jemig!

I was an hour ago, but now I’m back at my desk scrolling through Lemmy and Mastodon while following cycling (Volta ao Algarve) on my laptop. Social media manager sure is one hell of a job. I think I’ll get another coffee

there’s a certain orange guy overseas doing things that might make this “Army of Europe” a necessity. and why not? I’m pro EU. when we work together on all levels, we can be a strong force. and that includes military.

l’union fait la force!

I’d like to understand what you’re saying, but you’re not saying much at the moment

what do you mean?

Oh if you’re into politics, it’s very interesting to follow hahaha. It’s definitely not ideal, but better than a two party system for sure. Also not that difficult of a system, but for outsiders it can be a lot I think. I also struggle to fully understand the American system, with the value per state etc. Forming a new government is fun and exciting, plus it gives you some hope that a terrible minister will lose his function four years later

And doing what you can is still better than doing nothing!

Yeah, Germany has its elections on Sunday. I’m anxiously awaiting those results, tbf. You’d think Germans know how well it went the last time the extreme right-wingers were in control, but you never know…

In Belgium, we had elections for the federal government in June and regional (Flanders, for me) government in October. Although the right wing gained a lot of votes, we were able to form a government without the extreme right. At the moment we still have a “cordon sanitaire”, look it up, I think it’s quite nice. The extreme right-wing party says it’s undemocratic, of course, but in this case I don’t mind. The formation took 236 days, tho, but that’s another story. We still hold the world record for longest period without a government (592 days in 2018-202, breaking our own record of 541 days in 2010-2011)

oh, valid… but stay strong! we’ll all get through it one way or another

From what I read online and see in the news here, Canada seems to have a “ow yeah, bring it on, we’ll kick your ass” mentality (might sound cooler than I intended but hey, maybe it really is like that!)

there is no force that could stop us

… yet! I have some hope in the EU becoming stronger together and try to do something against it. I don’t know what, but something…

Ooof I can imagine. Canada or Mexico?

You get used to it when you live here, trust me. Only once a week, as is tradition!

A large portion of Americans only have 2 brain cells and they’re both busy fighting for 3rd place

I’ll steal this one. That’s a marvelous quote

Isn’t it ironic that Trumpyboy is ruining a lot of things righ-wing patriots care about and they themselves don’t see the problem?

It was freezing this morning. Right now the sun is shining which results in mild temperatures. Going to be a lot warmer later this week!

Move to Belgium! We have lots of quality beers and delicious fries!

I visited New York years ago (2014, I think), but that’s nothing like other regions in the States, I imagine. Where I live (Bruges), I sometimes stumble upon American tourists in bars, but due to the nature of the places I visit they’re often more open minded.

They don’t look at the possible outcomes, just that “they win”

I think this way of thinking is a big problem in a democratic system. When you vote, you don’t “win” or “lose”. But maybe I compare this too much to the Belgian system. There’s so many political parties to choose from and they have to form a coalition to represent the majority.

Out of curiosity: how do you see the next 4 years evolving? And do you have hope for the next elections?

Oh I can imagine… I really don’t know what I would do if I was in the same situation

and there’s no leverage in government to stop them.

Do you think government will do anything at all in the coming weeks, months, years? I can’t wrap my head around the situation at all. How does anyone with a slight bit of brains and a small grasp of history just accept this? It’s so dystopian…