I do not know much about it. But I think science policy nationally and internationally is a delicate balance. It's difficult to form a picture of who is doing research, what are their objectives, what are the rewards. My impression is that science is mostly controlled by commercial interests. What is invented mostly is what can sell. You have copyright and secrecy backed up by law to preserve the pitch for profit. It is easy to see the sense in this because it provides an incentive for scientists and their employers to spend time and money on research.

But there is also a negative aspect to this way of doing things. Manufacturers are not wholly induced to innovate. They might see more profit from concentrating on already discovered products. Pharmaceuticals are, perhaps, an example of this. Instead of looking for new and improved drugs, they may see more profit from continuing to produce older drugs even if they are less than perfect with lots of unwanted effects. read full story / add a comment

In an article by Tommy Sheridan, he discusses the recent suspension of former leader of the UK Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn by the party on spurious grounds that he was anti-semtic. His real crime was his sympathy with the Palestinian people and willingness to call out Israel’s human rights abuses.

The other day a thoroughly decent and honest man suffered a grave injustice. A man who has a peerless record in opposing racism and anti-Semitism was suspended by the political party he has been a member of for over fifty years, has represented it in the British Parliament since 1983 and was its leader from 2015-20.

Irony died in Britain yesterday when Jeremy Corbyn was suspended by the Labour Party with the consent and probable collusion of the man who succeeded him as leader, Sir Keir Starmer.

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UPDATE: The motion was passed despite opposition. See responses below. We believe it is important to keep emailing. Make sure they understand this is serious. The ICCL had to lobby to get a sunset clause added to the first version of this Act. There is no provision that prevents another (or indefinite) extension.

The Dáil is meeting on October 22nd 2020 to pass a motion on the extension of the above mentioned emergency measures until June 9th 2021. They are also voting for more power to enforce these measures through fines and with the help of Garda Síochána.

Many of us are concerned about the proposed extension of extraordinary powers given to the State during the Covid-19 pandemic under the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020 and would like to message our TDs about these concerns.

Unfortunately this article should have been published on Oct 20th read full story / add a comment

Tens of thousands, and perhaps now even hundreds of thousands of doctors, nurses, and many other medical professionals worldwide are taking action to combat the misinformation being propagated by governments and government-controlled media that continue to publish false propaganda regarding COVID.

The vast majority of medical professionals worldwide now seem to agree that the COVID “pandemic” and the government actions still being implemented in response to COVID are causing much more harm than COVID itself.

Almost all of these doctors and medical professionals now seem to agree that COVID is no worse than a typical flu season, and the main test being used to supposedly test for COVID, the PCR Test, is not reliable. read full story / add a comment

Today across the country all the major food retailers like Lidl, Aldi and Tesco have been banned from selling middle isle "non-essential" but really are essential items like clothes, toys, homeware and other items and there has been widespread anger. This is being co-ordinated across Europe as only last week the same thing happened in Wales, UK and other countries where co-ordinated lockdowns and curfews are being put in place. Same types of bans are widespread not only across Europe but the USA.
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In surprise move Glenn Greenwald who helped publish NSA Edward Snowden's revelations on widespread mass spying and other activities and who setup the The Intercept with Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill in 2014 as a vehicle to publish this material, has resigned from it.

He has been forced out by the editors who tried to stop him from publish his recent articles on the Joe Biden email scandal. They were trying to protect the Joe Biden camp.

He tweeted: The same trends of repression, censorship and ideological homogeneity plaguing the national press generally have engulfed the media outlet I co-founded, culminating in censorship of my own articles.

Greenwald has released a lengthy statement on this issue which we reproduce here.

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I happen to know a thing or two about masks and safety.

Why? Because for 25 years I was the editor of an award-winning trade magazine called HazMat Management that covered such topics as pollution prevention and compliance with health & safety laws.

We routinely published articles on masks, gloves, respirators and other forms of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Now let me tell you a few things about that mask you’re wearing. read full story / add a comment

There is trouble brewing in lots of countries as people are reaching their limits with these lockdowns and restrictions and this came to the surface in Rome, Italy yesterday as police unleashed a range of riot control weapons against the masses protesting.

Meanwhile last week end there were huge protests in Naples after Southern Italy declared new lockdowns and curfew. read full story / add a comment

Brussels (EU and European NATO Headquarters) – On 21 October 2020, the German Press Agency (dpa) reports that Germany pledges NATO soldiers for possible Covid-19 operations: “German soldiers could be sent on crisis missions to other NATO and partner countries during the second wave of the Corona pandemic. As a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense confirmed, the German government has promised NATO support for its “Allied Hand” emergency plan. According to this plan, medical personnel, pioneers and experts from the force would be made available for foreign missions to counter nuclear, biological or chemical hazards as required. The contingency plan is to be activated, for example, if a collapse of the health care system is imminent in allied or NATO partner countries due to very high infection rates and the affected state asks for support.” read full story / add a comment

Dave Donnellan and Colm Roddy, both with addresses in Dublin, attempted to get Shannon personnel to search a US plane for arms in 2916 and were charged with criminal damage. A jury has found them not guilty. The following report is based on sources (listed below). Due to the pandemic I was unable to attend read full story / add a comment

