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Irish Villagers Attacked and Pepper Sprayed by Police. Conflict Over Hundreds of ‘Unvetted Migrant’ Centres Being Planted Throughout Ireland and the UK

May 2, 2024

Irish Villagers Attacked and Pepper Sprayed by Police. Conflict Over Hundreds of ‘Unvetted Migrant’ Centres Being Planted Throughout Ireland and the UK

The Irish government is now at war with its own people as clashes grow between police and Irish citizens who are protesting against over thousands of unchecked/unvetted migrants literally being ‘forced’ into their small communities. Government statistics show that 87% of the migrants are intentionally destroying their passports upon entry to avail of ‘asylum seeker’ status, therefore nobody know who these people are and whether, or not, they have a criminal record. Furthermore, most of the migrants seeking ‘asylum status’ are from countries that have no war. The migrants are eligible for free accommodation, free social welfare, free medical care, food, clothes, and various other perks. Whilst at the same time that the Irish government is facilitating mass immigration there are 14,000 Irish homeless people on the streets, and the Irish face a very serious accommodation crisis as the cost of renting has sky-rocketed. Make no mistake about it this could turn very nasty.

The following shocking video of Irish villagers being attacked and pepper-sprayed by government police is an example of what is happening throughout Ireland (and the UK) as the Irish government, which for years has been little more than a puppet of the EU, turns, yet again, on the Irish people. Irish people, renowned for their friendly nature of ‘100,000 welcomes’ have in general been very welcoming to migrants. However, now after years of blatant ‘unvetted’ migration, increased crime, and a serious accommodation crisis for Irish people, it appears many Irish have simply had enough.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The Immense Hunger: US-Israel Joint Obsession to Obliterate the World

May 2, 2024

The Immense Hunger: US-Israel Joint Obsession to Obliterate the World

Like all living creatures, people need to eat to live.

Some people, eaten from within by a demonic force, try to deny others this basic sustenance.

All across the world people are starving because the powerful and wealthy create economic and political conditions that allow their wealth to be built on the backs of the world’s poor.

It is an old story, constantly updated. It is one form of official terrorism.

From the Irish famine with its terrible aftermath created by the imperialist British government in the 19th century that caused the death of between one and two million Irish and the forced emigration of more than a million more between 1846 and 1851 alone, to today’s savage Israeli genocide and forced starvation of Palestinians in Gaza, the stories of politically motivated famine are legion.

In their wake, as the historian Woodham-Smith wrote in 1962 of the Irish famine, it “left hatred behind.

Between Ireland and England the memory of what was done and endured has lain like a sword.” This Irish bitterness toward the English was strong even in my own Irish-American childhood in the northern Bronx more than a century later. Ethnic cleansing has a way of leaving a livid legacy of rage toward the perpetrators, especially in the Irish case when talk of of one’s ancestors’ perilous forced emigration on the Coffin Ships was ever broached.

Today’s Israeli government leaders must be historically ignorant or suicidal, for the Irish rage at the British led to the Easter Rebellion of 1916 and the eventual establishment of the Republic of Ireland, where today in Dublin, its capital, huge throngs march in support of the Palestinian people and their fight against Israel.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Ireland’s Hate Speech Bill Faces Backlash Amidst Authoritarian Fears

April 26, 2024

Ireland’s Hate Speech Bill Faces Backlash Amidst Authoritarian Fears

Ireland’s proposed hate speech legislation sparks fears of an authoritarian police state, with critics voicing concerns about blurred definitions and constitutional rights.

Ireland’s proposed hate speech legislation has sparked strong opposition amongst many of its citizens, with individuals complaining to their representatives about the potential risk of the country descending into an authoritarian police state, according to documents obtained by BreakingNews.ie through a Freedom of Information request.

Critics of the proposed bill, dubbed the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill 2022, have expressed ambiguity around the definitions of hate and gender within the legislation.

The Taoiseach, Simon Harris, is resolute in modifying the Bill, which primarily seeks to revamp the 1989 incitement to hatred legislation, and pass it through successfully before the ensuing general elections.

