Baron Von Harding™

*Former International Man of Leisure

*Award Winning Published Photographer

[James O'Connor TD @JamesOConnorTD]

I am proud to announce my first bill with the ambition to legalise nuclear energy in Ireland. 101 years ago, Ireland broke ground on the Shannon Hydroelectric Scheme. In our past we had an ambition to do what was necessary. Now we must do so again.

https://t.co/jgQouzFEvw

[Fionnuala Mulcahy @FionnualaM]

In defence of democracy:
A letter to the Editor in today's Irish Times
#Ireland
#Democracy

[Baron Von Harding™ @BaronVonHarding]

@keira_con @_DHOTYA

[Baron Von Harding™ @BaronVonHarding]

@ZzVvbbbbn @karenievers 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[8Radio @8RadioIreland]

‼️COMING SOON ‼️

New merch from your favourite indie radio crew (that’s us btw 😆)

It’s the perfect Christmas present for the indie music fan in your life… or maybe just a well-deserved treat from you to you
#8Radio #IndieMusic #SupportIndependentRadio #DonateTo8

[CS Blenner 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇱🇧🇬🇱🇹🇼 @CSBlenner]

The past few weeks have forced me to face something I’d been in denial about. 🧵 /1

[Baron Von Harding™ @BaronVonHarding]

@MichaelAArouet This book has the answers. In short, marrying cousins......

[Wall Street Apes @WallStreetApes]

Bill Maher criticizes liberals for supporting Islam

“Most Muslim societies live under some form of Sharia law, which no Westerner — could ever live under — How women are treated. Are you f*cking kidding me?”

“Your fundamental rights that you take for granted here in America, you would not have — Women. I mean, do I have to say anything more than just… Just if it was just that issue, how women are treated. Are you fucking kidding me?”

[John Loftus @loftysnds]

Tune into our fantastic @ATNfestival preview on @8RadioIreland from 8am Saturday !! There will be deadly tunes from @Meljoann @cmatbaby @GodKnowsRF @cliffordsbandie @BiigPiigMusic @Florence_Road @gurriersband @Jiggytheband @boldlove_music @revelinomusic & loads more ! 😎💚👌

[Kemi Badenoch @KemiBadenoch]

Too many politicians treat the world like a student union. Abstract, simplistic and completely disconnected from reality. The world is not a debating club. It is a dangerous place where power matters, where democracy is fragile and where enemies don’t play by the rules.

That’s why we need to be clear: supporting Israel is not just right — it is necessary for our own national security. Israelis are at the front line in the fight for the West and for our shared values.

First, Iran is a direct threat to the UK and has been for years. Our security services have stopped multiple Iranian terrorist plots and assassination attempts on UK soil. Its ballistic missiles can reach Europe. We should support any ally that seeks to damage Iran’s nuclear programme and eliminate the threat posed by the terror-exporting Revolutionary Guards.

Anti-British sentiment is almost as central to the ayatollahs’ deranged ideology as their obsessive hatred of Israel and the United States. They use the term “Little Satan” interchangeably to refer to both the UK and Israel.
Iran uses influence through mosques, schools and fake charities to radicalise and corrupt our own population: taking advantage of our democracy to advance its theocracy.

Second, Iran and Israel are not moral equivalents. Israel is a vibrant democracy that protects women and minorities and encourages them to vote, speak and dissent. In Iran women are brutalised by a theocratic dictatorship. Their ability to travel and work is restricted. They are beaten for showing their hair. Tortured for asking questions. Executed for demanding freedom.

Anyone who can’t see the difference between a liberal democracy and a terrorist regime needs to spend less time on social media and more time understanding reality.

When Iran launched its latest barrage of missiles, it didn’t target military installations. It targeted city centres. High rise housing. Hospitals. Civilians. This is a war crime, plain and simple. No excuses. No spin. And still, we have western politicians giving copy-and-paste statements as if this were a playground spat between equal players in a “cycle of violence”.

Israel’s response, in contrast, is surgical. It decapitated Iran’s offensive capabilities with extraordinary precision and minimal civilian casualties. Images of holes made by guided bombs in the sides of flats occupied by specific regime operatives are testament to Israel’s values. When Iran attacks, millions of Israelis hide in bomb shelters. When Israel attacks, Iranian dissidents record the impact against regime targets and cheer.

Military strategists will be studying this campaign for decades as a model for how to defend your people without losing your moral compass and in compliance with international law.

Israel has a right to defend itself. Iran has been openly committed to the destruction of Israel for decades. Through its proxy, Hamas, the regime orchestrated the murder of 1,200 people on October 7 and has said it would do it again. Any democracy facing such an existential threat from a genocidal regime would and must act to defend itself.

Most Arab nations understand this; some say it openly. Many ordinary Iranians bitterly oppose their regime which for 46 years has been robbing them of their future. They know that Israel is not the problem. They condemn violence, yes, but they have no time for the delusions of the western left. They’ve had enough of people in Islington pretending to speak for Gaza while doing nothing for peace.

