Flash Flood Of Unity

Pengovsky was either on vacation or steeped in work over the summer. Or both. As a result this here blog got slightly less love than it would have deserved. But that is all water under the bridge now. Or water over the bridge, as it were, as the flash flood in early August wreaked havoc in parts of the country and turned Muddy Hollows from a parable to a literal and very painful fact.

Borut Pahor, Janez Janša and Robert Golob at the one of the sites of the flood disaster
Borut Pahor, Janez Janša and Robert Golob, united af. (source)

But with this site being what it is, we should take a look at the political aspects to the calamity, too. Because in the true spirit of that New Yorker cartoon, raging waters may have destroyed large tracts of the country, but for a beautiful moment in time created a lot of unity across the entire political spectrum.

Continue reading Flash Flood Of Unity

Danijel Bešič Loredan And The Third Rail Of Slovenian Politics

Danijel Bešič Loredan joined the long and distinguished list of former ministers of health of the republic of Muddy Hollows. Handpicked by PM Robert Golob personally to oversee the portfolio, he threw in the towel on Friday afternoon. Apparently, the brawler who liked to do things mano-a-mano, suffered one setback too many.

Danijel Bešič Loredan as Confused John Travolta
Danijel Bešič Loderan as confused John Travola seems very much a propos

Health system is a classic third rail of Slovenian politics. Touch it, and you’re most likely dead. Which, in a nutshell, is what happened to Bešič Loredan. Albeit much of it is his own fault, too. I mean, if you’re going to screw around with a high-voltage system, you better know what you are doing. And wear some thick protection. On that count, DBL went zero for two. Fuck around to find out.

Continue reading Danijel Bešič Loredan And The Third Rail Of Slovenian Politics

Top Court Clears Way For New RTVSLO Law. Kind Of.

The Constitutional Court on Friday lifted the stay of execution of the new RTVSLO legislation. Thus it put out the flaming bag of dogshit it created with the February decision. As a result, despite the court not yet ruling on the substance of the complaint, new RTVSLO management and oversight bodies can take over. They can then finally stop the political clown-car that has been running the public broadcaster into the ground for the last eighteen months.

The Boy with the flute, the RTVSLO symbol, superimposed on a Constitutional Court plaque, combined with a green traffic light.
Constitutional Court green-lit new RTVSLO legislation (picture by Capt. Obvious)

That said, the Court also ended up with quite an egg on it face. Mostly for reasons pengovsky pointed out back in February. The court desperately tried to avoid a political fallout. Yet it achieved exactly the opposite and cooked up a clusterfuck of epic proportions in the process. Among other things, it allowed dismantling of RTVSLO to continue unabated, thus failing its own “lesser or two evils” test. It also rendered itself inoperative on this issue. Which is why the top judicial body had to resort to some pretty messy lawyering to sort out this shit out. Kind of.

Continue reading Top Court Clears Way For New RTVSLO Law. Kind Of.

Janša’s Gift To Robert Golob

The one thing Robert Golob and his coalition really needed right now was a pep talk. You know, like Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday. Or Captain America in Avengers: Endgame. Or Sean Connery in The Hunt For The Red October. Instead, they got Janez Janša and his SDS holding a whole-day government accountability debate. Which, as it turns out, was almost as good.

PM Robert Golob responding to Janez Janša's criticism of his government.
Golob addressing Janša directly (source: M. Sušnik/Nat’l Assembly)

The technical term for this is interpellation. It is set out in Article 250 of parliamentary rules and procedures, for all you nerds out there. But in a move that was as pointless as it was petty, the Party invoked it against the entire government. With this, they ensured the whole thing would have no repercussions at all. And they only did it to cut the NSi off at the pass, anyhow.

Continue reading Janša’s Gift To Robert Golob

Will Robert Golob Party Like It’s 2011?

By the time you read this, it will have been almost a year since Robert Golob wiped the floor with Janez Janša at the ballot box. But if the first couple of months were a case study in differences between the Big Bird and the Glorious Leader, a new and most unflattering comparison crept up lately. Comparing prime minister Golob to none other than Borut fucking Pahor.

Robert Golob chased by the shadow of Borut Pahor
The ghost of Borut Pahor past

It is a complete coincidence that pengovsky’s last post was on the political legacy of the King of Instagram. Or, rather, the lack thereof. But maybe this is not a coincidence. Maybe it is just the universe trying to point out the goddamn obvious. Namely, that if he is not careful, Robert Golob will piss away all the political advantage he has and end up chasing his own tail while the world around him starts burning yet again. Party like it’s 2011, anyone?

Continue reading Will Robert Golob Party Like It’s 2011?