European #fascism drew heavily on the symbolism, techniques, and goals of the #USA's rightwing. #FintanOToole eloquently punctures the myth that fascism is a European concept misapplied to American politics.

#oToole is well past his peak, but this is is an important framing of #Trump and #MAGA.

Podcast available at:

https://www.irishtimes.com/podcasts/inside-politics/fintan-otoole-what-would-fascism-look-like-in-the-2020s/

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/inside-politics-with-hugh-linehan/id794389685

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1MF6fZ8iLrwvVsq59xFX1k?si=oVgXsg_mR2OXdABd2C21ag

#uspol #IrishTimes #InsidePolitics

Fintan O'Toole is a liberal rather a lefty, but he is a social democratic liberal rather than a classical liberal. So there was hope that the doyen of Irish columnists would show some sympathy with Connolly's views.

But instead, the mighty O'Toole has thrown his lot in unequivocally with #TheIrishTimes's strident loyalty to the EU's militarism. :(

Paywalled original: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025/09/30/fintan-otoole-catherine-connolly-should-try-to-keep-her-inner-basil-fawlty-under-wraps/

Archived full text: https://archive.is/fD6RL
#IrishTimes #FintanOToole #CatherineConnolly #Aras25

Former President Donald Trump “goes to eleven”:“This is Spinal Tap” in a political commentary

In " Trump’s Old News ", his commentary for The New York Review of Books on the debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice Presid...

A fine profile piece from #FintanOToole on Dr. Ivor Browne who passed recently

In a country which had a long ugly history of incarcerating individuals deemed unfit to be allowed in public (Magdalene Launderies, Industrial Schools), Browne advocated for the treatment of #MentalHealth beyond the boundaries of walled asylums, eliminating the shame of #MentalIllness for many in #Ireland

Subscription Required:🔑 https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024/01/25/we-trusted-ivor-browne-with-our-darkest-secrets-he-was-one-of-irelands-great-liberators/

Fintan O’Toole: People trusted Ivor Browne with their darkest secrets. He was one of Ireland’s great liberators

Few did more to remove the barriers that separated mentally ill people from the rest of society

The Irish Times

This is a very interesting take by Fintan O'Toole on the historical context of the recent riot in Dublin. I am not knowledgeable on the subject so I'd be interested on what others, better informed than me, make of his analysis.

https://archive.is/ZsOCb

#Dublin #DublinRiots #FintanOToole #Ireland #IrishHistory

Interesting take by Fintan O’Toole in the New York Review on the current situation in the Middle East. TL;DR it's not good. He thinks (from his recent writing and podcasts) that Israel has no viable end game and seems to be relying on the Americans, British and French to send troops in to restore order and rebuild the West Bank. If that is the case then they are delusional.

https://www.nybooks.com/online/2023/10/31/no-endgame-in-gaza/

#FintanOToole #NewYorkReview #Israel #Hamas #Gaza

No Endgame in Gaza | Fintan O’Toole

If war is supposed to be the continuation of politics by other means, Israel’s assault on Gaza seems to be the continuation by other means of the absence

The New York Review of Books

Great article from #FintanOToole for those of you that have an #IrishTimes subscripion

FOT serves and important reminder that history is complex and rarely simplistically binary. The intersection of #IrishHistory with #Palestine and #Israel during the last century is both complicated and surprising

#Mastodaoine #MiddleEast
🔑 https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2023/10/24/fintan-otoole-ireland-is-weirdly-entwined-with-the-idea-of-a-jewish-homeland-but-not-in-the-way-many-imagine

Fintan O’Toole: Ireland is weirdly entwined with the idea of a Jewish homeland, but not in the way many imagine

Militant Irish nationalists prefer to forget that two future right-wing prime ministers of Israel were profoundly inspired by the IRA

The Irish Times

@retrohondajunki

As a former user of #Twitter and news hound (i will admit to lurking at times), I can think of many good journalists I would like to see on #Mastodon:

Irish columnist #FintanOToole is a name the jumps immediately to mind. Here, he's wrriting on the perils of #genealogy in Nazi Germany

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2023/09/21/the-trouble-with-ancestry-fatherland-burkhard-bilger/

The Trouble with Ancestry | Fintan O’Toole

Genealogy is fun, but it has never been an entirely innocent pastime. The establishment (or fabrication) of pedigrees has been essential to the policing

The New York Review of Books
Fintan O'Toole about the Nobel Prize winning scientists that have been warning us about the climate crisis and the need to stop driving and otherwise polluting since the 1950s - and how we have managed to avoid hearing them
#ClimateCrisis #FintanOToole #EdwardTeller
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2023/08/15/fintan-otoole-all-my-life-there-have-been-climate-warnings-were-ingenious-at-ignoring-them/
Fintan O’Toole: All my life there have been climate warnings. We’re ingenious at ignoring them

Climate change has been fully understood for decades. It has been perfectly possible not to grasp or feel it

The Irish Times
Invasion of the Democracy Snatchers | Fintan O’Toole

In his indictment of Donald Trump for conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, the special counsel Jack Smith makes a

The New York Review of Books