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.

Crackdown coming on texting?

In just a few weeks, the gloves come off and careless drivers caught texting while driving will be formally charged. The first offense is only $30 – way too low although court costs would be additional. With the second offense, the fine (again sans court costs) is double. These fines are ridiculously low, but it is the hand law enforcement was dealt by the legislature. Now comes the tricky part, seeing if the new law is indeed strictly enforced come January 1.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Our military families living at MacDill AFB should not have to go to court to seek relief from mold permeating their living quarters.

2. The merger of BB&T and SunTrust was completed last week. The first of the year will begin the rebranding of all locations to the new name Truist. You, me and a third person we picked up randomly on the street could have come up with a better name.

3. Paul Volker, whose monetary policies quite likely cost Jimmy Carter a second term in the White House, died last week at 92. He was the chair of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987.

4. Breaking news: Democrats bash Trump for lack of help for Puerto Rico. But wait, isn’t this the same party that played political games delaying aid for the area surrounding Tyndall AFB in the panhandle?

5. You’ve lived in Pinellas County a long time if you ordered holiday citrus for the folks up north from Bilgore or Orange Blossom Groves.

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. Wow, it seems like the NHL is jettisoning a coach a week in their still young season.

7. It’s kind of sad the Army-Navy game doesn’t draw the attention it used to in the days of Staubach, Bellino, Davis and Blanchard.

8. The playoffs are out of the question for the Bucs, but the first .500 season in three years is obtainable with two very winnable games out of the last three.

9. Ted Simmons was a decent pick by the Hall of Fame old timers committee, but the selection of Marvin Miller was an affront to the vast majority of fans who have followed the game for any length of time.

10. Factoid: Bing Crosby’s classic White Christmas is one of only two recordings to top the charts in separate years. The other was Chubby Checker’s The Twist in both 1960 and 1962. Crosby’s record is the largest selling single of all time at over 50 million and counting.

Solid hires by USF, FSU

The hirings of Mike Norvell and Jeff Scott were excellent moves by FSU and USF respectively. Norvell has taken a moribund Memphis program and made it a perennial bowl team during his four years at the school. He is an offensive maven. The only black mark on his record is a winless bowl slate. It has also been mentioned that he lacks Florida roots, but then again, so did Bobby Bowden. As for Jeff Scott, he checks the box as for Florida roots; his Dad is a USF grad. And he is one heck of a recruiter and, like Norvell, a whiz on the offensive side of the ball. This branch of the Dabo Sweeney coaching tree should bring better times to USF. The only concern is how long do we keep him?

UP NEXT: Hey Santa; 9/26/20; Kudos to Frontier

121519