Anthony Weiner victim of a sex trap it looks like

I met Anthony Weiner about a month ago when he came to my office to solicit Irish American support for his mayoral run in 2013.

He is one sharp cookie.

He had an agenda ready and went at it, issues of concern to the Irish American community like immigration and parades and he hit every mark.

There is no way I can believe this razor sharp young candidate sent a dumb and offensive twitter to a woman he never met at the weekend.

This stinks to high heaven and has all the hallmarks of a dirty tricks campaign.

I know one should never be surprised when a sex scandal engulfs a well known figure. There are annual rituals these days from Bill Clinton to Dominique Strauss Khan.

But Anthony Weiner strikes me as a political animal, a man who will let nothing and I mean nothing get in the way of his political ambition.

He is very reminiscent of his political mentor Senator Chuck Schumer who is sharp as a shark when it comes to scoring political points.

Anthony Weiner will be a major contender for Mayor of New York in 2013 of that I am certain.

And I'm pretty sure he did not send a crazy text or do anything that would risk that bright career.

Sarah Palin now the favorite for the Republican nomination for president

As we have often stated in these columns, Sarah Palin is consistently underrated by Republicans, Democrats and media alike as a possible contender for the White House.

Now with the Republican field imploding in the past few weeks, suddenly Palin is back in the limelight again.

Truth is she has never given up her ambition.

She looks at this Republican field and sees huge weaknesses, from Mitt Romney's flip flops to Newt Gingrich's womanizing to Tim Pawlenty's lack of charisma.

Sure she ceded the stage to Donald Trump's ill-fated run, but it was always clear that Trump would eventually slink away once he had milked it enough.

Now Sarah comes swanning back into the limelight and no one has a hold on the Tea Party and Conservative wing like she has.

She has now moved to Arizona, a clever move in the circumstances which places her in the heart of the Republican belt.

She is running all right and has the backing and support others can only dream of.

She would easily win Iowa with its massive evangelical base if it was voted on tomorrow.

With that under her belt she automatically becomes favorite in new Hampshire.

If she could knock Romney off there the path to the nomination is clear.

We all thought Hillary would be the first major woman candidate for president nominated by her party.

We have to adjust out bifocals folks, here comes Sarah and she is running hard.

Good for her.

Rush Limbaugh denies term 'Paddy' for Irish is insulting

Talk radio king Rush Limbaugh decided our piece about him criticizing Barack Obama's trip to Ireland was worth commenting on yesterday.

Here is his take on our article that said Irish Americans would be upset that he used the term 'Paddy; to describe Obama.

RUSH: "Apparently I did a Media Tweak of the Day yesterday, and I didn't even know it. There's a blog site out there, IrishCentral.com, and apparently I've really ticked 'em off. I suggested that we ought to start calling Obama "Paddy," which is a rational Irish nickname for Patrick, just call him Paddy because he's out there saying he's the most Irish president we ever had. They say my comments are bound to cause controversy with my Irish Americans because Paddy is offensive and used in a pejorative context. Really? I had no clue. So another bunch people offended. My gosh, you cannot avoid 'em."

If he had no clue that the term Paddy is often seen as pejorative I am a little surprised.

Calling every person of a particular race by one specific name, whether it is Paddies, Guido, Hymies (remember Jesse Jackson?) is considered offensive by many especially those on the receiving end.

I don' say this as a politically correct point, I say it as a fact.

Racists like 19th century Punch cartoonist Thomas Nast used Paddy all the time as a pejorative to describe the Irish who landed in America, He portrayed Irish Catholics as ape-like creatures.

The term 'Paddy' is definitely seen as pejorative in Britain where it carries a harder edge than in Ireland or over here.

I'm not saying it is the greatest insult in the world or even close, but it is seen as pejorative by many , unlike what Rush says.

Paddy no more is what I say.

A great day to be Irish for Barack Obama

PHOTOS - President Obama's trip to Ireland - photo gallery


President Obama came saw and triumphed in Ireland on Monday. In the process he forged a new identity that connects him even closer to the great American dream.

He has been accused of being a Muslim, of having no birth certificate, of being somehow non American.
On Monday he produced the long form birth certificate of Fulmouth Kearney his predecessor, and in the process. Fulmouth’s story  became part of the American story too.

By finding his Irish family, no matter how remote, Obama tapped into a classic American narrative of an American returning back and finding his roots.

Americans know one thing, that their presence in America started , in most cases a generation or more ago when a young man or woman, packed a small suitcase, said farewell to his or her family and headed off into the great unknown.

All the great dynasties, from  the Mayflower emigrants on down started with such a voyage into the unknown. So did every sweat blood and tears American small success story.

That diorama is part of the American psyche, embedded deep in the DNA of all of us who share this blessed country.

There has been a concerted effort to deny Obama that heritage, to proclaim him as alien and outside the American dream.

In Moneygall he shattered that smear forever.

