The Trump Administration: think of what you will have to do without

The first person who comes to mind is Loretta Lynch. We’re guessing Justice Ginsberg won’t live up to her oath to move to New Zealand if the Don were elected – pity. The EPA seems to be in Trump’s sights. As stated here before – (RANTS – Sept. 28, 2014), the EPA had noble beginnings but has become nothing but an instrument to shake down businesses. Obamacare may not entirely go away but hopefully will be radically modified. And although the President-Elect only briefly touched on it during his campaign, the IRS needs some major work – if not elimination.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. It appears that Vice-President Pence will play a major role in a Trump administration – a refreshing change from the norm. We’ll spot you Biden, now name the last four vice-presidents In U.S. history. And for extra credit – the Vice-President who was an Army General, won the Nobel Peace Prize and wrote a number one song?

2. It’s not that many in our country aren’t ready for a woman President. They just weren’t ready for that woman President. If we were handicapping who would be the first, we think our chips would be on South Carolina governor Nikki Haley.

3. Liberal’s heads are blowing off over President-Elect Trump’s selection of Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. But when you compare him to his two predecessors in the Obama administration, he is a breath of fresh air. We don’t see him having covert airport meetings with folks like Bill Clinton or virtually putting our police forces on trial with broad brush accusations.

4. As the Obama administration now counts down in weeks to its conclusion, the question is where will this presidency rank among our nation’s leaders? Certainly in the bottom half – perhaps near the top of the bottom third based on opinions of various scholars who study the presidency.

5. You’ve lived in the bay area (or anywhere else) for a long time if you remember waiting until after 6 p.m. to make long distance calls to get the lower rate. Mention that to a millennial and note the blank stare.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. A casualty with the end of the election cycle was the Fox program Special Report with Brit Hume. The veteran journalist agreed to step in after the sudden departure of Greta Van Susteren – but only through the election. The show’s ratings nearly doubled. Now, Tucker Carlson takes over the time slot. The first few editions have been promising.

7. Honest, we are not making this up. There is now an app that can lead you to a McDonald’s location that serves their McRib sandwich. Have you ever seen one of those – or worse, eaten one?

8. Starved baseball fans would enjoy two shows making the rounds on the MLB Network this offseason. They are one hour capsules of two legends of the broadcast booth – Harry Caray and Bob Uecker.

9. Our Rants and Raves focus group (comprised of four old, cranky people) couldn’t understand why so many people were getting worked up over Donald Trump’s stance on a former Georgia Tech football coach. They had forgotten his name was Bobby, not Frank, Dodd.

10. Tampa Bay fans only thought the Bucs were the most inept team in the NFC – then the Chicago Bears hit town.

The New York Times mea culpa

The New York Times says it has rededicated itself to honesty in reporting. We would like to believe that, but wonder if it would have been business as usual had the election result been different. To their credit, the Times at least admitted going overboard in their zeal to get Hillary Clinton elected – or Donald Trump not elected. No such utterances from other media outlets that were equally beyond the pale such as NBC, The Washington Post or CNN to name only a few of many.

(The four V-Ps prior to Biden were Cheney, Gore, Qualye and Bush the elder. The overachiever was Charles Dawes, V-P to Coolidge. The Nobel was for his post-World War I work in Europe and the number one song - Tommy Edwards’ 1958 hit It’s All in the Game.)

SNEEK PEAK AT NEXT WEEK – TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE?