GOOMBAY FRIDAY NIGHT

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It’s that time of year! Goombay and Fantasy Fest. Thousands of visitors. Ten days of fun!

Goombay first. Friday and saturday. Then a week of Fantasy Fest.

Goombay a family thing. A street festival. Reminds me of the Italian feasts. Except the food is different. Everything with a Bahamian, Latino, Cuban, Central American flavor.

Held on Petronia Street in Bahama Village.

Sunday begins Fantasy Fest. Adult! No kids! Bare breasts and sometimes other parts of the body. Mostly female, some male.

Tom and Fran Dixon are in town. We are having dinner together tonight. Meeting at the Chart Room. Then I don’t know where for dinner.

Tom and Fran smart. They arrived monday night, leave friday morning. They are getting out of Dodge before the madness begins.

After 20 years of Fantasy Fests, some sort have had it! Did one, did them all!

A new bartender at the Chart Room. John still there. However, his days have been changed.

The new bartender Tammy. She works tonight. Can’t wait to meet the lady. Her regular job is on the roof of the Bull bartending. The infamous Garden of Eden. A place where people go bare ass all times of the day and night. Especially this coming week. Tourists consider it a deviant place. The roof will be packed.

A strange thing happened yesterday in San Juan. The offices of Mayor Carmen Yulin were raided by the FBI. She is the woman who stood up to Trump for failing to do enough for the people of Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.

Mayor Yulin’s offices are also described as San Juan’s municipal offices.

An FBI spokesman said more than 10 and less than 50 agents were involved. Sounds like a big deal. Why the secrecy as to the number of agents?

The spokesman added the FBI were investigating “fixing contracts, falsifying documents…..having to do with federal funds.”

It was reported members of City government were targeted, not the Mayor herself. The Mayor pledged full cooperation.

I have a concern. Hope I am wrong. In reality, is this retaliation or retribution against the Mayor for having stood up to Trump?

Trump has ruthlessly beat up the FBI. They went strictly by the book during the Kavanaugh investigation. However, I thought they could have investigated further than they did. Now a strong heroic woman has her public office investigated. Bothers me. Hope it is on the up and up.

The FBI has always been an above board professional organization. However with the ruthless beating it has been taking the past several months, I wonder if they sort have given in a bit in opposing the President in some circumstances.

Canada has legalized marijuana for recreational use. Became legal at midnight last night. An individual can legally carry up to 30 grams. A bit more than 1 ounce. An ounce is 28.3495 grams. The statute has rounded it off to 30 grams.

Uruguay is the only other country to have legalized recreational marijuana.

The Canadian government is giving serious consideration to going a step further. Consideration is being given to issuing pardons to all convicted for possession of 30 grams.

It has been 15 days since Jamal Khashoggi was killed and his body dismembered. Saudis can be cruel.

It is obvious Trump is trying to cover Saudi Arabia’s ass to some extent. A bad move. Not consistent with American character and sense of right.

Saudi Arabia considers itself untouchable due to oil and money. The U.S. does business with them. Big time. The Saudis consider the U.S. friends.

Friends like the Saudis the U.S. does not need. Never forget they gave us $4 a gallon gasoline and most of the 9/11 culprits were Saudi citizens.

The Saudis have strange ways of getting rid of bodies. They must give significant thought to the how.

In 1956, Nasir As-Sa’id fled Saudi Arabia fearing for his life. A writer, also. In 1979, he was kidnapped on a crowded Beirut Street. Then taken to the Saudi embassy where he was tortured and killed.

No dismemberment for As-Sa’id. Rather his body thrown out of a plane over Saudi Arabia’s “empty quarter desert.”

Senator David Perdue (R-Ga) a strange bird.

Last week, students were protesting. One asked him a question and held his cell phone up to record the Senator’s answer. The Senator “ripped” the phone from the student’s hand.

The Senator’s office later reported it was an error of judgment on the Senator’s part.

He has compared Trump to Winston Churchill. Would you believe! He said Trump may “not be a choir boy, but he is a man of history.”

Last month during the Kavanaugh hearings, Perdue referred to the protesters as “Nazis.”

Then there is Obama. Republican hatred for Obama runs deep. The Senator was speaking at a Facts and Freedom Coalition in June. Re Obama, he said let his days be few. Apparently a religious fanatic, he relied on Psalm 109:8…..”Let his days be few.”

Syracuse/UNC saturday. Syracuse a 10 point favorite. Hope the ‘Cuse returns to its winning ways.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

THE COUGH THAT ISN’T GOING AWAY

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I got a cold and cough big time 5 weeks ago. It seemed like everyone I know got it too.

Here it is 5 weeks later and I still have a cough. A very slight one.

I generally get the flu shot around October 1. Did not because of the cold, etc. You are not supposed to get the flu shot if you are sick in any way.

