Biden was outstanding last night in his State of the Union Address. His performance proves once again he was and is the right person for President at this time. COVID and the Ukraine war adversely affected the U.S. and the world. Inflation one of the biggest, if not the biggest, negative.

The American people have to straighten out. Open their eyes and recognize what has happened. A significant number fail to see and understand what has occurred.

COVID and the Ukraine war, COVID especially, changed things. It is a different world today. We must accept and adapt.

I watch the American public being interviewed on TV. Young and old sing the same tune. They’re not happy with Biden. Biden for all his successes has an overall disapproval rating of 52 percent. His Democratic Party disapproval 64 percent. These people buy the MAGA lies. Criticize Biden incorrectly for failing to cross the line and try to be partisan. They insist they do not “feel” the successes of which he speaks, etc. Claim all they hear are numbers.

The problem is them, not Biden. They sound like they want everything for nothing. Babies needing to be spoon fed.

The Biden dissidents must grow up! We live in a new world. Biden saved our asses.

I ask a Reagan question in a bit of an inverted fashion: Are we better off under Biden than we would be under Trump?

The answer speaks for itself. No competition.

Deaths continue to mount in Turkey and Syria. The number of dead 11,000 plus and rising.

Horrible!

Jimmy Buffett showed his true colors when he opted to do a show for locals saturday and monday nights at the Key West Theater. The expensive Amphitheater shows are thursday and saturday.

Syracuse plays Florida State tonight at 7 at Florida State. Syracuse 14-10, Florida State 8-16. Syracuse a mere 2.5 point favorite. Understandable the way Syracuse has been playing.

I will miss most of the game. I am having dinner with some guys at 6 at La Te Da, several of whom are Syracuse grads. If Syracuse were having a great season, we would have been at Jack Flats watching the game. What a difference a season makes!

Enjoy your day!

There is sadness everywhere. Comes in small and large amounts. The saddest event I have read about in a long time involves Lian. A 6 year old boy.

His parents reported Lian has been diagnosed with a rare genetic disease called adrenoleukodsystophy. The doctors have given him 5 years to live. There is no cure. Lian will progressively lose all body functions and end up brain dead in 5 years.

His parents have asked for BOLD PRAYERS that God will perform a miracle and “heal our son completely.”

Parents ask for prayers, ask churches to pray, ask family and friends to pray.

“Lian needs all the prayers he can get!”

A picture of 6 year old Lian accompanied the plea. A typical beautiful/handsome 6 year old boy.

Pray for Lian!

Lian one sadness. A sole one. South Turkey and Syria unimaginable.

Six thousand dead. Fifteen thousand injured. The numbers representing only the beginning. There will me more. Considerably more. The pictures and videos are horrendous.

Prayers required here, also.

The opposite of sadness is joy. Certain supermarkets have discovered a way to provide a few moments of happiness to its customers.

Jumbo is a Dutch supermarket chain. Came up with a brilliant idea! Sounded far fetched initially. Worked so well however that Jumbo has extended the system to 200 stores.

The brilliant idea: Slow check outs!

Jumbo discovered people enjoy chatting while paying for their goods. Especially, the elderly. Helps deal with loneliness.

A Canadian supermarket Belmont Sobeys has introduced what it describes as a Social SLOW checkout. They also found people enjoy chatting while paying for groceries. Discovered the personal touch especially helps the elderly deal with loneliness.

Is the U.S next?

What follows may be hard to believe.

A New York woman was found breathing at the funeral home after being declared dead.

She was 82. She had been pronounced dead at a Long Island nursing home on Long Island. Discovered breathing 3 hours later at the funeral home.

No updates concerning her present condition available.

In January, a similar situation occurred in Iowa.

A 66 year old woman was in a Special Center for Alzheimer Patients and was receiving hospice care. Declared dead. Placed in a body bag and taken to the funeral home. Funeral home personnel were unzipping the bag and found the woman was alive and gasping for air. She was returned to hospice where she died 3 days later.