Critics contend that the Bill’s primary aim to count “hate” as an aggravating element in certain offenses is fraught with a lack of clarity.

An alarming constituent email, forwarded to the Department of Justice by Fine Gael’s Michael Ring, a vocal opponent of the proposed law, emphasized that the Bill infringes on personal constitutional freedoms. The specific email highlighted the significant powers conferred on the police due to Section 15 of the Bill, arguing that such state control was reminiscent of a police state.

Moreover, Ring relayed a multitude of similar constituent concerns to the justice minister, seeking an urgent response from him. Meanwhile, Senator Michael McDowell raised the question of whether transgender is a gender in Irish law and requested clarity on the term’s legislative definition.

Numerous emails exposed further condemnation of the proposed laws and raised concerns about the potential implications they could have on freedom of speech.

Irish Government Wants Pre-Election Pact With Tech Giants To Counter Online “Disinformation”

April 3, 2024

Irish Government Wants Pre-Election Pact With Tech Giants To Counter Online “Disinformation”

A move that raises accusations of manipulating Big Tech’s power.

Many governments around the world are no longer at least pretending they don’t see Big Tech as a major political asset, or that they will not try to use that asset to their advantage. Instead, this behavior is slowly being normalized – albeit always qualified as a democracy-preserving, rather than undermining policy.

In other words, something driven by the need to combat “disinformation” and not what critics suspect it is – the need to harness and control the massive reach, influence, and power of major social platforms.

Judging by reports out of Ireland, it is among those countries, with big words like “supercharged disinformation threats to democracy” flying around as the government looks to use what some might call “supercharged fearmongering” to secure no less than a “pre-election pact with tech giants.”

Some of this is yet to be enacted through the Electoral Reform Act, so in the meanwhile Big Tech representatives have been summoned to a meeting, via lobbyists representing them, Technology Ireland, to discuss the said “threats.”

The Electoral Reform Act is supposed to formalize new rules for both platforms and those buying ads, while during the meeting, set to take place in late April, tech companies will be expected to sign “the Irish Election Integrity Accord.”

A letter signed by Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien and Minister of State Malcolm Noonan explained that the Accord will be new, but based on the Electoral Reform Act from 2022, and always focusing on “disinformation,” and advertising. What the giants are expected to sign up to is “a set of principles for the sector and the state to work by to safeguard our democracy over these crucial next few months.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Irish central bank raises gold reserves by 33%, worried by inflation

December 8, 2021

Irish central bank raises gold reserves by 33%, worried by inflation

Recently the Central Bank of Ireland joined the ranks of sovereign gold buyers, adding 2 tonnes of gold to its monetary gold reserves in 2 months, consisting of a tonne of gold bought in each of September and October 2021.

While in relative terms, the actual quantity of gold added by the Irish central bank was quite small, in percentage terms it was very substantial, since in August Ireland only held 6 tonnes of gold (supposedly held at the Bank of England), and as of the end of October Ireland now holds 8 tonnes of gold, i.e. a 33% increase (and a significant number for those in the know).

These latest monetary gold purchases by Ireland’s central bank are also notable because it’s not often that a central bank that is a) a Western European country, b) a Euro member country, and c) an OECD member country, buys monetary gold. In this instance, Ireland ticks the boxes on all three.

For example, during October 2021, while three of the four largest sovereign buyers of gold in the world were the notable gold aficionados namely Kazakhstan (6 tonnes), India (3.8 tonnes), and Russia (3 tonnes), the fourth, was Ireland (1 tonne), not what you would expect.

**Central Bank of Ireland’s gold reserves rose by 33% over September and October 2021**

What sparked the Central Bank of Ireland to add to its monetary gold reserves is unclear, because like all Euro puppet central banks and BIS lackeys, the Irish central bank thinks that it does not need to be democratically accountable when it comes to monetary gold.

On a Need to Know Basis – And you don’t need to know!

