Pope gives ‘noble’ Chinese people a shoutout at Mass in Mongolia

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia — Pope Francis sent a special greeting to China’s “noble” people on Sunday, giving them a special shout-out at the end of a Mass celebrated in neighboring Mongolia during the first-ever papal visit that was largely overshadowed by Beijing and its crackdown on religious minorities.

Francis brought up to the altar the retired and current bishops of Hong Kong, Cardinal John Hon Tong and Cardinal-elect Stephen Chow, clasped their hands and told the crowd that included many mainland Chinese pilgrims that he wished them all well.

“I want to take advantage of their presence to send a warm greeting to the noble Chinese people,” Francis said. “To all the (Chinese) people I wish the best and to always go forward, always progress.”

“I ask Chinese Catholics to be good Christians and good citizens,” he added, to cheers from the crowd in the Steppe Arena, in the capital, Ulaanbaatar.

It was the first and only time that Francis has publicly mentioned China during his four-day visit, despite the large shadow that Beijing has cast over the trip and Mongolia.

China’s ruling Communist Party has been waging a yearslong, sweeping crackdown on religion, tightening controls, especially on Christianity and Islam that are viewed as foreign imports and potential challengers to Communist authority. The crackdown targeting Uyghurs in the northwestern Xinjiang region has been especially fierce, with claims that more than 1 million ethnic minority members were forcibly sent to prison-like reeducation centers where many have said they were tortured, sexually assaulted, and forced to abandon their language and religion.

The U.N. last year accused China of serious human rights violations that may amount to “crimes against humanity;” China has denied targeting Uyghurs and others for their religion and culture, denouncing the accusations as lies by the West and saying its crackdown was aimed at quashing separatism, terrorism and religious extremism.

The pope did send a telegram of greeting to President Xi Jinping as his aircraft flew early Friday through Chinese airspace, offering him “divine blessings of unity and peace.” The Beijing foreign ministry acknowledged the gesture and said it showed “friendliness and goodwill.”

But while small groups of Chinese pilgrims attended Francis’ main Mass here, no mainland Chinese bishop was believed to have been given permission to travel for the papal visit to Mongolia. Their absence underscored the tenuousness of a 2018 Vatican-China accord over Catholic bishop nominations, which Beijing has violated by making appointments unilaterally.

Earlier Sunday, China’s crackdown on faith groups was indirectly apparent as Francis highlighted, by contrast, Mongolia’s long tradition of religious tolerance: He presided over an interfaith event with Mongolian shamans, Buddhist monks, Muslim, Jewish, Shinto leaders and a Russian Orthodox priest.

Sitting among them on a theater stage, Francis listened intently as the faith leaders described their beliefs, their relationship with heaven and the peace and harmony their faiths bring the world. Several said the traditional Mongolian ger, or round-shaped yurt, was a potent symbol of harmony with the divine — a warm place of family unity, open to the heavens, where strangers are welcome.

“The fact that we are meeting together in one place already sends a message: It shows that the religious traditions, for all their distinctiveness and diversity, have impressive potential for the benefit of society as a whole,” Francis said.

“If the leaders of nations were to choose the path of encounter and dialogue with others, it would be a decisive contribution to ending the conflicts continuing to afflict so many of the world’s peoples,” he said.

Francis is in Mongolia to minister to one of the world’s smallest and newest Catholic communities and highlight Mongolia’s tradition of tolerance in a region where the Holy See’s relations with neighboring China and Russia are often strained. Beijing’s crackdown on religious minorities has been a constant backdrop to the trip, even though the Vatican hopes to focus attention instead on Mongolia and its 1,450 Catholics.

Hong Kong Cardinal-elect Chow, who made a historic visit to Beijing earlier this year, accompanied 40 pilgrims to Mongolia. He declined to discuss the absence of his mainland Chinese counterparts, focusing instead on the importance of Francis’ visit to Mongolia for the Asian church.

“I think the Asian church is also a growing church. Not as fast as Africa — Africa is growing fast — but the Asian church also has a very important role to play now in the universal church,” he told reporters.

Chinese President Xi has demanded that Catholicism and all other religions adhere strictly to party directives and undergo “Sinicization.” In the vast Xinjiang region, that has led to the demolition of an unknown number of mosques, but in most cases, it has meant the removal of domes, minarets and exterior crosses from churches.

“We really hope that gradually our government and leaders will accept him and invite him to visit our country,” said Yan Zhiyong, a Chinese Catholic businessman in Mongolia who attended an event on Saturday with Francis at the city’s cathedral. “That would be the most joyful thing for us.”

