#kate connolly

[lucimiir]

master post

[stormupondawnlight]

Giant ball of uncontrollable rage recognises tiny ball of uncontrollable rage. Every yard I’ve ever worked on there’s that one horse who wants to destroy the world and everyone in it and then randomly picks one person and goes “yes, this is my human” and that needs to be Skata and Puck bc Skata being slang for a difficult woman and Puck working with the horse everyone else thinks is too difficult and Skata being violently protective of someone being nice to her.

[pipperoni32-blog]

I hear laughter and someone asks if I need help, not in a nice way. I snarl, “What I need is for your mother to have though a little harder nine months before your birthday.”

— Scorpio Races

[captainlaurence]

The Scorpio Races

Day 8, Chapter 14

October 8, 2023

Year 11

[xserpx]

I am warmth, and I am light

And I am kith and kin

A candle in your darkest night

I am Christmas, let me in

I am Christmas, let me in

Just got back from once again seeing the Young'uns' Christmas gig at Conway Hall, London, which was spectacular (and knowing the songs better this year helped me join in, especially with the Goose Truce!). I love their cover of John Connolly's I Am Christmas, it's a beautiful song and I need them to release a Christmas album, because Kate Rusby's version (and John Connolly's for that matter!) while good, doesn't have the same warmth and companionship that Sean, Michael, and David bring to it.

[yankeeblue]

[biglisbonnews]

‘There’s a lot of posturing’: Europe’s nuclear divide grows as one plant opens and three close Europe’s first new plant in 16 years comes on stream in Finland day after Germany pulls plug on last reactorsWhen Europe’s first new nuclear reactor in 16 years came online in Finland, it was hailed by its operator as a “significant addition to clean domestic production” that would “play an important role in the green transition”.The opening last Sunday of the long-delayed Olkiluoto 3 plant, Europe’s largest, means about 40% of Finland’s electricity demand will soon be met by nuclear power, which the government says will boost energy security and help it achieve its carbon neutrality targets. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/21/europe-nuclear-divide-grows-one-plant-opens-three-close-finland-germany

[laswells-ashtray]

Back on my half Scottish John Price shit because I can and you can't take it from me.

The rest of the team finding out is a decent laugh until he ends up chatting with Soap one day and he leaves with a set of guidelines on Scottish media to watch.

The entirety of Still Game, holiday episodes and the live show included. Both Trainspotting films. At least one Billy Connolly live show and one Frankie Boyle. Then, despite his role as captain, he has to report back to his sergeant.

John decides to be a man of his word and watch them because at home there's fuck all else to do when he's lazing on the couch, whisky in hand. Besides, Nikolai always enjoys starting something new, and he finds himself looking for an excuse to sit next to the pilot, pressed shoulder to shoulder and listening to his laugh.

He comes away understanding the things he so often hears Soap muttering under his breath throughout the day and with a tune he hums while washing the dishes.

He can't help but crack a smile when, after hearing "Et tu, Brute?", Soap mutters "A never eat two ae anythin'."

He and Nik find themselves staring down an absolute monstrosity of a tartan blanket that Simon buys them because the man's kindness comes hand in hand with arsehole-ity.

It's the ugliest thing he has ever set eyes on, including various mangled corpses and yet, it gets flung over the back of their couch.

Kate joins in but, in a typical fashion, does so with tact. Johnnie Walker blue label is something he will never be Googling the price of but he will be enjoying after dinner with Nikolai on the other man's birthday.

Nikolai does look up the price, and with how he eyes the bottle, John anticipates that they'll be doing some dirty work for Laswell in their future.

Above all, he resigns himself to trying a deep-fried Mars Bar. Then he denounces any Scottish heritage he may have.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Andrew Doyle

Published: Apr 7, 2025

A new report in the Times has revealed that police in the UK are arresting more than 12,000 people each year for words that cause offence. That’s over 30 arrests per day for speech crime.

So I thought it might be helpful to compile a list of UK citizens who have been visited, investigated or arrested by the police for speech that was deemed ‘offensive’. The vast majority of cases have not been reported in the press, and so I am only drawing on those in the public domain. This is by no means a comprehensive list. Please feel free to add more in the comments!

