BLACK ANGEL OF DEATH

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Terror can strike anywhere. Everywhere. Even Key West.

A criminal trial began yesterday in Federal District Court in Key West. The defendant, Harlem Suarez. His goal was to leave a backpack bomb on a Key West beach. In due course, the bomb would blow. People injured and killed.

Suarez a terrorist. Lived on Stock island.

The FBI were on to Suarez. Two undercover agents sold him an inert backpack bomb. Then arrested him.

Suarez had a Facebook site. He spoke of the glories of ISIS on the site. Also, ran pics. One of a terrorist holding the head of a decapitated woman.

Suarez referred to himself as the Black Angel of Death.

Lisa, my grandchildren, my friends, Key Westers, tourists, use the beaches.

Suarez should die.

My blog talk radio show tonight. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Nine my time. A quick half hour of interesting happenings. Some revealing. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

A multitude of topics. All exciting. Like Putin unhappy U.S. troops suddenly in Poland and Norway, police at Standing Rock had/have missile launchers, Trump to sign order today permitting Standing Rock and Keystone Pipeline to proceed, Chinese take lung cleansing vacations, affordable water a looming crisis.

Also, a Mexican TV channel being launched in the U.S., FDA approves a GMO pineapple for sale without testing, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma says U.S. priorities screwed up/wasted trillions on wars and Wall Street/not enough on its people, Mark Zuckerberg for President?, and more.

Only one place to be a 6 this evening. Aqua. For Aqua Idol. A several week singing contest. Great voices. Equally great planning by Lynda Frechette who spearheads the event.

Wind still blowing big time day time  yesterday. I took a ride over to the White Street Pier. In the past, extremely windy days resulted in waves crashing over the pier. A sight to see.

I was not disappointed. Nature pissed off. Waves rising high before slamming down on the pier.

I did not walk on the pier. Some did. I feared I would fall/get knocked over. I don’t need nature’s assistance to fall. I do well enough on my own.

The winds were 50 mph.

A portion of the Westin’s dock gave way because of the winds and waves. A mistake. Not the Westin anymore. Now the Margaritaville.

My evening began at Aqua last night. Dueling Bartenders time.Tom Luna one of the dueling bartenders. Last night his birthday. Celebrated with cake for all.

Barbara was with me. As we arrived, Liz and friends were leaving for dinner.

Walked over to Antonia’s for dinner afterwards. No room at the bar. Decided to head home, stopping at Outback first.

Syracuse/Wake Forest tonight. Syracuse a 2.5 point favorite. I have no idea who will win. My team not doing well this season.

Enjoy your day!

 

TONIGHT…..AQUA IDOL

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Tonight! Aqua Idol! The start of a new season.

From 6:30-8:00, 14 brand new contestants will vie to be the next Aqua Idol. A journey taking several weeks. Every tuesday evening till there is a winner.

At Aqua, of course.

The event a fundraiser. Held to support the Waterfront Playhouse. Lynda Frechette heads Aqua Idol. She scours the lower Keys for new contestants each season. Fourteen needed. They compete tonight for the first time.

Aqua Idol has been a popular event for years. Get to Aqua early if you wish a seat. It will be wall to wall.

I get cheated. I cannot be there. I will be into final preparations for my podcast show this evening. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou at 9. A quick half hour of interesting political and social events. Accompanied by my comments, of course. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Football injuries are much in the news these days. Both pro and college ball. There was another time when football injuries were big time. The early 1900s. College ball. Pro ball was in its infant stages.

No helmets or shoulder pads in those days.

Deaths commonplace. A large number each season.

President Theodore Roosevelt got involved. He straightened things out. Had he not, football would have been banned in the United States. That close. Several prominent colleges had already banned football.

The opening topic this evening concerns Roosevelt and how he saved football.

Also, the inaugural this week. God help us! The Mexican people and their unhappiness. Major business closings. Some surprising. ISIS gaining ground in Albania. D.A.R.E. ends its anti-weed campaign. Plus, more.

Spent yesterday afternoon working on tonight’s blog talk radio show.

Then to Aqua for Dueling Bartenders. Tom and Rick. Sheila and David. Liz and Mary. And many more.

