Category: Uncategorized

* Taco Bell: “Pumpkin Spice Tacos—Just Kidding.”

* “Please, no more war.” That was was Russian Alex Ovechkin of the NHL’s Washington Capitals, weighing in on what’s going on in Ukraine. Ovechkin, one of the biggest global names in hockey, has been a well-known supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

For the most part, Russia’s (41) NHL players are avoiding going public with feelings over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They know it could be–at least awkward, if not dangerous–for family back home if they are critical. And if they aren’t, they could face some American-fan backlash. It’s a no-win for Russian players whether they say: “Go, Vlad” or “Go to hell, Putin.” Whether they play for Washington or Tampa Bay. Nikita Kucherov, Andre Vasilevskiy, and Mikhail Sergachev would likely agree.

* The Bucs, as we now know, will play a regular-season game in the upcoming season in Munich, Germany, the first NFL game in that country. For the record, each of the NFL’s 32 teams will be designated for one international match-up every eight years. BTW, Bucs co-owner/chairman Joel Glazer serves as chairman of the NFL’s international committee.

* This week (Wednesday through Sunday) Tampa hosts the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament at Amalie Arena. It last hosted the SEC Tournament in 2009.

* Karma update. Former Attorney General William Barr, who tried to be as helpful to Trump as he could, said (in his memoir “One Damn Thing After Another”) that he was fired by Trump in December 2020 for trashing the various conspiracy theories contending that the presidential election was stolen. The key karmic exchange: “I told him that all this stuff was bulls**t about election fraud.”–William Barr. “Go home. Don’t go back to your office. You’re done.”–Donald Trump.

* “(Trump asked if) Finland was part of Russia.”–A recollection of former Trump national security advisor John Bolton.

* “There is no room in this party for apologists for Putin.”–Former VP Mike Pence.

* “Take him (Putin) out.” That was Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, giving voice to hopes that some Russian insiders would make the world a better place and assassinate Putin. We get it, but don’t say it. It plays well in South Carolina but not in the Oval Office or the Kremlin.

* Russia’s goal in Ukraine, according to Vladimir Putin: to demilitarize and “denazify” its neighbor. That’s no less a fabrication than “stop the steal.”

* For all his criticism of President Biden’s handling of the Russia invasion, let’s not forget: As president, Trump held up military aid for Ukraine as he pushed it to investigate Hunter Biden.

* “Smart,” “savvy,” “a genius.” That’s how Trump recently referred to Putin. It’s not how most non-Joe Stalin fans would have described him. More like “a vengeful, unhinged, autocratic punk.”

* “The global warming hoax—it just never ends.” Neither does Trump’s dismissal of science.

* “When the history of this era is written, Putin’s war on Ukraine will have left Russia weaker and the rest of the world stronger.”–President Joe Biden, in his State of the Union address.

* “President Biden has been clear that we are not going to get into a war with Russia.”–Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in reiterating that NATO will not establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

* “Poland will never recognize territorial changes brought about by unprovoked, unlawful aggression.”–Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau.

* “The beginning of every war is like opening the door into a dark room. One never knows what is hidden in the darkness.”–Adolph Hitler.

* “Together we defeated Hitler, and we will defeat Putin too.”–Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s minister of foreign affairs, in making the case for more fighters.

* “This is a cough syrup when you need a coronavirus vaccine.”–Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the post-World War II security order and the need for more help.

* “At best, they can expect to be prosecuted as criminals.”–Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov, in warning that any foreign fighters would not be considered soldiers, but mercenaries who would not be treated as POWs protected under humanitarian rules.

* “Putin’s Russia is not a latter-day Soviet Union but something that is in many ways more menacing. It is a personalist dictatorship with expanionist ambitions that seem to have forgotten the lesson the Soviet Union and the world learned from Nikita Khrushchev’s brinksmanship in Cuba in 1962. Eugene Huskey, professor emeritus of political science at Stetson University.

* “China wants to compete with America in the Super Bowl of economics, innovation and technology—and thinks it can win. Putin is ready to burn down the stadium and kill everyone in it to satisfy his grievances.”--Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times.

