I returned home to Ireland in 2023 after 29 years in the US. Voted for the first time since leaving Ireland in 1992, NO/NO. It was very much a left wing vote, as the CARE amendment was seen (rightly) as a Thatcherite attempt to weasel the State out of an obligation to health care (saying the state, in the absence of family, would "strive" to provide health care). I can strive to move my house 2 inches to the left by pushing on it. Strive, my arse.
Same with the family one. I have no problem with gender-neutral language, the const. was written by conservative Catholics in the 30s, and could use some fixing. However, as with the CARE amendment, the language was wooly and vague.
The Irish are the people who voted overwhelmingly for Abortion and Gay Marriage in a direct referendum, something that the US would be hard pressed to do, had they direct vote refs as we do. This ref vote was not right-reaction - though some voters surely were - it was a distrust of a right wing government that has proven itself to be untrustworthy.
BTW, the Irish constitution - as I said, written by conservative Catholics - is a far more left wing document the US one. In a push, we could licence it to yiz.
I can't be 100% sure either but we'll leave it as is for the moment. No one else has mentioned it. Thanks for pointing it out anyway - always appreciated.
"A Kiev spokesman has told the Financial Times that 330,000 troops on the front lines desperately need a rest. "
Nice to see a figure on what they have left. Six months ago I said Ukraine was unlikely to have much more than 250,000 left and that depended on whether they had actually fielded one million as some people claimed. I was likely low on that number - assuming this number now quoted is true, which it probably isn't, given a Ukrainian source.
Since Russia probably has over 500,000 troops available, either on the front or behind it waiting for commitment, it's clear that Ukraine is now seriously over matched in simple troop numbers, let alone weaponry. Not to mention that most of those alleged 330,000 are untrained conscripts compared to Russia's professionally trained and experienced troops.
So this absolutely can not last much longer. Scott Ritter quoted a Russian officer he talked to during his visit who said we could expect dramatic developments on the front by IIRC May.
"Ukrainian companies do not have the necessary licenses to repair the barrels of US made M777 howitzers because it would violate intellectual property rights. "
Capitalism wins again! LOL As someone who is vehemently opposed to intellectual property rights, I find this hilarious. What? They can't grant an exceptional license - to the notoriously corrupt Ukrainians? Yuk-yuk.
Roksolana Pidlasa has got that "sexy librarian" look going on.
As for marriage, I don't recognize it. I recognize only a "consort" relationship. Not to mention that humans are not "monogamous" and never have been. In fact, the very concept of "monogamy" is perhaps THE dumbest concept in human history. It may have made sense back when one lived in a tribe of 20-200 or in a village with 100-200 people and the nearest other village was 20 miles away - in other words, you had no choice, but with the present 8 billion population and even small towns have populations of 10,000 or more, it's utter madness.
Scientists claim humans are "serially monogamous". LOL That's a "politically correct" concept. That just means one is monogamous until one decides not to be, when one decides to "trade up".
Yes the famous Russian poet Lermontov is actually a Learmont. The best one is the Russo Finnish Field Marshall Mannerheim-He's from the Swedish von Wright family (still going strong) founded by a Dundonian.
Is it guide or glide bomb? The casualties amongst the mercenaries suggest a 40 to 50 percent kill ratio. I think they are interspersed with Ukrainian units? Even accounting for ideological fanaticism amongst the mercs and use of mercs as cannon fodder by the AFU: the figures would suggest a KIA rate for the AFU of 400, 000 to 500, 000 is probable.
A total KIA of 400-500,000 Ukrainian soldiers is considered likely by most analysts. Add in the wounded and the figure is likely over a million. Ukraine claims they fielded a million or more troops over the last 2 years and now have allegedly 330,000 left. That means they lost over 700,000 either KIA or "irretrievably wounded". I estimated in my articles six months ago that Ukraine was losing somewhere between 50-100,000 per month killed and wounded. The daily figures have been inching up every month.
We'll probably have to wait until some time after the end of the war when the Russians do a final tally based on Ukrainian government figures what the real toll was.
I think many people call them glide bombs because they glide. I think wings are attached to them so they can do this. So I don't think these are guide bombs - which may also exist however. As for figures? I have no idea really.
I returned home to Ireland in 2023 after 29 years in the US. Voted for the first time since leaving Ireland in 1992, NO/NO. It was very much a left wing vote, as the CARE amendment was seen (rightly) as a Thatcherite attempt to weasel the State out of an obligation to health care (saying the state, in the absence of family, would "strive" to provide health care). I can strive to move my house 2 inches to the left by pushing on it. Strive, my arse.
