Germany needs a Tom Homan. Your analysis borders on the comedic and terrifying. Defending democracy by spying on and banning candidates, Stasi would be proud.
The Tolkien justification is grimly hilarious. Nobody on the right can *stand* "Rings of Power", for a variety of reasons, while Tolkien himself absolutely *loathed* Hitler, whom he accused of betraying and sullying everything good about German heritage.
Thanks for posting that link - recommend anyone seeing this to go read the article, as it contains Tolkien's reply to the German publisher. It's a real lesson in English at the top-tier, and leaves no doubt as to what Tokien thought about national socialism and its racialist ideas.
That's what I was thinking. The Interior Ministry could have saved themselves a ton of time and trouble by simply issuing a one sentence note saying "Joachim Paul is disqualified for liking the Rings of Power", and no one would object.
It's a good reason to ignore anything he ever says again on any question of literature or drama. Then again, having no taste whatsoever is no bar to being an effective holder of public office, as amply demonstrated by the current head of state of the USA.
They won’t use this as an excuse to ignore his opinions on literature and drama. They’ll use it as an excuse for why he is to be ignored on ALL matters. Reason has no bearing on the situation.
The current US head of state loves the “Braveheart” movie which is probably silly. After all, he is orange while Mel Gibson’s face paint is blue. Good enough reason for the Fanny and the rest to investigate and call a Grand Jury.
“Braveheart” is an historical movie depicting the Scottish war against the English to gain independence. Important history for any with Scottish ancestry, including President Trump (+ me), though difficult to watch as war usually is.
Without understanding the government Germany has embraced, it is difficult to understand the removal of a candidate for office if the populace has given him the votes to win. Is Germany a Social Democracy post WWII or does your constitution describe another form of government? The prefix demo suggests the government of the people.
IYH OK this made me laugh hilarious "The whole thing is what a Stasi surveillance report would like, if the Stasi were too lazy to actually spy on people and spent all their time googling instead."
Make the banning of the AFD candidate’s the #1 campaign issue. Then every person who was planning and is now planning to vote AFD, write it on your ballot and vote AFD.
The people are the democracy despite what ridiculous, middle age female bureaucrat wants you to believe.
That would lead to a lot of invalid ballots and the current mayor keeping her job.
I hope that AfD can put up a replacement candidate, but they probably planned this so that there isn’t time. Endorse the candidate of an unimportant small party and run a campaign where you tell everyone exactly what has happened.
In France, if they detect that someone is not occupying the space at home, either a room or the house itself the gov demand it be turned over to migrants. In Britain a couple just returned home from vacation to find a migrant family had moved in.
While these stunts are effective in their short term goals, to remove someone from the ballot paper, they are not free. The establishment is burning through its social capital. Those closest to the establishment tend to be much more inside the bubble so miss many of the social cues they are destroying. While elites ultimately control nations, they cannot really blatantly go against the wishes of many of the electorate. They must at least play the game.
This is happening all across the West. They seem to be delusional and unable to even pretend to be democratic any more. Can't be long before we see some circulation of the elites in Germany.
No, they are too far gone. Some are cynics of course, but I think today is characterized by irrational belief. That is blinding them to reality. Climate and migration especially.
I do worry about how far the pendulum will swing the other way, but a lot of those currently swinging it at the people REALLY deserve to get a bit of reciprocation.
Yes. The elites seem to be delusional, out of touch with the real world. And they no longer attempt to understand and (in a real way) care for the common people. (Said very simply. To be fair, this is far truer for leftist elites than other parts of the elite set.)
As I have suggested other times, maybe a large set of the elites are suicidal.
I am curious why this is so.
I have found no satisfying theory. Maybe it is that leftism has become a “religion.” Maybe an “auto-immune” disease with the West.
One possibility is that the greater extent and availability of information enables people to criticize themselves, their culture, their history. (Ok, but everyone is imperfect, and I’d say the West has done tons of good things.)
I suspect there is a suicidal element among them. This is complemented with a destructive element.
I think it is cosmic boredom and the hedonism it encourages. The hedonist is the least happy among us, despite all the apparent pleasure. Heroin users feel incredible, for a while. But at what cost? This is true of most indulgences.
I think they have no meaning in their lives and an incredible urge to control. I think that is what drives much of it.
I agree. The curse of inheriting your wealth. A rare curse of course, but devastating to those affected. The children of the wealthy rarely do much with their lives. Throw in drugs and pornography and ease, and you have decadence and decline.
“…fight for a cause greater than themselves: their homeland, the survival of their culture, a just order, the defence against a global threat.” Yes, obviously a terrifying prospect for some. (I hope I didn’t use those quotation marks anti-constitutionally.)
wait, I thought they were marginalized because they were in Western countries. Now they are marginalized in their home countries and escape to the West so that they aren't? You all need to try and keep the story straight for once.
here we have plenty of smart, wise candidates like Kamala Harris to chose from. no stasi, and all criminals here stand trial, even if they are former presidents!
