Category: Uncategorized

• Border reality: There is no real liberal way to quickly and effectively stanch the flow of illegal immigrants at the border. The optics are awful; the sense of inhumanity palpable. But still it didn’t have to include Trumpian Border Patrol agents herding Haitians like cattle.
• $600 billion: What uncollected taxes amount to annually, according to the collective opinion of five former treasury secretaries: Tim Geithner, Jacob Lew, Henry Paulson, Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers.
• President Biden, as we’ve been seeing, is pushing to increase taxes on the rich. It’s fundamental to his challenge of uniting Dems–and enough of the public–behind his $3.5 trillion, human-infrastructure, economic agenda. He even included, yes, Twitter, when he went on the record saying: “I’m sick and tired of the super-wealthy and giant corporations not paying their fair share in taxes.”

In support of that position, White House economists issued an analysis showing a gap between what everyday Americans pay in taxes and what the wealthiest owe on their holdings. The disparities result when WH officials count the rising value of wealthy Americans’ stock portfolios, which is not taxed on an annual basis, as income.

• According to data from the Florida Department of State—the voter registration advantage for Democrats in the Sunshine swing State has gone from more than 550,000 a decade ago to about 24,000 now. Both parties have slightly more than 5 million active voters. Other context is critical. There are about 3.8 million NPAs and about 250,000 registered with minor parties. And then there’s turnout. We’ve seen a state turn out for both Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
• “Without the huge gender gap in Biden’s favor, Trump would have won re-election. Democracy’s secret weapon? It’s women warriors.”—Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post.
• The House passed legislation that would guarantee a woman’s right to an abortion. In another party-line vote, the measure passed 218-211. But GOPster opposition will doom it in the Senate. Thus, the House vote was symbolic. But symbols matter when the cause is the ultimate women’s right. Had the House Dems not done their part, it would have sent an unconscionably wrong signal.
• The Biden Administration has made it a priority to do what it can to increase competition and limit the power of mega companies via antitrust actions. Exhibit A: the DOJ has filed an antitrust suit against American Airlines and JetBlue for creating a “de facto merger” in the New York and Boston markets.
• Note to Congressional Dems, both progressives and “centrists”: No tantrums. You know what obstruction awaits on the other side of the aisles. Zero-sum can’t apply. Whatever the pragmatic, shy-of-transformative compromises, they still improve infrastructure and help overhaul health care, federal education and tax laws. Call it three-quarters of a loaf.

• About 160 million vaccine shots have been distributed by the U.S. to more than 100 countries—more donations than the rest of the world combined. The U.S. has since doubled its purchase of Pfizer’s COVID shots to share with the world to 1 billion doses. “To beat the pandemic here, we need to beat it everywhere,” stated President Joe Biden.
• The FDA has now authorized a Pfizer-BioNTech booster shot for those 65 and older and those adults at risk of severe illness. The FDA said the booster should be administered six months after its standard two-shot regimen.
• Who was that masked Mormon? The top leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has ordered mandatory use of face masks in its temples.
• More than 70 million Americans remain unvaccinated—despite pleas and bribes.
• The pandemic is now in its 19^th month. Approximately 54,000 Floridians have died.
• Florida now ranks next to last in the percentage of both residents and staff at nursing homes who are vaccinated.
• For the first time in 10 weeks, the number of COVID deaths in Florida has fallen. And new infections dropped to about 8,000 cases per day.
• “Every flu season we need additional team members, but this year we’re looking for even more.”—Neela Montgomery, president of CVS Pharmacy, on the announcement that CVS is hiring 25,000 clinical and retail workers to respond to demand for COVID-19 vaccinations and testing—and an expected spike in the flu this fall and winter.

