Sports Shorts

* “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.

Trumpster Diving

* 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.)

Quoteworthy

* “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.

SCOTUS Confirmation Welcomed

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.

Dem Notes

* 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.

COVID Bits

* Canada has now dropped its COVID-testing requirement for fully vaccinated visitors.

* Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Ralph Warnock, D-Georgia, tested positive just after voting for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation.

* U.S. residents 5 and up who are at least partially vaccinated: 82 percent. Florida residents 5 and up who are at least partially vaccinated: 83 percent.

* Florida positivity rate: 4.2 percent. Hillsborough County positivity rate: 2.7 percent.

* Viral upstaging: Actor Matthew Broderick tested positive and several performances of “Plaza Suite” were canceled on Broadway. And Daniel Craig tested positive and has been sidelined from his revival of “Macbeth.”

Florida

* Whether it’s taking on Disney or school districts or the Biden Administration, the manifestly obvious, overriding agenda for Gov. Ron DeSantis is to play up his cherry-picked appropriations of “liberty” and “freedom” and double down on his anti-“woke” brand. It’s about much more than his gubernatorial re-election; it’s about a way to take advantage of the Trumpian political energies still rippling throughout his base. It’s about DeSantis’ presidential hopes if 2024 legal scenarios–or a gobsmacking epiphany of right-wing nuts–thwart a Trump comeback. DeSantis already knows his way around the Fox News green room.

What’s particularly worrisome for America is that DeSantis could be more dangerous—and maybe even more loathsome–than Trump because he’s better educated, better informed and smarter. His prevarications, for example, aren’t a matter of pathology; they’re a matter of calculated self-interest. In short he knows better, but it doesn’t override ambition.

* “The state of Florida is the darling of every investor because of the beaches and leisure travel.”–Lou Plasencia, founder and CEO of the Plasencia Group, a hospitality sales and consulting service firm.

Tampa Bay

* The estimated price tag for Tampa Bay upgrades to keep the area safe from rising seas and storms over the next 50 years is $13.4 billion. According to the Tampa Bay Partnership Resilience Task Force, the region could lose some $17 billion in property values by 2070.

* According to a national report by the real estate brokerage firm Clever, home prices in the Tampa metro area have increased by 223 percent over the last 22 years. That’s the eighth largest jump in the country. Topping the list is San Francisco—with a 290 percent hike. Miami was 9th at 220 percent.

* U.S. News & World Report’s latest rankings show that 13 of USF graduate programs ranked in the top 50 of all public and private higher education institutions. USF’s industrial and organizational psychology program ranked number three, and public health came in at 16.

* Seattle-based Avanade, a Microsoft partner that provides tech solutions and cloud services to a number of Fortune 500 companies, has announced plans to build its first U.S. engineering hub in Tampa. It will entail bringing 500 new entry- and senior-level engineering, data and software development jobs to Tampa over the next three years.

* “It comes back to buildings and transportation. That’s where we are creating the majority of our greenhouse gases.”–Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard.

Foreign Affairs

* Ukraine’s bloody invasion by an authoritarian punk has roused and rallied NATO. Or most of it. You can bet the autocrats of Hungary and Turkey, who can see a kindred, imperious spirit in Moscow, are not winning “allied” friends with equivocation. Once this Russian-Ukrainian calamity is officially over, NATO will have to look long and hard at countries whose politics have enabled the problematic, despotic leadership of Viktor Orban and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who have used their leadership roles to erode democratic norms.

* To date, India has remained neutral toward Russia—resulting in concern from NATO and praise from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

* For what it’s worth, May 9 is Russia’s self-imposed deadline for Ukraine operations.

* Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, more than 600 companies have abandoned Russia.

* Vadym Boychenko, the mayor of Mariupol, where more than 10,000 civilians have been killed, said that Russian forces have brought mobile cremation equipment to the city to dispose of the bodies.

* Oxford Economics estimated that that $9.3 billion was injected into Russia’s economy in March alone from its energy giant Gazprom because of soaring energy prices and gas export revenues.

* “One thing seems certain: Any coup attempt against Putin would probably be the most perilous, high-risk operation in Kremlin history.”–Amy Knight, author of “Orders To Kill: The Putin Regime and Political Murder.”

* Venezuelans have become the main new settlers in Spain. Madrid now rivals Miami as a haven for Latin Americans—and their money.

* From October through February, 47,000 Cubans arrived at the U.S./Mexico border. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection stats, the total for the previous fiscal year was 39,000. (The majority of Cubans arriving at the border have been admitted to the U.S.–unlike most Cubans who are stopped at sea.

* Cuba is first. The context: That’s where Johns Hopkins University’s international “Misery Index” ranked Cuba. ¡Qué tristeza!

Media Matters

* Will Smith has now been banned from the Oscars for 10 years. Too bad it didn’t kick in shortly after his violent face slap of Chris Rock and subsequent profane chirping from his audience seat. The Fresh Punk of Academy Awards should have been summarily removed, forcefully if necessary. Slapped, if necessary.

* As a Philadelphia native—one who actually appeared on Bandstand back in the day—I have fond memories of the, now, late Bobby Rydell. To most of America he is remembered for his rendition of “Volare” and his starring role with Ann Margaret in “Bye Bye Birdie.” To Philadelphia “rowhousers,” however, he was best known for “Wildwood Days”–a Rock ‘n Rock homage to Philadelphian summers at the south Jersey shore. Thanks for the memories, Bobby Ridarelli.

* “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”–Groucho Marx.