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offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

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Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link News Round-Up Sun Dec 01, 2024 00:29 | Will Jones
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link International Law, National Self-Interest or Neither? Sat Nov 30, 2024 17:00 | Noah Carl
France and Germany are willing to sabotage their own economies (by sanctioning Russia) to uphold the ?rules-based international order?. Yet they are not willing to say they will implement a simple ICC ruling. Why?
The post International Law, National Self-Interest or Neither? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Starmer Under Pressure to Reveal What He Knew About Louise Haigh?s Fraud Conviction Before She Quit ... Sat Nov 30, 2024 15:00 | Will Jones
Keir Starmer?is facing growing pressure to explain why he allowed a convicted fraudster to be part of his top team for more than four years, after once stating that?"you can?t be a lawmaker and a lawbreaker".
The post Starmer Under Pressure to Reveal What He Knew About Louise Haigh’s Fraud Conviction Before She Quit Cabinet appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Britain Already Has Blasphemy Laws Sat Nov 30, 2024 13:00 | Will Jones
Anyone outraged by Labour MP Tahir Ali?calling?on the Government to introduce blasphemy laws has clearly not been paying attention, says Stephen Daisley, for there are already blasphemy laws in this country.
The post Britain Already Has Blasphemy Laws appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Oxford Scientist Trying to Cancel Elon Musk Sat Nov 30, 2024 11:00 | Will Jones
An Oxford scientist has resigned from the Royal Society in an attempt to get Elon Musk kicked out of the prestigious science body over his support for free speech, climate scepticism and opposition to woke.
The post The Oxford Scientist Trying to Cancel Elon Musk appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?110 Fri Nov 29, 2024 15:01 | en

offsite link Verbal ceasefire in Lebanon Fri Nov 29, 2024 14:52 | en

offsite link Russia Prepares to Respond to the Armageddon Wanted by the Biden Administration ... Tue Nov 26, 2024 06:56 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?109 Fri Nov 22, 2024 14:00 | en

offsite link Joe Biden and Keir Starmer authorize NATO to guide ATACMS and Storm Shadows mis... Fri Nov 22, 2024 13:41 | en

Voltaire Network >>

national / consumer issues Friday February 20, 2015 16:29 by missing our buses already   text 6 comments (last - tuesday may 12, 2015 00:10)
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10% to go in 2016 and then decimation beings in earnest

Just three weeks ago the National Transport Authority (NTA) officially started the tendering for 2016 of initially 10% of Dublin Bus routes and a further 10% of all Bus Eireann routes with most of the routes in Waterford City, and a number of Dublin commuter routes are to be privatised. In the original plan a number of Cork City routes were to go but these will probably happen later. This process has been the culmination of a relentless effort by Fine Gael (FG) in the present government and their predecessors and fellow Neo-Liberal ideologists, Fianna Fáil (FF) in the last government where they have consistently pushed for the break up of both Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann so that it can be handed over to their friends in the private sector to run on a profit basis. The NTA is used as a sort of cloak of respectability to give the impression that they will actually be a regulator with teeth of which we know very few regulators have any teeth, with the banking regulator during the Celtic Tiger coming to mind, plus many other examples and the function of NTA is really for propaganda value to convince the middle class. However this whole scheme is about ideology and is NOT about competition but about privatisation.

international / anti-capitalism Saturday November 29, 2014 17:45 by Shane Cassidy   text 13 comments (last - wednesday june 10, 2015 10:35)
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This article examines the Transatlantic Free Trade agreement and it's potential repercussions. In 2010 the US mining and gas company, Renco, managed to successfully avoid having to pay compensation to Peruvian locals who were harmed due to pollution by their companies by successfully using a provision of the Peru-US Trade Agreement[1]. Not satisfied with avoiding having to pay compensation, the company has since demanded $800 million from the Peruvian government as they argue that one of the companies they own, Doe Run, was forced into bankruptcy due to an expensive pollution clean-up which the Peruvian government required Doe Run to conduct [2].

national / bin tax / household tax / water tax Sunday November 02, 2014 00:07 by T   text 5 comments (last - monday november 10, 2014 23:40)
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Sligo says No to Water Charges

Over 100 separate local demonstrations took place today (Sat Nov 1st) against the Water Charges and for the Right 2 Water. Organisers estimate conservatively that over 150,000 were out on the streets today to send a message to this government that they won't accept paying for water twice and having it privatised later.

People realize that all the false promises and allowances will eventually be dropped and the long term result will be that a privatised water company will prey on the people with massive hikes in charges and big fat bonuses for themselves.