His ancestor Fulmouth Kearney, was one such man, who departed his little native village of Moneygall in 1850 and created his own American dream by taking up land in Ohio . His descendants lived quiet lives until one of them, Barack Obama, shattered the glass ceiling that said no man of African American heritage could become president  of the United States.

Obama’s autobiography ‘Dreams of my Father’ and his early writings had all concentrated on the Kenyan side of his heritage, an understandable track given that his father had deserted the young man and left  a deep void in his life, one he wanted to fill and understand.

Now as president far more focus is being given to his mother Ann Dunham’s family, where the Fulmouth Kearney connection kicks in.

Obama embraced those Irish roots on Monday. Gone was the cerebral, professor-like mien that has marked his years in office, a cool distant figure.

In its place was a smiling ,beaming, hugging, handshaking president who had , for a day at least, had absorbed some of the Bill Clinton ability to connect on a visceral level with people.

Ireland tends to provide an emotional transplant for politician. The JFK visit in 1963 kicked off the notion of a Ireland as a place where policy issues are not the main agenda, but the creation of a powerful emotional back story is.

Obama succeeded in creating that back story in Ireland, of embracing a heritage and history he shares with 40 million others who have Irish ancestry. It was a great day to be Irish.

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READ MORE: 

PHOTOS - President Obama's trip to Ireland - photo gallery

Guinness cash in on Obama's Moneygall vist 

Follow all the stories on Obama and his trip to Ireland

FULL TEXT - President Obama's speech to crowd in Dublin's College Green
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First impressions: President Barack Obama's first hours in Ireland

PHOTOS - President Obama's trip to Ireland - photo gallery

Follow all the stories on Obama and his trip to Ireland

It was a fine soft day when Barack Obama arrived, in fact it was pouring rain with 80 mile an hour winds. However, 20 minutes after he stepped off air force one, miraculously, the sun appeared and the rain stopped. So now it's a nice fresh day in Ireland which means that the wind is blowing at about 80 miles an hour destroying the first lady's hair-do and President Mary McAleese's as well.

Dublin City is under traffic lock-down and getting around is harder than in Fort Knox.

One of the funniest moments of the day was provided by Moneygall parish priest, Father Patrick Kennedy, when he was asked on "The Pat Kenny Show" to give his opinion on what the atmosphere was like in Moneygall he told Kenny "I'm sorry Pat but I've been locked up in my own house since 10 o'clock this morning because of the Secret Service and I can't get out and neither can anyone else."

The excitement over the visit is spilling over into Dublin where thousands of what look like very young people is lining up for the concert and President's speech. A lot of them have American flags but just as many appear to have Jedward t-shirts which makes me wonder are they coming to see Jedward or the President.

The trip so far has been pretty uneventful Obama's remarks after meeting Prime Minister Kenny were bland and the highlight in fact was when Prime Minister Kenny handed Obama a hurling stick which the President grasped very expertly and threatened to use it on his political opponents.

As I write this the President's helicopter is departing to Moneygall, what promises to be the most exciting part of the trip. Fears that he would have to go by road have been replaced with a sense of anticipation in Moneygall which is the real news story from this day with the American media making it clear it is the highlight of the whole visit not just the Irish leg. As one reporter said "A black man looking for his Irish roots is a Hollywood story much more interesting than a G 20 summit of talking heads."

PHOTOS - President Obama's trip to Ireland - photo gallery

Follow all the stories on Obama and his trip to Ireland

Obama roots trip to Moneygall highlight of his European tour

Not only will Moneygall be the highlight of Barack Obamas 24-hour trip to Ireland it will be the highlight of his European visit if the US media has its way.

The story of an African American tracing his roots in a little Irish village has proven irresistible to the media who have flocked to the tiny County Offaly town.

The rest of his trip to London, France and Poland is preoccupied with affairs of state, making it of ho hum variety according to several journalists spoken with.

But Moneygall has that extra added ingredient.

NBC correspondent , Norah O'Donnell, herself a proud descendant of the old sod, says the Moneygall trip has a charming quality that will play very well in America.

"Its a great story," she said as she prepared to return to the village from Dublin for an NBC Today Show segment. "It is charming and the people in the village are great."

Legendary New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd agrees.

"It is like a Hollywood set in Moneygall she said. "It will be a sentimental welcome for Obama, and it will be very interesting to see how this most unsentimental of presidents handles it."

There is no question that Moneygall has become the center of the world overnight, even for a brief few hours.

The locals had a dream that has now come thought in astonishing fashion.

Despite every obstacle imaginable the most important man in the world will drop by their little town about 3 o clock Irish time this afternoon.

That is a real field of dreams come true.

Jedward and Westlife very poor warm up acts for Obama--Talentless twosome send the wrong message to world media

Whatever about the Obama presidential visit the choice of performers for the concert to entertain the president leaves a lot to be desired.

