How can Republicans still maintain that their party is “the party of Lincoln”? Shouldn’t these Lincoln Day Dinners be realistically renamed? How about the Bull Connor or George Wallace Day Dinners? Stop using Lincoln as a disingenuous, hypocritical model.
* 2028 Perspective: “I think the Democratic primary is going to be the longest primary of our life. It’s hard to recall a field that is this wide open.”—Republican consultant Alex Conant.
* “(House Minority Leader) Hakeem Jeffries was chosen at a time when he was expected to be a peacetime leader, a coalition builder. He is not well suited to being a leader of the opposition—a wartime consigliere.”—Amanda Litman, the head of Run for Something, a group dedicated to getting young progressives elected.
* “When the court said pay the benefits, they didn’t say pay half a hamburger.”—Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., on the Trump Administration’s plan to make partial food stamp payments.
* Tempting remarks when caught in an awkward, politically partisan conversation:
^ “Did the middle of my sentence interrupt the beginning of yours?”
^ “This is why the gene pool needs a lifeguard.”
* When looking at photos of Marco Rubio with Trump and other world leaders at some media gathering, ever tempted to add a thought bubble? Perhaps: “I’m the secretary of state of the most impactful country in the world, and yet I know I’ve made a Faustian deal with an uninformed, embarrassing con man. I feel like a prop. This is humiliating. Get those cameras out of here.”
* Why does everyone force introverts to leave their comfort zone, but no one forces extroverts to shut up for a while?
* If you overuse Artificial Intelligence, does that make you Genuinely Stupid?
* Pop culture is generational. We’ve all experienced it. That said, name someone who looks better with a nose ring.
* Two deaths that will go unreconciled: Lee Harvey Oswald, Jeffrey Epstein.
* Yes, Florida is teaching the “evils” of communism. This isn’t the Cold War. This isn’t a ‘50s Red Scare redo. Just monitoring progressive inroads that undermine self-serving MAGA ideology. We, naively, thought we had this partisan, paranoid, McCarthy-era scapegoating behind us.
Yes, there was a time when socialist and communist weren’t synonyms. No more than Sweden and Cuba were.
* Goobernatorial candidate Byron Donalds recently referenced the “Woke Right”? That’s more than GOPster infighting rhetoric. That’s an oxymoron.
* “To the 4 million Floridians who rely on the Affordable Care Act tax credits for affordable coverage, I pledge to keep standing up for you.”—Florida Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor.
* Amid reports of a surge in Florida university presidents’ salaries, there is still the elephant-in-the-room. Successful football head coaches will still make much more than anybody else on campus–from university presidents to cancer researchers.
That would seem at odds with the perceived priorities of institutions of higher learning. Iconic Alabama football coach Bear Bryant once responded to this collegiate inequity. “Sometimes it’s hard to rally ‘round the math department,” he opined.
* DEI issues in the “‘Free’ State of Florida.” Ronald Reagan wasn’t just right, but correct: sometimes “government is the problem.” Exhibit A: MAGA-Tally dictates to local governments.
* Anybody miss Adam Putnam?
* The owners of 717 Parking are looking to a Channel District lot to build a mixed-use project, including housing and retail. “We’re strategically trying to place future development on really good sites and really make Tampa shine,” said 717 Parking co-owner Jason Accardi. Indeed, surface parking lots, once this downtown’s identity, don’t shine.
* “Any alternative transportation options will help create regionalism and connectivity.”—Tampa City Councilman Guido Maniscalco on the return of the Tampa Bay Ferry.
* Beyond ironic: Trump has received the first FIFA Peace Prize for his actions “to promote peace and unity around the world.” Why not start at home?
* The Trump Administration released a security document that criticized European allies as weak and critiqued their policies on free speech and migration. The document nativistically suggested that European allies face the “prospects of civilizational erasure.” “Civilizational erasure”? Sounds like Stephen Miller did more scripting.
* In released Epstein files, Epstein wrote that Trump was “evil beyond belief.” How’s that for vetting?
* The Red Scare and the Orange Scare: They both were fomented by the enemy within. But Orange is worse; the enemy within is the president of the United States.
* Do masked men rounding up brown-skinned people at Home Depot sound like the country we grew up in?
* “Watching this actually turn into a fight has ripped MAGA apart.”—Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over disagreements with Trump–who referenced her as “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Greene”–regarding the release of the Epstein Files. Hey, whatever it takes, including a MAGA GOPster loon who has shown empathy and support for Epstein victims as if she were Marjorie Taylor Blue.
* Epstein bottom line: “We’ve needlessly dragged this out for four months,” noted Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who helped sponsor the bipartisan bill to release the files. Those in opposition, he pointed out, “are afraid that people will be embarrassed. Well, that’s the whole point here.” Indeed.
* “We are seeing anti-semitism rise on the right in the Republican Party.”—Sen. Ted Cruz. Wonder what Sheldon Adelson would have thought.
* As reported, Pete Hegseth’s “kill them all” order involving drug-trafficking boat strikes is unsurprisingly controversial. It doesn’t sound like America’s secretary of defense. But it does sound like a secretary of war.
* “The word ‘affordability’ is a Democratic scam.”—Donald Trump.
* Spam Bondi: A federal judge dismissed the criminal cases against James Comey and Letitia James. It was determined that the prosecutor who brought the charges (Lindsey Hakkugan) had been illegally appointed by the Department of Justice.
* “I’ve never had a drink in my life, and I don’t take drugs.”—Donald Trump.
