I am a retired lawyer. I know that of which I speak.

The morning paper reports the Florida Legislature is considering cutting two County Judges and one Circuit Judge that represent the Key West area. Fight the move! Once lost, you will never get them back. Additionally, your attorney fees will rise because your attorney will have to travel farther in many instances to wherever the judge is sitting. Time is money. You also need local jurists, not strangers to the area to adjudicate your problems. Local judges know what is going on much better than a stranger to the area and its problems. Time is another factor. Cases will take longer to be reached.

Again I repeat, fight the move!

I question where our local State representatives stand in this fight. It seems that every time something of consequence affecting the Key West area is before the State Legislature, Key West loses. Tallahassee seems to think Key Westers don’t understand Key West problems. They treat us like children in making decisions.

Idalia yesterday’s news. A thing of the past fortunately.

The Keys Citizen reports Idalia never got closer than 175 miles. Still had an impact on us. Very minimally, however. Some flooding. Waves were breaking over parts of the sea wall on South Roosevelt Boulevard requiring certain parts of the Boulevard to be closed. Otherwise, we came through ok.

We cannot rest on our laurels, however. The hurricane season has 2 months remaining. Hurricane experts advise more storms can be expected. Especially because of the overheated ocean and gulf waters.

Believe it! Key West experienced an ice famine in 1902. It was relieved by a ship arriving from Maine with 900 tons of ice. The amount effectively ended the ice famine. The ice was sold for $ .75 per one hundred pounds.

There was a time when cigar production in Key West was huge. In the month of August 1922, Key West cigar factories produced 5,233,012 cigars.

Sally Rand, who invented the fan dance, died this day in 1974. She was 75. She had lived in Key West during the late 1940s and early 1950s. I knew her in the early 1960s in New York.

A Miami real estate group has purchased the Walgreens building on Duval Street. Formerly the Strand Theater. Purchase price $5.2 million.

DeSantis is one tough guy. So he thinks.

He issued a warning re Idalia and pillaging: “You loot, we shot.”

Bravo! The man is letting us know how tough he is. He appeared to justify his position by mentioning that the parts of Florida affected by the hurricane had a lot of 2nd Amendment supporters.

Sounded like an invitation to shoot. Similar to Trump inviting insurrectionists to follow him on January 6. DeSantis’ mouth failed him again. If any killings occur, whether by citizen or police officer, the assailant will consider it justified because the Governor intimated it was the right thing to do.

Giuliani lied and will now pay a severe penalty in the defamation case. His lies are catching up with him. As are Trump’s. It is taking time. In the end, all who lied, etc., will pay the Piper by way of money and/or jail time.

Syracuse/Colgate saturday at 4. Available on ESPN.

Syracuse should win. A top division team. Colgate lesser status wise. Does not always work that way, however. Supposed to be a warm up for Syracuse.

In recent years, Syracuse has lost some of these warm up games against teams of purported lesser quality. Hope it does not happen again  saturday.

This is the 68th meeting on the football field between these two schools. I can recall in my early years in grammar and high school, my Father taking me to Syracuse to watch the Syracuse/Colgate games. There was no Dome back in those days. An outdoor field. What I recall the most was when it rained. Actually poured. Ending up soaking wet and sliding in the mud.

Those were the days! They were!

Enjoy your day!

As expected, Idalia has developed into a woman on a rampage. Just 1-2 hours from landfall at the Big Bend in northwest Florida. A Category 4. Anticipated surge as high as 16 feet. Described as high as a 2 story house.

Idalia will leave a lot of destruction in its path. 

On TV this morning, a hurricane expert advised Idalia was not as bad as Ian. More like Irma. I have had no Ian experience. Did not come near Key West. Irma I know. Wrote a book afterwards: Irma and Me. I thought Irma was horrendous! Did not stay. In 30 years, I only left Key West for two hurricanes. One was Irma. A Category 4.

On the return trip from Birmingham where I had hunkered down with Jean and Joe Thornton, I saw the damage Irma had wrought. Boats on the land and roads. Cars in the water. Houses everywhere but on their foundations. The most impactful sighting came as I drove through Islamorada. A large refrigerator lying sideways on two branches of a tree some 20 feet above ground.

If that is what Big Bend and other areas taking the hit will look like afterwards, it will be bad.