In January 2019, Harry Miller was contacted by Humberside Police for retweeting a poem that was interpreted as ‘transphobic’. Miller asked why he was being investigated and why the unnamed complainant was being described as a ‘victim’ if no crime had been committed. The officer replied: ‘We need to check your thinking’.

In February 2025, school administrator Helen Jones was visited by Greater Manchester Police after posting criticisms of Labour politicians on Facebook, specifically calling for the resignation of local councillors involved in a WhatsApp scandal. Officers later confirmed that she hadn’t committed any crime.

In July 2022, women’s rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen was visited by Wiltshire Police officers at her home for a social media post that was deemed ‘untoward about paedophiles’. The police later admitted that the visit was ‘not wholly appropriate’.

In May 2016, YouTuber Markus Meechan (aka ‘Count Dankula’) was arrested for posting a comedy video in which he taught his girlfriend’s pug to perform a Nazi salute and react excitedly to the phrase ‘gas the Jews’. He was later found guilty in court and fined £800.

In September 2016, former footballer Paul Gascoigne was found guilty in a criminal court of racially aggravated abuse, after a joke he made during a stop on his An Evening with Gazza tour at Wolverhampton Civic Hall. At one point during the show, he had turned to Errol Rowe, a black security guard, and said, ‘Can you smile please, because I can’t see you’. For this, Gascoigne was fined £1,000 and forced to pay a further £1,000 in compensation to Rowe.

In March 2025, Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine were arrested and locked in a cell for eight hours for criticising the policies of their daughter’s school in emails and a WhatsApp group. Six police officers had turned up to their house to make the arrest. The case was dropped after a five-week investigation.

In February 2021, Joseph Kelly was arrested and charged (and later found guilty in court) for a tweet about the late Captain Tom Moore that was deemed ‘grossly offensive’.

In October 2024, Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councillor, was sentenced to 31 months in prison after an offensive tweet about burning hotels housing asylum seekers in the wake of the Southport murders.

In July 2024, former Royal Marine Jamie Michael posted a video online which criticised illegal migration and called for peaceful protest. He was arrested and charged and later found not guilty in court.

In July 2022, army veteran Darren Brady was arrested and handcuffed for ‘causing anxiety’ by posting an image of four Progress Pride flags arranged into a swastika. Brady had shared the meme which had been previously posted by actor Laurence Fox in protest against the ‘hectoring authoritarianism’ of Pride month.

In June 2019, comedian Jo Brand was investigated by police after an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Heresy programme. She had joked about throwing battery acid at right-wing politicians.

In February 2020, Kate Scottow was convicted under the Communications Act for referring to a transgender individual who identified as a woman as ‘he’ on social media. This was later overturned on appeal.

In April 2018, teenager Chelsea Russell was convicted for quoting rap lyrics containing racially offensive language on her Instagram page as a tribute to a dead friend. She was given a community order and placed on curfew, which was later overturned on appeal.

In May 2010, Paul Chambers was found guilty of sending a joke tweet in which he said he would blow up an airport in Doncaster after it closed due to heavy snowfall. The case only went ahead at the insistence of the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer.

In August 2024, Lee Joseph Dunn was sentenced to 8 weeks in jail for posting three memes on Facebook that were considered ‘grossly offensive’. The most objectionable of the memes depicted a group of knife-wielding immigrants with the caption ‘Coming to a town near you’.

In 2012, teenager Matthew Woods was imprisoned for three months for posting offensive jokes on Facebook. He had apparently been drunk at the time, and the material had been copied from the website ‘Sickipedia’.

In November 2024, journalist Allison Pearson was visited by police and investigated for a year-old social media post that some had found offensive. The visiting officers would not provide any details of the specific post, which is why she later described the experience as ‘Kafkaesque’.

In August 2023, women’s rights campaigner Maya Forstater was investigated by police for a tweet about a trans-identified male doctor examining female patients without their informed consent. The investigation was dropped after 15 months.

In September 2022, Christian preacher David McConnell was found guilty of harassment for ‘misgendering’. He had referred to a trans-identified male as a ‘man’ and a ‘gentleman’. His conviction was later overturned.

Journalist Caroline Farrow was subjected to a 6-month-long investigation by police following an appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, where during an off-air moment she had allegedly referred to another contributor’s trans-identified daughter with a male pronoun.

--

By: Charlie Parker, Yennah Smart and George Willoughby

Published: Apr 4, 2025

The police are making more than 30 arrests a day over offensive posts on social media and other platforms.

Thousands of people are being detained and questioned for sending messages that cause “annoyance”, “inconvenience” or “anxiety” to others via the internet, telephone or mail.

Custody data obtained by The Times shows that officers are making about 12,000 arrests a year under section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 and section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988.

The acts make it illegal to cause distress by sending “grossly offensive” messages or sharing content of an “indecent, obscene or menacing character” on an electronic communications network.

Officers from 37 police forces made 12,183 arrests in 2023, the equivalent of about 33 per day. This marks an almost 58 per cent rise in arrests since before the pandemic. In 2019, forces logged 7,734 detentions.

The statistics have provoked criticism from civil liberties groups that the authorities are over-policing the internet and threatening free speech using “vague” communications laws.

As director of public prosecutions, Sir Keir Starmer issued Crown Prosecution Service guidance stating that offensive social media messages should only lead to prosecution in “extreme circumstances”.

Analysis of government data shows that the number of convictions and sentencings for communications offences has dramatically decreased over the past decade.

According to Ministry of Justice figures, there were 1,119 sentencings for Section 127 and Section 1 offences in 2023, down by almost half since 2015 when 1,995 people were found guilty of the crimes.

There are several reasons for arrests not resulting in sentencing, such as out-of-court resolutions. But the most common is “evidential difficulties”, specifically that the victim does not support taking further action.

There has been an outcry about police “overreach” and fears that officers could be “curtailing democracy” by arresting people for malicious communications offences.

The Times reported last week that Hertfordshire police sent six officers to detain a couple and put them in a cell for eight hours after their child’s primary school objected to the volume of emails they sent and “disparaging” comments made in a WhatsApp group.

Maxie Allen, 50, and Rosalind Levine, 46, were questioned on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property. After a five-week investigation, the police concluded that there should be no further action.

A police officer also said that elected officials could be treated as harassment suspects if they continued advocating for the couple.

Andy Prophet, chief constable of Hertfordshire, defended the arrests, saying that the force had given warnings and they were lawful, although he conceded that “with the benefit of hindsight we could have achieved the same ends in a different way”.

According to the data obtained by The Times, the force with the highest number of arrests in 2023 was the Metropolitan Police (1,709), the largest force in the UK, followed by West Yorkshire (963) and Thames Valley (939). However, when adjusted for population, Leicestershire police had the highest rate of arrests per 100,000 with 83. Cumbria police was second (58) and Northamptonshire police third (50).

The total arrest figures are likely to be far higher because eight forces failed to respond to freedom of information requests or provided inadequate data, including Police Scotland, the second largest force in the UK. Some forces also included arrests for “threatening” messages, though these do not fall under the specified sections.

Jake Hurfurt, head of research and investigations at Big Brother Watch, a civil liberties group, said the increase of arrests for communications offences is “seriously concerning”.

He said: “Police look to be wasting countless hours on arresting people for posting things online that, while offensive, are not illegal. Heavy-handed use of vague communications offences is a threat to everyone’s freedom to express themselves online.

“Police must remember that free speech is a right, and only intervene when absolutely necessary, because needless arrests for social media posts have a chilling effect that will cause the decline of our democratic culture.

“These statistics are seriously concerning and the home secretary should instigate an independent review into police arrests for online speech and the health of free expression in the UK.”

Toby Young, the founder and director of the Free Speech Union, said his organisation was helping half a dozen people who were being prosecuted for section 127 or section 1 offences.

They include David Wootton, 40, who is appealing against a conviction for dressing up as the Manchester Arena bomber, Salman Abedi, for a Halloween party last year.

