THE FEEL-GOOD BUZZWORD: AFFORDABILITY

This morning, I reluctantly flipped on MSNOW (formerly MSNBC), bracing myself for what was coming. Sure enough, it was the usual parade of Democratic Party talking points. But today, one word kept popping up over and over again: affordability. Apparently, that’s the new magic word. Commentator after commentator praised it, arguing that a renewed focus on affordability is the key to winning back political power.

On the surface, it sounds great. Who doesn’t want things to be more affordable? But once you sit with it for more than a minute, the whole idea starts to ring hollow. “Affordability” quickly reveals itself as a feel-good slogan, pleasant to hear, but light on substance. It’s nothing more than a platitude standing in for real solutions.

Yes, this message seems to be working for now. Democrats have notched some impressive wins in recent off-year elections, and they deserve credit for that. Still, I worry the momentum won’t last if the party keeps leaning on the same recycled rhetoric. If Democrats genuinely want to energize working-class voters, they need to offer something bolder with policies that people can actually feel in their everyday lives. Minor adjustments to the status quo, such as expanded tax credits, modest drug price negotiations, or incremental housing initiatives, often come across as window dressing to people who are struggling to get by.

What many voters are really craving, IMHO, is something far more straightforward, which is, for lack of a better term, populism. People want substantive change. And I believe the path forward is clear. Run on big, unmistakable ideas, such as Medicare for All, a massive expansion of public service jobs to stop endless layoffs, and bold investments in infrastructure. That’s how the Democrats can become a true opposition party to the elites who currently run this country.

LIVE GENERAL STRIKE FROM MINNESOTA 1/23/2026

CRUISELINES, COASTLINES, AND COINCIDENCES

Every once in a while, a local news story sneaks up on you and lands a little closer to home than expected. This one did exactly that.

According to several local reports, a Seattle-based company is considering building a brand-new cruise port right here in Manatee County that's large enough to accommodate the massive cruise ships that can’t fit under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Tampa already handles the smaller vessels, but this proposed port would be designed for the real giants of the cruise industry.

What makes this especially surreal for me is that I book cruise vacations for a living. Day after day, I sit at my desk at home, working from dual monitors, helping people plan trips aboard these very ships. Until now, those ships have existed mostly as itineraries, deck plans, and booking confirmations on a screen. Suddenly, there’s a real possibility they could be docking on Rattlesnake Key, just a few miles from where I live.

Developers are pitching the project as a major economic win for the area. They’re talking about thousands of new jobs, along with the ripple effects—new restaurants, motels, and tourism dollars brought in by waves of cruise passengers passing through. It’s an appealing vision, especially in a region that’s always balancing growth with opportunity.

At the same time, environmental groups are already raising red flags. Concerns about water quality, impacts on wildlife, and the loss of one of the county’s last largely undeveloped areas are front and center in the debate. It’s the familiar Florida dilemma: progress versus preservation, prosperity versus protection.

If the project does move forward, construction wouldn’t begin for at least five years, so nothing is imminent. Still, the idea lingers. There’s something undeniably strange about realizing that the massive cruise lines I help book every day—from the quiet of my home office—might soon be sailing up and down the coastline less than ten miles away.

For now, it’s just a proposal. But it’s also a reminder of how tightly interconnected our work, our communities, and our environment really are, and how sometimes, the abstract suddenly becomes very real

WHEN FAITH MEETS THE VAST UNKNOWN

My perception of "God", if you will, is a recognition of a higher power or supreme consciousness that exists far beyond the limits of our understanding. This divine presence is so vast, so unfathomable in its nature and scope, that attempting to fully comprehend it is like asking a single-celled organism to understand the passage of time or the nature of abstract thought. Just as such a creature lacks the faculties to grasp those concepts, we too are inherently limited in our ability to perceive or define the true essence of the divine.

TAMPA BAY'S NEW MUST-SEE PLAYER

I’ve been a diehard St. Louis Cardinals fan for as long as I can remember. But after moving to the Tampa Bay area 11 years ago, I found myself catching more and more Rays games partly out of convenience, but also because this team has become seriously fun to watch. And this season? It’s something special. The Rays have unleashed Chandler Simpson, a 24-year-old rookie who might just be the fastest player in all of Major League Baseball. I’m not exaggerating; this guy flies.

In just 55 games, he’s already stolen 27 bases, and every time he gets on, whether it’s a walk, a bloop single, or whatever. You get the feeling he’s about to turn it into a double or a triple with his wheels alone. He’s got that electric, edge-of-your-seat energy that reminds me of Lou Brock, Vince Coleman, and Rickey Henderson, guys who made speed an art form. In an era dominated by home runs and strikeouts, Simpson is reviving a part of the game that many thought was gone. If he stays healthy, I truly believe we’re watching the rise of baseball’s next great star.

THE MYTH OF THE MISSING WHEEL

For a long time, it’s been widely assumed in the West that pre-Columbian civilizations were somehow intellectually inferior because they never developed the wheel. However, archaeological discoveries in Mexico tell a different story. Wheeled ceramic toys, some dating back centuries before European contact, clearly show that the concept of the wheel was known and understood.

These artifacts challenge the narrative that ancient American cultures were unaware of this fundamental innovation. So why wasn’t the wheel used for transportation? Scholars suggest the answer may lie in environmental factors, such as the absence of large draft animals and the rugged geography of much of the area. These findings serve as a reminder that technological progress isn’t always a universal path—and that assumptions about cultural advancement need to be reconsidered.

THE BREAKING POINT

I'm nearly beyond words in trying to describe the extent of my utter revulsion toward the U.S. government's unwavering, bipartisan support for Israel's brutal and genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people. Both Biden and Trump, along with the vast majority of Congress, those who blindly serve the interests of AIPAC, are complicit in this unrelenting atrocity. I view them as nothing less than corrupt war criminals, responsible for the continued suffering of countless innocent lives.

I haven’t always felt this way. My disillusionment with Washington didn’t arrive overnight; it crept in slowly, like a crack in a windshield, small and ignorable at first, until it spread beyond repair. I once held many elected officials in high esteem. Back in the 1990s, while working as a broadcast journalist, I considered it a mark of professional pride whenever I had the rare opportunity to interview a member of Congress or a U.S. Senator. There was still, then, a sense of honor in the idea of public service.

But that sense of respect has eroded, first gradually, then completely. The lies that led us into the Iraq War marked the beginning of that descent. As the years unfolded, scandal after scandal, indifference after inaction, my faith in American leadership thinned to a thread. And now, with the horrors unfolding in Gaza, that thread has finally snapped.

The breaking point came when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, widely regarded as the driving force behind Israel’s ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing, was welcomed to a nationally televised joint session of Congress. There, he was met not with protest or scrutiny, but with thunderous, repeated standing ovations. Applause echoed through the chamber, not for peace, not for diplomacy, but for genocide.

For me, it was the clearest signal yet that those who govern us no longer speak for human decency, let alone for me.