78 thoughts on “Wednesday’s Papers

  1. Daisy Chainsaw

    The court case mentioned at the bottom of the Examiner is detailed here: https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-40309196.html
    He believed in several conspiracy theories and his coercive control of the family escalated on the run-up to the children returning to school last September, as he feared they would be vaccinated against Covid-19, which he did not believe was real.

    He also believed they would be brain-washed by the education system and wanted to home-school them himself, using conspiracy theory sources… Ms Clarke said Harkin doesn’t believe in the legal system, and that he thinks he is above the law and untouchable… Harkin told her he would not allow the children return to GAA training as they would have to fill out a Covid form and he didn’t want them completing a health questionnaire and watching a video on Covid as by doing so would mean agreeing that Covid 19 was real and was conforming to the Government

    And that’s only a fraction of the horror he inflicted on his wife and young children.

    1. f_lawless

      Clearly the takeaway here is that while you might start off thinking you’re being clever by not taking what you hear on RTE at face value, look at where it inevitably leads to – the next thing you know, you’re on the slippery slope of “doing your own research” and before you know where you’re at, you’ve turned into a psychopathic abusive monster conspiraloon. Do you really want to become known as one of those people?

          1. millie bobby brownie

            I’d say yer man in the Examiner story is the one who actually needs help, to be honest.

          2. Junkface

            Covid 19 lockdowns have seriously broken some peoples brains. Its a well known psychological phenomenon now. I watched a short doc about the 1918 – 1920 Spanish flu outbreak the other night, and the most striking thing is that all of this happened in almost exactly the same way 100 years ago! Its uncanny, the complaints from people, refusing to believe it was real (or its just a normal flu), the masks in public places or else arrests, the revolts against authorities, even the phrasing that concerned people were using was the same. Its like humanity suffered from collective amnesia once it was all over, due to the 1929 crash, then world war 2. We all need to learn from history and not repeat mistakes.

          3. SOQ

            Covid-19 is NOTHING like the Spanish Flu- as a quick glance at the additional fatality rates will show- anyone who thinks the two are comparable really has lost touch with reality.

          4. Cian

            Spanish flu had a population death rate of 0.48% in the US, 0.58 in the UK;
            Covid has has about a 0.22% deaths rate in both US and UK (to date).

            Peru has had 5,603 deaths/million (0.56%).

            Considering the enormous differences in health care in the last 100 years, I would say that the Spanish flu being ‘only’ three times more deadly would suggest that (healthcare aside) Covid is on a par.

      1. Joe

        One only has to read the nonsense claims of the anti-covid brigade (or the protesters I spoke with as I did on a recent protest that they were on outside of the Convention Conference centre/Dail ) to see how bizarre the beliefs are that the average anti-vaxx/anti-covid mentality have. If the anti-vaxxer/anti-covid tiny minority attempt to dissuade their family from vaccination during a pandemic it is coercive violent abuse against their family and nothing else.

        1. f_lawless

          “Anti-Covid”?? There’s pro-Covid people out there? Joe you’re confusing yourself with all these labels.

          1. Hyper real

            What was the story with Giggigy anyway?
            Was he your alter ego?
            As you can see I believe in reinventing myself too

      2. Formerly known as @ireland.com

        I came across the Twitter account of one of my workmates, recently. He was liking and supporting anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne. He is following Farage, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and other extremists. A few years ago, his twitter just had nice pics and tweets about his footy team. It concerns me that he has been turned into a RWNJ by Murdoch and social media. I do worry about the future when people get poisoned like this.

        1. SOQ

          One million people recently marched in London- are they all far right tin foil nutters?

          Really?

      3. SOQ

        The amount of inferences being made in that piece is so obvious- talk about shoehorning. All parents who home school are conspiracy theorists so- all people who have issues with experimental vaccines MUST be tin foil hatters- 0oh and they probably drink all day and beat their wives.

        1. Nigel

          It’s pretty clear that pandemic-truthing exists on a sliding scale from fairly reasonable to waaaay down a dangerous rabbit hole, and that people do slide down that scale into the rabbit hole, doing themselves and their families a lot of damage in the process. It’s understandable that you and flalwess and others would be sensitive to this and feel the need to distance youtselves from it, but don’t pretend to the rest of us that it doesn’t happen and it’s not real because that’s just denying reality, and denying reality just slides you along the scale.

          1. SOQ

            It is pretty clear that most people are sick to the back teeth of governmental malfeasance and hysterical media scaremongering.

          2. Nigel

            People are alwys sick of those things to one degree or another. I think youre confusing them with people being sick of the pandemic.

          3. f_lawless

            I agree there’s a sliding scale – but at the same time I think it would be a very simplistic view to take that the man’s belief in conspiracy theories is what drove him to such psychopathic behaviours as threatening his wife that “she could leave or kill herself”, telling his young children their mother would be easy to chop up – as much as the person who wrote that piece would lead the reader to believe. That you apparently buy into that so readily exposes your own biased thinking.

