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: Repurposing empty office space

American employers with expensive leases are asking their employees to come back to the office. The pushback has been considerable. Employees found they could be as productive or more productive at home – without the necessity of a 30-60 minute commute. Employers must ask themselves if they want to lose top employees by asking them to come back to the 9-5. Meanwhile over a third of the nation’s office space remains empty. Now, the empty buildings are finding new tenants – colleges. In Fairfield CT, a major GE facility is now occupied by Sacred Heart University; in Louisville, Humana donated a no longer used building to the city’s university and George Washington University paid less than a tenth of appraised value for a former World Bank building. The one down side – university buildings come off the tax rolls, but municipal officials say that is more than offset by added commerce the repurposed buildings bring.

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

America lost two giants this past week, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger passed away at age 100. Sandra Day O’Connor was the Supreme Court’s first female jurist. Ms. O’Connor died at age 93. Both left indelible marks on our nation.

Father David Engbarth “retired” from the Diocese of Rockford, IL ten years ago. But he had a whole new career in the bay area serving at over a half dozen parishes, bringing his fluency in two languages and his genuine love of his fellow man to thousands of the faithful. Sadly, he died suddenly last week at age 76.

The Florida Supreme Court’s ruling on the so-called Marsy’s Law was disappointing. Crime victims and law enforcement personnel should have their privacy respected. About the only segment opposed to this common sense law is the media.

Quote of the week: "Giving up on the unborn is not an option, It's politically dumb and morally repugnant. Instead, we need to understand why we lost this battle so we can win the war." Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance after Ohio (not German) voters approved a laissez-faire abortion measure.

Latest polls show Trump up by seven points over Biden. Now, the folks in Philly, Chicago and D.C. know how many votes they have to somehow create.

Hyundai workers are a step ahead of their brethren in Detroit with a 25% wage increase over the next four years – without having to kick in excessive union dues.

Factoid: Howard Hughes’ flying boat the “Spruce Goose” which made its one and only flight 76 years ago this fall was not made of spruce. It was mainly birch.

This week in 1933 (Dec. 5), a day celebrated annually by the 5:05 Newsletter, the 21^st Amendment is passed ending Prohibition. 

Sports, media and other notes: 

Bowl news – 41 is about 20 too many postseason bowls when you have to fill in with Minnesota (5-7), USF (5-6 against Division one teams) and a bunch of mediocre 6-6 teams.

This week is like Christmas Eve for baseball fans – the winter meetings where a lot of deals are consummated with presents fans would like to see under their tree like Snell, Ohtani, Bellinger and Soto.

If you’re an NFL coach, the owner you don’t want to work for is David Tepper who has fired three head coaches in mid-season since he bought the Carolina Panthers five years ago.

It’s freedom week. Starting Friday, your television viewing will no longer be adulterated by annoying Medicare commercials.

Seen on a McDonald’s marquee, “McRib is back.” But in 2022’s farewell tour, they promised it would be gone forever.

Holiday thought from the 5:05 Newsletter: What is it about Christmas tree lights? Apparently they are only manufactured in Third World nations that just recently found out about electricity, so if one light goes out they all do. And, for our convenience, they have been pre-snarled at the factory to resemble a Reggae musician’s hairdo.

…and another thing: Christmas hits

Of the Top 30 best-selling single records of all time, five are Christmas tunes starting with the biggest selling record of all – Bing Crosby’s White Christmas with over 50 million copies sold – 17 million more than the next biggest hit. Also on that Top 30 list are Bing’s Silent Night (30 million); next is Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You (16 million); then comes Gene Autry’s Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer (12.5 million); the fifth song in the Top 30 all time is Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? (11.5 million). By the way, the biggest selling non-Christmas song is Elton John’s tribute to Princess Diana – Candle in the Wind ’97. It has sold 33 million copies.

UP NEXT: Treasured toys; Coal shortage; Mets vs. Rays payrolls

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