The State of Iowa fined the Alzheimer facility $10,000.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres addressed the General Assembly yesterday. He warned international security was in dire straights. He said, “The Doomsday Clock is now 90 seconds to midnight, or total catastrophe. This is the closest the clock has ever stood to humanity’s darkest hour – closer than even during the height of the Cold War.”

I heard the term the “Doomsday Clock, etc.” for the first time during the height of the Cold War. I was in Columbus, Ohio at a Nationwide Insurance Company function. I was seated at the head table next to Nationwide’s CEO Murray Lincoln. I was Chairman of Nationwide’s Policyholder Advisory Committee at the time.

Lincoln referred to the Doomsday Clock and minutes to midnight with regard to the U.S./Russia Cold War. His words had a chilling effect. Guterres words do not affect me the same way. Perhaps I have become accustomed to world wide problems. Don’t envision that final step to all out war.

Blog is late today. It is just after 4 in the afternoon. I had a lengthy appointment with the heart doctor this morning and another with my primary care physician this afternoon. Sorry for the delay in getting the blog out.

Enjoy your evening!

Valentine’s Day is 8 days away.

Over the years, I have written several times of the Day. The reason being the event is of such importance to many. I am sharing one of my earlier articles today as a prelude to another which I will write and publish in a few days. The for real and honest truth of the source of today’s Valentine’s Day. Not the one I share today and have in several other articles over the years. Not the one that everyone believes.

First the one that everyone believes. Reflected in a blog I published on February 14, 2019 titled: Valentine’s Day…..Debauchery And Two Saints.

Today, one of love. Romance in the air. You feel it everywhere.

Not always the case, however. Valentine’s Day at its beginnings was one of debauchery. Down and dirty. Pain and sex.

The time well before the birth of Christ.

Known as the Feast of Lupercalia. Roman in origin. Some consider it to have been religious in nature. Its activities considered a purification of women.

An annual event. Held from 2/13 to 2/15 each year.

Men and women engaging physically. The women considerably younger than the men.

It began with the men bare assed. They sacrificed goats and dogs. Then removed the hides from the dead animals.

The ladies came into play at this point. Bare assed also. The men beating the women with the hides of the goats and dogs. Men and women alike drunk at this point.

The purpose of the beatings with the skins was to make the young women fertile. So it was thought.

Following the beatings, the names of the women were thrown in a jar. The men picked. Coupled with the woman whose name had been selected from the jar. Coupled for the rest of the feast. Longer if the match worked out.

Years later came the time of Caesar. Year wise around 40 B.C. The feast had become more sensitive. A time of genuine love and concern. The goats and dogs still killed. The women beaten with the hides, though not severely.

Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar begins during a Lupercalia.

Caesar’s wife Calpurnia had not been able to conceive. Marc Anthony is instructed by Caesar to strike his wife Calpurnia, in the hope she would be able to conceive.

Some three hundred years later in the third century A.D., 2 religious men named Valentine lived. One in Rome. The other somewhere in Italy.

Claudius emperor at the time. He had both men executed on February 14, though in different years. The two Valentines eventually were canonized. Two St. Valentines. It is their day of death that we celebrate today as Valentine’s Day.

Both Valentines were beheaded. Their lives and deaths had nothing to do with love. The surprise. A story I shall write about in the next few days.

Mother Nature is in a constant state of rebellion in recent years. The most recent yesterday’s earthquake in South Turkey and Syria. A big one. A 7.8 on the Richter scale. More than 1,000 killed, 1,700 buildings collapsed. Its effects felt hundreds of miles from the quake’s epicenter. As far away as Lebanon, Israel and Egypt.

I have experienced several earthquakes in my lifetime. The worst at the beginning of my first trip to Greece some 12 or 13 years ago.