• To no one’s surprise, Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby has indicated that leadership is working on a bill similar to the Texas anti-abortion bill. Local input: “Women’s reproductive rights are to be protected, not attacked.”—Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa. “I believe in a women’s right to choose. Period.”—Rep. Diane Hart, D-Tampa. “I’m pro-life, and I will always support pro-life legislation.”—Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg.
• “Florida FINALLY applied for the (Summer Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer) program. Advocacy works y’all.”—State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, reacting to Florida changing course and now applying for $820 million in no-strings federal food aid money for children–an estimated 2 million–in low-income households.
• Florida has a new surgeon general, and it’s manifestly apparent why Dr. Joseph Ladapo was the choice. “Florida will completely reject fear as a way of making policies,” states Dr. Ladapo. “This idea that people don’t get to make their own decision on issues of health is wrong, and it’s not something that we’re going to be about.” When Ron DeSantis, anti-vaxxers and mask-mandate opponents are pleased with the appointment of a SG who prioritizes individual freedom over science-oriented, community-based pandemic precautions, Florida reverts again to “Flori-duh.”
• “By tacking hard right on some issues, especially on COVID mandates, (Gov. DeSantis) may have left himself potentially vulnerable to a Democratic challenger.”—Republican strategist Liz Mair, founder of Mair Strategies.
• “Florida’s share of this (American Rescue Plan’s Homeowners Assistance Fund) money is $676 million, yet our homeowners have not received a dollar. That’s indefensible.” That’s Democratic Congressman—and gubernatorial candidate–Charlie Crist. Pinellas County currently averages more than 60 foreclosures per month. In Hillsborough, it’s more than 150 per month.
• Thirty people have been exonerated from Florida’s death row since 1972. Likely, there were other not-guilty inmates whose fate was capital punishment. It’s what happens when an imperfect system imposes an irreversible punishment.
• So far, 13 (out of 67) Florida school districts are currently facing financial penalties if they don’t follow rules that say parents must have the ability to opt out their children from school mask mandates.

• Among other affiliations, the U.S. is a member of “The Quad,” an informal, Indo-Pacific Alliance with Australia, India and Japan. “We believe in a free and open Indo-Pacific, because we know that’s what delivers a strong, stable and prosperous region,” stated Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. A key part of such stability, of course, is dealing together with autocratic China and its military maneuvering and coercive economic practices.
• Speaking of “The Quad,” its notable non-member is France, which still considers itself a Pacific player and is America’s oldest ally. They are still displeased–well, angered and insulted–that it lost that multi-billion-dollar deal to sell submarines to Australia. And we know President Emmanuel Macron felt blindsided and even called his ambassador home from Washington in protest. But what would Charles de Gaulle say? Probably “Sacre Bleu, *&#$@*&! Anglo-Saxons!”
• Taliban’s hands-off policy: Amputations are back in Afghanistan. “Cutting off hands is very necessary for security,” explained, so to speak, Nooruddin Turabi, a Taliban founder

• We know that mainstream media coverage has more than its share of subplots: biases, formulas and priorities. It’s more than “If it bleeds, it leads.” It’s media’s version of sausage-making. To wit: The disappearance and death of Gabrielle Petito, 22, whose cross-country road trip with her fiancé and de facto murder suspect, Brian Laundrie, has seemingly captivated the country. Relentless round-the-clock news alerts have become part of the news cycle. It looks like a Netflix movie.

It’s now prompted another look at “missing white woman syndrome.” In short, it’s stop-the-presses news when a middle-class white woman disappears, but it’s much less newsworthy when people of color turn up missing. For the latter, it amounts to normalizing victimization. Because white women are much more associated with safe environments than females of color, it’s over-the-top coverage and game on. But a life is a life, and a victim is a victim; too bad that can’t resonate with a media that needs compelling story lines, including those steeped in stereotypes.    

• Fortune has been changing with the times and is, of course, much more than a magazine. It includes a website, newsletters, videos, podcasts, conferences and the Fortune Connect platform, an online community for execs. Now Fortune, which has been around more than 90 years, has named its first woman editor-in-chief, 35-year-old Alyson Shontell.
• Germany has one of the world’s toughest hate speech laws. It requires Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to remove illegal comments, pictures or videos within 24 hours of being notified about them.
• According to the latest Gallup poll, only 40 percent of Americans now approve of the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court.

• Bumper sticker with what should be an apolitical message: “Hang Up And Drive.” Unless, of course, freedom includes the right to distracted driving that puts others in harm’s way.
• “Socially Connect but Physically Distance.” That’s a reminder to socially distance while with others in a YMCA workout class. It also sounds like a dating app.
• Don’t confuse Boko Haram with Procol Haram. That’s why there are copy editors.

