The storm came through, the winds howled, trees fell, and about half of Connecticut, including me of course, is now without power. Hope to be back soon.
reflections on politics, economics, and culture
The storm came through, the winds howled, trees fell, and about half of Connecticut, including me of course, is now without power. Hope to be back soon.
You made a mistake: without ELECTRICAL power 😉
Bad weather always seems to take Connecticut utilities providers by surprise…
Particularly fragile pylons ? Particularly malevolent trees ? Someone really should give the matter more thought.
Please stay safe this summer where even maddness has gone mad.
Dutch people do like Hungarians.
And the Hungarians love the Dutch “A nice Dutch guy” says Orban.
Viktor Orban and Geert Wilders are looking for independent journalists.
@Don Kichote, 8:39 am
Does Gertie Wilders bleach his hair? I mean,look at his eyebrows…
“Yes, this is all mine”, says Viktor.
“Really, all of it?”, Gertie amazed.
“Yes, all of it.”
hypocritical Geert Wilders tackles grabbing Italy, but lets himself be feasted by Hungarian grabber Orbàn – The Daily Standard
Does Gertie Wilders bleach his hair? I mean,look at his eyebrows … … definitely no, I would say two old white Nazis one with cancer in his face the other the cancer itself.
@Don Kichote, 8:39 am
Does Gertie Wilders bleach his hair? I mean,look at his eyebrows…
“Yes, this is all mine”, says Viktor.
“Really, all of it?”, Gertie amazed.
“Yes, all of it.”
PS. Hurry back on-line. Hungary needs you.
Look how Fat Vik is distracting the gullible Westie. I hope Geert checked his wallet after, that fella beside him, *The Felcsut Filcher*, is by far the *best* pickpocket in Budapest Town….
The good news there:
O1G being so happy with Wilders as with Salvini proves that Fidesz not “Christian Democrat” like the EPP claims but a right wing populist movement with fascist undertones …
Such a CDU populist said yesterday it can’t be that the freedom to travel puts millions of German citizens in danger! This is puszta populism a la Orbanistan. They want to politicize the freedom of travel just like Orban politicized the refugees and Trump politicized the Covid19. One could introduce tests or quarantine but of course one could also ban everything. Today in the USA, if you wear a mouth guard you are a democrat who wants to destroy the USA. These are politicians who appeal to the lowest instincts … wolfi I haven’t found the good news.
It’s good that these people now show openly “wes Geistes Kind” they are – and can’t hide any more behind their “Christian Illiberalism” or as I call it “Clerical Fascism”.
Rather OT and crazy/funny/horrible/devatstating depending on the way you look at it:
Have you read about Trump’s new doctor?
Stella Immanuel
At first I thought this was just satire but no, it’s real
Stella Immanuel oh yeah that’s at least a week old. Right now Dr. Siegel is talking about Trump being “very cognitively advanced” and Dinesh D’Souza explains why Thailand is pronounced Thighland in England, Australia and India and asks who invented English. The universe and stupidity are infinite with the universe I am not sure. AE
Trump declares he is “healthy”, which an intelligence test [dementia test] would prove.
How to person woman man camera tv
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8oaaP68i4s
Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV
Very cognitively advanced are also Orban’s “Friday prayers”.
Thank you. We both just detest the regime.
Hope you’re back online soon. Now I can catch up on all past articles 🙂
As if Corona wasn’t enough, now Isaiah too.
Stay healthy!
https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/hundreds-of-thousands-without-power-after-isaias-batters-state/2313755/
Bleichgesicht, funny spelling mistake:
No it was not the biblical prophet Isaiah who’s to blame! 🙂 🙂
Are you a bible fan?
Oops! Lol! – Thanks wolfi7777 for the hint!
I am a “member of the Club of the Vatican” and am well paying my church tax, but not at all Bible-proof (see typo) :-).
Basically, I am open to all religions, the main thing is that they are non-violent.
