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.

Leading off: Thank you, Ashley Moody

Pro-life advocates do not want their tax dollars supporting an organization that promotes abortions. Recently, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a motion to reinstate a law that prohibits state funding of Planned Parenthood, a longtime advocate of abortions. The law prohibiting state funding of abortions was overturned in 2016 on the basis that abortion was a constitutional right. Last year’s Supreme Court ruling eliminates that argument. While pro-abortion supporters say cutting off funding to such groups will endanger Floridians’ health – particularly that of low income residents, they fail to point out that services like pregnancy and newborn screenings and the like are available through numerous agencies that do not have the same political agenda as Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics. A giant Rave to AG Moody.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Political news: Democrats to hold 2024 Convention in Chicago. Gee, we wonder if that will be as cool as the ’68 funfest. Our guess is yes.

Our recently concluded legislature passed some meaningful tort reform measures. But an analysis says they did not go far enough to eliminate frivolous and predatory lawsuits.

Biden pushes for trans-athletes to compete in all girls’ sports events. Should we expect anything less?

A spin-off of the protracted study involving the Trop is yet another study of Albert Whitted Airport. Just how many times do St. Pete residents have to firmly tell elected officials they wish the airport to remain an airport?

Wisdom from the 5:05 Newsletter: Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank and he can rob everybody.

Sadly, the same holds true for most insurance companies.

We recently received an email survey from the Tampa Bay Times asking why we are no longer a subscriber. Do these people not read their own paper?

Idle thought: do you ever look at TV commercials, and ask yourself, what’s wrong with this picture? Try it for a week.

She was one-half of one of Tampa’s true power couples. Tampa native Betty Poe died last week at age 92. Husband Bill was Tampa’s Mayor from 1974-79.

This week in 1982, (April 18) Sally Ride is named the first female US astronaut.

Sports, media and other stuff:

Before the Frozen Four, all we knew about Quinnipiac was they produced a lot of political surveys during election season.

So what does the guy generally recognized as the best player in baseball do in his spare time? The Angels’ Mike Trout is building a golf course in New Jersey – designed by Tiger Woods.

Rays’ numbers to watch: 23/23. In twenty three of their next games, they play only six against teams that had a winning record last year. In the following twenty three, all their games feature an opponent with a winning 2022 record.

Add Salt Lake City to the areas putting together an ownership group for a potential expansion or relocation of a major league baseball franchise.

It says something about the political bent of the folks who hand out Emmys when Bryant Gumbel is chosen for a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Top rated TV shows 25 years ago this week were, in order, ER, Friends, Frasier, Veronica’s Closet and Jesse, a short-lived show that pretty much rode the coattails of Friends which preceded it.

Recalling last week’s recollection of Clearwater’s first Steak and Shake, you’ve also lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember Frisch’s Big Boy a few blocks west of CHS on Gulf-to-Bay.

Last week, we said a sad goodbye to our incredibly spoiled and loved cat, Doodle Bug, just weeks short of her 20^th birthday. She fought diabetes and its daily shots for over half her life, with the help of a very caring “Mom” plus a wonderful vet – Dr. Jamie Todd.

…and another thing: New schedule, more travel

Our Tampa Bay Rays will spend over 5000 more miles in air travel over last year due to MLB’s new schedule where every team plays each other every year. The increased mileage doesn’t seem quite so bad when you compare it to the 11,000 additional miles the Giants will travel in 2023. It’s a well-established fact that west coast teams travel more than eastern teams who are grouped closer together. The Oakland A’s will take the prize this year with a total of 51,500 miles in the air before the final pitch and that assumes no additional trips to make up games that get rained out during the season. Fans are going to be happy to see more of the Judges, Trouts, Verlanders and Freemans of the world. A possible downside, - there will never be another World Series involving two teams that had not played each other during the season – unlike the 1957 World Series where Hank’s Braves and Mickey’s Yanks had never played each other in history.

UP NEXT: Phillie Phanatic; TL on aging; A fully funded vacation

041623/720

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