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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 Farage?s Mass Deportation Plan Is Racist, Says Starmer Sun Sep 28, 2025 19:00 | Richard Eldred
Sir Keir Starmer has slammed Reform UK's mass deportation plan as "racist", warning that Nigel Farage's idea of kicking out hundreds of thousands of legal immigrants would "tear Britain apart".
The post Farage?s Mass Deportation Plan Is Racist, Says Starmer appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Fury After Woke NHS Supports First-Cousin Marriages Despite Risk of Birth Defects ? and Oppression A... Sun Sep 28, 2025 17:00 | Richard Eldred
The NHS is under fire for defending cousin marriage as a cultural "benefit" despite the serious health risks, claiming it brings "stronger extended family support systems and economic advantages".
The post Fury After Woke NHS Supports First-Cousin Marriages Despite Risk of Birth Defects ? and Oppression Against Women appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Is the Tech Giant Who Gave Blair ?257 Million in Line for Huge ID Card Contract? Sun Sep 28, 2025 15:00 | Richard Eldred
A cronyism row has hit the Government after it emerged Tony Blair secretly lobbied for his tech billionaire backer, who gave him ?257 million and could rake in millions from Labour's digital ID cards.
The post Is the Tech Giant Who Gave Blair ?257 Million in Line for Huge ID Card Contract? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Sir Keir Starmer Under Pressure to Scrap Angela Rayner?s Plan to Roll Out Official Definition of Isl... Sun Sep 28, 2025 13:00 | Richard Eldred
Steve Reed, the Communities Secretary, has made it clear he?s unsympathetic to his predecessor's plan to roll out an official definition of Islamophobia, telling newspapers he'll block it if it stifles free speech.
The post Sir Keir Starmer Under Pressure to Scrap Angela Rayner?s Plan to Roll Out Official Definition of Islamophobia appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Questions for Keir Starmer Over Avoiding Inheritance Tax Sun Sep 28, 2025 11:00 | Richard Eldred
Keir Starmer put a ?295,000 Surrey field in a trust for his parents, so it wasn't part of their estate ? even though he has said "those in charge of taxation can't also be seeking to avoid it."
The post Questions for Keir Starmer Over Avoiding Inheritance Tax appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Why the union leaders fear victory in Madison.

category international | worker & community struggles and protests | opinion/analysis author Sunday March 06, 2011 00:55author by john throne - Facts For Working People.author email loughfinn at aol dot com Report this post to the editors

A victory in Madison would mean no concessions from the workers buut concessions from the corporations and rich.

The employers have been on an offensive against the working class for the past forty years. The assaults on the public sector are the latest fronts. Unfortunately the union leaders have gone along with this offensive. In the present battles they bleat that they will get their members to give concessions as long as they can negotiate these. In essence this is what the union leaders position boils down to. Let us negotiate and we will get our members to make concessions. Of course this would continue to give the union leaders a role. The union leaders fear a victory in Madison and elsewhere because this would show that victories are possible and that defeat in front of this bosses offense is always inevitable. If this was shown it would undermine the entire propaganda of the union leaders and weaken their control of the movement. They prefer defeat to this.



Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO president on Wisconsin.
Why the possibility of an all out victory in Wisconsin frightens the union leaders.

More on the big picture.
Our movement is under attack from the employers’ offensive. We must make no concessions. The alternative? The employers and their class make the concessions. And we go on to the offensive.

Our blog has been arguing that the working people of this country and especially the workers involved in the struggle in Wisconsin and similar struggles throughout the country have to conduct the struggle taking into account and explaining the big picture. The majority of the union leaders have been conducting the struggle on the narrow issue of the right to collective bargaining. Basically they say that if the public sector workers are allowed to collectively bargain they will give up even more concessions than they already have. This is an approach which weakens the struggle and if continued will lead to defeat. To strengthen the struggle and to lead it to victory we need to look at things in their totality, as we say, we have to see and explain the big picture.

Since Reagan fired the air traffic controllers and the union leaders allowed him get away with this, the employers have been on an offensive against the working class. Wages, benefits, conditions, rights, rates of work, have all been under attack. The most recent front on this assault, this offensive war against the working class, is against the public sector workers. This is what we are seeing in Wisconsin and around the country; the most recent phase of the capitalist offensive against the working class.

How do we approach this situation? There is one way not to approach it and that is to say to the employers ,if you allow us to negotiate we will make even more concessions than we have already made. In other words, we will cooperate even more with your offensive against us. This preserves the jobs and role of the union leaders in their capacity as negotiators but it is a recipe for defeat. Richard Trumka, head of the AFL-CIO has an article in the Wall Street Journal today. He correctly points out that corporate profits have reached an annualized level of $1.7 trillion. This is the highest since statistics were kept 60 years ago. And we are supposed to believe that the only way to deal with the deficits is by attacking public sector workers. Trumka also pointed out that Wall Street bonuses averaged $128,000 in 2010 which was more than six times the average pension of a retired public sector worker in Wisconsin. Mr. Trumka could have gone on to state many more realities that show that the situation is not what the employers and their mouthpieces make out in their propaganda.

