TBR&R is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports and lifestyle items from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - certain accounts printed here should not be taken literally.

Will the “everything free” plan work for Biden?

More and more, we get the feeling that a lot of folks are going to vote for Joe Biden expecting him to be the next incarnation of Santa Claus. You’ve heard it –free tuition, free medical care, free monthly checks, free Eskimo Pies (okay, we made up the last one). But we get the feeling that if enough people asked for it, Joe would promise it. Forgive us if we think all this sounds a bit like the Bernie Sanders platform which Democrats rejected as too socialist. And while this seems great, somebody has to pay for it. And no matter how Joe and his spin doctors try to twist the numbers, it will be that revered middle class Joe is always talking about who will take the hit.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. Voters are, and should be, nervous about mail-in balloting in states that have never before handled anything of that magnitude. Florida’s “request it and get it” mail-in ballot is much more sound than, say, Nevada which intends to mail ballots to everyone on the voter rolls – without confirming if the person even still lives in the state – or is even alive.

2. Biting commentary from The 5:05 Newsletter: If you won the lottery, would you mail in the ticket? Or would you go in person? Why is that? (Remember this when you go vote.)

3. Okay, Ms. Pelosi, you stomped your feet and held your breath until you got your way on the postal service. Now, do as you intended and call back the House and get some relief for people who need it.

4. “Florida’s Best Newspaper” devoted many, many column inches on the op-ed page last week on how to pronounce the Democratic Veep nominee’s first name. It’s like the punctuation mark comma with a la like in la de dah at the end. No space required here on pronouncing Mike.

5. Quote of the week: “We have a right in our home to live in peace." Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on banning protests on the street where she lives, while encouraging protests in other parts of the city. Rotations of over 100 police officers have been assigned to protecting her home. Again, more of the Chicago Mayor’s do as I say, not as I do guidelines (TBR&R 5/17/20).

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. To paraphrase Ted Baxter on The Mary Tyler Moore show – “it all began at a 5000 watt radio station.” Glenn Beck, who began his conservative talk show career at Tampa’s WFLA radio, has been inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.

7. The answer: Luis Garcia of the Washington Nationals. The question: who was the first player born in the 2000s to hit a major league home run? He did it last week.

8. At this writing, there would be no teams with a losing record in the baseball playoffs – barely. The National League would have two teams right at .500 qualifying (Miami and Milwaukee) and four of the five teams in the NL West would make the dance. In the American League, only one .500 team (Baltimore) would qualify for post season and the Rays are solidly in with the fourth-best record so far in the AL.

9. This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Charlie Parker. The jazz great played a mean sax and was instrumental in the development of the bebop genre.

10. Factoid – a few weeks ago (TBR&R 7/19/20) we mentioned Coke’s dominance in the soft drink industry. Here are the Top 5 soft drinks 1. Coke leads with more sales than Pepsi and Mountain Dew combined, 2. Diet Coke, 3. Pepsi, 4. Mountain Dew, and somewhat surprisingly, 5. Dr. Pepper just beating out Sprite.

Election reflections

Local primaries did not offer a lot of surprises unless you consider a couple of folks who were outspent and were victorious. That was the case of U.S. House District 13 hopeful Republican Anna Paulina Luna who defeated the better-funded Amanda Makki and will face off against Charlie Christ in the November general election. It’s an uphill battle for Luna in a Democratic-heavy district. Former school board member Rene Flowers also prevailed against State legislator Wengay Newton who raised more money and brought a heftier resume to the table. But the three-way race pitted two men against a single woman, all well-known, and the two men split half the vote. Now the games begin with just over two months until Election Day.

UP NEXT: The Landings; Bert Parks; Joe and Dick’s plans

082320/81