Category: Uncategorized

* It’s a good sign that Mayor Jane Castor is appointing study groups–which include outside stakeholders–to make recommendations on priorities such as affordable housing. This is a gut issue for a city in the midst of morphing into revitalization. Crunch time will be the follow-up. We’ll be watching.

*This just in: Tampa is nationally notorious for pedestrian-and-bicyclist safety. Yeah, let’s add scooters. Hip is worth it.

* Call it Tampa’s contribution to “Flori-duh.” Or maybe the cough heard round the council. It even made overseas media. So, did Carrie Henriquez, a (since resigned) legislative aide to Tampa City Council member Guido Maniscalco, say “a– hole” or not when standing behind chairman Mark Vieri? Was it a faux-cough vulgarity? Or was she targeting Vieri, who won the chairmanship vote over Maniscalco a month ago, by merely labeling him a “crass soul”? Or was she looking for any forum for her “grassy knoll” theories?  

* The Rays non-Red Sox, non-Yankees attendance is embarrassing. It’s no longer a shock to see it dip below 6,000. Among other things, that makes it hard to look down on the even-worse-attended Miami Marlins, whose stay-away fans at least have the disincentive of a bad team.

* There’s a reason why every Major League Baseball ticket has a disclaimer that says the spectator assumes all risks of attending a game. That’s because, as opposed to footballs, tennis balls or soccer balls, a line-drive baseball can severely injure–or kill a spectator.

Two points. First, MLB has to mandate that every franchise extend its netting well beyond the dugouts. Closer to the action, however cool, is also closer to an accident. It comes with the game. No net neutrality here.

Second, there’s some onus on spectators as well, especially those with small children. All professional sports know they can’t exist just by appealing to hard-core fans. They need families and dates. Distractions to what’s actually happening, from scoreboard announcements to variations on a social media theme, are a given. Attention is easily diverted, especially in a sport that has pedestrian-pace interludes. The in-game “experience” may simulate some of the ambience of a sports-themed picnic or an interactive social event, but it’s still Major League baseball with players throwing and hitting harder than ever. High-velocity foul balls are a part of the game. Life-threatening–or ending–accidents shouldn’t be.

* The Bucs Ndamukong Suh has a well-known–and well-earned–reputation as a dirty player. Stomping on the opposition–and incurring the resultant fines–will do that. It can lead to a stereotype that the NFL doesn’t need. But not everything about run-aground Suh fits that stereotype. He didn’t major in eligibility at the University of Nebraska; he earned an engineering degree. He also owns a real-estate development company, and his business mentor is Warren Buffet–not Warren Sapp.

* “If they want to talk, I’m available.”–President Donald Trump, in signaling that he would meet with Iranians.

* “I experienced firsthand how nothing has to stay the way it is. … Anything that seems set in stone or unalterable can indeed change.”–German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in her commencement address at Harvard.

* “Imposing tariffs on goods from Mexico is exactly the wrong move.”–Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

* “Intertwining difficult trade, tariff and immigration issues creates a Molotov cocktail of policy, and America’s manufacturing workers should not be forced to suffer.”–Jay Simmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers.

* “Republicans in Washington have become the silence of the lambs when it comes to Trump.”–Former Massachusetts Republican Gov. William Weld, who has officially announced that he will run against Donald Trump in the 2020 Republican primaries. Weld was the vice-presidential running mate to the Libertarian nominee, Gary Johnson, in 2016.

* “It is one thing to have a president of conventionally bad character, or even questionable character. But it is such another scale entirely with Trump.”–Conservative pundit–and co-founder of The Weekly Standard—William Kristol.

* “Millions of good people believe what a president of the United States says. In normal times, that’s healthy. But not now, when the president is a liar who doesn’t care what damage he does to vital institutions.”–Former FBI Director James Comey.

* “William Barr is not so much the attorney general as the minister of information.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.

* “While Facebook moved quickly to limit the spread of the doctored Pelosi clip, Fox is neither apologizing for airing its (Pelosi) montage nor taking it down, because this sort of manipulated video fits within the network’s ethical bounds. … And it is devastatingly effective: Just about every political lie that has dominated American discourse in the past two decades–the Swift Boaters and the birthers, death panels, the idea that undocumented immigrants pose an existential threat but climate change does not–depended, for its mainstream dissemination, on the Fox News machine.”–Farhad Manjoo, New York Times.

* “The volatile and challenging macroeconomic backdrop has continued into the second quarter, with particular softness across the U.S. and China retail landscape.”–Emanuel Chirico, chairman and CEO of PVH Corp., the owner of the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, weighing in on ramifications of the U.S.-China trade dispute.