Dinner afterwards at Mangoes with Barbara and Liz. My first time to the new Mangoes. Lovely. Service excellent. Food merely ok. Not worth the cost.

Major announcement! My new show will begin monday. Going Live with Key West Lou. On Facebook. The show in addition to this blog and my tuesday night podcast.

You will see as well as hear me.

I will do several brief commentaries each day. Whatever strikes me at the moment. Whatever tickles my fancy. From wherever I am. All I have to do is pull out my cell phone and get to it.

The comments will be short. Generally 30-60 seconds.

Archived. Several commentaries can be read at one time.

I am excited. Hope it goes over well. Hope nothing pops up which causes me to push the opening date ahead.

Once again, a problem with stranded whales. Off Hog Key on the Gulf side of Florida. Ninety five whales involved. Eighty one already dead. Naturally or euthanized.

There have been stranded whales near Key West in past years. More than one time. I recall several years ago a pod stranded off Cudjoe Key. Went to take a look.

More than 500 volunteers and professionals appeared over a period of several days to help. Wet suits available to all who wanted to assist.

Some whales saved. Some died.

The effort impressive.

William Hackley mentioned yesterday his hope that what appeared to be a new Seminole War in 1856 would not be as expensive as previous ones. How expensive was expensive back in those days?

I did a bit of research. There were three Seminole Indian Wars. The first in the 1820s. the last 1855-1858.

Strange fact pattern. The federal government wanted to move the Florida Seminoles west to Oklahoma. Contrasted with the post Civil War years when the federal government was trying to move western Indians to Florida.

The Second Seminole War was the expensive one. Cost $30 million in a year when the federal budget was only $25 million. The basis for Hackley’s statement in 1856.

On this day in 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower spoke to the Nation. He warned to beware the “military-industrial complex.” He was well aware of their greedy nature and not necessarily acting in the best interests of the country.

Eisenhower was correct. His words not heeded. The military-industrial complex thriving. Encourages wars, overcharges, etc.

I close with Syracuse. My Syracuse. Settling in that this will not be one of Syracuse’s best seasons. Lost yesterday 85-68 to North Carolina.

Syracuse cannot play with the big guys this year.

Enjoy your day!

 

LAST SNOWFALL IN FLORIDA KEYS

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Last snowfall in Florida Keys? There has never been one. A real one. A year or two ago, Howard Livingston had many pounds of ice ground up and sprayed on his Summerland property. Snow everywhere. Deep snow.

Lynda Frechette is responsible for my snow reference this morning. Her weekly blog had attached a page from an old ConchTV.com issue. A comment from the page…..There has never been a recorded snowfall in the Florida island chain  since the National Weather Service began keeping records in 1870.

If we ever get snow, there should be no question in anyone’s mind that global warming exists.

The Arctic storm beginning to hit the northeast will be in the Florida Keys tonight. Temperature in the high 60s. Then normal 80s by day weather for about ten days. At that time, the Polar Vortex will hit causing some cold in the Florida Keys.

Haircut with Lori yesterday morning. She has a new shop on Whitehead. New building across from Fausto’s. Lovely! Modern in appearance. Spacious.

Then to Publix to pick up a few things.

Pineapples for sale. I took one and drove the cart around the store with the pineapple sitting upside down. No one approached me, male or female.

I did not buy the pineapple. Returned it to its fruit counter spot before checking out.

Dinner alone last night. Just me and the newspapers. The bar at Conch Republic. Enjoyed stone crabs. Knew no one. All tourists. Bar half full.

John Glenn passed away yesterday. At age 95. An American hero. No question.

Flew 149 combat missions in World War II and the Korean War. The first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. 1992. Later, a United States Senator. He was the last of the original Mercury 7 Astronauts living.

The most telling feature…..He and his wife were married 70 years at the time of his death.

Tonight, I eat exceptionally well. Donna is cooking. I am having dinner with Donna and Terri.

Enjoy your day!

LEPROSY

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There is good and bad to everything. Many times the bad is hidden/forgotten. Especially in the instance where the something bad has turned with the passage of time into a shining gem.

It is the story of leprosy and Key West. One I only learned this past week.

