Paul Spilman

Enjoying the good journey with family and friends. Enthralled with Bonaventure Basketball.

[Paul Spilman @PSpilman]

@JaniceDean Janice is one of the good ones. Always mostly sunny!

[Montreal Expos @Montreal_Expos]

Bonne Saint-Jean! ⚜️

[Eylon Levy @EylonALevy]

This is the “Al Jazeera cameraman” Israel killed over the weekend.

Maybe he just didn’t tell his employer he had a side hustle as a Hamas sniper?

[Scott Lincicome @scottlincicome]

It really is PERFECT that several elite economists just spent several weeks debating - with detailed data/charts/analysis/etc - US/EU wealth & living standards, & then a bunch of goofy European tourists simply tweeted abt a Texan gas station & settled the debate in 30 seconds 🤣

[Paul Spilman @PSpilman]

@elsathora Freddy will be drinking Canadian ale tonight!

[Open Source Intel @Osint613]

Italian PM Meloni to Trump:

So, certain things deserve an immediate response.

Donald Trump's statements are completely fabricated. I am frankly appalled. I don't know why the President of the United States behaves this way towards his allies; after all, it's not the first time it's happened.

I can only say it's a pity that he doesn't show the same determination with the enemies of the West, with the enemies of the United States, with leaders towards whom he instead proves to be much more accommodating.

But he must remember one thing: Italy and I never beg.

[Paul Spilman @PSpilman]

@jonkarl @EenaRuffini Since my pool is immaculate, I’m awaiting the call to go to DC to fix this mess.

[Wall Street Mav @WallStreetMav]

When Jimmy Carter purchased the teachers’ union’s endorsement in 1979 by establishing the Department of Education, the USA was #1 in education.

46 years and $4.1 trillion dollars later, the USA is #40. We are, however, #1 in cost per student.

[Paul Spilman @PSpilman]

@cspotweet Hockey Night in Canada was a large part of my misspent youth. This is a shame.

[Emily Zanotti 🦝 @emzanotti]

Man, if only there was an easy way to correct misinformation and put conspiracies to rest

[Marc Thiessen @marcthiessen]

If this is accurate it’s a complete disaster.

[Jonah Goldberg @JonahDispatch]

I think the compromise consensus position for pretty much everybody of good faith should be that the full text of the agreement be released. There’s no reason to take Trump’s word or Iran’s or random leakers’ word for it. Release the text, period.

[Paul Spilman @PSpilman]

@FoxNews @TreyYingst The possibility exists that POTUS is far less than truthful.

[Karol Markowicz @karol]

Why are New Yorkers acting like they’re from Philadelphia.

[Paul Spilman @PSpilman]

@CBPCommissioner @POTUS I loved the @Montreal_Expos when Rodney Scott played second base.

[Paul Spilman @PSpilman]

@marthamaccallum Make the North Country History trek, continuing north to Valcour Island and Plattsburgh battle sites, then heading west to Sackets Harbor, following an obvious lunch stop at Sergi’s in Canton.

[Echoes of War @EchoesofWarYT]

On June 6, 1944, a 56-year-old general with a secret walked onto Utah Beach under fire, armed with a cane and a pistol.

The secret: his heart was failing. He had hidden it from the army doctors so they wouldn't pull him from the mission.

His name was Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Son of the President. He had begged three separate times to lead the first wave ashore at Normandy before his commanders finally said yes.

When his landing craft drifted 2,000 yards off course, every instinct said redirect the following waves to the correct zone. Instead, Roosevelt walked the beach himself, alone, under artillery fire, cane in hand, reading the terrain.

His verdict: "We'll start the war from right here."

He then stood on that beach and personally greeted every regiment that landed after him, pointing them inland, cracking jokes under shellfire, steadying 18-year-olds who had never seen combat. He did this for hours.

Years later, Omar Bradley was asked to name the single most heroic act he had ever witnessed in combat.

His answer, without hesitation: "Ted Roosevelt on Utah Beach."

Roosevelt's son, Captain Quentin Roosevelt II, also landed at Normandy that same morning. He was named after his uncle, Quentin Roosevelt, who had been shot down as a fighter pilot over France in World War I.

Three generations. Three wars. One family.

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. died in his sleep 36 days later. Heart attack. The thing he had been hiding finally won. He never learned he had been awarded the Medal of Honor.

He was buried at the Normandy American Cemetery.

In 1955, his family had his brother Quentin, killed in WWI, exhumed from where he fell in France and reinterred right beside him. Quentin is the only World War I soldier buried there.

Two brothers. Two world wars. The same French soil.

Their father had once said: "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

Both of his sons did exactly that.

[Voices of WW2 @VoicesofWW2]

June 5, 1944. 3:30am.

Eisenhower woke to howling wind and hard rain. At 4:15am, in a water-soaked tent, his meteorologist James Stagg told him: there's a 24-hour break in the storm coming. One window. Miss it, and the next date is June 19.

He had 5,000 ships and 160,000 men already moving toward France.

He said: "OK. Let's go."

That evening at 8:30pm, he drove to Greenham Common to stand among the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne. He had just been privately briefed they could expect 80% casualties. He didn't show it. He walked through the crowd, shaking hands, asking names, asking where men were from.

One soldier, Lt. Wallace Strobel, said Michigan.

Eisenhower smiled. "Oh, Michigan. I used to fish there. Great fishing in Michigan."

Witnesses said his eyes were wet when he got back in the car.

That night, alone, he wrote four sentences and stuffed the paper in his pocket:

"Our landings have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."

He misdated it "July 5." His mind was somewhere else.

Meanwhile, across the Channel, Field Marshal Rommel was in his staff car rolling through Germany toward home. His wife Lucie was turning 50 tomorrow. He had brought her a pair of shoes from Paris.

The Germans had no Atlantic weather stations. Their meteorologists had told high command: no invasion is possible in this weather. Rommel genuinely believed they had weeks.

The paratroopers jumped at midnight.

[DS | Wild Bloom 🌿 @DSWildBloom86]

I’d rather watch kids playing a t-ball game than an MLB game, they are hilarious 😂

[Gary Sinise @GarySinise]

Thank you to all who fought and sacrificed in freedoms defense all those years ago. Incredible footage here. Blessed that both my uncles survived and will never forget the over 400,000 who did not come home.