I TOLD YOU I WAS SICK

Tombstones tell wonderful stories. History imprinted forever. Especially on Key West head stones.

The one that has always intrigued me, interested me the most, says…..I Told You I Was Sick.

This saturday, the Key West Cemetery is providing 3 guided tours. Ninety minutes each. Do yourself a favor, go. Reservations required.

Spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon working on Growing Up Italian.

Last night, Dueling Bartenders at Aqua.

Friends galore.

Don and Chris in from Syracuse. They are getting married saturday at the Hyatt. Celebration time! I am invited. I am honored. Only 45 people. Three from Korea. His business partners.

Chris radiant. Always. This time a little more so.

Tom and Fran Dixon in from Buffalo. Only for 3 days. Leave wednesday morning.

Fran mothers me. Takes good care of me. Normally, she brings frozen containers of sauce with meatballs, sausage and pork. This time not frozen. Three canning jars full. No meatballs. She is aware I am on Atkins and did not want to submit me to bread crumbs.

The two couples Syracuse fans. We text each other during games. The object of our conversations last night Syracuse’s success thus far in the NCAA tournament. Exciting!

Lovely Liz at the bar. Met a family from somewhere. Two were Hamilton College grads. Actually, one Hamilton and one Kirkland. Kirkland the ladies part.

Nice people. A couple of interesting Hamilton exchanges.

Key West has been knocked down, destroyed, etc. many times over the years. Hurricanes a problem. In the early years, fires. Building codes either non existent or not as good as today.

On this day in 1923, an unoccupied cigar factory on the corner of White and Newton burned down. The fire spread. Forty three homes were destroyed. Forty families left homeless.

Show of shows tonight! My podcast. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Nine my time. A quick and exciting half hour. Join me as I share my opinionated thoughts. About everything from a Key West problem to our national problem Donald Trump. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

I consider New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Presidential timber. I am impressed how he has run New York State. Free tuition at 4 year State colleges, legalized same sex marriage, enacted gun control legislation. He balanced the budget on time during his first year for the first time in many years. Every area of the State has experienced significant development.

A negative is one of his aides was recently convicted of taking a $300,000 kickback. Cuomo was not involved.

It was announced this week Cuomo has primary opposition in his race for reelection.

Recall the movie Sex and the City. One of the four ladies was Cynthia Nixon. She is running a primary against Cuomo. One of her platform items corruption in his administration. I question the validity of the charge as it may personally involves him in any respect.

She has a list of other items. All sound good. Nixon has been active in New York City politics for years. Her other items appear to be New York City needs.

Not enough. There is upstate New York, also. The forgotten relative. Most Governors pay little attention to upstate New York. Cuomo has not. He is responsible for massive development upstate.

If Nixon wishes to succeed, she will have to come out with a for real program for the upstaters.

Trump on a high. Reminds me of a dog after he has done his business. Joyfully bounds around.

Why? He fired Andrew McCabe. News reports suggest he has become emboldened as a result. Accomplished a big thing from his perspective. Can do anything. Knows how to do everything. Does not need the advice of others.

His legal team a spot where he is spreading his wings. Apparently paying less attention to them. He has brought on another attorney. Joseph diGenova.

diGenova many years ago a U.S. Attorney. Today, a Washington attorney who frequently appears on FOX. He has been a part of the FOX group going back 20 or more years.

As does Trump, knows everything. Labeled Comey the “dirtiest cop in America.” Claims Comey destroyed the FBI’s reputation. Believes the Justice Department and Mueller are trying to frame Trump.

Washington attorneys describe him as a “wild card.” A qualification to represent Trump. They are birds of a feather.

Trump has brought  diGenova on board I assume based on diGenova’s appearances and statements made on FOX. Such do not qualify diGenova as the man for Trump. He does not need a TV star. He requires the very best attorney qualified in the areas Mueller is investigating.

My other area of concern is that Trump is apparently now running the legal show. He is not aware of one of the first axioms learned in law school: A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client. I adjust it a bit to read…..A person who represents himself is a fool.

A person under investigation lives or dies by his attorney’s judgments, not his own.

Enjoy your day!

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT FOR PARTICIPATING IN NATIONAL SCHOOL WALKOUT

Corporal punishment for school students is alive and well in 15 states. Would you believe? Bend over the desk and get your ass paddled!

Arkansas a state permitting corporal punishment. Came to my attention as a result of National School Walkout Day. Involved the Arkansas Greenbrier Public School. Greenbrier is located in an ultra conservative area.

