Ciarán McKenna
@socialistciaran.bsky.social
Socialist, trade unionist. Militant-left.org #socialismorbarbarism
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
November 25, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
She knows that (a) she would actually have to get off her arse and do the work and (b) she wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning a seat.
She never actually had any notion of being on the Presidential ballot either, but everyone fell for it.
She never actually had any notion of being on the Presidential ballot either, but everyone fell for it.
Áras hopeful Maria Steen rules out contesting by-election to fill Paschal Donohoe's seat
Dublin Central by-election expected to take place in late spring next year and likely to be held on same date as by-election in Galway West triggered by Catherine Connolly’s election as president
www.irishexaminer.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:02 PM
She knows that (a) she would actually have to get off her arse and do the work and (b) she wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning a seat.
She never actually had any notion of being on the Presidential ballot either, but everyone fell for it.
She never actually had any notion of being on the Presidential ballot either, but everyone fell for it.
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
The map in my original tweet shows the number of graves, not number of bodies. Andalucía, by some way, has the most in terms of victims. In mass graves as shown in this map or otherwise.
November 16, 2025 at 8:45 AM
The map in my original tweet shows the number of graves, not number of bodies. Andalucía, by some way, has the most in terms of victims. In mass graves as shown in this map or otherwise.
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
Lad who works remotely from Lear Jets, tax-free Monaco and his Carribean compound has some views on the rest of us ...
Remote working a 'mistake', claims Denis O'Brien
Businessman Denis O'Brien has claimed there has been a "marked decline" in the efficiency of all parts of the Government due to remote working.
www.rte.ie
November 11, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Lad who works remotely from Lear Jets, tax-free Monaco and his Carribean compound has some views on the rest of us ...
The absolute neck of this lad! ‘Client confidentiality’, yeah, right.
‘Golden rule’ - Ivan Yates cites client confidentiality as reason he didn’t disclose media training of presidential candidate Jim Gavin
www.rte.ie/news/politic...
www.rte.ie/news/politic...
Client confidentiality reason for non-disclosure - Yates
Former broadcaster Ivan Yates has said client confidentiality was the reason he did not disclose the fact that he gave media training to former presidential candidate Jim Gavin.
www.rte.ie
November 10, 2025 at 10:09 AM
The absolute neck of this lad! ‘Client confidentiality’, yeah, right.
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
‘Golden rule’ - Ivan Yates cites client confidentiality as reason he didn’t disclose media training of presidential candidate Jim Gavin
www.rte.ie/news/politic...
www.rte.ie/news/politic...
Client confidentiality reason for non-disclosure - Yates
Former broadcaster Ivan Yates has said client confidentiality was the reason he did not disclose the fact that he gave media training to former presidential candidate Jim Gavin.
www.rte.ie
November 10, 2025 at 9:49 AM
‘Golden rule’ - Ivan Yates cites client confidentiality as reason he didn’t disclose media training of presidential candidate Jim Gavin
www.rte.ie/news/politic...
www.rte.ie/news/politic...
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
#speirgorm might be interested to see this, as we await President Connolly’s inauguration this week. A vision of what might have been 😬
November 9, 2025 at 5:53 PM
#speirgorm might be interested to see this, as we await President Connolly’s inauguration this week. A vision of what might have been 😬
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
PHOTO OF THE DAY. Leeds United defender Jack Charlton having a cigarette after a team photo (1970). 📷 Peter Marsh
November 8, 2025 at 9:33 AM
PHOTO OF THE DAY. Leeds United defender Jack Charlton having a cigarette after a team photo (1970). 📷 Peter Marsh
If you have lived your adult life in Ireland you will know instinctively that politics & media is 'One big club and you ain't in it'. There is hope w/commentators like Carl pullling this apart. The stifling consensus between media & politics brought us the disaster of austerity, among other ills.
"You may not know this, but there exists, among certain cohorts of the public, a perception that Ireland’s political establishment and media establishment are too intimately connected. And what on Earth would give them that idea?"
Happy Saturday, it's time to read my column.
Happy Saturday, it's time to read my column.
Surrealing in the Years: Yates' Fianna Fáil dealings an open kimono moment for Irish politics
Agh, my eyes. My eyes!
www.thejournal.ie
November 8, 2025 at 10:21 AM
If you have lived your adult life in Ireland you will know instinctively that politics & media is 'One big club and you ain't in it'. There is hope w/commentators like Carl pullling this apart. The stifling consensus between media & politics brought us the disaster of austerity, among other ills.
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
what exactly is "winning the AI race? environmental destruction, labor extraction, ever more intrusive surveillance, mass manipulation, and unprecedented power for the handful???
Nvidia's Jensen Huang says China 'will win' AI race with US, FT reports reut.rs/48YNsTM
Nvidia's Jensen Huang says China 'will win' AI race with US, FT reports
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has warned that China will beat the United States in the artificial intelligence race, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
reut.rs
November 5, 2025 at 9:40 PM
what exactly is "winning the AI race? environmental destruction, labor extraction, ever more intrusive surveillance, mass manipulation, and unprecedented power for the handful???