* “We skipped from being in the kitchen to being in the tank, and there’s nothing in between.”–The actress Emma Thompson on women’s roles.

* “Whatever edge you have (in Florida) is insignificant. It’s still a hyper-competitive state.”–Democratic political strategist Steve Schale, who led Barack Obama’s 2008 Florida campaign.

* “Ron DeSantis, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio will work to deliver Trump the state that Republicans consider essential. At the same time, they will work to deliver themselves as the first president from this state.”–Randy Schultz, South Florida Sun Sentinel.

* “There are great supporters of Israel on both sides of the aisle. The support of the state of Israel is not something we should be divided on D or R.”–Florida  Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the state’s highest ranked Democrat and first Jewish women in the cabinet.

* “During the last several years, we’ve seen larger and larger outbreaks of … Red Tide. Listening to scientists, economists and local business owners working on this issue, the one thing I hear over and over again is that we need more science.”–U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-St. Petersburg.

* “I have never once … advocated for (simply) arming teachers. What I advocate for is (doing so) under the right circumstances and with the right people.”–Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.

* “We think, long term, that drives value.”–James Nozar, CEO of Strategic Property Partners, in response to the announcement that the Water Street Tampa project is the first neighborhood anywhere to be certified by the International WELL Building Institute as a healthy community for walking, working and living.

* “The good fortune of our market is we’re testing a unique moment where we’re able to add inventory while continuing to grow and sustain profitability.”–Bob Morrison, director of the Hillsborough County Hotel Motel Association.

* “You can encourage people to do the right thing, but I have to be able to say we’re doing the right thing first.”–Mayor Jane Castor.

* “Bold, innovative works that reflect Tampa Bay’s rich heritage and natural resources, and celebrate our history as the birthplace of commercial aviation.”–Chris Minner, TIA’s executive vice president of marketing and communications, on the expanding airport’s budget of $3.1 million for more public art.

The Dems continue to roil among themselves over the “I” word. “Impeachment,” however merited, may or may not be the best strategy for actually removing Donald Trump. We know the rationales for and against. This manifest menace deserves no less, but a non-convicting, spineless Senate could help rally and rile the base even more. Dangerously so.

But there is no doubt about that other “I” word that isn’t as politically riveting. That’s “Infrastructure.”America is in dire need of two scenarios: the ouster of Trump and the upgrading of our way-of-life, way-of-business infrastructure. But let’s not get neither.

* It’s obvious that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gets to Trump. As only a strong woman can. She doesn’t suffer the female fealty fools that shill for Trump. Her reference to “intervention” likely cut to the quick. It’s not just calling out the “stable genius,” but it’s also a euphemism for impeachment and the 25th Amendment.    

* BTW, in another era, the flap over the altered Pelosi video would have been considered a satire of a political figure with all the accompanying legal rationales and ample precedents. But not in the era of formalized, nefarious “misinformation.” And not with Trump personally passing it along–as part of his character-assaulting-of-political-enemies MO.

* The bottom line, impeachment priorities notwithstanding, on all things Trump–from tax returns to Russian cooperation to justice obstruction to witness tampering: Bullies need confronting, not appeasing.

* White House Press Harlot Sarah Sanders recently passed along an insider tidbit that Kim Jong–un agrees with Trump about Joe Biden. Sounding eerily Trump like, the North Korean leader had labeled Biden a “fool of low IQ” for having referenced Kim as one of those “dictators and tyrants” that Trump is obviously enamored of. It is unconscionable for Sanders to be exploiting such foreign insults. There was a time when partisan politics ended at the water’s edge, so to speak. But that was before the “new normal” unraveled revered precedents.

Moreover, Sanders’ repugnant enabling of such thuggish foreign criticism of an American presidential candidate is not even smart. You really want Kim on your side as an anti-Biden partisan? This is like Mussolini saying, “Even Hitler doesn’t like him.” Surely there’s a limit to what even the Trump base will rally around. Surely.

* It’s never too early to speculate on how Barack Obama will figure into the 2020 election. And it’s never too early for Obama to begin leveraging his input and impact to help guide and stoke Democratic support–across the liberal spectrum–for all things anti-Trump.

* Whether Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee or not, we can expect the designated candidate to use a variation of a recent Biden line against Trump and the robust economy he takes all credit for. “President Trump inherited an economy from the Obama/Biden administration just like he inherited everything else in his life,” noted Biden at his recent Philadelphia rally.

* “I don’t do cover-ups.” That was Donald Trump coming close to the truth. Had he only said: “I don’t do cover-ups very well anymore.” That’s despite having had plenty of practice with his academic record, health reports, finances, marital affairs and family history.

