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.

A winning platform for 2024

A prediction: America’s next president will have as a major plank in their platform a return of America to a provider rather than a buyer. The recent embarrassment of having to fly baby formula in from Europe shows how far we have fallen since we were the “arsenal of Democracy” during and after World War II. Donald Trump, love or hate him, did a great deal to reverse our dependency on other nations during his term as President. He bullied (there’s no better word to describe it) a lot of companies to move their operations back onshore, and he had us energy independent. A great many of those gains have been lost under the Biden regime. 2024’s successful candidate will make an ironclad compact with the American voter to return the gains made by Trump and carry that promise of independence even further.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Nothing gives us more heartburn than seeing someone who did everything in their power to avoid serving their country self-righteously showing up at a ceremony to honor America’s war dead.

And from the editor of the 5:05 Newsletter, from the same era as Biden and who managed to show up for the Southeast Asia party, this gem: French president Emmanuel Macron recently complained in a disco that all the songs were in English. Well, if it were not for the English-speaking people, they would all be in German.

Side note: we just can’t imagine Y.M.C.A. sung in German.

We give a Large Rave to Pinellas County law enforcement’s wolf pack for nabbing over 200 drivers for DUI and other sundry violations during the Memorial Day weekend. Our county’s roads are becoming dangerous racetracks.

Thanks to Clearwater-based financial advisor Craig Phillips for sharing this thought from economic author Morgan Housel, "People are very good at forecasting the future, except for the surprises, which tend to be all that matter."

We laugh at the hubris of our local left leaning newspaper. They are asking readers for donations so they can continue their efforts against unborn children; serve as an apologist for the hot mess we have in the White House and support anything woke.

The next area where Americans, or at least Floridians, will experience sticker shock is property insurance where jumps of 25 per cent are becoming common.

Number of the week: 7 – the seven busiest airports in the world are all in the U.S. In order, they are Atlanta, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, Charlotte and Orlando. The eighth largest is an airport is Guangzhou, China.

This week in 1869 (6/9): Charles Hires sells his first root beer. It was followed by Barq, A&W (today’s most popular) and Dad’s.

Sports, media and other stuff:

Factoid: Although Hires was the first root beer, it is hard to find today as it is owned by Dr. Pepper which also markets the popular A&W brand.

This week marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of one of the most heralded entertainers of the 20^th century – Judy Garland.

Can’t we just give the NFL Pro Bowl a decent burial?

Gabe Kapler, meet Colin Kaepernick.

This summer as you watch one of your favorite team’s pitchers walk the ballpark, keep this statistic in mind, Hall of Famer Greg Maddux faced 20,421 batters in his career and went to a 3-0 count with just 133 of those hitters.

Five Years Ago in TBR&R (June 4, 2017) Don’t know about you, but last week we had the strongest urge to go to some railroad tracks in the bay area and wave a final farewell to the Ringling Brothers Circus train as it made its last journey to Sarasota. The loss of the circus is one of the great societal tragedies of the 21st Century.

MLB at the first post

Memorial Day is traditionally the first time you look at how your favorite team is doing and what the prospects are for the next three-quarters of the season. First, some fans who should be feeling great – Dodgers, Mets, Brewers and Padres in the National League. The addition of Freddie Freeman has made the LA juggernaut even more powerful; the Mets finally have a guy in the dugout who can make a winner out of their enormous payroll; the Brewers pitching staff and a weak division will get them to the playoffs and the Padres are winning even without Fernando Tatis, Jr. The American League looks like it’s the Yanks, Twins and Astros to win with the Blue Jays having a big say in who goes where. After these eight, there are many maybes – including our local nine, the underperforming Braves, the Angels who always find a way to fall short; the Cardinals, Giants and White Sox. Most pleasant surprise in the AL has been the Rangers, while the NL’s Diamondbacks will probably match last year’s win total in late August, but both will probably fall short of the playoffs. And the Mariners and Phils are in a virtual tie for the biggest flops with Joe Girardi being fired for his inability to manage a terribly constructed roster. Finally, one player note – the Marlins’ Sandy Alcántara will lap the field in the NL Cy Young competition. We’ll check in again around the 4^th of July.

NEXT UP: Ford & Pepsi; The changing college gridiron; Gas Company

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