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.

A chat with Governor Ron

The last time we saw Governor Ron DeSantis in person, he was a 12-year old playing against our son’s Little League All-Star team. Ron or Dee’s (as his teammates called him) team won and went on to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, but we digress. If we were honored to see him in person now, we would throw our arm around his shoulder and repeat some advice we first heard decades ago from renowned broadcaster Bruce Williams – “don’t mess with the mouse.” His attack on the Reedy Creek cutout that dates back to Governor Hayden Burns is, to put it kindly, misguided. We would remind Ron that Disney owns networks, lots of them, and if our Governor wants to run for President someday, he needs those networks, which do lean a bit to the left, to at least be neutral – or as neutral as networks are these days. We leave you Governor Ron with another bit of wisdom (not ours obviously) – “choose your battles wisely.” There’s nothing wrong with a hasty, but dignified retreat from this can of worms.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Factoid: During World War II, New York State eliminated the requirement of a front license plate saving some 2000 tons of steel annually. When the war ended, things went back to normal. Incredibly, 31 states still require two license plates – what a waste of precious materials.

We don’t understand the latest financial fad, crypto. But we do remember an earlier financial fad, day trading. Just as we remember our esteemed financial advisor correctly telling us there are two types of day traders – those who are broke and those who soon will be.

Acronym of the week: SWPBTSLWFR. It stands for students who paid back their student loans waiting for a refund. They, to use another acronym, are NHTB (not holding their breath).

Well worth a read is Newsmax correspondent James Rosen’s book Cheney One on One. The high point of the book is Cheney’s spot on prediction of what Putin is doing with his oil dollars – a prediction made some eight years ago.

Media news from the 5:05 Newsletter: Elon Musk is on a roll. Today he read the New York Times editorial page online, shook his head, and pressed Add to Cart. Also, due to Elon Musk,the narrative has suddenly changed; Progressives no longer brag about buying a Tesla.

This week in 1937 (5/3), Margaret Mitchell wins the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Gone with the Wind.

Sports, media and other stuff:

We are changing the name of this section back to its original title to better reflect the material below …and because we can.

Baseball Factoid, Miguel Cabrera, who became the 33^rd player to notch 3000 hits, can count only one bunt single among that total.

Another odd missing product that we hope to see back on the grocery shelves soon is Rice Krispies.

Headline from the Duke University student newspaper 42 years ago this week upon the hiring of a new basketball coach: Krzyzewski, this is not a typo.

One of our favorite signs is in front of Charlie and Millie’s Pizza House on Seminole Blvd. It reads “Free Beer Tomorrow.” The catch is the sign never changes.

Seen on a T-shirt: Instead of Build Back Better - How About Put It Back The Way You Found It.

This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of versatile actor Darren McGavin. He was known for the TV series Riverboat and Kolchak as well as the cranky father in the holiday classic A Christmas Story.

We wish a Happy xxth Birthday to our baby girl, the apple of our eye, a dedicated Mom, wife and educator and a gal who knows more baseball than 95% of the guys in America.

Fun with numbers – baseball style

Baseball fans, not to mention major league players, often howl in agony when an umpire, particularly a home plate umpire misses a call. It can change a 2-1 count in the hitter’s favor to a 1-2 count – one pitch away from a punch out. There is a site that records each day’s MLB evaluation of umpires. It’s run by a bunch of college baseball geeks much like your more elderly Humble Blogger. A recent sample from last weekend showed umpire accuracy of up to almost 98 percent (97.7) by veteran ump Alan Porter – now in his 13^th season in MLB. A large majority of home plate umps were well over 90 percent. The weakest link, in the words of Jane Lynch, was, unsurprisingly, Angel Hernandez, who has somehow managed to keep his job since 1991. The reaction of Kyle Schwarber in the 9^th inning of the nationally televised Phils-Brewers game on yet another missed pitch was a classic.

UP NEXT: Winston Churchill; New word for the OED; Chicago

050122/674

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.

Slam dunk: choosing a bayfront manager

Even though there are more than a few folks who think the Clearwater bayfront should retain its natural beauty sans amphitheater; that ship has apparently sailed. Now it’s down to two competing groups to manage what we hope will be a successful venture. One group is Ruth Eckerd Hall with a 40-year track record of performing arts on McMullen Booth Road and at the downtown Capitol Theater. The second is LA-based Oak View Group who is partnering with the Vinik Sports Group which owns the Tampa Bay Lightning. Unless there is an overwhelming and compelling reason not to, Clearwater should go with the proven local partner. Yes, Vinik is right across the bay, but when they have to make a tough decision, who gets the gold - Tampa, of course. It should be the local guys and gals with a local board of directors by a slam dunk over Tampa and LA.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Honest, our endorsement of Ruth Eckerd Hall over the LA group has nothing to do with one of their two principals being a major player in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – a group of misguided folks who seem to have no room for Paul Anka and Neil Sedaka. Wait, have we mentioned that before?

Breaking news: Pelosi endorses Crist in Democratic gubernatorial primary. Is that good news or bad news for the professional candidate?

Number of the Week: $115 billion - the effective loss in U.S. revenue granted by executive largesse (read Biden) that would flow into the U.S. Treasury should legitimate collection of student debts not be paused.

A rave to the USPS for staying with their gas-powered delivery trucks while rejecting an electric fleet proposal from some start-up firm, which apparently is FOB.

Suppose you won a rather substantial amount of money in Florida’s many lotteries. Your name gets plastered everywhere and 12^th cousins materialize from out of thin air. Eleven of our 45 states have privacy laws regarding lottery winners. Florida should join the crowd.

One of the most colorful people in the history of Clearwater’s waterfront passed away last week. Capt. George “Maxie” Foster first captained popular party boats like the Dixie Queen and Miss Buckeye III and later owned the Gulfstream charter boats. He was 85.

This week in 1901(4/25): New York state – who else - becomes the first state requiring auto tags – fee: one dollar.

Lighter stuff:

Energy news from the 5:05 Newsletter: As gas prices soar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls on Congress to print more oil.

A shocker in the media world comes with the shutdown of CNN+ after just over a month. The parent network poured big bucks into the effort, not to mention hiring superstar Chris Wallace. But new leadership is coming on board (TBR&R 3/6/22) and it was decided to abruptly pull the plug.

TV Oddity: Within two weeks of each other, the terrific character actors who portrayed the mothers of TV buddies Jerry Seinfeld (Liz Sheridan) and George Costanza (Estelle Harris) passed away. Both Ms. Sheridan and Ms. Harris were 93.

Also passing away last week at age 70 was hockey great Guy Lafleur. He had one of those names that a broadcaster loved to pronounce – it just rolled off the tongue.

Answer: Alan Alda. The question: who was the first person to win Emmys for writing, directing and acting on one show? The show, of course, was M*A*S*H.

Inside a recent birthday card: “Celebrate like cat today. Eat. Sleep. Ignore everyone who annoys you” - a good credo to live by.

Now there are just two. A couple weeks back (TBR&R 4/10/22), we mentioned only three active coaches had multiple championships in the NCAA tournament. The surprising retirement of Villanova’s Jay Wright now has that number down to two – Rick Pitino and Bill Self.

Often heard on fishing boats along the gulf coast on a slow fishing day – “You should have been here yesterday!”

Five Years Ago in TBR&R (April 30, 2017) Acting a lot like a spoiled kid that didn’t get his way, Scientologists tried to torpedo a distribution of county bed taxes to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium after the CMA refused to sell them a piece of property the city wanted. They, unsurprisingly, were unsuccessful.

Focus Group: Most beautiful man-made objects

For the month of April, we tasked our Focus Group with determining, in their eyes, the most beautiful man-made object. Our leadoff hitter opted for Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue – which is captured so brilliantly in the opening of an otherwise ordinary movie, The Bobo. The great sculpture in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Mount Rushmore, is the choice of another of our original Focus Group members. Another of our august group chooses the moving Pieta sculpture by Michelangelo in St. Peter’s Basilica. Our northern-most member takes a slightly different tack and names “the timeless and beautiful U.S. Constitution.” The 390-year-old Taj Mahal is the choice of another of our group – with a runner-up being a more modern structure – the interior of Radio City Music Hall. Three objects come to mind for another group member - Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Statue of Liberty - all three for their beauty but also the emotions one feels when viewing them. Finally, the Neanderthal in our group opted for either a 1957 or 2003 Ford Thunderbird, saying truly beautiful things are heaven-made, a subject we will explore in a future issue.

UP NEXT: Margaret Mitchell; License Plates; Andre and Joe West

042422/692

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.

When will America get back to work?

Headline: the snowflakes at Apple are threatening to quit if they have to return to the office soon. The tech giant is asking employees to spend one day a week in the office starting this week. That would increase to two days by the beginning of May and three by May 23. The sad thing is the threat by employees carries some weight in this crazy employment environment. We have an acquaintance that operates a very successful operation as a large vendor to Home Depot and Kroger among others. They offer insurance and a 401K from day one, a handsome retention bonus after ninety days and they can’t get enough help posing a genuine threat to their business. And we’ve mentioned before the panhandlers at intersections where at least one of the corners is begging for help. Like our friend we mentioned, this is posing a hazard to America as a whole and will continue to do so until the “brain trust” in the White House stops making it all too easy not to work.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Good for Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s action in shipping undocumented aliens to the heart of the problem, Washington D.C. Perhaps when the illegal migrants see what D.C. is like, their home country won’t seem so bad.

Tax Day is Tuesday, April 18. That’s because of Emancipation Day, in some states the 18^th is Patriot Day and your taxes aren’t due until the 19^th. If we can keep adding bogus holidays, we might be able to push Tax Day to the 4^th of July – that would be the 5^th of course.

White House spin doctor Jan Psaki to join MSNBC – there’s a marriage made in heaven, or as a Great American put it, “In other words, she is leaving the Biden Administration to work for the Biden Administration.”

Supreme Court viewpoint: Guess it could have been worse.

Our community suffered another loss last week with the passing of attorney, civic leader and former Mr. Clearwater, Jerry Figurski. Jerry, who served as President of UPARC and was active in numerous other civic efforts, was 77.

THIS WEEK IN 1961 (4/17): THE ILL-FATED BAY OF PIGS INVASION BEGINS.

Lighter stuff:

Living an amazing 102 years and known for his numerous character roles in such shows as Hawaii Five-Oh, The Untouchables and the movie Yentl, Nehemiah Persoff later pursued painting. The versatile actor died last week.

The passing of Nehemiah Persoff reminds us of another Hollywood passing we missed late last year when Nick Georgiade died at age 88. Portraying agent Rico Rossi, he was truly the last of the Untouchables, surviving all his fellow regular cast members including the show’s star, Robert Stack.

95 percent or more of Americans could care less about Will Smith and his troubles - unless, of course, we’re talking about the Braves’ star reliever or the Dodgers’ stellar catcher.

A note on how fouled up this baseball season is: on consecutive nights, Padres’ manager Bob Melvin had to pull pitchers after six and seven innings respectively even though both had no-hitters working – a result of a shortened spring training due to mutual greed. And then there was Clayton Kershaw.

Idle thought: we all gripe about the traffic this time of year in Florida. But when you have days we’ve had recently, who can blame half of America for wanting to be in Clearwater, FL?

The answer: Keebler. The question: who makes Publix’ store brand cookies?

Seen on a T-Shirt: If you ever see me jogging, please kill whatever is chasing me.

The 5:05 Newsletter reports: The FBI announced that an analysis of Hunter Biden’s laptop revealed that his top Google searches were: What does a board of directors do; what is Obama’s last name; how do you tell if a family member has dementia; and laptop repair shops near me.

Ode to Country Joe

Well, baseball season is underway and while it may seem to be piling on, we have one last Joe West story. Joe holds the record for major league games umpired and lapped the field in number of missed calls. This story involves Hall of Famer Andre Dawson. In 1991, Andre was called out looking at a third strike by West and then ejected for arguing the call. He was fined $500 by the league and paid it with a check with the memo line filled with “Donation for the blind” - true story and just another reason to love Awesome Dawson.

UP NEXT: First Auto Tag; Man Made Objects; Cracker Jill?

041722/674

Happy Easter!

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.

Gas is high – and confusing

We know we are paying an outrageous price for gas. But who are we paying it to? It’s confusing. Remember the Hess gas station at Drew and Belcher in Clearwater? The Hess brand went away a few years back as Hess got out of the gas station business. It became a Speedway station. But then 7-11 bought Speedway and there was already a 7-11 across the street and more importantly, the federal government felt there were too many 7-11s after the acquisition and the convenience store giant was forced spin off about 250 stations. Enter the Anabi Oil Company from out west. They bought about half the spinoffs and attached their Rebel brand to those stations, selling primarily Exxon/Mobil gas. Adding further confusion to the consumer is the move by the large Circle K chain away from Shell gas to their own in-house brand. Now, consumers cannot use their Shell gas cards at the growing number of Circle K stores that no longer sell the brand. Got all that straight?

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff: 

Related Factoid: The popular Cracker Barrel restaurants, now totaling close to 700 locations, had gas pumps in front of many of their early locations until they were phased out in the mid-1980s.

Unlike the presidential race, it’s getting harder and harder to keep this guy and his daily gaffes in the basement and out of sight.

The new Tampa City Council appointee Lynn Hurtak describes herself as “a deeply ethical person who will bring a wealth of city board experience to the job.” Not to mention a healthy dose of narcissism.

Idle question: why do we, as a nation, spend so much time dwelling on the death of criminals while all but ignoring the deaths of innocent people killed by drunk drivers, drive by shootings and the like?

From the, let’s say interesting, mind of the 5:05 Newsletter editor-in-chief: As I look at the young kids today, I realize that I am supposed to offer them words of advice about this pandemic based on the wisdom I have acquired over the years. But I am a Baby Boomer, and the truth is my generation never had to deal with anything like this. The closest we ever came to a pandemic was the 1970s, when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, millions of people became Amway distributors. 

THIS WEEK IN 1970 – PAUL MCCARTNEY MAKES IT OFFICIAL, THE BEATLES ARE BREAKING UP. THANKS YOKO!

Lighter stuff:

In terms of USF men’s basketball coaches, there have been Lee Rose, Seth Greenberg then everybody else. Rose, who guided the Bulls to their first post season tournaments, died last week at age 85.

Volare, Wildwood Days, Wild One, Forget Him and Swinging School were just five of the 30 songs Bobby Rydell put on the Billboard charts. The Philadelphia born teen idol died last week at age 79.

Another Grammy for Tony! It’s hard to believe that it was 60 years ago that his signature song I Left My Heart in San Francisco was spending five months on the charts.

Number of the Week: 16 – that’s the number of coaches who have won multiple NCAA basketball championships. Bill Self joins that elite group and is now one of only three active coaches (Rick Pitino and Jay Wright) with multiple wins.

Sports Factoid: Due to baseball’s messed up schedule, their oldest franchise, the Cincinnati Reds, opened on the road for only the third time since 1890. The last time they started away from home was 1990 and they won the World Series.

With baseball season underway, the greatest news is that the game’s most beloved character, Bob Uecker, is again behind the mic for the Milwaukee Brewers for his 51^st season - this despite the off season issues of the death of a daughter to ALS, his contacting COVID and the replacement of a knee replacement.

MLB Predictions: Achmed wants a raise

Tampa Bay Rants and Raves’ premier baseball predictor Achmed Walled (pronounced WALL-ed) is channeling the baseball union and asking for more money. His rationalization is that he has to predict a dozen playoff teams rather than the previous ten. As negotiations continue, he, unlike the players, will work without a contract. Leading off in the National League, Achmed likes the World Champ Braves in their division, figuring the big spending Mets will find a way to foul things up. In the Central, he predicts the Brewers’ superstar, Christian Yelich will again play like himself and their outstanding pitching staff will carry them through. Out west, it’s very hard to bet against the Dodgers and their money – but not hard to root against them. Achmed thinks each division will contribute a team to the expanded Wild Cards – the teams being the Padres, Cards and Mets moving west to east. In the American League, Achmed gives a vote to the home town Rays in the East, he likes the White Sox in the Central and last year’s AL champ Houston in the West. Achmed sees both the Yanks and Blue Jays getting Wild Card spots from the East Division as well as the Mariners breaking their 20-year playoff drought in 2022. Achmed feels eventually his annual confidence in the Mariners will pay off. The High Priest of Predictions has spoken.

NEXT UP: Tax Day; Keebler/Publix elves; Getting back to work

041022/696

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.

Congress: 80 (or 75) is enough

It would be an uphill battle, but it’s time to start sowing the seeds for a mandatory retirement age for members of Congress. The first counter argument we don’t want to hear is “it’s the will of the people” to keep geriatrics on Capitol Hill. It’s not the will of the people; it’s the well-oiled machines of McConnell, Pelosi and the gang that keep them in office. We know such a law would not be problem free. There would be a lot of in-term “retirements” and appointments by friendly governors to give another party hack the benefit of incumbency. But sooner or later the wheat would be, and needs to be, separated from the aged chaff.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Related Factoid: Our Congress continues to be dominated not by Democrats – or Republicans, but Baby Boomers (DOB 1946-64) who still hold a substantial edge over Generation X (1965-80) even though they are virtually equal as far as total U.S. population is concerned. Next in size are the Silent Generation (1927-45) and finally Millennials (1981-1996).

Arms race news from the 5:05 Newsletter: Biden's $800 million military aid package to Ukraine included 200 shotguns. I assume they are for the Ukrainians to defend themselves against Russian skeets.

Number of the week: 77% - the percentage of Americans who agree the U.S. must maintain energy independence – a number only slightly lower than the percentage of people who can agree on what day of the week it is.

Rhea Law confirmed as USF’s new president. Pardon us if we don’t do back flips, but we’ve been spoiled by the previous leadership of Betty Castor and Judy Genshaft. Law truly has a high bar to vault.

Idle thought, we often read that some journalist has a master’s degree from such and such a university. We’d love to audit a few of those classes just to see what those folks are being taught.

As all these new electric vehicles (Polestar, Rivian etc.) are rolled out, you have to wonder about the support infrastructure behind them. Even in this period of shortages, you can still visit your dealer for a Chevrolet part, but your Polestar dealer – not quite as easy.

We are sad to report another Gulf-to-Bay restaurant casualty – long time landmark Village Inn.

THIS WEEK IN 1975: BILL GATES AND PAUL ALLEN FORM A PARTNERSHIP TO BE KNOWN AS MICROSOFT.

Lighter stuff:

Wouldn’t it have been better to announce Bruce Arian’s retirement on Friday, the 1^st? That might have kept people guessing for a while. Good for Todd Bowles.

Related note: Arians to be inducted in the Bucs’ Ring of Honor – pending a review of every email he sent since age 12.

Answer: Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods. Question –who are the only three men to win two consecutive Masters Championships? Nicklaus (65-66); Faldo (89-90) and Woods (2001-2). So the odds are somewhat stacked against Hideki Matsuyama this week.

Remember when the Oscars were hosted by Bob Hope and they were fun to watch?

You are officially old when you recognize absolutely no one on Saturday Night Live.

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if your pets’ first veterinarian was Dr. Harvey Clanton at the Court Street Animal Hospital.

MLB wagers to take to the bank

Next week, we feature our renowned prognosticator and former executive assistant to Wizard Glick, Achmed Walled’s (pronounced WALL-ed) predictions for the divisions and what is becoming a come one, come all, Wild Card post. Meanwhile, if you’re a betting person, here are five sure fire (sort of) ways to lay down your money.

(1) The Rays will, again, not make the World Series.

(2) A quiniela – neither LA team (Angels or Dodgers) will make the World Series.

(3) Twin’s center fielder Byron Buxton will finish in the Top 5 in the AL MVP voting.

(4) Braves’ third baseman Austin Riley will do the same in the NL.

(5) The Orioles will again have the worst record in baseball and the AL. The Diamondbacks, with a little better pitching, will not repeat as the dregs of the NL.

UP NEXT: Achmed predicts; Free beer tomorrow; Beatle breakup

040322/672

April Fools Special – the best of the 5:05 Newsletter

We felt there would be no better day than April Fool’s Day to recognize the oft quoted 5:05 Newsletter. In this special edition, we present the best of the first four years stolen from the amazing brain of the editor of this twenty some year old Tampa Bay institution. In the words of the editor, “The stories are real; only the names, facts and events have been changed. Sometimes you gotta create what you want to be a part of.”                   

We must lead off with our first ever “borrowed” item. It went like this: Many of you who receive this “masterwork” each week also receive the 5:05 Club Newsletter. For those of you who may have missed this gem from a couple weeks ago, we repeat it here: “A 13-year-old girl became the youngest female to climb Mount Everest. She didn’t mean to, she was just texting with a friend and the next thing she knew she was at the top of Mount Everest”.

From October 26, 2014 (and our favorite of the first four years): “Ben Bradlee, Dead at 93 - He was preceded in death by journalism”.

From January 4, 2015: A classic from the local 5:05 newsletter regarding the passing of the founder of Topps baseball cards: “Sy Berger, the designer of the modern baseball card, has died. He will be laid to rest in a shoe box somewhere in an attic”.

From May 3, 2015: “Pope Francis said that one of the things he misses most about ordinary life is the ability to go out and eat pizza without being recognized. I wouldn't worry. Nobody's going to believe the guy who works at the pizza place when he says, “Hey, do you know who came in today? The Pope.”

From July 11, 2015: “BMW’s new Deluxe 7 Series will allow drivers to simply press a button on their key fob to make the car park itself. And because it's an expensive BMW, it will park itself across two spaces”.

From Sept. 27, 2015: “Leading liberal newspapers are begging Joe Biden to run for president. It is amazing. Three months ago, he was a national joke and a nightly punch line, but then the Democrats got a good look at Hillary and Bernie and suddenly Joe Biden looks like the fifth face on Mt. Rushmore.” (hmm…how did that work out?)

From October 11, 2015: “The Toronto Blue Jays have made the playoffs for the first time in 22 years; and nothing says “America's pastime” more than a bunch of guys from the Dominican Republic playing for a team in Canada.”

From December 20, 2015: "When a woman asks you to guess her age, it's like deciding whether to cut the blue, red, or green wire to diffuse a bomb."

From February 14, 2016: “The world has completely flipped in my lifetime. There was once a time when all the GM jobs were in Flint and you couldn’t drink the water in Mexico.”

From April 3, 2016: “Cuba News: A lot of people are saying President Raul Castro disrespected President Obama by not greeting him at the airport. Seriously? Our countries have been enemies for 60 years. I can’t even get my best friend to pick me up at the airport.”

From May 22, 2016: “A new study suggests that a chemical released when a person is hungry can lead to poor decision-making. It is what Taco Bell calls “our entire business model.”

From July 3, 2016: “The welcome sign on I-10 as you enter the State of California notifies visitors that You Are Now Entering a Work-Free Drug Place”.

From October 9, 2016: “Donald Trump cancelled a rally scheduled for Portland, Oregon. This was devastating news for Portland’s conservative community…a guy named Steve”.

From January 22, 2017: Note: To all the foreign countries that contributed to the Clinton Foundation: There will not be a rebate.

From April 16, 2017: 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.

From July 16, 2017: I am so glad I grew up in the 50s and 60s because I did so much stupid stuff and there is no record of it anywhere.

From October 18, 2017: Mexican cocaine kingpin Juan “El Chapo” Guzman’s defense lawyers are requesting to have El Chapo’s trial held in Los Angeles, where he can be tried by a jury of his customers.

From December 3, 2017: Hollywood is the only place where you are awarded a Doctorate in Political Science after completing your third movie.

From January 14, 2018: China increased the penalty for disrespecting the National Anthem from 15-days to 3-years in prison… in case you were thinking of taking a knee on your next visit there.

From June 17, 2018: There is talk of legalizing marijuana in Utah. However, Mormons are worried that marijuana may be a gateway drug to coffee.

From June 24, 2018: Last month marked the 80th birthday of Superman. Now that he is 80, Superman is rendered helpless by Kryptonite and his email password.

From November 18, 2018: Target announced that it will hire 100,000 seasonal employees during the holidays. Ten of them will be on the register; the rest will wander around saying, “I don’t work in this department.”

From November 25, 2018: Dunkin' Donuts announced next year they will shorten their name from Dunkin' Donuts to just “Dunkin'.” And their customers will shorten the name of their disease from diabetes to just “betes.”

From December 9, 2018: Brenda Snipes resigned as Broward County Supervisor of Elections. Some voters praised her work saying that thanks to her their grandparents voted Democratic for the first time, adding, "They would never have done that when they were alive."

There are so many jewels from the 5:05 Newsletter that space required us to limit this edition to the best of the first four years of our “borrowed” gems. Look for another such edition next April Fools Day – or sooner.

UP NEXT: The Masters; Harvey Clanton; Our Aging Congress

040122

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.

Time for bay area to address aggressive driving

A few weeks ago, a driver on the Howard Frankland Bridge felt the motorist in front of him wasn’t going fast enough. He flashed his lights and honked at the offending driver – then passed him and slammed on his brakes in front of the slower driver. For his efforts, he was shot by slower driver. He will survive the injuries, but we’re not sure there’s a cure for his stupidity. Over the years, there have been fits and starts by bay area law enforcement agencies against aggressive driving like this, but no coordinated plan. With road fatalities trending up at an alarming rate, that needs to end. Just as there are unified DUI campaigns, there needs be a plan to deal with the growing epidemic of aggressive driving in the area. The logical starting points are the Sherriff’s offices. It should be incumbent upon them to coordinate with the Florida Highway Patrol and municipal law enforcement agencies to conduct a series of rolling area-wide task forces to crack down on aggressive driving – and keep it up until we see a very significant decrease in threatening driving habits and traffic deaths in our area.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

For the second time this year, our community has lost a longtime accountant and civic leader. Mike Bollenback, of Bollenback and Forret, was extremely charitable with his time and treasure to several non-profits in our community.

Meanwhile, America mourns an outstanding public servant. Czech-born Madeleine Albright served her adopted country as both U.N Ambassador and Secretary of State. She was 84.

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh probably thought he was watching a slow pitch softball game last week as compared to the thuggery he experienced three years ago.

As we close within weeks of April 18, this nugget from the U.S. Tax Code: “If you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it unless you return it to its rightful owner in the same year.” So those of you who looted a Target or other store in 2021, it’s time to pay up.

From the 1:26 Newsletter (well, that’s when we received it): My neighbor’s daughter just got engaged. She is registered at Shell, Exxon, Mobil and BP.

Pinellas Country attorneys need to get in touch with Pasco County who have apparently crafted a bulletproof panhandling law. The issue has become pandemic in Pinellas particularly with panhandling taking place at intersections containing at least one business advertising for help.

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THIS WEEK IN 1998 (APRIL 1): BURGER KING PUBLISHED A FULL PAGE AD IN USA TODAY INTRODUCING THE “LEFT-HANDED WHOPPER”. ALL THE CONDIMENTS WERE ROTATED 180 DEGREES FOR THE BENEFIT OF LEFT-HANDED CUSTOMERS. THOUSANDS OF CUSTOMERS REQUESTED THIS APRIL FOOL’S BURGER.

Lighter stuff:

Seen on many T-Shirts: Save Women’s Sports. Amen to that.

Too late for your busted bracket this year, but this reminder for next: no reigning men's champ has advanced past the Sweet 16 since UF repeated in 2007.

Happy Birthday to one of the nation’s best radio stations - WSB in Atlanta celebrating its 100th birthday this month. At 750 on the dial and with 50,000 watts, you can hear the station on Florida’s west coast after sunset.

Just when we thought we were rid of the little league rule (ghost runners on second base in extra innings), it’s back, allegedly to keep today’s snowflakes from being injured. We wonder what grinders like Mark Lemke, Pete Rose or Carlton Fisk think of that rule.

Factoid: 18 of the 30 major league clubs topped the combined attendance of the Marlins and the Rays last year. Florida simply is not a good baseball market.

The year-long suspension of Atlanta Falcon wide-receiver Calvin Ridley for making bets here in Florida on NFL games is just another reason to hit the brakes on on-line gambling.

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you dined at Sweetwater’s Restaurant on Gulf to Bay Blvd.

Focus Group in the movies

After filling the Oval Office last month (TBR&R 2/27/22) we have a lighter question for our elite Focus Group to conclude March. The question posed was: of all the movie characters you’ve seen, which one do you believe is most like you, and briefly why?

The first response was the Richard Dreyfuss character (Curt Henderson) in 1973’s American Graffiti – “every bit as clueless as I was at that age (18)”.

Elizabeth Taylor’s portrayal of Velvet Brown, the “horse crazy” 12-year-old girl in National Velvet best captures another of our original Focus Group members.

Another contributor sees themselves as a character from the film classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey - feeling compelled to help people and do the right thing; still, but often don't appreciate how good things are for me.

Another Focus Group member, saying it’s a stretch, identifies with Wonder Woman. Not a stretch, she’s in that category called Moms – virtually all of them wonder women.

Our fascinating list continues with a Focus Group member’s vote for Matthew Brady from Inherit the Wind. I would like to think I would be willing to stand up for what’s right and true, even if unpopular.

And our last Focus Group response, Melanie Wilkes from Gone With the Wind. She was the epitome of gentility, and I cling to the time of common courtesy and civility. We are both shy but willing to stand up for what we think is right.

Nice work group, for an off-the-wall question from the editor.

NEXT UP: A Special April Fool’s Day Edition – Best of The 5:05

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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.

Clearwater voters make wise choices

Clearwater voters overwhelmingly returned incumbent David Allbritton to office while awarding a plurality to second-time candidate Lina Teixeira in the City Council race last week. The pair have distinguished themselves with solid records of community service in the city. Clearwater now has a two-year hiatus before its next election that will elect the majority of the council. We hope some well-qualified candidates will step up in that period as Mayor Frank Hibbard recently confirmed the worst kept secret in town that he would not seek a second term. The two council members who will defend their seats two years hence leave a good deal to be desired in terms of a sense of background in Clearwater with some very narrow agendas. And city voters will be charged with replacing one of the strongest Mayors in recent history. Perhaps we’ll be surprised, and some fresh, qualified faces will surface to strengthen the Clearwater dais.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Read the most fascinating article by one of the Politaspin writers last week. It presented all sorts of charts and figures telling us that while gas, $2.16 a gallon at the beginning of 2021, is really not all that high at more than double that amount - another example of the truism that figures don’t lie, but liars figure.

Georgia got the jump on Florida in suspending their state gas tax. The reduction will continue at least through the end of May. Florida is targeting just one month, October, for a gas tax holiday due to their dependence on tourists paying at the pump.

This “borrowed item from the 5:05 Newsletter: President Biden tried to call the Saudi Crown Prince yesterday but the call was unsuccessful. The president’s handlers will let him try again today, only this time using the cell phone instead of the remote.

By a 4-2 vote, the Tampa City Commission approves Castor appointee Mary O’Connor as their new police chief, but she will oversee a city divided due to the mayor’s clumsy selection process.

Quote of the Week: “America: inflation is screwing us, our border is lawless, and there’s a ground war in Europe. (Meanwhile Kamala says) we need to get men in women’s sports ASAP.” - US Rep. and former Navy Seal Dan Crenshaw of Texas.

So what’s up with Curtis Reeves getting on the interview circuit? One would think that a low life that shot and killed an unarmed man would be hiding in cave somewhere.

THIS WEEK IN 1934: THE FIRST MASTERS WAS PLAYED AT AUGUSTA NATIONAL. IT WAS WON BY HORTON SMITH, ONE OF 30 PGA TOUR WINS IN HIS CAREER, BUT HIS ONLY MAJOR.

Lighter stuff:

Observation: Charles Barkley should never be allowed anywhere near an NCAA basketball tournament.

Who would have thunk it? Bulldogs hire a Gator. Bay area native Mike White will take over the struggling UGA basketball program.

National League fans are swallowing hard and accepting the universal DH. Most feel it’s a fair trade for getting rid of the ridiculous runner on second base in extra innings gimmick.

Next week’s Oscars will be hosted by Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes – who needs any more reason to watch, but wait – no Samantha Bee to make it even classier?

With warmer weather and the desire to crank up some surfing music on your music device, this factoid shared by a member of our Focus Group: While in high school, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys got an 'F' in his music class for writing the song Surfin; a song which went on to be the Beach Boys' breakout hit. In 2018, his grade was changed from an 'F' to an 'A.' If only some of us could get some less than objective professors to change our grades based on career accomplishments.

This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Carl Reiner, the creator of the Dick Van Dyke Show. He also was part of a powerful writing team for Sid Caesar along with Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and Neil Simon.

You’ve lived in the Bay Area a long time if you remember Super-Test gas stations with their slightly cheaper gas and reclaimed oil.

Five Years Ago in TBR&R (March 19, 2017) In an article in the Toronto Star on Scientology, one of their writers referred to Clearwater as “a down-on-its-heels resort town.” We wager the ill-informed writer never attempted to reach Clearwater Beach during high season, or for that matter, book a room or has ever been to Clearwater. The above reference to Clearwater would be akin to referring to Toronto as a suburb of Detroit.

We share with you a thought shared with us by our niece, an educator: Teach your children to be a good friend because some children don’t go home to love.

Those oldies but goodies are selling like crazy

The Atlantic reports that fully 70 percent of music sales in the past year have been old songs. Investment firms are buying up the catalogs of older stars like Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and David Bowie. There are actually bidding wars for these products. Other catalogs were snatched up years ago like 60s stars The Beach Boys, The Beatles and Tommy James. It’s the same thing on iTunes with classic rockers like CCR, The Police and Bruce Springsteen being among the leading downloads. You can still find a gem of a new song – we readily downloaded Dexter French and Wolfgang Black’s Dance ‘Til the Sun Comes Up when we stumbled across it last year. But that’s the exception even for the younger generation as well as old codgers like us. Sadly for aspiring young artists, the new music industry is shrinking.

NEXT UP: Southpaw Whopper; Aggressive drivers; Sweetwater’s

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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.

Correction to last week’s blog

Like most “great journalistic efforts,” Tampa Bay Rants and Raves is mostly written in advance. Like a magazine, the aim is not timeliness – particularly with what’s going on in Europe. But we did sneak in a last minute item last week about the price of gas ($3.79). It was incorrect before the end of the weekend. We know all about the squeeze on Russian oil etc. But, that being said, this is just another large miscalculation by the clueless occupant of the White House. President Trump, love or loathe him, left us with energy independence. Biden took, what 48 hours, to negate that and start buying oil from our “friends” in Russia and the Middle East while eliminating 11,000 jobs. Even someone who actually has cognitive acuity might not have foreseen the Ukraine mess, but face it, every time some sheik in the Middle East sneezes, the price of oil goes up. Now, here we are with the nagging annoyance of $4 plus a gallon gas for a lot of us and a food, rent or gas decision for those less fortunate. A real mess and we’re not sure Biden and his team are smart enough to dig their way out of it.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Observation: Here we are at the most critical point in history since World War II with the weakest president since the Great Depression.

Number of the week: $2.15 – the price of gas at the beginning of 2021. Let’s see, what has happened in the interim? Oh, yeah – see lead story.

Related - Pete Buttigieg has advice for Americans upset with surging gas prices, buy an electric car. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy – mess up U.S. energy supplies bad enough and let’s go electric! Our out of touch transportation czar fails to mention that electric cars cost about $15-20 grand more than a comparable gas vehicle

Editorial comment from the ersatz 5:05 Newsletter: I can’t believe sending Kamala Harris to Europe didn’t work.

Coke, Pepsi and McDonalds are just some of the brands shutting down in Russia. But when Starbucks ceases operations – isn’t that when civilization as we know it begins to crumble?

Proof there is a modicum of sanity remaining in the world as Ft. Lauderdale fires its mixed-race, gay Police Chief for blatant reverse discrimination in hiring and comments that pictures in the department conference room were “too white” and “I’m going to change that.”

As we roll into midterm elections, our advice to GOP candidates please, please forget about the 2020 voting fraud arguments – and don’t hitch your star to Donald Trump.

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY (1918): IN THE 1ST NHL CHAMPIONSHIP, THE TORONTO ARENAS (NOW MAPLE LEAFS) BEAT THE MONTREAL CANADIENS, OUTSCORING THEM 10-7 IN A TWO GAME SET.

Lighter stuff:

Seen on a bumper sticker, everybody can’t be Irish, somebody has to drive!

The millionaires and billionaires finally come to terms. Are we supposed to jump for joy – after their greed has cost Florida small businesses and workers a month and a half worth of spring training revenue?

Freddie Freeman to the Rays? With their payroll? Without doubt, the most ridiculous sports rumor of the year.

Keep your eye on Detroit Tiger pitching prospect, Jackson Jobe. Last week in Tiger’s minor league batting practice, he gave up his first home run – ever.

You’ve lived in the Bay Area (or anywhere else) a long time if you remember when your office got the last word in technology – an IBM Selectric Typewriter which first hit offices in the summer of 1961.

The ultimate sports experience

What’s on your sports bucket list? Some typical responses are The Masters for golf enthusiasts, The Kentucky Derby if you follow the ponies or perhaps the World Series or the Super Bowl. Your Humble Blogger has attended one of those events, the fall classic, but it doesn’t crack our top three. Those would be the Indy 500 -1969, the only year superstar driver Mario Andretti won the “greatest spectacle in auto racing.” Walking past driving legend A.J. Foyt in the pits was a plus, not to mention the pageantry at Indy. Number 2 on our list is an oddity – attending a MLB doubleheader in two different cities. Business had us in Philadelphia, and we caught an afternoon Phils-Cards game, then rushed to the airport and touched down in Miami in time to attend a Braves-Marlins night game with our family who had come in from Disney World. But our greatest thrill was taking our Durham-born wife to an always sold-out Duke Basketball game. To this day, we will not tell her what we paid for those tickets (they were less than the $3900 minimum ticket for last week’s Coach K finale). The atmosphere in that relatively small venue is unlike any other we’ve ever experienced. The fans are as much fun to watch as the game. And after the game, unlike in even most high school gyms, you can walk the floor and even sit in the chairs just vacated by future Final Four players – or Coach K himself. It’s a tough ticket (497 consecutive sellouts), but worth every penny.

UP NEXT: Changing Brian Wilson’s grade; Super Test; City election

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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.

An important Clearwater election

Clearwater voters go to the polls next week to elect two city council members. Incumbent David Allbritton is head and shoulders above his opponents in his bid for re-election. In the race to replace term-limited Hoyt Hamilton, voters have two qualified candidates to choose from in Lina Teixeira and longtime resident Jonathon Wade. The remainder of the field is a group of fringe candidates or one trick ponies with a narrow agenda. Mayor Frank Hibbard and the incumbent Allbritton already have enough of that to deal with without adding more.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Related note to our lead article: when mailing our return a few weeks back, it just seemed odd not to address it to Deborah Clark – the exceptional, now retired Supervisor of Elections.

Quote of the Week: Tonight, I would like to hear President Biden’s plan to reverse course and fix the mess he has made.” – US Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami on the State of the Union address. We suspect he was disappointed.

Political news from the 5:05 Newsletter: Politicians are already preparing for the crucial 2022 mid-term elections. Due to the last census, a number of states will lose seats in the House of Representatives because of a nationwide population shift toward what demographers categorize as “regions with Waffle Houses.”

Oh the irony! One major metro newspaper has a headline “Jan. 6 panel lays out potential criminal charges against Trump.” Meanwhile a war criminal is running loose and our Congress is doing little or nothing.

Other than a puff piece on Disney’s new hotel, we have to rank last Saturday’s (2/26) front page of the local newspaper as the most depressing in a great, great while in terms of the state of our local area, the nation and the world.

Related item: the ONLY good thing about the events in Europe is they are shoving a bunch of politically correct junk to the back pages or off the island completely.

But then there was this: “Vice President Kamala Harris was slammed by critics Thursday over a poorly timed tweet calling for Congress to pass the Equality Act amid the breakout of war and a possible nuclear disaster in Europe.”

Pinellas weekend gas price: $3.79 a gallon – thanks, Joe.

And lastly in this section, we’re being asked what we can do to help the Ukrainians. Our answer is a dozen A-10 Warthogs that would have reduced that Russian column of tanks to a several mile long garbage heap.

60 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK, THE FIRST K-MART OPENED. THERE ARE NOW LESS THAN THREE DOZEN K-MARTS LEFT. COINCIDENTLY, TWO LONGER SURVIVING STORES OPENED THE SAME YEAR – TARGET AND WALMART.

Lighter stuff:

Another year, another birthday. How old? Let’s just say we’ve passed the “best if used by” date.

In anticipation of a birthday party, we review the five most popular ice cream flavors in America (1) Vanilla (2) Chocolate – a close second (3) Cookies and Cream (4) Mint Chocolate Chip and (5) Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. We would have to add a couple of Publix specialty flavors Apple Pie Ala Mode and their seasonal Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream. But our household’s absolute favorite is Blue Bell’s Great Divide – a luscious combination of their great chocolate and vanilla flavors.

TV producer Chris Licht to take over CNN - a very interesting choice and he comes in with a mandate to return CNN to a news channel rather than a left wing mouthpiece. Time will tell.

Price of the Week: $3924 – the cheapest ticket for last weekend’s Duke-North Carolina game – Coach K’s final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. That is the most expensive “entry level” ticket in sports history. More on that next week.

Quote of the week from a frustrated baseball fan: “Fans ultimately don’t care who’s at fault. They’ll just find something else to do with their time.”

Number of the week: 5-2 with college football spring practice barely complete, the Vegas odds of Alabama recapturing the college football championship.

Bucs to play “home game” in Germany; what, not the Ukraine?

Word on the street is Troy Aikman is leaving FOX for ESPN. Now if FOX could just dump Joe Buck, the network’s prime game every week might be palatable.

Tampa Bay Rants & Raves turns eight

Eight years and slightly less than 400,000 words ago, a plague was cast upon otherwise intelligent folks who read this drivel on a weekly basis. We tip our cap to our original six readers. If you see numbers over a thousand now and then, rest assured they were tabulated by Dominion Voting. We thank our “kitchen cabinet” known as our Focus Group for their input. In our eight-year journey, we have attempted to discover why guys wear their baseball caps backwards; why a Hillsborough County resident thought we needed her to represent Pinellas in Congress; why it was necessary for the Redskins and Indians to change names they had for the better part of a century; why Lent and the Girl Scout Cookie Sale usually come at the same time of year and other deep mysteries. So, we forge ahead, hoping Biden won’t give away all our money in the next three years and that the 5:05 News Letter would publish more often and the St. Pete Times less.

UP NEXT: Advice to GOP; Ultimate sports experience; $99 Store

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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.

What is the Pinellas Commission afraid of?