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Aggregate green growth is a mirage: we need to take a more scientific approach to societal wellbeing

November 13, 2020

Aggregate green growth is a mirage: we need to take a more scientific approach to societal wellbeing

In the spring of 2020, the new Irish government announced its desire to develop new measures of well-being and progress in Ireland. The idea was given some prominence in the Programme for Government, ‘Our Shared Future’.

This is exactly the kind of initiative that we in Feasta have been advocating for the past 20-odd years. It’s also in line with an encouraging international trend of governments seeking to reorientate their economies towards well-being, and fits in nicely with the thinking of the global Wellbeing Economy Alliance (of which Feasta is a member).

A recent publication by Fine Gael, ‘Measuring Wellbeing’, refers to this Irish government initiative and makes a case for expanding “the range of economic, social and policy indicators that we use in government”. It lays out a draft outline for developing a wide range of metrics for measuring well-being, along the lines of the OECD’s Wellbeing Framework, and implementing them into State budgeting decisions. There is much in there to agree with.

Unfortunately, however, there is a serious problem with one of the most basic assumptions that is made in the Fine Gael paper. Unless this problem is examined and properly addressed, all the improved measurements in the world won’t be able to improve societal well-being in Ireland.

The problem relates to GDP growth. GDP growth is considered by the paper’s author to be “a critical means to the end of progressing society”.

This is a highly problematic assumption.

The authors take care to point out many of the well-known shortcomings of GDP growth as a measure of progress. So the issue here is not whether or not GDP growth is an unreliable measure of progress; it looks as though we can (almost) all agree on that, these days.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

View From The Brextanic

March 5, 2019

View From The Brextanic

Marcel Duchamp **Sad young man on a train – Nude study** 1911-12

Longtime Automatic Earth friend Alexander Aston talks about finding himself at Oxford at a point in time when the British themselves appear overcome by a combo of utter confusion and deadly lethargy, and one can only imagine what it must be like for ‘foreigners’ residing in Albion, who face large potential changes to their lives and know there’s not a thing they can do about it, not even vote.

I like the observation that the entire British political system, the place where decisions are made, is the size of a small village. That’s a visual we can all relate to. It’s a physical limit as well as a mental one. I’m all for sovereignty and self-determination, but how’s that going to work if you can’t even see the boundaries of your own territory?

Guys, it’s 4 weeks to D-Day today. How about we call off the landing, get a few pints instead, and talk? First round’s on me.

Here’s Alexander:

Alexander Aston: I arrived in the UK in 2015 to undertake interdisciplinary research at the University of Oxford. I am a child of the Empire, a cultural product of Britannia’s oldest colonies in the British Isles, her most important colony now turned empire as well as one of her youngest, Zimbabwe. The UK is both an intimately familiar society and yet one that is also strangely alien for me, like a wealthy, often charming and deeply abusive parent that sparks both self-recognition and rejection.

The ‘leave’ referendum occurred close to a year after I arrived in the UK and is one of the few political events over the past few years that surprised me.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Warmer waters leave Irish anglers fishless

January 16, 2019

Warmer waters leave Irish anglers fishless

Anglers’ prize: But the salmon is not doing well in Irish waters. Image: Via Wikimedia Commons [public domain]

Irish anglers are having little luck as fish feel the effects of warmer waters − which are also increasing greenhouse gases.

WEST OF IRELAND, 16 January, 2019 − Unusually high temperatures in 2018 have left many Irish anglers frustrated as fish struggle to survive in the Emerald Isle’s lakes and rivers, with the rising heat also causing an increase in methane emissions.

Now changes in climate could threaten the anglers’ activities, putting in jeopardy what is a multi-million euro leisure industry.

Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), a state agency, says that a heat wave across Ireland in the summer of 2018 caused temperatures in the country’s lakes and rivers to rise to what it describes as lethal levels for a number of freshwater fish species.

The IFI’s findings, reported in the Irish Times newspaper, indicate that the two most affected species were salmon and trout – both prized by the freshwater fishing community.

