Sunday Morning Coming Down

The Florida Derby and the UAE Derby will be run on Saturday at Gulfstream Park and Meyden Race Course in Dubai.  Runner in both of these races have come from previous wins at other tracks and are looking for big races.  Some of these are name horses horses that were mentioned prominently in Future Book betting.  Others may be looking for that bolt of lightening to move them forward. The Florida Derby has produced fifteen Kentucky Derby winners, including the 2017 winner: Always Dreaming.  The race also produced Swale and Alydar.  The race is run at 1mile and 1/8 at is worth $1,000,000. The field is deep featuring Strike Power, Promises Fulfilled, Catholic Boy, Audible, and Mississippi.  The winner will most likely come from this group. Todd Pletcher trains the favorite Audible.  I'm hoping for a big race from Mississippi. The UAE Derby from Dubai is an interesting race to watch.  The accents are particularly British and there are two favorit...

I didn't watch much of the coverage of the March to Save Our Lives.  I did not go out to any of the local events either.  I went to a yard sale, I watched Loyola play basketball, and ate baked ziti cooked at Moose Lodge 1874.   I watched the Louisiana Derby on my computer. I read a newspaper column written by a high school friend complaining of  "Trump Fatigue".  He hasn't written about gun control, I don't think he is a big gun owner, but he does live in rural Missouri and his silence is understandable. Later that evening I listened to my little sister recount the day as she saw it in Washington DC.  She was moved by the experience. This morning, (Monday) I read a column written by Fabiola Santiago that mixed Emma Gonzalez, the Castro Revolution, sensible gun control, the optics of olive green fatigues and how it pisses off certain members of the Miami(mostly Cuban) community.  She is in favor of the the student activism. Laura Ingraham l...

From "Growing Up In Bensenville" Not Sure what the old Church was called but the new one is called the "True Jesus Church". In one of my travel videos, someone asked me if there was still a church on the southwest corner of Church Rd and Third Ave. There is. It is now called “True Jesus Church”. WWAST What would Albert Schweitzer think? 

My little sister went to Washington D.C. this weekend to visit family and as luck would have it participate in the "March For Our Lives".  I can think of a lot of two for ones that work out but this one seems very important.  Spring Break is happening and this is something positive that can happen on a "Spring Break".  The stated goal of the march is demand specific actions on gun control and related issues on school safety. I am not a gun owner intentionally.  I can understand folks that may choose to own guns for personal safety or hunting.  I am one of the 78% of the population that does not own a gun. It about time that folks without guns, gun owners, and the high school student organizers stand up for better gun control laws and background checks to keep guns out of the wrong hands and to deal with loopholes that allow good laws to be evaded. Lives will be saved.

There are two major prep races for the Kentucky Derby this weekend.  The Sunland Park Derby will be contested on Sunday and the Louisiana Derby will take place on Saturday.  Sunland Park is located near El Paso, Texas while the Louisiana Derby will be held at the Fair Grounds which is in New Orleans, Louisiana. Sunland Park's derby is an $800,000, 1 1/8 mile affair.  Mine That Bird is probably the most notorious horse to have run at Sunland Park.  In the days before points Mine that Bird finished 4th in Sunland Derby and 2nd in the Borderland Derby in 2009.  He went on to win the Kentucky Derby, finish 2nd in the Preakness, and 3rd in the Belmont. The 2018 Sunland Derby is a very very wide open race. The comment from Horse Racing Nation say it all:   "All Out Blitz and Hollywood Star look like the logical top win contenders here, with either of them ready to prove themselves Kentucky Derby-ready. The former has shown consistency and should ...

There are more than a few that doubt this is a good way to improve our relationship with Russia. Senator McCain of Arizona was correct when he called out President Trump for a congratulating Vladimir Putin on his reelection.  “An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections. And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free election." A cursory look at the various conflicts around the world between the United States and the Soviet Union and now Russia would suggest that caution be taken in dealing with Russia on every level. Whether in proxy wars, espionage, or elections or just about any other endeavor we adversaries and not allies.  A congratulatory phone call to guy that seems more like a dictator is a very weak response if we are to continue as the leader of the free world.  It is almost impossible to understand why he would i...

If you live in Miami you can't escape the story of the collapse of the pedestrian bridge across the Tamiami Trail to FIU.  You can watch the bridge collapse from the perspective of the cars that approached the bridge that had been just placed over the road about a week ago.  It's called accelerated bridge construction.  What follows is a description of the benefits of accelerated bridge construction according to a report by CNN. "Unlike traditional methods of construction, ABC streamlines the building process so that bridge projects can be completed quicker and more cost-effectively. By employing ABC technology, State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) can refurbish or construct new bridges within 48 to 72 hours, according to the Federal Highway Administration (FHA). The accelerated time reduces traffic delays and road closures that frustrate commuters and can increase construction expenses. Oth...