* So that redesigned $20 bill, the one that will feature black abolitionist Harriet Tubman, will not be unveiled in 2020 as previously announced. More like 2028. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but maybe, just maybe, Trump didn’t want Tubman replacing his favorite president, Andrew Jackson, on his watch, with his white-nativist base watching.

* We know Trump doesn’t traditionally prep for meetings with other world leaders, including the recent one with Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, who has more concerns about North Korea than does Trump. That’s mainly because Japan is close enough to North Korea for short-range missiles to target. And 54,000 U.S. troops would be among the de facto targets, as Trump presumably knows. And then there’s some chaotic tariff stuff. A lot to prep for. But you have to believe that somewhere–on hotel stationery or an index card or a last-second, whispered aside–there was a reminder to Trump that this guy’s first name is NOT ABE, as in “Honest Abe.” Some “SNL” gaffes are worse than others.

* So Trump agrees to present a trophy to the 390-pound winner of the Tokyo Grand Sumo Tournament. Maybe it’s what he does to accommodate his hosts and look like a friendly ally. Or maybe it’s what he does when he will be juxtaposed to someone with worse abs than him.

* If it weren’t so scary, it would merely be spot-on funny. That’s David Axelrod’s line about not being sure what movie John Bolton is starring in: “Dr. Strangelove” or “Wag the Dog.”

* Speaking of Bolton, he recently conjectured that “Maybe now is an appropriate time to talk about the return of the U.S.S. Pueblo.” It’s still being held in a Pyongyang river since its 1968 capture. Can only imagine Trump’s response–quite possibly: “What the hell is the Pueblo?”

There’s an obvious and appropriate bottom line when it comes to official Florida delegations going overseas, including to Israel. Trade mission? No problem. Cultural exchange? No problem. Tourism recruiting? No problem. Research sharing? No problem. Cabinet meeting? Problem.

“This mission will affirm our deep and ongoing partnership with Israel,” said Gov. Ron DeSantis, with more than a hint of disingenuousness. Most serious, value-sharing partners don’t require pandering. This week’s cabinet meeting–6,000 miles away at the new U.S. embassy in JerUSAlem–was also a political gimmick.

Florida is America’s most impactful swing state, one with some 470,000 potentially difference-making, Jewish voters. That matters to a governor who won a re-counted election, and that matters to this governor’s White House champion, a part-time Florida resident who narrowly carried the Sunshine State and won overall with fewer votes than his opponent. This high-profile, de facto homage to Israel might also help defuse negative Trump associations in the Jewish community over the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting last fall.

But because this delegation’s itinerary included a Florida Cabinet meeting in JerUSAlem, it  meant an official meeting about purely Florida matters wouldn’t be covered and carried live and live streamed the way it’s meant to be. You don’t have to throw shade at government in the sunshine to “affirm our deep and ongoing partnership with Israel.” Hell, Rick Scott took three official trips to Israel during his tenure without bringing a cabinet road show with him.

Florida delegations to Israel should be win-win; not winsome-lose some.

Judy Genshaft already had a legacy: the longest serving president in the history of USF. It’s also worth noting that USF has made significant strides on her watch in research and fundraising and checked off the boxes for “pre-eminent” status and a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Genshaft was also a regional economic player. She understood the catalytic role of a major, urban, research university. It transcended academics. It was part of Tampa Bay’s ever-ratcheting synergy.

But even those not among Genshaft’s most ardent supporters would have to agree that endowing USF with a $20 million departure gift–to build a new honors college–was something extraordinarily generous and special. She had always wanted to elevate USF–in resources, impact and stature. She did that–and then doubled down on the way out: a legacy like none other.  

* As we’ve seen, popular, long-time Buc defensive tackle Gerald McCoy was let go, and the high-profile, controversial Ndamukong Suh was signed to take his place. The media being the media had to ask, of course, if Suh were the “Real McCoy?” Indeed, is he that or just “A Tackle Named Suh?” Well, Johnny Cash would get it.

* Congrats to USF softball coach Ken Erickson for being named head coach of the 2020 United States Olympic team. He has coached the women’s national team for a decade–and is 52-4 as coach of Team USA in international play that includes two World Championships and a Pan American Games gold medal. The USF alum is the winningest coach (any sport) in school history. Go, USA. Go, Bulls.

* It’s been hard to watch any Stanley Cup play–for obvious reasons. Now it’s the Boston Bruins vs. the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup finals. I’ll continue not to watch, but I do have a preference: St. Louis. The Blues were in last place in early January before going on a tear. And while their 45 wins and 99 total points pale next to the Lightning’s regular-season 62 and 128, the Blues did beat the Bolts both times they played. Plus the Blues have never won a Cup. As for Boston, who last won the Cup in 2013, the Bolts beat them three out of four, they feature the game’s biggest punk in Brad Marchant and, well, they’re Boston.

