R.I.P. Leonhard Cohen
9
Author Archives: EV
Happy 4th of July!
Image
Comic Relief – Scots insult Trump -NSFW
Just when I thought I’d never laugh again Trump posted this on twitter:
And the Scots managed to rise to the occasion. I have rarely seen such a collection of choice swearwords.
Here are my favourites:
“Sentient enema” wasn’t all that bad either. I stopped counting easy ones like “fuckwad”, “fuck-knuckle” or “twat-stick”. I rather liked “nylon-haired shit stain”.
The following was rather ingenious, too:
For a favourite I have this classic (with audio in the timeline):
Here’s the audio (click the pic.twitter link):
I second those thoughts and want to add that I am looking forward to welcoming Scotland in the EU.
Brexit – Live
In the video above you find a compelling explanation what Brexit is about really. Having watched some of the debates and quite a bit of coverage on BBC, ITV and a couple more news sites, I can fully agree with him. It is about immigration. And nationalism and then some immigration.
I’ll watch some of the BBC voting night coverage and will give you the first couple of developments live as they unfold. Then I will probably collapse, because I am not as young as I used to be when I joined you all for a night of music, booze and cigarettes on Music Night.
Whatever is the result tomorrow morning, I’ll let you know.
Fair warning: If they vote “Leave”, I will be seriously pissed off, because I still haven’t given up on the hope to spend my retirement in the North of England. I would have to go to Scotland instead, because the Scots will then leave the UK and reenter the EU.
Here’s a heat map of how Britons stand on the issue:
source: http://news.sky.com/story/1659864/skys-brexit-map-reveals-most-pro-leave-areas
So let’s get started….and hope for the best.
RIP Prince
This one hurts, too.
May I have a Word?
And here, for all its likeness with current events, is where it isn’t funny anymore:
Donald Trump is well under way to win the nomination and probably split up the Republican Party in the process. I don’t want to give Trump more exposure, to be honest, whatever I read or see from that man nauseates and even scares me. I have a few words for you all, though.
There are boundaries in the political discourse that cannot be crossed. Period.
The political opponent is neither a con artist, a choke artist, a liar, nor lacking control of his bodily functions. Alluding to a candidate’s hands’size is well beyond those boundaries, too, because it alludes not really to trustworthiness but rather the man’s penis size in common lore. Even that didn’t stop one of the competitors.
The poor are not moochers, Mexicans are not rapists, doctors are not baby killers, Muslims are not terrorists.
The President is not a traitor, a liar, impeachable for any reason, nor is he destroying the country.
Supreme Court judges are not activist or traitors, nor are their rulings unconstitutional.
Free speech is a privilege not only a constitutional right. Why would I think that?
Because words matter.
When you denigrate a candidate you tear down your party and the political process to find a worthy nominee for President. If you gratuitously insult a President, you diminish the office. If you dismiss Supreme Court rulings and the judges, you attack the constitution itself. All three acts tear at the fabric of your Democracy and its institutions by making them less relevant and less worthy of defense.
When you go and summarily denigrate your fellow humans, don’t worry about your democracy anymore, you are on a path that ends in bloodshed for certain and possibly genocide.
I am scared of what is coming. Things over here are not much better. Today refugees were teargassed at the European border, amongst them children as young as five. I am scared and I am deeply ashamed, too.
Sunday Music
Have a good Sunday all you good people.
Happy Sunday from Europe – Rugby Cheerleading
Our friend TtT had the privilege to watch a match of the current Rugby World Cup today. I am officially jealous.
Have a lovely Sunday everybody!
Tsipras, Corbyn, Sanders – Can there be a Rise of a new Left?
The choice between left and right in politics amounts to the choice of different brands of laundry detergent. It’s made up from identical ingredients, more or less diluted and smells differently, according to your olfactory preferences. All brands of politics are, however, brought to you by the same people very much like all the different brands of „Tide“ are brought to you by P&G.
In the years following Thatcherism and Reaganomics, most leftist European parties moved to the right and assimilated to the mainstream consensus of neo-liberal economic policies. Witness the move from Labour to New Labour or the German Social Democratic Party’s Agenda 2010.
Austerity and entitlement reform have become well-accepted concepts and the squeeze on the Middle Class is well under way.
The pendulum has moved to the right and has taken what used to be leftist parties with it, thus reducing the influence of the working class and middle class and increasing the influence of the economic elites.
Are we now at a turning point and will the movement be reversed, at least to some degree? Continue reading
Sunday Roast: June 23, 2013 – Ah well….
