Free Republic

Sectarian violence was rekindled in Northern Ireland on Saturday night as police were attacked with petrol bombs following a pro-unionist demonstration that took place in the city. At least 10 police officers were injured in Londonderry on Saturday evening after they came under assault by a reported group of Irish nationalist youths during “several hours of disorder” on Nailors Row.

The Sinn Féin leader has expressed disappointment that US President Joe Biden will not be addressing Stormont. Mary Lou McDonald said that 25 years on from the Good Friday Agreement, “the eyes of the world are on Ireland and the North of Ireland in particular, and we have a limbo situation.” Speaking after the 1916 commemoration service in Dublin today, Ms. McDonald said that US President Joe Biden should be received by “First Minister Michelle O’Neill and should be addressing the [Stormont] assembly.” […] … (Sinn Féin Vice-President Michelle) O’Neill said that the 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement...

As thousands of members of our LGBQT+ community poured into Dublin for a joyful celebration of diversity, it was hard to believe what was unfolding on the other side of the Atlantic. A second day of protested and riots erupted in cities across the US as news sank in of the Supreme Court's overturning of the landmark Roe VS Wade case which, for the past 50 years, has delivered abortion rights to woman. Donald Trump may have failed in his pledge to make America Great Again, but he has been true to his word protecting the unborn. He filled the...

Some of the music of my life to open up this week. Here I am your currently sober drunk host embarking on a journey of media excellence... Joe Biden's Department of Homeland Security with a "Disinformation Board"? The 21st Century Hi-Tech Fairness Doctrine. It's time for a Drive-By Media Update this song from 40 years ago one of many provocative tunes that hit the world of Contemporary Christian Music courtesy of Steve Taylor and this one's for you F. Chuck Todd... The Drive-Bys gave us 69 days of Ukraine in all of our orifaces and now they want abortions... But...

A century after its fraught foundation, Northern Ireland looks set for a constitutional earthquake this week with the pro-Irish party Sinn Fein on course to win regional elections. Apart from periods of direct rule by London, pro-UK unionists have monopolised power ever since Britain carved out a Protestant-majority statelet in 1921, when the rest of Ireland achieved self-rule. But pollsters expect victory on Thursday for Sinn Fein, which was once the political arm of the paramilitary IRA, in polls for the devolved assembly in Belfast. The party took the deputy leadership in a power-sharing deal with unionists when Northern Ireland...

While Putin's war machine inflicts death and destruction on women and children in Ukraine, the runt of the Irish parliament returns to its favourite sport - Israel hating. Senator Frances Black is an ultra nationalist politician and a member of the Upper House. Though nominally an Independent, she is closely aligned with Sinn Féin. She seeks to portray herself as a defender of Palestinian Arabs, but every so often the mask slips and exposes herself for the old school antisemite that she really is. She introduced an "Occupied Territories" (sic) Bill to criminalise Irish Jews and allies, for seeking to...

Ireland has become the first EU country to formally designate Israeli settlement expansion as “annexation” of Palestinian land. The Irish parliament, the Dáil, said so in a motion passed unanimously on Wednesday (26 May). “The scale, pace, and strategic nature of Israel’s actions on settlement expansion and the intent behind it have brought us to a point where we need to be honest about what is actually happening on the ground … it is de facto annexation,” Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney also told MPs in a debate on Tuesday prior to voting. “This is not something that I, or...

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone Friday with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the situation in Syria. The Kremlin issued a news release noting that Putin expressed concern about "ongoing aggressive actions of extremist groups"..... Russia's defense ministry says that large numbers of Turkish armored vehicles and huge caches of ammunition entering northwestern Syria point to apparent preparation for a large scale military operation that Turkey has been threatening...... The Pentagon revising upwards for the fifth time the number of traumatic brain injuries resulting from the January 8th missile attack by Iran on the Al-Asad Air Base..... US...

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said his party will seek to form a government without Sinn Féin. Both parties have been seeking a path to a viable coalition since the Irish general election earlier in February. Fianna Fáil’s parliamentary party met last Thursday and decided forming a coalition with Sinn Féin “would not be the right thing to do”. On Wednesday, Mr. Martin said a steering group would be set up to formally engage with other parties. He said the group, made up of members of the Fianna Fáil front bench, would begin formal engagements with other parties and...

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald today blasted “arrogant” political rivals for denying her party a place in the next Irish Government. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has ruled out entering a coalition with the left-leaning party because of historic links to the IRA. Ms. McDonald told a party meeting in Belfast: “The political establishment of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are circling the wagons in defense of a status quo that will not deliver the change citizens voted for last weekend. Because they don’t want change. That is why they said they wouldn’t talk to us. And it now...

