Tampa Bay

* Context always matters. When a Tampa police officer was fired over a racial slur it wasn’t about a department policing itself of racists. It was a department—and Police Chief Brian Dugan—over-reacting. This wasn’t a rogue officer using unnecessary force. This wasn’t a case of racial profiling. A black cop, the resource office at Middleton High School, which is nearly half black, was fired over using the “N” word. Twice. Once while on the phone with his wife after an off-duty assignment and once while arresting a black student.

We live in a pop culture where “N” words are accepted as “bro talk” or in rap lyrics. It’s off limits for whites. We get it. It’s not for outsiders who only use it to demean. Same goes for personal pejoratives among rural white Southerners, Hispanics, Native Americans or European ethnics. It’s situational extended family–typically behind closed doors–although no family history is as tragic and infamous as that of African-Americans, and no group’s back story is comparable.

A black cop disciplining and arresting a black youth should know better than to drop an “N” word into the process. It’s more a function of temper, frustration and maybe embarrassment. It’s not helpful and cannot be condoned. Discipline, yes, but it’s hardly cause for dismissal. Context, as noted, always matters—as does fairness and common-good common sense.

* However this byzantine transportation process works out, it looks like gridlock will be on the 2022 ballot.

* Whenever you go to TIA, you are reminded that the non-suburban location is logistically friendly, aesthetic and that it was built to prioritize passengers more than planes. Now add this: TIA was one of five North American airports to receive the inaugural best hygiene measures award from the Airports Council International. This isn’t some old-school definition of “clean.” This is a testament to pandemic protocols. And it’s more than service-area plastic shields, social distancing markers and constant cleaning of high-touch areas. Back in the fall, TIA joined with BayCare to offer COVID-19 testing for arriving and departing passengers. No, TIA doesn’t rest on its well-earned laurels.

Trumpster Diving

* Among those arrested for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6: Federico Guillermo Klein, a former State Department official and a Trump political appointee.

* Stoppage update: “Stop the St” … Oops. “Stop the Stimulus.”

* “It is really not a choice—to me, it’s an obligation. Each D.A. in the country has a certain jurisdiction that they’re responsible for. If alleged crime happens within their jurisdiction, they have a duty to investigate it.” That was Fulton County (Ga.) district attorney Fani T. Willis, who will decide if Trump’s calls to state officials urging them to “find” votes could run afoul of a Georgia statute dealing with “criminal solicitation to commit election fraud.” If prosecuted as a felony, it would be punishable by at least a year in prison.

* On the CPAC presidential straw poll, Sunshine State Sycophant Ron DeSantis finished second only to Trump.

* It cannot be saved.” That was “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough on the fate of the all-too-Trumpian Republican Party.

* Trump acolyte Ron DeSantis’ political committee, “Friends of Ron DeSantis,” (or is it “Fox & Friends of Ron DeSantis”?) brought in $2.7 million in February.

Sports Shorts

* The USF women’s basketball team won the program’s first-ever league title this season. Head coach Jose Fernandez was named the American Athletic ConferenceCoach of the Year” andis a semi-finalist for the Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year Award.

* A Tom Brady rookie card recently sold for $1.32 million on an online auction. No, it wasn’t Bill Belichick.

* After 24 games, the Lightning had racked up 38 points, the most ever for the franchise—one that includes two Stanley Cup-winning seasons.

* “Organized sports has cheapened the national anthem for decades.”–Sports podcaster Mike Wise.

Quoteworthy

* “Fraternity is more durable than fratricide, hope is more powerful than hatred, peace more powerful than war.”–Pope Francis, during his visit to Iraq.

* “This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to COVID-19 vaccine-related crime.”–Interpol Secretary General Jurgen Stock, after police in China and South Africa seized thousands of doses of fake vaccine.

* “We have not, to date, seen any evidence of anarchist violent extremists or people subscribing to antifa in connection with the 6th (of January).”–FBI Director Chris Wray.

* “In the wake of COVID-19, it appears that far-right extremists have discovered the extent of people’s fear of social control and loss of liberty and have realized how easily they can manipulate citizens who may not normally subscribe to extreme ideology.”–University of Maryland social psychologist Arie Kruglanski.

* If you choose not to get the vaccine that millions of your fellow citizens are getting, that’s on you, and you have to live with the consequences of that decision.”–Jim Geraghty, National Review.

* “The motive of Jim Crow states in 1965 was the same as it is now in 2021: the suppression of minority voters to perpetuate minority white rule.”–Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post.

