105 thoughts on “De Saturday Papers

  1. Janet, I ate my Avatar

    How much better would the world be if we began the day with a poem rather than the empty prattle of newspapers, with tbier diet of fear, hate, envy and jealousy.
    “O, for an age so sheltered from annoy,
    That I may never know how change the moons,
    Or hear the voice of busy common sense !
    Keats ‘Ode on Indolence’

  2. Sheik Yahbouti

    Have a look at “The Lotus Eaters” by Tennyson. A lengthy poem which can chill out ANYBODY

  3. f_lawless

    Journalist Finian Cunningham (ex-Irish Times, Independent) dismantles the latest anti-Russian propaganda doing the rounds in British media outlets:
    “Think about it. The timing of such an alleged plot would be ludicrous from a Russian point of view. Why would a has-been Russian agent who has been living quietly and undisturbed for nearly a decade in England be targeted on the eve of Russia’s presidential elections by Kremlin avengers? That doesn’t make any sense.

    The trusted detective question of ‘who gains?’ points far more plausibly to sinister British state involvement. The rapid concerted political and media reaction to the incident of Skripal’s apparent poisoning is strongly suggestive of orchestration for propaganda value.”
    http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/48930.htm

      1. f_lawless

        it’s amusing you feel the need broadcast on a public forum your inability to comprehend any of the points being argued in the article.
        Tip: if it’s all over your head, best not to comment! ;)

          1. jusayinlike

            “it’s gas how all the nutjobs want to be taken seriously”

            says creep pretending to be female online..

    1. Lilly

      That’s interesting, makes sense on many levels. Who might have ordered it? I can’t see Theresa May giving it the go-ahead.

      1. Lilly

        The Russians never touch family members. If it were the Brits trying to pin it on the Kremlin, would they not have replicated standard operating procedure to a T?

        1. f_lawless

          who knows Lily – but when trying to figure out these sorts of events, what can we do but go by the old adages “cui bono?” and “in politics, timing is everything”.
          With the Russian elections around the corner – and also the prestigious World Cup being held in Russia soon, it makes no political sense for Putin/the Kremlin to assassinate a “has-been Russian double agent” in such an incendiary way. It would only give Putin’s adversaries in the West an obvious justification for the sinister light which they love to shine over him and add further damage to Russia’s battered world standing of late by whipping up more Russophobia .
          If they had really wanted Skripal dead, why not quietly bump him off during the years he was being held in a Russian jail for his state crimes?

          1. Nigel

            Unless he wanted to show he can do whatever the feck he likes and there’s nothing anyone can or will do about it except make some noise. The World Cup is corrupt and the Russian elections are rigged. He doesn’t give a feck about anything except his own power at home.

          2. f_lawless

            well I suppose if you believed he was the cartoonish crazy villian type that would seem more plausible: Setting the climate for a stepping up of further sanctions from the US,the EU, Japan, Australia,etc. is not just “noise” as you put it, it has serious damaging consequences for the ruble. Where’s the political gain for Putin?

          3. david

            Apparently he was a bi spy
            Batted for both sides and lets face it I would not put it past the brits in MI5
            Remember the guy found in a suitcase dead after he committed suicide and packed himself in the suitcase he worked in GCHQ
            Or Dr Kelly who committed suicide after revealing the smoking gun
            All sides work dirty
            Remember the case of the agent in France who drowned in one inch of water and the one in Paris who was run over by a bus in a park

          4. Nigel

            What’s the political gain for Britain to stage a vicious hit on their own soil against people under their protection? Makes the UK look weak, makes the security services look inept, makes Putin look ruthless and effective and operating with a long reach, and it’s a catastrophe if exposed. It’s utterly ludicrous. Meanwhile those US sanctions are going nowhere.

          5. Lilly

            All good points, Nigel. But why target Yulia? Don’t they have a long-standing practice of leaving family members out of the firing line.

