As I watched the Democrat Presidential debate this past Tuesday evening it occurred to me that not once did any of the hopefuls have a single positive thing to say about the United Sates…not one.

They spent their time telling the audience what’s wrong with America and dissing each other. The entire event looked like a Saturday Night live episode. If I was a Democrat I’d be depressed watching as candidates routinely talked over each other and blew past time limits. It was no one’s finest moment.

Not a single candidate talked about the “American Dream” which defines the USA as a country where you have the opportunity to work as hard as you can to earn as much as you can. Instead each of the candidates talked about the “American Nightmare”, where they intend to take money from those who worked to earn it and give it to those who sit on their butts.

This unruly group of lunatics portrayed the United States as a racist country filled with economically deprived people facing imminent doom, when just the opposite is true.

The most startling line of the evening and one not questioned by anyone was when Joe Biden claimed that 150 million Americans have been killed by guns since 2007. I wondered where half the U.S. population went. Now I know. The rest of the time the addled Biden would lose his train of thought and veer off into disjointed fragmented sentences that must have driven those dependent on closed-caption TV crazy.

Meanwhile Crazy Uncle Bernie doubled down on his affection for Communist China’s totalitarian government and the brutal communist and socialist dictatorships in Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, etc. This unpleasant, raspy-voiced, gruff, finger-jabbing, disheveled, Brooklyn-born Jewish geezer even called one of America’s closest allies — Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – a racist. Sanders, a millionaire with contempt for billionaires, is one of those people that Lenin called “useful idiots”, a dupe of cruel and murderous dictatorships.

So far polls indicate that the Democrat voters are looking at this useless “useful idiot” as their nominee because of or in spite of the fact that he wants to eliminate private health insurance, raise taxes on the middle class, ban fracking and put government in charge of energy production, make college a taxpayer entitlement, offer free healthcare and food stamps to illegal immigrants, and raise spending by between $50 to $90 trillion.

Pocahontas, obviously realizing that her campaign is doomed and who maybe eyeballing a VP slot, continued on the warpath against Michael Bloomberg, who repeatedly squeaked out meek debate retorts of “I never said that” or “that isn’t true.” All of the candidates echoed that former New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s “stop and frisk” program– that he carried over from the Rudy Giuliani administration — was “racist.” The fact that it worked to dramatically lower the city’s murder rate was irrelevant to these politically correct loons. Failed small town Mayor Pete Buttigieg not only plagiarized former president Obama’s speeches he also copied his speech tonality and mannerisms. Joe Biden, who claims to have written the Declaration of Independence, cured malaria, says he was was jailed alongside Nelson Mandella in South Africa, and raised the flag on Iwo Jima, plagiarizes former UK Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock’s speeches and life story.

Most of the candidates appeared mentally unhinged while Warren also comes across as a loopy, unlikable liar, much like Hillary, and Bernie as certifiably insane. Picturing any of these folks in the Oval Office is a terrifying scenario. Even the Democrat National Committee is alarmed at the chaotic mess it witnessed on the debate stage this past Tuesday.

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Voting Your Pocketbook: The Coronavirus-inspired selloff in stocks this week is taking place because the biggest investors are selling, not individual investors. According to the Wall Street Journal’s “Intelligent Investor” columnist Jason Zweig, professional investors tend to move fastest when the market suddenly turns because they “risk being so out of step with the market their clients will fire them.” Individual investors on the other hand are a major force in moderation according to a survey by Vanguard Group, which defines a typical individual investor as a 61-year-old who has been in the market for at least 17 years and has a portfolio of about $221,000, 71 percent of it invested in stocks. Over time says the Vanguard survey these individual investors have traditionally been rewarded for their patience. In past downturns these individual investors have picked up stocks discarded by the big boys and realized a return in six months or so. On another note, institutions don’t vote, but individuals do, and I’m betting individual investors whether they stay in the market or sell during this downturn will reward President Trump at the polls.

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Speaking Of Useful Idiots: The Democrats control the House of Representatives and all the committees, yet I can’t name one single thing they’ve done to help the country and its citizens. Not one. Can you? In fact, just the opposite. They’ve teamed up with their media allies to do everything they can to try and get Donald Trump out of office no matter what the cost to the American people. Instead of seeking ways to combat the Coronavirus, they call the president’s actions to combat it “shameful”, “weak” and “inadequate” and offer nothing. In fact, they’re cheering it on and are downright giddy that it’s causing the stock market to take a dive. Public Broadcasting’s not-at-all- funny comedian Bill Maher said this week and many times before that he wants a recession so that voters in November will view it as a reason not to vote for President Trump. He admits a recession would hurt most Americans but says it’s worth it to get rid of Trump. He doesn’t care. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her sidekick Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer would rather panic the American public than help. They falsely claim that the president is doing nothing to stem the Coronavirus and will have us believe it’s raging unchecked across the county while they root for the stock markets to tank. Instead of working to help their constituents the Democrats are doing everything they can to hurt them with the hope that their scare tactics and misery they produce will shock them out of voting for Trump. What kind of warped people think like this? This is a very sick, nasty, group of troubled people that have no place in public office or a civilized society.

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Look At Me! Look At Me! On the local scene Jacksonville Democrat Donna Deegan is running for Florida’s 4^th Congressional District seat that is currently held by former Duval County Sheriff and Republican John Rutherford.

