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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