Well, at least the Republican ones do. The last Democrat I remember actually standing trial for his crimes was the Senator from NJ who took gold-bar bribes from Egypt and stuffed them in the pockets of the clothes in his closet.
Many in Europe may have to seek sanctuary there if current political trends continue.
Germany seems to be the leading elite in its direct attack on competing political candidates and movements. In Britain our self regarding elites are well ahead in censorship, two tier justice and persecution of anyone making unwelcome remarks.
As the invader-hordes grow in number and power, their fake loyalty to the traitors letting them in vanes and withers away and their true intentions become clear.
What will the elites do then?
Try to recruit from the indigenous population, as the elites by then will be desperate for protection and loyal hencmen and guards.
Might be far more entertaining to not leave but to prepare to overthrow the regime by getting in on the ground-level once they become so desperate they start recruiting political umnetionables and deplorables, thinking we will safeguard them.
If this come to pass (odds being slim, obviously) then it will be a pleasure to offer them a choice:
First into the breach against the invaders, or first against the wall. Their pick: either is a win/win for the people of the nation.
"As particularly suspect, they single out a piece Paul wrote in 2022, in which he praised the Amazon series Rings of Power..."
Praised Rings of Power? Praised? For what, woke-raping the legacy of Tolkien's works?
Anyway, Paul's poor taste in Tolkien-adaptations aside, this is eerily reminiscent of how the Socialist Democrat party of Sweden reacted when the Sweden Democrats gained their first seat in a local election over 20 years ago: they publicly opined that if people vote for the wrong party, then the law must be changed so people can't vote for the wrong party.
And the excuse was the same: to protect democracy.
Am I guessing correctly that this will get overturned on appeal/via constitutional judges, but that by then it will be too late for Paul's candidacy? Which probably is the real point of this Soviet-style travesty.
The opponents of AfD should take a moment to contemplate the lessons of the Niebelungenlied, and how the coveted precious and the desire and need to possess it will corrupt you completely.
I was also confused by that paragraph. No one on the right or who values European culture and civilisation would like Rings of Power. It's a woke aberration where the people of Middle-earth look like a United Nations assembly. I think they even tried to portray the orks as refugees and marginalised in the series, but I'm not sure since I won't watch such tosh.
Also Star Trek “Next Generation” dabbles in glorification and excuses for the orc type character.
Though I never saw the collectivist excuse for why Picard’s family was allowed to keep the vineyard and farmhouse. How does that jive with no money and private ownership?
Yes, the orcs were a heavy-handed metaphor for invasion-migration; evil wicked Men and Elves who want to keep their lands orc-free oppress the poor dindu-nuffin-orcs.
Plus Negro Hobbits, homosexual Elves, a Negro Ar-Pharazon, a will-they-or-won't-they-alluded to romance between Galadriel and Sauron, and more and worse.
John Wayne playing Genghis Khan in 'The Conqueror' from '56 is a masterpiece in comparison.
Is there no legal concept of interim relief? So that Paul can get an interim injunction or other judgment that allows him to participate in the election?
okay, I have done more research on legal remedies. he can file for what is basically an emergency injunction with the responsible administrative court. it's conceivable it would be granted, not least because Paul is currently an elected member of the Landtag, there's no question he's eligible to stand for election. going against him, is the fact that it is apparently extremely rare for the courts to grant such remedies in the context of elections. probably what will happen, is he'll have to file a standard post-election complaint with the administrative court, and then there is indeed some chance that they order a repeat of the election with Paul on the ballot.
This is egregious. the most anti-constitutional thing you can do is bar someone from running for office because it violates so many people’s rights. It violate’s Paul’s right to voice what he thinks are the concerns in his district and it violate’s the constituents rights from voting for a candidate that they think suitably represents their issues.
if the courts sign off on this – the chances are not high, but they're not zero either – the door is open to just shut out AfD candidates period. this might happen all across the West, not in the East though. could also backfire in comedic ways, like the constitutional court overturns the strategy eventually and they have to redo a bunch of elections everywhere. it's nuts. we're at the limits of the system here, and they're willing to break it.
"Watergate" was a scandal, but what we experienced here with Clinton and Obama is a nothing burger. Seriously, the left is the party of lying, killing babies and old ppl, murdering opponents, spying, debanking and more lying.
Nixon only lost one state in the election and no POTUS has won a larger percentage of the popular vote since....thank goodness "they saved our democracy", right?
That’s why the people voted Trump. It is the risk the left is willing to take. I suspect that I’d the pendulum swings too far the our dear leaders will simply launch all out war with Russia. This is the common play in history. War rallies everyone to the flag and law goes out the window. They’ll accuse AfD of being pro-Putin and throw them in jail in the breathless fear frenzy which ensues.
QUOTE: Is there no legal concept of interim relief?