I was spending the first few days with Anna in Novara in northern Italy. I was writing my blog when the earthquake hit. Never felt anything so severe before. There were 2 or 3 earthquakes over a period of several hours, with after shocks almost as strong.

I was in a building 1,500 years old. How it survived, I do not know. Many buildings around collapsed into heaps of stone.

A major earthquake is no fun. As Anna ran around the apartment screaming like a maniac, I sat there thinking I was going to die.

Another Supreme Court shortcoming has been discovered.

Justices each have two computer operations. Two emails, in effect. One for personal matters. The other a secure transmitter for sensitive data regarding cases.

Turns out some of the Justices have pushed back on using the secure email providers. New technology. They have been reluctant to learn. A source of case materials being leaked.

Bess Levin wrote an interesting article about Trump in the 2/3 edition of Vanity Fair: Donald Trump Says He Knows How To “Immediately” End The War In Ukraine But Must Keep It To Himself.

Her article is based on a Trump interview thursday night on the Right Side Broadcasting Network. Trump said, peace “can be negotiated within 24 hours” by saying “things” that “will guarantee that this war will end immediately.”

What an ass! If he was being truthful, which is always questionable when he speaks, he should reveal his “secret” in the interests  of stopping the war and saving lives. Trump’s duty is immediate to speak under the circumstances.

The Keys are composed of hundreds of islands. Many have names. The source of the names are interesting in certain instances. Like that of Looe Key.

Looe Key is at mile marker 27 going north on U.S. 1. Pass through it on the way to Big Pine.

Looe Key’s naming goes back to 1744. The HMS Looe struck and got stuck on the Florida Reef that now bears its name. The ship’s commander Captain Utting saw there was no way to save the Looe. He ordered it set afire and blown up. The crew was safely carried to Jamaica in a Spanish sloop.

That’s it for now.

Enjoy your day!

I am a creature of habit. Over the years, Key West provided me with two special haunts. One, the Chart Room. The other, Don’s Place.

Yesterday’s FEEDSPOT TODAY under its Key West/Reddit section ran a drawing of the bar at Don’s Place. Brought back memories. The drawing by Fighting McIrish.

What made Don’s Place unique was its owner Don Manaher. One of the finest persons I have met in my lifetime. They do not come better.

Prior to his Key West experience, Don was a Vice-President at a Buffalo newspaper and a publisher of another at some midwestern state. While visiting Key West, he came upon what is now Don’s Place. It was for sale. Don always wanted to own a bar. He bought it. For a cool $1 million! Named his new acquisition Don’s Million Dollar Bar.

Don’s personality, his genuine warmth, made the place an instantaneous success. Locals formed the basis of the clientele. The hard working people of Key West. Tourists and new residents like me became customers also. Returning vacationers came to Don’s Place to see their “friend” Don. He remembered everyone of them.

I played golf with Don every Wednesday. There were 8 of us. Everyone but me pretty good golfers. Most shooting in the 80’s with an occasional round in the high 70’s. My 135 was consistent.

Don took care of me on the golf course. We played for money. He made sure I got my strokes. Generally, 2 a hole except for the 3’s.

I joined his bocce team, Don’s Place. Played with the team some 15 years. I was a bit older than most. My body started getting away from me after a while. I lacked the strength on many shots to even get the ball beyond half way down the court.

Don never said a word. I knew he and the team members were not happy campers about my playing. The team had become good over the years and bocce was serious for them all. Don never said a word. Nor did anyone else. Don was the boss. I knew I was screwing things up. Finally, I quit.

I continued stopping at Don’s Place several times a week. Don was the attraction. I enjoyed sitting at the bar and bullshitting with him and the guys.

Don stopped frequenting the bar. Turned the operation over to his children. He moved to a camp somewhere as well as Chicago. Don’s Bar was not the same without Don. I stopped going. As I understand some others did also. Then COVID hit. I have not been to Don’s in 4-5 years.

