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What you want to say – 31st January, 2018 January 31, 2018

Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.
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As always, following on Dr. X’s suggestion, it’s all yours, “announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose”, feel free.

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1. Tomboktu - January 31, 2018

For those of you who like scholarly work on literature, the Dublin Inquirer has a review by Daniel Seery of AHistory of Irish Working-Class Writing edited by Michael Pierse (Cambridge University Press):

https://www.dublininquirer.com/2018/01/31/a-history-of-working-class-writing-reviewed/

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2. EWI - January 31, 2018

The United States continues to implode under Trump. The latest? His administration believes they can prosecute the prosecutor:

Instead, as is now becoming plain, the Trump strategy is to discredit the investigation and the FBI without officially removing the leadership. Trump is even talking to friends about the possibility of asking Attorney General Jeff Sessions to consider prosecuting Mueller and his team.

“Here’s how it would work: ‘We’re sorry, Mr. Mueller, you won’t be able to run the federal grand jury today because he has to go testify to another federal grand jury,’” said one Trump adviser.

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2018-state-of-the-union-address/state-donald-trump-he-thinks-it-couldn-t-be-better-n842501

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CL - February 1, 2018

‘The long-simmering feud between President Trump and the Justice Department erupted into open conflict Wednesday when the FBI publicly challenged the president’s expected release of a contentious and classified memo related to the probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election….
The extraordinary statement pits the nation’s top federal law enforcement agency against a commander in chief who already has fired one FBI director and has repeatedly expressed a desire to remove the attorney general and others connected to the Russia investigation. …’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-fbi-feud-over-classified-memo-erupts-into-open-conflict/2018/01/31/64362038-06c2-11e8-b48c-b07fea957bd5_story.html?utm_term=.f0c7feb12363

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Alibaba - February 1, 2018

Here we go again:

‘The clash between Wray and Trump is only the latest flare-up in what officials warn is an increasingly dangerous showdown between the White House and justice department, with a cycle of firings and retaliatory leaks potentially culminating in a spectacular firing or similar move by Trump that could threaten a constitutional crisis.’

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/31/fbi-nunes-memo-release-donald-trump?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=262475&subid=25252872&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

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CL - February 1, 2018

“The effort to release Nunes’s memo is part of a much larger conservative effort to discredit the Mueller investigation…..
the memo could also serve as pretext for removing those responsible for the Mueller probe….
this is more of a political game than a legal one. Nunes and many conservatives say there’s proof in the memo that the FBI is corrupt, and the FBI and Democrats say this is all a smokescreen to protect the president.”
What the memo’s release will do, if it happens, is take this fight to the next level. It will be all-out war between the House Republicans and Trump administration officials who want the president to fire Rosenstein and shut down the Russia probe, and the FBI and Democrats who oppose all of this.”
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/1/16956290/nunes-memo-release-the-memo-fbi-russia

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CL - February 2, 2018

The memo has been released;

When asked Friday if he would fire Rosenstein, who is overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, Trump said, “You figure that one out.”

https://www.buzzfeed.com/emmaloop/republican-memo-released?utm_term=.agXAPwvyX0#.veORO1Pjz8

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EWI - February 2, 2018

For those who don’t know Trump needs to fire Rosenstein in order to replace him with someone who’ll fire Mueller (who is most definitely breathing down Trump’s criminal neck at this point).

Fun fact: Mueller started off with the classified counter-intelligence probes, so already likely knows all there is to know on the subject, courtesy of the FBI, CIA, NSA etcetc. His task now is to colour in that drawing with non-classified evidence (there have been a lot of hints today from Dems that the classified stuff on the Trump crowd is damning).

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3. EWI - January 31, 2018

I see that this is up for an award:

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/after-a-20-year-wait-tom-kelly-residents-to-move-into-new-homes-1.3233505

Neat trick, going from 200+ public housing units to 79, and calling it a success. It certainly was for the PPP developer, who presumably cannot believe his luck.

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4. EWI - January 31, 2018

Spinelessness from the Irish political system:

The Irish ambassador to Israel has been summoned by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to hear a protest about a bill tabled in the Seanad on Tuesday which would prevent the import of goods produced in Israeli settlements regarded by the Government as illegal.

