The British Foreign Secretary compares the EU to the Soviet Union and warns that if Europe punishes Britain for Brexit other countries will “want to escape”.
After all the Brexit drama, I don’t think any member state would want to leave the most successful supranational cooperation in European history.
The US State Department will no longer issue visas to the same-sex partners of foreign diplomats or employee of international organisations based in America—unless they are married, which they can’t be in most parts of the world. As Samantha Power, former US Ambassador to the United Nations, points out: only 12% of that organisation’s members states allow same-sex marriage. #Sad
Romanians are deciding this weekend whether a family should revolve around a married man and woman. As always, the homophobes say it’s about protecting the traditional family. Because, somehow, equality is a threat to heterosexuals.
Legally, the referendum is about clarifying the language in the constitution. Article 48 says the family “is founded on the freely consented marriage of the spouses”. If the homophobes win, that would change to “marriage between a man and a woman”.
But, of course, the vote has nothing to do with legal language—its about telling gay people they are not accepted while simultaneously telling others that it’s all right to be bigoted. This is how seemingly democratic processes are used as a tool to mistreat minorities.
Spain’s internationally acclaimed opera singer Montserrat Caballé died in Barcelona today at the age of 85. To the larger audience, she is best known for her 1987 duet with Freddie Mercury.
A referendum in Romania asking voters to restrict the constitutional definition of family to heterosexuals only has failed to reach the required 30% turnout target. Good news!
Tomorrow evening, I’ll fly back to Gran Canaria for a few days so that I can fix some minor things in our flat. I want it all nice in January when I’ll be staying there for a full month. I think buying a flat in the sun might be the best thing I’ve done in a long time. Now I look forward to being an old and retired expatriate in Spain.
♫ Tropical the island breeze / All of nature wild and free / This is where I long to be / La isla bonita
“The leader of Sweden’s centre-right Moderates party on Sunday said he had failed a first chance to form a coalition government after last month’s general election left the country in a state of political deadlock,” The Local reports.
It seems odd that a parliament with a 60% majority agains the left-of-centre government could end up approving such a government. On the other hand, take away the far-right Sweden Democrats and the balance of power is different.
“Poland has vetoed an EU human rights statement on the grounds that it covered gay people but not Christians and Jews,” Andrew Rettman of the EU Observer reports.
“A deal between the church’s trustees and the city council means the project, on which construction began in 1882, will be granted a building licence for the first time,” the Guardian reports.
The murder of a prominent journalist in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul has everything needed for a good spy thriller.
“President Trump broke with his own intelligence agencies on Friday, appearing to accept Saudi Arabia’s explanation that the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed by accident during a fistfight, while the United States’ spy agencies are increasingly convinced that he was assassinated on high-level orders from the Saudi royal court,” Mark Landler and Eric Schmitt of The New York Times report.
No tax hikes in my county the next four years. Yes!
It’s Friday night again. God has ordered me to press “Snooze”.
שבת שלום.
Police say Robert Bowers opened fire at a Pittsburgh Synagogue yelling “All Jews must die”. Bowers is described as a large, bearded, white male. He surrendered to police after opening fire on police officers. Police say he was injured and crawling when he was taken into custody. Eight people have been killed and a number of others injured after the shooting.