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extrapenguinGoals: sleep, succeed.
I think that I'll be doing a round of actual card-sending 'round the 14th, in the interests of multiculturality. (In Finland, 14.2. is ystävänpäivä, "friend day", rather than the romantic Valentine's Day of US Export Culture.) I'll see if I can get some small ziploc/minigrip-type bags for potential tea-sending.
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö has denounced Trump's immigration idiocy as "contrary to Western values". Thank you, President Niinistö. The ruling coalition government has done no such thing. On the one hand, the ability to realpolitik is useful. On the other hand, the coalition includes the Xenophobia Party's leader as the Foreign Minister. So, well.
A note on Finnish political parties:
The "main eight" parties include three left-wing parties (SDP, Vasemmistoliitto, and Vihreät), two fiscal conservative parties (Kokoomus and RKP), two "hard right" parties (Perussuomalaiset and Kristillisdemokraatit), as well as Keskusta, which is the countryside nostalgia conservatism party, AFAICT. SDP, Kokoomus, Keskusta, and Perussuomalaiset are the "big four" and larger than the other four parties. The current coalition consists of Perussuomalaiset, Keskusta, and Kokoomus, abbreviated as PersKeKo – "asspile".
Kokoomus is the essence of fiscal conservatism: President Niinistö's career includes a stint as the vice-chairman of the European Investment Bank, in addition of Minister of Finance and other governmental postings. Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen is also a member.
RKP is Kokoomus for the Swedish-speaking imperialist legacy.
Perussuomalaiset ("Basic Finns") is a populist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, homophobic, etc party, led by Timo Soini, the Foreign Minister. Soini's capable of keeping his vile mouth shut when on government duty and not shouting from the opposition.
Keskusta ("Center") is the Prime Minister Juha Sipilä's party. It is primarily a rural party. Jokingly, it's the "more municipalities, bring back the USSR" party of nostalgia. Slightly socially conservative.
Kristillisdemokraatit ("Christian Democrats") is known as the party of "No". By Finnish standards, they're religious nuts. The "home, church, Fatherland" party.
SDP is the social democrat party. Considered "uncool" amongst youth. Currently mostly on the side of the workers' unions.
Vasemmistoliitto ("Left Allegiance") is SDP's slightly more lefty little sibling.
Vihreät ("The Greens") is a green party that's a few generations too close to its anti-nuclear anti-treefelling hippie protest origins. Trends young. Also trends towards sensationalism re: "We support this issue [that SDP and Vasemmistoliitto also support]!!!!!" and I just... I'd rather that stuff like support for LGBTQIA+ rights were the norm rather than a rarity that needs to be loudly advertised. Oh well.
The EU leaders are convening for a meeting on what to do. Let's hope that the result is a more unified, stronger Europe. Someone's gotta be a beacon of hope in the coming gloom. Also, this morning I browsed the newspapers at the University. Apparently Angela Merkel is one of the potential saviors of western democracy. Other candidates included one woman who worked for the EU in some sort of influential role, had a given name that began with a J or F and ended with e, a surname that was shorter than that, and was also in the news cycle due to something to do with Trump's order, but damn if I can find her or recall her name.
I think that I'll be doing a round of actual card-sending 'round the 14th, in the interests of multiculturality. (In Finland, 14.2. is ystävänpäivä, "friend day", rather than the romantic Valentine's Day of US Export Culture.) I'll see if I can get some small ziploc/minigrip-type bags for potential tea-sending.
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö has denounced Trump's immigration idiocy as "contrary to Western values". Thank you, President Niinistö. The ruling coalition government has done no such thing. On the one hand, the ability to realpolitik is useful. On the other hand, the coalition includes the Xenophobia Party's leader as the Foreign Minister. So, well.
A note on Finnish political parties:
The "main eight" parties include three left-wing parties (SDP, Vasemmistoliitto, and Vihreät), two fiscal conservative parties (Kokoomus and RKP), two "hard right" parties (Perussuomalaiset and Kristillisdemokraatit), as well as Keskusta, which is the countryside nostalgia conservatism party, AFAICT. SDP, Kokoomus, Keskusta, and Perussuomalaiset are the "big four" and larger than the other four parties. The current coalition consists of Perussuomalaiset, Keskusta, and Kokoomus, abbreviated as PersKeKo – "asspile".
Kokoomus is the essence of fiscal conservatism: President Niinistö's career includes a stint as the vice-chairman of the European Investment Bank, in addition of Minister of Finance and other governmental postings. Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Kai Mykkänen is also a member.
RKP is Kokoomus for the Swedish-speaking imperialist legacy.
Perussuomalaiset ("Basic Finns") is a populist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, homophobic, etc party, led by Timo Soini, the Foreign Minister. Soini's capable of keeping his vile mouth shut when on government duty and not shouting from the opposition.
Keskusta ("Center") is the Prime Minister Juha Sipilä's party. It is primarily a rural party. Jokingly, it's the "more municipalities, bring back the USSR" party of nostalgia. Slightly socially conservative.
Kristillisdemokraatit ("Christian Democrats") is known as the party of "No". By Finnish standards, they're religious nuts. The "home, church, Fatherland" party.
SDP is the social democrat party. Considered "uncool" amongst youth. Currently mostly on the side of the workers' unions.
Vasemmistoliitto ("Left Allegiance") is SDP's slightly more lefty little sibling.
Vihreät ("The Greens") is a green party that's a few generations too close to its anti-nuclear anti-treefelling hippie protest origins. Trends young. Also trends towards sensationalism re: "We support this issue [that SDP and Vasemmistoliitto also support]!!!!!" and I just... I'd rather that stuff like support for LGBTQIA+ rights were the norm rather than a rarity that needs to be loudly advertised. Oh well.
The EU leaders are convening for a meeting on what to do. Let's hope that the result is a more unified, stronger Europe. Someone's gotta be a beacon of hope in the coming gloom. Also, this morning I browsed the newspapers at the University. Apparently Angela Merkel is one of the potential saviors of western democracy. Other candidates included one woman who worked for the EU in some sort of influential role, had a given name that began with a J or F and ended with e, a surname that was shorter than that, and was also in the news cycle due to something to do with Trump's order, but damn if I can find her or recall her name.