One of Key West’s greatest citizens was David Wolkowsky. 

In 1978, he purchased the Kress Building at 500 Duval Street for $210,000. The building became for many years the home of Fast Buck Freddie’s on the first floor, Jimmy Buffett’s offices on the second and David’s personal penthouse residence on the roof. Spectacular occupancies containing top shelf occupants.

The building since sold. Some residents have changed. Fast Buck’s gone. Relaced by a CVS. Not sure what is on second floor. A new occupant in the penthouse.

My good friend Cindy Thompson spent many years working for Jimmy Buffett in his second floor operation. She still handles some Buffett matters for his operation in Key West.

Today National Relaxation Day.

At dinner at The Grand wednesday night, Steve and I discussed turtle meat and soup as a spectacular delicacy some 30 years ago in Key West. When we were first in Key West. It was here and prominently ordered everywhere. A delicacy. Key West even had a turtle factory. Turtle as a consumable meal and the factory now long gone. Sad. A delicious food to order till it disappeared.

Turtle was an 18th to mid 20th century delicacy in American and European cuisine. Then became obsolete. Overfished, over eaten.

A status symbol disappeared in the mid 1980’s. Turtle soup considered “exotic.” Meat wise tasted like veal, and had a rich gelatinous texture.

Too bad long gone.

Ancient Romans enjoyed their wines. Huge consumers. Made them sick, however. Beyond a mere hangover.

Reason: Wine was made with a sweet syrupy substance called defrutum. Prepared by boiling unfermented grape juice. The syrup was boiled in a lead lined pot. Absorbed the lead. Romans were not aware. Everyone got sick as a result.

Ice became popular to cool drinks 4,000 years ago. It has grown into a $5 billion a year commodity. In the U.S. alone, the average person consumes nearly 400 pounds of ice per year.

Some of baseball’s most memorable moments: Chicago Black Sox throwing the World Series, Babe Ruth calling “his shot” in the 1932 World Series, Lou Gehrig’s retirement speech, Joe Di Maggio’s 56th home run, Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, Willie Mays’ 1954 World Series catch, Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s career home run record, and Ted Williams as a special pilot. A highly skilled war pilot in World War II and the Korean War.

The most famous telegram message in history: Samuel Morse’s “What God hath wrought.”

The Alaska Summit will test Trump’s peacemaking credentials.

Read “Zoom.” This friday’s Fred C. Klein blog. Always good!

On this day in 1969, the Woodstock Festival opened in Bethel, N.Y. Two popular Key West people there: Larry Smith and Christine Cordone. Many others I know also.

Big day! On this day in 1899, Henry Ford left Edison to start his own automobile company.

What a day this was in 1914! The Panama Canal opened to traffic.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born this day in 1769.

A Jimmy Buffett holiday soon to be in Key West. Crazy Sista and Musical Friends to lead the Key West Events beginning August 31.

Enjoy your day!

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s words of August 11: “Trump’s Bill is to America what the iceberg was to the Titanic.” A brilliant expression.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), British logician, winner of Nobel Prize in Literature: “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubt.”

He was also a pacificist which resulted in his going to prison during World War I.

I don’t want my U.S. cities to look like war zones.

It is suspected Trump hopes his National Guard actions may boost his approval ratings which have been sagging in recent months. I doubt it. They might backfire precipitously.

Donald Trump: “I am going to Russia on Friday.” He forgets Alaska is in the U.S.

Yesterday August 12 was Thank You Day. Cards were made available for the event.

Amazing! The name “Louis Petrone” was mentioned in 5,232 papers yesterday. Not all me. Probably not even one.

Will Trump’s Washington actions reduce crime? Too soon to tell.

Forest breathing healthy and produces a good feeling. Even better, forest bathing. Nature a winner!

Egyptian Queen Cleopatra died by suicide in 30 BCE.

Lauren Bacall: “Imagination is the highest light one can flip.”

Trump’s way of ruling has developed into dictatorship. Authoritarian dictatorship. Who needs him?

A proper designation. A proper observation. Finally! Key West Mayor and City Commissioners recognized and honored the Rainbow Cross Walks at Duval and Petronia Streets.