---
If Paul's team reads this, they should seriously consider that their best legal strategy is probably to lean heavily on two PROCEDURAL points:
(1) The evidence presented of "anti-constitutional" views was readily and publicly available long before the election, and was directly relevant at the time since Paul was already an elected official. By sitting on the evidence and only acting to disqualify him NOW, in the immediate run-up to an election, the sitting mayor and her henchmen effectively "OUSTED" (side-stepped) THE JURISDICTION OF THE COURT.
Courts the world over tend to be quite zealous in defending their powers against overreach by other branches of government, even/especially by actors of similar political persuasion. In other words, the focus needs to be on trespass against the rights/role OF THE COURT, much more than on the predicament of the candidate. The candidate's fate will only elicit smirks from the totalitarian leftists, and bored shrugs from the majority of MSM-consuming "good citizens."
(2) As already noted in the thread, the real reason for disqualifying Paul in this election appears to be to effect a shift in representation allocated to OTHER parties, with a view to facilitating/disabling coalition options NONE OF WHICH actually involve the AfD. Disqualifying Paul is thus merely a GAMBIT for unavowed ulterior purposes.
Importantly, these lines of argument AVOID INVITING hostile local courts to pronounce in substance on Paul's (misrepresented) views.
I don't think so, AfD is stronger in Ludwigshafen than you might think (well above 20% I think), but not strong enough to win a mayor's position. They are, however, stronger than SPD there, and the SPD masterminded this little stunt.
It is utterly astonishing that an unelected bureaucrat with a horse in the race can unilaterally ban another horse so close to the start of the race that the stewards don't have time to overturn said bureaucrat's decision. It is the stuff of fake democracies, the sort of which littered Eastern Europe within living memory.
the LfV literally writing up reports on the political reliability of potential election candidates is one of the most DDR-esque things i've ever seen. reading that whole document was surreal experience.
I guess we can take some limited solace in that (so far) you have to be candidate for mayor of a third-level town before this happens. In the DDR it happened to anyone who wanted to go to medical or law school, or just spend a weekend in the west. And their family.
At least so far no one has been refused an exit visa from the BRD because of political unreliability.
tfw you discover the state has all these legal competences you never noticed before and they can just forbid you from crossing internal Schengen-zone borders for really no reason at all.
Here in Arizona, the Secretary of State runs the election process.
When the Secretary of State runs for Governor, the political gymnastics are entertaining to behold.
Our current governor was our previous SoS. Her campaign involved fleeing from any reporter she didn't personally approve of, to take refuge in the women's room (https://duckduckgo.com/?q=katie+hobbs+flees+rest+room). She ran against a strong MAGA former media anchorwoman known to the entire state, and... won. Miracles still do happen in the desert.
How surprising, the person who was responsible for counting the votes, won the election. Stalin would be so surprised!. And she conveniently disrupted the voting in the hard right areas on election day as well. Our elections here in Arizona are a joke after that election. Trump must have won by a half million actual votes in order to officially win this state in 2024.
Whenever I contemplate the state of elections in AZ compared to NM... I realize that AZ was simply closer to CA, so of course they perverted the elections there sooner.
Indeed. Had a hen die this morning, the first in years. 😢 If you plan to come down from the rim at all, tomorrow the temp drops "down" to 105°, by Thursday it will practically be autumn (97°).
No, but his presence or not on the ballot will flip the outcome from one cartel party to the other. Also, his coming in a likely close second will have embarrassed all of them. Look at the affiliations to determine the likely outcome with and without, and also refer to Eugyppius' previous posts on the long-term intentions of the far-left wing of the party cartel. This is actually a curious short-term own-goal.
Hey, I know of an American political party that would just LOVE kicking its opponents off the ballot; and just like the German political establishment, they won't have any trouble finding pious-sounding reasons to do so. Which reminds me: when Hitler came to power, didn't he outlaw all other parties too? Hmmm ... “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.”
It's not because they haven't tried. After the phony felony trials of Trump, Democrats in several blue states tried to get him kicked off the presidential ballot as a felon. Fortunately for all of us, every such attempt was stymied by a court decision ruling that "not being a felon" is nowhere in the constitutional list of requirements for the president.
It was a 9-0 decision in SCOTUS in Trump’s favor (the people’s favor, since he was the nominee.) The issue brought by the groups in the Blue states was that there had been an insurrection on Jan 6, he gave a speech on WH grounds that somehow started it. They used the 14th amendment. Since there was no insurrection, and the 14th didn’t disqualify the President from holding office again, they lost big time, like every other lawfare that was tried.
Unless this is either a translation artifact or you elided it...
> They complain that “Paul … has made it clear that cultural differences, such as a lack of education among migrants, are the main factors leading to more violence.”
Note how they're not complaining that he _thinks that_. They're complaining that he "made it clear". The specific wording implies that they agree that he is making a factually correct statement.
My French Doctor friend complained that over the course of some months his nurse would occasionally come in to work with a black eye or broken arm, etc.
She had been robbed and assaulted repeatedly of her property when photographing birds and flowers in Paris parks. Her response was always, the people who did it to her and stole her things, “needed her (camera) or purse, more than she did.”