* “This bill makes great progress in many of our climate recommendations, especially on our goal to put millions of Americans to work in clean energy jobs.”–Congresswoman Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, chair of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, on the recently introduced Climate Leadership and Environment Action for our Nation’s (CLEAN) Future Act to achieve net zero greenhouse gas pollution by 2050.

* “Despite being drenched in the lessons of #MeToo, a society does not change instantly. The reason Shakespeare is still the greatest playwright is humans have the same tragic flaws, century after century.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.

* “I wasn’t elected by politicians. I was elected by the people of the state of New York. I’m not going to resign.”–New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in addressing sexual harassment claims.

* “Unlike a corporate executive, an elected official out in public is never truly off the clock.”–Ruth Marcus, Washington Post.

* “The truth is, Dr. Seuss Enterprises, like Aunt Jemina and the Washington Redskins, has simply undergone a belated but needed process of self reflection.”–Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald.

* “This (Florida) administration doesn’t want to put negative information out there. If there’s good news, we’ll share it, and if there’s bad news, we’ll hold onto it for a while until we are pushed and shoved to release it.”–Pamela C. Marsh, president of the First Amendment Foundation.

* “Having the Ritz-Carlton brand come to Tampa is an acknowledgment of our hard work over the years to make Tampa Bay a great location.”–Bob Rohrlack, president and CEO of the Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce, in reference to the Related Group’s decision to build the Ritz-Carlton Residences on Bayshore Boulevard. When completed, the project will include two 27-story condo towers plus 12 luxury town homes. Condo units will range in price from $1.7 million to $5.2 million.

CPAC’s Deus Ex Maga

In relocating to Orlando last weekend, CPAC (Could Punks Actually Care?), in effect, hosted a mask-challenged, sycophants-only Trump (“Four More Years”) rally. One that was killing polemic-and-grandstanding time until the larger-than-strife Deus ex MAGA actually appeared on Sunday. The countdown included selfies with that garish Trump statue and stage time for post-Cancun, Ted Cruz one-liners.

There were notable,non-invited no-shows:Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney. But Flori-duh, alas, was well represented, including Ron (“We will not go back to the failed Republican establishment of yesteryear”) DeSantis, Rick Scott, Matt Gaetz and Pam Bondi. “Stop the Steal”–certainly not “Stop the Fealty”–was still a crowd favorite.

Efforts to pass that pandemic-relief package and “Make America Grateful” were not priorities. Standing for something other than conspiracies, fake news, fat-cat tax breaks, disdain for the norms of civility, disingenuous definitions of “freedom” and Trump obeisance? Hell, this was CPAC, not C-SPAN.

And they got what they think will be a Trump reset in 2024, even if it came with a teasing dollop of equivocation. “I may even decide to beat them for a third time,” said Trump, as only a twice-impeached president who had lost two straight popular votes could say it.

Dem Notes

* No lack of reminders for Joe Biden that even when you succeed the worst president in U.S. history, you don’t get a first 100-day honeymoon. Not with ever-present climate-change threats, pandemic relief challenges, racial and gender disparities and partisan, Trump-loyalist pushback. And not, for sure, with foreign affairs. As for the latter, it’s more than election-interfering Russia, the increasingly problematic behemoth that is China and European skepticism.

The Middle East is still the Muddled East, and the Biden Administration inherits the uber tricky dilemma of dealing with Saudi Arabia, nobody’s idea of what a real ally should be like. It has oil and well-proven opposition to Iran and its terrorist surrogates. They also have an authoritarian government that treats human rights with contempt and continues to carry out de facto genocide in Yemen. The Trump Administration, however, wasn’t fazed and then looked the other way on the complicity of Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman in the murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was writing for the Washington Post. It’s what can happen when an Administration’s “ally” is the antithesis of American values, but buys American weapons for billions of dollars.

To its credit, the Biden Administration has now released a declassified version of an intelligence report—one the previous Administration withheld from the public. It says, in part: “We assess that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey, to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.” Now what? Minor sanctions are wrist slaps. This is no time for geopolitical naivete, but it’s never the right time for enabling and appeasing moral rogues.

* Call it “Build Back Bigger.” There’s “big government,” the bete noire of conservatives and libertarians, and then there’s “big government” during a devastating pandemic where doing too little costs lives and livelihoods.

* “(President Biden) clearly believes in under-promising and over-delivering—a marked contrast with Trump.”–Jonah Goldberg, The Dispatch.

