Marital sex has been declining. According to studies, married couples in the U.S. are having less sex than they did a decade ago. 

Another decline involves single people living together. Such has diminished also, as well as the number of times those living together have sex.

COVID contributed to the decline. World instability overall another. Financial and climate change the main reasons.

Though sex diminishes for most as a marriage moves on, studies suggest the amount of sex in a marriage is up to the two persons involved. There is no one-sex-fits all answer.

There is no Biblical passage forbidding a husband and wife from having sex for pleasure when not trying to conceive children. The line constantly touted that sex is solely for procreation and not fun is bullshit.

Paul wrote husbands and wives should never withhold sexual affection due each other – refraining only during times set aside for prayer and fasting. 1 Corinthians 7:3-5.

Sexual laws in Key West in 1829 and 1830. 

Bathing was a problem. People were openly and publicly bathing. A law was passed prohibiting such.

Prostitution another issue. A law was passed to “punish lewd persons,” defined as “any female supporting and maintaining herself by the unlawful profit of prostitution.” The fine $25. A tremendous sum back then.

There was an add-on to the law I find difficult to understand: Again “to punish lewd persons.” A $500 bond was required also. Apparently a guarantee to keep women from practicing their profession.

I find these 1829 and 1830 prostitution laws humorous. There were only 500 people living in Key West in those days. How bad could  prostitution have been. Sounds like a bunch of wives became furious and imposed on their wayward husbands to pass these laws.

Moving from sex to other things.

Some Key West matters.

John M. Spottswood was a brilliant leader of Key West during his time. He was a Sheriff, State Senator and astute businessman.

In 1953, the City Commission passed an ordinance granting a franchise for TV cable operations to him. An example of Spottswood being up front and on top of things.

Today’s Citizens’ Voice asks an interesting question: “Has anyone ever actually bothered to trace back our beach water pollution to the source? There must be a way to do that this day and age.”

I have been here 30 years. Fecal matter in our swimming water almost a constant. Something should be done!

A quiet birthday yesterday. All birthdays at my age are quiet.

I began with a Monkey Smoothie at Date & Thyme. Met a lovely lady. Erin. We chatted briefly. She has been in Key West 20 years off and on. Interestingly, we agreed on everything. Especially the difference in people now settling in Key West as compared to 20 years ago.

Hope we meet again. Enjoyed her charm and company.

Then to fill the gas tank. Nearly empty.

Such was my morning, my day. Spent the rest of the day doing what I usually do. Reading, writing and watching TV. Such is life when one reaches the late 80’s.

I thank those who wrote and called. Heard by phone from my dear friend Theos in Greece, Bob on Cape Cod, some old friends in Utica, many from Key West and also those who I never have met, but read my blog. 

Thank you all!

Other interesting items.

Something very few people are aware of. Twenty five years after she was burned at the stake, Joan of Arc was retried in 1456 and acquitted. A lot of good it did her! Her judges should have been tried and sentenced to be burned at the stake. Payment for the wrong they did her 25 years earlier.

Genius physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton received his Masters Degree this day in 1868 from Trinity College in Cambridge.

Something most of us have enjoyed at some point in our lives. Generally, the very early part. Comic books!

On this day in 1802, the first comic book “The Wasp” was published in Hudson, N.Y.

There was more than one or two persons involved in the conspiracy to kill Abraham Lincoln. On this day in 1865, Mary Surratt, Lewis Ravell, David Herold and George Atzerodt were hung in execution for their roll in the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln.

Sliced bread! On this day in 1828, sliced bread was sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Co. using a machine invented by Otto Frederich Rottwedder. Described as the greatest step forward in the baking industry since bread was wrapped.

The best of the best! I loved these three, performing alone or together. The first Three Tenor’s concert featuring Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti became the world’s best selling classical record.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Happy birthday, Louis! Eighty nine years old. Born July 6, 1935.

