Blessed_storey

Retired teacher, librarian, but more importantly, I am a christian, wife, mom, dog rescuer, book lover and knowledge seeker.

[Christopher Hale @ChristopherHale]

“If you think the world is selfish and rotten, go to the cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer overlooking Omaha Beach. See what one group of men did for another on D-Day, June 6th, 1944.” — Andy Rooney

[GB News @GBNEWS]

BREAKING: King Charles departs Washington, marking the end of his state visit to the US.

[Shanaka Anslem Perera ⚡ @shanaka86]

JUST IN: You do not fire your Army Chief of Staff in the middle of a war for no reason. You fire him because of what comes next.

Pete Hegseth called General Randy George on April 2 and told him to retire immediately. The Pentagon confirmed it within hours. No reason was given. Not publicly. Not privately. A senior Army official told Fox News that Hegseth offered George nothing: no misconduct, no operational failure, no policy disagreement on the record. Just a phone call and a career ending in the middle of the most significant American combat operation in two decades.

George is the 24th general or admiral Hegseth has removed. But he is not the 24th. He is the one that matters. The Army Chief of Staff. The man whose signature sits between a president’s intent and the order that sends soldiers across a beach or into a tunnel complex. The 82nd Airborne is deploying right now. Marines from the 31st MEU are staged on the USS Tripoli. JSOC operators are at forward bases in Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Kharg Island, 90 percent of Iranian oil exports, sits 16 kilometres off a coast that someone will have to decide whether to approach. And the four-star general whose job it was to advise whether that approach should happen was removed 48 hours after Trump told the nation the war would continue for two to three more weeks.

The replacement is Vice Chief General Christopher LaNeve. He was Hegseth’s senior military aide before this appointment. The man who carried the Secretary’s briefcase now commands the Army the Secretary is reshaping. The chain of command did not break. It shortened. The distance between a television studio and a combat order just collapsed to zero intermediaries who were not personally selected by the man giving the order.

No reason was given. That is the tell. When someone is removed without explanation during a crisis, the explanation is the crisis itself. George either objected to something or was about to. The ground option. The power plant strikes. The Kharg raid. The escalation that turned a highway bridge in Karaj into rubble on the same day he was told to leave. Something in the next two weeks requires a chief who will not push back, and the Pentagon solved that problem by installing one trained as Hegseth’s aide.

A former Fox News weekend host just fired a four-star general with combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, replaced him with his own former assistant, and did it during a live war in which the next decision could put American soldiers on Iranian soil for the first time in history. No hearing was held. No misconduct cited. The Army woke up on April 3 with a new chief it did not choose, in a war it did not start, preparing for a phase the previous chief apparently could not be trusted to execute.

The question is not why George was fired. Every general in the building knows why. The question is what order is coming in the next fourteen days that required removing the one man in the chain of command who might have said no.

The war has no perimeter. The chain of command has no objectors. And the next phase has no one left to stop it.

https://t.co/dAOBBMsgDS

[WCPO 9 @WCPO]

The family of Capt. Curtis Angst released a statement Sunday, remembering the 30-year-old Ohio Air National Guard pilot. Curtis Angst was one of the three U.S. servicemembers from Ohio killed in a refueling tanker aircraft crash over Iraq on Thursday. https://t.co/IuqbqrliWK

[The Bush Archive @TheBushArchive]

After the Iraq Invasion, George W. Bush stopped playing golf
He said he didn’t want “some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander-in-chief playing golf”
https://t.co/jATHBvOkuU

[WSYX ABC 6 @wsyx6]

Tyler Simmons, 28, of Columbus, was one of three Ohio Air National Guard members who died when a KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on March 12. https://t.co/WhO7ma9DOT

[U.S. Central Command @CENTCOM]

U.S. Central Command is aware of the loss of a U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft. The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing. Two aircraft were involved in the incident. One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely.

This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.

Read more:
https://t.co/6fYk6iPl7e

[Curtis Houck @CurtisHouck]

Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Razin Caine on the working of the U.S. Navy...

