People and Politics

There will be no U.S. ambassador to Ireland in place until at least September say Washington sources who state that a couple of top names have been derailed because of background check issues.

It means that no U.S. ambassador will be in place for the visit of Barack Obama to Northern Ireland in June, where he will go to Belfast and attend a G8 summit in Fermanagh on the 17th and 18th.

Senator Marco Rubio’s support announced on Sunday for the bipartisan immigration bill before the senate guarantees its passage.

Maureen Dowd, called the most influential columnist in America by Vice President Joe Biden, has said “enough already” when it comes to questions of whether Hillary Clinton will run for president or not.

The answer, says Dowd, is clear -- she’s running.

This Pope Francis I is for real.

Congressman Dan Lipinski

Could Congressman Dan Lipinski of Illinois be appointed Ambassador to Ireland? While on the surface it appears unlikely, it was Lipinski’s name that was most on the lips of Washington insiders at the St. Patrick’s bash in the White House last week.

An openly gay redheaded Irish American woman has announced she is running for mayor of New York and she is very likely to win.

Christine Quinn is the overwhelming favorite but she is bucking several trends.

It began like a plot from a Maeve Binchy novel, a pretty Californian girl comes to Ireland and meets a handsome but lonely farmer in beautiful and remote Ballydehob in west Cork. They marry, have a child, and all live happily ever after.

Eighteenth-Century Dublin’

I just came across a wonderful site mostly dedicated to strange happenings in Ireland long ago, many culled from newspapers and legal documents at the time.

It's called Sibling of Daedalus (thanks to Broadsheet.ie for highlighting it ) and you could spend hours perusing it. It is beautifully illustrated.

The sad news is that St.Patrick never got the official title.

Oscar nominated ‘Argo’ deliberately misrepresents Irish passport role in hostage crisis - Irish connection to daring rescue of diplomats is changed to British.

The movie “Argo” about a sensational CIA operation to free American diplomats hiding in the Canadian Ambassador’s residence during the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979 has sparked outrage in Canada. It is a strong contender for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars.

If timing is everything in life then Cardinal Timothy Dolan just missed a beat.

The front page story in The New York Times on Thursday revealing that he has been questioned about cases of child abuse and his reaction to them in his old diocese of Milwaukee could not have come at a worst time.

That should be good enough “Bang Bang” -- and fire that PR guy who told you this was a good plan.

Ryan and Rubio on the other hand constitute a real challenge for Democrats in 2016.

Ah well,  the liberals will have to look elsewhere methinks.

I’m sorry, but that new portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge makes her look like she is posing for a mugshot or Lindsay Lohan after a late night out.

I have to tell you I did a double take with the following headline from the New Haven Register. ‘New Haven St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee to roast Orange man’.

Now I know many in the parade committee do not exactly embrace their Protestant brethren, but roasting an Orange man sounds a bit extreme!

Hillary Clinton (AP)

Though she has been released from hospital after treatment for her blood clot Hillary Clinton’s political future has changed dramatically.

At 65 she has been struck with an illness that doctors agree is a serious one and that could have caused a major stroke.

Certainly not the type of vote of confidence the Irish were looking for at the beginning of the New Year from the world’s leading newspaper!

Piers Morgan (John Shearer/WireImage)

I have never been much of a fan of Piers Morgan, the CNN host who comes from a British tabloid tradition, but I am now.

Morgan, reflecting the incredulity of non-Americans worldwide, has spoke out forthrightly and clearly on the madness of the lack of gun control laws in America.

NRA’s Wayne LaPierre has been watching too many Rambo movies - Arming all the citizenry is like giving drink to an alcoholic

Wayne LaPierre, spokesman for the National Rifle Association, looked like a demented chicken squawking on the stage of the National Rifle Association press briefing yesterday.

This is not a promising start for this administration.

Poor Christine.

I hope so, this needs to be overturned

That’s what frenemies are for after all. The kiss and make up is the best part.

So count me out poppy fascists -- unless you wear the Easter Lily too.

sense continues.

Of all the rash comments that Mitt Romney made the other night the one that most struck me has been almost ignored.

"Had [my father] been born of Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot of winning this."