But of course, the usual crowd in Britain and beyond rushed to condemn Israel. They ignore the facts. Because it’s not really about Israel — it’s about their own moral posturing.

While Israel takes on the arrayed enemies of the West, fighting terrorism on multiple fronts, and facing Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and Iran at once, their so-called allies condemn them.

1/3

[Joe Smyth @JoeSmyth10]

The amount Ireland is dependent on 3rd parties for electricity is crazy. 28% today. Add to that most of our gas (see fossil fuels) comes through one pipe from the UK, we have the most at risk grid in the world. What are we doing @EirGrid @fiannafailparty @FineGael ??

[Ben Goldsmith @BenGoldsmith]

It will never not be fascinating how western progressives were intellectually captured en masse at this time by an imperialistic Islamist movement which stands opposed to every progressive value they claim to hold. When you think about it, it is wild, to see students and their professors marching in their keffiyehs against the only (tiny) liberal democracy in the Middle East as it battles for its survival, and in support of the jihadists which surround it, jihadists whose publicly stated goals are to convert or eradicate minorities, execute gays, adulterers and apostates, subjugate women, and whose many many victims are in fact overwhelmingly Palestinians and other Muslims from across the region. How the Islamist movement achieved this feat of PR will be studied for years to come. All of the sane Muslim states have crushed and banned the Islamists, knowing full-well the threat they pose, the UAE, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, etc. Yet among western ‘liberals’ and on western university campuses they are adored and celebrated. There are earlier precedents. Socialists and students in 1970s Iran helped Islamist revolutionaries to take power, after which the Islamists rounded up and killed them.

[The Laymans Take @thelaymanstake]

This response is perfection. I don't think I could have crafted a more perfect summation of the upper class, female, suburban worldview if I had 100 years to try.

It's all performative. They know nothing, they do nothing, they have no values, and they only care about issues is so far as they can use them to gain social approval.

She doesn't care that there's a war going on, she cares that there's a situation that she can gain social status from and have fun with. Generational tragedies are reduced to fun, feminine activities, with paint, glitter, your girlie's, and maybe a few proseccos. Or protest marches where you can make nice colourful posters and sing fun songs pretending you're the new freedom riders. All while safe in the knowledge that you're doing it on the streets of the most pro Palestine city in the western world. As they say "Good work has never been this much fun".

She parades around with a smug sense of moral superiority and self righteousness and tells us how this is "Affecting her" while also being cloaked in the protective blanket of knowing she is expressing an opinion held by those in power AND the majority of the public, thus shielding her from any potential negative consequences for her "Brave stance".

The cherry on top all this is the admission of total ignorance to the potential nuclear war brewing between India and Pakistan. This conflict has a destructive potential that could make Gaza look like a small skirmish in comparison. It's also one we have already seen play out on the streets of Dublin with foregeiners from both sides facing off on behalf of the nations to which their loyalties truly lie.

But she doesn't know anything about that, she doesn't have any virtues to signal, no nails to paint, no morals or principles to espouse because there is no social status to be gained from this conflict. No approving nods, pats on the back, or raised glasses at her next wine and cheese evening to look forward to.

The manufacturers of public opinion have not yet told her what the correct opinion is, so she has no interest in taking the risk of thinking for herself.

For women like this, politics is simply a stage on which they perform for the adoration and approval of the crowd. They learn what the crowd likes and they play to it relentlessly so that the applause will never stop. They have no interest in challenging you, making you think outside the box, or taking you to the uncomfortable place where you might question your ideas because they have never done that themselves.

[Simon Maechling @simonmaechling]

Let me tell you something personal.

I live with rheumatoid arthritis - a painful autoimmune disease.

Without treatment, there are days when I wouldn’t be able to hold a pen, open a jar, or even be able to practice my passion for music....1/

[Douglas Murray @DouglasKMurray]

‘It's time for hard questions: why are there so many supporters of the death-cult Hamas in Britain?’ My column in the Evening Standard https://t.co/AKrfd5Yzav

[Baron Von Harding™ @BaronVonHarding]

@Ihartitz Cost me a fantasy championship too..... 😭😭😭

[Daniel Sugarman @Daniel_Sugarman]

The return of the hostages from Hamas captivity is of the utmost importance to Israel.

I thought it might be helpful for some of you to hear just a bit more about certain individuals that Israel is releasing in order for that to happen. The sacrifice being made.

A thread:

[Andy Bush @bushontheradio]

Here's a little 🧵 of all my irritating human behaviour pictures so far..
#1 Trains

[Baron Von Harding™ @BaronVonHarding]

@NFLFantasy When Rashee was taken out by his own QB..... 🤦🏼🤦🏼🤦🏼

[Mark Henry @Mark_J_Henry]

As Ireland heads to the polls, let's celebrate the fact that we have a democracy that works well. Ireland is ranked the 7th most democratic nation on the planet by The Economist. And eight-in-ten of us are satisfied with how our democracy works. Time to vote 🗳️🇮🇪 #GE2024