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Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

The Saker

Indymedia ireland

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 >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Making Tax Digital ? a Disaster in the Making or a Brilliant Innovation? Mon Sep 22, 2025 07:00 | Guy de la B?doy?re
Making Tax Digital is set to hit sole traders and landlords from 2026, promising more admin, costs and chaos than clarity, and Guy de la B?doy?re is already throwing in the towel rather than get swamped.
The post Making Tax Digital ? a Disaster in the Making or a Brilliant Innovation? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Mon Sep 22, 2025 00:43 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The BBC?s ?1 Billion Pension Bailout Sun Sep 21, 2025 19:47 | Richard Eldred
The BBC has poured over ?1 billion into its gold-plated pension scheme, gobbling up nearly ?850 million of licence fee money ? and it looks like the bill could keep climbing.
The post The BBC?s ?1 Billion Pension Bailout appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Education Secretary Launches Fresh Attack on Private Schools Sun Sep 21, 2025 17:13 | Richard Eldred
In a fresh raid that could force more closures and squeeze parents' wallets, Bridget Phillipson is hitting private schools again, this time tripling Ofsted inspection fees.
The post Education Secretary Launches Fresh Attack on Private Schools appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Keir Starmer Confirms Britain Will Ignore US and Israeli Anger and Recognise a Palestinian State Sun Sep 21, 2025 15:00 | Richard Eldred
Keir Starmer has sparked fury by pledging to recognise a Palestinian state even though critics say it rewards Hamas, angers Israel and the US and won't help hostages or feed Gaza's starving.
The post Keir Starmer Confirms Britain Will Ignore US and Israeli Anger and Recognise a Palestinian State appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Ireland’s Booming Economy in the Midst of Austerity and Cutbacks

category national | worker & community struggles and protests | opinion/analysis author Saturday December 01, 2012 09:54author by Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáinauthor email caoimhghin at yahoo dot com Report this post to the editors

Exports are booming while business and political elites are determined to make ordinary Irish people pay for the financial crisis

Despite the fact that the Irish people are currently enduring endless austerity and cutbacks, exports are booming.[1] The Irish Exporters Association (IEA) reports a 10 percent rise in the export of goods and services in Ireland between July and September compared to the same period a year ago. Exports are set to hit a record €183.7bn this year and with the corporate tax rate at 12.5 per cent business elites are doing nicely in Ireland.[2] Meanwhile, the Irish government is handing out a large percentage of the budget to unsecured bondholders to the tune of €18 billion this year with a couple of billion more to go before year’s end. According to Diarmuid O'Flynn writing in his blog bondwatchireland:

“Please know, we are being betrayed by our own. We are betrayed by our own government, who are colluding with the ECB in implementing a policy of private interests over public good, of the primacy of banks over people; we are betrayed by a national media who have abandoned their primary duty of objectively and honestly informing the people of what's happening.”[3]

However, the media has been busy reporting the jailing of Sean Quinn [4] who was formerly Ireland's wealthiest man. He was sentenced to nine weeks in prison for failing to comply with a court order having been previously found guilty of contempt of court, for hiding assets from the former Anglo Irish Bank. It is a sign of the desperation of the Irish people for work that the disgraced businessman (along with his son and nephew) has been the subject of large demonstrations in support for the Quinn family. [5]

Meanwhile the Irish Central Statistics Office (CSO) is showing that with all the cutbacks and money being diverted into private interests, household savings are falling, banking business is shrinking and the Government's finances is deteriorating. [6] In the area of education and health, working conditions and cutbacks are having demoralizing effects on society as a whole. For example, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) commissioned a new independent survey which showed “the massive impact that cutbacks have had on schools all around the country. In particular, the loss of posts of responsibility such as year head have severely damaged the support framework so important for marginalised students” and that “reduced family incomes have had a significant detrimental impact on students’ capacity to purchase school books and other general classroom materials.” [7] In a recent article Consultant Dr Altaf Naqvi “warned that morale among young doctors -- both Irish and from overseas -- is at ‘rock bottom’.” He states “I have worked in other countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia but conditions are far worse here and doctors -- both national and from overseas -- are on the verge of nervous breakdowns, things are at crisis point”. [8]

Business and political elites are determined to make ordinary Irish people pay for the financial crisis with a whole raft of new taxes and charges coming down the line over the coming year. New annual water and property charges [9] of up to €800 a year combined with a ‘gathering tsunami of mortgage arrears’ [10] whereby “about 23 per cent of mortgage holders were either in arrears or had their mortgages restructured following consultations with the banks” [11] may soon create the kind of vocal reaction and demonstrations perceived to be strangely lacking in Ireland up to now.

[1] http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/barclays-posit....html

[2] http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/1101/1....html

[3] http://bondwatchireland.blogspot.ie/2012/10/the-dirty-d....html

[4] http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Former-billionaire-Sea....html

[5] http://www.herald.ie/news/gaa-celebs-slammed-for-backin....html

[6] http://www.businessworld.ie/livenews.htm?a=3003462

[7] http://www.tui.ie/press-releases/survey-highlights-dama....html

[8] http://www.herald.ie/news/hospital-conditions-here-are-....html

[9] http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/lat....html

[10] http://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/editorial/mortgage....html

[11] http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/1107/1....html

Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin is a prominent Irish artist who has exhibited widely around Ireland. His work consists of paintings based on cityscapes of Dublin, Irish history and geopolitical themes (http://gaelart.net/). His blog of critical writing based on cinema, art and politics along with research on a database of Realist and Social Realist art from around the world can be viewed country by country at http://gaelart.blogspot.ie/.

Related Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/irelands-booming-economy-in-the-midst-of-austerity-and-cutbacks/5311211
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