Key West Lou / MORNING STEW #46

Good morning!

There is no consistency to today’s topics. Which means it’s a Morning Stew day!

Heard from my Seattle friend Cathy again. Washington is in lock down. Supermarket shelves running bare.

Cathy went to another supermarket yesterday. Shelves not full, however better than the previous one. Notably not in stock toilet paper. Not one package left.

I recall earlier in the year when coroanvirus hit Key West with some significance and some stores were without certain items. The #1 item missing from the shelves was toilet paper.

I don’t understand what the relationship between the virus and toilet paper is. I understand the need and value of the product. Not to be without! However there are other items that would seem to be equal to or more in need.

Trump has done an excellent job in combating the coronavirus. Consider the number dead, the increasing numbers each day, etc. Donald can take credit for bringing two of the Four Horsemen upon us. Death and plague.

Trump’s interest in the virus significant. In 5 months, he has not attended one Coronavirus Task Force meeting.

Cable news carried an interesting item last night. We know Trump tweets. Has to be in the thousands.

It was announced that Trump has his tweets printed. For his review and whatever further use.

No question the man is an egomaniac. Only such a person would have his tweets printed.

Could Trump’s printed tweets ultimately be used against Trump as the tapes were against Nixon?

Lindsay Graham is a strange duck.

He has been a Senator for 17 years. Too long! Too long for him and all other Congressional persons who make a career out of governing. Graham is a walking example of the need for terms limits.

He screwed up yesterday. The South Carolina Senator got his nose in Georgia politics.

One observation before proceeding further. Lindsay was once the close friend of John McCain. McCain died and Lindsay became the close friend of the President. Some kind of inconsistency there!

There was a telephone call involving Lindsay and Georgia election officials. A conference call. Several on the line.

Georgia undergoing a Presidential recount. Trump has no way of winning. He is 14,000 votes behind Biden.

Lindsay stepped over the line when he asked if there was some way of tossing some of the ballots. Ballots that favored Biden. Lindsay was looking for a way to legally dispose of a number of Biden’s ballots.

None of Lindsay’s business! The inquiry has the tinge of wrongdoing. Corruption.

There are others on the line who can corroborate Lindsay’s inquiry. One already has.

We learned at the end of last week that Trump had retained Giuliani to head his legal teal re the election.

Understandable. Trump’s win/loss record in election court cases 1-24. Trump a definite loser in the courtroom.

His cross country attorneys seem to be withdrawing in mass. Ergo, Trump brought his friend Giuliani into the fold as his new head election attorney.

Two observations.

Giuliani announced he was being paid $20,000 a day. Excellent money! I know of no attorney who has ever been paid that much. Even the top guys in Washington and New York.

Giuliani is not worth that kind of money. His days as a court room lawyer are behind him. He seems to be inept in recent years every time he gets involved with a legal issue.

Trump later disputed the amount. Giuliani apparently had a talk with Trump. Giuliani reported his fee would be determined at the end of the case.

Doubt Giuliani will be paid $20,000 a day or any money for that matter. Trump’s reputation for paying his lawyers is well known. He does not.

Another observation involves Giuliani’s appearance in a Philadelphia court room this week. The judge handed him his head.

Giuliani got up to address the court. His words were to the effect that the case was one involving national fraud.

The judge inquired of Giuliani regarding the factual proof and whether there was any fraud at all. Giuliani finally agreed with the judge there was none.

Go Giuliani!

On this day in 1626, St. Peter’s Basilica was consecrated. Then and now it is the world’s largest Christian Church.

Its size enormous. I have visited several times.

One way to appreciate St. Peter’s size is to recognize that St. Patrick’s in New York City would easily fit into St. Peter’s with tons of room left over.

Street flooding is common place in Key West. Heavy rains, ocean surfaced land, and an inadequate drainage system means flooding on occasion. Some times intersections deep enough to swim in.

It has always been so.

I came across a couple of observations re Key West flooding. Don’t recall which storm. Do recall it was at least 20 years ago.

Comments made by observers at the time.

“My German Shepard had to swim on his walk.”

“The water was above the urinals at the Monster. But we kept partying.”

“Sloppy Joe’s stayed open. People rowed boats to get there.”

Key West’s coronavirus numbers continue to go up. We have the largest numbers in the Keys. No other Keys community near us.

There are generally two sides to a story. So it is in Key West. Pitted against each other are bar, restaurant owners and their employees. Some other business operations. As well as the Chamber of Commerce and City Commission. The politicians seem to always capitulate to the bars, restaurants, and Chamber of Commerce.

On the other side, locals. People who reside in Key West all year long. The locals continue to take a beating. Key Westers continue getting the virus. Fortunately, no deaths yet. Key West’s positivity rate is 16.9 percent.

Simply stated, the problem is the virus is driven down to Key West from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and other parts north. They party and leave the coronavirus behind.

The Citizens’ Voice seems to carry more and more complaints by locals. Almost every day now.

Today’s comments as follows.

“Stop the tourists. Put the roadblock back up.”

“I walked Duval last night to see how the business owners who promised the Commission they would help with safety instead of a curfew were doing. Not a mask in sight. Bars packed to the gills. Mask-free restaurant staffs.”

“As a service industry worker, please bring back the city-wide mask mandate. It would ease some of the anxiety about these plague tourists who seem to have very little regard for our local health.”

“I’m appalled at some in our business community who would rather cater to tourists that don’t care about their fellow human beings and would pack their places with little to no distancing or masks than do the right thing. Locals will remember.”

“Does this make any sense? When disease threatened the Key deer population we set up an animal screening road block. Now disease threatens our human population and we say ‘come on down.’”

Enjoy your day!

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