Same with the family one. I have no problem with gender-neutral language, the const. was written by conservative Catholics in the 30s, and could use some fixing. However, as with the CARE amendment, the language was wooly and vague.
The Irish are the people who voted overwhelmingly for Abortion and Gay Marriage in a direct referendum, something that the US would be hard pressed to do, had they direct vote refs as we do. This ref vote was not right-reaction - though some voters surely were - it was a distrust of a right wing government that has proven itself to be untrustworthy.
BTW, the Irish constitution - as I said, written by conservative Catholics - is a far more left wing document the US one. In a push, we could licence it to yiz.
Minor correction: the photo you have of Yuri Gagarin is actually of Valentina Tereshkova (the first woman in space).
I've double checked and I am nearly sure that the photo is of Yuri.
To be honest, Im not completely sure as they look similar inside that cosmonaut helmet. However yandex images
https://yandex.ru/images/search?from=tabbar&text=valentina%20tereshkova%20cosmonaut shows many copies of that photo on lots of *.ru sites. And there's also the fact that yuri usually has that big toothy grin.
I can't be 100% sure either but we'll leave it as is for the moment. No one else has mentioned it. Thanks for pointing it out anyway - always appreciated.
"A Kiev spokesman has told the Financial Times that 330,000 troops on the front lines desperately need a rest. "
Nice to see a figure on what they have left. Six months ago I said Ukraine was unlikely to have much more than 250,000 left and that depended on whether they had actually fielded one million as some people claimed. I was likely low on that number - assuming this number now quoted is true, which it probably isn't, given a Ukrainian source.
Since Russia probably has over 500,000 troops available, either on the front or behind it waiting for commitment, it's clear that Ukraine is now seriously over matched in simple troop numbers, let alone weaponry. Not to mention that most of those alleged 330,000 are untrained conscripts compared to Russia's professionally trained and experienced troops.
So this absolutely can not last much longer. Scott Ritter quoted a Russian officer he talked to during his visit who said we could expect dramatic developments on the front by IIRC May.
"Ukrainian companies do not have the necessary licenses to repair the barrels of US made M777 howitzers because it would violate intellectual property rights. "
Capitalism wins again! LOL As someone who is vehemently opposed to intellectual property rights, I find this hilarious. What? They can't grant an exceptional license - to the notoriously corrupt Ukrainians? Yuk-yuk.
Roksolana Pidlasa has got that "sexy librarian" look going on.
As for marriage, I don't recognize it. I recognize only a "consort" relationship. Not to mention that humans are not "monogamous" and never have been. In fact, the very concept of "monogamy" is perhaps THE dumbest concept in human history. It may have made sense back when one lived in a tribe of 20-200 or in a village with 100-200 people and the nearest other village was 20 miles away - in other words, you had no choice, but with the present 8 billion population and even small towns have populations of 10,000 or more, it's utter madness.
Scientists claim humans are "serially monogamous". LOL That's a "politically correct" concept. That just means one is monogamous until one decides not to be, when one decides to "trade up".
Thanks for that Richard.
Interesting historical fact: Sevastopol was founded by the grandson of a Scottish Jacobite. Admiral Thomas McKenzie was the grandson.
I didn't know that but I have a suspicion that there may have been other connections between Russia and Scotland in the distant past.
Yes the famous Russian poet Lermontov is actually a Learmont. The best one is the Russo Finnish Field Marshall Mannerheim-He's from the Swedish von Wright family (still going strong) founded by a Dundonian.
Wow!
Is it guide or glide bomb? The casualties amongst the mercenaries suggest a 40 to 50 percent kill ratio. I think they are interspersed with Ukrainian units? Even accounting for ideological fanaticism amongst the mercs and use of mercs as cannon fodder by the AFU: the figures would suggest a KIA rate for the AFU of 400, 000 to 500, 000 is probable.
A total KIA of 400-500,000 Ukrainian soldiers is considered likely by most analysts. Add in the wounded and the figure is likely over a million. Ukraine claims they fielded a million or more troops over the last 2 years and now have allegedly 330,000 left. That means they lost over 700,000 either KIA or "irretrievably wounded". I estimated in my articles six months ago that Ukraine was losing somewhere between 50-100,000 per month killed and wounded. The daily figures have been inching up every month.
We'll probably have to wait until some time after the end of the war when the Russians do a final tally based on Ukrainian government figures what the real toll was.
I think many people call them glide bombs because they glide. I think wings are attached to them so they can do this. So I don't think these are guide bombs - which may also exist however. As for figures? I have no idea really.