Author Archives: Bodger

This afternoon.

The Dáil at the Convention Centre, Dublin.

Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald arrives ahead of a no-confidence motion against Tanaiste Leo Varadkar for leaking confidential GP contract documents.

Watch live here.

Earlier: All Behind Him

RollingNews

Earlier: Leo’s High Standards 

Joe Biden. then American Vice President, Joe Biden with Taoiseach Enda Kenny at Government Buildings in Dublin, June 21, 2016

This afternoon.

In an interview on Midwest Radio….

….the former Taoiseach said he was filled with excitement, joy and gratitude at Mr Biden’s victory. He expects him to have a “massive agenda of restoring some sort of respect for the United States around the world”.

Mr Kenny remarked on the fact that there had been an enormous vote in the US election and suggested this “probably related to the fact that Trump had been very provocative on a number of issues”, which really brought out the “polarised peoples of America to vote”

Good times:

Former Taoiseach Enda Kenny welcomes Joe Biden victory (RTÉ)

Earlier: Two Realites Diverged

RollingNews

Meanwhile…

THis afternoon.

The Kerrigans, at top from left: Harry, Emma , Hugh, and Sam

Books are for reading!

Not PPE.

Harrumph.

The tyke-filled launch of Wonderfest, Ireland’s new online children’s book festival, with live events taking place between November 20-22.

Writers includes includes  Eoin Colfer, Laureate na nÓg Áine Ní Ghlinn, Derek Landy, Paul Howard & Gordon D’Arcy, Judi Curtin, Chris Judge, Chris Haughton, Mary Murphy, Peter Donnelly, and “many more”.

Wonderfest 2020

Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland

Mural by Aga Grandowicz

This afternoon.

Earlier….

This afternoon.

Via NBC:

More than 48 hours after media outlets projected that Joe Biden had defeated President Donald Trump to win the White House, GSA chief Emily Murphy had yet to sign the letter of “ascertainment” — a previously mostly noncontroversial process since the passage of the Presidential Transition Act of 1963. Signing the paperwork when a new president is elected triggers the release of millions of dollars in transition funding and allows an incoming administration access to current government officials.

With the ascertainment delayed, the Biden transition team has been prevented from meeting with officials heading Operation Warp Speed and other Trump administration coronavirus efforts….

Trump appointee slow-walks Biden transition. That could delay the president-elect’s Covid-19 plan (NBC)

Meanwhile….

They’re still counting the votes in a handful of the key battleground states in the presidential election – but a look at where the current vote totals stand points to a second straight White House race decided by razor thin margins.

Joe Biden, as of Monday afternoon, had won a record-breaking 75.67 million votes nationally. And President Trump, in defeat, garnered a massive 71.07 million votes.

The margins were tighter in the crucial battleground states that Biden secured to win the Electoral College count.

Biden beat Trump by less than 276,000 votes in key swing states (Fox News)

Meanwhile…

US Attorney-General William Barr has given prosecutors the green light to investigate allegations of voter fraud but warned they must only be substantial claims.

“Given that voting in our current elections has now concluded, I authorize you to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to the certification of elections in your jurisdictions,” Mr Barr said in a statement.

“Specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims should not be a basis for initiating federal inquiries.”

Bill Barr authorises Justice Department probe into mail-in fraud allegations (Sky News Australia)

Meanwhile…

Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop, former Papal Nuncio to the United States

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano writes:

The world in which we find ourselves living is, to use an expression from the Gospel, “in se divisum” (Mt 12:25). This division, it seems to me, consists of a split between reality and fiction: objective reality on one side, and the fiction of the media on the other.

This certainly applies to the pandemic, which has been used as a tool of social engineering that is instrumental to the Great Reset, but it applies even more to the surreal American political situation, in which the evidence of a colossal electoral fraud is being censored by the media, which now proclaims Joe Biden’s victory as an accomplished fact.

The reality of Covid is blatantly in contrast with what the mainstream media wants us to believe, but this is not enough to dismantle the grotesque castle of falsehoods to which the majority of the population conforms with resignation.

In a similar way, the reality of electoral fraud, of blatant violations of the rules and the systematic falsification of the results contrasts with the narrative given to us by the information giants, who say that Joe Biden is the new President of the United States, period.

And so it must be: there are no alternatives, either to the supposed devastating fury of a seasonal flu that caused the same number of deaths as last year, or to the inevitability of the election of a candidate who is corrupt and subservient to the deep state. In fact, Biden has already promised to restore the lockdown.