Most Mongolians follow the dominant Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism and revere its leader, the Dalai Lama. As a result, many Mongolians are concerned with the Communist Party’s opposition to the exiled Tibetan leader and its heavy-handed control over monastic life and what appears to be a concerted effort to gradually eliminate Tibetan culture.

Yet, given the need to maintain stable relations with Beijing — China is Mongolia’s top export partner — the country’s leaders have not spoken out on the matter, just as they have remained largely silent about repressive linguistic and cultural policies toward their ethnic brethren in China’s Inner Mongolia region.

Francis also has largely avoided antagonizing Beijing, most significantly by dodging any criticism of Beijing or by meeting with the Dalai Lama.

While the Dalai Lama wasn’t present Sunday, he was mentioned by the head of Mongolia’s main Tibetan Buddhist monastery, Khamba Nomun Khan Gabju Choijamts Demberel.

The abbot noted that “His Holiness,” as the Dalai Lama is known, had recently recognized the 10th reincarnation of the head lama of Mongolian Buddhists.

“This is an extraordinary fortune for us,” said the abbot.

The recognition has posed a problem, given that China requires all reincarnated lamas to be born within China and be officially certified by Beijing; the newly recognized Mongolian lama meets neither criterion.

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Billionaires want to build a new city in rural California. They must convince voters first.

SAN FRANCISCO — Silicon Valley billionaires behind a secretive $800 million land-buying spree in Northern California have finally released some details about their plans for a new green city, but they still must win over skeptical voters and local leaders.

After years of ducking scrutiny, Jan Sramek, the former Goldman Sachs trader spearheading the effort, launched a website Thursday about “California Forever." The site billed the project as “a chance for a new community, good paying local jobs, solar farms, and open space” in Solano, a rural county between San Francisco and Sacramento that is now home to 450,000 people.

He also began meeting with key politicians representing the area who have been trying unsuccessfully for years to find out who was behind the mysterious Flannery Associates LLC as it bought up huge swaths of land, making it the largest single landholder in the county.

An all-star roster of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are backing the project, including philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. The New York Times first reported on the group's investors and plans.

California Forever, the parent company of Flannery, has purchased more than 78 square miles of farmland in Solano County since 2018, largely in the southeastern portion of the county, with parcels stretching from Fairfield to Rio Vista. According to the website, Sramek fell in love with the area over fishing trips and he and his wife recently purchased a home in the county for their growing family.

The project issued a poll to residents last month to gauge support for “a new city with tens of thousands of new homes," solar energy farm and new parks funded entirely by the private sector.

But to build anything resembling a city on what is now farmland, the group must first convince Solano County voters to approve a ballot initiative to allow for urban uses on that land, a protection that has been in place since 1984. Local and federal officials still have questions about the group's intentions.

Two area congressmen who sought for years to find out whether foreign adversaries or investors were behind the buying spree around a U.S. Air Force base vital to national security and the local economy are furious that Flannery kept its identity hidden for so long. The website say 97 percent of its funding is from U.S. investors and the rest are from the United Kingdom and Ireland.

“The FBI, the Department of Treasury, everyone has been doing work trying to figure out who these people are,” U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, who represents much of the county, said this week after meeting with Sramek. “Their secrecy has caused a lot of problems, a lot of time, and a lot of expense.”

The investment group said secrecy was required until enough land was purchased, in order to avoid short-term speculation, but that it is now ready to hear from Solano households via a mailed survey and creation of a community advisory board. Past surveys showed parents were most concerned about their children's future, the website said.

“Instead of watching our kids leave, we have the opportunity to build a new community that attracts new employers, creates good paying local jobs, builds homes in walkable neighborhoods, leads in environment stewardship, and fuels a growing tax base to serve the county at large,” it said.

California is in dire need of more housing, especially affordable homes for teachers, firefighters, service and hospitality workers. But cities and counties can't figure out where to build as established neighborhoods argue against new homes that they say would congest their roads and spoil their quiet way of life.

In many ways, Solano County is ideal for development. It is 60 miles northeast of San Francisco and 35 miles southwest of California's capital city of Sacramento. Solano County homes are among the most affordable in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a median sales price of $600,000 last month.

But Princess Washington, mayor pro tempore of Suisun City, said residents deliberately decided to protect open space and keep the area around Travis Air Force Base free of encroachment given its significance.

She’s suspicious that the group’s real purpose is “to create a city for the elite” under the guise of more housing.

