I WAS WRONG…..

I was wrong.

I have been in Key West during Fantasy Fest some 30 years. Initially, I did them all. One year after another. After a while it became you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. So I stopped attending.

Toga Party was my favorite event. Thursday night at Sloppy Joe’s and in the street in front of Sloppy’s. I wrote in detail yesterday what it was like. My last Toga Party (always as an observer) was at least a dozen years ago.

A voyeur’s dream!

I decided to go last night.

I stopped at the Chart Room first. Friend Ted from Cazenovia, NY was there, with friend Terri. Ted is a former attorney. A terrific guy. Visits Key West two times a year. He came specifically for Fantasy Fest. His first. Terri’s, also. Terri a 20 year veteran of corporate finance.

Being a helpful soul, I advised Ted and Terri a good event to see last night. My admonition: Don’t miss Toga Party. Explained what and where it was.

My good deed for the evening.

Around 8 o’clock, I walked over to Sloppy Joe’s. Excited!

In the past, Duval in front of Sloppy Joe’s was cordoned off. A block on either side also. No cars. Pedestrian walk. Totally crowded with party revelers. Last night, cars as usual.

Strange, I thought. It came to mind there was little traffic when I drove down US 1 and along Truman Avenue. Normally took extra long to get into town. It also dawned on me I had no problem finding a parking spot. Open places all over.

Something amiss.

I got in front of Sloppy’s. About 3/4’s filled inside. Less people than when a cruise ship comes in. The sidewalks crowded, but walkable.

Few bare assed women wearing togas! I saw a total of 4. Walking down the sidewalk with their husbands or boy friends who were similarly attired.

Things had changed in the last 12 years. Wow! Big time! The “adult party” appeared no more. Subdued considerably.

The same local company had run Fantasy Fest for years. Three years ago, some felt the event had become too risqué. A new company was hired. One that promised a more subdued event. Subdued? Killed!

I wonder how long the merchants will put up with a quieter, cleaner Fantasy Fest. The sole purpose for Fantasy Fest was to give merchants an opportunity to make money during Key West’s slow time.

I apologize to my readers for yesterday’s total erroneous representation of Toga Party. I also apologize to Ted and Terri. My only interest was to make their evening more enjoyable.

While in the Chart Room, met another attorney. Scott from Poughkeepsie. He has been visiting Key West since 1992. A Simon Court regular.

Scott has had a distinguished career. Cases litigated from Puerto Rico to Key West to New York.

We exchanged lawyer war stories.

Disappointed with a Toga Party that sucked, I drove over to Blue Macaw. Ran into Mary. We enjoyed dinner and a couple of drinks together. Mary works at The Little White House. A Harry Truman expert.

The parking meters have changed. Cost to park in Key West has increased. From $3 an hour to $4. Disgraceful! A gouging!

These attempted bombings scary. The 11th discovered this morning. Directed to New Jersey Democratic Senator Corey Booker.

What is occurring is domestic terrorism. Can you imagine how we would feel if the attempted bombings had been successful? Two former Presidents, a Vice-President, a former Presidential candidate, Congressional members, and a movie star not afraid to speak out on political issues, dead or injured. The country would be in mourning. Republicans, included.

We are in a cold war. A Democrat/Republican one. Tempers are boiling. The cold war could easily tun into a hot one. Bullets and molotov cocktails flying. Citizens killed and injured.

The last time the U.S. was confronted with such anger and ill will between political parties was in the 1850 years leading up to the Civil War. It took a Civil War to settle the issues.

Trump proudly said on TV the other night he was a nationalist. “There I said it,” he said.

Does the man know that of which he speaks? Nationalists is a  fancy cover up word for neo-Nazis and members of the Klu Klux Klan.

Bravery in war not uncommon. For God and country commonplace. We do not hear of the many acts or events of bravery. One became immortalized by the famous poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

The Charge of the Light Brigade.

The battle fought on yesterday’s date in 1854. Known as the Battle of Balaclava. Part of the Crimean War. British Light Forces and  Russians on opposite sides.

The British task an impossible one. They had to take a Russian position at the top of a hill. Russian guns on three sides as they rode up the hill. To the left, right and in front of them. The Brits suffered a high number of casualties.

Tennyson’s poem portrayed the battle and bravery of the men: “Into the Valley of Death / Rode the six hundred. / Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die…..Cannon to the right of them, / Cannon to the left off them, / Cannon in front of them…..Into the jaws of Death, / Into the mouth of Hell / Rode the six hundred…..When can their glory fade? / O the wild charge they made! / All the world wondered. / Honor the charge they made! / Honor the Light Brigade, / Noble six hundred!”

Enjoy your day!

TODAY COLUMBUS DAY…..EXPECT TURMOIL

Today is Columbus Day. A national holiday. In honor of Christopher Columbus. Commonly referred to as the man who discovered America.