The most leveled headed of Pinellas County’s Commissioners, Dave Eggers, can’t seem to convince three of his fellow commissioners to allow the general electorate to have a say in commission term limits. The latest 4-3 vote came last month, now requiring what Eggers describes as a Herculean task of getting 55,000 signatures by a grass roots organization, Friends of Pinellas County, to put the question on the November ballot. It’s easy to understand why commissioners Flowers, Gerard, Long and Seel oppose the measure. It’s simply the power of incumbency. Flowers’ remark “residents have a voice every four years at the ballot box and can vote incumbents out of office” is utter nonsense. Incumbents and their cronies can make it rain money making an outsider challenge, better qualified or not, next to impossible. In Florida, 95% of incumbents win local elections and that isn’t because they are doing that great a job – it is money along with general indifference of voters in down ballot races. Pinellas County doesn’t owe its elected officials a lifetime job. We can only hope Friends of Pinellas County can get those 55,000 signatures and bring an end to “commissioners for life” in Pinellas.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Is Vladimir Putin any less a war criminal than Tojo, Goring and the rest?

We have never owned a firearm in our life, but now we feel it necessary - to protect ourselves from popcorn throwers. You’ve got to wonder about the state of mind of a guy who feels it necessary to carry a firearm into a movie theater. What an outrageous miscarriage of justice.

With the race months away, Gov. Ron DeSantis leads in his re-election bid by double digits over the three major Democratic candidates. That lead is bound to narrow as Democrats unite behind one candidate. Right now, Charlie Crist has a slight lead over Nikki Fried and Annette Taddeo.

Oddity: we keep hearing of large backups at the IRS, yet we got our tax refund in something like 10 days.

A rant we air every couple of years or so – we would be willing to pay a little more in county taxes if Pinellas County could ever get their traffic lights in sync, avoiding light to light stop and goes for county drivers.

The name Gail Halvorsen may not mean much to you, but it did to the kids in East Berlin in the late 1940s. He was the so-called “candy bomber” who dropped sweets to kids caught up in the Soviet blockade after World War II. He was a hero to those kids. Halvorsen, who visited East Germany many times after the Berlin Airlift, passed away last week at age 101.

From the 5:05 Newsletter: In response to record levels of unprosecuted shoplifting, Walgreens stores in San Francisco have introduced a new “Frequent Looter Rewards Card.” Looters who loot a Walgreens 5 times will be awarded a mail-in voter registration.

THIS WEEK IN 1974: PEOPLE MAGAZINE PUBLISHES ITS FIRST EDITION. CIRCULATION IS NOW 3.75 MILLION.

Lighter stuff:

As Lent begins this week, a tip of the cap to McDonald’s franchisee Lou Groen who developed the company’s very popular Filet-O-Fish in 1962. Over 25 per cent of all Filet-O-Fish sandwiches sold in 2022 will be sold during the next 40 days between this week and Easter.

Hats off to the Rooney family, who seem to manage to win while practicing hiring diversity, on their hire of Brian Flores to a key role on their coaching staff.

Idle thought: Matthew Stafford is finally surrounded by a good, not great team and wins it all.

Sports number of the Week: One – the number of winning seasons the Jacksonville Jaguars have had in the past 14 seasons. The Bucs’ Byron Leftwich wisely passed.

MLB players’ and owners’ greed has cost at least a week of Spring Training games for fans in Clearwater, Dunedin and Tampa. But you’ve got to feel for North Port, Florida, whose four-year-old stadium is seeing their fourth truncated spring season due to construction delays, COVID and, this year, greed.

Just asking: Since we apparently are going to eliminate pitchers hitting in both leagues, why not go to an 8-man batting order, rather than trotting out a bunch of guys who should give all of their gloves to a local thrift store?

Focus Group: Oval office in 2024

After dealing with American landmarks last month, and realizing this Biden thing isn’t working out, we asked our TBR&R Focus Group to zero in on the 2024 Presidency – specifically who they would like to see (as opposed to predict) in the White House in 2024. We will revisit this question a year and two years from now to allow for changing trends. Our first response came from one of the true policy wonks on our elite panel. He, while reserving the right to change his mind one and two years hence, favors our Governor Ron DeSantis for the presidency. Our second responder, also a bit of political nerd, would like to see our first woman President in the person of former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. One of our original Focus Group members who has had a knack for picking Presidential winners over the last couple of decades weighs in with simply anybody but Donald Trump. Similarly, another group member said they would like to see a Republican back in the White House, but has reservations about the previous occupant. Another Focus Group original went outside the political spectrum and would like the calm, straightforward demeanor of former Fox, now CNN, commentator Chris Wallace in the White House. Our only out of state Focus Group member feels if he cannot have our Governor for his horribly run state, he’d also like to have Ron DeSantis as America’s next chief executive. Lastly, another Focus Group contributor has her list down to two – U.S. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas or our state’s chief executive.

NEXT UP: Clearwater’s election; Turning eight; K-Mart

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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.

Mayor Castor’s misstep 

Four former Tampa mayors say it would be unprecedented for a mayoral appointment to be shot down by the City Council. Unsurprisingly, all four surveyed are Democrats like Tampa’s sitting mayor who didn’t realize the consequences of her appointment of a former colleague with a less than spotless record. For some reason, former Republican Mayor (and Governor) Bob Martinez was not surveyed. Martinez is also Hispanic as is the highly qualified Interim Chief, Butch Delgado, who was passed over for the job by a mayor who doesn’t seem to be able to read the tea leaves. The most practical solution, given the considerable pushback from the community, would be for appointee Mary O’Connor to gracefully withdraw. Otherwise, Tampa will be a fractured city due to Mayor Castor’s misstep.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

SCOTUS News from the 5:05 Newsletter: President Joe Biden quietly withdrew Whoopi Goldberg's Supreme Court nomination after she downplayed the Holocaust.

Is Albert Whitted Airport the best use of St. Pete’s waterfront property? The last time the issue was brought to a vote, three quarters of the city’s voters said yes. Whether that still holds true is up for debate, but it’s a heck of a lot better use than a baseball stadium for so many reasons.

A gentleman wise in the ways of local government told us years ago that their function was to bounce basketballs (leisure and the arts) catch bad guys (public safety) and pick up trash – probably the most basic of the three. Right now, Polk County is doing a lousy job of picking up trash – a problem with many solutions all of which seem to be escaping the folks to our east.

He captained the Fort Harrison Hotel until it was purchased by the evil empire, and then spent three decades as General Manager of the stately Clearwater Beach Hotel. Wally Lee passed away last week at age 89.

THIS WEEK IN 1962: JOHN GLENN BECOMES THE FIRST AMERICAN TO ORBIT THE EARTH.

Lighter stuff:

The first week of Spring Training games has been canceled and folks who use the $10 an hour jobs during spring to supplement their income are out of luck as the players and owners decide whether a first year player should make $570,000 or $650,000 a year.

Las Vegas Raiders’ fans are calling the Rams win over the Bengals “karma,” after getting hosed by a call that the league admits cost the Raiders a playoff game against the Bengals.

Answer: Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin. Question who was the youngest NFL head coach to win a Super Bowl before Sean McVay?

Thought of the Week: You call it eating five boxes of Girl Scout cookies alone; I call it supporting young female entrepreneurs.

Related Factoid: In 2018 (the last season not affected by COVID), more people attended Spring Training games in Florida than either the Rays or Marlins regular season games.

Something we loved reading – the story of a high school football coach in Bethel Park, PA who canceled an off-season workout for his players in the gym because of a heavy snow storm. Their workout instead was to “Find an elderly or disabled neighbor and shovel their driveway. Don’t accept any money – that’s our Monday workout.” Over a hundred driveways were shoveled by 40 players - hats off to Coach Brian DeLallo and his team.

Five years Ago in TBR&R (Feb. 26, 2017) After over fifty years on the air, the University of South Florida sells off its TV station WUSF Channel 16. The station competed against and often duplicated the programming of PBS affiliate WEDU Channel 3 and was costing the university millions each year.

The “good old boys”

Clearwater’s municipal election is just a few weeks away (March 15) and, like many years in the past, we hear complaints about “good old boys” dominating city elections. The barbs this time are directed mainly towards incumbent commissioner David Allbritton. It’s as though the Clearwater native should have to apologize for growing up in the city he serves – for being active in his community all his life. Sure, he is well-connected, why wouldn’t he be with all he’s done in the city? But the overwhelming facts are Allbritton has shown strong leadership skills in his first term and he is, by far, the most qualified candidate to continue in that seat on the council – whether you choose to label him a “good old boy” or not.

NEXT UP: People; Oval office in ’24; Eight men up

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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.

Congress needs to take stock

Last week we opined that members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors should be required to have their portfolios placed in a blind trust to avoid the recent surge of insider trading allegations. Now, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia has taken that one step further with proposed legislation that members of Congress and their spouses (read Paul Pelosi, a heavy stock trader) cannot trade stocks while in office. Your humble blogger, while an elected official years ago, learned of a local company soon to gain a large defense contract that would (and did) catapult their stock. Your HB and the appointed city official who gained this information at a private meeting agreed that no way on God’s green earth should they act on it. But what if one of us was in a financial bind, or just greedy? If a local official can gain such information, think of what a member of Congress can learn about future events affecting companies’ worth? Legislation like this makes way too muchsense.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Surely the irony is not lost on the American public: our fearless leader vowing the crucial Nord Stream 2 Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline would be blocked if Russia further invades Ukraine. Meanwhile, 11,000 Americans lost their jobs when Biden shut down the Keystone Pipeline, and they hadn’t invaded anything.

More on the Ukraine: this headline Kamala Harris to take lead on Ukraine. My, isn’t that comforting?

“You’ve got to be kidding” is the reaction of many observers to Tampa’s mayor picking an old crony with some serious negative background to be the city’s new police chief over Tampa native and deputy chief – Butch Delgado.

Number of the week: 6.6 million. That’s the number of Americans who suffer from a gambling addiction – a number that our legislature and our general population should keep in mind as we seem to rush headlong towards increased gambling in our state.

Idle thought: when we have to fill critical positions requiring highly qualified people, why do we tie our hands by limiting our selections to a small subset of candidates?

From the MIT Technology Review, here are four of the worst innovations from the past couple decades – The Segway, cryptocurrency, E-Cigarettes and selfie sticks, to which we add the “driverless” car.

Related to our concluding article below, there are now 35 Sears stores left in America.

For almost half a century, he was the go to guy for everybody in Clearwater when their vacuum cleaner went kaput. Clearwater High ’62 grad George Valone passed away last month at age 77.

THIS WEEK IN 1899 (2/13): THE TEMPERATURE DROPS TO MINUS 2 DEGREES IN TALLAHASSEE, THE RECORD LOW IN FLORIDA HISTORY.

Lighter stuff:

From the 5:05 Newsletter: The historic Rotterdam Bridge will be temporarily dismantled so Jeff Bezos’ new super yacht can pass through. Bezos will then board his private train and head to Switzerland where, for his convenience, a portion of the Alps has been flattened.

Pitchers and catchers did not report Monday, the first of a lot of bad news baseball fans will be receiving. The second was an offer by Biden Labor Secretary Marty Walsh to “help out” in negotiations. Walsh is one of the most pro-union people on the planet.

Allegedly attributed to baseball Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins, “I called to congratulate (baseball umpire) Joe West on retiring, but he missed that call too.”

Mid-February and it’s now safe to go back to the gym, the overcrowding caused by New Year’s resolutions has now passed.

Forgive us if we’ve mentioned this before, but never buy your wife a stepstool for Valentine’s Day even if she asked for it.

Seen on a bumper sticker: My dog is smarter than your president.

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the major fire that destroyed nearly a block on the northern side of downtown Cleveland Street in the late 1950s.

Rochester may have hit on something

As we see shopping malls all across the country, including here in the Bay Area, struggling, folks in Rochester, NY may have hit on something. They are repurposing arguably the most struggling retailer in the country, Sears, into a 300,000 square foot medical campus in the Marketplace Mall. It’s a project of the highly respected University of Rochester Medical Center. When you stop and think about it, a conversion like this makes sense. The mall offers relatively cheap real estate, tons of parking and it’s centrally located. Rochester is not the first community to do this, but the Marketplace Mall location is likely the most comprehensive such facility thus far in what could be a boon for struggling malls as well as medical facilities trying to keep non-critical patients away from the COVID threat in our hospitals.

UP NEXT: Three times around; Good Old Boys; Electric cars

021322/71

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.

Three years to go, Demos’ frustration mounts

With three years to go in the Biden occupation of the White House, it’s becoming painfully obvious that someone else will be holding the lease after 2024. For one thing, the guy will be 82 years old. More importantly, his first year in office has been a train wreck with inflation, unprecedented border problems and the general malaise of the country pushing his approval rating to historic lows. High profile Democrats would like him to bow to the obvious and announce he will not be running for reelection in 2024. Granted, the lineup of potential successors is weak with names like Buttigieg, Harris and Warren along with longshots like Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. Potential candidates are straining at the leash, not wanting to have to put organizations together at the 11^th hour. Biden insists he will run in 2024; too many factors say he won’t and he needs to step aside gracefully and with some dispatch.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Budget news from the 5:05 Newsletter: “The Biden Administration is proposing a fiscal 2022 record federal budget of $6 trillion, to be raised by what the White House describes as “an exciting new partnership with Herbalife.”

Are we the only ones offended by the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club not including Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard in its recent mayoral summit? Granted, the bay area’s third largest city has a smaller population than Tampa or St. Pete, but it is a giant in terms of revenues generated for the bay area and the state.

Economic news: while the Midwest is suffering most from inflation (MSAs up as high as 21% in the Dakotas and Iowa). Tampa Bay is one of the highest in the east at over 8 percent.

With the recent scandals involving insider investments by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, we find it beyond belief that the governors aren’t required to put their portfolios in a blind trust.

Florida needs to continue with confidential searches for its university presidents, despite some ivory tower calls for openness. It simply comes down to the fact that the majority of states do not have open search requirements. So, if you’re a currently employed, highly qualified candidate with the option of applying confidentially for a new job or in states with open records – where are you not going to apply? Our universities deserve the deepest pool of qualified candidates available.

THIS WEEK IN 1935: THE BOARD GAME MONOPOLY DEBUTS - SALES SINCE 1935 TOTAL 250 MILLION COPIES.

Lighter stuff:

Washington Commanders – not great, but not as lame as other suggestions or the Washington Football Team name they were stuck with for a year and a half.

If you read this drivel regularly, you knew this was coming. The latest nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are revealed. Again, no Paul Anka or Neil Sedaka but “transcendent groups” like A Tribe Called Quest, Rage against the Machine and New York Dolls are nominated

Clearwater’s Dean Young’s Blondie comic strip reminded us recently of another American term from the 1900s that is fast fading from our lexicon – “sounding like a broken record.”

Super Bowl Factoid: The first Super Bowl which was also played in Los Angeles was blacked out within a 75-mile radius of LA. Despite the blackout, the stadium was only two-thirds full as the Packers beat the Chiefs. Top ticket price was $12.00.

Idle thought: Candy bars we ate as kids we hardly see anymore – Baby Ruth; Clark Bar; Mars Bar; Oh Henry and Zagnut.

Speaking of sweet things, we annually whine about Girl Scout Cookie sales and Lent coinciding. However, in 2022, sales start this week and Lent doesn’t start for another month – Ash Wednesday, March 2.

If you managed a radio station in the 70s you, at one time or another, had a Dr. Johnny Fever working for you – always pushing the envelope. Howard Hesseman, who died last week at 81, played the role of a wayward disc jockey to a tee on WKRP in Cincinnati.

Watching three GOATS

None of us are old enough to have watched baseball’s greatest player, Babe Ruth. We can argue about who was the NBA’s best - LeBron, MJ or perhaps Magic. But we’re pretty sure we are now witnessing two coaches and one player who will go down as the greatest of all time. One of those is right in our own backyard – Tom Brady. His multiple NFL championships with two different teams say it all. College football fans are also witnessing the greatest coach of all time at Alabama. Nick Saban is without peer in this generation or any other – again a national championship winner at two different schools. Although he never won a championship at Army, Mike Krzyzewski has won five at Duke and more games than other Division I college basketball coach in history along with coaching the USA National team to a 75-1 record during his years as their head coach. Krzyzewski retires this year, Brady as well and Saban still going strong. But we as sports fans have been privileged to witness three of the greatest during our lifetimes.

NEXT UP: Freezing Florida; Taking stock; Surgery at Sears

020622/70

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.

Remembering when you could trust the media

If you have some age on you, you remember The Clearwater Sun, The Tampa Tribune, even the afternoon Tampa Times. You also remember when the Associated Press (and the UPI) when they were news gatherers for local Radio and TV along with the newspaper. The three respected papers are now history replaced by one of the four or five most left leaning newspapers in the country. The AP is now also a Democratic apologist witnessed by their recent recap of the first year of Biden failures, all of which they blame on others. There has to be a time when Biden is held accountable for his many missteps. Apparently, the American public is doing some accounting with Biden earning a 33 per cent approval rate in the recent Quinnipiac poll. Unfortunately, these numbers are lost on the AP or our local newspaper.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

As we begin Year Two of the Biden administration, this thought from the 5:05 Newsletter: “Can we all just agree that in the past 30 years we may have taken this “anyone-can-grow-up-to-be president” thing a bit too far?”

Point to ponder, courtesy of one of our Focus Group members: If the federal government can force you to take a vaccine, can the government force you to carry a baby with a heartbeat to term? Just asking.

Biden apparently set to fill soon to be vacated Breyer seat with a Black woman regardless of other factors - sort of a Rooney rule in reverse. Either way, we trade off a liberal for what we hope will be no worse than a liberal.

As Hillsborough County adds the 656 area code, you’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember when Pinellas shared the 813 area code with Hillsborough.

THIS WEEK IN 1933: WXYZ RADIO IN DETROIT AIRS THE FIRST EVER EPISODE OF “THE LONE RANGER”.

Lighter stuff:

Tough, tough loss. The now retiring Tom Brady was vintage Tom Brady in the second half. Unfortunately, he does not play in the Bucs secondary.

We’re going to miss the voice and enthusiasm of Dick Vitale for the rest of the college basketball season. Vitale is sidelined due to some serious issues with his vocal cords.

A disappointing Hall of Fame outcome with the voters giving a one-dimensional player a first ballot entry; that honor should be reserved for two dimensional players like Aaron, Clemente and Mays. Equally disappointing was the Hall’s rejection of the outspoken Curt Shilling, a victim of the era’s cancel culture. Not surprising, considering the traditional leftward bent of writers.

This week we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Laugh In co-host Dick Martin. You bet your sweet bippy!

Sports quote of the week from veteran baseball writer Jason Stark: “The players and owners are not even talking about the one issue that might matter most to fans, rules adjustments intended to improve the on-field product. Nope, sorry. It’s about money. It’s always about money. No matter how anyone frames it, no matter what anyone says.”

Sports numbers of the week: 26-3: the career record of future Hall of Famer Ben Roethlisberger against the Cleveland Browns, the team that passed over the Ohio native in the 2004 NFL draft.

Seen on a T-shirt: “To save time, let’s assume I know everything.”

Focus Group’s dream destinations

Our first question of 2022 for our elite Focus Group was to name three things in the United States they have not seen that they would like to see. The first response from an original Focus Group member included the Northern Lights, the Grand Canyon and, not satisfied with her hundred some trips to Walt Disney World, she would like to visit the original – Disney Land. Since our second responder is married to the first, he gets a cheat on the Grand Canyon along with his trio of Pearl Harbor, the USAF boneyard in Arizona and Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose out in Oregon. One of our newer Focus Group members would like to see Niagara Falls, New England states Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire and one of America’s greatest landmarks – Mount Rushmore. Pearl Harbor was also on the list of things to see of another Focus Group member who also listed the famous Cedar Point Amusement Park in Ohio which has been in operation for over 150 years along with the storied Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay. Mount Rushmore, the brain child of South Dakota historian Doane Robinson, also occupies the list of another of our Focus Group. He adds the Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania and the Grand Canyon to his bucket list. Last but not least, our western most member wants to go further west and visit Alaska, the expanse of the Dakotas and Montana plus, like another member, view the Northern Lights – which would tie in with her Alaskan trip as Fairbanks is considered the best place in the U.S. to view the Northern Lights.

UP NEXT: Buying Boardwalk; ESPN & Baseball; Candy bars

013022/72

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 - much of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

Student loans – what’s different today?

The majority of college graduates in America have had it up to here with the snowflakes besieging the federal and state governments to relieve them of student debt. We ask a simple question – why? One local grad is sending postcards to everyone short of the Postmaster General requesting “Cancel Student Debt.” And in answer to our “why” question, the response went something like this: an effort to preserve the kind of life she and others say they’ve tasted recently with student debt out of the way. Understandable - we could enjoy a better life without that pesky mortgage or utility bill. But we agreed to the terms of each, and we’re not looking for big brother to bail us out, so we can enjoy that cruise to Alaska. A couple in their golden years remembers him working two jobs in college and her paying off her student loan early just so she would not be in debt to anyone. And the couple started sacrificing and saving early so their kids would not have to borrow money to get an education. That responsible generation, alas, no longer seems to exist. And they should not be asked to foot the bill for a much less responsible generation.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Related to our lead piece, the Sugar Daddy Biden administration has extended the pause on student loan paybacks until May 1. After that, who knows? The only certainty is that without reform, we the American taxpayers will be paying off that student debt.

Heather Boushey is an economist for the Biden regime. In an interview with Channel 13’s Craig Patrick last week, she attempted to explain away record breaking inflation on the sudden availability of appliances and the like. Has this woman not visited a grocery store or a gas station or a used car lot? Get out of your ivory tower Ma’am.

In an editorial about the ridiculous New York initiative to allow non-citizens to vote in city elections, the liberal author of the piece somehow manages to take a shot at Republicans by paragraph three. Sorry, this was strictly a Democratic mess propagated by the last two mayors of the city that never sleeps (or blushes).

Speaking of city elections, Clearwater councilperson Kathleen Beckman is navigating a very slippery slope in her “get out the vote campaign,” coordinating it with a supporter of one of the candidates for the council. Council members need to stay above the fray, which just hasn’t happened in this election cycle.

Answer: DC, Hawaii and California. Question where are the three most expensive places to live in the U.S.? (According to MoneyWise).

THIS WEEK IN 1957: WHAMO PRODUCED THE FIRST “PLUTO PLATTER.” WE KNOW IT TODAY AS THE FRISBIE; IT WAS INDUCTED INTO THE TOYS HALL OF FAME INAUGURAL CLASS IN 1998.

Lighter stuff:

MLB swats down the split season concept of the Rays. The only question is why wasn’t this nonsense stifled the moment it was proposed?

This week marks the first anniversary of the passing of baseball great Hank Aaron. A fellow baseball fan shared this with us – “Take away all 755 of Hank’s homeruns and he still has more hits than Wade Boggs. Think about that for a minute.”

Something that warms our heart: Stetson Bennett IV, currently the most famous college football player on the planet, communicates with a flip phone.

NFL note courtesy of The Athletic: At 44, Tom Brady is older than all his opposing coaches left in the NFC playoff bracket: Packers coach Matt LaFleur (42), 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan (42) and Rams coach Sean McVay (35) are all younger.

Last week’s Bucs-Eagles playoff game made us think of the coach of the first Eagles-Bucs playoff game, John McKay and one of our favorite McKay stories: After receiving harsh criticism from the media about his coaching skills in the NFL, McKay replies, "You guys don't know the difference between a football and a bunch of bananas." In the next interview, members of the media left bananas for McKay. He then replied, "You guys don't know the difference between a football and a Mercedes Benz."

As the NFL coaching carousel turns, it’s hard to understand why the Las Vegas Raiders would not ask interim coach Rich Bisaccia back. His only sin in a great second half drive was getting hosed by an incompetent officiating crew in his playoff game that gave the Bengals a touchdown, and the deciding score that should have been blown dead.

From the 5:05 Newsletter: “To all New Yorkers now moving to Florida - remember you are refugees not missionaries.”

We must add an editorial comment to the above; there are parts of New York (Buffalo, Rochester, and Elmira to name a few) that are not infected by the “New York City Syndrome.” In fact they are working on a vaccine to prevent it.

The baseball lockout and spring training

Florida’s economy is in danger of taking yet another hit. For unless the millionaires and billionaires reach agreement soon, spring training will be shortened or possibly cancelled. At this time, most experts feel spring training will at least be delayed. This will have a negative impact on the economies of Arizona and Florida. Thousands of hotel room nights are at stake. Restaurants, still recovering, will be less busy. Vendors at the ballparks will have no one to sell to and seasonal employees in places like Clearwater, Dunedin and Tampa will not have that extra income they count on. Up north, very popular travel packages (air, rooms and tickets) will go unpurchased. But eventually, the millionaires and billionaires will agree on a formula to stuff their pockets. It is a sad situation.

UP NEXT: Hi Oh Silver; Focus Group bucket list;

012322/69

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

(Editor’s note – Our This Week in History segment has moved between the politics and stuff and lighter stuff sections)

Answers to problems that don’t exist

With Biden’s ill-conceived “Build Back Better” being shot down after even Democratic economists say the bill would only add to the country’s super-heated inflation, Democrats wish to move on to a second solution to a problem that doesn’t exist – voting rights. The United States currently has the most liberal voting rights laws in its history, the words of The New York Time’s Yuval Levin, not ours (although we agree). About the only way to further expand voting in our nation would be adopting the long standing Chicago model of vote early, vote often, whether dead or alive. That’s a solution we don’t need.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Our condolences to the Crown family on the passing of Bill Crown, who headed the family’s long standing accounting practice. Bill, a community leader and a member of the Morton Plant Tree House, had just turned 80.

From the 5:05 Newsletter, a related note to our lead article: The $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better Act” failed to pass in 2021. At issue is whether or not the plan to pay it back by selling baked goods to foreign nations is really feasible.

Commerce Department reports that U.S. trade deficit was up in 2021. Now there is breaking news; inflation at 40 year high. Not a great week for the Biden regime.

Quote of the week: “Expectations are low.” The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan on the outlook for VP Kamala Harris’ next three years as second-in command.

Word on the street indicates that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might oppose Senator Chuck Schumer in New York’s Democratic primary. The blowhard Senator never looked so good.

Kudos to Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody for her proposed strengthening of sentencing guidelines for thugs caught in the now epidemic smash and grab thefts that began in California and are now filtering east. Her proposals would put Florida ahead of the curve in this disturbing trend.

THIS WEEK IN 1919 – THE “GREAT EXPERIMENT” PROHIBITION BEGAN, IT WAS A FAILURE, BUT IT MADE ROBERT STACK’S CAREER.

Lighter stuff:

A lot of folks, including the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, considered the Ronettes’ Be My Baby to be the most influential rock song of the sixties. The group’s lead singer, Ronnie Spector, passed away last week at age 78.

This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of the late Telly Savalas – TV’s Kojak. “Who loves ya, baby?”

The MLB Network cut ties with arguably their best on-field commentator Ken Rosenthal. His greatest sins were occasionally being critical of MLB ayatollah Rob Manfred. Fortunately, he will still appear in The Athletic, which was recently purchased by The New York Times.

Other than the Braves miracle finish, the other team that deserves the most credit for overcoming adversity in 2021 is the Toronto Blue Jays who won 91 games despite having to call three different cities, including Dunedin, home.

Just weeks after our comments on the hapless Giants and Jets (TBR&R 12/19/21), a lawsuit has been filed in New York to force both teams to return to playing their games in New York rather than New Jersey. It might even help their games –see Bills, Buffalo.

Topping the charts fifty years ago this week was Don McLean’s opus American Pie. It would remain there for four weeks and was the third biggest selling record of the year.

Seen on a T-Shirt: Hold on, let me overthink this.

You’ve lived in Pinellas County a long time if you ever enjoyed the authentic Eastern Carolina BBQ at Butler’s on 94^th Avenue North in St. Pete.

How not to handle NFL Week 18

The NFL, CBS and Channel 10 made no friends last weekend when the Baltimore – Pittsburgh game, the result of which had playoff implications for both teams, was cut off in overtime with the score tied. The Bucs game was scheduled to start and we get that, but no backup plan – CBS Sports Network or the NFL Network? To make matters worse, during the opening drive by Carolina in the Bucs game, Channel 10 interrupts the live action for a promo for their weather department. This was amateur hour at its best by a supposed professional sports league, television network and network affiliate. Not their finest hour – for people older than dirt, a repeat of the infamous “Heidi Game” on NBC in 1968.

UP NEXT: Only in NYC; Student loans; Florida & the lockout

011622/

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

(Editor’s note – With each edition in 2022, we will lead off our blog with a significant event in history for that week.)

THIS WEEK IN 2007 – THE BIRTH OF THE IPHONE.

USF losing their way

The University of South Florida‘s board of trustees recently gave some marching orders to interim president Rhea Law. Most make sense such as prepping to make the transition to a new president as smooth as possible. But sticking out like a sore thumb on the list is a call for progress on an on-campus football stadium. This would make sense if the football program were a cash cow for the university ala UF or even UCF. The program isn’t even close to what you would call an asset for the university that found it necessary to close down their school of education until faced with a region wide revolt. This is a program that has won three games over the last two years and averaged just over three wins a year over the last four. Their wins this year were over a Division II school and Temple, who fired their coach at season’s end. The financially responsible avenue for USF would be finding a way to either move their program to Division II or a bolder decision to phase out the football program all together – not build an unneeded on-campus stadium.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

January 6 was a golden day for Joe Biden. The anniversary of the disruption in DC gave him a day to blame it all on President Donald Trump while some people forget about worsening inflation, the COVID crisis and his international blunders for a short time. The temporary amnesia won’t last long.

We regret we did not have the required space of 17 paragraphs for outgoing St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman to congratulate himself on a job well done.

We see the wondrous ads from the local gambling casino showing all those winners. The ads never mention breadwinners trying to explain to their families why they are being evicted, having their power turned off or no gas for the car because of that wonderful casino.

Quote of the Week: “(Clearwater City Manager Jeff) Jennings said he brings the advantage of a fresh face without the historical baggage that exists between the city and Scientology.” That is either the height of naivety or hubris – neither of which bodes well for Clearwater.

A Ben and Jerry’s is scheduled to open on Clearwater Beach next week. We won’t be there. Besides their product being unhealthy and overpriced, the company continues their anti-Israeli policies in the Mideast as well as support for radical movements here at home.

Five Years Ago in TBR&R (January 8, 2017): Word on the street is a new buyer for the old 1100 Building at MLK and Cleveland is waiting in the wings to be the building’s savior. Pardon us if we remain skeptical. (Turns out, the 8^th or 9^th time was charmed and the building is up and occupied).

Sidney Portier won an Oscar in 1964 for Lilies of the Field, but many felt he surpassed those performances in 1967’s To Sir with Love and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. The heralded actor passed away last week at age 94.

Lighter stuff:

If you’ve already become frustrated with your New Year’s resolutions, fall back to the philosophy most attributed to Benjamin Franklin – weed one garden bed at a time.

The semi-official 5:05 Newsletter reports on an order mix-up: “Last week my online order got mixed up with somebody else's. I ordered a fake vaccination card and they sent me a Hawaiian birth certificate.”

A 2022 oddity occurred in Salinas CA when fraternal twins Aylin and Alfredo Trujillo were born just fifteen minutes apart, but Aylin was born at 11:45 pm December 31 and her twin brother Alfredo fifteen minutes later just after the dawn of 2022 giving them different days, months and years of birth.

It took but one week for one of our bold 2022 predictions to be proven wrong. The University of South Florida gave a two year extension to head football coach Jeff Scott who is 3-18 in his first two years at USF. This continues a series of incomprehensible moves by our alma mater over the past few years (see above).

What’s up with all the piling on of Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh? Outside of each other, there was only one team in the country that beat either of the two college championship finalists.

We have the deepest respect for Buck Showalter. He has won everywhere he’s managed; we simply hate to see him get mixed up in the hot mess that is the New York Mets.

Ad Week’s 2021 Ad of the Year? The delightful Geico “Scoop, There It Is” ad, a spinoff of Atlanta-based Tag Team’s 1993 hit Whoomp (There It Is).

Our unofficial Hall of Fame ballot

Each year we try to assist writers who actually have a Hall of Fame ballot with their selections. This year’s new candidates are mostly a group of players who had nice careers, but fall short of Hall of Fame status. There are two exceptions – Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz, both of whom are tainted by performance enhancing drugs. We sense voters will be more forgiving with Big Papi, as the Red Sox DH was known. Our guess is he will linger a year or two because of the PEDs and the fact he seldom played defense during his career. Being a first ballot selectee is something you reserve for the Aarons, Griffeys and Mantles of the world. With those facts in mind, the writers have to get over themselves and vote in post season stalwart Curt Schilling on his performance, not his politics, baseball’s best all-time left handed reliever Billy Wagner, the best or second best shortstop glove of all time Omar Vizquel and Colorado’s Todd Helton with his career batting average of .316. And the Hall will at least temporarily say good bye to last year on the ballot juicers Barry Bonds, Roger Clemons and Sammy Sosa, which is sad because all three probably could have made the Hall without the chemical assists.

NEXT UP: Unneeded solutions; Lockout effects; Who loves ya?

010922/71

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

(Editor’s note – With each edition in 2022, we will lead off our blog with a significant event in history for that week.)

Looking back at this week (1920): an epoch in New York baseball history when the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the then downtrodden Yanks for $125,000 – less than $5000 per World Championship (27).

10 not all that credible 2022 predictions

A new year and some thoughts on what it will bring: (1) The Supreme Court unfortunately stops short of overturning Roe vs. Wade. (2) The GOP will retake both houses of Congress in the midterms. (3) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will announce that 2022-4 is her last term. (4) Ron DeSantis will be re-elected Governor. (5) Charlie Crist will announce his candidacy for something, gosh knows what. (6) David Allbritton and Lina Teixeria will win Clearwater’s March elections. (7) Biden’s ratings will not sink any lower – how could they? (8) Gas prices will continue to hover in the mid three dollar range. (9) Billy Napier’s first year at UF will be about the same as Dan Mullen’s last year – around .500, while USF will have another two-three win season – and another coaching change. (10) The Rays will have another nice season but will fall short of the World Series and then concentrate on their plan to play a split season between Tampa Bay and New Zealand.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

We lead off the New Year with this resolution: To all my doctors, yes, I am trying to lose weight, but like the folks at the 5:05 Newsletter,“I don`t want to get caught up in one of those ‘Eat right and exercise’ scams.”

More on this weight loss thing, we find that a New Year’s resolution is easier to keep if you get a running start in October.

Are we the only ones who are nervous about talks between Scientology’s David Miscavige and Clearwater’s new city manager who blew into town about six weeks ago?

My, but political parties dislike members who think for themselves and their constituents – see Manchin, Joe.

Quote of the week: “It’s between do you want to stop slightly higher prices or do you want a slower economy?” - Boston College economist Aleksandar Tomic. We’re not so sure Americans characterize the current increased cost of goods and services as “slightly higher.”

Lighter stuff:

Just days short of her 100^th birthday, we say goodbye to everyone’s favorite actress, Betty White.

When a legend (Tom Brady) calls someone else (John Madden) a legend, no more need be said. The former coach and broadcaster died last week at age 85.

Notable shortages during the holiday weeks – Gatorade, Publix’ yummy Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream and pet food – a shortage that could stretch out for as much as year according to some experts in the pet food industry.

An addendum to our new “This Week in History” feature, it was 48 years ago this week that the Steinbrenner family bought the Yankees for $10 million. The franchise is now estimated to be worth $5.25 billion.

A further thought on our tongue in cheek comment on the Rays’ split season plan: Major League Baseball Trade Rumors’ Anthony Franco thinks MLB owners will sign off on the plan with the proviso “as long as Sternberg can demonstrate it's economically viable”. That’s a big if.

By the end of this week, there will have been 43 bowl games played. That’s about 33 too many.

Recently (TBR&R 12/19/21) we reported on the ineptitude of New York’s two football teams (Giants and Jets) prompting this reply from a member of our focus group: “Jersey Boys haven’t made a good play since Frankie Valli.” He hastens to point out the only team that actually plays their games in the state of New York has a winning record.

We tip our cap to Hobby Lobby for their beautiful print ad Christmas week.

Also a nod to Audi for erasing a Wheel of Fortune technicality and awarding a car to a contestant who got the right answer but paused too long in the eyes of Wheel of Fortune curmudgeons. It seems The Wheel is getting more uptight with their rules while Jeopardy is getting looser in the post-Trebek era.

Behind the curtain at the White House

We did a quick sketch of Ronald Kessler’s First Family Detail before the holidays (TBR&R 12/19/21). Kessler, a veteran of The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, through painstaking research and interviews with dozens of Secret Service Agents, paints a picture of the protectees as they are known and the agency that protects them. Some revealings are not startling – Bill Clinton was a womanizer before, during and after the White House. His wife was considered the worst assignment you could have, being nasty to every agent who protected her. Jerry Ford was cheap, always asking agents to buy him a newspaper and tipping caddies a buck at swanky golf courses. Lyndon Johnson was described as a stumble bum, the guy who was always falling down rather than Ford. Jimmy Carter was not that aw-shucks peanut farmer but a sullen man who would never speak to agents. And he made a big deal of carrying his own luggage on to Air Force One. The bag he carried was empty. The best assignments were both Bush families although 43’s kids gave the agents a run for their money. The Obamas and the Reagans were both extremely considerate of their agents, often staying at the White House during Christmas so the people protecting them could be close to their families. And the biggest waste of taxpayer money was Vice President Joe Biden’s insistence that he fly home every weekend on Air Force One, sometimes even flying back on Saturday so he could play golf with President Obama – and then flying back home to Delaware that afternoon. The Secret Service figure for just Biden’s first term as VP was $1 million in taxpayer dollars for those weekend commutes. These are just appetizers from the 250 pages of this well written book. It is well worth a read for more looks behind the curtain at The White House – and The Secret Service.

UP NEXT: iPhone; This year’s HOF; Low expectations

010222/72

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

We conclude the year with some of our 2021 favorites

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Again this year Politifact comes out with a “Lie of the Year.” We had just assumed the title had been retired in their honor. To paraphrase the great Mark Twain, “There are lies, there are damn lies and there is Politifact.”

(From January) We struggle to understand things like Sen. Marco Rubio’s getting a coronavirus vaccine shot is selfish while radical Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ vaccination is portrayed as “educational” even though she lives in a state where there is the greatest need in the country for vaccinations of nursing home residents. It all goes back to that “some animals are more equal than other animals” thing.

From late December, an excellent op-ed piece by Alex Sanchez, the CEO of the Florida Banker’s Association: “None of us have the time or the inclination to monitor the politicians — state, local or federally elected ones. The media is supposed to be the watchdog. But to do its job, we need a media that is a watchdog, not a lap dog playing favorites with candidates and political parties.” To which we say, Amen.

(From February) Suggested sign for the White House Briefing Room: “We don’t have the time or the CRAYONS to explain this to you.”

(Also in February) Florida’s Minister of Marijuana, Nikki Fried, has decided she wants to run for Governor (there’s a shock). She is already in attack mode, righteously demanding an update on the incident at the Oldsmar’s water treatment facility. We’ll wager that a month ago, Ms. Fried didn’t know where Oldsmar was.

Yes, we know they are suing or threatening to sue everybody in sight, but if you were a state or local official responsible for buying new voting equipment, would you buy from Dominion Voting Systems?

More on voting from Ramesh Ponnuru writing in Bloomberg, “Biden said that 17 states had passed 28 laws making it harder to vote. The same source behind those numbers also reports that 14 states have passed 28 laws making it easier to vote. Four states appear on both lists, which suggests that the legislation is more complicated than Biden’s talk of a ‘21st-century Jim Crow assault’ on voters would allow.”

Amazon employees at a large Alabama facility are being urged to unionize even though they earn at least twice the minimum wage, and get health, vision and dental care without paying hundreds of dollars in monthly union dues. If the union can sell that, we tip our cap. (Update – they couldn’t.)

(From May) Quote of the week: The Biden administration recently gave a bit of simple advice to businesses that are unable to find workers: Offer them more money. A piece of advice offered by a clueless guy who’s never had to make a payroll as reported by an equally clueless AP reporter named Josh Boak who, likewise, has never written a paycheck.

Idle thought: With all these special interest days, weeks and months, shouldn’t there be at least a day a year for normal people?

Despite nice answers like “The timing wasn’t right” and “I want to stay with my current community,” you have to know the reason fully three of the original five Clearwater City Manager finalists dropped out of contention is they realized what a negative impact the Church of Scientology has on our city.

(From June) A couple news items from the past few weeks that make you shake your head: (1) How did Brooksville manage to inadvertently sell the town’s water tower? (2) What genius plotted the Tierra Verde bridge demolition that killed hundreds of protected game fish?

(From August) We’re a bit slow, so help us understands this. Florida is one of several states being sued to resume unemployment benefits while virtually every business in the bay area is advertising in some way or another for help.

(Also in August) From the Belleair Road sign guy: Get your shot, moron!”

(And this) Quote of the week: Protection of access to basic health care means your autonomy as a human being is fully respected by the law – Senator Elizabeth Warren attempting to justify the use of tax dollars to fund abortions. By what stretch is the termination of a human life “basic health care”?

How self-serving of Tampa Mayor Jane Castor to point out that shooting deaths in Tampa are up from when she was Police Chief. Ma’am, if anything, you are more responsible as Mayor for the increase in deadly crimes than you were as Police Chief.

Looking back 30 years ago this year (1991) – it was a bad year for airlines with industry giants Pan Am, Eastern and the somewhat smaller Chicago-based Midway Airlines shutting down. Ten years later, TWA called it quits after operating 71 years.

News item: Governor Ron DeSantis makes it official; he’s running for re-election in 2022. Let the attack articles begin.

Idle thought – the Democratic Party is identified as Blue and the Republican Party as Red. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

Lighter stuff:

This final holiday reminder from The 5:05 Newsletter: Never drink and wrap Christmas presents. Also, if anyone gets a television remote control from me for Christmas, I'm going to need that back.

Speaking of the best publication in the Tampa Bay area, with the pandemic winding down, the editor-in-chief of the 5:05 Newsletter announced another hiatus in June. You almost want to ask China to reopen that lab.

(From late last December) the end of an era next week – greyhound racing at Derby Lane concludes on December 31. The track had operated for 95 years. At its height, greyhound racing was featured year round rotating between tracks in Sarasota and Tampa as well as Derby Lane.

Something we read, but forget where, “I think there should be a rule that everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their lives.”

Sunshine, Clearwater and Countryside – the three indoor malls our city has seen. Sunshine is gone; Clearwater Mall became a sprawling outdoor mall anchored by a Costco and Target. Now Countryside is being taken over by its lenders, its future in doubt.

You’ve lived in Pinellas County a long time if you owned one of the virtually indestructible Blue Boy power mowers proudly made by P & E Machinery on Clearwater-Largo Road.

Baseball note from April - enjoy this season. More and more experts are predicting a work stoppage for the 2022 season as millionaires argue with billionaires over money while we fans are left out in the cold.

Call us old fashioned, but the Mustang should not be an electric car. The Mustang, by the way, is the most popular car of the last century.

(April) As we get ready for baseball season and a reported crackdown on foreign substances, we share one of our favorite quips from the late, great pitcher and raconteur Don Sutton, who was often accused of putting a foreign substance on the ball. His reply was everything he put on the ball was proudly made in America.