Reporters were interviewing some of those who have opted to stay and ride out the storm. Crazy. Some were mobile home residents. Mobile homes the first to fly away. The winds lift and easily carry them away. These people are foolish. Others took the attitude this was not their first rodeo. Understandable. However I question whether any of the other hurricanes were a projected Category 3 or 4.

The preparation for Idalia seems the best ever. Each hurricane teaches something new. We have gotten better at handling them. Lets hope my observation proves correct.

Lets zero in on Key West. Idalia was never expected to be much of a danger. No one here got excited. The been here and done it before attitude. Correct this time.

The little punishment Key West and the Keys took was as anticipated. Some heavy wind and rain.

Understand why Idalia was not bad. It never came over Key West or the Keys.  It ran up the west coast of Florida some 200 miles west of land. Two hundred miles away!

I will concede what we got was a bit more than I expected, however.

The wind gusts were strong enough to bend palm tree trunks a couple of feet in either direction.

The rain came when I was getting a manicure at noon. It started mid way through. Lasted about 20 minutes. The rain heavy. But straight down. Vertical. Hurricane rain runs sideways. Horizontal. The wind controls its direction.

Flooding was a bit of a problem. Always is in Key West. Don’t need a hurricane for it. A heavy rain is enough. Key West in most areas is at sea level. Flooding comes easy. The newspapers had already warned before I left that there was some flooding in Key West. Named the two streets that normally get it. I drove around and out of the way to get to Tammy’s for my manicure. No problem. Ran into no flooding.

Tammy’s is located in Habana Shopping Center on Flagler. Flagler gets flooded at certain points. When I left Tammy’s onto Flagler, I was met with a good foot of water. Drove through it for one block till I was able to turn off. Ran into flooding again on North Roosevelt Boulevard as I was driving to U.S.1. The Boulevard is 4 lanes. Two each way. The driving lane was flooded all the way up. It took a while to reach U.S. 1 as everyone was traveling in the passing lane.

The rest of the afternoon was quiet. I decided there would be no problem going to The Grand for Happy Hour. There was not. Nor on my return trip home. I avoided the usual routes both ways. My normal route would have taken me over the Palm Ave. bridge into the intersection with White St. Always the first place to flood. Easy 2-3 feet of water. I have seen people swimming in the intersection several times over the years. Totally avoided the intersection. I’m sure it was flooded. Swimmers yesterday I don’t know.

Now for “loop-a-loop.” The term applicable when a hurricane turns around and returns to a place it has already passed over. I recall it only happening once several years ago. I think it was in the Gulf. It hit Louisiana, went where ever, and then turned around and made a second trip over the same area.

After Idalia leaves Georgia and goes into the Atlantic, all diagrams this morning show it beginning a turn as if to return. The experts have no idea where it will go at this time. A loop-a-loop could bring Idalia back to Florida, this time hitting the Keys.

Idalia just made landfall. As a Category 3. Can hear it being announced on TV.

Enjoy your day! Stay safe! 

It’s beginning. Idalia is being felt in Florida. The first place is Key West.

The lower Keys will not experience hurricane effects. Merely bands of rain and gusty winds. Surges will be the danger. One to two feet sufficient to cause flooding. The City of Key West is providing sand and bags to shore up homes and businesses located in low lying areas. Some minor flooding has already been reported on South Roosevelt Boulevard and and Flagler Avenue.

Wind projection for Key West has been upped to 50 mph. It’s 6:30 am at the moment, pitch black outside, but I can hear heavy winds as I write.

Idalia’s worst will occur in northern Florida on the Gulf side. The Tampa area presently considered where Idalia will make landfall as a Category 3 hurricane. People there have been getting ready for days.

A hurricane of note hit the Gulf coast of Louisiana this day in 2005. Brought devastating floods to New Orleans. One thousand thirty six persons died.

DeSantis is “two faced.” He knocks Blacks constantly. Diminishes them as a people. Yet yesterday, he announced $1.1 million in grants to help bolster security at Edward Waters University and to assist victims of the racially motivated shooting in Jacksonville.

It will not help him. Floridians are becoming wise to him.

