U.S. IS CHANGING DIRECTION

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Doug Jones’ victory in the Alabama Senate race yesterday tied with the Democratic sweep in Virginia several months ago indicates the United States has changed direction. The momentum is there. Except for that solid 30-35 percent of Trump voters, politically, mentally, socially, etc., America has seen the error of its ways.

Perhaps it had to be. The election of a Donald Trump. It has shaken things up. Not for the better in most instances.

Roy Moore is a sick man. How can a person who hates gays, blacks and Jews, yet loves 13-14 year olds, be elected to the Senate? I admit I was concerned. A crazy election. I thought “Albamians would stick to the script and elect a Republican, regardless of his propensities for the unsatisfactory and sick.

Glad I was wrong.

Then there is Trump in recent days. He cannot stop vilifying women. The most recent New York’s Senator Karen Gillibrand. Said she “would do anything for campaign contributions.” Inferring she was a whore.

Bad guy!

The election a stunning upset. Especially since Trump went all out for Moore. I cannot refer to Trump and Moore as birds of a feather. One likes only adult women whereas the other young girls.

The victory is being attributed to the exceptionally huge black turn out, suburban Republican wives, and college students.

I hope the Democrats are learning. One of the reasons Trump became President was because of Democratic failings.

I was impressed with the ground game on Jones’ behalf. Trust the Democrats will be able to keep it up in other States as 2018 approaches.

Saw the eye doctor and optician again yesterday morning. Turns out my prescription was way off. Waiting now for new lenses.

I was supposed to be at Guy de Boer’s home last night for a party. Around noon, I got tired. Exhausted. Called Guy around six and begged off.

This exhaustion is a pain! I was so tired, I did not go down stairs for something to eat at dinner time. I did not want to climb the stairs on the return trip.

I had planned on completing and fine tuning my podcast show scheduled for last night during the afternoon. No way! I was beat!

Winged it! Thought the show went smoothly. Listened to it this morning. Like every other show. Not obvious I was winging it.

Banks are thieves. So too, pharmaceutical houses.

The drug houses raise prices at will. Price gouging, in effect. Screw the public! Proper governmental controls and oversight lacking.

Avondale Pharmaceuticals the most recent example.

The gouging system simple. The company buys the rights to a drug that has little or no competition. Then massively inflate the price.

Two examples are Niacor and SSKI.

Niacor is a niacin/vitamin B pill. One hundred per bottle. Sold for $32.46 per bottle. Price raised to $295. An 800 percent increase.

SSKI’s increase 2,500 percent. Cost of a 30ml bottle went from $11.48 to $295.

I have been writing and reporting for two years re the Department of Defense’s inability to account for billions of dollars. Last week the Department announced it was preparing to audit the military. An inventory. Planes, guns, etc. First time.

Two days ago, the Department announced it had lost 44,000 military. Did not know where they were. The tracking system failed.

The were going to try to find them via the audit.

Yesterday, a third announcement by the Department and also the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The money part I had been complaining about.

It was announced that between 1998 and 2015, the two Departments had lost a combined $21 trillion. Taxpayer funds. Not accountable. No receipts, vouchers, etc.

To make matters even worse, it was reported that the Departments were “plugging” the figures. Making up numbers to make any accounting balance.

Twenty one trillion dollars is more than the national debt. It equates to $65,000 per man, woman and child in the United States.

Party time again tonight. A fundraiser.

Mary Lou Hoover is one of the most able and active women in Key West. She has decided to enter politics. She is running for the Key West City Commission.

The fundraiser is scheduled for this evening from 5:30 to 8:00 at Kate Miano’s new home on Free School Lane.

Jean Thornton and I will be attending together and then walking down the street to Marquesa for dinner.

Iguanas have been a problem for close to 20 years. Never in Key West, all of a sudden they appeared. In droves. All sizes. The community grew.

Iguanas are prolific. They multiply rapidly. The problem in the Keys overall is out of control. As with pythons.

The State has finally decided to do something about it. A program involving self-help will be instituted throughout the Keys. Purpose, to eradicate or control.

As with the pythons, never to be controlled in my opinion. Too late. Hopefully, contained.

Why are iguanas a problem? They eat flowers and foliage. You spend money for a lovely garden. They devour it. Their defecation a problem, also. They shit in our pools! Don’t laugh. The pool has to be drained and refilled.

Irma and Me selling well. I am impressed! The only story of Hurricane Irma on the book shelves. Buy a copy to enjoy yourself or give as a Christmas gift. Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and KoboBooks.

Enjoy your day!

A DOUBLE PISS DAY

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A strange title. Apropos, however.

Yesterday was heart catherization day. My fourth. I am accustomed to the procedure.

Brought a book with me to pass the time away waiting. Crazy Shit Presidents Said. An interesting comment by President Johnson……Making a speech on economics is like pissing down your leg. It seems hot to you, but it never does to anyone else.

Fits President Trump and Speaker Ryan perfectly.

My second encounter with urination involved me personally. Two arm incisions made to perform the procedure. The one in the wrist was for artery entry.

The arteries pump blood rapidly. Much faster than the veins. The artery incision was made in my right wrist. A lot of pressure following the procedure to close the incision. A big bandage. Part of the bandage was a sort of cellophane surrounding the gauze. Cellophane 2 inches wide.

They had been pumping fluids into me for two hours before the procedure and then an hour after. To rid my kidneys of whatever else was pumped into me. Came a time I had to piss.

I was wearing the usual hospital gown. Open in back.

A nurse escorted me to the bathroom. Admonished me not to bend my wrist.

Good luck! I lifted the front of the gown with my left hand. Took hold of my penis with my right. Had to bend the wrist to get at it.

It happened! Opened the incision. Blood spurting. Over me and the gown.

Panicsville by the nurse. Told her I did nothing but go for my penis. Whatever, she laughed. Told the other nurses. They laughed. Even I laughed. I was not concerned.

The wrist was rewrapped. This time a 10 inch splint was placed on my wrist guaranteeing I would not bend it.

The procedure was done at the Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood. Very impressive. A campus of buildings. I was in the Outpatient one. Several stories high. Each floor thousands of feet.

Everyone appeared to enjoy being employed there. I never have seen such a happy group of workers anywhere.

I was instructed to arrive at the hospital at 7:30. Stayed overnight at a hotel. Received a call the afternoon before. Time moved up. Be here at 6:30. Ok. Received another call later. New time, 5:30. I was afraid the front desk would not wake me at 4. I woke at 1 and remained awake till 4.

On the way to Hollywood, stopped at Costco in Homestead. My first Costco visit. I was impressed! Food prices so cheap. Bought a lot. Also saw a computer monitor for sale. Tim Reynolds suggested I get one. I need larger print. No matter how good the glasses, eyes do not function well in old age.

Found one on sale. $50 off. Cost now $150. Bought it. I have not set it up yet. Going to be wild. It is like a huge TV screen.

Still the night before. Did not want to lay around in my room. Went to Billy’s Stone Crab Restaurant. Great stone crabs! Like Joe’s. With a side of hash browns, three gins and a piece of key lime pie.

Another first. Took Uber from the hotel and back. Fantastic! Cheap!

Today a sad day in history. John Kennedy was assassinated this date in 1963. The end of Camelot.

A Key West friend has died. Joan Povel Cornell.

Joan lived through the London blitz. While in Paris following the war, she met her love of 63 years, Woody. An obviously loving couple. Woody especially attentive to Joan.

We saw much of each other 15-20 years ago. Then for whatever reason, rarely. I would run into Joan and Woody in Publix every two years. Always agreed to call each other for dinner. Sadly, never happened.

I knew Joan had been sick the past several years. She and Woody’s name came up at my eye Doctor visit last week. Dr. Douville reminded me that he and I had first met at a sunday brunch at the Cornell’s 18 years earlier.

A good woman gone! A new bright star in the sky! Poor Woody, alone.

Local Alabama Evangelistic ministers supporting Roy Moore. To an extreme. His personal minister said yesterday…..More women are sexual predators than men.

Trump indicated support of Moore yesterday. Proves politics is more important than the election of a pedophile and woman abuser.

Staying with Trump a moment, he is lacking in sympathy. He has no heart.

Haiti suffered a powerful  earthquake in 2010. Haiti before and since, the poorest nation in the Americas. Obama took in 60,000 refugees on temporary residency permits. The 60,000 have become acclimated to the U.S. Hard workers. Some became college educated. Many had children. The children automatically U.S. citizens.