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
yes hahaha yes
November 5, 2025 at 1:43 PM
yes hahaha yes
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
I was thinking we should pay politicians according to their ability. The fewer food banks necessary, the higher they get paid.
Then, as I cooked dinner, I realised that they would just shut down all food banks.
Food banks* are both a symbol of empathy & of great failure.
Then, as I cooked dinner, I realised that they would just shut down all food banks.
Food banks* are both a symbol of empathy & of great failure.
November 4, 2025 at 5:47 PM
I was thinking we should pay politicians according to their ability. The fewer food banks necessary, the higher they get paid.
Then, as I cooked dinner, I realised that they would just shut down all food banks.
Food banks* are both a symbol of empathy & of great failure.
Then, as I cooked dinner, I realised that they would just shut down all food banks.
Food banks* are both a symbol of empathy & of great failure.
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
Some of the internal damage captured by Irish Independent photographer Steve Humphreys: www.independent.ie/regionals/lo...
November 1, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Some of the internal damage captured by Irish Independent photographer Steve Humphreys: www.independent.ie/regionals/lo...
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
Justice Minister confirms arson attack on IPAS building in Drogheda last night.
"Fireworks were thrown into the building, causing a fire and putting lives at risk. This was a terrifying ordeal for the women and children living there, a number of whom were taken to hospital."
(1/2)
"Fireworks were thrown into the building, causing a fire and putting lives at risk. This was a terrifying ordeal for the women and children living there, a number of whom were taken to hospital."
(1/2)
November 1, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Justice Minister confirms arson attack on IPAS building in Drogheda last night.
"Fireworks were thrown into the building, causing a fire and putting lives at risk. This was a terrifying ordeal for the women and children living there, a number of whom were taken to hospital."
(1/2)
"Fireworks were thrown into the building, causing a fire and putting lives at risk. This was a terrifying ordeal for the women and children living there, a number of whom were taken to hospital."
(1/2)
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
Firefighters rescued five people, including three children under ten, from the top floor of an Ipas centre in Drogheda last night after a major fire.
Gardaí have preserved the scene while the cause of the blaze is investigated.
www.thejournal.ie/fire-ipsa-ce...
Gardaí have preserved the scene while the cause of the blaze is investigated.
www.thejournal.ie/fire-ipsa-ce...
Emergency services tackle major fire at Ipas centre in Drogheda
Arson has not been ruled out.
www.thejournal.ie
November 1, 2025 at 7:40 AM
Firefighters rescued five people, including three children under ten, from the top floor of an Ipas centre in Drogheda last night after a major fire.
Gardaí have preserved the scene while the cause of the blaze is investigated.
www.thejournal.ie/fire-ipsa-ce...
Gardaí have preserved the scene while the cause of the blaze is investigated.
www.thejournal.ie/fire-ipsa-ce...
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
🧵 Halloween, as the world knows it, is an Irish invention from ancient Hiberno-Celtic roots. It’s correct name is Samhain & marks the end of the Harvest. It was culturally appropriated by the Christian Church as All Hallows’ Eve. It is a thousand or so years earlier [1] [pic: Macnas]
October 31, 2025 at 8:05 PM
🧵 Halloween, as the world knows it, is an Irish invention from ancient Hiberno-Celtic roots. It’s correct name is Samhain & marks the end of the Harvest. It was culturally appropriated by the Christian Church as All Hallows’ Eve. It is a thousand or so years earlier [1] [pic: Macnas]
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
Grave of Ed Balchowsky (1916-1989)
"Artist, poet, raconteur, one-armed piantist, Spanish Civil War volunteer in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Your friends, family and fellow premature antifascists salute you!" Sent to me by Solomon from his daily run thru Forest Park, Illinois
"Artist, poet, raconteur, one-armed piantist, Spanish Civil War volunteer in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Your friends, family and fellow premature antifascists salute you!" Sent to me by Solomon from his daily run thru Forest Park, Illinois
October 31, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Grave of Ed Balchowsky (1916-1989)
"Artist, poet, raconteur, one-armed piantist, Spanish Civil War volunteer in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Your friends, family and fellow premature antifascists salute you!" Sent to me by Solomon from his daily run thru Forest Park, Illinois
"Artist, poet, raconteur, one-armed piantist, Spanish Civil War volunteer in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Your friends, family and fellow premature antifascists salute you!" Sent to me by Solomon from his daily run thru Forest Park, Illinois
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
how are we supposed to have anything besides a low-trust society when the media refers to airstrikes that kill 100 people as a 'threat' to a ceasefire, or offers the logic that a ceasefire is something that can be unilaterally paused whenever Israel gets the urge to kill.
October 29, 2025 at 12:50 PM
how are we supposed to have anything besides a low-trust society when the media refers to airstrikes that kill 100 people as a 'threat' to a ceasefire, or offers the logic that a ceasefire is something that can be unilaterally paused whenever Israel gets the urge to kill.
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
I was opening a bunch of PDFs in acrobat yesterday and my computer's fans were going wild. I have a lot of RAM so this was surprising to me. Turns out Acrobat now generates AI summaries by default when you open a file, instead of just asking if you want one (which I never do).
