HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZ MOODY

Liz Moody. A spectacular woman. Accomplished. Recognized before her time.

Liz is 84 today. Happy birthday, Liz!

Unfortunate we met only two years ago. I enjoy her company. Our backgrounds similar.

Liz and I are members of the legal profession. Liz smarter than me, however. She was Dean of two law schools. Ended her career as CEO of the Law School Admission Test Corporation. A big deal!

We knew many of the same people in the profession. Judges, practitioners, and educators. Our conversations went on and on.

Age has not diminished Liz’s beauty. Nor her mind. Her body taking a bit of a beating, however. The past few years involving several hip operations. To no avail. She has difficulty walking. Sugar a problem. She was discharged yesterday from the hospital after two weeks and one day where they worked on stabilizing her sugar.

Liz originally from Cleveland. She and her husband purchased a lovely home on Southard in the early 1980’s. Her husband was a prominent Cleveland attorney. He passed away many years ago.

I shall enjoy celebrating Liz’s birthday with her this evening, as will her many Key West friends who will be celebrating with her. A catered event.

Less I forget, dinner with Liz a joy. Dinners she prepared. A gourmet cook. Her choice of wines equal to her culinary talent.

My podcast show last night. Tuesday talk with Key West Lou. As always, loved doing it!

I was happy to share Trip Advisor’s recent ratings re Key West. Number one in three categories.

Discussed China and North Korea a bit. Trump screwing up big time in our relations with the two countries. Already obvious the Kim meeting a failure. Trump was taken advantage of. The tariff war with China begins as a disaster. Chinese, Asian and European markets falling this morning. The U.S. markets will at some point.

If the tariff war continues, I predict a world wide depression a year from now. Hoover became President when the market was at an all time high. Everyone making money. He thought tariffs were warranted. Did not make sense. However, he went ahead anyway. One year later, the Great Depression.

History repeats itself. Trump not aware since he does not read nor is he a student of history.

Hemingway Days are coming! In one week. Begin July 17 and run through July 22.  A fun time. A family event.

As usual, there will be a Hemingway Look a Like contest. One hundred twenty five men from all over the world participating. All a bit chunky, all with white hair and beards, all dressed in white with a red waist band and a red cap.

The Running of the Bulls another event. My favorite.

Additionally, a street fair, arm wrestling contest, 5K run/walk, and a paddle board race.

The most interesting thing from my perspective is that where ever you go that week, Look a Likes will be there. Restaurants, bars.

The Key West Citizen weather reporter continues to be a humorist. Today’s report: A t-storm in spots; tell spot to go home. Tonight: Partly cloudy, as t-shower; birds happy.

Trump as President sets the tone for the country. As have all previous Presidents. If something is ok for a President to do, it is all right for the citizenry.

Trump engages in prejudice and bigotry.

Trump is down on Mexico for a number of reasons. Speaks badly of them all the time. The inevitable had to occur.

Rodolfo Rodriguez is a 91 year old Mexican citizen. He legally visits family in Willowbrook, California twice a year. A few days ago while visiting, he took his daily walk after lunch.

A woman and four men came up to him. The woman shouted: “Go back to Mexico!” The woman then hit him with a concrete block. The four men followed up kicking and beating him.

Rodriguez ended up with a broken jaw, broken cheek bone, 2 fractured ribs, and bruises all over.

The story bad enough so far. Another startling fact, however. The woman was black. She who has probably been subject to prejudice and bigotry her whole life subjected another to that treatment.

Another “Go back to Mexico” situation. A store. Mother and small children shopping. A 40ish man did not like the way the children were behaving. He told the mother, “Go back to Mexico.” A young man came to the woman’s defense.

Then there is the Cook County woman at a public park with her family. Enjoying a cook-out. She was wearing a T-shirt of the Puerto Rican flag.

A man came up to her and began berating her because she was wearing the T-shirt: “You should not be wearing that in the United States.” The woman retorted I am an American citizen. He responded she should then wear a T-shirt of the American flag.

The tirade went on 35 minutes. A park police officer was nearby watching. She told him she was becoming “uncomfortable.” He did nothing. Finally other police officers appeared and broke up the confrontation.

