Tampa Bay Rants and Raves 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.

Student loans – what’s different today?

The majority of college graduates in America have had it up to here with the snowflakes besieging the federal and state governments to relieve them of student debt. We ask a simple question – why? One local grad is sending postcards to everyone short of the Postmaster General requesting “Cancel Student Debt.” And in answer to our “why” question, the response went something like this: an effort to preserve the kind of life she and others say they’ve tasted recently with student debt out of the way. Understandable - we could enjoy a better life without that pesky mortgage or utility bill. But we agreed to the terms of each, and we’re not looking for big brother to bail us out, so we can enjoy that cruise to Alaska. A couple in their golden years remembers him working two jobs in college and her paying off her student loan early just so she would not be in debt to anyone. And the couple started sacrificing and saving early so their kids would not have to borrow money to get an education. That responsible generation, alas, no longer seems to exist. And they should not be asked to foot the bill for a much less responsible generation.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Related to our lead piece, the Sugar Daddy Biden administration has extended the pause on student loan paybacks until May 1. After that, who knows? The only certainty is that without reform, we the American taxpayers will be paying off that student debt.

Heather Boushey is an economist for the Biden regime. In an interview with Channel 13’s Craig Patrick last week, she attempted to explain away record breaking inflation on the sudden availability of appliances and the like. Has this woman not visited a grocery store or a gas station or a used car lot? Get out of your ivory tower Ma’am.

In an editorial about the ridiculous New York initiative to allow non-citizens to vote in city elections, the liberal author of the piece somehow manages to take a shot at Republicans by paragraph three. Sorry, this was strictly a Democratic mess propagated by the last two mayors of the city that never sleeps (or blushes).

Speaking of city elections, Clearwater councilperson Kathleen Beckman is navigating a very slippery slope in her “get out the vote campaign,” coordinating it with a supporter of one of the candidates for the council. Council members need to stay above the fray, which just hasn’t happened in this election cycle.

Answer: DC, Hawaii and California. Question where are the three most expensive places to live in the U.S.? (According to MoneyWise).

THIS WEEK IN 1957: WHAMO PRODUCED THE FIRST “PLUTO PLATTER.” WE KNOW IT TODAY AS THE FRISBIE; IT WAS INDUCTED INTO THE TOYS HALL OF FAME INAUGURAL CLASS IN 1998.

Lighter stuff:

MLB swats down the split season concept of the Rays. The only question is why wasn’t this nonsense stifled the moment it was proposed?

This week marks the first anniversary of the passing of baseball great Hank Aaron. A fellow baseball fan shared this with us – “Take away all 755 of Hank’s homeruns and he still has more hits than Wade Boggs. Think about that for a minute.”

Something that warms our heart: Stetson Bennett IV, currently the most famous college football player on the planet, communicates with a flip phone.

NFL note courtesy of The Athletic: At 44, Tom Brady is older than all his opposing coaches left in the NFC playoff bracket: Packers coach Matt LaFleur (42), 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan (42) and Rams coach Sean McVay (35) are all younger.

Last week’s Bucs-Eagles playoff game made us think of the coach of the first Eagles-Bucs playoff game, John McKay and one of our favorite McKay stories: After receiving harsh criticism from the media about his coaching skills in the NFL, McKay replies, "You guys don't know the difference between a football and a bunch of bananas." In the next interview, members of the media left bananas for McKay. He then replied, "You guys don't know the difference between a football and a Mercedes Benz."

As the NFL coaching carousel turns, it’s hard to understand why the Las Vegas Raiders would not ask interim coach Rich Bisaccia back. His only sin in a great second half drive was getting hosed by an incompetent officiating crew in his playoff game that gave the Bengals a touchdown, and the deciding score that should have been blown dead.

From the 5:05 Newsletter: “To all New Yorkers now moving to Florida - remember you are refugees not missionaries.”

We must add an editorial comment to the above; there are parts of New York (Buffalo, Rochester, and Elmira to name a few) that are not infected by the “New York City Syndrome.” In fact they are working on a vaccine to prevent it.

The baseball lockout and spring training

Florida’s economy is in danger of taking yet another hit. For unless the millionaires and billionaires reach agreement soon, spring training will be shortened or possibly cancelled. At this time, most experts feel spring training will at least be delayed. This will have a negative impact on the economies of Arizona and Florida. Thousands of hotel room nights are at stake. Restaurants, still recovering, will be less busy. Vendors at the ballparks will have no one to sell to and seasonal employees in places like Clearwater, Dunedin and Tampa will not have that extra income they count on. Up north, very popular travel packages (air, rooms and tickets) will go unpurchased. But eventually, the millionaires and billionaires will agree on a formula to stuff their pockets. It is a sad situation.

UP NEXT: Hi Oh Silver; Focus Group bucket list;

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