Category Archives: Misc

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar at the 1916 Annual Arbour Hill Commemoration Ceremony last month

“I do think it would be possible for us to win a referendum on joining a European defence (force) but I think that’s why it would be important for us to be a part of designing it alongside countries like Cyprus, Austria and Malta, who also don’t plan to join Nato.

“We are not members of Nato and we have no plans to join Nato, but we have never been neutral politically, we have always been on the side of democracy.

“Some people would talk about developing a European defence that is separate to Nato or almost in competition with Nato. That doesn’t make sense to me.

“It makes sense to me that there should be very close links between the European Union and any European defence and Nato – even though we may not be a member, we wouldn’t want to prevent cooperation or interoperability between any of those things.

“I think Irish people have always seen defence and security as being more than military alliances so we’re very proud of the role that we’ve played in United Nations peacekeeping around the world.”

Tanaiste Leo Varadkar. at the European People’s Party (EPP) Congress in Rotterdam.

Leo Varadkar confident he could secure a Yes vote for Ireland to join EU army (Independent.ie)

RollingNews

This morning.

Via Irish Mirror:

The research, which surveyed over 12,000 people across six European countries to investigate public trust in expertise, reveals the public’s view on the pandemic, vaccination, and their belief in various Covid-19 conspiracies.

Despite 31% of people in Ireland thinking the number of deaths from coronavirus were exaggerated by government, the majority still expressed a strong belief in the scientific consensus that Covid-19 vaccines are safe.

…The feeling that government is not honest and truthful was shared by 48% of Irish people in the first part of the Peritia study, with 58% thinking the Government communicates inaccurate and biased information.

…Regarding the legacy of the pandemic, 78% of people in Ireland are concerned about its long-term impact.

Meanwhile…

Irish respondents, and those in Italy, also showed the highest rate of willingness to comply with coronavirus restrictions put in place by the Government, with 88% of people saying that they always or sometimes do this.

Almost one in three Irish people believe Government exaggerated Covid-19 deaths (Irish Mirror)

RollingNews

Dominion voting systems

This morning.

Dominion voting machines – used in 16 states – have vulnerabilities that leave them susceptible to hacking, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency says in an advisory sent to state election officials.

Via AP:

The advisory is based on testing by a prominent computer scientist and expert witness in a long-running lawsuit that is unrelated to false allegations of a stolen election pushed by former President Donald Trump after his 2020 election loss.

University of Michigan computer scientist J. Alex Halderman agrees that there’s no evidence the vulnerabilities were exploited in the 2020 election. But that wasn’t his mission, he said. He was looking for ways Dominion’s Democracy Suite ImageCast X voting system could be compromised. The touchscreen voting machines can be configured as ballot-marking devices that produce a paper ballot or record votes electronically.

In a statement, Dominion defended the machines as “accurate and secure.”

The advisory, obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its expected Friday release, details nine vulnerabilities and suggests protective measures to prevent or detect their exploitation. Amid a swirl of misinformation and disinformation about elections, CISA seems to be trying to walk a line between not alarming the public and stressing the need for election officials to take action.

Hmm.

Cyber agency: Voting software vulnerable in some states (AP)

AP

Carrie Baxter – You

Keep calm and Carrie on.

London-based Waterford chanteuse Carrie Baxter (top) enchants with a live studio performance of her soul-searching romantic ballad You.

Carrie writes:

“If I could do an alternate version of every track I would, specifically just me and a pianist (my favourite instrument). There’s something about the romance of this song and it needing a piano on this version. The space I have to sing and the words being allowed to breathe is the stuff I live for.

“I love singing live, ultimately it’s what I do it for. I usually try to stick to minimal takes in the studio at all times but this time, luckily or unluckily I was going through a pretty tough time when we recorded this so I trusted myself enough to deliver raw emotion in one take.”

Nick says: Carrie on singing.

Carrie Baxter

‘sup?

This morning.

Happy World Milk Day to you and yours.

Nick Kelly (out of shot, behind cart).

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan arriving at Dublin Castle for yesterday evening’s meeting of the Cabinet

Yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile…

Anyone?

Earlier: Moving

Leah Farrell/RollingNews

This morning.

Animo TV, the makers of Ireland’s Fittest Family and The Great House Revival, are cooking up a brand-new competition series for RTÉ Two which ‘celebrates our love of the Takeaway’.

Finally, sez you.

Ann Power writes:

We are looking up and down the country for amazing independent takeaways to showcase their cookery skills and compete to be crowned winners at the end of the series.

This is a battle of Ireland’s much loved takeaways. Whether you own a Chipper, Chinese or a Burger Joint, we want to hear from you!

To apply, please email takeaway@animotv.ie with your name, number and the name of your takeaway. A member of our team will be in touch.

You must own an independent takeaway or food van. Unfortunately we cannot accept applications from sit-in restaurants.

Animo

This morning.

Dublin Airport.

Meanwhile…


This morning.

They have a plan.

Plan to fix lengthy airport queues to be unveiled by daa, as CEO appears at Committee (RTE)