* “Socialism factories.” That’s how Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson described Florida’s universities.
* “Critical Race Theory” reality: That’s Ron DeSantis’ self-serving, pro-Trump-agenda theory that is critical for his gubernatorial re-election—as well as a possible presidential primary race.
* “According to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford, only 21 percent in the U.S. said that they paid for news online. Of those who do, 31 percent say they pay for the New York Times, 24 percent for the Washington Post and 23 percent for the site of a local or regional paper.
* “(The presidential press conference) has turned into a shout fest of ‘gotchas’ and repeated, ad nauseum, questions designed to make the questioner look smart and tough and the commander in chief dumb.”–Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial.
* The Tokyo Olympics begin July 23. Organizers have set a limit of 50 percent capacity—up to a maximum of 10,000, all of whom must be residents of Japan.
* It’s Tampa Bay vs. Montreal for all the Stanley Cup glory. Only this final has a twist to it. The Lightning finished the regular season at 36-17-3 for a total of 75 points. The 3 stands for overtime losses, so the Bolts were 36-20 overall. Montreal was 24-21-11 and 59 points. Overall, the Canadiens were 24-32, which means a team with an overall losing record made the 2021 Stanley Cup finals. But they went on an impressive, post-season roll and hadn’t been playing like underdogs. Go, Bolts.
* “I got a word for it. … Kevin Love is on the team because of tokenism.”–That was ESPN analyst Jalen Rose on the selection of Love, who is white, for the U.S. Olympic basketball team.
* The Los Angeles Angels’ amazing pitcher-slugger Shohei Ohtani hit a 453-foot home run in his first at bat against the Rays. In his next at bat, he dragged a bunt single. He’s that unique.
* “We don’t want to turn baseball into Jerry Springer.”—Rays pitcher Rich Hill, on MLB allowing onfield inspections of pitchers.
* Rudy Giuliani: from “America’s Mayor” to “Trump’s minion” to “America’s Sell-Out.” That’s the well-earned, updated legacy after an appeals court suspended Giuliani from practicing law in New York because he made false statements while trying to get courts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election.
* Jonathan Karl’s book “Betrayal” includes interviews with former Attorney General–and staunch Trump supporter–William Barr. Among the more notable Barr quotes: “It was all bullsh*t.” That was the former AG’s disparaging response to Trump’s election-fraud assertions. “Spineless RINO.” That was Trump’s response.
* “I’m truly sorry for offending people with remarks about the Holocaust.” That was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s pro forma apology for comments comparing the required wearing of safety masks in the House to the horrors of the Holocaust. But, no, her Georgia constituents aren’t apologizing for electing her—any more than Trump hasn’t apologized for being Taylor Greene’s QAnon/conspiracy inspiration nor has Matt Gaetz apologized for accompanying Taylor Greene on their “America First” rally tour.
* “My office has observed a worrisome and rapid deterioration in the human rights situation.”–Michelle Bachelet, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, on the governmental crackdown in Nicaragua under President Daniel Ortega, now seeking a fourth consecutive term.
* “America is a funny place, more like a great continuing drama than a country. … We’re an agitated people constantly looking for betterment.”–Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal.
* “What could be more hypocritical and cynical than invoking minority rights in the Senate as a pretext for preventing debate about how to preserve minority rights in the society.”–Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, on the Republican-stymied For the People Act that would have overhauled the electoral system.
* “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”–Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
* “For a representative government to function requires at least two political parties that, while offering competing visions, both occupy the same reality and play by the same rules. This country no longer has that. Rather, it has the Democrats and the Donald Trump Fan Club the Republicans have become.”–Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald.
* “If you think that America is more racist now than ever, more sexist than before women could vote, you have progressophobia.”–Bill Maher of HBO’s Real Time.
* “Americans never speak with one voice on anything. That’s how it’s supposed to be in a vast continental democracy.”–Jonah Goldberg, The Dispatch.
* “For many Trump-era Republicans … putting ‘America First’ means liberating Americans from the need to care about what non-Americans think.”–Peter Beinart, City University of New York journalism and political science professor.
* “Even in our uniquely American constitutional system designed to provide protection to political minorities, the current filibuster rules provide excessive power to the minority and undermine the core democratic principle of majority rule.”–Duke University public policy professor David Schanzer.
* “As long as Republicans are able to maintain a system in which they can rely on the politics of white identity, as the Democratic Party once did, their politics will revolve around cruelty, rooted in attempts to legislate their opponents out of existence or to use the state to crush communities associated with them.”–Adam Serwer, author of “The Cruelty Is the Point: The Past, Present and Future of Trump’s America.”
* “If the public sees judges as politicians in robes, its confidence in the courts, and in the rule of law itself, can only diminish, diminishing the courts’ power.”–Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
* “Lack of inventory continues to be the overwhelming factor holding back home sales, but falling affordability is simply squeezing some first-time buyers out of the market.”–Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.
* “There’s been a lot of very temporary inflation from a set of quirks related to the economy’s reopening.”–Harvard economics professor Jason Furman, former economic adviser to President Barack Obama.
* “Do students who go to our so-called elite colleges and universities receive a better education than those who go to schools that aren’t so prestigious? This is seldom the case, and often the reverse is true.”–George Leef, National Review
* “We’ll have an army of life savers, year after year, that know what to do.”–Edward Kosiec, founder of Every Second Counts CPR, on a new Florida law that requires school districts to provide one hour of “basic training in first aid,” including CPR, for high school students in ninth and 11th grades.
* “Why are we robbing Peter, the public schools, to pay Paul (charter schools), when Paul is not the most optimal situation?”–School Board Chairwoman Lynn Grady.
* “The people of unincorporated Hillsborough County want attention to roads.”–County Commissioner Stacy White.
