83rd BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY’S NEWS

My 83rd birthday came and went too soon. Hopefully, I will be here to celebrate my 84th next year. Sounds foreboding. There is always a concern at this age.

A nice day.

The many Happy Birthdays received appreciated. The internet a wonderful thing. Keeps us connected and remembering each other.

Lisa and family woke me early. All on the phone singing Happy Birthday Poppa! A good way to begin the day.

Celebration time not over. I am having dinner with Lisa and the family tonight. By special request, my cake will be white with chocolate frosting.

Last night, Donna and Terri took me to dinner. We celebrated at Tavern ‘n Town. George and Artie were with us. A good time.

It was still early when dinner ended. Decided to stop at the Chart Room for a drink. Glad I did. Ran into Dorothy Downs. We talked quite a while.

Dorothy’s husband Maurice passed on last year. He was a Miami orthodontist. They had homes in Miami and Key West.

In previous meetings, we never chatted more than five minutes. Last night, quite a while. Turned out to be fortuitous. Dorothy discovered I was a nice guy. She told me she always thought I was arrogant. I probably was. Time softens us.

Several times yesterday, I heard people talk about the new hurricane on its way. Beryl.

I can see concern is going to set in early this hurricane season. Irma left people with a touch of fear.

Beryl is not coming anywhere near Key West. It has been described by the weather folk as a tiny one. About 1,000 miles south of the Lesser Antilles. It may run over Puerto Rico. Should not be a problem. Predicted to be winds of 40 mph at that time.

This morning’s Key West Citizen notes in its Keys History section that the John Kennedy World War II movie PT-109 was being filmed at Munson Island. Cliff Robertson played the title role.

Let me add some additional local color. Munson Island is today known as Little Palm Island. One of the world’s most famous and expensive resorts. It was wiped out by Irma and is still under reconstruction. It will return!

The island at the time was owned by John Spottswood. A Key West legendary figure. Sheriff and State Senator for many years.

President Kennedy was in Key West checking out fortifications during the Cuban missile crisis. Spottswood accompanied him. They were already friends. Hollywood had decided to do the movie. A search for a location was underway. Spottswood suggested Munson Island. The rest is history.

EPA administrator Scott Pruitt finally resigned. About time. He probably contributed to the swamp condition more than any other Trump appointee.

The man replacing him not much better. Andrew Wheeler. Wheeler is a former coal lobbyist. He spent much time working for Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla). Inhofe denies climate change. Refuses to accept it exists.

Trump has appointed another winner!

The blind cannot see. Or if sight is possible, then as Forrest Gump   was wont to say…..stupid is as stupid does. I refer to the tariff war with China. Should not be. The irresponsible brain child of Donald Trump.

In one year’s time or less, two major U.S. industries will take a big hit economically. Jobs lost big time. Soybeans and lobsters.

The U.S. is the biggest supplier of soybeans to China. Several farm States depend on selling their soybeans to China. China’s attitude is don’t screw with us. China is already entering into agreements to purchase soybeans from Brazil.

China is a major importer of U.S. lobsters. Multi-millions of dollars involved. Maine and Florida lobsters. The lobster industry will be destroyed. This includes Florida’s spiny lobsters. Many are fished off the Keys.

I have said this before and repeat it again. Recall when Hoover became President. The stock market was at an all time high. Booming. Hoover for some unfathomable reason decided the U.S. should impose tariffs with regard to certain countries. Within one year, the Great Depression of 1929 was upon us.

Expect no less from what Trump has initiated.

Water is sacred. Not enough. Insufficient concern unfortunately. The U.S. must watch how it uses its water.

Recall several years ago California. Bottled water companies were buying municipal water big time. The companies got a break cost wise because they were buying in bulk. Homeowners paid a hell of a lot more for water than the bottled water companies per unit.

Governor Brown has been working on the problem.

Today, the problem has reared its ugly head in Chiapas, Mexico. Coca Cola the culprit. Coca Cola bottles and sells water.

Wells are the primary source for water. Homeowners dig down only so far. Accustomed to getting all the water they needed. Coca Cola comes in and digs wells deeper. Significantly deeper. Cause the homeowner wells to go dry.

Coca Cola’s bottled water has now become the water supply for homeowners.

The following sickening. Occurred in a Houston school. Twenty two sixth grade girls were in a music class. Fifty dollars was missing. School administrative officers were called in. A resource officer, also.

The resource officer said, “Girls like to hide things in their bras and panties.”

A strip search followed. Each girl was separately taken into  a bathroom with a nurse. The nurse checked around the panty waistbands, loosened bras, and lifted the girl’s shirts so that the young ladies were exposed shoulder to waist.

Parents were never called for permission. Some of the girls asked to call their mothers first and were denied permission.

What possessed the principal. assistant principal, nurse and resource officer is beyond me. Some things your gut tells you cannot be done.

