Jimmy Ryan. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏎

Football MUFC , Formula 1, Humour ,TV ,Sport ,Rugby Union , Cars , X box and massive engines

[Jimmy Ryan. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏎 @gadgetmanone]

Just bloody marvellous , the power and sound, miss them days 🇮🇹

[Echoes of War @EchoesofWarYT]

21 years ago today, on June 28, 2005, four Navy SEALs were inserted under cover of darkness into the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan, a place so high and so cold the clouds drift below your feet. Their mission was to find a Taliban commander hiding in the village of Sawtalo Sar. Their names were Michael Murphy, Danny Dietz, Matthew Axelson, and Marcus Luttrell.

By morning, fate walked right up the mountain to meet them. A goat herder and a boy wandered straight into their hidden position. The team had a choice no man should ever have to make: kill unarmed civilians, or let them go and risk everything. They let them go. Within an hour, the mountain came alive with rifle fire.

What happened next is almost too brutal to put into words. Dozens of fighters swarmed the high ground above them. The four men fought their way down a near vertical slope, throwing themselves off ledges and cliffs to escape the fire, breaking bones, tearing flesh, leaving blood on the rocks, and still turning to shoot. One by one they were hit. Still they fought. They would not stop. They would not surrender.

Their radios could not reach the base down in the valley. They were screaming for help into dead air. And so Lieutenant Michael Murphy did something that should never be forgotten. He stood up. He walked out of the rocks and into open ground, into the full teeth of the enemy, with bullets cracking past him on every side, just to get a clear signal. He was shot in the back while making that call. He dropped the radio, picked it back up, finished the call, and said thank you. Then he kept fighting until he could fight no more. That single act of courage is the only reason the world ever learned their names.

Help came screaming up the valley. An MH-47 Chinook, call sign Red Wings 11, packed with eight more SEALs and eight Army Night Stalkers of the legendary 160th SOAR, refused to wait for gunship cover. Their brothers were dying and they would not sit still for it. As the bird flared over the ridge, a single rocket propelled grenade flew through the open rear ramp. The explosion tore the aircraft apart in the sky. All sixteen men aboard were killed the instant it hit the mountain.

Three on the ground. Sixteen in the air. Nineteen American sons gone in a single afternoon. It remains the worst loss of life in Naval Special Warfare history since World War II.

Michael Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Danny Dietz and Matthew Axelson received the Navy Cross. Marcus Luttrell, blown off a cliff and shredded by shrapnel, was the only one to come home. He survived because a Pashtun villager named Mohammad Gulab found him broken in a ravine and, under an ancient code of honor older than the country these men died for, stood between him and the Taliban and refused to give him up.

Twenty one years later, do not let these be just names on a screen. They had mothers. They had wives. They had children who grew up with a flag folded into a triangle instead of a father. They chose each other over their own lives on a mountain most people will never even hear of.

So today, say their names out loud. All nineteen of them 🇺🇸

In remembrance:
Lt. Michael P. Murphy
Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Danny P. Dietz
Sonar Technician 2nd Class Matthew G. Axelson
Lt. Cmdr. Erik S. Kristensen
Senior Chief Daniel R. Healy
Petty Officer 2nd Class James E. Suh
Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric S. Patton
Chief Petty Officer Jacques J. Fontan
Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffery A. Lucas
Petty Officer 2nd Class Shane E. Patton
Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffrey S. Taylor
Maj. Stephen C. Reich
Chief Warrant Officer Corey J. Goodnature
Chief Warrant Officer Chris J. Scherkenbach
Master Sgt. James W. Ponder III
Sgt. 1st Class Marcus V. Muralles
Sgt. 1st Class Michael L. Russell
Staff Sgt. Shamus O. Goare
Sgt. Kip A. Jacoby

Operation Red Wings. June 28, 2005. Never forgotten.

[Jimmy Ryan. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🏎 @gadgetmanone]

Nice but I think the standard yellow and black is great 😊

[Judith Sheen @judith_sheen]

Another #Hillman Avenger Tiger 🐅
at Yattendon #ClassicCar Show

[Les Calderwood @4thxjuly]

I fear the King has made a very poor choice re his Defender of all Faiths press release .His position will be very difficult to justify and extracting himself will be impossible. I am afraid this could end his tenure or even the monarchy. Is the King really thinking straight just now ? Great Britain replaced a King in the late 17th century .I fear he has lost the room and his Royal marbles ,very sad indeed . @kinseyschofield

[Epic Clip Vault @EpicClipVault]

Woman catches and exposes a pickpocketing couple.

[Siant1963 @SPT1603]

So what exactly was the point of the Coronation Oath then? @RoyalFamily

The King swore before God and the nation to uphold the Protestant faith and protect the Church of England.

That oath was not for fun. It was a sacred constitutional promise.

Now Buckingham Palace appears to be quietly airbrushing the role into “protector of a multi-faith nation,” as though centuries of tradition can be rewritten with a press release and a polite smile.

Respecting other faiths is one thing.

Diluting the monarch’s sworn duty is another.

The King is Defender of the Faith, not editor-in-chief of a spiritual pick-n-mix.

