Category: Uncategorized

The State Department of Transportation is working to provide real-time traffic information along I-4—between Orlando and Tampa. It makes eminent sense to provide information directly to motorists about congestion and inevitable back-ups. More than 150,000 vehicles use the I-4 Corridor daily. What also would make eminent sense would be having light rail already up and running by now connecting both ends of a megalopolis. Maybe Rick Scott would agree. Not.

* According to Axios, Matt Gaetz is seriously considering leaving Congress—perhaps pre-empting a boot—for an on-air gig with “Newsmax,” the conservative cable channel owned by longtime Trump ally and confidant Chris Ruddy. Newsmax TV is available in 70 million homes. Its hosts include former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer and political consultant Dick Morris. Among its contributors: attorney Alan Dershowitz, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Michael Reagan, son of Ronald Reagan. Not exactly must-see TV.

* “A wake-up call for a return to Republican sanity.” That was how former House Speaker John Boehner described the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection in his memoir, “On the House.” He also characterized Sen. Ted Cruz as the “head lunatic.” He also acknowledged that he voted for Trump in 2020 because he, uh, liked his judicial appointees.

* Lest we forget, GOP hijacker Donald Trump was a Democrat until 2009.

“Champion for Freedom.” That was the award presented to Trump by Rick Scott at MAGA-a-Elba recently. Not familiar with it? It was a prize created for the cult-figure-fawning occasion.

* Trump spin-off: Former Trump cabinet members and other officials from the Trump Administration have formed a think tank: the America First Policy Institute. It creates, in effect, a policy platform out of Trump priorities. Among former Team Trumpsters: Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe.

* When the Rays beat the Yankees, 8-2 last Friday, it also included–yet again–another Rays batter being hit by a Yankee pitcher. It’s a pattern and it’s been getting personal. But the final blow–again–was landed by the Rays. Here’s how the New York Post described it: “The Yankees hit the Rays again. The Rays punched the Yankees in the mouth.” Yeah.

* “There are a variety of concerns, but as the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee, we are not thinking about canceling the (Olympic) Games.” Organizing Committee President Seiko Hashimoto, in the context of Japan experiencing a recent surge in coronavirus cases.

* “What helps poor countries to grow is foreign investment. The United States must source products made in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador so that companies move their factories to those countries. This could be done by providing tax breaks on the sales of products made in the Northern Triangle; this would incentivize both American and foreign companies to invest in the Northern Triangle in order to claim the tax break and win market share in America.”–Noah Smith, Bloomberg.

* “How many enemies have we spawned trying to help Afghanistan?”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.

* “We have communicated that there will be consequences if Mr. Navalny dies.”–U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, in reference to jailed Russian opposition leader Alexi Navalny, now in a weeks-long hunger strike.

* If a mysterious virus suddenly started killing eight of our children every day, America would mobilize teams of doctors and public health officials. We would move heaven and earth until we found a way to protect our children. But not with gun violence.”–Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

* “We don’t have a lot of work to do to persuade the American people that U.S. infrastructure needs major improvement. The American people already know it.”–Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

* “The demographic reshuffling already underway will alter our culture, our politics and who has the reins of power. Much of the Republican agenda is fueled by a fear of this future.”–Michelle Norris, founding director of the Race Card Project.

* “The GOP’s path out of the wilderness may be a long one, but it will start in Florida. Republicans can’t win the Electoral College without the state.”–Jonah Goldberg, The Dispatch.

* “The trauma of Trumpism has taught the GOP elite that some compromise with base politics is inevitable, and right now Ron DeSantis seems like the safest version of that compromise—Trump-y when necessary, but not Trump-y all the time.”–Ross Douthat, New York Times.

* “Anguish cannot be allowed to translate into violence. But neither can it translate into silence.”–Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald, on responses to the killings of George Floyd and Daunte Wright.

* “Until the coronavirus disappears, the vaccine ‘passport’ is here to stay. It’s not personal. It’s not even political. It’s just business.”–Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times.

* “The government and the Fed are far more adept in staving off prolonged recessions than their predecessors.”–Yale economics professor Robert J. Shiller.

* “Broad, sweeping mandatory face-covering policies serve no remaining good at this point in our schools.”–Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran.

* “With lots of people moving to the Sunshine State—that growth is really what drew us to the market.”–Megan Falconer, associate marketing manager for Central Florida and Tampa Bay for Compass Inc., a national real estate brokerage that is opening offices in Tampa and St. Petersburg.

* “We are going to build an eco-friendly outdoor ballpark to host games during the most beautiful time of the year in Florida.”–Rays President Brian Auld, in reiterating that the Rays still have plans to share the franchise with Montreal.

Remember the Ron DeSantis honeymoon? It’s what happens when you succeed the odious Rick Scott. You get the benefit of the doubt from a number of non-GOPsters impressed by someone who doesn’t deny science, pledges relief for the Everglades and lifts a ban on medical marijuana in smokable form.

That went up in smoke, as he has increasingly manifested his Tea Party and Freedom Caucus sides, remained a staunch Trump supporter and friend of Matt Gaetz, and continued as a Fox News green room regular. He gutted the felons’ restored right-to-vote measure, allowed some teachers to carry guns on campus and banned “sanctuary cities” in a state that didn’t have any. Then came the pandemic. Confusing public health messages, charges of vaccine favoritism and dismissive attitudes toward mask mandates and curfews were game changers in a life-and-death crucible.

In some ways Gov. Ron DeSantis is more loathsome that his cult leader, Donald Trump. He’s smarter than Trump. He earned his way into an Ivy League education. He’s from Dunedin—not Queens. He authored a book that wasn’t ghost-written. He wasn’t born on third base with a half-billion-dollar inheritance. He’s not unread—from books to briefs. And his leadership issues aren’t pathological, such as prevarication, attention deficit and narcissism. He’s calculated, not unhinged.

