May, 2025 | SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

Janez Janša Forever And Ever

What do Janez Janša and PFAS have in common? Apparently, both are forever. That, at least, is one of the takeaways of the SDS congress that took place this past weekend. The other takeaway being that the Party and its Glorious Leader will (again) go for broke.

Janez Janša during his acceptance speech. With almost 40 years as SDS president he is basically a forever president. — *Janez Janša humbly accepting four more years as Party leader (source)*

Janša won his tenth consecutive term as SDS leader by a lopsided 98.4 % of the vote. This makes him the longest-serving living party leader in Europe, bar none. And even among the dearly departed party chiefs, the only one to have served longer than Marshal Twito is, well, OG Marshal Tito.

Coalition Loses Arts Referendum

That sound you hear right now is the sound of a can of whoop-ass being opened on the Golob government. In today’s referendum, the SDS-backed NO vote won with as much as 93 percent of the vote, which is about as clear a result as you can get. The coalition gambled by calling for a vote boycott and lost. Bigly.

Referendum ballot in today's vote on artists' pension bonuses — *Referendum ballot*

Maybe now Levica and GS will finally learn that calling for electoral boycotts is not really their thing. True, this referendum was an uphill battle for them from the start. But by choosing not to play and hoping for the best is not a strategy, either.

Art Pensions Referendum: Has The Coalition Even Said Thank You To US Embassy Once?

In four days this sorry little excuse for a country will vote on a referendum that is fucking bizarre. Namely, the question at hand is whether outstanding artists should get a state-funded bonus to their pensions after retirement. Things got even bizarre-er when the US embassy in Ljubljana waded in on the issue.

US Embassy in Slovenia tweeted a quote by J.D. Vance and waded into a referendum campaign on art pensions. — *Screenshot of the offending US Embassy Tweet (source)*

The provision on pensions has been on the books for nearly five decades. Since 19-goddamn-74, to be precise. Golob government, specifically Levica coordinatrix Asta Vrečko, sought to update it and fix some loopholes. But the SDS never met a referendum opportunity it didn’t like and so they went all in.