Category: Uncategorized

• “Niche reporting”: euphemism of Fox News for right-wing propaganda.
• “Why is Fox News still broadcasting on the U.S. Armed Forces Network to our military around the globe?”—Robert Bruce Adolph, author of “Surviving the United Nations: The Unexpected Challenge.”
• Speaking of Fox, Sean Hannity recently acknowledged that he had received a COVID-19 shot. “I do believe in science, and I believe in vaccinations,” he said. “You don’t need to talk to people on TV and radio that aren’t doctors.” Perhaps the Biden Administration should run that as a public service vax ad.

TikTok was the most-downloaded app globally in the first half of 2021.

• Champa Bay update: For the first time a Tampa Bay championship team, the Bucs, has visited the White House. Timing is everything. Their host was not a spotlight-hogging, narcissist-in-chief.
• The NFL’s Washington franchise, the erstwhile Redskins, still hasn’t settled on a new nickname. Definitely out: any kind of Native American name. Even the Washington Lobbyists would be an improvement. It definitely won’t be the Washington Vaxxers. Washington and the Indianapolis Colts are the only two (out of 32) NFL teams below the   50 percent vaccination rate.
• Commissioner Rob Manfred has indicated that MLB will likely be dropping the pandemic-prompted rule changes that mandated 7-inning doubleheaders and starting extra innings with runners on second base. It’s also possible, indicated Manfred, that the designated hitter could be extended to the National League.

Just do it. It continues to make no sense that a key MLB provision only applies to one of two leagues.

• “Out with an upper-body injury for the next couple of days.” That’s how Lightning General Manager Julien BriseBoise, using quintessential hockey-injury language, referred to the Stanley Cup being dinged during the recent celebration.
• Should the U.S. women’s basketball team bring home Olympic gold, it will be the fifth–yes, fifth–Olympic gold medal for guards Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird.
• When Italy became the soccer champions of Europe by defeating England in Euro 2021, the Italians and Europe did more than celebrate. They got derisively in the face of the Brits. Typical was this comment from Alessandra Moretti, a member of the European Parliament. “Go Italy. A united Europe beats the England of Brexit.”

• It’s sobering that none of the revelations in “I Alone Can Fix It” by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig are shocking—from Donald Trump’s COVID mishandling to his catalytic role in re-election chaos and insurrection. That includes the gut feelings of Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who, in uniform, had accompanied Trump—infamously—for his Bible photo-op after the violent clearing of Lafayette Square. He had sensed a “Reichstag moment” days before the Capitol riot. According to Milley, the U.S. under Trump was experiencing its own version of the late Weimar Republic—complete with modern “Brownshirts.” Too bad the general, who was a first-hand witness to an America imperiled by an unhinged demagogue with a cabinet of cowards, didn’t speak out when it mattered most.
• “Old Crow.” That’s how Trump recently referenced Minority Leader Mitch McConnel. “Old Crow’s” response: “Actually, it’s quite an honor. Old Crow is Henry Clay’s favorite bourbon.” Whatever.
• To date, none of the more than 500 defendants in the Capitol attack have been indicted for sedition—or treason. The main reason: legal complexity—not that it wasn’t, uh, sort of seditious.
• “If you’re scared to tell the truth to people, I understand, but you need to find a different line of work.”—Republican Rep. Adam Kinsinger of Illinois, who has spoken out against the “Big Lie” that the presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump.
• Steve Bannon, no surprise, has a different take on said “Big Lie.” It’s a GOPster litmus test, he asserts. “There will not be a Republican that wins a primary for 2022—not one—that doesn’t take the pledge to get to the bottom of Nov. 3,” predicted Bannon.
• “Many of the people who hectored the Obama Administration about debt seemed to reveal a lot about their true motives by going quiet during the Trump years.”—Paul Krugman, New York Times.

