James Joyce Award, University College Dublin

 

The students at University College Dublin have voted to give me the James Joyce Award, while students at Trinity College voted to honor Hunter Biden (Joe & Jill came to Dublin to celebrate; got mixed reception.) I’m unabashedly delighted. Here is University College Dublin’s award announcement:

 

THE COLLEGE DEBATING UNION
172nd Session, Auditor: Katie O’Sullivan
The Literary & Historical Society
University College Dublin
Dear esteemed guests of Mr. McGovern,
As Fellowships Convenor of the 172nd Session of the Literary and Historical Society at University College Dublin, I am writing to invite you to the Award Ceremony for Mr. Ray McGovern. This is the highest honour any student body in Ireland can bestow, at Ireland’s largest university, reserved for individuals who have made a profound and lasting contribution to a field of human endeavour.
Founded in 1855 by Cardinal John Henry Newman alongside the university itself, the Literary and Historical Society, affectionately known as the L&H, has long stood as a forum for intellectual debate, artistic exploration, and cultural engagement. Among our most notable former members is none other than James Joyce, whose legacy continues to shape both modern literature and the identity of our Society.
We want to congratulate Ray on an extraordinary career that has established him as a distinctive and influential voice in American public life. From his decades of service as a CIA intelligence analyst to his subsequent work as a political commentator, writer, and activist, he has dedicated his career to the pursuit of truth, accountability, and a more informed public discourse.
What has always distinguished Ray’s public work is his willingness to challenge conventional assumptions and to ask difficult questions, particularly when matters of war, intelligence, foreign policy, and national security are concerned.
Through Ray’s writing, lectures, interviews, and activism, he has encouraged audiences to examine evidence critically and to recognise the importance of dissent within a democratic society.
Like James Joyce, Ray has engaged deeply with questions of power, identity, institutions, and the individual’s relationship with the societies in which they live. Joyce used literature to examine the political and cultural forces surrounding Ireland and its people, while Ray’s work has sought to interrogate the institutions and decisions shaping the modern world. Both demonstrate the importance of independent voices willing to look beyond established narratives.
While you are doubtless inundated with requests such as this, I hope you can recognise the sincerity of the desire to offer a small token of our appreciation for your contribution to our time, and seize the opportunity afforded to enjoy a most memorable day at University College Dublin and in doing so, commemorate Ray’s life and achievements.
The ceremony will take place on November 18th 2026 at 18:30 in the Fitzgerald Chamber.
Should you have any questions whatsoever please do not hesitate to contact us,
Best wishes,
Katie O’Sullivan, Auditor
Liam Aubin, Fellowships Officer of the 172nd Session of the Literary and Historical Society
PRESIDENT:
Prof. Orla Feely
VICE-PRESIDENTS:
Mary Finlay Geoghegan
Patrick J. O’Flynn Desmond J.Green
Charles Lysaght
Website: UCDLNH.com

The Case for Retribution Post-Bluenami

What, We Worry? Under the “Unitary Executive” exec branchers feel free to cover up 9/11; make up Intel on Iraq; hide CIA torture; murder fishermen; enable genocide ALL WITHOUT FEAR OF CONSEQUENCES. Ackerman says NOW IS THE TIME TO IMPOSE CONSEQUENCES. Yes!

 

 

The case for retribution post-Bluenami
By Spencer Ackerman
Edited by Sam Thielman
Nov 5, 2026

NOW IS THE TIME to impose consequences—or, as the military says, to reestablish deterrence.

One of the most disastrous mistakes of 21st Century America has been to avoid imposing consequences, political or legal, on malefactors of great political and economic power once their moment of vulnerability arrives. Examples abound. The 9/11 Commission assigning no blame to any official in power on or before 9/11—indeed, by crafting the parameters of responsibility for 9/11 so narrowly as to obscure the blowback that produced it. The no-fault Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. The golden parachutes for the architects of the subprime mortgage crisis that nearly destroyed the global economy. Barack Obama, who needed the CIA to wage his lower-intensity version of the War on Terror, choosing to look forward and not backward at CIA torture. Joe Biden facilitating a genocide.

The arguments for not imposing consequences are understandable. The election was the consequence. The problems facing the United States are too serious to allow for retribution. Besides, retribution will set off a cycle of recrimination that its architects may come to regret once voters grow tired of what the Democrats are offering. Lincoln said, during times even more
consequential than ours, that for our country to heal and grow we need malice toward none and charity for all.

Then they shot him in the head. When the smoke cleared, the Confederates won the peace, rewrote history, and consigned millions of the emancipated and their children to eighty years of shadow bondage.

As you read this, 65,000 people are in ICE concentration camps. Trump’s threat to re-escalate the Iran War after the midterms—”You’ve heard a preview that it would be a short-duration plan. I’ll just say this: their plan is insane,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, who has been briefed on the plan—looks to target civilian infrastructure. The U.S. continues murdering fishermen in the Caribbean. Unless there are consequences for the architects of these atrocities – consequences first threatened and then imposed – all this will continue. Maybe at first it’ll seem less conspicuous, like ICE after Minnesota. Then, when outrage diminishes, it will intensify, like ICE this summer.

Officers from Adm. Brad Cooper on down need to hear that the Uniform Code of Military Justice has clear consequences for violating the laws of war and obeying illegal orders. It’s not just potential time in the brig; it’s that hard-won military pension vanishing into thin air. For the civilians, Rep. Delia Rodriguez of Illinois is showing the way. Last month, Swin Suebsaeng and
Andrew Perez reported that Stephen Miller fears prison, even despite the president’s plenary pardon authority. Fears like his need to be stoked. Investigations in Congress should lay the groundwork for prosecutions whenever possible. In states under Democratic control where ICE killed, kidnapped and violated other laws, grand juries need to be empanelled.

There can be no more tolerance for elected Democratic politicians—whether centrist or DSA, I do not care—who fear confrontation. The public needs to pressure those politicians into enacting retribution, since the donor and consultant classes of the Democratic Party will do everything they can to evade it. Whenever powerful people commit crimes, Democratic powerbrokers suddenly demur from the punitive measures they demand when powerless people commit crimes. They ensure we repeat this endless cycle of impunity for malefactors and neglect for the material needs of the people – a cycle only expands the ambitions of fascists, who remain an election away from reclaiming power. And it works out fine for them, because they never experience the consequences of fascism.

No band-aids this time. Surgery.

 

AMEN!

https://www.forever-wars.com/inside-the-issue-no-one-escapes-the-dialectic-1/?ref=forever-wars-newsletter