Merry Christmas To All!

RedState’s Water Cooler – December 24, 2018 – Open Thread: Christmas War Stories and A Little Christmastime Fun With Ted Cruz

Washington’s Boxing Day Surprise for the Brits in 1776

Only three days before George Washington stunned the British Army at dawn on December 26, 1776 in Trenton, NJ, Thomas Paine wrote “these are the times that try men’s souls.” Washington’s army had suffered a series of defeats and many of his men’s enlistments were set to expire, but he convinced his men to participate in one final assault.

Washington had intended to strike on Christmas Day, however, a blizzard had made that impossible. The next day, Washington’s troops took the the British Army completely by surprise. He and his men won a stunning victory and captured vital supplies in the process.

General Sherman’s 1864 Christmas Gift To His Commander-in-Chief

The success of Sherman’s 1864 “Atlanta Campaign”, followed by his “March to the Sea,” are often credited for clinching President Lincoln’s 1864 victory. On December 22, 1864, Sherman sent the following telegram to him:

Savannah, GA, December 22, 1864 (Via Fort Monroe 6:45 pm 25th)

His Excellency President LINCOLN:

I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton.

W.T. Sherman, Major General

World War I Christmas Truce

During the week before Christmas of 1941, fighting stopped in many areas along the Western Front.

French, German, and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk. In some areas, men from both sides ventured into no man’s land on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps, while several meetings ended in carol-singing. Men played games of football with one another, giving one of the most memorable images of the truce.

The following year, a few units arranged ceasefires but the truces were not nearly as widespread as in 1914; this was, in part, due to strongly worded orders from the high commands of both sides prohibiting truces. Soldiers were no longer amenable to truce by 1916. The war had become increasingly bitter after devastating human losses suffered during the battles of the Somme and Verdun, and the use of poison gas.

Ted Cruz: Satire Alert

Ted Cruz appears with his wife and children in a brief “ad” to introduce a series of Washington Children’s Christmas Classics. The four are seated on a sofa in their family room in a scene that is familiar to us from one of his 2016 presidential campaign ads.

Cruz reads to his daughters: “Twas the night before the shutdown, And all through the House, Not a creature was stirring, Not even to fund a mouse.”

Then, he picks up “Frosty: The Speaker of the House.” “Look, the Speaker is melting before Congress!”

Next comes “the Lois Lerner masterpiece, “Auditing St. Nick.” He reads “I will audit him here or there. I will audit him anywhere.”

His daughter picks up “The Grinch Who Lost Her Emails.” “I know just what I’ll do, she said with a snicker, I’ll use my own server and no one will be the wiser.”

Other titles include “The March of the Wooden Secretary of State,” “A Wonderful Lie: A Very Merry Economy,” “Night of the Sugar Plum Cronies,” “Frisking Santa Claus,” “Death to Christmas: The Ayatollah’s Big Red Bomb,” “Miracle on K Street,” and “A Washington Cartel Carol.”

The video ends with “Ted Cruz: The Senator Who Saved Christmas.”

Quandary of the Day:

There have been multiple reports that the White House has lowered their demand of funding for the border wall to $2.5 billion.

Yet, Chuck Schumer blames President Trump for his “inability to compromise over wall funding.” Unwilling to meet the President halfway, because that would offer Trump “a win,” Schumer said, “So Mr. Trump, if you want to open the government, you must abandon the wall.”

Tell me again Chuck, which side is unable to compromise?