Key West Lou / A BIT OF THIS AND THAT

A bit of this and that.

Politics first.

Most recent polls re the Presidential race have Harris up by 4 points, 3 points and 1 point.

Beware, Donald! It’s only just begun. The Democratic Convention will give Harris a further boost. You have already had yours which is gone. Yesterday’s news. You’re in trouble!

A significant finding also is that Trump had a lead by 4 points in January. Means a 7-8 point swing from Trump to Harris.

Harris and Walz had another rally last night. In Arizona at the Desert Diamond Arena outside Phoenix.

The Arena was filling up all day. Lengthy lines outside. Arena holds 19,200. Fifteen thousand attended. A good number! Equaled Detroit from the night before.

The heat was horrible. Temperature 105 degrees. Though the Arena is air conditioned, it was still boiling. The Democrat Campaign provided water, chairs and campaign-branded navy cardboard fans to help keep attendees cool.

Good people those Dems!

Military record issue at best “minimal.” Best described as a bullshit one. Never forget, Trump a “draft dodger.” Bone chips in his foot. Never stopped him from playing golf daily most of his life. My recollection is Trump called veterans ” suckers and losers.” He did not consider John McCain a war hero.

Republicans destroyed John Kerry with the “swift boat attack” issue when he ran for Presidnet. The people of the U.S. will not let the Walz situation be utilized to defeat Harris and Walz. We are much too smart today.

Crowd size has been an issue. Trump especially sensitive to crowd size as noted from the issue he made of those attending his inaugural parade. Harris/Walz are knocking the hell out of  Trump regarding size.

Yesterday, Trump in a talk to supporters compared his “stop the steal” rally on January 6th to Martin Luther King Jr.’s ” I Have a Dream” speech on the National Mall in 1963.

Who is Trump kidding? He’s sick. One speech the prelude to the shocking attack on the Capitol, the other a cry for freedom.

Trump is sick mentally. Perhaps he should submit to a psychiatric examination. I agree with Walz. Trump is “weird.”

Other noteworthy observations.

Two Presidents were waffle afficionados. Thomas Jefferson and John F. Kennedy.

Jefferson popularized waffles in the U.S. In the 1790’s when he returned from France, he brought with him 4 waffle irons in his bags. He liked waffles! He would serve them to White House guests.

Kennedy enjoyed waffles also! He did not do the cooking. However, he had a special waffle recipe that he prepared for White House guests. The recipe became so popular that it is now in the National Archives.

Amazing impacts by two of our greatest Presidents that most are unaware of.

Live and learn. It never stops. Leonardo DaVinci last name was not DaVinci. In fact, he did not have a last name in the traditional sense. People during his time did not have last names as we do.

Leonardo’s full name was “Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci.” Meant “son of ser Piero from Vinci.” Pero being his father’s name and Vinci being the village where he was born. Somewhat like Helen of Troy or Anne of Green Gables.

Many other Renaissance artists are known mononymously even if they did not have last names. Michelangelo’s for example was Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni.

A recent shame. Elders are being abandoned by their children. Kareen Abdul-Jabbar published yesterday a pointed article on the issue. He relies on India’s experience with aged parents. The article is titled and states: “As India Ages, A Secret Shame Emerges: Elders abandoned by their children. The shame of immoral India can soon become the shame of their society –  if individuals are not careful.”

I believe children have forgotten and are forgetting their parents significantly in the U.S. There was a time when “old parents” were cared for by children they had cared for in their younger days. No more. Children no longer want the burden of their parents.

For shame!

On this day in 1945, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki More than 70,000 were killed. The Nagasaki bomb was dropped 3 days after the Hiroshima one.

Feelings re the propriety of using the atomic bomb on Japan are twofold. For and against.

I have always considered it proper. Two reasons motivating my thought. One, Pearl Harbor. Japan deserved violent retaliatory reaction. The other, the number of U.S. military lives  saved by ending the war swiftly. An invasion of Japan would have been very costly by way of American lives. Militarily, estimates from 250,000 to 800,000. Japan created the war. Better a significant number of Japanese died in ending it rather than Americans.

Jerry Garcia was a well respected musician who died this day in 1995. A certain thought is attributed to him: “Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil.”

Only a fool would buy the Brooklyn Bridge. Same goes for the Eiffel Tower.

Con man Victor Lustig has the distinction of having sold the Eiffel Tower twice in the early 1900’s.

He was outdone by an American, however. A con man who sold the Brooklyn Bridge many times. Con artist George C. Parker. Parker died in 1937. He sold the Bridge multiple times to unsuspecting immigrants and tourists. Often for as much as $50,000.

He even put up “Bridge for Sale” signs when the police weren’t around

New owners generally tried to set up toll booths on the Bridge. Police eventually intervened and exposed the scheme.

Parker’s crimes led to a life sentence in Sing Sing Prison, where he died.

No one has sold the Brooklyn Bridge since.

We close with Key West.

On this day in 1985, Johnny Carson was in Key West to visit the site of the Spanish galleon Atocha as a guest of Mel Fisher. Carson at the time was the star of NBC TV’s “Tonight Show.”

Judy Blume’s Books and Books at the Studios will be celebrating Romance Day next saturday, August 17. To celebrate books about love.

Free mimosas – as long as they last!

Go and have fun.

Enjoy your day!

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