Ambassador Alison Kelly has been summoned to the meeting on Wednesday by the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem .

However, the bill – launched in the Seanad by Independent Senator Frances Black – has been withdrawn until the summer at the request of the Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney.

The Government had said that it would oppose the bill if it was not withdrawn, and was backed by Fianna Fáil.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/irish-ambassador-to-israel-summoned-by-netanyahu-over-seanad-bill-1.3374369

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5. Alibaba - January 31, 2018

Mary Lou McDonald has announced that Sinn Féin policy does not support the 12-week abortion proposal and another Ard Fheis will be required to change it. But SF “will not be found wanting”. This is quite obviously welcome. But I note that SF tradition has to be observed: flip flop, flip flop.

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6. irishelectionliterature - January 31, 2018
Citizen of Nowhere - January 31, 2018

Man NuLabour have a lot to answer for – that’s people’s pensions going down the drain!

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7. EWI - January 31, 2018

More about the myths being pedalled to get driverless cars accepted by cities:

But, of course, not everyone wants to do that and lots of people are used to living in places where that’s physically impossible because of the way communities have been designed, and so, of course, we perceive this last mile problem. It’s not a problem you have in the middle of London, of course. You can get close to where you’re going and it’s very easy to walk even a mile to your destination. So we first have to understand what that problem is really about and who’s really having that problem. And then we have to ask, okay, what can we do efficiently? And the reality is, you have to have the Tube, you have to have high-quality rapid transit. You have to have high-quality bus services because only they can move people the long distances in a way that uses space efficiently. The idea of a car that’s going to pick you up at your house and take you to your destination across the city is always only going to be viable for an elite because there isn’t room for everyone to do that; there physically isn’t room.

[…]

I’ve been hearing that all my life; these are all ideas I’ve always been hearing. All my career, people have been writing to me, saying, have you seen this cool new technology? Won’t that change everything about public transport? And my answer is always, and unless it actually helps us run high-capacity fixed-route vehicles more efficiently, the answer is no. There’s no other way to move so many people in so little space as conventional fixed-route public transport: rail and bus. And we know that geometrically and once we know that geometrically, we know that it’s not going to change.

https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2018/01/26/2198114/a-conversation-about-how-public-transport-really-works/

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WorldbyStorm - February 1, 2018

Yeah, that’s a good one. The more I think about it the less I believe they’re going to be used any time soon.

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8. Gerryboy - January 31, 2018

If you are of 60s vintage, you may remember a LP called Switched-on Bach. Here’s a video of Leonard Bernstein no less introducing – but not conducting – the Moog Synthesizer which was used for electrifying and jazzifying some well-known fugal and contrapuntal pieces by the great straight-laced Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach has influenced jazz, but not retrospectively vice versa.

http://www.openculture.com/2018/01/leonard-bernstein-introduces-the-moog-synthesizer-to-the-world-in-1969.html

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makedoanmend - February 1, 2018

Thanks for the link. Quite…well… a blast from the past. I sort of remember a little about the development of electronic music and the sort of opaque optimism that was attendant. Seems all so innocent back then.

But what really struck me was the all male orchestra. It just looks so weird. I cannot imagine going to watch/listen to an orchestra these days that didn’t have female musicians. The ‘blind’ auditions were such a good idea.

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GW - February 1, 2018

Straight-laced?

Johann S in his youff was quite probably a right little tearaway if you are to believe the research of John Eliot Gardiner. Gardiner claims that there is sufficient evidence:

to dent the traditional image of Bach as an exemplary youth … surviving unscathed the sinister goings-on in the schools he attended. It is just as credible that [he]… was in a line of delinquent school prefects – a reformed teenage thug.

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Gerryboy - February 1, 2018

I never knew that. His organ works, cantatas, St. Matthew Passion and other ‘serious’ works give him a straight-laced ponderous churchy feel, although he lightened up a bit in the Brandenburg concertos and some memorable shorter pieces. His mastery of counterpoint, fugue and rhythm has appealed to jazz musicians, who have played jazz versions. I picked up a LP of a Sydney jazz group many years ago containing a couple of Bach tracks that also featured an electric violin. The group also improvised one or two numbers, adding notes and variations not in the original opus.