October 28, 2025 at 7:40 PM
I was opening a bunch of PDFs in acrobat yesterday and my computer's fans were going wild. I have a lot of RAM so this was surprising to me. Turns out Acrobat now generates AI summaries by default when you open a file, instead of just asking if you want one (which I never do).
Great observation. Yes, the 'good old days' of 'decent' conservatism. This kind of stuff was absolutely mainstream.
Whenever I hear about the decline in standards from the old days of Decent Conservatism this is the first image that comes to mind. The man who drew this was given an OBE.
October 26, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Great observation. Yes, the 'good old days' of 'decent' conservatism. This kind of stuff was absolutely mainstream.
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
Drogheda will be turned into an open-air gallery for the October Bank Holiday weekend as the Lú Festival of Light gets under way.
Drogheda turns into open-air gallery for Bank Holiday
The town of Drogheda will be turned into an open-air gallery for the October Bank Holiday weekend as the Lú Festival of Light gets under way.
www.rte.ie
October 24, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Drogheda will be turned into an open-air gallery for the October Bank Holiday weekend as the Lú Festival of Light gets under way.
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
Universities across the world seeing this:
"its only wrong 45% of the time!!
Lets buy free licenses for our students, staff and faculty!!
Lets lock into contracts with rapacious predatory AI companies with shitty technofascist politics, sucking up water and jacking up electricity prices!!"
"its only wrong 45% of the time!!
Lets buy free licenses for our students, staff and faculty!!
Lets lock into contracts with rapacious predatory AI companies with shitty technofascist politics, sucking up water and jacking up electricity prices!!"
October 23, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Universities across the world seeing this:
"its only wrong 45% of the time!!
Lets buy free licenses for our students, staff and faculty!!
Lets lock into contracts with rapacious predatory AI companies with shitty technofascist politics, sucking up water and jacking up electricity prices!!"
"its only wrong 45% of the time!!
Lets buy free licenses for our students, staff and faculty!!
Lets lock into contracts with rapacious predatory AI companies with shitty technofascist politics, sucking up water and jacking up electricity prices!!"
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
Private equity care home owner HC-One Limited fined £1.9m after a resident choked to death on her dinner.
Ignored patient specific instructions, staff shortages.
Company fined multiple times for patient deaths.
Care and profits can't be combined
Ignored patient specific instructions, staff shortages.
Company fined multiple times for patient deaths.
Care and profits can't be combined
Care home firm HC-One fined £1.9m after woman choked to death on her dinner
HC-One Limited admitted health and safety failings which led to the death of Margaret Campbell, 96, at Cradlehall Care Home in June 2022.
news.sky.com
October 22, 2025 at 6:10 AM
Private equity care home owner HC-One Limited fined £1.9m after a resident choked to death on her dinner.
Ignored patient specific instructions, staff shortages.
Company fined multiple times for patient deaths.
Care and profits can't be combined
Ignored patient specific instructions, staff shortages.
Company fined multiple times for patient deaths.
Care and profits can't be combined
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
We knew this would happen. Note how realistic the visuals and voices are.
This AI deepfake video of Catherine Connolly ‘withdrawing’ from presidential contest and that Friday’s poll is ‘cancelled’ is live and viral on Facebook tonight.
1000s watching, commenters believing it.
This AI deepfake video of Catherine Connolly ‘withdrawing’ from presidential contest and that Friday’s poll is ‘cancelled’ is live and viral on Facebook tonight.
1000s watching, commenters believing it.
October 21, 2025 at 9:58 PM
We knew this would happen. Note how realistic the visuals and voices are.
This AI deepfake video of Catherine Connolly ‘withdrawing’ from presidential contest and that Friday’s poll is ‘cancelled’ is live and viral on Facebook tonight.
1000s watching, commenters believing it.
This AI deepfake video of Catherine Connolly ‘withdrawing’ from presidential contest and that Friday’s poll is ‘cancelled’ is live and viral on Facebook tonight.
1000s watching, commenters believing it.
Reposted by Ciarán McKenna
The Ditch x Village Magazine
Heather Humphreys honoured a disgraced ex-garda after he was accused of extreme domestic violence and found by a tribunal to have corruptly organised planting weapons and fabricated evidence.
An ‘exceptional award’ she said.
www.ontheditch.com/humphreys-ho...
Heather Humphreys honoured a disgraced ex-garda after he was accused of extreme domestic violence and found by a tribunal to have corruptly organised planting weapons and fabricated evidence.
An ‘exceptional award’ she said.
www.ontheditch.com/humphreys-ho...
Humphreys honoured disgraced garda
The garda was accused of extreme domestic violence.
www.ontheditch.com
October 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
The Ditch x Village Magazine
Heather Humphreys honoured a disgraced ex-garda after he was accused of extreme domestic violence and found by a tribunal to have corruptly organised planting weapons and fabricated evidence.
An ‘exceptional award’ she said.
www.ontheditch.com/humphreys-ho...
Heather Humphreys honoured a disgraced ex-garda after he was accused of extreme domestic violence and found by a tribunal to have corruptly organised planting weapons and fabricated evidence.
An ‘exceptional award’ she said.
www.ontheditch.com/humphreys-ho...