Friends, we here at WaddyIsRight bid a fond farewell to Paul Reubens, better known as "Pee-Wee Herman" of "Pee-Wee's Playhouse", a pop culture smash in the 1980s. Did I watch any of it? Heck, no. I thought it was weird beyond belief. Having said that, Reubens made a lot of people laugh, and that's nothing to sneeze at. It's a messed up, depressing world we live in, in so many ways, so you can either laugh or cry, I figure, and laughing is a lot more fun.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/pee-wee-herman-paul-reubens-dead/2023/07/31/id/1129117/
A subtle but extremely important change is underway in the Russia-Ukraine War. Ukrainian attacks inside Russia are increasing in frequency (and audacity), and the Ukrainians are trying a lot less hard to deny involvement. In fact, they're saying that the Russkies deserve what they get. Well, maybe so, but it strikes me that the Ukrainians will only get away with these tactics as long as their strikes inside Russia are meaningless pinpricks. As soon as they become a substantial threat to Russian security, or a substantial embarrassment to President Putin, Russia can and might retaliate massively. It bears repeating: Ukraine cannot defeat Russia. Russia, by contrast, can and might obliterate Ukraine. If I were Ukraine, I'd be looking to deescalate -- but what do I know?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66368016
Finally, Ron DeSantis makes a good point here, and I'm surprised it isn't having a greater impact with the Republican base. Okay, Trump is being pursued relentlessly, and ruthlessly, by the Deep State. Plus, Trump says he's against the Deep State and promises to bring it to heel if he gets another term in office. Well, the problem is...he was already president!!! We've heard all these promises and idle boasts before. Even when he was president, the Deep State ran rampant. It actively underminded him and sought his eviction from office, and it got exactly what it wanted! What's more, the Deep State insiders who plotted against Trump in no case got their comeuppance. On the contrary, they all prospered and today are rich, "respected", and crowing about their roles in restoring "decency" to our federal government. Bottom line: Trump took on the Deep State before, and he failed. How is that an attractive resume for our next potential GOP presidential nominee?
Dr. Waddy from Jack: "I know you are but. . . " I remember that! Glad I was a kid back when and not now. Any more I'm not sure you can choose either to laugh or cry at current events. Political correctness is all and it mandates expression with a vengeance.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: The devil's own dance goes on apace in Ukraine. I agree; Ukraine would be wise to be satisfied that they have proven their mettle; I doubt that Russia or any country would want to take those hombres on in the future. But that said: let them forego any claim to Crimea; Russia wrested it from the Ottomans and Khrushchev 's "grant" of it to Ukraine was powerful humbug. Then, let Ukraine give up the Russian cultured portion of Ukraine and ,for the luvva, publicly give up membership in Nato.Given Russia's inhumanity in Ukraine, for which it deserves punishment, these concessions would be hard to endure but they are a bitter necessity. I do not think Russia has aggressive designs, especially on Nato. But they are set in their absolute refusal to endure Ukraine in Nato, that's flat! The last year has proven that Russia remains a primitively hard and brutal country, at least when provoked and it is tragically unwise to do so lacking fundamental and unavoidable motivation. Since we lacked such motivation when we whimsically encouraged Ukraine to seek the Nato protection they so very understandably want, we have an obligation to admit our murderous folly by properly backing off and letting Ukraine and Russia settle their affairs among themselves. We should be willing to help rebuild a realistically stabilized Ukraine when the peace I think would consequently manifest occurs.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy from Jack: You and that gutsy Governor make a very plausible point in noting that after all, DJT has had a chance to drain the swamp and it ain't drained. But: DJT has endured a level of excoriation and now, incipiently totalitarian legal jeopardy bound to deeply move even an hombre like him. How could it not? He was as new to that office in 2017 as has anyone, including Generals, been.He has to have been much tempered by his consequent experience in and out of office. What could motivate a wealthy man of his age to forego luxury and relaxation for this? Only, I think, a terrible determination to devastate his vicious opposition by getting it much closer to right this time.He is RIGHT; when they savage him they do as much to an America for which they harbor only the withering contempt they have worked on him. I say let him at them again; he's learned hard lessons and he's fighting our fight.They will surely advance to destroying our lives should they destroy his.
ReplyDeleteRAY TO NICK
ReplyDeleteYour hero DeSantis is like most politicians, a political opportunist. He will do anything to make Trump look bad. My own opinion is that if he and any of the other Republican candidates for president, with the exception of Trump, are nominated and win, they will get along fine with the Democrats, and finish things off with a Demopublican party. Trump will fade away, and The Left will have won.
Hmm. I wonder, Jack, whether there was any political correctness in Pee-Wee's Playhouse? No idea. Sesame Street, it wasn't!
ReplyDeleteYes, Jack, Ukraine's desire to take the fight to Mother Russia is understandable, but at some stage means and ends need to correlate and both sides (and the world) need to find a way out of this mess. As I said, the Ukrainians may be feeling a little desperate, and that's worrying on several levels. We need cooler heads to prevail.
Oh, Jack, I've never doubted Trump's motivation. It's (Washington) street smarts that he lacks, plus personal connections inside the Beltway, plus self-control. Having said all that, I sometimes wonder what his presidency might have been like had he kept people like General Flynn and Steve Bannon around. He allowed his administration to be purged of some of its best people because he was trying to placate "the Swamp". I would hope he wouldn't make that mistake again.
Ray, it's possible that you're right that DeSantis and all the other also-rans don't have the fire in the belly or the ruthlessness to take on the Swamp, and thus they would only succeed in postponing leftist supremacy. Of course, it's also possible that Trump would be equally unsuccessful at holding back the flood tide of neo-Marxism. In other words, it's possible that we're screwed. It's also, however, possible that we're not, but it's a matter of speculation who gives us our best hope. I like what I see in DeSantis's record, but D.C. is a totally different sandbox...
Ray to Nick
DeleteYou are right about D.C. being a "totally different sandbox", which is one that people have pooped in a lot. Personally, I think we have been screwed for a longer time than we think.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: I never watched Pee Wee. "I know you are but. . ." was commonly said in the ' 50s when I was growing up, mostly by girls. It appears the Pee Wee character was skillfully and faithfully wrought.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Ray -- we've been screwed roughly since Homo sapiens sapiens burst forth from the primordial ooze. That is to say, our limitations are inherent, and make it virtually inevitable that we will limp from one pompous demagogue to another. My advice: enjoy the spectacle!
ReplyDelete"Skillfully and faithfully wrought" are probably words that never made it into a single "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" script. Prove me wrong! Ha ha.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Nor would we have known those words before we became instant intellectuals in '65. But in the '50s Pee Wee would have been a regular kind of guy, at least he appears so.Consider the character Jughead from the Archie comics books: same same.
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