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Bakhmut is encircled. All roads in and out of it are under Russian artillery fire. Over the last three days fighting has largely stopped there. No one seems to know why the operation was halted. There are unconfirmed claims that Ukraine is preparing a counterattack to free Bakhmut from its encirclement. That attack is supposed to go off as soon as the muddy ground has dried up a bit. Meanwhile other encirclement has taken place in Avdiivka: Avdiivka (Ukrainian: Авдіївка, IPA: [ɐu̯ˈd(j)ijiu̯kɐ]; is a city of regional significance in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. The city is located in the center of...

Yesterday, Medvedev posted a rant on his messaging app (for some reason) in which he accused the United States and NATO of plotting to “break up” the Russian Federation. But he warned that even if the alleged plot succeeded, the result would be “doomsday,” and any country attempting it would be engaged in a “chess game with Death.” And I think we all know what that means. (Associated Press)

Russian Version of a Turkey ShootSaker version of the story "The Defense Ministry called the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the failed offensive of Ukraine near Kherson Ukrainian troops attempted an offensive in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, as a result, the AFU units suffered heavy losses, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters. “Today, during the day, on the direct instructions of Zelensky, Ukrainian troops attempted an offensive in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions in three directions. As a result of the active defense of the grouping of Russian troops, the AFU units suffered heavy losses,” TASS reports....

California Gov. Gavin Newsom took a victory lap on Tuesday after voters rejected an effort to recall him from the governor’s mansion, casting his win as a rejection of “the negativity that’s defined our politics in this country over the course of so many years.” In remarks delivered in Sacramento minutes after he was declared the winner of the recall election, Newsom said that with his victory, Californians had voted to safeguard democracy, taking a swipe at his main Republican opponent, conservative radio host Larry Elder, and former President Donald Trump, who had raised baseless claims of fraud ahead of...

In the end, we’ll see this pandemic wasn’t Armageddon after all. It was merely, as Fauci himself admitted, a bad flu, as we do get from time to time. But one of the patients who lies dying is America America’s Pyrrhic Victory image By Cherie Zaslawsky —— Bio and Archives--April 15, 2020 Cover Story | 3 Comments | Print Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us 112 An unintended consequence of my years of reading Agatha Christie mysteries is that I learned how to separate the red herrings from the salient facts hiding in plain sight, which are always the key...

It took a couple of months and was filled with charges and countercharges of dirty tricks and the suppression of free speech, but the Australian plebiscite on gay marriage is finally finished. The people responded in large numbers and in the end, the tally ran fairly close to what the current polling had indicated. More than sixty percent of respondents voted in favor of legalizing gay marriage and now the Parliament is vowing to bring it to a vote before Christmas. (Associated Press) Australians supported gay marriage in a postal survey that ensures Parliament will consider legalizing same-sex weddings...

Man dies after live roach-eating contest in Fla. MIAMI (AP) — A contestant in a roach-eating contest who downed dozens of live bugs and worms collapsed and died shortly after winning the contest in South Florida, authorities say. About 30 contestants ingested the insects during Friday night's contest at Ben Siegel Reptile Store in Deerfield Beach about 40 miles north of Miami. The grand prize was a python. Edward Archbold, 32, of West Palm Beach became ill shortly after the contest ended and collapsed outside the store, according to a Broward Sheriff's Office statement released Monday. He was taken to...

Pyrrhus was king of the Hellenistic kingdom of Epirus whose costly military successes against Macedonia and Rome gave rise to the phrase' Pyrrhic victory'. In 281 BC Tarentum, a Greek colony in southern Italy, asked his assisstance against Rome. Pyrrhus crossed to Italy with 25,000 men and 20 elephants. He won a complete, but costly, victory over a Roman army at Heraclea. In 279 Pyrrhus, again suffering heavy casualties, defeated the Romans at Asculum. His remark 'Another such victory and I shall be ruined' gave name to the term 'Pyrrhic victory' for a victory obtained at to great a...

Opposition to President Barack Obama's health care law jumped after he signed it - a clear indication his victory could become a liability for Democrats in this fall's elections. A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds Americans oppose the health care remake 50 percent to 39 percent. Disapproval for Obama's handling of health care also increased from 46 percent in early March before he signed the bill, to 52 percent currently...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has scheduled a House of Representatives vote today on the health care reform plan proposed by the President Obama and congressional Democrats. Yet while in Congress there has been months of posturing and shifting of political tactics, voter attitudes have remained constant: A majority oppose the plan being considered by the legislators. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone poll, taken Friday and Saturday nights, shows that 41% of likely voters favor the health care plan. Fifty-four percent (54%) are opposed. These figures have barely budged in recent months. Another finding that has remained constant is that the...

