KEY WEST LOU / CHRISTMAS IN JULY

Joke of the day: Why did Santa Claus get a parking ticket? He parked his sleigh in a snow parking zone.

The heat this month caused me to share this “joke” I came across this morning. The heat affects all of us one way or another.

I recently came across a listing of the ten greatest artworks in the world.

I have been fortunate to have seen five of them. The experience comparable to quietly sitting in Church talking to God.

Those I have seen and where: Pieta / St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, Van Gogh’s Starry Night / Museum of Modern Art New York City, The Creation of Adam / Part of Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, The Last Supper / Santa Maria Della Grazie Covenant Milan / and The Mona Lisa / while on loan in Rome or New York City.

The world has been dramatically f–king up the past 10 years. Netanyahu and Trump 2 reasons why.

The World Weather Attribution (WWA) initiative released an analysis today re the “heat hell” searing parts of the U.S., southern Europe and China. The WWA is a group of international scientists who assess climate change. Their conclusion: The heat waves would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change. The role of climate change has been “absolutely overwhelming.” The blame man’s burning of fossil fuels.

Are we learning? Are we becoming more accepting of the cause? Can the nations of the world get together to resolve the problem before it becomes dramatically worse?

Gerrit Marshall is a retired broadcast engineer from Madison, Wisconsin. Saturday was his 68th birthday. A very big day for him. In more ways than one.

On his 11th try, he won the Hemingway Look-Alike Contest. Beat out some 140 other contestants.

Congratulations!

Florida was very anti-black in the early 1920’s. Much worse than DeSantis’ Florida of today.

Key West was the second largest city in Florida. The Grand Dragon of Florida’s Ku Klux Klan was Key Wester Charles H. Ketchum. Key West was the headquarters of Florida’s Ku Klux Klan and maintained an office on Eaton Street.

Under Ketchum, the Florida Klan became more violent. Conducted more lynchings per capita than any other state. Ketchum also organized the notorious Rosewood Massacre of 1923. Rosewood was a mostly black community. The Klan burned it to the ground.

Key West’s Klan included the Monroe County Sheriff, the Key West Police Chief, the Key West Tax Collector, the Key West Fire Chief, and the head of the criminal courts.

Key West blacks had no recourse to justice under the circumstances.

History has a habit of repeating itself. We must be on our guard nationally, statewide and locally. Racism is breeding nationally and statewide. Locally, Key West is still safe.

I recommend “The Rise and Fall of the Ku Klux Klan in Key West” to you. It was written by Tiffany Duong in Keys History 2/25/21. It is the source of much of my writing re the issue in today’s blog.

Citizens’ Voice today: “If Key West doesn’t fix the potholes on United Street soon, I’m going to start planting trees in them.”

The potholes have existed for years, getting worse each year.

Enjoy your day!

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