Sinn Féin has declared victory in Ireland’s general election and called for talks with other main parties to form a coalition government. Its leader, Mary Lou McDonald, urged Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to start negotiations with the republican party as the scale of its breakthrough confirmed a realignment of Irish politics. Irish general election: who won and what happens now? Read more “Sinn Féin has won the election. We have won the popular vote,” McDonald said, as counting of votes to fill seats in Dáil Éireann, parliament’s lower house, continued in constituencies across the country. With full results expected...

The votes being counted in Ireland today. Yesterday's projection as polls closed put the left-wing Sinn Fein Party in the top three of Irish political parties with its best showing yet in a southern Irish election. Early declared results show Sinn Fein a clear winner.... In Switzerland a law against "homophobia" projected to have won in a referendum..... More unusual activity related to Iowa's Democrat caucus last Monday. The Iowa Democratic Party today awarded the popular vote winner Bernie Sanders only 12 delegates to the national convention while the candidate who ran in second place, Pete Buttigieg, was given 14...

A new exit poll suggests that Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin are tied when it comes to first preference votes, making the result of the General Election too close to call. The exit poll, carried out by Ipsos MRBI for RTÉ, The Irish Times, TG4 and UCD, indicates all three parties have 22% of first preference votes. The margin of error in this exit poll is ±1.3% — which means any of the three parties could be as low as 20.7% support or as high as 23.3%. […] The poll suggests a move toward Sinn Féin among younger...

UK: Tons of Hizballah explosives in secret bomb factory uncovered in London Terrorists with links to the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah have reportedly been caught stashing tons of explosive materials in London. “The amount of ammonium nitrate reportedly found was more than that used in the Oklahoma City bombing” 24 years ago, in which at least 168 people were killed and over 680 others injured. This is merely a warning of more to come. The advancement of jihadists in the UK — and in fact most of the West — was facilitated by Leftist leaders who believe to this day...

The newly-elected mayor of Causeway Coast and Glens Council has come under attack over his attendance at IRA commemorations. Sean Bateson (26), who topped the poll for Sinn Féin in the Bann electoral area, was appointed mayor of the borough just days after being elected for his first term. Over the weekend, social media posts emerged which showed Mr. Bateson — who is a supply teacher at Sperrin Integrated College in Magherafelt — posing for photographs at a memorial to two IRA men. A Twitter post boasting about tearing down a Union flag — described as a “butcher’s apron” by...

Two European Parliament lawmakers from Ireland on Sunday expressed support for boycotting Israel following its winning the Eurovision song contest, JTA reported. Lynn Boylan of Ireland’s far-left Sinn Féin party wrote on Twitter following Saturday’s win, “Israel wins Eurovision so let’s make BDS more successful than ever in 2019.” Nessa Childers, another Irish lawmaker for the Party of European Socialists, retweeted Boylan’s message, adding the word: “This!” She later wrote: “Jerusalem? The mind boggles. I thought Tel Aviv.” Órla Nic Biorna, a regional lawmaker for Sinn Féin, an Irish nationalist movement that was affiliated with the now-defunct Provisional Irish Republican...

The Occupied Territories Bill is fully compliant with EU trade rules, according to new expert legal opinion given to Senator Frances Black. The Bill, which is due to be voted on by the Seanad next Wednesday, aims to prohibit Ireland from trading in goods and services from Israeli-occupied territories by prohibiting “the import and sales of goods, services and natural resources originating in illegal settlements in occupied territories”. Despite government opposition, the Bill has cross-party support from Labour, Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil as well as independent senators. Members within government such as Transport Shane Ross, Minister of State for Disabilities...

An Irish lawmaker was punished Thursday for voting to protect unborn babies from abortion. Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín voted against his party last week on a motion to move a pro-abortion bill forward for debate. His party, Sinn Féin, required its members to vote pro-abortion instead of their conscience on the legislation. For supporting the unborn rather than his party, Tóibín has been suspended for six months, The Irish Times reports. Sinn Féin Whip in the Dáil Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD criticized Tóibín on Thursday when he announced the suspension and called his vote “a serious breach of the...

The State could face infringement proceedings by the EU or a third party if a Bill that would ban imports from Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories is passed, the European Commission has warned. A Government official privately sought the advice of the Commission’s trade directorate last week on the proposed legislation, which is sponsored by Independent Senator Frances Black and passed its first vote in the Seanad in July with the support of Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Labour and some independents. Fine Gael opposes the passage of the Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill 2018 on the basis...

US president Donald Trump described Taoiseach Enda Kenny as his “new friend” and a “great guy” as the two attended the annual Speaker’s Lunch in the US Capitol to mark St Patrick’s Day. Mr Trump said the bond between Ireland and the US during his presidency is “going to be closer than ever before”. “The people of Ireland and the people of the United States have stuck together through good times and bad times,” he said. “Over many centuries we have built a bond that thrives, inspires and endures. And with us, it’s going to be closer than ever before,...