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WEEK OF APRIL 5, 2026

Tampa Bay Rants and Raves (TBRR) is a weekly chronicle of politics, sports, lifestyle and historical notes from a politically incorrect viewpoint. Caution, some of this content should not be taken literally.

First thing on our mind:

It wasn’t a happy weekend last weekend with our Saintly Dukie. Truth be told, she handled that brutal loss better than your humble blogger.

Leading off: Will we see another great president?

Depending on what poll you consult, and your age, we have seen about 3-4 great Presidents in our lifetimes – Ike, Truman, JFK, and for the slightly older demographic, FDR, who often tops polls. We’re not so sure. FDR had a lot of things tip his way for which he could take little credit. Top 10 yes, but we reserve the top spot for our first president. Likewise, we would argue with some polls that have Ronald Reagan only in the teens. And JFK may have been overhyped for only three years in office. The rest in our lifespan are mostly a mixed bag of mediocre to downright awful. The next great president – the current field of possibilities leaves little room for optimism. But there is always the chance of an unheralded person stepping up ala Harry Truman. We hope so, as we are long overdue for another great leader.

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

Long time Clearwater resident Cliff Snedeker passed away last month. Cliff made his mark in civic service – principally Rotary International, where he was president of the Clearwater club and later District Governor of a five-county district. Cliff was a member of Rotary for an amazing 60 years.

Given the hand she was dealt, Pam Bondi did a hell of a job as Attorney General.

Number of the week: $8.29 – that’s the price of a gallon of gas in LA as we “go to press.”

Related: we kept betting on which national gas retailer would edge past 3.99 point nine. The answer was all of them and they didn’t “edge’ past but increased by about seven percent.

We send kudos to President Trump for spotlighting our farmers at the White House last week. We way too often just take it for granted that we can just pick up a few ears of corn or a bag of apples without thinking about the efforts it takes to grow all that produce.

To all the folks who participated in last weekend’s “No Kings” protest: be glad they were held in the USA rather than the country you seem to be supporting where the consequences of dissent are much different.

Entertainment news from the 5:05 Newsletter: Tickets for Bruce Springsteen's No Kings Tour are now on sale. With the cheapest tickets going for $200 each, he should also call it No Peasants, Either.

This week in 1912 (April 11): The RMS Titanic leaves on its ill-fated voyage to New York City.

Sports and random notes:

From the nearly world famous Alan Gassman Law Firm marquee on Court Street: “Research shows 6 out of 7 dwarfs are not Happy.”

Something we read recently: “What is a baseball season like when the St. Louis Cardinals aren’t relevant?” The answer is rare, but it looks like 2026 will be one of those seasons.

Our comment on driverless 18-wheelers last week gave rise to the remembrance of Steven Spielberg’s first feature length film, the very scary Duel in 1971.

Number of the week: 100 million – that’s the number of records sold by a group that started out known as Tom & Jerry – Simon and Garfunkel.

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you ever shopped at Gulf Discount on Drew Street. They could repair virtually anything!

One last thing: Destination bucket list

Our TBRR focus group is relatively well-traveled, but this month, we ask them to list a few destinations they have thus far missed and would like to visit.

Our leadoff hitter should pick up a lot of bonus miles as his list includes Australia, our two newest states Hawaii and Alaska and, finally a junket in which we hope he would include us – a grand worldwide tour of every Disney Park.

One of our charter members, an amateur World War II historian, has never visited Pearl Harbor; also as an aviation enthusiast, the “bone yard” at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona is on his list. Outside the U.S., he would like to visit Ireland and, although he has visited before, a return trip north to our 49^th state.

Another charter member would also like to revisit Alaska and, perhaps on the way, a stop off in Montana. Then for her, it’s off to Europe with visits to the widely differing cultures of Ireland and Italy.

Several of our members mention revisits along with some new horizons. Our westernmost member would like to revisit Ireland and then take on France, Puerto Rico and Alaska.

Ireland is the subject of another revisit from another of our members; also D.C. which he only saw as a kid. Additionally, his list includes Grand Canyon National Park as well as Mount Rushmore and the memorial to Crazy Horse. He is the first without Alaska on his list, but we know he and his family are already booked for a trip there this summer!

Our Palm Harbor member mentions return visits to both Ireland and Italy along with a trip to Mount Rushmore. She, too, is scheduled for a visit to our 49^th state this summer.

Historic Mount Rushmore gets yet another vote from our northernmost member. He also lists the Flight 93 Memorial along with Jerusalem and a revisit to another historic American location – Independence Hall.

Our lone Clearwater native has a rather slim list. She wishes to do a return visit to Switzerland, hard to argue with that! And she’d like to travel to a northern locale to view the aurora borealis – also hard to dispute.

In June, we will be closing in on our nation’s 250^th birthday and we will be asking our focus group to mention some things or products that are uniquely American.