There is some confusion. Experts are not certain whether Jeff Bezos is the second or third richest man in the world. What a problem! In 2018, he was thought to be the “richest man in modern history.”

Since that time, one or two billionaires have apparently edged ahead. Makes no difference, however. Bezos’ net worth this past week has been estimated at $176 billion.

That kind of money can buy anything. And it has and does.

Bezos’ most recent expenditure involves an historic bridge in Rotterdam. The bridge is known as the De Hef. It only has a 130 foot clearance. Tall enough for any boats to pass under since before World War II.

Not high enough however for the new yacht Bezos is having constructed in the Netherlands. The yacht is 417 feet long and 3 masted.

The yacht’s cost $450 million.

No problem. Bezos is paying Rotterdam to dismantle a portion of the bridge and then replace it after his yacht moves through.

The dismantling will take 2 weeks.

The City of Rotterdam is happy to provide the unusual service to Bezos. Rotterdam is experiencing employment problems. Rotterdam authorities say what Bezos will be paying is a “revenue generator.”

Staying with money for a moment, the U.S. national debt hit $30 trillion this week for the first time in history.

What is money for? Bezos can spend millions and billions for whatever he wants. The U.S. has been on a wild spending spree for years.

Whether Bezos or the U.S., it does not seem to make a difference. Bezs spends his own money. The U.S. our money flowing to the government in the form of taxes.

Neither seems bothered by the spending. A difference between the two, however. Bezos spends his own money. The U.S. not. The government spends our money.

I have observed over my lifetime that those who have not earned through sweat and toil what they spend, have little disregard for it. They give little to no thought concerning wasteful spending.

Key West’s winter has come and gone. In all of 3-4 days. Hopefully it will not return this season. It can. We shall see.

This “winter” was one of the chillier. Hit 50 degrees 2 nights. Never made it to 70 two different days.

I can recall a couple of “winters” when the temperature in the evenings dropped to highs in the 40’s.

The weather is projected to be 75-80 degrees the next several days.

We’ll happily put up with it!

Tom Brady has formally announced his retirement. Good for him!

Forty four years old, he has played 22 seasons of professional football. Unquestionably the greatest quarterback of all time. Some believe the greatest football player ever.

His record outstanding. Seven Super Bowl wins, 5 Super Bowl MVPs, 3 times NFL MVP. He also threw 624 touchdown passes, the most  in NFL history.

It was exciting to see him throw. Especially in the last minute of a game when his team needed a touchdown or position for a 3 pointer. He was successful most times.

Everyone felt good watching him play. Except for the opposing team.

Interestingly, he was not expected to star when he entered the draft. He was drafted 199th. In the 6th round.

Enjoy the rest of your life Tom Brady. You’ve earned it!

Professional football coach Brian Flores opened the door to what may be a big time “scandal” in professional football. He has commenced a lawsuit against the NFL and others.

One issue involves colored coaches not being treated well. Very badly. Another, and one which if true will change how pro football is operated, involves being offered $100,000 to have his team lose. The intent of the bribe to have the team end up with a bad season and  move up in the selection process in the next draft.

My sense the “expose” will rival two other bigs ones. The 1919 Black Sox Scandal and the 1950 City College of New York point shaving scandal.

February is Heart Month. Very important. Especially as one gets older. Your heart is a constant source of problems. Watching it closely definitely prevents an early demise.

I have had several heart problems over the years. Three of consequence that are always with me.

I watch heart related problems closely. Take a multitude of pills, visit my heart doctor regularly. Every time I have heart pains which are extreme or new, I am in the doctor’s office or hospital to be examined immediately.

As with my cane, my heart doctor is another of my best friends.

Enjoy your day!

February 2…..Groundhog Day!

The nation’s attention will be zeroed in on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. The home of the first Groundhog day on February 2, 1887.

Will the groundhog see his shadow If so, winter will continue. The groundhog will return to his burrow for another six weeks. If not, Spring will have arrived. He returns to his normal lifestyle.

Such is the story/fable as it has come down over the years. Not correct, however.

The real story.

The groundhog in all instances referred to is a male. He goes into hibernation (like a bear) in late Fall. In February, he emerges. Not to check on the weather. He is looking for a mate. He seeks sex. He is in need after having slept for several months and not experiencing any.