It has been a trip! Can’t complain. Just hope it continues and in relatively good health.

This past year was not the best, however. A heart attack, 5 1/2 weeks at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami, three heart surgeries. I am recovered/recovering. Never sure. Doctors keep testing me.

About two weeks ago, I learned from two of my local physicians who are my primary care givers that they thought I was not going to make it. Glad I surprised them. In the lengthy period I was at Mount Sinai, I did on two occasions think I was going to die. Briefly, a few hours at a time. I knew I was hospitalized too long and there always seemed to be something else, of a minor nature fortunately, that popped up. 

Whatever, I am still here and hope to be here for many years to come.

Let’s get back to July 6, 1935 and my mother.

She told me several times she labored 26 hours. No air conditioning in those days. The humidity was horrendous. I took my time to arrive to her distress.

When one gets to my age and has recently gone through a possible death situation, you think of many things. 

One involves my mother. What I am about to share I always knew. I have thought about her more these past months. My mother was my best friend. Without question.

She was the last of 8 children born to her parents. The first 7 were boys. Finally, they had a girl! They named my mother Fortunata. Italian for Fortune. Understandable. My mother was born in Foggia, Italy.

She came to the United States at an early age. The family settled in New York City. Typical Italian immigrants at the time. No money. My mother only went through the third grade. At the age of 8, she was forced to quit and went to work full time in a shoe factory. The end of formal education for her.

Let’s move ahead. She and her family at some point moved to Utica. Her father became somewhat successful. At one point, he owned a whole block of commercial real estate on James Street. Success did not last long. The Depression came and a stroke for my grandfather with it. The end of economic success.

At some point, my mother and father met and married. From everything I have gathered, my arrival made both of them happy. My mother recovered rapidly from the birth hospital. My father reportedly ran up and down Jay Street where we lived initially, shouting to everyone that he had a son.

I was not that fond of my mother while in grammar school and high school. She always thought I was doing something wrong. Punishment a daily occurrence. Many the spaghetti bowl and large wooden forks and spoons that were broken over my head.  There were days I did not think I would survive. It was a daily race around the dining room table. She only a few feet behind me.

I used to tell this story in later years around the dinner table on occasion during a holiday. My mother would adamantly deny abusing me thusly. I soon learned to be quiet about it. As an adult I thought the beatings were funny, she did not.

Many of my contemporary friends were Italian males my age. Occasionally one of us would bring up the topic of mother beatings in our earlier days. Most, if not all, experienced it. Probably all. I cannot recall clearly at the moment. The beatings obviously an Italian thing.

I was in college and going out regularly with Mary Lourdes. We wanted to get married. Neither us nor our parents had any money. Not only did we want to get married, our game plan was I would go on to law school immediately following marriage.

We were not too bright.

My mother was a wise woman. Innate. She had to have been born with the intelligence she possessed. She told me not to marry Mary Lourdes. I did. She reminded me a few times in later years the mistake I had made. Nevertheless, the two got along very well all the time. Looked out for each other. I doubt my wife was ever aware of the negative feelings my mother had for her.

My mother and I developed a unique relationship. Several evenings a week, I would stop of at her house on my way home from the office. We only lived two mils apart. She was always waiting for me. Seated at the kitchen table. A bottle of Beefeaters and a glass of ice on the table. One glass only. My mother did not drink.

We would sit and chat. I would share my work and personal problems with her. She was intuitive and smart. Her advice sage.

These on the way home from work kitchen table meetings memorable events.

My mother passed on many years ago. She was a diabetic who did not take care of herself.

She had been in the hospital 2 days undergoing all kinds of tests after passing out at home. Lisa and I drove to the hospital together the morning of the second day. I had been to the hospital the evening before. My mother was seated on the side of her bed shaking her legs. She was alive and vibrant. No concern at that time she might die.

I wanted to stop for breakfast first. Lisa wanted to go directly to the hospital. We stopped for breakfast.

