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.

Biden: did we think it would be this bizarre? 

Clueless, insensitive to the working man or woman, government by proclamation are just a few descriptions of the Biden regime thus far. You have to wonder if the election were held today, would that many Americans still drink the Kool Aid - very unlikely. With a stroke of a pen, Joltin’ Joe has eliminated thousands of jobs; attempted to bring thousands of aliens into our country, already strapped for means to support our own citizens and he continues to pander to regimes like Iran who just laugh up their sleeves at his ineptitude. And you now can get a pro-rated $15,000 a year for not having a job. You just wonder how much weirder it will get.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. From The 5:05 Newsletter: Gas prices are shooting up faster than the Biden vote count at 2am. In that vein, we stand corrected on our lead article from last week chiding Politifact for their erroneous (to be charitable) facts on gas prices. We said the price was $2.69 – well it was for half the week before shooting up to $2.85 – more than a 30 percent increase in Biden’s first 50 days in office.

2. Ah, day light savings time. It’s another year of springing ahead despite our state legislature’s decision several years ago to do away with that nonsense. There are nearly two dozen states that feel the same way, but repeatedly get ignored in Washington.

3. The House passed H.R. 1 – a bill that basically says come one, come all in relation to voting is scary beyond belief. The good news is it has absolutely no chance of passing the Senate.

4. Answer: Donald Trump and Herbert Hoover. Question: who are the last two Presidents to lose the White House, Senate and House of Representatives during a single term?

5. Life in the fast lane: the Biden pick for the Federal Trade Commission is Columbia professor Lina Kahn who is less than four years out of law school. Perhaps someone with a little more experience, Joe?

Sports, media and other stuff:

6. One of the last of the old guard TV journalists, Roger Mudd, passed away at age 93 last week. Mudd, a veteran of both CBS and NBC, masterfully reported the news without adding the political slants so common today.

7. Number of the week: 45 years ago – the last time perennial powerhouses both Duke and Kentucky were not in the NCAA tournament.

8. Baseball Factoid: the Braves franchise now in Atlanta has won exactly one World Series in each of the cities in which they’ve played – Boston (1914); Milwaukee (1957) and Atlanta (1995). So, do they have to move the team to Charlotte or Nashville to win another?

9. You’ve lived in the bay area (or anywhere else) a long time if you remember the introduction of WATS (Wide Area Telephone Service) 60 years ago this year. Originally, all WATS or toll-free lines began with 800, now there are several WATS prefixes beginning with the number 8 – you know, the ones you don’t answer when they show up on Caller ID.

10. We continue through Lent with another fasting suggestion from Pope Francis – “Fast from sadness and be filled with gratitude.” 

Another plea to subsidize newspapers

Every day on Page 2 of our local newspaper, there is a plea to send them money on top of what you begrudgingly pay them for what they send. That’s okay if you want to support their far left, pro-abortion and DNC stances. But what’s not okay is their current campaign telling you that won’t know about your property taxes, school bus schedules and zoning changes if our government doesn’t continue to spend unnecessary tax dollars on legal notices. That, of course, is simply untrue. Property taxes are explained in trim notices; you can find your kid’s bus schedule on line and any zoning changes near you are covered with a required mail notification. The Florida newspaper industry merely wants this government subsidy to continue propping up their waning fortunes. The Florida legislature is correct in their move to end this tax dollar giveaway.

Correction: We apologize to Robert Brucker who, along with James Foster, was the technical wizard who got TBR&R off the ground seven years ago. Being of old age and not so sound mind, we scrambled his last name last week with another longtime acquaintance – Robert Ricker who is one of the most skilled craftsman with a printing press we’ve ever met.

NEXT WEEK: First 45s; State Champ Tornadoes; Who pays?

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