And the Rest of It

So much going on ...

 

Again, why did you vote for "green" measures?:

Around 700,000 households in Ireland are now in energy poverty as a result of the ongoing European Union gas crisis, MPs have claimed.

Elected representatives from the Rural Independent Group have claimed that 700,000 households have been put into energy poverty, with TDs — the Irish equivalent of MPs (Members of Parliament) — claiming that the government’s continued implementation of carbon taxes and failure to implement any sort of caps have dramatically worsened the situation.

It comes amid claims from Ireland’s Economic & Social Research Group (ESRI) that 40 per cent of households in the EU member-state have been pushed into energy poverty.

Things might be even worse, however, with the organisation warning that even this 40 per cent statistic might not accurately reflect how many households are truly affected by the current crisis, due to limitations with measuring techniques.

According to a report by Gript Media, the rural TDs believe that government is largely to blame for the current dire situation, saying that ministers have focused more on their green agenda than helping ordinary people.

“The failure by the government to cap electricity prices and slash all energy taxes, to give people a break, is unforgivable,” group leader Mattie Mc Grath TD said, accusing the government of having hiked carbon and climate taxes by 150 per cent.

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Yes, about all of that:

In 1929, Canadian Marius Barbeau purchased the pole from its Nisga'a owners on behalf of the Royal Museum of Scotland, which later became the National Museum of Scotland.

It went on display the following year and most recently was housed in the Living Lands gallery at the museum in Edinburgh.

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The bribed press isn't bribed to get the facts right:

Let's break down what he actually said in official Iranian state media.

Montazeri said the following:

"The morality police has nothing to do with the judiciary system. The same source that created it in the past, from the same place it has shut down. Of course, the judiciary system will continue its surveillance of social behaviours across society."

This is the source: ensafnews.com/384539/%D8%AF%…

And, BBC Persian characterized Montazeri's comments as "intransparent and vague"

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On the Korean Peninsula:

Polish President Andrzej Duda and the country's defense minister on Tuesday took delivery of a first shipment of tanks and howitzers from South Korea, hailing the swift implementation of a deal signed in the summer in the face of the war in neighboring Ukraine.

Duda and Mariusz Blaszczak were in the Polish Navy port of Gdynia, on the Baltic coast, to mark the arrival by sea of the first 10 Black Panther K2 tanks, along with 24 Thunder K9 howitzers, from a $5.8 billion deal with Seoul.

They stressed that South Korea responded quickly to the need by Poland, a European Union nation, to urgently increase its deterrence and defense potential as Russia is fighting a war in Ukraine, just across Poland's eastern border.

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If this had been Canada, these guys would have been trampled by horses already:

A nationwide strike by South Korean truckers has led nearly 100 petrol stations across the country to run dry, government data show, and a national trade union launched a general strike on Tuesday in support of the drivers.

The truckers' strike over a minimum pay programme, which began on Nov. 24, has seen two negotiation sessions between the union and the government, but so far there has been no breakthrough.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) said it held rallies at 15 sites across the country, with about 25,000 unionised workers attending as part of its general strike.

As supplies of fuel and construction materials run low, the South Korean government has stepped up pressure to end the strike. Last week, the government issued a "start work" order to force 2,500 striking drivers in the cement industry back on the road.

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday ordered preparations to expand that order to sectors such as oil refining and steelmaking, where additional economic damage is expected.

The anti-graft Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said it kicked off an investigation last week to investigate whether the truckers' union unfairly refused to work. The union is not cooperating with the probe, a KFTC official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The KCTU, an umbrella union under which the truckers' union falls, has called the President's "start work" order the equivalent of martial law and says the government should negotiate.

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Xi praises dead tyrant:

Chinese President Xi Jinping paid tribute to former leader Jiang Zemin on Tuesday for ensuring the Communist Party's survival from "political storms" and reforming it to inject new vitality and modernise the country's economy.

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I'm sure it's nothing to be concerned with:

Russia's defence ministry has said it has deployed mobile coastal defence missile systems on a northern Kuril island, part of a strategically located chain of islands that stretch between Japan and the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula.

Japan lays claim to the Russian-held southern Kuril islands, which Tokyo calls the Northern Territories, a territorial row that dates to the end of World War Two, when Soviet troops seized them from Japan.

The Russian Bastion systems, which have missiles with a flight range of up to 500 km (310 miles), were deployed on the island of Paramushir, the Russian defence ministry said on Monday.

"Coastal servicemen of the Pacific Fleet will keep a round-the-clock watch to control the adjacent water area and strait zones," it said.

The ministry said that a military camp was set up on Paramushir with facilities allowing for year-round service, accommodation, recreation and food for personnel.

This deployment comes a year after Russia set up the Bastion systems on the island of Matua, in the central part of the Kuril ridge, the ministry said in a statement.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a Tuesday news conference that the government will closely monitor the Russian military activity, adding it has been intensifying in the far east regions in tandem with Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Russia calls the invasion a "special operation".

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We don't deserve dogs:

Casper, a Great Pyrenees from Decatur, Georgia, has proved himself as trusty as a sheepdog can be after killing a pack of bloodthirsty coyotes hungry for his owner’s sheep, all on his own.

The 20-month-old dog bravely went up against a pack of 11 coyotes threatening his sheep farm — killing eight— in a fight that lasted more than half an hour, said farmer John Wierwiller.