holt, director of the Florida Health Department in Hillsborough County.
• “There’s a vocal group that’s calling for defunding of the police when there’s not a clear understanding of what that means.”—Mayor Jane Castor.
• “Our ability to carry out our mission is truly in a perilous position.”—Judy Lisi, CEO of the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, in making the case to the Hillsborough County Commission that the Center needed an estimated $8.6 million infusion until it can resume revenue-generating ticket sales.
• “Parents are understandably concerned because of the potential for children bringing the virus home. First and foremost, families must have the ultimate authority on whether to send their children back into the classroom.”—Dr. Charles J. Lockwood, dean of USF’s Morsani College of Medicine.
• “All the pieces are in place. That’s why I’m here. … It’s an exciting future for Moffitt, Tampa and the state of Florida.”—Dr. Patrick Hwu, newly named president and CEO of Moffitt Cancer Center.

First things first. There are no perfect candidates. The human condition, let alone partisan politics, assures no less. So, yes, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris is not flawless. Her presidential campaign never got traction. Her record as a prosecutor—not a public defender or defense attorney—is already being cherry-picked by progressives as well as Republicans. And, yes, she had that pre-planned, cringe-worthy “I was that little girl” debate moment.

But Harris, the second black woman elected to the Senate, checks important boxes as a well-informed, quick-study, articulate female of color who could handle the presidency as early as 2024. Yes, she’s a relative centrist, but she has called for an increase in corporate taxes, is against fracking and the death penalty, has introduced the Justice in Policing Act and has teamed with Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) to propose legislation that would establish an Independent Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Accountability. Her Indian-Jamaican-immigrant story could help pull us back from the xenophobic Trump precipice—and inspiringly update “American exceptionalism.”

If you’ve seen Harris, 55, in action as a member of the Senate judiciary and intelligence committees, you’ve seen somebody who knows how to prosecute a case. Ask William Barr. Or Joe Biden. Harris is “best equipped to take this fight to Trump,” Biden pointed out.

If you noticed how suburban women voted for Trump in 2016 and how fewer, post-Obama black voters came out for Hillary Clinton, you’ve seen the bottom-line need to complement Joe Biden, 77, with a feisty, charismatic, generationally-removed partner uniquely qualified to prosecute Trump and win back key swing states. In short, she’s no Tim Kaine.

That all underscores why Trump, the misogynist-in-chief, is already vilifying Harris as “nasty” for being “mean” to his appointees. He, unsurprisingly, speaks more highly of Ghislaine Maxwell than Harris. Then Trump doubled down and referred to Harris as the “meanest, most horrible, most disrespectful” member of the Senate. Poor Brett Kavanaugh. Trump also enabled Obama-esque, birther misinformation about Harris’ presidential-ticket eligibility. And he also knows that if Mike Pence were to stalk her during their upcoming debate, he would live to regret it. Harris’ command of facts and her ability to make a case aren’t masked by that center-stage smile. She can help remake America—not just make history.

Trump knows this nominee is trouble for him. His campaign had been rooting for Bernie Sanders so it could rally the base by hammering home the anti-socialism theme. Biden-Harris nullifies that. Elizabeth Warren gets it. It’s about winning—and “saving America’s soul.”

One other thing: Because of looming scenarios of Trump not conceding defeat, a November win needs to be seen as a mandate, not a mere victory. Having Harris–and her vigorous campaign style–on the Biden ticket is the Dems’ best chance to take back the country. Four years would be a wrenching anomaly; eight years would be a disastrous, authoritarian pivot that will outlast most Americans. Indeed, “It’s all on the line,” as Harris has stated.

You go, Joe and Kamala.