Strange! When a crow feels sick, it visits an ant hill. A for real healing ritual.

One of nautre’s most fascinating healing rituals. Spreads its wings and permits the ants to crawl into its feathers. Ants eat the bugs in the wings.

No medicine. No veterinarian. Simple pure instinct and nature at work.

“Hollywood” as read on the mountainside first was written “Hollywoodland.” The last four letters were removed in 1949.

In the 1940’s, in order to ease the price of gasoline, people roller skated to work in New York City.

Strange! But works! In Croatia, they have Dog lifeguards the entire summer season.

Watermelons need to be different sizes to fit in refrigerators. Especially round ones. Japanese farmers have come up with a solution. They grow square watermelons. By using temporal glass while the fruit matures on the vine.

Trump’s present attitude. He stockaded the border. Now he is on to the cities.

Bad! Terrible! Trump’s administration just received the funding it needs to hire 50,000 new ICE agents. Part of the “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Enjoy your day!

My grandson Robert visited me for two hours yesterday. I was under the weather. He leaves to return to Florida State today. I will not see him again till Christmas.

We are close.

Robert has had an interesting life. Worrisome and sad initially. Now normal. Perhaps better than normal.

He was born with cancer of the liver. Spent the first 8 days of his life at Miami Children’s Hospital where he had two major surgeries. Followed for years thereafter by Miami Children’s. No more fortunately.

A good kid. No other way to describe him. A top tennis player. Becoming a top notch golfer.

Graduated #39 in his class from Key West High School. Now entering his senior year at Florida State where he has distinguished himself. His cumulative average is 3.5. Mostly A’s, a few B’s and 3 C’s. This will be his last year at Florida State. Next year at this time he will hopefully have obtained a good job and earning a living. He will.

Robert will end up a writer or announcer. Most likely in the sports field. He has excelled the past 3 years while at college performing in those areas for pay and non pay.

I love him! He is the best!

I am still not in the best of health. You would suspect I would not be so after 58 consecutive days in four different hospitals. I have been out for about one month now. Still generally feel crappy. Tired. Using a walker. Lacking in endurance. Rarely going out. I did make 90 years old, however. There was a time when I thought I would not.

Trump is flooding Washington, D.C. with National Guard. Eight hundred at the moment. He is using them to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department.

Washington Mayor Muriel Browser called the National Guard move “unsettled and unprecedented.”

Is such conduct necessary? I doubt it. Nothing more than Trump “out of the ordinary” activity. He has his nose in everything. Being President alone not enough for him.

A bottom line concern is the U.S. military still not supposed to be used against American citizens.

Trump continues “tariff game playing” with China. He signed an Executive Order extending his tariff truce with China for another 90 days. The “truce” allows Trump to hold back on 145 percent in tariffs on Chinese goods.

In 2010, the initiation fee to join Mar-a-Lago was $100,000. As of last fall it was reported to have gone up to $1 million.

Trump is upset Zelensky resisting a “land swap” with Russia. Putin wants some Ukraine lands for a peace deal.

The Summit Conference is a joke. Trump pursuing in hopes to get the deal he wants and a Nobel Peace Prize as a result.

Two whorish pursuits. Neither feasible.

D.C. is not what Trump thinks it is. Not the dirty filthy place. Does he ever walk the streets to actually see Washington’s beauty. I have. Trump is missing the boat. He sees what he wants to see.

The U.S. News and World Report recently completed a list of the 25 cities with the worst statistics for crimes and murder, using FBI crime reports. D.C. did not even make the list.

Trump constantly embarrasses the U.S. in every possible respect. Not the function of a President.

FEMA has joined other federal agencies in canceling union contracts.

Tonight hopefully The Grand for me. My palate desires crispy duck.

Enjoy your day!

Trump is letting Putin manipulate him again. Trump is so desperate to force a peace in Ukraine thereby perhaps getting him the Nobel Peace Prize he so desperately wants that the Alaska meeting may be Trump’s Munich.

