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Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Fraud and mismanagement at University College Cork Thu Aug 28, 2025 18:30 | Calli Morganite
UCC has paid huge sums to a criminal professor
This story is not for republication. I bear responsibility for the things I write. I have read the guidelines and understand that I must not write anything untrue, and I won't.
This is a public interest story about a complete failure of governance and management at UCC.

offsite link Deliberate Design Flaw In ChatGPT-5 Sun Aug 17, 2025 08:04 | Mind Agent
Socratic Dialog Between ChatGPT-5 and Mind Agent Reveals Fatal and Deliberate 'Design by Construction' Flaw
This design flaw in ChatGPT-5's default epistemic mode subverts what the much touted ChatGPT-5 can do... so long as the flaw is not tickled, any usage should be fine---The epistemological question is: how would anyone in the public, includes you reading this (since no one is all knowing), in an unfamiliar domain know whether or not the flaw has been tickled when seeking information or understanding of a domain without prior knowledge of that domain???!

This analysis is a pretty unique and significant contribution to the space of empirical evaluation of LLMs that exist in AI public world... at least thus far, as far as I am aware! For what it's worth--as if anyone in the ChatGPT universe cares as they pile up on using the "PhD level scholar in your pocket".

According to GPT-5, and according to my tests, this flaw exists in all LLMs... What is revealing is the deduction GPT-5 made: Why ?design choice? starts looking like ?deliberate flaw?.

People are paying $200 a month to not just ChatGPT, but all major LLMs have similar Pro pricing! I bet they, like the normal user of free ChatGPT, stay in LLM's default mode where the flaw manifests itself. As it did in this evaluation.

offsite link AI Reach: Gemini Reasoning Question of God Sat Aug 02, 2025 20:00 | Mind Agent
Evaluating Semantic Reasoning Capability of AI Chatbot on Ontologically Deep Abstract (bias neutral) Thought
I have been evaluating AI Chatbot agents for their epistemic limits over the past two months, and have tested all major AI Agents, ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Perplexity, and DeepSeek, for their epistemic limits and their negative impact as information gate-keepers.... Today I decided to test for how AI could be the boon for humanity in other positive areas, such as in completely abstract realms, such as metaphysical thought. Meaning, I wanted to test the LLMs for Positives beyond what most researchers benchmark these for, or have expressed in the approx. 2500 Turing tests in Humanity?s Last Exam.. And I chose as my first candidate, Google DeepMind's Gemini as I had not evaluated it before on anything.

offsite link Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem finally Admits It is Genocide releasing Our Genocide report Fri Aug 01, 2025 23:54 | 1 of indy
We have all known it for over 2 years that it is a genocide in Gaza
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has finally admitted what everyone else outside Israel has known for two years is that the Israeli state is carrying out a genocide in Gaza

Western governments like the USA are complicit in it as they have been supplying the huge bombs and missiles used by Israel and dropped on innocent civilians in Gaza. One phone call from the USA regime could have ended it at any point. However many other countries are complicity with their tacit approval and neighboring Arab countries have been pretty spinless too in their support

With the release of this report titled: Our Genocide -there is a good chance this will make it okay for more people within Israel itself to speak out and do something about it despite the fact that many there are actually in support of the Gaza

offsite link China?s CITY WIDE CASH SEIZURES Begin ? ATMs Frozen, Digital Yuan FORCED Overnight Wed Jul 30, 2025 21:40 | 1 of indy
This story is unverified but it is very instructive of what will happen when cash is removed
THIS STORY IS UNVERIFIED BUT PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO OR READ THE TRANSCRIPT AS IT GIVES AN VERY GOOD IDEA OF WHAT A CASHLESS SOCIETY WILL LOOK LIKE. And it ain't pretty

A single video report has come out of China claiming China's biggest cities are now cashless, not by choice, but by force. The report goes on to claim ATMs have gone dark, vaults are being emptied. And overnight (July 20 into 21), the digital yuan is the only currency allowed.