Before he arrives in College Green at the heart of Dublin on Sunday, the expected massive crowd and world media will listen to the best in Irish entertainment

Except it won't be.

When President Clinton went to Belfast in 1995 there was one electrifying moment when Van Morrison came on stage and played 'There'll be days like this."

It was a magical moment, one that will stay with the hundreds of thousands who witnessed it as a huge few minutes of symbolism as Northern Ireland inched towards peace.

That was then-- now Obama has Jedward and Westlife headlining.

How sad is that? Jedward are the pride of the teenybopper set, essentially harmless and good fun but with about as much talent as I have at singing and dancing.

Their main claim to fame appears to be their fantastical hairstyle, quiffed in a Teddy Boy look that drives the young females wild.

Then there is Westlife, a manufactured boy band who have made millions by being bland.

They will hardly stir the souls of the tens of thousands who will gather tomorrow for President Obama's speech and if Obama happens to arrive while either are playing he'll probably think he wandered into a teenybopper convention.

Really Ireland could have done much better.There is no dearth of fabulous musical talent and Obama will draw a crowd anyway.

Instead we have a talentless twosome and a vanilla boy band as Ireland's opening act for the most important man on earth while the world's media looks on.

Sad that.

Bad weather could ground President Obama's Moneygall trip ----White House is reluctant to travel by road says memo

President Obama’s trip to Moneygall, to his ancestral village, may be in jeopardy because of weather conditions.

The forecast for Monday May 23, his day in Ireland, is for persistent rain with strong winds which may well be enough to ground Marine One, the president’s helicopter.

If that happens the only access will be by road, but a White House briefing seen by Irish Central makes it clear that weather could play havoc with his plans.

The memo states “ If he has to drive because of weather it would be a long drive almost certainly too long of a drive even with a police escort. It took an advance team 1 hour 42 minutes to get there driving the N7, a divided four lane highway towards Limerick, a drive that goes by sprawling green fields and lots of sheep and cattle grazing.”

The memo makes clear the advance team also had a police escort.

There is precedence for a grounded presidential helicopter.

During one of his visits to Ireland, President Clinton was forced to drive from Dublin to Belfast rather than fly after heavy rain grounded his helicopter. On that occasion thousands showed up by the side of the highway to cheer him on.

Met Eireann, the official weather forecasting service. predicts that Monday will indeed be wet and very windy.

Their prediction is that “rain and strong winds will spread east to all parts overnight. The rain will continue into Monday morning accompanied by southwest gales with some severe gusts across the north and west. The rain will clear on Monday afternoon to be followed by blustery showers.”

Obama has a packed schedule in Ireland but a non appearance in Moneygall would be a shattering blow to the tiny Offaly village which has pulled out all the stops to make the president feel at home.

The world media has made clear his visit to Moneygall is the highlight of his Irish and indeed his European trip.They have descended on the tiny little Offaly village in huge numbers.

Fulmuth Kearney, the great grandfather of Obama’s great grandfather on his mother’s side left the village in 1850 to go to America, to Ross County in Ohio where his father had been left land by his brother.

Obama is due back in Dublin to his hotel in early evening and from then on to his public appearance in College Green in the heart of the capital city..

Obama visit to Ireland a good political move

Obama brown bread was on sale at a shop in Moneygall, Co. Offaly

The visit to Ireland by President Obama next Monday marks the sixth time in the modern era that an American president has made his way to the Emerald Isle.

John F. Kennedy started the trend, followed by Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and now Obama.
It is interesting to see how all those presidents are remembered, or not remembered, in the Emerald Isle.

Nixon, for instance, had relatives in Co. Laois, yet when a friend of mine went looking for any signs of relatives in a local graveyard that he visited he could find none. It was as if Nixon never came.

Bush similarly left no Irish footprint. When he announced a desire to visit Ireland, authorities there were so worried about mass demonstrations that they corralled him in the plush Dromoland Castle hotel for a few hours before bidding him a quick farewell.

Reagan fared by far the best of the Republican presidents who visited Ireland. His trip to his ancestral town of Ballyporeen, Co. Tipperary, not far incidentally from Obama’s ancestral place at Moneygall in Co. Offaly, was a major success.

It was so much so that when Reagan’s presidential library was built in California they imported the Ronald Reagan Pub from the village, lock stock and barrel, and recreated it in his library.

Kennedy, of course, was and always will be the benchmark. His visit to Ireland in 1963 transformed Ireland and Irish America alike.

Here was the great-grandson of penniless Famine emigrants returning back as the most important man in the world.

The Irish loved him and he loved them back, and his memory is still strong and alive there today.  The Irish government recently announced his Wexford ancestral home would be a national historic site.

Bill Clinton was a president on a mission. He was first there in 1995 to secure the peace process he did so much to launch, and those who saw his speeches in Belfast and Dublin, as I did, will never forget them.

