Strone crab season is only a few days old. Its prices in the Keys similar to gas prices. A few miles make a difference.

I spent $49 per pound for large sized stone crabs monday night. Similar sized half way up the Keys were selling for $35 a pound. I thought $49 too expensive. However, when you’re a stone crab fanatic price is immaterial. Those paying $35 a pound likewise thought $35 was expensive.

Someone contacted me and said the price would go even higher. The reason. Goliath Groupers aka Jewfish. A favorite food. Some run 800 pounds. A fisherman on the internet commented: “Goliath groupers eat stone crabs like tic tacs.” The author of another article said “he felt bad for stone crabbers.”

Goliath groupers have been a protected species in Florida waters for over 30 years. If my research is correct, a certain number will be available for harvesting in 2023. However, the Keys will remain off limits. The monsters will still be able to devour my favorite food.

I have always enjoyed grouper when dining out. Now I know why. The mothers pigged out on stone crabs!

The price of gas in Key West up and down. Fluctuates like my body weight.

My 10/13 blog read: “Two weeks ago one gallon of gas cost $4.47. One week ago, $3.99. Yesterday, $3.87.”

The pendulum has swung. Sunday one gallon was $3.99.

Steve Thompson wrote about the early Casa Marina. Even before his time here.

Six acres oceanfront on the south side of town. A first class resort was sure to bring them down. They came to Casa Marina for sun and food.

It was the roaring 20’s and they sunbathed nude.

Louis interjection: The Casa Marina closed in the late 1920’s for 2 reasons. One the crash of 1929. The other those who came came booked only for a 3 day stay. The first night at the Casa. Quiet. Too quiet for them. Most left the next morning by ferry boat for Havana. Cash flow became too poor to remain open.

Back to Steve: Not till the 70’s did they really bring it back. The Birdcage Lounge was the first to reopen. The acoustics were so bad I thought they were joking. Painted plants on curved walls with no windows and a domed ceiling. I guess they wanted to give it a birdcage feeling. 

They tore it down when they built the new wing. The new hotel was fit for a king.

I’m insulted! Syracuse has been insulted!

The AP Preseason Top 25 College Basketball Poll fails to list Syracuse.

Go to it, Boeheim! Show ’em how wrong they can be!

Enjoy your day!

Trump continues his anti-Semitic rantings. His more recent telling Jews to “get their act together.”

The White House condemned Trump’s statements. Trump is upset becuse he believes Jews in the U.S. do not support him strongly. Whereas Jews in Israel do. No wonder. Trump gave Israel everything he could while he was President.

Trump’s dislike of American Jews borders on hatred, if not hatred itself. I find it strange. Ivanka and his grandchildren are Jewish.

There may be a sign/warning involved. Things are closing in on Trump. Big time. It has been suggested he will try to let his children take the fall for him. Would not surprise me. I find it difficult to understand. I am old school. One where parents do everything to protect their children.

The Trump family operation made money during the time Donald Sr. was President.

Yesterday’s New York Times reported that the Secret Service was charged exorbitant rates. Rates above government approved rates while Secret Service agents stayed at Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. while protecting Trump and family.

Eric was running Trump businesses while Donald was President. Government rates have a cap of $50 per night. Secret Service were generally charged $600. One night, $1,160.

Though under the weather a bit, I kept my date with Jean Thornton sunday night. Would not miss it! The game plan was Jean and stone crabs. A winning combination!

We met at the Chart Room at 6 as agreed. Jean waiting. Steve and Cindy at the bar. John bartending.

Good to see everyone!

Jean had Joe back in Birmingham check out what restaurants had stone crabs. Sunday was only day 2 of the new season. Turned out 3. Alonzo’s, Eaton Street Fish Market, and I forget the third.

We opted for the Eaton Street Fish Market. Sat outside and enjoyed. Large ones. Well cracked. $49 a pound. Going to be an expensive stone crab season!

Four stone crabs to a pound.

