Not knowing what the worst people in the world were thinking every fucking day

DETE increases military export licences to US, Germany It failed to publish because of “a new IT system”.

After failing to publish data on Irish companies granted licences for military exports to the US and Germany because of “a new IT system”, the Department of Enterprise has confirmed the licences increased by tens of millions of euros between 2024 and 2025

www.ontheditch.com/department-o...

My modular home is 45m, but it’s not in the back of someone’s garden. They could be one good way of tackling the housing crisis, in a state run building programme of purpose built homes where tenants can live with autonomy, but not as overpriced sheds rammed into existing properties

Could it possibly be time to reform our chronically dysfunctional farming model to another that *isn't* utterly disastrous for nature, the climate, and consumers?

Three legged black and white cat points her toes in a long stretch on a grey sofa

She’s the embodiment of the grand stretch in the evening
#SpeirGorm

City dwellers have higher incomes than people living in countryside, CSO finds The statistical breakdown comes after comments from former taoiseach Leo Varadkar last week on the rural and urban divide

Some really fascinating insights in this latest release from the CSO about urban and rural lives. The categorisation of different areas is very well done - and very crucial to understanding it
www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41...

We can't avoid reckoning with the amount of crops globally used to feed farmed animals. They require massive inputs relative to the output in calories.

What is this Government’s vision for the future of young people in Ireland?

In at least one Dublin house, dozens are sharing overcrowded rooms and paying hundreds for a bed.

This is not a housing system. It is a return to tenement conditions.

*Turns on #FreeState podcast*

4:34: Economist guest: "I hate using the term 'the far-right', because the left and the right are becoming the same thing at the minute."

*Turns off #FreeState podcast*

Ireland, 2026.
These two photos were taken yesterday at the same location - Ballyogan recycling centre- within 20 metres of one another.

every problem in ireland can be explained by that graph that went around last week showing irelands GDP to dogshit low infrastructure spending. That's it! "Why is {x} in Ireland so bad", put a finger to their lips and point to the graph. People living in sheds in gardens? Bus times? Riots? The graph

Sitka Spruce the Amazing Timber Tree This is "Sitka Spruce the Amazing Timber Tree" by iPLANiT Productions on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

This video, and 2 copies of the matching book, have been sent to **every primary school in Ireland**.

It's possibly THE most outrageous industry propaganda I've ever seen. The descriptions of Sitka deadzones are so totally false, it's hard to know where to even start.
share.google/0vebeGw2dwTd...

Northampton couple who met on bus ride double decker to wedding The pair are now married after meeting during their commute last summer.

Everything is terrible. So here is a NICE THING.

Him: What would be your dream job
Me: Oh that's easy. Sitting on the back of a motorbike on the Tour de France pushing idiots into the ditch
Him: Oh come off it there's no such job
Me:

15% of fossil fuels extracted each year are used to make fertiliser, run farms, process foods and transport them. In a very real sense our food is made from oil and gas.

We are about to feel a very painful food shock.
1/

A serious contribution to the discourse from our friend Aidan O’Brien.

Don’t be a bystander to this moral death & decay in Irish society.

Anticommunists: THEY'LL HAVE YOU LIVING IN CRAMPED HIGH RISES WHERE YOU'LL BARELY BE ABLE TO MOVE!!!!!

Actual Capitalists: Live in sheds you whiny cunts we have houses to sell and keep empty

Online abuse of politicians is a profitable business Senator Eileen Flynn's comments on far-right use of the tricolour have made her a lightning rod for online abuse — because viral hatred is highly profitable

Online abuse of politicians is a profitable business

www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

Online abuse of politicians is a profitable business Senator Eileen Flynn's comments on far-right use of the tricolour have made her a lightning rod for online abuse — because viral hatred is highly profitable

‘Online abuse of politicians is a profitable business-Monetisation and algorithmic amplification has turned peddling disinformation, hate speech, and harassment into a for-profit industry’.The far right Irish blue ‘thicks’ who went after Eileen cash in on hate.
www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

LO, and might I add, L

Online abuse of politicians is a profitable business Senator Eileen Flynn's comments on far-right use of the tricolour have made her a lightning rod for online abuse - because viral hatred is highly profitable