Clinton is still a very welcome visitor in Ireland, and has managed to reach a JFK level of popularity because of his outstanding work on that peace process in the minds of the Irish people.

Obama will get a rousing reception too, not for anything he has done for Ireland but for what he represents, a truly historical figure as the first African American president and a man who aroused huge excitement during his presidential run in Ireland.

His Irish roots will be the main feature of the day he spends there next Monday, a nice new angle for American media especially who are descending in their droves on Moneygall.

With the exception of George Bush Senior, every president since Reagan has visited Ireland.  It does them no harm at all to be seen in an Irish landscape.

Key election states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio have large numbers of Irish Americans who, no doubt, feel good when they see a U.S. president back in the old sod.

Sure Obama looks different, but he’s a Chicago pol who knows the angles too. It will do him no harm to parade through Moneygall as the returning hero, no matter how odd that might seem.

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READ MORE:
President Obama to address massive outdoor rally in College Green Dublin

Moneygall’s own secret agents - village gears up for Obama’s visit

Ireland ready for Obama visit
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Moneygall makes merry as Obama visit nears---little town that could gets ready for big day

Moneygall, Offaly, Ireland; Reader, some times good things happen to good people.

The tiny village of Moneygall dreamed that one day the president of the United States would drop in to their little town and pay homage to his ancestor who left from there.

Many laughed at the audacity of the idea and others were deeply skeptical.

Moneygall said 'Yes we can.'

No one is laughing any more.

The president is coming on Monday and I have seen for myself a dream come through.

Jaded journalist that I am sometimes comes a story that lifts the spirit, a tale of the little village that could.

This is one.

It starts about four miles outside Moneygall where the south-bound N7 highway suddenly narrows to one lane and traffic cones cordon off the only exit.

Obama is coming to town.

A little further down we pass a brand new exit, especially built for Obama and his security detail.

We turn around and take the North-bound exit, the only way to approach Moneygall.

The first sight are hundreds of American and Irish flags fluttering in the afternoon breeze, about 100 of them set up on each side of the one street that goes through town.

Two new stores have opened in Moneygall in the past few weeks, a souvenir shop and a T shirt shop and the Obama coffee shop will open shortly.

The local newspaper has changed its name to the Obama Independent, people are literally dancing on the streets of Moneygall, there are more American flags than a Fourth of July pageant.

There is an Irish dance group called the Obama Stepdancers . They are busy practising their steps for the Obama hooley they tell me.

The best selling T shirt is 'What's the Crack Barack' and one that says 'Obama is feidir linn' Irish for 'yes we can.'

The little village of 300 or so souls is thronged with people, this Thursday afternoon, camera crews from all over the world hustle for the shot outside the Ollie Hayes pub or the nearby tiny house where Fulmuth Kearney left Ireland for the new world in 1850.

Welcome to Shangri La -- I mean Moneygall, home to the Great Grandfather of Barack Obama's great grandfather and on Monday May 23, the center of the known world.

It is hard to describe the excitement here. In the little village hall a few thousand passes to see Barack Obama on Monday in the village were handed out. The lucky ones headed for Ollie Hayes's pub to celebrate.

Flashing their admittance card they were as happy as if they had won the lottery.

Ollie himself is in fine fettle, ready to pour the most famous pint in Irish history when the great man himself ducks into his pub on Monday afternoon about three o'clock.

Henry Healy Obama's closest relative is a local hero, now starring in Tourism Ireland television ads extolling the Emerald Isle.

All is ready for the great occasion, The weather forecast is not great with rain from the west forecast. The magic in Moneygall will surely prevail these days one more time and the clouds will mysteriously divide and pass the little Offaly town.

Why not, sure the impossible dream has already happened, why not again.

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READ MORE:
President Obama to address massive outdoor rally in College Green Dublin

Moneygall’s own secret agents - village gears up for Obama’s visit

Ireland ready for Obama visit
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Queen Elizabeth announces end to war between Irish and British ----historic visit brings end to 800-year conflict

Dublin: The sheer shock of Queen Elizabeth speaking Gaelic during her remarks at a state dinner in her honor was bad enough.

Then there was the shot of her standing to attention for the Irish national anthem, and then of her laying a wreath on the remembrance plot for IRA heroes.

This is all too much to bear.

Do I wake or dream?

Has someone invented a Bizzaro world, you know that planet that Superman lived on before he came down to earth where everything was the direct opposite of what it was supposed to be?

What has happened here this week in Ireland has been little short of extraordinary.

Basically, the British have made the decision to bury the hatchet.


That was not a decision taken lightly, the British never do that.

But when they move they do it in style

After 800 years or so of intermittent warfare of the worst kind, the emissary in the shape of the queen has come to announce terms.

Those terms are splashed across every front page of the Irish media today.

'What were once hopes for the future have now come to pass' says The Irish Times headline, a direct quote from the queen.

The future has arrived in the new era for the Irish and British peoples.