Outstanding! Delicious! Magnificent! What more can I say?

I went directly home afterwards to continue being sick.

I was surprised to learn families are still struggling to find baby formula. It is now one year since the shortage began.

Availability has improved, but not enough. The search persists.

One third of households with infant children had trouble finding formula last month.

Affected households had less than a one week supply of formula on hand.

Key West loves Harry Truman. Harry Truman loved Key West.

One of Truman’s famous sayings: “The President is always abused. If he isn’t, he isn’t doing anything.”

Some pics on Facebook of homemade “pasta.” Chef…..Al Cotoia. Looks delicious, Al! Wish I could share it with you.

Al will understand what I am about to share.

No pasta in my younger days. Nor his. “Macaroni” was the term. I’m going back to the 1930’s through 1950’s. Suddenly it was pastasized!

Homemade macaroni was something my grandmother made. Generally with the help pf her daughters and daughters in law. Made at the sink and kitchen table. Some sort of a machine. Dishes like linguine were cut long. Then carried into  a bedroom and laid on the bed. First covered by a clean sheet, of course. Smaller cuts , also. Gnocchis made from flour rather than potato. We kids permitted to thumb press them.

My grandmother was the best cook ever! She could make shoe leather taste like filet mignon. She would occasionally cook round steak for my grandfather. Fried it in oil. Just right. Shared with me. I have never forgotten the tenderness and taste.

For Al and I’s non-Italian friends, macaroni, and then pasta, were two times a week meals. Sundays and wednesdays. Always!

Syracuse/Clemson saturday at noon. Clemson a 13 point favorite.

Big game!

An oh, my God! Would you believe! The Jacksonville newspaper, The Florida Times Union, reported on 10/17/1884 there were 22 liquor saloons in Key West.

Enjoy your day!

I feel lousy. Began last night. Then all night. Continuing this morning. Not sure what it is. Just feel like shit! Tried to write. Was getting nowhere. Don’t have writing in me.

Hopefully back tomorrow.

Ho Ho, Yogi Bear! Syracuse continues its undefeated run! Six and O!

Defeated North Carolina State yesterday 24-9. A tough game. A tough opponent.

Next week Clemson. Even tougher. Presently 7-0.

Yesterday’s game played at Syracuse. Sold out! Fifty thousand!

My good friends Tom and Fran Dixson missed the game. Vacationing in Siberia. Return Thursday.

Many of this year’s candidates are sickos.

Mike Itkis is a “liberal independent” candidate opposing Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler in New York’s 12th Congressional District.

Itkis supports liberal positions such as abortion rights, gun control, and equal economic opportunity for all. He is also “pro-sex” in every regard.

To evidence he is a hardened supporter of sex positivity, Itkis released a 13 minute video on the adult video website Pornhub. Itkis – a registered Democrat – starred in the movie with porn star Nicole Sage.

He commented: “One of the most meaningful experiences of my life.”

Sounds like it would be.

Itkis claims he is an “introvert.” He just came out of the “introvert closet.”

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson wrote in an article yesterday: “The 2022 midterms are the most important of my lifetime.”

For all of us!

Bess Levin did it again. Labeled Trump’s reaction to this week’s January 6 Committee hearing: “Trump reacts to the January 6 Committee subpoena like a guy who knows the walls are closing in…..It’s not a great day to be Donald Trump and even he seems to know it.”

Suppose stone crabs or spiny lobsters disappeared from Keys waters this season. None to fish. None to capture. None to sell.

Alaska is experiencing a somewhat similar situation this season. Except it is for real and not supposedly.

Alaska cancelled its snow crab season for the first time this year. Officials are perplexed. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game cancelled the entire 2022-2023 season. One billion stone crabs disappeared.

Next year a question mark.

Presently, thousands of fishermen and others involved directly and indirectly with the Alaskan snow crabs are out of work.

No one knows why the snow crabs have disappeared. A major investigation is underway.

