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.

Media portion of Biden giveaway just wrong

The aha moments of the Biden administration are becoming more numerous every day. Nonsense items like tree and road equity along with inflation and energy dependence. Even worse is a little known portion of the infrastructure bill that would fund newspapers, media platforms along with radio and TV stations. First, it reeks of an attempt to buy media outlets that are not already spewing liberal content (see ABC, MSNBC and CNN). Can you imagine any of this money going to, say, Fox news outlets or Newsmax? Your humble blogger worked in the broadcast industry for two decades and all we wanted of the government was to not pass silly regulations that impeded our operations. Now to have the government cozy up to the media with cash – well just look at other governments where financial aid goes to its media. If we’re going to dole out cash to the media, why not gas stations, bakeries and hair salons? This is a very dangerous area – the result of way too many Congressmen voting for a bill of which they had little comprehension.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Quote of the week: “Some folks have raised worries that [price increases] could be a sign of persistent inflation,” Biden said in July. “But that’s not our view. Our experts believe—and the data shows—that most of the price increases we’ve seen were expected, and expected to be temporary.” We’d like to believe that, but too much unbiased data says that’s not true.

Related note: Why do we have the experts at the Congressional Budget Office if we’re not going to listen to them?

Aviation news: Sun Country Airlines’ inaugural flight took off from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last week headed to St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport. Yes, but will there be anybody on the plane during the return trip?

Law enforcement: An acquaintance has a vehicle and his company credit card stolen by a rogue employee while our acquaintance was out of state. Rather than tracking down the evil-doer, the department run by Pinellas County’s answer to Barney Fife delays the search and investigation until our acquaintance can get back in town to sign a document. Eliot Nesses’ legacy is safe.

More smoke and mirrors from Politispin – gas prices, the highest in seven years, are “not that high.” Tell that to the family struggling to make ends meet. By the way, the last time prices were this high we also had Democrats, including Mr. Biden, in the White House.

Sports, media and lighter stuff:

As we enter the holiday season, we will offer some weekly thoughts, mostly from the fertile minds at the 5:05 Newsletter such as: What if sea level risings are not from Global Warming, but rather from the continents sinking from the weight of all the fruitcakes that are made and distributed at Christmas time? 

Happy 50^th anniversary to many folk’s favorite breakfast on the run – the Egg McMuffin created in November 1971 by California McDonald’s franchisee Herb Peterson.

Remember when CNN was, in fact, a cable news network instead of whatever it has become today?

We would love to see Lane Kiffin replace Dan Mullen at the University of Florida. It would probably end in a train wreck, but would be a thrilling ride.

He was one of the most underrated defensive center fielders ever in major league baseball. Bill Virdon was Rookie of the Year in 1955, a Gold Glover and a member of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates World Championship team. As a manager, he still holds the record for most wins for the Astros. Virdon died last week at age 90.

Next week, Baseball Hall of Fame voters for the so-called Golden Days Era have a chance to right some wrongs to some of the ballplayers of the 50s and 60s. Among the names on the ballot are three guys who should have been in Cooperstown years ago – Jim Kaat, Roger Maris and Minnie Minoso. Unfortunately, Kaat is the only one of those great players still alive.

And from the marquee of the nearly world famous Gassman law firm – Lawyer’s Drink of Choice: Sub-Poena Colada.

The top female vocalists of the 80s

She never had a hit record until 1983, but Madonna with six number one tunes was the biggest selling female artist of the 1980s. She was followed by Whitney Houston (Saving All My Love for You plus six other number one songs) then Diana Ross, Sheena Easton (Morning Train), Olivia Newton John, Pat Benatar, Tina Turner (What’s Love Got to Do with It), Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes (Bette Davis Eyes) and disco queen Donna Summer. The biggest female hit, in fact the biggest hit of the decade, was Olivia’s Physical. Next month, we wrap up our year-long look at the top artists of the late 20^th century with the biggest groups of the 80s.

UP NEXT: Focus group medleys; Misdirection at USF

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