[ David Wootton dressed as the Manchester Arena bomber, Salman Abedi, for a Halloween party ]

He had posted images on social media showing him wearing an Arabic-style headdress, and the slogan “I love Ariana Grande” on his T-shirt, and carrying a rucksack with “Boom” and “TNT” written on the front. Wootton was arrested and admitted sending an offensive message online. He faces up to two years in prison.

Young accused police forces of being “over-zealous in pursuing people for alleged speech crimes”.

He added: “Given that only 11 per cent of the violent and sexual offence cases in England and Wales were closed after a suspect was caught or charged in the year to June 2024, a steep decline on previous years, it seems extraordinary that the police are wasting so much time arresting people for hurty words.

“Sir Keir Starmer emphatically denied there is a free speech crisis in Britain when JD Vance raised this with him at the White House, but this data suggests we have a serious problem.”

A suspect arrested on suspicion of malicious communications may have also been arrested on suspicion of other linked offences. So while they might not have been sentenced for that offence, they might for another offence if it was part of the same incident.

A spokeswoman for Leicestershire police said crimes under Section 127 and Section 1 include “any form of communication” such as phone calls, letters, emails and hoax calls to emergency services.

“They may also be serious domestic abuse-related crimes. Our staff must assess all of the information to determine if the threshold to record a crime has been met.

“Where a malicious communications offence is believed to have taken place, appropriate action will be taken. Our staff must consider whether the communication may be an expression which would be considered to be freedom of speech. While it may be unacceptable to be rude or offensive it is not unlawful — unless the communication is ‘grossly offensive’.

“Freedom of speech is enshrined within our society, and while communications may be rude, impolite or offensive, they may not be unlawful. Decisions are made taking this into consideration and if found not to be unlawful, will not be recorded as a crime.”

Other police forces deferred to the National Police Chiefs’ Council, which did not provide a comment.

==

“Nobody has the right to not be offended. That right doesn't exist in any declaration I have ever read. If you are offended it is your problem, and frankly lots of things offend lots of people. I can walk into a bookshop and point out a number of books that I find very unattractive in what they say. But it doesn't occur to me to burn the bookshop down.” ― Salman Rushdie

Reminder: offence must be taken.

[lucimiir]

I see your Sean teaches Puck about catching cappail uisce and Thisby magic post canon fics and raise you Puck introduces Sean to the social dynamics and communities on Thisby he’s never gotten to be a part of

[sleepyowlwrites]

it's that time of year. I must give you spooky songs.

I'm not just throwing my playlists at you, either. you can find all 200+ of my playlists on my spotify. spooky is a blanket term, okay. the vibes are expansive but there's something...there.

spooky but in the background, mostly

the Ghost songs by Louie Zong

Ancient Souls - The Daniel Pemberton TV Orchestra

Edge of Night - Cullen Vance

The Mist - Max LL

The Inevitable Haunted House - Boqeh

Mass (Re-Imagined) - Phoria

Dispossession - SQUARE ENIX MUSIC

Ceaseless Watcher - harvo

Waltz of the Bone King - Peter Gaundry

Thryy Wyrd Tynns - Alec Holowka

Dance Off - Heloise Tunstall-Behrens & Auclair

Dragon Lullaby - Dave Volpe

The Gambit of Night - Neil DeGraide, Dirt Poor Robbins

Sleep - The Last Bison

Mausoleum - Rafferty

White Specter - Adrian Von Ziegler

spooky but there's something here with you, a creature?