If the oath means nothing, then say so. If it does mean something, honour it.

If he is not prepared to honour it, then he should abdicate!

Britain’s institutions are being hollowed out in real time, and we’re all expected to clap like seals while it happens.

I have always been a royalist but this has finished me.

#NotMyKing

[🇨🇭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿InLucysHead🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇨🇭© @InsideLucysHead]

One day at a bus stop, there was a girl who was wearing a skin-tight miniskirt...

When the bus arrived, and it was her turn to get on, she realised that her skirt was so tight that she couldn’t get her foot high enough to reach the step.

Thinking it would give her enough slack to raise her leg, she reached back and unzipped her skirt a little.

She still could not reach the step.

Embarrassed, she reached back once again to unzip it a little more. Still, she couldn’t reach the step. So, with her skirt zipper halfway down, she reached back and unzipped her skirt all the way. Thinking that she could get on the step now, she lifted up her leg only to realise that she still couldn’t reach the step.

So, seeing how embarrassed the girl was, the man standing behind her put his hands around her waist and lifted her up onto the first step of the bus.

The girl turned around furiously and said, “How dare you touch my body that way? I don’t even know you!”

Shocked, the man says, “Well, ma’am, after you reached around and unzipped my fly three times, I kind of figured that we were friends.”

[John Hannam @JohnHann04]

This is a MASSIVE change to the fabric of this country and it’s just been thrown out there like it’s nothing, a minor note at the bottom of the company minutes…in reality I see this as a huge constitutions change and a big problem for the monarchy and the country. The monarch IS and always has been since the 1530’s Degender of “The Faith”. This country has a state religion. Anglican, or the Church of England. The monarchy cat just throw that away like yesterday’s chip paper! This is a Christian country NOT a multi faith country. We may have people of many religions within it, we always have, but the country and its entire fabric is Christian. This is a disgrace and to my mind is a big step towards the end of our Monarchy (who I have always supported). If the King/Queen is not charged with the protection of the state faith of this country then a huge chunk of what they are for is gone completely. 😡

[Lembit Öpik @lembitopik]

BBC just stated the heatwave is “unequivocally because of human induced climate change.” BBC must now provide proof - not consensus, actual
proof - of this ridiculous claim. If they can’t, they’ve broken their impartiality charter again

[Organized Ghost Peace. @thompsonterr]

😂🤣

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

I have invited all MPs to sign this open letter to the Home Secretary opposing Labour's plan to import thousands more 'refugees' through legal routes.

All MPs who sign are pledging to legislate to deport anyone who has arrived using these new routes.

We must draw a line NOW.

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

I am apocalyptically angry about Labour's plan to import thousands and thousands more fake 'refugees' - from Sudan, Eritrea and other third world dumps through 'safe' routes.

The answer is quite obviously NO.

Stopping this cannot wait until 2029. It will be too late.

I have written an open letter to the Home Secretary opposing it - I have requested support from Reform, Conservative, Northern Irish and independent MPs.

Stating our opposition, and making it clear that anyone who arrives through this scheme will be deported - we need cross-party support to make this point. It is vital.

If enough MPs do it, we can stop it.

One has signed so far - Gavin Williamson. Fair play.

I will work with anyone to draw a deep line in the sand.

Reform, Tory, whoever. It doesn't matter.

Now is the time to put aside party politics and work together in parliament to ensure that we do not import an endless stream of third world scumbags into our country.

[Tarquin de Meza @tarquindemeza]

We may be witnessing an Oliver Cromwell moment in our history.

A King who chooses to dilute the historic role of the Crown as Defender of the Faith abandons the very constitutional inheritance he swore to uphold.

It is a betrayal of England’s history, traditions and identity.

The monarchy exists to preserve our nation’s inheritance, not to reinvent it to suit the prevailing political fashion.

https://t.co/vACLbruW7y

[Dr Johnny Bananas @barbedquill]

“The engine just cut out”

Nah mate, you’ve hydro-locked it because you’re an entitled knob

Still, look on the bright side, should only be about £30k to sort it

Insurance? Nah, not with this footage in the public domain

Rolfcopter

[Andrea 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇮🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @andie1105]

I suggest you read this and educate yourself, you stupid child!

The temperatures are not higher than on record. Changing the colour on the weather maps to bright red when 20 years ago they’d be yellow doesn’t make it hotter. It makes people like you look stupid or dishonest.

The climate changes in cycles. Get a grip

https://t.co/BuhWRkudGr

[🇨🇭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿InLucysHead🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇨🇭© @InsideLucysHead]

Men will be Men...

A sexy Irish blonde at a Casino seemed a little intoxicated 😎

She bet 20,000 euros on a single Roll of the dice.

She said, "I hope you don't mind, but I feel Luckier when I'm nude."

With that, she removed her clothes, rolled the dice and yelled:

"Come on, baby, Mama needs new clothes!"

As the Dice came to a stop, she jumped and yelled:

"Yes, Yes, I Won.. I won.."

She hugged each dealer, picked up her winnings and clothes and left.