• “Our job is now just not to forget.”—Gen. Austin S. Miller, who stepped down as the top American general in Afghanistan, speaking at a farewell ceremony in Kabul.
• “We are not only partners and allies, but we are very close friends.”—German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who recently visited with President Joe Biden in Washington.
• “The only way (for America) to respond is as if the Cuban people’s lives depend on us … because they do.”—Jordan Valdes, former senior adviser in the Obama Administration.
• “Cuba Is Not Yours.”—What one group of Cuban demonstrators chanted outside the headquarters of the Communist Party of Cuba.
• “The Cuban system has no resemblance to democratic socialism, because there is nothing remotely democratic about it.”—Eugene Robinson, Washington Post.
• “Haiti’s problems cannot be solved by U.S. intervention. The United States no longer has the standing, the stomach or even the desire to impose its vision on Haiti.”—Amy Wilentz, the author of “The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier.”
• “There is nothing like this other than the 1850s, when events led inevitably to the civil war.”—Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, on the Capitol siege—as quoted in “I Alone Can Fix It” by Phil Rucker and Carol Leonnig.
• “Tariffs are taxes on consumers. In some cases it seems to me what we did hurt American consumers, and the type of deal that the prior administration negotiated really didn’t address in many ways the fundamental problems we have with China.”—Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
• “Will likely remain elevated in coming months” before “moderating.”—Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, on the state of inflation.
• “Never be afraid of failure or loss. Use it.”—Christiane Amanpour, chief international anchor for CNN.
• “The company (Facebook) has put growth and profits above all else, even when it was clear that misinformation and hate speech were circulating across the platform and that the company was violating the privacy of its users.”—The American Press Institute’s Susan Benkelman.
• “We should be as proud of those who search for alternatives to war as we are of warriors.”—Michael D. Knox, author of “Ending U.S. Wars by Honoring Americans Who Work for Peace.”
• “At a moment when we should be throwing everything we have into ensuring the planet remains habitable, billionaires are treating us to a (space) spectacle to distract us from their quest for continued capitalist accumulation and the disastrous effects it is already having.”—Paris Max, Jacobin.
• “I call on Congress to act swiftly to provide a permanent solution, a path to citizenship that will grant these ‘Dreamers’ the legal status they deserve and make official what so many of them know in their hearts: They belong here, this is their home too.”—FDP Chairman Manny Diaz, in response to a federal judge blocking new DACA applications.
• “Gov. DeSantis has ruled out COVID lockdowns and mask mandates. COVID vaccination will always be a free choice and never mandated.”—DeSantis’ press secretary Christina Pushaw.
• “What I think explains high infection rates is that we have a governor who has not taken COVID seriously, from the very beginning. You know, he’s essentially right now treating it like a joke.”—Florida Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
• “Pets can become sick from Red Tide, so keep them away from those areas.”—The Florida Department of Health.
• “The intensity of the past two years has put a strain on my health and my family.”—USF President Steve Currall, in announcing that he would be stepping down Aug. 2.
• “The key thing for renters is this kind of rent growth isn’t sustainable long-term. It can’t grow at this pace for much longer.”—Brian Alford, director of Florida market analytics for CoStar Group, a real estate data company. Tampa Bay’s average asking rent rose 15.6 percent in the first half of this year.
• “September is when we really start ratcheting up to normal activity.”—Straz Center president and CEO Judy Lisi.

“Our momentum is electric, and people want to move here so that they can be part of our success story too.”—Mayor Jane Castor.

• However persistent the partisanship and however awkward the optics, there should still be enough overall support for the U.S. exit from Afghanistan. In fact, polls show that large numbers of Americans in both parties support leaving Afghanistan. President Joe Biden put it into a context that even (no more “endless wars”) Trumpsters should agree with. “We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build,” stated Biden. “And it’s the right and responsibility of Afghan people alone to decide their future and how they want to run their country.”
• “If the Russian government cannot or will not take action against (cyber) criminal actors residing in Russia, we will take action on our own.” That was White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who knows the president is under growing pressure to take some kind of public action. It’s also a given that cyber attacks originating in Russia, even if not directly linked to the Kremlin, can be halted by an authoritarian.

Speaking of, the advice of Russian chess grandmaster and political activist Garry Kasparov, could be instructive. “The only language that Putin understands is power, and his power is his money,” said Kasparov. “The U.S. should wipe out oligarchs’ accounts, one by one, until the message is delivered.” Stay tuned.

• Yes, this president’s agenda is top heavy with domestic challenges ranging from insurrection fall-out, a MAGA mentality, filibuster governance, vaccination expedience and infrastructure needs to racial disparities, gun violence, voter suppression and border chaos. But foreign policy is increasingly in the cross hairs: from Russia and China to North Korea, Iran and Afghanistan to Central America, Cuba and Haiti. It helps that the commander in chief has foreign policy chops—from chairing the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee to two vice presidential terms with important international portfolios.
• “Let me be clear: Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism. It’s exploitation.” President Biden, in signing an executive order targeting monopolies.
• The DNC is making a $25 million infusion into efforts to combat new laws passed by Republican state lawmakers that restrict voting.
• “(The economy) is booming so strongly that Republicans have pivoted from claiming (falsely) that we’re experiencing the worst job performance in decades to lauding the employment numbers and giving credit to … Trump’s 2017 tax cut.”—Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman.
• “Dear Sen. Manchin: You’ve not helped the Senate get things done; you’ve helped Mitch McConnell block the Senate from getting anything done. … Yes, you’re elected to serve the people of your state, but once you take the oath of office, your primary obligation is to do what’s best for the entire country.”—Bill Press, author of “Trump Must Go” and a former co-host of CNN’s “Cross Fire.”