In the space of a few weeks in 2025, Simon Harris required armed gardaí at his family home due to multiple bomb threats, while former taoiseach Leo Varadkar was subjected to a homophobic tirade by a self-styled citizen journalist who filmed the confrontation for social media. A man is due before the courts in July in connection with an alleged assault on Mary Lou McDonald and two canvassers the day before the presidential election last year. The incident was filmed and went viral online. So, last week when a video of Senator Eileen Flynn speaking about racism and nationalist propaganda went viral, a predictable and inevitable online pile on began, with posts attacking Flynn's "patriotism" or perceived

Much of the abuse directed at Ms Flynn came from Irish accounts run by people who benefit from algorithmically amplification (so called blue tick accounts), and content monetisation. Monetisation is now a commonplace feature on social media platforms like X/Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, that allows the company to "share" revenue. The more attention (likes, shares, comments etc) a post gets, the more revenue a user earns. Influencers also often have accounts on three or four platforms and post dozens of times a day, and can also benefit from tips, and paid subscribers so it is difficult to gauge how much they earn, but a single viral post on X can generate over €300 for an influencer, so this can become a quite lucrative activity for not a lot of work. Power

The abuse directed at Ms Flynn did not only come from Irish accounts; international social media influencers whose attention was already on Ireland since the fuel protests latched onto it too. Defiant Ls, an account run by a Macedonian influencer who promotes Maga content shared the video, as did the account LibsofTikTok, with the caption, 'Irish Senator Eileen Flynn says that she is "terrified" to see her nation's flag and thinks it's "disgraceful" to fly it', received more than 250,000 views and over 1,300 comments, mostly abusive. LibsOfTikTok has nearly five million fans and the account is run by Chaya Raichik, a right wing influencer who has previously targeted schools, hospitals and libraries across the United States. Victims of her attention have gone to be inundated with threats of violence.

I have a piece in the Examiner today on how content monetisation is fuelling a new wave of online harassment

Irish influencers with monetised accounts are mimicking the behaviour of people like Chaya Raichik, the owner of LibsOfTikTok, who has turned online abuse & harassment into a business model.

Autism causes vaccines

“Palantir’s manifesto, which embraces AI state surveillance of citizens along with national service in the USA, is either a parody of a RoboCop film, or a disturbing narcissistic rant from an arrogant organisation,” said Martin Wrigley, a Lib Dem MP & member of the HofC science & technology SC

'Predator' leaders seeking new 'world order' - Amnesty The leaders of the United States, Israel and Russia are seeking to impose a new "predatory" world order while most countries are too cowardly to stop them, rights group Amnesty International said.

The leaders of the United States, Israel and Russia are seeking to impose a new "predatory" world order while most countries are too cowardly to stop them, rights group Amnesty International said

Germany Is Reinventing Itself as a Weapons Factory As autos and heavy manufacturing falter, Berlin is steering factories, workers and capital toward rearming Europe.

Remember when Catherine Connolly warned of Germany's military-industrial complex.

'As its export model breaks down, Germany is pivoting from cars to cannons—and trying to turn industrial decline into a defense boom.'

www.wsj.com/world/europe...

Celebrating World Curlew Day

An Taisce is delighted to support Breeding Waders EIP with collaborative conservation work in Mongan Bog Offaly, one of our properties held in trust

Nesting birds are at their most vulnerable now, so let's work together to respect their space & keep dogs on leads

Almost everything we argue about is a substitute for the thing we should be arguing about: the immense wealth & power of an oligarchic class, which captures governments, ruins lives and wrecks the living planet.
This class redirects our rage at scapegoats. To resist its lies is to resist its power.

All those "show us what you looked like ten years ago" or "show your green art/animal art/art of women" memes are being used to train AI

But what if you want to funnel a load of money to hoteliers

Tim Cook donated $1M to Trump’s inauguration.

He fawned over Trump and gifted him a 24-karat gold plaque (as Apple lobbied for tariff exemptions).

Apple donated to Trump’s White House ballroom.

And it removed ICE tracking apps from its stores following a demand from the DOJ.

Remember this.