Laird: "Prachtig Nederland!" (Updated)

The Much Honored Bock McMillan, laird of Southern Charm, prince of Cascade Falls etc., etc., today commented on the results of the Dutch elections.

"The people of the world, and especially Europe, should thank the Dutch voters for putting a stop to the growth of the Islamophobic and anti-EU populists. 

Hopefully the results of this election will break the onslaught of the growing populism in Europe, I even dare to wish that it may set a trend for the upcoming national elections in Germany and France. 

The Dutch example gives us all hope and shows the political leaders of Europe that it is possible to quell the rise of populism, even after Brexit and the American presidential election. Prachtig gedaan, Nederland!"

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Update
I found this quote by Jesse Klaver, leader of the GreenLeft party, that I cannot withhold from you. On polling day he said that the left’s answer to the far right’s rise in Europe was to stand up for its ideals. “What I would say to all my left wing friends in Europe: don’t try to fake the populace. Stand for your principles. Be straight. Be pro-refugee. Be pro-European. We’re gaining momentum in the polls. And I think that’s the message we have to send to Europe. You can stop populism.”

The European Union & The Malaysian Jetliner (Updated)

On Thursday May 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 (en route from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) crashed in Eastern Ukraine, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew members.

The tragedy has since lead to many speculations concerning what caused the airplane to crash, among other theories so far it is believed that the plane could have been shot down by a missile.

John Aravosis, over at the AMERICAblog, yesterday posted an interesting analysis of the event and it's political ramifications involving Russia, the European Union and the United States, see Destruction of Malaysia Airlines flight poses huge conundrum for Obama, Europe.

At this point, US intelligence thinks the Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine shot down the Malaysian airliner, and they suspect it was with a Russian (Soviet) “Buk” missile. And the Pentagon said today that it was basically inconceivable that the rebels could have learned to operate the missiles without Russian help. There’s also a serious question as to where the Russian rebels got their Russian weapons from (take a guess).

But it’s worse than that. CNN was saying yesterday that while it would have been obvious to the Russians that this was a civilian airliner, it would have been next to impossible for the Russian rebels in Ukraine to know the difference between a Ukrainian military plane and a civilian airliner. The Russians knew they couldn't tell the difference, the Russians knew they were providing weapons and training to people who were planning on shooting down planes in an area that was a major corridor for international civilian air traffic. And the Russians went ahead and trained them to shoot down the planes anyway (if, everything we now suspect ends up being true).

That’s not an accident. And it’s not simple negligence. It borders on premeditated murder.

You train someone to shoot down planes, in a zone full of civilian airliners, knowing full well that the people you’re training have no way of knowing which planes are civilian and which are military. You know they’re going to be killing innocent people, and you simply don’t care (or perhaps even want them to). That’s not a “mistake.”

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Although we are still at an early stage, and there has been no formal inquiry into the cause of the crash yet, I believe that Mr. Aravosis is on the right track. 

It will now be very interesting to see if - and how - the European Union and the United States decide to take action against Russia and "Little Father" Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, in the latter's attempts  "to reconstitute the Soviet Union in all its deadly glory".

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Update
Malaysia Airlines has released the full names and nationalities of every person on board. There were:

• 192 Dutch, including one who had a dual Dutch/U.S. citizenship
• 44 Malaysian
• 27 Australian
• 12 Indonesian
• 10 British, including one who had dual U.K./African citizenship
• 4 German
• 4 Belgian
• 3 Filipino
• 1 Canadian
• 1 New Zealander

Victorious

Conchita Wurst from Austria kicked some bigots asses yesterday by winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with by far the highest score.

Austria came in first with 290 points, followed by The Netherlands with 238 points and Sweden in third place with 218 points.

Conchita received the coveted "douze points" from no less than 13 countries and the second highest, ten points, from seven other countries. She received points from every country (with the exclusion of her own Austria) except Armenia, Poland and San Marino. Good going, gurl!

The scoreboard from The Official Eurovision Song Contest 2014 website

IDAHO Day 2013 (Updated)

Today is the International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia (url).

In almost 80 countries around the world, loving someone of the same sex is still considered illegal, at times involving lifetime imprisonment and, in nine countries, it is even punishable by death!

And in many more countries still, citizens are denied their right to live according to their preferred gender identity.

As well as legal discrimination's  social homophobia and transphobia serve to daily deny millions of people across the world their basic human dignity.

The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) was created in 2004 to draw the attention of policymakers, opinion leaders, social movements, the public and the media to this issue.

It is not one centralized campaign; rather it is a moment that everyone can take advantage of to take action.

The date of May 17th was specifically chosen to commemorate the World Health Organization’s decision in 1990 to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder.

Today is the day to take action in your local area, talk about it or simply mention it, just spread the word!

Update 1
The European Union´s Agency for Fundamental Rights today presented a report of a survey among 93 000 gay inhabitants in the EU and Croatia (read the summary here)

The lowest rate of discrimination occurs in the Netherlands followed by Denmark and Luxembourg, while the highest rate of discrimination occurs is in Lithuania followed by Croatia and Poland.

Update 2
Read my friend Garth Raleigh's suggestion in the comments below about how to take part in the manifestation in SecondLife today!

I Am Doing Requests, Or Something...

As every good DJ and blogger knows, sometimes you must interact with your listeners or readers and give them what they crave.

Recently two of my longtime readers have expressed thoughts which I chose to interpret as discrete requests and therefor am going to fulfill in this post.

First I would like to address Chaplin Early and his novel idea on the "manscaping" of a mans nasal hairs. I will not comment on this, except for saying:
"Eeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...!"

Next I wish to honor Kahvy Sands request for recognizing and highlighting the ascension to the throne of his royal majesty King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, my dear cousin and a friend of the Commonwealth of Southern Enchantment in SecondLife.

My cousin is the first male regent of the Netherlands in 123 years. He became king after his mother abdicated from the throne, she is now known as her royal highness.Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands.

In the picture below you see him with his consort her royal majesty Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, doesn't she look gorgeous in her coronation outfit and regalia?