Expect turmoil. From two divergent groups. African-Americans and Antifa groups.

African-Americans disparage Columbus because of his involvement in the slave trade. He captured and transported West Indians to Spain. Primarily as a gift to Queen Isabella. Slaves were wealth in the 1490’s. For his benefit, also.

African-Americans want Columbus memorials torn down/removed.

Interestingly, a recent study indicates 76 percent of Americans believe Columbus should be judged by the standards of conduct during his time. Not by today’s standards.

Slavery existed in the Americas pre-Columbus. Native Americans, Canadians, some for religious reasons, some as a by product of war.

In addition to today’s African/American groups, two others have attacked Columbus.

In the mid 19th century, Friedrich Engels. Engels co-authored The Communist Manifest with Karl Marx. Communists to this day remain anti-Columbus.

The Klu Klux Klan, also. Began in the 1920s. The Klu Klux Klan was anti-Catholic as well as anti-black back then. Columbus was Catholic.

Antifa is a strange loose group. Antifa is a political movement of autonomous, self styled anti-fascist groups. They are opposed to fascism by direct action, anti government and anti capitalist, far left, anarchists, communists and socialists, against far right and white supremacist ideologies.

Note some Antifa positions are inconsistent.

The history of Antifa began in the Weimar Germany of 1932. They were tightly connected to Germany’s Communist Party. Violently anti Nazi.

Antifa wants this to be a day of defacing Columbus. Statues and mentally. Its slogan for today: Deface Columbus Day. The call is for violence in defacing the statues. Its slogans for the day include Fuck Columbus Day and Destroy Colonialism.

The Key West Citizen returned to daily publication monday through friday beginning today. A welcome return! A community needs a daily newspaper.

Twenty three years ago, Maria Gutsens was the administrator/matron of the Mercedes Hospital in Key West. The hospital was located in the former Gato home. Today, an apartment house. Referred to as the Gato House.

Gutsens an angel of mercy.

It is claimed/believed she still walks the halls rooms and porches of the Gato House. As a ghost. Several residents have reported seeing her walking the halls and porches. Some  while she was taking their pulse.

Terri White waiting in Sarasota for her 10/13 treatment to begin. Expected to be at least one month. In isolation.

The doctors have forbidden her to return home to Key West in the meantime. The mold.

Terri and Donna are staying in a Marriott motel till 10/13. Terri lonely. She does not do Facebook, etc. Please send her a card. Funny better. Her address: Terri White, c/o Donna Barnett, Marriott Residence Inn, Telecom Parkway, Temple Terrace, Florida 13420.

Linda Greenberg recently died. She and her husband Fred had homes in New York and Sugarloaf. A happy couple. Married 52 years.

Linda enjoyed singing. Sang with many groups locally. Also in her home. I recall a dinner party several years ago. The kitchen, living room and dining area one large room. Linda sang the whole time she was preparing the meal. Continued singing as she served the meal.

A wonderful woman! May she rest in peace.

Puerto Rico still without power. Ninety percent of the island.

What is to be done?

Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk visited with Governor Ricardo Rossello in Puerto Rico yesterday. Musk wants to use solar to power the whole island. He has already done it in American Samoa and partially in Hawaii.

Solar powering the island would be a fantastic thing. Here in Florida we have the sun to solarize. However, the electric companies control the State legislature. Laws have been passed making it difficult for the Keys to go solar.

Enjoy your day!

 

VICE NEWS re CHARLOTTESVILLE

This blog has been titled from day one My Life In Key West. Such is why at some point I detail my day before.

Which brings me to yesterday. I never left the house.

My yesterday was Louis glued to television and the internet. Searching information re Charlottesville. Most of it repetitious, some new.

Included was a Vice News’ report which contained an interview by a Vice News reporter. A portion of her report was a personal interview with Christopher Cantwell who appeared to be a white supremacist leader.

The reporter a slight young lady. White tee shirt and jeans. Long dirty blond hair braided. Large eye glasses.

Looked like a college student. Could not have been. Too smart. Obviously experienced. Smarter than the people she interviewed.

She did a first class job. Got the personal interview with Cantwell, became a passenger in the van transporting Cantwell and others from one place to another. She was accompanied by a top camera man. His shots of her and the scenes taken during the protest professional.

The Cantwell interview is available free on You Tube. Twenty two minutes. I recommend it to you.

I am going to share portions of the interview and comment on certain video shots of the protest with you as my blog for today. What happened in Charlottesville and in the few days since are important to all Americans. As are the rantings of President Trump yesterday.

The video started with a shot of white supremacists walking down the street carrying large torches. A long shot. Hundreds parading. Intimidating.

Reminded me of Hitler tapes showing his brown shirts parading in 1930’s Germany.

Loudly chanting in unison as they marched along: Jews will not replace us…..Blood and soil…..Whose Streets? Our Streets…..

