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: The DOE’s latest target

You think it’s fiction but…Biden’s wackadoo Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s newest target is ceiling fans. She’d like them to be more “energy efficient.” There is a reason they are in darned near every home in Florida; they move the air cutting down on the need for so much air conditioning. They define energy efficiency. With the air moving, you can set your a/c 3-4 degrees higher. But that’s not good enough for Ms. Granholm. She’s advocating fans that would save the consumer $39 over the life of the fan, but would cost the industry close to $90 million a year in additional manufacturing costs – and guess who pays that? Additionally, small business advocates say the changes would put a lot of smaller manufacturers out of business – something that is always lost on the elitists in D.C. One last thought, wouldn’t you like to take a peek at the thermostats in Ms. Granholm’s residence?

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

Rosalynn Carter, who died last week at age 96, never seemed to forget her humble beginnings, always looking after those less fortunate.

If you look into the details of Pinellas County’s move to relocate its headquarters, you just shake your head in wonderment.

Related – supposedly the new location would be the county’s population center. Does this mean we should move the state capital to Orlando?

Sweet justice: the ultra-liberal Nike chain’s LA store is hit by a flash mob with the theft of close to $15,000 in merchandise.

An encouraging sign is Columbia Sportswear’s goal of moving more and more of its manufacturing out of Asia and into the Western Hemisphere. They are joining an assortment of U.S. companies looking at Mexico, Guatemala and elsewhere.

A snapshot of the November housing market – inventory is up but so are prices – up four and one half percent from a year ago.

It’s property tax season and with your bill, you got a very thinly veiled campaign flyer from Charles Thomas, our tax collector, who coincidently is up for election next year. And yes, you paid for the flyer.

Three popular places that seem to want to have nothing to do with Clearwater – Cracker Barrel, which several years ago abandoned its “interstates only” approach; Zaxby’s, close in Largo, but still a bit of a hike; the unique grocery store, Trader Joe’s; with an honorable mention to America’s best doughnut place – Krispy Kreme, which once had a location at Gulf-to-Bay and Duncan Ave.  

This week in 1934 (Nov. 29) the first nationwide broadcast of an NFL game as the Bears beat the Lions 19-16.

Sports, media and other notes:

A belated Happy 100^th Birthday (11/22) to Clearwater’s Herb Brown, whose illustrious life includes serving as President of Rotary International in 1995 and being the CEO of the Checkers Restaurant chain. His motto for his year as Rotary President was Act with Integrity, Serve with Love, Work for Peace – good words to have as our mantra.

Somebody has to win the NFC South – right?

Not only were Ronald Acuna, Jr. and Shohei Ohtani the first dual unanimous MVP winners in history, but five years earlier they were ranked the number 1 and 2 prospects in baseball by MLB Pipeline.

From award winning sports columnist Mark Bradley: “The two great truths in sports, seasons never get shorter and playoffs only get bigger. Some network will always pay for live content.” His interpretation of why colleges are expanding football playoffs to a ridiculous 12 teams.

Topping the charts this week in 1960 was the shortest #1 record of all time – Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs’ Stay at 1:40. The song would revisit the Top 20 in 1964 recorded by the Four Seasons who stretched it out to 1:52.

Holiday movie note from the 5:05 Newsletter: Hollywood announced that it is working on a remake of “It’s A Wonderful Life” for modern audiences. In the new version of the film, George Bailey’s guardian angel explains to him that since he is a straight white male, he should probably just go ahead and jump off the bridge into the river.

…and one last thing: 80 years ago in Tehran

Eighty years ago this week, the so-called Tehran Conference ended. It marked the first ever meeting of the three leaders of the Allied nations strategizing to bring an end to World War II. The interaction of three distinct leaders, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin is captured in Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch’s book The Nazi Conspiracy. Their tale showcases the personalities of each leader along with a still debated sidebar – an alleged plot by Nazi Germany to assassinate the three while the conference is going on. This stratagem, along with all the subplots of the conference itself, makes for an extremely interesting and fast paced read.

Next Up: Offices to colleges; Christmas hits; Christmas lights

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