Category: Uncategorized

• Like any state legislature, Florida’s is not committee-challenged. But what it still lacks is a climate change committee. How is it that an obvious and onerous threat to a state defined by coastlines and developed wetlands still hasn’t designated such a committee? Policy creation has largely been left to cities and various agenda groups. Adaptation (building up roads, seawalls and houses) rather than lowering (car and energy producer) emissions has been the priority. But saltwater intrusion and increased flooding have disastrous implications. This is not a partisan issue; this is an existential issue—and should be treated as such from the top down.
• So Rick Scott is in the conversation to become the GOP’s next presidential nominee. Imagine, actually saying that? But it’s what can happen when norms and precedents are shattered and a clueless, con-man autocrat-wannabe can become president of the United States. BTW, Scott is now the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is airing a commercial for Georgia voters featuring a Scott voice-over warning riddled with Trump talking points. “(The Democrats) plan to take Georgia so they can change America,” he declares. “Reduce funding for police. Eliminate employer-based health insurance. Pack the Supreme Court. Chip away at our religious and gun rights.”
• “We have less revenue, therefore we will have less government. That does not mean all we will do is cut the budget these next two years.”—Florida Senate president Wilton Simpson on the reality of a two-year $5.4 billion budget hole.
• At least nine of the 160 legislators–two senators and seven House members–were absent for coronavirus-related reasons as Florida lawmakers convened for the annual swearing-in ceremony in Tallahassee. Absentees had either tested positive or had been close to someone who had. Among the Representatives: Jackie Toledo of Tampa.
• Tampa Congresswoman Kathy Castor will make the speech nominating Nancy Pelosi for re-election as House Speaker. Such assignments are a function of earned respect and senority. Rep. Castor recently won an eighth term.

• “(Local journalism) is where we have to start, in terms of rebuilding the social trust we need for democracy to work.”–Former President Barack Obama.
• “We no longer have truly random samples that support claims that poll results accurately represent opinions of the electorate. Instead, we have samples of ‘the willing,’ what researchers call a ‘convenience sample’ of those consenting to give us their time and opinions.”–Pollster David Hill, director of Hill Research Consultants.
• The fourth season of “The Crown” on Netflix has been, on balance, disappointing. There’s more than ample reason for the royal family to be displeased–and embarrassed– by their portrayals. Too bad there wasn’t more history and less off-putting soap opera.

• TheFlorida State-Clemson game was postponed at the last minute. A flat-out (COVID) cancellation would have been better given that FSU was a gobsmacking, 35-point underdog at home. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has notably weighed in. He called it a “forfeit” and “an excuse” not to play the game.
• “I’ve learned that football season always starts after Thanksgiving.”—Tom Brady.
• MLB’s minimum salary is rising to $570,500 in 2021. That’s more than the president of the United States ($400,000) makes, which doesn’t seem so outlandish when a grifter is president.
• It’s now official that Tampa’s Amalie Arena will be the short-term home of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors. The Toronto players voted and chose Tampa over Fort Lauderdale, Louisville, Nashville, Newark and Buffalo.

• “We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.”–Sen. John F. Kennedy.
• “Trump’s radioactive conspiracy theory of a stolen election will have a long, poisonous half-life. But Trump is removing any doubt that his narcissistic presidency was always entirely about him.”–Jonah Goldberg, The Dispatch.
• “For Trump the failed businessman, cheating and suing were a way of life. For Trump the failed president, cheating and suing are a blueprint for his followers into the future.”–Timothy Egan, New York Times.
• “A concession from the losing candidate has no legal significance one way or the other.”–Richard Pildes, NYU professor of constitutional law.
• “Strong claims need strong proof, not rumors and innuendo on Twitter.”–The Wall StreetJournal.
• “The lack of a concession speech does not mean that Trump has won the election; it simply indicates that he is a poor sport.”–Middle Tennessee State political science professor John Vile.
• “We had an election. We have a new president. We should have unity to that.”–JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive Jamie Dimon.
• “(Trump) is set on going out like a villain.”–Peggy Noonan, WSJ.
• “It’s a toxic sideshow. … They are creating the conditions for elections not to work in the future.”–Loyola law professor Justin Levitt.
• “The gold standard for the outgoing administration facilitating the transition.”–How James P. Pfiffner, an emeritus professor of policy and government at George Mason University, described the 2008 transition between George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
• “The gap between rural and urban-suburban America on everything from life span to education to wealth continues to widen.”—Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post.
• “You can’t say that marriage is the union between one man and one woman. Until very recently, that’s what the vast majority of Americans thought. Now it’s considered bigotry.”—SCOTUS Justice Samuel Alito, the keynote speaker at the Federalist Society’s annual convention.
• “We need to recognize that the economy has only done as well as it has because we had such aggressive fiscal stimulus early on.”—Harvard economist Karen Dynan, a former Treasury Department official in the Obama administration.
• “There are a lot of people hurting in this economy. The financial sector is not among them.”–Anat R. Admati, professor of finance and economics at Stanford University.
• “The Biden-Harris administration has the potential to enable a renaissance in public education.”–Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
• “The lesson of COVID capitalism is that big business needs big government, and vice versa.”–Neil Irwin, New York Times.
• “The only thing that will cause, I think, political decisions in certain states to move toward at least partial lockdowns and mask mandates is the hospitals begin to get so full that they can no longer take in new patients.”—Dr. Jay Wolfson, senior associate dean of the USF Morsani College of Medicine.
• “Boating proved to be a great way to escape the stresses of everyday life and strengthen the bonds of family and friends while avoid crowds.”–MarineMax CEO Brett McGill. MarineMax saw April-September revenues of $897 million, up from $691 million in 2019.
• “The diversification that he has been able to put into place in the port so that we don’t have reliance on any one industry has been remarkable, and has allowed us to basically weather this pandemic storm.”—Mayor Jane Castor, referring to Port Tampa Bay CEO Paul Anderson.
• “The Congress has passed several economic emergency aid packages this year and another is on the way that will hopefully provide robust resources for the state of Florida, colleges and universities to avoid draconian cuts such as your decision to scale back the USF College of Education.”–U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, in a letter to USF President Steve Currall and USF’s board of trustees.