Question: When young German girls are raped by “irregular travelers”, is the conclusion by parents similar? Or, are parents merely coerced to stay quiet and not complain? Will there ever be a shift by the native population due merely to negative personal experiences?
"the sitting mayor of Ludwigshafen, Jutta Steinruck (a former Social Democrat) wrote an email on 18 July to the state Interior Ministry of her concern that “Paul is not loyal to the constitution.” ... Exactly a week later, the Ludwigshafen election committee, which is chaired by Steinruck herself, formally excluded Paul from the election on the basis of his anti-constitutional tendencies."
I once read that the Eskimos had 47 different words for snow. Is there any German equivalent at all for the English phrase "due process?"
As you'll see from the condensed list of principles for the Rättsstat (Swedish, we use the same basic system as does Germany), most of the EU-nations have left most of it behind if we compare the 1980s/1990s to present day.
We have left Rule of Law and are moving into a state of Rule by Law.
This is an interesting video containing a short comparison between British Common Law and German Civil Law. Until we all understand the difference we will have confusion.
And all these years I didn't realize I was a traitor to the Yiddishkeit of my ppl because I hungered for a mate like Beorn.
edit: PS: In case you never knew we New Yorkers saw Wagner and raised him--https://arts.columbia.edu/news/der-ring-gott-farblonjet-mfa-directing-thesis-delivers-wild-wagner-send
Germany needs a Tom Homan. Your analysis borders on the comedic and terrifying. Defending democracy by spying on and banning candidates, Stasi would be proud.
Stalin would be proud; so would Adolph, Mao, Benito, Che, that stupid judge in Brazil, the CIA, and America’s democrat party.
How on earth would AH be proud, exactly?
The adherence to coercion and authoritarianism.
Such is the nature of cattle. Which is, sadly, what most of us are.
Steven Miller would be glad to advise .
I read this replacing "the constitution" with "the Party" in my mind
Good point.
The Tolkien justification is grimly hilarious. Nobody on the right can *stand* "Rings of Power", for a variety of reasons, while Tolkien himself absolutely *loathed* Hitler, whom he accused of betraying and sullying everything good about German heritage.
https://lithub.com/on-the-time-j-r-r-tolkien-refused-to-work-with-nazi-leaning-publishers/
Thanks for posting that link - recommend anyone seeing this to go read the article, as it contains Tolkien's reply to the German publisher. It's a real lesson in English at the top-tier, and leaves no doubt as to what Tokien thought about national socialism and its racialist ideas.
Liking Rings of Power is as good a reason to stop him from running for office as any...
P.S.: yes, I saw the correction, but the joke deserves to stand
That's what I was thinking. The Interior Ministry could have saved themselves a ton of time and trouble by simply issuing a one sentence note saying "Joachim Paul is disqualified for liking the Rings of Power", and no one would object.
So the Interior Ministry has more power than the electorate? Trying to understand.
Except he despises the Rings of Power. His article was critical of the show and he praised Tolkiens original work.
That doesn't matter. He's an evil far right person, we all know.
You had an election, I think. What % of the vote did he get?
It's a good reason to ignore anything he ever says again on any question of literature or drama. Then again, having no taste whatsoever is no bar to being an effective holder of public office, as amply demonstrated by the current head of state of the USA.
He doesn’t like the rings of power. He criticized it and praised Tolkiens original work. It should be obvious that this story doesn’t work otherwise.
It would have been a bar if enough USA citizens agreed with you.
I don't share Trump's taste in architecture, but it’s delusional to think that his predecessor was some kind of cultural icon, as implied.
They won’t use this as an excuse to ignore his opinions on literature and drama. They’ll use it as an excuse for why he is to be ignored on ALL matters. Reason has no bearing on the situation.
The current US head of state loves the “Braveheart” movie which is probably silly. After all, he is orange while Mel Gibson’s face paint is blue. Good enough reason for the Fanny and the rest to investigate and call a Grand Jury.
“Braveheart” is an historical movie depicting the Scottish war against the English to gain independence. Important history for any with Scottish ancestry, including President Trump (+ me), though difficult to watch as war usually is.
Likewise here.
Typical 🇺🇸 mutt. Scot, Irish, English, French, German, Spanish. The Royal households were all of course related. 😂
That's a remarkably glorious reply.
Man, I wonder what it was like to have actual Nazis to struggle against, as opposed to the faux ones which pop up whenever anyone opposes the left...
Without understanding the government Germany has embraced, it is difficult to understand the removal of a candidate for office if the populace has given him the votes to win. Is Germany a Social Democracy post WWII or does your constitution describe another form of government? The prefix demo suggests the government of the people.
He despises Rings of Power btw. He doesn’t like it at all.
IYH OK this made me laugh hilarious "The whole thing is what a Stasi surveillance report would like, if the Stasi were too lazy to actually spy on people and spent all their time googling instead."