At the moment, everything is “desperate” for Trump. He desperately wants “his huge ballroom.” He speaks of construction beginning soon.  He forgets there is a National Capital Planning Commission. Its approval required. Takes time. Big time to obtain.

Finally! Major League Baseball has hired its first female umpire. Jen Pawol.

Popular quote: “The only way to prove you are a good sport is to lose.”

Trump wrong to assign FBI agents to Washington Streets to work overnights. Washington has its own police forces. Federal troops not required. Only Trump thinks so. He is always playing another game. One to gain notoriety.

The facts do not justify what Trump is doing. He is assigning 120 FBI agents. Statistics do not support Trump’s position. Violent crime is down 26 percent since 2024, homicides 12 percent. Juvenile arrests this year down 900, 20 percent fewer than the same time last year.

Groucho Marx quote: “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend.”

A white-only town exists in rural Arkansas. 

The group making up the population says it is about freedom and community. Critics say it is a dangerous step toward organized hate.

I searched for the community’s name. A strange one: Return to the Land.

A new Satanic neo-Nazi group is recruiting children as young as 12. Located in Germany. The group is named Milikolosskrieg. It emerged last year.

Most members 12-18.

Trump has stashed the portrait of former President Barack Obama in a hidden stairwell in the White House.

Wonder how Trump will feel in the future if his portrait is buried in hiding?

Winston Churchill: “Mr. Attlee is a very modest man. Indeed he has a lot to be modest about.”

America’s bees are dying at an alarming rate as scientists try to figure out why. Several reasons therefore. Losses running from 55 to 80 percent.

I repeat again. Trump is “desperate” for a Nobel Peace Prize” more than anything else.

Donald Trump has an approach to wielding power. There is a simple paragraph in his 1987 book “The Art of the Deal” that proves it: “My style of deal – making is quite simple and straight forward. I aim very high, and then I just keep pushing and pushing and pushing to get what I’m after. Some I settle for less than I sought, but in most cases I still end up with what I want.”‘

Yesterday August 10 was National Lazy Day.

Alcatraz. On this day in 1934, the first federal prisoner arrived at Alcatraz Island. The island became home to more than 1,500 prisoners over the next three decades before closing in 1963.

Enjoy your day!

I have been criticized. Big time. Not uncommon.

Yesterday’s blog was total Donald Trump. Unavoidable. The man is everything in the U.S. and world. Sometimes all the news worthy to report is Trump news.

I took a beating for it, however. The chastisement was unexpected. Sometimes, as yesterday, Trump was the most appropriate news to report. I did not expect the large anti-Trump response, however.

You are correct. I am correct. Trump is the biggest news maker in the world. This week especially. He is setting Ukraine up to be screwed. Kissing Putin’s ass in the process. Zelensky will not go for it in the least.

So no Trump today, unless I come across something sufficiently newsworthy.

The Florida Everglades is rampant with pythons. Perhaps in excess of one million. Hurricanes of old responsible followed by a prolific reptile.

Pythons are difficult to eliminate. Will be with us forever. All that can be done is to limit its volume. Minimally. 

Florida tries everything. Worthy to note. “Every thing that will never work. But Florida tries.” Florida’s most recent effort is the deployment of robotic rabbits to remove the invasive pythons. It will not work. Merely reduce to a minimum.

Jordan Spieth nowhere near making the Ryder Cup Team this year. His opportunity remote. I doubt he will even come close.

He is trying hard, however. Pushing to get a spot. 

A Mae West gem uttered. “Sexette” in 1977: ” Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?”

ICE agents have taken over the halls and chairs at Manhattan federal courts. Wrong! Big time wrong! Why are the Judges permitting it?

The ICE agents are masked and armed. This the USA? How is it permitted?

I repeat today what I said in another fashion yesterday: The economy is cracking. Most alarming!

We know egg and gasoline prices are rising rapidly. As well as other goods. Gasoline fluctuating in recent days.

There is another cost factor which receives little attention. Health Insurance. Beware! It is rising faster than the price of eggs or gasoline.

We are close to the date of the end of World War II. August 15, 1945. Today is August 10. Five days away.

