Great comment by Jo Blog here, in particular this paragraph here.

"BIG PICTURE. This is a new relationship between the government and the people in Ireland. Previously when things went to hell we got to blame the government. And the government understood their role was to take a beating and to apologise and answer to people's anger. The media's role was to have a lash at the government too.

What we have now for the last couple of years is that the government get to blame us instead. If there's a problem the government and the media are here to tell us what we're doing wrong and how we need to change.
Housing crisis - you need to rent a room. Energy costs rising - you need to use less/ reduce your carbon footprint. Can't get on a housing list - be generous and welcome the refugees.

That response is a measure of how secure and unfireable the majority of our policy making elite are. They have nothing to worry about from us. "

I'm interested to see what people think of this.

Very interesting as always.

One good point you made, that I hadn't thought of, is that when inflation and the cost of living really start to cause pain in people's lives the Government and media will probably see it as an opportunity.
They may add to the pressure.

They may tax unoccupied rooms to force people to rent.

Or they may soft soap it and launch a campaign to get compliance from people who are hard up-
"Have you considered renting a room to help with the bills?"
Liveline callers "I'm so glad, not just for the money Joe but the company as well. It's great to have some life around the place."
Multimillion Euro advertising campaign from the Dept of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
Round the clock selling the idea by RTE and the Newspapers.


BIG PICTURE. This is a new relationship between the government and the people in Ireland. Previously when things went to hell we got to blame the government. And the government understood their role was to take a beating and to apologise and answer to people's anger. The media's role was to have a lash at the government too.

What we have now for the last couple of years is that the government get to blame us instead. If there's a problem the government and the media are here to tell us what we're doing wrong and how we need to change.
Housing crisis - you need to rent a room. Energy costs rising - you need to use less/ reduce your carbon footprint. Can't get on a housing list - be generous and welcome the refugees.

That response is a measure of how secure and unfireable the majority of our policy making elite are. They have nothing to worry about from us.

But it is widening the chasm between us and them.
No longer are the people who make decisions and who are responsible for the mess we're in apologising to us with an eye to the next election.
Nowadays the people who make and implement policy know that they will be there regardless of who wins the next election. Steady as she goes. The public are the ones who will need to change.

Which means there's real division growing in Irish society. And nothing to stop it coming to a head.
The policy makers will be safe and in control until they're not. Marie Antoinette thought she was safe.

This tweet reveals a couple of things:

1. Tens of thousands of women agree that their menstrual cycles have been messed up by the vaccine, the long terms effects of which we still do not know.

2. The social pressure is so intense they have to praise the vaccine before mildly raising any concerns.

I remain stupefied that many nationalists regarded this issue as a schizo distraction.

I think I've mentioned this before, but in 1970 in Ireland you could sell 20 bullocks and build a house with the money you got.

That fact alone is worth about a week solid worth of debate and long winded stories tbf.

One aspect of the Common Agricultural Policy (whether intended or not) was the move towards "more affordable food" (tbf its a complex situation with multiple, often seemingly illogical policies that overlap and intertwine), but the policy has led to the decline of rural Ireland and the basic economy of it.

There's few people making gates, or crushes etc, economy of scale dictates that its "engineering companies" who fill the market; where at one time you would have a Smith who would make you a wrought iron gate, something that lasted for a generation and was worth preserving, now you get an essentially disposable gate that is more zinc galvanising than steel.

I could go on about the lost expertise and the wages those jobs commanded being siphoned instead into larger industries, but the basic concept of "the race to Bangladesh" is so much underway in rural Ireland it takes actual effort to avoid it at this stage, otherwise you end up pricing yourself out of being able to afford it at all.

Side note: a guy told my dad about 20 years ago about a wrought iron gate my grandfather made his father a lifetime ago, he told him to take it as a keepsake, the man has since died and my father didn't want to take it off him, but I would love to find where it is now (unless it was scrapped like every other bit of metal around the country during the Celtic tiger)

In the livestream I said taxation of empty rooms was a strong possibility.

It's a lot worse than that.

I've seen an interesting trend here. For lack of a better phrase, let's call it Putin Derangement Syndrome.

Putin Derangement Syndrome is when you try and show how high status you are, though expressing opinions that are (true or false, it doesn't matter) the opposite of what Putin and Russians are doing.

Has Putin being used as a "chance to get rid of toxic masculinity" been brought up yet?

Expect this to be used as a way of opposing "far right extremism" and the like.

It's sad that Ireland has turned into an episode of The Simpsons, but it seems to be part and parcel of the hysteria going on right now.

"Now wait just a minute. We're twice as smart as the people of Shelbyville. Tell us your idea and we'll vote for it." - Mayor Quimby.

The Dana show with my latest research that Omicron is not answer to covid and I see serious trouble in the next two months unless we act now.

Join 👇🏻
@GeertVandenBossche

"I wish that I was born a thousand years ago
I wish that I'd sail the darkened seas
On a great big clipper ship
Going from this land here to that
On a sailor's suit and cap
Away from the big city
Where a man cannot be free
Of all of the evils of this town
And of himself, and those around
Oh, and I guess that I just don't know
Oh, and I guess that I just don't know."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xcwt9mSbYE

I remember @millenialwoes did a video on the movie Withnail and I a while back, where he went into how Withnail himself was a man born into the wrong era. That the nihilism we see goes back a lot further than our lifetime.

That's the interesting thing about The Velvet Underground. They tap into that in the way other boomer bands completely fail to do. It's an interesting contrast, that's for sure.

Russian Rouble is back to pre war levels.

This is due to the Russian Central Bank increasing interest rates as high as 20% (they cut it to 17% only a couple of hours ago) and of course, letting the currency float, and investors potentially realizing owning roubles might turn out to be a very lucrative investment.