Trump abuses the court system. He thinks it’s his and he can do what he wants with it. The abuse is the multiplicity of lawsuits he brings clogging up the system. Baseless claims. On top of which he degrades judges and the court system from which he regularly seeks relief.

His conduct has created a sense of disrespect for judges in general. A cancer. It has spread to Trump believers. A growing group of disbelievers.

Some judges have forgotten what and who they are. From the Supreme Court to the system’s lowest levels. Thomas and Alito at the high end. Cannon at the lowest.

We are in trouble! Our legal system is eroding. Trump must be stopped in every respect, court wise and further electability, to begin a return to respect for the law as we once knew it. Otherwise, prepare for an authoritarian dictatorial government. One which the people will regret having succumbed to.

Zach Johnson will announce his six Ryder Cup picks today. Golf fans anxiously await identity of his choices.

A major gasoline screw up by CITCO at the wrong time. CITCO accidently mixed diesel with gasoline at the Port of Tampa. Such has resulted in widespread fuel contamination. The contaminated product was delivered to CITCO and certain other brand stations.

The State has warned that any fuel purchased after 10 am on saturday August 26 is likely to be contaminated.

DeSantis says if an auto tank was filled, the problem a definite one. If only 10 percent filled, your car may not have a problem. 

The screw up comes at a bad time. The area of contamination is where Idalia will hit. People need their cars to avoid the hurricane or otherwise prepare for it. 

The gas stations affected have been told to stop sales.

On this day in 1962, schools in Monroe County were integrated for the first time. Thirty African American students were admitted to Sigsbee and Harris elementary schools and Coral Shores and Marathon High Schools.

The Loch Ness monster back in the news. Enthusiasts from around the world are converging on the Scottish highlands for a big hunt. One hundred persons expected.

The biggest search of its kind since 1972.

Later this afternoon, Happy Hour at The Grand. Will I be able to make it? Street flooding the problem. I have a manicure appointment at noon. Tammy’s place of business is on Flagler. Reports of some flooding already. Always gets flooded. I have to figure if I can make it by taking a long route down Northern Boulevard and then over Kennedy. 

Just looked out the window. The trunks of palm trees are swaying when the wind gusts. A couple of feet back and forth.

Enjoy your day!

Portions of Florida in danger. The upper west coast. Hurricane Idalia projected to do landfall somewhere north of Tampa. As a Category 3. Dangerous!

My friends in the Tampa and Saratoga areas have been calling. They’re getting ready. Storing up on water and foods. Cars gassed up. Shutters in place. Two injured while putting up shutters. Everyone tense.

More than wind a problem. Surges will be in play.

We in the Keys are fortunate. Idalia will merely be passing by. Glad we are to be ignored. Sad others will not.

Everyone involved, be careful. Prepare by the rules. Stay with friends.

Mourners booed DeSantis at a vigil for the 3 Black people killed at the Jacksonville Dollar General Store. DeSantis, in effect, lied to those in attendance. He deserved to be booed.

DeSantis said, “We are not going to let people be targeted based on their race.”

The man is a whore. He has loosened gun laws and spelled out anti-black positions. He is a white supremacist. Speaks with a forked tongue.

The Taliban continues treating women poorly in Afghanistan. This past week banned women from the country’s first national park because they failed to wear traditional Muslim hijab head coverings while visiting the park. Previously, the Taliban shut universities to women and blocked women from leaving Afghanistan with student visas to study abroad.

Syracuse opens its football season against long time rival Colgate saturday. Syracuse should win. However recent seasons have proven Syracuse football leaves much to be desired. 

We shall see saturday.  A new season? Or, the same old same old?

On this day in 1968, the Democratic National Convention was being held in Chicago. Police were battling thousands of demonstrators in the streets outside.

The issue was the Vietnam War. It had torn our country apart.

I found the street fights at that time as disturbing as the January 6 attack at the Capitol. How could it be happening in my country? In my United States? The same feelings I later had on January 6.

My computer is giving me trouble. I have to stop. Can’t find Sloan. Blog cut short.

Enjoy your day!

The calm before the storm. It never fails. Especially where a hurricane is involved.

I stepped outside just after 7 this morning. No wind. Zip. Nothing. Trees not moving. Looked upward. The sky blue. Not a cloud.

The way it always has been in my 30 years storm experience living in Key West.

