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offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

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The Saker

Indymedia ireland

Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Fraud and mismanagement at University College Cork Thu Aug 28, 2025 18:30 | Calli Morganite
UCC has paid huge sums to a criminal professor
This story is not for republication. I bear responsibility for the things I write. I have read the guidelines and understand that I must not write anything untrue, and I won't.
This is a public interest story about a complete failure of governance and management at UCC.

offsite link Deliberate Design Flaw In ChatGPT-5 Sun Aug 17, 2025 08:04 | Mind Agent
Socratic Dialog Between ChatGPT-5 and Mind Agent Reveals Fatal and Deliberate 'Design by Construction' Flaw
This design flaw in ChatGPT-5's default epistemic mode subverts what the much touted ChatGPT-5 can do... so long as the flaw is not tickled, any usage should be fine---The epistemological question is: how would anyone in the public, includes you reading this (since no one is all knowing), in an unfamiliar domain know whether or not the flaw has been tickled when seeking information or understanding of a domain without prior knowledge of that domain???!

This analysis is a pretty unique and significant contribution to the space of empirical evaluation of LLMs that exist in AI public world... at least thus far, as far as I am aware! For what it's worth--as if anyone in the ChatGPT universe cares as they pile up on using the "PhD level scholar in your pocket".

According to GPT-5, and according to my tests, this flaw exists in all LLMs... What is revealing is the deduction GPT-5 made: Why ?design choice? starts looking like ?deliberate flaw?.

People are paying $200 a month to not just ChatGPT, but all major LLMs have similar Pro pricing! I bet they, like the normal user of free ChatGPT, stay in LLM's default mode where the flaw manifests itself. As it did in this evaluation.

offsite link AI Reach: Gemini Reasoning Question of God Sat Aug 02, 2025 20:00 | Mind Agent
Evaluating Semantic Reasoning Capability of AI Chatbot on Ontologically Deep Abstract (bias neutral) Thought
I have been evaluating AI Chatbot agents for their epistemic limits over the past two months, and have tested all major AI Agents, ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Perplexity, and DeepSeek, for their epistemic limits and their negative impact as information gate-keepers.... Today I decided to test for how AI could be the boon for humanity in other positive areas, such as in completely abstract realms, such as metaphysical thought. Meaning, I wanted to test the LLMs for Positives beyond what most researchers benchmark these for, or have expressed in the approx. 2500 Turing tests in Humanity?s Last Exam.. And I chose as my first candidate, Google DeepMind's Gemini as I had not evaluated it before on anything.

offsite link Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem finally Admits It is Genocide releasing Our Genocide report Fri Aug 01, 2025 23:54 | 1 of indy
We have all known it for over 2 years that it is a genocide in Gaza
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has finally admitted what everyone else outside Israel has known for two years is that the Israeli state is carrying out a genocide in Gaza

Western governments like the USA are complicit in it as they have been supplying the huge bombs and missiles used by Israel and dropped on innocent civilians in Gaza. One phone call from the USA regime could have ended it at any point. However many other countries are complicity with their tacit approval and neighboring Arab countries have been pretty spinless too in their support

With the release of this report titled: Our Genocide -there is a good chance this will make it okay for more people within Israel itself to speak out and do something about it despite the fact that many there are actually in support of the Gaza

offsite link China?s CITY WIDE CASH SEIZURES Begin ? ATMs Frozen, Digital Yuan FORCED Overnight Wed Jul 30, 2025 21:40 | 1 of indy
This story is unverified but it is very instructive of what will happen when cash is removed
THIS STORY IS UNVERIFIED BUT PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO OR READ THE TRANSCRIPT AS IT GIVES AN VERY GOOD IDEA OF WHAT A CASHLESS SOCIETY WILL LOOK LIKE. And it ain't pretty

A single video report has come out of China claiming China's biggest cities are now cashless, not by choice, but by force. The report goes on to claim ATMs have gone dark, vaults are being emptied. And overnight (July 20 into 21), the digital yuan is the only currency allowed.

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Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Upon This Ice I Will Build My Church, Says Leo XIV Wed Oct 08, 2025 13:00 | James Alexander
Not until Leo XIV did we have a picture of a holy man staring at an ice cube with his hand on it, respectfully gazing as if imagining the whisky that could go with such a rock, says Prof James Alexander.
The post Upon This Ice I Will Build My Church, Says Leo XIV appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Sir Lenny Henry Wants ?18 Trillion of Slavery Reparations Wed Oct 08, 2025 11:17 | Sallust
Sir Lenny Henry has called for Britain to pay ?18 trillion in reparations to black people, arguing in a new book that high rates of black crime and unemployment are "all because of the slave trade".
The post Sir Lenny Henry Wants ?18 Trillion of Slavery Reparations appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link How Representative is X of UK Public Opinion? Wed Oct 08, 2025 09:00 | Noah Carl
Britain's political class is addicted to X, but how representative Is the platform? According to recent YouGov polls, only 1 in 6 people uses X daily, and most people view it unfavourably.
The post How Representative is X of UK Public Opinion? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Hugh Grant Teams Up With Climate Activists Wed Oct 08, 2025 07:00 | Charlotte Gill
Last week Hugh Grant, one of several celebrities behind press censorship campaign group Hacked Off, announced a joint campaign with 38 Degrees, a radical climate activist group. Charlotte Gill investigates what's going on.
The post Hugh Grant Teams Up With Climate Activists appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Wed Oct 08, 2025 01:19 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Tasted Like a Sausage Sandwich

category national | politics / elections | opinion/analysis author Sunday November 23, 2008 19:32author by Hilary Report this post to the editors

Political Quiz:

You were the Fianna Fáil Minister for Finance during the last few years. There is a massive economic crash landing happening because of your policies, which focused economic activity on selling houses to each other rather than building up things like education, culture, home grown industry etc. What do you do now?