Diana Millikan is a snowbird. Interested in history. Digs every day into Key West’s background. She brought the leprosy part to my attention. I merely read what she provided.

There was a concern on her part that perhaps nothing should be written re the subject. A negative report. I initially agreed. Then decided that what was was. Let it all out.

The Biblical plague of all time is leprosy. Monroe County, and especially Key West, had a large number of leprosy victims residing here. It was another time, another century.

Once as many as 100. One of the largest numbers in the United States. None of the victims caught the dread disease here. It was brought from the outside into the Keys.

Leprosy is not contagious. One human to another. Don’t laugh. Leprosy is spread by armadillos. I do not recall armadillos inhabiting this area.

Today, leprosy is treatable. Persons affected are no longer isolated. Since 1942, a drug called Putome is available to cure leprosy.

The problem still exists. About ten cases a year in the United States. I do not know when the last case was reported in the Key West area. Note however that two Key West doctors list in their areas of expertise leprosy.

When leprosy was rampant, U.S. residents were shipped off to Carville, Louisiana. That is where they were isolated, lived. Five thousand patients over the years. The leprosy facility was closed by the government in 1999. No new business.

However, ten elderly residents remain. They never left. They have lived there their whole lives. They were born in Carville.

James Carville comes into play. James of Democratic political fame. His great grandfather was Postmaster of the Carville area for years. Carville, Louisiana is named after him.

I received sad information from Lynda Frechette this morning. Judy Wood is dead. The exuberant charming Tavern ‘n Town bartender. I will provide more information as received.

My intent last night was to hear Terri White sing at La Te Da at a Fantasy Fest King Fundraiser for Christopher. Then to The Little Room Jazz Club to attend Larry Smith’s birthday celebration.

Made neither. For some reason, I became extremely exhausted in the afternoon. The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent in bed.

Syracuse/Virginia Tech saturday. Virginia Tech a 17 point favorite.

I wish the football season would end!

Have to hustle. A haircut with Lori at noon. Then lunch at Jay’s new Cuzzy Bubbaz. It opened two days ago.

Enjoy your day!

$13

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There is an old proverb…..For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. Followed by the horse, rider, battle and Kingdom being lost.

Yesterday, for want of a $13 payment, my blog was lost.

The blog never appeared.

Last week, one of my credit cards was fraudulently used. The Fraud Bureau picked it up and cancelled the card. I have been using a temp since then awaiting my new card from the bank.

The card cancelled was the one I have used for years to pay a monthly $13 fee to GoDaddy. GoDaddy had the card number and took $13 out of the account each month.

GoDaddy is a domain builder, domain registrar, etc. I am not exactly sure what GoDaddy does. However, it is the beginning of this blog and the foundation/platform for everywhere the blog goes, how it gets there, etc.

GoDaddy shut my blog down because my card was no longer good. All for $13. Therein lies the reason no blog yesterday.

An entity and person died this past weekend. Both renown. Syracuse University and Tom Oosterhoudt.

Syracuse made the Final Four. Lost to North Carolina last night. Beat badly. I am not destroyed. Syracuse overachieved in the tournament. Boeheim and the team outdid themselves.

Whatever abilities carried Syracuse to this point in the tournament were absent last night. The pre tournament Syracuse team was on the floor.

Such is life. Again, I compliment the team and coach for having made it as far they did. Made an otherwise poor season a great season!

Tom Oosterhoudt a Key West icon and legend. Died early friday morning in a Miami hospital at age 65.

Tom a former City Commissioner and presently editor/publisher of Conch Color. Tom started Conch Color 11 years ago. He and his mother Mary Ann Worth own Casa Antigua on Simonton.

The Casa Antigua carries with it a piece of Key West history that Tom was proud of. Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway came to Key West by ship from Paris in 1928. The Casa Antigua then known as the Trev-Mor Hotel. Where Pelican Poop was located for years was the Trev-Mor Ford dealership. Hemingway had ordered a Ford to drive north from Key West.

The Ford had not arrived. Hemingway and his then wife were put up by the Trev-Mor people at the Trev-Mor Hotel. Two weeks later, the car arrived. By that time, Hemingway was sold on Key West. He did not leave till years later. He spent the next two years living at the Trev-Mor Hotel. Then bought his famous home on Whitehead Street.

