70 thoughts on “Wednesday’s Papers

  1. Johnny

    NAMA sure knows how pick partners,they act at the behest of the Min of Finance,on behalf the state,in whom they chose do business with.

    -Thomas Barrack, a private equity investor, was arrested with two other men on charges related to illegally lobbying his close friend former President Donald Trump for the United Arab Emirates while Trump was running for and serving as president.
    -He also is founder of the large private equity firm Colony Capital.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/20/thomas-barrack-chairman-of-trump-2017-inaugural-fund-arrested-on-federal-charge.html

    ..this aged well,the founder was arrested today…how’s the closing looking NAMA…what a bunch of..its only one the most valuable and important urban renewal projects in EU,a catalyst for the entire area,but carry on,with no consequences its Ireland.
    https://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/nama-picks-johnny-ronan-and-colony-to-develop-irish-glass-bottle-site-1.4312907

    1. GiggidyGoo

      Thanks for the ongoing excellent pieces of information Johnny. You mightn’t get many replies, but they are being read by many.

      1. Slave to the Rhythm

        That’s for sure, well said Giggidy
        I had a few run ins with Johnny here and there on this, but his insights into complex financial affairs are often jaw-dropping, fair play in fairness a Sheáin

      2. Slave to the Rhythm

        shocking story, from Arklow, what’s the traveller/immigrant angle on this one Giggidy?

          1. Slave to the Rhythm

            hahah that made me laugh too!
            ROFLMAO in fact
            Come on put up an oul youtube video there lad!

          2. Slave to the Rhythm

            Whatever happened to V, I thought we’d never see the back of her for real?
            What was she so upset about this time, mostly being ignored by all and sundry I’d say? At least we don’t completely ignore you yet, Giggigy!

          3. Slave to the Rhythm

            Giggigy couldn’t punch his way out of a paper bag, though admittedly they did used to come out more often with all fists flying, at least until Boxy and V took them to a standing count of 8 that time, a few others as well landed big blows, almost fatal in some cases, it sobered them up a bit it appears … it’s cute the way they have their own little corner man though…I imagine you shuffling around on one leg mostly there GP … putting in the gumshield and telling Giggigy to try to avoid taking all the body shots, keep up the jabs on the left side, that sort of thing…

      3. Johnny

        …this is why its squeaky bum time in Kildare St,he was toxic in states, so he took this money(ill-gotten?) partnered up with Ronan,parked in in Ireland with NAMA.

        The United States Government with its full force and might (its payback time)will come after these Irish assets and the flunkies who greased the wheels.

        “Mr. Barrack’s real estate and private equity firm, Colony Capital, profited from substantial investments from the Emirates and Saudi Arabia, countries that are closely aligned. In the three years after Mr. Trump became the Republican Party’s nominee for president in July 2016, Colony Capital received about $1.5 billion from those two Persian Gulf countries through investments or other transactions. Of that, about $474 million came from sovereign wealth funds controlled by their governments.”

        https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/20/us/thomas-barrack-trump-indicted.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

    2. Cú Chulainn

      Thanks Johnny, the NTMA/ISIF boys are a cess pit of primitive corruption… and never properly reported/investigated …

      1. Johnny

        -they denied him bail,he’s in jail in LA,fighting transfer to NY as a flight risk,the feds don’t F around.

        Indictment.
        https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/press-release/file/1413306/download

        He was Ronan’s bag man,given he’s now arrested and in jail,viewed as a flight risk,will the Federal Govt as it always does in these cases go after the assets in Ireland (ill-gotten ?).

        He did an awful lot business with this FFG Govt,via its incompetent and incredibly secretive asset disposal arm,to dodgy yanks NAMA.

        -The property was brought to the market by Savills on the instructions of receiver Ken Tyrrell of PwC. Mr Tyrrell is acting on behalf of Dengrove DAC, a vehicle of US investment firm Colony Capital.-

        While normally others misfortunes leave me unaffected,Ronan losing his key and vital,hard money partner (non bank) to the FEDS,did make me smile .
        Oh losing out on this site was a kick when he’s already down,it’s vital to his neighboring sites,its been a while since Ronan was not picked or on the winning team,hurts i bet…..

        https://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/kc-capital-sees-off-industry-heavyweights-for-former-city-arts-centre-1.4625737

  2. Formerly known as @ireland.com

    The UK Independent could have chosen something more important than Bezos for their main story.

    UK hospitalisations are up 25% on last week and deaths are up almost 50%, too.

    1. Micko

      Have to agree it’s ridiculous

      $550 million a minute that flight cost.

      And for what? So some lad can live out his “boyhood dream” with his brother.

      Regardless of anyones opinion on vaccines, surely it would be better spent going and vaccinating the vulnerable in poorer parts of the world.

