A weekly look at the Tampa Bay area and national politics from a conservative viewpoint – plus a helping of sports and lifestyle items. Warning: not everything printed here should be taken at face value.

Insurance companies and their lap dogs

Back about two months ago (TBRR 8/4/19), our “number of the week” was 21,000 – the number of unpaid insurance claims from Hurricane Michael which occurred just under a year ago. Since our August 4, edition that number has “dwindled” to 18,000. This is an unconscionable situation that our lawmakers are allowing to happen by making insurance laws with as many holes as Swiss cheese. The time has come to hold Florida lawmakers feet to the fire. All Florida House seats and roughly half the Florida Senate seats are up for election in 2020 and the candidates for election – or re-election need to answer some tough questions about why insurance companies are running roughshod over Florida’s citizens – and what you Mr. or Ms. Candidate is going to do to change it.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. There’s a good deal of whining about the length of Tampa City Council meetings. The reason seems to be some newly elected council members asking some tough questions of staff rather than just rubber stamping items. Good for them!

2. Idle thought: could we just impeach Nancy Pelosi?

3. Good for Publix to place a ban on open weapons in states where there is an open carry law. Fortunately, in Florida it is not an issue on mixing groceries with Glocks.

4. It’s been announced that 7-11s are coming to malls including Brandon’s Westfield Mall. So, does this mean you’ll be able to get ripped off during a natural disaster at the mall now - a bit snarky but as former Attorney General Pam Bondi pointed out in 2017 (TBRR 9/10/17) – they earned it.

5. You’ve lived in Clearwater a very long time if you recall the sinking of the deep sea fishing boat the Miss Buckeye II around this time of year many decades ago (1951). Fortunately due to the efforts of another long time deep sea fishing boat, the Sea Fever, all 43 people on board were saved.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. And you think the Bucs have kicking problems? The Jets are now on their fourth placekicker of the year. If only that were the Jets’ biggest problem.

7. Number of the week: 1968 – the last time the six-time Super Bowl champs Pittsburgh Steelers started a season 0-4. They play the other 0-3 AFC North team, the Bengals, on Monday Night Football.

8. Coolest name by far of all the MLB September call-ups – Oakland outfielder Skye Bolt.

9. Our crack prognosticator Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) post season picks are below, but here are some words of wisdom from ESPN writer Sam Miller – “Baseball people are unanimous in this opinion: The test of a team is the six-month season. The seventh month is largely about luck”.

10. We conclude (sort of) our best player by the number series (back story TBRR 3/10/10) with numbers 30 and 31. Number 30 is a close call because this Hall of Famer wore both 30 and 34 over a long career. Both numbers have been retired – 30 by the Angels and 34 by Houston and Texas. We speak, course, of Nolan Ryan. The number 31 has also been retired by multiple clubs - the Braves and the Cubs that number belonged to perhaps the smartest pitcher to ever toe the slab – Greg Maddux.

Achmed’s MLB post season picks

First the good news, our wizard of odds Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) is on the road to a full recovery from a nasty medical issue a few weeks back. He remains a little shaky – at first predicting the Cardinals over the Browns in six. After we reminded him that was the 1944 World Series result, he got to the task at hand and forecasts the Houston Astros will play the LA Dodgers in the World Series and that the Astros will win their second championship in the last three years while the Dodgers go down to their major league record 15^th series defeat. But you have to have been there a lot to lose that many and only the Yankees have appeared in more Fall Classics than the Dodgers.

NEXT UP: Judge’s Chambers; Sensible approach to Halloween; Black Monday

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