            Here’s an important detail way down in the article: He had a history of similar behaviours dating at least as far back as 1998:

            “Det Duane confirmed Harkin had previous convictions from Northern Ireland in 1998 for threatening to kill a former partner there, for two aggravated burglaries and causing criminal damage for which he had received a two-year suspended sentence.”

          4. Nigel

            It would fall outside the scope of a newspaper story to do a full study on how situations like this come about, and assumptions should certainly not be made about about what sorts of personalities are susceptible, let alone which came first, but a case like this does throw such ideas and beliefs into stark relief.

        2. f_lawless

          “He also believed they would be brain-washed by the education system and wanted to home-school them himself, using conspiracy theory sources.” Joke journalism.

          – Now kids, who can tell me the circumference of the earth to the nearest km?
          – 40,000km?
          – Wrong!. It was a trick question. There is no circumference of the earth.
          Right, that’s geography covered. In today’s maths lesson we’ll be taking another look at 2 + 2. It does NOT, repeat NOT, equal 5 no matter how many times they try to make you believe otherwise.

          1. Nigel

            Are you… agreeing with the guy who imposed a reign of terror on his family? Or… what?

    2. ian-oG

      Its all in there, from delusions of grandeur, conspiracy theories to the bit about telling his children about abortion and that the constitution is ‘killing babies’.

      He has previous of course but then many of them do.

      Hopefully there is something put in place to ensure he is kept well away from his family for good if possible.

      Another nobody who thinks terrorising his family will make him feel better about himself. I think the family were very lucky here they didn’t wake up to him with an axe so well done to his brave former wife.

      He should get the maximum sentence but likely be out in less than 2 years.

  2. Casual Observer

    Il n’y a pas de nouvelles
    Plus ca change…

    Or as the French say…

    Every day is the same as tomorrow.

    1. Casual Observer

      Apologies to Janet.
      That was my worst joke, EVER.

      I even left out one of the lines.
      It still doesn’t work.

      Sorry/

  3. Cú Chulainn

    That Australian crime story doesn’t add up: 200 arrests but no major seizures. Everyone arrested seems to be from a biker gang. All using the same app. More like: authorities listen in on gang (the guards in Ireland can listen in on any call and can see all messages in real time – if they have the number) run messages through app so they can be used to secure a conviction. US test case in Australian legal system before using in US. Or, are biker gangs in Australia really that stupid?

    1. goldenbrown

      yeah I think there’s a dollop of spin going on here

      this is a bit like the Brits having possession of an Enigma machine in WW2…the wheeze only worked as long as the Germans didn’t know they were being owned. longterm strategic benefits as opposed to quick easy wins. they built a very cute honeypot for bad guys (I bet they didn’t expect to have such a hit on their hands) they rode it for as long as they could until the app was outed and their cover blown…so salvage something out of it by publicising what happened as a demonstration to the bad guys that they can’t trust remote communications systems, slow them down a bit. modern messaging apps have arguably enabled the concept of globalised crime in the first place. probably figured the benefits of mainstream outing outweighed keeping it in the shade.

      mind you I’m a firm believer that everything has a backdoor, everything. (so are we all that stupid?) lol

  4. SOQ

    Doctors Testify Before Texas State Senate Against Mandatory “COVID-19 Vaccination”

    In this case- Dr. Ben Edwards- “Natural immunity infers a more robust immunity than vaccinated could, but vaccinating someone who is already robustly immune, increases their risk of adverse reactions by two to three fold…” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSssnEOZYDg

    1. Cian

      “patient values trump medical expertise and medical expertise trumps scientific evidence”

      LOL

      “god gave us an amazing robust immune system and I don’t think you can improve on god”

      Total anti-vaxxer

        1. f_lawless

          Yep, I’ve never heard of her. Is some guy on twitter trying to pick apart her words really adding much to the debate at the end of the day?

          Regarding the post-vaccination magnetic phenomenon witnessed in some, here’s a potential explanation with a scientific grounding.

          An already established scientific method called “magnetofection”

          From 2014:

          https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24715289/

          “The efficiency of delivery of DNA vaccines is often relatively low compared to protein vaccines. The use of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) to deliver genes via magnetofection shows promise in improving the efficiency of gene delivery both in vitro and in vivo…”

          If the process of magnetofection is being used in the mRNA covid vaccines to deliver the highly unstable mRNA into the cells of the body, perhaps the post-vaccination magnetic phenomenon being observed is some kind of residual effect? If it is being used, it would make a mockery of informed consent , I would have thought

          1. Cian

            @f_lawless
            Is this your “jumping the shark” moment?

            Up until now you have been reasonably reasonable.

            superparamagnetic nanoparticles? seriously?

          2. f_lawless

            Maybe “superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles” (aka SPIONS) seem fantastical because it seems to be the first time you’ve heard of them? They already have an established connection with DNA/ mRNA vaccines. I imagine it would also seem quite fantastical the idea that we’d all be getting injected with some synthetic messenger RNA that goes directly inside the cells into our bodies and instructs them to mimic a virus in order to trick our immune systems into producing antibodies, if the first time you heard about it was on an anonymous internet thread.