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9. Alibaba - January 31, 2018

The 10th European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education, is to be held on 20th – 22nd August, 2018 in Trinity College Dublin.

The call for papers to is now open and abstracts are invited for papers, posters and whole panels from researchers, practitioners and policy makers. The theme of the conference is:

Gender in academia and research: Countering persistent and emerging challenges to equality

The link to the conference website and call for papers can be found here:

http://genderequalityconference2018.com/call-for-abstracts/

Please note that the deadline for submitting abstracts is February 25 2018.

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10. Paddy Healy - January 31, 2018

IRISH NEUTRALITY BEING UNDERMINED BY GOVERNMENT
Reply to Seamus Healy TD in Dáil
Taoiseach Confirms Decision to Purchase Huge Ship With Helicopter Deck for Use Overseas—Irish Neutrality??? (See below)
Defend Irish Neutrality https://wp.me/pKzXa-Ut
To: “Seamus Healy”
Subject: eReplies to your Parliamentary Questions for 30/01/2018
For Written Answer on : 30/01/2018
Question Number(s): 127 Question Reference(s): 4263/18
Department: Defence
______________________________________________
QUESTION
To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence further to parliamentary question number 286 of 26 October 2017, the estimated cost of the additional multi role vessel that is proposed for purchase for the Naval Service; if a decision to put the provision of the MRV out to tender has been taken in view of a news report (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. (Details Supplied) Report From Irish Examiner Navy considers €200m multi-role ship – sent to Dept on 24/01/2018 @ 13:05
REPLY
The White Paper provides for the replacement of the current Naval Service flagship LÉ Eithne with a multi role vessel (MRV) which will be enabled for helicopter operations and will also have a freight carrying capacity. It is the Government’s intent that this new vessel will provide a flexible and adaptive capability for a wide range of maritime tasks, both at home and overseas.
Planning has commenced on this project and it is intended to hold a public tender competition in due course to cover the supply of the MRV. This, of course, is subject to the availability of funding within the overall Defence capital funding envelope. The cost of the MRV will only be known once the tender competition is concluded.
The acquisition of a modern vessel will ensure that the operational capabilities of the Naval Service, as the State’s principal seagoing agency, are maintained to the greatest extent and taking account of the overall policy approach in the White Paper on Defence
——————————————————————————-
Irelands First Contribution to a Militarised Europe( PESCO)?
Government To Purchase Huge 200 million War Ship From Which Helicopters Can Be Launched. State has already purchased 4 new naval vessels at a cost of 250 million. This is money that could be used to build social houses, provide more hospital beds etc.
The idea of the Defend Neutrality conference in the Mansion House in Mid-February, is to inform the public about the secret abandonment of Irish neutrality by government and to assemble wider forces to oppose this . Already over 40 TDs voted against joining Permanent Structured European Military Co-Operation(PESCO) .French President Macron has already said that a new invasion of Libya should be considered. I believe that the Irish elite will involve our country in foreign wars as a pay-back for EU support for their rotten Irish austerity regime. Joining PESCO was the first step. The Conference represents a ramping up the campaign against this. See Peace and Neutrilty Alliance (PANA) facebook page and website

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EWI - January 31, 2018

An exhibition on the imperial horrors caused abroad, even within living memory, by the main players involved in ‘European defence’ might go a long way (just a suggestion).

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11. Jim Monaghan - January 31, 2018

Maid of Erin,
a display of political cartoons by John Fergus O’Hea from the Weekly Freeman, 1887-1889

15 January-31 March

The later part of the nineteenthcentury saw the emergence of new mass movements in Irish social and political life. Taking a selection of illustrations by John Fergus O’Hea in particular, from the Local Studies Collection, this display explores the highly politicised imagery used to influence opinion in a period of increasing national awareness.

Level 5 Lexicon library, Dun Laoghaire

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12. seachranaidhe1 - January 31, 2018

Reblogged this on seachranaidhe1.