In the meantime, Don got sick. Developed a bran tumor. Surgery in Chicago. God good. He survived. I hope someday when he is back visiting I become aware and can join him for a drink again.

Biden has handled the Chinese balloon in the best interests of the U.S. His short time of caution correct. The balloon was discovered over mainland U.S. Wednesday. He ordered it shot down when safe. The balloon was shot down yesterday after it reached the Atlantic Ocean.

In the few days the balloon moved over the U.S., Biden made sure it was “neutered” so it would not be a danger.

Once again, Biden’s actions in a time of danger leave me comfortable with the man. He was not “trigger happy” as some Republicans who were clamoring for it to be shot down, nor was he “sluggish” in dealing with the problem as those same Republicans were claiming.

Jim Boeheim told an ESPN reporter in an interview yesterday that he’s “probably” returning for the 2023-24 season.

Hooray!

He has 4 key freshman who will be returning. Joe Girard and Jesse Edwards have the capacity to return if they want. It will make for a hell of a season!

Syracuse played Boston College at Boston yesterday. Syracuse won 77-68.

Watched more of Pebble Beach yesterday.

Continued to bring back memories.

Finally got to see the par 3 seventh hole. A monster! Straight down. Like the Charge of the Light Brigade. Howling ocean winds on both sides of the fairway and coming in onto the green straight off the ocean.

The other 7 in our group wanted me to hit first so they could evaluate the wind, etc. An insult in itself. They were all 70-80 players. I was still 135. Never improved.

I hit my drive. Topped the ball. Somehow it made it down the hill, striking several rock formations along the way. Ended up on the green.

The other 7 were pissed off because they learned nothing from my shot. They should have. The key I told them was to hit the ball low.

I was the only one who made the green. Several went in the ocean, the others in sand traps.

I walked away with a smile thinking…..F–k you guys!

I am not sure what I am about to report is correct. I think I saw on the internet, only once this morning, that there would be no  play today because of the winds. The final round would be tomorrow.

Northeast very cold yesterday. Mount Washington in New Hampshire had a wind chill of minus 108 degrees. A U.S. record.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Key West legend Tom Corcoran died January 16.

Tom authored mystery books, was a publisher, and a photographer.

He was a Chart Room bartender in the 1970’s. A Jimmy Buffett supporter then and thereafter. Penned “Jimmy Buffett: The Key West Years” in 2006. Credited also with contributing to Buffett hits “Fins” and “Cuban Crime of Passion.”

Tom’s Buffett relationship unique. Story is Tom was bartending at the Chart Room in November 1971. The then unknown Buffett came in, sat down and ordered a beer. The relationship grew from that moment forward.

A constant photographer. His photographs are a record of Key West that hardly exists now.

Tom will best be remembered as a creator and preserver of Key West’s special years.

May he rest in peace.

The real Jimmy Buffett showed his colors once again yesterday.

Locals have been reacting with furor at the Ticketmaster prices for the Buffett and Coral Reefers shows scheduled at the Amphitheater. In the thousands!

It was announced yesterday morning that Buffet and the Coral Reefers would be doing two shows solely for Key Westers. One tonight and one monday evening. The shows at the Key West Theater. Tickets $99. Key West ID had to be presented to purchase the tickets and also to be admitted at the time of the show. Tickets limited to two to person.

The tickets went on sale at noon yesterday.

I’m sure they were sold out by 12:30.

I heard about it at 11:30. My blog had already been published. I immediately edited it. Hope some benefitted.

I did not buy a ticket. No way could I get to the Key West Theater in time to make a purchase.

I’m glad Buffett stepped up and took care of his people. Corrected an injustice. The man exudes quality.

On this day in 1906, John D. Rockefeller was staying on a private yacht in Key West. He dined that evening with friends at a local hotel.

I am altering Hope Springs Eternal a bit to Love Springs Eternal.

