Freedom To Be Right

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Young Fine Gael (YFG) president Killian Foley-Walsh, a member of Fine Gael’s ruling national executive, attended the Young America’s Foundation (YAF) conference in Washington DC last week along with YFG’s social media officer Chloe Kennedy.

Their attendance at the YAF conference has prompted criticism from a Fine Gael TD and caused disquiet within YFG, the party’s youth wing whose past members include Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

‘Entirely inappropriate’ – anger as Fine Gael Youth leader attends US right-wing conference (Hugh O’Connell, Independent.ie)

Young America’s Foundation?

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58 thoughts on “Freedom To Be Right

  1. class wario

    Not shown: comments left by him on the Irish Times website sympathetic to Anders Breivik and blaming ‘liberalism’ for driving him to murder innocents

  2. V

    Did the SBP have anything to say about the travelling party to this conference

    Fine Gael are in receipt of taxpayers and members funds after-all

    1. Cian

      The article says: Mr Foley-Walsh and Ms Kennedy said they attended the conference in a personal capacity and the trip was funded by themselves and the Edmund Burke Foundation, a conservative educational charity that advocates for market-based politics.

      1. Johnny Green

        Hi Eoin,its not registered with “Charity Navigator” but may have a parent/other name so no AC’s available here, however Koch Funded Atlas Network lists them as a partner:)

        https://www.atlasnetwork.org/partners/global-directory/edmund-burke-institute

        Per Wiki-“As of 2005, Atlas had received $440,000 from ExxonMobil,[14] and has received at least $825,000 USD from the tobacco company Philip Morris.[15] Of Atlas Network partners, 57% in the United States had received funding from the tobacco industry.[15] Atlas has received funding from Koch family foundations.[9]”

        1. eoin

          Thanks Johnny, its accounts are about as abbreviated as you’ll find, nothing to suggest it’s anything other than a nickel-and-dime operation, certainly doesn’t merit a name as grand as it has.

          1. Johnny Green

            Still fair play them Eoin had a quick look and they loss making,for dipping into their own pockets and paying for flights and accommodation for this pair, cant be cheap to attend something like that, flights,car service,hotel room(s) unless they got a double and in room movies…..
            The gig they attended in another odd coincidence is also funded by the extremely controversial Koch bro’s, small world.

            “YAF as “one of the most preeminent, influential and controversial forces in the nation’s conservative youth movement,” that is backed by $65 million in assets. The organization’s budget comes largely from public donations. Notable donors include Amway billionaires Richard and Helen DeVos, the in-laws of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who gave about $10 million in 1998. From 2003-2012, the DeVos family donated another $15 million. Other donors include brothers Charles and David Koch, two powerful businessmen who use their wealth to influence American politics. The Koch brothers reportedly directly donated “about $20,000 and $50,000 to YAF, respectively.” Additionally, since 2002, the brothers have donated almost $1.5 million to YAF indirectly through two nonprofit funds, Donors Capital Fund and Donors Trust, affiliated with their family foundations.”

            https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-young-americas-foundation/

            Ps-roll up with legal-be up tomorrow:)

  3. newsjustin

    According to the Independent”Many members (of the YFA) are opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage.”

    This seems to be the only thing of note about them, except that they’re “right-wing”.

    I mean, yes, I can see the cause for concern here. What kind of people or country could possibly ever consider, never mind exist in, a country so horrendous that everyone doesn’t approve of same-sex marriage or abortion? Shudder.

    I’m just glad we live in this Republic. Where for generations we’ve been enlightened and not tolerated such “right-wing” carry-on.

    Super-glad the media are shinning a light on this guy attending this conference.

    1. Cian

      The article also says: “I am in favour of same sex marriage and I am strongly opposed to abortion,” said Mr Foley-Walsh. “Fine Gael is a broad church and welcomes social conservatives as well as social liberals.”

      1. V

        Sounds like this particular Ógra is still trying to decide if he’s a social conservative or a social liberal

      2. newsjustin

        Maybe there’s hope for him so.

        He’s on message re same-sex marriage.

        If very recent history has thought us anything, it’s that senior politicians can undergo rapid journeys on the issue of abortion. The example of our Dear Leader and our intrepid Minister for Health on this light-speed journeying is an example that we must hope this young man follows, for the good of his immortal woke.

        1. Mr.Fart

          he commented that a homeless man in castlecomber should “stop whineging. you dont have it so bad here” and he said that anders breiviks vistims brought it on themselves by being too left wing.

