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 - some of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

Congress: 80 (or 75) is enough

It would be an uphill battle, but it’s time to start sowing the seeds for a mandatory retirement age for members of Congress. The first counter argument we don’t want to hear is “it’s the will of the people” to keep geriatrics on Capitol Hill. It’s not the will of the people; it’s the well-oiled machines of McConnell, Pelosi and the gang that keep them in office. We know such a law would not be problem free. There would be a lot of in-term “retirements” and appointments by friendly governors to give another party hack the benefit of incumbency. But sooner or later the wheat would be, and needs to be, separated from the aged chaff.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Related Factoid: Our Congress continues to be dominated not by Democrats – or Republicans, but Baby Boomers (DOB 1946-64) who still hold a substantial edge over Generation X (1965-80) even though they are virtually equal as far as total U.S. population is concerned. Next in size are the Silent Generation (1927-45) and finally Millennials (1981-1996).

Arms race news from the 5:05 Newsletter: Biden's $800 million military aid package to Ukraine included 200 shotguns. I assume they are for the Ukrainians to defend themselves against Russian skeets.

Number of the week: 77% - the percentage of Americans who agree the U.S. must maintain energy independence – a number only slightly lower than the percentage of people who can agree on what day of the week it is.

Rhea Law confirmed as USF’s new president. Pardon us if we don’t do back flips, but we’ve been spoiled by the previous leadership of Betty Castor and Judy Genshaft. Law truly has a high bar to vault.

Idle thought, we often read that some journalist has a master’s degree from such and such a university. We’d love to audit a few of those classes just to see what those folks are being taught.

As all these new electric vehicles (Polestar, Rivian etc.) are rolled out, you have to wonder about the support infrastructure behind them. Even in this period of shortages, you can still visit your dealer for a Chevrolet part, but your Polestar dealer – not quite as easy.

We are sad to report another Gulf-to-Bay restaurant casualty – long time landmark Village Inn.

THIS WEEK IN 1975: BILL GATES AND PAUL ALLEN FORM A PARTNERSHIP TO BE KNOWN AS MICROSOFT.

Lighter stuff:

Wouldn’t it have been better to announce Bruce Arian’s retirement on Friday, the 1^st? That might have kept people guessing for a while. Good for Todd Bowles.

Related note: Arians to be inducted in the Bucs’ Ring of Honor – pending a review of every email he sent since age 12.

Answer: Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods. Question –who are the only three men to win two consecutive Masters Championships? Nicklaus (65-66); Faldo (89-90) and Woods (2001-2). So the odds are somewhat stacked against Hideki Matsuyama this week.

Remember when the Oscars were hosted by Bob Hope and they were fun to watch?

You are officially old when you recognize absolutely no one on Saturday Night Live.

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if your pets’ first veterinarian was Dr. Harvey Clanton at the Court Street Animal Hospital.

MLB wagers to take to the bank

Next week, we feature our renowned prognosticator and former executive assistant to Wizard Glick, Achmed Walled’s (pronounced WALL-ed) predictions for the divisions and what is becoming a come one, come all, Wild Card post. Meanwhile, if you’re a betting person, here are five sure fire (sort of) ways to lay down your money.

(1) The Rays will, again, not make the World Series.

(2) A quiniela – neither LA team (Angels or Dodgers) will make the World Series.

(3) Twin’s center fielder Byron Buxton will finish in the Top 5 in the AL MVP voting.

(4) Braves’ third baseman Austin Riley will do the same in the NL.

(5) The Orioles will again have the worst record in baseball and the AL. The Diamondbacks, with a little better pitching, will not repeat as the dregs of the NL.

UP NEXT: Achmed predicts; Free beer tomorrow; Beatle breakup

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