Author Archives: Bodger

We may finally get to the bottom of this.

Probably not.

Meanwhile…

Ordure.

He wrote.

Coveney mandarins didn’t want ‘Princess Pushy’ to get UN job (Extra.ie)

This afternoon.

More as we get it.

Getty

This afternoon.

New York, New York.

They have a common agenda.

Save yourselves.

SDGs?

From top: Outside Leo Varadkar’s home on Sunday; This morning’s Irish Times

KN writes:

If I wasn’t so completely trusting of the guards and the Irish Times I might have thought this was all a bit of a set- up done on the cheap.

Having being at all the marches to date, I’ve never heard any homophobic comments or chants or placards from those in attendance. It wouldn’t be tolerated. And the stuff I’ve seen from the grainy footage of the protest on Sunday would not have been tolerated by anyone I know at these marches.

This group, ‘We Are Sovereign People’ – whose crap I condemn, by the way – have no online presence, no spokesperson and never publicise their protests, which appear to consist of hanging outside ministers’ houses on Sundays, and provoking the inevitable twitter backlash. Why would they repeat the same failed formula that damages their supposed cause?

Some unnamed members then pledge to the crime correspondent of a national newspaper that they plan future protests outside GPs’ houses. What kind of group is this?

Anyone?

Protesters who targeted Varadkar’s home plan to focus on GPs next (irish Times)

 

Mark Little of disinfo agency Kinzen

Sunday.

The Business Post reported that The Department of Health is paying Kinzen, an Irish media tech start-up, to identify online misinformation related to Covid-19 and the Covid-19 vaccines.

Via The Business Post:

The work, which began earlier this year and consists of almost daily briefings from Kinzen to state officials, marks the first time the department has engaged the services of a third-party company to conduct work on misinformation. It is also believed to be the first time a government body in Ireland has paid a third-party company for this type of work.

Kinzen, founded by former RTÉ news journalist Mark Little and Aine Kerr in 2018, promotes itself as a service which can track disinformation campaigns online. It says it has developed its own automatic speech recognition (ASR) system which can sift through audio and video content to highlight “high risk” material. It combines this with a language model it feeds with terms which are relevant to searching for potential misinformation.

…Little said the work with the Department of Health was entirely “research-driven” and did not involve the company’s scoring system which rates content depending on the level of “risk” identified.

…Little said that all credit for Ireland’s successful rollout of the vaccine should go to public health workers and the Irish people. He said Kinzen was proud to have supported the Department of Health.

“Our role was to bring a global perspective on disinformation to the Irish environment,” he said.

“By helping public health communicators stay ahead of campaigns of disinformation, we hope we helped flatten the curve of an infodemic that deepened the impact of the Covid-19 crisis in other countries.”

Not all heroes deploy tasteless metaphors.

Kinzen briefing the Department of Health on Covid-19 online misinformation (Business Post)

Pic via Mark Little

Ah here.

This morning.

Dublin Castle. Dublin 2

Tanaiste and Fine Gael Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar with Fianna Fail Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath and Minister of Justice, Social Protection, Community and Rural Development, Heather Humphreys speak to the media  following a cabinet meeting.

Via RTÉ:

The rules around employee rights changed during Covid-19 when, in March 2020, the Government introduced emergency measures in response to the pandemic.

It meant workers who were temporarily laid off or put on short time hours because of Covid-19 were not allowed to claim redundancy.

The department said this rule was introduced to “reduce the pressure on employers who were already struggling and to reduce the number of insolvencies and permanent job losses over the course of the pandemic”.

That rule will be suspended at the end of this month.

He said they estimate this redundancy scheme will cost between €30 to €130 million over the next three years as it will continue until 2024.

He said every candidate can receive up to €1,860 under this statutory redundancy.

He also said it is impossible to estimate how many redundancies will happen over the coming months following today’s decision.

Redundancy scheme to ensure workers ‘not out of pocket’ (RTÉ)

RollingNews

The West Gate Freeway, Melbourne, Australia

This morning.

Melbourne, Australia.

Via The Age:

Police have confronted thousands of protesters on Melbourne’s busiest freeway, appearing to fire pellets into the crowd outside a service station. Traffic has been blocked on a large part of the West Gate Freeway for hours.

Protesters reached the centre of the West Gate Bridge about 3.30pm AEST, then started their descent back down the bridge, and began heading back into the city.

When protesters reached a service station past the base of the bridge, they were met with lines of police who appeared to fire pellets into the crowd…

Police confront protesters, appear to fire pellets on Melbourne’s busiest freeway (The Age)

Meanwhile..

In fairness.

Meanwhile…

CFMEU accuses its own MEMBERS of being ‘far-right Nazis’ (RebelNews)

Meanwhile…

Gulp.

This morning.

Gardening.

It’s coming home.

‘He is a credit to his country’ – Kerry horticulturalist Billy Alexander wins gold medal at Chelsea Flower Show (Independent.ie)