* “Germany and Europe made a grave mistake in coming to depend so heavily on Russian gas. … Depending on potential enemies for essential materials and manufactures is a mistake.”–Clive Crook, Bloomberg.

* “Germany and other European countries must wake up from the fantasy that peace is their birthright. They used to have serious fighting power. It is time to rebuild it.”–Chris Miller, Tufts University political scientist.

* “We–Russia–want to be a nation of peace. Alas, few people would call us that now.”–Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

* “If (Putin’s) conduct in Chechnya—a territory Russia mauled militarily in the 1990s—is any example, a potential occupation of Ukraine will be bloody and brutal, with additional spillover risks.”–Historian Mary Elise Sarotte, author of “Not One Inch: America, Russia and the Making of Post-Cold War Stalemate.”

* “(Putin’s) legacy is in ruins, his invasion a historic blunder, his threat to use nuclear weapons a moral and strategic mistake.”–Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal.

* “In light of the unwarranted and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Cogent is terminating all of your services.”–Cogent Communications, a leading American internet services provider.

* “Even if (Putin) does win some sort of military victory, his future does not look good. Russia’s growing isolation and economic hardships will spread discontent to powerful business and even military interests, who could threaten Putin’s hold on power.”–Benjamin Carter Hett, author of “The Death of Democracy.”

* “The greatest need we have is for more people who can offer their homes in nearby countries, including Poland, Germany, Hungary and Romania.”–Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky.

* “If we are in a new hard-headed era, we will evaluate trade-offs like adults. Are we serious about choking off the source of Vladimir Putin’s power or not? Are we serious about combating climate change without illusions that wind and solar will do the job? … Nuclear power is the key to limiting climate change and hobbling some of the world’s worst aggressors.”–Mona Charen, Creators Syndicate.

* “By organizing, you multiply yourself, because you kind of add in your friends, your family, your network. It’s also a great social thing to do, because you bring people together.”–Tim Cadogan, CEO of GoFundMe.

* “I’m not religious, but I think there was an element of faith (in investing in Tampa). It was a big TV area and very beautiful.”–Water Street Tampa developer and Lightning owner Jeff Vinik.

* “Savor the past. Embrace the future.”–West Tampa Chamber of Commerce.

For the second consecutive year, Orlando has hosted the annual CPAC (Conservatives Pandering About Culture) gathering. Nothing surprising, just embarrassing and infuriating. The usual faux-patriot blather, plus the red-meat rhetoric that condemns the “radical left,” a certain “stolen” election, pandemic restrictions and “tyrannical” mandates, “woke” gender confusion, Marxist agendas and Critical Race Theory. Plus paeans to law and order, gun rights and a border wall. The official theme: “Awake Not Woke.” The Trumpy trappings included “Trump Won” banners and MAGA caps, gun-shaped purses, TRUCKER T-shirts and Oaf-Keeper optics.

It was also a de facto bully pulpit for the Sunshine State’s highest-profile, politically-pandering residents: Retiree Donald Trump, “America’s Governor” Ron DeSantis, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, about whom there has been speculation among GOPsters that he has presidential ambitions for 2024 or 2028. Seriously. Dems would probably hope Scott gets nominated. Something about a geeky, charisma-challenged, former Columbia/HCA CEO with massive Medicare and Medicaid fraud on his watch. Jeb Bush never looked so nostalgically normal.

Trump outtake: “Joe Biden has turned calm into chaos.” Had almost forgotten about the pre-Biden “calm” of the Trump years.

BTW, Ukraine never came up, and a CPAC (2024) presidential poll of 2,500 participants had Trump first at 59 percent and DeSantis second at 28 percent.

Vladimir Putin, as we well know, has long seen NATO expansion as encroachment that doubled down on the USSR’s implosion. United Soviet republics, Warsaw Pact members. How dated.

