After taking a little break from social media I think I need to reintroduce myself. I’m keen to connect with like minded people. So if you like hiking and the outdoors generally (and maybe take the odd photo or two when you’re out), sailing and reading let’s talk. I’m a keen follower of politics and a bit of a news junkie too. And I love to travel, mostly in Europe. 
#introduction #bookstodon #hiking #travel #sailing #ireland #dublin

@GottaLaff Great to see some judges with a bit of backbone. I presume an appeal will follow?

@knittingknots2 He can’t help himself.

After taking a little break from social media I think I need to reintroduce myself. I’m keen to connect with like minded people. So if you like hiking and the outdoors generally (and maybe take the odd photo or two when you’re out), sailing and reading let’s talk. I’m a keen follower of politics and a bit of a news junkie too. And I love to travel, mostly in Europe.
#introduction #bookstodon #hiking #travel #sailing #ireland #dublin

Dublin is a fantastic city for hiking with the Dublin mountains just a short drive from the city. Wicklow and the beautiful Wicklow mountains are just an hour from the city. #wicklowway #ireland

Dublin basking in some beautiful winter sunshine today. To the left is Montpelier hill and the Hellfire club. Montpelier got its name from a hunting lodge called Mount Pelier, built in the early 1700’s #hiking #dublin

This is Barack Obama’s best books of 2023. I had read and really enjoyed The Covenant of Water, The Wager, The Vaster Wilds and The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. So I decided to read All Sinners Bleed, without knowing anything about the author. It’s a story about a black sheriff dealing with white supremacists, distrust from black people, as well as a number of murders. It’s a great read. #books

This is Barack Obama’s best books of 2023. I had read and really enjoyed The Covenant of Water, The Wager, The Vaster Wilds and The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. So I decided to read All Sinners Bleed, without knowing anything about the author. It’s a story about a black sheriff dealing with white supremacists, distrust from black people, as well as a number of murders. It’s a great read. #books

Banning of books in the US is really concerning. Banning books about race, gender & sexuality is the tip of the iceberg, people are more easily controlled the less learning they have. So is that the real, long term agenda?

I’ve just finished my first book of 2024 and it’s excellent. I hadn’t read Lauren Groff before but if her other books are half as good as The Vaster Wilds then she’s one I’ll be following. Set in colonial America with very spare cast of cast of characters (a lone girl in the woods for the must part) it’s story is one of human endurance at it best. With beautiful depictions of nature. A great start to 2024. #books

Alex Jones back on Twitter by invitation. Is Musk trying to create a right wing, conspiracy led platform? Or is he trying to kill it?

6/ Via Kyle Griffin:

Ex-Trump accountant Donald Bender has testified that the information he used to compile Trump's financial statements came from the Trump Organization — not him.

Judge Engoron has already found the financial statements were grossly inflated and fraudulent.

Banning of books in the US is really concerning. Banning books about race, gender & sexuality is the tip of the iceberg, people are more easily controlled the less learning they have. So is that the real, long term agenda?

Let the children get shot. But don’t shoot us.

Jesus, guns are banned from todays NRA conference. These people would turn schools into the Wild West but at their conference. Sorry guns are too dangerous. Sometimes I want to cry.

Boris Johnson ‘nominates father for a knighthood’ More cronyism from the man who previously nominated his brother for a peerage. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/05/boris-johnson-nominates-father-for-a-knighthood?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I hate to boast but I’ve just had a tomato.

Ivanka and Jared being subpoenaed by Jack Smith, Special Counsel investigating Jan 6th attempted insurrection. Hopefully one of the many investigations into Trump will succeed in preventing him ever holding public office again. It was interesting to contrast Biden’s trip to Kyiv with Trump’s ass licking meeting with Putin in 2018.

It’s with depressing predictability I read of Tory hardliners and the DUP trying to scupper a deal on the NI protocol. These people want a hard border on the island of Ireland, to hell with the consequences. The EU wants a virtual border in the Irish Sea. Hardliners say the necessary checks are disrupting trade, and they are. But businesses can live with these checks given the upside in ease of trade with EU. The UK ERG want an isolated Britain, the DUP are the party of NO, so on it goes.

Anyone else think Trump is going to face criminal charges about his attempt to subvert the election result in Georgia? Reading the excerpt from the Grand Jury today I think he’s in trouble. Thoughts?