Ms. Deegan a former Jacksonville TV news talking head, is an advocate for universal healthcare, a program identical to that of Democrat presidential candidate and socialist Bernie Sanders. It would abolish private health insurance and cost taxpayers trillions thus destroying the best healthcare system in the world.

She’s also convinced that Florida will soon be underwater and the air unbreathable. She’s obviously an advocate of the dim Swedish teenager who accuses us of killing her future and is a publicity freak of Kardashian proportions.

Closer to home, she got one issue right. She says the growth in Nassau County is “exciting and challenging” singling out the never-ending construction of State Road 200 but failed to mention how she would speed it up or fix it.

Her key platform appears to be the fact she was once a TV reporter for First Coast News in Jacksonville, claiming her time there qualifies her to represent the people in the 4^th District.

If this is the best the Democrats can come up with, Congressman Rutherford will coast to an easy victory in November.

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BINGO! This gem from Dan Flynn’s column in the February 21 American Spectator: “When it comes to a brokered Democrat convention, the odds are good because the goods are odd.”

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Tired Of Tourists? A few days ago, an acquaintance at Centre Street’s Amelia island Coffee Shop told me he was fed up with tourists “swarming the island.” He added that he resented the fact that his taxes help pay for advertisements promoting the island as a tourist destination. He was startled when I explained to him that not one cent of his tax money was used to attract tourists here and it was the visitors who actually paid for the promotional ads and more. The Gil Langley-led Tourist Development Council, which oversees the highly successful marketing of Amelia Island, is 100 percent funded by a five percent bed tax, requested by the lodging industry and paid for by visitors. If you’re a local who lives in an island hotel, you’re an exception, but I don’t know one fulltime resident hereabouts who lives in a local hotel. My coffee drinking companion was surprised to learn that the free-spending tourists visiting Amelia Island also generate tax dollars that support our schools, public safety and other government services in addition to supporting local businesses ranging from restaurants and gas stations to retail shops and grocery stores among others. In fact, without the tourists this fellow’s taxes and mine would be considerably higher. Mr. Langley does a terrific job of supporting our community using money willingly spent by those outside of our community.

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Talk Ain’t Cheap: How many of you actually look at the charges on your wireless phone bill?  If you did I think — like me — you ‘d be surprised to learn that a typical American household with four wireless phones paying $100 per month for taxable wireless service can expect to pay about $260 per year in taxes, fees, and surcharges – up from $229 in 2018 according to the Washington. D.C. think tank, the Tax Foundation. That totaled $17.1 billion in 2019. Illinois is No. 1, with an effective rate of 31.2% while Oregon has the lowest, 11.3%. Florida is No. 12, with a rate of almost 24%. Take a close look at your next cell phone bill. I’m betting that the City of Fernandina Beach is enviously eyeballing such charges.

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Drinking, Dining & Dancing: That large restaurant space that sat empty for three years or more in the Publix Island Walk shopping plaza facing South 14^th Street that used to be a Beef O’Brady’s will soon be occupied by one of my favorite restaurateurs, Tom DeMario, and his thriving Coastal Pizza restaurant. Tom’s flourishing pizza joint outgrew its tiny Yulee location hidden in the nondescript Eagle’s Crossing Shopping strip center behind Verizon and other businesses just off the business-busting, perpetually under-construction State Road 200/A1A.  Despite the location and the bungling, inept state road management crew, Coastal Pizza built a booming business, a testimonial to its product and service. The new location will fill the plaza’s pizza void left by Tony’s Brick Oven Pizza next to Publix when it abruptly disappeared last year. Tom’s new place will feature table service, a large bar serving beer and wine for now, and table seating for 105. The menu will expand to include not only pizza, calzones, strombolis, sandwiches and wings, but a wide variety of Italian dishes with an extensive list of pasta choices. The restaurant will also offer the NFL package for sports fans as well as baseball and hockey. At the earliest Tom hopes to be open the week of Shrimp Fest, May 1 or mid-May latest. Coastal Pizza will be a welcome addition to the area, and I predict one of the most popular joints on the island, particularly with the personable Mr. DeMario running the show. For true chili aficionados last Saturday’s downtown chili cook-off was just a warm-up for the Third Annual Pajamadave’s Beer & Wine Garden chili event to be held this Sunday, March 1, at PJD’s 12 South 2^nd Street joint beginning at 1 p.m. Unlike past judging this year’s contest will be judged by alleged experts who don’t know the identity of the cooks and probably can’t tell a bowl of red from a cup of borscht. Drop by to see who can knock Jeff “Sailor Boy” McDowell off the chili throne he mysteriously captured the past two years in a row. My winning chili entry, which is also a cure for the Chinese Commie Cough (a.k.a. Coronavirus), is a sure winner. Tonight,Friday, February 28, come say “Happy Birthday” to one of the American Legion’s staunchest supporters, Jeanne Wyatt, who will celebrate at Post 54 at the corner of South 3^rd Street and Gum, with Island Spice the popular former house band of the Ritz Carlton entertaining. The event begins at 5 p.m. with the legion sponsoring a meatloaf, mashed potatoes & gravy, and mixed vegetable dinner for just $8.00 from 5-7. The band starts at 7 p.m. and ends at 11. There isn’t enough blues music on the island but Saturday, March 14 those who enjoy that genre can take in the Jacksonville group. Snacks Blues Band, from 7-11 p.m. at Main Beach’s Sandbar Restaurant & Kitchen. Tomorrow, Saturday, February 29, the Sandbar will feature the popular Bluff Five starting at 7 p.m.