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.

Just call it California Car Craziness

The late author Ross Macdonald famously said,” There is nothing wrong with California that a rise in the sea level wouldn’t cure”. The state and its alleged leaders just get crazier and crazier. Their latest brainstorm is to prohibit the sale of gas powered cars after 2035. This will, of course, create a second growth industry for Nevada with car dealers lining up just across the state border – much like liquor stores across the line from a dry county. Add to this the reality of California’s stretched to the max electrical grid which can barely service the existing relatively small number of electric cars. And then there are the legal hurdles California’s craziness must surmount - just more fun, fun, fun in fantasy land.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Two related items from the 5:05 Newsletter: (1) California to provide everyone who buys an electric car a giant hamster wheel to charge it. (2) Singles in Los Angeles can now pick each other up at bars with 3 words: “I have electricity.”

We now better understand why gas prices are actually up during Florida’s gas tax holiday – OPEC has cut back production. Remember when we were not dependent on OPEC production? That was about 22 months ago.

More “great” economic news: the IMF is predicting a further erosion of the global economy and retirement fund losses have rocketed from double digit losses into the twenty percent range.

Related number of the week: 56 percent – the percentage of registered Democrats who do not want Biden to head their ticket in 2024 according to an ABC News-Washington Post poll.

Idle thought: Joe Biden’s handlers need to keep him away from “hot” microphones.

The circus in St. Pete just gets crazier. Council appoints anti-Semite John Muhammed to a vacant seat over a much more qualified Wengay Newton, who previously served on the council.

Our friend TL asks: Why do most guys store their socks in the top drawer when so many days (boat shoes, sandals) they don’t even wear them?

This week in 1958 (October 17) WEDU, Channel 3, begins broadcasting from studios in St. Petersburg.

Sports, media and other stuff:

He was the first pitcher to reach the Hall of fame without ever starting a game and she was a multimillionaire singer without ever having a hit record. Bruce Sutter was a stalwart in the bullpens of the Cubs and Cards. Anita Kerr backed up nearly every hit singer of the 60s and also made a fortune singing jingles for commercial products and radio stations. Sutter and Ms. Kerr passed away last week at ages 69 and 94 respectively.

With baseball’s Fall Classic scheduled to begin next week, this note from the 5:05 Newsletter: One of the best things about baseball’s World Series is that there are no halftime shows.

Another ESPN moment –saying the Mets were the first team to ever have just one hit in a postseason elimination game – there have been four. The network walked that back by the post-game show. This is what happens when a basically pro-basketball network attempts to cover baseball.

Idle sports thought: Four players who, if their careers ended today, would be first ballot Hall of Famers – Albert Pujlos, Miguel Cabrera, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. Four more who will be in the same category in just a few years – Freddie Freeman, Aaron Judge, Mike Trout and Bryce Harper.

It’s never too early to be thinking about the Christmas holiday. December 25 falls on a Sunday this year, so the NFL is moving its games to Saturday. The NBA, inexplicably, has scheduled five games for Sunday – ridiculous.

Fifty years ago the celebrated Mad Magazine hit its zenith with monthly sales of 2.1 million. Today it sells about 82,000 copies per month. What me worry?

Related note: the top five magazines by circulation in the U.S. are Better Homes and Gardens, People, Good Housekeeping, Reader’s Digest and Southern Living.

Our annual DST rant

We begin with a tale of a member of our extended family. His job entails very early hours requiring him to arise at 2:45 in the morning. Guess what he couldn’t do this spring? With all the nonsense of “springing ahead,” he could not set his alarm for 2:45. The hour between 2:00 and 2:59 disappears the second Sunday of March each year. The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a bill called the "Sunshine Protection Act", which was introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio. The bill would permanently extend daylight saving time from eight months of the year to the full 12 months. But the measure has not yet been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. So in three weeks, we again upset our inner clocks with this silly twice a year exercise that no one wants.

NEXT UP: Outdoor cocktails; Lunch with Jon, Joe & Bob; Elitists

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