Yesterday I heard that the power had to be turned off because of fire hazard. I mean, sustainably, the power lines could be buried in the ground. It is certainly much more expensive to repair the electrical cables several times a year after storms and to extinguish the fires caused by them. Last but not least, one can still call the lives that are caused by the repairs. You only have to extrapolate it over the years. The storms will become more frequent and more severe …
Trump almost the biggest idiot in America with all the Republicans in the butt where there are even bigger idiots as a climate change denier would say “They are dying. That’s true. And it is what it is.”
Please no complaints to me from Republicans who are not there, please send all excuses to KokainMitch or MoskowMitch or to Mitch McConnell.
I hate to tell you this Don, but the power companies in the USA are publicly subsidized companies that provide thousands of jobs for power transmission line workers. The companies and the governments are fully aware that having so many above ground power lines are irrational and this politically is not limited to Republicans.
Here in Illinois we currently have a huge scandal with our primary electrical power company Com Ed. (see https://www.npr.org/local/309/2020/07/17/892299005/com-ed-charged-with-bribery-for-steering-jobs-for-illinois-house-speaker) We call these power companies in the USA public utilities which is a complete misnomer, which they are publicly regulated they are stock companies whose shares are worth billions and billions nationally. PG&E Corp in California which was libel for billions in fire losses and went into bankruptcy protection actually had an increase in its stock value https://www.marketwatch.com/articles/pg-e-stocks-ticks-up-after-its-first-post-bankruptcy-earnings-report-51596134265?mod=mw_quote_news . Hungary and Russia are not the only places with massive corruption in the electric power sectors.
„The companies and the governments are fully aware that having so many above ground power lines are irrational and this politically is not limited to Republicans.“
I know there are two Republicans who aren’t in Trump’s butt, the rest seem brain-amputated … even worse stupidly lying and raping we can call them sick.
„Hungary and Russia are not the only places with massive corruption in the electric power sectors.“ Istvan yes, I think if you would add Germany there it would still be right.
Seems my answer to Istvan was lost – thanks by the way for reminding me of one of my favourite songs (though I’m not a Country&Western fan:
Just in case you haven’t heard it:
BBC special about the song – “People reflect on the emotional impact of the country-pop crossover track.” – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b013f96w
Ferenc, thanks for this!
Campbell was an interesting character and the other songs written by Jimmy Webb were also often controversial.
Galveston was considered an anti war song (by us students too, or else we wouldn’t have played it). 🙂 🙂
Wow..interesting reflections on the Campbell song.
I don’t know but this with Griffith singing the great Buddy Holly’s song is kind of at bottom kind of goes to what it’s all about around here on this incredible earth. It’s a great one.
https://youtu.be/8ZGTZEDjM6c
Hope you get back power sooner rather than later. Take care. ☝️
Missing you already. I hope no serious damage was done to you otherwise.
Orbàn is right, Hu is the safest place, he doesnt let any hurricanes or tornadoes come to the sacred Hu land.
Eva, please take care – we (and that includes not only all of Hungary) need you and your strong and independent voice!
Before something similar happened to you a few years ago I really thought this could only happen in the Southeast USA, but now?
Maybe this is another sign of climate change and what will happen in the near future
This year’s heatwaves also don’t look normal – kanikula everywhere in Europe too and even in Siberia.
Wish everybody the best!
Could it be that life in the US has occasionly some violent twists because it’s in the continent’s climate? Every now and then things seem to get out of whack, simply because that’s wat happens.
Riding out the storm is a very American quality. I’m sure you have
mastered this skill sufficiently to overcome any setback.
Hope to see you back soon because we need your help to keep the old continent on track.
So glad that you are OK!
Rather OT but relevant:
On the population development in the EU.
<i>Hungary might experience a similar demographic decline in the following decades, with its population expected to drop from 9.7 million in 2019 to less than 6.9 million in 2100 (-29%). One in five Hungarians are currently aged at least 65, or more, with this rate set to skyrocket in the next decades, even though Hungarians are the most pessimistic nation in the world regarding old age, according to recent studies.The worst expectations are for Poland, the most populous country in the region: U.N. demographic experts expect the Polish population to drop from nearly 38 million today to 23 million people in 2100, a staggering 40% drop.<i/>
https://kafkadesk.org/2019/06/21/central-europes-population-to-decrease-by-over-30-by-2100/
Might there be a connection to the autocrat regimes?