There were protests from Cork & Kerry to Wexford to Dublin to Limerick to Galway to Sligo to Donegal to Cavan to Dundalk and all over the Midlands. There has never been anything like it perhaps since the foundation of the state. The people are truly fed up and are determined and will not be abused by the political technocrats of big Capital that is robbing every social gain our forebears fought hard to get over the past century.

For lots more pictures check each of the various campaign pages from around the country.
national / environment Monday September 08, 2014 14:06 by Alan Hall   text 9 comments (last - friday october 24, 2014 13:27)
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Proposed Poolbeg incinerator.

Corruption and incompetence rule in certain corridors of Dublin City Council. Coventa the company which somehow won the tender (despite not being a party to the bidding) and Dublin City Council have pushed the cost up to nearly €100 million for the land. Council Manager Owen Keegan said not one cent of the €96 million that has already been spent will be clawed back if the plan doesn't go ahead. Despite also as extra €36 million in extra costs many Councillors state that this whole thing has nothing to do with mad ideas from Bertie Ahern. Even if it does not go ahead it will still cost €600 million, and obviously this is the best interests of every else abroad who likes to sabotage Irish planning and make a few million doing so. Renewable energy is the future but not for the old school chums of yesteryear.

national / anti-war / imperialism Saturday June 28, 2014 20:16 by Justin Morahan   text 7 comments (last - monday july 14, 2014 16:00)
newsfilter

Feature

Sun 01 Dec, 01:13

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kibbutz_survivor_tells_all.webp imagevideoIs the Gaza-Israel Fighting “A False Flag”? They Let it Happen? Their Objective Is “to Wip... Nov 15 23:19 by anon 5 comments

There is clear evidence that Israeli has for many years planned to drive all the Palestinians out of their former ancestral lands and to drive them out of Gaza and then later the West Bank. Their current openly stated plan is to drive the South towards Egypt and across the border.

Right now they are bombing indiscriminately all over the Gaza and particularly northern Gaza to destroy everything and drive the people Southwards. At the same time Netanyahu has been embroiled in charges of corruption and political scandal and Israeli society is pretty much divided over his attempts to strip the judicial system of its power and make them political appointees.

So putting things in context, the whole idea that this was a surprise attack is extremely fishy and now evidence is pouring in to show that the whole thing has been orchestrated by sinister forces. The items below are collection of articles but the first is an of an interview of an Israeli settler who claimed the IDF/police were involved in the slaughter.

basf_plant.png imagevideoaudioEurope is Committing Economic Suicide due to Sanctions and We Are All going to Suffer Badl... Aug 28 21:14 by T 12 comments

Europe is committing economic suicide all because they are doing the bidding of US Neocons by imposing ridiculous sanctions against Russia which are doing far more damage to Europe and very little to Russia. They are equivalent to threatening to shoot yourself in both feet and the head and then going ahead and doing it. It is a completely idiotic and absurd situation that Europe has arrived in. We are already seeing the initial consequences in the form of fuel price rises and inflation.

The sanctions have actually done three things. They have strengthened Russia's finances and independence, they have accelerated the destruction of the dollar and all fiat currencies connected to it and they are dealing an economc death blow to Europe's economy. By refusing Russian gas it has led to soaring prices and there is no viable alternative to replace the huge quantities of it. Gas is not just used for heating but also for generating base load electrical power. And Russian oil is used to supply a large chunk of the diesel fuel used in Europe and literally everything we buy and do, needs diesel. Diesel is the life blood of the real physical world. Any disruption there and we will all feel it very directly very quickly.

The Irish government are fully aware of the potentially dire consequences of these reckless decisions because they have made it known that they have emergency plans for fuel rationing. Unfortunately it seems the public don't fully realize the scale of the pending crisis and that it is all caused by war-mongering and the belligerent actions of US & NATO cheered on by our own clueless politicians. It is quite clear that every government and institution is captured by sinister elements and those in key positions of power and influence have either been bought off or blackmailed. This was all very evident during Covid, when we saw how governments moved in lockstep to a single script, orchestrated by the totalitarian forces in the background. The Epstein revelations gave the public an insight into the extent and depth of blackmail and how it reached the highest echelons of society.