• “Please get vaccinated now. It works. It’s free. It’s never been easier, and it’s never been more important.”—President Joe Biden.
• Roughly a third of U.S. adults still haven’t received a vaccine shot.
• “Every time we have a more transmissible variant, the number of people that need to be fully vaccinated to get to herd immunity goes up.”—USF virologist Dr. Michael Teng.
• The Delta variant, which appears to be about 40 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant, is now the dominant COVID-19 strain in Florida. Tracking data indicates it is present in 34 counties, including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk and Hernando.
• “You’ve got another lottery going on and it’s the death lottery.” That was West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice, in reference to those in his state who are vaccine-hesitant. West Virginia is among the states offering vaccinated residents entry in lotteries for money, cars and firearms.
• “The night belongs to the vaccinated. Time to join them.” From a social media ad by Heineken.
• An increase in automation, notably in service industries, may turn out to be an economic legacy of the pandemic.
• United Airlines said its winter schedule to Florida will be larger than it was in 2019, before the pandemic crushed air travel.
• Surreal approach: The Dali Museum was the recent site of a vaccine clinic. No appointments, no charge. All three vaccines were available. Plus, those who got vaccinated also got a $10 food voucher.

• When Haitian President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in the bedroom of his home, it was easy to attribute it to failed-state dynamics and third world security. The attackers entered the president’s residence that required getting past a guarded security gate and then got access to the home. Well, check out “Zero Fail” by Carol Leonnig. It looks at the sobering, often embarrassing history of the U.S. Secret Service. In short, our own presidents–not just John F. Kennedy–and the White House, per se, have known mismanagement, unprofessionalism and outrageous breaches of security. Barack Obama would agree.
• USA Today has shifted to a digital subscription model. The rest of Gannett’s 250 daily newspapers had already done so. USA Today became the final major national daily to require readers to pay to read news online.
• Fox Weather, a 24-hour streaming channel, is scheduled to debut later this year. Have to wonder how climate change will be handled.
• “Gypsy Moth”: The Entomological Society of America is dropping that name because it’s considered an ethnic slur.

U.S. Capitol Police will be opening a Florida field office—in Tampa. It’s not exactly a bragging point. According to the USCP, “Florida and California are where the majority of our potential threats are.”

• Gov. Ron DeSantis is non-committal on the need to require recertification of aging Florida buildings. Structural engineers, insurance agents and some state senators are suggesting it’s time for Florida to update laws that apply to coastal high rises.
• “The role of building owners and architects and engineers and inspectors and safety professionals is to make sure that buildings are safe for their occupants to be in.”—Attorney Jeffrey Goodman, who has filed suit on behalf of a family of a missing resident.

• It bears repeating. Tampa’s a city of champions. Thank you, Bolts and Bucs.

Yeah, Trump’s a MAGA-Lago Floridian, DeSantis is a disgrace, the Delta variant is being enabled by the unvaccinated, serious Bay Area mass transit is still an oxymoron, and hurricane season, with all its apocalyptic cones, is back again. So, yes, we needed good news—the sort of news that diverts and rallies a populace and focuses on what we have in common, instead of in conflict.

• “They wanted to cement a legacy.”—Former Lightning General Manager Jay Feaster.
• For Lightning forward Pat Maroon, this is his third consecutive year on a Stanley Cup-winning team: one with St. Louis and two now with Tampa Bay. Is that a “Pat Trick”?
• The Bucs’ Tom Brady is now a brand ambassador for FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange.
• “Sho-Time”: The hitting and pitching of Japanese-born, L.A. Angels’ phenomenon Shohei Ohtani has wowed and mesmerized baseball fans this season. Not to be overlooked is the timing of awesome talent, engaging personality and a need for an uplifting Asian presence in an America beset with anti-Asian turbulence.
• The conversation around the Tokyo Olympics has mainly been about pandemic protocols, drug testing and the future possibility of multiple international sites—instead of just a home city burdened with Olympic infrastructure costs. And then there is this. The Games are the ultimate forum, for example, for track and field, swimming and gymnastics. It’s the pinnacle. It’s far from that for some sports, notably soccer, baseball, basketball and tennis. World Cups, World Series, NBA championships and Wimbledon matter more than the inferior Olympic versions.