“The 2018 summer water temperatures need to be considered in the context of climate change predictions”, Cathal Gallagher, the IFI’s head of research, told the Irish Times.“If temperatures continue to increase, sensitive cold water fish species will be at risk.”

Long heat

The warming trends were most noted in the west of Ireland, says the IFI. One of the worst affected rivers was the Owenriff in County Galway, where temperatures well above summer time norms were recorded over a prolonged period.

Dr Gallagher says high temperatures could lead to localised extinction of native fish diversity in the future; there would be knock-on economic losses.

“We would reach a stage where the Owenriff catchment or similar catchments become inhospitable to brown trout and salmon over the summer period in the near future.”

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Irish Central Bank Refuses To Discuss If Gold Reserves Are In Bank of England Vaults

December 7, 2018

Irish Central Bank Refuses To Discuss If Gold Reserves Are In Bank of England Vaults

– As Brexit looms, the Central Bank of Ireland has refused to discuss the location and value of Irish gold reserves
– No date given for removal of “commercially sensitive” gold reserves from Bank of England vaults
– Bank of England vaults in London believed to hold almost €200 million of Irish gold
– Ireland’s financial system & economy is hugely exposed to a Brexit downturn

via Irish Independent:

IRELAND’S Central Bank has refused to say if it plans to move almost €200m worth of gold bars from the vaults of the Bank of England as a result of Brexit, insisting that any such move would be “commercially sensitive”.

The gold reserves have been held by its UK counterpart for a number of years, and the Central Bank has traditionally been coy on the precise details of the reserves, and the terms of the arrangement it has with the Bank of England.

It refused to be drawn yesterday on whether the reserves would be removed from the Bank of England either before or after the Brexit deadline of next March.

“It is for the Central Bank to determine how Ireland’s gold reserves ought to be managed,” a spokeswoman told the Irish Independent.

“The Central Bank’s portfolio is managed in line with approved parameters, which are kept under regular review and we report on key activities and developments in our annual report,” she added.

“The Central Bank’s transactions in gold are commercially sensitive and no further comment can be made at this time,” she said.

The latest Central Bank annual report shows that it had €209.3m worth of gold and gold receivables on its books at the end of 2017.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

If Ireland Can Reject Fossil Fuels, Your Town Can Too

August 19, 2018

If Ireland Can Reject Fossil Fuels, Your Town Can Too

On Thursday, July 12th, a small, rainy island in the North Atlantic proved it was on the right side of history.

The Republic of Ireland passed a bill to divest its $370 million worth of investments in around 150 fossil fuel companies within five years. Should the bill pass the Irish Senate in September, which it is expected to do, Ireland will become the first country to fully divest from fossil fuels.

This action marks a huge step forward.

For years now, neighborhood climate activists have pressured cities, universities, and governments to divest their holdings in fossil fuel companies. The idea is to defund and denounce the industry that contributes the most to climate change, funds climate denial, and prevents climate action.

With its divestment bill, Ireland will join a group of almost 900 cities, universities, and governments that have collectively divested over $6 trillion from the extractive fossil fuel economy.

As a leader of a fossil fuel divestment campaign on my college campus in Massachusetts, Ireland’s leadership offers a fun bit of leverage: If an entire country can fully divest from fossil fuels and not crumble into financial despair (in fact, fossil fuels have been a losing investment for years), my university can surely divest its endowment from this destructive industry without harming its revenues.

Ireland’s leadership can also inspire local governments to divest their pension funds from fossil fuels. While it’s quite unlikely that our current federal government will follow in Ireland’s footsteps, American cities and towns can take a stand against the fossil fuel industry one pension fund at a time.

New York City’s pledge to divest its $189 billion pension fund from fossil fuels is perhaps the most ambitious of these commitments. Not only is the city divesting — it’s also suing five fossil fuel firms for their contributions to climate change.

