BALTIMORE, Maryland, Thursday, April 6, 2017 - In the most basic sense, the news moving like lightning through all of the world's capitals this April evening is that the days of the United States tolerating pure evil are over. In the new world of President Donald Trump, the USA will act decisively against raw evil. The President has sent a dramatic message to all of the evil leaders around this Earth: the era of 'do what you will' is over, forever, and consequences will now surely and certainly follow the commission of pure evil.
The American response to the purely evil deeds of Syrian President Bashar Hafez al-Assad (Arabic: بشار حافظ الأس) was the unleashing of some 59 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles from two American Destroyers on patrol in the Mediterranean Sea off of the Syrian Coast. The 1,000 pound missiles were all aimed at, and landed at, a Syrian Air Base where, several days prior, a Syrian plane carrying chemical weapons took off. That plane dropped those chemical weapons, including the pernicious and agony-causing Sarin Gas, on a Syrian Town known as Khan Sheikhun, under the control of Rebels opposed to Syrian President Bashaar Al Assad.
Authorities, such as they are in the rebel-held province, said some 70 people were killed and at least 100 wounded at the town in Idlib Province. Many of the dead were children, including infants. Video of the aftermath of the horrific attack depicted children writhing in agony on the ground before succumbing. It was these videos, viewed by President Trump, along with intelligence reports that verified that Russia had prior knowledge of the chemicals used on the innocent civilians, that convinced the President and military leaders that they had to act to prevent a repeat.
Around the world, the American action was generally praised as a measured response to a horrific deed. Nations as diverse as China, Israel, Poland, Japan, Australia, Italy and Saudi Arabia all strongly endorsed the Trump-ordered action. Only actual allies of the parties targeted in the attack were critical of the American action. These unhappy nations included Russia and Iran. Here in the United States, former top Obama Adviser David Axelrod was cynical about Trump's motives, saying it came at a convenient time considering the fact that Trump is suspected (by the Ultra Left) of colluding with Russia before and during the autumn, 2016 Presidential elections.
By Friday, Russia had deployed a battleship to the Eastern Mediterranean to the same general area as the two American ships that launched the Tomahawks. The American ships, of course, were no longer at the places where they launched their attacks, and there was no word whether the Russian ship would seek to engage the American Destroyers.
Sports: A look back at NCAA Basketball Title Game
Kennedy Meeks is a six foot, ten inch tall senior for the University of North Carolina Men's Basketball Team. Monday night, with most everybody in These United States glued to their televison sets, Meeks bailed his team out of another brush with defeat in the NCAA championship game. Many will recall that the Tar Heels had suffered the agony of a last second defeat in the 2016 title game with Villanova. Meeks made sure there would be no repeat of that painful debacle.
This time, North Carolina was clinging, precariously, to a narrow lead. When his teammate missed a last second free throw, Meeks clawed, danced and flew through a mass of humanity, out-jumped a number of Gonzaga's mega-talented front court players in the process, in order to get to the rebound. Kennedy Meeks knew he was not in a position to completely catch and secure that rebound, so, using his right arm and hand, he powerfully whacked the descending ball out away from the basket to Theo Pinson of Carolina. Pinson managed to dribble away from pursuing Gonzaga players until the final horn sounded.
A look at the video replay of those final seconds of the game illustrates, dramatically, the spectacular nature of Meeks' actions. In the fraction of a second he had to work with, he deftly cut between several other players trying to do the exact same thing that he was. Meeks, somehow, managed to end up at the exact place he needed to be to execute the soaring leap required to get to the basketball as it fell from the rim. To successfully execute the play, Meeks required speed, quickness, tremendous leaping ability and precise on-the-move calculation. And yet, to the viewer, it appeared Meeks acted almost from instinct, so fast did he make the moves required.
In winning the championship game, North Carolina had to fend off a courageous Gonzaga team that, prior to this game had lost only once in 38 outings. Even in the final seconds, Gonzaga still had a lead. When Carolina regained a very narrow lead, Gonzaga came right down the floor poised to take that lead right back. But on the final offensive effort for Gonzaga on this championship night, the ankle of their star player, Nigel Williams-Goss, gave out, meaning he was unable to execute his drive in the lane in the last seconds of the game. Meeks blocked the shot finally taken by Williams-Goss.
No comments:
Post a Comment