Fangs - Little Red Lung

Rusalka, Rusalka / Wild Rushes - The Decemberists

That Unwanted Animal - The Amazing Devil

Into the Woods - PHILDEL

Into the Unknown - Evetty

The Nowhere King - The Centaurworld Cast

Aha! - Imogen Heap

The Glow - The Last Bison

Nature Girl - Cryoshell

Running with the Wolves - AURORA

Howling Moon - Coleman Hall

The Pines - Roses & Revolutions

Caterpillars (Of the Commonwealth) - Will Connolly

The Night We Met - Lord Huron

Errasuriz - Kiltro

Bloodsuckers - Johnny Hollow

We Have It All - Pim Stones

spooky but maybe it's you

Devourer - Aideoneus

When I Was Done Dying - Dan Deacon

The Yawning Grave - Lord Huron

So Tonight That I Might See - Mazzy Star

The Mortal Boy King - The Paper Kites

Stone Wall, Stone Fence - Gregory and the Hawk

Ghosts - James Vincent McMorrow

Oceanica - San Fermin

Going - Tow'rs

Sticks and Stones - The Pierces

Strange - Runah

All Things Devour - aseaes

Raise the Dead - RAIGN

Sunlit Grave - Saint Mesa

Remain Nameless - Florence + the Machine

spooky but we're having a good time, I think

Let's B Goblins! - Ratwyfe

Death, Thrice Drawn - The Scary Jokes

Great Vacation - Dirt Poor Robbins

Face the Night - Tennyson

Skeleton Song - Kate Nash

Bones - anne october

The Magic - Lola Blanc

All Is Well (Goodbye, Goodbye) - Radical Face

the jester - ratz

spooky but in pastels

In The Beginning - Fahrenhaidt

Kiss the Grass - The Paper Kites

Butterfly Water - Pastelle

I Was Feeling Down, I Found a Nice Witch and We're Friends - In Love With a Ghost

The Ancestor - Darlingside

Entangled Life - Merlin Sheldrake, Cosmo Sheldrake

Night Owls - Mree

[untolduttering]

“What about you, Kate Connolly? Puck Connolly?”

The way he says it, I feel certain he misremembered intentionally, because he liked the weight of the words when he said my name twice, and that makes me feel warm and nervous and agreeable.

Oooohhhhhh the intimacy of someone enjoying you so much that they can’t help not only call you but you full name, but make the purposeful mistake of not using your nickname so they can say it twice. Each time before that, too, when he’d use her full Kate Connolly name made my head swirl. I reread this every year and it still doesn’t loose potency.

[captainlaurence]

The Scorpio Races

Day 7, Chapter 12

October 7, 2023

Year 11

[companion-showdown]

Which companion is the most normal person?

a lot of companions would be getting into tv show worthy situations with or without the doctor, but some of them are just normal people, who if they weren't aboard the tardis they'd be living an ordinary, perhaps even boring, life. who is the most normal

