WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 25, 2022

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.

Another win for Pinellas lifetime politicians

Sadly, a referendum question concerning term limits for Pinellas County Commissioners will not be on the November ballot. The organization, Friends of Pinellas, fell short in gathering the 55,000 signatures needed to have it considered. We hope this group will keep the band together and shoot for the next general election where they will have more time than the compressed window they had this year after the Pinellas Commission turned down a ballot initiative by a 4-3 vote. The irony of all of this is that the electorate years ago overwhelmingly approved a referendum calling for term limits, but some fancy legal dancing by the commission killed off the will of the electorate. This latest setback shouldn’t be the end, and we hope Friends of Pinellas will be successful down the road making Pinellas join virtually every other major county in the state to eliminate “commissioners for life”.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Leading analysts are warning of a possible worldwide recession, yet the Biden brain trust continues to crank up interest rates. Does this not remind you more and more of the Carter years?

Last Wednesday’s local paper front page – four articles, two of them attack pieces on our Governor - pretty much what we can expect between now and November 8.

Related thought: we sure miss the straight forward journalism of The Tampa Tribune.

With all the focus on Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral last week, we overlooked the 75^th Anniversary of the United States Air Force – keep ‘em flying!

Our friend TL, who unlike us had a real job in the USAF, wonders if there is such a thing as a national day for white, straight, American males. Our research to this point indicates there isn’t.

Dan Rather (remember him?) and other liberals seem to be alarmed that CNN’s reporting is very slowly drifting towards the middle. That’s something to cheer about.

Number of the week: $10 per American citizen or $3.24 billion. That’s the annual TV advertising budget of General Motors – and they are only the fifth largest TV spender. The largest is Progressive followed closely by GEICO and, we can only assume, Morgan and Morgan.

Speaking of GM, don’t get all excited about that $7500 electric car tax credit floating around. It has so many ifs, ands & buts, it doesn’t apply to most deals. Talk with your accountant before you plunge on an electric car.

This week in 1962 (October 1) The King of late night, Johnny Carson, debuts as the third host of the Tonight Show. He would host the late night landmark for thirty years.

Sports, media and other stuff:

Milestone: You feared he wouldn’t make it in a part time role, but you prayed he would. Albert Pujols goes deep twice to become the fourth 700 home run hitter in history – the third without an asterisk.

Answer Tracy Stallard. The Question, with all the focus on Aaron Judge, who gave up Roger Maris’ 61^st homer?

Things are returning to what the state’s football fans consider normal with both UF and Miami in the Top 25 and FSU knocking on the door.

With the NFL underway, this thought from the 5:05 Newsletter: The Washington Football Team changed its name from “Redskins” to “Commanders.” Along with the new name, the team announced a brand new mascot: General George Custer.

Answer: Jameis Winston. Question: who leads the NFL in interceptions per game started? (94 interceptions in 79 starts). But hey, he finally figured out how to get a pass to a Buc!

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember the four items on the original Kapok Tree menu in 1958. They were Baked Ham, Broiled Steak, Fried Chicken and Shrimp.

MLB: Money can’t buy me love

First an apology to the Beatles; now an exercise we like to pursue each year. In last fall’s MLB playoffs, seven of the upper half on the payroll scale made the postseason. They were the Dodgers, Astros, Giants, White Sox, Cardinals, Red Sox and the Yankees. That means eight of the big spenders didn’t make it. That would be the Mets, Angels, Padres, Nationals, Phillies, Rockies, Cubs and Reds who failed to qualify. While the Mets, Padres and maybe the Phils will make it this year, the Giants, White Sox and Red Sox won’t. To us, the good news is that three teams in the lower half of the spending list made the show last year. That, of course, would be our Rays, plus the Brewers and the eventual World Series champion Braves (who this year creeped into the top 15 payrolls). That’s 20 percent of the lower 15 clubs in payroll. We’d like to see more, but at least we can take comfort in that over fifty percent of the big spenders found that money alone can’t buy them love (a playoff spot).

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 25, 2022

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