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:

“On the day you were born, the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true” Close to You, Bacharach/David

One last thing: More on sports gambling

Several weeks back, (TBRR 5/11/25) we wrote of the growing cancer that is sports gambling – specifically of how our 38 states that allow it rake in the taxes from it, but do very little, if anything, to help the addictions that occur. Another, just as chilling, fact has emerged. Imagine a star pitcher throws seven shutout innings to help his team win; or a hoopster throws in 29 to lead his team to victory. Then come the angry, threatening phone calls that the pitcher fell short of the eight strikeouts some gambling person needed to win a bet or the basketball star didn’t get the 30 points for another bettor to go to the pay window. We guess we shouldn’t be surprised at how these lowlifes get the athlete’s phone number, but it is alarming. We need to put an end to it, but until our legislative members stop pocketing the ill-gotten gains of Hard Rock Casino and others, the situation is only going to get worse.

Tampa Bay, politics and notes:

So Duke Energy hired a firm that specializes in energy analysis to assess the cost of Clearwater going it alone on providing energy. Who should they have hired – Johnny’s Truck Repair and Energy Analysis? Again Clearwater, please stop throwing good money after bad.

After reading an op-ed piece by former Department of Defense Inspector General, Joseph Schmidt, you have to wonder just how many top Biden officials are destroying records and replacing cell phones in the aftermath of his cognitive decline cover-up.

It’s hard to keep up with the far left vocabulary. One of the newest to occasionally surface is reproductive justice, which sounds a whole lot better than killing unborn children.

Idle thought: we are so far behind the curve that trends we never caught on to are coming back again.

Judicial news from the 5:05 Newsletter:  U.S. District Court Judge in San Francisco Orders Israel To Rebuild Iran’s Nuclear Plants.

This week in 1958 (6/25): The Mackinac Straits Bridge connecting Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas is dedicated.

Sports, media and other notes:

Factoid: Close to You quoted in this week’s opener was a number one hit for the Carpenters in the summer of 1970, but was first recorded seven years earlier by Richard Chamberlain.

Lou Christie who enjoyed success in the sixties with songs like The Gypsy Cried, Two Faces Have I and the chart topper Lightin’ Strikes died last week in his native Pittsburgh at age 82.

Coast to coast “Sold” signs. The Rays here in the bay area and the Lakers out in LA with more pro franchises having “For Sale” signs out.

Back sixty years ago when there were but six NHL teams, who would have thought the Stanley Cup would spend most of its time in Florida this decade?

The LA Dodgers have pledged a million dollars to the “victims” of ICE. That will continue until one of their million/billionaires’ homes gets broken into.

In 1953, Sports Illustrated debuted with a young Eddie Matthews on the cover. Last week, it won approval for a Sports Illustrated themed resort in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Who saw that coming 72 years ago?

And what’s up with this five votes a day for the All Star team? This isn’t Chicago.

You’ve lived in Clearwater a long time if you ever dined at the Dutch Pantry back in the sixties and seventies. It was situated where Highland Avenue intersects with Gulf-to-Bay and Court Street back in the sixties and seventies.

One last thing: The new Model T - the Slate

Remember the so often repeated Henry Ford remark about the Model T, “You can have any color you want as long as it’s black.” There is a 21^st century version of the Model T and it’s the Slate Truck – a no-frills pickup championed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. It, too, comes in only one color – gray. There are no power windows, no fancy touch screens, but for some, it’s an answer to a prayer – and for just around $20,000. That’s the price, not the down payment. It’s electric with a range of just over 150 miles, so not for everybody, but for city dwellers, it might just be the ticket. The Slate, with a payload of around 1400 pounds and built in Indiana, should hit the market in late 2025 or early 2026.

UP NEXT: MLB at midseason; The EPA mess; DINFOS

062225/476

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