I recall Japan’s surrender. I was 10 years old. It was a wow! Especially with the two atomic bombs thrown in.

Live and learn! Earwax, also known as Burmese cerumen, is actually good for us. Ear wax prevents dryness, traps microbes, and protects ear skin.

World War II ended 80 years ago. Information as to how people lived and confronted the War still eking out. The English never knew when they had to rush to an air raid shelter. Including Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The Prime Minister was not always “dressed.” Preferred to work casually attired. He had to dress quickly in case of an emergency.

To accommodate the need, he had a series of one-piece suits made. Ones that could be donned quickly. Similar to overalls. Included everything from the suit itself, shirt, tie, etc. All one piece. Even black tie suits for formal occasions. Some even had a cigar jammed in the breast pocket.

Dining changes have occurred. There is more solo dining. Solo dining has increased by 271 percent. Restaurants are adapting by adding more bar seats, communal tables, and counter-service options.

Bigger than big! The world’s largest cruise ship has arrived at Cape Canaveral. The Star of the Seas. Weighs 250,800 gross tons, has 20 decks, 7 pools, 6 waterslides, and more than 40 dining and drinking venues.

The vessel accommodates 5,610 passengers at double occupancy, more than 7,000 passengers at full capacity. Plus, 235 crew.

Yes, there is news and information as well as that of Trump’s out there. However, Donald’s news more timely and important.

Enjoy your Sunday!

A simple yet accurate statement: The America we have is rapidly slipping away.

Another simple yet accurate statement: Trump is economically illiterate.

A New York Times Opinion Piece suggests some Presidents act like 5 year olds. I agree.

Gaza’s hunger is a moral crisis. Israel and the world could do much more to alleviate the emergency.

Universities and the President should not be in bed together as some are becoming. Independent thought is vital. It has to come from somewhere. Be certain. Disagree when necessary. Come up with new thoughts on occasion.

What is happening today is wrong. Trump is crucifying and changing the modus operandi of our institutions of higher learning. Freedom of thought is on the chopping block.

Trump is operating the Justice Department from a personal perspective. With no credibility. He has his nose in everything.

The year 2026 has become everything. So suggests Frank Bruni. He believes Democrats must prevail in the midterms. I agree.

Trump’s actions against civil society harm us all.

A California county is experiencing a fast moving wildfire. The fire has grown almost 5,000 acres as it spreads.

Trump has ordered the Pentagon to be used where it has not before. He is requiring the armed forces to carry out certain police enforcement activities. 

The military are not police officers. Not trained to be, nor do we want them to be or so act. “We the people” do not want our military to be cops also. Understand!

Ukraine is greeting the planned Trump-Putin summit with deep skepticism. They do not believe Trump and Putin have the ability to deliver a peace plan they can accept. Especially when Ukraine has basically been kept out of the planning for the summit.

Trump is up to it again! He has revived his first term policy of separating migrant children from their parents. Even more wrong, the newer version is happening far from the border.

The Trump Administration has begun to strip federal workers of union protections. The Department of Veterans Affairs appears to be the first agency to begin such terminations. The anticipated terminations thus far more than 30,000.

Government takes the place of management. It functions as management does in non governmental employment. Protections are required in the public governmental sector also. Especially where Trump is the boss.

A federal judge has chastised Trump for moving FEMA funds from one area to another. Judge said no way, Jose! Trump cannot be permitted to screw around with FEMA. The man must be taught to leave well enough alone.

Lawmakers from both parties have castigated the White House for letting money for cancer research be moved to other areas. How stupid Trump’s people are to have allowed such activity.

GOP doing fewer town halls. Understandable! People, regardless of party, are getting beat up. They know and don’t like it. They are refusing to take it anymore. 

Will it affect the 2026 elections? Of course!

Trump continues to play get even. One example is Lteta Jones’ successful fraud case against the Trump real estate empire. A second suggests the Justice Department is looking into James’ high profile litigation against the NRA.

Sick! Not the way government at its highest level should be conducted.