800px-interior_de_un_airbus_a321.jpg imagevideoaudioRisk Of Flying Has Dramatically Gone Up Because Pilots Are Having Heart Attacks After The ... Apr 30 01:48 by T 5 comments

The dangerous Covid vaccines are not only causing death and injury amongst the general population but they are also affecting that special group of people who perhaps once or twice a year many people entrust their lives to and they are commercial airline pilots. For decades the safety of air travel has continuously increased until 2021. Pilots undergo rigorous medical testing and screening so as to reduce the slightest risk that a pilot might fall ill while flying. In 2021 common sense and consent were thrown out the window along with any concerns of safety and as a consequence the flying public are now at greatly increased risk and it is time people are made aware of of this.

hide: imagevideoWhy The Sudden Outrage ? Feb 28 23:55 by Gary Jordan 4 comments

Wag the Dog?

With every major crisis - be it a fake pandemic or a manufactured war - comes further confirmation that the average man or woman on the street is hypnotised and has long lost the ability to think critically.

Without taking as much as 30 seconds to step out from the real-time MK Ultra mind-control projects of social media, the vast majority are jumping headfirst into MSM-driven emotionally-charged dialectics and reductive good-versus-evil narratives.

Galway_riseup_Thurs_2pm_no_to_masks.jpg imageUrgent Challenge To NPHET’’s Recommendation On Face Masks For Children Nov 30 23:54 by Lawyers For Justice Ireland 4 comments

Once again the country is plunging itself into absurdities and diving deeper into insanity for the government is no less than bringing in mandates for healthy children to wear masks all day long in school. It is the most insane measure yet, and it so wrong on so many fronts. The worst part is that many parents will follow these guidelines which is both physically and mentally damaging to their own kids, but the ground work has already been put in to allow this for we have had 22 months of endless 24x7 fear mongering, lies and deceit from the government and media over the pandemic that never was for it was all best on lying by statistics.

However there are many parents who are rightly concerned and they have contacted the group LawyersForJustice for advice who have issued a response that we have reproduced here. In the meantime, the mask mandate is clearly to prepare the ground for vaccination of kids because the psychologists who work for the government creating the spin and narrative have figured if you can persuade parents to do something as inhumane and criminally insane as masking your children, then it is but a small step to give them the clot-shot for a disease which is never going to kill them but has an excellent chance of causing all sorts of adverse reactions from heart problems to neurological ones to death.

First spike is vaccine rollout and slow climb is random vax deaths of rest of the population imagevideoCovid Vaccine Deaths and Injuries Ramping Up Nov 01 00:48 by 1 of Indy 16 comments

Since the very beginning of the Covid Vaccines rollout in Ireland in Jan 2021 deaths spiked and then tailed off until the rest of the population were jabbed with the deadly gene therapy shot (aka vaccine) from April onwards. Then reports of deaths and serious injuries started appearing and now they have become widespread.

heatmap_deaths_england_by_date_and_age_group.jpg imagevideoMidazolam was used to prematurely end the lives of thousands who you were told had died of... Aug 31 00:52 by 1 of Indy 3 comments

This explosive story from the DailyExpose.co.uk may be perhaps the most important story of the whole sad Covid affair for it explains a lot. Many who quickly saw through this Covid scamdemic were aware that the vast majority of deaths were in older people older than the national life expectancy despite media attempting and succeeding to make people believe much younger people were dying. However there was a real puzzle trying to explain why there was a spike in deaths in April if this was a scam considering in most years the annual spike occurs in mid Winter in January when vitamin D levels are at their lowest.

It now turns out we have the explanation and the evidence. In the UK and in Ireland at the start of the lockdown thousands of old people were booted out of hospital within hours and put into nursing homes where they no longer received the hospital care. Not only that, the UK government recommended the use of the end-of-life drug Midazolam (and used for executions in the US) which should be used with extreme care with old people and anyone with any sort of respiratory problems as it REDUCES breathing. The recommended dosage to use was 10 times higher than the maximum recommended limit for this age group. The DailyExpose also have the figures for the amount of Midazolam used and it matches the "Covid" death spike in April 2020 and the second spike in Jan 2021 which was used to prolong the lockdowns last winter.

In the case of Ireland the question is was Midazolam recommended too or was simply depriving the elderly of the sort of care they were getting in the hospitals and obviously not in the nursing home, enough to do the intended harm.

eric_clapton_bad_jab_reaction_scared.jpg imagevideoaudioCovid Vaccines are the Trojan Horse leading us to Tyranny May 31 00:34 by 1 of Indy 19 comments

The Covid-19 vaccines (aka the experimental gene therapy) are a Trojan horse for two reasons. One is because they have the potential to cause great harm and long term chronic health and even death and the second because they are a key part of "vaccine passports" that are central to forming the global identification and control system of a worldwide totalitarian technocracy. The media, Big Tech and government have made no effort to hide the fact that they intend vaccine passports to be permanent and expanded to all aspects of life from travel to public events, to entry to work, cafes, restaurants and even pubs although these measures will come later once they get the travel part locked in and accepted.