I went to see Dr. Norris yesterday. My real concern was whether I could get the flu shot yet. He said no. Must first get rid of the cough. Now he was concerned why the cough was still around 5 weeks later. He gave me a prescription for some drug and sent me off for a chest x-ray. Also gave me a sermon about smoking.

Last night, Dueling Bartenders at Aqua. Jean met up with me. We enjoyed Tom and Rick. Chatted briefly with Liz and Linda.

We wanted stone crabs. Yesterday, opening day of the season. Came up empty. No one had them yet. We will do it another time.

Went to La Trattoria for dinner. Guy de Boer joined us as we were finishing. A good meal and good company. Following which I headed home and Jean to Vino’s.

Friday Goombay! Jean and I are going to walk the street together. Then Fantasy Fest for a week. The wild time!

I am excited. Buffalo’s Fran and Tom Dixon arrived late last night. I will ba having dinner with them some night this week. Tom e-mailed Fran had brought a supply of sauce. Love the woman!

A hurricane comes and goes. Its effects remain a long time. Irma a perfect example. Irma hit the lower Keys more than a year ago. People without homes even today. A Rebuild Florida Bus will be parked at City Hall in Key West today and tomorrow. To assist those still without adequate housing.

Michael’s death toll at the moment 17. The number will grow significantly. Sixty thousand people missing. Search crews are out. Going through the rubble of each house.

Trump and Melanie were in the Panhandle and Georgia yesterday. The President never learns. Was it in Puerto Rico following Maria that he threw rolls of paper towels? Yesterday, it was bottles of water. Tossed and handed.

I’m beginning to think Trump is a frustrated ball player.

I saw on TV yesterday men running around wearing blue tee shirts with FEMA printed in bold white letters on the back. It seemed like they were intent in getting in the video being taken.

The video was being shot in Lynn Haven, a town in the Panhandle hit badly. There were food and water tents. The food and water were not delivered by nor being given out by FEMA. Their food and water still on its way. It was from volunteers who drove it in and were handing the food and water out themselves.

Good people, one and all. Key West an example of such good people. A large truck left City Hall yesterday loaded with things people will need in the Panhandle. Four or five volunteers went along. One said it was pay back time. A time to say thank you for the assistance the lower Keys received from the people of the Panhandle during Irma.

FEMA and other federal help appears to be directed to the search efforts for the 60,000 unaccounted for. FEMA and Governor Scott said a couple of days ago that is the way it had to be. Find those first who are trapped or dead. Then the flow of food, water, etc.

Does not make sense to me. FEMA a huge organization. Should be ready to assist in every respect when a disaster such as Michael occurs. They have had enough experience. They also knew before Michael made landfall the magnitude of the storm. The military can be called in to help if need be.

Several months from now, the Washington cry will be not enough money, can’t complete the recovery job, perhaps even can’t help anymore. The federal government still owes billions of dollars to Florida and Monroe County for monies the feds were going to pay re Irma problems. The State and County have had to play with their budgets, cut some services, raise taxes, etc. this year because the monies not yet paid.

Tonight my podcast. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Nine my time. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou. Join me. I have much to discuss. Many things bothering me that should be bothering you also.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

ARMED MASKED MERCENARIES WALKING STREETS OF PUERTO RICO

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During war, battle plan are prepared. After the battle begins and things are not going as expected, the plan is thrown away. A new plan formulated. One outside the box.

Trump is not creating any new methods for helping Puerto Rico. He tells us the food and water are there. It is up to the people to distribute it.

Passing the buck.

Trump fails to take into account that over 100 bridges are down and many roads washed away.

Think outside the box!

Helicopters! Load the helicopters with food and water and fly all over Puerto Rico bringing food and water to those who have seen neither in almost a month.

My sense is the same was suggested to Trump and rejected by him. Why trump has a hard on for Puerto Rico, I cannot understand.

I discovered in the past 48 hours that armed masked mercenaries, wearing battle gear, and carrying arms, are patrolling streets in San Juan and elsewhere. No tags identifying who they are. When asked, they respond…..We work with the government. It’s a humanitarian mission, we’re helping Puerto Rico.

Who are these mercenaries? Where do they come from? Who is paying them?

TV thus far has been silent as to the situation. In the past two days, articles have begun appearing on the internet re the mercenaries.

Little by little, the truth is leaking out. It appears mercenary groups have been invited by the United States to bid to provide armed and unarmed security. Bids have also been asked for help in protecting food and water supplies.

Five bids requested so far. The one for armed and unarmed security by the Department of Homeland Security.

Questions. Assuming the previous correct, why has the Trump Administration not announced it? Why have TV news outlets failed to mentioned it? Why the big secret?

More importantly, if the U.S. can spend money to hire mercenaries to help, why not send the U.S. military instead? The way things normally are done.

Another thing, why the masks and no identification?

Is Puerto Rico being set up for the overthrow of its existing government by the U.S.? United States’ citizens overthrown by the United States?

None of this makes sense to me.

