What President-Elect Trump’s first actions need to be

Given the latest unbelievable leaks from the Clinton campaign, it’s obvious our Justice and State Departments need a thorough housecleaning. You so wanted to believe FBI Director Comey’s actions in the email scandal were honorable. As more information comes out, it’s becoming painfully obvious we misjudged the man. He, along with other decision makers at the Justice Department including the Attorney General, should not be required to write the ceremonial resignation letter – why waste paper. The same applies to the State Department. Kerry would go just on merit or lack of. But career bureaucrats who are desperately praying for a Clinton victory should not renew any leases should Trump prevail. And even if Clinton wins, to retain what little credibility she has with the American public (less than a third trust her), the czarina needs to get rid of the miscreants in both departments.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Ayn Rand quote worth pondering: “When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt but protects the corrupt from you – you know your nation is doomed”.

2. There’s another county-wide election that we did not review last week – the county commission where incumbent Charlie Justice faces off against businessman Mike Mikurak. Both have impressive resumes but Justice has received nothing but government paychecks his entire adult life while Mikurak has written paychecks most of his. It seems a businessman like him usually has a higher value of a buck – our bucks.

3. If you ever had any doubt about how the major networks lean in this election cycle, read The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel’s (10/13) detailed analysis of Clinton/Trump coverage by ABC, CBS and NBC.

4. Jerry Coleman, a former Pinellas County Sheriff, terrific guy and a lawman’s lawman, passed away last week at 76.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember when there was a Waffle House in downtown – at the same site of today’s Mr. Submarine on Cleveland Street.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. Sports quote of the week: Toronto’s Jose Bautista on rookie Indians pitcher Ryan Merritt: "With our experience in our lineup, I'm pretty sure he's going to be shaking in his boots more than we are." Remind us how that worked out, Jose.

7. Do you think in the 50 plus years of the franchise the Buffalo Bills ever had more of America rooting for them when they played the 49ers last Sunday? And this week, our Bucs will be America’s favorite team.

8. So female comedian Amy Schumer has trashed the Bay Area during a New York performance. Will we ever recover?

9. That tower of pop culture, the 5:05 Newsletter provides this scary thought: “Just when you thought 2016 could not get any worse, Yoko Ono announces a reissue project of her studio albums from 1968 to 1985”.

10. We conclude this year’s running series of music acts that saw their very first charted song go to number one (and like the artists a few weeks back, never hit the charts again) – The Silhouettes, Eric Weissberg, Marvin Hamlisch, Jan Hammer and Bobby McFerrin. The songs were Get a Job, Dueling Banjos, The Entertainer (from The Sting), Theme from Miami Vice and Don’t Worry, Be Happy.

A note on our music notes:

As we’ve mentioned before, your HB (Humble Blogger) spent his high school senior year, college years and several beyond as a broadcaster spinning the hits on two local stations as well as brief stints in Panama City and Armed Forces Radio before being kicked upstairs into management. As such, we have compiled a fairly significant record collection and some knowledge of the history behind the recordings – occasionally offered up here. But we are still in our sophomore year compared to some guys who have made a career of knowing stuff about the music we grew up with. Specifically, we need to mention Lou Simon whose 60s Satellite Survey weekly on Sirius/XM is a fountain of information; Jerry Osborne’s excellent weekly internet column Mr. Music probes deeply into pop music history; finally there is a terrific reference book - Joel Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles. These three men are well worth a read or listen if you are into pop music. Before we conclude, we need to mention one other guy responsible for our music education – the late Jim Quinn of Tampa Bay’s U-92 who was an encyclopedia of pop and rock history.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK – WHAT A FIRST CLASS NEWSPAPER LOOKS LIKE