(April provided a lot of material) Thanks to the 5:05 Newsletter for this masterpiece: “ Major League Baseball is moving the All-Star Game out of Atlanta this year because of Georgia's new voting law. So if you go to the ballpark this year and they ask you to show them a ticket call it ‘Fan Suppression’ and set something on fire.”

The All-Star game, stolen from Atlanta, has been moved to Colorado – a solid “blue” state. Surprised? The only surprise would have been moving the game to states like Florida, Missouri, Ohio or Texas, all of whom have two major league stadiums, but Rob Manfred’s boy, Joe Biden, was an overwhelming loser in all four states. (And yes, give us another 10-20 years or so, and we’ll get over Manfred’s theft of the game from Atlanta plus the Sam Holbrook “outfield fly” call).

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you still refer to the intersection of Cleveland and MLK as “Five Points.”

(From September) Watching the tributes to Pirate great Roberto Clemente reminds us again that the number 21 should join 42 as a number retired across baseball. Clemente was one of baseball’s greatest players, a pioneer for Latin players and quite possibly its greatest humanitarian.

If we can willy-nilly move a significant day like Memorial Day (celebrated on May 30 for over 100 years) to the last Monday in May, then we certainly can move Halloween to the last Friday of October so kids don’t show up at school the next day dead tired or all sugared up.

Pardon the Interruption celebrated its 20^th anniversary in 2021. Its relevancy ended about a half a decade ago.

So Jon Gruden is being removed from the Buc’s Ring of Honor. Does that also mean we take down all the banners from the Buc’s 2002 Super Bowl win?

Topping the charts on the last week of 1971 was Melanie Safka’s Brand New Key, followed by Sly and the Family Stone’s Family Affair just down from number one and at number three was Don McLean’s American Pie about to go to number one for four weeks – the longest record (8 minutes 33 seconds) to ever reach number one.

This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of one of the most versatile entertainers of his generation – musician, composer, television host, comedian and writer Steve Allen. Steve was the original host of the long running Tonight Show.

Media news from the former 5:05 Newsletter: Longtime NBC fabulist Brian Williams announced his retirement. Before leaving, Williams thanked himself for his service.

Item of the year: Idle thought: remember when we looked to our elders, religious leaders and teachers for advice? Nowadays, people put way too much credence in the opinions of people whose greatest qualifications are being able to dribble a basketball or utter words, written by others, in front of a camera.

Our last song together

(Our 2021 look back at the passing of some people who made a difference in our community. The title of this segment was inspired by the poignant Neil Sedaka song captured so well by the late Glenn Yarbrough).

He was a no-nonsense prosecutor who served our area well for nearly thirty years, but he also had a wicked sense of humor as we witnessed years ago at a roast for one of his key staff members. Bernie McCabe died in early January at age 73. He will be dearly missed by our community.

We bought our first new car from Dwayne Hawkins’ Crown Pontiac 49 years ago because his employees said such great things about him and his dealership was so customer friendly. Mr. Hawkins, who was the patriarch of the Crown dealerships, died in January at age 85.

He touched thousands of lives in both Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. Father Eric Hunter, who first came to Clearwater’s Light of Christ Church from his native Scotland and went on to be a guiding light in four other parishes for nearly fifty years, passed away in January at age 76. His last pastorate was at St. Brenden’s Catholic Church on Island Estates.

(From February) The bay area lost two leaders in their respective fields. First, jazz icon Chick Corea passed away at age 79. And one of the area’s first orthodontists and the owner of the Sea Captain motel on Clearwater Beach, Dr. Don Eifert passed away at age 91 – a very interesting man.

When our daughter married a very nice young man over a decade ago, our extended family became that much better. One of the truly pleasant members of that family, Uncle David Mullis, passed away in February.

He was the face of what was then a local power company, Florida Power. Executive and civic leader Andrew Hines died in February at age 98.

(From March) The Crimson Tide lost one of its most rabid supporters. Bob Furney was a superb educator at Clearwater High, armed with an incredible wit. In addition, he was a medical miracle fighting off severe lung and kidney problems with an iron will.

It is easier to name the local radio stations Tedd Webb did not work at than those who did employ the colorful personality. Best known as Jack Harris’ sidekick on WFLA radio, Webb died in late March at age 72.

Clearwater native Joseph Hatchett died in April at age 88. The noted jurist was the first Black member of the Florida Supreme Court.

The restaurant industry lost a household name and innovator with the passing of Bob Heilman, Jr. in May. Taking over the reins of the renowned Beachcomber from his father, Bob maintained the high standards of the Beachcomber and spun off the distinctively different Bobby’s Bistro and Wine Bar. Bob Heilman, Jr. was 64.

May also saw the passing of legendary Channel 13 weather man Roy Leep. Roy was with WTVT for 40 years. He was, in short, the weather source for the Tampa Bay area. Roy Leep was 88.

Dr. Bill Johnston passed away in June at age 90. After practicing dentistry in Clearwater for over three decades, he retired and devoted himself to the free dental clinic at the Homeless Emergency Project for almost three decades – a true servant to his fellow man.

Billy Fuccillo, he of the “Huge” auto commercials for his car dealerships, died in Sarasota in June at age 64. Fuccillo quietly helped so many individuals in the bay area and beyond who were in times of need.

You may not have been an FSU fan, but you had to respect the job Bobby Bowden did in turning an average at best football program into a two-time national champion. In a career spanning 1959-2009, Bowden had only two losing seasons and a total of 377 wins.

Legendary Bishop Barry (now St. Pete Catholic) baseball star Bill Freehan passed away in August. The 79-year-old played his entire career with the Detroit Tigers and, with his teammate Mickey Lolich, holds the MLB record for most starts by a battery – 324 starts.

He was an Air Force vet, a practicing physician for three decades in Clearwater and a member of the team that formulated Gatorade at the University of Florida. Dr. Jim Free passed away in October at age 87.

We met the gentleman a couple times over the years and, like many others, never knew his real first name. To everybody, he was Hinks. Hillsborough County developer and philanthropist Mandell “Hinks” Shimberg passed away in November at age 92.

One of the truly nice people in our community, Chuck Kilbride, passed away earlier this month. Chuck was in the airline industry for many years and later assisted people in job preparation and searches in addition to being very active in his church for decades. He was 87.

This segment is normally reserved for humans who made their mark in our area, but we must note the passing in November of Clearwater’s most famous resident, Winter the Dolphin, after an incredible 16 years of life.

We’ve always asked ourselves is it okay to be even closer to your sister than you were with your two wonderful parents? This week we observe the second anniversary of the passing of the woman we were blessed to have as a sister.

We meet a lot of people on life’s pathway. I cannot get to a handful of folks with more integrity and sense of purpose than former Clearwater City Manager Bill Horne who tragically died just before his retirement in August.

Finally, Five Rants, Five Raves

(Our year-end feature saluting five people or things for outstanding achievements and, likewise, five bozos for, well, being bozos.)

Rants:

MLB’s Rob Manfred – no explanation necessary.

St. Pete Mayor Rick Kriseman for his massive overreaction to a Super Bowl party that violated some COVID protocols. Rather than issue a fine to the leasee of the hangar who donated the space for a charity event, Kriseman tries to put him out of business by revoking his lease. Typical of a clueless politician that doesn’t appreciate what it takes to run a business.

Joe Biden for his utterly horrible handling of the crisis in Afghanistan and the incredible disrespect he exhibited upon the return of 13 servicemen who gave their lives in the waning days of the war.

Congress for blindly passing a $1.85 trillion “infrastructure bill” that included nonsense like “tree and road equity,” while increasing inflation and U.S. energy dependence.

The University of South Florida for trying to spend $25 million to build an on-campus football stadium for a program that has won seven games in the last three years.

Raves:

Florida’s teachers for navigating classroom challenges and the push and pull of politicians over the past year and a half.

Coach Bruce Arian’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers for giving our area its second Lombardi Trophy.

We thank the Trump administration for fast tracking effective vaccines to combat the COVID-19 virus.

Steady leadership was the hallmark of City Manager Bill Horne and City Attorney Pam Aiken during over fifty combined years of exemplary service to the City of Clearwater.

Tampa Bay’s best publication The 5:05 Newsletter makes this list for the second year in a row for “coming out of retirement” and helping us see the lighter side during the pandemic.

UP NEXT: 2022 Predictions; Best baseball deal of all time

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

Pinellas should revisit term limits

Only a technicality prevented the will of 70 percent of Pinellas voters regarding term limits from becoming law two decades ago. A few weeks ago, County Commission chairman David Eggers proposed putting a referendum to the people again. Predictably, it was swatted down by fellow commissioners and career politicians Pat Gerard, Charlie Justice and Janet Long. Justice presented the weakest argument saying, with a straight face, that voters can change commissioners when they please, completely ignoring the enormous advantages of incumbency. Eggers’ measured plan of three 4-year terms makes sense, but now it’s up to a charter review committee which can be stacked by the commission (and is subject to their veto) or a better option of a voter initiative. And the time for that has come.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Number of the Week: 1 in 100 – the number of older Americans who have died from COVID. For persons under 65, the number is 1 in 1,400. It’s hard to find a person who has not been touched in some way by these numbers.

We’re guessing that Joe Biden now wishes he had picked Florida’s Val Demings as his running mate rather than the radioactive Kamala Harris.

Hate to see Chris Wallace leave Fox News and Fox News Sunday. Wallace provided some balance to a network that tilts as far right as CNN and MSNBC lean in the other direction. On the bright side, perhaps he can bring some much needed balance to his new home – CNN.

Another sign of “Florida’s Best Newspaper” circling the drain - the federal agency The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is bailing out the paper’s pension fund, estimated to be $100 million underfunded. The Times doggedly continues to pursue an unworkable business model of a non-profit controlling and bleeding a struggling newspaper.

Some of the best assignments for the Secret Service – that would be Ronald Reagan and, somewhat surprisingly, Dick Cheney. One of the worst – that, again surprisingly, was Jimmy Carter and the absolute worst – Hillary Clinton - her detail was considered a punishment for agents. These notes are from an engaging book The First Family Detail by veteran journalist Ronald Kessler. We’ll have a detailed look at the book right after the holidays.

Did you know there was once a Hooters airline? Fifteen years ago, the restaurant giant shut down its short lived airline – Hooters Air after three years of operation and roughly $40 million in losses.

One of the truly nice people in our community, Chuck Kilbride, passed away last week. Chuck was in the airline industry for many years and later assisted people in job preparation and searches in addition to being very active in his church. He was 87.

Lighter stuff:

This week’s Christmas thought comes from our long suffering bride: “May you never be too grown up to search the skies on Christmas Eve.” 

Seen on a T-shirt: Santa before I explain, how much do you know already?

Lest December 23^rd sneak up on us, let us be one of the first to wish you a Happy Festivus.

While we continue to enjoy another football season in Tampa Bay, the two New York teams are a combined 7-19.

Our favorite bowl – the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl is staged this week with Wyoming playing Kent State.

Taliban News from What Used to Be The 5:05 Newsletter: “The Taliban, plagued by calls concerning the extended warranty on their new Humvees and U.S. military Jeeps, are threatening to invade India if the calls don't stop.”

Top movies from 25 and 50 years ago this month: Mr. Holland’s Opus (1996) and The French Connection (1971).

Factoid: The first Hess toy truck, still a popular Christmas gift, was made in 1964. Several of the 1960s models are now worth upwards of $3000.

Recently there have been some gems in the comic strips like this observation from Peppermint Patty’s friend Marcie in Peanuts, “The world is filled with unmarried marriage counselors.”

You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you ever attended Maas Brothers’ neat Breakfast with Santa.

Classic Toys

Last holiday season (TBR&R 12/20/20) we highlighted the 11 toys inducted into the charter class of the National Toy Hall of Fame – from Barbie to Tinker Toys. The second class inducted in 1999 honored another six classic toys. They were the Duncan Yo-Yo, the Cadillac of yo-yos; the ubiquitous Hula Hoop; a toy conceived by the son of the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright – Lincoln Logs; the smash hit of the 1930s – the Radio Flyer Wagon; a toy that had its roots in the Civil War years – roller skates; and one we remember from our youth, complete with photos of the Eisenhower inauguration and the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II – the View Master.

NEXT UP: Our annual look back at the people and events of 2021

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Merry Christmas!

SORRY, WE ARE UNABLE TO RESPOND TO COMMENTS

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

Saturday savings for the USPS

‘Tis the season with cards and parcels going from coast to coast. We stop and ask you if it is a big deal if Aunt Sally’s card arrives on Monday rather than Saturday? Probably not; which leads us to our premise – do we really need Saturday mail delivery anymore? Nowadays, we pay most of our bills on line, send birthday wishes via Facebook and when was the last time you sent a postcard while on vacation? Depending on who you ask, eliminating Saturday mail to homes and businesses would save between $2-3 billion a year and would do a great deal at chipping away some, but not all, of the USPS deficit – estimated at some $7 billion annually. It is a very painless start to getting the USPS on an even keel.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Bob Dole who died last week at age 98 was a World War II hero, Presidential candidate and a Senator known for his ability to reach across the aisle to get worthwhile legislation passed. Today’s congressmen would do well to emulate him.

Seeing the new crop of astronauts announced last week reminds us that two of our previous astronauts came from the high school at the corner of Gulf-to-Bay and Hercules Avenue – quite an accomplishment.

With all this hoopla and petitions over who is going to control gambling in Florida; could we get a petition started to simply get rid of this cancer in our state?

Newly elected Mayor Ken Welch is going to have to develop a thicker skin if he is to govern a united St. Petersburg. His early actions of snubbing the longstanding Mayoral Ball and his criticism of the YMCA’s Community Prayer Breakfast did not reflect well on the soon to be Mayor.

Enjoy! We begin our first full week without every ex-jock pitching some Medicare plan on our TV screens!

Last week (TBR&R 12/5/21) we noted the closing of the last Biff Burger. Another once prominent chain that is rapidly shrinking is Checkers, now with less than a dozen locations in Pinellas County.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

A question posed by the intriguing mind behind the 5:05 Newsletter: “Is it a bad sign when Santa Claus unfriends you on Facebook? Asking for a friend.”

Al Unser, Sr., a member of a great racing family and four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 passed away last week at age 82. His brother Bobby and son Al Jr. also were winners at Indy.

Idle thought – it sure is more fun watching the Bucs with Tom Brady as their quarterback.

You’ve lived in the Bay Area (or anywhere else) for a long time if you remember when the Detroit Lions were a good team – mainly in the Fifties with Bobby Layne, Doak Walker, Leon Hart and Joe Schmidt winning three NFL championships in that decade. The Lions won their first game of 2021 last week.

This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Allen Freed – the man who coined the term “rock and roll.” Freed was an Ohio DJ who later moved to the bright lights of New York and even did a short stint at Miami’s most popular rock and roll station WQAM.

We’ve already recorded a few one-liners about the holiday season on these pages, but we were taken by an Advent piece written by Pam Kidd, a long time contributor to Daily Guideposts. It goes like this: “We hope to recognize Him in the eyes of those we meet – the weary salesperson, the harried mailman, and the rushing shoppers.” And if we may add one, the hardest of all, - the driver beeping his /her horn because you are not merging, traveling or turning fast enough to suit them in their holiday scurrying.

The leading groups of the 1980s

The 1950s, 60s and 70s had dynamic groups like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Four Seasons and the Platters, but some new names and faces took over in the 80s beginning with the biggest duo of all time – Hall and Oates who had five number one singles in the 80s plus Rich Girl in the 70s. Joining Darryl and John as the top groups of the decade were Kool and the Gang, Huey Lewis and the News (Stuck With You), Journey, Duran Duran (A View to a Kill), The Pointer Sisters, Chicago, Jefferson Starship (We Built This City), Bon Jovi and the recent visitors to Ruth Eckerd Hall, Air Supply. Early in 2022, we will detail the biggest acts overall throughout the rock n’ roll years.

UP NEXT: More classic toys; First Family Detail; Jeep warranties

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

Baseball shoots itself in the foot again

At a time of year where baseball is shoved to page 2 or 3 of the sports section by the upcoming football conference championships, the down the stretch drama in the NFL, college basketball and the NHL, it manages to remove itself to page 6 or 8 or out of the section completely with a lockout. Late last week, MLB’s Rob Manfred and the player’s union head Tony Clark, unsurprisingly, accused the other for the stalemate in the talks. With a major league minimum salary of just short of $600,000 and the teams making money hand over fist with the pent up desire for live baseball after the 2020 COVID season, neither side is content. The National Pastime has never fully recovered from the last work stoppage in 1995 and, in fact, is not really the National Pastime anymore. Another elongated interruption in play will shove baseball somewhere between the NBA and the Canadian Football League in fan interest. It is time to get serious boys.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Number of the Week – 1,000 per minute - that’s the number of persons who enlisted during this week 80 years ago after the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

Joe Biden lays the blame for $1.20 a gallon increase this year at the feet of gasoline companies – the same companies that were in place last year when gas was $2.15 a gallon. So what else has changed in the last year? Oh yeah.

Just in time for your Christmas shopping, a Made in America Store is opening in Florida. The stores, featuring only U.S. made products, have previously been exclusively in New York State. It’s still a bit of a drive to Wellington, just west of West Palm Beach, but the store is planning expansion to other parts of Florida in 2022.

Legal note: the California Penal Code doesn’t allow for the use of the term "looting" describing the thefts involving large groups of people because, it claimed, the definition didn't match the act as defined by law. Only in California.

Five Years Ago in TBR&R (December 4, 2016) - The new vision for Clearwater’s waterfront is promising, but the devil is in the details (read financing). Several years ago, Clearwater voters turned down a proposal where a major developer would pony up all the money. This time around, it’s going to have to be a mostly public funded project – there’s the rub. (Update, well here we are five years later….)

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

This week’s holiday insight from The 5:05 Newsletter: “The difference between husbands and wives is that wives can remember the backstory for every Christmas decoration.”

It’s sad to see the closing of Biff Burger on 49^th Street in St. Pete. It was one of the last two remaining Biff Burgers nationwide. The other in Greensboro, NC closed in May of this year.

Christmas music factoid: Bing Crosby’s White Christmas is the biggest selling single song of the holidays, but the biggest selling song recorded by various artists is the 1945 Robert Wells/Mel Torme composition The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) recorded by literally hundreds of artists with the most popular being the original Nat King Cole recording in 1946. More Christmas music items below.

For couch potatoes it just doesn’t get any better than last weekend’s football menu of Florida-FSU, Alabama-Auburn, Michigan-Ohio State and Oklahoma-Oklahoma State. And throw in basketball’s Duke-Gonzaga for good measure.

How many swings and misses does UF Athletic Director Scott Sticklin get at hiring a football coach? Consensus is he better be right on his hire of Billy Napier or he will be cleaning out his desk along with the coach.

He’s had a Hall of Fame career, but Mets’ rivals are glad to see them spend $130 million for three years of 37-year-old Max Scherzer whose arm broke down in last year’s playoffs.

‘Tis the focus group’s season to be jolly

As we enter the holiday season, we asked our TBR&R Focus Group to create a medley of their three favorite pop Christmas tunes. Our leadoff hitter was very specific with Perry Como’s Home for the Holidays, followed by The New Christy Minstrels’ We Need a Little Christmas and the not so familiar, but poignant Christmas Is by Percy Faith and his Chorus.

Topping another focus group members list was Bing Crosby’s White Christmas along with Winter Wonderland and Silver Bells, first sung by William Frawley, TV’s Fred Mertz.

Our third submission spans the genres of holiday music with Christmas Vacation (from the movie), Gayla Peevey’s I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas and then the beautiful Mary, Did You Know?

Our western-most focus group member dug into the past for her three favorites – 1953’s ‘Zat You Santa Claus? by Louis Armstrong, Elvis’ Blue Christmas from 1957, then Chuck Berry’s 1958 song Run Rudolph Run.

Another submission brought votes for Darlene Love’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You and a second vote for Silver Bells.

Finally, an original member of the focus group went for traditional songs connected with much-loved artists – White Christmas (Bing Crosby), The Christmas Song (Nat King Cole) and the lively Sleigh Ride, most associated with The Boston Pops. Thanks to our members for creating a great holiday playlist for your device.

UP NEXT: Saturday savings; Broken record; Alan Freed

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SORRY, WE ARE CURRENTLY UNABLE TO RESPOND TO COMMENTS

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

Media portion of Biden giveaway just wrong

The aha moments of the Biden administration are becoming more numerous every day. Nonsense items like tree and road equity along with inflation and energy dependence. Even worse is a little known portion of the infrastructure bill that would fund newspapers, media platforms along with radio and TV stations. First, it reeks of an attempt to buy media outlets that are not already spewing liberal content (see ABC, MSNBC and CNN). Can you imagine any of this money going to, say, Fox news outlets or Newsmax? Your humble blogger worked in the broadcast industry for two decades and all we wanted of the government was to not pass silly regulations that impeded our operations. Now to have the government cozy up to the media with cash – well just look at other governments where financial aid goes to its media. If we’re going to dole out cash to the media, why not gas stations, bakeries and hair salons? This is a very dangerous area – the result of way too many Congressmen voting for a bill of which they had little comprehension.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Quote of the week: “Some folks have raised worries that [price increases] could be a sign of persistent inflation,” Biden said in July. “But that’s not our view. Our experts believe—and the data shows—that most of the price increases we’ve seen were expected, and expected to be temporary.” We’d like to believe that, but too much unbiased data says that’s not true.

Related note: Why do we have the experts at the Congressional Budget Office if we’re not going to listen to them?

Aviation news: Sun Country Airlines’ inaugural flight took off from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last week headed to St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport. Yes, but will there be anybody on the plane during the return trip?

Law enforcement: An acquaintance has a vehicle and his company credit card stolen by a rogue employee while our acquaintance was out of state. Rather than tracking down the evil-doer, the department run by Pinellas County’s answer to Barney Fife delays the search and investigation until our acquaintance can get back in town to sign a document. Eliot Nesses’ legacy is safe.

More smoke and mirrors from Politispin – gas prices, the highest in seven years, are “not that high.” Tell that to the family struggling to make ends meet. By the way, the last time prices were this high we also had Democrats, including Mr. Biden, in the White House.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

As we enter the holiday season, we will offer some weekly thoughts, mostly from the fertile minds at the 5:05 Newsletter such as: What if sea level risings are not from Global Warming, but rather from the continents sinking from the weight of all the fruitcakes that are made and distributed at Christmas time? 

Happy 50^th anniversary to many folk’s favorite breakfast on the run – the Egg McMuffin created in November 1971 by California McDonald’s franchisee Herb Peterson.

Remember when CNN was, in fact, a cable news network instead of whatever it has become today?

We would love to see Lane Kiffin replace Dan Mullen at the University of Florida. It would probably end in a train wreck, but would be a thrilling ride.

He was one of the most underrated defensive center fielders ever in major league baseball. Bill Virdon was Rookie of the Year in 1955, a Gold Glover and a member of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates World Championship team. As a manager, he still holds the record for most wins for the Astros. Virdon died last week at age 90.

Next week, Baseball Hall of Fame voters for the so-called Golden Days Era have a chance to right some wrongs to some of the ballplayers of the 50s and 60s. Among the names on the ballot are three guys who should have been in Cooperstown years ago – Jim Kaat, Roger Maris and Minnie Minoso. Unfortunately, Kaat is the only one of those great players still alive.

And from the marquee of the nearly world famous Gassman law firm – Lawyer’s Drink of Choice: Sub-Poena Colada.

The top female vocalists of the 80s

She never had a hit record until 1983, but Madonna with six number one tunes was the biggest selling female artist of the 1980s. She was followed by Whitney Houston (Saving All My Love for You plus six other number one songs) then Diana Ross, Sheena Easton (Morning Train), Olivia Newton John, Pat Benatar, Tina Turner (What’s Love Got to Do with It), Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes (Bette Davis Eyes) and disco queen Donna Summer. The biggest female hit, in fact the biggest hit of the decade, was Olivia’s Physical. Next month, we wrap up our year-long look at the top artists of the late 20^th century with the biggest groups of the 80s.

UP NEXT: Focus group medleys; Misdirection at USF

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

Clearwater Marina plan short sighted

The city of Clearwater is prepared to spend $18 million for a long overdue renovation of its marina. The project, without expanded parking, is a case of ready, shoot, aim. Several years back, the city allowed a new restaurant to be built and another expanded without any increase in available parking. Nowhere else in the city would that be allowed to happen and many observers smelt a deal worse than the dead fish you occasionally encounter at the facility. Unless the appeal of deep sea fishing, dinner cruises and concessions like parasailing take a deep dive, the requirement for parking at the marina is going to do nothing but increase. There is plenty of room in the northeast corner of the marina for a parking garage and spending $18 million without including such a facility is just plain foolish.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

50 years ago this week: the infamous D.B. Cooper skyjacking of a Northwest Orient Boeing 727 enroute from Denver to Tacoma. Cooper has never been located after parachuting from the jet. Some of the ransom was found nine years later in a campground near Vancouver.

We met the gentleman a couple of times over the years and, like many others, never knew his first name. To everybody, he was Hinks. Hillsborough County developer and philanthropist Mandell “Hinks” Shimberg passed away last week at age 92.

Have a kid who is in danger of not graduating from high school? Send them to Oregon where officials citing “equity” have quietly scrapped math and reading requirements to graduate.

Florida is picking up some 2000 Disney jobs as the entertainment giant moves workers from California citing “Florida’s business-friendly climate.”

Beto O’Rourke, the Harold Stassen of Texas politics, is running for governor. His hardcore anti-gun stance ought to play well in the Lone Star state.

A word that is rapidly disappearing from the English language: commitment.

From the not quite genuine 5:05 Newsletter: Critics are warning that the COP26 Climate Change Conference held last week in Scotland fell far short of its goal. Just calling for more car-pooling “insufficient,” critics say. In a related story, the conference left everybody asking the same question: If I become a climate activist, do I get a private jet?

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

Looking forward to reading The Lyrics: 1956-Present, a composition of the lyrics to Paul McCartney’s songs with commentary by the author. It’s already #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.

For those of us whose greatest sand creation was filling your bucket with sand and turning it over, we are in awe over the creations at Treasure Island’s Sanding Ovation which continues this weekend.

Every NFL team has a bad week, let’s hope we saw the Bucs’ worst week of the season in their loss to the Washington No Names.

Sports note: Brewers sign Jason Alexander – no not that Jason Alexander, but a guy who pitched briefly for the Marlins last season.

Idle question: Is the day coming when you will need an app on your phone to buy a Big Mac or a Whopper? That would improve our diets, so there are some advantages to being low-tech.

As the “holiday plea” season begins, we recycle this thought from a couple of years back: We’d probably stroke more checks to more charities if they had a check-off box that read “Here’s my yearly contribution, save printing and postage and get back to me in one year.”

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the annual Rotary Club turkey shoots on the Coachman property on U.S. 19. If you don’t remember them, the participants shot at paper targets, not live turkeys.

Giving thanks for Clearwater

Dad was due to retire from Westinghouse Corporation after a 30-year career. The summer before his retirement, he and his wife and their nine-year-old brat made a trip to Florida, going down the east coast and up the west coast scouting for a place to retire. They liked Sarasota and Clearwater. After a year’s debate, they arrived in Clearwater on Thanksgiving week 65 years ago. We stayed at the still-existing Orange Motel on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard. While having a Thanksgiving dinner at future classmate Rich Podurgiel’s folk’s restaurant, Mom spotted the moving van arriving from the Southern Tier of New York and the rest is history. Each day, we pause to thank our Mom and Dad for such a wise choice. Yes, Clearwater is not the same as it was in 1956, but as the young girl whose folks moved here ten years later from North Carolina reminds us, neither are we. But every day, especially this week, we give thanks for our parent’s choice – and that of the parents of that young girl.

NEXT UP: A 5:05 Christmas; Buying the media; Madonna & Co.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

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

New Biden book – meh

Politico correspondent Ben Schreckinger’s much anticipated book The Bidens, is, in a word, dull. But then it could be argued that the subject (Joe) is dull. The book plows a lot of old ground regarding Joe, his first and second wives, their kids and Joe’s siblings, all of whom are not what you would call assets. Hunter’s adventures are well documented. Suffice to say, if you were Hunter and did the things he did and, of course, your Dad was not a Senator or Vice-President at the time, you would be in jail right now and would be staying there a long time. Joe’s brothers, Schreckinger tells us, might well be Hunter’s neighbors in the clink. The other word we could use to describe the book is unfinished as the author as recently as October 12 published a lengthy article in Politico detailing the first son’s latest activities including an exhibit of his art at prices that ethics experts describe, given Hunter’s talent, as absolutely appalling – the art version of quid pro quo – buy my art at inflated prices, get my Dad’s ear. In the conclusion of his book, despite all the family issues, Schreckinger says “He (Joe Biden) had earned the benefit of the doubt from a large swath of voters and the media.” Maybe then, but we’re not so sure about now.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

If you ask our 10-year-old granddaughter what she wants to be when she grows up, she, like so many others, will say “marine biologist” – influenced by her encounters with Winter the Dolphin over the years. Clearwater’s most famous citizen died this week at age 16. It’s okay for all of us to wipe away a tear or two.

We can’t help but wonder what Jack Eckerd, who founded what has morphed into Eckerd Connects, would think about the abject failures linked to the Clearwater non-profit.

News item: Governor Ron DeSantis makes it official; he’s running for re-election in 2022. Let the attack articles begin.

Democrats fear that Trump will rear his ugly head in 2024 – and they fear he could steal the election through voting irregularities. You’ve got to be kidding.

Our admiration for former UN ambassador Nikki Haley sank a bit when we learned of her demands for $200,000 and the cost of booking a private plane for a speaking engagement. In our brief and checkered political career, we once received a jar of candy for a speech at a Rotary Club. Still have the jar.

Answer: Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. The question: who are the last elected U.S. Presidents who served back-to-back single full terms? We have a strong feeling the answer to that trivia question will change in ’24.

$450,000 for coming into America illegally - who thinks up this stuff?

Like many major dailies, the 5:05 Newsletter now does only sporadic editions. One of their latest: New York City removed a statue of Thomas Jefferson because he owned 143 slaves. It will be replaced with a framed copy of the Declaration of Independence with all the signatures removed.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

We all should change our phone’s standard “Please leave a message” to “Hello you’ve reached (fill in the blank). Our car is still under its new car warranty and we have already chosen our Medicare Supplement plan for 2022.”

Related idle question: What ever happened to the no call list?

From a little over a month ago (TBR&R 10/3/21): We know it’s a huge longshot, but nothing would make us happier than to see the Atlanta Braves clinch the World Series at Truist Park and watch the All-Star Game thief Rob Manfred have to present the trophy to Braves management – and to hear the warm welcome he would receive from the crowd. Truth be told, it wasn’t that big a long shot, we only missed by a game – and at latest report, Manfred has not yet conceived a plan to take the World Championship trophy from the Braves and the state of Georgia.

They have hardly completed the cleanup from the World Series parade in Atlanta and the 2022 World Series odds are out with the Dodgers as favorites at 5-1 followed by the Astros at 8-1. The Yanks and Braves share 10-1 odds with our local nine and the Pale Hose next at 12-1.

Sports note: The Cleveland Guardians (nee Indians) are being sued by a roller derby team that has been using the name for over five years. Nice job of vetting. Maybe they can change to a catchier name like the Cleveland Baseball Team.

70 years ago this week (1951), the FSU Seminoles lost their season finale to the University of Tampa 14-6. The two programs have gone on different paths over the last 70 years with FSU winning three national championships and UT shutting down their football program in 1974. 

The TBR&R focus group on favorite fiction

Our November assignment for our TBR&R focus group was to name their three favorite pieces of fiction. That’s a big area, but there were some duplications. Two of the original focus group members, friends for over half a century who can often complete each other’s sentences, came up with Clive Cussler’s first novel Raise the Titanic – a terrific thriller, a so-so movie.

The taller of the two old friends added Thomas Harris’ suspenseful Silence of the Lambs and George Orwell’s novella Animal Farm. His tag team partner opted for F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third and greatest novel, The Great Gatsby and, from his youth, anything by Clair Bee or John Blaine.

What would a list of favorite fiction be without the outstanding Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell? To that another original focus group member adds Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities and one from the 19^th century, Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty.

Another of our elite group went for more contemporary fiction – Amor Towles’ A Gentleman in Moscow along with Paulette Jiles’ 19^th century Texas adventure News of the World and Anthony Doerr’s 2015 Pulitzer Prize winning All the Light We Cannot See.

Our newest focus group member casts ballots for Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, written over 60 years ago, but eerily familiar today. His other picks are C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters and the popular Left Alone series of books by Christian Fletcher.

From our member from the northern climes comes a vote for Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Douglas Adam’s Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.

Ms. Lee’s enduring novel gets a second vote from another of our elite group, along with Daphne du Maurier’s novels particularly Rebecca and Frenchman’s Creek plus Lloyd C. Douglas’ Magnificent Obsession. She also mentioned another “favorite” - Goodnight Moon because it rescued many bedtimes. It seems every parent had a go-to book like that during a difficult bedtime.

UP NEXT: Big Mac App; Marina; Giving thanks

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

One way we pay tribute to our Vets

With thanks to a good friend and fellow vet, Bob Green, we share this vignette about a special group of people, the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown, who pay tribute to an even more special group – the brave men and women laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

“In 2003 as Hurricane Isabelle was approaching Washington, DC, our US Senate/House took two days off with anticipation of the storm. On the ABC evening news, it was reported that because of the dangers from the hurricane, the military members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were given permission to suspend the assignment.

They respectfully declined the offer, 'No way, Sir!' Soaked to the skin, marching in the pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that guarding the Tomb was not just an assignment; it was the highest honor that can be afforded to a serviceperson.

The tomb has been patrolled continuously, 24/7, since 1930.

God Bless and Keep Them.”

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

With Veterans Day coming up this week, the answer is Boston Braves Catcher Hank Gowdy. The question – who was the only major leaguer to fight in both World War I and World War II? Gowdy was the first major leaguer to volunteer for service in the First World War.

And while we’re on the subject, a sincere Thank You to our vets of World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the numerous Mid-East wars. Your service is appreciated and will never be forgotten.

And this – becoming less and less of a do it yourselfer, we don’t visit hardware stores as much anymore, but had occasion to recently. And again, we thank Lowe’s for their special parking spots for vets. It’s appreciated.

He was an Air Force vet, a practicing physician for three decades in Clearwater and a member of the team that formulated Gatorade at the University of Florida. Dr. Jim Free passed away last week at age 87.

With two-thirds of his opponent’s money coming from out of state, Republican Glenn Youngkin was elected Governor of Virginia in what most observers considered the first referendum on the Biden presidency.

Meanwhile, Minneapolis voters came to their senses and rejected a proposal to scrap their police department in favor of some progressives’ idea of a public safety department.

Five Years Ago in TBR&R (November 6, 2016) - A not so outrageous prediction: whoever prevails in the presidential race this week will be our nation’s first one-term (or less, pending indictments) president in two decades. (That prediction was just too easy).

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

Crime news from the Semi-official 5:05 Newsletter: The Federal Bureau of Prisons says 4500 federal prisoners have been released due to the threat of Covid spread. Upon release, each felon receives $50, a new suit, and his old job back with the Houston Astros.

Seen on a t-shirt: “I tried seizing the day but I think I pulled something.”

It was 50 years ago this fall that the first World Series game was played at night – at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium (Pirates versus the Orioles). Baseball fans have been sleep deprived ever since.

One nice thing about the recently completed playoffs is watching players like the Braves’ Eddie Rosario and the Dodgers Chris Taylor become the modern day Dusty Rhodes, Johnny Podres and Brian Doyles – lesser known players who shined under the brightest of spotlights. And good for them – they are both free agents with big paydays ahead beginning next week.

Pardon us if we are a bit skeptical about major league baseball’s All-Star game site selections. We all know the story of how MLB swooped in and stole this year’s game from Atlanta. With the recent selection of Seattle for the ’23 game, the next three named sites will all be in blue states - LA, Seattle and Philadelphia, plus this year’s last minute choice of Denver. By the way, compare Colorado’s voting requirements to Georgia’s some time.

America lost one of the greatest voices of the sixties and early seventies when Jay Black of Jay and the Americans passed away in late October. He was 82. The group’s hits included Cara Mia, This Magic Moment and Sunday and Me – the first Neil Diamond composition to ever hit the charts.

You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you ever treated yourself to one of the ice cream creations at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor on Tyrone in St. Pete. Kids loved the place.

Braves win! Braves win!

For those of you who follow this weekly drivel, this item, featuring the call immortalized by the late great Skip Caray, will be no surprise. Some disjointed thoughts follow. A couple numbers – 22 years and 111 days. They are the number of years (22) between World Series appearances by the Atlanta nine (the Mariners have never been there and the Pirates and Orioles have droughts of 42 and 37 years respectively). The 111 is a major league record – the number of games in a season it took for a World Series champion to finally achieve a winning record – formerly held, of course, by another Braves team – the Boston Braves. In short, it’s been a while since Marquis Grissom caught the final out in the 1995 World Series. So permit us this one week of joy as actuarial tables tell us we won’t be around for the next one – this is only the fourth World Championship in Braves history (1914, 1957, 1996 and 2021). Were the Braves the best team in baseball in 2021? Not even close. But as Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox has said, he won the World Series with not his best team, but lost with better teams he managed. The “new” Braves manager, Brian Snitker culminates 44 years in the Braves organization with this World Series win. And sadly, Dusty Baker, himself a former Brave, falls short again with his trademark penchant for misusing a pitching staff. Now pardon us as we go on line to order a bunch of stuff to replace our threadbare 1995 World Championship duds.

UP NEXT: Tom comes tumbling down; New Biden book

Thank our vets this week!

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

Looking out for the little guy? We don’t think so.

Joe Biden’s pitch during the 2020 campaign was that Trump was not a friend of the average guy. So, how are Mr. and Mrs. Middle American doing some ten months into the Biden presidency? Well, inflation is up 5.4% - a 13-year high. Gas, alone, is up well over a buck a gallon and there are ships stacked up offshore from our nation’s ports – loaded with a lot of goods that could be manufactured here in America. The previously mentioned gas prices are a direct result of Biden’s stripping away Trump’s energy dependence programs. To paraphrase the Ron Reagan question, “Are you better off than you were a year ago?” In one respect (COVID), yes, but that’s because of the Trump administration fast tracking three vaccines. Otherwise, it’s hard for the average American family to think of ways they are better off as we enter the last two months of 2021.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Idle thought – any chance we could get biennial Presidential elections thus quickly undoing the mess we are faced with on the economic and international fronts?

Democrats seem resigned to losing the House in next year’s mid-terms. They are simply hoping to keep the Republican majority as small as possible. A lot can happen between now and next November.

An EST reminder from the now unofficial 5:05 Newsletter, “We will soon be turning our clocks back an hour. Gaining an extra hour in 2021 is like getting a bonus track on a Yoko Ono album.

Added EST note: as we prepare to “fall back “ next week, more than half our states have passed legislation calling for Daylight Time year round. Congress will hopefully get around to that after they deal with pressing issues like tree equity.

While we justifiably blasted Wal-Mart last week, we give a rave to Amazon. We experienced our first ever problem with an order a few weeks back. It was handled within 24 hours.

Community activist Lina Teixeira has confirmed rumors on the street that she will make a second run for the Clearwater City Council next March. She will oppose anti-Scientology candidate Aaron Smith-Levin although other candidates could surface before the December 17 filing deadline.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

We wish the best to Dick Norris who retires after three decades at the auto dealership that bore his name. We estimate we bought well over a dozen personal and business vehicles over the years from this man of integrity.

If you have decided to continue to follow major league baseball despite their thuggish behavior, enjoy this season. More and more experts are predicting a work stoppage for the 2022 season as millionaires argue with billionaires over money while fans are left out in the cold. And frankly, a few of us fans don’t have that many seasons left.

Watching the playoffs, we simply cannot imagine Ted Williams stepping out of the box to adjust the various parts of his suit of armor or his jewelry, just as we cannot imagine Bob Gibson not plunking him for wasting his time.

Number of the Week: 1818 – that’s the year the nation’s longest continuously operated men’s store, Brooks Brothers, opened up. With more work from home and casual workplace trends, the chain has experienced rocky times over the past several years. The closest Brooks Brothers now are in Lutz or the Ellington Outlet Mall.

Random thought: When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.

The leading male artists of the 80s

By the time the 1980s rolled around, in the words of Philly Cream, “There ain’t no  more Motown Review” – and there were no more of Elvis, John Denver or Marvin Gaye topping the charts. For the most part, a new breed took over the male music charts – notably Michael Jackson with nine number one songs in the decade – the most of any male artist in any decade except Elvis’ 12 in the fifties. Joining Michael in the list of bestselling male artists in the eighties were George Michael with eight number ones, Prince, Billy Joel (Piano Man), then came the seventies top male artist, Elton John (Sad Songs), Lionel Richie, former Genesis lead singer Phil Collins (Two Hearts), John Cougar Mellencamp, Stevie Wonder who along with Kenny Rogers (Islands in the Stream) spanned three decades of success. And just missing the top ten were Rod Stewart and Paul McCartney – who had the biggest male single of the 80s with Ebony and Ivory. Next month, Madonna and the other top female artists from the 1980s.

NEXT UP: Farrell’s; Can’t Buy Me Love; Saluting our Vets    

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

Life after Wal-Mart

This week a bit of an addendum to last week’s piece on gift cards. After being ripped off for $50 in fraudulent gift cards at Wal-Mart last holiday season, we decided we probably could live without them. We were never much of a fan in the first place, watching them replace small, locally owned businesses and squeeze every penny out of their vendors over the last couple of decades. But last year after buying the gift cards for two great people at our favorite restaurant, only to have them go to the store and find out the cards were valueless, we took the cards back to the store where we purchased them. There was a lot of lip service, the taking of our contact information and nothing more. The cards never left our hands from the time of purchase until they were given to our valued servers. There is no nice way to say it except theft either by dishonest employees or sloppy security allowing the cards to be scanned in the store by other miscreants. Likewise, there is no other way to describe Wal-Mart’s attitude than “we’re so big we don’t need to care.” How did that attitude work out for K-Mart? Well, it’s been almost a year and we’ve found out that we can survive nicely without Wal-Mart and the few products we liked that were unique to that store. Nothing is too big to fail and Wal-Mart may well be one of the next examples of that in the future.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Political commentator David French recently cites a University of Virginia poll that showed a near majority of both Biden and Trump voters either somewhat or strongly agree that it is time to split the country. That, of course, will never happen, BUT if it should happen, put us down for slicing off the west coast and all of I-95 north of the Carolinas.

Speaking of Virginia, a political ad by our current second in command is scheduled to air regarding the upcoming Governor’s race in some 300 Black churches in the two weeks prior to the election. If only we had a law calling for the separation of church and state.

Annette Taddeo’s entry into the Democratic gubernatorial primary is a plus for Charlie Crist and a minus for Nikki Fried who could very quickly slip to number three among Democrats.

Idle thought – the Democratic Party is identified as Blue and the Republican Party as Red. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?

