Sunday Morning Coming Down

 Four days ago the Florida Governor reopened Florida for the second or third time.  The announcement came on Friday Afternoon at about 5:00 pm.  100% inside seating at restaurants was now allowed throughout Florida except in Miami Dade County which waited until 11:00 pm on Saturday to issue their own rules.  50% inside seating is now allowed and 100% capacity if you have outside dining space.  Bars can open at 50% capacity.     In Miami-Dade, bars that are only counter service will be allowed to reach 50% capacity with seating separated as far as possible. According to the Miami Herald “It was a little scary walking into a Flanigan’s after six months and seeing it full,” said Flanigan, CEO and president of the South Florida-based chain of 24 sports-bar-style restaurants. “It was too busy. So we backed off to 50 percent.” It was a busy sports weekend.  Folks will be going to bars to watch football games and the playoffs in basketball and baseb...

 Nero fiddled while Rome burned or so the story goes.   At the ripe old age of 69.5 I read something by Octavia Butler who was an author and a McArthur Fellow.  She once said " choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought ".  She goes on to explain the dangers of being lead by a coward, fool, thief, liar and tyrant.  The United States of America elects a set of leaders on November 3, 2020.  The stakes in this election are very high.  There are almost too many consequential issues to list and weigh when making that decision.  The circumstances with the pandemic are adding to disconnection and dislocation socially, economically, and politically. Amazingly, incredibly, and unbelievably hostile nations are messing with our upcoming election according to our own FBI, the President has said that if he does not win reelection, the election was "rigged".  Others are concerned that President Trump will not leave office if he loses the election...

During the last six months I have had the opportunity to walk around my neighborhood where I have lived for almost thirty years.  Lots of older houses are being demolished so that larger more ornate structures can be built.  The infrastructure to support five bedroom, four bath houses means older septic tanks are replaced by sewer hookups.  The yards get smaller because the houses are bigger and the setbacks are smaller.   There has been a lot of road work related to new storm drains and sewer lines hook ups to existing lines which need to be expanded as the flows increase. Several years ago an older apartment development with fourteen buildings and 56 two bedroom apartments was razed to build some very upscale town houses along 57th Avenue.  The plans included elevators from an underground garage to the townhouses.   "Located in the middle of  High Pines , this residential enclave of 40 units has a number of amenities and home features that ...

 I just saw and heard a "snipit" of "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival played at a political rally headlined by President Trump in Michigan. " I ain't no millionaire's son,   I ain't no fortunate one,   The song is a protest about avoiding the draft during the Viet Nam War. I don't get it.  The insiders might understand the musical selection, I don't.

 Saturday I watched the latest edition of the Kentucky Derby.  The conventional wisdom was that Authentic would set the pace and then fade out.  Tiz the Law would then come from behind and win the race.  Authentic held on and Tiz the Law faded but ran a good race.  Baffert won with the fresh horse this time and so it goes.  The new shooter won.   The race was almost an afterthought.   Thousand Words reared up and fell over backwards and was scratched.  Horses do that sometimes for any number of reasons, a detailed examination of the horse after the scratch indicated no problems.  Good news for the horse but the assistant broke his arm trying to control the horse. In the Winner's Circle Baffert said red ribbons attached to the traditional roses bothered Authentic and he wheeled around knocking Baffert down.  It wasn't the normal 2020 Winner's Circle.  Reports indicated that the parimutual handle was down almost 50% ove...

 President Trump went off the rails in North Carolina by suggesting that folks should test the "system", voting by mail and voting a second time in person. Voting twice in the same election is illegal, and doing so deliberately is an example of the very kind of voter fraud that Trump has spent months railing against. In North Carolina, it is a felony "with intent to commit a fraud to register or vote at more than one precinct or more than one time, or to induce another to do so, in the same primary or election, or to vote illegally at any primary or election." This is a very sad state of affairs.