Wish your own power will not decline by the xth “public” power cut.
May be a small solar power unit is an option, so you can have at least some essentials running [e.g.your waterpump and communications].
In the mean time
SNIPPETS FROM ORBANISTAN
– It came out that in his “struggle” with the NGOs handling the Norwegian/Swiss/Luxembourg grants to Hu Orbàn had decided to forgo the grants rather than allow anyone else to hand out anything, a loss of HUF 75 billion /EUr 214 million for the Hu people. This is a form of mismanagement (hűtlen kezelés) since the amount was lost in political action in violation of the law.
– At the same time the police just closed the investigation of Katinka Hosszú company’s use of the state own Duna Arena pool for free and without any contract, no wrongdoing was found. (in comparison a fine for expired parking in Budapest will cost from 15 to 40 Euro).
– Katinka, a top swimmer in the world, posted on her FB a picture with Orbàn, guess where was it taken… Right, on the same balcony where the little felcsútian brings everyone to boast how big he has grown.
OT but also relevant and showing “wes geistes kind” the Fidesz honchos are – maybe we have discussed this project already?
https://ungarnheute.hu/news/gigaprojekt-beim-neusiedler-see-auf-eis-gelegt-83413/
More than 100 million € were supposed to be spent on ruining the beautiful nature idyll of the Fertö Tó – building a hotel, apartments and of course a landing for 400 sailboats!
The Fidesz honchos are crazy<<!
It’s still not sure whether it can be built – following the rules of “nature protection” the Austrians would have to be asked and of course Burgenland is not happy with the project.
Quote of the day for HS..
’We never touch but at points’….Mr. Emerson 😎☝️
And the crazy stuff just keeps happening around us.
POTUS said schools should reopen as children are ‘virtually immune’ to the virus. Magyarorszag would have a real ‘winner’ there if they listen and drink up that Kool Aid klaptrap. POTUS is in the wrong business. Talk about ‘egeszsegdre’ there for the country and its generations. He’s an example of a get-it-done practical existentialist, no philosophizing for that Orange professor , who really wants things to go ‘existential’.
This article https://visegradinsight.eu/statues-toppled-both-victim-and-oppressor/ compares the situation of Central Europeans relative to the developed west to that of African Americans in the USA. I am not fully endorsing the comparison as being accurate, but it is an interesting take on the situation.
Istvan, thanks for this!
So the Visegrad4 (at least the right wing populists there …) consider themselves “Central Europe”?
Well, we consider them a part of the Balkan and the fact that they’re going backwards (think LGBT and women’s rights) makes the whole article sound rather silly.
They don’t defend Europe, they defend the “glorious past” – almost funny …
Maybe we should rebuild the Iron Curtain to “protect” them from the liberal rest of the world?
Istvan Ch
OT
Llistening to Adm. Mcraven and to the description of his career (just as Gen. Matis’ earlier) I thought what piece of s..t could wave such a 38 years long, very successful service in the special forces with a cretinous remark like “He is a Hilary backer” or when asked about John Lewis couldnt think of anything, but ”
that “He didn’t come to my inauguration”.
There’s something frighteningly wrong with the American society if 60 mil voters can tolerate let alone support this imbecile crook.