      Mind bogglingly grotesque

  3. f_lawless

    Rand Paul turns the heat up again on Tony Fauci,asking him to retract his previous statement made to Congress that the US government agency, the National Institutes of Health, (of which Fauci was a head) had never funded ‘gain-of-function’ research at the Wuhan lab. As further evidence from Paul is read into the record, Fauci responds with another flat denial and obfuscation about what constitutes gain-of-function research.

    Paul pulls no punches:

    “How can you say this is not gain-of-function? It’s a dance and you’re dancing around this because you’re trying to obscure responsibility for 4 million people dying around the world from a pandemic..all the evidence is pointing towards (SARS-Cov-2) coming from the (Wuhan) lab and there will be responsibility for those who funded the lab including you”.

    Interesting that Fauci’s reaction to that is to try and refute a claim never made by Paul – which Paul is sharp enough to catch him out on.

    Clip here:
    https://twitter.com/CalebJHull/status/1417508677226008577

    1. Tighe’s Cylon

      Seriously? You obtuse piece of flotsam. Are you now opining that the eye doctor has now got proof positive that Fauci somehow help fund the research that gave rise to Covid-19? There’s just no hope for you really.

      1. Tighe’s Cylon

        Your need to constantly assert a human-based source for this catastrophe only belittles you. Can you not accept that this is nature at work? An opportunistic virus? Does the suggestion that it was in some way engineered comfort you? That we did it to ourselves?

        1. SOQ

          That a bat virus appeared in an area where bats do not reside, but within a stone throw from a lab doing research into exactly that subject, may be something you think of as likely but the most of us do not.

          1. Cú Chulainn

            We were expected to believe that the last foot and mouth outbreak happened because someone left a have eaten pork sandwich on a wall which was found and eaten by a cow who just happened to be in a field (with barbed wire) beside the high security lab that stores the f&m virus. The aforementioned cow then managed to sneeze on and infect some ramblers. Covid came from a lab and to think otherwise is naive in the extreme. Pfizer had the vaccine ready to go in two days. This is the start of the next war, or the continuation of the last one. The fact is that this will happen again.

          2. Slave to the Rhythm

            Where the virus originates from is not really the issue, what is, is how we as a people and human race living on this planet adapt and survive in spite of it, our own ingenuity, it’s happened before and it will happen again, some of us are too smart for our own good, things get out of control and before you know it, old Mother Nature is giving us a good old clip around the ears… it’s really not much more than that.. anything else is waffle and superlatives… so many people want to see a big conspiracy in everything, get outside guys and go for a swim or a beer, rather than reaching for the bong again, thanks, you’re welcome

          3. Cú Chulainn

            The point is that it’s not Mother Nature.. it’s us.. the human race, we are doing it..

          4. MR.Bezos

            So we shouldnt look to learn and prevent viral outbreaks in future, just ignore it and “deal with it”

            I guess we shouldnt look to prevent crime either
            or prevent climate change
            etc etc

          5. Slave to the Rhythm

            Where in my comment does it say we should ignore it?
            What I said was we should learn from it, how best to use and put valid safeguards in place to limit the unintended consequence of our ingenuity/stupidity – like we did when we developed the motor car/jet engine etc, scientific discovery and exploration marches on, most times we are simply hopeful of catching up, this is one of those times.

          6. Slave to the Rhythm

            Cú – no it’s a bit of both in my view … we engineer dangerous looking things all the time… bridges, space rockets, all kinds of medicines, many do harm as well as good

          7. Junkface

            There is still zero evidence of an animal to human transmission of the covid 19 virus. Not one infected animal found. All common sense and simple deduction leads to the Wuhan corona virus lab, where they travelled north in China to the nearest cave region for bats, took them to the lab and performed gain of function research on their corona viruses. That means enhancing proteins and attack functions of the virus, so they could engineer a cure. This is why I was happy to get vaccinated rather than getting an experiment from a Chinese lab, into my body.

          8. SOQ

            Slave to the Rhythm- you are relatively new under this username but clearly a regular, and by regular I mean one of those shape shifting rodents who keeps changing names, Your comment above shows how obnoxious YOU are, it says nothing about anyone else.

            Grow up you clown.

          9. Nigel

            ‘All common sense and simple deduction leads to the Wuhan corona virus lab,’

            Not really, if we’re talking about a leak. A lab is a controlled and monitored environment, heck of a lot easier to track a leak from a lab than an occurence in a wide open natural environment. Not ruling it out, just questioning your conception of what common sense and simple deduction suggest. If we’re talking about the virus being ‘man-made’ well, that’s a whole other ball game entirely, other than to note that the two are constantly being conflated, such as here, where flawless’ initial comment was about Rand Paul accusing Fauci of covering up it being manufactured in a lab, but SOQ derailed it to merely leaking from a lab.