I will be out and about tonight. A great evening planned. Meeting Jean Thornton at the Chart Room at 6. A drink or two. Then stone crabs somewhere.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Busy day. Much on my plate. Got an early start.

Ordered groceries last night for early delivery this  morning. Groceries received, unpacked and stored.

Began researching today’s blog even before groceries delivered. Ten at the moment. I am beginning to write the blog.

Sloan due at 1:30. She took a trip last weekend so we never got together. Extra work to do today.

Syracuse/North Carolina State at 3:30. The best of the day! I am looking forward to it.

Sadness. So much of it in the world.

The worst the story of the 11 year old Ukraine boy who was buried for 6 hours under the rubble of an apartment house. A building Putin had bombed monday night in Mikolaiv.

TV was replete yesterday with video of the boy being extracted from the rubble. Sad. The opening small.

Even sadder, it was announced later that the boy died in the hospital of “heart failure…..cardiac arrest.”

Imagine the fear the 11 year old underwent during the 6 hours he was buried. His heart obviously could not handle the fear.

Putin, may you rot in Hell!

Syracuse a 4.5 point favorite over North Carolina State. Hope we win! Go ‘Cuse!

The Keys News ran its usual Cheers and Jeers weekly column today on its Editorial Page. A Jeer: On 10/1/22 the State of Florida implemented $.25.3 a gallon tax relief. Purpose: To provide price relief to consumers, not “pad the wallets of gas station owners.”

Fantasy Fest begins in 5 days. October 21. Will run through October 30. Curious to see how successful it will be. The “do gooders” are having their way this year. Their voices heard. A “cleaner” Fantasy Fest.

The “evangelicals” are happy. Will the visitors who come down to party be? It is sometimes forgotten that the purpose of Fantasy Fest from day one years ago has been to bring business to Key West during a slow time.

How quickly people forget. A few days ago, Aaron Judge hit homer #62 thereby breaking Roger Maris’ 61 home run record which had stood for more than 60 years.

Judge has had a top season otherwise with the Yankees, also.

Last night in a losing game at Yankee Stadium, Judge struck out 4 times. Some in the crowd booed him following his final strike out.

Following the game, Judge was interviewed by reporters. In all humility, he commented: “I have to play better.”

The man a class act. Not like those who booed him from the stands.

Love Hemingway! A perfectionist. Proof: ” I rewrote the ending to ‘Farewell to Arms,’ the last page of it, thirty-nine times before I was satisfied.”

Enjoy your day!

Justice lost yesterday in Broward County, Florida. The decision the same quality as Dobbs which reversed Roe V. Wade in the Supreme Court.

Nicholas Cruz was on trial in the sentencing portion of his criminal case. In 2018 Cruz shot and killed 17 in the Parkland school shooting. He pled guilty and threw himself on the mercy of the jury in the sentencing phase.

The jury could return one of two verdicts. Death or life in jail without parole. The jury returned a verdict in favor of life in jail without parole.

An injustice. A flagrant one.

Place everything in perspective. You are a parent sitting throughout the trial and waiting for the verdict. Nothing less than death will satisfy you. Your child is dead. God will permit vengeance in this situation. One mother’s daughter was shot 8 times.

I write about the Parkland result as an example of how the judicial/legal system is totally screwed up.

When I was a young lawyer, a criminal case concerned the rights solely of the defendant, the person charged. Then social groups started chanting victim’s rights. Developed over the years. Now an integral part of a criminal case.

Makes me laugh. Many Judges, especially Supreme Court Justices, view their decision making involving how the law was when the Constitution was written in the late 1700’s. No victim’s rights back then. Not even a whisper.

I blame not the judges so much. Their responsibility is to apply the law. Law is made legislatively. In state legislatures and Congress. Republicans are not so stupid when they recognize how important it is to control local elections, including state legislatures.