Spent yesterday afternoon working on tonight’s podcast. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Nine my time. Join me for a fast moving sometimes eye opening half hour. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Topics tonight include the Puerto Rico armed masked mercenary situation, a post Irma update for Key West, Kansas losing 70 foster children, the size of the White House, stone crab season upon us.

Also, Trump a destroyer rather than a builder, the poem Slow Dance by a teenage young lady who will be dead from cancer in 6 months, the soon to be publication of Irma and Me, new Charlottesville confrontations, and more.

I had not planned going out last night. Changed my mind at the last minute. Was lathered up ready to shave when the lights went out. So much for shaving. Showered and dressed in the dark.

My neighbors were in the street abuzz about the power failure. Some said all the way up to Big Pine. Others, Big Coppitt.

Aqua my first stop. Missed Liz. She and Stacy had left for dinner. Sat and enjoyed Ric Dery singing.

No Dueling Bartenders. Tom Luna was somewhere in West Virginia or Virginia attending a 40 year reunion of the cast of a professional show performed 40 years ago.

Lovely Jean Thornton at the bar. A couple of hugs and kisses.

I sat next to David. We decided after a while to leave and go to the Chart Room. The Chart Room was surprisingly packed.

Met a family from New Hampshire. Five in all. Staying at Truman Annex.

Chatted quite a while with CJ, the youngest family member at 24. CJ good company. Excited about life. A history major in college. Looking forward to obtaining a Masters.

A full day. I was home in bed by 10.

Publisher believes Irma and Me will be available for purchase by the end of the week.

Enjoy your day!

GOD IS GOOD

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I have not been feeling well the past few days. Yesterday was no different. I decided to stay home and relax.

My planned event for the day was to watch the Syracuse/Virginia Tech game at 3:45. I had no expectation of Syracuse winning. A seventeen point underdog. Virginia ranked #17 in the country.

Syracuse won! Decisively! 31-17.

I felt better! Decided to shower and go out.

Ended up at Berlin’s. I craved stone crabs. First day of the season. Enjoyed three jumbo ones.

A Syracuse victory and stone crabs! The Lord was good to me.

Guy deBoer was at Berlin’s enjoying a cigar. We had dinner together.

The nuisance flooding Key West is experiencing is a twice a year event. Spring and Fall. It is called King Tides. The flooding caused by the location of the Earth, moon and sun. Resulting in the highest ocean tides of the year.

The screwworm invasion a burgeoning problem. Locals met at the Big Pine Key Park recently with officials. More and more Key deer are suffering and being euthanized. Also several home pets. The authorities are on the problem. The cure is known. Everything in the works. Time and patience now.

Orchid growing popular in the Keys. Orchids grow well in our climate.

Many homeowners plant orchids on the trunks of their palm trees. I had it done when I purchased my home 18 years ago. A few months later, beautiful orchids! The orchids renewed themselves each year. Mine lasted 10 years till for whatever reason they stopped appearing.

The Orchid Society is having a presentation of their home grown orchids today at West Martello. I have seen the event a few times over the years. Beauty to behold. Worth seeing.

The Presidential election continues to give me concern. No question, I am anti-Trump. The man is demented. How can he talk or suggest the election is rigged, rebellion, assassination, if he loses he will not accept the results, and most recently that Hillary was on drugs during the last debate.

Add to it Trump and Bill’s sex lives. What happened to issues, the economy, fair wages, international problems, the Affordable Care Act, etc.?

“John Brown’s body lies a-mouldering in the grave.”

On this date in 1858, John Brown attacked Harpers Ferry. He was captured, tried and convicted. Hung December 2, 1858. Buried December 8, 1858.

No prolonged appeals in those days.

John Brown was buried in front of his home in Lake Placid, New York. Actually the village of North Elbo, a part of Lake Placid.

Fifteen years ago, my former wife and I were visiting Bruce Evans and his wife at their second home in Lake Placid. Bruce lived in the Utica area.

Bruce was my golf partner at our local golf club. He quietly put up with my poor playing for several years.

Bruce belonged to a golf club in Lake Placid, also. He invited me up to play in that club’s member-guest tournament.

We won our flight by the way. It was hard to lose with my gigantic handicap.

We were rained out one day. We took a ride on the back roads. Lake Placid is part of the Adirondack mountains. High up. Cool in the summer. Freezing cold in the winter.

We came upon John Brown’s home and grave. Bruce had not seen it before, either. The grounds now a New York State Historical Site.

Brown was buried in front of his home.

The home tiny. Rectangular. Simple. Two floors. Two rooms downstairs and one up.

Brown fathered 20 children. Thirteen by his second wife Mary Ann Day. His first wife died. When Brown was home, he lived in the small house with Mary Ann and thirteen of his children.

Tight quarters. Everyone had to sleep tight against to each other. Not a bad scenario in the winter when the cold wind and snow came storming down from Canada.

Enjoy your Sunday!