Leo Varadkar story in The Village??? - Mod Notes and banned Users in OP updated 16/05

Did anyone see the new Leo Varadkar story in the Village. Apparently he treated Maria Bailey rather harshly.

Bizarre article treats Maria Bailey as if she were a person of greater integrity than Leo Varadkar (maybe she is but it's question begging I think).

Great issue of the Village though. Great articles on Omagh , ICHH , police corruption and Roger Casement.

That MORON Conor Lenihan is in it though.

But but but...you said that Leo is not allowed to have his own opinion on it.

You are saying that calling him a "law breaker" is OK and that only the DPP can be the arbiter of whether the law is broken. These are fundamentally incompatible positions. Once again your blind hatred of all things Varadkar is exposed. This not about truth or fact for any of you. It's all about Varadkar.

He's living rent-free in your head.

If the DPP is the sole arbiter here, then Cosgrave's opinion is "as likely to be wrong as it is to be right", and he is therefore wrong to assert Varadkar is a "law breaker". Varadkar believes that he hasn't broken the law, which is a clear opinion. Cosgrave has implied fact rather than opinion.

And given that it's far more likely that Varadkar has sought a legal opinion and Cosgrave has not (his ego doesn't leave room for advice), I know who's opinion I'd give more weight to.

Says the guy putting all his apples in one man's basket.

The 'guy' who has landed himself at the centre of a long running Garda investigation under two principal pieces of legislation.

What is 'hilarious' mark?

Are you saying people aren't routinely accused of lawbreaking, even assumed to be guilty of having broken the law here on this forum for instance?

Nobody denied you your opinion Marine...it is printed here in glorious pixels. What you are not entitled to do is assert that your opinion is right or that it is the only one.

Mind you, when you need to indulge in character assassination of those who blew the whistle then I hark back to previous incidents of whistle blower assassinations and cringe TBH.

I prefer to remain anonymous but I will say I don't do investigative journalism unless you count some of my podcasts.

Guy complaining about his opinion being belittled, belittles the opinion of another...and around it goes.🙄

Again, that was a response to a rhetorical question, and you are using the semantics of an isolated question and response out of the context of Varadkar's clearly stated position to make a spurious point.

It puts your contributions somewhere below propaganda.

Shinnery Views? I voted SF for the first time in the last election. I don't like the way FF/FG and their cronyism is allowed to manifest in government. Hopefully SF helps FF/FG change their ways.

Sadly there is some journalists that love to lick the boots of the government and other journalists who still have jobs after leaking information given to them by a tribunal they were a witness at. There is also a certain journalist who claimed I'm hearing Leo will wipe the floor with Village. So settle petals.

'Shinners and 'Shinnery'ism everywhere! With added look over there at the Rooskie's. Somebody is all out of argument it seems.

The mark of a good journalist is one who filters out the personal bias to write balanced articles. And some of them do, which is a mark of their professionalism or a professional editor. Many of them can't and routinely will be accused of bias.

One of the illuminating things about social media is that it shows the personal biases of many journalists when they are not writing professionally and are just giving their own personal views.

You should never judge their journalism based on what they write in a personal capacity.

Actually you don't. You can accuse somebody of breaking the law, it is then for the courts to decide whether or not it was correct.

I can accuse Leo of breaking the law as much as I can accuse somebody of breaking into my house if I see them smashing the window and climbing in,

Nobody would shout "Stop him, he is allegedly breaking into my house and trespassing" or "Catch that person, they allegedly just stole my wallet/bag/car keys and are running down the road with them, allegedly".

If it is in front of the courts, then it is not discussed so as not to influence any outcome.

And your alternative choice for “running the country” since independence would be whom ?

You seem to forget that these people were democratically elected, and that despite your “distaste” the majority don’t seem to agree with your views.

You should get out the OED and focus on what ‘Democracy’ means .

Basically it ensures that the will of the majority of the people is followed and the gas heads and flakeys can’t tip the scales without majority support.

Good system in my opinion