The arraignment and conviction of an erstwhile faceless Facebook commenter warning Repubblika’s Robert Aquilina to feel fear walking the streets of Valletta alone is a welcome development. The local police take these situations seriously and that’s a good thing. This case was not exceptional. With the additional good fortune that the perpetrator did not hide [...]
From my article in The Sunday Times today: "The Daphne Caruana Galizia inquiry conclusions included detailed recommendations for Malta to adopt specific anti-mafia laws. The recommendations, studiously ignored by the government, were drawn up because the inquiry found that the absence of such laws is part of the state’s failure and, consequently, the state’s responsibility [...]
More details have emerged of the Game Over II anti-mafia investigation in Italy that includes Maltese companies and online gambling sites licensed in Malta. The Maltese companies identified by Palermo’s prosecution service as “Leaderbet Limited” and “HR Management Limited”. The latter company is held by Angelo Repoli from Messina. The two companies operated illegal betting [...]
In 2013, Joseph Muscat was elected with an impressive majority following a sleek and very expensive campaign with the solemn pledge to rule by meritocracy, reduce utility tariffs and care for and protect the environment. Thousands believed him and saw in him a new saviour, the one who could deliver the Labour Party from decades [...]
Photo: Ansa Italian news agencies report authorities have identified 12 suspects for participating in illegal gambling operations using websites owned by Maltese companies. The suspects are believed to be involved in delinquency, illegal online betting, and false ownership claims. The investigation brings together agents from Palermo, Ragusa, Messina, Agrigento and Trapani. According to [...]
The General Workers’ Union – and I will say more later about the fact that a theoretically socialist labour union could do such a thing – yesterday announced that 94% of people working inside the prison signed a petition praising Alex Dalli and asking for him to be brought back to run the show. By [...]
I live and work in Brussels and I draw satirical cartoons on a range of subjects which I post on Facebook. Following the cyberbullying attack sparked by my cartoon depicting Michelle Muscat as a siren and Joseph Muscat as an octopus, posted on Facebook last week, a lot of people came to speak to me [...]
The Opposition MPs on the committee for standards recommended yesterday that since both sides had already agreed to endorse the standards commissioner’s conclusion that Rosianne Cutajar breached Parliamentary ethics she should be suspended for a month. MPs for the government disagreed and the Speaker threw in his casting vote against the motion. He supported a [...]
Owen Bonnici is going to teach us about how to avoid hate speech at an upcoming conference. We knew he was all for a tolerant society built on mutual respect, particularly respect for people you disagree with, every one of those over 500 bloody times, that he ordered the removal of our protest in front [...]
https://youtu.be/NfcrPOnNgGA
https://youtu.be/OC8IOppLChE
https://youtu.be/2wMY5btv8Nk
https://youtu.be/3iJMdyZ4fN8
Here is a video of an event organised by Scottish PEN to mark the Day of the Imprisoned Writer (15th November). The speakers are Rebecca Vincent (Reporters Without Borders), Cat Lucas (English PEN), Leela Soma (Scottish PEN), Ricky Monahan Brown (Scottish PEN), and Lizzie Eldridge (Scottish PEN), who read from the work of Daphne Caruana Galizia. [...]
Photos by Darrin Zammit Lupi.
The press is reporting the response filed by the Malta Security Service to a claim by one of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s alleged assassins that his phone had been tapped illegally. The MSS is saying it wasn’t. That’s not what this is about. The MSS is being represented in court by a lawyer with a private [...]
Man, it’s Lord of the Flies out there. I barely look at Facebook anymore and I found it’s better for my health. I use an app attached to my blog to post stuff on Facebook because too many people still have the habit of only considering as news what comes up on their Facebook feed. [...]
Simon Mercieca probably thinks I avoid commenting on the more outrageous things he writes because the campaign of harassment headlined “Stop writing about Simon Mercieca (and Yorgen Fenech)” has convinced me not to. I avoid writing about the madness in his writing out of compassion, for him mostly. Sometimes though, I have to make an [...]
It turns out the EU Commission already clarified that someone in John Dalli’s situation does not enjoy immunity from prosecution for crimes he committed while serving as an employee of an EU institution. It did this 16 years ago when €60 million from the manufacturer of chewing tobacco wasn’t even a twinkle in Peppi tal-Imqaret’s [...]
What the fuck just happened in the court that should have heard charges against John Dalli? First, the disclaimer. The esoteric priestlike capabilities of warranted professionals are rightly respected by amateurs like me. If I’m going to ask for a doctor’s opinion about some ailment, I have no right to weigh years of medical training [...]