There will be no more war.

Sure there will be crazies who want to keep shooting like those Japanese soldiers after World War 2 who never got the meessage until years later that hostilities had ceased.

They sail in puddles of the past as Patrick Kavanagh has written.

Another phrase from the queen jumps out 'being able to bow to the past, but not being bound by it'

That is what Ireland and Britain must do now.

The unionists in Northern Ireland must see the message from both the Irish leaders and the Queen on behalf of the British this week that they want no more war.

The Dissident IRA must see it too.

James Joyce once wrote that history is a nightmare from which the Irish are trying to awaken.

I think we all just woke up.

This queen's visit is so successful, so full of substance that it threatens to completely overshadow Obama's visit here on Monday.

Who would have thunk that?

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READ MORE: 

Horse rears up on Queen in National Stud 

Irish Americans welcome Queen's historic visit to Ireland

The Queen turns down a free pint of Guinness - VIDEO & PHOTOS

Security code red as Queen visits British Army massacre site

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Obama should send Bill Clinton to Middle East to solve Israeli/Palestinian issue

President Obama needs to send Clinton to the Middle East -- and no, I don't mean Hillary Clinton.

Following the failure of the George Mitchell intervention, Obama badly need to have a new Middle East policy in place otherwise he risks the US becoming irrelevant.

It has been clear for some time that neither the Israeli or Palestinian leadership was ever committed to what George Mitchell was doing.

The difference in Northern Ireland was that Mitchell had leaders like Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern utterly committed to his strategy as well as Sinn Fein and Ulster Unionist leaders.

Without that goodwill, George Mitchell might just as well have sacrificed a goat and hoped for more success.

Bill Clinton would be a different kettle of fish however.

No one carries more authority, including Obama in the Middle East.

He is regarded in both camps as the man who barely missed making an historic peace towards the end of his presidency, thwarted in the end by Yasser Arafat who would not make the final leap.

Clinton would likely relish another opportunity to settle the conflict for once and for all.

With Obama's stock rising domestically after the bin Laden killing it is time for him to really focus on Middle East peace, key to the whole region, as his next Mission Impossible.

And Bill Clinton is the only man who can achieve that impossible goal.

A night to remember - 125 years of Coca-Cola and the Statue of Liberty

Last Saturday night will long live in my memory. We were guests at a very special occasion, the 125th anniversary party of Coca-Cola on Liberty Island which coincided with the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty.

I had never been to Liberty Island despite living in New York a quarter century now, and it is more my shame.

Perhaps because it was the week that was in it with the Osama bin Laden operation and the sense of America pride restored, but it was a night to revel in the symbolism of the occasion and the sheer good luck of living in this country.

It was a beautiful New York spring evening, with a breeze from the south gently wafting across the harbor. The guest list for the event was impressive indeed, but judging by the nudges and looks will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas was very much the man of the moment.

Masters of the universe like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, media mogul Barry Diller and his wife, the designer Diane von Furstenberg, and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein were also present, but all were upstaged by the lady of the hour.

Lady Liberty looked stunning up close as we approached the island. I had often passed her on the Staten Island Ferry or on various cruises but had never been this close.

Walking around the island, I was struck by the vision of Manhattan I saw in the distance, my familiar city viewed from an unfamiliar vantage point. The eye was immediately drawn to the new Freedom Tower, now beginning its climb to the night sky where it will once again signal America’s determination to move on past 9/11 and rebuild and retrench.

On a week when the perpetrator of mass murder on that very site got his just desserts, it was a fitting coda to the evening.

We dined in a specially constructed tent with a glass roof so it seemed, the lady with the lamp was looming over the entire event.

It is easy to over-sentimentalize her, to fall prey to the clichés, but when you are up so close that you can touch, you see the golden lamp and you feel the generations who saw her and cried because they knew they had come to America.

This is a country of emigrants. The CEO of Coca-Cola, Muhtar Kent, was born to Turkish diplomat parents in New York but returned to Turkey at a very young age.

As a young man he returned with $1,000 and a dream and joined the Coca-Cola Company at the entry level.
Now he runs the best-known corporation on Earth. It was fitting that he was able to address what the Statue of Liberty meant to him and other immigrants, and children of immigrants.

Years ago I went to Ellis Island and traced my grand uncle, who ended up as a fire chief in San Francisco, and his path through Ellis Island. They say over 100 million Americans can trace their ancestry to that very spot.

The musical performances on the night were as stunning as the evening itself. The New York Pops Orchestra performed George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in blue,” and then a magnificent Japanese American violinist performed the wonderful Irish air “The Last Rose of Summer.”

The Irish touch was a nice one. Former Coca-Cola President Don Keough was not present, but he has infused a sense of Irish American identity with Coca-Cola over the past few decades. The fact that the company is one of the major employers in Ireland also helps.