The tale has developed from truth to fable. So what? Provides everyone with a joyous festive day.

Key West icon Coffee Butler has died at the age of 93.

Coffee became a legend in his time.

He began playing at Blue Heaven in the early 1900’s when it first opened. He had a steady gig at Blue Heaven for nearly 30 years.

An additional highlight of his career has been his participation in the Sunday Jazz Jam at the Green Parrot.

Loved by all, may he rest in peace.

On this day in 1972, John Spottswood, father of today’s Spottswoods, sold Munson Island for $150,000 to Country Johnston of Valdosta, Georgia.

Munson Island was the island where PT-109 was filmed. Today it has been renamed and is the home of Little Palm Island.

Nazis in the news in recent days.

On saturday and sunday, neo-Nazis 15-20 strong demonstrated on a roadway in Orlando. They marched along the two days. They were donned in tan shirts and pants. Their “uniforms” covered in Nazi symbols. The chanted anti-Semitic slurs. Gave trhe Nazi salute. Yelled “white power.” Waved an anti-Biden banner.

The conduct obviously to be condemned. Especially by Florida’s Governor DeSantis. He neither actually addressed the situation till yesterday nor has he yet to outright condemn it. His comments yesterday can be described as “milk toast.”

DeSantis was unhappy. He said people were trying to “smear” him as if “he had something to do with that (the demonstration.)”

I continue to find it hard to understand anything DeSantis does. The man wants to be the Republican candidate in 2024. He is a Trump clone. He forgets one thing here, however. Florida has a heavy Jewish population. Many Jews from New York and other parts of he U.S. retire to Florida. They vote! DeSantis cannot have made them happy with the avoidance.

Which brings me to another “Jewish situation.”

Whoopi Goldberg has hosted The View for many many years. A woman of color, highly intelligent, outspoken, calls them as she sees ’em.

She was suspended by ABC for 2 weeks to reflect on the Holocaust remarks made on monday’s show.

Whoopi repeatedly insisted the Holocaust was not “about race.” She refused to back down even after her several co-hosts pointed out the goal of Hitler’s “Final Solution” involved “race.” Whoopi’s position was the Holocaust involved “two white groups of people.” Her position was “it’s about man’s inhumanity to man.”

Whoppi said she understood race. She was a person of color. Suggesting race has to do with color and the Holocaust had to do with religion, no matter how it may have been mislabeled from day one.

Her remarks were immediately condemned by the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish groups. They “blasted” her for her “dangerous” distortion of Holocaust history.

From my perspective, her explanation was, if anything, a play on words. Comparable if anything to a book banned in a school library because the word “fuck” was in it.

I am concerned about anti-Semitism not only in the U.S.,but also across the world in recent times. The resurgence in anti-Semitism is obvious and scary. However, Whoopi should not have been taken down for at best was a “slight,” if anything.

DeSantis’ reaction is an example of what deserves attack/retaliation. His fault grievous.

The two week suspension an insult and joke. Jews should attack anti-Jews.

Enjoy your day!

Since publishing yesterday’s blog which contained observations re the Canadian truckers Freedom Convoy, more information has become available. Today’s blog shares the additional information with you.

The trucker information includes public urination and defecation, use of the War Memorial for urination, dancing on the War Memorial, harassment of local businesses and journalists, demonstration expanded to include any and all other grievances the truckers had with Ottawa, constant truck horn bowing, blocking downtown streets, and flying Canadian flags upside down.

A large nearby mall was overcome with truckers. They wanted food and toilet facilities, among other things. The mall shut down. All Ontario liquor stores were ordered shut.

The protesters claimed they were 50,000 strong. Fifty thousand trucks. Police disputed the figure, conceding however there were many. Police provided a figure as to the number of people involved. The police estimated 5,000  14,000.

My thought yesterday was that the truck demonstration was financed, as were many demonstrations in the U.S., by wealthy right wingers. A further assumption was the truck demonstration was well organized.

The two assumptions appear not to have been correct.

Demonstrators on the spot in Ottawa advised $9 million had been raised over GoFundMe.

