Tampa Bay

* Ronald Vaughn will be stepping down as the University of Tampa president after nearly 30 years at the helm. Well done, President Vaughn, who presided over the turnaround of a private university that had seen its enrollment and viability plummet.

* The median home sales price in the Tampa Bay area is $389,995—up 3.1 percent from last year.

* Dining with the Cuban ambassador in Tampa: Meeting and talking is not agreeing or scheming. It’s communicating—including with adversaries of far more concern than Cuba.

* TIA numbers are now setting records. More than 90,000 passengers passed through TIA on March 19, according to Transportation Safety Administration data. It was the airport’s single heaviest day of passenger traffic ever.

* Tourism has jumped more than 25 percent in Hillsborough County this year.

Florida

* According to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual audit, the number of antisemitic incidents increased 41.5 percent in Florida last year (to 269).

* Gov. Ron DeSantis is traveling to Israel this month to check a foreign-relations box. He’ll be delivering a speech at an event co-hosted by the Jerusalem Museum of Tolerance. How ironic.

* “Trump should fight Democrats, not lie about Gov. DeSantis.”–A DeSantis fund-raising ad.

* Come July 1, it will be official. “Florida Freedumb” will permit people to freely carry guns without a permit or any training. No surprise that hard-core, Second Amendment advocates have criticized the bill for not going even farther and allowing “open carry” freedumb.

* “(Health equity) is an imprecise term. It’s a term that really has grown to have more of a political meaning than a meaning related to health.”–That was Florida’s politically precise Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo.

* Approximately 30 percent of Florida seniors have receive an updated booster shot, the 5th lowest rate in the U.S—behind Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee.

* A DeSantis administrative rule bans Chinese drones. But home-grown, sycophantic, GOP legislative drones remain very much in place.

* The recent NRA convention in Indianapolis was a forum for the usual blustery vows to defend the Second Amendment at all, yes all, costs. And, yes, Ron DeSantis was among the low-caliber presidential hopefuls in attendance.

* Don’t like kids as political props? Gov. DeSantis would not agree.

* “Infamous for locking the press out, denying access to state decision-making and concealing information, (DeSantis) now finds himself ill-prepared for a national media that he cannot shunt aside.”–Jennifer Rubin, WaPo.

* Updated Sunshine State David: A sling, a rock, a thong.

Sports Shorts

* Rays’ worth: According to forbes.com, the Rays’ franchise is now valued at $1.25 billion—or 26th among the 30 MLB teams. Those below Tampa Bay: Kansas City, Cincinnati, Oakland and Miami.

* The New York Mets had a (record) $353.5 million opening day payroll. The Rays were at $73.2 million, the third smallest payroll in baseball. The top four: Mets, Yankees, Padres and Phillies.

* Forget—however briefly—logistics and financials when in comes to St. Pete or Tampa as the location for a Rays stadium. How about Tampa’s deep Hispanic roots—and the Rays largely Latin American line-up?

* Global warming is juicing home runs in Major League Baseball.” –Dartmouth climate scientist Justin Mankin.

* “(Baseball) is like church. Many attend, few understand.”–Leo Durocher.

* Imagine, Final Four finalist FAU was one basket from playing for the national championship. Bit of deja vu for USF? Next year FAU enters the AAC and joins USF. And its trajectory could go beyond thatnot unlike that of UCF, a former USF inferior now headed to the Big 12.

Trumpster Diving

* It’s beyond ironic that Donald Trump’s first official campaign rally of 2024 was in Waco, Texas. Yes, that Waco. Supposedly the site was chosen for logistical reasons. Another possibility: “Branch Davidians for Trump.”

* NY indictments upshot: The New York arraignment procedure was visceral humiliation for an authoritarian punk. Call it Faustian justice. Just ask Michael Cohen–or Melania.

* “Because he lacks all self-control.” Rationale for former AG Bill Barr suggesting Trump should not testify in the criminal case against him.