Okay, here we go again. If we can willy-nilly move a significant day like Memorial Day (celebrated on May 30 for over 100 years) to the last Monday in May, then we certainly can move Halloween to the last Friday of October so kids don’t show up at school the next day dead tired or all sugared up.

Another angle on Halloween from the creative mind behind the 5:05 Newsletter: Is Halloween even necessary anymore? I've been wearing a mask and eating candy for 18 months now.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

Just wondering how many calls and emails fired Washington State head football coach Nick Rolovich and his assistants have received from law firms thus far.

This week marks the 20^th anniversary of the IPod – a device whose time has apparently come and gone. Being somewhat behind the techno curve, we still listen to the some 5800 tunes we have packed on ours while continuing to use our flip phone.

One of the local TV stations recently ran a piece showing that taking the time to select a TV show or streaming movie adds up to 55 days in a person’s life. We can only imagine how much time we lose looking up and typing in passwords for our bank, our insurance companies, medical facilities and so on.

Happiness is – seeing the driver who blew by you at 20 MPH over the limit parked on the side of the road a few miles ahead along side an SUV with pretty flashing lights.

Two mentions in two weeks! A belated happy 75th birthday (October 20) to Lewis Grizzard, who left us much too early in 1994, just a year after the passing of his beloved dog, Catfish. If you don’t know who Lewis Grizzard is, you are functionally illiterate and we suggest you correct that by reading perhaps his finest book I Haven’t Understood Anything Since 1962.

Gas station’s circle of life – a few years back all the Hess stations became Speedway facilities, now many Speedway stations are re-branding to Exxon. In a few years, will we circle around to Gulf, Phillips 66 and Pure?

Speeding up the game

Baseball is the only major sport without a time clock. Some would say that is one of its charms. Others say its three hour plus games are driving a lot of folks away from the sport. An experiment was held in the minor leagues in this just completed season. It involved a 15 second time clock between pitches – eliminating pitchers from taking strolls around the mound and hitters adjusting the suits of amour they wear after every pitch. The result - game times were shortened by 21 minutes – back to the lengths of over twenty years ago. This should be a no-brainer for owners and the player’s union when they try to craft a new bargaining agreement this winter - and an extra half-hour’s sleep for their fans. By the way, the length of major league games increased again this year.

UP NEXT: 80s hit makers; Brooks Brothers; The EST Blues

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

Social Security – good news, not so good news

By now you know, we elderly folks are going to get a handsome 5.9 per cent increase in our Social Security check come January. It begs the question; will that be enough to keep pace with inflation? Inflation is up 5.4 per cent from this time last year. Gas is up, the price of food is going up like a rocket ship, and we recently received notice of an 18 percent hike from our long time auto insurer (we switched carriers). But the larger question voiced by someone much smarter than us is, “How are we going to pay for this?” We’ve been told Social Security has a lifespan of another dozen years and that’s before this nearly six percent hike. So, Joe and Congress, what’s the plan?

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Atlanta Journal Constitution writer and former Congressional insider Patricia Murphy reports that 90 percent of American adults say they don’t know what’s in Joe Biden’s $3.5 billion social services package. She estimates the number may be closer to 99 percent – and we think the percentage of members of Congress who don’t grasp the package’s details is probably north of 50 percent.

Idle question – why is it necessary for the Seminole Tribe to run hundreds of ads telling us what a good deal Florida has with them running gambling operations?

We give a nod to the Clearwater City Council for punting on a very convoluted new election system. Last year’s election where only the Mayor received a majority vote was an outlier as compared to previous elections and not a compelling reason for change.

From a Facebook friend: “If more products were made in America, those backed up cargo ships wouldn’t matter.”

Breaking election news: Charlie Crist hops aboard the marijuana train joining his Democratic competitor Nikki Fried.

Sign of the times: Tesla wants to attempt to mitigate a safety-related software problem in their cars via the Internet. The National Highway Transportation Safety Board is telling the high-tech manufacturer “not so fast.”

Five Years Ago in TBR&R (October 16, 2016) - We need an ID to drive; to get insurance coverage; to use the gym; to check out a book at the library. Just what is so suppressive about us needing an ID to vote?

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

Immigration news from the ersatz 5:05 Newsletter: This week President Biden unveiled his new border policy. It will officially be known as, “No Juan Left Behind.”

A day after the Rays were eliminated from the playoffs, the Atlanta Braves advanced to the National League championship. Their starting pitcher was the guy the Rays should have not let get away – Charlie Morton.

So Jon Gruden is being removed from the Buc’s Ring of Honor. Does that also mean we take down all the banners from the Buc’s 2002 Super Bowl win?

In the immortal words of the late Lewis Grizzard: “How ‘bout them Dawgs!”

There’s a museum for virtually everything, so we suspect somewhere in the U.S. there is a building full of lava lamps from the ‘70s.

We’re just full of facts this week. America’s most popular mustard, by far, is French’s – made by the French’s Food Company of Springfield, MO, located at 4455 E. Mustard Way.

Buy early for Christmas, but ditch the gift cards

We are being told to buy early for Christmas this year because of potential shortages, transportation issues and the like. We offer a second piece of advice -avoid gift cards. They are easy, but they are impersonal. For a do-it-yourselfer or hobbyist, the cards do provide an opportunity for them to get something they truly want. However, in this age of advanced technology, they are subject to fraud – even while they are in your hands, either through crooks using illegal skimmers while the cards sit on racks in the store or, in some cases, through internal dishonesty in the store where you bought it. Sadly, some retailers, most notably Wal-Mart, take a buyer beware stance even if you have been victimized through no fault of your own. Until stores institute much better security with gift cards and you absolutely don’t want to buy a physical gift, old fashioned checks or cash should be the gift of choice.

NEXT UP: More on Wal-Mart; Speeding up baseball; Halloween rant

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

Baby boomers are out of touch

We’ve read a few “essays” on baby boomers recently, and they got our attention. We (we use we because a vast majority of our misguided readers are boomers – their first flaw) are khaki and New Balance wearing out of step individuals who visit malls (we haven’t been in a mall in two years), drive square American-made cars and still read books and some of us don’t even have smart phones – in short, a useless segment of society. We would hasten to point out a few other characteristics of boomers – we pay our bills on time; those of us who still work show up for work even when we don’t feel like it; we somehow managed to pay off our student loans; we still communicate face to face; say please and thank you; attend church and, despite its many flaws, love our country – characteristics we strain to find in most Millennials, Gen-Xs and whatever other generation has followed us.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

The following from the “unofficial” 5:05 Newsletter pretty much sums up this out of touch “boomer” thing: “If you think you are smarter than the previous generation… 50 years ago the owner’s manual of a car showed you how to adjust the valves. Today it warns you not to drink the contents of the battery.”

Number of the Week: One dollar a gallon – the increase in the cost of gas in the Bay Area since the first of January. More on this next week.

So let us get this straight, the lack of support for Joe Biden’s 3 trillion dollar plus giveaway is simply because people don’t understand it. He is going on a campaign to educate us, the unwashed masses.

By the way, one of the nuggets in his spending plan is many million dollars for a “tree equity” program. Yeah, we don’t either.

If it weren’t so incredibly wrong, you might chuckle at the use of “reproductive rights” or “pro-choice” to lessen the grievousness of killing unborn babies.

A bit of wisdom “borrowed” from a friend: Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

A baseball thought from a longtime fan, “MLB can spend 2 years planning for a baseball game in a cornfield but can't find the time to properly execute their replay system. It really is as simple as investing in 360 degree video technology.” Note: this technology is already employed at the highest levels in Japanese and Korean leagues.

The cheer you heard earlier this week had nothing to do with a particular score, but the announcement that 68-year-old MLB umpire “Country Joe” West is retiring. West is annually voted among the five worst umpires in baseball.

Back in the day of college football scoreboards on radio and TV, it was practically mandatory to slip in (no pun intended) the Slippery Rock score. The small (7500) public university in Pennsylvania does take their football seriously – witness their 75-0 thrashing of Clarion last weekend. Clarion is also a small (4000) public university in the Keystone State.

As the NHL season prepares to start up this week, that fancy thing you see on the ice dates back to 1949. Frank Zamboni created the original machine to speed up the resurfacing of his skating rink in Southern California.

Topping the charts this week in 1968 was the biggest song of the decade – The Beatles Hey Jude.

If after this life, you are condemned to TV hell, there will be one channel featuring only Judge Judy, The View, Ellen, Doctors Phil and/or Oz and anything involving Oprah.

There are football programs - then there’s USF

When you think of great football programs over the years, you naturally think of Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and our two Florida schools – UF and FSU. On the other end of the spectrum are Northwestern (have lost more football games than any other Division I school), Indiana, Rice and Dry Gulch A&M. Okay, the last one is a fictitious school made up by our oldest friend years ago. Soon to join this list of schools you want at your homecoming is USF who opened the season with a 45-0 loss to N.C. State – hardly a football power. Then came the Gators and a three touchdown loss. Then a two touchdown win over Florida A&M, a College Division opponent, then two more losses. The Bulls have won six games over the past three years. They do have a winning record over their 22 seasons, but that is mostly the product of their founding coach Jim Leavitt who had nine winning seasons in his ten years at the school. Having spent an outrageous amount of money on the program, they can’t simply go quietly into the night as their cross town neighbors, the University of Tampa, did some thirty years back. But it is quite apparent that USF is not ready for prime time and needs to make serious adjustments to their program.

UP NEXT: Gift Cards; Mustard; ID cards

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

The mouse that changed Florida forever

It’s one of the greatest cloak and dagger stories ever. Walt Disney flying around central Florida in the mid-sixties; buying up property through dummy corporations; meeting covertly with Florida Governor Hayden Burns and then making the stunning announcement in 1965 that “East Coast Disneyland” was coming to central Florida. Fifty years ago this week, the park opened and central Florida, indeed all of Florida, has never been the same. Orlando’s population when the park opened was just over 90,000; today it is three times that. Florida had 6.7 million citizens at the park’s opening. Today that number is 21.6 million. Orlando’s airport has morphed from an Air Force base (McCoy) to Florida’s busiest airport and the 10^th busiest in the nation. Dozens of other attractions have sprung up in central Florida in the wake of Disney World, but none have the cachet and drawing power of “the mouse” bringing just shy of 21 million people to its gates each year while employing 77,000 Floridians.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

The revered 5:05 Newsletter weighs in on our lead article: Walt Disney Company animators have been forced by the politically correct crowd to give Tinkerbell a plus-sized fairy sister. Her name will be Tacobell.

Factoid – two shares of Disney stock bought in the early 1980s for $160, with splits and reinvested dividends, are now worth well over $20,000. We know, we bought them – unfortunately not for ourselves.

More regarding Mickey, what cartoon character or super hero was on your lunch box back in elementary school?

A belated Happy Birthday to President Jimmy Carter, who celebrated his 97^th last Friday (10/1).

This week we received our 50^th final call before they close the file on our auto warranty.

That, of course, was followed immediately by a guy offering us the latest and greatest Medicare Supplement plan – something to look forward to until early December.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

Happy Birthday Dad and thanks for the guidance and work ethic you passed along.

Related to the lead article and the item just above. Dad and Mom were at the grand opening of WDW, the guests of Gulf Oil who had the original service center at the park.

You’ve lived in Clearwater (or anywhere else) a long time if you remember the radio/TV tube testing machines often, for some reason, found in drug stores.

As the playoffs begin this week, our three picks to win it all are the Dodgers, the Dodgers and the Dodgers – the best team money can buy.

Related note: we know it’s a huge longshot, but nothing would make us happier than to see the Atlanta Braves clinch the World Series at Truist Park and watch the All-Star thief Rob Manfred have to present the trophy to Braves management – and to hear the warm welcome he would receive from the crowd.

Idle thought: despite all the contrived names of minor league baseball clubs nowadays, the best team name in the minor leagues is still the Toledo Mud Hens, followed closely by the Durham Bulls.

In keeping with our overall theme this week, you’ve lived in Florida (or elsewhere) a long time if you ever dined at the ESPN Zone at Walt Disney World.

The kingdom of beers

Bitter Brew reads more like the history of an ancient European dynasty rather than a look at what was America’s biggest brewery, Anheuser-Busch. It has all the palace intrigue of a great empire plus some local hooks with the amusement park in Tampa and the Busch family presence in St. Petersburg during the years their Cardinals trained here. William Knoedelseder’s book details six generations of the Busch family with their tremendous successes, numerous scandals and larger than life characters. It talks about the Cardinals, the beloved Clydesdales and the beers – six of the top ten beers in America come from what is now known as Anheuser-Busch InBev, including the #1 beer – the ubiquitous Bud Lite. Bitter Brew begins with the Busch family buying a bankrupt brewery on the banks of the Mississippi, through the trying years of Prohibition to the bittersweet end when the Busch empire was swallowed up by a faceless European cartel of beer brands. It’s an excellent read if you’re a student of business history or Americana. And it’s a good lead-in to Knoedelseder’s follow-up Fins which chronicles General Motors and its chief designer Harley Earl, the father of the Corvette and the finned cars of the late fifties and early sixties.

NEXT UP: Out of touch boomers; Zamboni; Biggest song of the 60s

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

What’s wrong with pro-lifers? Here’s the answer

We seldom comment on “letters to the editor” we read. But a recent missive in “Florida’s Best Newspaper” was completely over the top. It was from an A. (not sure what the A stands for, but we’d guess it isn’t astute) O’Brien. According to the not so erudite Ms. Mrs. or Mr. O’Brien, the great number of Americans who are pro-life are opposed to climate change measures; are warmongers; against sustainable wages; don’t want quality health care for our citizens; won’t wear masks and won’t get vaccinated. That’s a whole lot of wild, wild supposition with absolutely no basis in fact. We guess we shouldn’t be surprised that what passes for our local newspaper would print such garbage.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Quote of the Week: “We can talk about the border problems, you could say they’re years in the making, but it’s pretty clear that we have a bigger problem now than we’ve had in years” – NBC’s Chuck Todd. When a liberal apologist like Todd says something like that, you know we have an enormous problem at our borders.

The fact that Joy Reid still has a job at MSNBC after her racist remarks of last week regarding the death of Gabby Petito tells you all you need to know about the cable outlet.

As plans move ahead for a new and long overdue bus station at Myrtle and Court Street in downtown Clearwater, the most exciting aspect of the replacement facility is a possible connection from downtown to TIA.

You wonder how many “feel good” ads Bank of America will have to run to overcome the publicity they received when they closed the account of a local man they presumed deceased and then put him through the ringer when he showed up, very much alive, with ID, taking almost two weeks to unfreeze his account so he could pay his bills.

Factoid: Florida’s economy is the 17^th largest in the world. It ranks ahead of Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland to name a few.

Five Years Ago in TBR&R (September 25, 2016) - Ten years ago this week, former Clearwater Mayor Gabe Cazares passed away. The man knew everybody in town; was a champion for the Hispanic community; but most of all, is remembered for his valiant fight against the Church of Scientology. It was Cazares who, along with a few others, sniffed out what the “United Churches of Florida” was up to. It was Cazares alone who withstood vicious harassment by the Church of Scientology involving what federal investigators found to be a smear campaign against the Clearwater Mayor. Gabe later served on the Pinellas County Commission, but it was as the crusading mayor of Clearwater where he made his indelible mark.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

As we get ready for the baseball post season, this bit of etymology from the 5:05 Newsletter: “Karate is a Japanese word that means "My kid can't hit a baseball."

It’s not only the cellar dwellers that have managers on shaky ground. A couple late season collapses could spell the end of the road for skippers who were expected to win.

We know he plays for the home team, but Kevin Kiermaier deserved to get plunked by the Blue Jays. What he did was just plain bush league.

The Dodgers are the favorite to win the World Series with odds of 14-5. The Rays rank third at 7-1. The team with the longest odds is the Cardinals at 30-1. That’s a bet we’d be willing to take. The oddsmakers are vastly underrating the Redbirds.

Idle thought: think of all the things you’ve used as a bookmark over the years (pictures, old tickets, business cards, receipts, dollar bills etc.) while the nice bookmark someone gave you sits in a drawer.

You’ve lived in the bay area (or anywhere else) a long time if you remember when cigarette machines populated every restaurant, gas station and most businesses in the area.

The hit making groups of the 70s

With eight number one hits in the 1970s, the Bee Gees were the runaway leaders of the 1970s groups. Their Night Fever from Saturday Night Fever was the biggest seller by a group in the 1970s. The other top ten groups of the 70s, in order were The Carpenters (Close to You), Chicago, The Jackson Five, Three Dog Night, Gladys Knight and the Pips (Midnight Train to Georgia), Tony Orlando and Dawn, Earth Wind and Fire (September) , The Eagles and The Spinners - who had hits in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Just outside the top ten were The Temptations and the Doobie Brothers. Next month, Michael Jackson and the other top male artists of the 80s.

NEXT UP: “The Mouse”; A great investment; King of Beers

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

Can we give you some free Medicare stuff? 

Now that we have all spent our $1400 checks, the Democratic Party wants to buy our votes with free dental, hearing and vision coverage through Medicare. This one is going to be a little tougher sell. While it plays well to those of us on or on the cusp of Medicare, the American population under 65 (which is almost 85 per cent of the population) will hopefully ask who is going to pay for this? The three letter answer is you. It is an ill-disguised campaign trick for the 2022 midterms which, at this point, are not looking all that great for the party in power – commonly the case. And with more and more advantage programs offering extended coverage in the three areas, even the over 65 crowd should be leery of this latest Democratic ploy. All these machinations while the Medicare (and Social Security) well is running dry.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff: 

First, an addendum to last week’s (TBR&R 9/12/21) lead piece on the city of Clearwater and the Phillies; we should have mentioned the club holds a five year option beyond 2023 to remain in Clearwater. Informed observers say they will surely exercise it as the terms are very club-friendly.

Thursday began the official election season for next March’s Clearwater city election. Incumbent David Allbritton, who has done a fine job in Seat 4, is up for re-election. So far, the only announced candidate for the vacant Seat 5 is anti-Scientology candidate Aaron Smith-Levin, who will have to show he is more than a one-trick pony to win the confidence of Clearwater voters.

Another steady hand at the helm of government quietly retired recently. Mike Meidel spent 17 years as Pinellas County’s Director of Development. Prior to joining Pinellas County, Mike was the President of the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce. He will be missed.

It’s a crazy world out there - bunches of morons in denial who will not get vaccinated and will not wear a mask. Parents of children are shopping for quacks to issue a note so their kids don’t have to wear masks in school – after their own doctor says the kids should.

Sign of the times? Our mid-week delivery of “Florida’s Best Newspaper” was missing the usual Publix weekly flyer. But it did contain three copies of the Publix liquor ad.

From the sage observers of human nature at the Unofficial 5:05 Newsletter: “So far it doesn’t seem like changing the name and picture on a pancake box has resulted in racial unity.” 

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

Raise your hand if you had the San Francisco Giants as the first MLB team to clinch a playoff spot or Jacksonville State beating FSU.

Watching this week’s tributes to Pirate great Roberto Clemente reminds us again that the number 21 should join 42 as a number retired across baseball. Clemente was one of baseball’s greatest players and quite possibly its greatest humanitarian.

Answer: Downy laundry softener and Kodak film. Question: what two nationally advertised products have used Paul Anka’s The Times of Your Life in their ads, albeit about 30 years apart?

This week on September 25^th, we celebrate One Hit Wonders Day with a bow to groups like the Silhouettes (Get A Job), the Elegants (Little Star) and Zager and Evans (In The Year 2525) plus single artists like The Singing Nun (Dominque) and Bobby McFerrin (Don’t Worry, Be Happy).

Random thought as summer winds down: Vacations – people want them to start as soon as possible and last as long as possible.

Idle question: how many days a week (or month) does everything you receive in the mail go directly into the trash?

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you attended North or South Ward Elementary Schools.

Focus Group: Favorite memories of the “mouse” 

With the 50^th anniversary of Walt Disney World just a couple weeks away, we asked our TBR&R focus group for their favorite attraction and favorite park in the entertainment giant.

Our first two responders have made more trips to Disney than the law probably allows – before children, with children and with grandchild. The female focus group member chose The Haunted Mansion and The Magic Kingdom as her favorites. Her tag team partner of many years also likes the Magic Kingdom best with his favorite attraction being the Skyway that gave you a terrific view of the park from the air. The attraction closed in 1999 after 28 years.

Our newest focus group member, like many of us, had different favorite attractions at various stages of his life, but votes for the American Experience in Epcot by a whisper over Soaring. He too votes for Magic Kingdom for its overall experience.

The pragmatist in our focus group votes for any attraction with air conditioning – two of those being her co-favorites The Muppet Show and Disney’s oldest attraction, Carousel of Progress. Her favorite park is Hollywood Studios.

And our last two responses from the western most and northern most members of our elite task force put the Haunted Mansion over the top with one saying they never visited Disney without a whirl through the attraction. And both voted for the beloved Magic Kingdom as their favorite park.

We all thank Walt and his successors for giving us, our kids and, in some cases, our grandkids a treat seldom duplicated.

NEXT UP: Florida’s economy; Replay; Best groups of the ‘70s

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

Clearwater and the Phils

Only one relationship between a major league team and its spring training host city goes back further (Lakeland-Tigers) than the relationship between the Philadelphia Phillies and Clearwater. The Phils have trained here since 1948 – first at Green Field, then at Jack Russell Stadium and now at the multi-named stadium on US19. It’s still a burr in our saddle that at least some segment of that stadium is not named for Jack Russell, Sr. – Clearwater’s Mr. Baseball. But we leave that for another time. As the majority of the City Council and the Phils meet this weekend, a couple of things to remember: First, there are not a bunch of cities clamoring for a major league club to play less than 20 games a year in a multi-million dollar stadium. The Phils contract with the city runs out in 2023. Clearwater has the upper hand here for the reason above and the fact that a lot of Phils’ execs have roots here (family ties, homes etc.) that they would be hesitant to give up. Lastly, less than three years is a mighty short time to cut a deal with another city either in Florida or Arizona (where the Phils certainly don’t want to go). Another side note: Council member Kathleen Beckman is embarrassing herself with her pouty refusal to make the trip to Philly. She claims it constitutes a conflict of interest, which is ridiculous. Several council members over the years have avoided any conflict by simply paying for the trip’s expenses rather than not meet with one of the city’s important stakeholders.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

So protecting the rights of the unborn is “Un-American”. Thanks Joe, we’ll remember that.

Another “accomplishment” of the Biden administration: over the just completed Labor Day weekend, gas was up 95 cents a gallon from a year ago.

Happy Birthday to Governor Ron DeSantis, who at age 43 is the youngestGovernor in the nation.

The Biden administration has announced another $5.8 billion in student loan forgiveness. And who pays for this? Sadly for the most part, it’s responsible folks who paid off their student loans years ago.

Answer: Grover Cleveland. Question: who is the only U.S. President to serve two non-consecutive terms? Many hardcore Trump supporters think he will be the next. Others think he has the political future of Warren G. Harding.

Another insight from the semi-official 5:05 Newsletter: Sure, streaming subscriptions are just as expensive as cable, but you also get to remember 18 different passwords.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

We all wanted him around to announce our 100^th birthday. Willard Scott, a staple on the Today show, passed away last week 13 years short of his 100^th birthday.

The top movie this month 50 years ago was the Charlton Heston thriller The Omega Man.

Two names to remember: Max Scherzer and Bob Buhl. The first name you surely know – a guy headed for the Hall of Fame – as a pitcher - as a hitter, not so good. He’s appeared at the plate 53 times this year and has yet to reach base. But he will probably fall short of fellow pitcher Bob Buhl’s mark with the 1962 Cubs and Braves. Buhl went 0-70 that season – although he did reach base a few times via bases on balls.

As we move away from hot weather in the not so distant future, this idle question: Did you ever have a summertime lemonade stand as a kid? They were always hard to pass up.

A question occurred while surveying the salad dressing in the refrigerator: Is there really a Ken’s Steak House? And the answer is yes in Framingham, MA. Like the former Farmer Boy’s in Clearwater, Ken’s has spun off their dressings – some 60 of them!

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the Boy Scout Hut on North Highland Avenue, just east of the Clearwater Country Club.

Florida takes a swipe at Ben and Jerry’s

Sooner or later, businesses with a far left agenda will realize their pushing liberal (or worse) causes have consequences. Ben and Jerry’s decision not to sell their product on the West Bank (TBR&R 7/25/21) has created multiple pushbacks including here in Florida. Our state’s retirement plan could drop the ice cream company’s parent Unilever from state investments and contracts. Some have termed the corporate giant’s actions Anti-Semitic. The company has throttled back a bit from its initial position due to the backlash from several quarters, modifying its first comments about not operating in war-won lands when it was pointed out that its home state of Vermont is, indeed, a “war-won land.” Governor Ron DeSantis summed up the state’s position best saying “there is nothing progressive about boycotting the only democracy in the Middle East.”

UP NEXT: More free stuff; Pancakes; Memories of the mouse

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

The GOP, so far

Just think children, a mere three years from now your TV will be pelted with ads from the standard bearers of the Democratic and Republican parties. The Democratic ticket is too scary to think about, but there is beginning to be some clarity on the Republican side. A recent four-part series by political analyst Sarah Isgur handicapped about a dozen and a half possible candidates. She ranked Don Trump as the favorite – but keep in mind she was part of his administration and may not be all that unbiased. Following Trump in order are Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Ted Cruz, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, plus two longshots, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and Fox’s Tucker Carlson. An interesting bunch of names and we would bet some fairly serious money on one of those names being the GOP nominee. Our favorite is on that list, but we’ll hold fire until the election is a bit closer.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Were you late for an appointment Joe? What an incredible show of disrespect.

We wish only the best for incoming Clearwater City Manager Jon Jennings and City Attorney David Margolis. As we pointed out earlier (TBR&R 6/6/21), they have some huge shoes to fill.

Idle question: at what point does the city of Clearwater stop throwing money at its downtown?

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul becomes New York’s first female governor. The bad news – she inherits a mess. The good news - the performance bar by which she will be judged is ridiculously low.

We love the billboards the state of Ohio has purchased on California roads. Two examples – “Just a short 2350 miles to a state that’s better for your business” and “Our business climate is better (So is our traffic)”.

Second idle thought: we read a local obituary recently that trumpeted a few accomplishments and interests plus the fact she hated a certain public figure. Is hatred what you want as a legacy? Hatred of poverty, racism or war – yes, but hatred of a fellow human being? That’s a sad existence.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

To us, it was one of the greatest lines in comedy TV. Lou to Mary: You’ve got spunk…..I hate spunk! Ed Asner, Lou Grant and so many other roles in his illustrious career, passed away last week at age 91.

Mike Richards is out at both Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, in part, due to some unfortunate comments. Meanwhile, the search for a new Jeopardy host continues its crooked path. We sincerely hope it will not come down to who can garner the most names with online petitions as opposed to someone well qualified for the spot (See Jennings, Ken or Bialik, Mayim).

October 31 – the Bucs take on the Saints in Week 8 of the NFL season. Three days later, the seventh game of the World Series is scheduled to be played - just saying.

A sign of the times from the not so official 5:05 Newsletter: Hundreds of “sniffer dogs” are being retired as marijuana becomes legal in more and more states. Many are expected to be adopted by stoners who keep misplacing their stash.

Topping the charts fifty years ago this week was Paul McCartney’s first solo #1 song – Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.

Happiness is – hearing from Mike Twitty (Pinellas County Appraiser) that your property value went up, but your taxes actually went down a few bucks.

Factoid: A quote long attributed to Henry Ford regarding his early cars, “You can have any color you want as long as it’s black.” Actually the first Ford Model A only came in red – a tidbit from an otherwise tedious book The Life of the Automobile by Steven Parissien.

Speaking of cars, you’ve lived in Pinellas County a long time if your license plate began with 4-W for average sized cars, just 4 for compacts and 4-WW for larger vehicles.

Here come the Rays and the Bronx Bombers

There are two teams in the American League you do not want to play right now – our Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees. In August, the Rays were 21-6 and the Yankees 20-8 including 13 straight wins. The Yanks have an easier schedule down the stretch including six games with the Rays’ punching bag, the Orioles. The Rays are finished with the Orioles for the season. The local nine have three with Boston, six with Toronto and three with the Astros – and they end the season with three in the Bronx. They surely want to be four up on the Yanks when they meet in early October. The Yanks also have six with Toronto who could play spoiler to either or both teams plus three with the Red Sox. And you can’t overlook a three game set with the spiraling Mets, who would like nothing better than to spoil their cross town rivals’ season. It’s going to be an interesting month.

NEXT UP: Omega Man, Lemonade stands; Grover Cleveland

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

Hooray for Chick-fil-A

The latest from the Democratic whack jobs in New York is a move to prohibit the nation’s third largest restaurant chain from having locations on the New York State Thruway. A Rochester-area legislator, Harry Bronson, is leading the charge saying “We are going to offer them an opportunity for them to earn millions and millions of dollars,’ even though we know what the history is." Chick-fil-A’s history is that of a terrific corporate citizen across the United States and beyond. They have drawn fire from folks like Bronson for the fact they are pro-life, support groups like the Salvation Army and have a business plan based on Christian principles. Probably the best picture of how mainstream America looks at Chick-fil-A is to witness the wrap around traffic at their locations here in the bay area and across America. We doubt the radical fringe in New York will be successful in their drive to keep one of America’s best food chains off New York’s highways. And a postscript: apparently the folks who run Busch Gardens don’t find Chick-fil-A so heinous as they have just announced the chain is coming to the large Tampa amusement park.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

CBS News on Kabul attacks: 'Worst day of the Biden presidency' - more like the worst day in any presidency in the past two decades.

Mayoral candidate Ken Welch heads into St. Pete’s general election with a commanding lead. If Welch prevails in November, the city should be in good hands.

How self-serving of Tampa Mayor Jane Castor to point out that shooting deaths in Tampa are up from when she was Police Chief. Ma’am, if anything, you are more responsible as Mayor for the increase in deadly crimes than you were as Police Chief.

More political news not attributed to the 5:05 Newsletter: President Biden made an honest mistake recently announcing that 350 million Americans have been vaccinated, which is 20 million more than the population of the United States. He was trying to remind everybody that he received 350 million votes for president. And that was just in Georgia.

More and more economists are predicting an end to the housing bubble where prices of homes have increased an average of over 16 percent in the past year.

Those of us who have lived the majority of our lives on the Gulf coast watch in awe as a marginal storm like Henri leads national newscasts as it approaches the northeast. The same storm headed for Florida gets barely a mention.

Idle thought: With all these special interest days, weeks and months, shouldn’t there be at least a day a year for normal people?

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

You would laugh until your sides split, but you never blushed at Jeanne Robertson’s humor. The charming comedian from Alamance County, NC passed away last week at age 77.

The entertainment world lost another stellar performer last week with the passing of Don Everly, one half of the hit-making Everly Brothers of the 50s and 60s. His brother Phil passed away seven years ago.

In an era where it is becoming increasingly rare, Yadier Molina has announced that he will play one final season in 2022 as a St. Louis Cardinal. He joins legends Bob Gibson and Stan Musial as career Cardinals. He will also, no doubt, join them in the Hall of Fame a few years down the road.

A last minute absence and lack of a substitute thrust Channel 13 meteorologist Dave Osterberg into the anchor’s role for the station’s noon news last week. You would have thought he had been doing it all his life, but he insists he won’t give up his day (or should we say morning) job.

Please no! Not another round of “guest hosts” on Jeopardy! Couldn’t we just select the runner-up from round one? We’re still in the Ken Jennings camp.

A survey by CHG Healthcare, the nation's largest privately held healthcare staffing company, found that only 9% of workers want to return to an office environment fulltime. Conversely, we know a few old timers who finally retired for good because they could no longer go to the office.

You’ve lived in the bay area (or anywhere else) for a long time if you remember when medicine cabinets had tiny slots to dispose of used single razor blades. And what ever happened to those blades? You found out when you remodeled your bathroom!

Olivia and the other 70s female hit makers

Let’s see, there was If Not for You, Let Me Be There, I Honestly Love You and Have You Never Been Mellow, in all a total of 23 hit records in the 1970s – three of them going to number one. It’s no doubt Olivia Newton-John was the number one female artist of the 1970s. And she was in good company with the by now solo Diana Ross, disco queen Donna Summer, Helen Reddy (I Am Woman), Linda Ronstadt, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon (You’re So Vain), Canada’s Anne Murray (Snowbird) and Roberta Flack. Just missing out on the top ten female artists were, surprisingly, Carole King and Cher. There’s no doubt the seventies had some great female artists. But the biggest female hit record of the 1970s came from a “one-hit wonder”, Pat Boone’s daughter Debby – You Light up My Life. Next month – the Bee Gees and the other super groups of the seventies.

NEXT UP: GOP so far; 4-W; Here come the Yanks

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

A great loss to our community

Last Saturday, I asked a mutual friend to remind retiring City Manager Bill Horne we had a breakfast appointment for a “debriefing” as we Air Force veterans call it. Suffice to say Colonel Bill Horne’s Air Force career was far more distinguished than yours truly. He was a city manager before he was officially a city manager running Air Force bases across the globe. Less than 24 hours later after the chance remark about breakfast, as we exited church, my wife got a text from another friend telling us of Bill’s passing. Pardon the use of the word “stinks” but this stinks in so many ways. Bill and his wonderful wife, Loretta, had planned a lot of travel now that he was no longer responsible for a city of 110,000. And our community is poorer because Bill’s idea of “retirement” was simply serving his city in other ways – in a larger role now that the burden of running a city was lifted. We meet a lot of people on life’s pathway. I cannot get to a handful count of folks with more integrity and sense of purpose than Bill Horne. Our community shares in the Horne family’s loss.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Hillsborough County is doing the right thing in mandating masks for students. And Governor Ron DeSantis needs to rethink his stance on masks in our schools.

Afghanistan analysis from The Dispatch: This is happening on Biden’s watch, at Biden’s insistence, against the advice of his senior military advisers and with Biden’s firm assurance to the American people that what has just come to pass wouldn’t come to pass.”

Memo to Joe: By now most folks have forgotten about those $1400 checks and are focusing on the border crisis, your energy mess plus the above mentioned Afghanistan crisis.

Something we read recently worth sharing: Put yourself on the “Ten Thousand Year Plan” – that is, try not to focus too much on things that won’t matter ten thousand years from now – or even ten thousand hours from now – a little over a year. Thanks to author Ginger Rue.

From the 5:05 Newsletter – unofficial edition: Am starting to wonder if UFOs may just be billionaires from other planets?

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

Legendary Bishop Barry (now St. Pete Catholic) baseball star Bill Freehan passed away last week. The 79-year-old played his entire career with the Detroit Tigers and, with his teammate Mickey Lolich, holds the MLB record for most starts by a battery – 324 starts.

Born 100 years ago this week was long time Let’s Make a Deal host Monty Hall.

Sign of the times: remember when you would pick up a ream of paper (500 sheets) for the office or your home printer? The price hasn’t changed much, but many of those “reams” are now 400 sheets.

Idle thought (borrowed from longtime friend and wellness guru Dr. Don Ardell): Apparently RSVPing to a wedding invitation "Maybe next time” isn't the correct response.

Answers: Albert Einstein, Tina Fey, Adolf Hitler, J.K. Rowling, Barbra Streisand and Barbara Walters. What this eclectic sextet has in common is that none of them drove a car in their lifetime.

Dinner for four

Our most recent assignment for the TBR&R Focus Group asks what three living people (excluding family) would you invite for a very interesting dinner for four?

One of our eldest elders’ threesome includes composer Burt Bacharach, former Ohio Governor Mike Kasich and the smartest man ever to throw a baseball, Greg Maddux.

We would like to be a fly on the wall for another of our focus group’s dinner parties which would include Bob Newhart, Betty White and retiring Coach Mike Krzyzewski.

And how about this eclectic trio from another of our elite group: Navy vet and Dallas Cowboy quarterback, Roger Staubach, up and coming U.S. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas and completing the dinner party is author, former disc jockey and blogger (must be a fine man) – Mark Steyn.

Another august member just celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary and chose another person married over 50 years – cook Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa), a truly fascinating woman. Accompanying her at the table are famed author J. K. Rowling and the incredibly versatile actor Tom Hanks.

The musician in our group is inviting musical giants Elton John, Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney. If allowed four, he would have invited the Pope – if only to hear him say grace – Musicians!

And the very newest (and youngest) member of our Focus Group would like to dine with the GOAT (Tom Brady, of course), the extremely reserved Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and financial wizard Warren Buffet.

After seeing all these captivating foursomes, can we just make it a banquet with folks switching tables every half hour?

NEXT UP: Chick-fil-A; ONJ; Double Jeopardy!

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

What a real newspaper looks like

A few months back, our daughter gifted us with an on-line subscription to The Atlanta Journal Constitution. The gift was primarily so we could more closely follow our beloved Atlanta Braves. That has been mostly disheartening, but a subject for another day. Referred to as AJC by its readers, the paper is, yes, liberal, but not far out left wing as some markets (including ours) are forced to endure. No stories weeping over the forty years imposed on the murderer of a husband and father, a balanced editorial page with folks ranging from Susan Collins on the left to George Will on the right and local coverage folks in Clearwater, Largo and Dunedin would die for; this despite having a circulation about three-quarters the size of our “local” newspaper. In addition to solid and level news coverage, AJC offers a superb design that brings you into the pages of coverage. It is, in short, what a metro newspaper should look like. (Judge for yourself, you probably can capture a sample on line or next time you fly through Atlanta, pick up a copy.)

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Related to our lead story, an inquiry about a missing local paper delivery a few weeks back was greeted with, “Oh, the delivery guy quit.” So?

After multiple charges of sexual harassment in addition to playing fast and loose with his state’s COVID numbers, disgraced NY governor Andrew Cuomo bows to the inevitable and resigns.

Quote of the week: Protection of access to basic health care means your autonomy as a human being is fully respected by the law – Senator Elizabeth Warren attempting to justify the use of tax dollars to fund abortions. By what stretch is the termination of a human life “basic health care”?

News Note: U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is banned from Twitter for a week. Oh, the humanity – will she or the nation ever survive?

Not so random thought, our friends in the automobile business say the shortage of cars (and parts) is not easing up. In fact it is getting worse. So take good care of the old flivver.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

You may not have been an FSU fan, but you had to respect the job Bobby Bowden did in turning an average at best football program into a two-time national champion. In a career that spanned from 1959-2009, Bowden had only two losing seasons and a total of 377 wins.

From the Belleair Road sign guy: “Get your shot, moron!”

We think we’re supposed to say this really didn’t come from the 5:05 Newsletter, but here goes: Unemployment up 400% among sports team’s ethnic mascots.

Which begs the question, who is your favorite team mascot? We’ll go with the very entertaining Phillie Phanatic. Which leads to another question, we don’t see that many Phillies’ games, but does he ever get booed? Remember this is the crowd that booed Santa Claus.

55 years ago this week, legendary drummer Keith Moon of the Who celebrated his 21^st birthday by driving a Lincoln Continental into the swimming pool of the Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan. Mr. Moon and his bandmates were banned for life from Holiday Inns worldwide as well as from Flint Michigan. Banishment from Flint, Michigan; is that a punishment?

On this weekend, the anniversary of Woodstock, an idle thought: there is nothing sadder than an old hippie?

Hugs and kisses from me and condolences from everyone else to our Saintly Wife on the 52^nd anniversary of her marriage to your humble blogger.

Finally, a bow to a very generous person

We tip our cap to an anonymous donor who, upon learning that teachers in parochial schools were not recipients of the generosity of our governor, dropped off a check for the benefit of all the teachers in an Upper Pinellas school. That school’s parents and teachers are also taxpayers, just like the public schools.

UP NEXT: No driver’s license; Boomers; Monty Hall

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

Some unfinished business regarding opioids

From a recent The Dispatch: “In recent years, a dizzying array of individuals and groups have come forward with legal action against some of the pharmaceutical companies that produce opioid painkillers, alleging they pushed doctors to prescribe their products when they were not medically required and without fully disclosing their addictiveness. The effort has already won several prominent scalps: Purdue Pharma, the developer of OxyContin, filed for bankruptcy in 2019, eventually agreeing to pay an $8 billion settlement.” That’s good as far as it goes. But if we’re really serious about punishing the culprits who ruined tens of thousands of lives, we need to teach a harsh lesson to the drug pushers in doctors’ smocks who willingly played along (and were no doubt rewarded) with this criminal activity. And a great number of them practice in our backyard – remembering the packed parking lots with out-of-state (and in-state) licenses at many doctors’ offices here in Pinellas County.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Face it Joe, you now own the COVID-19 crisis and despite ample vaccine, courtesy of the Trump administration, over 50 percent of the nation remains unvaccinated.

We’re a bit slow, so help us understand this. Florida is one of several states being sued to resume unemployment benefits while virtually every business in the bay area is advertising in some way or another for help.

Again, being slow, our confusion continues: Gov. Ron DeSantis’ awarding teacher bonuses is a publicity stunt; while Biden’s free-wheeling trillion dollar giveaways are not?

Interesting educational note: USF manages to find $25 million for a new football facility, but until a massive revolt by Tampa Bay citizens, couldn’t find the dough to keep their College of Education open.

Biden, Manfred and other liberals are a bit confused. States like Georgia don’t want to make it hard to vote, they want to make it hard to cheat.

Years ago, Delta Airlines had a great ad campaign “Delta is ready when you are!” Obviously, Spirit Airlines is not.

On this week, the 76^th anniversary of the end of World War II – a number of the week – 324,750: that’s the number of aircraft built in the U.S. during WWII. The greatest number of a single aircraft built was the B-24 Liberator with a total of 18,842 planes – nearly half of them by the Ford Motor Company. These numbers come from a terrific book – The Arsenal of Democracy by A.J. Baime.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

We wish nothing but fair skies to Steve Jerve, WFLA Channel 8’s chief meteorologist, who retired last week after 23 years with the station.

Media note: Twitter has signed a deal with The Associated Press to help elevate accurate information on its platforms. That’s akin to the city of Chicago signing a deal with the Capone mob in the ‘20s to lower the crime rate.

Yes, we know it often takes time for excellence to be recognized by a sports hall of fame, but 51 years after his retirement for the Lions’ Alex Karras? And even sadder, nine years after his passing?

Texas and Oklahoma to join the SEC - more on that below; in a related note, neither institution offers a degree in Geography.

As school prepares to open, this nugget from the “Unofficial 5:05 Newsletter:” Supreme Court rules that students who identify as teachers must be allowed to use the teacher’s lounge.

In last week’s much anticipated rematch of the 2017 World Series between the Astros and Dodgers, it was okay to root against both teams, right?

You’ve lived in the bay area for a long while if you remember the “gas wars” of the late fifties and early sixties when gas sank as low as 15 cents a gallon. As we hit $3.00 a gallon, those were good times.