  4. Chris

    Another PR disaster for FG- they should be expelling right wing trash like this as it feeds into the “Blueshirt” tag that still dogs them. We are obviously headed back to the FF lead government in the next election- depressing but FG need a kick up the hole.

    1. class wario

      it is quite funny when you think about it. we can’t challenge the views of a wannabe politician because it may jeopardise his right to a life on the FG gravy train, truly despicable stuff.

  5. Alan Callaghan

    The Left on Twitter are like Catholic priests & Christian Brothers from the 1950s. Stray from the path and face eternal damnation. They are the new puritanicals. McCarthyism hasn’t a patch on them.

      1. McVitty

        Yeah, leftists. It’s not that complicated. They just don’t know how far left they have gone – probably because they’re agnostic to or ignorant of political ideology. Agreeable liberals are increasing being asked to adapt to ideas of the harder left – group social justice movements, equity programs, reparation programs, environmental ideologies that have hard socialism at the centre.

          1. McVitty

            And the average mug who thought communism would benefit them wasn’t “the left” either – what I am saying is, you have a mob that has been steered and we have seen it before. Some don’t see it as the same kind of force or see past the machinations and focus on the “greater good”

    1. Listrade

      “McCarthyism hasn’t a patch on them”

      You’re right. I mean, that committee with subpoena power the “left” has established. Those sudden rants and shaming on twitter are far worse that the HUAC. Like where the left subpoenas someone and then forces them to name other so called “traitors” or they go to jail. I see that every day. We’ve already passed the hundreds jailed under McCarthyism by those lefties on twitter.

      Or how the left has defined being straight as perversion, set up actual government surveillance of them just because they’re straight. Listed their sexuality as a mental disorder. Made it an official policy that straight people have no part of a family unit. Removed them from family units. Jailed them. Blacklisted them. Forced them to confess to being a pervert, a traitor or give us names of other perverts and we’ll let you off.

      It’s even like the Christen Brothers. We should have another Ferns report, but just for Twitter Shaming. I can completely and totally see a comparison between public disagreement with a statement and act and the ritual physical, psychological and sexual abuse of children. The withholding of medical treatment. The withholding of food. The selling of children to America. The coordinated conspiracy and cover up. It’s exactly like that AND worse than McCarthyism when some twat gets called our for being a twat.

        1. B9Com From No

          +VAT 69

          OP wasn’t worth replying to really but if it was gonna get one this was really it ..

      1. McVitty

        Stalin started out with a good intentions too…

        A sparking plug in an empty building and a burned down building have nothing in common…if you don’t learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it.

    2. :-Joe

      Depends what you percieve and understand as the meaning of “The Left”…

      American “liberals” on a highly devisive and corrosive ‘murican engineered and controlled digital sily-con (bottomless-pit)-valley social media communications platform… complaining, whining and getting angry/raging etc etc about issues they feel are important does not represent any intellectual understanding and representation of what is actually the true real “Left”.

      You are complaining about the polarisation of average liberals or liberal minded people in your mind as opposed to your couter position, presumably on what you percieve as being the “Right” or a mostly conservative moral value perspective again, in your own mind.

      The ‘murican political system has drifted from far-right borderline extremism around the time before the dubbya bush reign of wars on TERRRAAAAGH!!! to what we have now which is a totalitarian corporate run extremist and facist oligarchy, where racism, sexism, bigotry and casual discrimination and abuse of human rights is a daily occurence by many and even the un-democratically elected, although legal, president of ‘murica himself, with his weird hair-do, orange tan gone wrong and no intellect sevicible beyond narcissism and self-gain.

      The fact that you compare McCarthyism, which has more in common with the current Republican party(only less of a threat to the planet’s overall destruction) to what you percieve as being “The Left” is absoloutely and hilariosly ignorant, naive and belies your most likely narrow minded view of everything fitting into a binary polemicised narrative of left vs right, red team vs blue team simplistic and tribalistic idealogy.

      The same faulty logic that is feeding all the polarisation from one extreme position to the other.

      Fun fact, McCarthy’s right hand man during the insane witch-trials later became drumpf’s personal legal adviser and goto lawyer handling hundreds if not thousands of legal attacks to allow him to progress like a virus with no known cure, despite being a complete failure as a half-decent human being and a blight on everything around him at every turn.

      The history of ‘murica in the small slice from McCarthyism to drumpf represents the current truth of ‘murica. It’s not an accident, nor that difficult to figure out if people could be bothered to spend more than five minutes looking into it.

      The real “left” in ‘murica are actually the only people trying to bring common sense back into politics at the moment. Also, just in case you didn’t know ‘murica is a liberal country. On almost every single issue over 70% accross the board vote in favour of liberal solutions. Unfortunately the corruption of the corporate oligarchy prevents any of those needs and demands in coming to fruition.