Her doctor came out of her room as we were walking towards it. He told Lisa and I she had just died.

I believe Lisa has never forgotten I denied her grandmother her presence at the moment of her death. She forgets I inadvertently denied myself also.

Whatever, the story of the woman who gave birth to me and me. Our relationship. I think about it often.

Hope I can write again when I am 90 next year at this time. Better stated, I hope I am alive and 90 next year at this time.

Enjoy my birthday! Have a drink to Louis and his mother!

Cool quote by actor Mark Hamill re Supreme Court and Donald Trump: “After vastly expanding Presidential power, Supreme Court now considers moving Independence Day to January 6th.”

Louis says, “We are fighting to save the life and history of our country! Let’s not fail!”

Key West occurrences.

Fireworks last night. I forgot it was the 4th. I was researching for a book I am writing. Forgot even to turn on TV to Washington D.C. to listen to the patriotic singing.

Suddenly began hearing “rumbling.” Sounded like consistent banging. Thought it was my next door neighbor. He got lucky and his bedpost was banging against the wall.

Took 15 minutes before it occurred to me that it was neither luck nor the bedpost. It was Key West fireworks!

Key West’s World Famous Lime Pie Eating Contest was won yesterday by a 19 year old Honduran student. Hester Rodriguez. He devoured a whipped cream topped 9 inch Key Lime pie in 1 minute 50.52 seconds. Beat 24 others in so doing.

Face only. No fork, spoon or hands. A messy success!

By 1934, Key West was Depression ravished. Bankrupt. As was Monroe County.

Control of Key West and Monroe County was transferred to the Federal Emergency Relief Agency’s Southeast Regional Administration. Julius Stone was in charge.

Stone was successful in the next few years in restoring Key West and Monroe County to prosperity.

An apt reference in this morning’s Citizens’ Voice: “Three lame ducks…..spend a lifetime gaining a ‘reputation’ and five minutes losing it.”

The matter is not over. I believe the 3 Commissioners plus one more violated the Sunshine Law. Floridians in the past have shown extreme seriousness when the Law was violated.

Tomorrow a big day! I will be 89 years old! Wow!

Enjoy your day!

Our beloved country is “officially” 248 years old today. The best to us! The way things are going, we need it.

July 4 is the day because it was claimed the Declaration of Independence was approved/signed that day. Not correct. An historical printing error involved.

The Constitutional Convention by vote approved the Declaration of Independence on July 2. Approved means orally adopted. The document was not printed till July 4. The Continental Congress was not in session on July 4. It did not get together for purposes of signing till one month later on August 2.

Record keeping obviously sucked back then. Understandable. The actual day not so important. What is important is that we won the war.

Happy Birthday, USA!

I am curious how Trump will celebrate our country’s birthday today.

Hurricane Beryl hit Jamaica as a Category 4. Life threatening rain, 145 mph winds, and a storm storm surge that reached 9 foot levels in some places.

Next, the Cayman Islands and then Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. It has the potential thereafter to strike southern Texas and Louisiana.

Beryl knocked the hell out of Grenada. The damage described as “unmanageable.” Ninety eight percent of buildings on the island  were damaged or destroyed.

Many countries are going to a 4 day work week. Greece is going the other way. To a 6 day work week. In Greece, the extra day will provide a 40 percent bump in over time pay.

Greece’s purpose in adopting the new law is to increase productivity.

Surprising when most countries, including certain U.S. corporations, are going to a 4 day work week for the same reason. Increase productivity. Who is correct?

New religious values are not American values. Yet they appear to be taking over the American right with a marriage of religion and government. 

Two recent anti-law religious moves. Passed or approved at state levels. To be tested at some point by the Supreme Court. The place I fear most today when it comes to correcting things.

The two involve the States of Louisiana and Oklahoma.

