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2019

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Letters to the editor with pictures since 2002. Published on Big Pine Key’s garbage days, Tuesdays and Fridays.

[America Surrenders] Tomorrow is September 11, the anniversary of the Islamic terrorist attack on the United States. American soldiers have been fighting and dying at the hands of the Taliban and Isis for eighteen years in Afghanistan. We are now inviting the Taliban to Camp David to negotiate our surrender to Islamic extremists. We lost the war in Vietnam and now we lost the war in Afghanistan and are surrendering to the bloody cutthroats that are the Taliban. This is a terrible blow to the families who have lost a soldier or had one maimed only to surrender to those blood lusting bigots. It makes me sick to see this happening. How did the US think we could beat an enemy driven by religious fanaticism? It can’t be done by anyone. What’s wrong with America, stop fighting wars we have no chance of winning. (Ed: This post was sent in before the President canceled the event. I thought it important to post as so many Americans feel this way. I edited it quite a bit because it was very long. I hope the poster agrees I left in enough to respect his intent.)
It’s not surprising the Looe Key Tiki Bar is for sale.  The place has been a ghost town since the remodel.  I’ve driven by on many Saturday nights where there were three cars in the parking lot, with the same old worn-out bar bands playing to no one.  But remember, the remodel came with menu changes, price increases, happy hour menu changes, Sunday Football menu changes, etc.  Without better food, better music, and fair pricing for locals, anyone’s going to fail, as is clear with the Tiki Bar.  Tourists only go to the Tiki Bar when returning from a dive trip. Suggestion:  This is a locals bar (If you want tourists go across the street to Boondocks).  Present an affordable menu, hire bands that play music other than from the 60’s and 70’s, and offer feel-good activities to the hardworking folks of the Keys.  Looe Key Tiki is, and always will be, a locals’ bar.
[Privacy Lost ~Milton] My family is scared. We just found out from a friend who works for a computer outfit, that everything we do online with a credit card is stuck into a file that is analyzed for marketing purposes and anything thought to be subversive. I always thought Big Brother was just a SIFI story, but not anymore.
[How Unique Are Key Deer?] Interesting Key Deer Fact from Save Our Key Deer Inc.: We are amazed at the number of stories and theories circulating around about the origins of Key Deer . They range from :
1) scientific assessments that mainland Florida whitetails got stranded in the Keys some 10,00 years ago due to the last glacial melt, and the deer, facing drastic reduction in water and food availability, underwent the “Island Dwarfing Effect”
2)claims that Henry Flagler brought down deer to feed his railroad crews.
3) secret truck drops of mainland deer to enhance the herd in the 80s to 90s by the Feds. (Wow!)
Although historical seafaring logs, 17th and 18th century sailors used the Keys to refill resupply fresh water and deer meat. This fact seems to directly negate the number 2 and 3 claims. We tend to go with the scientific data and proof process rather than conspiracy theories. After extensive research we offer the following information that overwhelmingly supports the first conclusion.
DNA genetic analysis is one of the most recent and powerful methods to identify individuals, link murderers to their victims, and link living animals to their ancestors. Such a study was done on Key Deer in 2007. The results show that Key Deer are by far the most genetically unique whitetail deer subspecies in the Americas. Whitetails are the most wide-spread ungulate in the Americas, ranging from southern Canada to Peru. Several subspecies are recognized. In the USA, isolated deer populations live on 8 islands along the east coast, and their genetics have been studied with regards to their genetic isolation from mainland deer. Two of these populations show unique haplotypes (groups of genes that were inherited together from a single ancestral parent) but also show haplotypes still circulating around in mainland deer. In contrast, our Key Deer all share a haplotype that does not exist in any other American whitetail! They are the only deer with such a condition in the Americas!
To develop a completely unique haplotype genetically involves a very long time. This is not the same as inheriting red hair from your grandmother. It involves developing, through much environmental influence and time, unique genes that did not exist in your past lineage because they didn’t need to. Genetically, our little deer are one of the most unique creatures in the Keys.
[Treating with Terrorists] A former Trump assistant cabinet minister was on FOX Monday asking why we’re inviting the Taliban to Camp David. She said we should just leave Afghanistan completely, with the warning that if one American is harmed, either there or on US soil, we will return with bombs. If the Taliban doesn’t care about civilian deaths, we will fight them tit for tat. If one American is ever killed not one penny of aid will go to them or the Afghanistan government. Why should we support the Afghan government who clearly hates us or the Taliban who hates us even more? She also said the country of Afghanistan is insignificant, why are we supporting it. They hate us.
[New Nature Center] The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuges Complex is pleased  to announce the opening of the new Nature Center at 30587 Overseas Highway on Big Pine Key.  Operational hours during the month of September 2019 will be Tuesday-Friday, 10 am-3pm.  We are hoping to expand days and hours of operation in the near future.  The Nature Center replaces the now closed Visitor Center (located at 179 Key Deer Blvd).  Admission is free to the general public.  The Nature Center celebrates the incredible diversity of fish, plants, habitats, and wildlife in the four Florida Keys National Wildlife Refuges.  Connections in nature is a major theme to the exhibits that include a new video and theatre area, Key deer story exhibit, a mangrove/shallow water aquarium, sounds of nature exhibit,  zooming into nature exhibit, traveling exhibit (Miami blue butterfly) and a kids corner with books and activities.  The Florida Keys Wildlife Society, the refuges official Friends group, has a nature store in the building that focuses on nature-oriented gifts.  Volunteers and staff are present in the Nature Center to assist with questions and information about Key deer and other wildlife, refuge updates, and to help you get outdoors and explore your national wildlife refuges. Follow us on Facebook