Don’t ask…
This is our open thread, all yours!
Sunday Roast: June 16, 2013 – Where’s the outrage?
I don’t get it. Seriously.
The news about the extensive data gathering by the NSA through Verizon‘s mobile phone records being outshone only a few days later with news about PRISM should have people out in the streets. Seriously.
I am not and have never been overly shy about internet use. I follow the usual dos and don’ts, but I am aware of the fact, that whatever you put out there is in everybody’s domain. If you shout it out on Times Square you have a smaller audience than when you put it on facebook, twitter, you name it. I know that by using it I have, sort of, agreed whatever I’m writing will be no longer private. Fair enough.
I’m fine that every time I read a New York Times article I will see in a sidebar which of my friends have read which article. It shows I have smart friends, not that I haven’t known that before, but still. I am even fine with the fact that for me all websites, be it news or other, which have commercial pop-ups are advising me how to get a flat stomach or how to ward off ageing. I take the pop-ups as an punishment for having googled about weight-loss and heat-flashes and I stick out my tongue to them and just don’t buy whatever is advertised through them.
What I do not approve of, and I am royally pissed about that, is that a government, any government, is prying inside my personal communications. So I would, of course, go and vote accordingly. No party or candidate ever gets my vote, who supports this degree of spying into the personal communications of ordinary citizens. Period.
Hah! And now, when we Europeans are mad as hell, and believe me, virtually everybody I talk to is spitting mad over here, we’ll just vote them all out of office!!!!!
Wait!
We can’t. We do not have, nor will we ever have any say in this.
This is our Open Thread. Don’t be shy. All yours.
Sunday Roast – uiuiuiuiuiui, sorry!
Open Thread. All yours!
Sunday Roast: Veruca Salt Award-Jennifer Rubin
Washington Post Blogger Jennifer Rubin has earned herself the Veruca Salt Award. She is notoriously unable to deal with facts she hasn’t invented herself. So small wonder when someone contradicts her introducing such facts she channels Veruca Salt and asks for the person to be muted.
Congratulations Mrs Rubin, this is not really the Pulitzer, but as close to an award on your “journalistic” work you’ll ever get.
This is our Open Thread. Join in.
Sunday Roast – Eurovision 2013
I watch that every year. The Swiss get regularly booted out before the finals, but every once in a while there is controversy or even something worthwhile listening to. This year the controversy was around Turkey refusing to participate, because one song act had two girls kissing at the end. After all those little islamist willies will crumble and fall off, if they have to watch that. They didn’t miss much, though.
We had the predicted outcome. Europeans liked this song:
Sad really, when we once, in 2007, had liked this:
Ah well.
This is our Open Thread. Please proceed….
Sunday Roast: May 5th – I could use a laugh!
This is our Open Thread. You know how it goes.
Sunday Roast: April 28th, 2013 – Three Myths about England
Myth # 1: It rains. Always.
Well it does at times, but when it does, it is still awesome. The world looks as if someone painted it:
Myth # 2: The Food sucks:
If you can’t get something decent to eat out of this at home…
You can still suffer through this in your local pub…
Myth # 3: They have a wicked sense of humor:
Well…
That’s right.
I’m back from there and wish I wasn’t. So I will reminisce a bit and plan my next trip.
This is your Open Thread. All Yours.
Sunday Roast: Fish & Chips and a Doris’ 90 Birthday Ale
I packed my bags, booked a flight, got a rental car, floored the accelerator and made it here just in time to get my beloved Fish&Chips and Doris’ 90th Birthday Ale.
This is our open thread. All yours.
Sunday Roast: April 14th, 2013 – Four Cups of Coffee
Good Morning Zoosters. Tired? I am. So this is what I found for your Sunday Morning reading over my morning coffee:
Having my first cup of coffee, I discovered that being all powerful and so full of yourself doesn’t mean people love you. Au contraire in some notorious cases, including this:
Protesters could be arrested for “alarming or distressing” mourners at the funeral of Baroness Thatcher, a police chief in charge of security at the event has warned. (full story)
In the UK this song is No 1 in ITunes Store downloads. Ah well.
Having my second cup of coffee was my “banging head on desk” moment. I have discussed some Right Wing terrorism in Germany here and it beats me, how the court could have excluded foreign newspapers, especially Turkish ones from this trial. The Verfassungsgericht ( our version of Supreme Court) set things right.