Last month, a law passed in Louisiana requiring  the display of the Ten Commandments in public classrooms. A practice struck down in 1980 as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

One week after the Louisiana law came into being, Oklahoma announced plans to mandate the teaching of the Bible in public schools. Justification was the claim it was necessary so as to have “an understanding of the basis for our legal system.”

Both situations a massive erosion of separation of Church and State.

The First Amendment was intended to protect religion from the state, not the state from religion. Something amiss here.

The goal is to impose one form of religion, Christianity, and the underlying message is that those who do not share it will have to submit.

Trump and his evangelical followers support the theory. Is this what a majority of Americans want? Revolutionary in its thinking. Destructive to democracy as we know it.

Buffalo’s Fran and Tom Dixon telephoned yesterday. Chewed me out for not having communicated with them recently. They were correct. Still love them. However, I do not speak well because of my teeth problem and avoid talking with people.

They are leaving for Boston today. Their daughter is having her fourth child by caesarian friday and they will be babysitting the three already here.

They will be in Key West later this month for a one week vacation. Babysitting will do that to you. I look forward to seeing them again. I will have to talk, of course.

Did a one hour Select Physical Therapy session again yesterday. Eight in the morning. Kathy took care of me again. A terrific young lady. All of 32. Looks 22. Leaves on a two week vacation this weekend to Vegas and then home to Ohio. I will miss her. She and Ashley have done wonders with my back.

What happened to the Sahara Desert dust storm? Never made it to Key West. Did it make it anywhere in the U.S.?

The media has to be careful how it announces natural disasters like the dust storm and hurricanes. The media warnings make it look like the disaster is going to hit. Then nothing. Gets everyone concerned, however. Especially where hurricanes are involved.

The reporting is required. More preciseness needed.

I miss my July 4th type holidays back in Utica. Huge family and friend cook outs. Pool use for the first time. Not warm enough till the 4th to swim. Sip the day away and chat. Pick on all kinds of goodies to eat. The fireworks later at my golf club. A long tedious but fun day.

Enjoy the holiday!

“Well, it’s one for the money two for the show / Three to get ready now go, cat go / But don’t you step on my blue suede shoes…..”

Elvis Presley’s 1956 hit. Blue Suede Shoes.

I danced to Blue Suede Shoes while in college.

The actual blue suede shoes Elvis wore for a long time were auctioned off recently for $152,000.

Hurricane Beryl having a field day! A bad storm!

Hit Category 5. What more need be said. A horrific storm. Will leave death and ruination in its path.

Passed Grenada. Pictures show big time destruction. Six deaths also. Heading towards Jamaica. While passing over the water heading for Jamaica, Beryl has reduced itself to a Category 4. Still devastating!

Two cases of dengue fever reported in the Upper Keys. First dengue fever cases reported in the Keys in 2 years.

On this day in 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg ended in a major victory for the Union. It was the largest battle ever fought on American soil.

So much for today. These were the only items that interested me. The many others were repetitious and you are aware of the details.

Enjoy your day!

The U.S. Supreme Court has gone totally off base in the Immunity decision it rendered yesterday. The decision permits a President to break the law with impunity. Official acts will be deemed off limits to prosecution.

Trump received a free ticket to most of the charges pending against him in the January 6 case pending in Washington D.C.  He caused/precipitated the Capitol riot and is going to get away with it.

Justice Sotomayor wrote a scathing dissent. Pulled no punches. News reports state that she turned sideways in her seat and looked directly at Chief Justice Roberts who wrote the majority decision. He never looked at her, stared straight ahead.

Sotomayor said: The ruling makes a President a “king above the law.” She also wrote the “decision to grant former Presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the Presidency. It makes a mockery of the principle, foundation to our Constitution and system of Government, that no man is above the law.”

Simply, an American President could not commit crimes/break the law with impunity. Now he can. Trump has to be thrilled. And if he is elected, he will have a field day “doing what once was wrong” in getting even as he has threatened.

We have never had such a decision since day one in this country. Didn’t need it. Good men knew right from wrong and avoided the wrong. Until Trump, of course. Evil is as evil does. He is a sick, corrupt man. And we may be stuck with him again!

The Supreme Court made another bum decision this past week. Involves a Reagan-era doctrine which made interpretations of federal agency laws by agency personnel and not courts. No running to the courts for interpretations. Moved matters along quickly and cheaply,

No more.

The Supreme Court said friday disputes must be settled in the courts. Two immediate results. Disputes will take longer to resolve (extremely much longer) and will be more costly to all involved.

Another consideration the Supreme Court did not even mention. Probably did not even consider. The federal court system is already overloaded. As is the Supreme Court. I can recall when I was practicing as far back as the late 1960’s and found on motion days in federal court the judges never leaving the bench all day. They ate a sandwich and drank a can of soda while sitting in open court working. Still that bad today!

The Supreme Court is nuts! Also have become political hacks! The only way to phrase it.

An example of how things worked and now will work. From 1980 on with the establishment of the EPA as a powerful entity, certain cases were huge. The kind I handled. Cases having a value in millions and billions. Important cases. Most took 5-10 years to complete.

Legal questions arose constantly. It was not uncommon for many parties to be involved. Lawyers 20-30 or more

Many of my cases  were handled directly by EPA’s New York City offices on lower Broadway. Many the case I spent sitting in an EPA conference room holding 30-40 lawyers at one huge conference table working the case on a daily basis. Some cases I spent as much as 3 consecutive weeks, day by day,  working a case in New York in that atmosphere.

If a legal question arose, the EPA attorney sitting there with us would decide. Arguments were quickly made and decided. That was the end of the issue and we moved on.

No special paper work, no court appearance, no months of delay each time.

All will be different now. Tons of paper, much court time for arguing, insufficient court rooms, not enough judges.

The system worked. Why did they change it?

Most of the Supreme Court members have to go or have their power diminished!

Enjoy your day!

Hurricane Beryl is already a Category 4. Winds 130 mph. And it has not reached the islands yet. It continues rushing through the Atlantic approaching the Caribbean. The Windward Islands appear to be in its path. Expected to hit the Windward Islands any time.

A spaghetti model still has Beryl brushing the southwest end of Cuba and breaking left towards Texas.

It is pouring again this morning. Question. Were the heavy thunderstorms of the past few days caused by Beryl? It’s far away, yet having turned into a powerful Category 4. Are its winds a cause of the heavy rainstorms Key West is experiencing?

Southern states are bold. They come up with the toughest and generally wrong laws.

Louisiana the latest. 

Louisiana the first state to allow surgical castration. The law goes into effect August 1. It allows surgical castration of those found guilty of certain sex crimes. The procedure involves the surgical removal of the testicles or ovaries. The purpose of such is to stop the production of sex hormones.

Louisiana already had a law on the books allowing chemical castration  –  a procedure that uses drugs to quell the offender’s sex drive.

Louisiana does have a heart, however. If the offender refuses the surgery, he could receive an additional 3-5 years prison sentence without the possibility of parole.

I am confused. The law appears directed towards men. Women commit sex cries against the young. Why are they not charged somehow? Does the new law cover them?

Perhaps women were not considered. What’s good for the goose, is good for the gander. Is it considered cruel to remove a woman’s clitoris or remove the clitoris and sew up the labia so a woman would be incapable of performing the sex act? Was any form of surgical procedure punishment considered for women?

Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher. His life span 427 B.C. – 348 B.C. He was considered a “foundational thinker.” To me, “thinker” is sufficient.

Some of his quotes have been preserved by history prove my point: “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. / Democracy…..is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.”

Additionally, “The greatest wealth is to live with little. / One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. / At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. / Love is a serious mental disease. / The greatest wealth is to live content with little. / Courage is knowing what not to fear. / Necessity…..the mother of invention. / Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly. / Ignorance, the root stem of all evil. / The measure of a man is what he does with power.”