Everyday items like cars, coffee and clothing are poised to get pricier with new tariffs. Average U.S.D. tariff rates will get higher .Eventually jump to a high not seen since the Great Depression.

Thank you, Donald!

I have been out of the hospital 3-4 weeks. Better, not well yet however. Still using walker. Cannot use cane. My activities strictly limited. Not driving, not walking without assistance. Fortunate to have friends and relatives to drive me around and run errands for me.

Doctor says another two months till better better. Normal, hopefully.

Sometimes I am not a happy camper. Limited overall re activities. However I am 90 and still here. So I try to complain not and say thank you to all who assist me.

Enjoy your day!

Nearly 2 million Americans are on unemployment. The highest since 2021.

Lanternflies are swarming Virginia. Threaten Virginia’s $8 billion wine industry.

Word is the FBI will assist Texas law enforcement in locating Democratic lawmakers who left the State to block a Trump backed redistricting effort. A wrong as to the FBI. Texas Democrats have every right to exercise their freedoms as they see it.

Trump is “power crazy.” Now wants to take over what he considers crime in Washington, D.C.

Bess Levin is dealing big time with RFK Jr. in Vanity Fair’s “This Is What We voted For!” MAHA would celebrate mRNA (Experts Say It will Kill People). Read Levin’s article.

The FAA wants to hire 9 thousand air traffic controllers. It won’t be enough. What do we do?

I do not understand. Hegseth wants to return a Confederate Memorial to Arlington Cemetery. The Memorial was removed in 2023 at the recommendation of a Congressional Committee to remove Confederate symbols and memorials.

U.S. and Japan deal not a deal “yet.” May not be. Japan claims details not spelled out. Wording full of arrogance. 

The problem a draft one. Typical of quick type deals Trump makes so he can appear to have made a deal. Wording vague.

Enjoy your day!

I can write. However I cannot correct mechanical defects. As proven by the several days my computer was sick. I had to wait for Sloan to come over and do that which I could not.

Always find it amazing. I spent two days trying to fix before I called Sloan and then waited a few more days for her to work me in. Sloan arrived and it took her all of two minutes to discover and correct the problem.

Trump’s newest tariffs to take effect today. India being one. Trump in effect penalized India with an additional 25 percent tariff because India was selling oil to Russia. Trump is under the impression that the world must do what he wants all the time. If not, he will do whatever is necessary to punish.

Economists are convinced Trump’s tariffs on imports will get passed onto U.S. consumers and businesses.

Young American men continue to be depressed. They must learn how to overcome their problems. Sleeping in Mom’s basement and complaining about not being able to get a decent job not the answer.

Young men must learn to stand on their own two feet and go after the good which life can provide. There was a time they did. No more. Sit back and cry if they fail to move forward economically. Stay poor as a result.

U.S. economy is receding. Trump’s fault. Always is. America’s working class must move its ass! Wait not for Donald to move his ass first nor be the moving force for economic good in every instance.

Trump has in effect begun a war with China. No way to play political games. Too much at stake. Lives primarily!

Donald is forcing an economic recession. He does not possess the smart mind he believes.

Trump has made the U.S. a global pariah, allowing Xi to flip the script.

Warren Buffett says when the tide goes out, you will see who is not wearing shorts. Donald is coming up bare ass!

Japan is home to the world’s most populated city – Tokyo. In 2022, Tokyo’s population was 37.3 million people.

Live and learn. The Great Wall of China is not a continuous structure.

Interesting! Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was one of France’s leading sculpturers in the 19th century. As a result, he was a national choice to design the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty was built even before the Eiffel tower.

Traveling through the Panama Canal generally takes 8-10 hours. Two weeks if and around Cape Horn. The Cape Horn fee extravagant, however. Average toll $150,000. Larger ships more One so big it cost $829,000.

FBI says crime is dropping across the U.S.

A significant day in American history. In world history. The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Eighty thousand killed, thirty five thousand injured. Helped to end World War II against Japan.

An interesting item to close with. A fruit. A pineapple.

There was a time when when the theft of a pineapple landed a person in prison. In the 1700s. The fruit was rare and expensive. Roughly $17,000 to $23,000 in today’s money.