The dealers gazed at each other, dumbfounded. Finally, one of them asked:

"What number rolled on the dice?"

The other:

"I don't know, I thought you were watching."

Moral of the story:

1. Not all drunks are drunk.
2. Not all Blondes are dumb.
3. But all Men are Men.

[Crazy Vibes @CrazyVibes_1]

He stood against a wall in Odessa. 1918. 12 other men beside him. Rifles raised. The Bolshevik officer read down the list of names. He stopped. He read one name again.

He looked up slowly. "Is there a Bernstein here?" One man stepped forward. And everything changed.

Ossip Samoilovich Bernstein was born on September 20, 1882, in Zhytomyr, in the Russian Empire. He was the kind of man who could walk into any room and command it not with his fists, but with his mind. By age 20, he was already competing in chess tournaments across Europe. By his mid-20s, he had earned a law doctorate from Heidelberg University. By 30, he was one of the most feared chess players on the continent, regularly finishing in the top 5 at major European events.

But Ossip didn't just play chess. He built a life. He became a financial lawyer. He accumulated serious wealth. He raised a family. He was, by every measure, a man of standing — exactly the kind of man the Bolsheviks were hunting.

1917. The Russian Revolution tears through the empire like a blade. The czar is executed. The banks are seized. The aristocracy is dismantled overnight. And anyone connected to the old financial world becomes an enemy of the new state.

Ossip is working in Odessa as a legal advisor to bankers. That is his crime. Not violence. Not sabotage. Not sedition. Just his job. In 1918, the Cheka — the Bolshevik secret police, feared across Russia for their ruthlessness — arrest him. The charge is vague but the sentence is not. Crimes against the state. Death by firing squad.

He is given no trial. There is no courtroom. No lawyer. No appeal. A minor official simply reads a list of names, and Ossip's name is on it.

Here is what most people don't know about that morning in Odessa.

As the firing squad lines up — 13 men against a wall, rifles already raised — a superior officer arrives and asks to see the prisoner list. He runs his finger down the names. He stops at one. He knows that name. Not from a banking ledger or a government file. From a chess tournament. From years of reading match results in the papers. From following the career of one of Europe's most gifted players.

He walks toward the wall. "Are you the chess player?" he asks Bernstein. Ossip, standing 36 years old with his back to a wall and rifles pointed at his chest, says yes.

The officer makes him an offer.

They will play a game of chess. If Ossip wins he walks free. If he draws, or if he loses he is shot along with the rest.

Think about that for a moment. Not just a life-or-death game. A game where even a tie means death. Only a complete victory saves him. And he must play it now, in this moment, after hours of waiting to be executed, with the adrenaline of terror still coursing through his body.

Ossip Bernstein sits down across from the officer.

He wins in short order.

The officer stands. He orders Bernstein released immediately. The other 12 men are shot. Ossip walks out of that yard breathing air he was never supposed to breathe again. He boards a British ship and escapes to France.

But here is what makes his story almost impossible to believe — this was only the first catastrophe of his life.

1929. The Great Depression wipes out the fortune he rebuilt in Paris. Everything gone. He starts over at age 47.

1940. Nazi Germany invades France. Bernstein is Jewish. He cannot stay. He flees again — this time to Spain, settling in Barcelona with nothing but his name and his mind.

3 times. He loses everything 3 times. And 3 times, he builds again.

And the chess never stops.

1950. FIDE, the world chess federation, awards Ossip Bernstein the official title of International Grandmaster — one of the first players ever to receive it.

1954. At age 72, Ossip enters the Montevideo tournament. His opponent, grandmaster Miguel Najdorf, is so confident of an easy win against the old man that he convinces the organizers to double the first-place prize money — certain he will collect it. Bernstein defeats him in 37 moves. The game is so brilliant it wins the tournament's Brilliancy Prize.

Najdorf had laughed. Bernstein had played.

On November 30, 1962, Ossip Bernstein died in a sanatorium in the French Pyrenees. He was 80 years old. He had survived a firing squad. 2 world wars. 3 lost fortunes. And decades of an era that tried, again and again, to erase men like him.

What saved him in that Odessa yard wasn't luck. It wasn't mercy. It was 20 years of sitting across from opponents who wanted to break him and refusing to let them.

[Echoes of War @EchoesofWarYT]

When George Custer died at Little Bighorn in 1876, his wife Libby was 34.

She had followed him everywhere. Lived in tents on the open plains. Slept in forts on the edge of nowhere. Then in one afternoon he was gone, and she was a widow with almost no money and a husband whose name was already being dragged through the mud.

Most women in 1876 would have remarried. She had offers. She turned every one down.

Instead she picked up a pen. Three books. Lecture tours. She built his legend with her own hands.

And she defended him so fiercely that the officers who blamed Custer for the disaster just kept quiet. They were not afraid of the Army. They were afraid of her.

So they waited. Year after year, for the widow to finally pass so they could talk without her tearing them apart in print.

She made them wait almost 57 years.

Libby Custer died in 1933, four days short of 91, having outlived nearly every man who ever doubted her husband.

She is buried right next to him at West Point.

That is what loyalty looks like.