One of Key West’s popular tourist attractions is the Hemingway house. Special! Don’t miss it!

Many interesting things to see and learn. One is Hemingway’s cats. They are six toed. Unusual. Always a high point of any visit. I mention Hemingway’s six toed cats because of a six footed dog discovered in Wales.

Aerial is her name. She had been abandoned. A couple whose 16 year old pet had died a few days before, was made aware of Aerial’s existence. Aerial was 11 weeks old at the time.

They met her and “mated.” Love at first sight.

The couple gave her the name Aerial.

Besides the six legs, Aerial was born with 2 vulvas and only 1 kidney.

Aerial has had surgery to make her a four footed dog.

Aerial does everything. Walks, though tires sometimes. Swims in the sea, paddle boards, and is great with family and children.

The family and Ariel are happy.

An 8 am stop for me this morning at Select Physical Therapy. Kathy took care of me again. 

No question, the therapy is helping me. I am in my fourth week. I can feel the difference.

Enjoy your day!

Mark Twain was not his real name. It was his pen name. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. For whatever reason, he began using Mark Twain for his writings in 1863.

His pen name came from his years of working  on the Mississippi River, where river boat men would cry out “mark twain” to indicate a depth of twelve fathoms. Twelve feet. Twelve feet was a safe depth for a steamboat to navigate.

Hurricane Beryl could be a big one! It reached hurricane strength yesterday. The Caribbean is bracing for Category 3 winds.

Spaghetti lines indicate the right side of Beryl brushing the southwestern edge of Cuba. Too soon however to determine accuracy. If a bit more right, could reach Key West. Too early to tell.

As poor a governor as DeSantis is, his personal value grew last year. His net worth grew by more than 50 percent.

His net worth on 12/31/23 was $1.7 million, up from $1.1 million the previous year. Two publishers paid him a total of $785,000.

Republicans, MAGAs and Trump want everyone to forget about January 6, 2021.

Don’t!

I was going to list the lies Trump spoke during the debate. Instead I am recommending Bess Levin’s June 28 article in Vanity Fair. Better than I could do. Also, she spells out Biden’s failures.

Read Levin’s short and to the point review of the debate: “Biden’s Debate Performance Was Objectively Terrible – And Trump’s Still Trump.”

The last portion of Levin’s closing sentence important: “…..let’s be clear about what the alternative to electing Biden will be.”

My suggestion what Democrats should do. Biden is our man. Good, bad or indifferent, we are stuck with him. I agree he was terrible in the debate. Thirty seconds into it and I knew he was in trouble.

My problem is he was fine afterwards and the next day. The campaign is on. Both candidates will be speaking somewhere almost daily. The media should cover Biden each time he speaks. If he’s ok, it will help clear the debate disaster. If not, Trump unfortunately will be our next Presidnet.

I believe Biden can remedy his debate problems. Go for it, Joe!

The President is Jill Biden’s second husband. She was married for 5 years from 1970-1975 to Bill Stevenson.

They have been divorced 49 years.

Stevenson got his 2 cents in re Jill’s comments following the debate. He slammed her for encouraging her husband to stay in the race.

Forty nine years late! Still has a “hard on” over the divorce. Stupid! It took 49 years to get even, assuming such was warranted?

In 1947, the the Monroe County Health Department, along with the Tuberculosis and Health Association, began giving chest x-rays to all residents of Key West and Boca Chica 15 years or older. The program was expected to take 3 weeks to complete.

I was 12 years old in 1947. Growing up in Utica, N.Y. Then and at that time, I knew how bad TB was. It was a constant in the news and discussions. Not as bad as COVID, but the worst disease at the time bar none. Scary.