Did we ever think this could happen in Ireland ? imagevideoaudioReligion and Spirituality under Attack. Apr 15 22:58 by T 9 comments

There is no doubt about it that religion and spirituality are under attack and the pressure has been massively increased on the back of the Covid Scamdemic.

The level of suppression and repression now in force against the church has not been seen here for centuries. The irony is that the church hierarchy are largely going along with it. The attack on spirituality is a bit harder to discern but it is there and part of the wider trend. Overall what appears to be going on is the corporate takeover of society and that is the new religion and it is intolerant of any other belief systems. This is a characteristic of all totalitarian systems. They want you to transfer any beliefs you have to them. During the worst periods of the USSR we saw churches burned or closed down and all religious practice suppressed. Similar things happened during the Chinese cultural revolution. What it represents is a demand to turn towards the reigning power and an insistence that this is the only belief system. What the socialist revolution was promising was salvation through socialist organisation of society and by directing the productive forces to the benefit of all peoples, in effect creating heaven on Earth. It didn't quite turn out that way for various reasons. Now the corporate regime is trying the same without the promises.

moment_hired_thug_lights_cracker.jpg imageSuccessful operation by hired thugs to discredit anti lockdown protesters in Grafton Stree... Feb 28 02:17 by Amy 4 comments

Sat 27th Feb. Today's long planned anti-lockdown protest that was due to take place in Stephens Green was prevented from entering the park because it was closed by the government and all roads leading to it were sealed off by a massive police operation.

Despite the fact there were was an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 who were marching and the vast majority were regular people and were peaceful, the media insists it was a riot and was only attended by thugs. This is the image that they not only want to present but they do present. The only mainstream media images are of lines of cops with smoke from the one firecracker by the lunatic and some discarded litter on the ground.

This report of the protest critically looks at what happened and how the agenda of the government has been cynically served. It is so coincidental that the incident with the firecracker perfectly fitted the narrative they wanted to portray and portray it they did in every report and mention.

Click to enlarge. Screenshot of Irish Times article from last year reporting hospital over-crowding. imagevideoDecoding the News: Fear Mongering reaches new heights on reports of hospitals Overflowing Jan 13 00:12 by 1 of indy 7 comments

All the news media in Ireland have gone ballistic in the last few days ramping up the Covid fear to new extreme levels. There are already 100,000s of people absolutely terrified by their misleading news and this sustained level of fear for over 10 months now is very likely leading to very dangerous health conditions for these people leading to heart conditions, mental issues, cancer and all sorts of problems caused largely by the extreme stress that they have put themselves under because unfortunately the media and the politicians are giving highly distorted, mis-leading inaccurate and sensational news about the Covid situation.

A good example is the news from the past few days where we are told the hospitals are overflowing with Covid patients and as of today it is claimed 46 are dead from Covid.

The aim of this article is to bring some context and reality to this, something the mainstream media and politicians and their bureaucrats are strenuously going out of their way to not do.

flu_vaccine_wiki_commons_derivative.jpg imagevideoThe Flu Vaccine campaign this year. Have you taken it? Dec 12 23:57 by T 0 comments

Back in September the government announced they were planning to vaccinate up to 750,000 people, mostly children with a new nasal vaccine spray. I suppose a spray seems less dangerous and frightening than a needle. There was a major push this year by the pharmaceutical companies through their lackeys in the government and press to urge people to take it and on back of the constant fear campaign since last March, it seems to have been highly effective. We are supposed to believe that this is all for the benefit of us all and the fact that anyone is making money out of it is just an outrageous thing to suggest. Nor should it be mentioned in polite company that the pharmaceutical companies are NOT liable for any vaccine injuries and you have to take any case you have, against the government. This nice little arrangement has been in place for years and is the envy of all manufacturers of all and anything.

daily_and_cumulative_covid_cases_to_oct_2020.jpg imagevideoMaking Sense of the Current "2nd Wave" Covid numbers using Gov Stats. No Need to Panic or ... Oct 18 00:28 by T 9 comments