          6. f_lawless

            Nigel -is it really “utterly ludicrous” the notion that there might be political gain to be had by portraying one’s intelligence/security services to the public as inadequately prepared to defend against an external enemy? I think that’s a bit naive considering for example, recent history when the British public was whipped up into a state of panic over Saddam’s fictitious WMDs that could target British soil within 45 minutes. The concept of governments using the media to “manufacture consent” among the public has been around a very long time: http://opinion.inquirer.net/91678/the-manufacture-of-consent .
            Is heightening public fear to eg. justify increased defence spending, more pervasive surveillance programs, or increased sanctions, etc really so implausible? I don’t think so.
            Of course it’s unrealistic to think we might ever get a definitive independent investigation into the affair. Maybe there was another player involved and the British are just going for the easiest “blame Putin” option for public consumption, who knows?
            I don’t think it makes Putin look particularly “effective” as you say – rather it would make him look uncharacteristically petulant and politically foolish by taking out a long-retired “has-been double agent” for no apparent strategic gain.

          7. Nigel

            Yeah sorry UK faked a Russian assassination on UK soil is going to require a burden of proof higher than Russia offed a traitor on UK soil. There’s no precedent of UK skullduggery that can be superficially evoked that doesn’t have a Russian equivalent so that’s a bit of a wash.

    2. petey

      “Think about it.”

      because, you see, if you disagree with the august Finian Cunningham, you’re not “thinking about it.”

      “That doesn’t make any sense.”

      not to the august Finian Cunningham, but mobsters all over the world will tell you the benefits of a message sent.

    3. :-Joe

      You could be right because more often than not, the truth is also manipulated with added doses of lies from one or more sources to hijack a situation to try to take control of a narrative, diffuse a situation or just take advantage of a story doing the rounds.

      The wife of the recently poisened and murdered Alexander Litvinenko, has spoken out about this and how it is another example of what her husband died for and yet nothing has been done about it since.

      It would be a little naive for anyone to expect to find any one exclusive and complete simple answer that explains the whole situation.

      Putin’s Russia is almost as crazy as he is……..

      :-J

  4. Ron

    I find it incredible that Irish media are working so hard to expose the Strategic Communications Unit for trying to place advertisements as news stories. The scoom in Leinster House should be exposed by all means but the hypocrisy of it all is rather breath taking. They had no problem publishing planted stories about Mc Cabe. Oh the integrity. I also note how quiet the National Union of Journalists is on the matter. It’s laughable what comes out of the Irish colleges anyway claiming to be a ‘journalist’… They couldn’t write with alphabet soup. They all either come clean on what they knew about Mc Cabe or STFU. The sooner online outlets completely kill the print media in Ireland the better. The vast majority of them are unintelligent scoom anyway. High on aspiration but incredibly low on ability.

    1. Janet, I ate my Avatar

      you know it’s bad when you get better satisfaction over the rustling sound and how well it does the outside windows than the content,
      although I do like The Times crossword

        1. Janet, I ate my Avatar

          Oh I’m not mathematical/ logical enough for the cryptic
          a friend ( Oxford graduate ) tried to teach me the technique for those once it ended in tears :)

          1. Janet, I ate my Avatar

            J: Yo, we got pretty damn bisted last night. 
            B: Hell yeah we did, but the walk was amazing, relaxing, stupendous, fantastic, and all that goodd. 
            J: Word.

  5. GiggidyGoo

    Well when you look at it – It wasn’t the Irish newspapers that gave us the McCabe details. It was a UK one, and a few good people like Clifford, and fewer media sites like Broadsheet. Now see almost the exact replication. UK newspaper, and Broadsheet No Irish mainstream journalist.
    Oh, and don’t forget how Prone to lies about Tuam that the MSM media were.
    So has the SCU and it’s predecessor been controlling storylines? There has been a deafening sound of people discarding what the trolls term Tin Foil Hats. Because we are in truth territory now, not Wonderland.

  6. some old queen

    Watched the Brendan Smyth film Betrayal of Trust again last night. Extraordinarily dark stuff. It’s not just the CC whom put party before principle of course but their 8th championing of children’s rights rings more than a little hollow when your memory is refreshed.