The Saker >>

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Somalian Migrant Living in Epping Hotel Thanks Keir Starmer ?From the Bottom of my Heart? After Winn... Sat Sep 20, 2025 15:00 | Will Jones
A Somalian migrant living at the Bell Hotel in Epping has thanked Keir Starmer?"from the bottom" of his heart after winning the right to stay in Britain on human rights grounds as he prepares to settle in Yorkshire.
The post Somalian Migrant Living in Epping Hotel Thanks Keir Starmer “From the Bottom of my Heart” After Winning Right to Stay in UK appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Oxford Students ?Mocked the Assassination of Charlie Kirk on WhatsApp and Tried to Silence Anyone Wh... Sat Sep 20, 2025 13:00 | Will Jones
Students with links to Oxford University?have mocked the assassination of?Charlie Kirk on WhatsApp?and tried to silence others who did not agree, it's been reported, with many explicitly endorsing political violence.
The post Oxford Students “Mocked the Assassination of Charlie Kirk on WhatsApp and Tried to Silence Anyone Who Didn’t Agree” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link ?Britain Can?t Deport Me?: Calais Migrants Vow to Keep Crossing Channel Sat Sep 20, 2025 11:00 | Will Jones
Migrants in Calais have vowed to cross the Channel "again and again", saying "Britain can't deport me", as Keir Starmer's 'one in, one out' deal?with France faces a wave of legal challenges.
The post “Britain Can’t Deport Me”: Calais Migrants Vow to Keep Crossing Channel appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Sun and Cosmic Rays Drive Climate, Not CO2, Says Astrophysicist Sat Sep 20, 2025 09:00 | Hannes Sarv
It's not CO2 that drives the climate, says astrophysicist Dr Henrik Svensmark. Its the Sun and cosmic rays. But you won't hear about this because only one viewpoint is now allowed in the pseudo-science of climate.
The post Sun and Cosmic Rays Drive Climate, Not CO2, Says Astrophysicist appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The ?Far Left? Finally Gets Its Comeuppance Sat Sep 20, 2025 07:00 | James Alexander
For years the Left has smeared its opponents as 'far Right'. Now, the spike in Leftist political violence has led to a turning of the tables. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the Guardian, says Prof James Alexander.
The post The ‘Far Left’ Finally Gets Its Comeuppance appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Declan Ganley's Iraqi Shenanigans

category national | anti-war / imperialism | other press author Friday April 18, 2008 17:23author by Tech1.0 Report this post to the editors

This week's Phoenix magazine has a very interesting article on the Iraqi adventures of one, Declan Ganley of Libertas.

Not to mention a reference to David Cochrane's (of Politics.ie and Libertas), scrubbing of any reference to Ganley's Iraqi connections from his website.

I publish the article here in the national interest.

DECLAN GANLEY’S IRAQI SHENANIGANS

David Cochrane, Declan Ganley’s campaign director for Libertas, has been crying foul over what he describes as harassment of him by Fianna Fail’s solicitors over allegedly libellous comments about Bertie Ahern on his politics.ie website. But Cochrane has threatened heavy handed tactics himself and was swift to erase all trace of questions about Ganley’s activities in Iraq on the same website.

Early this year, one of politics.ie’s users made reference to Blood Money, Wasted Billions, Lost Lives and Corporate Greed in Iraq, a book on the reconstruction of Iraq by the American Coalition Provisional Authority, which outlined the wheeling and dealing during the bidding for contracts by such companies as Halliburton, of which vice president Dick Cheney used to be ceo. The book also outlined in detail how Ganley’s Liberty Mobile had unsuccessfully tried to get a slice of the reconstruction pie in 2004.

Ganley has extensive connections to the neo-con Republican administration in the US. As Goldhawk pointed out (see The Phoenix, 25/01/08), one of Ganley’s advisors in his Rivada Networks is a former Assistant Secretary of Commerce John Kneuer, while Ganley counts Admiral Timothy J Keating, head of the US Pacific Command, as one of his pals. However, Ganley’s most important trans-Atlantic relationship is with long-time business partner Don DeMarino, with whom
he had bid for a mobile phone licence here in Ireland back in 1998.