So the man freely admits that he mentioned a “story of great men and women who do what must be done because they want to remain true to their values"?
Such a monster must be kept out of office at all costs. Well done, Ludwigshafen!
Make the banning of the AFD candidate’s the #1 campaign issue. Then every person who was planning and is now planning to vote AFD, write it on your ballot and vote AFD.
The people are the democracy despite what ridiculous, middle age female bureaucrat wants you to believe.
That would lead to a lot of invalid ballots and the current mayor keeping her job.
I hope that AfD can put up a replacement candidate, but they probably planned this so that there isn’t time. Endorse the candidate of an unimportant small party and run a campaign where you tell everyone exactly what has happened.
Obviously Germany needs to feel much more pain as she spins off into outer space. France too.
I think we can rest assured. They will both be feeling a lot more self-inflicted pain.
In France, if they detect that someone is not occupying the space at home, either a room or the house itself the gov demand it be turned over to migrants. In Britain a couple just returned home from vacation to find a migrant family had moved in.
That is outrageous. I'd rather have British soldiers quartered in my house...
When is Election Day?
While these stunts are effective in their short term goals, to remove someone from the ballot paper, they are not free. The establishment is burning through its social capital. Those closest to the establishment tend to be much more inside the bubble so miss many of the social cues they are destroying. While elites ultimately control nations, they cannot really blatantly go against the wishes of many of the electorate. They must at least play the game.
This is happening all across the West. They seem to be delusional and unable to even pretend to be democratic any more. Can't be long before we see some circulation of the elites in Germany.
the blowback is going to be rough, but they can't see it
No, they are too far gone. Some are cynics of course, but I think today is characterized by irrational belief. That is blinding them to reality. Climate and migration especially.
I do worry about how far the pendulum will swing the other way, but a lot of those currently swinging it at the people REALLY deserve to get a bit of reciprocation.
Yes. The elites seem to be delusional, out of touch with the real world. And they no longer attempt to understand and (in a real way) care for the common people. (Said very simply. To be fair, this is far truer for leftist elites than other parts of the elite set.)
As I have suggested other times, maybe a large set of the elites are suicidal.
I am curious why this is so.
I have found no satisfying theory. Maybe it is that leftism has become a “religion.” Maybe an “auto-immune” disease with the West.
One possibility is that the greater extent and availability of information enables people to criticize themselves, their culture, their history. (Ok, but everyone is imperfect, and I’d say the West has done tons of good things.)
I suspect there is a suicidal element among them. This is complemented with a destructive element.
I think it is cosmic boredom and the hedonism it encourages. The hedonist is the least happy among us, despite all the apparent pleasure. Heroin users feel incredible, for a while. But at what cost? This is true of most indulgences.
I think they have no meaning in their lives and an incredible urge to control. I think that is what drives much of it.
Agree 💯.
No meaning. No striving. Like Caesar Milan (the Dog Whisperer) says, contentment comes from working on a worthy task to earn one’s dinner.
These people are, “out of balance” as he would put it. They have neither the worthy task nor are they earning their dinner.
I agree. The curse of inheriting your wealth. A rare curse of course, but devastating to those affected. The children of the wealthy rarely do much with their lives. Throw in drugs and pornography and ease, and you have decadence and decline.
Yes. They are in the anti-human death cult.
“…fight for a cause greater than themselves: their homeland, the survival of their culture, a just order, the defence against a global threat.” Yes, obviously a terrifying prospect for some. (I hope I didn’t use those quotation marks anti-constitutionally.)
Your use of quotes here clearly displays a negation of the humanity of all marginalized people of color around the world.
wait, I thought they were marginalized because they were in Western countries. Now they are marginalized in their home countries and escape to the West so that they aren't? You all need to try and keep the story straight for once.
I don’t care about them.
White like ghosts they hope will likewise evaporate.
Come to the US, Eugyppius!
here we have plenty of smart, wise candidates like Kamala Harris to chose from. no stasi, and all criminals here stand trial, even if they are former presidents!
Well, at least the Republican ones do. The last Democrat I remember actually standing trial for his crimes was the Senator from NJ who took gold-bar bribes from Egypt and stuffed them in the pockets of the clothes in his closet.
https://nypost.com/2024/07/16/us-news/sen-bob-menendez-convicted-of-sprawling-gold-bar-bribery-scheme/
LOLOL I did not know that. Thanks for the laughs.
yesss. Menendez is such a cheesey guy. It was not much in the news. You had to search to find that information.
He sent frequent emails to those he represented.
That will change in the weeks to come. The grand jury is being formed as we speak. Pride goeth before the fall.
That’s my state, and not the first time for him. Nonetheless, I respected him as a Senator.
Biden bro’s say they’re ready to retaliate against Kamala with damaging intel should she, “dish it” in her new book reveal. 😂
Did you see the 'excerpts' of her book by the Babylon Bee? hilarious. I hope someone else wrote it or she will be stuck with ALL copies of it
I have not. Thanks for the tip!
