After nearly four months of our weekly dining tips (back story in Jan. 1 RANTS), we have made no mention of seafood. So many great choices, but our number one is the Frenchy’s Saltwater Café on Poinsettia Avenue just off the roundabout on Clearwater Beach - Key West atmosphere and fresh off their boat seafood.

This week – a no brainer for Clearwater and CMA

This week, the Clearwater city council votes on buying some critical downtown property from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. A few quick points: good for the aquarium for not bending to the Church of Scientology’s efforts to further “buy” Clearwater. And shame on cult spokesman Ben Shaw for accusing the CMA board of bad fiduciary management for not taking Scientology’s bloated offer. Paying four times what a property is worth is good financial judgement, Mr. Shaw? Lastly, this should be, and better be, a slam dunk 5-0 vote by our city council. Talk last week that a couple council members were wavering is troubling. Debate on this should last a nanosecond although we know politicians like to hear their heads rattle but there is really nothing to say about the cult’s takeover efforts that hasn’t already been said.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Despite the self-serving efforts by Chuck Schumer and his merry band, balance has been restored to the Supreme Court with the appointment of Justice Neil Gorsuch. Now, the left wing must pray fervently for the good health of Justices Ginsberg, Breyer, Kagan and Sotomayor.

2. The spike in Airbnb (short term rental service) usage in the bay area is not necessarily a good thing. Many of the Airbnb properties rented out violate both community and governmental regulations. This is a service that needs much greater local and state oversight.

3. Watching the back and forth on a new Rays stadium site, one is reminded of the late Jimmy Breslin’s book Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?

4. Just an idle thought, most highly praised presidents weren’t really as good as legend has them and most universally damned presidents weren’t all that bad – with the possible exceptions of Andrew Johnson and Harding.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you boogied at Studio 19 at Gulf to Bay and U.S. 19.

The diamond, the media and other stuff:

6. The MLB Network continues to be geography challenged. Last week, folks in the bay area got “regional coverage” of a game between two teams a combined 2500 miles away (1178 and 1329) instead of two teams a combined 1480 miles away (1024 and 456). Go figure.

7. In citing some outstanding guys whose baseball careers apparently ended with spring training last week (RANTS – April 16), we should have mentioned a young left handed reliever named Paco Rodriguez mysteriously cut by Atlanta despite a solid spring. Keep your eye on where this guy lands.

8. Riding the charts at #1 fifty years ago this week was the only father-daughter song to ever hit the top spot - Frank and Nancy Sinatra’s Something Stupid.

9. From that equal opportunity offender, the 5:05 Newsletter: Jesse Jackson attended a “Miracle Service” at a church in Chicago. He “laid his hands” on a man and told him, “You can walk today.” The man told Jackson that he wasn’t paralyzed. However, after the service, the man went outside and found his car was stolen.

10. No team has won more Super Bowls than his Steelers; he was a gifted prep quarterback, second team All-Pittsburgh to a guy named Unitas, but his lasting legacy will be the Rooney Rule – clearing the path for more minority representation on NFL sidelines. Dan Rooney passed away last week at age 84.

Killing the Rising Sun: a best seller worth its salt

Political lightning rod Bill O’Reilly and his co-author Martin Dugard have crafted perhaps the best researched Pacific war book in Killing the Rising Sun. It’s the latest in O’Reilly’s series that also featured Jesus, Kennedy, Lincoln, Reagan and Patton. We had read Lincoln and Patton and found them good but not great. But having read hundreds of World War II non-fictions over the years, we have never encountered a better researched effort than this one. When a World War II buff finds facts he had never read anywhere before, that’s quality research. The authors have a way of laying out the facts in a very readable style. The latest in the killing series is one of those unique books you simply hate to see end. We hope that O’Reilly, whose father served in the Pacific war, will return to that theater again and give us more. This is a must read.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: NEEDED - EQUAL ROAD ENFORCEMENT FOR ALL VEHICLES