All in all a wonderful night, highlighted by the classy anniversary, Lady Liberty and also a powerful grace note by Bloomberg in his speech praising the role of immigrants.

A night to remember.

Whitey Bulger, FBI Most Wanted, is using an Irish passport on the run

When the Pakistani Ambassador to the US was asked why his country was not able to apprehend Osama Bin Laden he asked why America had not been able to bring Whitey Bulger to justice.

It was a slap in the face for the FBI .

Now a tantalizing clue has emerged that Whitey may be hiding out in Ireland at least some of the time.

Time magazine has revealed Whitey Bulger has an Irish passport and the FBI has revealed that he has been using it in Europe.

Whitey, the South Boston mob boss, has been on the lam for over fifteen years since around the mid 1990s and is wanted for 19 murders.

He is at the top of the 'FBI Most Wanted' list with a $2 million bounty on his head.

He is believed to be traveling with his girlfriend Catherine Greig (pictured above with Whitey in a facial reconstruction by the FBI}.

Like with bin Laden and the CIA the FBI has a team dedicated to just finding him.

The Irish passport was obtained through his parents who were both Irish immigrants to the US.

The FBI have told Time magazine that they believe Whitey, now 81, is hiding out in Europe and is using his Irish passport to travel freely between countries in the European Union.

The FBI has said that the last confirmed sighting was in London in 2002 where he was seen working out in the gym of the Meridien Hotel in Piccadilly Circus.

From 1986 to 1994 Time reveals that Bulger traveled to Europe at least once or twice a year on his Irish passport.

The FBI say they have an idea of which country he is hiding out in but will not say.


However, it now seems that Ireland may be near the top of the list given his Irish roots and appearance.


---------------
READ MORE: 
Did Whitey Bulger die of a heart attack in Costa Rica? 

James ‘Whitey’ Bulger could be hiding out in Ireland - SEE POLL

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Ellis Island footage of Irish arriving reminds us of where we all came from

In a week where President Obama visited the Mexican border area to discuss immigration it is no harm to look back on the 125th anniversary of Lady Liberty and our own roots.

The film below is from 1906 on Ellis Island and is entitled Irish arrive on Ellis island, called Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears by the Irish.

Whether they are all Irish I don't know, perhaps a ship had just arrived from Cork.

We see them carrying their life possessions in little suitcases, facing a new world full of uncertainties.

About halfway through a little girl walks by, and I wonder what became of her. She must have looked on that long trip from Ireland as a great adventure, and was probably glad it was now over.

I think I see her again in the second frame, waiting for someone.

The emigrants are clearly through Ellis Island and the medical exam and have been reunited with their possessions and are heading for Manhattan aboard the ferry.

They must be so happy to finally find their path open to a new life in America

Where did they all end up?

Is there someone there now related to one of these brave souls facing their brave new world?

I don't know, but in a week where emigration was once more on the people's lips it is good to look back and remember where 100 million of us came from, through Ellis Island.

Don’t Rule out Hillary for 2016 -- Vanity Fair profile says Democrats unlikely to have anyone better

Observers of Hillary Clinton will have been intrigued by some of the nuggets about the Secretary of State in the new Vanity Fair profile.

The relationship with Obama is gone into in some detail, as are the workaholic habits and the reconciliation with Irish-born Samantha Power who dissed her on the campaign trail when Power was with Obama.

What was most intriguing though was the soft denial from staffers about a run in 2016 when she will be sixty-nine the month before the election, close to the same age as Ronald Reagan was when he ran for the first time.

Is there one more run in the Grand Dame of American politics?

Don’t rule it out would be the best advice. The Clinton’s are like the old warhorses who hear the sound of war and head straight towards the battlefield.

Hillary looks great has shown incredible competence in her new job and has earned and owns the respect of most Americans.

Polls show her one of the most popular figures in the US.

So don’t rule out 2016 yet, despite many protestations to the contrary

As Vanity Fair noted; “…. But it’s hard to believe “Clinton” and “ambition” have been fully sundered. In 2016, the Democrats are unlikely to have anyone better or more acceptable to different parts of the party."

Indeed.

Obama deeply impressive on '60 Minutes' about Bin Laden mission

President Obama was measured, cool and reflective in his '60 Minutes' appearance on Sunday night , giving credit where credit is due but also showing a flinty side that is usually hidden.

He was discussing the Bin Laden killing of course and at the end of the interview he flashed anger when asked about people who do not believe Bin Laden should have been killed, sparked by numerous articles in the European press denouncing the loss of life.

Such people should have their heads examined said Obama with a glint in his eye we don't see often in public.

We forget some times just how hard-nosed this man must be to come from relative obscurity as an African American and become president of the United States.

Based on this interview and the accounts of the decision making around the raid I think we have chosen wisely with this president.

He described in depth the real life decisions he had to make about whether to pursue what he rated as 55-45 percentage call on whether Bin Laden was in the Pakistan compound.

