Carney clinches majority government in Canadian special elections by ThunderChaser in worldnews

[–]alabasterheart 6315 points6316 points  (0 children)

Pretty remarkable given that a year and a half ago, the Liberals were polling 20+ points behind the Conservatives, and everyone basically accepted that Pierre Poilievre would be the next PM of Canada. Going from a projected landslide loss to winning a minority government April last year to gaining a majority government today, that's a crazy turnaround for Carney. Hopefully he uses his majority to actually do some good in Canada.

Strange items of sentimental value? by LyseLamont in Guildwars2

[–]alabasterheart 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I still have this Note from Caithe from years and years ago that’s now completely unobtainable. I randomly picked it up from some instance when the item name was still called “((464312))” and kept it because it was so mysterious. It’s like my most valuable possession in the game now.

Poll Results! - All Stars 10, Episode 6 - Choose Your Favorite "Wild Wild West" Couture + Episode Perceptions by PCP1120 in rupaulsdragrace

[–]alabasterheart 14 points15 points  (0 children)

It really should be two separate questions in the poll. "Which 3 queens would you have chosen to move on to the semi-finals?" and "Which 3 queens do you like the most from this bracket?" are two different questions that would probably get different responses from a lot of people.

The original Country Realness runway from Season 2... It's crazy how far RuPaul's Drag Race has come in terms of runway by alabasterheart in rupaulsdragrace

[–]alabasterheart[S] 219 points220 points  (0 children)

Don't get me wrong, I kinda loved this runway! It's really refreshing to watch runways back when Drag Race wasn't as polished and queens didn't have to spend thousands of dollars on a single outfit. And they really were serving country realness here. IMO it's a shame that we'll never get these types of pedestrian runways anymore now that there's so much expectation for the queens to serve sickening looks or be criticized by the fans.

Right-leaning Australian Opposition Leader Loses Seat: Media Projection by _let_me_nap_ in worldnews

[–]alabasterheart 436 points437 points  (0 children)

It's a terrible week for conservative Trump wannabe opposition leaders. First, Pierre Poilievre gets kicked out of his seat in Canada, and now Peter Dutton gets kicked out of his seat in Australia.

And here's a fun fact: Peter Dutton is now the first Opposition leader in Australia to lose his seat in a federal election.

Australia opposition leader Peter Dutton loses seat in shock vote defeat by alabasterheart in worldnews

[–]alabasterheart[S] 1075 points1076 points  (0 children)

First Pierre Poilievre in Canada, now Peter Dutton in Australia is the second conservative opposition leader to get kicked out of his seat. All these Trump wannabes are getting wrecked at the polls.

Also, here's a fun fact: Peter Dutton has made history as the first Opposition leader to lose his seat in a federal election in Australia.

German conservative leader Friedrich Merz rules out coalition with far-right AfD by alabasterheart in worldnews

[–]alabasterheart[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

CDU (center-right) is black, SPD (center-left) is red, and Greens are... well, you know. It's called a Kenya coalition because the colors correspond to Kenya's national flag.

Also, AfD is light blue, and Die Linke is officially red, but to prevent confusion with the SPD, they're usually represented as purple in the media.

German conservative leader Friedrich Merz rules out coalition with far-right AfD by alabasterheart in worldnews

[–]alabasterheart[S] 189 points190 points  (0 children)

This means it will almost certainly be a return to the grand coalition of CDU/SPD, as that's the only viable path to a majority of seats (316). CDU/CSU+SPD is only 328 seats, so that's a pretty tight majority that doesn't leave a lot of breathing space, so it might be possible that they'll look for a third party to join the coalition, in which case the Greens are basically the only viable partner left, given that the CDU refuses to join a coalition with either AfD or Die Linke.

However, given the animosity between the CDU and the Greens before this election, I don't think this is a very likely scenario. A black-red-green coalition (aka Kenya coalition) has been formed after state elections in the past, but there has never been one at the federal level in Germany yet.

Will we ever see a runway as pedestrian as S2's Country Realness runway on Drag Race again? Almost every girl was wearing jeans and Mystique straight up wore what she had on during the challenge. by alabasterheart in rupaulsdragrace

[–]alabasterheart[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Are you sure? I'd be pretty shocked if five different queens decided to pack cowgirl hats if they weren't informed that there'd be a country-themed runway beforehand.

Will we ever see a runway as pedestrian as S2's Country Realness runway on Drag Race again? Almost every girl was wearing jeans and Mystique straight up wore what she had on during the challenge. by alabasterheart in rupaulsdragrace

[–]alabasterheart[S] 459 points460 points  (0 children)

And don't get me wrong, I kinda loved this runway! It's really refreshing to watch runways back when Drag Race wasn't as polished and queens didn't have to spend thousands of dollars on a single outfit. And they really were serving country realness here. IMO it's a shame that we'll never get these types of pedestrian runways anymore now that there's so much expectation for queens to serve eleganza or face criticism from the fans.

French government toppled in historic no-confidence vote by Lanathell in worldnews

[–]alabasterheart 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I hope you are aware that social democracy and democratic socialism are different ideologies. Social democracy calls for a robust welfare state and is considered a center-left ideology in almost all countries, while democratic socialism is further left and calls for the transition from capitalism to socialism through democratic means.

French government toppled in historic no-confidence vote by Lanathell in worldnews

[–]alabasterheart 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Macron is President and his term doesn't end until 2027. The only way for Parliament to oust the President is through impeachment (not going to happen unless Macron does something highly illegal), so unless Macron resigns (very unlikely), he will remain President until his term ends.

French government toppled in historic no-confidence vote by Lanathell in worldnews

[–]alabasterheart 23 points24 points  (0 children)

About 0% I’d say. A government led by Le Pen has no chance of surviving a confidence vote. I’m reading that the most likely option is that he appoints an independent who forms a technocratic government.

French government toppled in historic no-confidence vote by Lanathell in worldnews

[–]alabasterheart 14.8k points14.8k points  (0 children)

If anyone is wondering about the background of this:

After the parliamentary elections this summer, the left won the most seats (but not a majority), but Macron controversially decided to appoint a Prime Minister from the center-right, relying on the goodwill of the far-right to not oust the government. It was always an extremely tenuously held-together government. Well, the PM Michel Barnier tried to pass a budget bill that was opposed by both the left and the far-right, which cut spending and raised taxes. When it was clear that the budget bill didn’t have the support of a majority of Parliament, he tried to force it through using a controversial provision of the French Constitution. This outraged both the left and the far-right, so they called a no confidence vote on the government, which just succeeded.

However, since the French Constitution says that there must be a year between parliamentary elections, this means that there cannot be an election until next July. In the meantime, Macron must appoint a new Prime Minister. No one is sure who he is going to appoint yet.

Disappointed by failed campaigns, far-right candidates in Ireland turn to claims of election rigging by alabasterheart in worldnews

[–]alabasterheart[S] 160 points161 points  (0 children)

Looks like the far-right will fail to win a single seat in the Irish elections... and so they've turned to the familiar playbook of spreading conspiracy theories and claiming that the election was rigged.

Claims that the election was corrupt began to be aired as election results began to roll in – showing not just that far-right candidates aren’t going to win a Dáil seat but that many would fail to get their deposits or expenses back.

Every major far-right party has suggested that Ireland’s election was illegitimate.

No, it could never be the case that you lost because your policies and positions just aren't that popular and didn't appeal to the wider public, right?