Mexico…..Puerto Rico…..Who began dumping on them thereby encouraging others to do so?

Enjoy your day!

 

BIGOTRY

The term bigotry permeates the news. I want to share a personal thought.

I have known bigots over the course of my life time. All powerful persons. Disliked n—ers and Jews. Some, even Italians.

They did not know they were bigots. Bigots do not know they are bigots.

They all considered themselves do gooders. Helpful especially to those they demeaned the most.

A bigot is like a tiger. He does not change his spots.

Tropical storm, hurricane…..What is Key West to expect over the next few days. Tension is building on the island. Even with me. I shall be out stocking up for the few days I might be confined to my home.

99L is still 99L. Broke up  a bit over Hispaniola. We are going to have rain and winds. Whether more, remains to be seen. The storm’s line runs directly over Key West.

Monroe County’s second Zika case has been reported. Marathon. Travel related. Not the result of a mosquito bite in the Keys.

Driving gets worse and worse on Key West. More and more tourists. Something has to be done.

The City Commission is trying. They have hired a full time employee to deal with the problem.

An initial study has been completed. Done by a graduate student still a student. I cannot knock the initial result. Thoughtful. Some new ideas.

Only a beginning. Lets see where it goes.

This weekend would normally be quiet. A lull in tourism. It will be even quieter because of the possibility of a storm.

I wanted to schedule dinner saturday with out of town friends. They could not make it. Decided to leave saturday morning because of the possibility of a bad storm.

Wise judgment.

The poor Hackley baby. William Hackley reported today: “Babe had a fever again.”

Asians many times appear smarter than we do. They may be. China, Japan, Taiwan, etc. They always seem to be a step ahead in material development.

Singapore announced that within several weeks it will start using driverless cabs. A test. Only six. If the program works, Singapore believes it will reduce 900,000 vehicles a day on their roads to 300,000.

Uber has announced it will soon start testing driverless taxis. In Pittsburgh.

Key West? We threw Uber out! Interestingly, the congestion study referred to earlier suggested as one means of cutting traffic down was to use Uber and other such companies.

Insanity carried to an extreme. I am into alligators. I fear further injury and loss of life.

Insanity prevailed this past week in Bushnell, Florida. Reginald Blanton, age 76, has a horse farm. He was walking in the field with several horses. His 58 year old step son Jack Hildreth was with him.

An alligator came upon the scene. Started jumping for the horses who were panicking. Reginald was carrying. A 9 mm handgun. He put two bullets in the alligator’s head. The alligator was not dead. Stepson Jack was eight feet away from the alligator. The alligator leaped up and at Jack. In one leap, got one of Jack’s legs between his jaws.

Reginald shot the alligator again. The alligator subsequently died.

Alligators no longer are an endangered species in Florida. However there is a law that a person cannot shot/kill an alligator unless licensed to do so.

Reginald had no such license.  He was arrested. A felony carrying a five year sentence.

Lets stay with alligators for a moment. Yesterday, an alligator was seen with a man’s body in his mouth. Florida’s Lake Hunter. A witness called it into the police. The police saw the alligator and body also.

My column in this week’s Konk Life is Teaching To The Test Fails. It appeared on E-Blast this morning. The column was also linked to my Key West Lou website this morning.

Another example of insanity. The pure unadulterated human kind again. Phoenix airport this past week. Nine year old boy traveling with his parents. Frequent travelers, including the child.

The boy was born with four heart defects. He has had 15 surgeries. A 16th is scheduled to be done soon.

He has a pacemaker. Ergo, unable to go through usual screening. The parents have the necessary documentation from TSA providing for alternate testing. The documentation also spells out how it is to be done.

The TSA official said no good. Child must go through normal security or he will not travel. An exemption required.

Everyone got in the act. The Homeland Security officer in charge, several other TSA officers and a handful of police officers. Many carrying guns and lasers.

Everyone knew what to do. None knew anything. Each contributing something to the testing performed. Took an hour.

The child was scared. His parents have taught him to live with his disability. He gives it no thought. Not till Phoenix. Mother says child still bothered.

Enjoy your day!