“Economic blight is everywhere. So why do you need to spend upwards of a billion dollars to create a brand new city when you have all these other things that can be achieved throughout the Bay Area?” she said.

Flannery further infuriated locals in May when it sued several landowners in court, accusing them of conspiring to fix prices for their properties. The company disclosed it had purchased or was under contract to buy about 140 properties for more than $800 million.

Then last week, residents began receiving a push poll gauging voter support for “a major new project” that would include “a new city with tens of thousands of new homes." The poll asked if they would be more likely to support the project if county residents were given priority and financial assistance to lease or purchase one of the new homes.

Thompson, the congressman, was unimpressed after meeting with Sramek, saying that the developer was vague on details and failed to display an understanding or appreciation of the county or its values.

Asked how he would help residents finance new homes, Thompson said Sramek told him he planned to use “all of his knowledge as a finance guy” to generate savings. Development in California is convoluted, but Thompson said Sramek told him they're hoping for expedited permitting "because their project is so good and their intentions are so great.”

“He doesn’t have a plan, he’s not there yet,” Thompson said.

U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, whose district includes Travis and immediate areas around it, said base and county officials reached out roughly five years ago for help in figuring out who was buying up land. Garamendi, who is scheduled to meet with Sramek Friday, was appalled to learn who was backing the project.

“You big wealthy Silicon Valley billionaires, you’re party to all of this. This is the kind of people you are? This is how you want to operate?” he said. “What they’ve managed to do is to totally poison the well.”

Hoffman and Andreessen did not respond to emailed requests for comment, nor did Jobs through her business Emerson Collective.

Project developers said they will protect the military base and farmers who want to keep farming on their parcels can do so.

Flannery has purchased virtually all the land surrounding the small city of Rio Vista, said Mayor Ron Kott.

He suspects older people who make up half of the city's 10,000 residents won't appreciate the added congestion and noise, but others might like the improved medical care, nightlife and shopping that a sophisticated city nearby might bring.

“If it’s done correctly, I think there’s a lot of opportunities for the county. Their tax revenue base will increase quite a bit. So there’s going to be a big windfall from that. Property values would probably go up around here as well even further. And so I think from those perspectives it’s good," Kott said.

"But again, I think you’re giving up a quality of lifestyle that’s kind of unique to this area."

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An Ohio ballot measure seeks to protect abortion access. Opponents' messaging is on parental rights.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The wording of a proposed constitutional amendment on Ohio's fall ballot to ensure abortion rights seems straightforward: It would enshrine the right “to make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions.”

Yet as the campaigning for and against the nation's latest tug-of-war over abortion begins in earnest this weekend, voters are getting a different message from the measure's opponents. They are characterizing it as threatening a wide range of parental rights.

“As parents, it’s our worst nightmare," one particularly ominous online ad funded by Protect Women Ohio, the opposition campaign, says of November's Issue 1.

That ad suggests the amendment would let minors end pregnancies without parental permission, calling it “a potential reality so grim it’s hard to even imagine.” Another suggests parents would have no say in minors' ”sex change surgery."

It's no surprise that anti-abortion groups opposed to the amendment are promoting that message. They are trying to flip the script in how they talk to voters after a string of losses in statewide ballot fights since the U.S. Supreme Court ended a nationwide right to abortion last year.

Measures protecting access to abortion have succeeded in Democratic- and Republican-leaning states, including California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont.

Data collected last year by AP VoteCast, a broad survey of the electorate, showed that 59 percent of Ohio voters believe abortion should generally be legal. Just last month, Ohio voters soundly defeated a measure that GOP lawmakers placed on a special election ballot that would have raised the threshold to pass constitutional amendments to 60 percent — a proposal seen as a first step to defeating the abortion amendment.

Before what is expected to be the highest profile national issue in November's elections, Ohio also is serving as a testing ground for political messaging headed into next year's presidential race. Abortion rights groups are trying to qualify initiatives in more states in 2024, potentially including the perennial battleground of Arizona.

To try to reverse their string of losses, anti-abortion groups are using the Ohio campaign to test arguments over parental rights and gender-related health care as potentially a winning counterpunch.

“It’s clear that the misinformation about abortion is not winning,” said Elisabeth Smith, director of state policy and advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “It didn’t win in Michigan. It didn’t win in Vermont. It didn’t win in Kansas. It didn’t win in Kentucky. So instead, we are seeing anti-abortion factions in search for that new, winning talking point.”

