Opinions to go Online

Heads up, JD. This likely won’t end well.

With a rising 13-figure deficit—despite tariffs, “Gold Card” visas and DOGE cuts—President Donald Trump has turned to Vice President JD Vance to lead the Administration’s high-profile, fraud task force. It’s a daunting (t)ask. According to the Brookings Institution, “Budget deficits are still projected to soar past $4 trillion annually within a decade under current policies.”

Trump said the Vance force would be the key to unlocking massive savings.

“If he does really great, we’ll have a balanced budget without having to do anything,” declared Trump. Left unsaid, but not unnoticed (especially by Marco Rubio): Vance’s cabinet status has been increasingly eroding; he is now in likely scapegoat mode if he doesn’t do “really great.” It’s part of the authoritarian handbook.

* “This reckless and costly war of choice needs to end today.”—House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, after the House rebuked the president by approving a war powers resolution that would halt the U.S. military action against Iran. It was largely symbolic, but nonetheless, a notable spinal tap rebuke.

* Remember the Maine (Senate lesson): Punk is not a synonym for populist. Neither is Plattner.

* In Texas, James Talarico’s Senate campaign is rallying the Christian left. His less-than-nuanced, signature line is “It’s time to start flipping tables.” As in Jesus’ overturning of the money changers’ tables outside the temple.

* If Georgia Dem Sen. Jon Ossoff is re-elected, he becomes a de facto presidential candidate.

* No surprise, the (59-member) Congressional Black Caucus consists entirely of Democrats.

* Will Rogers: “It’s easy being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.” And that was back then.

* Welcome to the Karma Cafe. There are no menus. You will get what you deserve.

* First Law of Debate: Never argue with a fool—people might not know the difference.

* For the pun of it:

<Anger at carelessly falling from a steep cliff: Precipiced off.

<Archaeological trip: “Bone voyage.”

<Disingenuously talking your way into a self-serving deal: Lexicon-job.

* Tampa Bay ranked 7^th in the U.S. (2020-24) for most deadly metro areas for walkers.

* In Tampa, there are 26 restaurants on Michelin’s recommended list. They vary eclectically from Bern’s Steak House and Mise en Place to Cousin Vinny’s Sandwich Co. and Mad Dogs & Englishmen.

* If Alex Vindman should prevail—and it wouldn’t be an upset now—in his statistically-even Senate bid against Ashley Moody, we could call it political karma. Moody was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis after Marco Rubio, the GOP incumbent, left his solid Senate seat for his Faustian deal as Trump’s secretary of state and his post-Trump, presidential ambitions.

When Vindman, a Purple Heart honoree with strong anti-Communist feelings, makes clear that he can be “critical of both parties when they fail” he also makes way for independent support. More than one campaign stop at The Villages underscores that he’s writing nobody off.

* It’s official. The November ballot will include a constitutional amendment that would raise the state’s homestead exemption by $250,000. What’s also looming: Months of scenario analysis in an arduous, voter-persuasion campaign. Game on for the final, fitting touches of the DeSantis legacy.

* “Labels don’t matter in this environment… We have big problems, and we need big solutions…It’s not whether we’re going left or right, but whether we’re going forward.”—David Jolly, Democratic gubernatorial candidate and a former Republican.

* The Capital Punishment State of Florida is off to another record-setting execution pace with 8 so far in 2026. Florida led all states with 19 last year, a modern-era record.

* UF president nominee Stuart Bell threaded a rhetorical-and-ideological needle to help enable his confirmation by increasingly conservative higher-ed overseers. “I’m certainly not coming to Florida to bring DEI or any form of woke back,” said Bell to an on-campus, open-forum audience that included students and faculty. The affable former president of the University of Alabama, was primarily targeting the State University System’s (now notoriously anti-DEI) Board of Governors, which will vote on his nomination later this month.

“I am going to build on Florida’s commitment to merit through excellence, to academic achievement, to equal opportunity and what I just call hard work of our students,” said Bell, 69, whose track record includes notable up-graded research status at Alabama. He’s also a strong college football advocate and had no hesitation about showcasing the Gator Chomp.

* BTW, it’s been estimated that a UF President-elect Bell could make more than $2 million in his first year. For contemporary collegiate context: Basketball forward Thomas Haugh is projected to make more than 3 times that amount in his (NIL) return for his senior Gators season.

* According to the latest State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index from Out Leadership, Florida ranks 46^th in friendliness. Massachusetts was 1st; Arkansas 50^th.

* U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Beaches In the U.S. for 2026”: Sarasota’s Siesta Key, No. 1.

* “Giving politicians control over ‘60 Minutes’ interviews is not how honest journalism is done.” Scott Pelley, the recently-fired, long-time “60 Minutes” correspondent.

* Spot-on, actual Podcast name: “Doing Time with George Santos.”

* According to ADWeek, citing Nielsen numbers, Fox News had 14 of the top most-watched TV shows among total viewers. Number 7 was MS NOW’s The Rachel Maddow Show.

* “Television: a medium. So called because it is neither rare nor well done.”—Ernie Kovacs.

* It appears the Cuban government is preparing its citizens for the possibility of conflict with the U.S. by circulating a pamphlet titled “Family Guide for Protection Against Military Aggressors.” It instructs families on how to pack survival kits and telling them to seek shelter if they hear air raid sirens.

* A ship carrying humanitarian aid from the governments of Mexico and Uruguay recently arrived in Havana. It arrived aboard a Chinese-owned merchant vessel sailing under a Panamanian flag. A cargo ship from China also dropped off 15,000 tons of rice. Taiwan sees the leverage implications.