  7. Matt Lucozade: The Only Reader of the Village

    Why was that RTE Producer fired before be was sentenced? Is this RTE’s way of covering their tracks becasue there might be an investigation into whether he used RTE computers during work hours for his anti-children activities? I bet he did.

  8. Clampers Outside!

    Isn’t it great to see the Women’s March organisers hanging out with known homophobes and anti-semites.
    Imagine calling a known homophobic anti-Semite the ‘Greater Of All Time’ people?

    Well… here ya go, Tamika Mallory co-president of the Womens March thinks Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, the homophobe and anti-Semite, is “G.O.A.T” posting pics to her social media saying so. Seems Linda Sarsour & co. are having great work done to promote these regressives whackos.

    May I just say, fair play to all who supported these people who now can add to their list of whacky nonsense they support, both homophobia and antisemitism.

    Don’t ya just love the bat shih crazy nonsense of identity politics.
    s/

    ( Story is easily googled )

    1. Nigel

      So you’re giving out about a homophobe and anti-semite AND decrying identity politics? Beautiful.

      Not to mention look at the guy you thought would make the better president in the US.

      1. Clampers Outside!

        What guy, I never suggested any guy was better than anyone only that Killary was wrong choice… and Bernie woulda won it. Killary pushed her nomination on the DNC, even the DNC acknowledged that.

      2. Clampers Outside!

        And yes Nigel I am decrying a homophobe, anti-Semite abd his women’s march organiser cheers leaders.
        Yes, and identity politics too.

        Plse, do inform how one can decry a homophobe or anti-Semite without using those terms Nigel. You appear to give the impression know how to do that. I’ll happily 5ake any instruction you have onhow to do so, thanks. I’ll await your advice….

        1. Nigel

          If homophobia and anti-semitism are bad and need to be countered and opposed then identity politics are valid and important. This doesn’t discredit identity politics, it discredits this woman’s judgement.

          1. Clampers Outside!

            Let’s stick to the fact that three* of the heads of the women’s march, the people who run it, are praising a known homophobic anti-Semite.

            *can’t recall third ones’ name. presently.

            it’s not bad judgement, it’s getting into bed with and praise for a known homophobic anti-Semite. No need to water it down to some trivial misjudgement.

          2. Clampers Outside!

            “The Democrats long ago gave up on the working class, that’s not part of their constituency[, which these days is] an elite, professional constituency. They focus on — to the extent that they’re issues — mostly identity politics, which is okay, but it’s not class-based. It’s not going to appeal to the needs of most of the population. Other Republicans have just taken over the vacuum.” Chomsky

            https://chomsky.info/06012016/

          3. Nigel

            You think homophobia and anti-semitic are bad – those are two powerful drivers of identity politcs. The bad choices of three people can’t change that.

            I note your quote seems to discount working class people who aren’t white or straight. I also note that that the Republican winner got three million less votes than the Democratic loser so I’m not sure how well that narrative really bears up.

          4. Clampers Outside!

            Motivation for change driven by good intentions does not mean the tactic taken, ie identity politics, is also good.

            That’s the point you’re missing. The tactic of abandoning working class to pursue identity politics issues is destroying the Left / DNC from within, by creating divisions…. Chomsky recognised this as a big problem. I’ll take his opinion over your blind belief in ‘identity politics’ any day.

            My quote, Chomsky, does what now?

            Yes, it fits the narrative, as Chomsky says, the Left made way for the Right, ( and gifted the hard-Right, or alt-right, by creating and supporting ANTIFA… http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/noam-chomsky-antifa-is-a-major-gift-to-the-right/article/2631786 )

          5. Neilo

            Anti-semitism is Christianity and Islam’s original sin. While I’m here, why does anyone living outside the US honestly give one about Trump? He isn’t in charge here.

          6. Nigel

            No. Xenophobic populism and a propaganda-driven hysteria that portrays politics as a zero-sum game have proven to be successful tactics for the right, for which the right are wholly responsible, not the left. If the right feels threatened enough by a politics that’s inclusive of the interests of people who aren’t white or straight, that says far more about the right than the left. And again: ‘working class’ is not synonymous with ‘white.’