Reality no longer matters: it is absolutely irrelevant when it stands between the conceived plan and its realization. Covid and Biden are two holograms, two artificial creations, ready to be adapted time and time again to contingent needs or respectively replaced when necessary with Covid-21 and Kamala Harris. The accusations of irresponsibility thrown at Trump supporters for holding rallies vanish as soon as Biden’s supporters gather in the streets, as has already happened for BLM demonstrations.

What is criminal for some people is permitted for others: without explanations, without logic, without rationality. The mere fact of being on the left, of voting for Biden, of putting on the mask is a pass to do anything, while simply being on the right, voting for Trump or questioning the effectiveness of masks is sufficient reason for condemnation and an execution that does not require any evidence or a trial: they are ipso facto labeled as fascists, sovereignists, populists, deniers – and those labeled with these social stigmas are supposed to simply silently withdraw.

Viganò on Biden, the American Bishops, Fr. James Martin & Other Occupants of the Castle of Falsehoods (The Remanant Newspaper)

This morning/afternoon.

Dublin Castle, Dublin 2,

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar leaving Dublin Castle today after the morning’s Cabinet meeting. He will go on to face a motion of no confidence this evening in the Dail, in the Convention Centre.

RollingNews

Meanwhile…

This afternoon

Taoiseach Micheál Martin greets Fianna Fáil Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Daragh O’Brien in the traditional party manner following this morning’s cabinet meeting.

RollingNews

Meanwhile…

Earlier: Leo’s High Standards

Tweets from a Covid Cocoon.

By Helen O’Rahilly. who writes:

Cocooning with my ninety-year-old Aunt is not the life I’d imagined when I came back to live in Dublin after 30 years of being a high-flying media executive in London.

From the Groucho Club to our North Dublin coastal cocoon, it was back to earth with a bump. Funny and frustrating, living with the Aunt in our Covid bubble has been quite the eye-opener. Bickering, bitching, masking-up for rare outings, The Stairlift Ascends is a Twitter diary of our time trying to live together, of surviving the pandemic … and each other.

Love, lashings of apple tart, laughter and a longing for trips to Arnotts have seen us through, so far…

Illustrated by Jennie O’Connell.

The Stairlift Ascends (O’Brien Press)

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar (right) and Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe

This morning.

The government has ‘annuled’ Sinn Féin’s motion of no-confidence in Leo Varadkar called after it emerged the Tanaiste leaked documents relating to an Irish Medical Organisation pay deal to a rival union the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP).

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said TDs would view the issue “in the round” and accept that it was a single error made by the Tánaiste.

Via Irish Examiner:

Mr Donohoe said Government TDs and those who work with the Tánaiste accept two things.

“The first thing they accept is that the way in which this particular matter was handled fell short of the standards that Leo Varadkar has for himself.

“But the second thing I think they accept is that Leo has demonstrated the highest standards in his time in public office on the management and leadership of a whole array of masters for our country.”

Good times.

Meanwhile…

Mr Donohoe denied claims made in Village magazine that he had met with former NAGP president Dr Ó Tuathail twice last year.

Anyone?

Paschal Donohoe: Leo Varadkar’s ‘high standards’ will ensure no-confidence motion is rejected (irish Examiner)

RollingNews

Or anything else that comes to hand.

With the possible aid of computer trickery, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Elon Musk and other well known people extol the benefits of Beat Builders, a Dublin-based enterprise providing team-building drumming events for your staff or team online.

Beat Builders

Thanks Dave

Chief Justice Frank Clarke and Supreme Court Justice Séamus Woulfe

This morning.

Further to Golfgate…

The Attorney General has been asked to advise the Taoiseach and the Government on the controversy surrounding Supreme Court judge Seamus Woulfe and his attendance at a golf dinner in Galway in August.

Mr Justice Clarke said the cumulative effect of the controversy had caused significant and irreparable damage to the Supreme Court.

He told Mr Justice Woulfe that these were matters that affected public trust and his personal view was that Judge Woulfe should resign to maintain public confidence in the court, the judiciary and the administration of justice.

However…

Mr Justice Woulfe said he had come to the conclusion that he should not resign.

Adding…

He said he accepted not being assigned to sit to hear any cases until February and would be willing to forego his salary for three months.

AG asked to advise Government over Woulfe controversy (RTÉ)

Previously: Seámus Woulfe on Broadsheet

RollingNews

Meanwhile…

Letters in full: What Chief Justice said to Mr Justice Seamus Woulfe over golfgate dinner and his reply (Irish Times)