The death of Norm MacDonald; SF become the largest party in the Dail; and the party of law and order isn't taking the law part terribly seriously.Norm trying to shill - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mafhr9-lFUMNorm gets kicked out of Iowa - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBKlXR3BbDU&t=2s

As the budget approaches we remind people that it's really just politically easier to let the country go slowly bankrupt rather than make difficult choices. Also the Pension Commission wants to triple the rate of PRSI the self-employed pay.https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/irelands-health-system-isnt-as-underfunded-understaffed-or-underresourced-as-we-think-40852002.html

The Irish electrical system has had 2 amber alerts in the last week; a day after the release of an FF report saying supporting Eoghan Murphy did massive harm to FF's electoral performance Martin has declared any TD who doesn't support Coveney will be suspended for 6 months; MUP and drug deaths; and the polls are not kind to Leo.

A Fine Gael Minister said SIPO had found that Katherine Zappone did not engage in lobbying; SIPO disagrees; and a review of the Fianna Fail election review.

https://gript.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/The-Next-5-years-.pdfhttps://www.businesspost.ie/news/zappone-was-not-lobbying-when-she-sought-un-special-envoy-role-anti-corruption-watchdog-says-c6de3ad2?auth=loginhttps://gript.ie/anti-corruption-watchdog-denies-ministers-claim-it-said-zappone-did-not-engage-in-lobbying/

Eamon Ryan wants people to light less fires and use more electricity, a wonderful idea being complicated by the likelihood we'll be suffering rolling blackouts this winter; and why Martin should sack both Simon Coveney and the Fine Gael Minister who leaked the Zappone affair. 

 

https://www.businesspost.ie/energy/electricity-system-amber-alert-issued-this-morning-f772c7e6https://www.businesspost.ie/climate-environment/ryan-considers-new-rules-to-improve-air-quality-in-urban-areas-dce39b61?utm_campaign=article&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=web

Leo gets his head in the game by going on vacation; the Government's new housing plan is a mess; and a study of over 300,000 people has looked at what impact masks actually have.

 

https://www.poverty-action.org/sites/default/files/publications/Mask_RCT____Symptomatic_Seropositivity_083121.pdf

The price of an assault; the ICCL stands up civil liberties before quickly sitting down; and the Zappone situation has progressed from scandal, to farce, before ending up as a series of incredibly stupid events. 

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/green-councillor-deletes-milkshake-these-racist-vermin-tweet-40810277.html

Turmoil in the Green Party as unkind things said; Simon Coveney joins the long list of Irish politicians and high ranking guards who have had some trouble with phones; and October 22 becomes the day of freedom.

 

https://extra.ie/2021/08/29/news/politics/brian-leddin-slurs-against-womenhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcc2t21xlxEhttps://www.ign.com/articles/y-the-last-man-hulu-fx-binary-tackling-transgender-issues

A shortage of truck drivers in the UK demonstrates that supply and demand is real, and perhaps could even influence the price of houses; the biggest story you're not hearing about is the issues the electrical grid is going to face this winter; and the ICCL's interesting views on protests are calling out in the Sunday Times.

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/soaring-pay-puts-waitrose-lorry-drivers-on-a-par-with-lawyers-r5673lblshttps://www.businesspost.ie/energy/balance-of-power-why-irelands-electricity-supply-is-threatened-and-what-can-be-done-to-bolster-it-d8fbf07ahttps://www.idaireland.com/newsroom/publications/ida-ireland-economic-benefits-of-data-centre-inves

More info on the Government's amnesty for illegal immigrants; Afghanistan moves from farce to tragedy for both the British and Americans; and the BBC asks why rent caps don't work.

 

https://gript.ie/exclusive-government-has-no-plan-to-cap-number-of-illegal-immigrants-to-be-granted-amnesty/

https://metro.co.uk/2021/08/26/afghanistan-helpline-redirected-callers-to-washing-machine-company-15156117/https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/26/us-officials-provided-taliban-with-names-of-americans-afghan-allies-to-evacuate-506957https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/555a928a-06a8-11ec-89b3-29a9a04e8645?shareToken=93be4692c0e358916b35ef44444a3ef0https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58317555https://twitter.com/G_L_Kavanagh/status/1431282869654204420 - The forbidden image