SEMIFINALS

Leo Jones vs Ben Jackson

Barbara Wright vs Ian Chesterton

QUARTERFINALS

Leo Jones vs Sergeant Benton

Graham O'Brien vs Ben Jackson

Brian Williams vs Barbara Wright

Ian Chesterton vs Katarina

previous rounds under the cut

ROUND 4

K9 vs Leo Jones

Sergeant Benton vs Rory Williams

Alison Cheney vs Graham O'Brien

Rita Afzal vs Ben Jackson

Brian Williams vs Evelyn Smythe

Barbara Wright vs Wilfred Mott

Ian Chesterton vs Anji Kapoor

Peri Brown vs Katarina

ROUND 3

K9 vs Business Woman

Leo Jones vs Harry Sullivan

Sergeant Benton vs Kate Stewart

Duggan vs Rory Williams

Tegan Jovanka vs Alison Cheney

Liz Shaw vs Graham O'Brien

Rita Afzal vs Nyssa

Ryan Sinclair vs Ben Jackson

Mickey Smith vs Brian Williams

Evelyn Smythe vs Martha Jones

Grace Holloway vs Barbara Wright

Lucie Miller vs Wilfred Mott

Ian Chesterton vs Victoria Waterfield

Hex Schofield vs Anji Kapoor

Donna Noble vs Peri Brown

Dan Lewis vs Katarina

ROUND 2

Day 2

Mickey Smith vs Jamie McCrimmon

Chang Lee vs Brian Williams

Evelyn Smythe vs Romana I

Adric vs Martha Jones

Grace Holloway vs Izzy SInclair

The Brigadier vs Barbara Wright

Lucie Miller vs Headmaster

Ruby Sunday vs Wilfred Mott

Ian Chesterton vs Amy Pond

Mike Yates vs Victoria Waterfield

Hex Schofield vs Frobisher

Nardole vs Anji Kapoor

Donna Noble vs Liv Chenka

Leela vs Peri Brown

Dan Lewis vs Bridget Sinclair

Katarina vs Bill Potts

Day 1

K9 vs Charley Pollard

Business Woman vs Mel Bush

Leo Jones vs Rose Tyler

Laurence Scarman vs Harry Sullivan

Sergeant Benton vs Steven Taylor

Bernice Summerfield vs Kate Stewart

Duggan vs Helen Sinclair

Sarah-Jane Simth vs Rory Williams

Tegan Jovanka vs Dodo Chaplet

Handles vs Alison Cheney

Liz Shaw vs Adam Mitchell

Sam Jones vs Graham O'Brien

Rita Afzal vs Susan Foreman

Nyssa vs Kamelion

Ryan Sinclair vs Polly Wright

Fitz Kreiner vs Ben Jackson

ROUND 1 (Group Stage)

Group 1:

Susan Foreman

Barbara Wright

Ian Chesterton

Vicki Pallister

Steven Taylor

Group 2:

Katarina

Sara Kingdom

Dodo Chaplet

Ben Jackson

Polly Wright

Group 3:

Jamie McCrimmon

Victoria Waterfield

Zoe Heriot

The Brigadier

Sergeant Benton

Group 4:

Liz Shaw

Mike Yates

Jo Grant

Sarah-Jane Smith

Harry Sullivan

Group 5:

Leela

K9

Romana I

Romana II

Group 6:

Adric

Nyssa

Tegan Jovanka

Vislor Turlough

Kamelion

Group 7:

Peri Brown

Mel Bush

Ace McShane

Grace Holloway

Chang Lee

Group 8:

Charley Pollard

C'rizz

Evelyn Smythe

Lucie Miller

Group 9:

Liv Chenka

Helen Sinclair

Hex Schofield

Bernice Summerfield

Chris Cwej

Group 10:

Fitz Kreiner

Compassion

Anji Kapoor

Sam Jones

Group 11:

Alison Cheney

Iris Wildthyme

Izzy Sinclair

Frobisher

Group 12:

Rose Tyler

Mickey Smith

Adam Mitchell

Jack Harkness

Martha Jones

Group 13:

Wilfred Mott

Donna Noble

River Song

Amy Pond

Rory Williams

Group 14:

Kate Stewart

Clara Oswald

Handles

Bill Potts

Nardole

Group 15:

Yasmin Khan

Graham O'Brien

Ryan Sinclair

Dan Lewis

Ruby Sunday

Group 16:

Vince Hawkins

Duggan

Damon

Group 17:

Rhos

Dr Summers

Laurence Scarman

Lowe

Mergrave

Headmaster

Group 18:

Tamsin Drew

Tania Bell

Business Woman

Kevin

Group 19:

Jackie Tyler

Francine Jones

Clive Jones

Tish Jones

Leo Jones

Group 20:

Sylvia Noble

Craig Owens

Brian Williams

Danny Pink

Rigsy

Group 21:

Tommy Connolly

Riley Vashtee

Hath Peck

Nephew

Rita Afzal

Group 22:

Elton Pope

Ursula Blake

Colin Skinner

Bridget Sinclair

Bliss

links to previous tournaments

[the-forest-library]

