PT-109 SUNK

Lt. John Kennedy was captain of a PT boat in the south Pacific in World War II. His crew consisted of 13 sailors.

On August 1, 1943 while on night duty, the PT-109 was cut in half by a Japanese vessel. Eleven survived, 2 died.

Though injured, Kennedy helped save the remaining crew members. His performance that evening and until they were all saved days later would not have occurred without Kennedy’s leadership.

Kennedy’s calm gutsy approach in the PT-109 saga was similar to that he exhibited during the Cuban Missile Crisis. We were on the brink of war with Russia. The U.S. had blockaded Cuba. Russian ships were within several hundred yards of the American ones when the Russians blinked first and turned around to return home.

We need more Kennedys, no more Trumps. We have had our fill of Trump.

I wonder on occasion how Trump’s bone heel chips are doing.

Waddell is a strange name. Key West has a street named Waddell. Louie’s Backyard is located on Waddell.

Did some research to figure how who Waddell was. Quite a while, in fact. It was difficult verifying the little I came across.

Turns out Waddell was named after James I. Waddell who was a banker and twice Mayor in the Key West of the second half of the 1800’s.

The first person I discovered was of course named James I. Waddell  also. He resigned from the Union Navy to join the Confederate one. Assuming such to be true, I thought a dissertation of sorts was in order that the name Waddell be removed as the street’s name.

It would be politically correct to rename Waddell based on the fact Waddell was a Confederate naval officer who captained a Confederate vessel that did much damage during the Civil War.

Waddell’s track record as a Confederate captain impressive. He captained the Confederate cruiser Shenandoah. Two hundred thirty feet long, 8 large guns, and a crew of 73.

Waddell’s performance is marked with 2 distinctions.

He did not engage in ordinary combat. His responsibility was to seek out and destroy Union fishing vessels. He was adept at it.

He sailed the south Atlantic, across the Indian Ocean, and into the north Pacific. Even to Arctic waters.

His greatest feat the capture of 10 U.S. whale vessels in the space of 7 hours after the war had ended.

Such was his second distinguishing factor. He kept fighting after the war was over. He never knew it had ended.

He found out when he was in English waters off the coast of Great Britain. He immediately surrendered his vessel to British authorities.

Key West has its exciting moments most years. This year too many. However, tough people we are!

Floridians and Keys residents are accustomed to playing the cards they get. This year coronavirus, hurricanes, dengue fever, and pythons to name a few.

Me thinks Alan Dershowitz complaineth too much! A good lawyer would tell him to keep his mouth shut.

The average age of cars and light trucks still on the road continues to spiral. Now, 11.9 years.

New car sales continue to plunge as they have on a steady basis since the 1970’s. Sales were tough before the pandemic. They are tougher now with the Pandemic.

The 11.9 percent figure is the highest in 12 years. Sales of new cars and light trucks are down 24 percent for the first six months of this year compared to the same time period last year. They are expected to continue sliding in the second half of the year.

It is not only the normal American buying public that cannot afford a new car. The care rental companies are taking a beating. No one is traveling. The need for a rental car down drastically.

Hertz and Advantage filed for bankruptcy this year.

Coronavirus is crippling everyone, except the very rich. The rich are getting richer.

Jared Diamond wrote concerning the reasons why societies collapse: “Societies collapse when elites are isolated from the consequences of their decisions as expressed by the rest of the population.”

Robert Reich wrote on the same day as Diamond: “New York’s billionaire class saw their collective net worth grow by $77,300,000,000 since the start of the Pandemic…..while “the state’s budget deficit for 2020 and 2021 is/will be $13,300,000,00.”

The number of zeroes mind boggling!

Reich’s admonition: “Tax the rich!”

Ian Welch recently wrote: “The personal self-interest of American elites is now so completely divested from American society and everyone else that there is no recovery without a revolution, peaceful or otherwise.”

Enjoy your Sunday! Quarantine, wear your mask, distance 6 feet, and wash your hands frequently!

22 comments on “PT-109 SUNK

  1. A few years ago did not Oboma and Biden blink when Poutin invalided eastern Europe. Oboma and Joe thrn sent Blankets for defense. Trump corrected that corrected that error by sending Anti tank missals. Oboma said of the home of Harvard, let us have a beer then he was found to be wrong.
    Just more good leadership.