      Along with true left liberal-minded progressives(i.e. Those that represent the needs of 70% plus of ‘muricans) from Bernie Sanders to the anarcho-syndicalism of Noam Chomsky even the true conservatives are being left out and denied a platform to reel everything back in towards the centre from the fringes and show, encourage re-instate some restraint and common sense back into the political spectrum.

      The republican party no longer represents true conservativism in ‘murica and for a long time now, is not even a political party any more. It’s overrun with lunatics but if I had to say that for you to notice that is something you should really focus on for a while before anything else related.

      BTW You can tell a deluded so-called “right-wing” crank and/or a deep-down tribilistic extremist as soon as you hear communism and stalin attached to liberalism… The weakest sound-byte as an argument mnemonic used by people devoid of original thoughts to get applause from others without any thoughts whatsoever… Depends what you think “right-wing” means though to be fair…

      Progressive social democracy is the way to go, especially when the western world is slipping into facist thinking… It’ll be back again stronger than before in about a decade or so because nobody really cares on about standing up for it in general…

      Anyway, change your way of thinking, it’s not a left versus right issue as that is narrow minded foolish thinking because both sides of the moral spectrum are in all of us and equally important.

      The F-f/g youth right wing facist extremists are to be expected and even more so now under this current climate … because 60%ish of total voters i.e. most of you who are obviously uneducated idiots that keep voting for them into power and even when you don’t vote they still take power anyway… i.e. Der Leodar.

      Cheers for the update, don’t stress too much just keep an eye on them, then pointing and laughing at them and they will eventually go away….

      :-J

  6. Spaghetti Hoop

    “…ruin the life of someone I’m proud to call my friend”
    Bit dramatic there son, no?

    FG have always been right-wingers. That their young shoots attend conferences on such is of no surprise. Will he be radicalised and empowered to persuade the entire Irish electorate in 2026 to vote for his extremist right-wing policies? Well tune in on your mobile licensed broadcasting device and subscribe to Channel 1: Blushirt National News to find out.

  7. Daisy Chainsaw

    He should stop whingeing. Other right wingers have it far worse, like having their YouTube channels banned.

  8. V

    I have to say it lads

    And TBF I held it in for most of the day

    Christ, he has a face you’d love to see under a dropping ball

    hasn’t he?

    1. GiggidyGoo

      That isn’t a very nice comment V. It’s a very personal comment to make about a young person, whose photo is shown, starting out in life. (no, I’m not warming to FG). He is a person, someone’s son, and i think that was a cheap shot.

      1. V

        Maybe
        While I’m sure the young man is capable of a few of his own
        I’m also sure if he does enter professional politics he’ll have to get used to a lot worse

      2. B9Com From No

        Says the guy who spent his whole weekend obsessing about a child holding a poster he didn’t like

        1. GiggidyGoo

          Explain the similarities. Or you could attempt writing something that we can comprehend and not toddle off. Are you capable?

  9. class wario

    lads who’ve spent nearly a decade bleating on about michael d higgins talking about castro in a positive light outraged at the idea of criticising somebody for excusing/justifying anders breivik

  10. Termagant

    It is a bit like when he was stewing up in his mammy’s tummy all his genes got together at a big meeting and decided unanimously that he was going to be a detached self-absorbed buppyhole with a destiny in the backbenches of every Irish government for the rest of his life

    But sure maybe he’ll turn out all right, seems unlikely but the world is built on happy surprises.

  11. GiggidyGoo

    Thing is, and from my own experience with one of my own, kids like this go to university, get involved in politics, put themselves forward for all kinds of roles in uni (not necessarily politics) , love one party one week, another the next, can’t really find a niche, and eventually end up with a party that they half-believe in.
    That belief is reinforced by mini successes in uni-land (the political uni party) and they go for leader of uni (pick your party), and get elected. Next step is to gather those votes together, and go for the leader of young (pick your party).
    They think they have it sussed. But they’re young, and invariably end up doing something they never thought would bite them.
    And that’s where the likes of Hugh ‘sell your soul’ o’Connell comes into his own. Easy meat. Easy headline in a slow period. Clap clap.
    Maybe O’Connell needs to be called out on his own journalistic prowess. He isn’t exactly investigative for instance. A nodding dog. A hack. A snake oil salesman.

  12. DOD

    Member of a party currently led by the most right-wing Taoiseach in history and founded by fascists, attends a conservative conference! Mind blown

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