Such does not necessarily mean the coming hurricane is going to hit Key West. There are peripheral winds and rain for hundreds of miles adjoining a hurricane itself.

A Category 1 hurricane is in the making. Coming up from the south. Not yet even a Tropical Storm. Still a Tropical Depression. Referred to at the moment as Tropical Depression 10. At some point will become a Tropical Storm. Then, a hurricane. There is a name in waiting for when the weather achieves hurricane status. Idalia.

The Tropical Depression is presently heading for Florida. Will run up outside Florida’s west coast sometime today. At which time it will achieve Tropical Storm status.

The Panhandle is presently expected to be in danger. Landfall expected at the Panhandle at which time the storm is projected as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 100 miles per hour. Rain and wind expected to cover all of the state by that time, though actual landfall not expected till late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

I began hearing from friends in northern Florida yesterday. Sarasota and Panhandle area. “We’re going to get hit!” Panic setting in. Told me of water shortages already in the supermarkets and long lines waiting to gas up.

Many times you have read my reference to hurricanes being fickle. The wind shifts frequently and dramatically. Two days ago this storm was going to make landfall in Mexico. Today, the Panhandle. It is obviously moving east. Might miss the Panhandle totally and make landfall somewhere east of Florida. Perhaps, though I doubt it, miss Florida all together.

Subway is in the process of selling its business for close to $10 billion to Roark Capital.. Roark already owns Dunkin Donuts, Carvel, Jimmy Johns, Arby’s, Cinnabon and Buffalo Wild Wings.

Subway has been a family owned business since 1965. Two families. Started back then with $1,000. One of the starters was a 17 year old looking for a way to make money for college.

The successful American dream achieved!

Bob Barker died yesterday at 99 years of age. The 30 year plus host of The Price Is Right was known back then to all Americans and remains remembered today by many. He was an open spokes person in support of animal rights. He won 19 Emmys during his career.

Viktor Hovland on his way to a major golf victory today. He has a six stroke lead going into the final round of the Fed X PGA Tournament. His victory could be worth as much as $21.6 million. A big day for the 25 year old athlete.

Hovland appears a modest individual. He openly acknowledged yesterday, “I don’t think I’ve ever played this well before.”

Great golf today! I can’t wait for the final round to begin.

A Facebook joke. Picture of an elderly lady and a child. The woman appears to be reading to the child. The dialogue: “Child – You’re 96 and still don’t need glasses? Woman – No, I drink straight from the bottle.”

Trump has raised $7.1 million (so he says) so far from selling his Georgia mug shot photo on T-shirts, hats, cups, etc.

Wrong!

The man allegedly commits crimes, is legally pursued, and always finds a way to make money (millions!) off his calamity which also can be described as his wrongdoing.

Brilliant, yes. However, just does not set right with me. Especially since by his own admission he is already worth billions. The money he raises by selling things like his mug shot is to pay his legal bills. He screws the American people in the first instance, then again by selling things representing his having been charged for breaking the law to help pay his legal bills. The American people take a double hit and pay for the beating each time.

Something wrong with those Americans who believe Trump and permit him to take advantage of them as he does.

Enjoy your Sunday! 

I have a dream! Today is the sixtieth anniversary of Martin Luther King’s historic speech. Spoken  at the March on Washington before thousands. There will be a commemorative March and speeches today before thousands.

King’s words that day were transformative. They will be so for another sixty years and more thereafter. They are part of American history. Assuming, of course, DeSantis does not knock them out of school books.

Whatever the storm that is developing in the Caribbean, it will most likely  impact Key West and the Keys. The question is to what degree. At the moment, appears minimally. However, its precise direction is yet to be determined.

Trump is facing a new legal battle by reason of Section Three of the 14th Amendment. A Florida tax lawyer has filed what appears to be the first lawsuit seeking Trump’s ban from being Presidnet again. The case has been brought under authority of Section Three.

I was one of the first to pick up on The Hill and law review articles and comment on the Disqualification Clause. One question arises. Section Three fails to set forth the procedure by which such action can be brought. Is an individual citizen a proper petitioner? Or is some official election person required? The issue is one of “standing.”

We’ll soon find out.

I suspect the Florida tax lawyer’s case is the first of several which will be filed in the next few weeks.

