My colleague Gene Siudut titled his column last week "Another Day, Another Shooting," and he made the point that guns in public places have become the new normal.  Sad to say, I think he's right.  We have succeeded in banning tobacco in public, but much more dangerous guns are more prevalent than ever.  And Gene didn't even mention the recent shooting that I found most appalling.  You doubtless have heard about the 66-year-old woman checking out of a suburban Publix:  her purse fell to the floor; the gun in it went off; and her husband collapsed with a bullet that went in and out of his leg. Read More 

For four of the past five days, I've been in and out of Tampa General, USF Health at TGH, and USF Morsani, which actually is at the University of South Florida.  I've been a patient at USF's clinic since the medical school began back in the seventies, so I've watched it (and TGH) grow.  And grow.  And grow.  Sometimes I think of transferring to a less busy and closer medical practice here in East Hillsborough, but I don't think I ever will.  I go to USF Med because its doctors are on the cutting edge of research, and along with TGH, they perform procedures that can't be done elsewhere.  Read More 

·      If there are enough people in prison to swing an election, don't you think there might be too many people in prison?  Especially in our privatized prisons, where the contracting corporation makes a hefty profit on each inmate.

·      Buried in the multiple corruptions of the Trump administration is the news that Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Seema Verma spent millions of tax dollars on a Republican PR firm to generate positive press for herself.  That this isn't a first-rate scandal speaks volumes.

·      According to the non-partisan Economic Policy Center, we rank with New York and Connecticut for the worst income inequality.  The top 1% of Florida residents have an average annual income of $1.54 million -- almost 40 times than that of the other 99% of us, who average just $39,094.

Democratization of Dress

I first began thinking about this a while back, when there was a touching news photo of two young black men on either side of an older white woman:  they had seen her pay for gas with pennies from an empty wallet, and they followed her to the parking lot to give her their cash.  The stereotype would be the opposite, and it got me to thinking about how much recent styles in dress and appearance have helped create a stronger democracy.  You just can't tell who is who these days, and that's good. Read More 

Of all the comments on the recent Mueller Report, I think the best observation was that of longtime journalist Mark Shields.  He pointed out that Robert Mueller and Donald Trump both had the advantages of wealthy parents and private educations, and both are Republicans – but Mueller went to Vietnam and was wounded, while the Trumpster can't remember which of his feet has the bone spurs that excused him from the draft. Read More 

The Donald's delusion about voter fraud by poor people, especially African Americans, appears to have been largely implanted by Kris Kobach, secretary of state in Kansas and wannabe elsewhere.  He was briefly entrusted with a national mission to investigate this non-reality, but that lasted only a minute and a half -- until even The Donald had second thoughts. Kobach  since has been trying for other appointments, but his fellow Kansas Republican, US Senator Pat Robertson, acknowledged to the Kansas City Star, "we can't confirm him." Read More 

Saudi Arabia – the great ally of fascist billionaires who try to run the world via their lobbyists in Washington, DC – has again jailed women who had the temerity to drive cars.  The women's fight for the right to do so has retroactively led to prosecution on the grounds that they aim "to undermine the kingdom's security, stability, and national unity."  Several witnesses have told the Associated Press that while they were imprisoned, the women were tortured, beaten, shocked with electricity, and sexually assaulted.  Read More 

The new president of USF may turn out to be a great guy, but our community certainly did not get a chance to put our seal of approval on him.  The finalists, recruited by a private company, were announced on Monday, and on Friday, the Board of Trustees announced their choice – the only candidate among just four finalists whose credentials came even close to a reasonable resume for the presidency of a major university.  Read More 

• I see that Florida gamblers have driven the Powerball lottery up to new heights.  I also see that bankruptcies are significantly up, for the first time in nearly a decade.  Trump effect?  People modeling their personal economic policies on his? Read More 

As usual, Nancy Pelosi is absolutely right and should be heeded.  I've been amazed at how many of my smart friends are jumping on the impeachment bandwagon.  Yes, of course, there is lots of legal justification for that move – but these Democrats seem not to see that Mike Pence is the inevitable next step down impeachment path.  If this vice president becomes president before the 2020 election, he'll have the advantage of incumbency and voters will be deceived all over again. Read More 

• I just walked past the CNN headline news and saw, "White House blames Congress for ballooning national debt."  This Congress has been in office for just two months and has not passed any legislation that affects the economy – and until about sixty days ago, both houses of Congress were controlled for many years by Republicans.  Tell me again, which party is responsible for the (genuinely) ballooning debt? Read More