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13. Liberius - February 1, 2018

Regarding the resolution of the Parti de Gauche to submit a motion on the expulsion of SYRIZA from the EL, the President of the European Left, Gregor Gysi, declares:
01 February 2018

To criticize SYRIZA’s governance in Greece is legitimate and opinions on that differ among the European Left as well. But the government policy of SYRIZA is to a great extent marked by the blackmailing of the troika and the German government. This includes measures as the restriction of the right to strike, of which I am very critical myself. Yet, these measures are imposed by the creditors.
At the same time one may not forget the extent, the degree of indebtedness and the fact that the Greek government was pretty much left alone within the EU. It is easy to give advice from outside when one is not responsible for the country and the whole population.
SYRIZA tries to make use of any leeway they can gain in favour of the poorest of society – as can be seen in the parallel programme which becomes more and more apparent. Their party manifesto shows that they are anchored politically within the democratic and socialist camp.
The strength of the EL is to organise itself in the broadest possible way, to allow any conflict, to promote debates, and not expulsions. Would this road be chosen the European Left would not fare better but clearly worse during European elections in 2019. I am relatively sure that a motion on repulsion would not succeed in the Council of Chairpersons of the EL.

The Parti De Gauche statement can be found (in French) here

I’m quite surprised that it’s taken so long for these tensions to get this far.

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14. GW - February 1, 2018

For those of us who have to deal with pointy-headed political bosses and their vanity ‘apps’ (yes – they’ve just discovered ‘apps’ and they have to be down with the ‘app’-based information highway style kids!) this is pretty funny.

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GW - February 1, 2018

I couldn’t quite bring myself to download that app so that I could have a ‘hank’, however.

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WorldbyStorm - February 1, 2018

Dear oh dear… that was a train wreck waiting to happen.

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15. Liberius - February 1, 2018

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)

413. To ask the Minister for Health his views on the gardasil HPV vaccine containing thiaminase; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4216/18]

https://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2018-01-30a.910

The only links I can find between Gardasil and Thiaminase come from Dr. Derrick Lonsdale who has written for Sanevax on this and has a background in linking thiamine deficiency to autism. It has the air of the highly dubious about it. Although the fact that Dolly and Michael Moynihan asked the same question suggests that it is REGRET that are probably behind this, aluminium adjuvants (see below link for Dr. Chris Shaw’s aluminium related woes) being last year’s culprit.

https://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2018-01-30a.910

http://sanevax.org/gardasil-vitamin-deficiency/

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ubc-autsism-vaccine-paper-retraction-chris-shaw-1.4351855

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16. Paddy Healy - February 1, 2018

There has been very restricted coverage of the effective phasing out of Irish neutrality in the main media. For axample, apart from the Irish Examiner, there has been no coverage of the decision by Government to go ahead with the purchase of a Multi-Role Vessel with a helicopter deck and a capacity to land an infantry battalion on landing craft at a cost of 200 million. (The LE Bernard Shaw currently being delivered costs c. 70 million)

This blog recently covered the concerns about concessions on Irish neutrality and other issues expressed by Dr Mary C McCarthy (UCC) at the Kilarney Conference addressed by Arlene Foster

The article below by Justine McCarthy is a welcome public reinforcement of such concerns.

The link below is to a version of the article in a word document

JUSTINE McCarthy Breaks The Media Silence on Covert Government Surrender of Irish Neutrality

PUT OUR FOOT DOWN AND STAY IN NEUTRAL
Justine McCarthy, “The Sunday Times”, 28 January 2018
In unstable times, Ireland must not let its status as honest broker slip away.
Full Article in Sunday Times-Ireland Edition https://wp.me/pKzXa-Kd
“The images at Shannon- the trusting youthfulness of the soldiers, the lethal geopolitical minefield awaiting them, and the beaming US Vice-President Pence -were especially alarming if you were Irish and happened to believe in the state’s declared neutrality”

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EWI - February 2, 2018

If this purchase was for domestic or UN use, it could be justified. However, it’s clear that the vessel will be used in an expeditionary capacity to aid EU wars abroad, such as a potential second invasion of Libya.

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17. EWI - February 2, 2018

Anyone know what’s afoot with the ‘Irexit’ meeting muppetry this weekend? There are some indicators around:P

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DU2sFheW0AIM_7Q.jpg:large

Also:

Irexit: Free to Prosper
Speakers Cormac Lucey, John Waters, Nigel Farage MEP, Clr James Charity and special guest moderator.