The SEC continues to grow

The recent addition of football powerhouses Oklahoma and Texas brings the number of schools in the SEC to 16. The conference began in 1932 with 13 members. Three of the originals, Sewanee (1940), Georgia Tech (1964) and Tulane (1966), have dropped out. Sewanee now plays Division III football; Georgia Tech is in the ACC and Tulane is a member of the American Athletic Conference along with the Sunshine State’s UCF and USF. The most recent additions will create some SEC scheduling issues particularly with so-called “permanent” games like Alabama-Tennessee and Auburn-Georgia, rivalries that go back decades - and, of course, the premier SEC rivalry in this part of the world – Florida and Georgia. But the SEC has until 2025 to sort things out. That’s when the two Big 12 transfers are scheduled to start playing an SEC schedule. Should be fun!

NEXT WEEK: Woodstock; Tragic decision; A real newspaper

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

More fun with Joe and numbers

More fun with Joe’s numbers: Biden this week said more Americans have died from COVID-19 than died in all our wars since World I. As usual, Biden’s numbers don’t add up. America’s four major wars’ (WWI and II, Korea and Vietnam) death tolls alone exceed the COVID-19 numbers. And then there’s The Gulf War, Afghanistan, Iraq and numerous other skirmishes involving the U.S. in the last century. But then Joe should be expected to be a little shaky with numbers concerning the sacrifices by our military men. Even though he was of draft age at the height of the Vietnam War, Mr. Biden managed to escape military service of any kind in his lifetime.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

We lead off this segment with financial news from the 5:05 Newsletter: A new report found that 40 Fortune 500 companies paid no taxes last year. The other 460 fired their accountants.

Quote of the Week: [The White House is] taking a lawyerly approach to ethics,” said Walter Shaub, a senior fellow at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) who led the Office of Government Ethics under former President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017. “They’re looking to see what’s technically allowed, and then they’re doing it.” For a point of reference, see our lead article of June 27 regarding Joltin’ Joe and the IRS.

By the way, the above reference to Joltin’ Joe will be our last usage of the phrase. We’ve heard from several Yankee fans that using the alliteration is an insult to one of the greatest ballplayers of all time. Received and agreed.

Answer: Florida. The question: what is the largest state, by far, never to have a resident elected President? Donald Trump, while now a Florida resident, was a New Yorker when he ran in 2016.

Recent ranking of rudest drivers in the U.S. has Florida ranked third only behind California and Nevada. Not surprising – but where is New York? The answer is outside of the city, New York state drivers handle their cars very well and are quite courteous.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

And the MLB trade deadline winners are (drumroll): In the National League, the Dodgers swooping in and acquiring future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer and one of MLB’s most underrated players, Trea Turner, leaves the others in the dust. In the junior circuit, the Yankees’ pick-ups of Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo may bring back memories of Mantle, Maris and Berra and that short right field porch. You have to give a honorable mention to the White Sox who with the addition of Craig Kimbrel, have a lockdown bullpen similar to the Royals of years past.

The two top draws in their respective leagues are the Atlanta Braves in the NL and the Texas Rangers in the AL – two teams with slim and none, respectively, hopes for the playoffs. Some of their attendance figures have to do with being two of the first cities (and states) to drop attendance restrictions. The lowest attendance, not surprisingly, belongs to the Toronto Blue Jays who are finally headed home after stops in Dunedin and Buffalo.

The nomadic Blue Jays may be the only underperforming team with a valid excuse. The Braves, Cubs, Indians, Phillies and Yankees all think they are better than their record. But there’s that old Bill Parcells truism “You are what your record says you are.”

Random thought: Health is not just about what you’re eating or how much you exercise. It’s also about what you’re thinking and saying.

Five Years Ago in TBR&R (August 7, 2016) - 750,000 – that’s the number of people who attend events annually at Ruth Eckerd Hall making it the biggest drawing venue within the Clearwater city limits. Second and third are the Clearwater Marine Aquarium at 320,000 and Bright House Field at just over 300,000 - this from an interesting 2016 Community Profile published by the city.

Bad umpires should go to the minors

"The best umpired game is the game in which the fans cannot recall the umpires who worked it." Those are the words of Hall of Fame umpire Bill Klem. Let us run some names by you – Tripp Gibson, Nic Lentz and Ryan Blakney. Unless you are a really hard core baseball fan, you probably never heard of them. They are three of the five highest rated umpires during the 2021 season. Three more names you might know – Ron Kulpa, Laz Diaz and Angel Hernandez. They are among the worst umpires this season – Hernandez is year to year rated the worst umpire in baseball. Yet, he continues to not only have a job, but get assigned to important post season games. This used to be an honor afforded the best umpires, but now MLB-union agreements dictate that guys like Hernandez work prestigious games. Just as a guy who hits .180 gets sent to the minors, umpires like Hernandez, Kulpa and Diaz should spend some time riding buses until their skills improve – or as happens with players, they are granted their unconditional release.

NEXT UP: Gas wars: Drug pushers; Mud Hens and Bulls

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

A wake up call for all of Florida

Quote of the week: (with every condo association it’s) “a bunch of volunteers that don’t have any experience making decisions on the integrity, the structural integrity of these buildings.” This, of course, comes in the wake, of the Champlain Towers collapse in south Florida. There will be massive over reactions by everyone from state and local governments to insurance companies to local HOAs. The last is not necessarily a bad thing. Far too many HOAs are run loosey goosey by a bunch of volunteers who have no idea of what it takes to run an organization often with a budget of millions or more. At the very least, the state should require every condo HOA to retain a professional property management organization to guide them through the bewildering issues of building integrity, liabilities and smarter budgeting, just to name a few.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

USF President Steve Currall’s surprising retirement after just two years ends a very short presidency (compared to Presidents Castor and Genshaft) which, unfortunately, will be highlighted by an ill-advised attempt to shut down the university’s College of Education.

The well-meaning, but often clueless American Civil Liberties Union has filed a suit intended to overturn a law capping contributions to ballot initiatives claiming it stymies the public’s ability to amend Florida’s bloated constitution. No, the law prevents special interest groups from trying to buy constitutional amendments.

This did not come from the 5:05 Newsletter – well sort of - President Joe Biden announced that his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin were a success. In a related story Hunter Biden is now on the board of directors of Rosneft Oil.

Now, we’ve seen it all. Tough law and order man, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd in a rap video!

We’re trying hard to follow this string of logic – Ben and Jerry’s very expensive ice cream will no longer be available on the West Bank because they will not sell in war-won land. Could they please tell us where in the world, including their home state of Vermont is there not war-won land?

The Saigon Bay Vietnamese Restaurant is scheduled to reopen in a new location in Temple Terrace next month. It was burned down in the senseless rioting in Tampa over a year ago. Our community can only offer condolences to the family operating the restaurant for the damages and loss of business related to an event 1600 miles away.

This previous item from TBR&R bears repeating: a great many bad things in the world can be avoided by simply obeying our laws.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

Breaking Olympic News from the 5:05 Newsletter: After several members of the U.S. women's soccer team took a knee during our National Anthem, the team lost to Sweden in the Olympics by a score of 3-0. The team then revealed they are boycotting scoring any goals until racism is defeated. A spokeswoman for the team said, ‘We could have beaten Sweden but we decided as a team that no goals will be scored until complete equality has been achieved in America. Also, we demand a hefty raise.’

Only in D.C. – Nationals versus Padres game suspended due to gunfire outside the stadium.

In a bow to the raging “political correctness” that has infected our nation; the Cleveland Indians will henceforth be known as the Cleveland Guardians – the winner of the “what lame name can you come up with for a storied franchise contest?”

Number of the Week: 78. That’s the number of pitches it took Greg Maddux to throw a complete game victory over the Cubs 24 years ago this week. That’s less than nine pitches an inning!

Even though there appears to be enough Raisin Bran and oatmeal raisin cookies to go around, bakers are reporting a shortage of raisins in the U.S. They feel it will be remedied by summer’s end. By the way, if you’ve never enjoyed the Pennsylvania Dutch delight that is a raisin filled cookie, get the recipe. They take a while to bake, but are well worth the trouble.

You’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you ever dined at the Hawaiian Village Restaurant in Tampa.

Elton and the other superstars of the ‘70s

This month, we review the top ten male hit makers of the 1970s. The decade belonged to Elton John with number one hits like Crocodile Rock, Bennie and the Jets, Philadelphia Freedom, Island Girl, Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (with Kiki Dee), along with the top Yuletide song of the 70s – Step Into Christmas. The other top male singers of the decade were post-Beatle Paul McCartney, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Neil Diamond, for the third decade in a row - Elvis, John Denver , Marvin Gaye, Rod Stewart (who had the decade’s biggest male solo – Tonight’s The Night) and the 70s king of the ballad– Barry Manilow. Just missing were Glen Campbell (Rhinestone Cowboy) and B.J. Thomas (Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head) – some great artists who produced some great songs. Next month: Olivia and the other girl greats of the 70s.

UP NEXT: Chick-fil-A; What is health; Skirting the law

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

Casting a ballot is not rocket science 

Just a couple of weeks ago, we celebrated our country’s independence giving us, among other things, the right to vote. And over the years, we as a country have chosen to overly complicate that function. For decades there were two ways to vote – in person or absentee. Now we must have early voting, ballot drop off boxes and other junk. Why? In what way, does the ability to vote in person or with a pre-paid mail ballot usurp any right? Frankly, your humble blogger hasn’t been to a polling place in nearly 25 years. And we got a big laugh at an accompanying photo in “Florida’s Best Newspaper’s” story about adding additional early balloting places. The photo showed two people in line last October – both sporting canes. What a coincidence! We don’t walk so well ourselves, which is why we simply fill in the ballot, sign it and mail it back. If we have to include a social security or license number, so what? What could be less complicated?

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

More on voting from Ramesh Ponnuru writing in Bloomberg, “Biden said that 17 states had passed 28 laws making it harder to vote. The same source behind those numbers also reports that 14 states have passed 28 laws making it easier to vote. Four states appear on both lists, which suggests that the legislation is more complicated than Biden’s talk of a ‘21st-century Jim Crow assault’ on voters would allow.”

The Biden gravy train rolls on with $250-300 a month per kid to families with combined incomes of $150,000 or less, hardly the poverty line. Two questions, wouldn’t you have liked that when you were struggling to raise kids? And more importantly, who is going to pay for this largesse?

From “Florida’s Best Newspaper” for the umpteenth time, “The highway patrol did not release the man’s name due to the department’s interpretation of Marsy’s Law, a voter-approved amendment to Florida’s constitution that’s meant to protect crime victims, but deprives the public of information that had long been available under the state’s public records laws.” Okay folks, we get it, you don’t like the law. Now find another drum to beat.

Idle question: does anybody really know what’s going on in Cuba – or Texas?

We’ve been wondering what we (and probably Jack Harris) were going to do for top flight material, but happily the 5:05 Newsletter has thrown us a few choice bones like this one: “California News: A 36-year-old man in California who identifies as a six-year-old, "crushed" a game-winning home run at a local tee-ball game winning the championship for his team. His six-year-old teammates attempted to hoist him up on their shoulders in celebration, but were unable to pick up the 230-pound man.”

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

Idle thought: the next time MLB commissioner Rob Manfred makes an appearance at the Atlanta Brave’s Truist Park, we would bet some very serious money, it will be a sell-out.

Speaking of the Ayatollah of baseball, Manfred finally admits the runner on second in extra innings is a T-Ball-like rule and says it probably will be discarded next year - couldn’t be soon enough.

For once, we agree with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. Athletes from other lands who come here to make millions of dollars should shell out a tiny portion of that to take some English as a second language courses.

Word is the Blue Jays will finally be playing in Toronto by month’s end. Hope it helps. They’ve actually played their best regular season ball on the road.

You’ve lived in Pinellas County a long time if you ever dined at the Brown Derby on U.S. 19 in Palm Harbor.

This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of U.S. Senator John Glenn – the first American to orbit the earth back in 1962.

Five Years Ago in TBR&R (July 17, 2016) - Within a week, the FBI announces it has concluded its investigations of Hillary Clinton - and D.B. Cooper - so many punchlines, so little space.

Great lines from the big and small screens

Our July assignment for the renowned TBR&R Focus Group was coming up with two or three great lines from the movies and TV over the years. Seinfeld provided the most material.

Our leadoff hitter of the group went with Seinfeld’s, Frank Costanza’s (Jerry Stiller) “Let the airing of grievances begin,” from the Festivus episode, The Graduate’s “ I want to say one word to you, Benjamin - plastics,” and from WKRP in Cincinnati, a holiday promotion gone wrong,  “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”

Classic movies dominate another member’s list with "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," from 1939’s Wizard of Oz. Three years later came “Here’s looking at you kid,” from Casablanca and the ominous “What we've got here is a failure to communicate,” from 1967’s Cool Hand Luke.

For another focus group member, it was “That’s what she said,” from the comedy classic The Office plus Get Smart’s “Missed it by that much,” and from 1969’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – “Who ARE those guys?”

Another Focus Group member weighs in with the golf line “What is that, a Titleist? from the Seinfeld episode “The Marine Biologist” plus these gems – “Snap Out of it” – Cher in Moonstruck and one of the most often repeated quiz show lines “Come on Down” from The Price is Right. 

Another focus group contributor recalls the great Walter Cronkite closer “And that’s the way it is’” along with the Terry Hatcher classic from Seinfeld “They’re real and they’re spectacular,” plus another never to be forgotten Seinfeld line “No soup for you!”

And, last but not least, come these contributions from our western - most focus group member - “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothin’ at all.” - Thumper in the movie Bambi. Plus “Shaken, not stirred” from Goldfinger and two great lines from Rowen and Martin’s Laugh-In – Dick Martin’s “You bet your sweet bippy” and Lily Tomlin’s (as Geraldine) “Is this the party to whom I am speaking?”

NEXT UP: Condo-nundrum; King of the 70s; Raisins

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

This year’s All-Star game even more of a joke

We’re not quite sure this is what Chicago sports writer Arch Ward had in mind when he promoted the first major league All-Star game in 1933 at Comiskey Park as part of Chicago’s World’s Fair celebration. The event slated to be a “one and done” event proved so popular that it became an annual event – with exceptions in the final year of World War II and last year’s COVID cancellation. The game has had its ups and downs – like the years with two All-Star games (1959-62), the “Bud Selig Rule” – the winning team would have World Series home field advantage despite the fact the league’s best players often weren’t on the field. This came after a ridiculous tie game in 2002 – also during the Selig regime. This year marks the nadir of All-Star machinations with baseball commissioner and Biden crony Rob Manfred pulling the game away from Atlanta and relocating it to ultra-liberal Colorado with its recreational grass, anti-law enforcement policies and gay governor. We won’t be watching, although in the spirit of Democratic politics, we voted for every Atlanta Brave (with the notable exception of Marcell Ozuna) on the All-Star ballot as many times as we could.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

And from the equal opportunity offenders at the 5:05 Newsletter: Only in America could moving a baseball all-star game from a city that is 51% Black to a city that is 7% Black be seen as a civil rights triumph.

Hey Joe, how many times are you going to tell Russia, “now don’t cyberattack us again!”

Number of the week: $818 million – that’s the amount of money each federal holiday costs us – the U.S. taxpayer. And that does not include the military or the post office. With addition of Juneteenth, we now have 11 such holidays. Allow us to do the math - that’s just shy of $9 billion.

Somewhere, there is a very opportunistic printer cranking out thousands and thousands of bumper stickers proclaiming “Don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for the guy.” That printer will be one of the few who prosper under a Biden reign.

With a bow to the date of this issue (7-11), you’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember long since gone convenience stores like Pick-Kwik and Tom Thumb along with grocery stores like Kash and Karry, Food Fair and Pantry Pride.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

America’s love story: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter celebrated 75 years of marriage last week.

Did you see the picture of Jay-Z and his three million dollar watch? How about a Timex with the rest of the money going to people in need? See the couple directly above for an example of how it’s done.

Yo, Bay News Nine, we have a storm bearing down on the bay area and instead of “weather on the nines,” we get “Who Cares with Allison Walker?”

Media note: Meghan McCain to leave The View. Our question: why was she ever a part of that circus?

Here’s another spinoff from the ridiculous runner on second rule in the major leagues. A reliever can enter the top of the inning, get three straight outs and still be charged with a blown save or a loss. Where is the logic in that?

The LA Dodgers need help – not on the field but in the clubhouse. This year Trevor Bauer is accused of domestic violence. His teammate Julio Urias served a 20-game suspension after similar accusations. And with all this facing Bauer, LA manager Dave Roberts was prepared to start him last Sunday until MLB stepped in. What was Roberts thinking?

Passing the baton

Permit us to wax a little philosophical this week. We ask you to remember, when as a younger person, you were asked to take on a very responsible task – leading an organization, becoming an elder at church or taking a giant step in your professional path. Chances are good you were a little overwhelmed. The reason this task and honor was thrust upon you was that someone else, usually someone older, had “passed the baton.” Now later in life, you might find it uncomfortable to say no to a new task or to continue with a long term obligation. Leanne Jackson, writing in Daily Guideposts puts it this way, “Your life is not a marathon; it’s a relay. You carry the baton for a while, and then pass it to the next person. You aren’t intended to carry it forever.” Good advice and a great opportunity for someone new to be blessed with an honor and challenge in their life, just as you were.

UP NEXT: Voting 101; A good investment; Brown Derby

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Way to go Bolts!

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

It’s Independence Day, not the 4^th of July

First, let’s get the name of this holiday correct. None of us were there to give our efforts, and for many their lives, so this country could be free. Sadly, this day is now viewed as a reason to grill hot dogs, have a picnic and annoy your neighbors with fireworks. Independence Day is one of the original four federal holidays. The other three were closely grouped within just over a month of each other – Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Through our nation’s history, that number has been bloated to eleven – the latest being Juneteenth. And it could be worse, over the last many years, Congress has rejected Susan B. Anthony Day, Cesar Chavez Day, Malcom X Day, along with two that might make some sense – Flag Day and Election Day. But back to Independence Day - take a moment this week to reflect on what this holiday truly means.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

“Borrowed” from a Facebook Friend - On March 17^th, we were all Irish; on May 5^th, we were all Mexican. How about this July 4^th we all act like Americans?

This will be a very busy month for the Clearwater City Council. During July, they select finalists from a second set of candidates for the City Manager job. Do the same for the upcoming City Attorney vacancy. Meet with the finalists for both jobs and make their selections for both posts. Arguably, it’s the busiest (and most important) month ever for a Clearwater City Council.

Ah, small city politics. Madeira Beach, population 4300, is searching for its fourth city manager in just over four years as Clearwater, population 115,000, prepares to bid adieu to City Manager Bill Horne after over 20 years of service.

Predictably, the U.S. Supreme Court supported an Arizona law upholding voting safeguards by prohibiting ballot harvesting and disallowing votes cast in the wrong precinct from being counted. Predictably, the liberal media went berserk at the 6-3 decision.

Despite last Friday’s victory lap by Job Killing Joe, the fact remains that unemployment numbers are still 70 percent higher than the Trump administration’s pre-epidemic rate of 3.5 per cent.

From a special, special edition of the 5:05 Newsletter: Coalition News: There seem to be coalition cults popping up everywhere these days. The latest one is a personality cult formed around President Biden. It's called "Blank Looks Matter."

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of one of America’s outstanding First Ladies – Nancy Davis Reagan.

This was an idle thought from two years ago - why is it your A/C, water heater or fill in the blank always breaks down right before a holiday weekend? Add to that, your pet gets sick and you have to visit an emergency clinic with their sky-high fees.

Notes from last week’s Rays-Angels series: The Angels only come to Tampa Bay once a season and this year, Rays fans missed seeing the best player in baseball with Mike Trout being out with an injury. Wander Franco had a spectacular start, but it took a nanosecond for the league to find the holes in his swing. And former Northeast High star Doug Waechter handled the TV color assignment – what a breath of fresh air.

Date of the Week – July 1, 2035. That’s the last year the New York Mets will have to write an annual $1.19 million dollar check to Bobby Bonilla. The former major leaguer last laced them up in 2001.

We’ve traveled past its remarkable sign for many years, but did not know the same family had owned it all those years. Treasure Island’s Thunderbird Hotel was sold by the King family last week after over fifty years of ownership.

An addendum to last week’s top groups

As we mentioned last week, the Beatles ruled the 1960s, but the other extraordinary Beatle fact is that every one of their members had at least one #1 record on their own. Paul had seven plus an eighth in a duo with Stevie Wonder (Ebony and Ivory). Ringo had two (You’re 16 and Photograph). John Lennon also had two chart toppers (Just like Starting Over and Whatever Gets You Through the Night). George Harrison had three Number #1s (My Sweet Lord, Give Me Love and Got My Mind Set on You). All these, plus 20 number one tunes as a group. Quite a legacy!

UP NEXT: The joke in Denver; Another $818 million tax bill; 7-11

Happy Independence Day!

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

A letter from the IRS; no, make that Joe

Raise your hand if you’ve recently received an official looking letter and envelope from the “Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service.” That’s never good news. So you open it up and …surprise it’s a very thinly veiled campaign letter, in English, and Spanish of course, from Joe Biden – paid for, to be sure, with our tax dollars. We are quite certain that Joe and company checked on the legality of something like this. While it may be legal, it’s incredibly unethical. And irony of ironies, Biden just asked for an additional $80 billion (yes, billion with a B) for the IRS to “crack down on tax cheats.” Perhaps the IRS should start with politicians who waste IRS resources on nothing less than hack political propaganda. And to think, 51 percent of the American electorate voted for this guy.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

“A day late and a dollar short” – Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace on VP Kamala Harris finally getting around to seeing the massive immigration problems facing the U.S. south of our borders.

Number of the Week: One. That’s the number of political candidates with two losses attempting to achieve a higher federal office or governor who have been successful in the past 20 years. That does not bode well for two-time loser Charlie Crist. Oh, the one successful candidate for higher office after two losses – Louisiana Senator John Kennedy.

Item: Lina Khan, four years out of law school, appointed to the Federal Trade Commission. Biden administration thinking since we now have this novice on the FTC, why not make her chairman? Don’t say we didn’t warn you last fall.

A couple news items from the past few weeks that make you shake your head: (1) How did Brooksville manage to inadvertently sell the town’s water tower? (2) What genius plotted the Tierra Verde bridge demolition that killed hundreds of protected game fish? Again, guys at the 5:05 Newsletter – you’re missing some great stuff!

But this one will not surprise you. New York held a mayoral election last week, announcing ahead of time the results would not be known for several days - again, so many punchlines, so little space.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

Times have changed. Our Dad made his living running a Westinghouse plant that made radio-TV tubes. Our oldest friend’s Dad owned shops that sold and repaired TVs. An acquaintance had a store that repaired appliances like toasters and waffle irons. Gas stations always cleaned your windshield and asked, “may I check your oil?” And your milk was delivered, but pizza was not.

Idle question: how many times a week do you watch a TV commercial and at the end, wonder what they were selling?

Speaking of commercials, we lost two significant individuals connected with commercials last week. Billy Fuccillo, he of the “Huge” commercials for his car dealerships died in Sarasota at age 64. And Frank Bonner who played the stereotypical radio station ad manager on WKRP in Cincinnati passed away at age 79.

We’re less than two weeks away from the Major League Baseball draft and Calvary Christian High School right handed pitcher, Andrew Painter, is forecast by many experts to go in the first round of this year’s draft.

Answer: Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Question: what five states have only one seat in the House of Representatives?

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you ever attended the movies at the Ritz Theater on Fort Harrison Avenue between Cleveland and Drew.

The Super Groups of the 60s

There is probably no decade that produced more landmark groups than the 1960s. You can’t think of the 60s without thinking of the top group of all time by almost every measure –the Beatles. Their short run of 1964 to 1970 produced 64 chart records! The other super groups of the 60s, in order, were The Supremes, and the West Coast/East Coast combination of The Beach Boys and The Four Seasons, Motown’s Temptations (My Girl), The Rolling Stones, The Miracles, The Dave Clark Five (Catch Us If You Can); young teen favorites Herman’s Hermits and The Drifters (Save the Last Dance for Me). Just missing the Top 10 groups were the Impressions and the Four Tops – an impressive list. Coming up next month, we’ll feature the Top Ten male vocalists of the 70s.

UP NEXT: Post Beatle success; All American day; Madeira Beach

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Go Bolts!

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

Message to Joe, talk is cheap

Mr. Biden, talk is cheap. It seems that cyber sources within Russia want to keep messing with American business interests. It’s probably time for you to acquire a spine and firmly tell Mr. Putin to crack down on these miscreants while reminding him we can make his life a lot more miserable that he can make ours – and to illustrate that point the very next time one of our major American companies is the subject of such an attack. Again, talk is cheap.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Oh, then there’s this quote from Joltin’ Joe: “I think we’ve made progress in reestablishing American credibility among our closest friends.” Again, so many punch lines, so little space.

Despite nice answers like “The timing wasn’t right” and “I want to stay with my current community,” you have to know the reason fully three of five Clearwater City Manager finalists dropped out of contention is they realized what a negative impact the Church of Scientology has on our city.

Roses to the St. Pete City Council for wading through a bunch of pro-abortion garbage and approving a small business grant for the STEPP Pregnancy Center in the southern part of the city. And thorns to Council Member Darden Rice for trying to broad brush the well-respected center based on an experience at another facility as an irresponsible 18-year-old.

We know Charlie Crist wants to be governor (again), but he’d be doing this area a huge favor by staying on as District 13 U.S. Rep. – when you look at some of the wingnuts who want to fill his seat.

Reality Winner (now there’s a special name), recently released from prison for stealing federal government documents, claims she is not the leftist activist as portrayed by some of her critics. I mean, everybody who is a down the middle person she claims to be, threatens to burn down the White House.

We know the 5:05 Newsletter is in hiatus, but they are missing a bunch of great stuff out there!

Sports, media and other stuff:

Answer: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon. The question – what five states do not have a sales tax? But all except Alaska have an income tax.

Speaking of taxes, this recent gem from the marquee of the Grossman Law Firm on Court Street: Teach your kids taxes, eat 30% of their ice cream.

With MLB All-Star game just a few weeks away, a thought from one of the TBR&R focus group members, “It occurred to me that the MLB All Star game selection has a long history of vote early and vote often. I guess that explains a lot.”

Another baseball note: it was 57 years ago on Father’s Day that the Phillies’ Jim Bunning, a father of seven, threw a perfect game against the New York Mets. Bunning is also the only man to be a member of the U.S. Senate and the Baseball Hall of Fame.

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember controversial Clearwater City Commissioner Fred Thomas repurposing the old East Avenue railroad station into a hot dog stand. Our favorite menu item was his American (rather than French) Fries.

Songs that make you turn up the radio

You’re driving down the road and suddenly a song comes on the radio that makes you reach for the volume control – and perhaps sing along if no one’s looking! We posed this question to our TBR&R focus group and these are the trios of treasured tunes they came up with. One first respondent had a definite 50s flavor, listing the Diamond’s definitive doo-wop song Little Darlin’ along with Danny and the Juniors’ At the Hop and an Elton John 70s hit Philadelphia Freedom. Another Elton tune scored with one of our elders – Crocodile Rock; his other picks were the Beach Boy’s California Girls and a song recorded by a bunch of USF students in the late sixties - Mercy’s Love (Can Make You Happy). And what would a favorite songs list be without an Elvis song? One of our group chose Can’t Help Falling in Love along with the Platters’ The Great Pretender and folk singer Arlo Guthrie’s The City of New Orleans. Billy Joel’s An Innocent Man made another of our focus group’s list along with the James Bond tune Goldfinger and a beautiful instrumental Maria Elena by Brazilians Los Indios Tabajaras. The Beatles’ Let it Be headlines another of our group’s list along with Billy Joel’s And So it Goes and folk-rock group The Avett Brothers’ Smithsonian. Our focus group member from the northern climes lists another Beach Boy song Good Vibrations, Chicago’s 25 or 6 to 4and Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody as his top three. That’s quite a list of songs, although several of our elite group had trouble limiting their picks to just three – understandable.

NEXT WEEK: Super groups; Changing times; Joe and the IRS

Happy Father’s Day!

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

DeSantis strikes a chord for sanity

Quote of the Week- from Governor Ron DeSantis: “If the price of providing opportunities that can last a lifetime for all the girls throughout the state of Florida, for ensuring fair competition for them; if the price of that is that we lose an (NCAA) event or two?” “I would choose to protect our young girls every day of the week and twice on Sunday.” Governor DeSantis on his legislation to prohibit policies forcing female athletes to compete against boys who now believe they’re girls. You probably missed his reasonable statement if you read about the legislation in “Florida’s Best Newspaper” as it was buried in paragraph 24 of a 24 paragraph article unfairly criticizing the legislation while adding this nugget –“Supporters of the effort to restrict transgender athlete participation have cited no examples of competitive issues.” Did our noble newspaper people miss the young lady standing beside the Governor who lost a spot in an athletic qualifier to a transgender athlete?

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

The shocking withdrawal of three finalists in the Clearwater city manager hunt (including virtually everyone’s favorite) makes you wonder about the quality of vetting by the city’s search firm Baker Tilley. With Clearwater justifiably pushing the reset button, the new search should be on Baker Tilley’s dime.

Are we back to gas stickers again? “Florida’s Best Newspaper” is continuing to try to defend Nikki Fried’s self-promoting stickers on the state’s gas pumps. Over decades of those stickers, just the name of the Agriculture Commissioner was sufficient. But Nikki felt it important that her picture appear as well. After a firestorm from consumers, they were replaced at additional expense to the taxpayer. Not illegal, certainly unethical. And she wants to be Governor?

Number of the week: 80 cents a gallon. That’s the increase in the cost of gas in the bay area since the first of the year.

Thought of the week: If the public doesn’t want violence connected in any way with law enforcement, then don’t start fights with cops. Commentator Michael Reagan, the eldest son of former President Ronald Reagan.

Dr. Bill Johnston passed away last week at age 90. After practicing dentistry in Clearwater for over three decades, he retired and devoted himself to the free dental clinic at the Homeless Emergency Project for almost three decades – a true servant to his fellow man.

Sports, media and other stuff:

Our Saintly Wife wonders if last year, when there were only cutouts in major league stands, the folks in Philadelphia and Boston pumped in boos so the visiting - and home players would feel at home.

Idle question: how many times a week or month does some moron driver beep at you for following the rules of the road i.e. not turning right on red when it’s prohibited; not pulling up and blocking an intersection etc.?

Sports question from a recent 5:05 Newsletter: Who won the Tour de France by the largest margin? Answer: The Fifth Panzer Division.

This was an idle thought from two years ago - why is it your A/C, water heater or fill in the blank always breaks down right before a holiday weekend? Add to that, your pet gets sick and you have to visit an emergency clinic with their sky-high fees.

Answer – Bob Hope. Question – who made the most appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson? (131 appearances)

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember going to Penney’s downtown to get your scout (Boy or Girl) uniforms and equipment.

Let’s see, what can we cancel next?

Just some idle thoughts as we read about the cancellation of the Golden Globes and the return of his statues by Tom Cruise (there’s a role model): what else can we cancel or destroy? How about the VFW or American Legion? After all, they have only been around since 1899 and 1919 respectively and the American Legion’s motto is “For God and Country” – blasphemy in this age. It’s probably not too late to cancel next week’s Father’s Day celebrations as we suspect today’s fathers are not teaching their kids to be “woke” enough. There’s another reason wrapped up in a mean-spirited Father’s Day joke which we will not use here. Believe it or not, Father’s Day was not an “official” U.S. holiday until 49 years ago, but it is celebrated worldwide in 111 countries. The list of potential cancellations goes on: Thanksgiving (you know, that Indian thing); Christmas and Hanukkah, (after all, only 72 percent of Americans identify as Judeo-Christians). You get the idea, in today’s culture, there’s something wrong with almost everything Americans hold dear. And it’s probably time we take our country back.

NEXT WEEK: Kids & taxes; Favorite songs; Biden’s misuse of funds

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

Clearwater has two sets of huge shoes to fill

In the next few months, the city of Clearwater will lose their two top appointed officials to retirement – City Manager Bill Horne and City Attorney Pam Aiken. Combined, these two stalwarts have 50 years of service and experience in Clearwater. Replacing them will not be an easy task. Consider, the average shelf life of a city manager is roughly five years; Horne has served over 20. For a city attorney, the term of service is slightly longer. Ms. Aiken has been with the city for 27 years. Worse, there are no heir apparents for either job. Clearwater has been blessed with the competent leadership of Horne and Aiken for over two decades – an incredible run for public servants always subject to the whims of ever changing elected officials. To say well done, would be very faint praise to two outstanding individuals.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Sadly, this week would have marked the 100^th birthday of Great Britain’s Prince Philip who passed away in April.

Number of the week: 8000. That’s the number of cancelled hotel reservations in Atlanta due to major league baseball’s move of the All-Star game out of the city. The figure was part of evidence presented in an Atlanta small business group’s $100 million suit against major league baseball for lost revenues plus a billion dollars in punitive damages.

Idle question: At what time does a political regime have to own their problems, rather than continually blame the prior administration for its troubles? We would guess six months. Time is running out Joe.

TBR&R is always on the prowl to bring you the information you may or may not want to know. For instance – what is going on with the old East Clearwater Library? The parcel was sold by the city and is going to become an adjunct to the Florida Spine Institute across Drew Street.

Five Years Ago in TBR&R (June 5, 2016) - We wish the best to Seth Taylor who comes on board as the new head of Clearwater’s Community Redevelopment Agency. He brings a good resume to a big job. Clearwater, particularly its downtown, has foundered since the departure of redevelopment guru Bob Keller many moons ago. (Update – it didn’t work out well. Taylor was fired after a little over a year on the job for drunkenly driving a golf cart on a Cleveland Street sidewalk.)

Sports, media and other stuff:

Something our Saintly Wife shared with us recently: (1) Going to bed early (2) Not leaving my house (3) Not going to a party. My childhood punishments have become my adult goals.

From the always relevant 5:05 Newsletter: Publishing Op-Ed: If I understand this correctly, you can buy Mein Kampf on Amazon but not six Dr. Seuss books? One might say, "Horton Hears the Horst Wessel Song."

Speaking of the best publication in the Tampa Bay area, with the pandemic winding down, the editor-in-chief of the 5:05 Newsletter has announced another hiatus. You almost want to ask China to reopen that lab.

Second number of the week: 1.5 million – the number of people who passed through Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport last (Memorial Day) weekend. Hartsfield remains the world’s busiest airport.

Answer: WFLA Channel 8. Question: what is the only local TV station with the same network affiliation (NBC) as when they signed on the air – in February of 1955?

Topping the charts 60 years ago this week was Travelin’ Man by Ricky Nelson. It was the last number one song for the teen idol.

A tough week in the entertainment business

The music and television industries lost several long time favorites last week. Of most concern to local folks was the passing of legendary Channel 13 weather man Roy Leep. Roy was with WTVT for 40 years. He was, in short, the weather source for the Tampa Bay area. Roy Leep was 88. Gavin MacLeod graduated from bit parts in Mr. Lucky, Peter Gunn and Hogan’s Heroes to meatier parts like Murray Slaughter on Mary Tyler Moore and then his promotion to the captain of The Love Boat during its nine-season run. He also was the goodwill ambassador for the Princess Line – the setting for the show. Gavin MacLeod was 90. The music industry also lost one of its greats with the passing of B.J. Thomas. He was probably best known for his signature Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He followed that up with another #1 tune, Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song a few years later. That song was one of two B. J. Thomas songs to go to #1 on the Country charts along with 26 tunes to hit the Billboard pop charts. And it was a 1971pop hit Mighty Clouds of Joy that lead him to another aspect of his career – songs of faith. B.J. Thomas was 78. And we failed to note the passing last month of one of the last remaining stars of the TV classic Your Hit Parade. Songstress Jill Corey was part of the show during its later years. She was also married to the late baseball star Don Hoak. Miss Corey was 85.

NEXT WEEK: A piece of sanity; Johnny & Bob; Downtown Penney’s

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

Why doesn’t Jeopardy just say “take over, Ken”?

The list of Jeopardy “guest hosts” just gets more ridiculous. There are people completely out of their element like Aaron Rodgers and Dr. Oz, polarizing people like Katie Couric, Joe Buck and Anderson Cooper. Frankly, the only guest host who has come close to Ken Jennings’ excellence has been the show’s Executive Producer Mike Richards, thrust into the role because of a scheduling conflict for Jennings. No one, outside of Alex Trebek, is more ingrained in Jeopardy than the all-time show champ. The rest, save Richards and recent guest host Buzzy Cohen, are all outsiders, many of them candidly shopping for their next gig. Hey folks, it’s been fun, but if you wish to see Jeopardy continue to prosper, hand the helm over to Ken Jennings.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Quote of the week: The Biden administration recently gave a bit of simple advice to businesses that are unable to find workers: Offer them more money. A piece of advice offered by a clueless guy who’s never had to make a payroll as reported by a clueless AP reporter named Josh Boak, who likewise, has never written a paycheck.

Let’s see, American pipeline shut down by Biden administration; Russian pipeline gets a thumbs up and nearly a third of large metro area gas stations in Atlanta and elsewhere still without gas. What is wrong with this picture?

Biden, Gaetz, Manfred, the list goes on. Why do people who should know better do such stupid stuff?

Perhaps folks should walk a few miles in Israel’s shoes or sandals before they rush to condemn our Mideast ally.

Hurricane season officially starts this week. Are we the only ones skeptical of pre-season hurricane forecasts made in Colorado?

Tragic – there is no other way to describe the loss of 12 stingrays at Zoo Tampa. We have sanctuaries like this to protect, not harm animals. We pray officials at the Tampa facility will quickly get to the cause of this dreadful loss.

Sports, media and other stuff:

Factoid: If you’ve been having trouble finding your dog or cat’s favorite food, it’s not the manufacturing process. It’s a shortage of cans for the end product.

And from The 5:05 Newsletter: In response to Georgia's new voting law, Google announced that they are removing the entire state of Georgia from Google Maps. A Google search for directions to Atlanta now reads, "Location not found. Would you like to travel to a Google-approved destination such as Seattle, Minneapolis, or Beijing?"

We know the official start of summer is a few weeks away, but it’s not too soon to add a few summertime goodies to your playlist. Here are five: the great Friday afternoon song Weekend by Wet Willie; the one that kind of started this whole summertime thing Surfin’ U.S.A. by the Beach Boys; Malibu’s Summer Love; Tarpon Springs’ native Bertie Higgins’ Key Largo and a Carolina Beach music classic Ocean Boulevard by the Band of Oz. Happy Summer!

Duke, Kent, Lark, Merit, Tareyton, Belair, Carlton, Chesterfield, Raleigh and Hit Parade – ten cigarette brands from the 50s and 60s that have pretty much faded into oblivion. Some had very catchy ad campaigns during that time – especially Tareyton’s “I’d rather fight than switch” featuring Tareyton smokers with a black eye. And one, Hit Parade, was inspired by the name of the TV show its parent company sponsored.

The restaurant industry lost a household name and innovator with the passing of Bob Heilman, Jr. last week. Taking over the reins of the renowned Beachcomber from his father, Bob maintained the high standards of the Beachcomber and spun off the distinctively different Bobby’s Bistro and Wine Bar. Bob Heilman Jr. was 64.

These young ladies sold tons of records in the 60s

Continuing our year-long look at the artists who produced the records we bought as kids, we feature the Top Ten female artists of the sixties. The leader of the pack had a record on the charts every year from 1959 to 1970 with the exception of 1968 – Brenda Lee; number two on the list, Connie Francis had the same claim from 1957 to 1967. Brenda had two number one hits (I’m Sorry and I Want to be Wanted) and Connie three (Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool, My Heart Has a Mind of its Own and Don’t Break the Heart that Loves You). The other top selling female artists of the 60s were Dionne Warwick (with 18 charted hits from Bacharach-David alone), Aretha Franklin, British import Petula Clark (Downtown), Motown’s Mary Wells, Nancy Sinatra, Lesley Gore (It’s My Party), Etta James and another of the wave of British artists of the 60s – Dusty Springfield (Wishin’ and Hopin’). Next month, we’ll look at the top groups of the sixties which included four British acts.

NEXT WEEK: Channel 8 & NBC; Travelin’ Man; Filling huge shoes

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We are free because of their sacrifices

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

The Biden administration’s energy mess

Gas prices reach seven dollars a gallon in Virginia last week as gouging takes place during the fuel shortage caused by a cyberattack on a critical pipeline. Maybe we should have a few more pipeline options, eh Joe? Sixty five percent of gas stations in North Carolina were without fuel. Others states suffered nearly as bad – South Carolina and Georgia (50 percent each) and 45 and 39 percent in Virginia and Maryland respectively. First question – where is Biden’s weak-kneed Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm who promised action against the gouging like occurred in Virginia? And how long will the American public put up with gas lines and ever increasing prices at the pump. This same situation cost Jimmy Carter his job forty years ago. And it’s a good thing that Biden probably considers himself a one-term President, because he is heading down that path on so many fronts – energy being one of the most crucial.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Headline from last week: US jobless claims fall again as some states end federal aid. Should that come as a surprise to anyone?

The word on the street is that Florida Democratic Rep. Val Demings is considering a run for Marco Rubio’s Senate seat. If we were advising Demings (but she hasn’t yet called us), we would advise her to stay where she is for the time being.

We think Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard’s take on the proposed development plans for Clearwater’s bluff is sound. That being let the other drivers for redevelopment get in place first rather than proceeding with mediocre (our word) plans currently on the table.

Quote of the Week: "Anybody making less than $400,000 a year will not pay a single penny in taxes." – Joe Biden. We’re pretty sure he meant “new taxes,” but with Joe, you never know. Remember that when you get your tax bill this year.

In a related note - your tax dollars at work: Federal sky marshals assigned to monitor high risk flights were recently diverted so they could accompany California Rep. Maxine Waters to Minneapolis to basically rabble rouse. She was already accompanied by two Secret Service Agents and two armed Capitol policemen. And somehow, she required diversion of yet two more sky marshals when she landed in Minneapolis. Wow!

From The 5:05 Newsletter: Japan is proposing to conduct joint naval military exercises with Germany. What could possibly go wrong there?

There’s been a hue and cry from many to preserve the Kellogg mansion in Dunedin. While we support the preservation of worthy structures, we wonder how many folks have actually seen the place. Frankly, it’s an eyesore.

Sports, media and other stuff:

A thought from our Saintly Wife: “Why don’t we just have Amazon take over the postal service?” Makes sense to us.

Here’s a fun car game like counting the number of different state license plates you see on a trip. Count the number of “Help Wanted” signs on Gulf-to-Bay Blvd.

Number of the week: 182,000. That’s the population decline of California last year. Or put another way, roughly the number of people living in Fort Lauderdale.

At the quarter post in the MLB season, who would have bet on the Minnesota Twins having the worst record in baseball? Nobody. The White Sox having the best? Yes, we can buy into that.

We love “borrowing” thoughts from signs at the soon to be world famous Gassman Law Firm on Court Street; the sign guy on E. Belleair Road and this one from the flower shop at Hercules and Drew – “Motherhood, the most dangerous ‘hood you can enter.”

You’ve lived in Upper Pinellas County a long time if you camped at Camp Soule during your Boy Scout years.