The country is in the grip of Covid-19 fear. The public have been frightened using manipulative figures and by emphasis on case numbers which are meaningless. Many are very concerned and know we face economic ruin and worry about the future. Mental health issues are widespread and critical. People are only reluctantly agreeing to any of this out of fear and want the whole thing to end. The media, politicians, and the medical bureaucrats with conflicts of interest have been criminal in their actions and the Left has attempted to hijack the fear to shamelessly pretend they are protecting workers when they are simply acting as shrills for multi-national Pharmaceutical & vaccine industry and thereby pushing the agenda of the Great Reset promoted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) who are the voice of the global capitalist oligarchy. Not only that anyone with a different opinion is accused as being right-wing and racist and while indeed elements on the right are have taken an position against the official narrative, it is disingenuous and arrogant of the Left to label people as being somehow misled as well as anti-science when the official narrative is being blatantly fraudulent in the way they try to wear the cloak of scientific respectively but instead are tarnishing it's reputation. We have been hearing for the last two or three weeks that cases are rising exponentially and it all seems out of control. It appears the number of deaths is rising and the media seem to be reporting the country's hospital ICU capacity is about to be over run. The government's own figures show this is not actually the case.

As we speak the government cabinet is due to meet to decide whether to put the whole country in lockdown for a massive 6 weeks at Level 5 which is basically a full lockdown. NPHET have been strongly advising for this to happen for the last two or three weeks and when the government refused to put the country in lockdown a week or two ago, NPHET were furious that their minions in the government did not follow their orders. It remains to be seen whether government ministers will like bold children repent and obey NPHET orders.

In this brief report we take the government's or rather the Health Preventive Surveillance Centre, HPSC, figures to show that the impression of out of control Covid and soaring death rate is not actually happening and there is no need for heightened fear or lockdown.

allcausemortality_jan_may.png imagevideoReport on Protest Against Oppressive Government Restrictions and Mandates in Dublin (22nd ... Aug 29 00:33 by 1 of indy 4 comments

Breaking News. Not reported by mainstream media or RTE. The Berlin rally against Covid-19 restrictions on Aug 1st had 1.3 million people turn up !!!! -How come we never heard about this? At the rally for 29th Aug, there are 2 million expected
This is a report back from Health Freedom Ireland (HFI) on the protest organised by HFI in conjunction with the Yellow Vests at the Customs House Dublin on Aug 22nd. Given Covid is about the only thing in the news these days and happens to be the single most important issue of our time because of the way civil liberties have been taken away from the bulk of humanity, it is therefore prudent we give it the proper coverage and not the biased negative spin from the mainstream media.

Large numbers (estimated at around 6k) turned up for the peaceful protest against oppressive government restrictions and mandates over COVID-19 on Saturday, August 22nd at Customs House, Dublin.

The non-political event was organised by Health Freedom Ireland and Yellow Vest Ireland to voice concerns regarding government mandates, demanding transparency, proportionality of decisions and accountability by government officials and advisors.

neil_ferguson_spills_beans_on_his_model_code.jpg imageUndocumented Computer Code Used by Prof. Neil Ferguson to Advise UK to Commit Economic Sui... May 22 00:01 by 1 of indy 3 comments

Prof Neil Ferguson who was the chief advisor to the UK government in the lead up to the Covid lockdown and was instrumental in bringing it about based his advice on the output of his own undocumented computer code he wrote 13 years ago. In the initial stages of the crisis his "model" predicted 500,000 deaths in the UK from Covid. Then a short time later, he revised his figures sharply downward and said his model now predicted to 20,000 deaths. This incidentally is the same number of deaths from flu in the UK in a typical year. So it appears to be the case that the UK has committed economic suicide based on software that no-one else could inspect in advance nor was there any independent verification. To make decisions based on this type of methodology is nothing short of criminal. And we haven't even got to the assumptions used which obviously are on equally shaky ground given one day the model was predicting 500,000 dead and then when obviously some level of correction was done, it was then only 20,000.

scare_everyone_especially_sweden_collage_by_who.jpg imageThe Economy After the Covid Lockdown Apr 27 13:35 by 1 of indy 5 comments

Never before in the history of the world has there been such a massive and widespread shutdown of the economy for as long as for this Covid-19 scare. As of today April 21st it has been more or less shutdown for a month and the politicians instead of doing their usual and saying we will be out of this soon are saying we need to continue it indefinitely and even when the lockdown is lifted, it will only be gradual return to normality. Clearly everyone is worried and a lot depends on how long this lockdown continues for. The question is not whether the economy both here in Ireland and globally will be damaged but more by how much. This is an important question because real lives depend on what happens in it


Here we attempt to assess where we are, what has happened and what logic dictates are some of the possible outcomes.

wikimedia_servers0051_16.jpg imageBig Tech and Their Growing Political Power in Todays World Apr 18 20:14 by 1 of indy 2 comments

In light of the slight interruption to normal life that is going on it is worth reassessing some of the known common knowledge about Big Tech and it's related area Artificial Intelligence (AI). Unless you have been asleep for the past 10 years, everyone will have heard of Edward Snowden who revealed in quite extensive detail the level of ongoing surveillance carried out jointly by the US and UK intelligence agencies, the NSA and GCHQ. Prior to his disclosure any suggestion of widespread spying was met with derision. Overnight the world changed and it was widely accepted as fact by everyone. What's more is that the depth and scale of the programs were far bigger than even the pessimists had imagined. It was this more than anything which has tarnished the reputation of technology as something that was always good to a demonstration of it's dark side. The state as such has dirtied its reputation with regards to technology.

