Category: Uncategorized

* We all saw the debates, even if we didn’t all view them through the same lens. That’s the nature of partisan politics and “debates,” which are really performance art for a casting call of candidates and monetized, show-business optics for the networks. We’ll never see a Lincoln-Douglas sequel. A few takeaways:

* Some elements of the punditocracy have been fantasizing about a Kamala Harris-Pete Buttigieg ticket. One that would galvanize progressives and rally the party to a historically big, nation-saving turnout. No, it won’t happen. But as long as there are pundits and fantasizers, why not really double down to go after the menace that is Trump? How about a Harris-Obama ticket? He could legally do it.

No, it won’t happen, but all options–including trenchant warfare–should be under consideration when so much is at stake–and so much more damage, domestically and globally, would be done by a 2020 Trump re-election .

* Two and a half years ago, Joe Biden was one of the most powerful people in the world. He had been vetted by Barack Obama and given an eclectic portfolio that prioritized global strategies and domestic politics. That Joe Biden has to show up later this month in Detroit. If he’s still around.

* As noted, these are not really debates. Too big a field, too much of a premium on performance. Sen. Kamala Harris, an impressive candidate by any measure, underscored that reality with her calculated, orchestrated confrontation with Biden.”I know you’re not a racist….” was unnecessarily insulting as she literally pivoted in his direction for a multi-minute lecture on school busing for integration. It was effective; it was game-changing; and it was pure performance ploy–with an enabling NBC split-screen capturing all the juxtaposed drama.

* Julian Castro still bears an awkward surname for an American presidential candidate. But his “Marshall Plan” reference for Central America makes eminent sense–and should continue to resonate. Not unlike its post-war namesake, a Central American version would be an investment and an exercise in enlightened self interest–not some give-away to those playing Uncle Sam for a “sucker.” Asylum seekers are fleeing horrific violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and, worst of all, Honduras, the murder capital of the world. Hell, we still don’t even have an ambassador in Tegucigalpa.

* It was somewhat revealing, but hardly surprising to hear several candidates work in some Spanish in a Miami debate that was also carried by Telemundo–not far from a border detention center. Even NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio–until he went too far. “Hasta la victoria siempre.” Never a good idea to quote Che Guevara in South Florida. Ay, Dios, Guillermo.

* John Yang got the memo; he just ignored it. Entrepreneurs don’t wear ties anymore.

* Among the off-putting, controversial tweets attributed to St. Pete City Council candidate Scott Orsini is this one: “I thought about getting a bicep tattoo and then remembered it wasn’t 1992 and that I’m not a lesbian.” Maybe that was Orsini’s indirect way of outing himself as a biceptual.

* From the get-go, it was always telling that Jeff Vinik, Tampa’s makeover catalyst, never became a player in a baseball-stadium scenario for Tampa. That was–and still is–a difference maker.

* How, ironically, appropriate that the Hillsborough County Republican Party has a new monthly meeting location: The River of Tampa Bay, an evangelical church. Although some GOPsters are apparently a little uncomfortable with the overlap of religion and politics, it makes sense. The evangelical vote helped elect Trump, an absolute avatar of immorality. Obviously hypocrisy is still not a sin.

* Plaudits to the Tampa Bay Times for joining several other major Florida newspapers plus WLRN Public Media to share content and produce stories about climate change. For once, the Times‘ “Inside the  Newsroom” column wasn’t perfuming the pig about something that is a distraction from letting good people go, not prioritizing proofreaders and limiting coverage of important events because of early deadlines. Times are tough; it’s a daily challenge; but prioritizing the existential issue of our lives in such a collaborative way is commendable.

* “Yesterday” is a romantic comedy. That’s like saying Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer. True, but. Once you accept the premise that anything can happen as a result of a nano-second, global power outage, you’re in for a fun, magical-realism experience featuring classic Beatles tunes.    You go with the fanciful flow and enjoy the tribute.  Especially if you’re of a certain generation.

Catch it while it’s around on the big screen. If convenient, see “Yesterday” today or tomorrow. It’s quality escape–no Marvel heroes; no sequels of sequels. Only gratuitous fun and nostalgia. Now, more than ever.

* This just in. The International Olympic Committee just gave provisional approval of breakdancing to debut at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. Have to wonder if juggling, unicycling and, maybe, corn hole could also get Olympic traction.

* Amid all the cynical, leverage speculation, it’s at least fun to focus on potential names for a MLB team splitting its home stands between Tampa Bay and Montreal. Combining today’s Rays and the erstwhile Expos: From ExRays to Team Timeshareto the North American Rayons de Soleil.

