SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

Miha Jazbinšek (1941 – 2026)

Miha Jazbinšek died two weeks ago, at the age of 85. Both readers of this blog probably don’t know (much) about him but pengovsky would be remiss if didn’t write this one up. Sure, he was one of the OG democratically elected ministers in Muddy Hollows. He was also one of the handful of Slovenian politicos to have a law named after themselves. But after exiting the natioanl stage, he had a long, loud and lonely career in Ljubljana city council where this blogger covered him for more than a decade.

Miha Jazbinšek during a press conference in 2009. — *Miha Jazbinšek being meticulous back in 2009 (source)*

There Jazbinšek seemingly felt most at home with his particular breed of obstinate progressive liberalism. And if that sounds like a contradiction in terms, congratulations, you’ve just met Jazzby. He drove successive mayors including Zoran Janković up the wall with his relentless debates, pointed criticism and – at least once – disagreeing with what he said minutes ago and asking for procedural time to rebut his own debate.

Who’s Who In Janša 4.0 (Part Four)

Welcome to the fourth and final part of the primer on the fourth government of Janez Janša. As promised, it includes the three remaining ministers as well as the Resnica duo currently rampaging in the parliament. It was about fucking time pengovsky finished this write up, because in the mean time shit in Muddy Hollows was happening left, right, and centre. Well mostly right, but still.

The entire complement of Janša 4.0 government meeting president Nataša Pirc Musar. Somewhere in the picture are Polona Rifelj, Mihael Zupančič and Suzana Lep Šimenko. Missing are Zoran Stevanović and Katja Kokot, for obvious reasons. — *Team Janša 4.0 meeting the Prez the other day (source)*

There are two or three referendums lined up. A potential violation of international law. An SDS MEP being kicked out of EPP. Resnica playing even bigger dumm-dumms than they are. And interesting developments in Ljubljana mayoral race. But first, read below or click here for parts one, two and three.

Who’s Who In Janša 4.0 (Part Three)

Welcome to part three of the fourth Janša government primer. Click here for parts one and two. Both readers can be reassured that pengovsky knows he needs to hurry the fuck up. Things just keep piling up, including but not limited to Bibi Netanyahu starting to collect on his black-cubed debt.

Janez Janša and his cabinet in the inaugural government session. — *Janša 4.0 in session (source)*

But before we get there, we’ve still got at least two installments of the series to speed-run through. For this part in the series, pengovsky promised Franci Matoz and a couple of randos, but is it actually a bit heftier than that. So, let’ get going.

Who’s Who In Janša 4.0 (Part Two)

Slovenia celebrates 35 years of independence today. Yay, us! Events were organised, flags were waved and speeches were held. But in a classic case of plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose, it was also a night for retribution, vindictiveness and exclusion. Because it’s our turn now. That is to say, their turn. Which is mostly why president Nataša Pirc Musar got booed through a part of her address to the nation during last evening’s main celebration.

Janez Janša and members of his cabinet. — Team Janša 4.0. Again. Because pengovsky couldn’t be bothered to find a copyleft pic from last night (source)

This is also why prime minister Janez Janša trampled on long-established rule of PM and Prez alternating in delivering these things. Instead, he insisted that they both address the nation. Because that’s just how he rolls. Rules for thee, but not for me. Naturally, the far right element had a lot to say about freedom of expression last night. You know, decorum is for pussies, because fuck your feelings. Needless to say they go apeshit if/when situation is reversed. But through all of this, members of Janša’s cabinet politely clapped their hands. So, let’s go and meet some more of them. (And click here for part 1 of the series.)

Who’s Who In Janša 4.0 (Part One)

The fourth government of Janez Janša is nary a month old and already they’ve earned themselves three referendum bids, an ongoing criminal investigation (from the before times) and a brazenly corrupt MP, even though he technically is not on the team.

Who's who of the fourth government. of Janez Janša. In Part One we meet Jernej Vrtovec, Anže Logar, Andrej Šircelj, Tone Kajzer and Janša the man himself. — *Team Janša 4.0 (source)*

But before we deal with all of that – or at least parallel to that – pengovsky feels it is important to get to know the people pretending to call the shots in version 4.0 of the Janša administration. Because obviously nothing will be done without the micromanager-in-chief’s say-so.

Janša 4.0: Grown-ups, Dependents And True Believers

Ten days ago Janez Janša was sworn in as the next prime minister. This made a lot of people in Muddy Hollows really angry and was widely considered to be a bad move. Especially among the dreamers, thinkers, speculative progressives… or, as right-wing pundits would have it, idiots.

Ten days ago Janez Janša was sworn in as the next prime minister. Now he is populating his fourth administration mostly with loyalists and people depending on him for political survival. — *Yup, this is us… (source)*

However, Glorious Leader updating his Twitter bio was only part of the task. A big part, to be sure, but this is one of those nothing-is-done-until-everything-is-done type of things. And since there is no Janša government without people for Janša to, well, govern, the grand finale started on Monday, with would-be ministers testifying in front of various parliamentary committees. Barring any mayor fuck-ups Slovenia will have Marshal Twito’s fourth government by tomorrow evening.

The President Had One Job…

In a surprise address to the media on Saturday morning, President Nataša Pirc Musar announced she will not be making a PM nomination. Assessing that no candidate can secure an absolute majority in the parliament, she notified Speaker Stevanović (shudder!) that she is so done with this shit, even though she still had two more weeks to come up with a name.

President Nataša Pirc Musar standing behind a lectern last Saturday. She said she will not nominate a PM. At all. With this she may have opened herself to impeachment and is definitely guilty of political malpractice. — *President Pirc Musar announcing she will remain nominee-less (source)*

Not to put too fine a point on it, the president fucked up royally. In one fell swoop, she made a huge political error, missed an opportunity to hold parliament accountable, screwed up the messaging (again) and possibly opened herself up to an impeachment proceeding. It is, to use a technical term, a clusterfuck.