Category: Uncategorized

President Biden is doing the right thing by replacing the retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer with a black female nominee. Too bad Barack Obama couldn’t replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but she decided to stay too long and Mitch McConnell decided the next nomination wasn’t part of a lame duck’s purview.

The only problem with Biden keeping his primary campaign promise is that it can seem a token gesture—or one that ignores the qualified across other races and ethnicities. This isn’t affirmative action. This is overdue action that will make history and help SCOTUS look more like America.

The process formally started with the nomination and appointment of Louis Brandeis, the first Jewish Justice in 1916. Thurgood Marshall became the first black Justice in 1967, and Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman in 1981. Then Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic jurist, in 2009.

No less important, a black female SCOTUS Justice will also be a role model and maybe a catalyst for young black women looking at the law as a career. Right now roughly 2 percent of the nation’s 1.3 million lawyers are women of color. That has to change, and a historic selection can be a societal game changer.

* The U.S.-EU Energy Council meets Feb. 7. An agenda certainty: reconciling the reality that Europe, especially Germany, is reliant on Russia as a natural gas supplier. All parties are well aware that the U.S. won’t be supplying troops to Ukraine, but that punishing American economic sanctions on Russia over a Ukraine invasion could have serious ripple effects.

Vladimir Putin, who’s still looking to remake the European security order, could retaliate by cutting off those natural gas shipments to Europe and/or by mounting cyber attacks. Sanctions that limit Russia’s oil and gas exports would be a gigantic hit to the Russian economy. But Europe, and to a lesser degree the U.S., would pay a serious price. No, this is not your basic U.S.-EU energy conference.

* The U.S. economy (gross domestic product) expanded 5.7 percent in 2021. It was the strongest calendar-year growth since 7.2 percent in 1984.

* “If all Democrats hang together, which I expect they will, they have the power to replace Justice (Stephen) Breyer in 2022 without one Republican vote in support.”–Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

* Sobering stat: Democrats lost white non-college educated voters by 25 points in the 2020 election. Dems’ challenge: deprogramming Trump’s blue-collar cultists.

* The federal government, on advice of the FDA, will not be sending more of the monoclonal therapies, which are manufactured by Regeneron and Eli Lilly, to the states. The reason: Such therapies have not been effective against the omicron variant. Florida officials are not pleased, whatever the scientific rationale.

* Speaking of the unpleased, Gov. Ron DeGeneron’s happy hour is now a forum to keep pushing monoclonal antibody cocktails. Despite what the “authoritarian” FDA and Biden Administration think about their proven ineffectiveness against the omicron variant. The governor, who once championed hydroxychloroquine, now has a cocktail to share with all those woo-able conservatives who would be impactful in the 2024 primaries.

* According to the CDC, COVID-19-associated hospitalizations were 49 percent higher among unvaccinated seniors than they were among seniors who had received vaccines and a booster.

* 31 percent of Florida’s total population remains unvaccinated, including children 4 and under, who are not yet eligible to receive the vaccine.

* Florida stores that will be getting government-issued, free (three-per-person) N95 masks over the coming days and weeks: Winn-Dixie, Fresco Y Mas, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Costco, Publix and Walgreens.

* The job growth rate was up 5.27 percent from the year prior.

* Florida does not report the number of COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths by vaccination status.

* “Our constituents did send us here to ask the tough questions. But what they did not send us here to do is to waste our time.”–State Sen. Shevrin Jones, D-Miami Gardens, after Democrats refused to participate in a confirmation-advancing vote on Joseph Ladapo, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ pick for Florida’s surgeon general.

* “Dr. Ladapo is a superstar.”–Gov. Ron DeSantis.

* The Sunshine State has approximately 1.5 million residential condo units. According to a recent study, 918,000 of those units are more than 30 years old. We know the implications.

* “The decline in water quality is damaging Florida at its core, threatening sea life, the ecosystem, and, if left unchecked, the tourist and fishing industries. … The root problems are no secret: It’s pollution, and the worst offender is fertilizer from farms that spills into waterways.”–Lizette Alvarez, WaPo.

* Journalists took to the streets in Mexico to condemn the killings of colleagues and demand protection. Since 2000, 148 Mexican journalists—including last week—have been killed.

