HOGFISH SHORTAGE AROUND THE CORNER

Hogfish have been overfished!

Fishing bans go into effect September 1. Limited harvest in Key West waters. Commercial fishing banned till January 1. Recreational banned in federal waters till May 1.

Local fishermen knew the ban was coming. Will affect their incomes.

Hogfish the most popular fish for eating in the Keys. Bobby Mongelli’s restaurant on Stock Island named Hogfish. I only eat hogfish when I am there.

Mongelli said he has been aware, has made efforts to obtain hogfish from other sources. Expects to run out of hogfish on occasion never the less. Prices will go up a bit. He will be paying more for the hogfish from other areas.

My podcast Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou last night. Covered a range of topics. Only half the show dedicated to Trump. Fifty percent too much. However, he is the news these days everyday.

Fortunately, Trump’s rally was scheduled for 10 pm my time. Got to watch all of him!

Typical campaign rhetoric. The man is not stable. I worry even more after watching him last night. He scares me and should scare you. The man who has his finger on the nuclear weapon button.

Interestingly, the Phoenix rally was the first of Trump’s 2020 Campaign. A bit early? Why? Money? Does he pay or a PAC?

The wall. I am sick of the wall. It will never be. Neither practical nor cheap. The House will never approve the spending. If the House does, it will only be a token of what is required.

Trump threatened last night to close down the government if he does not get the wall in the new budget. The wall is another Trump campaign promise that will go unfulfilled.

Key West bars come and go. Some come and never leave.

Lazy Gecko sat next door to Sloppy Joe’s for 17 years. Did a good business. Until recently when someone new bought the building. A rent hike Lazy Gecko could not afford.

Gecko out. New owner coming in. Building gutted and under renovation at the moment. Opening anticipated early in October. Bar/restaurant will be called Duval Central. Inside, Island City Stage. Top musical performers will be brought in to entertain.The desire is to turn the place into a great music venue.

I find the desire strange. The whole island is a great music venue.

Why was the Christopher Columbus statue in Baltimore sledge hammered to the ground a couple of nights ago? The statue was erected way back in 1792.

Turns out Columbus was a slaver.

He made three trips to the New World. Became involved in the slave trade on the second and third trips.

The second trip he captured and brought 1,600 West Indian natives to Spain. Many died on route. Queen Isabella kept a number to row her galleys. Some were returned.

Good bye the Columbus Day Parade in New York City.

A confusing topic. Complicated. How far back do we go in failing to honor for other deeds those associated with slavery?

Forget not George Washington. A big time slave owner. The slaves took care of Mount Vernon, helped run Washington’s whiskey distilleries. Rename Washington, D.C.? Remove Washington’s picture from the dollar bill?

There is a saving feature in Washington’s case. He ordered in his Will that all his slaves receive their freedom.

Johnson and Johnson. Many baby back ends covered with its baby powder at diaper change time.

Some women apparently have used Johnson’s baby powder their entire lives as part of feminine hygiene. Powdered their bodies including the genital area with the talcum powder following bathing.

It took a while. However, there is now the possibility the baby powder is a carcinogenic. May be causing ovarian cancer in women who have used the powder for a number of years.

Monday, a 63 year old California woman received a $417 million dollar judgment based on the scenario described.

Not the first case to come to trial. Four others. Three resulted in multi-million dollar verdicts. One thrown out by the court.

Not the type of lawsuit the public should turn its nose up to. Over 400,000 similar cases pending.

A calamity yesterday. My water was turned off for nonpayment of the bill. $28. I was without water most of the day.

In defense, I never got the bill. It went to my old address. Never got to me, even though I placed a change of address order with the Post Office back in June.

I paid the $28 bill by phone at 1. Plus a $60 turn off/turn on fine. Asked if I would be turned on before 4. Was assured even sooner.

Came 6 and I still had no water. In spite of having made several calls advising water not yet turned on. Assured man was in the area and I was next on list or he would be there shortly.

I don’t think anyone was directed to turn the water back on.

I only received proper attention just before 6. The water board was closed. A fellow named Patrick was handling the emergency desk. He had no record of me. However, he said he would have it taken care of right away. He did. Within a half hour, I had water.

My account is now on automatic pay.

Enjoy your day!

UNPREDICTABLE WEATHER

The 99L tropical wave was supposed to dump rain and wind on Key West sunday. Nothing happened. Not one drop of rain.

Yesterday, an 80 percent chance of rain. Wind from the south. I thought also we would have rain. Not a drop.

Today, an 80 percent chance of rain. I give up. I don’t know. Neither do the weather professionals.

Did my podcast broadcast last night. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Interesting. I covered happenings in Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Indonesia, Russia and China. Plus, occurrences in four States. A fast moving half hour.

Revealing material. Some sad, some humorous.

A busy day ahead. An early business luncheon at Salute’s. I am looking forward to it. Salute’s has great mussels at lunch. Martin’s Happy Hour with Joseph from Hot Tin Roof. Then, Donna and Terri at Back Door.

No laying around today.

Anna, where are you?

Anna reports this week she is in three different villages hanging off the side of Mont Blanc. Traveling with friends. They presently are at her chalet in Courmayeur. Tomorrow, they cross the border into France. they will be visiting Chamonix and Megeve.

What a life!

Everywhere they go,   there will be chic chalets and cobbled medieval streets.

An historic morning! At 9:45, the first commercial flight between the U.S. and Cuba takes off. Fort Lauderdale to Santa Clara. Santa Clara in central Cuba. A Jet Blue flight. The last commercial flight was 50 years ago at the time of the Cuban missile crisis.

Trump knows how to get publicity. He lets little slip through his fingers in that regard.

This afternoon, he will be in Mexico City for a meeting with the Mexican President. Tonight, Trump is in Phoenix giving his much awaited immigration speech. I am curious what this version will be.

The Mexican President is as foxy as Trump. I wonder who comes out ahead. He could make Trump look bad. Not that Trump needs help.

Hillary was in California last night at a fund raiser. At Jimmy Buffetts’ home. Hillary and the Beatles’ Paul McCartney danced.

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!