You Cannot Avoid a Trump
Watch
I had kinda thought about
staying away from President–Elect Donald Trump for a while but it is
just not possible and I guess it is going to be so for some time if not for all
the time he is in office. On Friday the 20th he will be sworn in as
the 45th President of the United States. Don’t ask me to forgo
watching how that pans out. We had a foretaste of how he intends to deal with
‘the press’ on Wednesday at his first Press Conference since being elected.
Apparently there is some file
that was allegedly put together by a British agent which suggested that the
Russians had compromising material of Mister Trump following a trip to Russia
some time ago, all of which Trump says is just nonsense. This was published by
some outlet and CNN went with it in some format so Mister Trump boycotted
questions from the CNN reporter at the News Conference. It was a testy affair.
As one news reporter said to her studio presenter there were so many ‘news’
points from the conference that it was all confusing. Oh yes on who leaked the
story it was according to Trump ‘probably, most likely the (U.S) intelligence
community’. Certainly not a very good footing to start on for a President and a
vital branch of the U.S. administration.
Donald showed, with a van
load of files, that he was passing on the running of his many businesses to his
two sons to run while he was President. If, when he returned to the business
they had not done well they would be ‘fired’, an echo from his T.V. Apprentice
Show. While there seems to be some disbelief that the siblings will not even
mention the businesses to their dad-the-President during family time.
Then there were the Russians
who are now regarded as having ‘hacked’ into the Democratic Presidential
Campaign plans and maybe influenced the result of the election. With
regard to Putin, they may get on which would be an asset and then again they
may not get on!
As one commentator suggested
it was like a strong wind blew into an office and all the papers were now up in
the air. Trump supporters see this as bucking the system and the cosy
relationships which existed between various elements which dominated the
political system heretofore. This new President is certainly a shock to the
system and while it may be theatre of kind it is hugely serious and concerning
on a universal scale.
Certainly if the opening
salvoes are anything to go by the roller coaster is warming up. Let’s see what
Friday the 20th brings. Fasten your seat belts.
RTE’s Aine Lalor re.
Trump; ‘Do you think he knows how
much he doesn’t know’. He wouldn’t be on his own in that.
That is a kind of variation
of the famous Donald Rumsfeld spake in February 2002. Donald Rumsfeld,
then US Secretary of State for Defence, stated at a Defence Department briefing
that: 'There are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are
known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don't
know’.
Obama Bowing Out
The contrast between the
above and the outgoing President Barack Obama was in stark relief when the outgoing
President gave his farewell address to a crowd in Chicago on Tuesday night. The
eloquence and elegance of the man shone through. There were achievements and
disappointments. His capacity to achieve was stemmed by an opposing Congress.
Perhaps those who favour the incoming President regard Obama as part of the
political establishment but he certainly had a dignity and a dignified finale
without recrimination. He spoke of the democratic process and encouraged his
audience to continue to engage with it. He was generous in his thanks to
his wife Michelle and family and also to his Vice-President Joe Biden with whom
he had an obviously great relationship. It will be interesting to see where
Michelle Obama goes from here but it is obvious that she is woman of substance
and her future career will be the subject of much speculation. She will also be
looked on, by some, as a possible Presidential candidate in the future whether
that possibility fades with time is to be seen. It would be doubly ironic that
the first lady President of the U.S. was also a black President. But that is
too advanced speculation.
Mick O’Connell -at 80- A
Prince of a Gaelic Footballer
You probably have to be a
‘senior person’ now to remember one of the greatest and purest Gaelic
footballers ever, Mick O’Connell of Kerry. Mick was born and reared on
Valentia island. He won 4 All-Irelands, a dozen or so Munster titles numerous
Leagues and so on with Kerry. Nothing very strange there perhaps. But Mick was
different. He was regarded as slightly eccentric. This may have stemmed from
his giving away his medals and once going home directly from Croke Park and
leaving the Sam McGuire Cup in the dressing room. I met him a couple of times.
Once he was working in Galway and asked someone to get a few footballers to
join him in Pearse Stadium for a training session. The someone, a student
landlord, contacted a couple of Kerry students and footballers Ger O’Keefe and
Paudie O Mahoney and they contacted Martin Carney and Tony ‘Horse’ Regan. I was
a friend of those lads and staying with Tony in Salthill. So the five of us
joined Mick O in Pearse Stadium for his practise. It was a bit intimidating but
we were honoured really to be there. On the Back Page of last Sunday’s Indo
there is an account by Joe Brolly of an attempted interview by Ger Gilroy and
Joe Molloy of Newstalk’s ‘Off the Ball’ which I thought some of you might not
have accessed.
It was, said Joe “A bit like
Ant and Dec cross-examining Seamus Heaney. "Wow," said Gilroy to
begin. Then . . .