TBR&R Focus Group: TV shows we loved

This month, we’ve tasked our elite TBR&R focus group with naming three of their all-time favorite TV shows. Our youngest focus group member went for lighter fare with Cheers, Seinfeld and Star Trek. Another member had an eclectic mix of The Good Wife, The Wonderful World of Disney and Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom (one of about a dozen animal shows she views weekly). Another of our elders chose some true classics - Amos and Andy, the original Superman with George Reeves and M*A*S*H. It was three very distinct shows for another of our select group. She chose Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In, The Tonight Show plus the acclaimed British series Upstairs, Downstairs. For another member, it was two comedies, Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men along with an early sixties classic – The Untouchables. And our newest focus group member chose The Office, NYPD Blue and Six Feet Under. Some shows getting multiple votes from our distinguished group were Cheers, Seinfeld, M*A*S*H and The Good Wife. A great bunch of shows!

NEXT WEEK: Take over Ken; Brenda &Connie; Summer Songs

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

Pinellas pushing increased gas tax – bad idea

Idle question – why is it that every time a government entity (in this case Pinellas County) can’t meet their budget, the first thing they look to is increasing the gas tax? There is probably not another tax more regressive than a gas tax. Gas is a must have – particularly for folks who must commute to work. In many cases, those extra pennies per gallon add up and often mean choosing between paying more for gas and doing without another essential. With post Trump gas prices up over 50 cents a gallon and economists predicting a near future spike to three dollars or more, Pinellas County seriously needs to look in another direction to balance their infrastructure budget.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Joe Biden seems mystified that the job rate isn’t higher. It simply comes down to people not so willing to work when they can get a check every week for not working.

Word is spreading that Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson will run for Agriculture Secretary when his term in the Senate expires in 2022. What a concept, an actual farmer as Agriculture Secretary. Simpson owns and operates an egg farm in Pasco County.

News note: U.S. consumer prices rose 2.6 percent year-over-year, the Labor Department reported, and 0.6 percent in March alone—the largest one-month consumer price index (CPI) bump the U.S. economy has seen since August 2012 during the Obama administration. The data has economists starting to worry about excess inflation. Is anyone surprised?

Number of the week: $1.9 trillion – the U.S. budget deficit. That’s up over 30 percent from a year ago – part of the price we will be paying for Biden’s giveaways.

With Georgia being the latest, over half the states in the nation have enacted legislation for permanent DST. What’s the holdup Washington?

Idle question: Why do so many issues-driven organizations adopt such secretive names like 350 South Florida, Florida Rising, and Local Progress etc.? Give us a name that tells us what you stand for – even if it’s as repulsive as Planned Parenthood.

Sports, media and other stuff:

The 1950s had a bevy of great major league catchers. Berra and Campanella stand out, but there were others like the White Sox’ Sherm Lollar, the Indians’ Jim Hegan and across the state of Ohio, the Reds Ed Bailey. Smoky Burgess hit just under .300 for three teams in the 50s. Then there was the tandem of Stan Lopata and Andy Seminik in Philadelphia. In Milwaukee, there was four-time gold-glover and three-time All Star Del Crandall. Crandall, who was the last surviving member of the Boston Braves, died last week at age 91- the last of that golden age of catchers.

30 years ago this month, a Cubs-Braves game was broadcast by the Carays – Cub icon Harry, Braves mainstay Skip and a young Chip Caray, then the play by play voice of the Orlando Magic. Harry and Skip have passed on with Chip now the voice of the Braves. Even he admits he will never replace his father – a legend with the Braves.  

Local airline news: Sun Country Airlines is returning to Clearwater-St. Pete Airport after a decade’s absence. Beginning this fall, they will be offering flights to Minneapolis-St. Paul. Is there any other destination in America less appealing?

A new word for dictionaries, compliments of a member of our elite focus group – scroller – a very old person who has to scroll down through dozens of dates in an on-line form to find their date of birth. The forms should start at 1920 and work their way up!

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the Seaboard Coast Line that stopped here at the station on East Avenue and terminated in St. Petersburg.

The definitive journal of 1930s Chicago

This week marks the passing of federal agent Eliot Ness some 64 years ago. The Chicago native never got to see the posthumous fame his book and subsequent TV shows and films brought. The week seems a good time to detail the definitive book on the city and the man written by Max Allen Collins and A. Brad Schwartz. There have been average books about the Untouchables like Ness’ own book, above average like Kenneth Tucker’s Eliot Ness and the Untouchables and downright awful books like Jonathon Eig’s Get Capone which, like many books, attempted to rewrite history - none of them can hold a candle to Collins and Schwartz’ 600 page opus Scarface and the Untouchable. It is truly one of the best researched books we’ve read. We could devote the entire week’s issue to describing the contents. Instead, we give you one little nugget – that Eliot Ness was the inspiration for the famed Dick Tracy strip. Collins should know – he wrote the strip along with creator Chester Gould for fifteen years. If you are a scholar of 20^th century history, this work belongs on your bookshelf.

NEXT WEEK: Shows we loved; Kellogg mansion; Energy mess

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

“Changing Charlie” back in the hunt

It can be said of Charlie Crist that he never saw a political race (or a political party) he didn’t like. Since his graduation from St. Pete High in 1974, Charlie has run for the Florida Senate, Education Commissioner (when it was an elective office), Attorney General, Governor and the U.S. House. Crist’s election to the U.S. House over incumbent David Jolly was more a product of district gerrymandering than anything else. Charlie has lost nearly as many as he’s won, and the Democratic nomination for Governor will not be a cakewalk either. Two strong female Democratic candidates are eying the race although one of them, most likely Val Demings of Orlando, could decide to challenge Marco Rubio or just hold on to her relatively safe seat in the U.S. House. But the road to the Governor’s Mansion will be tough for the former Republican, Independent and Morgan and Morgan associate.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Clearwater native Joseph Hatchett died last week at age 88. The noted jurist was the first Black member of the Florida Supreme Court.

Keep an eye on Tallahassee next week when our legislature schemes with gambling laws for the state. This was a responsibility given to our voters some years back and three-quarters of our voters don’t want that right usurped.

Quote of the Week: “A shopping spree by someone with a new credit card.” Wyoming Senator John Barrasso describing the Biden $2 trillion infrastructure plans.

News item: Biden reportedly is looking into granting clemency to people jailed on drug offenses, and sick and elderly people who pose no danger to society. We can buy the second part, but drug pushers present a clear and present danger to society and should not get a “get of jail” card from our misguided leader.

Congratulations to the new head of NASA, Bill Nelson, on finding employment. The post, fortunately, is almost entirely honorary given to loyal members of the party in power.

This week marks the 25^th anniversary of the tragic crash of ValuJet Flight 592 in the Florida Everglades killing all 110 on board – a crash caused by illegally shipped cargo. Remarkably, no one went to jail for this preventable disaster.

Sports, media and other stuff:

Factoid: the five most popular candy bars in America are (5) Kit Kat Bar; (4) Twix; (3) Snickers; (2) Hershey Bar and (1) Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Three of the top five are produced by Hershey while Twix and Snickers are both made by Mars, whose namesake bar is now hard to find in stores as it competes with its more successful cousin, Snickers.

Another classic from the 5:05 Newsletter: Mexico celebrated Cinco de Mayo last week. It commemorates the date of the Mexican army's victory over the French Army at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Ah, the French Army... everybody's favorite homecoming game!

Idle thought before next week’s Miss Universe Pageant – why is Miss Universe always from Earth?

The answer: The University of North Texas. The question what school was attended at the same time by superstars Pat Boone and Roy Orbison? They must have had some great talent shows!

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you dined at the Houllis family’s Island House Restaurant on Clearwater Beach.

Of perfect games and no-hitters

Let us try to understand this. Last month, Arizona’s Madison Bumgarner threw a no-hitter against the hapless Atlanta Braves. Major League baseball does not recognize that as a no-hitter because he threw it in the 7 inning game of a doubleheader – the 7 inning length being mandated by the Major Leagues. Years and years ago, the Pirates’ Harvey Haddix threw 12 perfect innings against the then Milwaukee Braves, but did not get credit for a perfect game because Braves got a hit (and the victory) in the 13^th inning. Something is wrong here. But then, there is a whole lot wrong with Major League Baseball right now.

NEXT WEEK: Eliot and Al; Scrollers; Minneapolis

Happy Mother’s Day!

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

Biden pegs the malarkey* meter

This is news – Joe Biden gives a speech to Congress and even the PolitiSpin arm of “Florida’s Best Newspaper” can’t buy much of what Joltin’ Joe said. Our leftist newspaper said there were too many “yes, buts” to Joltin’ Joe’s assertions. To witness – the jobs coming back in the economy, but no mention of the nearly seven million jobs still lost; his assertion that leading economists endorse his spendthrift programs – in fact, most do not. And he seemed to take credit for America’s vaccination program, when it was the Trump administration that put the accelerator to the floor to make vaccines available before Joe even took office. Man, when arguably the most liberal newspaper in the nation consistently disagrees with the assertions in your speech, you are truly pegging the malarkey (*used in place of another word in our family blog) meter.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

New York Governor Cuomo is all in a dither because his state is losing a seat in Congress because they came up just 80 people short in the U.S. Census to keep that seat. Put another way, that 80 person shortfall equals nine weeks of shooting deaths in New York City last year.

An older person’s mantra – if you want our business, don’t unnecessarily complicate our life – with extra steps to sign in, constantly having to change passwords or, like our soon to be former auto insurance company, doing stupid stuff that makes us have to do things to untangle the mess. In most competitive industries, it’s just too easy to walk away.

Two-thirds – the percentage of American voters in this month’s Rasmussen Poll who feel American companies should not take positions on political issues. A lot of those folks have lists of companies they will not buy from because of these positions – but certainly not your humble blogger, who never wears a Nike anything, nor uses Heinz ketchup nor visits Starbucks (in addition to the fact their coffee is overpriced and not very good). But we have no list!

Related note: corporate America cannot win. Whack jobs in Georgia are asking for a boycott of Home Depot because they took no position on the state’s voting laws.

Second related note: there was an excellent article in the Orlando Sentinel last week concerning the alarming changes at Walt Disney World. It was penned by Jonathon Vanboskerck. Too lengthy to print here, but you can probably capture it on line. The last paragraph encases the essence of the piece: “Disney, please return to the values and vision of Walt. The customer experience should be the core of your business model. Immersion should not be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness and appeasing the Twitter mob.”

Number of the week: 48% - Joe Biden’s approval rating, thus far. Where he takes the biggest hit, according to a Quinnipiac survey is his handling of the border issue. Over 55% of Americans disapprove of his border strategy – or lack of.

Sports, media and other stuff:

If you remember the wonderful Sandy Book Store in downtown Clearwater, the matriarch of the store, Mrs. Beanie Korosy, is celebrating her 102^nd birthday this week. Mrs. Korosy now lives in Oviedo, Florida. Thanks to one of our focus group members for making us aware of her birthday.

This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Walker Smith, Jr. – professionally known as Sugar Ray Robinson. He is generally viewed as the greatest boxer of all time. He took the name Ray Robinson after borrowing a birth certificate of a friend by that name so he would appear old enough to a get a card allowing him to begin amateur boxing.

A Happy ##th Birthday to one of our nicest focus group members. For the next ten months, she cannot claim that she and your humble blogger are the same age.

A couple weeks back, we mentioned 1996 having only eight #1 songs the whole year. At the opposite end of the spectrum are 1974 and 1975 with each having 35 songs hit #1. The most time at #1 in ’74 was Barbra Streisand’s poignant The Way We Were (3 weeks) and in ’75, the Captain and Tennille held on to # 1 for four weeks with Love Will Keep Us Together.

Girl Scout News: Even though deadlines were extended to the end of last month, most areas of the country saw their Girl Scout Cookie sales fall significantly this year because of COVID restrictions. One local Girl Scout leader said Upper Pinellas girls didn’t do so badly. Nonetheless, we vow to help out and double up on our Thin Mint order next year.

You’ve lived in Pinellas County a long time if you owned one of the virtually indestructible Blue Boy power mowers proudly made by P & E Machinery on Clearwater-Largo Road.

The death of the Tampa Tribune.

(Editor’s note: This is a lengthier version of our monthly looking back five years feature – as it ran on May 4, 2016 regarding the Times’ takeover and shuttering of the Tribune.)

It wasn’t the fact that Florida’s most down the middle major daily newspaper is gone. It’s the way it was handled – security people handing out boxes to people who had put in decades at the Trib; a Tribune beat writer for the Lightning being told to come home from New York – at his expense (Times management wisely rethought that one); and yeah, part of it is bay area readers are left with no option but a left wing mouthpiece. You Tribune readers are going to love Daniel Ruth, Elijah Pitts and Sue Carlton. Steve Otto and Tom Jackson, they are not. In one of our very first items in Tampa Bay Rants and Raves over two years ago, we predicted that the bay area would be down to one or no daily newspapers within five years. Frankly, we hoped the survivor would be the Tribune and we thought it would be handled with a lot more class than the Times management exhibited.

NEXT WEEK: Miss Universe; Candy Bars; Charlie's back

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

Hillsborough’s problem is the next level up

There’s a new survey out that blasts Hillsborough County School Superintendent Addison Davis. Among his faults, according to the survey of county employees, are lack of trust, lack of communication and too much dependence on the advice of leaders he brought with him from his previous post. Bottom line – this is not going to end well. By the time you read this, Davis could be yet the next superintendent to be out the door. Hillsborough is one of the ten largest school districts in the nation, but continues to flounder. When its top job comes open, it doesn’t attract premium candidates because of the school board’s widely known reputation for meddling which has led to high turnover at all levels and an astounding lack of fiscal responsibility with massive budget shortages. Perhaps replacing Davis, which the school board seems hell-bent to do, will help, but it will only be a band aid. The real problem lies in the continuing lack of steady guidance at the top policy making level – the school board. Until that culture is changed, Hillsborough students will continue to be short-changed.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

We know it’s early in the process, but none of the proposals for the revitalization of downtown Clearwater knock our socks off. With the large elephant in the room, firms known for transformational work did not bid on the Clearwater project.

Word of the week: “Abhorrent” – the trial judge in the George Floyd trial’s description of the actions of radical California Rep. Maxine Waters in Minneapolis during the trial.

Biden’s “border czar” Roberta Jacobson will step down this week. To call the Biden border strategy an abject failure would not be strong enough.

Republicans are concerned about five pending retirements of GOP Senators prior to the 2022 election. They have 21 total seats to defend (including the relatively safe Marco Rubio seat) and now are losing five incumbencies.

Number of the week: 25% - the number of adult Americans who do not plan to get a COVID-19 vaccination - hard to understand.

Answer: KO. Question: what is the stock symbol for Coca-Cola? You would guess CC but that belongs to a company that you’ve probably never heard of – the Chemours Company – a fairly recent (2015) spin-off from DuPont.

Sports, media and other stuff:

Something we read, but forget where, “I think there should be a rule that everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their lives.”

Quote of the week: "(Manfred) needs to go to Amazon, buy a spine online (and) explain why millions of Americans who support election integrity are racist," Louisiana Senator John Kennedy’s reaction to Rob Manfred’s stealing the All Star game from the Atlanta Braves.

Oddity – perhaps you’ve heard the news that ketchup packets are in short supply and are selling on E-Bay for as high as ten bucks for 50 packets. That’s a total of approximately 12 ounces. At Publix last week, you could buy 40 ounces of ketchup for $1.71.

Idle thought, as someone who has worn more than a few sets of headphones in two decades of radio, we get a kick out of seeing people of our advanced age wearing $100-$200 sets. At your age, your hearing range is so diminished the $15 set you can buy at the gym will more than serve your needs.

Biden the Younger’s book (Beautiful Things) is out and on some best seller lists. Curiously, it’s listed as non-fiction.

Remembering the 60s’ top male singers

Earlier this year (TBR&R 1/24/21), we highlighted the top male singers of the last several decades. In both the fifties and sixties, Elvis ruled. But who were the other top artists of say, the sixties? Besides Elvis, the top ten selling male artists of the decade when so many of us grew up were Ray Charles, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Bobby Vinton (Roses are Red), Chubby Checker (The Twist and virtually every other dance record of the early sixties), Brook Benton, Jackie Wilson (Higher and Higher), Roy Orbison (Pretty Woman) and Sam Cooke (Twistin’ the Night Away). Surprised by some of the names? So were we. A surprising omission is Johnny Rivers (Poor Side of Town, Memphis, Secret Agent Man plus 16 other records that charted in the sixties). Next month, the 60s female hit makers.

NEXT WEEK: Death of a newspaper; Want our business?; Sugar Ray

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

(Editor’s Note: At approximately the one-third point in our 7^th year, we are making a slight adjustment to our weekly presentation. Our lead and closing items will remain pretty much the same, but the Great Tampa Bay and Sports, Media and Other Stuff sections will no longer be numbered and will not necessarily be five each section every week. Some weeks demand a dozen items, other weeks not so many. As a good friend and mentor, Dr. Don Ardell, once said in one of his extraordinary wellness books – “Let us not be rigid.”)

Joe & friends try to undo 150 years of justice

Somehow our justice system has stumbled along for 152 years with a Supreme Court of nine justices. FDR tried to bloat it in the 30s and the response was something akin to “get out of town.” Now Joltin’ Joe, who is certainly no FDR, wants to team up with fellow left wingers and juggle things on the Court. Over the last century and a half, we have had conservative majorities and liberal majorities and somehow we have survived. Joe and company are all shook up because there is a solid conservative majority now and none of those Justices seem inclined to step down. Joe’s boys and girls are not going to change that through legitimate means in the next four years, so they do as Democrats often do – try to find a way to circumvent the law of the land. Even the Court’s eldest justice, Stephen Breyer, a Democratic appointee, says this latest dictatorial effort will “undermine public trust.” As if Biden and friends weren’t losing the public trust more and more every day.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Related note, the far left, including Lefty Leonard, seems quite comfortable with stuffing the Supreme Court. We can only imagine the histrionics if there were currently a liberal majority on the high court.

Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace wonders if Kamala Harris, who Biden put in charge of the border crisis, knows the border is a "mess and doesn't want her fingerprints on it." Kamala has been nowhere near any of our southern borders.

Idle thought: remember when we looked to our elders, religious leaders and educators for advice? Nowadays, misguided people put way too much credence in the opinions of people whose greatest qualifications are being able to dribble a basketball or utter words, written by others, in front of a camera.

A lesson last week from Amazon to employers everywhere: take good care of your workers and unions can huff and puff all they want, but your doors will remain standing.

A tip of our cap to Governor Ron DeSantis for prohibiting the so-called “virus passports’ requirement for services or travel. Something like that sounds alarmingly like 1930’s Europe – or today’s China.

Also kudos to the Clearwater City Council for not bowing to the Scientology-controlled Downtown Development Board’s request to limit council appointed ex-officio members to one.

Sports, media and other stuff:

Now with two shots of a COVID vaccine, it is wonderful for so many people of faith to feel safe enough to attend church again after over a year of watching televised services.

Looking back fifty years (1971) this week, the biggest hit of the year went to #1 and would stay there for six weeks – Three Dog Night’s Joy to the World. Twenty five years ago (1996), only eight songs made it to #1 – a record for the fewest songs in a year. Two songs, The Macarena and Toni Braxton’s Un-Break My Heart combined to top the charts for fully half of the year.

A couple centuries back, there were handwritten newsletters. Then along came Mr. Gutenberg and eventually the newspaper replaced newsletters. Now, according to The Economist’s Tom Standage, newsletters are replacing newspapers. Wow, we’re on the cutting edge and didn’t even know it!

The All-Star game, stolen from Atlanta, has been moved to Colorado – a solid “blue” state. Surprised? The only surprise would have been moving the game to states like Florida, Missouri, Ohio or Texas, all of whom have two major league stadiums, but Rob Manfred’s boy, Joe Biden, was an overwhelming loser in all four states.

Another curious shortage – stain removers like Oxi-Clean and Shout. Suddenly store shelves are barren of any type of this product. We wonder why?

Our annual music rant

Next year, we promise we’ll get this out of the way in our first blog of the year – our annual ranting about Paul Anka and Neil Sedaka not being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – a combined 83 charted hits plus six #1 songs for the two of them. Just a few of the hits they wrote (and sang) for themselves and others – My Way (Anka for Sinatra); Tonight Show Theme (Anka for Johnny Carson); She’s a Lady (Tom Jones); plus his own #1 hits Diana, Lonely Boy and The Times of Your Life. Sedaka penned songs for The Captain and Tennille (Love Will Keep Us Together); Connie Francis (Where the Boys Are and Stupid Cupid)) and The 5^th Dimension (Puppet Man and Working on a Groovy Thing); plus his own #1 hits – Laughter in the Rain; Breaking Up is Hard to Do and Bad Blood.Any music hall of fame that doesn’t include these two giants is a joke.

NEXT WEEK: Border fiasco; Standing O; Sixties’ hit makers

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

Statehood for a city?

Every time the White House and Congress lean to the left, the ages old idea of statehood for the District of Columbia raises its ugly head. After all, it has a population larger than two of our 50 states (Vermont and Wyoming), but it is a city not a state. There are 19 cities with larger populations than D.C. and you don’t see Columbus, Ohio or Jacksonville campaigning for statehood. Democrats, of course, would love it as the biggest GOP presidential vote getters in DC history were Richard Nixon at 21 percent and Ronald Reagan at 13 percent. Single digit counts for Republicans are more the norm (Trump got five percent in 2020). DC Statehood would give the Democratic Party two additional Senators plus a Representative. DC already has three electoral votes compared to none for Puerto Rico which has four times the population. It seems more logical to attach DC to Virginia which appears to have the same values set – just repealed the death penalty (but still kills unborn children) and now has just legalized recreational marijuana. That DC was not incorporated as part of either Virginia or Maryland in our formative days was a mistake. Making the 19^th largest city in the country a state now would only compound the problem.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1, Quote of the Week: It’s getting harder for the Biden Administration to claim we’re in an economic crisis that demands more spending. It’s closer to the truth to say the economy is growing in a way that calls for spending and monetary restraint. The Wall Street Journal.

2. An Echelon Insights poll of last week has as the leader for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination – Governor Ron DeSantis, by a hair over Mike Pence despite 60 Minutes extremely misleading report (to be generous) on the Governor’s vaccine policy. DeSantis and Pence are leaders among actual people – the biggest draw in the poll was “Unsure” at 35 per cent.

3. City news: Dunedin’s city commission approves construction of a new $20 million City Hall. Meanwhile, Clearwater city government still operates on an out-of- sight floor of a bank tower in downtown with no solution in the near future.

4. Rumblings in the Florida Senate about giving even more power to tribal casinos are troubling. We think back to warnings from Clearwater drug store magnate and gubernatorial candidate Jack Eckerd about gambling in Florida. Everything he predicted has come true – and worse.

5. Item: New York State legalizes recreational marijuana. The thoughts of a career New York state law enforcement officer tasked with dealing with the after effects of drug use – “the tax windfall (from marijuana sales) will go largely to the downstate black hole instead of wholly funding substance abuse education and treatment.”

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Thanks to the 5:05 Newsletter for this masterpiece: “ Major League Baseball is moving the All-Star Game out of Atlanta this year because of Georgia's new voting law. So if you go to the ballpark this year and they ask you to show them a ticket call it ‘Fan Suppression’ and set something on fire.”

7. Thought from a veteran sports observer: “I've been waiting for the PGA to move The Masters, but I guess golfers aren't as "woke" as the coelenterates in charge of MLB.” And yes, we had to look it up too. It is a grouping of sea life, none of which have a spine.

8. Yes, Baylor won the NCAA tournament, but the story of the event was the 11^th ranked UCLA Bruins, led by scrappy Jaime Jaquez and their well-prepared coach Mick Cronin. They came one half-court shot from the championship game.

9.The University of North Carolina basketball program has been blessed with two of the finest coaches in college history – Dean Smith and the now retired Roy Williams. With Krzyzewski, Knight and Wooden, they are truly the “Fab Five” of college coaching ranks.

10. Call us old fashioned, but the Mustang should not be an electric car. The Mustang, by the way, is the most popular car of the last century.

A black eye for National Geographic

During some research recently, we needed some quick facts on several American Presidents. We found the book Our Country’s Presidents put out by National Geographic. It is actually a book for a juvenile audience, but we felt the facts we needed would be in the book. They were – such as they were. We learned that Ronald Reagan was probably the worst President since Andrew Johnson. That George W. Bush should be ashamed of his military service, but no mention of Bill Clinton’s pulling all number of strings to dodge the draft. We read of the corruption in the Nixon White House and Justice Department, but the antics of Obama’s minions Holder and Lynch go unnoticed. You get the drift. The author, a Wisconsin based writer, Ann Bausum, makes no apologies for the left wing book. But the scary thing is kids read this book. Kids who quite probably are not all that discerning might accept this book for fact. If we’re burning Dr. Seuss books, this piece of nonsense should hit the dumpsters as well. Even worse, National Geographic has put its name on this book – a major hit for their credibility.

NEXT WEEK: Joy to the World; Back to church; Three stooges

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

The majority rapidly becoming the minority

Fact: 75 percent of the American voting public supports the requirement that an ID be required to vote – just as it is required to drive or check out a library book. Yet recent Georgia legislation requiring just that has become reason for major league baseball and its pinhead leader Bob Manfred to move this year’s All-Star game out of Atlanta. We doubt Mr. Manfred, who makes guys like Ford Frick, Happy Chandler and Bud Selig look like geniuses, could recite any of the salient points (95 pages worth) of the Georgia legislation. He chose to, instead, bow to pressure from the radical left including our geriatric president and move the game. Georgia’s legislation, by the way, is far more liberal than that of Mr. Biden’s home state of Delaware which allows for no in-person advance voting. Biden’s fellow Democrat, Cobb County Commission Chair Lisa Cupid, put it best saying the president hadn’t taken into account the financial well-being of the people who helped propel him into office five months ago. If you agree with this move by major league baseball, so be it. If you see it for what it is – just another bow to the radical left, please join us in boycotting everything baseball this summer – with the exception of the Atlanta Braves and their city – the harmless victims of this nonsense. Finally, there is  an on-line petition to keep politics out of baseball. If you agree with that proposition, Google Keep Politics out of Baseball and sign it.    

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. At “press time,” no decision on the new locale for Atlanta’s All-Star game. It would be only fitting if MLB’s Mr. Manfred and the rest of the village idiots re-located the All-Star game to Minneapolis, Seattle or even Portland – assuming their burned out infrastructures have recovered sufficiently from last year’s riots.

2. At a press conference last week, Joltin’ Joe said he expects to run for re-election in 2024. He is expected to be opposed by Thomas Dewey, oh wait; at least one of them is dead.

3. Elizabeth Warren joins Joltin’ Joe in criticizing the amount of taxes that Amazon pays – taxes they pay under tax laws that were crafted by Warren, Biden and company in the Senate.

4. Speaking of Amazon – their employees at a large Alabama facility are being urged to unionize even though they earn at least twice the minimum wage, and get health, vision and dental care without paying hundreds of dollars in monthly union dues. If the union can sell that, we tip our cap.

5. Iowa Democrat Rita Hart bowed to the inevitable and formally withdrew her challenge of Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’election win last year which had been certified by Iowa’s bipartisan state elections board. This ends the efforts of Speaker Pelosi to undo the win. Ms. Pelosi has difficulty understanding she currently runs the House – not the nation.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Factoid: the five largest chain restaurants in America are McDonald’s, Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, Taco Bell and Burger King.

7. Number of the week – 25 percent. That’s the percentage of annual sales of McDonalds Filet-O-Fish that is consumed in the 40 days just past – Lent.

8. It was unintentional, but this week’s TBR&R has a definite restaurant bent. One more item – another Gulf to Bay chain restaurant casualty is the long time Boston Market restaurant on the east end of the highway.

9. It is easier to name the local radio stations Tedd Webb did not work at than those who did employ the colorful personality over the years. Best known as Jack Harris’ sidekick on WFLA radio, Webb died last week at age 72.

10. As we get ready for an already tainted baseball season and a reported crackdown on foreign substances, we share one of our favorite quips from the late, great pitcher and raconteur Don Sutton, who was often accused of putting a foreign substance on the ball. His reply was everything he put on the ball was proudly made in America.

Achmed’s picks to click in 2021

(Editor’s Note – a lot of advance planning went into this feature, so we are running it. We don’t anticipate much additional baseball coverage through the summer months).

Baseball season is underway and our crack prognosticator and former second to the Great Malenko, Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED), has his surefire picks for 2021. First, he predicts that after this season, the ridiculous man on second rule in extra innings will be tossed aside as the worst experiment since the Ford Edsel. In the National League, he predicts the Braves will make it four in a row in the NL’s toughest division – despite their suspect bullpen; in the Central, it could be a four-way tie, but Achmed goes with the Cardinals who always seem to find a way to win. It’s hard to bet against a World Series champ like the NL West’s Dodgers and Achmed will not. The Padres, on paper look like the next best team in the NL and the Mets, suddenly flush with cash, will probably buy their way to the other playoff spot. In the American League, our peerless predictor goes with the chalk pick in the East – the Yankees. He likes the powerhouse lineup of the Twins to take the Central Division and Houston by an eyelash over the Oakland As in the West. His wild card picks in the junior circuit are the aforementioned As and the strong lineup of the White Sox. Achmed feels the Rays lost too much pitching to offset their pedestrian offense and will be staying home in October. And our “it could happen” predictions are a collapse by the Astros (even though he picked them) and a World Series ring for the boys from San Diego despite the great Dodger lineup and pitching staff.

NEXT WEEK: Black eye for National Geographic; Electric Mustang?

Happy Easter!

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

Gasoline prices – don’t liberals get it?

Good old Joe, the friend of the downtrodden, or is he? Joe and his merry band don’t seem to get it that rising gas prices have a greater effect on the folks he allegedly is trying to help than any other class of people. The idle rich treat gas prices as pocket change. We in the middle class whine a bit, but maybe forego a couple Starbuck visits a month. For the folks near the poverty line, it becomes a contest between a few gallons of three dollar gas, food, insurance or the rent. Food is becoming no bargain either, but those prices are hidden on the shelves of grocery stores and not displayed with large signs on the highway. Yet, nobody in the Biden White House seems to care that gas is up nearly 35 per cent in the few short weeks Joltin’ Joe and crew have been in office. We have no doubt the Obama $3.50 a gallon prices are just around the corner further strangling low wage earners unless somebody in the Biden administration wakes up.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Breaking news from the White House – Biden picks Harris to deal with border crisis. In a related note, Bucs pick Hillsborough JV coach to manage their defense.

2. A reason to smile even if you’re already feeling the oppression of the government by executive order regime – you will not wake up in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, LA, DC or Seattle tomorrow morning.

3. Yes, we know they are suing or threatening to sue everybody in sight, but if you were a state or local official responsible for buying new voting equipment, would you buy from Dominion Voting Systems? "The lady doth protest too much, me thinks."

4. Hunter Biden’s “memoir” is due out next month. Kind of doubt we’ll read it. We are more looking forward to Bill Stevenson’s book which has been inexplicably delayed.

5. USPS searching for a word that rhymes with mail that describes a creature slower than a snail.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. From the latest edition of the 5:05 Newsletter: Biden stumbles going up steps to Air Force One; Harris briefly sworn in between fifth & sixth step.

7. Major League Baseball kicks off this week with all 30 teams playing on April 1. In the past, opening day was reserved for the games of its oldest team – the Cincinnati Reds. Another tradition that has bitten the dust – but we do have the runner on second in extra innings!

8. Incredible stat: three of this week’s Opening Day starters are from the same high school. The school is LA’s Harvard-Westlake and the starters are the Card’s Jack Flaherty, the Braves’ Max Fried and the White Sox’ Lucas Giolito. And yes, they all pitched there at the same time. We went to a fairly large high school and can only think of two pitchers who even made it to the major leagues.

9. 36 years ago this week in their April 1^st issue, Sports Illustrated ran a feature article on pitching phenom Sidd Finch and his 150 mph fastball.

10. In this last week of Lent, we offer a final fasting suggestion from Pope Francis – “Fast from pessimism and be filled with hope.”

The top vocal groups of the 50s

At the end of each month this year, we are focusing on the top recording artists who made those records we bought as teens and young adults. This month, we focus on the top recording groups of the 50s. Topping the list on the strength of number one hits like Twilight Time, The Great Pretender and My Prayer were the Platters. They were followed in order by The McGuire Sisters, Bill Haley and the Comets (Rock Around the Clock), The Four Lads, The Everly Brothers, Four Aces, The Diamonds ( Little Darlin’) Ames Brothers, Fontaine Sisters and the Chordettes (Mr. Sandman). Like the male and female singers featured in our end of month “1950s countdowns” in January and February, there is a mix of pop and rock and roll in the top ten.

NEXT WEEK: Achmed predicts; Economic indicator; Biden in ’24!

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

Biden’s immigration “reform” is not reform

We lead off with White House news from the 5:05 Newsletter: In a great and humane gesture, Joe Biden signed an executive order today granting citizenship to everyone who voted for him. Okay, that’s a bit of a stretch but Joe Biden wants to change our nation in a month or two with a bunch of presidential executive orders. Many of them involve illegal immigrants which is a slap in the face to law abiding Americans. At a time when there are so many higher priorities, to grant carte blanche to people here illegally is an insult to working men and women who have broken no laws, pay taxes, defended our country through their military service and need help right now. Our newly elected leader has to get his head on straight and take care of immunizing our citizens against COVID-19, help our American jobless and get our economy back to the levels of the Trump administration before granting a free ride to yet another over 25,000 people (last month alone) who need to earn it. As Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody put it so well – “President Joe Biden’s radical decision to abandon his responsibility, mandated by federal law, is tantamount to abolishing important requirements of immigration enforcement without congressional approval. This is not immigration reform. This is blatant disregard for our laws, for which every other citizen is held accountable.”

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. In an ABC News interview, Joltin’ Joe said he believes New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo should resign if the investigation into his alleged sexual harassment reveals wrongdoing. “I think [Cuomo] will probably end up being prosecuted, too,” Biden added. Glass houses, Joe?

2. A recent PolitiSpin piece implies all the misinformation about the pandemic was a product of the right while the left was entirely blameless. With stuff like that, why continue to publish the comics?

3. Factoid – despite this past year’s pandemic, COVID-19 was only the third most common cause of U.S. deaths in 2020 behind heart disease and cancer. So stay on that wellness path!

4. Tell us again, who is going to pay for all these $1400 checks and other Democratic pork wrapped into the “COVID virus relief bill”?

5. Our elderly chief executive is becoming the new Jerry Ford, stumbling twice boarding Air Force One last Friday. Where is Chevy Chase when you need him?

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Forty years ago this week, the Clearwater High School basketball team, led by the state’s top center Mike Britten and top sixth man David Stewart and coached by the legendary Jack Wilson won the only state basketball championship in the school’s history.

7. Answer: Austin, Texas. Question what is the largest city in the U.S. without a pro sports franchise? Austin currently ranks as the 11^th largest city in the nation.

8. Idle thought: you can tell a lot about human nature by watching people return (or not return) shopping carts in a grocery store parking lot.

9. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the Sea Shell Hotel on the white sands of Clearwater Beach.

10. As we enter the final two weeks of Lent, we offer this fasting suggestion from Pope Francis - “Fast from grudges and be reconciled.”

Your first trip to the record store

I’ll put on the old 45s – from Barry Manilow’s classic The Old Songs. Think back to your time at a record store and that precious piece of vinyl that was your first purchase. We asked our TBR&R Focus Group (recently classed up with the addition of two new members) about the first 45 they carried home from the record store. One of the founding female members of the group recalls The Dupree’s 1962 arrangement of the standard You Belong to Me; another of our elders who bought way, way too many singles through the years (over 3000), says his first record was Al Caiola’s 1960 recording of The Theme from the Magnificent Seven; another of our number got the most (8 minutes and 36 seconds) for his first purchase money when he bought the classic Don McLean side American Pie; The Fleetwoods had great success in the late 50s and early 60s with 11 hits on the charts including a #1 tune Mr. Blue which was the first purchase of another of our august group; One of our group has a slightly warped sense of humor even on his good days and swears his first record purchase was the bizarre Napoleon XIV recording They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! The song made it all the way to #3 on the charts, so our strange friend had some company; another member’s first purchase was the classic Gerry and the Pacemaker’s 1964 hit Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying. And our newest focus group member recalls her first purchase being an album (only hippies bought albums back then) but she wanted the most for her money and it was a greatest hits album from the terrific Mamas and Papas.

NEXT WEEK: 50s top groups; St. Louis Browns; Sidd Finch

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

Biden: did we think it would be this bizarre? 

Clueless, insensitive to the working man or woman, government by proclamation are just a few descriptions of the Biden regime thus far. You have to wonder if the election were held today, would that many Americans still drink the Kool Aid - very unlikely. With a stroke of a pen, Joltin’ Joe has eliminated thousands of jobs; attempted to bring thousands of aliens into our country, already strapped for means to support our own citizens and he continues to pander to regimes like Iran who just laugh up their sleeves at his ineptitude. And you now can get a pro-rated $15,000 a year for not having a job. You just wonder how much weirder it will get.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. From The 5:05 Newsletter: Gas prices are shooting up faster than the Biden vote count at 2am. In that vein, we stand corrected on our lead article from last week chiding Politifact for their erroneous (to be charitable) facts on gas prices. We said the price was $2.69 – well it was for half the week before shooting up to $2.85 – more than a 30 percent increase in Biden’s first 50 days in office.

2. Ah, day light savings time. It’s another year of springing ahead despite our state legislature’s decision several years ago to do away with that nonsense. There are nearly two dozen states that feel the same way, but repeatedly get ignored in Washington.

3. The House passed H.R. 1 – a bill that basically says come one, come all in relation to voting is scary beyond belief. The good news is it has absolutely no chance of passing the Senate.

4. Answer: Donald Trump and Herbert Hoover. Question: who are the last two Presidents to lose the White House, Senate and House of Representatives during a single term?

5. Life in the fast lane: the Biden pick for the Federal Trade Commission is Columbia professor Lina Kahn who is less than four years out of law school. Perhaps someone with a little more experience, Joe?

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. One of the last of the old guard TV journalists, Roger Mudd, passed away at age 93 last week. Mudd, a veteran of both CBS and NBC, masterfully reported the news without adding the political slants so common today.

7. Number of the week: 45 years ago – the last time perennial powerhouses both Duke and Kentucky were not in the NCAA tournament.

8. Baseball Factoid: the Braves franchise now in Atlanta has won exactly one World Series in each of the cities in which they’ve played – Boston (1914); Milwaukee (1957) and Atlanta (1995). So, do they have to move the team to Charlotte or Nashville to win another?

9. You’ve lived in the bay area (or anywhere else) a long time if you remember the introduction of WATS (Wide Area Telephone Service) 60 years ago this year. Originally, all WATS or toll-free lines began with 800, now there are several WATS prefixes beginning with the number 8 – you know, the ones you don’t answer when they show up on Caller ID.

10. We continue through Lent with another fasting suggestion from Pope Francis – “Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.” 

Another plea to subsidize newspapers

Every day on Page 2 of our local newspaper, there is a plea to send them money on top of what you begrudgingly pay them for what they send. That’s okay if you want to support their far left, pro-abortion and DNC stances. But what’s not okay is their current campaign telling you that won’t know about your property taxes, school bus schedules and zoning changes if our government doesn’t continue to spend unnecessary tax dollars on legal notices. That, of course, is simply untrue. Property taxes are explained in trim notices; you can find your kid’s bus schedule on line and any zoning changes near you are covered with a required mail notification. The Florida newspaper industry merely wants this government subsidy to continue propping up their waning fortunes. The Florida legislature is correct in their move to end this tax dollar giveaway.

Correction: We apologize to Robert Brucker who, along with James Foster, was the technical wizard who got TBR&R off the ground seven years ago. Being of old age and not so sound mind, we scrambled his last name last week with another longtime acquaintance – Robert Ricker who is one of the most skilled craftsman with a printing press we’ve ever met.

NEXT WEEK: First 45s; State Champ Tornadoes; Who pays?

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

When lying, don’t make it so easy to check 

Quote of the week from the “always believable” Political Fact people concerning soaring gas prices: Part of that has come on Biden’s watch — prices have risen about 10% since he took office in January 2021. The bulk of the increase came under Trump. Second quote of the week from our 1/3/21 TBR&R -   $2.15 – This is a number we track every year – the year end cost of gas locally. At the end of 2019, it was $2.14 – pretty much the same, but not near the $1.97 of the beginning of 2018. Watch out for this year! So using simple math, gas prices have risen a robust 25 percent to $2.69 during Biden’s tenure. We are sure it had nothing to do with his axing an economical fuel delivery service – the Keystone Pipeline and the 11,000 jobs that went with it. Memo to Politifact – try to make your untruths a little less easy to disprove.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff: 

1. The state of Virginia’s recent repeal of the death penalty would have been much nobler if it included companion legislation to outlaw the slaughter of unborn children in the state.

2. Hey, it could have been worse, former Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is proposing a two percent wealth tax. It, fortunately, has no chance of passage. One of the bill’s co-sponsors is the nut case from Hawaii – Sen. Mazie Hirono. You remember her – she’s the one who asked now Supreme Court Justice Amy Barrett Comey if she had ever been accused of sexual misconduct.

3. “Florida’s Best Newspaper” seems to have a problem with Publix Supermarkets handling COVID shots. It’s not like Publix is making a ton of money on this public service and if you’ve had your shot at a local Publix, you know the procedure runs smooth as can be.

4. The weather was justifiably blamed for the week-long delay in COVID-19 shots, but you have to wonder where the blame would have been placed prior to January 20.

5. Speaking of the weather, last weekend’s Chamber of Commerce weather gave us the first beach back up of the year with traffic on Court Street backed nearly as far east as Missouri Avenue.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. He was the face of what was then a local power company, Florida Power. Executive and civic leader Andrew Hines died late last month at age 98.

7. Factoid: The University of Tampa was founded as Tampa Junior College in 1931 just four years after St. Petersburg Junior College.

8. Congratulations to the women’s basketball team at USF for winning their first ever American Athletic Conference title. Go Bulls!

9. From TBR&R Five Years Ago (March 8, 2016) Now that Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s “election campaign” is over, expect him to start positioning himself for a run for governor in 2018. Fine, but mayor, please remember what we are paying you to do in the interim. (Buckhorn tested the waters, but passed on a run).

10. As we pass the halfway point in the season of Lent, we present another fasting suggestion from Pope Francis – “Fast from anger and be filled with patience.”

This week we turn seven

(Ed. Note: To answer a few similar questions we’ve been asked, TBR&R is reached simply by typing in Tampa Bay Rants and Raves on your search engine, then bookmarking. There is a similar-named site associated with Craig’s List, but we don’t hawk anything here – except perhaps some politically incorrect ideas. New editions usually post by approximately 6 p.m. the Saturday before the date of publication.)