* “NPR and PBS routinely air views that are stomach-churning to at least half of America … . They use your dollars to change your country through the use of critical race theory as well as woke gender ideology.” Mike Gonzalez, The National Review, with an unsurprising take on NPR and PBS.

* Singer Joni Mitchell is seeking to remove all of her music from Spotify in solidarity with Neil Young. Mitchell and Young are protesting against the streaming service for airing a podcast (Joe Rogan) that enabled the spread of coronavirus misinformation. “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives,” underscored Mitchell.

* We know, all too well, the democratic-societal impact of social media and partisan news sites and networks—from Facebook and Twitter to Info Wars and Breitbart to Fox and One American News on our politics, most notably at the presidential level. But even this uniquely-disturbing, Trump-era perfect storm has precedent and precursors. There’s always history.

Recall the Cold War. The CIA had its opinion-shaping, mainstream media–including major print and TV network–operatives. And recall Texas oil billionaire H.L. Hunt, who generously supported anti-Communist groups such as the John Birch Society and the political campaigns of Sen. Joe McCarthy. Hunt also funded tax-exempt “news” organizations such as Facts Forum and Lifeline.

But, no, it’s no less scary because we’ve shown our vulnerabilities before.

* Without a Bucs’ presence, the Super Bowl has much less appeal. Had San Francisco made it, I, at least, would have had some interest in the outcome because their general manager is Bucs’ favorite John Lynch. Not even the presumptive lure of halftime entertainment helps. Not when it’s Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige. Yeah, I miss Bruce Springsteen.

* Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?

* Music library: “Bach in a minuet.”

* Most prominent athletes, let along a GOAT, don’t want to leave the lucrative center stage of admiration, if not adoration, that had defined them. Tom Brady is no exception. But he’s also no Joe Namath or Johnny Unitas, who hung around too long because they could still command serious money and would still be in the public eye. But their skills had eroded and their image was compromised.

Tom Brady knows the reality of the 2022 version of the Buccaneers. It won’t be the same team. No Super Bowl talk. Too many important players can leave via free agency or just retirement. The coaching staff could also hit a reset button. Brady, 44, can now retire after a season in which he led the league in touchdowns and passing yardage. And careerwise–spanning 22 seasons–nobody can touch his numbers. He’s won Super Bowls in three different decades, including the one last year that proved he could do it away from New England and outside the tutelage of Bill Belichick There is nothing more to prove other than the value and viability of priorities off the football field.

Brady goes out on top with his numbers, health, looks, fame, wealth and complementary business pursuits and stays an icon—one with a celebrity lifestyle that will be more inclusive of his wife and three kids. This isn’t putting a GOAT out to pasture. This is a final football act, the likes of which are rarely orchestrated so well.

* St. Petersburg native–and Northeast High grad–Danielle Collins made it to the finals of the Australian Open, where she lost to Ash Barty, the world’s number one-ranked player. Collins is now ranked in the top 10—and is currently the highest ranking American on tour.

* Donald Trump: “If I run and I win, we will treat those people from Jan. 6 fairly. … And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons.” The otherwise unpardonable Roger Stone would approve.

* “My staff and I will not be influenced or intimidated by anyone as this investigation moves forward.” –Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who’s investigating whether Trump and others broke the law by trying to pressure Georgia officials to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential victory. Willis has requested security help from the FBI.

* “The mob takes the 5^th. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”–Pre-presidential Donald Trump.

* “What are Republicans for? Fair question. But before the Republican Party can redefine itself, it must first divorce itself from Trump—and for many, that thought remains distressing.”–Gary Abernathy, former publisher of the Trump-supporting Hillsboro (OH) Times-Gazette.

* “It’s time for every Republican leader to pick a side: Trump or the Constitution. There is no middle in defending our nation anymore.”–Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinsinger, a member of the Jan. 6 House Committee.

* “Just as Barry Goldwater’s defeat in 1964 precipitated Ronald Reagan’s victory in 1980, Patrick Buchanan’s presidential campaigns in 1992, 96 and 2000, laid the groundwork for Trump’s presidency. His three candidacies exposed fissures on the right and showed Trump that there was an untapped market for nativism, protectionism and isolationism.”–Conservative writer Windsor Mann, an adviser to the Lincoln Project.