Ger: One of the things you're
legendary about is that you didn't celebrate your wins. . .
Micko: What was there to
celebrate? Football was only a pastime. More important things to be doing in
life. (silence)
Ger: You like rowing?
Mick: I rowed as a pastime.
Ger: It kept you nice and
fit?
Mick: For rowing you mean?
Ger: For football.
Mick: Football and rowing
have no association.
Ger: (nervous laughter)
Mick: You seem to know all
about the sport. What age are you? 23 is it?
Ger: (nervous laughter) I
wish.
Mick: What age are you?
Ger: I'm 39. (silence)
Joe Molloy (intervenes as an
act of mercy): There must've been a good coach who helped you out?
Mick: Who? I never used the
word coach. Where did you get that? (silence)
Joe: Can I ask you a few
questions about your career?
Mick: I never classed it as a
career. It was a pastime.
Joe (struggling now): Are you
surprised you're classed as one of the true greats?
Mick: That's only comment.
Joe (trapped now): Can I put
this to you. You are beloved by Kerry people and beyond?
Mick: Beloved?
Joe: Yeah.
Mick: I don't know what that
means.
O'Connell went on to disagree with Joe's phrase "Gaelic football" countering that it was no longer football but simply "Gaelic".
"A lot of older people
don't even go to the games anymore or watch them. The game isn't governed
properly. There are no visionary people administrating it."
He finished by saying: "The
ends to me weren't important. The means were what mattered. To be able to
fetch a ball in the air. To kick with both feet. On and off the ground. If we
won, well and good. If not, the same."
Then, he was gone. Back in
studio there was silence.
A true legend.
Hospital Waiting Lists
The record for the number of
hospital patients waiting on trolleys reached a new high -612- a week or so ago.
Some managements within the Health Services have put it down to the unexpected
numbers who are entering hospitals with the flu of the moment. I know from what
I hear that the recent flu has really bitten but to regard such a phenomena as
unexpected is a bit much. It seems as if it
is a problem that the Heath Service are totally unable to solve. Anyone who has
experience of going into A&E's in hospitals are witness to the almost war
zone conditions that exist in them. It has to be acknowledged that ‘front line’
staff in those hospitals do their very best in appalling conditions, as I
witnessed myself in Galway University Hospital some time ago.
While the new Minster for
Health Simon Harris started off with great energy and determination it seems as
if the reality of it all has blunted his optimism that he could and would make
a real difference. It is a good while ago when the Health portfolio was said to
be the ‘Angola’ ministry in that it was beyond redemption.
If one counted the number of
facilities in Ireland with the word ‘hospital’ appended the list would number
is 163 with 66 in Dublin. This includes all categories. It is an octopus of a
service.
Homelessness
Just like the hospital issue
this is another crisis that seems as if it cannot be resolved. Each winter we
see the evidence of homelessness on our television screens and then the bluster
with the politicians repeating the mantras of the previous year as they promise
to solve the issue but then the following year it is the same old tune.
I seem to remember an
initiative by Minister –then- Alan Kelly where they started to put in place a
number of maybe twenty or so quick-build houses. I probably have missed the
allocation of these when finished but they never appeared on my radar.
The occupation of Apollo
House once again highlighted the plight of the homeless but it became a twisted
debate of conflicting interests.
A tame I.T. Sligo no match
for Roscommon
It was nice to see a
Roscommon senior team play a competitive in Boyle’s Abbey Park last Sunday
before a decent crowd for an F.B.D. league fixture. It was a pity that it
was not more competitive as I.T. Sligo were a weak side and Roscommon scored
almost at will. It was good to see Donie Smith nominated as ‘Man of the Match’
by Seamus Duke in the Roscommon People. Credit is due to the many members of
Boyle GAA club who prepared the grounds on Saturday and ensured the smooth
running of the event on Sunday. It shows the spirit, commitment and pride they
have in showing the club at its best on such an occasion.
King’s Hospital School
Alleged Incident?
A story that hit the
headlines in late November/early December concerned an alleged incident at a
top Dublin school ‘King’s Hospital’. The story seems to have run into the sand
as it were as I have not heard a dickey bird about it since the initial furore.
My favourite sentence of
the week-end’s reading
The Mayo writer of a novel
called ‘Solar Bones’, Mike McCormack when asked about former prominent Mayo and
Irish politician and EU Commissioner Pádraig ‘P’ Flynn responded
“He’s a talented man usurped
by his inner amadán’.
P. had given the following
answer to a question from a reporter in The Late Late Show audience about his
pay and expenses in 1999.
“I get, give or take,
it works out at about, with expenses, €140,000 a year and I pay 30.3% tax on that,
so it’s about a net 100,000 and out of that 100,000 I run a home in Dublin,
Castlebar and Brussels. I wanna tell you something, try it sometime…”
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