Age distribtution of deaths in Ireland. CSO figures imagevideoPutting the Corona Virus Numbers in Context Apr 05 23:11 by 1 of indy 16 comments

The current shutdown of the economy and lockdown of society all around the world is unprecedented and it is very clear that the media are talking up the number and trying to instil panic and fear in the people. This is true not just in Ireland but everywhere else. What all the media reports have in common is that not a single one of them puts the numbers into perspective. All we see are league tables of infections and deaths for this country and others and how it is all going to get worse.

Update: The common flu causes up to 5 million cases of severe illness worldwide and kills up to 650,000 people every year, according to the World Health Organization


THIS IS HUGE: Stanford’s Antibodies Study Wraps Up, Shows Covid-19 Is 50x More Prevalent and 50x Less Deadly Than Believed
https://youtu.be/jGUgrEfSgaU

piomas_ice_volume_anomaly_current_to_2014.png imageThe Case for Free Public Transport in Every City Worldwide Sep 20 00:43 by 1 of indy 0 comments

The case is made for the provision of free public transport in every major town and city worldwide for a multitude of reasons. It has always been a good idea and should have been done a long time ago, but now with three major issues of our time; resource depletion, including oil, pollution and the climate crisis; they make it imperative that we move to such a system, both to conserve dwindling supplies of cheap energy, to reduce the use of vast mineral resources to make hundreds of millions of cars and to dramatically reduce our carbon emissions because climate change is happening faster than expected. The Earth's climate has turned out to be more sensitive and complex than anticipated as evidenced by the recent dramatic record breaking summer ice melts in the Arctic1 in 2007, 2008, 2012 and basically every year since then. With such a large change in the albedo or reflectivity over a huge area of the Arctic, this signifies the jump into positive feedback of the climate system, although it is not the only positive feedback. Combined with preliminary reports that frozen methane is beginning to be released from the Arctic sea floor and tundra and given that methane is 20 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas, it is clear we are probably at the point of things running out of control. Emissions need to be cut drastically, starting about 20 years ago.

fernbank_apts_churchtown.jpg imageWhy Local Elections Matter: Housing. Elect People Who Will Stop Corporate Vulture Funds May 23 22:18 by 1 of indy 0 comments

These local elections on Fri 24th May are more important than ever. The reason is that up and down the country Fine Gael with help from Fianna Fail have allowed corporate vulture funds through various government breaks to them to buy up valuable tracts of land and to buy up thousands and thousands of apartments and homes. And the result is they are screwing people for rent.

euros_2019.jpg imageThe European Elections: Why a Vote for FG / FF is against Your Interests May 22 00:13 by 1 of indy 0 comments

The European elections are this Friday on May 24th and there are good reasons to consider your vote very carefully because it does make a difference because practically every bit of law passed in the EU has to be adopted by Ireland at some point. It is a great way for politicans here to say the "EU forced us to..."
They said that one about the attempt to privatise water during that campaign.

It can be safely assumed that most people are for internet freedom, protection of the environment and in particular to live in places with unpolluted water, clean air and safe from exposure to toxic chemicals. These are all no brainers. In the area of military we have seen how years of bringing democracy to the Middle East by bombing them has resulted in devastation and huge waves of human refugees and immigration and time and time again the nefarious activities of the intellegence agencies of the big powers like USA, UK, France and NATO show them to be heavily linked to the various terrorist groups, via training, funding and weapons supply through third party countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar in order to disrupt and overthrown regimes they don't like. So do people really want Ireland to drop it's neutrality and get aboard these very costly military adventures and volunteer it's soldiers for basically ordained mass murder? At a guess, the answer is probably no.

Julian Assange was arrested Thursday morning at the Ecuadorian embassy in London imagevideoJulian Assange arrested by UK Police after Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno illegally ter... Apr 12 21:53 by 1 of indy 11 comments

Julian Assange who helped setup Wikileaks and in one of the first set of leaks revealed the murderous campaign of the US military against innocent civilians in Iraq amongst many other leaks showing the systematic criminality and inhumanity of the US government was betrayed this morning by the right wing corrupt president Lenin Moreno of Ecuador. Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa – whose government granted Assange asylum in 2012 – branded his more pro-US successor Lenin Moreno the “greatest traitor in Ecuadorian history” for rescinding the asylum claim and allowing British officers to enter his country’s embassy.

