TED WILLIAMS HAD IT RIGHT

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Ted Williams…..An All-American great!

Famous baseball player, Hall of Fame, World War II fighter pilot, and fisherman. It is the fisherman portion I am concerned with.

Williams loved fishing in the Keys. Especially for tarpon. He bought a home in Islamorada in 1943. Became a Florida resident. Stayed 45 years. Left in 1988.

The reason…..He said it was time to leave when he could no longer make a left turn on US 1 because of the traffic.

He will not be the last to leave for that reason.

I open with two great men today. The other is David Wolkowsky. Besides being my new found friend at physiotherapy, David is a Key West icon. Loves Key West. David is responsible for Key West’s development as a fun funky off beat place.

David is the reason for the Pier House. It was 1967. Where the Pier House sits today was nothing more than a ruddy dirty part of the waterfront. David was a visionary. On this day in 1967, construction began on the Pier House Motel. Fifty units.

Truman Capote was a guest at the Motel. Took over David’s trailer on the site. Capote referred to the Pier House Motel as “elegant inefficiency.”

The Pier House Motel was completed one year later in 1968.

Big trees from little acorns grow. Today’s Pier House.

My yesterday began with the anti-gravity treadmill. Love it! One problem, however. I have a lot of get up and go when on the treadmill. Once I am off, I am dead tired.

I began researching for a subject to write about for this week’s KONK Life column. Came up with nothing. I will come up with a topic. Generally, a gem. But it is always last minute that it hits me.

Last night was Schooners and the Waterfront. Schooners packed, as was the Waterfront. Waterfront food great again. Fried calamari, wings, and fish and chips.

There was a traffic jam of traffic jams yesterday. Construction on US 1 in the Cow Key Bridge area. One lane traffic for about 300 feet in the north bound lane. Traffic held up on Northern and Southern Boulevards, as well as Flagler, as far as the eye could see and beyond. Down to Sears Shopping Center on Northern Boulevard, around the curve on Southern, Flagler to Habana Shopping Center.

A one to two hour delay at noon time.

Police directing traffic would have helped. The delay would have been less. Only one officer directing traffic. At US 1 and College Road. The one place an officer was not needed. The construction and one lane traffic ended at the College Road intersection.

Don called me. The team won 2 out 3 at bocce thursday night. Though not playing, I plan on following the team.

Syracuse/Pitt this afternoon. Syracuse a 3 1/2 point favorite. I think Syracuse will lose. Definitely if the team plays as it did against Louisville.

Syracuse needed Louisville and Pitt wins to guarantee a bid to the big post season tournament. If Syracuse beats Pitt today, Syracuse will be on the bubble.

The game is at 2. Dan Reardon, I will be watching the game at Don’s Place.

Enjoy your day!

HAVE YOU NO DECENCY?

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My thoughts re the Trump/Pope Francis fiasco.

The media complains no one really takes Trump on. The Pope did it in a few words. Following which few, if any, media persons and primary candidates said good for the Pope.

Does everyone fear Trump?

Trump had balls taking on the Pope. The Pope is obviously a good man. Trump may not rise to the same level. Trump’s conduct/statements to date suggest it.

The scenario reminds me of Joseph Welch and the Mc Carthy hearings. Senator Mc Carthy was labeling everyone a communist. No one had the courage to stand up to Mc Carthy.

Welch was a Boston lawyer representing someone before the Committee.

Welch got fed up with Mc Carthy’s statements made about someone close to Welch.

Welch was a little man. He looked Mc Carthy in the eye before all America (the proceedings were televised) and in a quiet voice said, “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”

It was the beginning of the end for Mc Carthy. His power and fear inducing ability went straight down. The mighty fell. David victorious over Goliath.

No one stood with the Pope yesterday. No other Davids. Amazing.

My yesterday was busy once again. Fortunately, the weather turned warm. It was a nice day to run around.

I started the morning with the anti-gravity treadmill. Then visited Lori for a haircut. Great news while with Lori. She got married!

A doctor visit later in the afternoon. Then to Martin’s. Did happy hour with appetizers. Then to the full priced menu for stone crabs. Terrific stone crabs! Medium sized. A bit smaller than those served at Ibis. Better, however. Give yourself a treat. Go to Martin’s for stone crabs.

The issue of Hillary’s speaking transcripts came up again last night. She was asked when she was going to release them. A few weeks ago, she said she would. Last night her response was to the effect that when everyone else turns over theirs, she will hers. A you show me yours and I will show you mine response.

There is no relation between Hilary’s transcripts and those of others. Because of the monies paid to Bill and Hillary.

CNN came out with a report two weeks ago. Since 2001 through last May, Bill and Hillary received$153 million in speaking fees. $7.7 million alone from big banks. Hillary was paid $1.8 million of the $7.7 million.

The report also pointed out that a super PAC supporting Hillary took in $15 million in the last quarter.

Last year when the issue was first raised, Bill and/or Hillary said the money was turned over to their Foundation for charitable use. You don’t hear that anymore. The suspicion is it went into Clinton pockets.

I for one would like to know what Hillary’s transcripts reveal. What promises/representations were made to the big banks and corporations.

This week’s KONK Life column was linked this morning to my Key West Lou website. It also appeared in KONK E-News Blast this morning.

The E-Blast article contains 14 uncapitalized words. Generally at the beginning of a sentence. Six misspellings. In addition, the last two paragraphs are a jumbled mess.

Not my fault. I have asked Guy deBoer to run the column in corrected fashion tomorrow.

How the world has changed.

There was a time when a school teacher could not be married. This morning’s Keys History section in the Citizen told of an incident which occurred in Key West in 1902. Sarah Ann Roberts had married. She was a teacher. The Board of Education asked for her resignation. And got it! It was that or be fired.

On this date in 1942, Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed an Executive Order for the removal of resident enemy aliens from parts of the West. A disgrace since acknowledged.

Japanese primarily affected. Italians, also.

Joe DiMaggio’s parents lived in the San Francisco area. Joe had joined the U.S.Army.

His father was prohibited from traveling more than five miles from his home. Which meant he could not fish. The fish he caught were sold at his restaurant. He also could not operate his restaurant. It was more than five miles away.

Enzio Pinza was taken into custody. He was held three months and then released.

I find all this interesting. I am of Italian extraction. My mother was born in Italy. She came to the United States at the age of two months. Many many years before Mussolini ever came to power.

My mother applied for a job in a war plant during World War II. A munitions plant. It took her forever to get approved. She was investigated as perhaps being an Italian spy or what have you. She finally received approval. She examined finished rifles to make sure there were no defects.

Enjoy your day!

 

MIGHTIEST PIRATE OF ALL TIME…..A WOMAN

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Pirates of old are well known. Their names having come down to us through the ages.

On the male side are William Kidd, Blackbeard, Black Bart, Long Ben, and Sir Henry Morgan. All notorious.

The female side not neglected. Women like Anne Bonny, Mary Reed, Grace O’Malley, and Rachel Wall. Each as tough as their male counterparts.

There is one additional noteworthy female pirate. A woman whose name is unknown to most. Perhaps because she was Chinese and ruled the China Sea. As opposed to Caribbean, Atlantic and European shores.

Her name Cheng I Sao.

I discovered in researching Cheng I Sao that the names of Chinese women change during the course of a life time for various reasons. Cheng I Sao was known by different names at various times in her life.

Cheng I Sao was born Shi Xianggu. At a young age, she became a Cantonese prostitute. Her prostitute name Shih Yang. She worked in a brothel, never the streets.

In 1801 while a teenage beauty, she was captured by pirates. The leader of the pirates was the notorious Cheng I.

Cheng I was looking over the female captives which included Shih Yang. He was deciding which to keep for his men and which to sell into slavery. For whatever reason, Shih Yang attacked Cheng I. She tried to scratch his eyes out.

Shih Yang made an impression on Cheng I. He loved not only her beauty, but also her aggressiveness.

Shih Yang was one smart female, regardless of her age. Cheng I fell in love with her.  Wanted to marry her.  Shih Yang was hesitant. She had a price. Her terms were that she would share in his booty on an equal fifty/fifty basis. She would share similarly in authority.

Cheng I was in love. He agreed.

Shih Yang became known as Ching Sish.

Cheng I lived up to his part of the bargain. Ching Sish became a known and feared pirate leader.

Cheng I was strong and assertive. Rather than fight each other, he thought the pirates should unite. One fleet. The enemy henceforth being the Chinese, British, Portuguese, and Dutch.

Everyone agreed. An alliance was formed. Named the Red Flag Fleet. Instantaneously, the most powerful pirate fleet in China.

Cheung Po Tasi was the son of a fisherman. He was forced into piracy at 15 when captured by Cheng I. Cheng I liked him and adopted him. Cheung rose in the ranks. He was a detail man. Both Cheng I and Ching Sish left the everyday operations of the Red Flag Fleet to him.

Cheng I died in 1807. Of unknown causes.

 

The Red Flag Fleet pirates met to select a new leader. Ching Sish brazenly walked into the gathering. Dressed spectacularly. Brash and assertive. She convinced the pirates gathered that she should be leader.

Her leadership from that point forward was never questioned.

Her cunning and ruthless leadership resulted in the Red Flag Fleet growing to over 400 Chinese 20 gun junks. Pirates to 30,000.

She used intimacy to gain her ends. She and the adopted son Cheung Po Tsai became lovers. Subsequently married.

Along the way, Ching Sish’s name had become Cheng I Sao.

In the three years following her first husband’s death, Cheng I Sao became the most prominent and successful pirate in the China Sea. She whipped the ships of every nation. Never lost a battle.

In one fight against the Chinese, she captured 63 Chinese Navy vessels. She gave the captured Chinese sailors a choice. They could join her or die. Death was by being tied down on the deck and beaten with clubs.

China was controlled at the time by the Qing Dynasty. Also known as the Manchu Dynasty.

Cheng I Sao terrorized the China Sea. An armada of Chinese, British and Dutch ships was sent out to defeat her. She whipped their asses.

Commercial shipping was taking a beating. The Chinese, British, Portuguese and Dutch were suffering economically as a result. The Chinese government especially had to do something. Even if extreme.

They made Cheng I Sao an offer she could not refuse. She and her pirates would be given general amnesty. They would also be permitted to keep all the loot pirated.

Cheng I Sao was no fool. She accepted.

Cheng I Sao retired. Bought herself a brothel/casino. She was the madam.

She remarried. Gave birth to several children. Died of old age at 69. Not from a gallow as most pirates.

There are two reasons attributed for her success.

The first her cunning and ruthlessness fired by her desire to be the most feared pirate in history.

The second had to do with sex.

Cheng I Sao prepared a written set of laws to be followed by she and her pirates. Known as the Code. It covered the obligations and responsibilities of her to the pirates and vice versa. Distribution of booty and the treatment of captured women were included.

Cheng I Sao was a feminist. Probably the world’s first. Captive women not sold were either married or partnered with one of the pirates. A pirate could only have sex with his wife or partner. If otherwise, the pirate lost his head.

 

If a pirate had consensual sex with a captive, he was beheaded. The woman was not to be denied. She had cannonballs attached to her ankles and was thrown overboard.

Sensual deprivation was part and parcel of Cheng I Sao’s plan. She believed that sexual frustration made her men better fighters. Eager to take out their aggressions on the enemy. The harder they fought, the more successful she and they would be.

She appears to have been correct.

For various other offenses, the wrongdoer was flogged, quartered or had his ears chopped off.

In modern day, we have seen movies involving Blackbeard, William Kidd, Sir Henry Morgan, Anne Bonny, Mary Reed, Rachel Wall, and others. Never  Cheng I Sao. With one exception.

The film the popular Disney movie franchise Pirates of the Caribbean. Cheng I Sao is portrayed as the powerful pirate Mistress Ching, one of the nine Pirate Lords.

A NEW BOCCE SEASON

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It’s that time again! A new bocce season. Begins tonight.

Everything the same, except I will not be playing. Time to retire. I have played 15 years. Enjoyed every moment. The friends made. However, I am 80 years old. My age and infirmities impose on my team mates.

I do not bend. Have a tendency to get dizzy and fall. Ergo, Keith and Norm in recent years bend over to pick up the ball and hand it to me.

A contributing factor also is how poorly I played the last half of last season. I am quick to point out however that we finished in second place. The first time!

Don is being kind. Twice he telephoned to advise I am still named on the official list of team members. I can play any time I want. I will not want. However, I will stop by occasionally to lend moral support and enjoy a drink.

Watched Louisville destroy Syracuse last night 72-58. Louisville’s defense the reason. They were all over our key players, throwing them off. Especially in the second half.

Dan and I watched the game together at Jack Flat’s. Lisa showed later with their house guests. Dan good company to watch a game with. We yell and moan in unison.

Barbara was with me. We took a Duval walk afterwards. I wanted to stop somewhere for a night cap. The bars were all full. Overflowing. Except 801. Only a handful of customers. We enjoyed our night caps at a premier Key West gay bar.

Huckleberry Finn was Tom Sawyer’s best friend. Remember?

On this day in 1885, Mark Twain published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A surprisingly controversial novel even to present day.

Ernest Hemingway was big on Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. He said the book marked the beginning of American literature. “There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.”

Scientists have been increasingly concerned about robots. Each more advanced than the previous. The concern is a robot’s increasing artificial intelligence. Might be a threat to humanity. Might turn on the master.

Researchers have come up with a solution. They are having robots reading children’s stories.

A solution to a problem is sometimes strange. The obvious avoided. The extreme welcomed with open arms.

I am talking about the University of Texas’ announcement that concealed handguns are now permitted in classrooms. In fact, all over campus.

Another NRA victory.

When will society realize that packing a gun is not the solution to mass shootings?

Enjoy your day!

SCREW OFF DAY AGAIN

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Love wednesdays! The end of my work week. My friday night.

Writing consumes me. Love it! Especially research, the actual writing and editing. Certain days are heavy. I start saturday and run through tuesday evening.

Sunday and tuesday the busiest. The KONK Life column must be to the publisher by 5 on sunday. Takes me all day to do. After researching it on saturday. Tuesday is my blog talk radio show. Additional research, fine tuning the material, and doing the show in the evening.

Today is wednesday. The beginning of my weekly three day vacation.

Anti-gravity treadmill yesterday morning. Hogfish for lunch. I was able to get a seat. Not as many people. Fine tuned my blog talk radio show. Delivered the blog talk radio show in the evening.

I got into the Catholic Church last night. I am unhappy with the way the Cardinals and Bishops are treating him. He is being ignored. He says do something. They do not. They do what they want. I explored the problem.

Political campaigns cost money. I was into Bill and Hillary’s earnings from speaking engagements. Since 2001, $153 million. We should all be on the speaking circuit!

Syracuse/Louisville tonight at 7. Louisville a 7 point favorite. Dan, lets watch it together at Jack Flats. E-mail and let me know if we will be together. I will be bringing a guest.

The New York Times reported today that China has deployed surface to air missiles on an island in the South China Sea. Already some Congressmen are spouting…..We must do something!

Where have they been the past two years? China has been building islands from scratch in the China Sea. Placing air strips on them. Increased its naval vessel numbers beyond ours. Developed new surface to air missiles capable of hitting the US from one of the islands.

China could become an immediate problem if its problems with Japan are not resolved. Both nations are fighting over a series of islands. In the event of hostilities, the US  is bound by agreement to defend/help Japan.

Football czar Roger Godell received $34.1 million in compensation from professional football last year. Actually, he is paid directly by the owners who he continues to make rich.

This next topic is sure to arouse severe and adverse comment.

Recall General William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea. He burned and pillaged one community after another. With the full support of his military superior General Ulysses Grant and President Abraham Lincoln.

The philosophy behind such destruction was that it would end the war more quickly if Southern civilians felt the destruction personally.

This used to be the position of the US through World War II. Japan and Germany were left in ruins. We bombed the hell out of Germany. Dropped two atomic bombs on Japan.

Since World War II, the US has proceeded differently. Civilians must be protected. Avoid damage to civilians. Kill and wound them not.

I do not agree. I am of the opinion that the citizens of a nation have in one fashion or another placed their leaders in power and permitted them to remain in power.

Better the civilians die rather than our boys and girls.

Enjoy your day!

 

TURTLE HOSPITAL RESPONDS AGAIN

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A lovely morning! For a change!

I stepped out on the deck just as the sun rose. Beautiful!

Some rain predicted. Not much. Just heard thunder.

Sick turtles are in the right place when in the Keys. There is a turtle hospital located in Marathon. The Marathon Turtle Hospital.

Extended cold weather and high winds are not healthy for turtles. Such weather also contributes to a red tide. All dangerous to turtles. Such weather can also be potentially fatal. Can result in tissue generating tumors.

Clearwater sent 18 turtles to the Marathon Turtle Hospital recently. All sick. Only 9 survived the trip. The other 9 presently stable. They are being sent to a local hospital today to be CAT scanned to see if tumors are developing.

I know turtles live in water. Crocodiles also. I am not sure their species. Fish, mammal, what?

Anyhow, an American Crocodile was seen in Little Hamaca Park in Key West yesterday. Resting on a drainage pipe. Five to six feet long. Rob O’Neil was able to get a picture. It ran in this morning’s Key West Citizen.

The lower Keys had another sighting last year.

I am not happy even one has arrived in Key West. Where there is one, there has to be more, will be more.

An anthropologist recently told me the Keys are a croc’s home also. That we must learn to live together.

I prefer not to live with them.

At Body Owners yesterday morning for the anti-gravity treadmill. Jenny back. Good to see her. Jenny was away a few days. Her mother in law died in northern Florida. Sad, but not sad. She was 102.

My blog talk radio show tonight at 9. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Join me for some interesting topics. Some the would you believe type. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Topics include a Kentucky bill requiring wife and doctor approval before Viagra can be purchased. Introduced by a female legislator. Her philosophy being if men can make laws about sex and reproductive rights for women, similar laws should be adopted for men.

Eliot Spitzer at it again. In a Plaza Hotel room registered in his name, a woman called 911. Said Spitzer was choking and hitting her. Police arrived.

Some people never learn!

Other topics include Justice Antonin Scalia, Catholic bishops not following Pope Francis’ dictates re disclosure of sex abuse, and Venezuela finally being totally out of food. And more.

Desired stone crabs last night. Went to Martin’s. Closed on Mondays.

Second choice was the new Waterfront Restaurant. My second visit. No stone crabs, of course. Enjoyed the best calamari ever! White and soaked in beer batter.

Many visit Sarabeth’s. A fine eating establishment at the corner of Simonton and Southard. Are you aware it was once a synagogue? Yes. Dedicated this date in 1908. Rodef Shalom Synagogue.

There were once three synagogues in Key West. Key West at the turn of the century (1900) was the Miami Beach of Florida. Actually, there was no Miami Beach at the time. Jewish vacationers visited Key West for their winter sojourn.

 

In the 1920s, Miami Beach was developed. That was the end of Key West as a vacationing place for affluent Jews. They flocked to Miami Beach. With their leaving, the need for three synagogues went also. Today, there is one synagogue in Key West.

Good morning, June.

Everyone enjoy their day!

 

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MINUS 28 DEGREES

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I have suffered pangs of guilt the past 24 hours.

I complain when Key West temperatures fall into the 60s and sometimes 50s. Long pants,  a sweater, etc. The heat turned on.

Yesterday, it was minus 28 degrees in my home town, Utica. Really cold!

Complain less, Louis.

I recall Utica winters. Horrendous. I miss them not at all.

There seemed to be a common occurrence during a minus day/night. The boiler or oil burner would break down. Seemed like everyone’s did at the same time. Meant a waiting period before heat was restored.

Good luck, Utica! Thaw out soon!

I wrote this week’s KONK Life column yesterday. It publishes wednesday. The title: Mightiest Pirate In the World…..A Woman. The Chinese lady Cheng I Sao.

I had researched the column saturday. Took me less than three hours. An unusually short time. The actual writing yesterday took me six hours.  An unusually long time.

I thought I was going to knock the column out in no time since the research had been less than normal. Obviously was not so. I suspect the reason was the more than normal detail and the many Chinese names. Whatever, it took forever.

You will enjoy the final product.

Valentine dinner last night at Hot Tin Roof. Fortunately, I made a reservation. My usual table was waiting for me in the bar area. A mob waiting for tables. Never saw so many people in the bar area.

Manager Joseph congenial through out it all. Accommodated every one with a smile.

Syracuse basketball yesterday afternoon. Syracuse beat Boston College 75-61. The victory expected. Never know, however.

The game was not televised in the Keys. A disappointment. Fortunate, also. It gave me two extra hours to work on the KONK column. Two hours I did not know I would need.

Today a significant one in U.S. and Key West history. The Battleship Maine blew up in Havana Harbor. Precipitated the Spanish-American War. Many of the Maine sailors killed rest in the Key West Cemetery.

Enjoy your day!

ANTONIN SCALIA

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Antonin Scalia died yesterday. A Supreme Court jurist who did much to mold the thinking of the Court. In the wrong direction.

I never agreed with his manner of interpreting the Constitution. Nor other instruments such as the Federalist Papers that he relied on.

Never the less, Scalia succeeded over a period of thirty years in changing the Court’s thinking. Assuming a more liberal replacement, it will take another thirty years to undo the negative impact of Scalia’s decisions.

What is ahead?

Obama as President will nominate Scalia’s replacement. The Senate then comes into play. The Senate has the right to advise and consent to the nomination. Obama’s candidate will first have to get through the Republican controlled Judiciary Committee. Then receive a majority vote of the entire Senate.

The Senate situation creates a difficulty. It is Republican controlled.

The year ahead will be interesting.

My choice would be Joe Biden. Prior to becoming V ice-President, he was a U.S. Senator for thirty some odd years. Chairman at one time of the Judiciary Committee. He made friends on both sides of the aisle. An individual some Republicans would vote for.

Last night’s Republican debate a disgrace. As have been the previous ones. The candidates fight like mad dogs. With the exception of Kasich. Do we want one of the combatants as President?

Remember, crazy people do crazy things.

Happy Valentine’s Day! A day for lovers. Enjoy.

Was out on Duval yesterday at three. Stopped at Viva, the new bar. Nothing special. A drinking place.

Did Martin’s happy hour. A good deal. Atmosphere perfect. Food terrific. I enjoyed tiny lamb chops, brie and calamari.

Then to Louie’s Backyard. The perfect time of day to sit on the outside deck and watch the setting sun..

Syracuse plays Boston College at 1. Syracuse should win. An 11 point favorite. Boston College is having a bad year.

I completed the research for this week’s KONK Life column yesterday. I will write the column today. I am not sure of the title as yet. It will be the story of one of the fiercest pirates of all time. Cheng I Sao. A woman.

Theodore Roosevelt was a great man. One of our best President’s. He accomplished much in his lifetime. Always a smile on his face. A happy camper.

Not on February 14, 1884. His wife and mother died the same day. It took him several years to overcome the impact.

His mother died of typhoid. His wife of a kidney ailment.

Enjoy your Sunday! Enjoy St. Valentine’s Day!

THE SQUEAKY WHEEL

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It is time again! For the handful of righteous to complain about Fantasy Fest. Specifically, the nudity. More hearings. Press attention.

The group is a squeaky wheel. Receives more attention than deserved.

Fantasy Fest is an adult party. If the nudity offends, stay away!

Dinner at La Trattoria by the Ocean last night. Food good. Food always good over the years.

I tried Open Table to make a reservation. For 7 o’clock. Received a confirmation. Arrived at 7. The hostess told me my table was still occupied. I asked how long a wait. She did not know.

She had already noted I had an Open Table reservation. I reminded her of that fact. Give me any table. She said the next one. I told her I would be at the bar.

Forty five minutes and two drinks later, I returned to her. Asked pleasantly when I should start complaining? About what, she asked. I told her and reminded her of our earlier conversation. She remembered neither me nor the reservation.

She told me my Open Table reservation showed a no show/cancellation.

Politely, I said just give me a table. She looked up and said, Oh, I see one over there.

Ordered. A century later, still no food. A long wait. No drinks, either.

I do not know whose fault it was. I suspect the hostess. I was there on time. She probably failed to click some part of the Open Table program..

Anti-gravity treadmill in the morning. Research in the afternoon. Next week’s KONK Life column will tell the story of a female pirate.

US 1 and Northern Boulevard are both dangerous travel lanes. An accident slows down traffic and sometimes causes delays of 3-4 hours.

A three car crash occurred on US 1 yesterday. On Niles Channel Bridge. Minimum injuries, fortunately. Police directed traffic over one lane for two hours. During that time, traffic was backed up 8-10 miles in both directions.

An interesting fact. Locals do not seem disturbed when delays occur. An accepted part of the Key West life style.

Harry Truman. Harry Truman loved Key West and Key West loves Harry Truman. Visited our island 11 separate times for a total of 175 days.

In 1953 after leaving office, Truman decided to tale a family vacation to Honolulu. Wife Bess and daughter Margaret joined him. A Kansas City newspaper made it sound like a desertion of Key West.

Nothing farther from the truth. Truman returned several times to Key West after he left the Presidency. Stayed at a private residence those times.

Commercial air travel was not yet in vogue. It was a train from Kansas City to San Francisco. Then a boat to Honolulu. The Union Pacific Railroad and the liner President Cleveland.

Truman had been to Honolulu one time before. On his trip to Wake Island to chastise General Douglas MacArthur. When he landed in Honolulu, he refused a flower lei. Said it was not appropriate for a President to wear. On the later trip no longer being President, he accepted the lei.

The Catholic Church has screwed things up more than once over the years. Religion in general has.

On this day in 1633, Galileo made his first appearance before the Roman Inquisition. He was charged with heresy for advocating the earth revolved around the sun and not vice versa. The Catholic Church disagreed. The Church claimed the earth and not the sun was the center of the universe.

My problem is not with the Church’s ignorance. It is why the Church was even involved in an astronomical/scientific issue. One that had nothing to do with saving souls.

Greece, my Greece. Poverty and hard times still abound.

The Eurounion imposed a new and more severe austerity program on Greece last year. Since that time, farmers have had their social security payments tripled and their taxes doubled.

Last month, the farmers protested. In Athens. Eight hundred strong. Drove their tractors into town and blocked a main thoroughfare. A demonstration followed. Soon a battle between farmers and police. The farmers defended themselves against the police with tomatoes and shepherd’s crocks.

Question: Why was this scenario not reported to us by the media? I have no recollection of reporting or discussion.

If I am correct, it is further proof that the news we receive is selective in nature. I blame the corporations owning the various news media. They call the shots.

Enjoy your day!

LAST NIGHT FROM HOME

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Change in plans last night. Reardon could not make the Syracuse game till the second half. I do not like watching a game without another fan. Decided therefore to stay home and watch Syracuse/Florida State and the Democrat debate from the comfort of my recliner chair and bed.

Best basketball game Syracuse has played this year. Shot 63 percent in beating Florida State 85-72. Go Orange!

I am afraid to get enthused.

The Democrat debate interesting. I could discern a winner. Both were good.

Hillary continues to disappoint me. She talks with a forked tongue. Whatever she did yesterday is changed today. Her positions slide from one position to another. People sense this.

My only outside activity was the anti-gravity treadmill in the morning. Cold out. I wore a leather jacket to ward off the cold when I left Body Owners. I am sweating profusely at that time.

Jenny’s mother in law in St. Augustine is in a bad way. Jenny and her husband are with her.

The outstanding female author of modern times has to be Judy Blume. Young girls read all her books. She guided the young ladies through their formative years.

Blume is still writing these days. This time for the older generation. Many of whom were part of the younger generation who previously read her.

Today is Judy’s birthday. Happy birthday, Judy! Born this day in 1938.

One of Key West’s most popular places is known to locals only. Unfortunately. Everyone should know about Dion’s so all can enjoy the place.

Dion’s is a gas station and convenience store. Dion’s prepares fried chicken. Every day. The best! Perhaps too oily. Artery clogging. That is what makes it so good!

It was announced yesterday that Dion’s is being sold. After 68 years as a family business. I hope the new owners continue selling the tasty chicken.

This week’s KONK Life column  Joe Btfspik of Li’l Abner Fame appears today in E-News Blast.

Bum Farto, where are you?

Joseph “Bum” Farto was Key West’s Fire Chief. He was accused of being involved in the selling of drugs. Arrested. Tried. Convicted. In 1976, sentenced to 31 years.

A couple of days following the sentencing, he disappeared. Some say from the front of his house. Two cars pulled up and took him away. Whether abducted or simply disappeared on his own is not known to this day.

Farto disappeared never to return. The Jimmy Hoffa of Key West.

Enjoy your day!