The pendulum has swung. Far in one direction. At some point, it will begin to swing back. Soon, I suspect. People cannot take too many decisions like this Parkland one and Dobbs which reversed Roe. It took 40-50 years for the pendulum to swing to the point it has. It may take as long to swing back.

Half way would help. Still looking at roughly 25 years.

In the meantime, there is no hope for the Parkland parents. No justice.

With one exception. Cruz may not live long enough to die a natural death. Prisoners have a way of meting out their own justice to persons who commit crimes on the outside. Especially those involving children.

Spent yesterday afternoon watching the January 6 Committee proceeding. Not as good as the previous ones. A lot of bones. Insufficient meat.

Voting the subpoena for Trump to be produced meaningless. The Committee ends December 31. Assuming Republican control of the House thereafter, the subpoena is not worth the paper it is printed on.

What did impress me was the leadership Pelosi and Schumer showed which was captured on video. They were in a room with other legislators. The insurrectionists were elsewhere all over the capitol. Looking  for Pelosi and Pence. Perhaps to kill them. Looking for other legislators perhaps to kill them, also.

Pelosi and Schumer acted like leaders. Doing Trump’s job. On the phone looking for national guard assistance from governors of nearby states.

My fear/concern for the additional information which was revealed re the Secret Service and FBI extremely bothersome. An investigation of both bodies is called for regarding the information developed.

Must be I was not the only one to mention Mika’s problem yesterday. The camera several times swept by where the cluttered table was yesterday. No table, no clutter. Merely an empty chair.

Syracuse/North Carolina State tomorrow at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse at 3:30. The game will be carried on the ACC Network.

Enjoy your day!

So many important things happening today. So many important news items being announced. Which is more important? Frankly, all of them!

The January 6 Committee appears publicly. Perhaps its last appearance. Leaks suggest many items concerning Trump. Whatever the information, whoever about, it has been promised the Committee will reveal “pretty surprising” new information. Re Trump, the suggestion is the information will be he presents a “clear and present danger.”

Inflation news brought no surprises. Prices have been going up all year, especially regarding food.

The September to September report indicates an 8.2 percent rise in inflation. Groceries and fuel the highest items.

Social Security recipients will receive a benefit, however. COLA will increase monthly checks beginning in January by 8.7 percent. The largest increase in decades.

Alex Jones will spend the rest of his life wishing he had kept his mouth shut. The defamation jury brought back a total award just less than $1 billion. The parents of the dead children may never see a penny. However they will receive some satisfaction in knowing the judgment will harass Jones till the day he dies.

Anti-Saudi feeling is growing. The U.S. “friend” stabbed the U.S. in the back. At the same time humiliating President Biden.

Saudi Arabia must pay. Pay immediately. All U.S. troops should be recalled. All military equipment also.

Two U.S. important missile sites are located in Saudi Arabia. Washington sources recommend they be pulled immediately and sent to Ukraine or some NATO nation.

Does Mika have an enemy working in the Morning Joe studio? A camera person?

Once yesterday and twice today the camera showed a low table sitting next to Mika. The table looked like a junk heap. Several items. Like a large purse, maybe a sweater and other items.

No reason for the camera to have swung so low. A low blow to Mika if someone intended to embarrass her.

Gas prices are supposed to go up. Such has not yet occurred in Key West.

Two weeks ago, one gallon of gas cost $4.47. One week ago, $3.99. Yesterday, $3.87.

You explain.

Enjoyed a late lunch yesterday at Harpoon Harry’s. Devoured the wednesday turkey special. Thanksgiving dinner, trimmings and all.

Dined with Roger Keast. Rather at his table. The table where his wife Cheryl affixed his ashes to the bottom side of the table top.

On the way out, my cell phone rang. It was Jean Thornton. She had returned to Key West the night before.

We are both stone crab freaks. We are meeting at 6 sunday at the Chart Room. To be followed by stone crabs somewhere.

Syracuse plays North Carolina State saturday. Big game! Syracuse ranked #18 with a 5-0 record. North Carolina State #15 with a 5-1 record.