The parents will be deported back to Haiti. What of the children?  The word is most will remain to be raised in American homes.

No reason to return anyone to Haiti after almost 8 years. Typical Trump cruelty.

Irma and me. Heard from the publisher. Irma and Me is available at more that Amazon. It is also available from Barnes and Noble and KoboBooks. Also at the Absolutely Amazing eBooks website.

Consider Irma and Me as a Xmas gift or stocking stuffer.

Driving back from Hollywood yesterday, the trip took me through Marathon south to Cudjoe. Irma still evident. In certain parts, like a war zone.

Enjoy your day!

Tomorrow the turkey!

MOTEL PRICE WAR…..1955 STYLE

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This morning’s edition of the Key West Citizen reported a rather unique occurrence.

On this day in 1955, there was a motel price war in Key West. Things very competitive back then. Eight motels offered free rooms to tourists.

Never again and never more.

Speaking of the Citizen, I was glad to read in this morning’s edition that beginning October 7 the Citizen would be run as a daily. I assume this means every day. Not twice a week as was recently reported.

The talk on the street clearly indicates how unhappy the public was to learn the Citizen was cutting back to two times a week. You do not miss something until it is lost to you.

Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. My podcast show. Aired last night for the first time in four weeks. An Irma disruption.

It felt good to do the show again. Hope you enjoyed it.

I had trouble hooking up with the station. Some technical difficulty. I got on with 5 seconds to go. I experienced a rush of adrenalin!

Someone commented she could not hear the audio last night, but was able to do so this morning in the archived version. Did any one else have the problem of no audio last night? If so, please let me know.

Mentioned yesterday my car battery was dead outside Denny’s monday night. Had it charged and drove home. Went to start the car yesterday. Dead again! Battery was tested. It has a bad cell.

Car sitting outside dead. No use.

Difficult to get a Volkswagen Beetle battery locally. Must come from Miami. Takes a week.

Finally found some one locally who had the necessary battery. He is stopping by at 2 to install it.

I have mentioned in the past the Justice Building Blog. Excellent!

Permit me to share a comment contained in the Blog’s 9/26/17 publication. Concerned Trump and people who work for him.

“All it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to remain silent and do nothing…..Evil cannot exist without the silence and compliance of good people.”

Trump’s election opened the door to nuts successfully running for office. Yesterday, Roy Moore won the Republican primary in Alabama. You are aware of his background. A radical thinker. Does not seem to believe in the Constitution. Lost his judgeship two times for not adhering to the law.

He may win the election in November. He will neither dance to Trump’s tune or anyone else’s. The Senate will be a crazy place.

Moore’s election following Trump’s is going to encourage other radical/defectivess to run. In today’s society, most will win.

Where is our country going? What is happening? Why?

An Irma update. Post Irma happenings.

Schooner Wharf is throwing a Thank You BBQ party tonight. Five to 9. For first responders, relief workers, and locals. Those who answered Key West’s call for help.

Food free.

Debris everywhere. Extensive clean up underway. Takes a while. In the meantime, the debris is beginning to smell. The smell not nice.

Lobster fishermen are taking a beating big time as a result of Irma.

Lobster fishermen in this area put down 1,000 to 5,000 traps. The fishermen I am referring to the ones who work in the Atlantic off the Middle Keys. Irma took most of the traps. They are nowhere to be found.

Some of the fishermen lost their boats also. One referred to Irma as “…..the storm of the century for us.”

Cudjoe took some hit. Some say Irma hit heaviest at Cudjoe.

Cudjoe’s clean up will be long. An odor permeates the Key. Not from debris. Sewage. One canal appears to have become a total drain for sewage.

We are two weeks post Irma. People still in need. Especially food and clothes.

Star of Sea opened a distribution center at Key Plaza. The lines of people waiting to get in continue to be long. As many as 50 persons on occasion.

Help comes in many forms and from distant places. Help not expected, but welcomed.

The Red Cross has established a base camp on Big Pine. It houses 80 disaster relief workers and volunteers. The base camp was brought to Big Pine and assembled by Red Cross volunteers from Copenhagen, Denmark. The Danish workers remain and continue to help.

God bless them!

Enjoy your day!