Several school contemporaries became afflicted. All ended up living in the nearby Adirondack Mountains in special facilities for tubercular patients. The mountain weather was one of the remedies. All recovered and returned to join us in school.

God bless our Mosquito Control District. Always on top of things.

Due to the recent rains, the District has scheduled aerial larviciding missions over the western portion of Key West. Tomorrow from 6:30 am to 10:00 am.

The weather at the moment is interesting. It has been pouring big time the past 2 hours.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Watched on TV yesterday Biden meeting with supporters following the debate and again yesterday at 2 rallies. When Biden met with supporters following the debate, he looked terrific. Perfect. Spoke clearly and distinctly. Walked properly. He was a different man. One to two hours later. What happened?

Did he clutch for the debate.? I doubt it. Then, what?

Watched Biden again yesterday. Two rallies. Looked fantastic? Acted well! Beyond normal.

Again, what happened during the debate? Maybe he should have taken his cold medication before the debate and not after.

The Sahara Desert dust storm is late in arriving in the U.S. Supposedly was to arrive in South Florida wednesday night. We are still waiting. A recent article assured it is still coming.

Coffee is a wonderful thing. I am not a fan. Rarely imbibe. Prefer tea. Most others however love coffee. Cannot live without it. Especially that first cup in the morning.

The Colonists prior to the Boston Tea Party were tea drinkers. Following “the party” they ceased so being and became coffee drinkers.

Comes the Civil War, coffee was in poor supply. Northern soldiers were going without. A crisis.

Union General Benjamin Butler considered coffee a source of energy and morale. As vital as gun powder. He believed: “If your men get their coffee early in the morning, you can hold your position.”

Brazil had been the main supplier of coffee to the U.S. However, the Union blockade of the South prevented most coffee imports from reaching the North.

Stephen Allen Benson was President of the relatively young Republic of Liberia. Liberia had 500,000 coffee trees planted. He wanted to supply the North with coffee.

Benson was Black. He was born in Maryland. Moved with his family when he was 6 to Liberia. 

He wanted to do his thing for the Union. He did. Union soldiers thereafter received an adequate coffee supply.

Benson was only charging the Union $.40 a pound for his coffee beans. The Confederate Army was paying $8 a pound from wherever they could get it.

The North gained a powerful edge over the South when it came to coffee. The coffee Union soldiers were drinking  was of “superior” quality, full of “strength, flavor and aroma.”

It became law thursday. Highway A1A from Key West to Georgia is now “Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway.”

A well deserved recognition!

Another U.S. Supreme Court screw up. The Court on friday limited a federal obstruction law that has been used to charge hundreds of January 6 Capitol riot defendants. Trump is included in those so charged.

The decision was 6-3. The charge has been used where an individual was obstructing an official proceeding. The Court said there must be  proof that a defendant tried to tamper with or destroy documents.

How many documents were tampered with or destroyed that day? Even more, the ultimate thrust of the attack was to prevent the vote that was to be taken that day. A vote to approve state delivered documents. 

The decision will result in many pleas and convictions being set aside. It also means those charged and not tried will have the charge automatically withdrawn.

The Republican Supreme Court majority continues  to decide cases awkwardly and to derive a political outcome. They have to go. Removed from the Court. Or, their power has to be diminished in some fashion. Otherwise properly arrived at decisions will slowly fade away.

A golf “it never happened before” occurrence. Frank Bensel Jr. made back to back holes-in-one during the 2020 U.S. Open yesterday. Rare. A first!

The Square Grouper is one one of the finest restaurants in the lower Keys. Located on Cudjoe Key. Its owners opened another on Islamorada. Another success.

A third is on its way. In downtown Key West. Soon to open.

Enjoy your day!

The Presidential Debate was last night. Biden stumbled. Trump lied.

No question, Trump won. Biden looked poorly.

The big thing that struck me was Biden appeared old. Looked and talked old. Sorry to say it. Love the guy! Knew him personally via Syracuse University back in the 1980’s. Have not seen him since. Whatever I observed last night does not change my mind as to his quality as President. He has been one of our finest Presidents. Near the top.

