THINGS I DID NOT SHARE

Michael has dominated my blog the past few days. Other matters, I let slip to the wayside. Just went through my notes. I want to share some of the items with you. I am reporting them as they appear with no order or sequence.

I was watching MSNBC yesterday morning. A reporter at a California college campus. Talking with 40-50 students.

Millennials. The hope of the Democratic Party.

How many of you are going to vote? Only one hand raised. When others were questioned, they said their only concern was school. An attitude like don’t bother me.

Based on news reports, I thought this was the year the kids were going to vote. A rush to the polls. Not so. If the Democratic Party is depending on them, forget it!

Something wrong organization wise within the party. Democratic Party leaders constantly talk about the millennial vote. Have they got it wrong! The millennials will not be contributing this election to saving America.

I came across this quote in How To Win A fight With A Conservative: “We can’t be lulled into complacency. You have to remember that Adolph Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I’m not comparing him to Adolph Hitler. What I’m saying is there is the potential.”

Sounds like someone talking about Trump. Not so. Obama. Would you believe? Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga) expressing fears one week after Barack Obama was elected President in 2008. Broun believed Obama would create a security force akin to the Gestapo to impose a Marxist dictatorship.

The government screws up. Suddenly, the simple becomes a bureaucratic mess.

An Ohio woman got a ticket for failing to use her seat belt. When she went to pay, she was told her driver’s license had been suspended for 3 months for failure to pay child support. She told the Motor Vehicle person there had to be a mistake. She never had children. In fact, she had never been pregnant.

She has been busting her ass to get the problem resolved. A government goof has turned into a bureaucratic nightmare. No one can help her. Each agency blames the other or the computer. In the meantime, she is not driving.

Shakespeare wrote in the Merchant of Venice when he had Portia speaking to Shylock re mercy: “The quality of mercy is not strained.”

It was 2000. Two black brothers ages 21 and 20 were being sentenced for murder in New York City. They had murdered a gang member who had sexually assaulted one of their wives.

Justice Gustin Reichbach could have sentenced them to life. A maximum sentence. Never to be released.

The Judge felt a degree of sympathy for the brothers. Instead, he sentenced them to 17 1/2 years to life. Significant. It meant they would be able to seek parole after serving 17 1/2 years.

Both were paroled last year after 17 1/2 years.

Today, one attends Cornell and the other Columbia. All because one Judge saw something in the brothers that others might not have.

Senator David Perdue (R-Ga) is typical of a number of southern Republican politicians. Four examples why.

In the past few days, the Senator was being questioned by college students concerned that Georgia courts were preventing college students, primarily black, from voting based on a claim their registrations were improper. A total falsehood.

One of the students asked the question. He was holding his cell phone out to record the response.

The Senator “ripped” the phone out of the student’s hand.

The Senator’s office says it was an error in judgment on the part of the Senator.

The Senator in a recent speech compared Trump to Churchill. He said, Trump is “not a choir boy, but a man of history.”

Two weeks ago, he described Kavanaugh protesters as “Nazis.”

Can’t even leave Obama alone. At a recent Facts and Freedom Coalition in June, the Senator said let Obama’s days be few. He relied on Psalm 109:8: “Let his days be few.”

God loving men?

Now to yesterday news and happenings.

Stone crab season opens today! Hooray!

Stopped first at the Rum Barrel last night. Sunday night my Lauri fix. A wonderful lady.

Then to the Chart Room. Glad I stopped. Jean Thornton at the bar. She introduced me to Don Kincaid. They are old friends.

Don has been with Mel Fisher  in one capacity or another since the 1970’s. He is the man who found the first gold coin when the Atocha was discovered. He has written for National Geographic. Serves on the Mel Fisher Board. Today, a professional photographer.

Susan and Huggie came in. We had met before, though I did not recall them. They understood. Susan and Huggie are from Charleston, South Carolina and visit Key West twice a year.

Tonight, Dueling Bartenders at Aqua. Jean and I plan on meeting.

Enjoy your day!

HUMP DAY AND LOUIS

People think that the older a person is the wiser they are. In most instances, yes. There are times however you surprise yourself and others with what you do/did not know.

I never heard the term hump day till I lived in Key West. Maybe I was the blind in this instance who could not see.

I noticed several yeas ago how many times hump day would appear in writings on wednesday. Recognizing Key West was a little of the wall, I assumed the term had to do with sex.

I wrote that everyone should enjoy the sex that hump day denoted.

Next day, I was buried with comments. Hump day had nothing to do with sex. It was a a term given to the middle of the work week. Half over.

I was disappointed. I would have preferred it had to do with sex.

My podcast last night. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Enjoyed commenting on matters that I thought required discussion/analysis.

First, money. The continued plight of the middle class and the inability of millennials to purchase a home because of a lack of funds.

Then, Trump. He ate up a lot of my show time. Required. The story grows with each passing day.

I covered Trump’s trip, the Russia investigation, Trump and Jared Kushner, and finally Trump, Kushner and Blackstone. The last item revealing.

One of the great poets of all time was born this date in 1819. Walt Whitman. His best known works “Leaves of Grass” and “O Captain, My Captain.”

I consider “O Captain, My Captain” his best work. Concerned Abraham Lincoln’s death. Set forth Whitman’s deep sorrow.

I was a history major. Especially loved the Civil war. Could not learn enough about it.

In an English literature course in my junior year, the professor spent much time analyzing “O Captain, My Captain.” I paid special attention and absorbed everything I could learn about the work.

Fortunately. The poem was a major question on the final examination.

Let me share a bit of this special work.

“O Captain! My Captain! our fearful trip is done. The ship weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won. The port is near, the bells the people all exalting…..O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dark…..rise up and hear the bells; Rise for you the flag is flung – for you the bugle trills.”

Capitalizations, spelling and punctuation as set forth in the original of the poem as published.

Trump continues to screw up. News this morning reports Trump is using an unsecured cell phone to speak with world leaders. He was giving leaders he met on his recent trip the number and telling them to call him directly.

This by the man who severely criticized Hillary for using a private mail server.

Trump does not think. Actually, the problem is he does not know. And refuses to learn!

Enjoy your day!