Joe Henderson
Before we launch into our weekly rundown of winners and losers, let’s take a moment to say Happy Mother’s Day.
Whether your mom is still with you or is waiting on the other side for you to arrive, think about how she influenced the person you have become. If you’re like most people, you will realize she saw things in you before anyone else – including yourself.
This includes the biological mothers, the stepmoms, foster moms, and those who adopted children. Or maybe it was just the kind lady down the street who treated you like her own child.
Thank you, moms.
Oh, and one more thing before we commence: Florida’s unemployment system still sucks.
Winners
Honorable mention: Sports fans. Are you ready for some football? The NFL released its schedule, with dates and times. OK, maybe the league is overly optimistic, but seeing that schedule drop was a fun distraction for a few hours. We need that.
The Ultimate Fight Championship card is set in Jacksonville (no fans, only pay-per-view). NASCAR re-starts its engines on May 17 in Darlington. Pro golf is on the way, and maybe the NBA and Major League Baseball.
No fans can attend in person, but maybe that’s not all bad. Fans don’t have to shell out big bucks for tickets or pay outrageous sums to park your car or have a beer.
The almost (but not quite) biggest winner: Barbershops and salons. They have the green light to open in most spots around the state starting Monday.
That’s bad news for Flowbee sales, but good news for stylists who have been out of work for weeks.
“… my view is if you have somewhere there’s interaction, if you can do things like mask and other things that would make it low risk, then we’ve got to figure out a way to do that,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
Restrictions are still in place for Miami-Dade and Broward counties, but Palm Beach County can re-open. Its COVID-19 numbers are looking better, DeSantis said.
But there can only be one biggest winner.
The Winner of the Week in Florida politics: Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. He is receiving justified praise for his oversight during the county’s beach reopening last week.
Gualtieri promised a show of force as residents and visitors began returning to the sandy shores, and that’s what he delivered. More than 300 deputies ensured beachgoers followed social distancing.
In his report to County Commissioners, the Sheriff called the reopening “a successful day.”
Even better, the national images that went out showed people were following CDC guidelines for gatherings. That’s in sharp contrast to the disastrous spring-break video from Clearwater Beach that showed young people ignoring the dangers posed by the virus.
Gualtieri is not declaring victory just yet, though. In anticipation of large crowds on Mother’s Day, he promised the same kind of blanket vigilance that marked opening day.
Losers
Dishonorable mention: Florida Democrats. They took a beating last week. The ploy by state lawmakers to call a special COVID-19 Legislative Session might as well have been a lovebug going one-on-one with the windshield of an 18-wheeler.
In South Florida, Democrats were frustrated by the Governor’s move to reopen the state. They called on DeSantis to stop because of safety concerns.
He is not stopping.
If that wasn’t tough enough to swallow, they then had to watch popular Orange County Mayor Jerry Demmings, a Democrat, work with DeSantis on ways to reopen Orlando and the surrounding area.
“I think as Orange County and the rest of Central Florida has done such a great job battling this, I think they’re going to be really part of the foundation as we get into the next phases and bring Florida back where we want to have it,” DeSantis said.
The almost (but not quite) biggest loser: Those who protest mask requirements. Costco now requires shoppers to wear protective masks in its stores. Twitter Nation melted down.
The lunatic fringe that sees this as an infringement of personal freedom was shouting, screaming, pumping fists, and generally showing themselves to be a giant horse’s ass collective.
“Adios #Costco! Won’t be renewing my membership!” one Twitter user wrote. “I REFUSE to mask up for the low IQ mob that’s falling for the propaganda, not to mention the health risks by restricting oxygen!”
Then there was the would-be shopper who was turned away from a Publix in Miami Beach. He went off on a profane tirade that shortly afterward became a viral video.
“F— you motherf—–, there’s no pandemic, I’m filing a motherf—— lawsuit.”
As losers go, it’s tough to top that – well, bottom that.
But we can.
The Loser of the Week in Florida politics: Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony. The FDLE is investigating him over allegations that his paperwork before taking the job as the county’s top cop is inaccurate.
As the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported, “(Tony) never revealed to the FDLE, the governor who appointed him, or his prior police job with the Coral Springs Police Department, that he had been cleared of shooting an 18-year-old man dead in the 1990s in Philadelphia, in an act of self-defense.”
Yikes.
The document in question requires the applicant to answer that he has never had a criminal record sealed or expunged. Tony answered that it was “true and correct.”
He stands by that statement.
“When I was 14 years old, growing up in a neighborhood in Philadelphia filled with violence and gang activity, I shot an armed man in self-defense. The juvenile authorities reviewed my actions and cleared my name,” Tony wrote in an email to the online site Florida Bulldog.
“This was the most difficult and painful experience of my life and I have never spoken of it publicly.”
Disclosing that, obviously, would have been the right thing to do. While it might be a stretch to see this unforced error leading to Tony’s removal, it raises legitimate questions about his judgment.
That’s something no person in his position can afford.