Forthcoming Dates
Irexit: Free to Prosper RDS
Dublin 4 Sat 3 Feb 2018, 11:00AM 50+ tickets
available Book now
Book Now

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/FELFIL

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EWI - February 2, 2018

Charity and Lucey are both RENUA-heads, of course.

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EWI - February 2, 2018
CL - February 3, 2018

‘Speaking on the future of Europe at Trinity College’s historical society, Mr Farage ….called on Ireland and Britain to jointly seek a special deal from the EU in the event of no new trade deal. This would protect trade and the border, he said.’
https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/nigel-farage-vows-to-support-any-irexit-campaign-466666.html

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Daniel Rayner O'Connor - February 4, 2018

I see the one report gives Farago a standing ovation at the RDS. Nothing about Charity, Lucey or Waters, however. A blow, it may be suspected for Anti-Euro Populism, and, probably Brit imperialism.

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18. Paddy Healy - February 2, 2018

Public Conference Hosted By Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) and Peoples Movement
Defend Irish Neutrality https://wp.me/pKzXa-Ut
The EU-Talking Peace, Preparing For War
Militarization of The Euorpean Union And It’s Implication for Irish Neutrality
Prominent Irish and International Speakers:
Opening Address by Mícheál MacDonnacha, Lord Mayor of Dublin
Lynn Boylan MEP: Lave K. Brock, Peoples Movement of Denmark: Seamus Healy TD; Senator Alice Mary Higgins; Gino Kenny TD; Thomas Pringle TD; Eamonn Ryan TD
Oak Room, Mansion House, Dublin
Saturday February 17, 11.00 AM
ATTEND the Conference on Saturday Feb 17 in Mansion House to HELP STOP THIS!

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dublinstreams - February 2, 2018

Eamonn Ryan TD! oh lets can’t wait to see what he has to say.

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Paddy Healy - February 2, 2018

Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) and Peoples Movement are attempting to stop Ireland participating in military conflicts on behalf of power blocs and are joining with like-minded people from other countries in resisting the militarisation of the European Union.
As the Anti- PESCO Conference is part of this process, it was natural that all those who voted against Irish participation in PESCO in the Dáil (42 Deputies) would be welcome to participate. It would be wrong and counter-productive for PANA to administer any political test other than opposition to participation in PESCO.

Dáil Report
PESCO Dail Debate
http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail2017120700027?opendocument

Dec 7, 2017 Dail Report
Deputy Eamon Ryan: “The Green Party is opposed to Ireland’s entry into PESCO. It runs contrary to Ireland’s tradition as a neutral non-aligned country and it will not serve our people or armed forces well in the great work that the latter have done representing us in peace missions overseas. We regret that the process by which approval is being sought – at incredibly short notice and without proper debate or committee hearings at which we could have real consultation – casts a shadow on what is being done. Regardless, we disagree in principle with the approach that has been taken………”

The decision to join PESCO was carried Through Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, the Independent Alliance and some right wing Independents voting for it in the Dáil

Those Voting against Irish Participation in PESCO in Dail Dec 7 2017
Boyd Barrett, Richard.
Brady, John.
Broughan, Thomas P.
Buckley, Pat.
Burton, Joan.
Collins, Michael.
Connolly, Catherine.
Crowe, Seán.
Cullinane, David.
Daly, Clare.
Doherty, Pearse.
Ellis, Dessie.
Fitzmaurice, Michael.
Funchion, Kathleen.
Healy, Seamus.
Howlin, Brendan.
Kenny, Gino.
Kenny, Martin.
McDonald, Mary Lou.
McGrath, Mattie.
Martin, Catherine.
Mitchell, Denise.
Murphy, Catherine.
Murphy, Paul.
Nolan, Carol.
O’Brien, Jonathan.
O’Reilly, Louise.
O’Sullivan, Jan.
O’Sullivan, Maureen.
Ó Broin, Eoin.
Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.
Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
Penrose, Willie.
Quinlivan, Maurice.
Ryan, Brendan.
Ryan, Eamon.
Shortall, Róisín.
Smith, Bríd.
Stanley, Brian.
Tóibín, Peadar.
Wallace, Mick.

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EWI - February 2, 2018

Any chance of getting a few priests or bishops in there to raise the profile, Paddy?