The amount of tax paid by the rich has gone down dramatically as a percentage of total tax revenue. See the graph in yesterday’s post on our blog. We also explain there the cost of the wars in the Middle East which are being fought in the interest of the owners of the oil and gas companies. No matter which way you look at it, the rich and the corporations have been making more profits and paying less taxes over the past years. This is the reason for the deficits and also this is part of the offensive of capitalism against the working class. This is the big picture. The struggle in Wisconsin and the struggles elsewhere must be fought by explaining this big picture. Make the rich and the corporations pay, they must make the concessions. This approach will allow these struggles to mobilize the overwhelming majority of people in the country who have been left out of the profits bonanza generated by the growth of the past years.

Richard Trumka made a few half points but he did not state any opposition to his and the AFL-CIO’s continued policy of the workers making more concessions if only the union leaders are allowed to participate in the negotiations on these concessions. We have to be frank here. It is insane to conduct a major campaign to demand the right to negotiate if the idea is, and this is the idea of the union leaders, when we do negotiate we make concessions. It is hard to think what could be more demoralizing to the movement if this is to take place. Just give us our right to sit at the table and we will give you what you want.

Richard Trumka and the trade union leaders tend to see themselves as brokers between the employers and the working class. Their whole emphasis in this struggle is to make a deal and as the employers are not prepared to make a deal where they make concessions, the trade union leaders see the ending of the struggle to be the workers and unions making concession. Again to be frank. This is a disgrace. The union leaders cannot see themselves as operating in any way as outside the existing capitalist system. They cannot see the working class building an alternative to capitalism. So they see themselves as responsible to fit the workers movement into the demands of the capitalist system, to “educate” their members to see that they must make deals that the employers agree to.

The demands of the capitalist system over the past forty years have been to cut the living standards of the working class. The union leaders have gone along with this and explained to their members there was no alternative. They have also crushed any alternative voice in the union movement, which said there was an alternative, and this was to fight and oppose the employer’s offensive. Let us look at the implications of this. The union leaders have based themselves on the idea that concessions have had to be made. They have based themselves on the idea that victories could not be won by the workers. They have crushed all voices that have said that victories could be won. On this basis the union leaders have maintained their control over the union movement. Think about this.

What happens if we have a great victory, if the working class movement has a huge victory, for example that in Wisconsin we win the right to organize but also in the negotiations that follow we win increased wages and benefits and make the rich and the corporations pay for any deficit. This would be brilliant. And you would be right if you were looking at it from the rank and file workers’ point of view. But think about it a bit more and this time from the union leaders point of view. Such a victory would completely undermine the total arguments, propaganda and actions of the union leaders for the past forty years. They have been saying no such victories were possible and their members had to make concessions and they have been crushing all who said this was not correct. But a major victory would show that it was this argument and position of the union leaders that was not correct. The result would be to severely undermine the ideas and positions and control of the trade union leaders. This has to be kept in mind.

Consciously or not the majority of the trade union leaders neither believe nor want a major and absolutely clear cut victory in Wisconsin or in the other battle grounds throughout the country. As activists in the movement we have to be clear on this. The conclusion we have to draw is that while explaining the weakness of the arguments and approach of the trade union leaders and calling on them to change, we must not allow them to evade their responsibility to lead, but at the same time we have to be realistic and see what the union leaders will do and will not do, we have to see their role. This means that as rank and file and activists in the movement we have to build caucuses in the workplaces, the union locals and at all levels in the unions and these to be based on an offensive strategy. That is based on recognizing the capitalist offensive against us and having as our target the defeat of this employer’s offensive, the halting and throwing back of this offensive and the opening up of an offensive of our own; a working class offensive to make the employers and their class pay for the crisis of their system.

These caucuses should, among other things, base themselves on the following program:

Not a single cut in wages, benefits, spending, and conditions. This to be a principle of these caucuses.

No contract is signed in which there are any concessions.

Every contract signed to contain increases for the workers covered and for increased spending on social services and infrastructure

For a $15.00 an hour minimum wage or a $5.00 an hour increase whichever is the greater.

For a guaranteed job for all through a public works program and reducing the length of the working week with no loss in pay.

For free education and free health care for all at the point of use.

For an end to all wars and occupations and a reduction in military spending.

For a campaign to explain how the employers and their class have used and still use racism and sexism to divide and rule the working class movement and to oppose this.

For the election of all union leaders subject to recall at any time, their wages to be the same as the average wage of their members and all their expenses to be made available to all their members.

For the building of a working peoples party as an alternative to the bosses parties the Republicans and Democrats.

For the movement to have at its center a discussion on the nature of the capitalist system and what the alternatives are. In the case of the FFWP and our blog we see the alternative as a Democratic Socialist Society in the US and on a world scale.
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http://www.weknowwhatsup.blogspot.com

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author by Diarmuid Breatnach - Personal Capacitypublication date Thu Mar 10, 2011 17:04author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Good to see a trade union leader, albeit a local one, taking such a stand. Maybe we can try and find you a job for you here if you're interested.

author by Richardpublication date Mon Mar 21, 2011 17:29author email dickbarrett at eircom dot netauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

Sorry to add this semi-relevant comment to this thread, but I cannot figure out how to start a new thread myself.

The filming of "The Hobbit" has started in New Zealand. It is going ahead after the NZ government allowed themselves to be browbeaten into cutting the terms, conditions and rights of actors and other film production people. It was a huge blow to workers' rights.

I am thinking of starting a campaign to boycott this film if no-one else is doing so.

Does anyone know if such a campaigh already exists?

author by Dan O'Connor - Siptupublication date Sat Mar 26, 2011 01:15author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Hugh Murphy is really sticking it to Siptu on Twitter

 
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