          10. Junkface

            @Nigel
            The strongest theory from the scientific investigations going on is that the virus was originally taken from a bat, as a common corona virus, as I mentioned above. Other aspects like a high contagiousness were engineered into it in the Wuhan lab. Yes it was accidentally leaked because the staff were not correctly trained in the highest standards for running virus labs. The leak was covered up by the CCP, rather than ever admitting any mistakes or taking responsibility, this is common practice in the CCP.
            The animal transmission theory was always a smoke screen, created by the CCP to deflect blame. In all other historical virus transmissions they have captured the animals in question within 4 to 6 months. The covid 19 mystery animal still has not been found! Zero, nothing. Therefore it is logical and common sense to look into the Wuhan corona virus lab, the gain of function research program and the guilty looking CCP cover up of lab evidence, and their opposition to allowing an international investigation without limitations. Nobody wants this to happen again.

          11. Nigel

            ‘Other aspects like a high contagiousness were engineered into it in the Wuhan lab’

            This is the conspiracy theory bit. There’s no evidence of this whatsoever. if this were proved true it’s hard to even fathom the potential global repercussions. Everything else you say is highly speculative. That the CCP are likely to want to cover up a lab leak does not prove a lab leak happened or make it any more or less likely to have happened. The lab was US accredited, which to my mind makes a leak less likely and a cover-up more difficult.

          12. Junkface

            @Nigel
            I’m afraid you are far behind in this story. I would look into the reporting done by Josh Rogin of the Washington Post. I don’t have time to find his references or citations from on the ground reporters in Wuhan. As mentioned here already numerous times, the former head of the CDC, who is an experienced virologist, believes it was partially engineered to become stronger. That’s what gain of function research does. All super powers do this, not just China.

            If we are not going to be realistic about what caused this outbreak, then we have less ability of stopping it in the future. The Wuhan lab was a fairly new lab, the staff were picked quite quickly, they were not fully trained in high end virology safety procedures. This has been trickling out from valid journalists who are advising the Biden investigation into it. This is not conspiracy theory stuff. There is evidence that lab workers in Wuhan got sick in Oct and Nov 2019 with a Pneumonia type virus. Anyone with common sense can see this. Why try to cover it all up otherwise? Why try to stop international scientific investigations? Why kidnap the Chinese journalists in Wuhan for reporting early infections? Get real, we are dealing with a communist party with very little respect for human rights.

          13. Nigel

            I don’t think the lab-leak theory is conspiracy theory stuff. Labs sometimes leak. However this belief that it was engineered to be more infectious or whatever is going to require a very high level of proof, more than just a few outlying opinions, the bluster of ignorant Republican senators, and a lot of handwaving and appeals to credulity.

    2. Daisy Chainsaw

      And here’s the real version of events. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/20/anthony-fauci-rand-paul-coronavirus-research

      “Fauci said angrily: “Senator Paul, you do not know what you’re talking about, quite frankly. And I want to say that officially. You do not know what you are talking about. The sparring continued as the men repeatedly interrupted each other and the committee chairperson struggled to retain control. Fauci concluded: “If anybody is lying here, senator, it is you.”

  4. Charlie

    Imagine actually going to Malta on a holiday and then having to quarantine. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Never understood the attraction of that place.

    1. Daisy Chainsaw

      The history, the weather, the food, the nightlife in Paceville, the jewellery, lace, glass. The yellow buses were a lot more fun than the modern ones they have now, but the bus service is great too.

  5. Tom J

    Gemma O’Doherty sat on Dee Wall,
    Gemma O’Doherty had a great fall,
    all of Dee’s horses and all of Dee’s men, couldn’t put Gemma together again.

  6. Cú Chulainn

    Cocaine addiction on the rise..? Pull the other one. Speed mixed with dried bonjella and some synthetic poo from a Chinese lab. That’s the problem. There is no coke in Ireland.

  7. Cú Chulainn

    I’ll re word my comment: I find it hard to believe that cocaine addiction is on the rise in Ireland. What is being sold in Ireland as cocaine is, in the main, synthetic amphetamine – which is highly addictive, unlike actual cocaine which while habit forming and destructive, is not. And before jumping on this comment, I’ve a quick question: aside from the seizures off shore where are the local arrests and labs being busted. There aren’t any in the volume that would support a cocaine problem in Ireland.

    1. Tom J

      If the seizures are happening off shore, then there are no supplies getting to the labs.

      1. Cú Chulainn

        Exactly.. the off shore seizures are going elsewhere.. and the post office is flat out delivering the amphetamines from Wish.

        1. SOQ

          Just curious- what Wish product would that be then?

          Got a great pair of trainers off there recently, you just need to add an extra size as they are always smaller of course.