There was no organization as to food, housing, or washrooms. Many public facilities were closed. The lack of toilets were the cause of the urination and defecation everywhere.

By law in Ottawa, masks are required when in a restaurant. Though the demonstration was specifically anti-vaccination, masks were not worn. The demonstrators needed to eat. They tried the restaurants, but were turned away.

Matters were becoming sensitive between the demonstrators and restaurants. The restaurants opted to close at some point saturday and remained closed all day sunday.

A soup kitchen was discovered. The demonstrators attacked and demanded food. Food was provided in order to diffuse a physical conflict.

The preceding supports my conclusion today that financing and organization were not a part of the planning for the demonstration.

Ottawa’s Freedom Convoy is intended to become international. A truck convoy demonstration occurred  sunday in Australia: Convoy to Canberra. No details available other than it occurred.

Similar events reportedly are planned for Dublin and London. If so, the big bucks people and professional organizers should be bought into the fold. It is unclear how much grass roots support the demonstrators actually have.

Canadian authority responses to protests in the past have been quick and violent. Not in this Ottawa instance, however. I could not determine the reason why.

Ottawa police advise the truck demonstrations cost $800,000 per day to handle.

The supplement is concluded.

Tonight, Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. My blog talk radio show. One half hour of fast moving dialogue.

Join me at 9 my time. Guaranteed you will enjoy. www.blogtalk radio.com/key-west-lou.

Enjoy your day!

Iguanas are not Key West favorites. I have never met a person who liked them.

I recall when they first began appearing some 20 years ago. First saw them on the golf course. Sitting in trees. A foot long at best. Small dinosaurs in effect.

Then they grew and multiplied. Some now as long as 5 feet. All over the island.

Why are they disliked? They are destroyers. Eat flowers and other plants on one’s property. Flowers are especially expensive to plant and grow in the lower Keys.

Eating gardens iguana’s number one past time. Number two is defecating in one’s pool. Cleaning and replacing the water an expensive proposition.

Why are they now falling from trees? The extreme cold the past few days is not healthy for iguanas. The cold causes them to lose their grip as they hold onto tree branches. Sometimes striking a human on the way down.

They do not die, however. Sad. The cold does not cause them to die or freeze. The iguanas go into a state of hibernation to return and aggravate the populace another day.

A good friend and excellent physician died. My heart doctor. Cardiologist Michael McIvor. Yesterday morning at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami. He was 67.

Dr. McIvor operated The Keys Heart Center in Key West.

The good doctor retired 6 months ago.

A very sad loss.

Trump and those Republicans who support him are experiencing leaks in the dike. A few fingers help to keep the dike from caving in. However, in due course it will happen.

Trump spoke at a rally in Texas saturday. The newspapers reported “tens of thousands” attended. A very warm Trump crowd.

Trump’s mouth got in his way once again. He hinted should he run in 2024 and be reelected, he would pardon all January 6 persons convicted. He constantly talked about running and winning in 2024. Connected to he did not lose the election. It was stolen.

Trump also stood tall in opposition to certain criminal investigations against him which are ongoing. He warned were he to be charged/arrested, the streets in Atlanta, New York and Washington would overflow with demonstrators. supporting him. His suggestion without saying, another January 6.

A handful of Trump stalwarts came out with comments/statements following Trump’s talk in opposition to his statements. Senators Lindsay Graham and Sue Collins.

Their turn about does not surprise me. They both have tendencies to come out against something and soon thereafter sing a different tune.

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu also came out in opposition.

Two observations I would like to share.

There were few if any major political figures at the rally. Another indication there are leaks in the dike.

Most in attendance were everyday Americans. They came from all over the U.S. to hear and support “their President.” Some came several days early. Partied. Their mood has been described as “festive.”

I read a few weeks ago and reported it in my blog and on my blog talk radio show at the time. The report was to the effect that 80 percent of the people demonstrating on January 6 in Washington were not part of any organized group. They were ordinary everyday Americans who came to Washington to stand with Trump because he asked them to come.

Those are the type people I believe were at the Texas rally saturday.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene attacked Lindsay after he came out with comments adverse to Trump. Especially where Lindsay called Trump’s ideas “inappropriate.”