The girls sued. The court threw out their case. Said the facts did not permit a lawsuit. An appellate court decided otherwise this week. Ok to sue the bastards! Not reported in such indelicate language, of course.

My KONK Life column is on the street. This weeks title: Hurricanes and Key West Cemeteries. Irma got me into hurricanes with both feet.

BOB says you must wait another day.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

JOHN HERSEY…..TALES OF KEY WEST

Noted writer John Hersey spent his winters in Key West and summers in Martha’s Vineyard.

He was born in Tientsin, China. His parents Protestant ministers. Hershey spoke Chinese before English. He died in Key West March 23, 1993.

Hersey’s notable works include A Bell for Adano, Hiroshima, and Tales of Key West. It is Tales of Key West I wish to momentarily dwell on.

Tales was written in Hersey’s later years. He had seen and lived Key West first hand. Notable Tales include those of a man dying of AIDS trying to maintain his respectability, fake crime reports, and John James Audubon shooting staggering numbers of birds for the fun of it.

The item re the birds surprised me.

Summer is sneaking in. The seasons change dramatically in Key West. No slow slide. One or two days and the next season is here.

Key West springs always short. The temperatures the past few days indicative of summer’s arrival. Today, the high 83 and the low 76.

It is not the temperature so much. It is the humidity. I have felt it the past two days. Things get sticky. Your body warmer than it has been. Clothes uncomfortable. You’re sweating once again.

Publix at 9 yesterday morning. The cupboard bare again. Needed food desperately. No dinner the night before.

Saturday at 9 am a good time to shop Publix. No one there. Spent $100 and hurried home. Food getting more and more expensive. I do not know how families do it.

I had to complete yesterday’s blog. Researched the material before leaving for Publix. Did the actual writing upon returning.

I was Catherine’s guest for Happy Hour at Martin’s. A charming time. A few drinks. Followed by lamb chops and baked brie.

First part of today busy. Sloan at noon. I have to get back into a more disciplined work schedule. Completing Growing Up Italian on the agenda. Next week, I will begin writing the Key West Lou Commentary once a week for KONK Life. I have let Key West Lou Live slide. Have to get it back in the game.

Not difficult if my time is properly organized. We shall see.

Later this afternoon, I plan on spending some time at Kate Miano’s Gardens. Always a pleasant way to finish the weekend.

There was a fire yesterday on the 50th floor of Trump Towers. One dead, six firefighters injured.

The President’s personal home and offices are higher up on the top two floors.

This is the second fire this year in Trump Towers.

No sprinkler system! Can you imagine living or buying an apartment that high without a sprinkler system!

Sprinkler systems were not part of the New York City Building Code in 1984 when Trump Towers was built. The sprinkler system requirement did not become mandatory in new construction till sometime in the late 1990’s. Trump opposed it.

Scary living. Especially after having seen Towering Inferno a couple of nights ago for probably the 20th time.

Scott Pruitt is part of the swamp Trump promised to eliminate if elected. Instead he brought the likes of Pruitt and other scum to Washington.

For Pruitt’s misdeeds to date, he should be fired. Trump is not firing him. Instead, he praised him yesterday.

There has to be a reason why.

I suspect it is because Pruitt is an attorney and former Attorney General of Oklahoma.

Trump would like to get rid of Mueller. Sessions cannot do it because he recused himself. Rothstein does not appear willing to do it. Firing two Justice Department heads in one day would not look good.

I see the battle plan as follows. Trump fires Sessions. Replaces him with Pruitt. Since Pruitt has already been approved by the Senate for a cabinet position (EPA head), he does not need Senate approval to be Attorney General for seven months. He can serve on an interim appointment. In that time, he would fire Mueller.

Brilliant! Lousy! The stench will be overwhelming.

I am sick and tired of hearing Trump say ISIS has been defeated in Syria. Trump said he wanted to get out. Now his words are that ISIS is almost defeated and we’ll get out in several months.

ISIS is not defeated! They are hiding in their homes, mountains and caves waiting for the US to leave. Then, ISIS will return. The American lives lost for naught.

Another Syria problem is the US is there basically in opposition to Russia and Iran. In a friendly sort of way. Even Trump does not agree with the Russia-Iran position. However he avoids direct confrontation.

The US will be in Syria for years. You invade a country, you send troops in to help, you have bought the country for years.

The worst. Syria chemically attacked its people again yesterday. View the videos on TV. Men, women and children, alive or dying, foaming from their noses and mouths.

Syria is turning into another Vietnam time wise. As have several other Middle East countries. Afghanistan one. Quagmires. We get stuck in these places.

We go in, but never know how to get out.

Tuesday coming. My first book signing. Irma and Me. Andrews Inn at Zero Whalton Lane. Noon to 3. Three other authors signing, also. Someone doing a reading. Refreshments. Should be fun.

Enjoy your Sunday!