            My initial reaction to the post-vaccination magnet phenomenon was that it was probably just people spoofing, an internet fad. But after having now seen 100s perform it and by those who just don’t appear to fit the profile of irresponsible hoaxer-types – such as a Dr Roberto Petrella, an Italian doctor, based in Teramo, Italy, to give one example – I’m more inclined think that, although it clearly doesn’t appear to happen for everyone, there is nevertheless something to it. What’s causing it is the question.

            I know the old maxim, ‘you can’t believe anything you see on the internet’ but at the same time video footage shouldn’t automatically be dismissed outright just by virtue of being a video on the internet.

            For example, have a look at this one: various random people are approached in a London park, and asked if already vaccinated, whether they would agree to partake in the magnet test. The magnets are placed on their arms and are seen to stick at the vaccination point. The people are given the opportunity to do the test by themselves alone and confirm to the camera they can feel the pull of the magnet on their skin at same point on their arms. Watching the footage, it doesn’t seem credible that those people are acting out a hoax. At one point the magnet is even seen to wobble in a close up as it passed along the vaccination site. Is it all an elaborate, sophisticated hoax? Along with the other footage I’ve seen , my gut instinct is that there’s something to it and that it warrants further investigation.

            Have a look an judge for yourself:
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM7aPR-0vXw

        2. Cian

          @SOQ
          You started it with Dr. Ben “god is my vaccine” Edwards

          I was pointing out that the quality of the “expert doctors” that appear in the US legislature hearings is extraordinarily low.

  5. GiggidyGoo

    And another charity head honcho becomes front page news. Of course, the HSE report never published. At this stage, there’s a lot to be said for not donating hard cash to charity.

    1. Gabby

      Donate small sums of cash to local and regional charities, the ones that don’t employ CEOs.

        1. GiggidyGoo

          SVdP are good alright. Locally they accept donations of food (say around Christmas), clothes etc. No problem with them. I but goods though, and donate them.

    2. Micko

      I always think you’re better of giving money to a local homeless person directly. At least then you know it’s going to them and no one else.

      Too many overheads with charities.

      1. Rob_G

        I don’t know if that is necessarily the best strategy, there is a fair chance that they will spend the money on drugs or alcohol.

        1. millie bobby brownie

          Surely what they do with the money is their perogative. Ideally you’d like to see it go towards food or shelter, but the realities are different.

          I remember years ago, being advised to buy them a hot drink and food, rather than giving money, which seems like a well-intentioned idea.

          1. Rob_G

            “Surely what they do with the money is their perogative. ” – strange slant; yes it is their prerogative, just as it is Micko’s prerogative to give them money, or my prerogative not to give them money.

            But I don’t really see how a person giving someone money for their next blast is doing anything positive to help their situation.

        2. scottser

          rob, being strung out is a painful thing. if you’re at the the homeless stage of addiction, your hit doesn’t get you your jollies any more, it just removes some of the pain and self-loathing for a while.
          you might try having a conversation with someone who’s been through it, or going through it before you plant your flag in the ground.

          1. Rob_G

            I’m sure you are right.

            I’m basing my attitude on conversations with a social worker friend who has worked extensively with homeless people; if I thought that my euro would do something to help break the cycle of dependence and addiction, I would give it gladly. However, in most instances I don’t think it would, so I don’t.

          2. scottser

            therein lies the rub. nobody knows what will break the cycle – if everyone had that attitude then nobody would be assisted to kick their habit.

          3. Rob_G

            I disagree – giving a monthly or annual donation to a homeless charity is a lot more likely to have a positive net impact than the same amount of money distributed in small amounts to a large number of people, many of whom may have untreated substance-abuse issues.

        3. Micko

          “ spend the money on drugs or alcohol.”

          Rob – what the feck do ya think I was gonna spend it on? ;)

      2. Donald McCarthy

        I give directly but am too timid to insist they spend it wisely on drugs. What they do with it is none of my business.

    1. Donald McCarthy

      That is frightening and nightmarish and not in a wholesome, end-of-the-world way. The lone and level sands of Cornwall weep into a despairing sea. WASF. FUBAR.

      1. johnny

        …oh you don’t need them its Ireland,the fighting irish my ass,oh look antisocial behavior..yeah…in middle of a major european capital too…oh no….any evidence ah stop…close it….lock it all down…is this the People’s Daily now then ?

        course ‘they’ did.

        -residents complained of rampant anti-social behaviour on the plaza, which ultimately led to it being fenced off in May…

        plucky,have a go types…now writing letters …you go get them !

        “He told the council his wife confronted a urinating man beside their home during the day who “turned and pointed his penis towards her and sprayed urine in her direction while telling her to ‘f**k off’

        https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/portobello-plaza-antisocial-activity-makes-life-hellish-for-residents-1.4587981

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