* The U.S. further ratcheted up pressure on Cuban leadership by imposing sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and his wife, among others.

* Response of Cuban Ambassador to the U.S. Lianys Torres Rivera: “The U.S. sanctions against our leaders, we see as a pretext to make the American people think we are a threat. We are not a threat to the U.S., and we don’t want confrontation.”

* Among Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s responses to his grilling by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: “I really don’t believe this system is capable of reform unless new people take over or a new mindset takes hold.” He was referring to Cuba, of course.

* Congrats to the Lightning’s Jon Cooper, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Nikita Kucherov. Coop was named the “NHL’s Coach of the Year,” Vasy won the Vezina Trophy, awarded to the league’s top goalie, and Kuch won the MVP Hart Trophy.

* It’s been 33 years since a Canadian team (Montreal) last won the Stanley Cup.

* Another big shout-out to UT baseball. The Spartans won their third consecutive Division II national championship. UT is the most successful baseball program in the history of Div. II with a total of 11 national titles.

* Among those supporting a proposed Rays Tampa stadium: former Rays manager Joe Maddon.

* Truth be told: Candidate Donald Trump gave America a head’s up on his foreign policy views when he was running in 2016. It was more than the “America First” bumper sticker. “We tell everything. We must as a nation be more unpredictable.” Alas, he kept his word.

* “Let’s face it, Mr. Secretary (Rubio), the Trump foreign policy has become a dumpster fire.”—Sen. Chris Van Hallen, D-Md., of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

* The Artifice of the Deal: Iran war ends where it began: No meaningful nuclear agreement or regime change for the better. Status quo except for lives lost and displaced, economies roiled, munitions depleted and allies alienated.

* So Trump’s $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” DOJ fund, the one that would have also benefited Jan. 6 rioters, has been stalled. Legal setbacks and political backlash take their toll.

The bottom line, however, remains the same. What about the 14^th Amendment? Its wording is hardly nuanced on the matter. It bars the government from paying “any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States.” Probably sounds equivocal to Todd Blanche, the acting Attorney General, who still acts like Trump’s personal attorney.

* Skepticism about (remaining) career staff is reportedly so intense that sometimes Trump aides deliberately disclose false information in meetings to see if it ends up in the press so they can root out suspected traitors.

* Trump finally pulled his nomination of Bill Pulte for director of national intelligence. GOP pushback on the blatantly unqualified nominee was notably underscored by Senate Majority Leader John Thune: “We don’t need a weaponized DNI; we need a professional there.”

* Vanity Flair update: The Treasury Department has prepared the design for the $250 bill featuring Trump’s grifting likeness. While it would be another embarrassing, narcissistic affront to America, it would also seem ironically appropriate for Trump’s mugshot to appear on U.S. currency.

* “Extraordinary elevation”: Trump’s approving response to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s move to permanently install himself in office for life.

* <“Morning in America”: Reagan Administration.

<“Moronic in America”: Trump Administration.

 

* “Like man, like state. Governments vary as the characters of men vary.”—Plato.

* “Intelligence rules the world; ignorance carries the burden.”—Marcus Garvey.

* “The world needs brave leaders who put the next generation ahead of the next elections.”—Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations.

* “The ‘just war’ theory which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated. Humanity possesses far more effective and capable tools for promoting human life and resolving conflicts, such as dialogue, diplomacy and forgiveness.”—Pope Leo XIV.

* “If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon’s, but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.”—Ulysses S. Grant.

* “It ranks alongside smoking and wearing seatbelts in cars as a unifying force for the medical profession.”—The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges report on the impact of social media on children.

* “Remember, when gas prices go up, that’s disposable income coming out of people’s pockets, so they’re going to spend less on other things. So, there will be a hit to GDP.”—Former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

* “The more we try to return to the heroic age of tribalism, the more surely do we arrive at the Inquisition, at the Secret Police, and at a romanticized gangsterism.”—Australian philosopher Karl Popper.

* “It seems to be easier for people to agree on a negative program—on the hatred of an enemy, on the envy of the better off—than on any positive task. The contrast between the ‘we’ and the ‘they’ is consequently always employed by those who seek the allegiance of huge masses.”—Austrian intellectual Friedrich Hayek.

* “When you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to. But you don’t pout. You don’t whine. You don’t claim the election was stolen.”—Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, who lost his primary bid last month.

* Nowhere is NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) more important to preserving environmental resources, the economy and public safety than Florida. The Administration’s proposed budget cuts would put all of that at risk.”—Jon Paul Brooker, environmental attorney and Ocean Conservancy’s director of Florida conservation.

* “Florida used to be a really good state for government transparency…Our data shows Florida is one of the most secretive states in the country now.”—David Cuillier, director of the Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida.

* “Michelin recognition is a big deal in the culinary world…It’s good for our tourism, especially internationally, and it helps us recruit new chefs to open new businesses.”—Craig Thomas, chief marketing and general counsel for Visit Florida. There is a paid partnership between Michelin and tourism agencies.

* “While this may reduce taxes for property owners, it would also reduce the taxable property base that school districts rely upon.” Hillsborough schools spokesperson Tanya Arja, on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposal–a November-ballot amendment inclusion–to slash Florida’s property taxes.

* “We do recognize that there are many unresolved (stadium) issues, and we will begin focusing on that.”—Rays CEO Ken Babby.

* “I’m open to any idea. We’ve just got to come up with something better than that facility.”—Hillsborough County Commissioner Harry Cohen, on weighing ideas to replace the outdated Hillsborough Courthouse Annex.

* “While others traffic in fear, we choose hope.”—St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch, during what could be the last St. Pete Pride Flag Raising event.