While living at the Trev-Mor those two years, Hemingway finished A Farewell to Arms.

 

Last night was Tavern ‘n Town early with June. Had to be home before 9 to watch the Syracuse game. Bobby Nesbitt entertaining. Ran into Harrell Odom and Barry Cook from Nashville. Snowbirds. Harrell a heart doctor. I met Harrell several years ago at a dinner party at Donna Barnett’s.

Research complete for this week’s KONK Life column. Writing the column next. Will do it this afternoon. Not sure of the title yet. The column has to do with he failure of America’s educational system. Education being something more of us should pay attention to rather than merely giving lip service.

Temperature 88 yesterday. A one day cold spell upon us. High today only 78. I hope you find amusing my representation re the drop in temperature.

Enjoy your Sunday!

 

 

KEY WEST BUSY AND QUIET

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I recently mentioned it felt like the season was upon Key West. Yesterday, I was driving into town for a doctor visit. US 1, the Boulevard and Truman were jam packed with vehicles. Traffic moving slowly. Especially on US 1 and Truman.

On the return trip, I decided to use Flagler to avoid the traffic. Surprisingly, Flagler was crowded. More so than when the Boulevard construction was ongoing.

Last night, it was the Chart Room and then Hot Tin Roof.

On the way in, I noticed many people on the streets in the downtown area. Not so in  the Chart Room or Hot Tin Roof. Quiet.

It appears the tourists are here. However, not spending money. A proper observation for me to make. Key West’s lives or dies on tourism business.

I have mentioned the spending situation a couple of times this year. Nothing has changed. The tourists are coming in large numbers. Paying a big dollar at the hotels. Less at the bars and restaurants. They are buying pizzas and beer to dine on in their expensive hotel rooms.

Lynda Frechette! One of Key west’s leading persons! Sweet. Lovable. Caring.

Front page this morning’s Key West Citizen carried a large photo of Lynda and another smaller one of her and friends. Lynda was featured as a “Familiar Face.” Another way of saying an important person. Which Lynda is.

Tonight, tonight…..My blog talk radio show! Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Join me at 9 my time for a fast moving thought provoking half hour. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Topics tonight include Congress opening the floodgates to foreign investment in U.S. realty, gun buying dramatically on the rise in Germany, Venezuela rejects GMOs entirely, homeless children on the rise in U.S. and England, the black cloud over Jimmy Carter, the Miss Universe debacle, Trump’s use of schlong, and more.

Speaking of schlong, I am not Jewish My understanding however is that the word can be used in several ways. The most obvious as the name of a male’s personal part. It can also be used to describe a loser or someone capable of being beaten. Though I am anti-Trump, I suspect Trump was using the later description of the word.

Never the less, Trump should be more selective in his choice of words. His gutter approach is distasteful. I for one would not want him speaking as he is during the campaign were he elected President.

On last week’s blog talk radio show, I discussed the TPP and its affect on the American shrimp industry. Thailand is a major exporter of shrimp to the U.S. and else where world wide. Cheap to buy. The reason being Thailand uses slave and forced labor. They either pay these people nothing or pennies a day.

Our shrimp industry cannot compete.

Even before TPP takes effect, major U. S. companies have been purchasing Thai shrimp. Like Wal-Mart, Kroeger Wholesale Food, Red Lobster, and Olive Garden. Chicken of the Sea shrimp sold in Safeway and Albertson stores contain Thai shrimp.

TPP is a job loser for the U.S. Our leaders never learn from the past.

On this day in history in 1860, an election was held in Tallahassee to determine if Florida would join the Confederacy. It was so voted. However, Key West did not join the rest of Florida. Key West remained basically loyal to the Union. Fort Zachery Taylor was important to the Union’s cause. Key Wester’s celebrated the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Key West remaining loyal to the Union was caused in significant part by the nature of the people living in Key West. Most were transplanted New Englanders and Bahamians.

Syracuse basketball tonight. Against Montana State. Syracuse a 17 point favorite.

Enjoy your day!