December 2024 Reads

Orbital - Samantha Harvey

I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpman

Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss

Fox 8 - George Saunders

The Muse of Maiden Lane - Mimi Matthews

Finding Mr. Write - Kelley Armstrong

Cole and Laila Are Just Friends - Bethany Turner

P.S. I Hate You - Lauren Connolly

Not in My Book - Katie Holt

The Rules of Royalty - Cale Dietrich

Wrong Answers Only - Tobias Madden

Lily and the Octopus - Steven Rowley

The Mistletoe Mystery - Nita Prose

A Night in the Lonesome October - Roger Zelazny

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving

A Matter of Execution - Nicolas Atwater and Olivia Atwater

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door - H.G. Parry

Cursed Cocktails - S.L. Rowland

Games Untold - Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T.S. Eliot

So Thirsty - Rachel Harrison

Hunting November - Adriana Mather

Two Sides to Every Murder - Danielle Valentine

Demon in the Wood - Leigh Bardugo

Thistlefoot - GennaRose Nethercott

Ghost Squad - Claribel A. Ortega

Heartwood Hotel: A True Home - Kallie George

Understood Betsy - Dorothy Canfield Fisher

The Death and Life of Benny Brooks - Ethan Long

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Catcher - Bruce Coville

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse - Charlie Mackesy

In a Jar - Deborah Marcero

Frog and Toad Are Friends - Arnold Lobel

Frog and Toad Together - Arnold Lobel

Frog and Toad All Year - Arnold Lobel

Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt - Kate Messner and Christopher Silas Neal

A Little Like Magic - Sarah Kurpiel

Sugar and Spice and Everything Mice - Annie Silvestro and Christee Curran-Bauer

Mr. Santa - Jarvis

I Shall Never Fall in Love - Harri Conner

Bunt! Striking Out on Financial Aid - Ngoni Ukazu

Swamp Thing: Twin Branches - Maggie Stiefvater

Shadow of the Batgirl - Sarah Kuhn

She-Hulk, Vol. 5: All In - Rainbow Rowell

Briony Hatch - Ginny & Penelope Skinner

March: Book One - John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

Cat People to Judge in Art and Life - Nicole Tersigni

Pen & Ink - Isaac Fitzgerald and Wendy MacNaughton

March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women - Kate Bolick, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado, and Jane Smiley

Everybody Needs an Editor - Melissa Harris

We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me - Elliot Mintz

Never Play it Safe - Chase Jarvis

Women Living Deliciously - Florence Given

Things to Look Forward To - Sophie Blackall

Real American Girls Tell Their Own Stories - Thomas Hoobler and Dorothy Hoobler

The Wood in Winter - John Lewis-Stempel

50 Ways to Rewire Your Anxious Brain - Catherine M. Pittman and Maha Zayed Hoffman

Democracy or Else - Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor

What I Ate in One Year - Stanley Tucci

Greekish - Georgina Hayden

The Vegetable Eater - Cara Mangini

Bold = Highly Recommend

Italics = Worth It

Crossed Out = Nope

Thoughts: So, uh, I read a lot of books this month. I leaned into beating my total from last year since I was close and read a lot of short reads, graphic novels, and the children's books I was giving for gifts.

There were some good reads this month, including two new canine narrators that I adore: Fox 8 and Snuff from A Night in the Lonesome October (which really should be a big tumblr book as it has Jack the Ripper, Dracula, the Wolf Man, a witch, a clergyman, a druid, Victor Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes, a Rasputin-coded mad monk, and occultists along with their familiars scheming over the fate of the world).

Goodreads Goal: 476/400 

2017 Reads | 2018 Reads | 2019 Reads | 2020 Reads | 2021 Reads | 2022 Reads | 2023 Reads | 2024 Reads

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Kate Connolly at The Guardian:

A German aristocrat who hosted Samuel Alito at her castle in 2023 has revealed new details about her friendship with the rightwing supreme court justice, including that they share a mutual friend who played a key role in JD Vance’s conversion to Catholicism. Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, a onetime party girl turned traditionalist Catholic activist who has faced criticism for her defense of far-right politicians in Germany, told the Guardian that she first met Alito in Rome – she could not remember what year – and that both were friends of Dominic Legge, a priest and Yale Law graduate in Washington who Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, has often cited in discussions about his adult conversion to Catholicism.