White supremacist leader Christopher Cantwell: We make ourselves capable of violence…..Donald Trump gave his daughter to a Jew…..Jew like Jared walking around with the white girl Ivanka…..Go kill these people if we have to…..They are anti-white vermin, anti-white filth…..Jewish Communists…..We are slowly unveiling our power, you ain’t seen nothing yet…..We are part of a national movement worldwide…..

The Vice News video reported the  white supremacists to be well organized. Came ready for the event. Shields, helmets and clubs.

At one point, a group of white supremacists were at Lee’s statue and unable to get out. A crowd from the other side was closing in on them. The white supremacist leader on the phone said he would get them out and now. He had 200 men with guns.

It appeared he was not needed yet and would be called back if the 200 were required.

Police conduct interesting. I reported in my Key West Lou Live video on Facebook and in my podcast Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou that the police did not engage. They appeared restrained. Police orders were to not engage if both sides were fighting, unless ordered to do so by higher command. The order never came.

I was correct.

The police were only authorized to move the groups along.

The Vice News video shows police standing across the way watching, not engaging. Behind barricades. There were shots of the police attempting to move the crowds along. Their efforts appeared ineffectual and were ineffectual.

Turns out, police have what they describe as a reconsidered intervention strategy. Let the protesters fight. If police intervene, the thought is the situation would be aggravated.

Charlottesville is the second time the new strategy has been used. The first was at Berkeley in February.

I suspect the police want to avoid injuries to themselves. Why shed blood for blacks who do not like them and whites who do not respect them.

Trump’s words yesterday have emboldened the Alt Right. Boston this coming weekend is going to be interesting.

Our nation is in a new day. The vermin have come out. They are supported by the President.

The onslaught must be stopped now. Otherwise, the crazies, the brown shirts and the white sheet nuts will take over. The America we know will be no more.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

SHAME AND DISGRACE

 

Abraham Lincoln’s head hung in shame last night as he sat in his monument in Washington. His mind run through with the disgrace of it all.

Charlottesville, Virginia. A moment that will go down in American history. A moment when the dark side of man came to the forefront. Anti-color, anti-Semite, anti-affirmative action, and anti-establishment.

Domestic terrorists. American born and bred.

The trouble makers a significant part of Trump’s base. It cannot be denied. White supremacists, neo-Nazis and the Klu Klux Klan. Dissidents all.

From day one, Trump has encouraged violence. The manner and words he used in the primaries and election against opposition. His yells to those who spoke out against him  at rallies to be thrown out, beaten. His promise to pay the attorney bills of anyone arrested. His chants to jail Hillary.

It goes on. The man is mad. He drives those who are mad. They feed off him.

Breitbart News is a leading white supremacist supporter/outlet. West Wing adviser Steve Bannon was once its CEO. Stephen Miller, who I have likened to Joseph Goebbels, wrote for the publication.

Yesterday represented America’s Arab Spring. With one significant difference. Egypt’s Arab Spring was a protest against a corrupt government. Charlottesville’s in support of evil in its many forms.

Yesterday afternoon was Robert and Ally time. Interestingly, we discussed what was blaring on the TV sets while having lunch at the new Denny’s.

Robert and Ally had a handle on the situation. I was amazed and impressed. At 13 and 12, they understood the right and wrong of Charlottesville.

At first, I was surprised. As I thought further, not. If I and my friends had a grasp on Hiroshima at the age of 10, Robert and Ally a few years older could have an understanding of Charlottesville.

Liked Denny’s! My first time. Robert and Ally had been before and recommended that we have lunch there.

Then to a unique experience. Key West Room Escape.

I questioned when I made reservations whether Robert and Ally would enjoy it. Even if I would. We all did!

Located in the Casa Antigua on Simonton, The Escape consists of two rooms. We were locked in. We were told we had 60 minutes to find the last page of Hemingway’s A Farewell To Arms manuscript.

Not easy! Mentally arduous! Required team effort. We worked together.

I could not have provided Robert and Ally with a better afternoon. Nor Poppa. The grandkids got right into it. Their intelligence obvious. Not an easy task to find the page.

I found Robert and Ally’s mental acuteness exceeded mine. No question about it.

We failed. One step away. The last one. However, we were not able to figure out the last clue.

Young or old, go! You will leave excited. The Adrenalin running.

The proprietor is Kyle Turk. He watches at all times via hidden cameras. Periodically suggests whether you are hot or cold in your quest to discover the next clue.

Turk has come up with a winner. Different and exciting. I hope it takes hold.

I never made it to Giorgio and Sharon’s Sons and Daughters of Italy dinner party last night. I was exhausted by the hunt. Dropped Robert and Ally home. Did not stay. Went to my home. In bed at 6. Never got out.

Enjoy your Sunday!