One Republican chastising another. Two Republicans who hereinbefore had been on the same side. Another example of the leaks in the dike.

Maine’s Republican Senator Sue Collins came out with a blast against Biden. She accused Biden of being “clumsy”in the way he has handled the nominees for the Supreme Court. She said, “He has politicized the Supreme Court.”

What a joke!

Who has politicized the Supreme Court in the past few years more than Mitch McConnell and his Republican cronies? Collins is part of that team.

Her statement typical of Republican comments about most things in recent years. They talk out of both sides of their mouths. They lie/misspeak about most things.

Canada has had a very troublesome weekend. Specifically in the Ottawa area. Chaos, swastika flags, a woman dancing on the tomb of the unknown soldier, desecration of monuments, threatening of police and city workers, and surrounding of the Parliament building.

Defense Minister Anavul said the incidents were “beyond reprehensible.”

The purpose of the truck Freedom Convoy was to protest vaccine mandates.

Difficult to understand. Prime Minister Trudeau said those causing the trouble were a “small fringe minority.”

His statement supported by the fact that 90 percent of Canada’s truckers have been vaccinated. As have 90 percent of Canada’s adult population.

I sense here the same thing I wrote about yesterday. Affluent wealthy whites are financing with very big dollars these demonstrations. They want to control and run the government. Having made huge amounts of money not enough. Now, they want power. It’s a game of personal satisfaction.

A demonstration of the number of trucks and persons involved requires organization. The trucks came from everywhere. Who paid for the gas, food, motel expenses, etc.

And so it goes.

Enjoy your day!

Book banning is in vogue again.

The crazies are bullying school boards re certain books in school libraries.

Let’s begin with the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ruled on the issue in 1982 in Island Trees School District v. Pico. The Court ruled school officials cannot ban books in libraries simply because of their content. The decision held the First Amendment limits the power of junior and senior high school officials to remove books from school libraries because of their content.

A New York school board received a complaint from a community group. The complaint asserted school policies re library books were too “permissive.” Nine books were involved, including Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five and Langston Hughes’ Best Short Stories by Negro Writers.

The complaint asserted the 9 books were “anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic and just plain filthy.”

In response, the school board removed the books in February 1976.

Five students, including Steven Pico, challenged the school board’s decision. The students claimed the books were removed because “passages in the books offended [the group’s] social, political, and moral tastes and not because the books, taken as a whole, were lacking in educational value.”

The Court ruled in favor of the students’ First Amendment thoughts, “holding the right to read is implied in the First Amendment.” The government in this case a public school – cannot restrict speech because it does not agree with the content of the speech.” The Court called libraries places for “voluntary inquiry” and concluded the schoolboard’s “absolute discretion” over the classroom did not extend to the library for that reason.

The decision clearly indicated that neither screaming parents at a school board meeting nor the school board itself had legal authority to question what books are in a school library.

The decision leaves today’s “interested parents” with only one recourse. Threaten school board members with violence. They are.

The result is that in many instances school board members are resigning in fear for themselves and their families. Their attitude understandably that the position is just not worth it.

The situation is similar to a local occurrence that just happened regarding the post of Supervisor of Elections for Monroe County. Key West lies within Monroe County.

The Supervisor is Joyce Griffin. She has been employed in the Elections Office for nearly 40 years. Her present post an elected one.

Griffin announced friday she is not running for reelection. The election is not till 2024. However she wants to give more than adequate notice so all will be aware.

Her reasons for not running again two fold. First, the State legislature. Recent decisions are making it difficult for election supervisors in Florida to do their jobs and permit voters to vote. Secondly, “I get death threats. We are fighting a battle without a leader.”

A personal observation. Abusive parents at school board hearings are funded by certain wealthy far right Republicans. Similar to January 6.

The school board bullies are too well organized across the country.

One such group is Moms For Liberty. Obviously funded. The group first organized in Florida in 2021. By two former school board members. Today less than a year later, the organization has 165 chapters in 53 states.

Moms’ pet projects “include beside book challenges, anti-critical race theory and anti-emotional learning in public schools, anti-mask mandates, and other legislation relating to education and COVID related policies.”