Ganley, in a consortium with US phone company Qualcomm, had made two attempts in 2003 to get a contract to build a cellular phone network in Iraq. Neither was successful, with the contracts going to European companies instead. While Ganley was licking his wounds over the failures, a row broke out over the two types of cellular phone systems; one of the systems, GSM, predominantly used in Europe and the other, CDMA, mainly used in the USA. That the European system was chosen greatly hacked off American companies, who saw their country’s hard work in ‘liberating’ Iraq not being rewarded with the spoils of war. One of those who was most annoyed was John A Shaw, deputy undersecretary in the Department of Defence, who just happened to be a lifelong pal of Ganley’s friend, DeMarino.

Shaw had a novel wheeze to help get American companies in on the mobile phone action in Iraq. The contract for Baghdad’s first responder network (that is, the communication system between the police, fire and ambulance services in the city) was up for grabs. Shaw suggested using a piece of positive discrimination legislation written up in the 80s (designed to promote the business interests of Alaskan Eskimos) which allowed companies with Eskimos on their board to bid for no-competition contracts. Crucially, those companies could then sub-contract the work out to whomever they liked.

According to Blood Money, in late 2003, Shaw introduced Ganley to the directors of NANA Pacific, an Alaskan company, with whom he formed a consortium including a new business entity, Guardian Net (which consisted of a couple of old business pals of Ganley’s, including DeMarino).

So far, so good for Ganley, and all perfectly legal. Unfortunately, the NANA/Guardian consortium pushed their luck too far and in their bid for the first responder contract in early 2004 they suggested in discussions with officials in the coalition authority that the network would form a footprint for a commercial network based on the American cellular system. This would, of course, give US companies a chance to avail of the billions of dollars on offer to mobile phone companies in a future, peaceful Iraq. The coalition authority, though, needed a first responder network, not another mobile phone system and in March 2004 they threw out NANA’s bid and started the whole process again. And there ended Ganley’s interest in Iraq’s mobile phone network.

Unfortunately, it was not the end of Ganley’s new pal John Shaw’s interest, and he lambasted the officials who had rejected the bid, suggested massive corruption in the bidding process, and generally made a nuisance of himself. This led to the resignation of two senior officials and delayed even further the process of setting up the first responder network. In October 2004, the wacky Shaw publicly claimed that the infamous WMDs in Iraq had been spirited out of the country by Russian special-forces, a claim that so embarrassed senior White House Officials that they sacked him.

Los Angeles Times journalist T Christian Miller wrote extensively about the entire debacle, which didn’t please Ganley (who had spoken on-the-record to Miller in 2004), and the angry millionaire threatened the hack with legal action, though he never actually filed any writs. Ganley is clearly still sore about the whole affair, though, and when a contributor to Cochrane’s website posted a link to the book, Cochrane deleted the post, cancelled the contributor’s account, and sent an email to his personal email account threatening him and his company (from whose computer the contributor had accessed politics.ie) with legal action.

Related Link: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Money-Wasted-Billions-Corporate/dp/0316166278
author by Bronterre O'Brienpublication date Sat Apr 19, 2008 00:32author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Ganley's ties to the U.S. war machine need to be explored and exposed.

That Cochrane is censoring info. on the connection shows that Ganley has something to hide, and shows that Politics.ie values its connection to Ganley more than it does freedom of expression.

http://www.rivada.com/about/keypersonnel/declanjganley.htm

Neoliberalism is cover for the greed of the international ruling class and its military machine: Ganley, his hirelings, and Libertas are a pernicious influence on the Irish political economy that must be actively contested.

author by Jimpublication date Sat Apr 19, 2008 08:31author address author phone Report this post to the editors

"that must be actively contested."