Citizens’ Voice this morning: “An over-crowded highway, a chronic affordable housing crisis with rents and property values going through the roof, lack of water capacity, these are just a few of the too many concerns our elected representatives should perhaps consider before ‘green lighting’ more high-end home developments.”

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson wrote an interesting article which was published this morning. I recommend its reading: Climate Change Came For Maui – The Rest Of Us Are Next.

COVID has returned. Palm Beach County is being hit hard. Get your booster shots, wear masks where you deem it advisable, and otherwise use good common sense.

Tomorrow is National Cinema Day. In celebration thereof, tickets at Tropic Cinema will be $4 all day.

I was out again last night. Five days in a row. I have not done that since pre-COVID. Not good! Drank five nights in a row also. Even worse. Not much. However, my drinking has been past me for quite awhile.

It was fun! Each and every night! Still not healthy.

It was the Thai again. Steve, Cindy, Ellen and a new lady. Sweat Pea. Such is what she is called. Good company all.

I plan on staying in the next two nights.

Enjoy your day!

Key West City leaders fail to walk the walk. Talk alone is cheap.

A comment in this morning’s Citizens’ Voice: “Our leaders love to ‘talk the talk’ about affordable housing, public transportation, even women’s rights, but they refuse to ‘walk the walk.'”

I agree!

It was mug shot in Georgia for Trump yesterday. People say “sad.” I say “good.” His picture belongs in the files of a less than desirable place like a jail. His nature and character qualify him to be so recorded for all time.

Query: Who pays for all the black limousines and motorcycle cops who took Trump from the airport to the police station and back to the airport? Tax dollars, I assume. How much did it cost yesterday?

He played and the people pay.

Beware! COVID on the rise. A Kentucky district canceled classes due to COVID and flu. Two weeks into the new school year, attendance had dropped 81 percent.

Kenneth Chesebro thought he was calling DA Fani Willis’ bluff in Georgia. when he demanded a speedy trial. She quickly responded with a 10/23 trial date. Such really called Chesebro’s bluff.

Chesebro has become known known as the “mastermind/architect” behind Trump’s electoral scheme.

Legal experts think Chesbro made a mistake. The Washington “genius” thought he was dealing with a backwoods woodchuck in Willis. He may find out how wrong he was. Chesebro is rolling the dice on a “risky gamble.”

Paris was liberated after 4 years of Nazi occupation this day in 1944.

I consider Harry Truman to have been one of America’s greatest Presidents. Raised a farmer, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army artillery during World War I, a failed retailer, and a successful local Missouri politician who achieved Presidential status…..He is to be respected. He proved his worth in the judgments he made to drop the A-bombs on Japan and to defend Korea.

Truman’s valued judgment came to the forefront again on this day in 1950 when in anticipation of a crippling railroad strike, he issued an executive order placing the railroads under control of the U.S. Army.

He had balls!

Key West still remembers and loves the man. While President, he made 11 trips covering 175 days to Key West. He walked, enjoyed the locals, swam and worked while here. He will never be forgotten.

A Maui mother found her 14 year old son dead clutching his dog who was dead also. The horror of all this!

Christianity continues to be in trouble. On an accelerating basis. Especially evident when the words of Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount are mistaken for “liberal talking points” by believers. Their thought process having come under the control of politicians.

Another pleasant evening last night. The Thai bar with Steve Thompson. 

Cindy and Ellen came in from boating with their friends. One looked familiar, though I was not sure who she was. She recognized me. It was Amy Culver. When I first arrived in Key West 30 years ago, she owned Mangoes. It was nice to renew an old acquaintance.

Enjoy your day!

Putin failed us not. He lived up to expectations. He killed Yevgeny Prigozhin. Waited two months. Fooled the man. Did him in in a plane crash yesterday.

Trump an admirer of Putin. His friend. The Saudis are Trump’s friends also. Trump has an affinity for killers. Dictators kill those who oppose them. Trump wants to be our dictator. He has already advised that should he be elected Presidnet again, all final decisions would be made by him. He would place himself over Congress, Agencies and the Supreme Court.

Americans would be crazy to elect him again. He has done enough damage to our country. Were Trump to be reelected, the U.S. would be in the same position Germany was in the mid 1930’s when Hitler took power.