Those concerned with the sudden surge in the number of challenges to school boards, bookstores and libraries launched Banned Books Week in 1982. An annual event. Generally held in September.

Banned Books Week spotlights current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools.

The philosophical thrust of the Week is to make people aware the freedom to read is real. They spell out reading brings people together, whereas censorship draws people apart.

Book banning has been around as a practice for centuries. Book banning includes book burning. Derived from different political viewpoints to religious and cultural expression, the explanation for censorship attempts are vast.

Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen wrote an Opinion piece in the New York Times yesterday titled: “My Mind Was Distorted By A Book. It Changed My Life.”

Nguyen wrote, “Book banning is meant to stop people from thinking, which makes them easier to govern, to control and ultimately to lead into war.”

He also wrote, “And once a society acquiesces to banning books, it tends to soon see the need to burn people who love the books.”

Books banned on one or more occasions in the U.S from its earliest days to present times include Moll Flanders, Fanny Hill, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Elmer Gantry, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Tropic of Cancer, and The Grapes of Wrath.

Additionally Forever Amber, Memoirs of Hecile City, The Pentagon Papers, 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, Animal Farm, The Bible, The Hebrew Bible, The Protestant Bible, Watch Tower Society Publications, and To Kill A Mockingbird.

Authors banned world wide include Judy Blume, Maya Angelou, D.H. Lawrence, J.K. Rowling, Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison, Marquis de Sade, Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Harper Lee, F. Scott Fitzgerald, J.D. Salinger, and James Joyce.

Also George Orwell, Joseph Heller, Aldous Huxley, William Faulkner, Margaret Mitchell, Jack London, Upton Sinclair, Truman Capote, William Styron, Evelyn Waugh, Norman Mailer, Theodore Dreiser, and John Updike.

Two noteworthy authors in the preceding list are Judy Blume and Ernest Hemingway. Both residents of Key West. Hemingway in the 1930s, Blume in more recent years.

Being a part of Key West, each warrants a few extra words.

Blume one the most banned writers in modern history. Amazing. Early on, she wrote primarily for young female adults and adolescents from the fourth to seventh grades. Topics focused on masturbation, menstruation, teen sex, birth control, and death.

Giselle Anatol specializes in child and young adult literature. Anatole wrote, ” When I grew up, she was everything to the young. She spoke to a lot of feelings and anxieties that young people were having at various stages.”

Our three daughters were born within 4 years. I recall walking around the house and seeing Judy Blume books lying around. I leafed through a couple. Thought my daughters should not be reading this stuff. I asked my wife about it. She said, “Mind your own business.”

Some of Blume’s works are titled Are You There, God? It’s me, Margaret, Deenie, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Blubber, and Tige Eyes. Blume’s books have been translated into 35 languages and have sold 82 million copies.

Judy resides in Key West with her husband George Cooper. They operate a popular non-profit book store called Books & Books in  Key West.

Ernest Hemingway seems to never be forgotten. His time in Key West every one wants to know about. His time here remains popular some 80 years after he left.

The world knows of Ernest Hemingway.

Yet three of his novels were banned at various times in certain countries: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom The Bells Toll.

Even the U.S. government frowned upon him in 1973. One of his books was declared non-mailable.

Enjoy your Sunday!

The northeast is buried in snow as I write. An arctic front of unusual proportions the cause.

The arctic front is also affecting the southern U.S., though not with snow. Colder than normal temperatures, strong winds and rain.

Unusual weather for Key West.

The home on occasion to hurricanes is at the moment under a gale warning. Began at 7 this morning and is supposed to lift by 1.

Should the gale materialize, it will not be that bad for us hurricane weathered veterans. Winds will be 34-47 knots.

At the moment, winds are 25-30 knots. Frequent gusts at 35 knots.

I looked out the window. Then walked onto the front porch. Finished my excursion in the back yard.

The palm trees are bending. Reflects the severity of the wind at the moment. Thin trunked trees swaying more than full trunked ones. The thins ones moving 1-2 feet back and forth. The thicker ones 1-2 inches.

The high today projected at 63. Tonight’s low 51. The type of night I wish I had a woman sleeping next to me.

What is happening not a big deal. Though different. Gives Key Westers something to talk about.