Syracuse a 4.5 point favorite.

The game at Syracuse. Already 45,000 tickets sold.

I look forward to this afternoon. I hope the January 6 Committee session will be as interesting as I expect.

Enjoy your day!

Hemingway’s key to brilliant writing: “I wake in the morning and my mind starts making sentences, and I have to get rid of them fast – talk them or write them down.”

Captain Frank was one of Key West’s most beloved persons. Everyone’s friend. Especially Jean Thornton’s with whom he frequently dined.

Steve Thompson wrote of Captain Frank.

Captain Frank worked the waterfront for over 40 years. When he passed there were many tears.

He had the best of jobs, he was a captain of choice.

I never once heard him raise his voice.

When he got here, that area was rough. You had to be smart as well as tough. There were only shrimp boats at Key West Bight. Now there’s not a shrimp boat in sight.

Frank was there for all those changes in town. It’s sure not the same without him around.

Spent yesterday in my sweltering home. Air conditioning broke. Fans going. Not enough, however. Sat waiting for repair men. Then several hours more while 3 men repaired the system. Apparently several things wrong.

I was impressed how swiftly they worked. Ran up and down the stairs. Told me how busy they have been because of Ian. Plus people like me whose system broke down for reasons not Ian related.

You can’t appreciate air conditioning till you are forced to go without. No matter how short the time.

Another star in the heavens. Angela Lansbury died yesterday. She was 96.

Lansbury was a beloved leading lady. Her extraordinary career extended over seven decades. In movies and on stage.

She last performed at age 90.

May she rest in peace.

Bess Levin continues to call them as she sees ’em. Her latest Donald Trump’s bigotry. The title of her recent article: Donald Trump An Even More Horrible Bigot Than Previously Thought. As reflected in the article’s opening sentence: “From mistaking non-white Congressional aides for waiters to phoning around to find out if he’s shaken hands with a gay person, it turns out that the ex-President is literally a bottomless pit of hate.”

President Biden warns ‘consequences” for Saudi Arabia’s oil production cut. He would not reveal them, however.

My President, don’t pussy foot around. Strike back before gas prices have a chance to move rapidly upward.

Strike hard!

I agree with many others that the U.S. should pull its military out of Saudi Arabia. The military stationed there for years to protect the Saudis from a hostile invasion. Stop selling the Saudis military equipment, also. Let them rely on Putin and Russia to defend them and for everything military.

See how quickly Saudi Arabia and Opec+ changes its position.

Enjoy your day!

Fascism is on the rise in the U.S. and other countries. Accompanied by the anti-Semitism which is an integral part of it.

I received a comment this morning to a comment by me re fascism in yesterday’s blog. The comment received: “What happened to Never Again?”

Well asked, Leonard.

Democrat Tim Ryan and Republican J.D. Vance vying in the Ohio Senatorial race. Debated for the first time last night.

Ryan pulled no punches. Called them as he saw them. Reminded Vance how Trump called him an “ass-kisser” at an earlier Republican rally. More importantly, how Vance took the insult.

Joe Scarborough reminded his listeners this morning how Vance in 2016 publicly said, “Christians can’t vote for Donald Trump.”

Ryan slightly behind. Ohio heavily Republican. Has supported Trump in the last two Presidential elections. It appears the better and more honest Senator would be Ryan. Hope he wins.

On this day in 1991, Anita Hill testified before the Senate Judiciary  Committee where she accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. The next day, Thomas responded to the Committee that the proceeding was a “high-tech lynching.”

I watched on TV. The whole nation did.

I found Hill believable. Thomas not. His “high-tech lynching” statement delivered in high emotion.

As a Justice, I have found Thomas lacking. His whole judicial career. One of the worst Supreme Court Justices ever.

His first 25 years on the bench, I doubt he asked one question. Strange because that is what Supreme Court Justices do. I attributed his silence and still do to his lack of intelligence and fear it would reveal itself.