1.Make the poor pay- strip funding from pensioners, students, schoolkids and the under-priviliged.

2.Blame the international situation.

3.Blame the people who voted against Lisbon.

4. Put your hands up, admit your mistakes, and invest in basic services which will make the recession a bit more bearable for everyone.

(hint- this is Fianna Fáil remember...)

Anyway, at least he's not Enda Kenny.
Draft Enda Kenny Election Poster
Draft Enda Kenny Election Poster

Recently, the incredible hash that the government are making of everything they touch has led some people to suggest that all the opposition have to do to take power is shut the fuck up.

Cowen and Gormley and Harney will lose the election because they they are attacking their own base- middle class parents who don't want to pay university fees, the old who like having free medical care, teachers and the parents of schoolkids who like the idea of a slowly improving educational set-up, and of course, those who want to see things like the cervical cancer virus rolled out and the health system improved for those who can and cannot pay.

But his weekend, Enda Kenny in a speech to his party gave every public sector in the country a good reason to hope he never becomes taoiseach, when he said the national pay agreement should not be honoured.

Way to go, Enda, annoy ordinary workers and piss off the unions.

Meanwhile here's a video on Brian Cowen which might raise a laugh...

author by Hilarypublication date Sun Nov 23, 2008 19:36author address author phone Report this post to the editors

it seems videos don't work when you have the site set up to display in Irish for reason... here is another go:

Caption: Video Id: ae_EyHFNuWU Type: Youtube Video
Embedded video Youtube Video


author by Michael - Human Leaguepublication date Sun Nov 23, 2008 20:28author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Well done Hilary.
I see what you are saying about King Kenny and his mish mash of old ''broilers'' who know in their heart of hearts that we really can see through the
Blueshirts and their zany ''policies'' of cut and slash the P.A.Y.E. old reliables who are so vulnerable to BURY.
Bad as things appear to look on the financial horizon i ,and millions of irish alike ,would prefer The Divel We Know ( F.F.) to make amends as to the
above mentioned. King Kenny cant even sort out the Shell 2 Sea scandal in the wesht , i rest my case.
What we must be grateful for is quite evident ,ie the elderly Irish people have scared Cowen &Co. in a way that shook the very foundation of The State
to the point of pure hysteria which is now ''on a roll'' in more ways than 1. Cowen & Co. are in dread of the People Of Ireland and it is showing in the faces
of Fianna Failers the length of Ireland .
They got us into this now i say let them pay for the mistakes and get us out of it , as you so rightly said of King Kenny and his smirky speech on pay
restraints etc and that showed the blueshirts hand and the ruthless bastards that their history has shown them to be.
No ,let Cowen accept his responsibilities and earn his pension like we all have to ,and this time keep F.F. In power and make them effen sweat.

As for Harney she will be Gone by January 09 citing ''Get me out of here i'm a celebrity'' , and gone she is. Order the Taxi now.

AS for King Kenny he sounds to me as if he wants to arrest me every time i hear his voice....Listen to him and be afraid ,Be very very afraid ....

author by Hilarypublication date Sun Nov 23, 2008 21:23author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Er, right so. Whatever you're havin yourself.

You could always vote for one of the other parties that isn't in the government? Or maybe an independent who swears he won't go into coalition with the big boys?

Anyway- the sentence in the above should read:

- -But his weekend, Enda Kenny in a speech to his party gave every public sector worker in the country a good reason to hope he never becomes taoiseach...

author by xpublication date Mon Nov 24, 2008 08:12author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The two pro business, centre right parties in Ireland (FF & FG) will take 70-80% of the vote between them at the next election. The public wants what the public gets. You wait, and watch, and dont be surprised. We've been here before, in much worse situations actually - but there wasnt any sea change, any huge shift in politics, any revolution. Street protests really dont add up to much in the end.

author by ScarBuckspublication date Mon Nov 24, 2008 10:49author address author phone Report this post to the editors

' x ' marks the spot. If 70-80 per cent of our fellow citizens blithely (?) vote for FF and FG candidates we're going to get another don't-rock-the-system form of government. Where will Labour be in all the woodpile after the votes are counted? Well it seems to me that FG's recent opposition to implementation of a public sector wage agreement is going to jar with Labour's support for the public sector - which means a coalition with the more right-leaning (leanings are relative and see-saw in Ireland) FG is out. Logically Labour might then have to "do a greenie" and go into government with FF on a cobbled Programme for Government. The last one agreed by Dick Spring in the 'eighties foundered on the Fr. Brendan Smith pedophile case extradition fiasco.

author by Segolenepublication date Mon Nov 24, 2008 11:34author address author phone Report this post to the editors

sea changes do happen though- seemingly unlikely events occur like the Lisbon referendum outcome last June (was it only last June?) which none of the centre right parties foresaw.

What would it take to wean our friends and relatives off of the FF FG tit?

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