Established in 2014 and published weekly, Tampa Bay Rants and Raves is a weekly airing of national and local politics, sports, lifestyles and historical notes from a very politically incorrect viewpoint. As always, beware - some of what is printed here should not be taken literally.

First thing on our mind:

Jon Gruden is restored to the Bucs’ Ring of Honor. It probably made more sense than giving back the Lombardi Trophy he won for them.

Leading off: EV’s free ride

Last year, Pinellas state senator Ed Hooper proposed a common sense measure to tax electric vehicles to offset the loss of gas taxes. The measure failed to gain traction in the senate. This year more and more governmental units are feeling the pinch from the lack of those revenues. There are several calls from south Florida to revisit the issue that would take the form of a higher registration fee for the EVs than those for gas powered vehicles. Stay tuned.

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

Related to our lead article, auto writer Sean Tucker says those pretty new EV pickup trucks are great until you load them up – or worse attach a trailer at which time their range drops in half – to slightly less than 100 miles.

Lester Holt plans to step down from NBC Nightly News this summer. We will forever remember Holt for his statement, “fairness is overrated.”

IRS plans to dump 7000 of its 100,000 employees. Most are in the enforcement section, so maybe our refund check is safe.

In the dictionary under the word hypocrisy, look for LA Mayor Karen Bass who fired her Fire Chief who battled flames while the mayor wasn’t even in the country.

A Rave goes to car dealer Porsche Cars North America who donated a rare Porsche 911 which auctioned for $1million with proceeds going to the Red Cross efforts in the Southeast and California. If only FEMA had done anything close to that.

Legislative commentary from the 5:05 Newsletter: Democrats in the House and Senate are accusing Republicans of attempting to make decisions as to how the government ought to be run. “They cannot come in and take control of the government simply because people voted for them,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren. 

Related note: We are shocked Senator Warren didn’t make our Focus Group’s listing of great women – see One Last Thing below.

This week in 1980 (March 3) America’s first nuclear sub, the Nautilus, is decommissioned after a 26-year career.

Sports, media and other notes:

Related to our historical note - we are very proud that our Dad and his employer, the Westinghouse Corporation, played a significant part in the development of the Nautilus.

Another first time winner on the PGA Tour; this time it was 31-year-old Brian Campbell in the Mexico Open.

ESPN and major league baseball will end their broadcast agreement after this season. That is, in fact, a plus for baseball fans as the game was pretty much an afterthought for ESPN which is basically a basketball network.

Number of the week: 84 – that’s the number of games the Savannah Bananas baseball team played last year. It’s also their number of sellouts.

There were two huge losses in the music industry last week. Roberta Flack who had the biggest selling songs in both 1972 (The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face) and 1973 (Killing Me Softly With His Song) died at age 88. Smooth and soulful singer Jerry Butler passed away at age 85. Among his 39 charted hits were For Your Precious Love, Moon River, He Will Break Your Heart and I Dig You Baby.

One last thing: Mount Rushmore II

Our series of Mount Rushmores continues this month with our Focus Group fielding the question of what four women of the 20^th century (outside of family) would occupy their Mount Rushmore.

Our first contributor spanned the fields of science, social activism and exploration with Marie Curie, Mother Teresa, Eleanor Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart.

A close acquaintance of our first member checked off three of the same boxes – Marie Curie, Mother Teresa, Eleanor Roosevelt plus a giant in the medical field, Florence Nightingale.

By our third submission, we started to detect a trend as our western most group member selected Madam Curie, Mother Teresa, Eleanor Roosevelt and DNA pioneer Rosalind Franklin.

Our fourth contributor also selected Marie Curie along with Amelia Earhart. His other nominees are the mother of the Red Cross, Clara Barton, and space pioneer Sally Ride.

Sally Ride is mentioned by another Focus Group member along with entrepreneur Mary Kay Ash, civil rights activist Rosa Parks plus women’s suffrage pioneer Susan B. Anthony.

Marie Curie and Mother Teresa make yet another of our Focus Group’s list. Two new, but distinguished, names come from our Dunedin contributor, cultural anthropologist Margret Mead and former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

A touch of royalty comes to our list as Queen Elizabeth II makes the list of our northernmost member. He, too, adds Madam Curie, Eleanor Roosevelt and Mother Teresa.

Evangeline Booth heads an impressive list of women from one of our long time contributors. The daughter of Salvation Army founder William Booth, she was the first woman General of the Salvation Army. Others include Dr. Virginia Apgar, famous for the Apgar scale for newborns; space mathematician extraordinaire Dr. Katherine Johnson and Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, the guiding force behind hospice.

What a list! In May, we bring our Focus Group back to nominate their four men of the 20^th Century for Mount Rushmore. 

NEXT UP: 500,000 words; So long, Grace; CDC downsize

030225/466

Sorry, time does not permit replies to comments.