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:

There will probably be a peace agreement in the Middle East before there is agreement on the best BBQ sauce.

Leading off: What $190 billion could have done

Joe Biden leaves office touting the $190 billion gift to a bunch of debtors who “could not find it within their means” to pay off their student loans. As we mentioned before, a newly married, unemployed educator managed to find it “within her means” to pay off her student loans because she had a conscience. Worse yet, is what that ill-spent money could have done for our neighbors in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas who are still struggling with food and shelter in the dead of winter in the after affects of Hurricanes Milton and Helene. It’s just another example of the Biden “legacy.”

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

Other Biden “legacy” moments included pardoning half the USA fearing that the Trump administration would pursue the same ugly actions of the Biden Justice Department. Another Biden pardon involved a man who killed two FBI agents. Was there ever a worse presidency?

Pete Hegseth’s confirmation as Secretary of Defense is the Pentagon bureaucracy’s worst nightmare, but a breath of fresh air for our men and women in uniform.

So who selected that radical “bishop” to conduct the National Prayer Service? They are as much to blame as the cleric who chose to politicize the event.

It’s encouraging to observe that even left leaning people like Mark Zuckerman are starting to see “politifact” for what it is: “too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they have created.”

Kohl’s is the latest big box store to announce closings, but none of the 52 stores in Florida are on the list of 27 to be closed nationwide.

We’ve always suspected President Trump reads this blog (see disclaimers about taking anything here seriously). But he does seem to be following our advice to blow up FEMA.

Let’s see if we have this straight, the Don wants to buy Greenland and Canada?

Number of the week: 57,000. That’s the total population of Greenland – about half that of Clearwater.

Related note from the editorial offices of the 5:05 Newsletter (located somewhere at a bar in Belleair):  President Trump Announced Plans To Rename the Moon “Space America.”

We suspect more of us will be able to get eggs, and even afford them, going forward.

Idle observation: Approximately two thirds of the cars on the road in Pinellas County have broken turn signals.

We say a sad goodbye to Mike Bowman, who was a colleague during our days at WTAN AM/FM. A solid weekend and fill-in announcer - always wished we had three or more just like him. Mike was 75.

Born 100 years ago this week (1/26) in Ohio’s Shaker Heights was screen star and heartthrob Paul Newman – Hud, The Sting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Sports, media and other notes:

Ohio State beats Notre Dame for the national college football championship – a contest many agree was not played by the two best teams in the nation.

The cost of success: after their best season in decades, the Detroit Lions have lost their offensive and defensive coordinators to head coaching positions with the Bears and Jets respectively.

A coda to our tribute to the great Bob Uecker last week: the guy hit exactly .200 for his career with14 home runs. But three of those homers came off Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax, Ferguson Jenkins and Gaylord Perry. And he absolutely “owned” his former Cardinal teammate Ray Sadecki whom he took deep twice in his career.

In his book, The Sport Gambling Disaster, Manhattan Institute scholar, Charles Lehman points out that gambling addiction, bank overdrafts and bankruptcies are up in Florida and all the other 38 states where sports’ betting is legal.

Sports number of the week: $1billion – the amount of deferred salaries the Dodgers owe their players between now and 2046. By the way, less than two weeks until pitchers and catchers report.

Topping the charts this week in 1962 was The Peppermint Twist by local resident Joey Dee and the Starliters.

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One last thing: 100 and going strong:

One hundred years ago this month, Clearwater’s oldest service club, the Rotary Club of Clearwater was founded. The club has had hundreds of distinguished members over the years, business, civic and religious leaders. In addition, the club, through its foundation, has funded dozens and dozens of worthwhile projects and organizations through the years. Congratulations on their 100^th anniversary.

UP NEXT: Mount Rushmore I;Truck week;Math and letters

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