He’s deviously self-serving, panders to the usual suspects, ratchets up polarization and has helped to reintroduce “Flori-duh” back into the media cycle. He’s now arguably the most recognized Republican governor in the country—and lionized by Trump minions and acolytes for being one of them. He’s now a Republican presidential front-runner.

He’s not Donald Trump—but more detestable because he knows better.

* “Some worry that these (infrastructure-package) taxes will dampen the still-fragile recovery. To the contrary, such investments, accompanied by well-designed taxes, could unleash a period of growth that we have not seen for a long time.” That was Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-winning economist and former chief economist of the World Bank.

* Mexico has so far received 2.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the U.S. Its foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, is coming to Washington to seek more help. Expect that he will get it—as well as a quid pro quo request for more border cooperation.

* “You cannot work in the trenches.”–West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, the de facto president of the 50-50 Senate, on the need for bipartisanship.

#AloneTogether

* Worldwide death tolls: U.S.–more than 560,000, Brazil—more than 340,000.

*According to W.H.O. Director General Tedros Ghebreysus, one in four people in rich countries had received a vaccine—as opposed to one in 500 in poorer countries.

* The U.S. population is projected to grow just 0.2 percent this year. Last year it was 0.4 percent. Those are the lowest numbers in U.S. history—with the exception of the 0.1 percent decline in the Spanish Flu year of 1918.

* Medical experts agree: There is no evidence that the vaccines affect pregnancy.

* Not everybody was blindsided and devastated by the pandemic. According to Forbes, the number of billionaires jumped 30 percent in the last year—to a total of 2,755. The U.S. had the most: 724. China, including Hong Kong and Macao, was second with 698.

* This week the Biden Administration is launching a funeral assistance program that will give up to $9,000 to cover the burial costs of each American who died of COVID-19.

* According to the W.H.O., states should maintain a possitivity rate of 5 percent or less for at least two weeks before reopening. Florida’s possitivity rate, according to Johns Hopkins University, is about 10 percent.

* “Among the medical community, the prevailing sentiment is moving toward the idea that COVID likely will have some footprint in the community for the foreseeable future.”–Dr. Iahn Gonsenhauser, chief quality and patient safety officer for the Ohio State University Medical Center, on the likelihood of post-pandemic booster shots.

* Hillsborough County is now offering—through April 20–free, in-home (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccinations for residents who are elderly, without transportation or have disabilities making it hard to travel for shots. The in-home visits are organized by Pulse Clinical Alliance, a Jacksonville-based coalition of clinicians and medical-record internet technology professionals.

* State officials have announced that about 30,000 vaccine doses have been earmarked for the Florida Department of Corrections.

* “Infodemic”: The term used to describe the crisis of COVID-19 misinformation.

* Gov. Ron DeSantis recently got a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson shot—out of the public eye. Most governors do it on camera as a way to convince more people to get vaccinated. The high-profile optics can be useful in helping to get to herd immunity. But, no, there’s still no vaccine for gubernatorial transparency.

* Gov. DeSantis has announced that he’s suing the federal government to get the CDC to allow cruising to resume immediately. “We don’t believe the federal government has the right to mothball a major industry for over a year based on very little evidence and very little data,” stated DeSantis, as only he–or Trump–can state stuff.

* The Wall Street Journal, an anomaly in the newspaper business, is still very much in the black. A key factor: It was ahead of its time on digital publishing. Back in the mid ‘90s, it began charging readers for online access. At the other end of the existential print spectrum: The NortheastNews of Kansas City. In underscoring how lost ad revenue during the pandemic has made its business model even more problematic, it recently published an edition with a blank front page. The less-than-nuanced message: This is what it will be like when we’re gone.

* This year marks the 35^th anniversary of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” It still works.

* “Send your donation to Save America PAC—not to RINOs.”–Donald Trump.

* The theme for last weekend’s RNC donor retreat in South Florida (Four Seasons Resort) was ostensibly about party unity–definitely not “Stop The Spiel.” It included a pilgrimage to MAGA-a-Elba to hear directly from the Oracle of Grievance himself. The invitation-only gathering of deep-pocketed donors also included GOP presidential wannabes, such as Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Florida Gov. Ron DeSuck-up.

Among major Republican players notably absent: former Vice President Mike Pence and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley.

* Also not there, unsurprisingly: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. But he was referenced by Trump during his mostly off-the-cuff presentation—as only Trump can reference: “A dumb son of a bitch” and a “stone cold loser.” That’s because McConnell ultimately accepted the 2020 election result and didn’t help much in the effort to overturn it. But he did not vote to convict in Trump’s impeachment trial. Had he—imagine the Trump reference.

* “All Republican roads lead to Mar-a-Lago,” underscored Trump adviser Jason Miller. “Trump is still the straw that stirs the news cycle.”

* The grift of gab: When some RNC events were moved to Mar-a-Lago, it meant the GOP was again paying Trump’s private club to use its space—in this case, $100,000.

* “(Trump’s) already proven that he wants to have a major say in–or keep control of–the party, and he’s already shown every sign that he’s going to primary everybody that has not been supportive of him. He complicates everything so much.”–Texas-based GOP fundraiser Fred Zeidman.

* Embarrassing, worrisome Trump fealty notwithstanding, the 45^th president’s influence will be impacted by his legal vulnerability. He’s a defendant in at least 30 lawsuits—and three criminal investigations. Speaking of the latter, Manhattan District D.A. Cyrus Vance has brought aboard attorney Mark Pomerantz, the former prosecutor best known for putting Mafioso boss John Gotti behind bars. Word is Pomerantz is already working on flipping Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg.