Key West Lou / NAPOLEON HAD MORE THAN ONE WATERLOO

I begin with a touch of humor this Sunday morning. Only because some unusually heavy stuff follows.

Napoleon had more than one Waterloo.

Actually, his won/loss record wasn’t bad. It was 53 wins, 7 losses. He lost a couple of significant ones, however. Russia and Waterloo the two most significant.

He also lost one not counted in the 53/7 record.  The reason simple. It involved rabbits, not humans. The rabbits caused his “retreat” as Russia did.

The skirmish occurred in 1807, right after the end of the fighting between Napoleon’s forces and Russia. The Treaty of Tilsit officially ended the fighting.

To celebrate the event, Napoleon ordered a rabbit hunt. He needed a victory. He could defeat rabbits, or so he thought. Ergo, Napoleon had thousands of rabbits collected and delivered to a battle site. Napoleon could not lose. So he thought.

The rabbits were released en masse. They charged Napoleon and his friends. It was a tsunami of rabbits. Napoleon and his friends turned, galloped and ran in the opposite direction. Napoleon found the safety of his carriage. He sat inside as the rabbits banged against the windows and carriage.

Napoleon was forced to retreat.

I never know where or how a topic is going to grab my attention. All of a sudden it’s there!

Publix a recent one. The cost of groceries nationally is excessive.. Unreasonable. Unaffordable. Whether your are feeding one, four, or six or seven.

No question in my mind, Publix is screwing the public. That was yesterday’s blog.

I received a comment almost immediately following its publication. From reader Randy. He wanted to know “if Publix was a huge Trump supporter financially, donating hundreds of millions to his campaign?”

I previously never gave it a thought. Always assumed major corporations and the affluent did contribute heavily to Republicans. Randy’s inquiry caused me to dig a bit. Understand, I would expect monied corporations and people to support Trump. They want their taxes cut. They are no different than average Americans who want to pay less also.

George Washington Jenkins Jr. founded Publix Super Markets in 1930. Today, it is the largest supermarket chain in Florida. Run differently than other supermarkets. It is employee owned. The Jenkins family share has been reduced to roughly 20 percent. The Jenkins family is affluent. Very rich today beyond their Publix holdings. Forbes ranked them recently as the 39th richest family in the U.S. Their earnings just over $11 billion each year.

Julie Jenkins Fancelli is a Publix heiress. She definitely is a Trump supporter. Big time.

Lets start with January 6. Julie provided the “lion’s share” of its funding. She contributed significant amounts from the George Jenkins Foundation. Three hundred thousand dollars here, four hundred thousand dollars there, etc. Note she denies any prior knowledge of the incidents that occurred on January 6.

It is also suggested Julie contributed to “dark money groups” sponsoring the January 6 rally. She was a witness before the January 6 Select Committee.

Julie donated through a tax exempt non-profit $3.1 million to Moms for America one year, $1.3 million another, $400,000 another, and $300,000 another. Julie’s contributions to January 6 groups was estimated by the January 6 Select Committee to have been at least $3 million based on the Select Committee’s December 22, 2022 report.

Julie appears to have been a Trump supporter directly or indirectly over the years in huge amounts.

Whether other Jenkins family members were contributors, I do not know. Too much involved to determine. I am not even sure I covered Julie’s contributions completely. I further am not able to comment whether Publix made any direct or indirect contributions to Trump.

The weather reports advise three hurricanes already are or in the process of becoming hurricanes out over the waters. One is expected to hit the Tampa Area Wednesday as a Category 3. The other two maneuvering around.

None of the three appear to be a danger to Key West or the Keys at the moment. You never know, however. Key West was to have heavy rains yesterday, especially between 12:30 pm and 1:30 pm. It did. Beginning at 12:30 and lasting one hour. Heavy, heavy. Winds also. The rain was coming down in a slant, not straight down.

Key West is scheduled for additional rains Monday and Tuesday. I assume caused by the hurricanes mentioned.

Rained heavy last night. Looked like rain at 8 this morning. Black skies. Nothing happened. The sun is trying to come out at the moment.

I watched Trump’s return rally at Butler, Pennsylvania yesterday. Butler was where he was shot in an attempted assassination 3 months ago to the day yesterday. Trump knows how to magnify things. Even to the day.

Trump was magnificent! He bled the crowd for every drop it was worth. Even brough tears to my eyes. Got every drop of sympathy from the attack on him,  the death of one person, and serious injury to two others. He and his new found friend and supporter Elon Musk with him. Musk spoke briefly. They’re in bed together. No question about it. In yesterday’s blog, I said Musk wanted to sit “at the table” in Washington. I was wrong. He wants a seat next to Trump in the Oval Office.

Musk sounded like a Democrat. As Trump is prone to do, Musk used Democratic verbiage as if such was a Republican position. No way, Jose! Statements like, “This is no ordinary election. The other side wants to take away your freedom of speech…..right to vote.”

I was watching the rally via the Jonathan Capehart Show on MSNBC. Capehart cut out the rally two minutes into Musk’s talk and never returned to Trump or Musk. I was upset he did not hear all Musk had to say. I am sure others felt as I did. I am curious as to why Musk is associating himself so openly and big bucks wise. Wanted to hear the reasons from his own mouth!

Trump and Musk are birds of a feather when to comes to lying. They are on the same wavelength when it comes to Helene’s impact.

Trump accuses Biden and North Carolina’s Democratic Governor Roy Cooper of withholding or diverting relief funds from hardest hit Republican areas to the tune of “billions of dollars.” Claiming the funds were used for illegal immigrants. The Trump claim was quickly debunked as false.

Musk is similar to Trump when it comes to speaking with a forked tongue. He claimed in a post on X that FEMA is “actually blocking citizens who try to help.” Another lie.

Both men are using “conspiracy theory junk” to slam Biden and Harris. For shame! Falsehoods! The problem is people who are hurting tend to believe such lies.

Kamala Harris was back among Helene victims yesterday. Her second time.

I thought she spent too much time with “responders” opposed to actual victims of the hurricane. She should go back again for a third time and spend the new time with the victims themselves. A hug and a few warm words go a long way.

Tomorrow could be a very bad day in the Middle East. October 7 was was the day one year ago that Israel was attacked so violently. Iran bombed Israel a few days ago. Retribution time! Big time! Will Israel attack Iran’s nuclear facilities? Something a little less but extremely bad?

We shall see,

I close with a touch of Key West. One of Key West’s old but true stories.

On this day in 1940, Key West police arrested Carl Tanzler aka Count Carl von Cosel. Tanzler was a radiologist at a local Key West hospital. He was deeply in love with a younger women, Elena “Helen” Milagro. She died from some malady early in life. Two years after her death, he removed her body from her grave and took it home. She lay in his bed for seven years.

Tanzler was an eccentric romantic, to say the least.

He was finally discovered and arrested. Elena’s body was buried in a secret grave. Tanzler was charged but never tried. The Statute of Limitations had expired. He left Key West.

Though sickening, an interesting story. Part of Key West’s history. Tourists find it intriguing.

Enjoy your Monday!

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