* Stormy troopers: Trumpsters who contend his New York indictment for feloniously falsifying business records is just another witch hunt.

* Let’s not confuse “not-guilty” with “innocent.” They are not synonyms. Trump could be legally found “not guilty,” for example, on those 34 felony counts of falsifying business records—but he sure as hell isn’t “innocent.” Hasn’t been since his days with Fred.

* “I’m convinced that people want leaders that appeal to the best of America and not simply appeal to our worst instincts.” That was former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is seeking

the 2024 Republican presidential nomination—and has called on Trump to drop out.

* “We don’t need gun control. We need crime control.”–Mike Pence. But how about disingenuous rhetoric control?

* “Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis or Tim Scott will be the Republican nominee for president.”–Republican political consultant Alfredo Rodriguez. South Carolina Sen. Scott—from “cotton to Congress”–is the only black Republican in the Senate.

Quoteworthy

* “I know history will be kind to me, for I shall write it.”–Winston Churchill.

* “China will not provide weapons to relevant parties of the (Russia-Ukraine) conflict.”--Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

* “What we see is that President Putin went to war against Ukraine with a declared aim to get less NATO. He’s getting the exact opposite.”–NATO Secretary General Jen Stoltenberg, after Finland became NATO’s 31st member country.

* “The consequences of Ukraine in the European Union will be complicated, even explosive. But it will be politically impossible to reject it.”–Thomas Gomart, director of the French Institute of International Relations.

* “Why are so many Republicans soft on Russia and tough on China? China is an economic threat; Russia isn’t.”–Max Boot, Council on Foreign Relations.

* “Lending war equipment is a good deal like lending chewing gum. You don’t want it back.”–The late Republican Sen. Robert Taft.

* “I am willing to bear my share of the responsibility before history and before my fellow citizens. But past error is no excuse for its own perpetuation.”–Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, 1968, on the subject of Vietnam.

* “After focusing largely on electrification as a pathway to decarbonize transportation, many climate advocates are ready to lobby for less driving, period—not just less gas-powered driving.”–David Zipper, Mother Jones.

* “You want teachers to teach the basics? Then stop leaving the parenting to them. … How about a Parents’ Bill of Responsibilities?”–Petula Dvorak, WaPo.

* “I want to meet the moment.”–California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, on his five-state—including Florida—anti-authoritarian tour.

* “Tampa has a bit more resiliency, and that’s because we’re still seeing this out-of-state migration coming to the area with higher incomes.”–Kristine Smale, executive vice president for Zonda, a real estate analytics company.

* “The MOSI site has been one of the county’s most underutilized assets. The economic development opportunities here really are endless.”–Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Ken Hagan.

* “It’s been the greatest honor of my life to lead this incredible university.”–University of Tampa President Ronald Vaughn, in announcing his retirement—after nearly 30 years—at the end of the 2023-24 school year.

* “I was no longer the right person to lead this City Council, because we differ fundamentally on how to spend money and on what the city’s priorities should be moving forward.”–Former Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard on his surprising resignation.

DeSantis: Trump 2.0

Gov. Ron DeSantis has checked a bunch of boxes already for a presidential run in 2024. They range from disingenuous uses of “freedom,” divisive, insulting “anti-woke” politics and “cancel culture” assaults to increasing time in the Fox News Green Room and having a well-timed book out during a trip to Iowa, the first GOP primary/caucus state. And somehow he’s added drag queens as a partisan-agenda target. Maybe a shout-out to Dilbert is next.

He’s also checked overlapping boxes for authoritarian-in-chief—from demonizing mainstream media to scapegoating ideological adversaries to manipulating the heavy hand of big government—from state universities to local school boards to COVID protocols.

And it hardly helps when a municipal election, such as Tampa’s, has a turnout of 13 percent. That’s just what a wannabe authoritarian wants: a signal that locals don’t care enough or know enough to even vote in their presumptive best interest.