At the moment in a damage limitation exercise to try and shutdown support for Assange the corporate press is saying if charged, he could face up to 5 years in prison. This is to make it not so bad, but we can be 100% sure if deported to the USA, they will have a long list of dubious charges and most likely will give him a prison sentence that will more than easily cover the rest of his lifespan for that is the way of such regimes.

wp_supports_venezuelan.jpg imagevideoMinister Coveney has put “Trump coup” in Venezuela ahead of Irish neutrality Feb 14 20:57 by W 6 comments

The Workers’ Party have accused Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney of prioritising Donald Trump’s foreign policy ahead of Irish neutrality. Cllr. Éilis Ryan, the Workers’ Party candidate in May’s European Parliament elections, said:

“Simon Coveney has, for the first time in our history, given formal backing to United States overseas aggression. Successive governments under Fianna Fáil, Labour and the Green Party have facilitated US overseas aggression by allowing the use of Shannon Airport, but this move marks a new departure, leaving behind even the facade of neutrality.

“It flies in the face of the values of anti-colonialism and sovereignty which Irish people are so rightly proud of.”

busconnectsfigure2radialcorebuscorridors.png imageBus Connects Transport Plan Promises Much But Won’t Deliver Aug 11 23:39 by pbp 1 comments

The National Transport Agency (NTA) wants to redesign all Dublin Bus routes. They promise a faster, more efficient bus service with more buses and better frequency for Dubliners. They also promise a more environmentally friendly transport system for the capital. If this was delivered it would mark a major step forward for life in the city. But the reality is not that simple. The plan hinges on 16 new radial bus corridors on the busiest routes – primarily linking outer suburbs with the city centre. At a future (non-defined) date, they also promise orbital routes to link the outer parts of the city together.

Although it has the fourth largest army in the world, the United Kindom is unable to defy Russia without the support of allies. It therefore has to invent a casus belli to make its partners react and lead them to stand beside it. imageThe Agenda of the US Staged Chemical Attack in Syria and the Skripal Chemical Poisoning in... Apr 14 18:23 by 1 of indy 3 comments

Lets be clear the chemical attack last week was not done by Syria. It would make absolutely no sense. They have already more or less beaten the US/Uk/France (via Saudi proxies) backed ISIS terrorist group with the great help of Russia. Besides Syria destroyed all their chemical weapons a few years back under the watchful eyes of international agencies. So why on Earth would they bring the wrath of the world upon themselves. They are not that stupid. No this chemical attack like the other ones, is done via the terrorist cells (-trained, financed and armed by Western powers through local proxies) - against the "moderate terrorists" and ultimately arranged by their sponsors which is as US, UK & France, the very same states crying crocodile tears about human rights when they regularly bomb countries and people for "human rights". Even now as they screech in unison about this staged attack by them blaming it on the Syrians they have absolutely zero interests in the lives of the people in question. Even the most unobservable person can see it is used merely as a pretext to their agenda. That agenda however is not just to take action and drop bombs as always but something bigger and it is brilliantly outlined in the article written back before this latest fiasco where intelligence had already revealed that the US/UK were planning this latest attack. In short the agenda is to link the clumsy chemical poisoning of Skripal with the Syria chemical attack. The plan was simple. Russia is a monster for using chemical poisoning (except they didn't) and so is Syria too (except they didn't) and they are friends. Therefore Russia should be expelled from the 5 member UN security council and if that could be pulled off then the US/UK & France could safely ignore China and the "Western Free World" would have a free hand to bomb and intimidate who they like. You see the problem is the USA is in debt and technically should be insolvent but because the dollar is the global reserve currency backed by threat of US military, special forces and colour revolutions no-one dares challenge it except of course the Russia-China axis. Nevertheless USA had it's day in the sun and their power is declining. The UK think they can re-establish their colonial relationship and presumably they would be the dominant partner and need to hang on the coat tails of the USA to achieve their aims. Even though the USA is clearly the bigger of the two, the UK are much better at this game than the US could ever hope to be, hence the confidence they can successfully use them.

eu_democracy_empire.jpg imageThe European Union - Democracy or Empire - What is PESCO Dec 13 23:01 by 1 of indy 4 comments