• That the Rays are overachievers is an understatement. The team has now made the MLB playoffs three straight years. That’s especially impressive given their payroll. Division rivals such as the Yankees and the Red Sox have three times as much money to buy talent. Yankee pitcher Gerrit Cole, for example, would take up more than half the Rays’ payroll.
• “Every week it’s like playing Alabama.”—First-year Jacksonville NFL coach Urban Meyer on the transition from college to pro football.
• The NHL expects to have all but two arenas operating at full capacity this season. The two Canadian exceptions: Montreal’s Bell Centre (33 percent) and Vancouver’s Rogers Arena (50 percent).
• The NHL’s board of governors has approved advertisements on game jerseys—beginning next season. The first team to announce a jersey sponsor: the Washington Capitals. It will feature a Caesars Sportsbook patch. It will only be for home games–in a market where sports betting is legal. No, it won’t look like NASCAR, but it further enables a problematic relationship with gambling.
• “Gambling may be a pastime for most, but it is an addiction for many. The more ubiquitous and accessible sports betting becomes, the more addiction there will be. Kids and young men are particularly vulnerable.”—Timothy O’Brien, Bloomberg Opinion.

• Donald Trump reportedly has indicated that he will cite “executive privilege” if the White House tries to release information about what Trump and his aides were doing during the Jan. 6 Capitol siege.
• Now we learn that a 14-page, Trump-campaign memo circulated less than two weeks after the election that refuted various claims of fraud. Perhaps Trump and Rudy Giuliani didn’t get the memo.
• “There were enough fraudulent votes, mystery votes and fake votes to change the outcome of the election 4 or 5 times over. There is fraud and cheating in Arizona and it must be criminally investigated.”—That was Donald Trump last week, after a GOPsters’ post-mortem review of election results in Arizona’s Maricopa County, the state’s largest, wound up, ironically, actually adding to Joe Biden’s margin of victory.

• “I will not be associated with the United States’ inhumane, counterproductive decision to deport thousands of Haitian refugees and illegal immigrants to Haiti, a country where American officials are confined to secure compounds because of the dangers posed by armed gangs in control of daily life.”—Daniel Foote, who had been appointed special envoy to Haiti in July, in announcing his resignation over the “inhumane” treatment of Haitian migrants and its policy toward Haiti.
• “It is the policy of this Administration: We do not agree with a building of the wall.”—Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
• “Like the military and the police, the Border Patrol must be purged of the nationalists and extremists who seem to have found a home in its ranks.”—Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald.
• “If anything, I now worry that Democrats lack the instinct for the jugular needed to expose the GOP’s seditious conduct, habitual lying and radical obstructionism. The Democrat’s naïve belief that policies alone can win the day is misplaced when opponents will stop at nothing … to secure power.”—Jennifer Rubin, WaPo.
• “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”—The late anthropologist Margaret Mead.
• “I’ve never seen these kinds of supply-chain issues, never seen an economy that combines drastic labor shortages with lots of unemployed people and a lot of slack in the labor market.”—Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
• “I wouldn’t necessarily go to a crowded Halloween party, but I think that we should be able to let our kids go trick-or-treating in small groups.”—CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
• “I’m looking forward to seeing more Hispanics in local and state government leadership roles. We need more Hispanic leaders to advocate for the fastest-growing minority.”—Odette Figueruelo, a World Language Faculty professor at Hillsborough Community College, in response to Census and Pew Research Center data showing that Hispanics accounted for more than half of U.S. population growth in the past decade. Florida saw its Hispanic population increase by 1.5 million from 2010 to 2020.
• “Safety is one of the things we’re supposed to cherish. I only wish the governor and the new surgeon general would do the same.”—Florida Congressman Charlie Crist, D-St. Petersburg, who is running for governor.  
• “My fraud flag was waving so high. What do you mean somebody wants to give us $20 million?”—United Way Suncoast CEO Jessica Muroff, after being informed that MacKenzie Scott, billionaire philanthropist and former wife of Jeff Bezos, wanted to donate $20 million.                                   

According to the new book “Peril” by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, Gen. Mark Milleyfelt the need to personally–and secretly–assure his Chinese counterpart that the U.S., regardless of what Demander-in-Chief Trump was blustering and tweeting about, would not attack China. Trump and his GOPster lackeys have now labeled the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs a “traitor.”

He’s not. In a Strangelovian way, he actually had the back of anybody who understandably feared a cataclysmic, worst-case scenario with a raging, unhinged president with access to nuclear codes. But Gen. Milley did have other choices besides blind fealty to an existential threat. He could have made a high-profile resignation—and then lend de facto support for, say, the 25^th Amendment that can be invoked to remove a president for disability, including mental imbalance. Perhaps Mike Pence would have agreed by that time.