A little-known alliance between the US and Tsarist Russia led to the Russian fleet showing up in force in New York and San Francisco. It arrived at a crucial time in 1863 when Britain and France were on the verge of intervening in the Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. An actual world war was on the horizon that would “wrap the world in flames” as Secretary of State William Seward put it. The mighty Russian presence deterred the Anglo-French from invading, and the Union was saved. HistoryWho is driving the good ship Lollipop? That is one question all Americans should ask. Better question: Which direction is the country headed? Pravda 10/18/2016
I was pants-ed by my students after football practice at La Lumiere School, along with the head coach and our school priest/coach Chaplain. All in good fun - embarASSing fun..
Memories of kids getting pants-ed ( the act of pantsing) from Kindergarten through high school stirred when I read about Putin's fleet taking the long way to incinerate what is left of Aleppo in Syria - through the English channel and into the American Lakes.
Why pantsing?Yanking down one's britches in public was and is mostly it was good clean; sometimes it was hostile and cruel. Only jerks would pants a shy, inoffensive, lonely, or special youngster and they would be dealt with by their betters in due course.
I remember a little guy who was so afraid getting pants-ed at school that he would actually make himself sick about it. As a coach and teacher it was my job to speak to several of the school's more infamous Myrmidons and ne'er-do-wells and they kept a sober and loving watch out for jerks lurking to terrorize the boy. No one pantsed him in four years; nor did he deign to pants anyone.
The global jerks, the Russians, were at one time kept in check by kids that I taught at Bishop McNamara, La Lumiere and Leo who exchanged letterman jackets for Kevlar vests and helmets. Pat Donnelly, Jim Buck, Marvin Carey. Mario Bullock and Mike Van Weigel went to sea as sailors and marines. The Russkies behaved.
After eight years of President Obama's daffy foreign policies, the Global Bully Putin is yanking down the britches of President at this very moment.
Russia has begun its biggest surface deployment since the end of the Cold War as it aims to effectively end the war in Syria on the eve of the US election, Nato officials warned last night.
The Kremlin is sending the full might of its Northern Fleet and part of the Baltic Fleet to reinforce a final assault on the city of Aleppo in a fortnight, according to Western intelligence.
The final bombardment is designed to shore up the Assad regime by wiping out rebels – paving the way for a Russian exit from the civil war. . . .
Royal Navy warships are due to escort a group of eight Russian warships, including the country’s only aircraft carrier, as they sail past the UK on their way to the Mediterranean.
Senior Royal Navy officers expect the task force to sail past the UK as early as Thursday in a show of strength dismissed as “posturing” by defence sources. . . .
But a senior Nato diplomat said the deployment from the Northern Fleet’s base near Murmansk would herald a renewed attack in Aleppo.
“They are deploying all of the Northern Fleet and much of the Baltic Fleet in the largest surface deployment since the end of the Cold War,” the diplomat said.
“This is not a friendly port call. In two weeks, we will see a crescendo of air attacks on Aleppo as part of Russia’s strategy to declare victory there.”President Obama has smirked, shrugged and bowed for eight years and today Valdimir Putin yanked down his pants in front of the whole world.
The whole world is watching this Obama Legacy moment.
