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

First thing on our mind:

Quoting Thumper from Bambi, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all". This seems appropriate for us this week.

Leading off: $40 million boondoggle

Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth walks his readers through just one outrageous expense by our nation’s Department of Defense. In The War on Warriors, Hegseth details the $40 million (and climbing) cost of changing the “offensive” names of eight of our military installations that were named for confederate soldiers from the Civil War. We bet that the average American can’t name half the bases – and we will spot you Forts Bragg and Hood. It’s just one example of the wokeness that has infiltrated our military – a cancer that Hegseth will be charged with wiping out.

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

Related to our lead article, you wonder with enough digging, could you find some fault with Col. Leslie MacDill, a World War I aviator who lends his name to our local Air Force base?

Also, if Hegseth doesn’t make the cut at DoD, please don’t take away our Governor. There are other acceptable candidates for Defense, not so much for Governor of the nation’s third largest state.

Seriously, is anybody surprised by Joe’s pardon of his wayward son?

Related from the 5:05 Newsletter: Lobbyists lined the halls of Congress on Black Friday to take advantage of special low prices for buying influence with Congressmen. At publishing time, a number of lobbyists revealed they had been contacted by Hunter Biden to take advantage of his huge “going out of business” sale.

Another strong pick by President Trump is Jared Isaacman who has a deep background in aviation and space. He replaces Bill Nelson, best known for hitching a ride on a Shuttle Mission.

We tip our cap to the Philadelphia Phillies for their million dollar contribution to aid those in Clearwater stricken by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The Phils and Clearwater have had a strong connection since 1947. Only the Tigers and Lakeland have enjoyed a longer relationship.

Contrasts: After five years and donations from all over the world, the opulent Cathedral of Notre Dame reopens in Paris. In Buford, Ga. church members spent the day after Thanksgiving wondering how they are going to rebuild their 92-year-old church destroyed by fire.

Born 100 years ago this Thursday (12/12) was Mayor Ed Koch, who served New York City from 1977 to 1989 and was famous for the question, “How am I doing?”

This week five years ago in TBRR: Sorry Joe, the train has left the station. You campaigned on your plan to end Covid; meanwhile the Trump administration has fast tracked not one, but two vaccines. You’ll be able to get your shot before you take office.

Sports, media and other notes:

Notice the clean air? No political ads/lies or Medicare pitches. Of course, we will be hit with another three weeks of Black Friday and post-Christmas spots.

The total – two Florida university head coaches fired and Gus Malzahn just beat the broom out the door at UCF. Meanwhile, Billy Napier is saved by some late season wins and we guess even FSU mega donors didn’t have enough money to buy out Mike Norvell, who lives to tell the tale. The Athletic 134 has four of Florida’s teams at 101 (USF) or lower – FSU (105); FIU (120) and FAU (124). The others: Miami (13); Gators (33) and UCF (74).

Oh, if you’re keeping a scorecard, Ohio’s Kent State was the only Division 1 team that went winless.

Some sports writers/commentators labeled Michigan’s win over Ohio State the upset of the year. There are no upsets in that annual contest just like FSU-UF, Georgia-GeorgiaTech and Alabama-Auburn along with some others.

The Iga Swiatek controversy in pro tennis shouldn’t surprise anyone. Pro tennis, particularly on the women’s side, has been winking at doping for a couple decades.

A couple Rays’ moves that make sense: moving some home games to April and May in exchange for traveling to Minnesota and Anaheim for summer away games.

To varying degrees, the Braves, Mets, Nationals and Phillies have interest in Juan Soto. Just as important to obtaining his services is that he not land with one of their Eastern Division rivals.

Answers: 5, 6, 13, 19, 38. Question: what were the numbers originally worn by Hall of Famers Hank Aaron (44); Mickey Mantle (7); Roberto Clemente (21); Stan Musial (6) and Yogi Berra (8) respectively?

You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you ever attended a play at Dow Sherwood’s Showboat Dinner Theater near the St.Pete-Clearwater Airport.

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One last thing: fruitcake and cookies

They are often the subject of jokes, but more than a few people actually enjoy fruitcake. And in many eyes, the best was Jane Parker fruitcake carried by A&P stores. A&P went out of business a decade ago, but a couple entrepreneurs bought the name and the recipe. You can get the revered fruitcake at janeparker.com. They also offer some variations as well as a stock of cookies, but alas, not our late mother’s raisin filled cookies which, according to our Saintly Wife and Almost as Saintly Daughter, take half a lifetime to make and thus are no longer part of our holiday traditions.

NEXT UP: Eggs Benedict; Prediction results; Top album

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