THIS COUNTRY DOES NOT PUNISH ITS POLITICAL ENEMIES

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I am not a fan of Attorney general Jeff Sessions. My prior writings and talk shows clearly evidence my feelings.

However, I give him credit for his present stand against Trump. Especially where Trump complains that Sessions has failed to prosecute Hillary Clinton for purported wrong doings.

Sessions has been firm from day one that he would not pursue Clinton. During his Senate confirmation hearing in January, Sessions stated re a Hillary Clinton prosecution: “This country does not punish its political enemies.”

Third world countries jail political enemies. We are above such conduct. Though Trump keeps trying to pull us into that swamp.

Mini lobster season began yesterday. It ends today.

The weather was horrible yesterday. Two extremely heavy rainstorms.

Two sad occurrences. A man died off Bahia Honda State Park. A 16 year old girl lost a finger while getting out of a boat.

I started my yesterday with a visit to Dr. McIvor, my heart doctor. A test scheduled. One test lead to a second and different one. I get the results monday.

The Chart Room first last night. Dead! Never have seen it so quiet. Chatted with Shawn and a lady customer. She waits tables at Island Dog. Business slow for her also yesterday. She and Shawn were lamenting how little they made or were making in tips yesterday.

Then to Tavern ‘n Town for dinner.

Quiet, also.

Rob entertaining.

Met Chris and Marty. Married. Dogs, no children. Both have lived in Key West for years. Both soft ware engineers.

We talked about everything. From high rental prices to difficult tourists to the Bubba system to the New York Finger Lakes. They love upstate New York’s Finger Lakes and have visited several times.

Rick Perry is in Trump’s Cabinet. He is Secretary of Energy. Formerly, Governor of Texas. He has a charming personality, appears intelligent.

He got “punked.” Means someone fooled/deceived him in a telephone call.

What follows raises the question as to how much vetting does the Trump administration do.

Perry took a telephone call from a person he assumed was the Prime Minister of the Ukraine. Petro Poroshenko. They had met a month before. They discussed increasing American coal exports to the Ukraine, sanctions against Russia, helping the Ukraine develop oil and gas deposits, and the Paris Climate Accord.

A 22 minute telephone conversation.

It was not the Ukraine Prime Minister. It was a comedian. Two, actually. Vladimir Krasnoo and Alexei Stolyarov. Known professionally as the Jerky Boys of Russia.

Again, where the hell was the vetting? How does something like this happen? Is nothing sacred in government today?

Impeachment is in the air. Lightly. Not heavy yet.

On this day in 1974, the House Judiciary Committee recommended President Richard Nixon be impeached.

USA Today ran an interesting article on male sperm yesterday. The quantity and quality has been down 1.6 percent a year since 1973. A drop of 59.3 percent.

Not a U.S. problem alone. Similar numbers in the rest of North America, Europe and Australia.

The decline attributed to several causes. Women smoking during pregnancy could affect a son’s fertility years later, male obesity, pesticides, and stress.

Two things scheduled for noon time. A haircut with Lori. The car gets washed.

The car has not been washed in months. The outside looks clean because of the frequent rains. The inside looks like I have been sleeping in the car.

Enjoy your day!

 

BEGINNING OF THE END…..

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June 6, 1944. D-Day. Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy. American, British, and Canadian. One hundred fifty five thousand strong. Within 11 months, Germany would surrender.

This past weekend, Trump and company publicized this week would be a national tour by Trump to share with the people his infrastructure plan. To privatize infrastructure.

I support infrastructure remediation. I do not support privatization.

Instead of infrastructure, Trump appeared in the White House yesterday morning telling us about his plan for privatization of air controllers. I figured tuesday would find Trump into infrastructure.

Apparently not to be. At least not today. Trump news this morning says he wants to work on healthcare and the budget first.

Why the switch?

Aqua first last night. Tom Luna and Rich Dery singing as only they can. Destiny their guest performer. A knock out voice, also.

Liz at the bar. With girl friends Josefina and Mary. First time i have seen Liz in a few weeks. She is still with cane. Looking questionable whether her second hip surgery worked.

Photographer Larry Blackburn at the bar. We exchanged hellos and shook hands.

Then down the block to Bourbon Street. Wanted to hear Bria sing. No Bria. Discovered she has left for New Hampshire for the summer.

I was disappointed. Not for log, however.

Rocky Bottom was filling in for Bria. A terrific entertainer!

Bourbon Street is a gay bar. One of the top ones in Key West. Rocky Bottom, a female. Kept the guys entertained. Her tip bucket filled up rapidly.

Rocky Bottom sings to a different tune. A little wild. One song had fuck every other word. She sang the tune not sensuously. Hard and tough!

Joe Schroeder opened Bourbon Street twenty plus years ago. He was looking to establish a Beads, Boys and Booze operation. He succeeded big time.

Stopped at the VFW for a bite to eat on the way home. The VFW is open to the public. Prior military involvement not a requirement for admission.

I was at one end of the bar. A mature couple came in and sat at the other end. About a dozen people at the bar.

The new guy bought for the bar. He knew no one. His first time in the VFW. His name Mark and he was from Michigan.

On my way out, I stopped to thank him and shake his hand. He said, “Thank you for your service.”

I never served.

My meal was meat loaf. Mother’s cooking.

You can tell the humidity is heavy. Glasses fog up immediately when you get out of an air conditioned car.

Tomorrow at 10 am at the Custom House, Dr. Cori Convertino is giving a walking lecture telling the story of Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railway. Dr. Convertino is the KWAHS curator who devoted months putting the Flagler Railway exhibition together.

Coomey appears before a Congressional Committee thursday. Too much hype. Expectations running high. Too much may be expected. Certain of his testimony will be classified. Additionally, Special Counsel Mueller may limit what Coomey may reveal.

We shall see.

The emblem of the Democratic Party is the donkey. From whence did it come?

Andrew Jackson was running for President. The Party’s mascot at the time was the Rooster. Shades of Key West 175 years later.

Jackson’s opposition used a play on Jackson’s name to make fun of Jackson and his followers: Jackasses. Donkey in due course became the more tasteful replacement for Jackasses.

The Rooster did not completely die. The Democrat Rooster remains to this day on ballots in some states.

Tonight, my podcast. Tuesday Talk with Key West Lou. Nine my time. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Usually, I list topics to be discussed in the evening in the tuesday morning blog. Not this week. With Trump out there, things change hourly.

The past few weeks, I have spent my tuesday afternoons adjusting my topics to fit breaking news. Today, I am waiting till one to formulate tonight’s program.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

 

 

TRUMP A CARNY PITCHMAN RE INFRASTRUCTURE

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Today it begins. Trump plans on spending the whole week selling his infrastructure plan to the American people.

Good luck! Typical Trump. Good for corporate America, bad for the American people.

Past Presidents for many years have avoided repairing and maintaining our highways and bridges. Trump says he is going to fix them. With few taxpayer dollars.

Trump is selling a $1 trillion overhaul. His plan is to make corporate America pay. Trump wants to sell American highways and bridges to corporate America. If he can’t sell, then lease long term. Like 30-50 years.

The corporations will do the needed work.

The system will improve roads and bridges. To the detriment of the American people.

Corporations are in business to make money. The plan is not a give away one.

Tolls will be charged. Even on roads not presently charging tolls. The tolls will increase periodically as the corporations desire to make more profit.

Blackstone is the corporation in line to benefit. Over $400 million contributed to Trump PACs in the last election. Blackstone has been getting ready for almost a year to do the job.

I have spent considerable time in recent years in northern Italy. Italy has a program similar to the one Trump will be trying to sell. The Italian highways and bridges are in perfect shape. Through out  Italy.

The Italian people are unhappy. Tolls charged everywhere. Even on roads never charged before. The tolls constantly increasing.

My Italian friends all look for back narrow roads to drive in order to escape the tolls. The back roads do not provide for a healthy drive. Narrow. Like 1 1/2 lanes.

It is chicken time while driving on one. Two cars approach each other. Each waits for the other to pull off the road onto the shoulder in order to pass. A last second thing. Heart in your throat time.

The Garden of Eden was a Hemingway novel not published during his lifetime. It was discovered after his death. Then published. Hemingway spent 15 years off and on writing the book.

The theme of the novel is threefold. The exploration of male and female relationships, evidences an interest in androgynous characters, and the reversal of gender roles.

For many years, the roof of the Bull and Whistle on Duval has had a clothing optional rooftop bar. Its name Garden of Eden. Its reputation hot. In my reality, not so. In my many years in Key West, I have only been on the roof top a half dozen times. The only nudity was the bar maids breasts. A disappointment. The lack of nudity, not the bar maid’s breasts.

I have always wondered if the roof top Garden of Eden is named after Hemingway’s novel. Sex played a significant part in the book. Sex is intimated at the roof top bar.

If so, Hemingway would be disappointed in the rooftop’s misnomer.

The bocce season is over. Playoffs were this weekend. I did not attend. Don’s Place did not make the playoffs. First time in years.

In 1927, what is described as the New Overseas Highway between Key West and Big Pine was opened to traffic. This date to be exact.

A 30 minute drive today. Wonder what it was then?

Today a sad one in American history. Robert Kennedy was assassinated this date in 1968. He had just won the California primary for President. He was leaving the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angles at the time of the shooting.

The year was a tempestuous time in American history. The anti-
Vietnam War movement was peaking. Martin Luther King had been assassinated. Johnson announced he would not run for a second full term. The country was in general unrest. Riots everywhere.

Enjoy your day!