* “She’s not standing here because she’s an African-American female. She’s standing here because she’s going to do the best job at leading this department forward.”–Mayor Jane Castor, after the swearing in of Barbara Tripp as the first female fire chief in Tampa’s history.
* Old normal: It was nice to have gotten through a Russian summit where the Russian president was not the obvious handler of the American president. And no need to reference “The Manchurian Candidate” or “Golden Showers.”
* “We can’t turn back the clock. We not only lost four years, we emboldened Putin. We gave him a green light.”–That was Hillary Clinton, who might still be president had it not been for Cyber Czar Vladimir Putin.
* It’s back. Yes, it’s another awkward—and embarrassing—U.N. General Assembly vote condemning–almost unanimously–the U.S. embargo on Cuba, now the longest-lasting trade embargo in modern history. Will the Biden Administration do the right thing for myriad right reasons and pivot away from this counterproductive policy? Will it, not unlike the Obama Administration, abstain with its vote? Or will the “anti-socialist” South Florida politics and demographics induce a continuation of the status quo? All the while, the embargo has continued to exacerbate every hardship on the Cuban people (including healthcare), who deserve a better government as well as a better neighbor.
* “After the extraordinarily hard times that ordinary Americans endured in 2020 … he is simply not going to allow Congress to raise taxes on those who suffered the most.”–White House spokesman Andrew Bates, reiterating President Biden’s opposition to indexing the gasoline tax to inflation to help pay for an infrastructure plan.
* For the third time the Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Care Act. But it’s not nearly enough for many Democrats, especially progressives who want American health care totally nationalized. Sen. Bernie Sanders, for example, is pushing to lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60 and expand the range of services covered by the entitlement. That would not be Biden’s position right now.
* Not that President Biden doesn’t have enough polarizing challenges. Now there’s religion. As a practicing Catholic, Biden opposes abortion, but does not think he should impose that position on Americans who feel otherwise. That didn’t go over well at the recent U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Its reaction was seen as a rebuke to a Catholic president for receiving Communion despite supporting abortion rights. It’s a reminder that an issue we hoped was behind us after Catholic President John F. Kennedy had gone to Houston in 1960 to confront Protestant critics and successfully underscore his belief that in America the “separation of church and state is absolute.” It still is, but polarization–including within parties–is practiced religiously.
* Lina Khan, a favorite of progressive antitrust advocates, has been confirmed by the Senate and has joined the Federal Trade Commission, becoming the five-member board’s third Democrat. It ups the chances of a new era of more assertive antitrust enforcement, especially when both sides of the aisle are concerned about how the tech giants do business.
* “Kamala Harris, like Barack Obama, is not trying to be a major leader on racial policy issues; she is trying to appeal to the masses and eventually become president.”–Perry Bacon, Jr., WaPo.
* “The data is clear. If you are unvaccinated, you’re at risk of getting seriously ill or dying or spreading it.”–President Joe Biden.
* Non-essential travel between the U.S. and Canada will be banned for another month. The world’s longest undefended border has been closed to most travel since March 2020.
* The European Union lifted its travel ban on American tourists, although each E.U. member state retains the right to decide on its own restrictions.
* The U.S is devoting $3.2 billion to advance development of antiviral pills for COVID-19 and other dangerous viruses that could turn into pandemics.
* Missouri has the highest rate of new COVID-19 infections in the country. In a recent 14-day period, the number of new cases increased 72 percent.
* Hidden pockets of low vaccination rates at the local level continue to be a national challenge. Many such pockets are more rural and less economically advantaged than the rest of the U.S.
* “A false sense of security.” That’s how Marwa Zaatari, a pandemic task force member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, referenced plastic shielding. “If you have plexiglass, you’re still breathing the same shared air of another person.”
* Royal Caribbean International has postponed the inaugural sailing of its Odyssey of the Seas cruise ship out of Fort Lauderdale (July 3) after eight crew members tested positive for COVID-19.
* So far this year more than a dozen vaccination events to reach Hillsborough homeless have been held. In most cases, homeless patients received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
* Shout-out to USF for its record-setting number of U.S. utility patents last year: 123. USF ranks 15th in the world.
* Reality check: Work is underway on the Howard Frankland Bridge’s newest span. It’s targeted for a 2026 finish. While it will carry vehicular traffic and bicyclists, it could potentially accommodate light rail as well. Too bad that’s not a requisite. That would be the game-changer, not adding more lanes.
* There are 47 Florida residents facing charges related to the Capitol insurrection. No state has more. Florida also has more arrests of members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers than any other state.
* Mike Pence at a (inevitably) Trump-base rally: Beyond awkward–not unlike Nikki Fried at a Florida Cabinet meeting.
* “This is a monumental effort, but democracy is worth it.” That was Sean Shaw, former Democratic state representative and attorney general candidate, whose goal is to make voting easier and increase ballot access via his ‘People Over Profits’ organization.
* Indeed, Rep. Matt Gaetz was one of the (21) Republicans in the House who voted against awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the officers who defended Congress during the Capitol attack.
* It’s now official. Coyotes have been spotted in all 67 counties—even on beaches.
* You, go, Trayvon Bromell. The fastest sprinter in the world and a gold-medal, 100-meter favorite at the Tokyo Olympics, is a St. Petersburg native and a Gibbs High graduate.
* MLB umpires will now routinely inspect baseballs and scrutinize pitchers for illegal, sticky, grip-enhancing substances. What’s next? Maybe those suspicious rosin bags.
* “After a century of baseball taking such a hard line against gambling, this waltz between MLB and on-line gambling is jarring. … I worry about the gambling temptation for players, not to mention for fans who wrestle with gambling addiction.”–Micheline Maynard, WaPo.