* “That’s the New York spirit, that’s the Texas spirit, that’s the American spirit.”—That was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who volunteered at the Houston Food Bank and announced her fundraising effort for the storm recovery effort in the state had surpassed $5 million. You go, AOC. That’s not “Squad” grandstanding; that’s walking the walk to help those in need.

* “It remains a commitment and something he will use his political capital to get done.”–White House press secretary Jen Psaki, on President Biden still being committed to the $15-per-hour minimum wage that was dropped from the $1.9 trillion relief bill.

COVID Bits

#AloneTogether

* For context, the number of Americans who died from the Spanish flu: 650,000.

* Publix is now offering vaccine appointments at all 730 of its in-store Florida pharmacies.

* Florida is one of two states to prioritize residents 65 and older in its first phrase of vaccine distribution. “Our plan is seniors first. … It’s a very simple strategy,” noted Gov. Ron DeSantis.

* Statewide, more than 3 million people have been vaccinated. About half have received both shots and are fully immunized.

* Oragenics, a Tampa-based biotech company, has raised $20 million from the sale of common stock and will use a chunk of that funding to boost its research into a COVID-19 vaccine. Its vaccine, known as Terra CoV-2, has gone through one round of clinical trials and a second phase is in the works. “We are in scale-up mode right now,” said Oragenics president and CEO Dr. Alan Joslyn.

* The Feds have approved Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine, which is logistically easier to accommodate. It can last three months in a refrigerator—as opposed to the Pfizer and Moderna options, which must be frozen.

* Approximately one-third of military troops on active duty or in the National Guard have declined to take the vaccine. At Fort Bragg, N.C., America’s biggest military installation, acceptance rates are below 50 percent. Sobering.

* A California carpool-lane driver was busted for having a mannequin with a face mask instead of a human passenger.

* “Vaccine equity is a huge issue right now, and I highly encourage people to be mindful of this as they look to travel internationally.”–Infectious disease epidemiologist Saskia Popescu.

* On the other hand—this is the lowest-level flu season on record.

Trumpster Diving

* Trump’s preening, equivocating teasings about a 2024 run are stoked by ego, cult followers and spineless GOPsters. But even more impactful are criminal scenarios yet to play out in Atlanta and New York (Manhattan). He can run a lot easier as a twice-impeached (“witch hunt”) president than as an indicted one.

*By all accounts, rioters blaming Trump for their Capitol attack are finding little legal standing. In short, being a gullible, seditious punk is no defense.

* GOPster Mash: He said it a couple of years ago, but few doubt that Congressional retiree and former Republican House Speaker John Boehner feels any different about Sen. Ted Cruz.Lucifer in the flesh,” he called him. Indeed, the devil is still in the details—and Cancun Cruz is still trying, as we know, to sleaze his way onto a Trumpublican presidential ticket.

* “The belligerence of his tweets contributed to the erosion of Mr. Trump’s re-election support among suburban voters, who simply couldn’t take it any more.”–Daniel Henninger, Wall Street Journal.

* MachiNATION: a country too enamored of conspiracy theories.

Media Matters

* Scribblers”: How Abraham Lincoln often referred to the press.

* We now have another reminder that Trump’s demonization of the media as the “enemy of the people” has consequences. Tampa’s Democratic state senator, Janet Cruz, has filed a bill that would extend the protection of Florida’s hate crime statues to reporters. According to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, there were approximately 400 attacks on journalists last year.

* “It was so enthralling and gratifying to assail Donald Trump as a liar and misogynist that it was bound to be jarring when the beast slouched out of town and liberals had to relearn the lesson that reporters don’t—or shouldn’t—suit up for the blue team.” That was Maureen Dowd—not Rachel Maddow.

Sports Shorts

* Football aphorism: “You always hurt the one you block.”

* If you’re a hockey fan, as I am, you probably get this—at least in theory. Hockey is the hardest spectator sport. When you watch other major sports, especially football and baseball, there is an inherent pacing that can accommodate–sometimes overly so–viewing fans. There are lots of built-in breaks in the action–enough time to argue a call or second-guess a strategy or grab a beer. With hockey, it’s largely a frenetic pace; you can’t always see the puck; and teams change personnel every minute and a half or less. It’s not a fun, relaxing experience. In fact, it can be downright nerve-racking. That’s why I rarely watch a Lightning game beginning to end. I’ll look in for an update, and if the Bolts ultimately win, I’ll kick back and watch the highlights--and often the replay–without being on the edge of my seat coiled in nervous tension, spilling a drink.