Three students opted to participate in National Walkout Day. Only 3. They were vocally insulted and degraded by their fellow students. Two among the smartest in their class. The 3 consisting of both genders.

They left school and sat on a bench on school grounds for 17 minutes. They were told to return to class or face punishment. They opted to remain for the 17 minutes.

They were directed to the principal’s office upon reentry. They were given a choice as to punishment. Corporal punishment or a 2 day suspension. The punishments offered dictated by school board and school policy. The 3 agreed to corporal punishment. Two swats by a paddle on their derrieres.

Their parents were advised of the punishment prior to it being inflicted.

I consider the use of corporal punishment barbaric. In this case, the use of violence on 3 students who were protesting violence. A state sanctioning it and the parents agreeing to it some form of insanity in this day and age.

I admire the 3 protesters. They followed their consciences and took their punishment. They will go far in life.

St. Patrick’s Day did not turn out as anticipated. No corned beef and cabbage. Neither in a restaurant or as a take out. Restaurants too busy for take out. Terri fell eliminating going out to a restaurant.

Bear follows Terri everywhere. Always at her feet. While at home, he somehow got between her legs and she went down. Her head and knees came in contact with the tile floor. Ok, but sore.

Bear lay next to her on the floor crying.

Bear is 14 weeks old today. Getting big! Very big! We are solid friends. He has taken to me. I was seated on the couch most of the time. He was next to me, with me, etc.

Terri into dogs in her past life. Bear is already trained in certain respects. Upon command, he sits, lays down, offers his paw, and high fives. Except, the high fives are both paws.

We ended up ordering from Sandy’s Cafe. They deliver. A Cuban meal for 3 under $20. I had my favorite, Cuban cheese toast with tomato and a cup of Cuban coffee.

Bear and I watched most of the Kentucky/Buffalo game together. Buffalo has a better team each year. This year, the best so far. Though an underdog, I thought they might upset Kentucky. I was wrong. Kentucky killed them.

This afternoon at 2:40 on CBS, Syracuse/Michigan State. Syracuse the underdog once again.

I hope to watch the game and then hurry over to Kate Miano’s Gardens. Early Sunday evening always a fun time there. An added reason tonight. Terri is singing.

At some point, I have to shop. The refrigerator totally lacking in food. All I had yesterday before the Cuban sandwich at Donna and Terri’s was a cup of tea and 4 slices of bacon. No wonder I am losing weight!

For a month, Diana Millikan has been forwarding me information gathered from The Jews of Key West. Author Key West’s Arlo Haskell. When we met for dinner recently, she brought her copy of the book for me to glance over.

Diana thought the book was terrific. She was correct.

It has been announced that The Jews of Key West has received the 2017 Florida Book Award.

Trump is impressed by dictators. Perhaps evidencing a desire on his part to become one.

The Philippines and China have a drug problem. It was overwhelming at one point. No longer. Duterte and Xi kill drug dealers. With little or no attention payed to judicial process. Duterte has them shot on the street.

Both men came to this kill them outright approach based on a simple rationale. They were executing a person for killing one person. Drug dealers ultimately are responsible for the deaths of thousands. Justification enough. Kill them, too!

Trump has advised he likes the approach. He has promised a plan to deal with drug dealers this week. The kill them all approach, I suspect.

Opioids are killing 115 plus persons a day in the U.S.  Most manufactured by American pharmaceutical companies. A few pharmaceutical CEO’s should be indicted for producing these killers of hundreds of thousands of our people. Everyone agrees the problem is at a crisis stage.

Pharma Company-1 makes Fentanyl Spray. Bad stuff. Addictive. Fifty to a hundred times stronger than morphine.

Two Pharma employees and 5 doctors were recently arrested in New York. Pharma was sponsoring educational programs. Doctors were invited to speak for which they received exorbitant fees. A pre-condition to the invitation was that the doctors had to be big prescribers of Fentanyl Spray. The fee received based on the number of prescriptions for the Fentanyl Spray a doctor wrote.

Doctors were entertained lavishly to jump on board. A Pharma representative greeted several at a New York strip club. Pharma paid $4,100 for a private room, alcoholic drinks, and lap dances.

I do not agree with Trump’s thoughts re making the death penalty applicable to drug dealers. A step too far. If he does however, he should add drug company CEO’s who produce a product contributing to the opioid crisis.

Fair is fair.

Enjoy your Sunday!