This was not the easy rhetoric of "dead or alive' or chest pounding but an incredibly serious decision about whether to enter another sovereign country, shoot up a compound leaving many dead and get out safely.

What was clear was that he planned for every eventuality which is what any good leader will do.

Asked about the downed helicopter in the early moments of the mission he said a contingency had been agreed which made it possible to continue.

The fact that he went through a full schedule of weekend events knowing what was in store for him that Sunday was an incredible balancing act.

How he managed to visit hurricane victims, go to a shuttle launch that was postponed, speak at a White House correspondent's dinner, make a graduation address in Florida, all the time knowing that his entire presidency likely rested on whether the Osama mission was a success was amazing.

This young president also put in context the inanity of the furore over birth certificates and such nonsense when he described his greatest fear all that week was of losing some of the incredibly brave special forces who took part in the mission.That is the stuff of American history and split second decision making.

That is what this country should be about not carnival barkers like Donald Trump and silly side shows.
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READ MORE:
Irish Muslims react to bin Laden death

Bin Laden had a Donald Trump - sized ego but looked like a broken old man
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Deportation of gay illegal Irishman stopped by Obama administration -- challenging act that gay couples have no spouse rights

An undocumented gay Irishman, Paul Wilson Dorman, is at the center of a major battle by the Obama administration to set aside the Defense of Marriage Act which states that marriage can only be between a man and a woman.

Attorney General Eric Holder has asked the Board of Immigration Appeals to set aside their ruling deporting Dorman to Ireland under the act on the basis that the act is now being challenged in court and may be set aside.

His actions have once again put the issue of gay marriage and whether it can be acknowledged legally in America back on the front pages.

Dorman has lived illegally in New Jersey where he has a civil partnership with another gay man. He was liable for deportation after his undocumented status was discovered.

Now however, in an extraordinary move, Holder has halted the deportation and asked the The Board of Immigration Appeals judges to reconsider the case and judge whether Dorman can be considered a spouse of an American citizen or if there are other extenuating circumstances to keep him in America.

The Obama administration stated in February that it would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court and this is the first step in that process.

Dorman and his partner had already decided to take their case to a federal appeals court because they believed the decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals was based on the Defense of Marriage Act which they believe is unconstitutional.

The fact that the Obama administration has now jumped in on their side is seen as highly significant.

People who are facing deportation can ask immigration judges let them stay in the U.S.


Lavi Soloway, a New York immigration attorney and founder of Immigration Equality, a group that advocates for the immigration rights of gay couples told the Associated Press the Dorman decisions is long overdue because there is clear discrimination against gay couples on immigration issues because spouses legally marriesdby law in several states cannot sponsor their partners

"This is the right path. Until Congress can pass legislation to remedy this, the executive branch can and should act," Soloway said.

Magnificent Muhammad Ali proves a knockout at the American Ireland Fund gala

He dominated the room and the event despite the fact that he can no longer speak and can barely wave when acknowledged.

That heavenly body that made him perhaps, the greatest athlete in history is bent and stooped now, Parkinson's disease will do that,but somehow, the magic of Muhammad Ali shines through.

He was guest of honor at the American Ireland Fund dinner in New York last night, a daring change from the usual recipients of such awards.

He's Irish too and as his wife Lonnie Ali related, he remembers with intense pride the extraordinary reception in 2007 when he visited Ennis, the town in County Clare where his great grandfather Abe Grady left for Kentucky in 1860.

He later married a freed slave and their granddaughter Odessa Lee Grady Clay gave birth to Cassius Clay in 1942.

Incredible to think that just a few miles away another Irishman, Fulmouth Kearney left for America in the 1850s and he would become an ancestor of another towering African American figure, Barack Obama.

Obama, Ali and Martin Luther King are arguably the three most important Black leaders of the last century. Two of the three have some Irish roots as well

When it comes to Ali even the most august of figures becomes kids again. Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny reeled off almost every fighter that Ali faced and confessed his life-long devotion to the champ.

I'm proud to note that it is another Irish man Dr. Pearse Lyons of Alltech, a global animal health company based in Kentucky, who has funded many of Ali's charitable ventures in the past number of years and has proven a true friend to him.

The other main honoree of the night, Coca-Cola senior executive Irial Finan, also fondly recalled his own Ali obsession and the incredible contribution he made to history.

It was as always, a wonderful night, a stunning $3 million was raised for charity and the 1,500 or so present came away well satisfied.

But Ali made the night special. When you are The Greatest, no one can top that.

Sick and ailing or not, it still holds true for Muhammad Ali.

Obama answers the 3.a.m phone call and may have won the White House again

This was Obama’s 3am phone call moment - when he put to bed the questions about his foreign policy credentials once and for all.

It is a huge triumph and a massive personal boost for the President.

It is a real coup for his presidency even in the way the mission played out. It was high risk, but crucially, there were no American casualties.

