Belated St. Patrick’s Day piece
Ah, St. Paddy’s Day, when everyone tries to claim “green” and it has nothing to do with ecopolitics. (Except most of the folks wearing green have no Irish ancestry – Elizabeth Warren with peat bogs? and you will never hear the words ‘Saint Paddy’ in Ireland due to some peculiarities in Irish pronunciation.) But any day that encourages drinking quantities of Guinness can’t be all bad, right?
Seems there was a major drug bust off the southern coast of T’Auld Sod last weekend.
Police believe they shut down a major drugs smuggling pipeline on Friday after making 10 arrests, including of several divers, in south-west Ireland.
The men were suspected of planning to pick up waterproof containers of South American cartel cocaine, worth tens of millions of euros, thrown overboard with tracking devices off the coast of Cork.
Cork, by the way, is the home of Murphy’s Stout, a fine alternative to Guinness with a bit less burned aftertaste. So I am told; I of course am teatotal and never let alcohol touch my lips (right. Unh huh. You bet.) Actually, if you push the bottle back in yer mouth a bit you won’t dribble and occasionally your taste buds get a wee taste as the booze or beer goes shooting by, past your lips and down your throat.
LÉ George Bernard Shaw was the only active ship because of a combination of a manpower crisis, which has led to crew shortages and mechanical problems.
Gardai (the cops – ed.) investigating a suspected attempt to land the illegal drugs near Skibbereen made a formal request to the Irish Naval Service for help.
But the sole available ship was on its way to Dún Laoghaire to take part in the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in the County Dublin town, the Irish Times reported.
That meant it could not help in the massive search of the huge expanses of water where the cocaine, some of it thought to be destined for the UK and European markets, is thought to be hidden.
Defence Forces told the Irish Times they had received the request. Because it was an inshore coastal operation, the Naval Service Diving Section was deployed instead.
The sole ship available of their entire Navy (such as it is) unavailable due to a holiday celebration. Wow.
The active fleet was reduced to just two ships last year due to the personnel crisis. Military sources said the Shaw had been the only available ship for the last three weeks. The Telegraph
And we thought our Navy had a recruiting problem (at least until they can reduce their goals to equal the number of recruits.) Two ships… and only one available. At least it makes reporting statistics easier… 100%, 50%, or none.
Btw, the castle pictured is the birthplace of William Penn.
Category: Holidays, International Affairs
It’s strange no one wants to volunteer for EU or NATO militaries anymore…
Can’t figure out why.
Meanwhile, the French are sending troops to the Ukraine…
That should help recruitment.
Are they French, or French Foreign Legion?
Yeah Murphy’s Stout had always been a good alternative, if you thought the Guinness Stout was a wee bit bitter. Now Guinness makes a second stout brewed in the fine establishment north of the swamp which directly competes with Murphy’s… since true Stout is only made in Ireland.
Unfortunately, Guinness open a Brewery in Baltimore.
Makes me not trust their entire decision making process.
If it wasn’t brewed on the River Liffey, it ain’t Guiness.
I most definitely prefer Murphy’s. I had heard they had been bought out by Guinness. Hope that is not the case.
Murphy’s is owned by Heineken
Do The Dropkick Murphys drink Murphy’s Stout?
Murphy’s used to be available at WalMart around Tucson, it’s pretty much disappeared in the last year except for a couple of bars. They make a red ale as well, found that at Paddy’s Irish Pub in Rota.
Murphy’s other law…An Irishman will drink either and or every Stout they can. And never interrupt a party to find Bolivian Marching Powder. They’ll be another shipment later.
Damn a picture of a Rock Fort…I present for your approval a repeat of an Irish Lass pic posted on Sunday…She certainly can make any man “stout” …enjoy
WOOF!
Word, man. Word.
Yup
An underrated cinematic masterpiece.
I spent a week in Dublin in 2007, had a couple of pints with an Irish Navy vet right about my my age. Tried to convince me to transfer from the US Army to the Irish Navy. He said “We’re the only Navy in the world that can guarantee you’ll be home for lunch every day”.
Speaking of beers with an Irish lineage, my last time drinking Killian’s Irish Red was around August 2007. I, a SSG attending BNCOC at Fort Benning, took it upon myself to go to the Airborne Lounge for a little bit of anti-social activity. Being the perpetual loner, I proceeded to down three pitchers of the stuff before [allegedly] driving the few blocks back to the barracks. It was a hot summer, and the A/C was out. It was so bad that the NCOA Cadre allowed students to buy window units, but my roommate (a 1/75 Ranger who went back to Savannah each weekend) and I decided to rough it. Needless to say, I woke up naked, with all five fans I’d procured facing me, and in rough condition. Dehydration is a thing that’s only exacerbated by rampant alcohol abuse, I guess… To boot, my car was double parked for some reason when I ventured back out into the sun, and shortly after some fire ants took up residence in the car. You know it’s hot when you sit down in a vehicle and start feeling prickly. You know there’s a bigger problem when you realize the prickling is more intense than usual and look down to see fire ants covering your legs.
I haven’t had Murphy’s in years either, though I had aa Guiness or two at the Irish pub on the Waterfront in DC when my team would do after work socials there.
Seems to me Killians was a wholly American Coors product. Bad enough standing in fire ants, sitting? I suspect they got into the car on you already, and just chose that moment to bite. Ouch.
What is the Irish pub on the waterfront?
Wonder how this is all working out with all the immigration from the Mid-East?
Things seem to be looking up. Their Prime Minister quit.
Really? THAT is GREAT news!
FYI, Dún Laoghaire is pronounced “Done Leery.”
Yeah. DON’T try to read their Irish/Gaelic words in English pronunciation.
Yeah. My mother comes from near a town named Ballina in County Mayo. It’s pronounced “Bal-a-nah” with the accent on the last syllable. The locals laugh uproariously when we pronounce it as “Bah-lee-nah” with the accent on the second syllable. Great fun had by all!
And near Ballina, there is a great pub whose bar is (so they claim) made from wood from ships of the Spanish Armada that wrecked on the coast.
I wonder if the False Commander “Phony” Phil Monkress (CEO of All-Points Logistics) has ever claimed to be Irish?
I would not put it past him to use this new “heritage” to gain a few extra taxpayer bucks.
“…you will never hear the words ‘Saint Paddy’ in Ireland due to some peculiarities in Irish pronunciation.”
Oh, you will hear that in Ireland. Hell, a cousin of mine in Ireland just wished me a “Happy St. Paddy’s Day”. I get adverts from over there with the same thing. And most Irish don’t use the word “Mick” like we do to refer to Irish. They use “Paddy”. I’ve been called one myself a few times.
You’re thinking of the Irish spelling of Patrick, Padraig. Yes, it is usually pronounced something like “Pawrig”, but when I’ve been over there visiting the family, I’ve also heard that spelling pronounced as “Patrick” and “Pahdrig”.
Trust me, we Irish have issues with spelling AND pronunciation. My surname is spelling about 5 different ways.
Hey, at least when that other ship comes back up, their head defense dude can brag the Navy increased its fleet by 100%.
Sounds like a good bullet for the ol’ record.