“A Republic, if you can keep it.”

• You go, Joe. Your election wasn’t a landslide; there’s still divisiveness; but it was an ethical, moral and strategic reset that we had to have. Four more uncivil, narcissistic years of Trump would not have been an aberration. It would have been a devolution. Congratulations—and thank you.
• A Donald Trump win would have sealed the deal with the U.S. opting out of the Paris climate accord. Officially, the U.S. withdrew last Wednesday. But President-elect Biden has vowed to immediately rejoin the accord. Yet another reminder that elections have consequences. Nationally and globally.
• “Flori-duh” wasn’t back in the electoral cycle. No chads hanging around this time. But Donald Trump topping his 2016 Sunshine State numbers and winning by 3.4 percent—and 370,000 votes—meant that “Flo-RED-a” was duly referenced.
• Doesn’t it speak ominous volumes that what scares, infuriates and embarrasses so many Americans also pleases, excites and validates so many others?
• “This election is far from over.” Donald Trump placating his base.
• “He intends to fight.”—White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow, placating his boss.
• Trump and a graceful exit: Isn’t that an oxymoron?
• “This is a fraud on the American public. This is an embarrassment to our country.” Finally, some Trump truth. Indeed, we’re still living through a national embarrassment until he is finally evicted from what has become the White grievance House.
• How weird that as overseas congrats pour in for a president-elect, the present incumbent is refusing to concede and continues to play the “stop the steal” card. Isn’t this the MO of a shi* hole-country dictator?
• The challenge, if it matters to Trump’s speechwriters, is beyond formidable. That is, to concede his opponent’s victory with a measure of class and say something transitionally appropriate without referencing “carnage” or encouraging insurrection with dog-whistling rhetoric.
• Optics matter: Rudy Giuliani held a “voter-fraud” assessment press conference in Philadelphia last Saturday. It was next to an adult book store. Optics? Remember “Borat”? Rudy should.
• Whether it’s on the golf course or during a Twitter storm, chances are Trump is trolling himself with more than a narcissist’s freak-out over becoming a “loser.” That’s because he knows that the Manhattan district attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. is continuing to probe into his finances. He also knows, as does Michael Cohen, the possible consequences. He could face charges as soon as he leaves office—and he won’t be federally pardoned.
• So Scott Atlas, President Trump’s coronavirus adviser, appeared on Russian state TV (RT)—not knowing RT is a registered foreign agent. He then apologized to the national security community. No, we won’t miss any facet of this administrative fiasco.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin maintains that he won’t be making a congratulatory call to Joe Biden until after all the Trump fraud charges have been dismissed. In other words, he’s still holding out hope that his favorite American president can autocratically hang on.
• The incongruous value of an Electoral College is ever-more apparent as winning candidates losing the popular vote is no longer a rarity. One man, one vote should be reality—not a cliché. It’s hardly surprising that the Congressional Record Service has found “more proposed constitutional amendments have been introduced in Congress regarding Electoral College reform than on any other subject.” Another may be coming.
• The GOP doesn’t need a brand; it needs a backbone.
• 210: Number of golfing days—so far—for Donald Trump.
• Worth repeating: The only way Trump could get to 270 was to lose 50 pounds.

#AloneTogether

• Based on initial data from a major study, Pfizer Inc. announced that its experimental vaccine was more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19. Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech SE, are the first drug makers to show successful data from a large-scale clinical trial.
• The U.S. October unemployment rate: 6.9 percent. In September, it was 7.9 percent.
• Publix Super Markets Inc. posted third quarter sales revenue of $11.1. billion—an 18 percent increase from the third quarter of 2019. The Publix numbers reflect a national surge in grocery sales.
• As of last Sunday, there were 2,732 people across Florida hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of COVID-19. About 20 percent—or 597 of those patients—were in Tampa Bay area hospitals.
• HUD Secretary Ben Carson has tested positive for coronavirus—as well as Trump sycophancy.
• How sadly thematic and unsurprising that a new wave of White House coronavirus cases occurs in the aftermath of Trump’s pandemic-plagued loss. This transition will have an all-too-appropriate hazmat look.

