Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Today's News: Updates

Papal reconciliation visit:
An apology from Pope Francis. Giving the Pope a headdress is not being well received online, however - I am seeing some negative tweets on this tonight. The apology was generally welcomed, with some comment also that the Discovery doctrine has not yet been revoked. A useful reference: On a side note, an update on the "boil water" advisories - the Trudeau government has made a huge difference. CPC leadership campaign:
So this morning Angus Reid released a poll showing that the Conservatives would have a better chance of winning government with Charest rather than Poilievre. 
And then within a couple of hours, former PM Stephen Harper took the wind out of Charest's sails by releasing his endorsement of Poilievre. 
So, just another day in Canadian politics, I guess. Ukraine update: 
Ukraine is on the attack now. (HIMARS means High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) 
Yesterday Mark Sumner at Daily Kos summarized the fear and chaos in Russia's situation now: 
Even though Russia spent much of last week floating claims that they were going to take more and more and more of Ukraine, the truth seems to be that Putin’s offensive in the Donbas has stalled out short of objectives. 
While there continues to be fierce exchanges at many points along the front line, and Russia continues to launch attacks toward positions like Bakhmut and Bohorodychne, there are no confirmed reports of a significant gain by Russian forces in over two weeks. 
In that same period, a number of villages either returned to Ukraine or been thrown into dispute as Ukraine has refused to give Russian forces a chance to catch their breath. 
At this point, the Ukrainian ministry of defense estimates the Russians have suffered 39,000 killed in action over the course of the invasion. U.S. intelligence estimates that 85% of the Russian military is already actively engaged in Ukraine. 
When Russia discovered it could not quickly take all of Ukraine, it withdrew and refocused on capturing a much smaller area. Months later, it hasn’t managed to accomplish even that. 
And on the lighter side:

Some random stuff:

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