An interesting police raid thursday afternoon. The Sheriff Department’s swat team raided a Key West home. Swat team raids in Key West not that frequent.

Raided was the home of local resident Justin August Meyer, 31. His home in the sleepy 2700 block of Staples Avenue.

The swat team had a search warrant. Inside the home, they found guns not all allowed, cocaine, and cash from drug sales.

Meyer was arrested. He is part of a motorcycle gang, and a member of Pagan’s Motorcycle Club.

A woman and 2 children were home at the time of the raid.

Because of COVID, I very rarely go out. I am back into quarantine. The only time I have left the house in 3 weeks is for a doctor visit. I had a doctor visit yesterday.

I cannot recall the last time I purchased gas. Well before the past 3 weeks. I was close to empty yesterday. Stopped for gas.

Wow! How do most people pay for gas and feed their families?

I drive a Volkswagen Beatle. Small gas tank. Twelve gallon capacity or close t it. A little over 11 gallons cost me just over $50.

Biden must resolve the problem. The cost of gas will do more to harm him than most other things.

The way things work out. Strange happenings.

Biden was scheduled to speak in Pennsylvania yesterday afternoon. His topic infrastructure.

A Pittsburg bridge collapsed early yesterday morning. The bridge ran over Fern Hollow Creek. Several vehicles and a Port Authority bus went down.

Since it was 6:39 am, traffic was light. A little later would have been peak time and heavier traffic. The bridge has an average daily usage of 14,500.

People standing by participated in the rescue of 3 persons from the bus. They made a human chain 150 feet long to reach those in the bus.

Biden visited the scene. Spoke to those there: “The idea that we have been so far behind in infrastructure for so many years, it’s mind boggling.” As for the rest of the nation’s aging bridges, he pledged: “We’re gonna fix them all.”

It is 10:50 am. The wind has calmed down. Is it the calm before a storm? There is such a thing. I have experienced it many times with hurricanes in Key West.

Enjoy your day!

Wienerpalooza is an example why many opt to live in Key West.

Today the day! A wiener wonderland. The annual Dachshund Parade.

Begins at 11:45 at the Custom House. Finishes at 135 Duval for the “after parade party.”

The weather will not be cooperative. Winter cold descends upon Key West tomorrow. The high 63 and low 50. Trust me, the weather will not discourage participants from the parade and party. Rarely is anything permitted to interfere with fun in Key West.

The weather sunday will not be much better: 58 high, 56 low

A slight improvement monday: high 69, low 66.

Yesterday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The admonition following 1945 and to this day: May it never happen again!

However, it has. There have been more than 40 genocides worldwide since the end of World War II.

I find it difficult to understand why Biden’s popularity is at such a low ebb. He has accomplished much. He has failed in certain areas also. However overall his record is on the favorable side.

His most recent accomplishment involves the GDP. It was announced yesterday the U.S. economy had expanded. The GDP grew 5.7 percent over the past year.

Its highest growth since 1984.

GoFundMe has sitting in its bank account $6 million raised for the Canadian Truckers Freedom Convoy. A well planned event. Truckers from all parts of Canada are joining together to protest vaccine mandates.

GoFundMe says it is merely checking things out before passing on the funds.

The actual dollars raised $6,033,210. Received from 77.6 thousand donors.

Enjoy your day!

The news that Justice Stephen Breyer will be retiring has brought to mind something that has been bothering me for years with regard to the Supreme Court selection process. Too many are selected who are judges sitting on a lower court.

The selection process has gone amiss in the last 20 years or so. Time for the tide to turn.

Placing the message in perspective, 8 of the 9 Justices presently sitting have been judges on a lesser court before rising to the Supreme Court. The one exception is Elena Kagan.

The selection process has tended to experienced jurists for 2 reasons.

First, Senate members having the responsibility of approving a President’s nomination wanted to know without question a selectee’s prior thinking on certain issues. What better way than to have their opinions from the lower court available for review.

I have always though the thinking of the Senate was off base in this regard. Lower court judges are required to follow precedent. What the Supreme Court said in an earlier case. Not much thinking involved there. Especially since once such a judge is elevated to the Supreme Court, he/she can change precedent.