    • Sandy is the kind of troll that can’t get his fact’s straight or bother to see if his post even make sense. After all he’s only trying to start arguments, not make any real point.

      • serge , Two more key’s folks killed by the RED CHINA BUG. Can you digest that fact? It is a fact! What do you want to argument about? You are the troll that can not get the facts correct. OR are you a RED supporter?

        • Sandy you nincompoop, that’s not accurate. That bug (actually ist’s a virus) was developed by Fauci and sent to China for them to distribute to America.

          You can’t even seem to keep up with your wacko right wing conspiracy theories.

          Hate is that way, isn’t it. It keeps you blind and stupi+d, all at the same time.

      • Uh oh. Someone has cloned me here on Lou’s blog. Having two of me in the same place could cause a hole in the fabric of the universe. A disaster for all of humanity. Take shelter!

  2. The Federal Police retreated suddenly from Portland as of last Thursday and since that time we have had NO violence amongst the people still marching and protesting there, despite the wild predictions (and apparently hopes) of many people surrounding Trump and several on this, Lou’s blog. I think we can all now see where the real problem was.

    There is however mounting evidence of significant in several “out of town” right wing participants, notably Hells Angeles and other thug types showing up in these continuing evening protests and locals here are predicting they will provoke some sort of mayhem to try and make things look bad again. Watch our local channel 12 FOX News affiliate to fuel this should anything at all happen.

    • So now the protesters are burning American flags and bibles in the street outside the courthouse. You may see this as an improvement. I don’t.

      Or maybe the Bible burning is the work of the several out of town types. Here’s an idea. Have the Portland police arrest them on charges of arson and criminal mischief.

      Portland’s reputation continues to disappear down a rat hole.

      • OMG, say it ain’t so. Protester burning American Flags and Bibles, now that violence worse than ever. Send the troops back in with orders to kill, this has to be stopped. What’s next bra’s? books? Is there no stop to this violence and mayhem?

        • Burning Bibles isn’t funny. And it adds a whole new dimension to whatever the protests in Portland are really about. BLM protesters are not anti-religion and would not be burning Bibles. The same goes for the Hell’s Angels and other motorcycle gangs. Even white supremacists have a religious side. The KKK burned crosses, but never Bibles.

          The current ugliness in Portland is now turning to religious hatred and persecution. There are laws against that sort of behavior, but Portland is no longer a city where laws mean anything.

          • Naw, no bibles are being burned in Portland, that’s just another made up right wing BS conspiracy fueled by the RW press who will do this sort of thing to make things sound bad when they have nothing other to talk about. Fake News Dano! Besides, like Trump would say if it was something he did – “It ain’t against the law.”

      • The story about burning bibles and American flag is a righwing farse inflated and exaggerated by Russian bots as part of their disinformation campaign. Something that went unnoticed and unreported until RT (Kremlin-backed video news agency.) distributed a doctored video that got picked up by just about every wacko news source on the planet. More false self-righteous indignation on the right to satisfy a false and corrupt agenda.

  3. Remember when Trump supporters called real Americans crazy and nasty for predicting Trump wouldn’t leave office at the end of his first term if he lost the election? Like all the other predictions that came true, this one doesn’t look so far fetched either anymore.

    Could Republicans please tell us again why we should believe anything they say?

  4. Trump’s banning the media from the convention was pure red meat for his base. Those bone heel chips are not keeping him from being highly diabolical.

    • Trump’s ban on any media at his convention was not considered a very bright move by any side of the issue.

      He has since abandoned that decision and said he’ll allow some media, depending…

      Now he looks like an insecure and indecisive fool to both sides of the issue.

  5. Sandy admits to being a troll with his post of a child who died in Chicago. Totally ignoring the several children who died in Miami of Covid 19.

    Both preventable. The Miami deaths with masks and the Chicago death with improved gun control.

    Sandy’s BLM reference shows his willingness to bring his racists biases front and center, disrespecting not just himself but Lou too, yet again.

  6. Major riots through Israel in over 300 locations calling for the resignation of their corrupt and convicted leader Benjamin Netanyahu. People rising up against corrupt governments is not just an American thing. It’s happening around the world, regardless of what FOX News wants everyone to believe.

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