Established in 2014, Tampa Bay Rants and Raves is a weekly airing of local and national news, sports and historical notes from a politically incorrect viewpoint.

First thing on our mind:

With all this junk we keep sending into space, do we have a plan for when it all starts falling down?

Leading off: Mr. Putin, meet laughing girl

There are dozens of reasons not to vote for Kamala Harris. Need we list them again? Spiraling food prices; three dollar plus gas; housing costs out of sight; linked to that, unbearable interest rates; the border and her total disregard for the sanctity of life. That’s just a half dozen, but the large elephant in the room is her complete lack of experience in foreign relations. Can you imagine laughing girl trying to stare down Putin, Xi Jinping or Kim Jong Un? Neither can we. Trump has stared down all three. This area alone is an overwhelming reason for American voters to wish Kamala Harris well in whatever she chooses to pursue next.

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

Related to our lead article, we could see Ms. Harris fitting in well as a regular on The View.

FEMA’s latest scandal – they are running out of money to help the flood stricken Southeast after they diverted emergency funds to help pay for the other flood of illegal immigrants in the country.

We don’t seem to hear the term “Bidenomics” from the Democratic camp anymore. What we do hear is Kamala’s new word of the week “holistic” to add in with her other brain numbing series of clichés.

Vance clearly wins VP debate despite CBS going back on their word and inserting half-truth fact checks. Will the VP win move the needle? One hopes.

Dockworkers postpone strike until January. You’d like to think they care about the needs of the Southeast, but it doesn’t quite pass the smell test.

Yes, he really said it, the wackiest of the left wing wackos, John Kerry recently said the 1^st Amendment could “present problems” going forward.

Fox host Greg Gutfeld suggests not voting is still voting. In this year’s District 13 race, we would agree. You are faced with the choice of Anna Paulina Luna or some inexperienced left wing radical. According to Gutfeld, it’s okay to leave a spot on your ballot blank.

Florida House Bill 549 takes effect this month making it a felony to hold up a merchant with five or more people. So four thugs are okay, just not five.

An educational tale from the 5:05 Newsletter: My neighbor’s kid was complaining about having to write a school research paper while using his laptop with Google at his fingertips. So I said let me tell you a story from my childhood about library card catalogs and the Dewey Decimal System.

Born 100 years ago this week: the father of two immensely popular vehicles the Ford Mustang and the Dodge and Plymouth mini-vans, Lee Iacocca.

Sports, media and other notes:

Baseball geeks remember the last active major leaguer who was older than they were. For your humble blogger, it was Pete Rose who played for teams we didn’t particularly like, but you had to admire his skills and intensity. The majors’ all time hit leader died last week at age 83.

The always interesting Athletic 134 has a new #1 – Bama and the same #134 Kent State, one of three Division One teams without a win. Florida’s teams aren’t faring well – Miami (#8 down two spots); UCF (50 after their beat down by Coach Prime); Gators (66); FSU (81); USF (87) and Florida Atlantic and FIU still joined at the hip at 109 and 110.

Just when you think you’ve seen everything. Last week at Penn State’s homecoming in State College, you could buy a Disney-like fast pass to avoid the lines at your favorite bar.

A note from the great number 8, courtesy of our lifelong friend, Bob Batlan, “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.” Only Yogi….

A few more baseball notes: There are those untouchable baseball records, DiMaggio’s 56 straight; Cy Young’s 511 wins; Ripken’s 2632 straight games – and add to that list Luis Arraez’ three straight batting crowns with three different teams.

The hot mess that occurred on Monday after the presumed end of the regular season needs to be addressed by Rob Manfred and his merry men so it never happens again.

Remember when most people respected Lester Holt?

Last thing: Bally drops the Rays, 10 others

The parent company of Bally Sports has decided to walk away from broadcast contracts for the Rays and ten other teams as it goes through bankruptcy proceedings. This has far-reaching effects. First, these teams have less than five months to find a new broadcast home. Bally can offer new contracts to the teams, but given their financial straits, the money will be a lot less. That means less broadcast money (in most cases the mid eight figures) to help sign players. This will be especially hard on a team like the Rays that don’t have a sizable fan base. Larger markets like New York, LA and Philadelphia have their own TV deals and they will, at least temporarily, have an even larger financial advantage on teams like the Rays and Marlins. There are a lot of loose ends to this story, stay tuned.

NEXT UP: McMillion$; Jim/John; Philadelphia Factor

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