Elmer “Buzz” Aldrin is the second person to ever set foot on the moon in 1969. He followed his space craft mate Neil Armstrong down the ladder.

Aldrin was 93 years old yesterday. He celebrated his birthday by marrying his “long time love” Dr. Anca Faur.

The doctor is 63. She is a medical physician and also has a PhD. in chemical engineering.

I envy Aldrin. Married at 93! I would settle for a girl friend at 87!

A New York Times article yesterday reported on a Donald Trump/John Gotti comparison. The article was titled: Trump Likened To Mob Boss John Gotti In Ex-Prosecutor’s New Book. The book: People v. Donald Trump. The author Mark F. Pomerantz.

Pomerantz was an assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan DA’s office early last year when he resigned in protest after newly elected District Attorney Alvin Bragg decided not to seek an indictment against Trump. The issue was whether Trump had fraudulently inflated the value of his assets to secure loans.

Pomerantz wrote in the book: “He (Trump) demanded absolute loyalty and would go after anyone who crossed him. He seemed always to stay one step ahead of the law. In my career as a lawyer, I had encountered only one other person who touched all these bases: John Gotti, the head of the Gambino organized crime family.”

January was a big month for new jobs.

It was reported the U.S. economy added 517,000 nonfarm jobs in January. Economists had estimated only 187,000 would be added.

Unemployment fell to 3.4 percent. The lowest jobless level since May 1969.

Why do people knock Biden saying he is doing a lousy job?

Hard to understand.

Enjoy your day!

Sheila Cullen published a comment on Facebook that qualifies as food for thought: “Florida is basically 1930’s Germany with theme parks.”

DeSantis is leading Florida into a Nazi themed Hell. Step by step. Be cognizant of where the State is being lead. Beware.

Many are the American flags that fly in Key West. Key Westers are proud!

The sun and salt of Key West wear at the fabric of the flags, however. There is a proper way to dispose of a tattered and worn flag. The first step is a “Flag Retirement Box.”

One can be found at the Key West City Hall on White Street. Place your “retired flag” in the box. The American Legion Post on College Road will take possession of the flag. Legion members will burn the flag in accordance with proper procedures.

Munson Island back in time was owned by John Spottswood. Munson Island is just short of Big Pine on the way north.

The World War II movie PT-109 about John Kennedy was filmed on Munson Island.

On this day in 1970, Spottswood sold Munson Island to Country Johnston of Valdosta, Georgia, for $150,000.

Munson Island was subsequently renamed Little Palm Island. Today it is the site of the world famous Little Palm Island Resort. One of the finest and most expensive in the world.

Prices begin at $3,690 for one night, not including taxes and fees. The most expensive accommodation $5,490, not including taxes and fees.

Today is Groundhog Day. The world famous site Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. What a name!

The groundhog rose this morning. Saw his shadow. Went back to sleep. The fact he saw his shadow supposedly means another 6 weeks of winter.

The event was first held in 1887. Records have been kept. The groundhog’s accuracy as a weather forecaster not too reliable. The groundhog has been correct only 39 percent of the time.

Republicans keep wanting to fight yesterday’s battles. Stepping back in time: Trump’s election loss, Hillary Clinton, Hunter Biden.

Republicans should heed Winston Churchill’s words: “If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.”

The Federal Reserve announced yesterday a rate increase of 1/4 point. The lowest increase in quite a while. Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged inflation was starting to ease. Therein lie the reason for the low rate increase.

The reduction represents a step at a time. However, we are gradually getting where we should be.

Bess Levin wrote tuesday re Trump’ reaction to DeSantis’ comment concerning Trump’s loss in the Presidential election. Apparently the comment did not go over well at Mar-a-Lago. Levin wrote: “Donald Trump is one day away from leaving a horse’s head in Ron DeSantis’ bed.”

Enjoy your day!

Words of wisdom found in today’s Citizens’ Voice. Words that shout truth: “For those who want to make Key West into Naples, go to Naples. The chickens and iguanas were here before you. Leave all of us, and the things that make Key West quirky and interesting alone.”

