GOOMBAY FRIDAY NIGHT

Posted on by

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!

 

 

 

PUERTO RICO…..WHY?

Posted on by

I do not understand.

Trump and the federal government performed well re Harvey, Irma, and Maria where ever required in the continental United States. Why has the government turned its back on Puerto Rico? Why is it failing Puerto Rico?

Trump motivated? I think so.

Something stinks re Puerto Rico and it is not the rotting seaweed and fish. It is Washington.

While Trump golfs this weekend in New Jersey, Puerto Ricans are suffering. Some dying. Many drink polluted water from creeks. Millions are without electricity. There is limited gas and cash. ATMs and credit card machines are not working. Cash is king. Few have neither cash nor the ability to get cash. Medicines unavailable. Few hospitals open.

Trump will shower, have food to eat, drink clean water, have a flushing toilet, enjoy air conditioning, have available to him whatever pills he takes, etc. No Puerto Rican will.

San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz is mad as hell. Properly so. She claims the federal government is not doing its job. Trump retaliates by tweeting he questions her leadership ability. He claims the Puerto Ricans want everything done for them when it should be a community effort.

He tells us Puerto Rico is broke. Insinuating such might be a reason for failing to properly assist.

His responses do not make sense. Not from the person who is father to all American citizens.

Puerto Rico’s Governor Ricardo Rossello appears to lack back bone. Afraid to speak the truth to higher authority. From the beginning, he has been praising Trump and the help provided.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Television continues to show ruin and devastation. Trump is intimating and will probably say at some point that such is fake news. I expect no less.

Something is wrong. What specially, I cannot put my finger on. Are there those who will enjoy terrific financial gain down the road? Or, is it because Puerto Ricans are persons of color, tan?

I hope Trump as he plays golf this weekend puts three balls in the water and loses three in the woods. He deserves no better.

Sloan and I worked on Irma and Me again yesterday afternoon. The book is taking shape.

My first stop last night was the Chart Room. I was the only customer when I arrived at 5:30. Just John and me. Stayed that way for a while. By the time I left around 8, the place was packed. Surprisingly, most were tourists.

Met am interesting woman. Brenda. Slight, white haired and lovely.

Brenda just short of being a Conch. Her parents moved to Key West when she was 2. At some point, she left. Returned in 2000.

Brenda is a realtor affiliated with Old Town Realty.

Old Town Realty is located on the massive second floor of the enormous concrete building overlooking Dante’s. The same area where Prime One is located.

She waited out Irma in Old Town Realty’s offices with co-workers and friends. Brenda has experienced many Key West hurricanes. Never left. Even for one.

Then to Tavern ‘n Town for the late Happy Hour.

You would never know Irma had been by. The bar and most of the restaurant were packed. All seemed to be tourists.

The Key West cleanup is a massive undertaking. Debris on every street. On every side of every street. It is going to take time.

The smell is only a problem after a rainstorm. The sun comes out. The humidity sky rockets. The odor ugh!

The State screwed up with the cross walks when it redid North Roosevelt Boulevard. They are dangerous. Accident, injuries, and deaths were inevitable.

Sheriff Ramsey has led the fight to have the problem corrected. The State said yes. However, need 2 years to draft and another 2 to get the money.

John C. Potter died sunday morning. Age 81. He was pedaling his bicycle through the cross walk at Key Plaza. A car struck him.

Syracuse/North Carolina State at 12:20 today. I was going to watch at Jack Flats. Changed my mind. Will try to get it here at home. Syracuse a 14 point underdog.

Man of La Mancha. The Impossible Dream. Miguel de Cervantes magnificent book Don Quixote rewritten to become a famous Broadway musical and movie.

Cervantes was Spanish having been born September 29, 1547 in Madrid. His life adventurous on occasion.

At one point, he was captured by Barbary pirates and imprisoned in Algiers for 5 years. Historians believe he formulated the idea for Don Quixote while so imprisoned. Recall the long tall staircase leading to the dungeon.

Don Quixote the story of a mad knight. A penniless man striving to live by the ideals of the past.

I saw Man of La Mancha three times on Broadway. Each show with a different lead. The movie, many times.

Enjoy your day!