The Courts have awarded Gerry Adams, former TD, former MP and longtime President of Sinn Féin, Ireland’s oldest political party, 100,000 Euros for libel. A 2016 British Broadcasting Company edition of the Spotlight ‘news’ show accused Adams of sanctioning the murder of Denis Donaldson, an MI5 agent.
Donaldson, a member of the IRA for many years, confessed to being an informer with the British Military Intelligence, Section 5 (MI5), the FBI of the UK. Donaldson was shot dead in 2006 at the home he was living at in County Donegal.
At the time, Adams denounced the assassination, and The Real IRA (militant off shoot of the Provisional IRA) claimed responsibility. However, The BBC indicted him for sanctioning/causing the death of Donaldson.
Adams took a big risk to bring a libel suit against the British State media behemoth, but convinced the High Court that the BBC had no legitimate basis to make such a serious claim. Much like Patick Radden Keefe’s “Say Nothing,” the BBC seems to want to blame every misfortune in Ireland going back to the Battle of the Boyne on Gerry Adams. Both, on the face of it, have an obsessive and irrational axe to grind against Adams.
High Marks
Ireland was recently identified as the most educated country on the planet. A 2025 study for CBRE’s Global Talent Guidebook indicated that 52% of Ireland’s population, age 25 to 64, had bachelor’s degrees or higher.
The next highest country was Switzerland at 46% and the U.S. at 40%. So, now it is confirmed the Irish are also smart, in addition to witty and beautiful.
Sons of Irish Immigrants
Last month, two musical sons of Irish ancestry shared the same stage in Liverpool’s sold-out Ainsfield Stadium. During Bruce Springsteen’s recent European Concert Tour, he surprised his Liverpool audience when he said, “You’re lucky tonight, we have a young man, a local young man from Liverpool, he’s gonna play with us tonight, I think he has a lot of talent, and I believe he’s gonna be going places. So let’s bring out Paul McCartney.” These two world-class troubadours sang several songs, including “Can’t Buy Me Love”.
Springsteen’s European Tour has been maddening a son of German ancestry, Leader dTrump (The German Chancellor recently gave dTrump a gilded framed copy of his grandfather’s birth certificate from the dTrump home in “Butt Durkheim” Germany).
From the stage, Springsteen urged those who “believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring.”
dTrump responded in social media, calling Springsteen, who has been awarded over 20 Grammy’s and sold over 140 million albums, saying, “I never liked him, never liked his music”; “he is not a talented guy”; “he is a dried up prune” and for Springsteen to “Keep his mouth shut.”
dTrump threatened that Springsteen should be investigated. Wow, Springsteen may have dried up skin, but Mr. dTrump has very, very thin skin.
Springsteen and McCarthy later paid a visit to the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts to talk with the students there. BTW, about 75% of Liverpool claims Irish ancestry.
Walsh Wins Irish Ambassador
Edward Sharp Walsh, New Jersey real estate developer and prodigious golfer at Donnie dTrump’s Bedminster Golf Country Club, was confirmed as the next Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Ireland by the U.S. Senate. He succeeds Claire Cronin of Massachusetts, former President of the Massachusetts State Senate.
Walsh Inc. provides general contracting and project management services. Walsh stated: “It is a great honor to accept President Trump’s nomination to serve as the next ambassador to Ireland. I am eager to advance the Trump administration’s agenda while strengthening the enduring trade ties between our nations.”
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Grahm said, “He’s a very close friend to President Trump, so to our friends in Ireland, you’re getting one of the closest friends that President Trump has, and that will benefit you because when Ed picks up the phone, President Trump will answer.” Let’s hope he can talk dTrump out of his proposed new high tariffs against Ireland, which could shut down the Irish economy.
Let’s hope dTrumps threats against Ireland is just TACO talk. Good luck Ambassador Walsh.
SpaceNora
The Instagram name for Dr. Nora Patten, Aeronautical Engineer and a hopeful Astronaut, is SpaceNora. Patten is a native of Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland and has relatives from Achill Island as well.
Dr. Nora has been selected to be a crew member on Virgin Galactic’s Delta space mission next year. If she is successful, she would be the first Irish Citizen in space.
Dr. Nora was recently back in Cleveland visiting relatives. It was during a similar visit when she was 11 years old that she took a Tour of NASA Glenn’s Research Center adjacent to Cleveland Hopkins Airport. This visit inspired her to focus on math and engineering in her studies.
Dr. Nora recently posted on Instagram pictures of her visit to Cleveland, including standing with the Johnny Kilbane statue in Battery Park and on the banks of The Cuyahoga River in front of the Irish Town Bend project under construction.
Soccer is Celtic
Much to the consternation of all English football fans (i.e. soccer) it has been recently established that Scotland is the rightful birthplace of soccer, NOT England. The howls from the self-absorbed Englishers has been unceasing.
Ged O’Brien, the founder of the Scottish Football Museum, located in Glasglow, recently unearthed this history. O’Brien and an archeological team discovered physical evidence as well as written reference to a foot ball field near Anworth Kirk Presbyterian Church, in Southern Scotland. The Church was built in 1627 and the pastor at the time wrote denouncing the habit of his parishioners playing ‘foot ball’ on the Sabath.
This will rewrite the history of soccer, placing it over two centuries before English soccer started. Related information for iIrish readers would be that The Celtic Football Club is based in Glasgow and founded by Irish immigrants to the city.
The Hibernian Football Club is similarly founded by Irish immigrants to Scotland, but in Edenborough. Match on.
