October, 2021 | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

Janša Deflects And Denies As Covid-19 Makes A Comeback

Covid-19 infection and mortality numbers in Slovenia are at a high not seen since the worst of the second wave. The 7-day average is the highest it has even been. If this goes on, one in every 400 Slovenians will have died of Covid-19 in a matter of weeks. Such is life in Muddy Hollows these days, where the government of Janez Janša bet the house on vaccines and then proceeded to fuck up the vaccination campaign.

A tweet by Slovenian PM Janša commenting on internal Dutch politics. — *Slovenian PM doing some casual homophobia*

Then again, rule by decree, liberal use of tear gas and general incompetence don’t help either. As a result, prime minister Janez Janša is now forced to contemplate the one thing he explicitly said he would not do. Reimposing the lockdown. But to do that and survive politically, he is resorting to the only three things he is really good at. Diversion, denial, and deflection.

The Passion of Andrej Vizjak

Minister of environment Andrej Vizjak is in a bit of a pickle. And by that pengovsky means he is in a big fucking mess. Namely, a recording surfaced in which Vizjak appears to offer a helping hand to Bojan Petan, an influential tycoon (think oligarch lite) and an overall shady dude, in the latter’s quest to obtain a majority stake in a government-controlled enterprise and thus avoid paying taxes.

A photograph of Slovenian minister of environment and spatial planning Andrej Vizjak — *Minister of environment, spatial planning and clandestine recordings Andrej Vizjak (source)*

The enterprise in question is Terme Čatež, a popular spa resort. Crucially, however, the conversation took place 14 years ago. So, not exactly the freshest of cuts, if you get my meaning. But even before this episode Vizjak was embroiled in enough shit to make this particular bag of canine excrement stick more than it might have done under different circumstances.

Janša Tweeting Stupid Shit Again Has Real World Consequences

Harold Wilson once observed that a week in politics is a long time. Slovenian PM and everyone’s new favourite whipping boy Janez Janša proved once more that the late British leader was right on the fucking money. In case you spent the last 72 hours under a rock or trying to evacuate Kabul, the story is that the Glorious Leader again buckled under the tiniest of pressures from European Parliament and had suffered Twitter meltdown.

Janez Janša sends out an antisemitic tweet depicting George Soros at a centre of a conspiracy involing several MEPs — Marshal Twito dabbling in antisemitism

However, in an apparent attempt to keep things interesting, Janša laced his latest temper tantrum with a healthy dose of antisemitic dog-whistles, misogyny and choice conspiracy theories. Moreover, to erase what little diplomatic standing he had generated for himself and for the country he unfortunately leads, Marshal Twito started a diplomatic kerfuffle with none other than The Netherlands. Cue eating popcorn gif.

Tear Gas, Muh Freedoms And Fun For The Whole Family

In a reprehensible, yet entirely predictable escalation of a series of anti-covid-pass protests last Tuesday, Muddy Hollows’ capital Ljubljana was the scene of a demonstration-turned-riot that saw liberal use of tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets as well as mounted and K9 units. It was, in short, fun for the whole family.

Police water canon is deployed in downtown Ljubljana, Slovenia, surrounded by riot police armed with shields and tear gas — Created with GIMP

This was in stark contrast to the week before when a similar but larger protest took place and the police more or less just stood by, dispersing the crowd only when it entered the Ljubljana bypass and briefly stopped traffic. This time around however, everyone was spoiling for a fight. The Covid-sceptic mob, the police and the government. And a fight was what everyone got.