But the stark reality remains this: The Rays deserve credit for being creative with defensive shifts, use of an “opener” and a cashless stadium. But a split season with a Canadian co-franchise? This gives creativity a bad name.

* Megan Rapinoe is an incredibly talented U.S. soccer player. She also has a social conscience and the guts–and forum–to speak out on issues that still haunt U.S. society. You go, Megan, but keep America’s issues on American forums. National Anthem demonstrations that protest gender bias and racism and underscore LGBTQ rights are appropriate where the relevant issues are–in America. On an international stage, it’s awkward, unnecessarily distracting and embarrassing.

And, yes, that principle still applies retroactively to the Black Power salutes in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick exercised a constitutional right and made his point about American racism to fellow Americans. That’s not the same as an American’s World Cup gesture of protest in France. It just isn’t.

Here’s hoping Megan Rapinoe is next known–and lionized–for her outspoken, White House no-show with the racist misogynist-in-chief.

* “The liberal idea has become obsolete. (It has) outlived its purpose.”–Russian President Vladimir Putin.

* “I think Trump may be one of those figures in history who appears from time to time to mark the end of an era and to force it to give up its old pretense.”–Henry Kissinger.

* “(Trump’s) savaging of American diplomacy (has left) our friends confused, our adversaries emboldened and the foundations of the international system we built and preserved for seven decades alarmingly fragile.”–William Burns, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a former ambassador to Russia and the author of “The Back Channel.”

* “There’s no doubt that the Russians did interfere in the election, and I think the interference, although not yet quantified, if fully investigated, would show that Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election, and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf.”–Former President Jimmy Carter.

* “Donald Trump’s campaign against journalists should concern every patriotic American. A free, fair, and independent press is essential to our country’s strength and vitality and to every freedom that makes it great.”–A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times.

* “On the left as well as the right, we can get so caught up in our narratives that we lose perspective; nobody has a monopoly on truth. If Trump turns progressives into intolerant agents of incivility, then we have lost our souls.”–Nicholas Kristof, New York Times.

* “Both politics and the Christian witness are now made worse by people of faith actively involving themselves in politics.”–Peter Wehner, the “The Death of Politics.”

* “It is not constitutional, it is not legal, and it is not right to deny people the right to vote because you can’t pay. What this bill does is re-establish a poll tax.”–Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, in response to Gov. Ron DeSantis signing a bill that requires all former felons to pay their financial obligations before being eligible to vote.

* “If the governor and Legislature would just pay attention to what the voters ask of them, citizen initiatives wouldn’t be necessary.”–Paula Dockery, former state Republican legislator–now NPA–from Lakeland.

* “I would say the most unpleasant part about my job when I was mayor was dealing with the Tampa Bay Rays.”–Former St. Pete Mayor Rick Baker.

* “If Mr. Sternberg is serious about this (shared-cities) idea or any other, it will require the re-establishment of a good working relationship with my office.”–St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman.

* “Look, if it comes to it and I have to do this with the next mayor, I’ll do it with the next mayor.”–Rays principal owner Stu Sternberg.

Trump, Rubio, Biden, Pride Parade, Rays

Trumpster Diving

* Call it Trump-Supporter Epiphany. Yes, it sounds oxymoronic, but there’s an existential fear. “Yeah, he was my guy–damn right–and I was with him–right up until he ____.” Just fill in the foreboding, conceivably apocalyptic, scenario blank that resulted in such a political pivot.

Can’t we, at least in 2020, eliminate this on-going, unhinged menace–and, meanwhile, hope that it won’t already be too late by then? This is manifestly about so much more than partisan politics and the business-as-usual process of over-analyzing voter demographics and motivations and what turns purple states red or blue–yada, yada. This is an end game for America.

* The Iran bottom line: Isn’t this diplomatic malpractice? Ramp up. Wind down. Threaten to “obliterate like you’ve never seen before.” Back off. But this isn’t  negotiating with intimidated, leverage-challenged, New York subcontractors.

” The fact is we’re not going to have Iran have a nuclear weapon. And when they agree to that, they are going to have a wealthy country, they’re going to be so happy and I’m going to be their best friend.” Whatever.

* You know what is still, uh, awkward? The only country to ever actually use the ultimate weapon of mass destruction is the U.S. Yes, we know the context, but you know that’s not rationale enough for some non-allies and is part of what fuels levels of resentment and animus.

* “Appreciating the political judging faculty and extraordinary courage of President Trump, Kim Jong Un said that he would seriously contemplate the interesting content.” That was the official statement by the Korean Central News Agency, in response to the “excellent content” letter that Trump had sent Kim. Two takeaways. First,  this is where beyond-nuanced diplomacy-speak meets awkward, calculated translation to English. Second, wonder what Kim really thinks? Did he fall “in love” too?

* Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. John Bolton and Mike Pompeo. Are we any better off?

* Trump complained that networks didn’t cover all of his re-election campaign event in Orlando. Beyond ironic. Frankly, the networks–notably the mainstream, non-Fox ones–helped elect him. Recall all the cutaways from CNN and MSNBC talk shows to go live to one of his “lock her up” rallies? Trump was ratings manna, and this was the new normal of politics as show business. It continues to happen–and to haunt.

* So plans continue, as it were, in the delay to replace Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Technical reasons, according to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. We’re now likely looking at 2026 instead of 2020.

Does anyone really doubt the real reason? Does anyone really think this racist, Obama-birther president would countenance replacing his favorite president with an African-American abolitionist on HIS watch? So much for unveiling a Tubman $20 on next year’s centennial of the 19th Amendment, the one that gave women the right to vote.

* Those who will most miss Sarah Huckleberry Sandbag: Donald Trump, late-night comics, cartoonists, “SNL.”

* “The president must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria–big mistake if he does not!” That was Donald Trump’s tweeted take about a president acting unilaterally without congressional approval in 2013. That was then; this is not–even close.

* Imagine America ever needing to have a “family arrest plan” at the border.

* A prominent politician recently published “American Investment in the 21st Century.” It’s a shot-across-the-corporate-bow analysis of how U.S. businesses are sacrificing long-term viability for short-term market gains. It criticizes, among other things, the impact of intemperately prioritizing the boosting of shares. “The stock market is not the economy,” underscored the author. “We now have two or maybe three networks who dedicate most of their time to covering the stock market–they’re like the ESPN of stock markets. There’s a lot more to the economy than the stock market.”

No, that wasn’t Elizabeth Warren or Andrew Yang or Paul Krugman. That was Marco Rubio, who says just enough–but not on Cuba or Venezuela–to get some Trump separation without leaving the reservation or resuming “con man” insults. For “Little Marco,” 2024 still looms big.

* Say it’s so, Joe. Best advice for familial baggage Hunter Biden: Out yourself as a closet Republican and then disappear for a while.

Timing once again is everything. If this were any other time, Joe Biden would not be a player in the upcoming presidential sweepstakes. Too old at 76, too gaffe prone for the hustings and too much baggage.  

But age, gaffes, Anita Hill, a touchy-feely modus operandi, abortion controversy and Congressional camaraderie with Dixiecrats doesn’t matter so much if you’re squaring off against an immoral, unethical, unhinged, unread, xenophobic septuagenarian racist-misogynist. Biden can get in Trump’s face and confront him on the issues, which he knows better than the incumbent. He could take on–and take down Trump.

But all of his shortcomings–while negated vis a vis Trump–can be magnified along the primary crucible against a diverse mix of mostly generational activists. Biden would look much better against Trump than against many of his Democratic peers, whose strategies could amount to collective shots at the presumed, old-school front runner. The challenge is daunting.

How do you talk about “reparations,” however defined, without including Native Americans?

* St. Petersburg just hosted the largest Pride celebration in Florida, the Tech Data St. Pete Pride Parade. It speaks volumes about how far we’ve come as a community. It’s also a reminder of what it takes to mainstream anything in this society. Not just a worthy cause. It also helps immeasurably to have overlapping, collateral self interests. As in corporate sponsorships.

It’s a positive sign in a market economy when a large, impactful business steps up to underwrite a cause because it’s the right thing to do as well as good for image and its diverse employee base. When the LGBTQ community is celebrated–not merely tolerated or accepted–we’ve made progress worthy of a celebration to feel proud about.

* Rumor has it that retiring Hillsborough County Schools Superintendent Jeff Eakins might not be staying through his last year. Look for a buyout by the end of the calendar year instead of extended lame duck status, which makes sense.

* In the abstract, using reclaimed water to augment Tampa’s drinking water supply makes sense. But it surely can’t help when the most familiar shorthand for the Tampa Augmentation Project isn’t TAP–but “toilet-to-tap.” Some labels–such as “Obamacare”–are flush with connotations that can be counterproductive.

* It was disappointing that NBC/MSNBC hosted the first Democratic Presidential Debate–over two nights involving five moderators–but not one of those moderators was Brian Williams, who is still the best in the business.

* Dominican Republic public health officials have been using the “fake news” label to characterize media coverage of suspicious American tourists’ deaths. It’s another reminder that beguiling, self-serving Trump rhetoric has legs for anyone anywhere needing an easy diversion from reality and responsibility.