Not politics per sé, but man, have energy prices been on the news lately. Energy prices have gone up tenfold year on year. An average household is looking at a bill of €10.000 for a year's worth of gas and electricity.
Usually that wouldn't be much of an issue for us, we have savings that could be used if needed, and we have a fixed contract that will still cover us for a few months. But... We've been refurbishing our house, coupled with a few other unexpected major costs and we'll have eaten through our reserves by the end of the year. Hopefully prices will take a deep dive soon, or we might come closer to the bottom of our savings than I feel comfortable with.
Just read an article from our united states correspondent. If even half the stuff he mentions about the campaigns for the mid term elections are true, then the US is in some deep shit. Politicians telling the unwashed masses that they'll shoot their opponents and being cheered on? A lot of what I read reeks of fascism.
Hopefully us Europans will remain at least a bit more sane, but who knows.
Midterms look better for Democrats than the narrative the media was trying to push in the final days leading up, but it's still not enough. Even if they hold the House and Senate (which are still up in the air), they're not getting to 52 Senators, which means no filibuster reform, which means none of the most important pieces to protect the election in 2024 will get done.
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Tell me to get back to rewriting this site so it's not horrible on mobileA video from some US ceremony got picked up by national news here, where relatives of the cops who died on 06/01 shook hands with a democratic politician, but ignored the 2 republicans standing next to him. It's been a very long time since I've last seen a politician look so smug.
They wouldn't have to shout it, just say it as they walk by. But point taken, they did take the high ground, which would've taken a lot of restraint from me. Their way also has a more meaningful affect.
There's this big corruption research going on in the European Parliament at the moment, where a number of members of parliament are being investigated for receiving bribes from Qatar to influence EU legislation. Over the weekend several offices in the parliament have been searched, as well as 19 other locations and homes. Cash money has been found, with numbers circulating of around 1 million Euro's found in one house. I'm quoting national news here: "... so much money that we have been told, the counting is still going on as we speak."
So much for Qatar's big PR stunt of hosting the World Soccer Cup.
They should have realised that sportswashing only works if you're a first-world country; bribery is fine, then, too--in fact, it's usually legislated; unfortunately this legislation is designed to exclude lesser countries like Qatar, so their bribes are illegal.* In any case, it's been a great world cup. Thank you, Qatar.
*To be fair, Qatar isn't in the EU, so maybe its bribes shouldn't be accepted.
I'm not liking the current evolutions in the war in Ukrain. Western countries seem to have abandonned any and all restraint in making ever larger promises for military equipment. This is not the route to peace.
Anyone keeping up with the Ron Desantis/Disney battle? It just turned into comedy gold.
"Particular focus was paid to one section that board members said places certain restrictions on the district until 21 years after the death of the last surviving descendant of King Charles, or until Disney abandons the resort."
travo said:Anyone keeping up with the Ron Desantis/Disney battle? It just turned into comedy gold.
"Particular focus was paid to one section that board members said places certain restrictions on the district until 21 years after the death of the last surviving descendant of King Charles, or until Disney abandons the resort."
It's in my backyard and yep I see it all.
You know, Desantis was actually a good governor until around the time he decided he wanted to run for president. After that he's been pulling one dumb stunt after another all to appeal to the nutjob right.
robio said:
It's in my backyard and yep I see it all.
You know, Desantis was actually a good governor until around the time he decided he wanted to run for president. After that he's been pulling one dumb stunt after another all to appeal to the nutjob right.
Walt Disney lawyers are notorious for being ruthless. Sometimes I drive by a no name daycare that has a Disney mural painted on the front and cringe. If a Disney rep discovered it...
Might be a consultancy in there for me.