Last night his age stood out like a sore thumb. He has not aged well. Looked poorly, spoke poorly, appeared to think poorly. His responses not the best in the first half of the debate. They were excellent in the second half, however.

Age is a strange thing. I am one week short of 89. Biden is 80. My mind is till sharp. As good as it was 40 years ago. My appearance leaves something to be desired. I am told I look like I am in my 60’s. The mirror tells me 88. 

The President looked fatigued and stressed. His responses initially slow and not necessarily accurate. Some mumbling. Forgetful. Common to us oldies. I am forgetful. However, I am not running for President.

Such is my detailed description of Biden.

Trump is easy to describe. He lies. All the time. I think it is impossible for him to tell the truth. He does not know what truth is.

It was announced following the debate that Biden had a cold. He probably did. He talked as if he had.

Biden lost ground last night. Hope he picks it up and moves ahead of Trump by the next debate.

We cannot afford Trump as our Presidnet again! Keep in mind not what will happen to Biden should Trump win, but what will happen to us if Trump wins.

Biden had a bad debate last night. I’m sue the next one will be better. The stakes are too high for anything else. Can you imagine Trump as President again?

The coming election is not a reflection on Biden and Trump. Rather it is a reflection on us. The American people. What type government, what type of life do we want? Complaining is not going to help if we make the wrong decision.

Moving on.

Insanity continues. Religion being pushed where it does not belong. I grew up in the Catholic Church. Grammar school, high school and college. Separation of Church and State was a basic. No argument concerning the proposition.

Now evangelical nuts seeking political power are coming out of the woodwork. Like bugs and rodents. Oklahoma the latest place. Oklahoma State Superintendent Walters has issued a declaration requiring public schools to teach the Bible. He said, the Bible is a “necessary historical document” that must be taught in certain grades.

Oklahoma has blended the line between religious instruction and public education. Public schools are not Sunday schools.

What next?

This day in 1914 is considered the day that sparked World War I. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie were shot to death in Sarajevo by a Serb nationalist.

On this date in 1838, Britain’s Queen Victoria was crowned in Westminster Abbey.

On one of my business trips to London, I snuck off one afternoon to visit Westminster Abbey. Huge! Awesome! Impressive!

This morning while searching the internet, came across an article  on my favorite Greek isle Amorgos. The island a small nothing. The article was by a traveler Gemma Knight who had visited 25 Greek islands and claimed Amorgos to be her favorite.

That makes two of us.

Years ago when I often traveled to Greece, I would spend 1-2 months on Amorgos. That’s how much I loved it!

Gemma Knight is a more recent visitor and spends similar amounts of time.

It was nice to read of the ferry rides to and from Amorgos. It stopped at Katapola on Amorgos where I stayed.

Amorogos’ most famous landmark is the Monastery Hozoviotissas. Built hundreds of feet up on the side of a tall cliff. White…..straight up!

The steps to the Monastery brutal. I did them. Toured the Monastery. Stayed and enjoyed a glass of wine and a baked good with one of the monks. Wrote my name in the guest book as I left.

Two years later, I received a call from a New York City friend. She had visited the Monastery and leafed through the guest book. Came across my name and home town.

Small world!

Started this morning early. Eight o’clock at Select Physical Therapy. Kathy my therapist. First time. Pleasant company. 

New to Key West. Forget where she came from. She is renting a small yellow house on Sugarloaf. Loves it!

She always wanted a yellow house on the water. She is not close to the water, happy nevertheless.

Then to Date & Thyme for my Monkey Smoothie breakfast. Always good!

I am still waiting for the Sahara dust to appear. Maybe it will not. Yesterday was terribly hot again. Today appears like it will be the same.

One o’clock as I am finishing this blog.

Enjoy your day!