LET THEM EAT CAKE

As the French Revolution approached, it is claimed Marie Antoinette was told the people had no bread. Her purported response: Let them eat cake!

Historians claim Marie Antoinette never uttered the words. First, because they were recorded when she was nine years old. Second, she was too nice to have spoken thusly.

An observation. Bread was cheap to make. Cake, not. The cake referred to in the statement was actually brioche. A luxury cake full of milk and eggs. Expensive.

Tomorrow Trump’s proposed budget will be made public. A lot of cuts affecting the poor and middle classes. One item food stamps.

Food stamps feed 42 million people. Trump wants to cut food stamps by 25 percent over 10 years. $193 billion. The cut by a man who obviously eats the best and richest of foods. His body size speaks for itself. A man who luxuriates at Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower. A president who causes protection costs to skyrocket because his family and he live in three different locations.

Trump’s life style suggests…..Let them eat bread!

Trump forgets his obligation to take care of all the people. I make this statement based on  the further fact that his proposed budget contains big tax breaks for the rich.

The message seems to be…..Screw the people!

Turtle nesting time! All along the Keys. In Key West, Higgs and Smathers Beaches.

This week’s Keynoter has an excellent article on the nesting subject.

Each of 100 to 200 female loggerhead turtles will lay 100 to 120 golf ball sized eggs in the sand. Incubation is two months. Followed by the journey back to the ocean by the baby turtles.

I live and learn. Turtle sex is determined by sand temperature. Hotter sand yields females. Cooler, males.

Another interesting tidbit. There are not many nests laid on Key West beaches. Smathers for example had only 7 nests in 2015. Last year things improved. Ten.

Our friend William Hackley sounds cruel this morning. He was walking along Simonton Road near the beach and came upon a turtle nest. He took 110 turtle eggs. Broke more than a dozen in the process. Food for Hackley and his family.

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog that I saw Forever Plaid saturday night at the Waterfront. The show thrilled me. Songs from my past. Tunes I danced and courted to. One of them, Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.

Last night on Turner Classics, the movie was shown. William Holden and Jennifer Jones. Touched my heart. Saw the movie for the first time in 1955 at the now gone Olympic Theater in Utica with my fiance. The movie had emotional parts. Our hand holding got tighter at those times.

Nothing is forever. Live long enough and you realize it. Gone are major companies such as Eastern Airlines and Montgomery Ward. More businesses have failed in recent times.

Yesterday, one of America’s most beloved closed its doors. Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. My father took me. I took my children. My children took their children.

Enjoy your day!

 

KATHY CAWLEY

Another star shines bright in the sky. Kathy Cawley. She left us yesterday at age 77.

Kathy was in Greenwich at the time. Her husband Tom with her.

Kathy and Tom have been spending eight months in Key West and four in Greenwich for years. A team. Loyal attendees at every Key West cultural and social event.

Kathy’s personality a bubbly one. The  tiny woman always with a smile on her face.

She and Tom traveled the island on their motor scooter. One scooter, two bodies. Kathy seated behind Tom holding tightly on to him.

Kathy will be missed.

The front page of the Key West Citizen has a large picture of a turtle nesting place on a beach. The Pier House beach. Stakes and ropes squared around the area to keep humans from stepping on the shelled babies hidden under the sand.

The Citizen reported the Reach also has a turtle nest on its property.

It is unusual for nests to show up on the two hotel beaches. The beach area of both small.

Pati Flowers. Lovely lady. A special person. A bartender at Hot Tin Roof.

She is Citizen of the Day.The designation and her photo appear in this morning’s Key West Citizen.

Last night was Sq. 1 for a drink and dinner at the outside bar at La Te Da. The evening uneventful.

I can’t stop writing  about Venezuela. A disgrace. A sorrow. Vivid starvation.

The government cannot be believed. It announced yesterday it was confiscating guns and ammunition. Destroying them by crushing and chopping. The excuse the rising murder rate in the country.

Bullshit!

The government fears the coming revolution. There will be one. People have no food to eat. Zip. Nothing. They are out rioting, stealing, etc. Watching your children starve to death is reason enough to conduct themselves as they are. They are looking for food!

The guns old and rusty. The pistols home made.

The government fears the people. I would not be surprised if Maduro ended up hung from a pole at a gas station. Shades of Mussolini.

Things are at an extreme stage in Venezuela.

Socially correct. Politically correct. Sometimes, I wonder.

The State of North Carolina has forbidden its teachers to refer to their students as boys and girls. Transgenderism the reason. A desire not to offend anyone. Henceforth, students or scholars are to be used in place of boys and girls.

Parents are upset. I would be. They refer to the action by the State as “cultural Marxism.” A happening arising out of a radical sexual revolution being forced on their children.

Enjoy your day!

 

DAVID….. A GOOD PERSON

David Wolkowsky is the best of the best. Made his fortune. Returned to his beloved Key west. Spent his years since returning doing everything to help Key West and its people.

David is 96. In fairly decent shape. The one who fights me for the anti-gravity treadmill at physiotherapy.

His generosity significant.

For many years, David has recognized school teachers. Must be some teacher back when influenced his life. The recognition is in the form of money. David presents the Teacher of the Year with $25,000. Several other teachers, $5,000 each.

I attended the award ceremony yesterday at the Key West High School. The ceremony was in the library. I sat in the back so I could take the whole thing in.

David was beaming. He looked 25 years younger than his 96 years. A smile ear to ear.

It occurred to me that David might consider the teachers his grandchildren. Not children because of the years. They were his family.

The teachers respectful and friendly to David.

David, thank you for inviting me.

I was showered, shaved and out. David’s event was concluded just before 4. Where to go? Earlier than I normally am out.

My first stop was Aqua. Thought I would have a drink with Mark at the Back Bar. Learned the outside bar does not open till 5.

Ordered a drink. Drank it slowly. It was going to be a long night.

My cell phone rang. It was Dee. She was in her way into town. She lives on Cudjoe Key. We decided to meet in an hour at Sq. 1.

My evening was fantastic. Fun filled. We drank at Sq. 1 and ate at Outback.

Dee looked terrific. The best I have seen her in years. She has undergone some heavy cancer surgeries the past three years. All took a toll on her. However, she is back again. And, looking better than ever!

Which I told her several times.

Turtle nesting season upon us. Loggerhead turtle nesting. Mama turtle comes onto the beach and buries her eggs. Called nesting. It takes 50-60 days for the eggs to hatch. They hatch at night. The baby turtles then follow the moon light into the ocean.

Dengue fever has infected one person in Key West. The mosquito bite occurred in Key West. The person a visitor. Now home and on the road to recovery.

First dengue fever case reported in Key West since 2010.

The Associated Press recently released a study. From its NORC Center for Public Affairs. One of the findings was that 9 out of 10 Americans lack confidence in the political system. Another, 70 percent are frustrated with this year’s Presidential election.

Nothing we did not know.

China has done it!Discriminated against men. Created a sexism issue affecting men. Certain areas of China have “Female Only” parking spaces. Larger than those for men. The rationale being women have a harder time parking.

China not the first to do this. German began a few years ago. In some German regions, 30 percent of the parking spaces are mandated to be larger and for women only.

Immigrants a problem? Sweden took in 163,000 persons seeking asylum last year. Only 494 found jobs.

I have written and spoken on my blog talk radio show about Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu. He should not have come to Congress last year to speak uninvited by Obama.

Now it is out that he received $80 million last year from the King of Saudi Arabia for his political campaign to continue as Israel’s leader. Most recently, it has been announced Saudi Arabia will build a large embassy facility in Tel Aviv.

I was under the impression Arabs hated Israel and Jews.

Recently, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote a critical article regarding Netanyahu. Titled: Destroying Israel From Within.

Enjoy your day!