But there are some DeSantis uncertainties besides Donald Trump’s legal scenarios and his Reich-wing constituency’s fealty to their cult leader. First, serious presidential candidates need some foreign policy chops. DeSantis is chopless—as was underscored by his inexplicable reference to the Ukraine war as a “territorial dispute.” At best, that’s incredulously naive. At worst, it’s a form of appeasement: more Neville Chamberlain than Donald Trump.

Another problematic concern is his personality. DeSantis is charisma-challenged, a trait anathema to retail politics. Some things you can’t change—no matter how excessive the ambition.

Dem Notes

* “The Democrats desperately need a younger, smoother, smarter set of public faces for their party if they’re going to compete.”–Former Republican—now independent—political strategist Rick Wilson. Wish I could disagree.

* “With the GOP still careening into crazy, the Democrats are the only hope for rationality in the future. And a Biden/Klobuchar or Biden/Whitmer or Biden/Booker ticket would be a much safer bet. … Biden cannot dump Kamala Harris, but she could withdraw.” Mona Charen, The Bulwark.

* Talk about no-win politics: The Biden Administration, which is challenged to keep its progressives in line, approved a massive oil development in northern Alaska. More importantly, it’s also a no-win for the environment with a projected addition of at least 260 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions over 30 years.

* President Biden will be delivering the eulogy of former President Jimmy Carter, who remains in hospice care.

* The Biden Administration has announced it will grant Florida an additional $2.7 billion in disaster relief from HUD through its new Office of Disaster Management and Office of Disaster Recovery. The funding will go to under-served communities still recovering from Hurricanes Ian and Nicole.

Musings

* Over the years, it’s still the most memorable graffiti I’ve ever encountered. It was 1980s Cuba, and I was in a cab heading for the University of Havana and those iconic steps. And then I saw “Abajo Batista Asesino (“Down with Batista, the assassin”) on a nearby wall. Wow. All these years later, it was still there. I tapped the cab driver on the shoulder and pointed it out—as well as my shock. His nonchalant response: “Oh, yeah, and they repaint it every two years.” Bada bing.

* Just wondering: If all you did were curls when you went to the gym, would that make you a biceptual?

* When I see specialty license plates for the Bucs, Bolts, Bulls and Rays, I’m reminded that they represent more than proud, supportive-fandom drivers. It’s also uber mobile, de facto marketing. Shouldn’t the extra costs be borne—or shared—by the brands?

* Here’s a t-shirt on sale at a local pet-and-vet store for dogs: “Don’t Mess With Texas, But Definitely Don’t F**k With Florida.” There’s no escaping it.

Media Matters

* “Nikki Haley (51) isn’t in her prime, sorry.” That was CNN’s Don Lemon, who is among those at the network who are sorry he made that stupid ageism comment. After “formal training,” Lemon, 56, is now back on the air while he’s still in his male prime.

* Sometimes having free movie tickets isn’t enough. Case in point: “80 For Brady.” It gives silly a bad name. One consolation: Rita Moreno, at 90, still impresses.

* “Journalism’s first rule: Never overlook the obvious. … Journalism’s second rule: Be wary of information that seems to confirm what you have been wishing for.”–Retired CBS News journalist Bob Schieffer.

* Fox is not a news channel. It is the Right’s Pravda.”–Mona Charen, The Bulwark.

* Will Dominion Voting System’s lawsuit make any difference to Fox? Likely not. It would have to change its business model. But Dominion’s legal filings further underscore that Fox is much more unfair and unhinged than “fair and balanced.”

* Because recent SNL host Woody Harrelson was hammered by the media for embarrassingly winging it in his opening monologue, little attention was given to the cold opening. It was Trump in East Palestine, Ohio. Unfunny is not unfamiliar at SNL, but what poor taste to try and find humor in a traumatic, toxic train derailment.

* Movie biographies and histories are either “based” on real events or “inspired” by them. You can tell the difference.