Three leading medical journals have refused to publish the results of the first major scientific investigation into the effects of wearing masks on the spread of COVID-19. The authors of the long-awaited “gold-standard” randomised controlled trial have admitted their findings are “controversial” and are keeping them secret until their paper has been peer-reviewed and published. The Danish newspaper Berlingske has the details. read full story / add a comment

By now, readers will be familiar with the single strongest argument against Ireland’s impending level five lockdown: Cases are rising, yes, but hospitalisations, and deaths, remain low, notwithstanding the thirteen fatalities reported yesterday. read full story / add a comment

In this report written by by Richard Gale and Gary Null PhD of the Progressive Radio Network they discuss the unreported aspects, questions and risks about the many different Covid-19 vaccines that are currently in the works. They present some of the very serious concerns about the technologies of gene based vaccines, voiced by German Professor, Dr Sucharit Bhakdi who held the Microbiology Chair at the University of Mainz in Germany for over 10 years.

If you value your own health and future, it would would be worth your while spending a few minutes reading about what they have to say.

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After running into Paul Cullen, health correspondent at the Irish Times on October 3rd during the protest march from Custom House, we had the pleasure to deepen our conversation by way of the following interview.

These are the questions presented to us:

I think your organisation pre-dates the current pandemic. What led you (and others, presumably) to set it up? Was it because of personal experiences and, if so, could you tell me a bit about these?

Ireland and other countries are currently facing repeated waves of Covid-19 infections. Do you think a vaccine, if developed, can play a role in resolving this problem?

Do you have concerns about the Covid-19 vaccines under development? Are these specific to this vaccine or general to all vaccines?

Are there any vaccines you think are useful? (On your website, you make a series of assertions about vaccines which are almost entirely negative.) Would you consider yourself, or your organisation, anti-vaccine?

What are your concerns about the likely introduction of a Covid-19 vaccine? Do you think it will be made mandatory, or that access to, say, creches or schools etc might be barred to people who are not vaccinated? What action would you take in the event of this happening?

Please tell me a bit about HFI: who set it up? who runs it? who sits on the board/council/organising committee? How is it funded?

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Patrick O'Neill told the court of Ankle monitoring in America on the Day of his sentencing. On Friday last, 16 October, Patrick O'Neill was sentenced in Georgia to 14 months in prison for a non-violent protest In Kings Bay Trident Nuclear Base on 4 April 2018. He is the third of the Kings Bay 7 to be convicted. read full story / add a comment

The country is in the grip of Covid-19 fear. The public have been frightened using manipulative figures and by emphasis on case numbers which are meaningless. Many are very concerned and know we face economic ruin and worry about the future. Mental health issues are widespread and critical. People are only reluctantly agreeing to any of this out of fear and want the whole thing to end. The media, politicians, and the medical bureaucrats with conflicts of interest have been criminal in their actions and the Left has attempted to hijack the fear to shamelessly pretend they are protecting workers when they are simply acting as shrills for multi-national Pharmaceutical & vaccine industry and thereby pushing the agenda of the Great Reset promoted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) who are the voice of the global capitalist oligarchy. Not only that anyone with a different opinion is accused as being right-wing and racist and while indeed elements on the right are have taken an position against the official narrative, it is disingenuous and arrogant of the Left to label people as being somehow misled as well as anti-science when the official narrative is being blatantly fraudulent in the way they try to wear the cloak of scientific respectively but instead are tarnishing it's reputation. We have been hearing for the last two or three weeks that cases are rising exponentially and it all seems out of control. It appears the number of deaths is rising and the media seem to be reporting the country's hospital ICU capacity is about to be over run. The government's own figures show this is not actually the case.

As we speak the government cabinet is due to meet to decide whether to put the whole country in lockdown for a massive 6 weeks at Level 5 which is basically a full lockdown. NPHET have been strongly advising for this to happen for the last two or three weeks and when the government refused to put the country in lockdown a week or two ago, NPHET were furious that their minions in the government did not follow their orders. It remains to be seen whether government ministers will like bold children repent and obey NPHET orders.

In this brief report we take the government's or rather the Health Preventive Surveillance Centre, HPSC, figures to show that the impression of out of control Covid and soaring death rate is not actually happening and there is no need for heightened fear or lockdown.

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The 7 Plowshares activists who were found guilty of damage at Kings Bay, (Georgia USA) nuclear base back in 2018 are being sentenced, Liz Mc Alister was first. Fr. Steve Kelly second. read full story / add a comment

Ivor Cummins strikes again with excellent scientific analysis of the current casedemic and the situation with Covid read full story / add a comment

This news update from Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment contains update on: The High Court Case EPA Licence Novartis Commercial Incinerator Application Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy read full story / add a comment

G20 finance ministers agreed to extend debt payment relief for the 73 poorest countries and, in principle, to have a common framework to cancel debts. The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors met on global COVID-19 response plans ahead of the Annual IMF and World Bank Meetings. read full story / add a comment