Do we want that? No way, Jose!

The Republican debate last night was unimpressive. 

After listening to the political pundits last night following the debate and some of the talk show guests this morning, my “favorites” were rarely mentioned. Apparently I stand alone in my favorable impression of them. I refer to Asa Hutchinson and Doug Burgum. Each stood at opposite ends of the stage. Each spoke wisely and intelligently the few times they had an opportunity to participate.

Mike Pence distinguished himself. Surprisingly so. Don’t count him out. Chris Christie impressive as expected.

Haley sounded good. Not to my liking, however. I thought she came across like a political hack. DeSantis blew it. His responses and expressions well rehearsed. However no one went after him. He got a free ride in effect. First time I heard Ramaswamy. He blew it also. He has taken on the cloak of a conspiratorial theorist. He was arrogant, a bully. Not his time. He needs maturing.

A long way to go yet.

I have been writing this blog for 17 years. The one and only time I questioned whether I should publish one of my blogs was the one published August 18th: Some Believe Trump Already Disqualified From Holding Public Office. It concerned Section Three of the 14th Amendment. Referred to as the Disqualification Clause.

My reluctance was based on the fact that no one was talking about it. How could I be so smart? I had read The Hill article and the law review article. I held it a day before publishing based on a fear I was wrong. Then I said, What the hell! I know what I read. I can’t be that stupid.

I was watching Deadline White House with Nicole Wallace on MSNBC at 5 yesterday. Lo and behold, Wallace did 20 minutes on Section Three. She even had retired respected Federal Judge J. Michael Luttig on. I had suggested Judge Luttig should be asked for his opinion.

Excited I was! Section Three was important. A definite matter of interest.

I am adding on to this blog the entirety of my 8/18 blog for your perusal.

SOME BELIEVE TRUMP ALREADY DISQUALIFIED FROM HOLDING PUBLIC OFFICE

A different approach prohibiting Trump from becoming President again made the print this past week. It took form in an article in The Hill which reviewed a recent law review article involving disqualification in holding public office.

My blog today covers both The Hill article and law review article. The Hill presentation so well done that most of my blog is a plagarization of it. 

The Hill published the article yesterday. Titled: The Constitution Bars Trump From Holding Public Office Ever Again. Its author in an Opinion piece by Donald K. Sherman relied strongly on a law review article published in the University of Pennsylvania Law review, vol. 172, 8/14/23, titled: The Sweep and Force of Section Three. It was authored by two law professors: William Baude of the University of Chicago and Michael Stokes Paulsen of the University of St. Thomas. Both are members of the conservative Federalist Society, which gives credence to the law review article.

A law review is a scholarly law journal that focuses on legal issues. A type of legal periodical. Each article deeply researched. A law review also provides a scholarly analysis of emerging concepts involving various topics. Lengthy, comprehensive subjects are generally written by law professors, judges and legal practitioners. Short articles, commonly referred to as “notes” or “comments,” by top law students.

In The Sweep and Force of Section Three, the two law Professors claim Trump is already Constitutionally forbidden from serving in public office because of Section Three of the 14th Amendment. The Section is known as the Disqualification Clause. The Disqualification Clause bars from office any government officer who takes an oath to defend the Constitution and then engages in or aids an insurrection against the United States. A disability only a two thirds majority of both houses of Congress can act to remove.

As Professors Baude and Paulsen note, “Section Three requires no prior criminal law conviction, for treason or any other defined crime as a prerequisite for its disqualification to apply.”

Which means Trump is already disqualified without a guilty verdict forthcoming in any of the pending cases against him.

The provision is  “self-executing without the need for additional action by Congress.” The Professors note that Section Three “can and should be enforced by every official, state or federal, who judges qualifications.”

The Professors further indicate that “the free speech principles of the 1st Amendment are superseded by Section Three.”

I’d like to hear what some other respected Constitutional scholars think about the application of the Disqualification Clause, including former Federal Judge and respected scholar J. Michael Luttig.

I find the Disqualification concept interesting. Whether applicable is for legal theorists with capacities far beyond mine.

Enjoyed dinner last night at Brady’s Irish Pub. Went specially for their wednesday special chicken parmigan. The best! Amazing how an Irish restaurant can cook such an excellent Italian dish. Their lasagna is equally good when they feature it.