Equally compelling, however, are the numerous smaller American cities that have committed to full divestment from fossil fuels.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Shrinkflation In Ireland – Real Inflation Much Higher Than Reported

June 28, 2017

Shrinkflation In Ireland – Real Inflation Much Higher Than Reported

Shrinkflation – Real inflation much higher than reported and realised
Shrinkflation is taking hold in consumer sector
Important consumer, financial, monetary and economic issue being largely ignored by financial analysts, financial advisers, economists, central banks and the media.
Food becoming more expensive as consumers get less for price paid
A form of stealth inflation, few can avoid it
Brexit is the scapegoat for shrinkflation by the media and companies
Consumers blame retailers rather than central banks
Gold hedge has doubled in value since 2007

Editor: Mark O’Byrne

Shrinkflation: no one left untouched

600 new words entered our official lexicon this week as the Oxford English Dictionary announced the latest new additions to their online records.

One of the words reportedly up for consideration was shrinkflation. It did not make the final cut and as a result continues to be defined by the authority as ‘a portmanteau, made from combining shrink: ‘to become or make smaller in size’, with the economic sense of inflation: ‘a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of money’.

In order for a word to be accepted into the OED it must have been in use for at least five years. But the latest list suggests that this isn’t the case and exceptions can be made. The inclusion of ‘superbrat’, a word which is usually associated with the behaviour of John McEnroe in the 1970s, actually dates back to the the 1950s.

Yet, shrinkflation continues to elude the world’s authority on the English language. This seems bizarre to us given both the word and the phenomenon and something consumers have been experiencing for a number of years.

Although it is understandable in the context of an important consumer, financial and economic issue which is being largely ignored by financial analysts, financial advisers, economists and the media.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Not So Fast: Scotland And Northern Ireland May Have Brexit Veto Rights

June 25, 2016

Not So Fast: Scotland And Northern Ireland May Have Brexit Veto Rights

Two days after the shocking Brexit result, the nightmares for the Remain camp – which refuses to accept a democratic reality – will not go away. As a result, it has gotten to the farcical point where disgruntled Remain voters have launched a petition demanding a second EU referendum, having clearly forgotten that it was the dramatically low turnout among their ranks that allowed the Leave vote to have such a knockout victory. To be sure this is a well-known technocrat approach: keep voting and revoting until the desired outcome is finally achieved.

We doubt this particular approach has any hope of success. We also doubt that a call by Labor MP David Lammy, urging for a vote in Parliament to “stop this madness”, the madness in question being the will of the majority, which clearly is not appreciated by a member of a “democratically” elected institution. One can spend all day analyzing the amusing ironies in that statement.

View image on Twitter

Follow

David Lammy ✔@DavidLammy

Wake up. We do not have to do this. We can stop this madness through a vote in Parliament. My statement below

11:36 AM – 25 Jun 2016

However, while these are merely desperation antics by a group who will do almost anything to hang on to the benefits presented to them by the status quo, regardless of the will of the majority, a curious observation has emerged courtesy of Jim Fitzpatrick, who points out that according to the 28-page government Command Paper laying out “The Process of withdrawing from the European Union“, which goes through the infamous Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), the first time in history when Article 50 will be invoked, there may actually be a hurdle to the actual Brexit process, in the form of a Scottish and Northern Irish veto to Britain’s separation from the EU. To wit:

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Jim Grant Asks When The World Will Realize “That Central Bankers Have Lost Their Marbles”

May 6, 2016

Jim Grant Asks When The World Will Realize “That Central Bankers Have Lost Their Marbles”

April 15 comes and goes but the federal debt stays and grows. The secrets of its life force are the topics at hand— that and some guesswork about how the upsurge in financial leverage, private and public alike, may bear on the value of the dollar and on the course of monetary affairs. Skipping down to the bottom line, we judge that the government’s money is a short sale.

Diminishing returns is the essential problem of the debt: Past a certain level of encumbrance, a marginal dollar of borrowing loses its punch. There’s a moral dimension to the problem as well. There would be less debt if people were more angelic. Non-angels, the taxpayers underpay, the bureaucrats over-remit and everyone averts his gaze from the looming titanic cost of future medical entitlements. Topping it all is 21st-century monetary policy, which fosters the credit formation that leads to the debt dead end. The debt dead end may, in fact, be upon us now. A monetary dead end could follow.