We are publishing this piece by PANA explaining what PESCO is about and how it means the loss of our neutrality. Unfortunately since then on Dec 7th the Dail voted by 75 to 42 to join PESCO.
Some key points are:
1) PESCO is a binding agreement because it says so. The government claims it is not. It is.
2) PESCO commits us to spending 2% of GDP on military spending by 2022. This is a figure of € 5.5 billion. We currently spend 1/10th of that on defense. This makes a mockery of "fiscal space"
3) PESCO in the event of crisis places under NATO's command. Therefore we are no longer neutral.
4) PESCO is the side door to Ireland joining a EU Army / NATO and would have us involved in "humanitarian" bombing and "peace making" -in other words imposing the demands of the corporate interests that rule above all else.
The Irish Government is considering joining PESCO. This will be one of the most important decisions this FG/Independeny Alliance will ever make. There needs at the very least a serious debate on the issue, and in any genuine debate form all sides in the corporate media. On the evidence so far this is highly improbable, as is their total lack of coverage of the use of Shannon Airport by US troops

Aerial view of the passage tombs during the 2016 excavation of the larger tomb (SMR No. DU025-001001). The smaller one (SMR No. DU025-001002) is marked ordnance pillar. Image courtesy of Abarta Heritage. imageDeadline for Submissions to An Bord Pleanála against Hellfire & Masseys Wood Project. Sep 18 23:25 by Save The Hellfire & Masseys 2 comments

Monday the 24th of September at 5pm is the deadline for making submissions to An Bord Pleanála on the South Dublin County Council & Coillte plans for what is known as the Dublin Mountains Project for the Hellfire Club & Masseys Wood nearby. The plan is one dreamed up by the council and will cost € 19 million of taxpayer money i.e. collected property tax etc for what is basically a bit of a white-elephant project that will damage the environment, limit public access and charge a fee for what is now free and is expected to run at a loss for at least first 3 years, but yet the private contractors running it will be "insulated" from losses. In essence the project will put an valuable amenity that is in public hands effectively into private hands and give them a license to milk the public forever on it. If this gets through, it will be replicated all over the country in that arrogant and greed driven way we are all familiar with from the Celtic Tiger days and again today.

our collective grief's symbol was fresh then imageBarcelona : Black ribbons (again) Aug 20 21:56 by iosaf mac diarmada 3 comments

These are my initial published thoughts on the terrorist attack I and my partner survived and endured 17th August 2017.
Fadó Fadó, long time ago, when many more readers came to this corner of the internet, I published a series of articles in reaction to a terrorist attack on Madrid, the 11th of March 2004. I promoted a simple design back then, to my surprise the idea found traction and was accepted by countless people. i had thought my suggestion was easy to reproduce and helped people express collective mourning, to show publicly their fellowship with a community in shock. My design was a black ribbon, one which was easy to knock up variations upon and print out. I admit the ribbon idea was based on my much younger years when I had worn a green ribbon in support of a complex idea back then : the inclusion of political prisoners in a tentative British Irish peace process. Am I turning some off the provenance? OH talk to me about my youth why not? The idea of a black ribbon took off the weekend of March 11th, 2004, whilst the then government of Spain falsely attributed an attack by Salafists in the ambit of Al Qaeda on Madrid by blaming the Basque armed seperatist group ETA. IT was a few days before a general election. An estimated 80,000 people took to the streets of Spain and the Spanish state and camped out in front of government offices and the offices of the ruling party demanding the truth... I was one... the ribbon was a moment in my life... I never wanted to see it used again In the last hours the city of my home where I have lived almost 20 years has been victim of a long anticipated terrorist attack. Even google now puts a black ribbon. I return to indymedia ireland to indulge POV reflections.

jobstown_drop_the_charges_irish_writers.jpg imagevideoIrish Writers Open Letter on The Jobstown 18 Apr 24 10:42 by 1 of indy 9 comments

To help highlight the case of the Jobstown 18 we are republishing an open letter by Irish Writers.

We write as writers concerned with the impact of proposed jury restrictions in the case of the Jobstown 18 on freedom of expression in Ireland.

commercialproperty1638.jpg imageTax Breaks for Commercial Property Will Fuel Bubble Nov 24 03:56 by 1 of Indymedia 0 comments

We are republishing this article by Stephen Donnelly TD who has been doing great work in exposing how Fine Gael have gone out of their away to facilitate vulture funds who are now preying on ordinary people by charging exorbitant rents and fueling the current property and are replacing the English absentee landlord of centuries past, with ruthless vulture funds capitalists of this era and essentially introducing a form of neo-fuedalism as increasing huge swaths of the population are either priced out of buying homes, or are signing up for debt that last close to a lifetime.

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