The relationship between the 64-year-old noblewoman and Alito sparked media interest after the supreme court justice revealed last week in a financial disclosure form that he had accepted concert tickets worth $900 from the billionaire, who refers to herself as a princess even though Germany’s aristocracy was officially disbanded after the first world war. She later told the German press that Alito had overestimated the cost of the tickets, but did not elaborate. The supreme court justice has previously faced scrutiny for failing to report free travel on a private jet from a wealthy conservative billionaire who had business before the court, a story first reported by ProPublica that is a part of a broader ethics scandal that has engulfed the high court in recent years. Alito faced a separate controversy earlier this year after it was discovered that his household had flown an upside-down flag, a symbol of Stop the Steal campaigners who falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, as well as a second flag at a beach property that was associated with the Christian nationalist movement. Alito’s disclosure about the free tickets are significant for another reason: they reveal new insights into Alito and his wife Martha-Ann’s apparent personal ties to a European aristocrat who is deeply entrenched in an international rightwing movement that is seeking to advance conservative Catholic policies.

Allies in her fight include the rightwing nationalist Steve Bannon and the ultra conservative German cardinal Gerhard Müller, who she once called the “Donald Trump of the Catholic Church”. Her circle is known to be fiercely critical of Pope Francis – who is seen as too liberal by orthodox and traditionalist sects of the Catholic church. Legge, who leads the Thomistic Institute in Washington, is a prominent member of an elite circle of traditionalist Catholics in the US capital, and sits on the board of an organization – the Napa Legal Institute – alongside Leonard Leo, the powerbroker who is widely seen as having used his influence to install Republicans’ conservative supermajority on the supreme court and reportedly recently called for conservative activists to “crush liberal dominance at the choke points of influence and power in our society”.

[...] Von Thurn und Taxis compared herself to the late British Queen Elizabeth – whose family she noted was of German descent – and said the role of the aristocracy in Germany was to unite people and “keep politics out of the salon”. She also claimed in an email not to know that the decision that overturned abortion rights is called the “Dobbs decision”. But an examination of von Thurn und Taxis’s own activities shows that the woman who was known during a punk phase – before her turn to conservative Catholicism – as Princess TNT, for her explosive personality – has deep political ties that have given her access not only to supreme court justices, but inside the Trump White House.

[...] “This is not just about the arrogance of a powerful man already embroiled in controversial ties to billionaires. It is also about the company he keeps: choosing to accept very expensive concert tickets from a woman who embraces far-right politicians who are aligned with her outspoken hostility toward abortion access and marriage equality,” said Lisa Graves, the managing director of Court Accountability and a former deputy assistant attorney general at the US Department of Justice. Graves added: “Their alliance is unsurprising though very troubling since Alito has been using his position on the supreme court to advance a parallel regressive agenda into law.” In October 2019, at a speech in Washington in which she effusively praised the Trump administration, von Thurn und Taxis personally thanked Leonard Leo for setting up meetings for Cardinal Müller, who she was traveling with, to visit the White House and meet with people who were directly advising Trump on religious liberty and free speech.

She warned that, if Trump was not re-elected, “they will come after us” and that “nothing less” was at stake than the right to worship. Democrat Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, later won the 2020 election, but neither he nor Nancy Pelosi, another prominent Democratic Catholic politician, are seen as authentic Catholics by traditionalists. During that trip, von Thurn und Taxis also met and was photographed with Alito, Cardinal Müller, the supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Brian Brown, who was then the head of the anti-LGBTQ+ group National Organization for Marriage (NOM). According to reporting by the New Yorker, NOM was actively lobbying the court on cases involving gay rights at the time of the meeting.

This year, in a speech at the National Conservatism Conference in Brussels in April called Threats to Faith and Family, von Thurn und Taxis served up a series of grievances about the state of the family in Europe, complained that “only homosexuals want to get married”, while unmarried heterosexual couples were opting for pets instead of children. She also criticized – in an apparent reference to the availability of reproductive rights in Europe – how leaders continued to “finance the killing of our offspring”, which she said would exacerbate future labor shortages on the continent. “Does this make any sense? Is there some kind of racism? Are we not supposed to reproduce?” she asked rhetorically, before launching into praise of Hungary, which she said was an outlier in supporting families with children. Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian autocratic leader, has been a guest at the noblewoman’s festival.

The Guardian has a explosive report that SCOTUS Justice Samuel Alito has ties to far-right German aristocrat Gloria von Thurn und Taxis.