    2. Janet, dreams of an alternate universe

      ” Unlike heroin or other narcotic drugs, cocaine does not have any outward physical withdrawal symptoms. Some addicts undergoing withdrawal have reported sleep disturbances and fatigue, but overall, cocaine addictive qualities do not take place in the body.”
      https://vertavahealth.com/cocaine/mentally-physically-addictive/
      what is addictive is the huge quantities of alcohol it enables many to ingest.

    3. Slave to the Rhythm

      Probably very accurate in fairness, you sound like you are quite the connoisseur, and dare I say it, a bon vivante, feel free to issue an invite to me of an evening

    4. Junkface

      I heard it was a rise in crack cocaine addiction. Isn’t that more addictive and full of chemicals than straight cocaine? Well whatever is going on, its bad news. I saw a few communities ravaged by crack addiction in the USA. It’s really scary and violent.

      1. Janet, dreams of an alternate universe

        smoking crack or P ( from the pipe ) was prevalent when I was in NZ so much so I landed up at a party where I was the only one not partaking, the paranoia that triggered was scary, people do crazy things on crack

        1. Junkface

          Yes it can be really intimidating to be around. I saw some horrible stuff in parts of New Jersey and Queens in NY. When the people on it got violent, there was no way of negotiating with them, or trying to calm them down. This is the last thing we need in Ireland’s poorer neighbourhoods, or areas of high unemployment. It’s really sad to see.

        2. Slave to the Rhythm

          Yea I’ve heard all those stories, an old hippie friend told me speed was much the same, but I haven’t partaken as of yet, do you recommend it? I know you are all clean living etc now but..

      2. Slave to the Rhythm

        Can’t wait til it hits Rathkeale…or Roundstone… should be any time now.

  8. Blob

    Jesus. the British tabloids are something else. so prince harry or whoever wrote an autobiography and they’re raging on it coz its about him.

  9. des

    Professor Philip Nolan, chair of Nphet’s modelling advisory group, said a significant portion of infected younger people will experience severe illness and lingering complications due to Covid-19.

    He said transmission must be limited to protect both the unvaccinated and older people, warning high case numbers would “break through the protection of vaccination to cause dangerous infections in older and vulnerable people.”

    Nolan really is making it up as he goes.

    1. SOQ

      That really is Orwellian double speak- he is presenting the measures as to protect the unvaccinated when in fact the unvaccinated have already decided that they don’t need protecting.

      As for younger people experiencing severe illness- the data does not suggest such, at all. The ratio of ‘cases’ to serious illness is way down.

      I suppose there is not much point asking him to justify how he has reached such conclusions because if he won’t even release the predictive models, then not much chance of an answer on this either. He is an absolute chancer.

      1. Nigel

        ‘the unvaccinated have already decided that they don’t need protecting. ‘

        Apart from the ones that haven’t been vaccinated YET and the ones who can’t get vaccinated at all, to say nothing of the fact that just because you’ve decided you don’t need protection doesn’t mean you don’t need protection.

      2. Cian

        I would think, looking at the numbers in the UK (and Netherlands), that his models have been vindicated. There has been another wave.
        His “no delta variant” scenario predicted from July to September (we are less than half way through the time, have delta, but are more still restricted)

        21,000 cases; Since 1st July there have been 14,000 cases.
        405 hospitals: Since 1st July there have been 258 new covid cases in hospital
        55 ICU: Since 1st July there have been 22 new covid ICU cases
        80 deaths:18

        In the UK
        – cases are over 50,000/day (good news is these may have peaked)
        – Hospitalisations continue to rise – they are up another 100 to 4,094. (they were under 1000 May/June)
        – Deaths continue to rise – now at 50/day (7-day average); they were under 10/day in May/June

  10. Junkface

    Ireland is really falling behind on new engineering technologies. Especially regarding our water supply. Every time there is a hot spell, the papers report a drought or shortage of fresh water the next day. It’s is time to contact Spain on the issue of water desalination technology, they are one of the world leaders. Ireland is surrounded by ocean. We should have reliable methods for turning sea water into fresh water. They never talk about this. What is wrong with the leadership in Ireland? They have no curiosity, no improvising skills, no problem solving, no balls.

    http://icex.technologyreview.com/articles/2009/01/desalination-in-spain/

    1. Cian

      Why would you spend money and energy desalinating water in Ireland?

      That is literally the stupidest thing I have heard today.

      1. Junkface

        Because we run out of water too often. That’s the dumbest question I have heard all day. Ireland struggles with water supply due to poor infrastructure and lack of alternative options to replenish fresh water. Do people still get boil water notices in the west of Ireland? If so, there’s your answer.

        1. Cian

          Most of the eastern half of the country gets between 750 and 1000 mm of rainfall in the year. Rainfall in the west generally averages between 1000 and 1400mm; there is no shortage of freshwater

          Countries like Dubai get 100mm/year do need Desalination.

          Your article mentions Spain, but reading it says lots of that was the Canary Islands and for agriculture in the dry south.

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