Legal experts disagree over what effect, if any, the Ohio amendment would have on parents' ability to control their children's access to abortion and gender-related health care, including surgery.

The points of contention are in the measure's fine print. Where the amendment says “every individual has a right to make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions,” opponents focus on the words “individual” and “reproductive” as potential openings.

Mehek Cooke, a Republican lawyer working with Protect Women Ohio, said the amendment's authors were intentionally vague when they used the word “individual,” allowing it to apply to any gender and to both adults and children.

“This is very deliberate, and I don’t think it’s open to interpretation,” she said. “It’s very clear ‘an individual’ means both.”

Ohio already has a parental consent law governing minors' access to abortion. Cooke said the amendment's wording means that would become unconstitutional, along with possible new laws aimed at restricting minors' access to gender-related health care.

Tracy Thomas, a University of Akron law professor who directs the school’s Center for Constitutional Law, was among several legal scholars who said that reading of the amendment is a stretch.

“It is a straw argument, a false argument that they're setting up,” she said. “Children do have constitutional rights, but we have lots of examples in the law, both state and federal, where these children’s rights are limited. Marriage is a good example.”

To be overturned, Ohio's existing parental consent law would have to be challenged in court and struck down by the state Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority, said Jessie Hill, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University and a consultant to the Issue 1 campaign.

Hill said similar arguments related to parental consent were made before Michigan’s vote last year to codify abortion rights in that state’s constitution, and “none of these things have come to pass.”

Ohio is among 36 states that require parental involvement in a minor’s decision to have an abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization that supports legal access to abortion.

Dan Kobil, a law professor at Capital University in Columbus, said courts upheld Ohio's parental consent law when abortion was legal nationwide “as being consistent with a woman’s right to terminate a pre-viability pregnancy, as long as it maintained a provision for a judicial bypass in extreme cases.”

Because of that, he said it's reasonable to think that parents would retain the right to be involved in reproductive decisions involving their children if voters approve the abortion amendment.

The amendment makes no reference to gender-related health care, and it's supporters say the reason is simple: It's not about that.

The proposal cites reproductive decisions “including but not limited to” contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one's own pregnancy, miscarriage and abortion.

Opponents are making a case to voters that such phrasing could open the door to minors' gender-related health care decisions being constitutionally protected from parental interference.

Frank Scaturro, a constitutional lawyer working with Protect Women Ohio, said legal interpretations under the Roe v. Wade standard were dealing with a document — the U.S. Constitution — “that says nothing at all specifically about abortion, or even more broadly about reproduction.” He said that under the Ohio amendment, anything that alters the human reproductive system could be understood as a “reproductive decision.”

David Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University, called such interpretations of the measure “far-fetched.”

“This is a very clear provision that is based in, or connected to, abortion and pregnancy, and that is a very different topic than gender-affirming care,” he said. "I can imagine some gender-affirming care might be related to fertility treatment, but that’s a very specific part of gender-affirming care. This is a scare tactic to try and make this about that.”

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Judge says DeSantis’ congressional map is unconstitutional, orders lawmakers to draw new one

A judge Saturday ruled that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ redrawn congressional districts in North Florida violate the state’s constitution and ordered the GOP-led Legislature to create a new map.

Judge J. Lee Marsh’s ruling is a rebuke to the governor, who previously vetoed the Legislature’s attempts to redraw Florida’s congressional maps and pushed lawmakers to approve his map that dismantled a North Florida seat formerly held by Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat.

“Plaintiffs have shown that the Enacted Plan results in the diminishment of Black voters’ ability to elect their candidate of choice in violation of the Florida Constitution,” Marsh wrote in his ruling.

The section violated is commonly referred to as the Fair Districts Amendment, which states that lawmakers can’t redraw congressional districts that “diminish” minority voters’ ability to elect someone of their choice.

The congressional map pushed by DeSantis broke up Lawson’s district, which linked Black neighborhoods and towns stretching from just west of Tallahassee to Jacksonville. Lawson, who lost election last year, previously said he would consider running for his old seat if lawmakers reinstate it to a similar configuration as when he held it.

Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd, in a text message, said that he disagrees with the decision and that the state will appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

The case stems from a lawsuit brought by various groups, including Black Voters Matter, Equal Ground, Florida Rising and the League of Women Voters of Florida. The groups sued over the new maps in April 2022, after DeSantis signed the new congressional maps into law.

