“GOD BLESS HIM”

I fear Charlottesville saturday may have changed America forever.

The shadow people revealed themselves in major fashion. The rodents came out of the earth, the vermin out of the walls. White Supremacists, neo-Nazis, and Klu Klux Klaners.

Accepted without proper/sufficient denunciation by Trump.

The white supremacists website Daily Stormer cheered Trump in that regard: “When asked to condemn, he just walked out of the room. Really, really good. God bless him.”

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Alt Right leader, Donald Trump!

An excellent Sunday!

Meet The Press.

Then the PGA. Watched Justin Thomas win by 2 strokes.

Hot Dog Church. Laurie bartending. Like her a lot. Donna and Terri. Art and George. Met a lady. A sex change person. Male to female. Many others.

Donna and Terri joined me for dinner afterwards at Antonia’s. TK bartending. A fun time.

I am an early to sleep person. Not last night. Awake till 1 in the morning. Got hooked on a couple of movies. Will pay for it today.

Another Tropical Storm. Gert. Not a problem. Way out in the Atlantic. Already started its turn northwest.

One may not turn, will increase in power to a hurricane, and head for Key West. I am preparing you for such an event.

Failed to mention one part of my Robert and Ally saturday. We did Lobster Fest between lunch at Denny’s and the Key West Escape Room. Walked Duval.

First time Lobster Fest for Robert and Ally. They enjoyed. They knew some of those working the food tents. Montessori teachers.

I sometimes think Pritam Singh does not receive the credit he deserves. On this day in 1988, Singh broke ground for Truman Annex. Since that time, he has constructed other significant sites. Ocean Edge on Stock Island the most recent.

A major contributor to the Key West scene.

I mentioned my concern re the amphitheater the other day. Had the City hired some one to run the place yet? Or was the amphitheater to be another half assed planning job ultimately costing taxpayers extra money?

The latter appears to be the case.

The City Commission announced the amphitheater’s first event will be a 4 day country music concert in February. The show is paying Key West a $4,000 rental feel. Yes, $4,000! Won’t even cover the cost for staffing, clean-up, and extra police for crowd and traffic control.

There once was a City Commission who used their heads in running Key West. Actually, keeping Key West afloat.

During the tough days of the Great Depression (1929 through the 1930’s), Key West was broke. Everyone was. The City Commission authorized the City to print money. Called it Script. Actual amount unknown. Thought to be $50,000-100,000.

It worked. The Script was used to pay City employees. Who in turn used the Script to buy things. Many merchants accepted the Script.  Key West was able to keep its nose above the water line.

How bad was bad? So bad that there was no demand to buy real estate. No one had money. There were also few foreclosures. No one had the money to buy the property afterwards from the bank.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

THE DELAWARE LEARYS

Valarie and Mark Leary have visited Key West over the years. Residents of Delaware. Valerie works as an EMT. She understands medicine. Mark is in air conditioning.

Valarie is a loyal blog reader. She wrote they would be down this week and asked if we could get together. We met yesterday at Martin’s Happy Hour.

Great people. Especially Valarie. Vivacious best describes her.

We spent two hours having a wonderful time. They return home today. I am sure we will get together on their visit next year.

Busy yesterday. So busy, I missed lunch. Breakfast was toast and coffee at 6. Then Meet The Press. At 11, I sat down to compose this week’s KONK Life column. Took me till 3 to complete, without a break.

The title of this week’s column is Things That Concern Me. I vented. Selected eight topics bothering me for one reason or another. There are more. However space limited the number I could cover.

I know without question many of my positions are controversial. I expect many comments.

Topics discussed: Trump, Flint water, immigrants, Zika, Key West tourists, citizen groups hurting the United States, military spending, and the destruction of the middle class.

Something for every one.

Following the Leary visit, I returned home. Spent the evening reading and watching TV.

The weather has turned. Finally. 76 yesterday. Supposed to be warm all week. Rained all night. Looks like more rain coming today. I do not care. As long as it remains warm. The sun will get its turn and come out.

Sometimes, I am behind the times. New things occur and I am not aware for several years. Pickleball the latest.

I never heard of pickleball till this past week. A sport that has taken hold in Key West. Especially popular among the elderly. Though all ages participating.

It is a form of badminton/tennis. A paddle and plastic ball used. The ball has holes.

The game has been around a while. There are 2.46 million players nationwide.

I have been considering retiring from bocci. I would spend thursday evenings working on one or two chapters of Growing Up Italian. A good substitute for bocce might be pickleball. The only problem is I am not sure I am physically up to it.

An interesting piece of legal history. On this day in 1790, the United States Supreme Court sat for the first time. Six Justices. A law had been passed the year before establishing that number. The Court now has nine justices. Subsequent legislation over the years increased the number.

The reason I make mention is that it took the Senate only two days to approve the six Justices. Never again!

Enjoy your day!

 

J P MORGAN CHASE, TURTLES AND THE AIRPORT

 

It was Sunday. It was Mothers Day. I said hello to my Mom up above. Told her to take care of Dad.

Then I settled in to watch Meet The Press.

This J P Morgan Chase thing is an abomination! Losing $2 billion. This morning’s news says it may reach $3 billion.

The guest was Jamie Dimon. CEO of J P Morgan Chase. What a cavalier attitude! A few mistakes had been made, he said.

This morning’s news also reports that three heads will roll this week. All top people. All earning multimillion dollars a year. One is a woman by the name of Drew. She reportedly is earning $15 million a year. None of them worth their money if they lose $2 billion.

No word yet as to whether Jamie Dimon is on his way out. He should be. He was captain of the ship when everything occurred.

No one has faith in banks any more. And properly so. First they screwed Main street. Now they are screwing Wall Street, themselves.

Later in the morning, I had an airport run. A neighbor flying out who needed a ride. This task/help is a big thing in Key West. I am always happy to do it when asked.

The airport has changed. Key West is changing. Instead of a half dozen cabs, there are close to a dozen and a half. Instead of small planes, most are jets. They arrive three at a time. The arriving area is bursting with people waiting for their bags.

I was up and out. Might as well go to breakfast.  I ended up at Harpoon Harry’s. Eggs benedict crab meat and the Sunday papers.

Mothers Day dinner was at Lisa’s. Last year we went to the Yacht Club. This year we celebrated at home. Ally was sick. It was a pleasant family dinner, except for poor Ally. She looked terrible. Face flushed, eyes half closed, quiet, eating nothing.

It is turtle birthing time again. Smathers Beach has many places where the eggs have been buried. The hatching process takes 55 days. Once hatched, there are no mothers to take care of the little ones. The mothers are long gone. The baby turtles head for the ocean. They are directed to the water by the moon light. Such is their instinct.

A few years ago, the turtles became confused. They saw the street lights. The lights are located on the opposite side of the beach. The turtles assumed the street lights were the moon. They headed for them and the street. Obviously, many were run over.

Since then, all street lights along Smathers Beach are not turned on for a three month period so the baby turtles will not be confused.

We take care of our own in Key West.

Enjoy your day!