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: Customer service?

You’ve moved or changed banks. You contact Spectrum, no problem. Duke Power, the same thing. Pinellas Elections office - check. Same for your credit cards, insurance company and various other companies you do business with. But then you call the City of Clearwater Utilities Department and then comes the derailment. No, you can’t do this on the phone; on line is a maze of unnecessary hoops. If you can do this simply and easily with a dozen other organizations, why is our city’s utility department so blasted difficult – and why has it been this way for years, if not decades? With a new City Manager on board and a new commission (sorry, we date ourselves) council majority coming next spring, it is way past time to shake things up in this city department and truly restore customer service.

Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

Yet another infuriating thing about Joe Biden’s circumventing the Supreme Court on student loan giveaways is that the forgiveness is not taxable – another blow to honest, taxpaying Americans.

Related: we often quote unique T-shirts we spot. Here’s one we haven’t seen, but hope to: We paid off our student loan, why can’t you?

How often do you see a handicapped person in a television commercial? The answer, unless it’s the Shriners or the DAV, is never. We say thanks to Target for their recent inclusion, albeit brief, of a handicapped individual. It seems we try to put every odd life form on earth in our ads, but never someone handicapped. Thanks, Target.

$261 – the average annual amount spent on gambling by an adult U.S. citizen. We would have guessed more than that. Perhaps we run with the wrong crowd.

News of the Northern Hemisphere from the 5:05 Newsletter: A recent report shows that many people are concerned about the drugs, violence and a new dictatorship south of the border. These people are called Canadians.

On this week in 1949 (July 27) the first jet airliner, The De Havilland Comet, debuted. 114 were built with the last Comet retired in 1997.

Sports, media and other stuff:

He was an American treasure for seven decades. Tony Bennett, who left his heart in San Francisco, died last week at age 96. Ironically, the song most associated with the veteran crooner was not among his half-dozen biggest hits.

We and, we’re sure numerous MLB GMs, chuckle at all the blather about trading for Shohei Ohtani and capturing the World Series. Granted, he is a unique player, but not a difference maker – the Angels have never made the playoffs in his six years in LA.

If you fancy yourself a baseball savant, you’ll want to try the popular new internet game, Immaculate Grid. This 50 year plus baseball fan has been humbled by the nine square game that appears daily on the internet.

This week (July 25) marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Estelle Getty, the beloved Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls.

One of our readers whose trolley sometimes runs off the tracks asks, “Which occurs more often, a new moon or a new James Patterson novel?” The heralded author is quite prolific.

…and another thing: Where we’d like to live

This month, we challenged our TBR&R focus group to pick a city or town, outside of their own, where they would like to live.

One of our group begged off from this question. Don’t blame her. She was born in Clearwater and has been spoiled since birth!

Another member emphasized Clearwater is still, by far, his first choice, but would enjoy the somewhat slower paced lifestyle of the tiny village he grew up in – Bath, NY in the Empire State’s southern tier.

Batting third, a focus group member also would opt for a small town she grew up in – the Smoky Mountains’ Franklin, NC; listing small town, beautiful scenery, change of seasons, and very friendly people as her reasons why.

A country flavor also appeals to another of our august group who answers with Mayberry, “Who wouldn’t want Aunt Bea, as a neighbor?” The fictional town was loosely based on Andy Griffith’s home town of Mt. Airy, NC.

Yet another of our group responds there is no place like home (Dunedin), but if were forced to answer, her choice would be the beauty of Positano, Italy on the Amalfi coast.

And from another group member:” Being a, ‘bloom where you're planted’ type of guy, I've never given much thought to this question before. Upon reflection, my first instinct was to go with the Biltmore Estate.  Beautiful place and grounds with great views and an indoor bowling alley.  But then I thought, ‘Too many houseguests!’  More pragmatically, I think suburban Tennessee for its natural beauty, conservative values and cost of living.”

Finally, our NOLA group member has a broad perspective – somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains, hard to argue with that beautiful part of the country.

Next up: Jai Lai; More of Manfred; It’s Jacksonville, not Miami

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