There were real questions over his leadership on foreign policy issues in light of events in Libya and Afghanistan.

After this nobody can ask those questions now - and nobody will be able to ask them during the election, even if it will likely revolve much more around economic issues.

I’d expect him to rise 10-15 points in the polls after this - and you can be sure the pollsters are out polling.

Even the way he delivered the speech was impressive - there was no triumphalism, he was very straightforward, very matter of fact.

He made it clear the US was not taking on the Muslim world. There was no ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner - or the ‘Dead or Alive’ nonsense ex-President Bush came out with.

From a personal perspective, the mood of New Yorkers is one of great happiness - mixed with a sense of relief. that a person who perpetrated such a dreadful atrocity no longer walks the earth.

He killed thousands of innocent people - and the horrific event led to some terrible policies in response. It was a dreadful moment in world history.

So when I first heard that there was to be a Sunday evening statement, I knew it was Bin Laden.

There just was nothing bigger that it could have been.

Watching the announcement I had tears in my eyes.

I remembered the horrible day, the fear we felt watching the news, I remembered all the people I knew who were killed, all the friends who were lost.

It is definitely a very emotional moment for anybody who lived in New York through 9/11.

For New Yorkers, he came to symbolise all that was evil in the world.

Today there is a real sense of closure, but more than that, a real sense of justice.

Bin Laden is gone, the world is a better place.

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Read more:

Read more: Obama’s Irish advisers were key to Bin Laden plan

Read more: Bin Laden death brings justice to still grieving Irish families -- Closure for those who lost loved ones on 9/11

Read more: Bin Laden shot through left eye, DNA matched sister's brain tissues - buried in Arabian Sea

Read more: Obama answers the 3.a.m phone call and may have won the White House again

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Bin Laden shot through left eye, DNA matched sister's brain tissues - buried in Arabian Sea

Osama Bin Laden was shot through the left eye and his DNA was matched with brain tissue of that of his sister who died a few years ago in a Boston hospital according to a Washington source.

The body was later buried from an aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea according to the same source.

The demise of Osama Bin Laden is being seen in the Irish American community in New York as a massive opportunity for closure.

Up to 40 per cent of the firemen and police officers who died on the day were of Irish American background.

It is also a huge boost for Irish American John Brennan Chief Counter Terrorism advisor to President Obama who was one of the key people in the room to make the decision to storm the Bin Laden redoubt.

Read more: Irishman Ron Clifford escaped World Trade Center, while sister and niece killed in plane.

Read more: Bin Laden death brings justice to still grieving Irish families - Closure for those who lost loved ones on 9/11

Read more: Mission Accomplished - Osama Bin Laden killed

Read more: A tribute to those Irish Americans we lost on 9/11

Bin Laden death brings justice to still grieving Irish families -- Closure for those who lost loved ones on 9/11

Read more: A tribute to those Irish Americans we lost on 9/11

Read more: Bin Laden's death: good news that could have waited

When I heard they killed Osama bin Laden I thought of Cork native Ron Clifford.

Ron from Cork, lost his niece and his sister on 9-11, and was almost killed himself.

He was in the World Trade Center that day and narrowly escaped with his life when the planes overhead crashed into the Towers.

Incredibly, Ron Clifford's sister and niece were on one of the flights.

Since that day I know that Ron, who I featured in my book Fire in the Morning on 9-11 heroes, has gone through hell, and I know that this news of Bin Laden's death will finally bring some relief.

I sat with Ron and his wife in their New Jersey home many nights after that awful event and marveled at the courage and resilience they showed.

But I knew their hearts were breaking

Not just for him, but for the thousands who died on 9-11 this is a great night.

The death of bin Laden proves that there is nowhere to hide when you are the most bloodthirsty terrorist in U.S. history.

For years with his videotapes and his taunts, he has continued to threaten America and to boast about how many of us he would kill.

Now he is gone, and truly the world is a much better place.

Anyone who lived through 9-11 in New York as I did will consider this one of the greatest nights in the history of this city.

The man who tried to take us down has himself had his life ended, and justice has at last been served.

I think of other victims of bin Laden. Mike Meehan from Donegal, who went to his grave early because of the death of his son Damian. There's Kieran Gorman from Sligo, a young Irish construction worker from Sligo trying to make his way.

I remember interviewing the widow of FDNY Lieutenant Kevin Dowdall for my 9-11 book, "Fire in the Morning." She recalled his great Irish sense of humor and his love of Irish music.

Just two weeks ago I met with Jim Smith, whose wife, NYPD Officer Patricia Smith, saved so many lives that day by leading people to safety, but died herself.

I think of them all tonight, and the thousands of others and the lives that were lost, and the senseless deaths.

I am so proud of this country that they have tracked down the man who ordered these deaths, and that justice has been done.

God Bless America.





Read more: A tribute to those Irish Americans we lost on 9/11

Read more: Bin Laden's death: good news that could have waited