The other is that out of the blue the Senate decided it was important to have Justices trained for the job. Not a brilliant decision in itself.

Twenty years on a lower court may have taught a new Supreme Court Justice how to write a decision. It has not taught such a judge to recall everyday experiences from the past. Their hearts and the understanding of people’s problems long buried in the everyday grind of legal thought.

Though learned in the law, lower court judges have been away from the everyday problems people face. Whatever experiences they may have had personally or have seen clients experience, is long forgotten. Replaced by technicalities in wording.

The Supreme Court was founded in 1790. Since then 120 persons have sat as Justices. Since 1900, 41 have been without prior judicial experience. The 41 included many who left enviable records as superior Justices. The 41 include William Rehnquist, Lewis Powell Jr., Abe Fortas, Byron White, Arthur Goldberg, Earl Warren, Tom Clark, Harold Burton, James Frances Byrnes, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, Harold Fiske Stone, Louis Brandeis, and Charles Evans Hughes. Time will tell if Elena Kagan makes her mark

Names from a more distant history include John Marshall and John Jay.

Many were politicians or political servants.

Some were exceptional influences on the Court. Without Earl Warren, there would have been no Brown v. Board of Education. Felix Frankfurter and Louis Brandeis were legal geniuses without compare. William Howard Taft a former President of the United States.

Rather than great legal minds, what is needed is someone who grew up relatively poor, was buried in student loans, had trouble putting food on the table, making mortgage payments, etc.

Experience/tragedy/hard times are great teachers. However only while fresh in the minds of the nominees and/or not buried behind the clutter of too many cases heard and too many decisions rendered in the lower court.

Stacy Abrams is an example of that which I write. Though in referring to her, I am not recommending that Biden appoint her. The appointment his headache, not mine.

In April 2018, Abrams wrote an op-ed for Fortune Magazine. She revealed she owed $54,000 in federal back taxes and $174,000 in credit card and student loan debt.

Abrams was repaying the IRS incrementally on a payment plan after deferring her 2015 and 2016 taxes, which she stated was necessary to help with her family’s medical bills.

In 2019, she completed payment of her back taxes to the IRS in addition to other outstanding credit card and student loan debt.

Again, I am not saying or recommending Abrams for Breyer’s seat. What I am recommending is that serious consideration be given to one who has experienced hardship before rising to a position to be considered for the high position of Supreme Court Justice.

Enjoy your day!

Anocracy. A word you will hear more of as time goes on. It will replace authoritarianism.

Authoritarianism is exemplified by Hitler rolling tanks into Poland, the Russians into Hungary, and what Putin is attempting today with the Ukraine.

Anocracy are groups developing within a society with differing opinions  as to how and what the government should be. The U.S. previously has experienced anocracism. The Civil War which began in 1861. The South pro slavery, the North not so.

Barbara R. Walter is a respected political scientist who is concerned with the the U.S.’ rapid drift into anocracy. She wrote an interesting Opinion piece in the Washington Post 1/24 on the subject.

Walter began with recognizing today’s United States is divided into two groups.

One being what I see as revolutionaries who seek in their mind a better way. The QAnons being one. They believe U.S. must change government wise. The present structure rotting at its base.

Trump did not help. During the 2016 campaign, he mouthed words the anti’s wanted to hear. The government is falling apart, we must do something about it, etc.

On the other side are groups such as Black Lives Matter. They do not want a new government. They want to make changes in the government’s present form to improve life for persons of color and the poor.

Interestingly, the black/white divide is the base upon which all else stands in the revolutionary period we are entering. Recall slavery was the essence of the Civil War. Slaves were money to the South. The South would not give up their right to own slaves without a fight.

Whites recognize they are a diminishing group. Very shortly persons of color will clearly outnumber whites.

Such would mean a loss of power and influence politically and personally. Also the danger of what goes around, comes around. Whites fear they would be treated by persons of color as they have been treated by whites for the past two hundred years.

Imagine how whites in Texas would react if persons of color were in political control and outnumbered the whites. Those of color could pass legislation affecting white voting as the whites have recently done to those of color. Whites see it coming. Fear it. Fight it with laws adverse to those of colored persons today.

An increasing number of political scientists recognize the threat of war as anocracy increases, with the result of another civil war occurring.

