Tampa Bay Rants and Raves is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyles and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - some of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

Leading off: The 5:05 on DST

As we once again needlessly adjust our clocks next week, this op-ed piece from the 5:05 Newsletter: The Senate passed a bill that would make daylight saving time permanent, meaning Americans would no longer have to adjust to a time change twice a year for no apparent reason. The bill was referred to the House Languishing Committee, thereby guarding against the danger that Congress might actually accomplish something.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Contrast, if you will, Governor DeSantis’ around the clock vigil during Hurricane Ian with California Governor Gavin Newsom leaving his state for “personal travel” during devastating snow storms last week.

A Rave goes to Pasco County whose education officials are considering limiting student’s use of cellphones to emergencies only during the school day. Isn’t this why we started using the things to begin with?

Was anybody surprised that Chicago’s self-indulgent mayor, Lori Lightfoot’s quest for a second term was denied by Chicago voters?

We couldn’t help but laugh last week at Times Editor Mark Katches’ front page piece on their elimination of Dilbert. To quote: “…there’s no place in the pages of the Times for people who behave or think like (creator Scott Adams) does.” Just as there is no place in the homes of Christian families for people who act or think like the Times does.

Financial organizations are hoping we won’t notice that interest rates on lines of credit are going through the roof while returns on savings accounts, CDs and the like are glued to the basement floor.

Another thought from the 5:05 Newsletter: Navy Jet Shoots down Mexican Spy Balloon – candy spatters all over El Paso.

He was, by far, the best second banana of the 20^th Century. Ed McMahon was born 100 years ago this week (3/6).

This week in 1955 (March 10) the Philadelphia Phillies played their first game in Jack Russell Stadium, named for the Clearwater businessman, city commissioner and former major league pitcher who led the push for a first class stadium for the Phils who had trained in Clearwater since 1947.

Sports, media and other stuff:

So your tech-savvy nephew and niece visit you and suddenly you learn about Airbnb, Open Table and Travelocity – and how far out of touch from the world you are.

Tops at the box office fifty years ago this week and for a total of 11 weeks was The Poseidon Adventure starring Shelley Winters and Gene Hackman. The film featured the Academy Award winning song The Morning After which later became a #1 hit for Maureen McGovern.

Imagine if you will: bottom of the ninth, score tied, bases loaded, 3-2 count – and the umpire rings up the batter who is in the box for not “focusing on the pitcher.” It can happen – and did the first full day of spring training games. Now imagine that happening in the 7^th game of the World Series. Baseball needs to get its act together real soon.

The airlines are going to be happy this summer with baseball’s new schedule causing teams to fly as many as 11,000 additional miles during the season. More on that next week.

March Madness News: We’re currently at 68 teams and there’s talk of adding more. Why? The answer of course is TV revenue, forgetting the fact that these kids are supposed to be in the classroom occasionally.

Factoid: An amazing 82 of the top 100 viewed TV shows from last year were NFL games.

More than you want to know about TBR&R

As we celebrate our 9^th birthday, as always, thanks to Alex Sink for being the inspiration for this - see our first (3/9/14) issue, we think of an early Seinfeld episode where Jerry mentions that Elaine’s father is the author Alton Benes. A woman learning that said, “I always thought he deserved a wider audience,” to which Elaine replies, “I’m not sure he wants one.” Such is the case with TBR&R. We want no liberals; we will tolerate people who don’t understand the subtleties of baseball and if you didn’t know a lot of useless facts about music from the fifties through the seventies, you can sure find it here among the 8-900 words we dish out weekly. We know quite a few of our readers and wish we knew more because they obviously have a similar mindset to our right of center thinking. And yes, we have a token liberal friend (hello, Don) who occasionally reads it – who knows why? In any case, we thank you for hanging in there as we continue to explore why in the world either Biden or Trump think they should be President again; why nobody can make French Fries as well as McDonalds, or ice cream as well as Blue Bell and why Johnny can’t read along with why he has to read sex education and propaganda stuff in first grade?

UP NEXT: Rays flying more; New Hampshire; Being green

030523/708

Sorry, time does not permit replies to comments.