The accused stand trial, not the convicted.
Grand Jury trial next up to determine whether evidence for indictments to determine accountability.
Many in Europe may have to seek sanctuary there if current political trends continue.
Germany seems to be the leading elite in its direct attack on competing political candidates and movements. In Britain our self regarding elites are well ahead in censorship, two tier justice and persecution of anyone making unwelcome remarks.
Or:
As the invader-hordes grow in number and power, their fake loyalty to the traitors letting them in vanes and withers away and their true intentions become clear.
What will the elites do then?
Try to recruit from the indigenous population, as the elites by then will be desperate for protection and loyal hencmen and guards.
Might be far more entertaining to not leave but to prepare to overthrow the regime by getting in on the ground-level once they become so desperate they start recruiting political umnetionables and deplorables, thinking we will safeguard them.
If this come to pass (odds being slim, obviously) then it will be a pleasure to offer them a choice:
First into the breach against the invaders, or first against the wall. Their pick: either is a win/win for the people of the nation.
the elites will move to Switzerland or such
Won't help.
Since the Swiss gave women the vote, Switzerland too is on the climate-feminism-homopedo-moslem-train.
Its not as visible as in France or UK or Germany yet, but that's just because they started a couple of decades later.
Besides, how far can one run on a globe?
and Switzerland is extremely expensive. I could not even buy a dog house on 4 square meters.
Davos, in particular.
They can buy a Trump, “golden Visa” with the millions they collected while in office. 😂
"As particularly suspect, they single out a piece Paul wrote in 2022, in which he praised the Amazon series Rings of Power..."
Praised Rings of Power? Praised? For what, woke-raping the legacy of Tolkien's works?
Anyway, Paul's poor taste in Tolkien-adaptations aside, this is eerily reminiscent of how the Socialist Democrat party of Sweden reacted when the Sweden Democrats gained their first seat in a local election over 20 years ago: they publicly opined that if people vote for the wrong party, then the law must be changed so people can't vote for the wrong party.
And the excuse was the same: to protect democracy.
Am I guessing correctly that this will get overturned on appeal/via constitutional judges, but that by then it will be too late for Paul's candidacy? Which probably is the real point of this Soviet-style travesty.
The opponents of AfD should take a moment to contemplate the lessons of the Niebelungenlied, and how the coveted precious and the desire and need to possess it will corrupt you completely.
Ssssss.... precioussss....
it is my mistake (lol), see update
I'll let my comment remain un-edited; maybe somenone'll get a chuckle out of my internet-rage. ;)
So many Wormtongues, so little time.
Lindsay Graham comes to mind unfortunately.
I was also confused by that paragraph. No one on the right or who values European culture and civilisation would like Rings of Power. It's a woke aberration where the people of Middle-earth look like a United Nations assembly. I think they even tried to portray the orks as refugees and marginalised in the series, but I'm not sure since I won't watch such tosh.
Also Star Trek “Next Generation” dabbles in glorification and excuses for the orc type character.
Though I never saw the collectivist excuse for why Picard’s family was allowed to keep the vineyard and farmhouse. How does that jive with no money and private ownership?
Yes, the orcs were a heavy-handed metaphor for invasion-migration; evil wicked Men and Elves who want to keep their lands orc-free oppress the poor dindu-nuffin-orcs.
Plus Negro Hobbits, homosexual Elves, a Negro Ar-Pharazon, a will-they-or-won't-they-alluded to romance between Galadriel and Sauron, and more and worse.
John Wayne playing Genghis Khan in 'The Conqueror' from '56 is a masterpiece in comparison.
Is there no legal concept of interim relief? So that Paul can get an interim injunction or other judgment that allows him to participate in the election?
there is, it's possible a court will intervene quickly. but I am not that optimistic here.
okay, I have done more research on legal remedies. he can file for what is basically an emergency injunction with the responsible administrative court. it's conceivable it would be granted, not least because Paul is currently an elected member of the Landtag, there's no question he's eligible to stand for election. going against him, is the fact that it is apparently extremely rare for the courts to grant such remedies in the context of elections. probably what will happen, is he'll have to file a standard post-election complaint with the administrative court, and then there is indeed some chance that they order a repeat of the election with Paul on the ballot.
This is egregious. the most anti-constitutional thing you can do is bar someone from running for office because it violates so many people’s rights. It violate’s Paul’s right to voice what he thinks are the concerns in his district and it violate’s the constituents rights from voting for a candidate that they think suitably represents their issues.
On the money
Exactly. It’s the rights of the people that are violated, not the candidate. The election is the judgement in a democracy.
It’s because it possibly threatens feelings and values. No threat to rights even.
'then there is indeed some chance that they order a repeat of the election'
I'm thinking about the difference in cost between allowing him to run and then deciding whether to disqualify him, or running a whole new election.
As usual, they will probably go with the most profligate choice. Because it's only taxpayer money.
I’m thinking about the right of the people to judge via the ballot.