 

 

 

[NEVER FORGET 9/11]  Love it or leave it!  God bless the U.S.A

Taliban is coming to Washington D.C. to negotiate our surrender of Afghanistan. Can this really be happening?

 

 

 

Redneck kitchen tip #93

[“Looe Key Resort is for sale – again”] And Mangrove Mama’s just sold – again. I’d love to see the profit and loss statements from these two places between sales
[Stanley in Africa 1871] These forest natives have not been able to win any great regard from me yet. They are cowardly, and at the same time vicious. They lie oftener than any open country folk. I do not credit any statement or profession made by them.

[“Drowning in plastic”] Part of the problem is that the advertising people have convinced the general public that they always need to hydrate themselves.  People used to drink water when they were thirsty: now they drink because they are brainwashed. If nothing else, force a deposit on the plastic bottles. That will at least reduce the number thrown away.

[“Where are the nude bars and beaches”] Go upstairs at The Bull on Duval St – all the way to the top, have a couple drinks with the other fatties and perverts from up north. I’d send you to the nude beach, but mouth-breathers are not welcome there.

 

 

[I Get No Respect] I called 911 because I had a very bad nosebleed and the EMT suggested my wife wear boxing gloves net time! I get no respect.

[Party Bars] What we need in the Keys are bars with nice young chickadee bartenders worth looking at.
[Jobs Lost] More store closings coming: An estimated 12,000 shops could close by the end of 2019. It looks like a 2020 recession to me. Video

 

 

 

 

[Safety] Right after blinker fluid, this is the second most neglected safety feature.

[No Free Lunch] Go ahead and play online contest to win stuff, but don’t bitch and moan when your email address is used for junk advertising 100 times a day.
I’m out of town, new to the Nextdoor app, and looking forward to using the plumbers, roofers, and floor-replacement companies mentioned as the best in town. (And not using the ones who don’t show up or don’t finish).
[Suing] With all the big shots being sued or suing other rich big shots, how can I get on the bandwagon and make my instant fortune? Seems the way to go today, just give some sleazy lawyer a third and let him go nuts. Sick world, eh?

 

 

One helluva guy, but Jim Cantore is the last man I want to see in my town!

[Supply and Demand] Did you ever notice that whenever something is bad for you its sales go down then all of a sudden that stuff becomes good for you and sales go back up again? Lots of food sales do this and so does the supplier’s profits. You can’t trust anybody anymore.
[Be Inconsiderate] Politically correct. Now there’s a double entendre for you. To be PC is to be a castrated drone. PC should stand for Privates Cutoff!