Carola was bartending. She recently returned from a one month vacation in Ireland. She visits her father who lives there every other year. She stopped in London for 3 days. I had been to London on business. Loved the city. She had, also. We chatted about London.

Enjoy your day!

Atlantic staff writer Mark Leibovich writes with tongue twisting humor. His article re the Republican Presidential primary debate this evening was published this morning. Its title: A Parade of Listless Vessels. 

The “listless vessels” are those most certainly to be watching. Trump’s MAGA followers.

Trump has already declared he will not appear. Leibovich makes reference to most of the 8 who will as “self neutered.” They who lack the brass balls to confront Trump. He labels them “impotent.”

An additional touch of Leibovich’s humor: “Would anyone watch a Mike Tyson fight if Iron Mike wasn’t actually fighting? Or The Sopranos, if Tony skipped the show for a therapy session (with Tucker Carlson)?” 

Being a political junkie, I will be watching however. The debate, not Tucker Carlson.

The Florida Keys failed a recent U.S. 1 traffic study. This was the second time U.S. 1 fell below acceptable Monroe County standards.

I read the front page Keys Citizen article several times. Quite frankly, somewhat beyond my comprehension. I found it hard to grasp. “Carrying capacity” threw me. I even Googled the term and read portions of it. 

Here is what I think. If I am wrong in any part, blame me not.

Appears to have something to do with speeds. Overall speeds have dropped below 45 mph to a new median speed of 44.7 mph. Seems pretty technical that the whole problem centers around .3 of a mph. Webster’s dictionary defines carrying capacity as the total amount that something can hold or carry. Sort of a help.

The problem caused by the .3 is that it could result in a prohibition on new commercial development. Such includes apartments and condominiums of which we need many. Private homes not prohibited.

The rating suggests the Keys are at “buildout.” At or above capacity.

A question arose in my mind. Do speed limits have anything to do with it? The U.S. 1 speed limits are ridiculous. Anywhere from 35-45-55 mph. That’s why it takes roughly 4 hours to drive Key West to Miami, a distance of 140 miles. If so, the problem is easily correctable. Adjust the speed limits upward a bit.

Confusing.

If anyone has a handle on the problem better than I, please comment and explain.

King George III was not always correct. He did hit it right on however when on this day in 1775 he proclaimed the American colonials were in a state of “open and avowed rebellion.”

This morning’s Citizens’ Voice carried a relevant comment to Key West’s medical care situation: “My husband and I are elderly and feel a sense of panic at what seems to be diminishing access to healthcare here. And forget about the specialists. Why is Key West denied the Baptist healthcare quality available to the other Keys? Has Baptist tried to buy out the local hospital when developing a presence in the Keys?”

Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker published an excellent piece this morning: As Paradise Burned, DeSantis Fiddled With Climate-Change Education. She wrote: “While the world watched in horror as Maui burned, Florida educators were busy adopting a new climate-change curriculum that minimized teaching about the dangers of global warming and distorts scientific information.”

An amusing line in Parker’s article: “It’s clear by now that DeSantis is Trumpier than Trump. Think of him as a modern Don Quixote: He’ll teach Florida’s children to hate windmills and love fossil fuels.”

Happy Hour at The Grand yesterday with Cindy and Steve Thompson. Mussels in a red spicey sauce. With soft bread for dunking.

Delicious!

Enjoy your day!

The movie Oppenheimer absolutely outstanding! See it if you can.

I went to the movies yesterday afternoon for the first time since pre-COVID. Steve, Cindy, Ellen and Louis. At the Tropic Cinema. There were 5 of us watching the movie. Our four and one other. Made me wonder how the theater made money.

Oppenheimer is a bit long. The movie’s only negative. It kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. A low grade tension. One of the factors that made the film good.

The movie is the story of the making of the atomic bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The background things one does not necessarily know. The personalities, political pulling, professional pressures, etc. Loved it!

Oppenheimer is an Academy Award winner. Best film! Its star Cillian Murphy deserves Best Actor. Matt Damon plays General Groves. A different role for him. Best Supporting Actor without question.

My age a factor in enjoying the film a bit more perhaps than others. I am 88. I was 10 years old when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A few weeks short of entering the fifth grade. I recalled those days distinctly and shared them with my friends afterwards at dinner.

