Give ‘Em An Inch

…and they’ll take 1.6 kilometers.  Or not.

Longtime Readers will all know the hatred I have for the putrid metric system, whereby commonsense units of measure (inches, yards or feet) got turned into incomprehensible gibberish by (of course) the French, who shouldn’t be entrusted with anything other than perhaps wine- or cheesemaking, let alone a new universal system of measurement.

Here’s a lovely old article which goes into more depth on the topic.

And a miss is not as good as a thousand meters.

Learning From Furriners

It’s not often that I think we can learn much from Them What Ain’t Murkins, but this would definitely be one of those times:

Sweden’s new right-wing government has sparked an outcry after scrapping the Ministry of Environment in a move the opposition has branded “devastating”.

The Enviros are now part of the Swedish Commerce Dept., which is where they belong, if anywhere at all.  And the only thing “devastating” about this decision is the hair-on-fire response.

Creating the Dept. of the Environment was perhaps the worst thing Richard Nixon ever did, and elevating this bunch of wackos to a Cabinet position is in the Top 3 Worst for Jimmy Carter (it’s difficult to rank the awful things Carter did, there being so many, but a top 3 for this one is certainly appropriate).

Well done, Sweden!  Bra jobbat!

Living by Their Own Rules

I see that the German Watermelon Party is doing their usual outrage thing:

Members of Germany’s Green party are furious after the country’s ruling Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, ordered that the country’s remaining nuclear power plants be kept in operation beyond 2022, reversing an earlier plan to have the facilities decommissioned by January 1st 2023.

…this despite the fact that Germany is facing catastrophe without their beloved Russian natgas supply over the winter.

Here’s my thought:  the Germans are famous for their ability to interfere with the lives of its individual citizens — their “rain tax” alone is evidence thereof — so why doesn’t the KrautGov simply turn off all Green politicians’ household electricity from, say, November to April, and give these fuckwits a taste of what their outrage would mean to ordinary citizens, if allowed to direct national power policy?

I know, that’s way too simple a thing to ask, and no doubt the Kraut media storm would be deafening as older Greens start to die of cold (a feature not a bug, but you know what I mean).

I’d suggest mass executions (to save electricity, of course), but the Germans do that kind of thing a little too well, as we all know.

Slanted Coverage

As the Italian general elections of earlier this week gave rise to victory of a coalition of  “right-wing” and “neo-fascist” parties, the headlines were predictable:

CNN:  Oh Noes, Faaaaascists!

The Irish Times:  Just like Mussoliiiini!

BBC:  Europe Trembles!

…and so on.  (I may have jazzed up the headlines a little, but mine actually reflect the tone of the articles better than their own headlines do.)

Likewise, the pics in said outlets of future DagoPM Giorgia Meloni make her look like Chelsea Clinton’s uglier secret sister, but I am here to tell you that she’s not all bad:

 

But of course, none of that is important.  Her government’s future policies are, though, and I’m predicting that the EU “government” is going to assume the full hair-on-fire position when the Italian Navy starts blockading the north coast of Africa to prevent more boatloads of “refugees” from reaching Italy.

One of Meloni’s biggest fans, incidentally, is HungoPM Viktor Orban, and given how much the Eurocrats hate him, that should be good enough for any of us.

Weimar Redux

Annnnnd the Germans are in deep shit:

According to release statistics from the German economic ministry, energy prices in August were more than double the same period last year, up 139%. The monthly increase was more than 20.4% higher than July. Additionally, producer prices for electricity rose 174.9% compared with August 2021 and by 26.4% in a single month.

This jaw-dropping increase in energy cost has resulted in German manufacturing prices for industrial goods jumping 7.9% in August alone, with a year-over-year increase in the cost to manufacture goods at 45.8%. That is the highest rate of price increase since Germany began recording their statistics in 1939.

It’s a pity they didn’t start in 1919, because then we could have compared today (and tomorrow, from the looks of things) to the numbers from the Weimar Republic.  Nonetheless, Germany’s in for a rough ride.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of watermelons.

Pure Class

So while the world mourned the death of Queen Elizabeth II yesterday, we had this reaction from an academic person:

Carnegie Mellon University professor Uju Anya reacted to the news of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II suffering from poor health shortly before her death on Thursday by calling her a “wretched woman” and a “genocidal colonizer” who is “the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire,” adding, “May her pain be excruciating.”

Could you imagine having to take one of her classes?  Ugh.