* “Maybe one of the best endorsements I’ve ever heard for drinking and doing drugs.”—Seth Meyers.
* According to Yale Budget Lab, the current overall average tariff rate is 18%, the highest since 1934.
* “People that are against tariffs are FOOLS!”—Donald Trump.
* “America is no place for the poor man’s Gestapo.”—The Lincoln Project.
* “Quiet! Quiet, Piggy.”—Trump’s response to a female reporter on Air Farce One who asked a follow-up question on the Epstein files. Another day at the orifice.
* “On Your Marx, Get Set, Zo!” How the New York Post carried the news that Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani had been elected mayor of New York City.
* Future Obit headline like no other: “Donald J. Trump Dead. Finally.”
* The overall box-office market share for the horror genre has more than doubled since 2020.
* It’s been a while since Joe Maddon managed the Rays, but he’s still a player in Tampa Bay. He’s bringing back his charity event, Thanksmas, on Dec. 17 at his Ava Restaurant in South Tampa.
* Nationally, the sports betting industry took in $13.71 billion in 2024.
* According to Forbes, the NFL was home to 13 of the 21 most valuable sports franchises in the world. Topping the list at $10.1 billion was the Dallas Cowboys.
* FIFA released its men’s world soccer rankings in advance of the upcoming World Cup in 2026. The US, which defeated Uruguay, 5-1, in Tampa last month, is ranked 14th. FIFA’s top five: Spain, Argentina, France, England and Brazil.
* FSU women won their fifth national championship in soccer.
* “Time and again Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but their actions never live up to their words.”—UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
* “It’s on European soil. Therefore, we will support Ukraine for as long as it takes.”—European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
* “The future of democracy doesn’t require us to reject A.I. Quite the opposite. We need A.I. to make democracy work for the 21st century. But we must also be careful about what we ask A.I. to do. Not to decide for us, but to help us govern ourselves better.”—Eric Schmidt, former chief executive of Google and the author of “Genesis,” which explores how humans will evolve alongside artificial intelligence.
* “An important part of this job is you have to be willing to be disliked.”—SCOTUS Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
* “The Coast Guard has extraordinary powers and authorities to do effective drug interdiction without killing unidentified people on small boats.”—Douglas Farah, president of IBI consultants and a national security expert on Latin America.
* “I have nothing to do with the family business.”—Crypto President Donald Trump.
* “God bless America, and we’re going to save the taxpayers $56 million.”—U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach, on the U.S. Mint canceling production of the penny.
* “Trump’s destruction of the East Wing is the perfect metaphor for his second term.”—Bill Press, author and host of TheBillPressPod.
* “I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to get me into heaven. I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound.”—Donald Trump.
* “(I’ve) always been despised in Washington, D.C., and just never fit in.”—Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., explaining her decision to resign from Congress.
* “The way I see it, anyone whom billionaires dislike can’t be that bad.”—Ted Rall, co-host of the DMZ America podcast.
* “Politicians were never insult comics before Trump. But in the 2016 primaries he learned sneering deflected from substance.”—Maureen Dowd, NYT.
* “The primary aim of the humanities is to train people to make up their own minds.”—David Newheiser, associate professor of religion at FSU.
* “This draft plan is an oil spill nightmare.”—Joseph Gordon, a campaign director of the conservation nonprofit, Oceana, on Trump pushing plans to oil- and gas-drill closer to Florida’s Gulf Coast.
* “There is no right or wrong way to grieve. But one truth is clear: The death penalty’s long, complicated process is not conducive to healing.”—Rev. David Rivera.
* “Law enforcement agencies should conduct internal reviews, adopt clear and publicly accessible policies governing interactions with journalists, and provide mandatory First Amendment training for officers and supervisors.”—University of Florida law professor Lyrissa Lidsky.
* “The FWC (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) does not have reliable data on what the bear population is in Florida. Tell the FWC commissioners to update the bear population study before considering a hunt to manage the black bear population.”—Grant Gelhardt, chairman of the conservation committee of the Florida Sierra Club.
* “I am confident that something good’s going to happen in Tampa.”—MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, on prospects for a new Rays’ stadium.
* “The transformation underway in Ybor City is bringing new life, businesses, jobs and opportunity back to this historic landmark. Expanding Tampa General’s footprint in Ybor will offer the new residents, professionals and visitors we’re attracting to Ybor convenient access to exceptional health care.”—Developer Darryl Shaw.
* “He’s authentic, he’s gritty, he’s a leader, he’s relentless, he’s obsessed, he’s brilliant. And he’s our guy.”—USF’s CEO of Athletics Rob Higgins on the hiring of Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline as head football coach.
Maybe America also needed a Declaration of Dependence. A reminder from the Founders that equality in the context of slavery, for example, is going to be, say, pretty problematic going forward. Perhaps a preamble caveat would have been appropriate to underscore the existential reality of charting a constitutional-democracy concept and ideal across unknown centuries to come. Revolution precedes evolution. The Founders weren’t seers but they were idealistic, savvy and pragmatic sorts.
Unknowns and unknowables would lie ahead. Ben Franklin addressed it in his famous response to a question about whether we had a republic or a monarch. “A republic…if you can keep it.”
As for that caveat: “Going forward, we stress to posterity that the sheer passage of time brings changes unforeseen. King George would agree. That’s life, and that’s the reality we all live in. So, let’s not get too carried away with ‘originalism.’ Democracy will always be in a fight for democracy. Human nature will dictate as much and change is always a constant. Common sense for the common good should be a given going forward.”