Wow!

Enjoy your day!

Donald, thank you! No Social Security COLA payment will in all likelihood be made October 15th. Nor at any time this year. It will mark the first time this century that one will not be paid.

Warm weather, warm water. Means hurricane season an almost certainty. May such avoid the Keys!

It has happened. The inevitable. Why? A Catholic priest is back to work in the Vatican’s Secretariat. A priest who was convicted of possessing and distributing pornographic materials. Convicted by a Vatican Court and sentenced to 5 years in jail. Served 2.

He is the Rev. Carlo Abbot Copella. Now 58.

Pope Leo has a problem. What to do with a priest so convicted working in the Vatican? 

Trump leaves people confused. He claims the U.S. has given $100 million to Gaga aid so far. Actually $30 million of which only 10 percent ($3 million) has so far been disbursed to the Gaga Humanitarian Foundation.

He lies!

Trump plays “get even” often. Not the way a President should function.

Jack Smith the perfect example. He properly prosecuted Trump. Trump now prosecuting him. I repeat, not the way government should be run!

Today is National Watermelon Day.

The U.S. is one of the top 4 porn sites worldwide. Kind of a Mount Rushmore of virtual smut. It attracts some 2.3 billon American visits per month. Typical users remain 8-10 minutes.

Confucius: “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

Norway’s lighthouses are ancient. Need to be brought into the 21st century There are 1,000 constructed along Norway’s coast. All need work.

The Smithsonian has removed all references to Trump’s impeachments. The error recognized. The impeachments are scheduled to return.

Small earthquakes jolted New Jersey and New York City around 10:20 last night. Near the Teterboro Airport.

Trump intends to build a new large ball room as part of the White House. Experts do not agree as to its necessity or location.

Fantasy Fest 2025 kicks off October 17 this year. A bit early. Why?

Two interesting Comments in Citizens’ Voice.

One is the claim “Make America Hated.” Allegedly our new slogan since January 20. The whole world hates us, is disgusted with us, and cannot wait for this tyranny to end. If we ever needed another “Summer of Love,” it’s now.

The other is the battle over Pride Walkways. The cry therefore proof strangely that homosexual Key West is moving in an opposite direction. Glad the City has put a temporary stop to the idea.

I have a concern. Many of you also perhaps. The weather. The heat has been too much this summer. My concern the heat will provide the basis for a hurricane. We definitely do not want one!

Enjoy your Sunday!

Carolla wrote me yesterday. Pictures included. She is in Ireland for one month visiting her 94 year old Dad.

Seventy years ago, her Father helped start a soccer club there. His recent honor was for his contribution at the time. The soccer club building was named after him these 70 years later.

He was proud. Carolla was proud. Everyone in attendance was proud.

Carolla is a good daughter. Visits her Dad one month a year in the old country. Her son with her.

I did not make it to Brady’s last night for the pierogi dinner. No car available. Still using walker. The walker and I will continue being friends for several more weeks.

Trump more and more a war monger. He keeps pressing things. I have mentioned several times his pushing is going to get us into a war.

Now he is stepping on the big guys. Russa in this instance.

Trump yesterday deployed two nuclear subs into tactical positions after online threats from former Russian President Dmtry Medvedev. Such escalated tensions between the two nuclear superpowers not wise.

Why do Trump’s frustrations constantly rise? He could/may accidently push us into a war of significant proportions!

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is going to shut down following failure to finance by Trump and Congress. After being a cornerstone of American culture for three generations. 

Job growth slowed big time in July. Only 73,000 jobs added. A dangerous sign. The first major economic sign pointing to danger ahead for the U.S. economy.

The Vatican is the world’s smallest fully established nation-state, yet one that most others would like to have.

The Vatican Museum stretches through four miles. Includes 29 museums that contain more than 70,000 exhibits.

The Sistine Chapel, decorated by Michelangelo, is the last museum located in the Vatican complex.

FOX was the first to run a U.S. President on TV. It was Frankin Delano Roosevelt during New York’s World Fair in 1939.

Enjoy your day!