I drank with fellow Syracuse grads last night. At the Chart Room, of course.

Senior citizens all. Starting from the left in the photo, Bernard “Bunny” Hyman, Fred Klein, and Louis. I am the senior senior at 87. Bunny and Fred will be 80 and 81 respectively in March. Both were undergrads at Syracuse. Fraternity brothers for more than 60 years. Both attorneys. Bunny a tax lawyer and Fred a labor one.

Bunny began coming to Key West in the 1950’s. His Dad a fisherman. They used to stay 3 weeks at a time at the Casa Marina. Bunny and his wife now own a home in Key West. He spent 40 years as managing partner for his New York law firm. Gave up the job last year, though he still works a bit.

Fred finally retired. One of New York’s leading labor attorneys. He and his wife have owned a home in Key West for a few years.

I did not know the men while at Syracuse. They were a few years behind me. I was not an undergrad at Syracuse. Law school was my domain.

Fred and I became friends last year through Guy deBoer. Bunny I met for the first time last night. I sense we three will be seeing much of each other.

I had not been to the Chart Room since December. When I was a real drinker, Beefeater on the rocks was my choice. Two years ago, many Key West restaurants stopped serving Beefeater. I was told it depended who the liquor distributor was. The biggest one stopped carrying Beefeater. So I switched to Tanqueray.

John gone. A new bartender. I asked for a Tanqueray on the rocks. No Tanqueray. Asked for Beefeater just in case. No Beefeater. Only Hendrich’s and a brand I never heard of.

It’s obvious I’m getting old! Beefeater was my drink of choice for 40 plus years. Now cannot even get Tanqueray.

I drank Hendrich’s in case you’re curious. I never liked it nor did I enjoy it last night.

Which brings me to ice cubes. What I am about to share I am not sure applies to the Chart Room. I did not pay the bill so I do not know.

Major restaurants in Key West are charging for ice. I experienced the problem at two leading establishments recently. “Rocks” $3 at one and $4 at the other. On top of the price of the drink.

Wrong!

Tom Brady announced January 28 on Twitter he is retiring “for good.” I wish he had stayed retired last year. It would have saved him a less than spectacular year on the field and probably his marriage. Whatever, he still will be remembered as the greatest professional quarterback of all time. Deservedly so!

Paul Pelosi’s hammer wielding attacker proud of himself. Video of the attack was released friday. Showed Pelosi attacker David De Pape viciously striking Pelosi. After the video release, De Pape telephoned a San Francisco reporter saying…..He only regretted that the violence was not worse.

The released video and subsequent telephone call to the reporter is the chilling. A hint that the man feels confident his false accusations at the time and since support his belief that Trump’s agenda must be forced on America through violence.

Another Supreme Court ethics question/situation has arisen.

Jane Sullivan Roberts is the wife of Chief Justice John Roberts.

The New York Times published a detailed article 1/31 by Steve Elder: “At Supreme Court, Ethics Questions Over A Spouse’s Business Ties.”

The Chief Justice’s wife has been paid millions in her career recruiting lawyers to prominent law firms, some of which have business before the Supreme Court. The lawyers solicited were generally government lawyers being induced into private practice.

Her conduct has raised questions of a Justice’s impartiality or appearance thereof when the attorney or his firm appeared before the Court.

The Chief Justice wife’s fees significant. One in excess of $600,000.

The high court needs a code of ethics encompassing all its activities. It has none. The nation has always relied on the supposed fact that Supreme Court Justices could guide themselves ethically and required no formal code. If true in the past, we know based on recent developments that such is no longer the case.

February is Black History Month. The event was celebrated for the first time in 1926 when it was known as Negro History Week. Its name was expanded to Black History Month in the 1970’s.

I wonder how Governor DeSantis will handle the month.

Enjoy your day!