Greg Principato

Work in aviation and travel. Love my family, baseball, football, history, politics and travel. Notre Dame soccer alum.

[Mark Carney @MarkJCarney]

82 years ago, 14,000 Canadians landed on Juno Beach, many of whom would never come home.

On the anniversary of D-Day, we pause to honour those who served and sacrificed. We remember that our rights, our freedoms, and our way of life were fought for and were won by those who answered the call.

[Greg Principato @greg_otto]

LEADERSHIP

[Michael Beschloss @BeschlossDC]

General Eisenhower's June 5, 1944, note for the message he would issue if the D-Day invasion failed the next day. He said that if there was any blame, "it is mine alone."

[Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @AdamKinzinger]

Since the @WhiteHouse and @POTUS is mad about this, please don’t retweet or share

[Greg Principato @greg_otto]

Sadly summed up by @Kasparov63

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

Trump‘s hands have been untied for a year and a half and he’s only used them to try to strangle Ukraine and put Russian money into he and his cronies' pockets. Letting Trump do whatever he wants means letting Putin do whatever he wants.

[Voices of WW2 @VoicesofWW2]

On the night of June 5, 1944, Eisenhower stood on a tarmac in England and watched 13,000 paratroopers board their planes.

He already knew what Air Marshal Leigh-Mallory had told him in private: up to half of them might not survive the night. 6,500 men. Dead before a single soldier touched the beach. Eisenhower had approved the mission anyway, called the decision "soul-wracking," and said nothing to the men.

Instead he drove out and visited them.

He chatted. Laughed. Asked where they were from. Shook hands. Cracked jokes. Not one of them knew their general had just signed what might be their death warrant.

When the last plane disappeared into the dark sky, his driver Kay Summersby looked over at him.

There were tears running down his face.

He drove back to Telegraph Cottage in silence. Then he sat down, picked up a pencil, and wrote a note he prayed no one would ever read.

"Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops.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."

Look at what he edited.

He had first written "This particular operation." He crossed it out and replaced it with "My decision to attack." Then he pressed the pencil down hard and drew a long, firm line under the words "mine alone."

He misdated it July 5 instead of June 5.

He was so consumed with dread he had forgotten what month it was.

He folded the note and put it in his wallet. He carried it there as 156,000 men stormed the beaches of Normandy. When word came back that the beachhead had held, he took it out, crumpled it, and threw it in the trash.

An aide quietly pulled it out and saved it.

That note is now behind glass at the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas. You can still see where the pencil pressed hardest.

Right under the words "mine alone."

82 years ago tonight.

[Greg Principato @greg_otto]

💯

[Not Gaetti @notgaetti]

The four biggest reasons we are doomed as a society:

1. Sports betting
2. Savannah Bananas
3. Harold Baines HOF deniers
4. People with attention spans like this 👇

[Greg Principato @greg_otto]

Once again, @notgaetti sums it up.

[Not Gaetti @notgaetti]

Why didn’t anyone else of his era come close to doing the same thing? Why was Ruth singlehandedly hitting more homers than entire teams? Why was he the only person to be both an elite hitter and elite pitcher in his era? You say the game was so much easier then, but nobody came close to doing what Ruth was doing at the advent of the Live Ball Era.

The difference between Ruth and the average player of his day was far greater than the difference between any other athlete and the average player of their day, in any era, in any sport.

[Greg Principato @greg_otto]

Airplane!!!!!

[Miles Commodore @miles_commodore]

What was the better 1980 comedy, Airplane or Caddyshack?

[Greg Principato @greg_otto]

@notgaetti And this is why I love following you!

[Greg Principato @greg_otto]

@BBGreatMoments Yes!

[Greg Principato @greg_otto]

@notgaetti Dad and grandpa here approves!

[Greg Principato @greg_otto]

@notgaetti @baseball_ref @Stathead @whitesox @TheBigHurt_35 @KenWo4LiFe @ckamka @HalaCaraXXes_ @grantmcauley @MannyOnMLB @BigLeagueDigest Those are the kinds of discussions with no right answer that make baseball so much fun!

[Greg Principato @greg_otto]

@notgaetti Great points!

[Greg Principato @greg_otto]

@TheMickyDolenz1 Watched it and so many other episodes! The Monkees were a big part of growing up for us of a certain age.

[D.Radka, #NAFO 🇨🇿🤝🇺🇦 @DakdaR22]

Moment When Radoslaw Sikorski reminded America, UK, France and Russia that they guaranteed Ukrainian security and borders in 1994!

- Sikorski:
“As you know, Russia, the USA, and Great Britain guaranteed the security of Ukraine and its borders.
In exchange for Ukraine giving up what was then the third largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world. In 1994.
So you have an obligation to Ukraine to help them defend their freedom.”

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

More of CNN's false equivalence language. Ukraine is not targeting St. Petersburg, but striking military installations, Russian warships, and oil refineries. It's the Russian terror state that strikes cities and targets civilians. https://t.co/Cy7DgqtkuT

[Orla Joelsen @OJoelsen]

Actually, that’s not for Washington to decide. Greenland’s future belongs to the Greenlandic people.

[Greg Principato @greg_otto]

Truest words you’ll read all day. 👇

[Clint Hurdle @ClintHurdle13]

Asking for help is a superpower. For many years I thought it meant I was weak. Then I realized it's the only way things actually change.

[Greg Principato @greg_otto]

@EchoesFromND Bradley was playing when I was at ND. Absolutely deserving. Overdue. T’eo should have won the Heisman. Vote yes for sure!!!!