Elections, Elections, Elections

[TonyE]

Just dont offer a neck, particularly when he goes around kissing babies.

 

Render unto the ethnic german transylvanians the things that are ethnic german transylvanian!

[Corinthian]

Render unto the ethnic german transylvanians the things that are ethnic german transylvanian!

 

 

[Mr King]

[toysoldier]

NWSF

[Ssnake]

I suppose, if you can't win against her politically, go ad hominem.

That photo isn't unknown in Germany but never gained notoriety. This seems to be too well organized for a simple prank.

[BansheeOne]

IIRC, it first surfaced in the Turkish press on 1 April last year. Was a much bigger deal there than here; it has never been established whether it is genuine (which wouldn't be too unusual with the German culture of nudism/skinny dipping, particularly in East Germany).

[toysoldier]

meh, if it was her in the pic, she was obviously young but adult at the time, so...

[Colin]

Germany has Male and Female change rooms in their recreational centres, I doubt they would even care if their leader spent time walking around naked.

[TonyE]

Damn, former East German cultural fetishes rock!

[Soren Ras]

Well, it that is the best ammo they have on her, they got nuttin'.

 

--

Soren

[Corinthian]

Eyes. Goggles. Do nothing.

 

Mebbe that was the plan after all - make everyone's eyes bleed, whole country collapses with everyone blind....

[BansheeOne]

Once more back to square one, my friends.

 

Israel's next election to be held on March 17, Knesset faction heads decide

 

MKs vote to dissolve parliament, in preliminary reading; moves comes less than 36 hours after Netanyahu fired top ministers Livni and Lapid an accused them of orchestrating 'putsch' against him.

By Jonathan Lis | Dec. 3, 2014 | 12:45 PM |

The election for Israel's 20th Knesset will be held on March 17, Knesset faction heads decided on Wednesday. Final approval of the date must still be given by members of the factions themselves, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said.

Shortly after the announcement, the MKs voted 84-0 in favor of dissolving parliament, in a preliminary reading. There was one abstention.

The umbrella proposal gives the Knesset three-to-five months to prepare for elections following dissolution. The proposal must be brought for three more readings at the Knesset plenum next week. Once approved, the Knesset will head to elections recess.

The path for elections was set by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Tuesday fired Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, and accused them in a combative televised address of mounting a “putsch” against him and forcing the need for “swift elections.”

Observers believe Netanyahu is aiming for as short an election campaign as possible.

The deadline will be tight for the parties themselves. Netanyahu clarified on Tuesday that he had no plans to create a right-wing bloc, while theoretical talk of a center-left bloc are expected to be fast tracked. The Arab parties are also considering now whether to run on a united list.

The parties must also choose their Knesset lists: MK Isaac Herzog has already been chosen to lead Labor in the next election, but the rest of the list has not been set. Likud will hold chairman elections on January 6, and elections for its list will follow. Habayit Hayehudi will hold elections on January 5. Meretz chairman Zahava Gal-On is in the middle of a four year term, and her list will be determined by the party commission in the coming weeks.

[...]

 

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.629758

 

3 December 2014 Last updated at 16:05 GMT

Sweden election called by Lofven after parliament defeat

Sweden's left-of-centre Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has called snap elections after his minority government lost a budget vote less than three months after coming to power.

He said a new poll would take place on 22 March.

The government failed to push its budget through parliament, when the far-right Sweden Democrats sided with the opposition.

The Sweden Democrats emerged as a power broker after September's elections.

The party now holds 49 seats and, voting with the centre-right opposition on Wednesday, defeated the government's budget by a margin of 182 to 153.

At a hastily called news conference after the vote, Mr Lofven told reporters that new elections would enable voters to "make a choice in the face of this new political landscape".

The Sweden Democrats became the country's third largest party, with 13% of the vote, and is demanding a reversal in Sweden's liberal immigration laws, which party spokesman Mattias Karlsson has condemned as an "extreme immigration policy".

Sweden has offered permanent residence to all Syrians fleeing the conflict and has the highest rate of asylum applications per capita of any EU country.

Sweden's Migration Board said this year that as many as 2,000 people were applying every week. Most were from Syria, although there had also been an increase from Eritrea.

Mr Lofven's Social Democrats formed a minority government with the Greens but between them have only 138 seats in the 349-seat parliament.

Mr Lofven spent hours late on Tuesday trying to reach a budget deal with the centre-right opposition but the talks fell apart without a compromise.

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30306992

Edited December 3, 2014 by BansheeOne

[BansheeOne]

Greece is also having snap elections on Sunday after the presidential candidate of the coalition government failed to get a majority in parliament thrice. The leftist Syriza party which has been running on rejection of the European aid-for-austerity bailout scheme these last years is leading in polls with 30-33.5 percent before the Conservatives with 26-27 and is most likely to get in power if they can find partners for a majority, which is far from certain; third power are likely to be the pro-European "River" centrists at 5-7.5, while the currently co-ruling Socialists, the right-wing Golden Dawn and the Communists are all between 4.5 and 5.5.