There was no TV back in 1945. It was the radio and newspapers. Magazines sometime. What I knew immediately at the time was from the newspapers, radio and listening to the adults around me talking.

My friends were knowledgeable also. Basil McHarris and Guy Cristallo. It has been years since I’ve seen or talked with them. Don’t know if they are still alive. I have a distinct recollection of sitting on Basil’s porch and my grandfather’s also talking with them about the bomb. Our conversations were knowledgeable. One hundred thousand dead, nothing would grow for hundred years, etc. These were the facts publicized at the time.

Since I am older than everyone it seems these days, when I shared the recollection/information with my friends afterwards at dinner they were surprised.

It was an early dinner at The Grand. August a good deal. Half price all day for locals on everything. Booze and food.

I had a good time…..the movie followed by good friends over a good meal.

The cornerstone of the First National Bank building at the corner of Duval and Front Streets was laid this day in 1905. The building retains all its natural glory even today. A beautiful edifice!

Japan annexed Korea in 1910. Korea remained under Japanese control till the conclusion of World War II. Japan maltreated the Koreans during all those years. Such is why it took till last week and their “let’s be friends” meeting at Camp David where Presidnet Biden brought Japan and South Korea together.

“Dog Day Afternoon” is a terrific movie starring Dustin Hoffman. The 1975 film was inspired by an actual 1972 attempted bank robbery in which 2 men took 7 employees hostage at a Chase Manhattan branch in Brooklyn. The robbery a botched job. The movie a comedic representation of the robbery.

Amazing how abortion backfired on Republicans. They finally won on the issue with the Supreme Court’s decision last year which was adverse to Roe v. Wade.

Republican joy followed. Not for long, however. Women and young of America joined in opposition to the decision.

The Republicans blew it! As they seem to be blowing most things these days.

I disagree with the title of the editorial in today’s Key Citizen: Middle Ground Is Where To Look For Climate Solution. Some things are beyond compromise. More than a “political” solution is required. All out war to correct and resolve climate issues is needed.

The problem is world wide. The U.S. alone correcting its policies is not enough if China continues as it has, for example.

 One even more disastrous outcome is inevitable. One no one speaks of. Maui hurting today. South California and adjoining states, also. How long can the federal government keep helping? How long can insurance companies continue paying claims?

Money does not grow on trees!

A lack of money will be the final “disastrous” outcome of climate change if nations do not take the bull by the horns and do something about it.

Book banning is beyond me. Those who support and promote it manifest a basic ignorance. Literature still remains the basic instrument for children to learn. If they uncover a dirty word or two, or a sex act, or whatever, so what? All part of life. They are going to pick up on it at some point no matter how hard the suppression is to “protect” them.

These banning nuts forget their children have cell phones and TV available to them. There is more than one way for them to be exposed to that which a parent might wish to protect them.

Then there are those parents, perhaps a better than thou mother, who brings the boy friend to her bed at night when she thinks her children are asleep. They can hear her moans and groans through the walls.

I became addicted to reading at an early age. Did not necessarily understand all I read. Nevertheless, struggled through many books.

My parents purchased a new home in 1941. Over the course of the first year, they also bought a new living room and dining room. The dining room set came with a china. We were not affluent. We had no “china.” My parents instead filled the china with odd glass pieces and books. Many books.

One a set of John Steinbeck novels.

I began reading them in 1943. I was all of 7-8 years old. I used to sit in a large easy chair in the living room. The Steinbeck novel in my hands. Next to me in the chair, a 3 inch thick red Webster’s dictionary. I had to look up many words as I read along. It was a whole new world to me!

I recall getting through several Steinbeck novels during those early years. The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men among them. The dictionary pages became soiled from constant use.

Not only were many words strange to me, things were also. Early on, sex was still not in my focus.

My love for reading continues to this day. I continue learning. Not all words are familiar to me. Several times a day, I find myself going on the internet to see what a word means.

My “reading life” has been a joy. The “bad things” I might have read did not hurt me. All part of the learning process. Again I must state how I cannot understand this desire to ban. Simply stated, books are good and healthy. A touch of trash here and there is not going to hurt a young one’s mind or character in the long run.

Enjoy your day!