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.

DeSantis strikes a chord for sanity

Quote of the Week- from Governor Ron DeSantis: “If the price of providing opportunities that can last a lifetime for all the girls throughout the state of Florida, for ensuring fair competition for them; if the price of that is that we lose an (NCAA) event or two?” “I would choose to protect our young girls every day of the week and twice on Sunday.” Governor DeSantis on his legislation to prohibit policies forcing female athletes to compete against boys who now believe they’re girls. You probably missed his reasonable statement if you read about the legislation in “Florida’s Best Newspaper” as it was buried in paragraph 24 of a 24 paragraph article unfairly criticizing the legislation while adding this nugget –“Supporters of the effort to restrict transgender athlete participation have cited no examples of competitive issues.” Did our noble newspaper people miss the young lady standing beside the Governor who lost a spot in an athletic qualifier to a transgender athlete?

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

The shocking withdrawal of three finalists in the Clearwater city manager hunt (including virtually everyone’s favorite) makes you wonder about the quality of vetting by the city’s search firm Baker Tilley. With Clearwater justifiably pushing the reset button, the new search should be on Baker Tilley’s dime.

Are we back to gas stickers again? “Florida’s Best Newspaper” is continuing to try to defend Nikki Fried’s self-promoting stickers on the state’s gas pumps. Over decades of those stickers, just the name of the Agriculture Commissioner was sufficient. But Nikki felt it important that her picture appear as well. After a firestorm from consumers, they were replaced at additional expense to the taxpayer. Not illegal, certainly unethical. And she wants to be Governor?

Number of the week: 80 cents a gallon. That’s the increase in the cost of gas in the bay area since the first of the year.

Thought of the week: If the public doesn’t want violence connected in any way with law enforcement, then don’t start fights with cops. Commentator Michael Reagan, the eldest son of former President Ronald Reagan.

Dr. Bill Johnston passed away last week at age 90. After practicing dentistry in Clearwater for over three decades, he retired and devoted himself to the free dental clinic at the Homeless Emergency Project for almost three decades – a true servant to his fellow man.

Sports, media and other stuff:

Our Saintly Wife wonders if last year, when there were only cutouts in major league stands, the folks in Philadelphia and Boston pumped in boos so the visiting - and home players would feel at home.

Idle question: how many times a week or month does some moron driver beep at you for following the rules of the road i.e. not turning right on red when it’s prohibited; not pulling up and blocking an intersection etc.?

Sports question from a recent 5:05 Newsletter: Who won the Tour de France by the largest margin? Answer: The Fifth Panzer Division.

This was an idle thought from two years ago - why is it your A/C, water heater or fill in the blank always breaks down right before a holiday weekend? Add to that, your pet gets sick and you have to visit an emergency clinic with their sky-high fees.

Answer – Bob Hope. Question – who made the most appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson? (131 appearances)

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember going to Penney’s downtown to get your scout (Boy or Girl) uniforms and equipment.

Let’s see, what can we cancel next?

Just some idle thoughts as we read about the cancellation of the Golden Globes and the return of his statues by Tom Cruise (there’s a role model): what else can we cancel or destroy? How about the VFW or American Legion? After all, they have only been around since 1899 and 1919 respectively and the American Legion’s motto is “For God and Country” – blasphemy in this age. It’s probably not too late to cancel next week’s Father’s Day celebrations as we suspect today’s fathers are not teaching their kids to be “woke” enough. There’s another reason wrapped up in a mean-spirited Father’s Day joke which we will not use here. Believe it or not, Father’s Day was not an “official” U.S. holiday until 49 years ago, but it is celebrated worldwide in 111 countries. The list of potential cancellations goes on: Thanksgiving (you know, that Indian thing); Christmas and Hanukkah, (after all, only 72 percent of Americans identify as Judeo-Christians). You get the idea, in today’s culture, there’s something wrong with almost everything Americans hold dear. And it’s probably time we take our country back.

NEXT WEEK: Kids & taxes; Favorite songs; Biden’s misuse of funds

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