Germany’s top court has ruled that foreign media must get access to the trial of a suspected neo-Nazi charged in connection with the murders of 10 people, including eight of Turkish descent. A Turkish newspaper had filed a complaint. The row had threatened to harm Germany’s image and was overshadowing the trial starting April 17. (full story)
Cup Number Three: It won’t go away, not in our lifetimes. The Deepwater Horizon Spill has caused more damage than BP could ever pay for in damages. Can’t we, please, start taking care of our planet? It’s our home. The only one we’ve got.
Hundreds of beached dolphin carcasses, shrimp with no eyes, contaminated fish, ancient corals caked in oil and some seriously unwell people are among the legacies that scientists are still uncovering in the wake of BP’s Deepwater Horizon spill. (full story)
That required some lighter reading for cup four. Lest I ruin my day. Are women unrealistic when it comes to the male of the species? I am, totally, that’s for sure, but here’s some evidence, or not.
Men have long wondered what exactly it is that women want. Some pore over men’s magazines, with their promises of “washboard abs”, for guidance. The more scientifically minded look for experimental data. (full story)
So, now I have my fifth cup, have a peek into the Formula 1 Race, then I am off to Brunch with a friend, we will then discuss what I’ve read over my fourth cup of coffee.
You all have a very pleasant Sunday, sunny happy and warm. See you all later!
This is our Open Thread. Let’s go.
BREAKING: Margaret Thatcher Dead at 87
Margaret Thatcher *1925 – + 2013
British Prime Minister 1979 – 1990
Margaret Thatcher, aged 87, has died her family announced. De mortuis nihil, nisi bene. So I hold my tongue.
Sunday Roast: April 7, 2013 – Spring?
It feels at least like 84 years since I’ve last seen spring. We are still having patches of snow and there is more sleet in the forecast. For Heaven’s sake it is April. In former years my roses were already budding at this time. Small wonder everybody is tired and cranky all the time.
And now I read it is, again, man-made. The jet stream is too far south for a while now, so cold and wet weather prevails where I am. The effects of climate change.
This is an Open Thread. How are you today?
Easter Egg: Sunday, March 31, 2013
This Easter is going to be soooo different. Well not the food, see above. Some nice lamb stew with polenta will be on for dinner. It already prepared and warmed up, in my book, even tastes nicer than freshly done. But here’s where tradition stops. It is snowing, cold and miserable. They stole an hour of my sleep. So I’m grumpy and after having watched the Papal “Urbi et Orbi”, the family goes rogue.
Our list of movies to watch today and tomorrow:
We will all go to hell, I’m afraid. But not on an empty stomach. 😀
This is our open thread. Happy Easter!
Sunday Roast: March 24, 2030 – Future Edition
Karl Rove- The Architect of the Republican’s Downfall
May I venture a guess? A few years down the road, say in 2030, the current state of the GOP will be seen by political scientists and historians as follows:
By opening up the GOP right wing to the Evangelicals Karl Rove achieved a short term victory, which brought the defeat of the Republicans in its wake. The Bush Presidency, Rove’s biggest strategic achievement, and its costly illegal war in Iraq, in addition to its unchecked supply side economics, unbridled spending, while lowering revenue, led to a deep recession which left Millions of Americans on the brink of destitution.
The conflicts within the party were glossed over by a victory in the 2010 mid-term elections, which came at the height of the economic fall-out and was aided by inherent racist tendencies against a black President. Tendencies in constituencies which have been tapped years before, when Rove’s strategy opened the GOP to the right.
In the aftermath of this “victory” the “purists” in Congress managed to bring Government to a virtual standstill, thus enabling the sitting President to win re-election. A victory won not on policy in the first place, but on a deep seated division in the country mostly about “social issues” brought to the forefront by some contenders for the nomination, which have to be counted as candidates for the Rove constituency.
The loss in 2012 brought about a prolonged battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party, which showed victories of both sides, but left relevant policy making on the sidelines for years to come. Meanwhile, the society and economy in the United States evolved and modernised, while the conflict left the GOP without any discernible answer to economic and /or societal problems. It took the Republican Party another 16 years to regain their footing and be competitive again.
The name of Karl Rove, highly acclaimed in the early 2000s has by now become synonymous for self-defeating strategy among GOP politicians.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: A draft of the above post was found near the Way-Back Machine. We post it now for your reading pleasure.]
