by Frank Schnittger
Thu Feb 6th, 2025 at 06:50:58 PM EST
For many years, the Israeli far right have debated how to clear all of Palestine of Palestinians and give Jews untrammeled control of all of the territory as part of a one state Greater Israel project. 2.7 million Palestinians have already been displaced into refugee camps in Jordan and illegal Jewish settlements have steadily encroached on further Palestinian settlements, land, and precious freshwater sources throughout the region. While officially Israel has not rejected the UN favoured "two state solution," in practice it has made it impossible because there simply isn't one contiguous territory for Palestinians to occupy any more.
by Frank Schnittger
Tue Jan 28th, 2025 at 11:12:00 PM EST
Cross posted from Slugger O'Toole where there are 400 comments and counting.
The core of Woke is about respect for others, and especially others of a different gender, sexuality, identity, race, country of origin, religion, linguistic preference, culture or demographic. Most of us have no problem with that. But there was also a veritable industry supporting the development of those values in academia, non-governmental agencies (see equality agencies), public services, and latterly, in large corporations. A cancel culture developed around this industry whereby anyone who doesn't fully subscribe to this ideology could find themselves losing platforms they previously had access to. It was good marketing to be seen to be on board.
by Frank Schnittger
Fri Jan 24th, 2025 at 05:12:21 PM EST
Many Americans I meet in Europe are embarrassed by Trump and say that he doesn't represent the real America. When you consider that he has always had negative approval ratings, including throughout his entire first term and during the 2024 election campaign, they may have had a point. Gerrymandering, voter suppression, and the preponderance of smaller states with Republican majorities have enabled Republicans to gain control of the Presidency for his first term, and Congress, the Senate, and consequently the Supreme Court despite being behind in the popular vote.
by Frank Schnittger
Sat Jan 18th, 2025 at 11:03:33 PM EST
One of my former managers had a catchphrase to the effect that one of the qualities that characterised your potential to rise to senior management was the ability to tolerate ambiguity. The greater one's responsibilities became, the less black and white the choices become. You have to be able to tolerate situations where there are many competing points of view and no right answers. The solutions are at best messy compromises which may have to be tweaked from time to time as circumstances change.
He rose to the top of the management tree, so he should know.
by Frank Schnittger
Wed Jan 15th, 2025 at 05:29:59 PM EST
The Six nations squads have been announced and bar the usual injuries, not many surprises are contained therein. Ireland seek to win the Six Nations for an unprecedented third time in a row without their head coach, Andy Farrell, who is away on Lion's duty, and with a tough match against England in Lansdowne Rd. to start the ball rolling. Tough assignments against a resurgent Scotland away and a France team this year featuring the world's best player, Antoine Dupont, will also present a difficult challenge. Italy have been improving in recent seasons, but Wales are in the doldrums having lost their last 12 tests in a row.
by Frank Schnittger
Wed Jan 8th, 2025 at 11:10:21 PM EST
The Irish exchequer recorded a record surplus of €12.8 Billion in 2024, helped in no small measure by a one off receipt of €11 Billion in tax arrears from Apple following a ruling of the European Court of Justice. Even without that bonanza, corporate taxes increased by 18% to €28.1 Billion, Income Tax rose by 6.6% to €35.1 Billion, VAT receipts increased by 7.3% to €21.8 Billion, Excise duties were up 11.8% to €6.3 Billion and sundry other tax receipts were up by 6.9% to €5.8 Billion.
by Frank Schnittger
Tue Dec 31st, 2024 at 10:20:33 AM EST
Arnold Carton recently had an excellent OP up comparing Donald Trump to Julius Caesar and noting that there is sometimes no turning back from Republican to dictatorial Imperial rule. Another less talked about aspect of the fall of the Roman Empire was the ruinous cost of conducting so many military campaigns with succeeding Emperors (who often only lasted a few months before being killed by rivals or their own men) simply issuing more currency to finance them.
by Frank Schnittger
Wed Dec 11th, 2024 at 09:31:00 PM EST
Crossposted from Slugger O'Toole
In preparing for the Slugger end of year review I had a quick look back at the 74 OPs I published on Slugger during the year to refresh my memory of the key events of the year, or at least those that grabbed my attention.
by Frank Schnittger
Tue Dec 3rd, 2024 at 12:05:58 PM EST
Cross-posted from Slugger O'Toole
Our esteemed founder and Editor, Mick Fealty, has an opinion piece up entitled If Election 2024 is anything to go by Fianna Fáil's slow growth approach seems to be working just fine which is a tendentious reading of the election result, if not downright misleading.
by Frank Schnittger
Mon Dec 2nd, 2024 at 08:40:57 PM EST
The above graphic is an RTE snapshot of the state of the parties at the time this blog was originally published
by Frank Schnittger
Thu Nov 21st, 2024 at 09:36:57 PM EST
An Irish general election has been called for the 29th. November when the ruling coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and the Greens will try to ward of the threat of Sinn Féin and a plethora of minor parties and independents.
by Frank Schnittger
Sat Nov 2nd, 2024 at 07:57:14 PM EST
Based on the most recent opinion polling, Trump will win the electoral college.
by Frank Schnittger
Fri Oct 18th, 2024 at 10:22:40 PM EST
For a long time I have tried to understand politics in terms of marketing, policy and administrative competence. It's about selling ideas, developing coherent policies, appealing to different demographics, and showing an ability to master the complex dynamics of managing change in huge bureaucracies.
But sometimes you also have to admit you got it almost entirely wrong. By those measures Trump should be 20 percentage points behind in the US election campaign, and yet he has remained consistently 2.4 to 3.2% behind Harris in polling of the popular vote, and within sight of winning the electoral college.
by Frank Schnittger
Wed Oct 2nd, 2024 at 07:37:17 PM EST
by Frank Schnittger
Tue Sep 17th, 2024 at 07:47:44 PM EST
Following Trump's disastrous debate performance, Taylor Swift released the following statement:
by Frank Schnittger
Tue Sep 10th, 2024 at 10:39:02 AM EST
Crossposted from Slugger O'Toole
by Frank Schnittger
Tue Sep 3rd, 2024 at 10:33:55 PM EST
This is the fifth of a series of posts on the US elections following on from Hitler with Nukes? (July 21st.), A Dead Bear Bounce for Kennedy? (Aug. 5th.), The Tipping Point: Kamala Harris versus Donald Trump (Aug. 12th.), and Kamala Harris Surge? (Aug. 21st.) Most of the titles had question marks as the precise shape of the campaigns had still to emerge, especially after the withdrawal of President Biden from the race.
by Frank Schnittger
Sun Sep 1st, 2024 at 02:39:23 PM EST
I love to blog because I love to write, but also to engage with those who do me the honour of reading and engaging what I have written. I am grateful when they point out errors in my writing because that is how I learn. In particular, I am grateful to the denizens of Slugger O'Toole who have taught me so much of what little I know of Northern Ireland.
Crossposted from Slugger O'Toole
by Frank Schnittger
Thu Aug 22nd, 2024 at 03:08:25 PM EST
Just a few weeks ago Trump was leading Biden in almost all the key battleground states. He had beaten Biden in the Presidential debate, had had a triumphant coronation at the Republican National Convention, and was approaching sainthood as the bullet missed his head by mere inches. His devoted followers interpreted that as a sign from God that he was truly the blessed one. Even his anointment of JP Vance as his Vice Presidential nominee could be dismissed as "not very important" when it turned out to be unpopular with the voters.
by Frank Schnittger
Wed Aug 21st, 2024 at 08:02:40 AM EST
Doug Beattie has resigned the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party citing "irreconcilable differences" with party officers.