Joe Biden was Chairman of the Judiciary Committee at the time. I have always been a fan. Not during the Thomas proceeding, however. Biden was chauvinist. Treated Hill in a condescending fashion. He disappointed me by not giving Hill the respect she was entitled to as a voluntary witness in an important proceeding.

The most recent Putin missile salvo is the “first episode” of Russian revenge for the Crimea Bridge bombing. So sayeth Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky will retaliate. As he should. Ukraine should bomb whatever building houses Putin’s offices. His West Wing, so to speak. I am not sure which Moscow building it is. The Kremlin? The Kremlin is a series of historical Russian buildings. I would suspect that is where. However, not sure.

Wherever, do it.

The Russian people are aware  Putin set the “war” scenario in operation. He will bear the blame for bringing the “war” to the streets of Moscow.

Perhaps the Russian people will rise in revolt.

I was in the mood for two things last night. Sally O’Brien’s and liver and onions.

Sally O’Brien’s was desolate. Ian had flooded the restaurant. Only about one third of the usual crowd there. Painting, etc. has to be redone. The sense of the flooding remained, though no water visible.

The liver and onions were not affected. My mother would be proud that I remember her cooking the dish and still enjoy it so many years later.

I returned home to a huge dripping sound. In the middle of the living room. A one foot in diameter ceiling leak. Too late for Ian. I assume it is the air conditioner.

No  significant damage. Placed a huge pan underneath and turned off the air conditioner. Hopefully repair man will come today. Still mid 80’s in Key West. I am writing at the moment with the ceiling fan going full blast.

Enjoy your day!

Stone crab season upon us! Begins next saturday, October 15. Whoopie!

I consider stone crabs the finest of foods. Always have. From the first time I enjoyed them in 1962. At Joe’s Stone Crabs in Miami. Stone crabs, hash browns and cream spinach!

Only fished in one place. The Florida Keys. Our specialty.

The season runs through May 1, 2023.

Enjoy them! Expensive, but worth it!

The older I get, the more I realize there is so much I do not know. Today, I learned that George Custer is buried at West Point.

Custer was killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn in Montana. I always assumed he was buried there. Not so. One year after his death, his body was returned to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Many great historical figures were never at the top of their class while in school. Custer one. He graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class.

On this day in 2004, actor Cristopher Reeve died at the age of 52. Best known for his starring role in four Superman films. I considered his performance in the 1980 movie Somewhere in Time one of his best also.

Reeve was an avid horseman. On May 27, 1995 he was thrown from a horse. The accident resulted in his being paralyzed from the neck down.

I met Reeve at a charity fundraiser in Utica several years later. Spent a short bit of time with him. All I could think and feel as I walked away from him was how sad.

Romani people are not to be confused with Romanians or Romans. They are Gypsies.

Hitler was anti-Gypsy as he was anti-Jew. He did not kill as many Gypsies only because there were significantly fewer in number than Jews. However kill them he did.

A large number of Gypsies were confined to Auschwitz. On October 10, 1944, 800 gypsy children were gassed to death at Auschwitz. No particular reason. Just lets get rid of 800 today.

It bothers me that there are those today who have become fascists in thought, some in action. Hitler lovers. How can they so be when Hitler and his followers killed so many innocents. Difficult for me to understand. I worry about the rise of anti-Semitism in the U.S.

Steve Thomson wrote of the Southernmost Point.

The Southernmost Point statue is not actually the furthest south in Key West. The City decided for logistical reasons that spot would be the best. 

There used to be a metal sign with all the information here. During Spring Break it began started disappearing every year. So the City put in a giant sewer fixture and filled it with cement. I think the thieves understood the message sent.

They painted it bright red with all the info. Now they line up for a block to get their photo. It looks like a buoy and everyone loves it. You have to take pictures, everyone does it.

Every time you see Key West on TV, they show the Southernmost Point and that beautiful sea.

Enjoy your day!