Or even Bono and Geldof, the patron saints of lamenting ‘militarism’ (under anything but a Union Jack).

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dublinstreams - February 2, 2018
19. Joe - February 2, 2018

Got my first ‘keep the 8th’ leaflet in the door yesterday. Glossy, well-produced, foldover. Some thing or group called EPIC and lots of pictures of foetuses growing in wombs.
What with Coveney queering the pitch for FG and the government and a serious, well-financed campaign from the ‘keep the 8th’ side, repeal cannot be taken for granted at all, at all.

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dublinstreams - February 2, 2018

is it EPIC or LoveBoth?

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Joe - February 2, 2018

EPIC

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Joe - February 3, 2018

Sorry it’s a LoveBoth leaflet. It’s called EPIC – The amazing journey at our earliest beginnings.

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20. Joe - February 2, 2018

That seachranaidhe1 who keeps reblogging stuff from the CLR. I just had a look at that blog and it is, in my humble estimation, dodge.
If I was you, WBS, I’d ask them to stop their reblogging. But, I’m not you afaik.

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WorldbyStorm - February 2, 2018

There’s not a heap I can do to be honest. Though just to be clear we’re not keen to be reblogged here anyhow, whether it’s a site we like or not – a link is more appropriate if there’s a specific reason to. But there’s no technical fix on this unfortunately.

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Liberius - February 3, 2018

Is there anyway I can disable the reblog option?

Yes, if you decide you would rather not offer the option to reblog your post, you can disable the button by navigating to Sharing → Sharing Buttons.
Disable Show reblog button under Reblog & Like and the Reblog button will no longer appear on your blog posts. Likewise, if you later decide you would like to offer users the option to reblog your content, you can enable the feature.

Looking at the setting on my wordpress account the option is at the bottom of the sharing page.

https://en.support.wordpress.com/reblogs/

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WorldbyStorm - February 3, 2018

You see that is my problem, I don’t want to prevent everyone from doing so – I’d sooner someone asked me by email so I can judge for myself. That just feels like a hammer to crack a nut.

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WorldbyStorm - February 3, 2018

Sorry, rereading that it’s not clear what I mean. I’d love a retrospective “delete” button but I’m unkeen about a pre-emptive one because that could potentially stop good people from reblogging,

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21. roddy - February 2, 2018

Just looked at the homepage of seachranaidhe. Totally irrelevant disso nonsense,highlighted by the fact that all those needing “freed” were released years ago and one fountain of wisdom referred to as “Ardoyne Republican” has been “persona non grata” within the alphabet soup of joke groupings for years.Obviously some walter mitty keyboard warrior who would have shit himself if he had witnessed the troubles first hand!

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Joe - February 2, 2018

And also when I went onto it, lists of photos and profiles of alleged child sex offenders in the UK and elsewhere. To be frowned upon, in my view.

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EWI - February 2, 2018

I’ve noticed a ‘disso’ within my wider FB circle (someone I’m glad to say I’ve avoided in RL) who also involved himself in these self-proclaimed ‘elite hunter’ groups. DAAD they’re not.

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22. Alibaba - February 2, 2018

For those of you who watched Kes and was struck by how powerful it is in showing aspects of working class life 50 years ago, this may be of interest too:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/02/50-years-after-kes-barnsley-barry-hines-ken-loach-towns-like-mine

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WorldbyStorm - February 2, 2018

Thanks for that Alibaba. A great film too.

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23. Alibaba - February 2, 2018

‘However, there is no escaping the conclusion that she [ex-Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald] displayed a staggering incuriosity when informed of the aggressive strategytowards Sgt McCabe at O’Higgins. … Then, when informed that he may be under attack on another front, she didn’t as much as inquire from an official what exactly was going on. …

Not just that, but when the matter became public a year later she made no connection between the story in the public domain and what she had been informed about at the outset of O’Higgins. …

Vindicated, sure, but Ms Fitzgerald is highly unlikely to be reinstated.’

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/views/michael-clifford-ex-tanaistes-moment-stolen-by-barrett-claim-826002.html

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WorldbyStorm - February 2, 2018

Vindicated?