Great so he is assumed guilty until such time as proof of his innocence is no longer relevant. 🤦♂️
They're more likely to come up with a "legal" definition of "far right" in order to further exclude them.
Think of the power they would have if they do that. Talk about insidious.
if the courts sign off on this – the chances are not high, but they're not zero either – the door is open to just shut out AfD candidates period. this might happen all across the West, not in the East though. could also backfire in comedic ways, like the constitutional court overturns the strategy eventually and they have to redo a bunch of elections everywhere. it's nuts. we're at the limits of the system here, and they're willing to break it.
it happens here in the US.
"Watergate" was a scandal, but what we experienced here with Clinton and Obama is a nothing burger. Seriously, the left is the party of lying, killing babies and old ppl, murdering opponents, spying, debanking and more lying.
Watergate was a soft coup .
So was Russiagate .
Nixon was stabbed in the back .
Nixon only lost one state in the election and no POTUS has won a larger percentage of the popular vote since....thank goodness "they saved our democracy", right?
That’s why the people voted Trump. It is the risk the left is willing to take. I suspect that I’d the pendulum swings too far the our dear leaders will simply launch all out war with Russia. This is the common play in history. War rallies everyone to the flag and law goes out the window. They’ll accuse AfD of being pro-Putin and throw them in jail in the breathless fear frenzy which ensues.
To keep the LotR-theme going, the anti-AfD types are like Old Man Willow in the Old Forest instead of thoughful Ents:
"We have decided ... that you are not democratic" (wet crushing-noises)
or Mordor-orcs:
"Lawfare's back on the menu!"
Is there a procedure for "WRITE-IN voting" in Ludwigshafen?
QUOTE: Is there no legal concept of interim relief?
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If Paul's team reads this, they should seriously consider that their best legal strategy is probably to lean heavily on two PROCEDURAL points:
(1) The evidence presented of "anti-constitutional" views was readily and publicly available long before the election, and was directly relevant at the time since Paul was already an elected official. By sitting on the evidence and only acting to disqualify him NOW, in the immediate run-up to an election, the sitting mayor and her henchmen effectively "OUSTED" (side-stepped) THE JURISDICTION OF THE COURT.
Courts the world over tend to be quite zealous in defending their powers against overreach by other branches of government, even/especially by actors of similar political persuasion. In other words, the focus needs to be on trespass against the rights/role OF THE COURT, much more than on the predicament of the candidate. The candidate's fate will only elicit smirks from the totalitarian leftists, and bored shrugs from the majority of MSM-consuming "good citizens."
(2) As already noted in the thread, the real reason for disqualifying Paul in this election appears to be to effect a shift in representation allocated to OTHER parties, with a view to facilitating/disabling coalition options NONE OF WHICH actually involve the AfD. Disqualifying Paul is thus merely a GAMBIT for unavowed ulterior purposes.
Importantly, these lines of argument AVOID INVITING hostile local courts to pronounce in substance on Paul's (misrepresented) views.
I know this is beside the point, but was he likely to win?
I don't think so, AfD is stronger in Ludwigshafen than you might think (well above 20% I think), but not strong enough to win a mayor's position. They are, however, stronger than SPD there, and the SPD masterminded this little stunt.
It is utterly astonishing that an unelected bureaucrat with a horse in the race can unilaterally ban another horse so close to the start of the race that the stewards don't have time to overturn said bureaucrat's decision. It is the stuff of fake democracies, the sort of which littered Eastern Europe within living memory.
the LfV literally writing up reports on the political reliability of potential election candidates is one of the most DDR-esque things i've ever seen. reading that whole document was surreal experience.
I guess we can take some limited solace in that (so far) you have to be candidate for mayor of a third-level town before this happens. In the DDR it happened to anyone who wanted to go to medical or law school, or just spend a weekend in the west. And their family.
At least so far no one has been refused an exit visa from the BRD because of political unreliability.
Oh, wait...
tfw you discover the state has all these legal competences you never noticed before and they can just forbid you from crossing internal Schengen-zone borders for really no reason at all.
The political sector of the ankle monitor market -- booming!
Here in Arizona, the Secretary of State runs the election process.
When the Secretary of State runs for Governor, the political gymnastics are entertaining to behold.
Our current governor was our previous SoS. Her campaign involved fleeing from any reporter she didn't personally approve of, to take refuge in the women's room (https://duckduckgo.com/?q=katie+hobbs+flees+rest+room). She ran against a strong MAGA former media anchorwoman known to the entire state, and... won. Miracles still do happen in the desert.
How surprising, the person who was responsible for counting the votes, won the election. Stalin would be so surprised!. And she conveniently disrupted the voting in the hard right areas on election day as well. Our elections here in Arizona are a joke after that election. Trump must have won by a half million actual votes in order to officially win this state in 2024.
Whenever I contemplate the state of elections in AZ compared to NM... I realize that AZ was simply closer to CA, so of course they perverted the elections there sooner.