* Amid the attention focused on state softball and baseball teams as the NCAA championships get underway, let’s not forget the University of Tampa, which qualified again for the Division II World Series in Cary, N.C. For the record, UT has won it seven times and prominent alums include Lou Piniella, Tino Martinez and Ozzie Timmons, current first-base coach of the Rays. Go, Spartans.

* “If you say ‘two state,’ it means one thing to the Israelis and one thing to the Palestinians, so we said let’s just not say it, let’s just work on the details of what it means.”–Jared Kushner, explaining why he has asked peace negotiators to no longer use the term “two states.”

* “China’s overriding foreign policy goal is to squeeze America out of East Asia and force it back to the Hawaiian Islands as its forward position in the Pacific.”–Robert W. Merry, the American Conservative.

* “We’re not going to war. Our biggest focus at this point is to prevent Iranian miscalculation.”–Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

* “What I’m interested in more right now is what the administration’s strategy is–if they have one–to keep us out of war.”–Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

* “So of course the president gives sweeping declassification powers to an attorney general who has already shown that he has no problems selectively releasing information  in order to mislead the American public.”–Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

* “What good is a system of checks and balances if officials decline to use the tools that the framers crafted?”–Eugene Robinson, Washington Post.

* “Our subpoenas are not optional.”–House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-NY.

* “What the Mueller report disturbingly shows, with crystal clarity, is that today there is a cancer in the presidency: President Donald J. Trump. Congress now has the solemn constitutional duty to excise that cancer without delay.”–George Conway, prominent D.C. Trump critic–and husband of White House adviser Kellyanne Conway.

* “Almost as troubling as whatever it is Trump is trying to hide: Why do all those supposed national security hawks in Trump’s party exhibit so little curiosity about the answers?”–Catherine Rampell, Washington Post.

* “I want to do infrastructure, I want to do it more than you. But we can’t do it under these circumstances.”–President Trump in emphasizing that the House investigations must end before talks on the nation’s infrastructure begin.

* “Global warming, a term though seemingly esoteric, could, as time passes, come to signify an environmental disaster second only to nuclear war.”–Sen. Joe Biden, 1987.

* “I don’t have a problem standing up to somebody who was working on Season 7 of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ when I was packing my bags for Afghanistan.”–Pete Buttigieg.

* “Nationalism is an abdication of liberalism. It is also the opposite of patriotism. To confuse nationalism with patriotism is to mistake contempt for love and fear for valor.”–Harvard history professor Jill LePore, the author of “These Truths: A History of the United States.”

* “Retrotopia.”–Term coined by Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman that means the glorification of an illusory past.

* “Whether purposefully or not, (Gov. DeSantis) is not letting people figure him out. No one knows what his next move is. Guess what? That makes him powerful.”–Democratic strategist and lobbyist Screven Watson.

* “Connecting central and South Florida will bring thousands of jobs today and by modernizing infrastructure, we will strengthen Florida’s economy for decades.”–Patrick Goddard, president of Virgin Trains USA, in announcing that Virgin Trains had officially begun construction on its $4 billion West Palm Beach-to-Orlando extension. Virgin Trains ultimately plans to build an Orlando-to-Tampa leg.

* “For the time being, I’m comfortable with where we are (on Europe flights), but we are looking at Latin America and the Caribbean markets, and Bogota is actually our top target.”–Kenneth Strickland, TIA’s director of research.

* “Our vision for Midtown is to create a unifying place for hospitality, living, working and shopping designed around four acres of common public spaces.”–Bill Haines, chairman of the Bromley Companies, master developer for the $500 million, mixed-use Midtown Tampa project under construction at I-275 south and N Dale Mabry Highway.  

Think back to 2015-16 and what Republican primary candidates, prominent GOPsters and certain right-wing media were saying about Donald Trump–and where we are now. There’s  political trash talk, of course, and then, eerily and ironically, there’s this: a prescient sampling.   

            > “(He’ll be) a chaos president.”–Jeb Bush.     

            > “A pathological liar.”–Ted Cruz.

            > “This guy is dangerously unhinged.”–Glenn Beck.

            > “A jackass.”–Lindsey Graham.

            > “There’s plenty of evidence that Mr. Trump is a con man.”–Mitt Romney.

            > “He’s not going to make America great; he’s going to make it orange.”–Marco Rubio.

            > “Defend conservatism against the cancer of Trumpism.”–Rick Perry.

            > “Since he has  changed his mind on amnesty, on health care and on abortion, I would just ask, ‘What are the principles by which he will govern?'”–Carly Fiorina.