Threat to the U.S. comes from within. Not the outside.

An anocracy is loosely defined as part democracy and part dictatorship. Again, the U.S. is trending that way. Evidenced by citizens organizing themselves into rival factions.

Walter wrote a civil war could be inevitable: “The cause is the Republican Party’s blatant attempt throughout the nation to promote racist authoritarianism by disenfranchising voters of color. The over revealing goal at both the state and federal levels is government by minority rule.”

The U.S. has been trending towards autocracy for many years. The direction has been reset. Changed. It is now trending towards anocracy.

Congress is another reason for the change in path. So obvious and familiar have Congress’ misdeeds been, no further explanation is required.

A problem is the mindset of the American people. Regardless of the side, most continue to view the U.S. as the “city on a hill.” They fail to recognize the U.S. has changed, become different.

The U.S. is in a “political tailspin.” Walter recognizes that “when a country moves into the anocracy zone, the risk of violence reaches its peak.”

Violence has already begun.

The U.S. has become “complacent.” Walters finds it “troubling.” In modern history, many of those involved in civil wars did not see the “war coming…..were surprised when it did.

Walters’ conclusion is on the money. The U.S. is being led into a “downward spiral of fear – and then a grab of power by force.”

Much to think about here.

Enjoy your day!

“I do solemnly swear I will support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

The oath all federal employees and members of the Army take.

An oath increasingly forgotten by many.

Texas is talking secession. Violates the oath.

The most conservative of conservative members of the Supreme Court was and remains Justice Antonin Scalia. He stated in 2006, “If there was any Constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede.”

Entertain this thought. Putin makes a deal with Mexico. He is permitted to station military personnel and equipment in Mexico. Texas seceded sometime before. Putin wants to take over the government of Texas and appoint a ruler/President favorable to him.

All of a sudden 100,000 Russian troops are on the Mexican/Texas border.

Who is Texas going to call upon to defend them? Santa Claus?

Sinema’s popularity slowly sliding downward.

Arizona Democrats recently censured Kyrsten Sinema because of her vote on the filibuster. The Democrats believe her filibuster vote helped sink the Democratic Party’s voting rights legislation.

Having observed Sinema’s nature, the rift will continue. She alienates. Her “virtue” was not obvious when elected. She is buying a primary the next time she runs.

Rudy Giuliani and Michael Flynn received honorary Doctorate degrees from the University of Rhode Island, though at different times. Giuliani in 2003 and Flynn in 2014.

The University’s Board of Trustees voted friday to revoke both honorary Doctorates. University President Marc Parlange said, They “no longer represent” the values and standards they demonstrated when they first received the honors.”

Drums of war.

Putin pushing in the Ukraine. Biden being forced to step up. Putin began with 100,000 troops on the border. Now 127,000. Biden announced he is placing the U.S. military on “high alert.” Eight thousand five hundred American troops are getting ready. Word also a carrier and additional warships are being put to the ready.

At a point yesterday, the DOW was down more than 1,000 points. Economists were blaming the fear the Federal Reserve would raise rates and the Ukraine conflict.

With literally minutes to go, the market rebounded and DOW ended the days 99 points higher.

It was reported 3 major corporations did the necessary transactions to cause the market to reverse itself, especially as dramatically as it did.

I am not an economist, never was a major market investor. So take my projection with a word of wisdom.

Things like what happened at the end of the day’s trading not normal. It reeks of the administration contacting the necessary folks and asking for their help by doing the necessary. Three came through in large numbers.

I apologize. I forget who the 3 are. My recollection tells me 2 of the 3 are Amazon and Walmart. However, I am not sure.

What will today bring? I suspect the market may go down considerably. What the 3 corporations did was merely a band aid.

Free COVID testing kits on the way via mail to all who asked. Biden has announced the U.S.is prepared to provide a package containing 3 free N95 face masks. The one recently recommended by the CDC.

Delivery will be by self pick up at designated drug stores and supermarkets. I am aware of 3 thus far in the Key West area: Walgreens, CVS, and Winn-Dixie. Masks should be available over the weekend. Other locations where the masks will be available will be announced soon.

Enjoy your day!