*sigh*
?
NM has always been so blue, its elections did not require perverting.
AZ is dominated by LDS and McCain mafias. It’s been in trouble for a long time.
Henry, I am part time in the Overgaard, AZ area. I take it you are in the 120 heat right now.
Indeed. Had a hen die this morning, the first in years. 😢 If you plan to come down from the rim at all, tomorrow the temp drops "down" to 105°, by Thursday it will practically be autumn (97°).
How do I DM you?
I’m so sorry about your hen. That’s the worst.
Was it due to heat exhaustion?
That makes this stunt even more self-defeating. I am reminded of your gem about Merz: an unforced-error factory. Desperation impedes decision making.
No, but his presence or not on the ballot will flip the outcome from one cartel party to the other. Also, his coming in a likely close second will have embarrassed all of them. Look at the affiliations to determine the likely outcome with and without, and also refer to Eugyppius' previous posts on the long-term intentions of the far-left wing of the party cartel. This is actually a curious short-term own-goal.
Doesn't matter.
Hey, I know of an American political party that would just LOVE kicking its opponents off the ballot; and just like the German political establishment, they won't have any trouble finding pious-sounding reasons to do so. Which reminds me: when Hitler came to power, didn't he outlaw all other parties too? Hmmm ... “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.”
It's not because they haven't tried. After the phony felony trials of Trump, Democrats in several blue states tried to get him kicked off the presidential ballot as a felon. Fortunately for all of us, every such attempt was stymied by a court decision ruling that "not being a felon" is nowhere in the constitutional list of requirements for the president.
Not to mention all the other candidates they tried to disqualify from the ballot, like RFK Junior and the No Labels party.
Thanks, I did not know that part.
It was a 9-0 decision in SCOTUS in Trump’s favor (the people’s favor, since he was the nominee.) The issue brought by the groups in the Blue states was that there had been an insurrection on Jan 6, he gave a speech on WH grounds that somehow started it. They used the 14th amendment. Since there was no insurrection, and the 14th didn’t disqualify the President from holding office again, they lost big time, like every other lawfare that was tried.
Are there an opposing parties in Ukraine?
Oh , I forgot …permanent martial law .
And what has that to do with the price of beans?
Obviously relevant in the context of talking about democracy and eliminating competition in voting?
By liking you comment, I guess I now have to give up hope of ever becoming mayor of Ludwigshafen. Their loss.
"Ludwigshafen? Why, I wouldn't run for dogcatcher there!"
Yes, but Bürgermeister has a ring to it.
Watch out about rings.
Ringmeister?
Unless this is either a translation artifact or you elided it...
> They complain that “Paul … has made it clear that cultural differences, such as a lack of education among migrants, are the main factors leading to more violence.”
Note how they're not complaining that he _thinks that_. They're complaining that he "made it clear". The specific wording implies that they agree that he is making a factually correct statement.
My French Doctor friend complained that over the course of some months his nurse would occasionally come in to work with a black eye or broken arm, etc.
She had been robbed and assaulted repeatedly of her property when photographing birds and flowers in Paris parks. Her response was always, the people who did it to her and stole her things, “needed her (camera) or purse, more than she did.”
Question: When young German girls are raped by “irregular travelers”, is the conclusion by parents similar? Or, are parents merely coerced to stay quiet and not complain? Will there ever be a shift by the native population due merely to negative personal experiences?
"the sitting mayor of Ludwigshafen, Jutta Steinruck (a former Social Democrat) wrote an email on 18 July to the state Interior Ministry of her concern that “Paul is not loyal to the constitution.” ... Exactly a week later, the Ludwigshafen election committee, which is chaired by Steinruck herself, formally excluded Paul from the election on the basis of his anti-constitutional tendencies."
I once read that the Eskimos had 47 different words for snow. Is there any German equivalent at all for the English phrase "due process?"
Internet-translating gives "Rechtsstaatlichkeit".
Article on what the concept of Rechtsstaat is here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rechtsstaat
As you'll see from the condensed list of principles for the Rättsstat (Swedish, we use the same basic system as does Germany), most of the EU-nations have left most of it behind if we compare the 1980s/1990s to present day.
We have left Rule of Law and are moving into a state of Rule by Law.
This is an interesting video containing a short comparison between British Common Law and German Civil Law. Until we all understand the difference we will have confusion.
https://youtu.be/d-skVydla7A?si=5c6ppD9hItrug_9w
In America we've long referred to it as "Rule of Man".
Or abject hypocrisy?
And all these years I didn't realize I was a traitor to the Yiddishkeit of my ppl because I hungered for a mate like Beorn.
edit: PS: In case you never knew we New Yorkers saw Wagner and raised him--https://arts.columbia.edu/news/der-ring-gott-farblonjet-mfa-directing-thesis-delivers-wild-wagner-send
Incredible that 4chan deciding to meme the ok symbol resulted in a German being barred from running for office
Scuba diving must be the most racist sport going.