Why can't the ECB do this? Because of the amount of private debt and CLOs due.

Even a modest interest rate increase (forget 20% in the ECB case) would be enough to, in the short to medium term, severely impact the Irish economy. The Russians know this as well.

The lesson? Don't wreck your economy with exorbitant levels of debt so you don't have to worry about things like this.

I think I've said this before, but originally when I started the channel (on YouTube) it was going to be a music review/music theory channel.

Does that sound interesting to people?

So I talk about bands/music I like that might be of interest to people.

Two events that are coming down the line over the coming days.

1: The truckers protest scheduled for April 11th. The truckers say this time, they intend for it to last for the entire week if not longer. The event has been done as a response to the carbon tax and rising fuel prices. Considering the fuckery that has gone on with Ireland's supply chain, if this gets any momentum, this could cause a significant amount of pressure on the government to pull back on the carbon tax. I've talked before about how the carbon tax is an election wedge/causer in Ireland right now, alongside a disgruntled FF senior membership. Lets see what happens there.

The truckers will be called "far right."

2: The French elections. If Le Pen wins, there will be rioting in France.

IF that was to happen, expect, in the mass hysteria phase Ireland is in right now, another rush to "combat misinformation" , a time to deal with "toxic Putinism" that is "embedded" in our society.

Oh, and the rip.ie stuff is not going away.

Just about to hit the big 10k subscribers on telegram. Many thanks to all of you for making it possible! Here's to another 10k!

I've watched a few of this guy's videos. He's really really good from what I've seen. Check him out if you want something to watch.

https://t.me/MorgothsReview/2576

The government's plan to deal with the Carbon Tax is to raise the rate on May 1st and then give everyone the money to pay it. The government are going to hand out money to us which we will then give back to them. That's the plan. It's as mad as it sounds but it makes sense to the Greens and will apparently be enough to keep them happy and in government.
We are up to our oxters in nonsense.

The government is stuck though when it comes to the far bigger problem of fuel bills. Too big for the magic money tree.
Over half the cost of petrol here is tax. Our VAT rate on fuel is 13%.

The main plank in Marine Le Pen's platform is a demand that VAT on fuel be reduced to 3 - 5%. The issue has brought her way back up in the polls.


EUROPE SAYS NO
Our government would like to reduce VAT on fuel. But they can't for fear of losing our special agreement with Brussels that lets us currently charge VAT on fuel at 13% - which is lower than the standard EU rate. Go lower than 13% now and there is no guarantee we get the special arrangement back when/if things return to normal.

Micheal Martin went to Europe last week to get an assurance that we would be able to hold on to this special 13% rate in the future if we lowered VAT on fuel now. If you weren't paying close attention you might think that he got this assurance and lower VAT rates are weeks away.

He didn't. He got an assurance that he would be allowed to plead his case with the EU Energy commission. That hearing could be as far away as October. In recent days the government has privately conceded that it is unlikely to secure any EU backing on VAT cuts for fuel.
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/vat-cut-on-fuel-unlikely-as-eu-left-cold-by-irish-plea-41532262.html

For most powerful people in this country the idea of going against Europe is unthinkable. Taking instruction from Europe is part of their identity. We must not independently lower our VAT rate even if that means putting everyone else through the economic grinder

You can't protest over the pain you feel from rising prices - real as it is. It's too general.
Hardship protests are always focused on something particular that the government is responsible for and has the power to change. Bread and fuel riots in Algeria. Fuel subsidies in Egypt. etc.

VAT rates on fuel provide people with a focus for the anger and the anxiety they're feeling from trying to make ends meet.
Because so much of the price of fuel here is VAT that makes the government responsible in people's eyes.
And people see the solution is also in the hands of the government - if the govt is willing to ignore Europe.
Which puts a big dividing line between the powerful Europhiles and everyone else.
This might get interesting.

Our galloping inflation predates the war in the Ukraine
Even if, as some expect, Putin calls a ceasefire on May 9th - the anniversary of the Soviet Victory in WWII - fuel prices may remain under pressure.

Who knows how the Truckers protest will work out. The Guards were very successful at diverting the last one out of town and down to the port. If it seems to be getting anywhere on Monday I'll probably pop in to town. There's to be a public gathering at the GPO at 9am, march at 10am. (Bit of a Catch 22 - if the protest is successful how do you get in to town?) Looking forward to catching up with all our friends from Pearse St and Store St.

P.S. At the end of the day do we really need to be worrying about energy? We have a government able to gaslight the whole country.

Attorney Todd Callender: "The Real Epidemic Is Now"

"I happen to be in the morbidity business; I'm the CEO of a large insurance group, and we underwrite morbidity risk … Based on what it is we are seeing, the rates right now, excess mortality at 84%, and excess every kind of disease at 1100%"

"Moderna has now just received licensure of their emergency use authorization HIV vaccine. So, they gave everybody AIDS, and now, here's your salvation, is this vaccine, which seems to be a multiple-dose vaccine."

"The facts were plain: Europe had reached a point of such putrid decomposition that it could no longer save itself, any more than fifth-century Rome could have done. This wave of new immigrants, with their traditional culture – of natural hierarchies, the submission of women and respect for elders – offered a historic opportunity for the moral and familial rearmament of Europe. These immigrants held out the home of a new golden age for the old continent. Some were Christian; but there was no denying that the vast majority were Muslim."

"The greatness of medieval Christendom, whose artistic achievements would live forever in human memory; but little by little it had given way, it had been forced to compromise with rationalism, it had renounced its temporal powers, and so had sealed its own doom."

"In the end, it was a mystery; God had ordained it so." - Michel Houellebecq