How pray tell?

author by B.O'Bpublication date Sat Apr 19, 2008 17:17author address author phone Report this post to the editors

They can be contested by political organization. And by exposing their beliefs and political connections to public scrutiny. By understanding 'neoliberalism', its origins, its practitioners, and its nefarious effects.
The censorship at Politics.ie clearly shows that Ganley is uncomfortable that his connection with the U.S. death merchants has been exposed. Lets keep up the pressure and the exposure.

author by puzzledpublication date Sat Apr 19, 2008 17:47author address author phone Report this post to the editors

that ganley is against europe? can anyone enlighten me? I would have expected a neocon to be in favour of an unanswerable europe which courts business interests above all else

author by K. Henrypublication date Sat Apr 19, 2008 18:51author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Perhaps Ganley's friends in the U.S. military do want to see a united, strong Europe as a competitor with the U.S?

author by K.Henrypublication date Sat Apr 19, 2008 23:53author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Previous post should read:

Perhaps Ganley's friends in the U.S. military do NOT want to see a united, strong Europe as a competitor with the U.S.

author by Bazooka Joepublication date Sun Apr 20, 2008 13:54author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Nobody though it strange that Justin Barrett was appointed chief spokesman of the 'No to Nice' campaign. However when all opposition was mustered behind him out came the Sunday Mirror article exposing his Nazi links.

http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2003/06/15/story755...5.asp

JUST VOTE NO!

author by junkypublication date Mon Apr 21, 2008 05:52author address author phone Report this post to the editors

http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?f=172&t=34008
David Cochrane's response mainly in regard to moderation of p.ie still no clue what Ganley is really about...

author by Tech1.0publication date Sun Apr 27, 2008 13:07author address author phone Report this post to the editors

A piece by Chekov on new recruits to the Libertas side.

Libertas: US Military Contractors Against Lisbon!
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87311

author by bernadette o'flahertypublication date Thu Nov 20, 2008 23:43author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I never believe everything I read, I like to see evidence, so could I please see this threatening email you mentioned.

Bernadette o'flaherty
Co. Meath
Ireland.

author by Barricade - declanganley-takingeuropeforaride.blogspot.compublication date Wed Feb 04, 2009 13:39author address author phone Report this post to the editors

For those interested in the limited sycophantic view of David Cochrane and how he and other Libertas mercenaries inanely echo their boss's every statement, check out the machine nation forums where Cochrane posts under the name "Cookiemonster" or under his own name on his politics.ie site.
How Cochrane/Cookiemonster, who is gay, can toil for a Catholic Right Wing Bucaneer (Jesus wept!) who descibes homosexuality as a choice beats me.
But perhaps those who are permitted to enter politics.ie (I'm banned ref the above story) could question David on this particular right to choose.

Related Link: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87241
author by Cactus Flower - Machine Nationpublication date Fri Mar 13, 2009 13:00author address author phone Report this post to the editors



Machine Nation contains a large numbers of threads on Libertas and Declan Ganley, starting from the beginning of the Forum exactly one year ago. Very substantial and informative threads have been built up, and continue, that contain linked and sourced material documenting and scrutinising Ganley and Libertas. It is an open forum, so it also contains many posts that are pro Libertas. In relation to homosexuality, I have been posting on Machine Nation for some weeks pointing that a Libertas representative in Libertas's application for EU funding is a prominent member of the anti-semitic and homophobic, Polish League of Families. This party uses the Nazi salute and its youth wing (Libertas' representative is a leading member) has been involved in street violence against gays, including an incident of throwing acid into a gay man's face.

http://machinenation.forumakers.com/the-open-europe-for...5.htm

Ganley and his Libertas project is attempting to dredge together the worst of the European right. My personal view is that reporting and discussion of this is important. Ganley is also subject to dirty tricks from the rival right and to the displeasure of the EU for his opposition to the Lisbon Treaty. Discussion of Libertas on forums tends to be intense. Posts that are abusive or not fact-based will be moderated in Machine Nation, the better to ensure that the Ganleys politics can be accurately assessed.

Machine Nation is an independent and voluntary forum. David Cochrane is a member of the forum who posts under his own name. Machine Nation has no evidence that Cookiemonster is the same individual. It is contrary to the 'MN Site Charter to allow duplicate accounts from one person.

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