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WorldbyStorm - February 3, 2018

Sorry just to be clear that is directed at the Irish Examiner story, not you Alibaba. What a strange word to use by them.

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Alibaba - February 3, 2018

Michael Clifford is a good investigative journalist. He knows his stuff well. This article could be read to mean that Frances Fitzgerald did not technically do anything wrong. So perhaps she will be ‘vindicated’ much along the lines predicted by Varadkar even before the Tribunal commenced its work.

We know that the undercurrents of ‘incuriosity’ and inactions gives the lie to the notion that fair treatment was given to Sgt McCabe on her watch. But the Establishment takes the view, I think, that all this will be forgotten and buried in the confusion of who-did-what-to-whom-and-when. They could be right. Still, it will be interesting to see the findings of the Tribunal and more significantly the response of McCabe too.

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WorldbyStorm - February 3, 2018

Clifford is good, very much agree.

I do wonder what McCabe makes of matters now. Just on the word vindicated – despite the trial he’s been through he has to feel some degree of vindication.

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Alibaba - February 3, 2018

Without a doubt. Maurice McCabe is now fully vindicated. He should be honoured for taking all the risks and pains involved in bringing to light the wrongdoing of the police force. He deserves no less.

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dublinstreams - February 6, 2018

COlm Keena put it well “Frances Fitzgerald made ‘conscious decision’ not to act on email she couldn’t remember” https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/colm-keena-how-did-disclosure-of-email-s-existence-lead-to-near-collapse-of-government-1.3375679 the question is whether she should have acted at the time and whether she should have admitted to have known about this stuff when asked ( and before that) I don’t think she’ll vindicated on the later.

At some point Mick Clifford became a columnist giving his opinion and then he returned as a “special correspondent”, once you have a weekly column where you don’t have to fight to get your story in the paper you are no longer a journalist. The standards that are applied to journalist fact checking are not applied to him unfortunately.

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Jim Flynn - February 4, 2018

They’ve succeeded in minimising the damage – no charges for the penalty points etc – they drawn a line and have people focused on the wrongdoing that amounts to a bit of character abuse and dodgy breath tests are the height of it is sadly mistaken – the rise and support of a global drug cartel by allowing one of its associate to open a private airport and import drugs for the UK market while he wined and dined top Garda would be a more fruitful investigation – we have a New South Wales level of corruption but its not even touched upon.

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24. GW - February 2, 2018

Apologies for mentioning the B-word so close to the weekend, but the Guardian Brexit Means podcast episode about attitudes in Germany is well worth a listen.

Takeaways: There’s zilcho chance of Germany at the last moment caving and giving the Brits a special deal – favourite Brexiteer fantasy that one.

And if forced to choose between trade with UK and the single market, German business will choose the single market anytime, and take a hit.

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25. CL - February 3, 2018

The joys of privatisation and competition:

“privatisation of national utilities is a significant cause of air pollution..
.
Under Tottenham Court Road…80 different utility companies have their lines and pipes…
the reality of the destruction caused by privatisation is beginning to dawn even on true believers…
Labour is right to plan taking back control of utilities, mail and transport, though they have yet to make that case sound not just ideological but pressingly practical. They need to spell out the daily reality of the harm privatisation and illusory “choice” has done over the last decades, not least in the poisoned air we breathe.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/01/privatisation-air-breathe-pollution-london

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26. Tomboktu - February 3, 2018
WorldbyStorm - February 5, 2018

Harsh, but fair.

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27. Philip Ferguson (The Irish Revolution blog) - February 4, 2018

Today (Feb 4) marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Constance Markievicz.

Here is her speech against the 1921 Treaty:

Markievicz speech against the 1921 Treaty

Here is her speech in support of women’s franchise around the same time (the Treatyites were trying to beck-pedal of women’s right to vote): https://theirishrevolution.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/markievicz-speech-on-womens-franchise-1922/

And here are some articles by Markievicz on the conditions of women in prison in England. I thought the anecdogte about the word ‘woman’ was interesting.