WASHINGTON — As the final round of the battle over health care reform begins today, President Barack Obama and the Democrats are in reach of a historic legislative achievement that has eluded presidents dating back a century. The question is at what cost. By almost any measure, enactment of comprehensive health care legislation would rank as one of the most significant pieces of social welfare legislation in the country's history, a goal set as far back as the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and pursued since by many other presidents. But unlike Social Security or Medicare, Obama's health care bill would...

ObamaCare and the downfall of the Democratic Party.Even if Democrats extract the votes to put ObamaCare over the top, it will at best be a Pyrrhic victory for them. Regardless of the outcome, this monstrosity might cost the Democrats the Congress this November, ruin the party for a long time and prematurely render Barack Obama a lame duck president for the rest of his term. So why didn't the Democrats pull back when they still had the chance? The reason is that both the Democratic Party and President Obama have mutually reinforcing blind spots that have rendered them incapable of...

When a fellow conservative tried to cheer me up this morning by assuring me that the Senate Democrats' victory on health care was going to be a Pyrrhic one, I realized I didn't remember much about Pyrrhus. I went of course to Wikipedia. That fine reference work defines a Pyrrhic victory as "a victory with devastating cost to the victor." It also provides this quotation from Plutarch's Life of Pyrrhus, describing the aftermath of the battle of Asculum in 279 BCE: "The armies separated; and, it is said, Pyrrhus replied to one that gave him joy of his victory that...

Pancake winner dies in all-you-can-eat contest By Etan Smallman, Mirror.co.uk 5/03/2009 The winner of a pancake-eating contest dropped dead after gorging himself on 43 of the cream and banana stuffed desserts. Boris Isayev, 48, from west Russia, collapsed to his knees and died on stage after stuffing himself with pancakes in a competition to mark the end of the region’s ‘Pancake Week’. "He had really enjoyed the pancakes but then he started foaming at the mouth and went down like a sack of stones," one witness said. "We have seen people fainting [during such contests] before," she added. Onlookers tried...

A BUSINESSMAN went on a $15 million spree, showering his mistress with first class travel, jewellery and designer clothes to stop his wife getting the family wealth. The man, who cannot be named, bought a $4.5 million clifftop "weekender" and shelled out an extra $2.33 million for land for a tennis court in what a Family Court judge labelled a flagrant and reckless waste of money. The 65-year-old splurged $217,697 on a "prestige car" for himself and a Jeep Cherokee and Range Rover for the mistress, embarking on a "wanton" lifestyle costing up to $153,000 a month. Within five years...

Arnold Schwarzenegger's improbable rise to governor in the 2003 recall election left many Californians giddy at the prospect that the state finally would have an energetic reformer at the helm after years of mismanagement in Sacramento so irresponsible that it bordered on looting. For about two years, reform was for the most part what we got. Schwarzenegger's chief goal was promoting economic growth – a business-friendly state will have more revenue to pay for its needs, he liked to note. But he also worked to restrain spending and to overhaul dysfunctional agencies – especially the prison system. Unfortunately, the painful...

The judgment was entered by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge this month after the two defendants — Gregory P. Gaines and Harold X. Wesley — failed to adequately file formal responses with the court.Gaines and Wesley attacked Blunt last April 2 as he was walking across an exercise yard, Lancaster prison spokesman Lt. Ken Lewis said. In the civil case, Blunt, who is 25 and has worked for the prison system for 2 1/2 years, said he suffered "permanent traumatic brain injury" from the attack. He remains partially paralyzed and on disability. Task force members believe prisoners serving long...

Miguel Estrada's surprise decision, announced today, to withdraw his name as a nominee for the federal court of appeals was not a surprise to those involved in the ongoing battle over President Bush's judicial nominations. "It's been long in coming," says one associate. Insiders say Estrada — whose nomination was stalled by an unprecedented filibuster by Senate Democrats — made his intentions known a few weeks ago but agreed not to go public until Congress returned from its August recess. Sources say Estrada was concerned about both his family and his career. For one thing, the nomination limbo had affected...