We received an interesting appendix on World War II by SW, who writes in with some historical sobriety—just how much we fought prior to Pearl Harbor:

The US suffered combat casualties long before Pearl Harbor.

The earliest was the USS Panay sunk by the Japanese in December 1937 in China.

The last was the USS Reuben James sunk by the Germans in October 1941; the Reuben James was immortalized in song by the Kingston Trio.

The lack of historical awareness means that these have mostly been forgotten. The USS Liberty attack will suffer the same fate.

Throughout both World Wars, American ships were sunk—sometimes with no distinction between military and simple tourism or trade ships. There are more stories for the interested, too.

The USS Liberty incident is of course a whole story to explore sometime. It is one of those strange military misadventures where every side of the story has a major flaw in it. But you’re right—probably few people know any of these stories.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.