Established in 2014 and published every Sunday, Tampa Bay Rants and Raves is a weekly airing of local and national news, politics, sports and historical notes from a politically incorrect viewpoint.

First thing on our mind:

May all of your troubles last as long as your New Year’s resolutions.

Leading off: Shaky predictions for 2025:

We’ve never been more than 40% right in these New Year guesses. This year we are striving for 50%! Here we go.

There will be no more than one major Trump cabinet nominee who fails to win approval.

This is pretty much a complete reversal of a 2024 prediction. The economy and the border will be greatly improved by the end of 2025.

The war in the Ukraine will draw to a troubled close.

Time’s person of the year will be Elon Musk.

Much to the dismay of the vast majority of Americans and the Trump Administration, we will still be falling back and springing ahead for at least this year.

At least one more major drug or restaurant chain will shutter their operations before December 31.

The Bill Belichick – UNC marriage will get off to a rocky start.

The Los Angeles Dodgers will be the first team in over two decades to win back to back World Series.

A friend claims he is going to lose 30 pounds in 2025. Despite the percentages on New Year’s resolutions, we think he will do it.

The 5:05 Newsletter will, at last, win a much deserved Pulitzer Prize.

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

To the Belleair Road sign guy’s New Year’s posting, we say ditto.

Referring to our first prediction above, many skeptics refer to the Trump nominees as “inexperienced” and they are – inexperienced in feathering their own nest.

Speaking of those nominees, another tidbit from Pete Hegseth’s book, The War on Warriors: we currently have 44 four star generals overseeing a 1.2 million fighting force. In World War II, we had seven four star generals and a fighting force of 21 million.

Hegseth’s observation of our military also applies to our commerce in general – too many bodies in the back office and not nearly enough on the front lines. We, as a nation, have become extremely top heavy.

Breaking news: One of those pieces of space junk that we keep ragging about hits a remote village in Kenya. The object weighed over half a ton according to the Kenya space agency. Kenya has a space agency – who knew?

Consumer writer Allyson Chui has a good New Year’s resolution. Hang on to that cell phone a few more years. And if replacement is a must look at refurbished units – a cost savings and a win for the environment.

It was too late for this year’s holiday, but the iconic Lord & Taylor brand will be up and running for next year. The brand had shut down in 2021 and will return first as an online option with select items in various retailers. No plans yet for a return to brick and mortar for the chain that began in 1826.

Elon Musk may be the richest guy in the world, but he still has lessons to learn, like staying out of foreign countries’ (Germany in this case) politics.

He was unquestionably the most decent man to ever occupy the Oval Office. Jimmy Carter dies at 100, just shy of 45 years after leaving the presidency.

This week in 1973 (Jan. 8) the trial of the seven Watergate henchmen begins.

Sports, media and other notes:

Our first offering of 2025 from the 5:05 Newsletter: I am not certain, but I “think” fighting is continuing in both Ukraine and Gaza, although these conflicts are no longer getting a ton of attention in the U.S. media because of all the news being generated by Taylor Swift attending Kansas City Chiefs games. 

In addition to President Carter, we also say a fond farewell to another Georgian – Mark Bradley, who retires after 40 years as a topnotch sports columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Sorry, we are tardy reporting this Christmas factoid for 2024. The 12 Days of Christmas cost went up 5.4 percent this year (thanks, Joe) to $49,263. Remaining the priciest item are the 10 lords a leaping at $15,580.

Some New Year’s resolutions from a book published in 1893, What is Worthwhile? We may drop pretense. We may drop worry. We may let go of discontent. We may let go of self-seeking. With thanks to Largo-based inspirational writer, Patricia Lorenz. .

Someone said this recently; we’re too weak of mind to remember who or when, but it goes, “To the best of our knowledge, we are the only planet with chocolate.” We guess that’s a good thing.

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you remember Tony Signorini. He’s the otherwise upstanding man who created the sea monster hoax on Clearwater Beach with a pair of outsized shoes he fabricated in his shop.

One last thing: The lie of the year

On Christmas Day, of all days, our local bi-weekly ran a piece headlined by the lie of the year. It dealt with immigrants eating pets in Ohio. But the Times and all their fellow travelers perpetuated the lie of the year, saying all was well with our mentally challenged chief executive. Unlike the Ohio story, the lack of veracity behind the “he’s okay” lie was on display for all to see in the Presidential Debate in June of last year. Just another example of why our untrustworthy local paper is circling the drain.

UP NEXT: Conclave; 5 for the Hall; Celebrating 100

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