Conditions of women in English jails (two articles): https://theirishrevolution.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/conditions-of-women-in-english-jails-2/

Break down the Bastilles: https://theirishrevolution.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/break-down-the-bastilles/

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28. Paddy Healy - February 4, 2018

The Capitulatory Nature of the Current Trade Union Leadership which collaborated with Austerity was Established in the Civil War Period.
Terror of the Risen People Among The Irish Rich, not alone, Led to the capitulation That Was The Treaty but Also Paralysed the Republican Side in the Civil War

Lessons of the Civi War for Today https://wp.me/pKzXa-OT

Connolly had been executed, Larkin was in America, and the leadership of the trade union movement was in the hands of social democratic traitors. Remember that the” red brigandage” rife, particulaly in Munster(Red Flag Creameries, land seizures by the poor, farm labourers’ strikes etc), was the explanation given by both sides for the DeValera-Collins pact in the post treaty election. Rather than leading the workers and small farmers on to the 32-county republic and the Workers Republic the then Labour and Trade Union Leaders , Johnson, O’Brien and O’Shannon, capitulated to the Treaty and supported the military suppression of the risen people by entering the Free State parliament when the suppression was taking place. Even DeValera did not enter the Free State parliament until the civil “war” was over. The pro-capitalist social democratic nature of the Irish Labour and Trade Union leadership was established in the “civil war” period and this nature is central to its recent shameful pro-austerity role.
How did they and hundreds of brave republican fighters from Munster, Derry and Tyrone arrive in a situation where they were completely vulnerable to attack by the Free State? This led to the execution of the Drumboe Martys by the Free State!!!

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EWI - February 4, 2018

Someone (I’m guessing Rayner will know who it was) claimed at the last Desmond Greaves School that he’d been told that Johnson himself admitted that, as an Englishman, he had never understood the Irish separatist cause.

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Daniel Rayner O'Connor - February 5, 2018

Yes, Des Greaves did report that Johnson told him at their last meeting that he had been reading (?re-reading) ‘Labour in Irish History’ and thought that he understood now what his old comrade had been trying to do.

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EWI - February 5, 2018

Too late, though. How different would it all have turned out?

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Daniel Rayner O'Connor - February 6, 2018

Who can say? There is an element of persona here. Johnson was inhibited by using his considerable intelligence to convince himself that Labour could not take state power in Ireland without serious industrial development. He does not seem to have had any sympathy with Connolly’s rostra of general rural co-operation inspired by old Irish communalism. In this last, he was probably correct, but, equally, he had nothing to put in its place other than bringing pressure to moderate capitalist industrial development in the interest of the workers. Lenin’s combination of urban socialist policies and land reform were unknown to Connolly or Johnson.

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29. Jim Monaghan - February 4, 2018
30. Tomboktu - February 5, 2018

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31. Alibaba - February 5, 2018

‘Bullies are lurking around every corner’

So says Jo Brand and then a lot more, a ‘woman who refuses to be described as a national treasure, preferring “national disgrace”.’

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/feb/04/jo-brand-bullies-are-lurking-around-every-corner-?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=262906&subid=25252872&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

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32. EWI - February 5, 2018

So, the Defence Forces are going with a maximalist Treatyite interpretation of the 1922 centenaries (no doubt with FG encouragement and direction. Anyone know if Michael O’Reilly is still involved? https://www.chg.gov.ie/app/uploads/2016/04/public_contracts_awarded_.pdf )

IMG_1478

I have a feeling that the Brugha descendant will have cause to regret his actions, come 2022.

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33. CL - February 7, 2018

And now for the hard part. From fudge to legal clarity:

‘Britain and the EU are heading for another clash over Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit status as Brussels pushes for greater clarity on a fragile compromise on the Irish border….

Sabine Weyand, the EU’s deputy chief negotiator, has told colleagues that meeting commitments on the “all-island economy” would imply Northern Ireland remaining under the customs union and single market rules for all sectors with significant north-south trade flows.
https://www.ft.com/content/ee480ee6-0a6c-11e8-8eb7-42f857ea9f09

‘Sinn Féin spokesperson on Brexit David Cullinane TD has described an Taoiseach Leo Varadkar as “naïve” for accepting promises from a fractured Tory government and said that his ‘cast-iron’ guarantees are now not worth the paper they were written on….
“EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan said last week that a border on the island of Ireland is inevitable if Britain leaves the customs union. This will happen, he said, regardless of any alignment that is secured in terms of regulations.’
http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/48124

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