“Yes, we did.”

• A victory for America and American democracy and a win for the Democratic Party: In that order.
• “America, I’m honored that you have chosen me to lead our great country. The work ahead of us will be hard, but I promise you this: I will be a president for all Americans—whether you voted for me or not.” What really helps is that you know Joe Biden means it.
• “The voters have spoken, and they have chosen Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to be our next president and vice president. It’s a history-making ticket, a repudiation of Trump and a new page for America.”—Hillary Clinton, who would have made history if the popular vote meant what it should have.
• BTW, federal law allows states more than a month after the election to finalize the results—and possibly satisfy the concession resistance.
• Congress—in a joint session–officially counts the electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021. The president of the Senate presides—and ultimately declares a winner. And, oh yeah, the president of the Senate is the sitting vice president. You can bet that the cold opening of “Saturday Night Live” will be all over the Mike Pence winner-declaring performance.
• Joe Biden won more votes than any president in American history. Too bad that doesn’t impress–or assuage the Trumpster base.
• “The United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”—Biden Spokesman Andrew Bates.
• Nice touch for former President George W. Bush to give a congratulatory call to President-elect Biden. “I know Joe Biden to be a good man,” said Bush, “who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country.”
• You have to wonder if the lack of a stimulus bill contributed to the Dems losing House seats and maybe coming up short in retaking the Senate.
• Florida turnout–11 million–was encouraging; that’s 76 percent. But turnout also included enough democratic turncoats to make the state even redder. Another reminder that just showing up is too low a bar for a democratic republic.
• That was a disappointing Latino vote in South Florida where the Trump “anti-socialist” message resonated at COVID-defying, festival-like rallies. Biden’s message—at socially-distanced gatherings–was about unity. Maybe that came across as more of an abstraction in an emotional, zero-sum rhetorical world of disingenuous and divisive labels. Surely those fleeing from authoritarian societies with government-directed economies would know the socialism of, say, Denmark—or the progressive, safety net provisions of America—are hardly similar to Cuban and Venezuelan “socialism.” Surely.
• “Welcome back, America.” That was Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, speaking for a sizable chunk of the international community.

• “The news media, in general, has not done a good job of covering the Latino vote.”—Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post.
• John King is CNN’s go-to, electoral-map guy. Two takeaways. He’s good at what he does–no melodramatics, no optics—not even rolled-up sleeves. Second, did he have his own air mattress in the CNN studio? What a week-long, around-the-clock slog on voting returns for network media monitors.
• Other than Trump, the election’s other prominent loser was polling. Florida can attest. And it’s a lot more than Alessi “candidate cookie polls.” It’s fallout from a new societal normal—from push polls and cell/land line phone disparities to suspect sampling, “professionalism” of callers and the sheer receptivity—including candor—of respondees who increasingly don’t want to be bothered. No, this is not back-in-the-day Gallup, for whom polling to households was a calling–not a business-model adjunct.
• “Many in the right-wing media bubble are marooned in a time warp in which the ‘other side’ is some Cold War-era Marxist caricature. (Hence the infatuation with the3 word ‘socialist.’).”—Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post.
• “Our fight should be for a more perfect union and not against each other.”—NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt.

• All Saints Day: Was that a Bucs debacle for the ages or what? A prime time, national game with Super Bowl and Tom Brady buzz devolves into a 38-3 loss to New Orleans–the worst home defeat in team history. Good teams with Super Bowl potential lose games, but they rarely, if ever, get humiliated. “Truly stunning,” as NBC announcer Al Michaels labeled it. And that was an understatement.
• The skewed college football season is reflected in the AP rankings. Coastal Carolina and Marshall are ranked ahead of Oklahoma, Michigan, Penn State, Southern California, Texas and Auburn. And let’s not forget Liberty, now ranked in the top 25—even if Jerry Falwell Jr. isn’t celebrating.

• “Congratulations, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Our two countries are close friends, partners and allies. We share a relationship that’s unique on the world stage. I’m really looking forward to working together and building on that with you both.”—Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
• “I look forward to future cooperation with President Biden. Our transatlantic friendship is irreplaceable if we are to master the great challenges of our time.”—German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
• “I think now with President Biden in the White House in Washington, we have the real prospect of American global leadership in tackling climate change. … There is far more that unites the government of this country and government in Washington, any time, any stage, than divides us.”—British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who knows that he and President-elect Biden still have differences on Brexit.
• “I feel like our ancestors are rejoicing.”—U.S. Sen. Cory Booker.
• “’Madam Vice President’” is no longer a fictional character.”—Julia Louis-Dreyfus, star of the HBO show “Veep.”
• “It is a situation of which experts rightly say it could lead to a constitutional crisis in the U.S. That is something that must certainly worry us very much.”—German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.