          7. Clampers Outside!

            Again, that last bit…. “working class is not synonymous with white”. Who said it was? Plse elaborate your thinking on this point that you’ve attempted to make twice now.

            I’ll come back on the other bit, me Mum just came home and haven’t seen her a while :)

          8. Nigel

            Well how do the Democrats do with voters who were neither white nor straight? Do they constitute a segment of the working class electorate? Have they been given up on? If giving up on them would win back some segment of Republican voters who feel threatended by the Democratic party beng sern as friendly towards non-white and non-straight voters, should they?

      3. Clampers Outside!

        While at it, you might also tell me how I might refer to the Women’s March without using the word ‘women’ so I can avoid the identity politics of the terms, thanks.

        1. Nigel

          Fighting for a society where you aren’t discriminated against because of your colour or gender isn’t the same thing as fighting for a colour-and-gender blind society. That’s for people who think racism and sexism will go away if you ignore them, usually promoted by people in danger of experiencing neither.

  9. johnny

    WaPo opinion piece this morning…..

    “In an argument worthy of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the state of Indiana suggests precisely that scenario. The right to abortion, its lawyer argued before a federal appeals court last month, protects only the “binary” decision of whether to bear a child — not which child you must carry to term once you choose to become pregnant. In other words, though he didn’t put it in these exact words, the state can hijack your body.

    Technological advances in prenatal testing pose difficult moral choices about what, if any, genetic anomaly or defect justifies an abortion. Nearsightedness? Being short? There are creepy, eugenic aspects of the new technology that call for vigorous public debate. But in the end, the Constitution mandates — and a proper understanding of the rights of the individual against those of the state underscores — that these excruciating choices be left to individual women, not to government officials who believe they know best.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-wouldve-aborted-a-fetus-with-down-syndrome-women-need-that-right/2018/03/09/3aaac364-23d6-11e8-94da-ebf9d112159c_story.html?utm_term=.2c590df71d36

  10. david

    Seems like trump has achieved what every president of the USA has failed since 1954
    To actually get north Korea and south Korea talking
    Maybe they might just get a good Friday agreement way forward peace reconciliation
    Bet the trump bashers are foaming at the mouth
    Next maybe a solution for the Israeli and Muslim Palestinian conflict

    1. Nigel

      Yeah the US ally so scared of Trump’s reckless sabre-rattling they’re obliged to open talks with NK from a position of weakness, with Trump granting NK futher prestige and legitimacy by agreeing to a meeting of his own with no prior groundwork or concessions or even a functional diplomatic corp. NK is winning bigly here, all credit to Trump.

      1. david

        So everyone lives in a state of war Because making the first move is weakness
        O tell me what are they winning?
        As for sabres rattling you forget the remarks Obama came out with and the way the USA was heading with a possibility of open conflict
        What next Nigel ?putin sent the beast from the east
        Bet you are in vomit mode

        1. Nigel

          Can’t compete with this clear and cogent analysis of the international geopolitical situation.

          1. Nigel

            I dunno, you’re the one who feels obliged to praise things because you think they make people vomit, like Trump, or rotten eggs, or the stench of lies. You’d be a better fit.

            ‘Wow big words’

            Jaysus.

  11. david

    The article. Doctor death just goes to show gun control ie taking away the right to bear arms is not the solution
    A gun dose not kill a person unless attached to a human being
    This nut case has a pretty big arsenal
    Its up to government to ensure people are fit to hold a permit to own a gun
    This guy could of killed scores of people
    Also the latest shooting by a US vet who was being treated for PTSD shows where the blame lies
    With the authorities to allow him to keep firearms when mentally unstable
    Automatically a warning citing a persons details should be sent onto the relevant permit issuer and instantly followed up to remove any weapons they have
    The police can do that

    1. Yep

      Did you just say gun control is not the answer, then go on to say how more gun control is the answer?…

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