It’s been seven years and over 300,000 words since TBR&R ranted its first on March 9, 2014. First, a thank you to James Foster and Robert Brucker, the IT pros that helped us get started seven years ago. In that time, we’ve covered two very disappointing presidencies with a third (and quite possibly worst) now underway. Our Focus Group (a group of old, mostly cranky people) have weighed in on music, movies, Presidents and the like. Our crack prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) has had a great run of World Series predictions – so-so on Super Bowls. We’ve witnessed the demise and then revival of The 5:05 Newsletter and the demise, but sadly no revival, of the area’s only trustworthy newspaper, The Tampa Tribune. And in just the last year, we’ve witnessed glory for the Bucs and Lightning and a near miss for the Rays. We seem to be nearing the back side of a pandemic, and we hark back to our beginning issue with “what ever happened to Alex Sink?” Now, as we ponder an exit strategy three years hence, we begin our eighth year.

NEXT WEEK: Legal notices; DST again; Trump and Hoover

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

Making elections work for all Americans

“This one will never sell … this one’s for you” with apologies to Barry Manilow. We ranted about the $14 billion spent on last year’s Presidential and Congressional races (TBR&R 11/15/20). That’s 14 times the American Cancer Society’s annual budget. Then there was another over half billion spent on just the two Senate run-off races in Georgia – simply obscene. Here’s a quick answer to this madness that will never sell. It’s a 15% surcharge on each national political contribution. You give a candidate $10,000 and $1500 of that goes to a non-partisan organization for distribution to qualified charities – a sort of United Way for political contributions to places like the National Cancer Society, Salvation Army or St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital just to name three of many worthwhile charities. And the surcharge applies to every contribution – soft money, hard money, PACs – you name it. And you make the penalties for trying to dodge the surcharge extremely steep (like barred from political contributions for 10 years along with a little jail time). And we would be the first in line to volunteer to help make it run – a process that would have generated well over $2 billion for worthwhile charities in the last election cycle – and reformed election contributions.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Speaking of charities, we salute Amazon for their Amazon Smile program which donates a small percentage of each purchase to your favorite charity. It adds up. Our named charity, not a large entity, nonetheless has received close to $7000 from the merchandising giant.

2. Speaking of elections, a tip of our cap to Governor Rick DeSantis for his call to end so-called ballot harvesting where a person can turn in multiple ballots at a ballot drop box – which can only lead to suspicion of fraud if not outright fraud.

3. The ceremony was moving - paying tribute to the 500,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19 over the past year; but what we really need is more action by the White House to get vaccines in people’s arms before another 500,000 die.

4. Florida’s Minister of Marijuana, Nikki Fried, has decided she wants to run for Governor (there’s a shock). She is already in attack mode, righteously demanding an update on the incident at the Oldsmar’s water treatment facility. We’ll wager that a month ago, Ms. Fried didn’t know where Oldsmar was.

5. Political news from The 5:05 Newsletter: President Donald Trump was acquitted of impeachment charges when the Senate failed to get the necessary two-thirds vote to convict. It would have been different, but a suitcase from Georgia containing 30 more votes to impeach did not arrive in time.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. We thought we’d let the 5:05 Newsletter write the majority of the blog this week – this, too, is a gem: MLB News: Pitchers, catchers, cardboard cutouts report for Spring Training.

7. In the first MLB power ranking of the year, our local nine are ranked 9^th – pretty low for a team that played in the World Series. But even if they play to that lowered bar, they would still be in the postseason.

8. You’ve lived in the bay area (or anywhere else) a long time if your first taste of Coca Cola came from a 6.5 ounce glass bottle. Purists say no Coke since has tasted as good as the 6.5 ounce variety. It was the “real thing.”

9. The Crimson Tide has lost one of its most rabid supporters. Bob Furney was a superb educator at Clearwater High, armed with an incredible wit. In addition, he was a medical miracle fighting off severe lung and kidney problems with an iron will. Our condolences go to his wife Suzanne, their son Rob and his siblings Les and Margaret. Bob will be deeply missed.

10. We continue our series of Lenten fasting suggestions from Pope Francis – “Fast from complaints and contemplate simplicity.”

Remembering the top female singers of the 50s

Last month (Jan. 31, 2021TBR&R) we highlighted the top ten male singers of the 1950s. This week, we look at the top female performers from that decade starting with that “singing rage” Patti Page who got her name from the Page Dairy that sponsored her early radio shows. Patti (Tennessee Waltz and many others) was followed by Teresa Brewer, Connie Francis, Sarah Vaughn, Georgia Gibbs, Jaye P. Morgan, TV’s Gale Storm, Rosemary Clooney (George’s aunt), Doris Day and Joni James. Just missing the Top 10 were two other hit makers from the early 50s – Kay Starr and Jo Stafford. Next month – the 50s biggest groups - guess who was number one.

NEXT WEEK: TBR&R turns seven; UT’s beginnings; It’s only jobs

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

The Pelosi posse rides again

Nancy Pelosi and her henchmen just won’t give up. Foiled in their doomed attempt to impeach President Trump, now Fancy Nancy and her troops want to launch what they call a 9-11 type investigation into the January 6^th violence on Capitol Hill. At the same time, Ms. Pelosi is doing a bit of squirming as members of the House are asking “what did she know and when did she know it” regarding the siege of Capitol Hill. Soon, there will come a time when Ms. Pelosi is going to have to let go of her obsession with President Trump and move on to what we pay her for – getting people vaccinated and back to work for starters.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. The price of poker certainly has gone up. Last week, the Clearwater City Council voted to delay a decorative lighting project on the Causeway Bridge estimated at $1.5 million. The Sand Key Bridge lighting project some years back cost $100,000 which had some city commissioners (they were commissioners back then) balking at that price.

2. Religious scholar Dr. William Donahue remains perplexed as to why our new President, a Catholic or at least a CINO, is praised for his religious beliefs such as they are, while then Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, a real life practicing Catholic, was all but burnt at the stake during her confirmation hearings. Puzzling, yes?

3. Thought from the youngest member of our TBR&R Focus Group: I'm wondering if the true purpose of the fencing in DC might just be to keep Sleepy Joe from wandering off somewhere.

4. Speaking of which, Joltin’ Joe spent last weekend at Camp David. It was pointed out that President Trump spent much of his off time at one of his clubs. It’s what you’re used to – with Trump it was his clubs, for Joe it was either Camp David or back to his basement.

5. Idle question: Did you miss Daniel Ruth in the Times? Neither did we.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Continuing our Lenten fasting suggestions from Pope Francis during this holy season – “Fast from selfishness and be compassionate to others.”

7. We lost three leaders in their respective fields last week. First, jazz icon Chick Corea passed away at age 79. And one of the area’s first orthodontists and the owner of the Sea Captain motel on Clearwater Beach, Dr. Don Eifert, passed away at age 91 – a truly interesting man. And the conservative’s conservative, radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, died at age 70.

8. When our daughter married a very nice young man over a decade ago, our extended family became that much better. One of the truly nice members of that family, David Mullis, passed away last week. Our heart goes out to the Mullis and Kelly families.

9. When the most recent Presidential Medal of Freedom awards were handed out, one name a lot of Americans may not have recognized was Mildred (Babe) Zaharias. That is sad, because Zaharias who died at a young age in 1956, was simply the greatest female athlete of all time, excelling in track and field in the Olympics, pro golf plus basketball and baseball.

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember veteran newsman Howard Hartley who served as news director for both WTAN and WAZE radio stations over the years. He had a distinctive clipped delivery and was a master of his craft despite being blind. He was ably assisted by his wife, Jo Hartley.

The Wrecking Crew – soundtrack of the ‘60s

They’re called hooks - those little pieces of songs that stay with you forever, the neat guitar lick at the beginning of Wichita Lineman, the cool drum intro to Don’t Worry Baby or the Ronettes’ Be My Baby. All of those sounds and hundreds more came from a unique backing group called the Wrecking Crew. This loosely constituted group of 15-20 very skilled musicians haunted the various recording studios in LA during the sixties and seventies. They provided backgrounds for Glen Campbell (originally a member of the group), Simon and Garfunkel, Sonny and Cher, the Beach Boys and Johnny Rivers just to name five of more than 50 name acts they backed. Much in demand, they might start with a session in the Capitol Records studios with the Beach Boys, then an afternoon session with the Mamas and Papas followed by an evening gig at a third studio with the 5^th Dimension and repeat the next day and every day Monday through Friday. Many of their number are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame including drummers Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer, as well as the group as a whole being inducted in 2007. There is a book by Ken Hartman that details the work of this amazing crew as well as a 2008 film documentary produced by Denney Tedesco, the son of one of the group’s mainstays, guitarist Tommy Tedesco. Both are worth a look if you enjoyed the music of the sixties and seventies.

NEXT WEEK: Girl Vocal Stars; Election Funding; The Real Thing

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

Marco Rubio and 2022

Democrats, no doubt fueled by the anomaly that was Georgia earlier this year, will be smelling blood in 2022. Twenty GOP (versus 14 Democratic) Senate seats are up for election in 2022. One of those seats is held by Florida’s Marco Rubio. There are two questions. First, is Rubio vulnerable enough for Demos to waste time and money to try to unseat him? Probably not, but the events in Georgia have some Democrats thinking that no GOP seat is untouchable. However, mid-term elections are usually advantage party not in power. In normal times, the GOP would reclaim the Senate. But are these normal times? Georgia suggests they might not be. Second question – if the Democrats think they have a legitimate shot at the Rubio seat, what candidate do they bring to the table? Florida has a Republican governor, a Republican legislature and very few high profile Democratic public officials to offer up. An added plus is Rubio’s Senate colleague, Rick Scott, is heading up the Republican Party’s Senatorial Committee. Scott tends to win races. So far, Democrats are having trouble getting someone to play in the Rubio contest. Here’s a not so longshot Demo suggestion, Rep. Val Demings of Orlando. The second term Congresswoman was in the headlines during the Biden VP selection process and, by all accounts, vetted well. She came off as a bit shrill in the feeding frenzy after the Capitol mess, but she could be a viable candidate if the Democrats think they have a chance against Rubio next year. If she’s as smart as we think she is, she’ll tell her fellow Democrats, “thanks, but no thanks.”

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Related – Charlie Crist never seems happy with any political job (the only kind he’s ever had) for any length of time. Now he wants to be Governor saying the vaccine rollout was a mess. It’s important for Rep. Crist to remember that the House had something to do with the vaccine rollout as well.

2. The recent arrest of Clearwater investment executive and Scientologist David Gentile begs the question – when are the Feds going to get ahead of or at least even with these Ponzi and other financial schemes that ruin people’s lives? Have we learned nothing from Madoff, Matrix schemes and yesteryear’s bucket shops?

3. Mayor Rick Kriseman’s knee jerk eviction of a small business owner at Albert Whitted Airport because of a Super Bowl party’s violation of some protocols is beyond belief. The owner of the hanger donated the use of his facility for a charity event. A fine perhaps, but threatening a man’s livelihood is just another example of clueless politicians not understanding what it takes to make an honest buck in our current environment.

4. Congressional news courtesy of the 5:05 Newsletter: “New Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer promised that he will work diligently with Republicans in 2021 and that every proposed bill will receive full and fair consideration. He was of course joking, but this is not obvious, because even when he is in a jovial mood Schumer looks like a man passing a kidney stone the size of the Hope Diamond.

5. Five Years Ago in TBRR (Feb. 14, 2016) CBS has ordered production of Four Stars, a drama loosely based on activity at MacDill AFB. (It was cast and a pilot shot, but the show never hit the airwaves). By the way, wasn’t the flyover at last week’s Super Bowl impressive, albeit lightly covered? But it beats the classless remarks on a similar flyover earlier in the year voiced by Fox’s halfwit team of Buck and Aikman.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Lent begins this week and it is the custom in the Christian world to give up or sacrifice something like sweets, a favorite food or beverage during this forty day period – fasting. Pope Francis gives slightly different takes on fasting which we will share with you weekly during this holy season. His first – “Fast from words and be silent so you can listen.”

7. Busy week – Valentine’s Day followed by President’s Day, followed by Fat Tuesday, followed by Ash Wednesday. By the way, a good suggestion from one of our local TV news outlets this past week - move Super Bowl Sunday to the Sunday before President’s Day, a federal holiday, thereby lessening the impact of millions of employee callouts the day after the big game.

8. We’re happy that the usually reliable dolphin, Nicholas, at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium missed predicting the outcome of the Super Bowl. Oh, and the reason for no prediction from our very own Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) – we asked him, but before he could answer, we both drifted off into a conversation about our new doctors and new pills.

9. 55 years ago this April, a fellow disk jockey working at WFUN in Miami, scored us tickets for the Supremes’ engagement at the Deauville Hotel. It was our first “big name” concert. Mary Wilson, the longest running member of that great trio, passed away last week at age 76.

10. You’ve lived in the bay area (or anywhere else) for a long time if you remember when only spies and the military dealt with codes. Now, all of us are barraged with area codes, bar codes, security codes, tracking codes and zip codes – too much for the elderly brain.

Is it worth a buck a week?

Should a person pay a dollar a week to have offensive material delivered to one’s home each day? After all, we pay the Solid Waste Department to haul unwanted garbage away one or two times a week. The offensive material of which we speak is the extremely odorous waste dumped at our doorstep or our computer by “Florida’s Best Newspaper.” Do you pay a buck a week to have everything you hold dear, like religious freedom, the sanctity of life and self-sufficiency (to name just three) being derided by left wing journalists? These questions come to mind with the annual renewal plea from FBN. In years past, there was the down the middle Tampa Tribune as a more than adequate alternative. FBN silenced that rational voice by buying them out five years ago. So what do we get for a buck a week? We’re old and we nervously first turn to the obituaries to see if we’ve lost another acquaintance. Our Saintly Wife likes the Wednesday Publix ad. That’s it. Their left-leaning “news” is history by the time we might read it – same for sports. And their opinion page can only be termed hazardous waste. We have about a week to decide. Do we pay a buck a week to be offended daily? Stay tuned.

NEXT WEEK: The Babe, Immigration; Howard Hartley

Thank you Bucs for a memorable season!

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

Biden’s worst pick

Over the past many weeks, American’s collective jaws have dropped as Joltin Joe announced his cabinet picks – a former mayor of a town smaller than Clearwater as his Transportation chief; a woman to head the Small Business Administration who hasn’t been involved in a small business in nearly two decades; and a Commerce Secretary – a former governor of a state slightly larger than Pinellas County. But the scariest pick of all is his climate czar – John Kerry. The poor little rich boy, who has never had a real job in his life, dismissed 11,000 workers who lost their jobs with a stroke of a pen as “people who should have considered more appropriate jobs.” Hey, they couldn’t have all married ketchup heiresses, John. There are few, if any, people in government more out of touch with the American people than John Kerry – a climate czar who travels around the country in a private jet with the carbon footprint larger than a trucking fleet – a fleet that will now be used to carry crude at 25 times the environmental danger than the pipe line the cognitively challenged Mr. Biden wiped out along with 11,000 precious paychecks.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Idle question: how many folks who huffed and puffed that they would never shop at Publix again because of a founder’s heir donating money to Trump, later lined up to get the vaccine shots the store is now offering? The company has always been a great corporate citizen and a donation from a person not involved in their daily operations doesn’t change that.

2. It should come as no surprise that a black market has developed for the COVID vaccine including some of the critical medicine missing in St. Pete. But at least, cooler heads prevailed when Joltin’ Joe attempted to divert some of the vaccine to terrorism detainees at Guantanamo Base in Cuba.

3. Related, we find it unconscionable that Clearwater (and other) police officers have not yet received COVD-19 vaccinations.

4. Suggested sign for the White House Briefing Room: “We don’t have the time or the CRAYONS to explain this to you.”

5. Number of the week – 54. The number of executive orders, executive actions, memos and proclamations issued thus far by the Biden regime. This compares to previous highs of 20 each by Obama and Trump - so much for bi-partisan cooperation and unity. His rationale - “I’m not making new law; I’m eliminating bad policy.” (Not to mention thousands of jobs.) Keep saying that Joe, some might even believe you.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. We’re holding our breath, but pitchers and catchers are only a week away.

7. Media news from The 5:05 Newsletter: AT&T is reportedly looking to at selling its cable news station CNN. Expect a bidding war between China, Russia and the Democratic National Committee.

8. In October, the middle of the pandemic and the election season, the latest departure of Keith Olbermann from ESPN went pretty much unnoticed. Olbermann is a superb sports analyst, but he can’t decide whether he wants to do that or be a political commentator.

9. We were tempted to slip in a photo of Bernie and his mittens in this week’s issue, but we maintain our six-year policy of no pictures, only text.

10. You’ve lived in the bay area (or anywhere else) a long time if you remember NBA teams like the Minneapolis (now LA) Lakers, the Syracuse Nationals (now the Philly 76ers), the Fort Wayne (now Detroit) Pistons and the Rochester Royals since then the Cincinnati and KC Royals and now the Sacramento Kings.

Focus Group and “surf-stoppers”

Our Tampa Bay Rants and Raves Focus Group (a group of six or so old and mostly cranky people) is back after a long holiday layoff. They have been challenged with identifying a sure fire “surf stopper” – that movie which will stop you dead in your tracks while channel surfing as you watch it for the 10^th or 50^th time. Our youngest member, and the individual who coined the term, goes for Shawshank Redemption; our crankiest member gets stopped by lighter fare like Major League; the least cranky member of the group opted for the Chevy Chase - Goldie Hawn romantic comedy Seems Like Old Times; another of our elders stops and views whenever a Clint Eastwood “spaghetti western” comes on – like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; our newest focus group member will stop every time she comes across the Meryl Streep-Clint Eastwood movie The Bridges of Madison County – an eclectic mix to say the least.

NEXT WEEK: Four Stars; Marco and 2022: Different kind of fasting

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

Note to Joe: energy production is not a bad thing 

One of the many things Joe, the job killer, doesn’t seem to grasp is that meeting the energy needs of the United States and protecting our environment are not mutually exclusive. Trying to cut back on domestic energy production is inviting disaster with the loss of an estimated 11,000 jobs at just the XL Pipeline alone. Many of us remember the gas lines of the 1970s and the $3.50 plus per gallon gas prices of the Obama administration. The last thing we want to do is have less than friendly foreign nations dictating oil prices and supply to us again. But Biden’s so-called environmental team is scary in terms of their lack of business knowledge and experience. He seems to be trying to create diversity rather than a competent team that can balance the environment with our nation’s energy needs and independence.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Related note: GM announces an all-electric fleet of cars and SUVs by 2035. Good and well, but will our already shaky electric grid support such a massive new load? Most experts say we have a lot of work to do between now and 2035 to make that happen.

2. The Vaccine Blues: From an article in “Florida’s Best Newspaper”: “For those who do not have Internet access, you can also pre-register by phone. To find the designated number for your county, visit https://floridahealthcovid19.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/FL-VACCINE-HOTLINES_updated-0124.pdf.” Now, what is wrong with that picture?

3. “Mr. Unity” missed a chance to get America back on track last week with his urging that the impeachment of President Trump “has to happen.” He apparently did not read our lead article from last week. We’ll email him a copy.

4. We know it’s not true (we think), but it’s funny. That is if we had just handed off the COVID-19 vaccination distribution to Amazon and Chick-fil-A, we’d all be vaccinated by now.

5. We shouldn’t be surprised that New York’s shifty governor undercounted COVID deaths in state nursing homes by fifty percent – and, of course, blamed it on the White House. Families who lost loved ones to COVID in New York nursing homes are incensed by this outright lying of a disgusting human being.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. To this old broadcaster, the two best radio talk show hosts over the past half-century were Bruce Williams and Larry King. Williams, who lived the later part of his life in New Port Richey, passed away two years ago after thirty years of hosting his coast to coast show. And last week, we lost Larry whose career was launched on Miami’s WIOD and later on the old Mutual Radio Network. King was truly one of a kind and led the league in ex-wives (7). He was 87.

7. Was there any role Cloris Leachman could not pull off? She appeared in diverse roles in The Untouchables, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Young Frankenstein and probably her most well-known role as busybody neighbor Phyllis Lindstrom in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Ms. Leachman died at age 94 last week.

8. From the Belleair Road sign guy – “How ‘bout dem Buccaneers.”

9. No new Hall of Famers this year. Curt Schilling, one of the best two or three postseason pitchers in the last half century, missed by 16 votes. The path to the Hall for Curt is clear; hold your nose and become a liberal.

10. You’ve lived in the bay area a while if you remember some of the local fledgling bands of the sixties like Terry and the Pirates, the Roemans, the Impacs, the Hurricanes (featuring a future Circuit Court judge) and the Rockers (featuring a future heart surgeon) just to name a few - more on singers just below.

Remembering the 50s’ top male singers

Last week we highlighted the top selling male artists of the fifties through the eighties. This week, we begin a monthly series looking more closely at the folks whose records we bought in those decades starting with the top selling male artists of the fifties. As we mentioned last week, Elvis, to no one’s surprise, was at the top. The other top male acts of the fifties, in order, were Jacksonville native Pat Boone, Perry Como, Fats Domino, Nat “King” Cole, Frank Sinatra, Ricky Nelson, Johnny Mathis, Eddie Fisher and Jimmy Rodgers – he of Honeycomb fame – not the country legend. Two surprising omissions are Chuck Berry and Paul Anka, but you have to remember that rock and roll didn’t take off until mid-decade and before that pop singers like Como, Sinatra and Nat Cole were the big sellers. Next month, the female stars of the fifties.

NEXT WEEK: “Surf-Stoppers”; Ft. Wayne Pistons; Joe’s worst pick

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

Biden missing a chance to make a difference

We have to admit we are already tired of hearing Joltin’ Joe say help is on the way. If Joe truly wants to do something positive for his country, he will get on the phone to Schumer, Pelosi and McConnell and tell them to forget about the pointless impeachment of Donald Trump. It is taking up time and effort better directed at easing some of the country’s ills. Further, many constitutional scholars say it is meaningless now that President Trump has left office. Biden can sit back with his clueless grin and say there is nothing he can do. Nonsense, three polite, but firm, calls can get this done and then he and Congress can get “help on the way” if that’s his genuine intent and not just a bunch of rhetoric.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. While Joltin’ Joe is signing executive orders as fast as his aged hands permit, one that needs to go to the head of the line is requiring proof of residency to get a COVID-19 shot that channels Florida’s. Americans don’t mind standing in line behind the endangered elderly, first responders and school teachers, but they should not wait a nanosecond for folks who slip across state or national borders. Get busy, Joe!

2. Related to our lead article: the new head of the Small Business Administration is Isabel Guzman, who has spent the last fifteen years running a small business. No, you would think that. She has actually spent the last decade and a half at the public trough. Nice pick, Joe. Now about your Transportation Secretary who was mayor of a town smaller than Clearwater. It’s about qualifications sir.

3. To name the Pinellas County Courthouse after long time prosecutor Bernie McCabe seems like a good idea. To name it jointly after McCabe and trailblazing Pinellas County Public Defender Robert Jagger who passed away last year seems an even better idea.

4. Idle thought – there should be some sort of requirement that computer nerds while designing websites we need to navigate have a real person looking over their shoulder saying, “not everybody out there is a computer nerd.”

5. He touched thousands of lives in both Pinellas and Hillsborough counties with his spirituality and Scottish brogue and humor. Father Eric Hunter who first came to Clearwater’s Light of Christ Church from his native Scotland and went on to be a guiding light in four other parishes for nearly fifty years, passed away earlier this month at age 76. His last pastorate was at St. Brenden’s Catholic Church on Island Estates.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. We guess we would be more upset about Google and some others removing Parler – if we knew what Parler was.

7. They may have a billionaire owner with lots of money to throw around, but the Mets are still the Mets firing their GM after 37 days on the job for very inappropriate images sent to a female reporter five years ago. This comes after firing their manager before he managed a game last year. Good job of vetting, guys.

8. The answers – Elvis Presley, Elton John and Michael Jackson. The question: who were the top selling male artists of the 50s, 60s (both Elvis), 70s (Elton) and the 80s (Michael)?

9. Born 100 years ago this week was one of America’s sweethearts, Donna Reed, the co-star of It’s A Wonderful Life and star of her own sitcom that ran eight seasons and made teenage stars out of Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen.

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you indulged in an adult beverage at the Gas Buggy Lounge in the pre-Scientology Fort Harrison Hotel.

Baseball loses two more greats

Mention the number 755 to a baseball fan and the immediate response is Hank Aaron, the beloved Milwaukee/Atlanta slugger who passed away last week at age 86. The first number was, of course, 715 – the number where he passed another baseball immortal and home run hitter Babe Ruth. It was tougher for Hank than the Babe who set the major league career record when he hit his 125^th home run. And then there were the racial issues – threats, slurs and things the Babe did not experience. You tend to forget that this great player played an integral front office role in turning the hapless Braves into the winningest NL franchise over the past thirty years. He was one of the ten greatest players of all time. Earlier in the week, baseball experienced a second significant loss with the passing of 75-year-old Hall of Famer Don Sutton. As brilliant as he was on the mound (324 wins), his star shined just as bright in the broadcast booth. Sutton never missed a start in his MLB career and he trails only Nolan Ryan and Cy Young in the number of major league starts. It’s amazing that Sutton is considered the Dodger’s third best pitcher all time, but when the other two are named Koufax and Drysdale – third isn’t all that shabby.

NEXT UP: Energy crisis coming; Tampa Bay’s bands; 50’s Best

Again, we thank James Foster of Right Click Computer Consultants in Clearwater for dealing with our log-in problems of a couple weeks ago. James and his company are simply the best.

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

Looking forward to Politics 2022

It’s not a good time to be a Republican or Libertarian or even an Independent. Because of a small percentage of fools in Washington a few weeks back, the Democratic Party, the most corrupt organization in the free world, suddenly occupies the moral high ground – for the moment. We have no doubt that shenanigans like those of Obama, Biden, Holder, Lynch and company will again come to the fore and the seesaw will then be balanced or even tilted back the other way. This will open the door for Republicans to reclaim the Senate (the House would be a stretch) in 2022 and return sanity to our government. But for the next two years, we can only hope the damage to our great nation will be minimal.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. The Biden $1.9 trillion giveaway reflects a plan by a guy who has never run a business - business which will be egregiously damaged if the giveaway is passed and flies in the face of the truism that you cannot borrow your way to prosperity.

2. Thanks so much to our Congress for wasting our money and time on a removal process everyone in America knew was not going to matter. We will reserve our thanks for the 2022 elections.

3. Another item in the death spiral of “Florida’s Best Newspaper.” They are eliminating 150 jobs; selling off their once profitable printing plant and will farm out the printing of what’s left of their paper to a Gannett plant in Lakeland.

4. Speaking of “FBN”, in a recent “news” article, a pinhead reporter named Natalie Weber tried to connect the fact that the U.S. had its single worst day of COVID-19 related deaths to the unrest in Washington the same day. Ah, walk us through that thought process if you will.

5. Numbers of the Week 49 vs 1927. As we come down the home stretch, President Trump has granted 49 pardons - mostly for white collar crimes. His predecessor Barak Obama granted 1927 pardons mostly for drug dealers.

6. Watching the 3-2 vote in Port Richey over hiring a new city manager recently and all their other tussles reminds us that the smaller the community (population 2600), the more contentious the politics.

Sports, media and other stuff:

7. So what is the over/under in years on Urban Meyer’s tenure with the Jacksonville Jaguars? Given his history, we peg it at fewer than two.

8. If you’re just a casual football fan, you probably didn’t know the name DeVonta Smith a month ago, but you sure do now.

9. The Rays got a good haul for left hander Blake Snell, but you have to believe part of the equation was the narcissistic lefthander had worn out his welcome in Tampa Bay.

10. The recently announced closing of Nathan’s Men’s Store in Lakeland reminds us that no such individually owned store has existed in Upper Pinellas County for several years. Long gone are the better men’s stores like Webb’s and Short’s in Clearwater and Darby’s in Dunedin.

Government gone crazy

We predict you will see many similar headlines in the next four years, but this particular idiocy has nothing to do with the incoming Biden administration. It is just a case of government bureaucracy run amok. Early in the pandemic, in addition to paper goods, you couldn’t find a bottle of hand sanitizer anywhere. Well, our nation’s distilleries jumped in and began diverting a little bit of alcohol production (much to the dismay of our friends at The 5:05 Newsletter) and devoted some of their production to alieving the shortage of hand sanitizer. A couple weeks ago, in a backhanded way of saying thanks, the FDA slapped the distilleries with a $14,000 fee – a fee normally reserved for drug manufacturers. Fortunately, our law makers hauled the FDA bureaucrats out in the hallway and slapped them around a little bit until they rescinded the fees. Now they need to tell the industry thanks for helping out at the expense of not manufacturing a product with a much higher profit margin.

NEXT UP: Gas Buggy; Wrecking Crew; Don’t Blame Me

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

Political over-correctness: here we go again

Watch out Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City and San Francisco, your team’s nickname, some of which go back more than a century, are next on the chopping block. The Cleveland Indians recently bowed to political correctness and will be changing their name some time in 2021. As we’ve pointed out before, Cleveland has always been one of the more progressive franchises in any sport – hiring the first Black manager, employing the American League’s first Black player and being the leader in first bringing Latin American players to the majors. Their 106-year-old name in no way reflects any racism of this model franchise. The Braves of Atlanta have a partnership with the Cherokee nation that aids schools and literacy. But facts be damned, the Braves, the Blackhawks, Chiefs and Warriors will be feeling the pressure to “fall in line”. Somewhere among those four franchises is an ownership that will properly say “no, this is ridiculous”. That ownership will gain the admiration of sports fans across the nation. These entities play games and entertain us – lighten up!

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Biden manages to buy two Senate seats in Georgia with his offer of another $1400 if Democrats are elected. Now, a test of his historically shaky integrity; will he deliver on his promise?

2. The 5:05 Newsletter strikes early in 2021 with this: Biden News - President-Elect Biden got his Covid19 vaccine shot. Not to be outdone, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got rabies and distemper shots. In other "Biden News" the president elect traveled to Philadelphia this week where he placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Voter.

3. Yes, we qualify for an early coronavirus vaccine shot, but get back to us when our nursing home patients, first responders and school teachers have gotten theirs.

4. A not too wild a guess that the five most disliked people in America, in no particular order, are Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell.

5. A week of loses: we bought our first new car from Dwayne Hawkins’ Crown Pontiac 49 years ago because his employees said such great things about him and his dealership was much more customer friendly than the other Pinellas County Pontiac dealership. Mr. Hawkins, who was the patriarch of the Crown dealerships, died last week at age 85. Bernie McCabe was a no-nonsense prosecutor who served our area well for nearly thirty years, but he also had a wicked sense of humor as we witnessed years ago at a roast for one of his key staff members. McCabe died last week at age 73. Both will be missed by our community. Finally, the man who bled Dodger Blue, Tommy Lasorda passed away last week at age 93. The former skipper had been part of the Dodger organization for 71 years.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Wanting to get away from the news and hysteria of last week, we dialed up a sports commentary show we watch very occasionally. Lead story – not the NFL playoffs, not that day’s blockbuster baseball trade or the pending hockey season, but a commentary of the events at the Capitol by two people, frankly unqualified to comment. Guys, if you want to be political commentators, forward your resumes to CNBC.

7. When incoming college athletes accept a scholarship, that scholarship should specifically state the athlete will play all team games and not skip bowl games to prep for their anticipated NFL career.

8. Answer: Pabst. Question: who was the first beer company to sell six-packs of beer? The first Pabst six-pack appeared in 1949 – 105 years after the company was founded. But the first company to introduce the six-pack concept was Coca Cola in 1923.

9. Number of the week - $7000. The price this year for the seven swans a swimming in The Twelve Days of Christmas.

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you still refer to the intersection of Cleveland and MLK as “Five Points.”

Our early All Star ballot

Major league baseball will announce the new Hall of Fame class soon. We thought we would help them out with our four picks – all holdovers although we think in future years, some of the new candidates, particularly five-time All Star Mark Buerhrle or four-time All Star Tim Hudson may have a shot. We give you a clutch starting pitcher (Curt Schilling) who should already be there; an 11-time Gold Glover shortstop (Omar Vizquel) whose fielding numbers are right there with Ozzie Smith and with a batting average ten points higher over his career; a wipe out closer (Billy Wagner) who may be the best left handed relief pitcher in history; and a man with one of the sweetest swings in the last fifty years (Todd Helton). Much is made about half his games being played in hitter friendly Coors Field, but compare his away numbers to Hall of Famers like Chipper Jones or Edgar Martinez and you will find a marked similarity.

NEXT UP: Energy needs; Pardon me; Government run amok

In conclusion, we’d like to cancel our subscription to 2021.We’ve experienced the free 7-day trial and we’re not interested.

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TBR&R is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyle and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - much of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

Georgia on our mind

Depending on when you read this, the Georgia Senatorial race could be over. We call it the Georgia Senatorial race because we don’t know why they call it a primary. The results seem like they would be pretty final to us, but then we don’t understand the Iowa caucus either. Here are a couple of numbers to try to wrap your arms around - half a billion dollars. That’s what has been spent on two lousy Senate seats. As we reported late last year (TBR&R 11/15/20) - $14 billion was spent on the White House and Congress in the November election. Now approximately 5 percent of that amount is projected to be spent on just two races. As we pointed out in November, that money should be spent on much better causes. The second number is 36,000 – the number of voters who did not even vote in the Presidential election who have voted in this election. Why? Couldn’t they be bothered? There was a lot more than just the Presidency at stake last November in the Peach State. It’s hard to figure as we await the results of this very odd election.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. An appropriate post-mortem for the Trump presidency: All his troubles came because he neglected so many wonderful opportunities to remain silent.

2. We struggle to understand things like Sen. Marco Rubio’s getting a coronavirus vaccine shot is selfish while radical Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ vaccination is portrayed as “educational” even though she lives in a state where there is the greatest need in the country for vaccinations of nursing home residents. It all goes back to that “some animals are more equal than other animals” thing.

3. William Barr, our outgoing Attorney General, left office with his head held high. Contrast this with the previous administration’s Attorney General who left office just hoping she wouldn’t be indicted.

4. If you’re following the suit by 35 states against Google, you may have noticed that entering “Google suit” on their site most often auto-corrects to “Google Suite” and tries to sell you one of their products. What Google does daily may not be illegal, but it certainly is not for the benefit of the consumer.

5. $2.15 – This is a number we track every year – the year end cost of gas locally. At the end of 2019, it was $2.14 – pretty much the same, but not near the $1.97 of the beginning of 2018. Watch out for this year!

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Sunshine, Clearwater and Countryside – the three indoor malls our city has seen. Sunshine is gone; Clearwater Mall became a sprawling outdoor mall anchored by a Costco and Target. Now Countryside is being taken over by its lenders, its future in doubt.

7. As the bowl season is winding down, many schools including Auburn are jettisoning head coaches. Auburn went 6-4 under Gus Malzahn. They play in a conference with Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M, Florida and Georgia to name a few. The problem isn’t the coaching.

8. Only Cy Young and Walter Johnson threw more innings in the 20^th century than knuckleballer Phil Niekro who spent the majority of his career with the Braves, although he won 32 games in just two seasons with the Yankees. Phil passed away last week at 81.

9. The No Fun League (NFL) fined New Orleans Saints star Alvin Kamara five large for his neat combo red and green cleats on Christmas Day where he just happened to score six touchdowns. Is there any institution more tone deaf than the NFL and is there any player more underrated in the league than Kamara?

10. From TBR&R five years ago (1/3/15) The Bucs (and we taxpayers) will be spending $100 million dollars to upgrade Raymond James Stadium and presumably put us in line for another Super Bowl (it worked, sort of). The price of poker has gone up. Here’s what $100 million used to buy you – all of pre-developed Island Estates, 10 times over; Dodger stadium – four of them; 15 Fenway Parks, 100 of the Packer’s Lambeau Field and, in the spirit of the holidays, this year’s price for the items in the 12 Days of Christmas nearly 3000 times over including the partridge in a pear tree.

A thought for your pennies

We have an acquaintance who for the last couple of decades has crusaded for the elimination of the penny in our coinage. Hey, we all have our causes. But the penny - what’s it good for? Good for a very large copper company in Tennessee which makes the blanks for the 13 billion pennies our mints crank out each year – at the cost of 1.75 cents per coin. Do the math, that’s a big hit annually. We also take a loss on the nickel at 8.1 cents per, but we digress. Getting rid of the penny would not be that disruptive. We only need to look across the border to Canada who dropped the penny in 2012 with hardly a quiver. You simply round a total bill up or down to the nearest nickel i.e. .01 and .02 become .00 and .06 and .07 become .05. Likewise, .03 and .04 become .05 and .08 and .09 round up to .10. And it’s relatively simple to program cash registers to do the heavy lifting. Economists much smarter than us, say it’s an even split between consumer and merchant as far as who gets the break on rounding. There is no rounding, of course, on cashless transactions. Your penny doesn’t lose its value; you can turn them in at a bank or one of those machines you see at the grocery store. It really makes sense to follow Canada’s lead and unburden yourself of those mostly copper things you have in your jars and drawers. This is probably more than you wanted to know about the penny, but for geeks like us, there is a fascinating documentary Heads Up, Will We Stop Making Cents with even more thoughts on pennies.

NEXT WEEK: Five Points; Six Packs; Seven Swans

010321/85

Our year-end retrospective

This week, our favorite edition of each year, a look back at the items that shaped the year – and what a year it was!

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. From earlier this month: Sorry Joe, the train has left the station. You campaigned on your plan to end the Coronavirus; meanwhile the Trump administration has fast tracked not one, but two effective vaccines. You’ll be able to get your shot before you take office.

2. From January: Former Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf has been hit with $17.5 million in penalties by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for the company’s egregious scamming of its customers. Get back to us when the former CEO and the other players do some jail time. And why is this company even still in business?

3. It’s beginning to look like the asset/debit balance sheet on Gasparilla is leaning more and more to the debit side. Fun is fun, but when drunks beat up kids and generally endanger the public, it’s probably time to reign in things more than a little.

4. Number of the Week: 93% - the percentage of traffic stops in the state of Kansas that are out of state plates. My, my, the United States has its own larger version of Waldo, Florida.

5. (From February) Happy trails and best wishes to Deborah Clark who will step down as Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections at the end of next month. In contrast to contemporaries on Florida’s east coast, her office has been quietly efficient in her two decades of leadership.

6. Come on Duke Energy, dispense with the phony line item Asset Securitization Charge and truthfully say “we really botched our nuclear energy program and we’re charging you a few bucks a month into infinity to make up for it”.

7. Joltin’ Joe Biden takes on Amazon, saying they don’t pay their fair share of taxes. Amazon responds with their $15 billion tax bill from 2019 and pointing out they pay those taxes under tax laws which, for the most part, were developed while Biden was either in the Senate or VP. Try taking on a hungry grizzly bear next time, Joe.

8. (From late March)Watching our Pinellas County Commission attempt to deal with a Safer at Home resolution revealed some very strong commissioners, particularly David Eggers and Karen Seel and a few who, frankly, are an embarrassment. You owe to yourself to watch/attend when possible your particular jurisdiction’s public meetings rather than just blindly voting for a name every November.

9. (From April) The 5:05 Newsletter is at it again with this absolute gem: There should be a reality show where 16 congressmen are forced to take jobs in the private sector.

10. (From April) Quote(s) of the Week (both from Tampa Mayor Jane Castor): March 29 - “This is the highest level of unpreparedness from the federal government that I have ever seen in any type of an emergency.” April 15 - “That’s not my style. Frankly, I think it’s just a waste of time to be critical of others.” With a herculean amount of restraint, we offer no comment to the above quotes.

11. “Florida’s Best Newspaper” could find little to like about the Trump Administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic recovery efforts – except, of course, the $8.5 million they pocketed to keep their struggling newspaper afloat.

12. Idle thought: a great many bad things in the world can be avoided by simply obeying our laws.

13. (From May) Number of the week: 72% - percentage of U.S. citizens who believe the information in the nation’s major news media to be false or deliberately misleading. We suspect the number is higher here in the Tampa Bay area.

14. (From June) Ah, do you get the feeling Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried wants to run for governor in 2022? The commissioner, whose only agriculture experience is pushing for marijuana usage, criticizes our governor at every turn.

15. A friendly request to our national and state legislative leaders, work to resolve the coronavirus issue, don’t politicize it (gee, that worked out well, didn’t it?)

16. (From July) Quote of the week: “People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along” - the words of Rodney King during equally disturbing times in the spring of 1992. It has been twisted to “can’t we all get along” over the years but either way, it should be the mantra of our nation right now.

17. Idle thought: it’s so easy to have all the answers when you are on the other side of the dais or executive’s desk.

18. From September: you can understand the ire of a couple in California who lost their home in the wildfires. They are not allowed back into their property to see what can be salvaged, but VP candidate Kamala Harris and the state’s Democratic Governor were allowed to trespass on the poor couple’s property for a photo op. Just sickening.

19. (From November) - . Quote of the week: I will be a President for all Americans — whether you voted for me or not – Joe Biden. Sir, if only we believed you.

20. (Also from November) Republicans are still grumbling about some suspect vote counts in Philly and elsewhere. But, to their credit, not a single Target store has been torched.

Sports, media and other stuff:

1. Longtime Hollywood actor Kurt Russell says that celebrities and entertainers should perhaps stay out of politics and do what they do best: Entertain the people who pay them to do so. We tip our cap to Mr. Russell, one of few celebrities who seem to get it.

2. Bill Cowher’s election to the NFL Hall of Fame says as much about the Pittsburgh Steeler ownership as Cowher himself. The newly minted Hall of Famer is only the second of three coaches in the past 51 years of Steeler history. And you might as well clear wall space in Canton for his successor, Mike Tomlin, now in his 14th season with the Steelers. The Rooney family certainly knows how to run a franchise.

3. Since MLB chieftain Rob Manfred seems to think it should be no problem for players to maintain households in two cities 1500 miles part, we suggest that the MLB office split its year between New York and Oklahoma City – approximately the same distance apart as Tampa and Montreal.

4. Idle thought: The black cloud over the Houston Astros probably will not go away until Jim Crane divests himself of the team. There is probably no smaller group in sports than those who believe he didn’t know what was going on.

5. If you’re a football fan, you have to be happy for Andy Reid, one of the sport’s truly nice people who grabbed pro football’s ultimate prize in Super Bowl 54.

6. (From April): Thanks to the NFL for throwing sports fans a bone by holding their draft on schedule this week – specifically the 23^rd through the 25^th. We’re guessing viewership ratings for the event will be at an all-time high (and they were).

7. From May - As we labor through coronavirus, another lighter note from the 5:05 Newsletter: "I've washed my hands so many times that I can read the answers to a math test I took in 1966."

8. (Also from May) If we had any respect for Rays pitcher Blake Snell, it went out with the garbage after hearing him whine about getting about half his salary (approximately $3.5 million) – while people in Florida are hoping they finally get an unemployment check.

9. A third item from May - Tale of two lefthanders: while the narcissistic Snell complains about his multi-million dollar salary. David Price is quietly writing $1000 checks to each of the Dodgers minor leaguers who will not have a season – or payday. That is over 200 young players – good for the ex-Ray!

