A rare sighting the other day - Glossy Ibis.

Drumpf was watching or playing golf whilst the bodies of four American soldiers were transferred to the US from from Lithuania and Wall Street lost almost 2.4 trillion dollars today.

Terrible that the Paul Weiss capitulated to Drumpf, but the point here is that a US President is using his powers for extortion. How does he get away with this blatant criminal activity?

Definitely the highlight of my birdwatching hobby so far - White-tailed Eagle!

Here's a beautiful Brambling...

Drumpf says NATO wouldn't help the US, yet the only time Article 5 was invoked was for the US after 9/11.

Disabling Ukraine's access to Maxar satellite data is a dispicable move - making things harder for Ukraine and aiding the Russian military.

Well, Drumpf showed his bullying, resentment and terrible negotiation skills today. That meeting was straight out of The Sopranos.

Musk guts senior staff in the FAA and now the FAA agrees to use Starlink for their IT networks. Conflicts of interest don't get any more obvious than this. #RemoveMusk

There's only one reason for a president to be firing high-level military staff and replacing them with people loyal to him. The orange fatberg intends to stay more than four years...

americanaddictioncenters.org/ketamine-abu...

I'm still trying to comprehend how someone who sends a raging mob into the heart of US democracy to murder his vice president got to even participate in a democratic election. Government corruption or normalcy bias at a national level?

Scatterplot titled “Empirical Evidence of Ideological Targeting in Federal Layoffs: Agencies seen as liberal are significantly more likely to face DOGE layoffs.” • The x-axis represents Perceived Ideological Leaning of federal agencies, ranging from -2 (Most Liberal) to +2 (Most Conservative), based on survey responses from over 1,500 federal executives. • The y-axis shows Agency Size (Number of Staff) on a logarithmic scale from 1,000 to 1,000,000. Each point represents a federal agency: • Red dots indicate agencies that experienced DOGE layoffs. • Gray dots indicate agencies with no layoffs. Key Observations: • Liberal-leaning agencies (left side of the plot) are disproportionately represented among red dots, indicating higher layoff rates. • Notable targeted agencies include: • HHS (Health & Human Services) • EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) • NIH (National Institutes of Health) • CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) • Dept. of Education • USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) • The National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE), despite its conservative leaning (+1 on the scale), is an exception among targeted agencies. • A notable outlier: the Department of Veterans Affairs (moderately conservative) also faced layoffs despite its size. Takeaway: The figure visually demonstrates that DOGE layoffs disproportionately targeted liberal-leaning agencies, supporting claims of ideological bias. The pattern reveals that layoffs were not driven by agency size or budget alone but were strongly associated with perceived ideology. Source: Richardson, Clinton, & Lewis (2018). Elite Perceptions of Agency Ideology and Workforce Skill. The Journal of Politics, 80(1).

The DOGE firings have nothing to do with “efficiency” or “cutting waste.” They’re a direct push to weaken federal agencies perceived as liberal. This was evident from the start, and now the data confirms it: targeted agencies overwhelmingly those seen as more left-leaning. 🧵⬇️

The plan is Project 2025, so either he's complicit in that or a hostage to his benefactors.

The under-appreciated Dunnock! Sometimes referred to as the Hedge Sparrow (but it's not a sparrow). You probably have one in your garden and never know it as they like to rummage around on the ground and often go unnoticed.

Perhaps the biggest weakness of democracy is that people who believe lies can elect a liar. When did we start allowing government leaders to lie with impunity? Not just ordinary lies, but ones that are designed to push people into an emotional (fight-flight) place where reasoning is abandoned.

The Blue Tit is smaller and more pastel in colours than the Great Tit. Such a pretty bird!

One of my sons has trained it to talk to him like a football coach, lol.

"We know Major Tom's a junkie" #RemoveMusk

Are we calling this a coup, yet? Allowing a non government team to meddle in sensitive government data: halting funds and firing staff without approval of Congress; firing inspectors and other staff based on personal enmity; hiring based on loyalty looks like a self-coup in the making. #StopTheCoup

Such an obvious dog whistle.

Not all gulls are equal. I always love finding a Yellow-legged Gull (this one is a local character). They look like they are wearing little yellow Wellington boots and they stand so proudly!

Interesting times at the Munich Security Conference. Europe is standing up against USA arrogance and unreliable security policy. Vance made such a fool of himself. The USA may get the isolation they are wishing for and Europe might be stronger for it. Pistorius delivered a great rebuttal speech.

I wonder if this is why he uses such vague language, enabling listeners to insert their own meanings.

Yesterday, Associated Press were told they are banned from the Oval Office and Air Force One because they won't refer to the Gulf of Mexico by its proposed name. This is how dictatorship starts: by controlling and bullying free speech and the press.

Vegetarian bacon is a hard no for me.

USA officially takes the side of Russia in the Ukrainian conflict. What a terrible situation, for Ukraine and Europe. Is Trump Putin's puppet?

Mandarin Duck. Probably my favourite introduced bird in the UK.

Feeling overwhelmed? It's a normal reaction to the cognitive overload that Trump/Musk are driving. Bannon called it "flooding the zone". Keeping everyone busy so they feel like there's no hope. Focus on what matters to you. Take media breaks. Read summaries of key issues by trusted people. Breath.

Trump and his cronies are illegally bypassing the US Congress in so many ways. In any other nation, there would be riots at this kind of authoritarian takeover. If Congress doesn't legislate, it ceases to have a purpose and democracy is at risk. Do you want your government used in this way?