As to sin, Americans surrender, in full and on time, 83% of what they owe, according to the IRS—or they did between the years 2001 and 2006, the latest period for which America’s most popular federal agency has sifted data. In 2006, the IRS reckons, American filers, both individuals and corporations, paid $450 billion less than they owed. They underreported $376 billion, underpaid $46 billion and kept mum about (“nonfiled”) $28 billion. Recoveries, through late payments or enforcement actions, reduced that gross deficiency to a net “tax gap” of $385 billion.

This was in 2006, when federal tax receipts footed to $2.31 trillion. Ten years later, the U.S. tax take is expected to reach $3.12 trillion.Proportionally, the 2006 gross tax gap would translate to $607.7 billion, and the net tax gap to $520 billion.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

The SPV Loophole: Draghi Just Unleashed “QE For The Entire World”… And May Have Bailed Out US Shale

April 22, 2016

The SPV Loophole: Draghi Just Unleashed “QE For The Entire World”… And May Have Bailed Out US Shale

Almost exactly one year ago, we wrote “Mario Draghi, Collateral Scarcity, And Why The ECB Will Soon Buy Corporate Bonds.” 11 months later, the ECB confirmed this when for the first time ever, Mario Draghi said he would do purchase corporate bonds when he launched the ECB’s Corporate Sector Purchase Programme (CSPP), confirming that with government bond collateral evaporating and the liquidity situation getting precariously dangerous and forcing moments of historic volatility (as in the April/May 2015 Bund fiasco), he had run out of other options.

And while we have been covering this key development closely since its announcement more than a month ago, we were surprised by how little attention most of the sellside was paying to what is clearly a watershed moment in capital markets as a central banks now openly backstops corporate bond issuance (among other things pointing out a month ago Why The ECB Will Be Forced To Buy Junk Bonds Next). Ironically, the market was fully aware of what the ECB’s action meant as we showed in the “The ECB Effect: European Telecom Issues Largest Ever Junk Bond After More Than 100% Upsizing.”

Now, following the release of the full details of its corporate bond buying program, analysts are once again keenly focused on hits program who impact will be dramatic over the coming years.

First, as a reminder, here are the big picture details:

May buy in primary and secondary markets
Issue share limit of 70% per ISIN
Inclusion of bonds issued by insurance companies
Can buy bonds of companies incorporated in the euro area whose ultimate parent is not based in the euro area
Remaining maturity of 6 months and maximum of 30Y

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

How Italy will fail and drag down the European Project

February 23, 2016

How Italy will fail and drag down the European Project

Italy is big enough to matter (it is the eight largest economy on the planet), but so uneventful that most does not pay any attention to what is going on there. We contend that Italy will, during the next year or two, be on everyone’s radar screen as it has the potential to derail the European project for real.

Greece, Portugal and Ireland were mere test subjects for what will come. Spain would have been a challenge, but were narrowly avoided. Italy will drag the whole structure down if it continues on its current trajectory, and there is nothing to suggest it will change course.

The main problem for Italy is its stagnating level of nominal GDP, which we refer to as “Japanificaton” of the economy. While people usually think of deflation when they hear “Japan”, that is not an entirely correct observation. It is true that nominal GDP flat lined after the crisis in the 1990s which dragged down revenue. However, if it was truly a deflationary period, expenditures should fall also as prices paid for services rendered would drop concomitantly. This has not been the case and it is more correct to say Japan has been trapped in a revenue / NGDP deflation, hence the perceived need for Abenomics, or in plain English, the creation of a helluva lot of currency units to boost NGDP and revenue and thus reduce the need for bond issuance. As our first chart show, so far it has been modestly successful. Please note that Abenomics have nothing to do with creating real prosperity (no one can be that ignorant), but all about getting the spiraling debt problem under control by jacking up the inflation tax.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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