 

Syriza has obviously announced to renegotiate agreements and go for a debt cut, though they sound more moderate the more it looks like they might actually end up being in responsibility. Equally obvious, the stance of other EU nations is that any Greece government will have to stick to signed agreements. In marked contrast to the acute 2012 crisis, there are carefully inofficial noises out of the German government that with European stability safeguards now in place and other cases like Ireland and Portugal out of immediate danger, Greece getting out of the Euro over failing to pay its debts from 2020 would not be the end of the world (though nobody is quite sure about the legalities of such a step).

[Murph]

And over here the Republicans have nothing but worn out retreads to offer the voters.

[Simon Tan]

Clint Eastwood......

[BansheeOne]

The leftist Syriza party which has been running on rejection of the European aid-for-austerity bailout scheme these last years is leading in polls with 30-33.5 percent before the Conservatives with 26-27 and is most likely to get in power if they can find partners for a majority, which is far from certain; third power are likely to be the pro-European "River" centrists at 5-7.5, while the currently co-ruling Socialists, the right-wing Golden Dawn and the Communists are all between 4.5 and 5.5.

 

Whoops, I was just reminded that in a peculiarity of the Greek system, the strongest party gets an extra 50 seats in parliament to make forming a government easier. Also, can't form a government against the winner of the popular vote. So I guess Syriza could in fact get their own majority, though a coalition partner would be a good excuse for not being able to push through the grand pre-election promises.

[Harold Jones]

Any political party can nominate a candidate for president, but practically the US has a two party system, occasionally a third party candidate is able to grab enough votes to influence an election but it's pretty rare. The Tea Party is a wing of the Republican party so any Tea Party candidate for president would run as a Republican.

[Ssnake]

In marked contrast to the acute 2012 crisis, there are carefully inofficial noises out of the German government that with European stability safeguards now in place and other cases like Ireland and Portugal out of immediate danger, Greece getting out of the Euro over failing to pay its debts from 2020 would not be the end of the world (though nobody is quite sure about the legalities of such a step).

 

In marked coherence with 2012 predictions, Greece leaving the Eurozone and declaring insolvency will burn the nearly sole owner of Greek bonds, the ECB and the EFSF/ESM. Whose owners are... the other European taxpayers. Where all the governments assured us that this would never happen. That we would earn big bucks with the Greek bonds. Yeah.

 

You have no idea how much I hate saying "told you so".

[Harold Jones]

There has been a lot of talk in the UK about new parties emerging, is there any indication such a thing may be happening in America?

There's a lot of talk about wanting new parties, but the Democrats and Republicans tend to co-opt the more popular arguments of any new movement. Because the major parties have the benefit of an established national infrastructure third parties stay on the fringe. There's more room for third parties in local politics but it's rare for a third party candidate to reach national office.

[rmgill]

Forgive my ignorance of US politics, but is there no other political groupings that can offer a potential President? We hear a lot of the tea partyists, is there no possiblity of their nominating a Presidential candidate?

 

 

The Tea Party is really just a faction within the GOP, despite the hysteria of various news organizations within and outside of the US.

Edited January 20, 2015 by rmgill

[rmgill]

Besides, hanging all your hopes on a single man is absurd. The meat of the problem is dealt with in the House and Senate. The long reaching failures have really been there for decades.

[sunday]

And probably some American voters are still smarting about the election of Clinton because of the vote dispersion caused by the candidacy of Ross Perot.

[Mike Steele]

 

There has been a lot of talk in the UK about new parties emerging, is there any indication such a thing may be happening in America?

There's a lot of talk about wanting new parties, but the Democrats and Republicans tend to co-opt the more popular arguments of any new movement. Because the major parties have the benefit of an established national infrastructure third parties stay on the fringe. There's more room for third parties in local politics but it's rare for a third party candidate to reach national office.

 

Last One was Theodore Roosevelt.

[Garth]

And over here the Republicans have nothing but worn out retreads to offer the voters.

 

Not sure if I'd call Cruz and Walker "retreads", Murph.

 

The GOP field is starting to shape up to be something interesting. Especially now that Lindsay Graham is talking up entering the mix. In past nomination cycles the more establishment GOP candidate has won because there are several Conservatives running and they split the Conservative vote. Giving the establishment candidate a win via plurality. This can be seen as good, in some ways, because it helps verify Reagan's continued legacy within the Party. Otherwise you wouldn't have as many Conservatives running.

 

So, in a hypothetical field of Romney, Bush, Christie, Graham (decidedly lower tier, but a vote-sucker nonetheless), Paul (keeps his Dad's groupies from going elsewhere - assuming he even runs this time around), Cruz and Walker there's a decided advantage to the more Conservative candidate(s). Especially if Cruz or Walker decide to bow out early, leaving the other as the sole darling of the Tea Party/Conservative Wing.

[JWB]

 

And over here the Republicans have nothing but worn out retreads to offer the voters.

Forgive my ignorance of US politics, but is there no other political groupings that can offer a potential President? We hear a lot of the tea partyists....

 

 

 

There is no such thing as the Tea Party. There are probably 2 dozen different TEA groups in the USA, TEA itself is an acronym meaning Taxed Enough Already. A TEA party is a protest action against higher taxes. Contrary to left mainstream media reports to the contrary "TEAism" is not a construct of corporations, KKK, Koch bros..... etc...... First recorded TEA party happened in 1983 when a small group of people got together and held tea bags in the air in protest against Reagan agreeing to raise taxes.

 

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1291&dat=19830714&id=OBNUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=y4wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5905,3315449