Observer the problem you note with so many in the USA still supporting Trump is not surprising to me. I have noted this many times in my posts over the last several years. In the US Army community, both active and retired, there is still huge support for Trump among NCOs, and some declining support among officers virtually all of whom are college educated. There are also many former NCOs who after leaving the Army become police officers due to a hiring preference for veterans used by most police departments in the USA. Hence we see complete support among police unions and federations for Trump and among the families of these officers. Trump has a lot of support among small business owners who are not owners of service sector companies which have been very badly hurt by the Covid 19 pandemic. Trump is in a virtual tie with Biden in terms of fund raising which says something too about how those with serious money in the USA see this election. While the polling data currently looks good for Biden, I am deeply concerned about Trump pulling out a victory in the election or that it might be close enough for… Read more »
Just an observation. It is getting rough now here in Trump territory as ‘their’ man is creaking badly. The fellow can’t speak and can’t think. He’s got the ‘Yo Semities’alright. Received some er ‘correspondence’ recently and it wasn’t nice. The Republican cages are rattling. They must be getting itchy and cantankerous as Trump tanks. We should hope he melts into oblivion. And as a twitterer said the only reason he’s running for re-election 🙀🙀🙀🙀 is that he wants to avoid prosecution.
The Republicans are lost with that man. A moral disaster. And if he goes away they’ll still have to shovel out all the garbage he would leave behind. And to sell their souls to that guy? A profound absurdity which needs to be studied very very carefully.
To our friends in the US:
When analyzing the many last and present presidential candidacy failures, you are looking only at the tip of the iceberg.
Try asking this question: When a democratic society and system is unable to bring the talent successfully through the general ranks, to the very top, before the age of retirement – Where does the progress stop????
Micheal
Good question, but there was Obama, and Clinton earlier. And you see that the courts and even the Trump appointed Supreme C judges are still upholding the law, the media is functioning, etc. Not so bad, yet.
There was a very interesting article before the 2016 election explaining why the seemingly cranky and restrictive party machines were good things – they would filter out the adventurers, opportunists and dummies like Trump.
Yes Obs.,
Clinton and Obama were in their “prime”, as was JFK.
I agree that since politicians advance within their party organization through votes by delegates, internal mechanisms and vigilant media as well as independent courts, must be in place, in order to prevent coups, conspiracies and and undemocratic individuals from securing enough support to gain decisive influence.
I suspect that the ethical party-standards in a two-party system are too wide for a more even party-constistency, and the mesh through which people are sorted is too open, as a consequence.
There are ultimate limits to the span of views and interests a democratic party organization can straddle, before the underwear tears.
“… but it is an interesting take on the situation.” Yes this is populism and not at all interesting, the headline is the summary, the rhetoric and the eloquence. „How to Think Like a Proper Visegradnik“. In his Disneyfication the scribbler forgot to mention that today in Hungary statues of mass murderers and anti-semites are being erected. For me this contribution is a primitivization for weak-thinking populists.
THE PAST TEN YEARS OF THE HUNGARIAN MEDIA
https://atlo.team/media2020/
Re: ‘Moreover, all this happens in a period when the entire media market is struggling with problems concerning its business model: the distortion that has emerged in the Hungarian market has the result that pro-government players in the media market are relatively sheltered against the challenges of market competition, while the independent players in turn become extremely vulnerable with respect to their competitive position in the market. Further research should be conducted on how the state’s advertising practices affect commercial players, as well as the impact of state advertising on the contents produced by independent and critical media outlets that accept such advertising’. Will be going through articles. Thanks. A goldmine of information. It’s a wonder what advertisers in the Magyar media market think as the state gobbles up time practically wherever and whenever they want it. Yes, talk about distortion in the market. So far Trump with media always on his mind lately hasn’t tried to make cable , network tv and Internet ad buys with all spots running every 10 minutes 24/7 for an ad flight of 6 months. Well some advertisers wouldn’t like that for many reasons. One is it’ll cost them ad time and money big… Read more »
Let’s not give in to hysterical EU-ideas about the sacred National garbage dumps!
https://balkaninsight.com/2020/08/07/red-mud-a-divided-settlement-and-the-toxic-waste-poisoning-hungary/
Michael, thanks – at least it won’t be a red sludge that comes down on us (we live downstream of this) but of course Hungary is one of the first in Pollution.
Just looking around at the trash on the streets …
Horrible!
Garbage heaps by the road tell.me I’ve crossed the Hu border from Slovakia, Czech or Austria, I bet you on this. And you can see such even in the Buda Hills.