“This is a significant victory in the fight for fair representation for Black Floridians. As a result, the current discriminatory map should be replaced with a map that restores the Fifth Congressional District in a manner that gives Black voters the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice,” said Olivia Mendoza, director of litigation and policy for the National Redistricting Foundation, which initiated the lawsuit.

She added in her statement that DeSantis “pushed for the discriminatory map that targeted Black voters with precision.”

Florida gained one congressional seat in 2022 due to population growth for a total of 28 districts. The Republican-controlled Legislature last year enacted congressional maps that would have benefited Republicans in 16 of those districts.

But DeSantis vetoed those maps and instead convinced the Legislature to enact his, which paved the way for Republicans to win 20 out of 28 seats. Some Republicans credited DeSantis with helping the GOP win a slim majority in the House.

DeSantis had argued that Lawson’s old district violated the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause, though the U.S. Supreme Court recently sided with Black voters and struck down Alabama’s congressional maps after the high court determined it likely violated the Voting Rights Act.

In a statement, Lawson said that he’s happy with the judge’s ruling but that it’s still too early for him to say what he’ll do next.

“My only goal right now is to ensure that fair representation is returned to the people of North Florida,” he said.

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In hurricane-torn Florida, Biden urges Congress to shore up emergency funding

Speaking from one of Florida’s regions hardest hit by Hurricane Idalia, President Joe Biden called on Congress to quickly boost FEMA’s disaster fund budget that a series of natural disasters across the country has depleted.

“Every American rightly expects FEMA to show up when they are needed to help in a disaster,” Biden said in Live Oak on Saturday. “I’m calling on the United States Congress, Democrats and Republicans, to ensure the funding is there to deal with the immediate crises, as well as our long-term commitments to the safety and security of the American people.”

On Friday, the White House announced that it had asked Congress to approve $4 billion in emergency disaster aid, which adds to a $12 billion request made last month. But that funding request could face significant hurdles amid a larger congressional spending fight this fall.

FEMA currently has around $3.4 billion left in its emergency disaster fund, and its dwindling balance is forcing the federal government to restrict its usage to life-threatening emergencies. That stipulation limits the agency from helping bankroll projects that aim to rebuild infrastructure that disasters have damaged in recent years.

After a wildfire destroyed parts of Maui and storms that have hit communities on both coasts in the past month, Biden has sought to show that his administration has responded to the crises in full force. The federal government’s shrinking disaster fund could impair those efforts if further disasters come.

FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell, who has become a face of the Biden administration’s response to natural disasters, has also pressed for Congress to boost funding.

"I want to stress that while immediate needs funding will ensure we can continue to respond to disasters, it is not a permanent solution,” Criswell said at a press briefing this week. “Congress must work with us on the supplemental request that the administration has made on behalf of FEMA.”

As he made remarks from Florida, flanked by state and local officials, Biden made an effort to characterize FEMA’s funding as a non-partisan issue. Gov. Ron DeSantis, notably, did not meet with Biden as he surveyed the hurricane’s damage in Florida on Saturday.

“Senator Rick Scott, who was with me today, I want to thank him for his cooperation, his help,” Biden said. “He shares the view I do about FEMA, they’re doing an incredible job. But the work, in a sense, is just beginning. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

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Biden and DeSantis: A show of unity that wasn’t

LIVE OAK, Fla. — Joe Biden’s trip to Florida on Saturday to survey the damage caused by Hurricane Idalia presented an opportunity for a Democratic president and a prominent GOP presidential candidate to project unity amid a crisis.

It didn’t happen.

Up until Friday afternoon, it was widely expected 2024 political rivals Biden and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would appear together as they have before during times of crisis, including after the deadly Surfside condo collapse in 2021 and last year when Hurricane Ian demolished seaside communities along Florida’s gulf coast. But Friday evening, DeSantis’ office surprised the White House when it announced the Republican had no plans to meet with the president, citing “security preparations” that would disrupt recovery efforts.

As Biden left Washington on Saturday morning, the president briefly confirmed he didn’t expect to meet with DeSantis, adding, “We are going to take care of Florida.”

Biden and the first lady were in Live Oak, Fla., Saturday afternoon, where they received an aerial tour of communities struck by the storm and participated in a briefing with federal personnel, local officials and first responders. Biden then toured the Live Oak community and met with residents who were impacted by Hurricane Idalia, a devastating storm that struck Florida earlier this week and left more than 6,000 homes damaged and at least one person dead.