10. From June - we bow to the marketing geniuses at Ford and Quaker Oats. Ford is returning the Bronco to its product line on O.J. Simpson’s birthday while Quaker Oats has decided to eliminate the branding of its Aunt Jemima pancake line after 130 years. Who thinks up these things?

11. (Also from June) From the sometimes accurate 5:05 Newsletter: “In Chicago, 60 people died last month from COVID19 related gunshot wounds. This means they will have to vote by mail in November.” Additional note: 5:05 Newsletter to move its offices as bars are forced to close.

12. Idle thought with thanks to a Facebook friend – One moment you’re 20 in the 70s, now you’re 70 in the 20s.

13. (From October) Joe Buck certainly hasn’t won many friends over the past several weeks. He was roundly criticized for his LA bias in both the NLCS and World Series broadcasts. And then he and his NFL tag team partner Troy Aikman seemed to find fault with the Ray-Jay flyover during the Bucs-Packers game calling it a waste of taxpayer money. Had Buck and Troy Boy done their homework, they would know flyovers are regular training exercises – no different than flying over an empty Gulf of Mexico and add not a penny to military budgets. Buck really needs to go.

14. Wow! The liberal spin doctors are not going to like this one. Texas U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert is demanding the Democratic Party change its name given the history of the party on slavery and bigotry. Seems the shoe doesn’t fit quite as well when on the other foot.

15. Media note from the 5:05 Newsletter: One big difference between the U.S. and North Korea is that North Korea forces its people to listen to endless propaganda; while in the U.S., we pay a monthly cable bill to listen to it.

16. Both Alex Cora and A.J. Hinch again have managerial jobs after being suspended and fired for cheating. On that basis, Joe Jackson and Pete Rose belong in the Hall of Fame.

17. Idle question - what percentage of remarks attributed to Mark Twain and Yogi Berra did they actually say?

18. “Book him Danno.” This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Hawaii Five Oh’s Jack Lord.

19. Topping the charts the last week of the year fifty years ago (1970) were George Harrison’s first solo single, My Sweet Lord; at number two was the 5^th Dimension’s version of Bacharach-David’s One Less Bell to Answer and at number three, down from the top position a week earlier, was Smokey Robinson and the Miracles’ The Tears of a Clown.

20. (And the best of the year) The 5:05 Newsletter pretty much sums up this election season: "In my lifetime, we have gone from Dwight Eisenhower to Donald Trump and we have gone from John F. Kennedy to Joe Biden. If this is evolution, I believe that in a few more years we will be voting for plants."

Our Last Song Together

(Editor’s note: We have changed this year-end segment slightly. It now focuses only on local people of note, although our weekly issues will still record the passing of folks on the national and world fronts. If you’re relatively new to these pages, the title of this segment was inspired by the poignant Neil Sedaka song interpreted so well by the late Glenn Yarbrough.)     

His yearly football bets with lumberman and Gator Carroll Nall were legendary. Realtor, entrepreneur and civic leader Bobby Byrd, a ‘Nole through and through, died in late December at age 79.

Sam Wyche, the colorful head coach of the Buccaneers from 1992 through 1995, passed away in January at age 74. He also coached the Cincinnati Bengals to a Super Bowl appearance and had successful stints in broadcasting and politics as well.

(From March) We were saddened to read of the passing of former St. Petersburg city official Rick Dodge, a truly nice man. Rick led the quest for a major league franchise for St. Pete first by relocation, then expansion.

Back when the 6:00 anchorman was like part of the family, Channel 8’s Arch Deal was a welcome guest in the living room each evening. The veteran anchor died tragically in mid-March at age 88.

The more you got to know former Clearwater Police Chief Sid Klein, the more you appreciated him. Sid passed away in March at age 78.

(From March) We note the passing of long time media figure, Earl Emmons at age 85. Earl held many positions at The Tampa Tribune over the years and we enjoyed sharing a microphone with this most interesting man broadcasting prep sports in the late sixties and early seventies.

The man who was married to our only sibling for 62 years died Easter Week, just a few short months after the passing of the love of his life. Joe was never a brother-in-law, but the big brother we never had.

Zev Buffman who oversaw the expansion of Ruth Eckerd Hall, and tirelessly pushed for the controversial Coachman Park amphitheater project, died in April at age 89.

If there were a Mt. Rushmore of Tampa Bay restauranteurs, some of the names would include Gonzmart (Columbia), Heilman (Beachcomber), Siple and Laxer (Bern’s). The matriarch of Bern’s Steak House, Gert Laxer, passed away in late April at age 93.

In May, Clearwater lost one half of a couple who did so much good for the city over the years. Marian Justice, wife of educator Bill Justice, passed away at age 99.

(From June) Thousands and thousands – the number of people, including your humble blogger and saintly wife, whose lives were touched by Bill Justice. The former coach, educator and city commissioner passed away last week at age 98 – just weeks after the passing of his wife, Marian (see above).

(From July) He was one of the area’s leading foot specialists for years in addition to a community volunteer in Rotary, the Boy Scouts and other organizations. Dr. Scott Hale passed away at age 91. He and his charitable efforts will be missed.

For years Harry and Janie Cline were a force in making Clearwater a better place to live in so many aspects. Janie passed away in July at age 77.

(From August) Pinellas County’s first Public Defender, Robert Jagger, died last week at age 92. If you followed his 35-year career, you know Pinellas County got their money’s worth and much more from this devoted man of the law.

Also in August, the Nall family lost its matriarch. Barbara Nall, who died at age 87, was one of the sweetest, kindest human beings in this world. For over two decades, she was a fixture at Kennedy Middle School. Our condolences go to her husband of 65 years, Carroll, and their sons Andy and Scott.

Bill Heller, the man behind the considerable growth of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, passed away in September at age 85. The USF Education Building is named in his honor.

You tend to forget that Ray Perkins was an outstanding pass receiver for the Alabama Crimson Tide and the NFL’s Baltimore Colts. The former Bucs head coach passed away in December at age 79.

Noted Pinellas County contractor and civic volunteer, Frank Kunnen passed away last week at age 88.

Even if you lived in Clearwater all your life, you learned something about the place where you live every time you talked with Mike Sanders, Clearwater’s honorary historian. To this day, his book Clearwater: A Pictorial History sits on our coffee table. Mike passed away earlier this month at age 74.

Finally, Five Rants, Five Raves

(A new year-end feature saluting five people or things for outstanding achievements and, likewise, five bozos for, well, being bozos.)

Rants:

1. Donald Trump for not gracefully bowing to the obvious and conceding the election in a timely manner.

2. The University of South Florida for moving to drop their College of Education – the largest feeder of teachers to Tampa Bay area schools - with no public input.

3. Florida voters for blindly passing a $15 per hour wage amendment that will eventually bite them very hard in their wallets while taking away thousands of jobs.

4. Idiots scattered across the nation calling for the defunding of police. (Who ya gonna call?)

5. Joe Biden for, given his advanced age, not picking a stronger running mate and possible successor. But then he probably didn’t think he’d win either.

Raves:

1. Our medical professionals for their tireless efforts during the 2020 pandemic.

2. The Trump Administration’s fast track of multiple vaccines.

3. Our local charities for working double overtime this year to provide for so many more people in need.

4. The 5:05 Newsletter for “coming out of retirement” to provide at least some levity during a very troubled year.

5. The Stanley Cup Champion Lightning.

UP NEXT: Pennies; More crayons needed; Georgia on our mind

122720/86

TBR&R is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyle and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - much of what is printed here should not be taken literally. 

Chet, David and Walter, we sorely miss you 

Alex Sanchez, the CEO of the Florida Bankers Association, recently wrote a excellent op-ed piece in “Florida’s Best Newspaper” asking (with proper credit to Simon and Garfunkel) where have you gone Peter Jennings? Mr. Sanchez rightly points out you never knew what Jennings’ political leanings were, he simply reported the news. The same can be said for Chet (Huntley), David (Brinkley) and Walter (Cronkite). Today we have George Stephanopoulos, Lester Holt and Sean Hannity. Anybody out there have any questions about their leanings? About the closest we have to down the center reporting is Chris Wallace, but he is primarily a commentator as opposed to an anchor. On the print side, we, once upon a time, had a newspaper that pretty much struck a middle of the road chord – The Tampa Tribune, but it was bought out and shuttered by the Times. Anybody out there have any questions about their leanings? We sum up Mr. Sanchez’ piece with this direct quote, “None of us have the time or the inclination to monitor the politicians — state, local or federally elected ones. The media is supposed to be the watchdog. But to do its job, we need a media that is a watchdog, not a lap dog playing favorites with candidates and political parties.” To which we say Amen.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff: 

1. We’ll say this about Trump, with him leaning on companies to bring jobs back from offshore; we could understand more than half the customer service people we spoke with during the last four years. We fear that will be a thing of the past come January.

2. “Retreads” – that’s the word many political observers are using describing Joltin’ Joe’s inner circle. It’s a pattern of familiarity versus competence in the majority of his hires.

3. Among the more worrisome Biden cabinet appointments is California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. There is hardly a more strident pro-abortion ideologue in our nation than Becerra unless it is Biden’s Veep pick. Both go beyond the right to choose. Becerra was recently swatted down by the Supreme Court in his attempt to force pregnancy help centers to be required to hand out abortion literature as well – a clear First Amendment violation.

4. In the spirit of the holiday, this gem from a previous 5:05 Newsletter: Covid19 News: The World Health Organization is now reporting that a 180-year-old obese man from the North Pole was the first confirmed case of COVID19 last Christmas Eve and there were possibly cases before that, predominantly among elves who worked in a certain toy factory. The man's extensive travel records are now being heavily scrutinized.

Sports, media and other stuff

5. An end of an era next week – greyhound racing at Derby Lane concludes on December 31. The track had operated for 95 years. At its height, greyhound racing was featured year round rotating between tracks in Sarasota and Tampa as well as Derby Lane.

6. In a related note, you’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you ever visited the Tampa jai alai fronton on South Dale Mabry Highway. The fronton or arena opened in 1953 and closed 45 years later. Chula!

7. Rays note: Would you trade Charlie Morton for Michael Wacha? No, but given that Charlie has left the building, Wacha represents a solid pick up for the Rays.

8. You tend to forget that Ray Perkins was an outstanding pass receiver for the Alabama Crimson Tide and the NFL’s Baltimore Colts. The former Bucs head coach passed away last week at age 79.

9. Factoid: The five biggest selling Christmas singles of all time are (5) Mistletoe by Justin Bieber, (4) Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by Gene Autry, 3) All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey; Number 1 & 2 are both by Bing Crosby (2) Silent Night and (1) White Christmas, which is the biggest selling record of any sort with over 50 million copies.

10. Minor Christmas rant – in this impersonal world in which we live, is it too much trouble to hand address your Christmas cards and actually sign them with a short personal note – not some rambling page long, pre-printed “this is what we did this year” opus?

Remembering: historic toys

(Editor’s note: In this issue we conclude our year-long end of the month’s look back at the people, places and things that make the area what it is. Previous subjects have included Star Spectaculars, Spring Training, the Clearwater Bombers, High School Graduations, Clearwater’s WTAN, Howard the Trader, water front dining delights, Radio’s 100^th birthday, Christmas past and cool things we miss in our area.)

With Christmas upon us, last week (TBR&R 12/12/20) we mentioned Play Doh, the wallpaper cleaner turned kid’s sensation in the mid-fifties. It was one of the first toys inducted into the National Toys Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York. Play Doh was part of the 1998 “charter class” with Barbie, Crayola Crayons, Erector Set, Etch a Sketch, Frisbee, Legos, Marbles, Monopoly, Teddy Bears and Tinker Toys. This year’s inductees were Jenga and Sidewalk Chalk. There are a total of 74 items in the Hall of Fame including a stick and a cardboard box – hey, we kids were inventive!

UP NEXT: Our year-end retrospective

Merry Christmas!

122020/83

TBR&R is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyle and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - much of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

Expect softer coverage of the White House

Last week, Joltin’ Joe announced an all-female press crew for the White House. We fully expect some trained chimps would be able to handle the softballs the liberal press lobs during “press briefings” going forward. We’ve already gotten a preview during the election with ABC, CBS and NBC holding lovefests with the Biden campaign. Oh, there will still be Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and Newsmax to ask questions beyond “How are your dogs doing?” However, for the most part, the attack journalism of the last four years will vanish when Joe and company take center stage in mid-January.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Sorry Joe, the train has left the station. You campaigned on your plan to end the Coronavirus; meanwhile the Trump administration has fast-tracked not one, but two vaccines. You’ll be able to get your shot before you take office.

2. Longtime Hollywood actor Kurt Russell says that celebrities and entertainers should perhaps stay out of politics and do what they do best: Entertain the people who pay them to do so. A tip of our cap goes to Mr. Russell, one of few celebrities who seem to get it. In a related note, add Robert DeNiro to the list of Hollywood leftists whose movies we will never watch.

3. After Time Magazine’s 2019 person of the year climate change advocate Greta Thunberg, who leaves a carbon footprint equal to a large trucking fleet, the magazine’s honorees this year are Biden and Harris. Seems fitting.

4. In this challenging year, the number of locations for the Salvation Army kettles has been somewhat limited. With that in mind, those of us who have not been as hard hit by the pandemic could perhaps up the ante a bit this year for one of the world’s most deserving organizations.

5. From The 5:05 Newsletter: What if 2020 refuses to let 2021's transition team get to work?

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Boston College is the first; we expect there will be more – teams opting out of bowl games because of our current health situation. And that’s not a bad thing.

7. It indeed has been a most unusual college football season. What we have missed most, while not being a grad of either school, is the UF-FSU game. Hopefully, this will be a one year anomaly.

8. Number of the week: 9 – the number of NFC teams, including our Bucs, who have a better road than home record this season.

9. The year was 1956 and under many Christmas trees and in many stockings was one of the hottest new items for kids – Play Doh – an offshoot of a company’s product for cleaning wallpaper. Play Doh was one of the first toys inducted into the Toys Hall of Fame in 1998.

10. He was a genuine American hero. Chuck Yeager, who was a World War II fighter ace and the man who broke the sound barrier, died last week at age 97. And on the entertainment front, Charlie Pride, who broke the color line in country music, passed away. The singer of Kiss an Angel Good Morning and other hits was 86.

A Christmas wish list for our Rays

We know, like a seven-year-old’s Christmas list, we can’t have anything on this list, but a few of the items here would go a long way to making the Rays a contender again in 2021. First, there’s pitching, the key to any team’s aspirations for post season play. An innings eater starter would be ideal – not a Trevor Bauer, but someone from the second tier of free agent pitchers. This, of course, is more critical with the Rays’ attempt to cheap out on Charlie Morton backfiring. The trendy opener or bullpen games won’t get it done. And while, you’re at it, add another strong bullpen arm preferably a lefty. And float Tyler Glasnow’s name out there and see if you could get a really strong return. His post season work was worrisome. Strengthen first base; find a guy who can give you 150 starts there rather than two or three mediocre platoon guys. Find a glove first catcher who can hit a little. Both of the team’s receivers were justifiably tossed on the scrap heap. The outfield looks strong; we just need to hope that Randy Arozarena’s crash landing from unsustainable late season heights isn’t too severe – if indeed, he’s allowed to play. And finally, 162 games and some fans in the Trop would be the icing on the cake for 2021.

NEXT UP: End of an era; Historic toys; Chet, David & Walter

121220/83

TBR&R is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyle and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - much of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

Already, there are ominous signs

Joltin’ Joe assures us that his administration will not be Obama II, but all the signs are it will be exactly that. First comes the appointment of John Kerry, who couldn’t seem to find a job, as climate change czar or some such. Kerry is a guy who has barely worked in his life, having inherited a bunch of money and married into more – the Heinz fortune. Next, Joe says he will “empower” the EPA. The EPA had noble beginnings until Obama and crew got ahold of it, turning it into a shakedown mechanism aimed at businesses big and small. Donald Trump reined that in, but here we go again. And no mention of voting reform. Joltin’ Joe won the election, but anyone who believes there were no ballot irregularities is completely naïve. The American public needs to hold his feet (including the broken one) to the fire on a clean election process going forward.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. In introducing his economic team, Joltin’ Joe declares “help is on the way”. Don’t know about you, but as a normal taxpaying U.S. citizen, we find that downright scary. Thanks to South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem for reminding us of the wise words of President Ronald Reagan, "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'"

2. Entitlement is wonderful. Next time you suffer a minor injury, try to find a doctor on Sunday afternoon – and be taken there by a motorcade, no less.

3. Headline news: Biden finally gets access, once again, to top secret President’s Daily Brief. Related comment, yes but will he comprehend it?

4. Number of the week: 4 per cent – the difference in the growth of the stock market when an incumbent was re-elected versus when they are defeated. So, the market shouldn’t go all bear on us, it just won’t be as strong had Trump been re-elected. Thanks to Craig Phillips of Client First Advisory Group for the research.

5. Idle thought: Now that hurricane season is behind us, why not start each season with leftover names from the previous year? That way, Teresa, Ursula, Victoria and Wendy would get their day in the sun (or showers) and we can forgo Epsilon, Zeta and others.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. The first MLB pre-season rankings are out with the usual suspects. The top three are all NL teams, Dodgers, Braves and Padres in that order, followed by three AL teams – the Rays, White Sox and Yankees. Biggest upward bounce – the Mets with their new ownership and predicted biggest drop belongs to the Brewers, a 2020 playoff team, ranked 18^th in the pre-season picks.

7. Remember the name Zack Greinke. Besides winning over 200 games in his major league career, plus a couple Gold Gloves and a Cy Young Award, he may well go down in history as the last pitcher to win a Silver Slugger Award (2019). This assumes, of course, that major league baseball stops dragging their feet and make permanent the designated hitter.

8. The Florida Gators are having a great year, but the road to a possible National Championship goes right through Alabama – actually Atlanta where they face the Crimson Tide in the SEC championship.

9. A term we enjoy hearing at least once per football season – coffin corner – when a well-executed punt goes out of bounds inside the opponent’s five-yard line – pretty much a dying art nowadays.

10. With a lot of college football schedules crumbling at the end, here comes college basketball. Let’s hope things go better for the hoopsters.

We continue to revise our history

This week’s 79th anniversary of Pearl Harbor makes us want to share a book we recently concluded by retired Air Force Colonel Robert Harder. The title is The Three Musketeers of the Army Air Forces. The book revolves around the lives of Paul Tibbets, Thomas Ferebee and Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk. Tibbets’ name is familiar to many as the pilot of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945, in effect, bringing an end to World War II. The other two gentlemen may not be as well known. Ferebee was the bombardier on that mission and Van Kirk the navigator. What is not so well known is that three men also flew as a crew on more than two dozen B-17 missions over Germany before being assigned to the Manhattan Project. And they remained very close friends after they left their careers in the service. Over the years, they along with the rest of their crew were alternately heroes or villains depending on the mood of the times. As more and more of the Allied soldiers die off who were fighting in the Pacific and had their lives saved by the end of the War (the estimate is around 500,000 – Japanese lives saved by not having to invade the country – two to three times that amount), the accomplishments of the Enola Gay crew becomes more and more discounted. The men, at great peril, carried out the orders of their commander-in-chief and did our nation a great service. No amount of revisionist history can change that fact. To our regret, we never met any of the musketeers, but they were friends and fellow bridge players with members of our extended family who had only the deepest respect for these patriots. Just a side note - virtually every book we have reviewed over our six year existence is available in the excellent Pinellas County Library System.

NEXT UP: Rays’ Christmas list; Press coverage; Salvation Army

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TBR&R is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyle and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - much of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

It’s going to be a bumpy four years

It is more than abundantly apparent that the Democrats have won the White House. It is just as abundantly clear that there were voting irregularities in the 2020 election – not enough to swing the election, but enough that should make the American voter extremely concerned. This needs to be addressed in the next two years, but we’re not sure we can trust the incoming administration to do so. We can just hope that 2021 on will not be a repeat of the years 2009-17 with a corrupt Justice Department, weak economy and a general lack of confidence in the administration. The early days of the new administration have not inspired confidence. Do we really need another cabinet infected with John Kerry?

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Last Tuesday upon unveiling his first handful of Cabinet nominees, President-Elect Joe Biden urged the Senate to consider his picks in good faith. “I hope these outstanding nominees receive a prompt hearing, and that we can work across the aisle in good faith to move forward for the country,” Biden said. Sure Joe, just the way it was over the last four years with Chuck, Nancy and the gang.

2. In a related note, Joltin’ Joe names Antony Blinken as Secretary of State. The new administration is expected to announce posts for Winkin and Nod at a later date.

3. Political scientists looking at Donald Trump’s strong showing in South Florida have a simple answer. Biden is linked to a lot of socialistic factions and the great many Cuban expatriates living in South Florida have seen the socialism movie before and didn’t particularly like it.

4. Our “President- Elect” spent a great deal of the campaign ensconced in a bunker, but let our Governor be out of pocket for a few days and our liberal excuse for a newspaper goes nuts. Boy, it sure matters what letter follows your name.

5. Idle thought: can’t help wondering how our founding fathers would have viewed New York’s Emperor Cuomo’s attempt to limit church attendance during the season of Advent. Fortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court last week struck down the governor’s unilateral restriction on worship.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. This week we celebrate the 100^th birthday of jazz giant Dave Brubeck who won a Lifetime Achievement Grammy in 1996.

7. And lest we forget, Happy Birthday, Sis.

8. It’s not surprising that the Rays are open to offers on Blake Snell. He generates quality innings, but at what cost to the team’s chemistry? Prediction, the Rays will obviously be looking for an over pay for Snell. We don’t think they’ll get it.

9. Sports idle thought: shouldn’t the Bucs be in the Eastern Division of the NFC rather than Dallas?

10. From TBR&R Five Years Ago (Nov. 29, 2015): Cubs and former Ray’s bench coach Dave Martinez apparently doesn’t interview well as he lost out on the Ray’s top job and, more recently, the Dodger’s managerial post. One of these days, he will be thrust into the top spot by a firing, resignation or whatever and when that happens, he will make a couple clubs very unhappy they didn’t hire him. (Update - that happened and last year he led the Washington franchise to its first ever World Series championship.

Remembering: Christmas of years past

(Editor’s note: In each month’s final edition, we take a look back at the people, places and things that make the area what it is. Previous subjects have included Star Spectaculars, Spring Training, the Clearwater Bombers, High School Graduations; Clearwater’s WTAN, Howard the Trader, water front dining delights, very cool things from our past that we miss and radio’s 100^th birthday).

This one is tough because each of us have family traditions that are special to us. In our family, it is the Christmas stocking. Both our children are in their forties, but you better have a Christmas stocking for them on Christmas Eve or Day. For our community, it was the annual Christmas Parade down Cleveland Street, the huge Christmas tree at the bottom of the hill on Cleveland, just before the Causeway and some of the beautiful Christmas pageants put on by our places of worship. It seems many of us got our first bike at Christmas – particularly in Florida where you could bike year round. Conversely, a prized Christmas present up north was a sled or toboggan. No matter where you grew up, there was always (and still is) the red kettle of the Salvation Army where Mom or Dad would hand you a coin or two to drop in the kettle – perhaps in exchange for a candy cane from the bell ringer. Two movies that have become staples at Christmas are Jimmy Stewart in 1946’s A Wonderful Life and the 1983 family favorite A Christmas Story.

NEXT UP: How bad will the economy be; 3 Musketeers; More bumps

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TBR&R is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyle and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - much of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

U.S.A. to the world: we know we can do better

On this, the 57^th anniversary of the death of President John F. Kennedy, we reflect back on our nation’s leaders. We know, we, as electors, have not done well. Considering the Top 10 Presidents as great or near great in a non-partisan U.S. News poll, we have produced one Top 10 President in the last fifty years – Ronald Reagan. The last three, including our President-Elect have been jokes (sad jokes, but jokes). Kennedy wasn’t quite as good as we baby boomers wish to remember – ranked number 10 in the poll of historians. The top five Presidents in the poll, and every such poll we’ve ever seen, are both Roosevelts, Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln. The worst five are James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, Warren G. Harding and William Henry Harrison – kind of harsh since he only served 31 days before dying. So with Presidents neither great nor lousy with the exception of Reagan, most of us have been saddled with middling Presidents during our lifetime. Although, you can be pretty sure space near the bottom of the poll is being reserved for our current President and the guy stumbling in after him. Can we all vow to do better in 2024?

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Here we go with the 2021 spending spree – forgiving student loans. And what of us who saved, budgeted and sacrificed to pay off those loans over the years? We’re not happy. Modify terms of re-payment perhaps if you will, but it all comes down to being responsible adults – and not putting another burden on taxpayers like you and me.

2. A belated Happy Birthday to Joltin’ Joe. At 78, he is statistically two years younger than the average person admitted to a nursing home.

3. This week’s bad idea – a registry for downtown Clearwater properties that are vacant - complete with a fee. The city is throwing the baby out with the bath water (read Scientology) as the last thing a property owner needs while trying to fill an empty space is more paperwork and more expense.

4. All four new Apple iPhones are now available for sale ranging from $699 to $1099 – no charger included. Man, you would think for a grand, they would include a lousy wire and two connectors. Yet many people, your humble flip phone blogger not included, will buy these things.

5. Breaking News: Chelsea Clinton blames Trump for Secret Service COVID infections. Raise your hand if you lose sleep over what Chelsea Clinton thinks.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of versatile actor Ricardo Montalban, perhaps best known for the Fantasy Island series and the big screen’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

7. After this year’s successful staging of the World Series in Texas, there is at least some talk of making the series an “event” much like the Super Bowl in either warm weather or domed facilities. Our guess is the idea dies on the vine.

8. Tampa is the latest “rent a city” for a Canadian pro team – the NBA Raptors. The Toronto Raptors finished second in the NBA East last year.

9. To no one’s surprise, Kevin Cash won the AL Manager of the Year award. What is puzzling is the runner-up Rick Renteria was fired by the White Sox after leading them to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years. He joins Joe Girardi who actually won Manager of the Year with Miami in 2006 – having been fired the previous week.

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you did some of your Christmas shopping at Montgomery Ward on the corner of Missouri and Cleveland downtown. The store later moved adjacent to the then new Clearwater Mall on U.S. 19 and ceased operations in 2001.

Thank goodness for mentors

Recently we read of the passing of a woman just a year or two younger than us. Frankly, we never had the pleasure of meeting her, but her late father was a terrific mentor when we began a business nearly forty years ago. He was just one of several folks we were blessed with over the years offering advice, guidance and, as we often required, restraint. Most of them are gone now, but there are a couple younger people who have also been guides as we navigate life. We’d like to think that, like our incredible wife, we may have been a mentor to a few folks over the years. We never really thought about it in that regard until just recently with the passing of our mentor’s daughter. But as we enjoy Thanksgiving week, let us all pause and give thanks for the good guidance we’ve received (and perhaps given) over the years.

NEXT UP: Christmas Past; Another Bad Amendment; Take Five

Happy Thanksgiving!

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TBR&R is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyle and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - much of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

What could you do with $14 billion?

First, let’s tell you where we got that seemingly random number. $14 billion was the amount of money spent on the races for the White House and Congress this election cycle. That does not include a single state or local race. $14 billion would create 280,000 jobs at $50,000 each. It is 14 times The American Cancer Society’s annual budget. Fifteen of our 50 states don’t have budgets that big. The number is double the revenues of Raymond James and over three times that of Bloomin’ Brands, the parent company of Outback Steak House. More than anything, it is an obscene amount of money to be spent on politics. This is isn’t about the First Amendment, it’s about jamming our mailboxes and airwaves with lies and half-truths, and it needs to be reined in and money like that used for more worthwhile pursuits.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Quote of the week: I will be a President for all Americans — whether you voted for me or not – Joe Biden. Sir, if only we could believe you.

2. Republicans are still grumbling about some suspect vote counts in Philly and elsewhere. But, to their credit, not a single Target store has been torched.

3. Those of us in Pinellas County owe a debt of thanks to our library system. Balancing public safety with service to their residents, the libraries have been open for some time, albeit on somewhat reduced schedules. Hillsborough is finally reopening their libraries on November 16.

4. The “bastion of journalism” we are stuck with in the bay area spews 52, count them, 52 paragraphs on a $40,000 hire by Governor DeSantis. Our state wastes more than that a day on questionable stuff – and has for years. Had to be an extremely slow news day.

5. A tip of our cap to the utility workers who came from the Midwest and Texas to help us through the damage during Hurricane Eta. Thanks also to the folks who supported them with places to stay, some good meals and other essentials.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Although some found him to be a pompous and condescending personality, it is hard to argue with the success Alex Trebek brought to the long running show Jeopardy. The game show host lost his battle with pancreatic cancer at age 80 last week.

7. Why is major league baseball dragging their feet on a DH decision for 2021? Let’s face it, the DH is coming, why delay it and keep teams guessing while trying to address their 2021 rosters?

8. Both Alex Cora and A.J. Hinch again have managerial jobs after being suspended and fired for cheating. On that basis, Joe Jackson and Pete Rose belong in the Hall of Fame.

9. You hate to jinx things, but this could be the first time in history that all three Tampa Bay sports franchises make the playoffs.

10. Hey, we’re coming in at under 800 words for the first time in quite a while (actually we’re been exceeding 900 most weeks.) We’re sure with the lowly anticipated Biden presidency, things will pick up shortly.

The crowded Mt. Rushmore of vocal groups

Our Tampa Bay Rants and Raves focus group’s most recent assignment was to come up with a Mt. Rushmore of vocal groups. Instead of four faces on the memorial, there would be 20 when you total up the number of members of our All-Star groups. Our only musician in the focus group went for the most successful British vocal group in history – the Beatles. Another member chose “America’s group” – the Beach Boys. Then came one of Motown’s most successful groups - Levi Stubbs’ the Four Tops and finally, the group that combined great rock with polished brass – Chicago, our largest group with seven regular members. Just a side note on each group’s biggest selling song - they were the Beatles’ Hey Jude; the Beach Boys’ I Get Around; the Tops’ biggest was I Can’t Help Myself and Chicago’s Hard to Say I’m Sorry was their biggest seller. Together, these four super groups charted 226 records with 29 of them going to number one. That is a true Mount Rushmore of groups.

NEXT UP: Mentors, We can do better; “Monkey Wards”

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TBR&R is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyle and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - much of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

Blitherin’ Biden wins, we think

The Democrat’s 2020 strategy paid off – keep Blitherin’ Joe Biden mostly out of sight and script everything he says, allow everybody, dead or alive, to vote whenever they felt like it and get him elected. Now comes the fun part. Trying to continue to keep someone with the brain power of a hamster out of sight and just whisper in his ear the things the radical left wants him to parrot. Here are three or four things to keep an eye on. First, your taxes - as a middle class taxpayer (we have no rich readers), compare your tax bill this year to next year’s under a full year of Taxin’ Joe. Jobs – it’s a little hard to track, but doable - follow the number of jobs that return overseas as they did during the Obama-Biden years. Watch and see if our Covid-19 cases take a precipitous drop as opposed to the general trend they were already tracking. Tomatoes, gas and bread – keep your eye on things you have to buy and see what happens to the prices in the next twelve months. Inflation and Democrats seem to go hand in hand. Track small business failures in 2021. If you think this year was bad for small business, wait until Biden economics kicks in. And finally, before you shoot off fireworks (if you can afford them) on December 31, 2021, ask yourself if you’re better off than you were in the previous four years.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. The 5:05 Newsletter pretty much sums up this election season: "In my lifetime, we have gone from Dwight Eisenhower to Donald Trump, and we have gone from John F. Kennedy to Joe Biden. If this is evolution, I believe that in a few more years, we will be voting for plants."

2. Even twenty years later, political pundits mention the hanging chads of 2000. The fact is Florida has one of the very best vote counting systems in the nation and folks in places like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia and a half dozen other states might want to phone their colleagues in the Sunshine State and learn how to do it right – and perhaps legally.

3. The Good News: no more political/half-truth ads on your TV. The Bad News: we’ll be blitzed with Medicare ads between now and December 7.

4. The Associated Press, which has gone from a once respected news source to a far left advocate, is already predicting a failed Biden presidency, but blames it on Donald Trump. Huh?

5. A heartfelt thank you to all our veterans for their service to our great nation. Happy Veterans Day.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Sean Connery was James Bond. For us early baby boomers, all others were fakes. Connery also starred in Marnie, The Man Who Would be King and his Academy Award role as Jimmy Malone in The Untouchables. Sean Connery died last week at age 90.

7. Ah, last week we rolled the clock back an hour and marked yet another year of our national legislature ignoring the will of Florida’s residents to standardize our time.

8. We grow weary of folks saying “Publix is so expensive.” It all comes down to what you pay for – a bagger at the end of every line at Publix – or endless lines at Walmart. As our late, great friend and WTAN morning host Harry Lytle used to say, “You pays your money and you takes your choice”.

9. The answer: Patti Page, Brenda Lee, Olivia Newton-John, Madonna and Mariah Carey. The question, who were the top female artists of the decade for the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s respectively?

10. You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you refer to the now–razed building on Greenwood and Laura as the “old” Clearwater High School and not the one on Gulf to Bay that is being replaced by a new facility just to the south.

Election reflections

Some tidbits on local elections last week: Pinellas voters missed a chance to eliminate arguably the weakest of our county commissioners as Janet Long squeaked out a one percent win over a better qualified Larry Ahern. Speaking of the county commission, we now have two Gerards feeding at the public trough as Eric Gerard, husband of Commissioner Pat, outspent incumbent Largo City Commissioner Curtis Holmes 2 to 1 and won by 3000 votes. South of the Skyway, “Florida’s Best Newspaper” kept pushing the “close race” between veteran U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan and Margaret Good. Buchanan won by 11 points – hardly a close race, more like liberal wishful thinking. Charlie Crist re-elected as District 13’s U.S. Rep. We believe he ran on the Democratic ticket this time. Charlie tends to join whatever party is opportune for him at the time or become an Independent when that fits the purpose. But, we must say this: the man does represent his constituents well. Overall, there were few upsets in bay area elections.

NEXT UP: The Boys, Tops and others; Apple lemmings; $14 billion

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TBR&R is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyle and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - much of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

Comey perhaps Trump’s best appointment

We join the majority of Americans in applauding the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. With all due respect to Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, this is President Trump’s finest appointment of any kind during his Presidency. We admire this young woman’s tenacity in ignoring the slings and arrows thrown her way by Chuck Schumer and company. Without doubt, the most outrageous line of questioning came from the distinguished whack job from Hawaii. That would be Mazie Hirono who asked “Since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors, or committed any physical or verbal harassment or assault of a sexual nature?" The Senator followed that up with, “Have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct?” Showing enormous restraint, the soon to be Justice answered “No, Senator” to both questions rather than “have you ever been tested for any degree of mental acuity?” Our country is getting a very qualified legal scholar for our highest court - one without the left wing baggage of her predecessor.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Wall Street usually reacts in front of impending events. The precipitous decline of the last ten days indicates a fear of a Biden victory. Should he win, most experts expect a continued, but moderate decline. A Trump victory, they say, will produce a strong upward spike.  

2. If Joe Biden is elected President, it’s not so much him and his diminished capacity we need to worry about, but rather the people he listens to.

3. Basement Biden seems to think if he is elected, America will all join hands and sing Kumbaya. We not sure if that indicates extreme naivety or further diminished mental capacity.

4. Statistics: Florida, the third largest state in the union, is 11^th in Covid deaths. The states with the highest death rates are New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts.

5. Further statistics: Florida is the largest state in the union that doesn’t just automatically pull a lever in Presidential elections. The last time two other “Top 4” states, California and New York voted Republican was 1988 and 1984 respectively. Is it any wonder we’ve been stampeded by the candidates?

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Spanning the globe, The 5:05 Newsletter offers this time reminder: Day Light Savings Time begins November 1. Don't forget to set your clocks back to 1861.

7. We’re not sure whether the bag over this USF alum’s head is because of our awful football team or the school’s awful decision to shut down their School of Education. Believe us, it’s the latter.

8. Here’s a name for you – Hector Headley Lopez, until this year, the only player to ever have a sacrifice bunt and a homer in the same World Series game (1961) as well as being our long-time friend and lifetime Yanks fan’s least favorite player. One historical baseball book described Lopez as the worst fielding player in the history of the game. Our friend would agree.

9. Baseball factoid – two major league clubs notched their 11,000^th win in the just completed baseball season – the Dodgers and the Cubs. The team with the most wins over their history is the Giants with just under 11,200. Most losses - that would be the Phillies with just over 11,000.

10. Disappointed yes, but you have to tip your cap to the LA Dodgers. The World Series champs had to beat the other three toughest teams in baseball (Atlanta, San Diego and the Rays) to claim their prize - no cakewalk there. They earned their seventh World Championship.

Understanding Tampa Bay baseball

Annually, or even more often, one of the local baseball writers complains they don’t understand Tampa Bay baseball fans. They specifically don’t understand why the Rays are one of the two worst draws in baseball. So, we’re going to type this real slow and maybe they will grasp the facts of Tampa Bay baseball life. It starts with Tropicana Field – unquestionably the worst baseball venue in the universe. Its horrible location was the result of a lot of political brokering that had nothing to do with the best geographical site, but who could get money in their pockets. The facility itself is a dungeon and it, along with its various workers, is not fan friendly. Next, you walk down any street in St. Pete and ask anybody over 40 “where are you from” and you get Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, New York and so on. If they are baseball fans, they established those loyalties before there was a Rays team. And then there’s the elephant in the room – Atlanta. Folks who did grow up here latched on the Braves with the Superstation back in the 60s and after 30 years of Hammerin’ Hank, Dale Murphy and Chipper Jones, they didn’t change colors. (The Braves winning a lot has something to do with it as well.) Will a new stadium help? Probably not. Will the Rays continuing their winning ways help? Maybe. Would changing leagues help? We honestly think that would be the best solution as the bay area tends to attract Midwestern transplants and the Midwest is heavy with NL teams – think Cubs, Cards, Pirates, Brewers, Reds plus the Phils who have a large fan base here after training in Clearwater for over 70 years. Will any of these things happen? It remains to be seen. In the meantime, get used to continued sparse crowds in the south county dungeon.

NEXT UP: 3 Musketeers; Election Wrap; Patti, Brenda and the girls

110120/79

TBR&R is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyle and nostalgia items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - much of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

Perhaps our favorite story of the year

We thought it would be a good idea to take a deep breath and pull away from nasty politics in our lead article and focus on a truly good news story. It concerns Dr. Paul Milgrom, a professor of economics at Stanford University who won the 2020 Nobel Prize for Economics. Unfortunately, the Nobel Committee did not have Dr. Milgrom’s phone number and could not reach him. Luckily, the committee did have the number of his co-winner and neighbor, Dr. Robert Wilson. So in the middle of the night, Dr. Wilson knocks on the door of Dr. Milgrom to tell him he won and that Wilson had given the Nobel Committee his cellphone number. Seldom does a knock on the door in the middle of the night bring such good news. Congratulations to Drs. Milgrom and Wilson.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Joe, if you have such a terrific plan for quelling the Covid-19 virus, why haven’t you shared it with our nation’s health leaders, thereby eliminating a lot of misery? Or is it a bunch of smoke and mirrors as most of America suspects?

2. Most troubling quotes of the 2020 campaign – (a) “You’ll know my opinion on court-packing when the election is over,” (b) “This is a person (Kamala Harris) who is ready on day one to be president of the United States of America.” Both came from Joe Biden, who wants to be our next President? Harris was roundly rejected by her own party in the primaries mainly because of her lack of qualifications – other than trying to trash Justice Kavanaugh.

3. Next Tuesday is Election Day. Is it true that Big Bill Thompson is still on the Chicago mayoral ballot? The corrupt 1920s mayor would be a better choice than the current office holder who has a few years to go before a majority of rational voters dump her.

4. Idle question prompted by our TBR&R special U.S. History edition on July 5: Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump, how did the two of you escape military service during the Vietnam era when damn near every one of our college classmates (all your age) did not? (BTW Zero is the amount of minutes the four people on our national ballot have served in the military).

5. With a week before the national election, it appears Joe Biden has his own version of Jimmy Carter’s brother Billy – his son Hunter Biden who just can’t seem to stay out of trouble with his influence peddling.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Answer: Chicago Cubs. Question: What is the only major league team not to have a single Covid-19 case during the MLB season? This is despite the fact that Illinois and Chicago, in particular, have one of the highest rates in the country.

7. Joe Buck certainly hasn’t won many friends over the past several weeks. He was roundly criticized for his LA bias in both the NLCS and World Series broadcasts. And then he and his NFL tag team partner, Troy Aikman, seemed to find fault with the Ray-Jay flyover during the Bucs-Packers game calling it a waste of taxpayer money that “wouldn’t happen in a Kamala-Biden administration.” Had Buck and Troy Boy done their homework, they would know flyovers are regular training exercises – no different than flying over an empty Gulf of Mexico and add not a penny to military budgets. We are bewildered as to why Buck and Aikman still have jobs.

8. Speaking of dolts up and down the dial, this breaking and shocking news: “A staggering 97 percent of the jokes Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon told about the candidates in September targeted President Donald Trump, a study released Monday found.” Wow, who would have thought that coming from two of the most liberal clowns on TV?

9. If you voted absentee in Pinellas County, the Supervisor of Elections website will tell you if your ballot has been received – and if it’s already been counted - neat site.

10. Breaking political news from the 5:05 Newsletter: As we head for the November elections, Democrats are riding high after defeating two cartoon characters, a pancake mix, a box of rice, an ice cream bar and an old lady on a syrup bottle.

Remembering: The 100^th anniversary of radio

(Editor’s note: In each month’s final edition, we take a look back at the people, places and things that make the area what it is. Previous subjects have included Star Spectaculars, Spring Training, the Clearwater Bombers, High School Graduations; Clearwater’s WTAN, Howard the Trader, water front dining delights and very cool things from our past.)

On November 2, 1920, in a small, crowded facility in Turtle Creek, Pa., America’s first commercial radio station, KDKA, hit the airwaves. Its first broadcast? It was the results of the 1920 Presidential election between Warren G. Harding and James M. Cox. The station was developed by Westinghouse Electric and was responsible for a lot of Westinghouse radios sold in the years to come. One of the first two announcers for KDKA was a Westinghouse engineer by the name of Ted Harnack. Mr. Harnack was a career employee of Westinghouse and retired to Clearwater after over thirty years with company. Mr. Harnack wisely stuck to his day job of engineering rather than the less stable broadcasting field. He was an acquaintance of our father, also a career Westinghouse man, and he kept us spellbound with his stories of the early days of radio – a career we enjoyed for two decades. Ironically, the loser in that 1920 election, James Cox, went on to build one of the largest chains of media outlets in the country comprised of dozens of radio and TV stations and daily newspapers. Six of those radio stations are in the bay area including the market’s most listened to station – WDUV-FM. As for KDKA, it remains a Pittsburgh institution rated number two among over six dozen radio outlets in the Steel City. Oh, the first station in Tampa Bay was WDAE 1250kc just two years after KDKA signed on. It was a strong CBS network affiliate for decades.

NEXT UP: 11,000 wins; Joe & the Supremes; Built, but nobody comes

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