Fergus Kelly
@ferguskelly.bsky.social
460 followers 390 following 480 posts
Designer with ideas above his station. Mostly former. Lazy Sahel and Syria watcher. Battles a blowy, boggy, brambley Irish coastal garden
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ferguskelly.bsky.social
If only Ireland had a history of absentee landlordism to draw from so that it could better understand and react to this situation
ferguskelly.bsky.social
Ok so maybe I was right after all

bsky.app/profile/atru...
atrupar.com
Q: Are you going to work with your administration to designate antifa a foreign terror organization?

TRUMP: You mean anti-terror?

Q: Antifa

TRUMP: Antifa?

Q: A foreign terror organization

TRUMP: Would you like to see it done? I'd be glad to do it. Does everybody agree? It sounds good to me
ferguskelly.bsky.social
The journalist doesn’t attempt to find out what the rules actually are, they just repeat what the minister has claimed, and what ‘some have said’.

Are we to believe the security rules must be kept secret for security reasons? So secret the Oireachtas commission can’t even be asked to comment?
thejournal.ie
The Justice Minister has said he believes presidential candidate Catherine Connolly did not follow Leinster House security rules when she signed a woman who was convicted of a gun crime offence into Leinster House on a daily basis.
http://jrnl.ie/6838830t
Justice Minister says Connolly broke rules by signing Ní Shionnáin in daily at Leinster House
Jim O’Callaghan was speaking at a press conference today in which he criticised Connolly for, what he said, was a failure to follow Oireachtas rules.
jrnl.ie
Reposted by Fergus Kelly
joannestocker.bsky.social
Armies want landmines because they work. They work well. But they poison the land for generations, and I’ve met too many people whose lives have been destroyed by them.
grantwyeth.bsky.social
A piece of mine for @lowyinstitute.bsky.social on Finland's decision to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention on the banning of landmines, and how Russia's aggression is starting to unravel the international agreements around arms control, and the norms of daily behaviour in border regions.
The return of landmines marks a darker era for Europe – and the world
Countries withdrawing from the ban treaty shows how Russian hostility is forcing choices that undermine global norms.
www.lowyinstitute.org
ferguskelly.bsky.social
Thales developed a European direct competitor to APKWS eh? How fascinating …
(Not sure how effective a laser-guided anti-drone rocket might be, but it’s worth trying. Testing the system widely in Ukraine is a good plan)
Reposted by Fergus Kelly
cassetteboy.bsky.social
New! Cassetteboy vs Keir Starmer.

This took absolutely ages, so if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi.com/cassetteboy we'd really appreciate it. Thanks!
ferguskelly.bsky.social
It’s Scots and Ulster Scots for heat/heated
Reposted by Fergus Kelly
tupped.bsky.social
Brilliantly, @iamreddave.bsky.social points out that the law doesn’t allow for withdrawal of a presidential candidate after nominations have closed.

Section 30(1), Presidential Elections Act, 1993

www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1993/act...
al 30.-(1) A person in respect of whom a nomination paper has been delivered to the
ire. presidential returning officer pursuant to section 14 may withdraw his candidature at any time before the completion of the ruling on nominations but not thereafter.
Reposted by Fergus Kelly
saraita101.bsky.social
No, you're not going crazy. You did read this and also read about the PSNI arresting people in London for being members of a proscribed organization.
ferguskelly.bsky.social
Sending in paratroopers to deal with protest famously worked out *really* well in Northern Ireland
bcfinucane.bsky.social
Clear desire to use the US military against Americans for authoritarian theater.

“82nd is like our top tier [quick reaction force] for abroad. So it will cause a lot of headlines,” he added. ‘Probably why he wants potus to tell him to do it.’”
startribune.com
The messages show high-level officials in the Trump administration discussing the possible deployment of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, an infantry force that has dropped into combat zones in both World Wars, Vietnam and Afghanistan.
ferguskelly.bsky.social
Agreed, but they do have a fairly minor point in that the form asks for occupation and people are doing LinkedIn. Unless the candidate is retired or otherwise not working, it should only list what the question asks and not something else they did in the dim and distant past
ferguskelly.bsky.social
Gallagher described himself as “Former youth worker” on the previous one cdn.thejournal.ie/media/2018/1...
Reposted by Fergus Kelly
clancyny.bsky.social
Logan Square neighborhood, Chicago. Man wearing a balaclava in a white, unmarked vehicle, pulls the pin on a tear gas canister and tosses it in the road.

"Just trying to grab some lunch and these fucking losers showed up. FUCK ICE!"
source: www.reddit.com/r/LoganSquar...
ferguskelly.bsky.social
Irish government surprises no one in Ireland

bsky.app/profile/reut...
reuters.com
Exclusive: Ireland is poised to curb planned sanctions on Israel, blunting a law central to its protest over the war in Gaza, after pressure from business groups concerned about the impact on investment, four people with knowledge of the matter said reut.rs/42RkvoQ
Exclusive: Ireland poised to blunt sanctions on Israel under corporate pressure, say sources
There is pressure from business groups concerned about the impact on investment.
reut.rs
ferguskelly.bsky.social
BBC reporting that the Manchester perpetrator is believed to be “Jihad Al-Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian descent”.

I had to double check that.
ferguskelly.bsky.social
BBC says “Whitehall officials will not yet confirm if [the Manchester perpetrator] was on a known database but they are working on the assumption that his motives were jihadist in nature.”
Reposted by Fergus Kelly
joannestocker.bsky.social
We should probably have a wee chat about ISKP if everyone hasn’t forgotten they exist
ferguskelly.bsky.social
Given that Trump’s social account is posting fake video of himself, is it safe to assume that his courtiers are showing him other fake videos to persuade him to do the things they want?
atrupar.com
Trump: "Portland, Oregon, where it looks like a war zone. I get a call from the liberal governor, 'Sir, please don't come in, we don't need you.' I said, unless they're playing false tapes, this looks like World War 2."
Reposted by Fergus Kelly
joannestocker.bsky.social
Nice photo. I came by plane. From Ireland. To work for Newscorp.
thetimes.com
Tough new conditions to be imposed on migrants who want to settle in the UK will not apply to more than a million people who arrived in the UK under the post-Brexit immigration surge
Labour’s tough new rules will not apply to migrants already in UK
www.thetimes.com
ferguskelly.bsky.social
There’s a narrowboat fun range of options, some better than otters
ferguskelly.bsky.social
The UK Labour Party has for many years been full of people who should be in the Lib Dems or Tories but for whatever reason cannot countenance the idea of joining those parties, so they spend all their time turning Labour away from its fundamental principles to make it more like themselves
saulstaniforth.bsky.social
Rachel Reeves: "We do need a welfare system that is based on the principle of contribution"

What happened to a welfare system based on the principle of need? Or the principle of universalism?

Haven't contributed for whatever reason? Tough.