DeSantis didn’t hold a public presser Saturday, though in the days leading up to the hurricane and in its aftermath, the governor held public briefings, sometimes multiple a day, to provide updates on the storm and recovery efforts. His office said around noon the governor was leaving Keaton Beach, near where the storm made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane, and later stated that DeSantis also helped distribute meals in Horseshoe Beach, a small community in Dixie County on the Gulf Coast.

The governor’s office Saturday did not provide further details on why he skipped the meeting with Biden.

White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre told reporters on Air Force One that Biden had informed DeSantis of his trip during a phone call Thursday and that the governor did not give any indication that he wouldn’t meet with the president.

“We’re going to let the governor speak for himself. Of course he is welcomed. Of course he is welcomed to be with the president today,” Jean Pierre said. “Our focus, and we’ve said this — you’ve heard the president say this — this is not about politics. It doesn’t matter if it’s a red state or a blue state, the president’s going to show up and be there for the community.”

White House officials on Saturday reiterated that the trip was planned in close coordination with FEMA and state and local leaders to avoid impact on ongoing response operations. The president was accompanied by Deanne Criswell, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The location of Biden’s visit was mutually agreed upon by both the White House and the governor’s office, Criswell said, adding that DeSantis did not tell the FEMA administrator that he wouldn’t be meeting with Biden before his office went public with a statement. She said that she understands ongoing concerns about some of the rural coastal areas she visited with DeSantis on Thursday that still have limited access but that both sides agreed the president could visit Live Oak due to “limited impact.”

“They’re well on their way to the road to recovery,” Criswell said.

While the governor was a no-show Saturday, Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott, who has long sniped with DeSantis, attended the briefing in Live Oak, donning an embroidered “45” hat. Scott posted on social media Friday night that he would be with the president in Suwannee County during the visit, where he planned to push Biden to approve his disaster relief legislation.

Saturday would have been Biden and DeSantis’ first event together since the Florida governor announced he was running for president.

The two leaders have repeatedly clashed on a number of issues, with DeSantis railing against Biden’s policies on immigration, the pandemic, LGBTQ issues and the economy. While Biden doesn’t shy away from criticizing DeSantis, in recent months Vice President Kamala Harris has also taken a more public role in attacking the governor, skewering DeSantis over Florida’s 6-week abortion ban and blasting him after he defended the state’s new Black history standards.

Both leaders could potentially have gained from a show of bipartisanship. Biden, who makes empathy a centerpiece of his political persona, could have reminded voters he’s willing to work across the aisle during a crisis. In red-tilting Florida, showing up also gives the president an opportunity to excite state Democrats, who are struggling to gain political power in a key battleground state.

For DeSantis, who built a reputation clashing with opponents, striking a bipartisan chord Saturday could have allowed him to again show the nation that he can get things done during a natural disaster — even with political adversaries.

Kimberly Leonard contributed to this report.

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‘A poet of paradise’: Presidents, pols pay tribute to Jimmy Buffett

Politicians poured one out Saturday for Jimmy Buffett, the bard of “boats, beaches, bars and ballads,” who passed away Friday night at 76.

President Joe Biden released a statement paying tribute to the “Margaritaville” singer, saying he and the first lady “had the honor to meet and get to know Jimmy.”

“A poet of paradise, Jimmy Buffett was an American music icon who inspired generations to step back and find the joy in life and in one another,” Biden wrote. “His witty, wistful songs celebrate a uniquely American cast of characters and seaside folkways, weaving together an unforgettable musical mix of country, folk, rock, pop, and calypso into something uniquely his own.”

Both Bill and Hillary Clinton expressed their condolences, with the 2016 Democratic nominee writing “Fair winds and following seas, dear Jimmy.”

“Jimmy Buffett’s music brought happiness to millions of people,” former President Bill Clinton wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I’ll always be grateful for his kindness, generosity, and great performances through the years, including at the White House in 2000. My thoughts are with his family, friends, and legion of devoted fans.”

Florida Democratic Chair Nikki Fried also took to X to remember Buffett, who popularized and built a commercial empire around the Key West lifestyle.

“Jimmy Buffett was an icon,” Fried wrote. “He inspired generations to laugh and enjoy life. He brought communities together through his music. He was a fierce advocate for cannabis legalization, the torch has been passed. Fins Up!”

“Jimmy Buffett was a legendary musician who lived his life knowing it was always 5:00 somewhere,” Texas Rep. Ted Cruz wrote on X. “Rest in peace to this American icon who brought happiness to so many.”

Former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake wrote: “Thank you for bringing so much happiness to this world. Rest in Paradise, Jimmy Buffett.”

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