OPEN THREAD ~ CARPE PREDICTUM
Sunday Roast: March 17, 2013 – Including NSFW
So what is going on this Sunday, not much, and that’s not always bad. I picked a fews reads for you, I hope you all slept in 😉
President Obama will be in Israel next week. The so-called peace process, was there ever a real effort (?), is not only stalled, it is at it’s lowest point since I remember. The Economist picks up the topic:
IN 1942, as the Holocaust in Europe was entering its most horrific phase, a pacifist American rabbi called Judah Magnes helped found a political party in Palestine called Ihud. Hebrew for unity, Ihud argued for a single binational state in the Holy Land to be shared by Jews and Arabs. Its efforts—and those of like-minded idealists—came to naught. Bitterly opposed to the partition of Palestine, Magnes died in 1948 just as the state of Israel—the naqba, or catastrophe, to Palestinians—was being born. Decades of strife were to follow.(read more)
Cyprus needs a bailout. That’s not really news, but the account holders will get a haircut, oops:
Cypriots reacted with shock that turned to panic on Saturday after a 10% one-off levy on savings was forced on them as part of an extraordinary 10bn euro (£8.7bn) bailout agreed in Brussels.(read more)
Formula 1 is on, finally, The Lotus Effect:
Kimi Raikkonen proved he and Lotus have what it takes this year to become Formula One world champions after storming to victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.(read more)
And, kids, you look the other way now:
Close your eyes and ears,” warns an off-screen voice, “because here comes a sex comedy that’s all about bonking and banging.” Then Bavarian character Sepp appears on screen. As he assumes a wide-legged stance in an Alpine pasture, a cow gazes awe-struck at the fly of his lederhosen. Thunderbolts shoot out of his tight leather shorts, bulging with excessive man-power.( read more)
Again, there’s not much going on really, I could have brought you ‘She Who Must Not Be Named’ and her CPAC speech, but I am not cruel.
This is our Open Thread. All Yours!
Sunday Surprise – Flooded server room
No it wasn’t as bad as in the clip. Nevermind, I just came back from cleaning the server room in our company. Water and servers don’t mix well 😦
So sorry for another emergency post.
This is an Open Thread, don’t hold back!
Sunday Roast: March 3, 2013 – Govern and be Governed, but do it right!
Good Morning, I hope you slept well (and long because I’m late again 😉 ).
Government: You’re doing it right:
The Swiss are governing today and how. One reason for my being late here is the coverage of the latest polls on tv. Three major propositions have been voted on today and a number of regional ones. One was to amend the constitution to protect families’ rights to reconcile having a job and raising kids. It is a draw, more or less. While big cities have voted for it in big numbers and the overall popular vote is for it, the cantons are divided and as it is a constitutional amendment, it needs a majority of both popular votes and cantons. The more rural areas are, predictably against it, kicking women in the teeth once again. (Sound familiar?)
Second vote is on getting land out of the building code, so the environment can be protected from uncontrolled and uncontrolleable building for profit. It got a majority. Easily, too.
The third and most internationally acclaimed vote is on the so-called “fat-cat” initiative. A whopping 68% of voters have voted for it. This after the initiative has been blocked and fought against for seven years.
Under the proposal, shareholders will be given the right to hold a binding vote on executive remuneration. Companies would also no longer be able to pay so-called “golden hellos” and “golden parachutes”, whereby senior managers receive a one-time cash lump sum, often running into millions of pounds, when joining or leaving a company. Polls show the majority of Swiss plan to vote “yes” in the referendum, despite businesses warning it will drive out companies from the country.(read more)
Add to that the cap on manager salaries imposed by the surrounding EU countries and you see things are moving in the right direction over here.
Government: You’re doing it wrong:
You think the Tea Party is the most proficient government obstructionist of all times? They are not. They’re outright amateurs compared to the Italians: Our southern neighbors are blocking government right at the source. All Europe is frustratedly looking at what voters there did to their country. Outright distrust of government and politicians is in the Italian genetic code and not surprisingly so, given the corruption that is rampant in the country, but now they overreached.
IT IS hard now to recall that just three months ago the big threat Italy posed was of becoming boring. Its technocratic government, under Mario Monti, had regained the markets’ confidence. The spread of Italian government bonds over German ones was dwindling. The troublesome Silvio Berlusconi no longer led his fast-disintegrating party, and it seemed certain that the centre-left would win the next election. Mr Monti might then have become an economic super-minister—if he had not taken over the right with a mandate to make it more soberly European. (read more)
Let me add, Italy, unlike the US for instance has a fairly low constitutional threshold for new elections. They’ll be at it again in a few months, everybody agrees.
I wish you all a Happy and Relaxing (yes caps) Sunday. Enjoy some reading and our discussion. It is an Open Thread so join in.
TheZoo 