"Today, I want to highlight a few groups of sailors. First, I want to thank the men and women of the Ford Carrier Strike Group and their families, and let all of them know how grateful I am for their leadership and service. The crews on board this strike group have already been -- endured months at sea, only to get their deployment extended. These exceptional Americans rogered up, all supported by their families, continue to stand the watch, taking the fight to the enemy over and over again, night after night. Aboard ships like the USS Ford and the Abraham Lincoln are a special group of sailors I want to highlight today. These are the men and women, the sailors up on the roof, running operations on the flight deck with an average age of the early 20s. These are the unsung heroes of naval aviation. These young sailors, known for wearing yellow shirts, are in charge of the catapults, taxiing jets around on the flight deck, shooting jets off the front end, and recovering jets off the back end. They are literally involved with every single movement on the -- on the roof on an aircraft carrier. They are the last ones that a naval aviator sees before getting shot off the front end, and the first one that a naval aviator sees after safely strapping on the back end. And just for a minute, imagine you're standing on that aircraft carrier flight deck. There's 30 knots of wind in your face. The deck is slippery, covered in grease. It's noisy. There are propellers spinning. There's jet blast everywhere. The helicopters are running, your head is on a swivel, and you're trying to direct a multimillion-dollar fighter into a one-foot square box, so that those naval aviators can be shot off into the black of night to go do America's work. Those jets are fully loaded with missiles and bombs, and they are a world-class team, combined with the naval aviation and the aviators in those jets."

"This beautiful symphony of American spirit is the definition of perfectly organized chaos. And these crews do it every single time the carrier is at work. Oh, by the way, in the middle of the night and oftentimes in the pouring rain. These are dedicated young people who take the road less traveled to serve their great nation, doing the deeds that we need them to do. America's enlisted force is the pride of every nation's military, certainly ours, and the envy of every other one as well. Each and every one of them out there across the joint force are extraordinary." And in particular, today I want to highlight the yellow shirts."

[MLFootball @MLFootball]

MIKE TIRICO’S ALL-TIME GREAT OLYMPICS SIGN-OFF:

“All the young people out there, those dreams are formed now. Go chase them, our country loves sports, it brings us together unlike anything else. And if you didn’t know that: you saw it in Team USA Hockey”

[Sports Spectrum @Sports_Spectrum]

You have to see this!

Members of the Ohio State football team held their second Fall Kickoff “An invitation to Jesus” on Monday night. Players shared their Jesus stories with thousands in attendance.

[Tooth Chipper @Tooth_Chipper]

This is so accurate that I'm almost wheezing.

[Jeff Schudel @jsproinsider]

Here is the introduction video prior to Tom Hamilton receiving the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in baseball broadcasting Saturday during Hall of Fame weekend in Cooperstown, N.Y. It is very cool. ##Guardians. #HOF #MLB

[Gabe Wasylko @GabeWasylko]

Last Night’s Guardian Moon in Cleveland, Ohio

[Erica 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 @EricaRN4USA]

A beautiful message for Americans from @Pontifex
🇺🇸🙏✝️ ~ Amen 🕊️

[Vanguard WWII by Cadet - bringing history to life! @Vanguard_WW2]

The eve of the 'Great Crusade' 5 June 1944

Like every day at 9.15 pm French time, the opening notes of Beethoven's 5th, forming the Morse for V for Victory, sound across the airwaves of BBC's Radio Londres.
The speaker of the 'Ici Londres, , Franck Bauer, then reads out personal messages that are known to individual Resistance groups...
1/8

[Band of Brothers Behind the Scenes @BandBehind]

Tonight,
Is the night,
Of nights.

[Daniel Buck, “Youngest Old Man in Ed Reform” @MrDanielBuck]

School board in PA undid their 1-to-1 Chromebook initiative.

Back to paper, pencil, and physical books.

This is the way!

[News 5 Cleveland @WEWS]

Cleveland exhibit celebrates immigrant stories through portraits https://t.co/cYbZqisMnK

[Sam Allard @SceneSallard]

Jarrett Allen with one of the warmest and most perceptive takes I've read on Cleveland and Clevelanders in @PlayersTribune

"...the smiles have been abundant." https://t.co/vh6WKotzdO

[Lysa TerKeurst @LysaTerKeurst]

Sometimes we’re making our way through an ordinary day & realize God has answered a specific prayer. Maybe it occurred quietly & subtly. Maybe we didn’t realize it because it doesn’t look like we expected. But then there it is.

Noticing the presence of God takes my breath away.