#non-sj

[em4realsj]

Guess who's finally finished with AP testing?!? Haha I'm dead on the inside :) Good luck to anyone who still has some AP tests to go. I know it's stressful but I beleive in you ♡ -The Mixed Mod

[em4realsj]

Well, the biggest protest vote are actually non-voters. It’s the one seat for the satire party, but it’s also the 7% for the EU critic/right wing AfD and less than 50% voting overall. Plus probably some people, like myself, who voted left as it meant against the US and TTIP, but therefore somehow also pro EU. I’m sure if they would’ve voted after the Greece debacle the AfD would’ve got even more votes.

Though this waxes and wanes with the anti-EU parties, but we still have the remainder of 2016 to see where the political situations go. Hopefully in a better direction than the spiraling conflicts that we’re dealing with now, tbh.

The biggest county, with 18million potential voters, (and I think some others) had regional elections on the same day, so people voted as they’ve been at the election office anyways. The advertisements to vote for the EU are always super much and the participation is pretty low. The usual German politician, who is send to Brussels, is often a retired politician, or some ‘scandal’ politician who did/said something wrong, and others aren’t even known. How does that show to the greater public that it’s an important institution? It’s ending your national career and then sitting 3 days/week in Brussels, without doing anything and getting a shitload of money. Despite the fact that every now and then comes up how much money they do get in Brussels anyways. If my uni is able to have sign-in and sign-out lists for certain subjects to get credits, the EU should be able to prevent politicians from signing-in, and going home without participating, but still getting money. (Die Partei actually shows how to abuse the system and speaks out unconvenient truths, though).

That speaks immensely about the issues of the European Parliament, don’t get me wrong. I’ve been part of campaigns to reform the system since it became obvious at how easy it is to game and how it’s treated like a glorified sandpit for all the retirees and the national embarrassments. You’re right on the part where their participation should be mandatory if they need pay, and I respect the fact Die Partei is exposing it, even if it’s in an unconventional matter.

Not speaking of the EU’s ‘important’ decisions, such as accidentally forbidding chewing gum cigarettes, as no one read the law or the cucumber law etc. How often does the EU president do something? He’s mentioned in our media maybe every 4th week, if that.

What President? There is no ‘EU President’, there’s four different Presidents for four different fields. There’s no single President because of how it works, but if you need to figure it out there’s been high profile bills like upholding net neutrality, data protection laws, etc., in the recent years. These matter big time since it affects literally everyone in the EU, so they have been working hard, and not on frivolous minor things that you’ve seen apparently.

Most people are probably not directly against everything of the EU, personally our region is mostly profiting from open borders, but the parliament itself is also seen as pretty useless, at least by many people. 

That’s in part due to how complicated the EU has become over the past few years, especially with political gridlock. What should’ve happened is that they set up elections where it’s politically convenient but not in the middle of major elections in constituent nations. The issue with the ‘useless’ parliament is how we designed it and because people have treated it like a glorified retirement home.

Right now it needs reform regardless of situation.

Germany also doesn’t have all 791 seats, so it’s definitely different in other countries. There’s a big difference of 13% voting participation in Slovakia and 90% in Belgium though. Plus France with  the Front National or the UK with UKIP, which are EU critic.

Yes, obviously. I was making a point that out of the seats Germany won, a single went to a satire party. It’s nothing significant, even if Dei Partei brings up good points on their comedy about how poorly structured the current system is and how much reforms it needed.

What we need is better participation and more transparency in the EU gov’t on top of political reforms that’d make the European Parliament matter. Plus it needs more activity from the less participant nations, especially in matters of economics where we can find a better solution than austerity, like actual economic reforms agreed upon to resolve long-standing issues.

And sorry if I came off an ass for my commentary, recent issues with anti-EU nutters and people who just plain have no idea how the EU works despite having the resources to learn it have made me very agitated with discussing EU politics. I assumed, Anon, you had malicious intent with your word choices and I was certainly wrong.

-Catalan Mod

[em4realsj]

Japanese mod: you ok? Heard about the earthquake. :(

Sorry it took a while to get to this, but Japanese Mod is all right!

- Georgia Mod

[em4realsj]

Blogs only opening in sidebar?

Is this some kind of new ‘feature’ Tumblr rolled out? Because I can’t access several other blogs and they keep redirecting me to the sidebar on my dashboard and it’s making me a cranky gossa...

-Catalan Mod, Cranky Stallion

[em4realsj]

The Mixed Mod's Primary Vocabulary

Mixed Mod: Ya'll, ya'll, Y'ALL, ya'll, I'm fixin' to ya'll, gosh darn it, ya'll

[em4realsj]

Hey ya'll, I'm converting my personal blog into more of a peace/good vibes blog (with just a bit of fandom and silly stuff mixed in) So if you need some good vibes or a smile visit @cinnabun-frisk -The Mixed Mod

[disneyvillainsforjustice]

I had this stunning epiphany this morning about the movie Mulan and I wanna share it with you guys. So you know how Disney tends to follow this formula with the Disney princesses? Where their parents are either absent, incompetent, or tyrannical. Most of them have no mother or even a mention of a mother, especially the earlier ones. The one princess who doesn't fit this though is Mulan (she's in the official line up, just go with it). She has two parents who survive the entire film. But there is a character who fits the Disney princess formula in the movie - it's Shang. Shang, like princesses of days past has no mother ever mentioned, father dies halfway through the film, and is rescued by the hero Mulan. Twice. I guess the point I'm trying to make is, Shang should totally be in the Disney princess lineup. - Mod Dawes Sr