As for Ukrainian compromise, it’s beyond problematic when Putin wants to return to the Cold War, back when NATO’s members besides the U.S. were: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the UK. Only this isn’t a who-blinks-first, nuclear-age confrontation over Luxembourg. It’s an ominous, tragic reminder of what can happen with a geopolitical authoritarian who wants a European reset and renewed relevance for the erstwhile USSR. The land-grabbing, feral-eyed, (bo)toxic Czar Putin is the worst-case perfect storm of Napoleon complex, KGB culture, autocratic values and historic revisionism.

What’s next as sanctions play out and cyber-attack scenarios ratchet? Nobody’s saying: “Yes, Ukraine, we want you now as our 31^st member.” But President Joe Biden has made clear that “Putin has failed in his goal of dividing the West. NATO is as united and resolute as it’s ever been.”

Timing is everything.

* “This is a complete rupture now in U.S.-Russia relations.”–President Joe Biden.

* “It looks as if moderate and conservative Democrats are doing everything they can to obscure the fact that, under their leadership and following their agenda, the Democratic Party has run aground and can’t get back on course. They sense a blowout in November and would rather play the blame game than do anything concrete to regain the ground they’ve help lose.”–Jamelle Bouie, NYT.

* “VOTING is just like DRIVING. If you want to go backward, choose ‘R.’ If you want to go forward, CHOOSE ‘D.’” Thanks, again, Kevin, for sending an all too apt metaphor for our 21^st century, two-party system. Plus the one below.

* “Let’s Go Darwin.” No, we can’t speed up political evolution.

* According to the CDC, COVID-19 was the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2020. The top two: heart disease and cancer.

* According to a study in Nature Medicine, the risk of cardiovascular disease of all types increases substantially in the year after a COVID infection—even a mild case.

* 5.4 million: The number of eligible Floridians, 5 and up, who remain unvaccinated.

* 6.6 million: The number of eligible Floridians who are overdue for a booster shot.

* Florida’s positivity rate last week: 5.6 percent. The week prior: 8.2 percent. The week before that: 14.3 percent.

* Hillsborough County Administrator Bonnie Wise signed a directive giving county employees and visitors the option to not wear a mask inside county buildings.

* Curtis Reeves was found not guilty in that deadly movie theater shooting. It’s another reminder of the difference between “not guilty” and “innocent.” The former is legal, the latter moral. In short, the truly innocent don’t bring guns to a movie theater.

* Money Management firm DoubleLine Capital LP has moved to Tampa. The move by billionaire fund manager Jeffrey Gundlach, relocates DoubleLine, which oversaw more than $134 billion at the end of 2021, from Glendale, Calif.

* Floridian Adam Johnson, 37, the Capitol rioter who posed while toting Nancy Pelosi’s lectern, was sentenced by a DC District judge to 75 days in jail plus one year of supervised release and a $5,000 fine and $500 in damage restitution. Judge Reggie Walton said he wanted to send a message that such conduct was unacceptable and that there are going to be “severe consequences.” Too bad he didn’t. Alas, Johnson dodged the “severe consequences” bullet that should be aimed at any and all democracy-undermining, insurrectionist traitors.

* “I believe there are a lot of people in this country that are influenced by Marxism that don’t even realize they’re influenced by Marxism.”–That was CPAC speaker Marco Rubio, whose Marxism influence is more likely via Groucho.

* Speaking of Rubio, he said he planned on being a no-show at President Biden’s State of the Union speech. His reason: the requirement to follow strict COVID guidelines. “I’m just tired of all the COVID theater crap,” he said by way of explanation.

* “This is another red meat pandering bill, and it has nothing to do with parental rights. It is empowering mean people to be more mean.”–State Rep. Michael Grieco, D-Miami Beach, in reference to Florida’s so-called “Don’t say gay” bill.

* The Department of Health is now recommending that businesses should stop requiring employees to wear masks.

* “There is a place in science for those who like to go against the grain. And that place is research or academia, which is his specialty. He can publish all the editorials he wants decrying accepted science, but what he cannot and should not do is lead the Florida Department of Health.”–State Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, referring to newly confirmed Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo.