The last 24 hours brought back some yesterdays. Not personal ones. Interesting nevertheless.
The first was Al Gore. Former Vice-President. A world leader in protecting the environment.
Gore was with Hillary Clinton at Miami Dade College. Talking to college students about the environment. He is a recognized expert in the field. He prepared the documentary An Inconvenient Truth. A global warming warning. For which Gore received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
He is older. We all are. I have not seen him in 10-15 years. Put on a lot of weight. So have I.
Gore also talked about voting. Every vote counts was his pitch. Who better than he should know! He was defeated for President by George W. Bush. The chad election. Gore lost Florida by 500 plus votes. He won the overall national vote by 500,000 plus votes.
This morning, I read in the Key West Citizen of the coming Key West Film Festival. Scheduled this year for November 16-20.
Burt Reynolds will be in Key West for the Festival. He is receiving a Career Achievement Award.
Reynolds is now 82. Looks good. One of his big hits was Smokey & the Bandit. A documentary of the behind the scenes goings on will be shown at the Festival.
Reynolds gave me/us pleasure. Each of his roles genuine.
Finally, Nikita Khrushchev. Leader of the Soviet Union. At a time when the Soviet Union was unquestionably the enemy of the United States.
It was the fall of 1960. I was waiting for my bar exam results. Khrushchev was at the United Nations in New York. During someone’s talk, Khrushchev disagreed. He stood up and took off one of his shoes. He pounded the table with his shoe.
Khrushchev was a pig. Looked like and acted like one. A reporter at the time described him as a “hotheaded buffoon.”
Khrushchev and Trump have many similarities.
When you get to my age, you feel you have lived history. Actually, you have lived through historical moments. The memorable ones vivid in your mind.
Spent yesterday prepping for my blog talk radio show last night. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou.
Two items I hit on involved the election and opium. Not related.
A book came out monday. A Filthy Risk, etc. The story of Jeffrey Epstein. A portion of the book his relationship with Bill Clinton. Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a child for prostitution. He did 13 months.
The book has a first printing of 500,000 copies. Expected to be a big seller. Before this week is out, you should begin hearing its contents. Knowing how Trump plays, the Clinton contents could become a campaign bomb.
Two years ago, I wrote a lengthy KONK Life column on Afghanistan and opium. Opium poppies are used to make heroin.
Afghanistan supplies 90 percent of heroin world wide. The biggest supplier to the streets of America. Heroin presently being the U.S.’s major drug problem.
Opium growing in significant amounts began when the U.S. went to war in Afghanistan in 2001. We are still there in some form. The question I raised in the KONK column and again last night is why none of the opium poppy fields were destroyed during the terrible Afghanistan conflict. Production grew, the war lords owning the fields got richer, and the peasants working the poppy fields neither injured nor killed.
Strange.
I got back into Afghanistan and opium because of a recent study that indicated 30,000 babies in the United States were born last year addicted to some opiate. Generally, heroin or crack.
Because the mom was a junkie, babies are born drug dependent. It takes several days for the babies to complete withdrawal. The babies cry non stop from the pain. Yes, even young ones can hurt.
Which brought me back to Afghanistan. Why have we permitted the opium to grow? The response that we have done everything we can is bullshit.
Something stinks here.
Enjoy your day!