ThereWillBeDeaths7

It's not impossible, but important is that Yesilgöz and the VVD have said only yesterday: we won't make Wilders PM / won't join him in a coalition if his party is the largest. GL-PvdA will also have difficulty to reach a majority, even with GL-PvdA, NSC and D66 they would need multiple small parties. This will be a long formation once again, in which even a new VVD coalition isn't completely out of the question if the PVV can't get it done.

Yeah, fuck. I still think it's gonna be difficult for Wilders to become PM. His party is projected to get 35 seats, they'll need 76 seats in their coalition for a majority. GL-PvdA will never join the PVV in a coalition, VVD and NSC have shown a lot of restraint to serve in a cabinet with Wilders. So he'll need to get 40 seats from somewhere if he even wants to have a chance of becoming PM.

And now for a more political analysis of the elections today: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/19/far-right-party-for-freedom-gaining-in-polls-ahead-of-netherlands-election - Polls indicate that about 15-18 parties will be seated in the new (150 member) parliament; most of which will struggle to get even 10 seats. - The battle for the lead seems to go between four parties: VVD: liberal-right party led by justice minister Dilan Yesilgöz-Zegerius, the party has led all Dutch governments since 2010 and has (sometimes deservedly) been criticized for major crises in the country: housing prices, income inequalities, migration overflow, declining trust in politics and much more. Anyway, most polls indicate they will lose multiple seats but they might still win the elections. Perhaps helped by their own created problems, more on that down below. GL-PvdA: an alliance of Green Left and the Labour Party, led by former European commissioner Frans Timmermans. The political left has struggled to unite voters for years, with the last Labour cabinet ending in 2002. As the only party on the left with a chance to win, perhaps they can succeed - some uncertainty however as the two parties have existed besides eachother for decades, never combining before as they've done now. PVV: right-populist, anti-immigrant party founded and led by Geert Wilders since 2006. In the last couple of elections they managed to get between 15-17 seats but had no real chance of winning because all other major parties kept them out of formation talks. Well, guess what the VVD did at the start of this campaign: the PVV has gained about 10 seats in the most recent polls because of this decision. NSC: New Social Contract, a new party led by parliamentarian Pieter Omtzigt, formerly of the christian party CDA. Promises major changes in governing policy and to improve the means of living drastically. Omtzigt founded his party at the end of summer and led the polls for a while, in the last week he is losing multiple seats in polls, amidst speculation and confusion as to whether he would like to be Prime Minister after the elections. I'd say the following seems likely: - VVD will probably win the elections, but only just with ~28 seats. GL-PvdA and PVV to come right behind them with ~26 seats each. - NSC will be the fourth largest party, somewhere at about ~20 seats. - even if Wilders manages to win the elections, the path to a PVV-led government seems difficult. Will be a large opposition party anyway.

It's Election Day in the Netherlands today! First, we say goodbye to an old friend, seen in action below as a true statesman: - Prime Minister Mark Rutte, also known as "teflon Mark" is retiring after 13 years as PM (since October 2010), having been the political leader of the VVD since 2006. While I certainly have respect for his way of dealing with national disasters like the downing of the MH-17 in 2014, as well as most of his COVID-policies, the consensus seems to be that he stuck around too long and survived multiple politicial scandals over the years without paying any significant consequences. Anyhow, a talented politician who can make deals with a whole load of other parties if needed. Also made some headlines last month as after making a visit to Netanyahyu, he also visited Abbas, the first European leader to do so since 7th October 2023. Perhaps we'll all be seeing more of him if the rumours about NATO are true. A last gem from Rutte, his meeting with Trump in 2018:

Shane MacGowan as my new sub as well, please. Sub #1 Sonny Rollins moves up

Mitch McConnell

Happy birthday!! To many more years in good health and perhaps some celebrity deaths on November 17 in the coming years

Charles Duke now the last surviving crew member of Apollo 16. He is also the youngest surviving crew member of all of the Apollo missions at 88 years old, Mattingly was 87. Really shows they are part of a dying breed: there are nine crew members left, aged 88-95. (Apollo missions 10, 11, 15, 16 and 17 have one surviving member; infamous mission Apollo 13 has two living crew members while Apollo 8 has all three of them still living. Apollo 12 and 14 have died out in 2018 and 2016)

Former politician Adriaan Nooteboom has passed away at 95. He was state secretary for Finance (1977-1980) in the first Van Agt-cabinet. He began his political career as a member of the CHU, which would fusion into the CDA in 1980. His passing means Dries van Agt is now the oldest surviving member of all three of his own cabinets. [Top 3 oldest cabinet members] 1. Jan van Stuijvenberg (wiki, nl) (1928) DS'70 - State secretary for the Interior (1971-1972) 2. Michel van Hulten (wiki) (1930) PPR - State secretary for Transport and Water Management (1973-1977) 3. Dries van Agt (wiki) (1931) KVP/CDA - Minister of Justice (1971-1977) - Deputy Prime Minister (1973-1977) - Prime Minister (1977-1982) - Minister of Foreign Affairs (1982)

Same for me I placed Trump and Putin on the top of my list as a sort of win-win. Happy either way: I do well in this game or the world has a reason to celebrate

Celebrating I'm 7 years together with my girlfriend today. We met eachother at the start of our final year of high school and have been together ever since. Housing market's a mess here but hopefully we can find a place together in the coming year and a bit.

"Kidney, bladder and prostate complications" The only complication he seems to have escaped is a thunder in his heart - could've been quite dangerous for a man his age.

Was a cabinet member from 1971 until 1977 (Biesheuvel I-II and Den Uyl). There are now only one minister (Van Agt, 92) and two state secretaries (Jan van Stuijvenberg, 95 and Jan Oostenbrink, 87) left from the Biesheuvel cabinets. Some fun facts about Westerterp: He started his political career as a member of the House of Representatives (1963-1978) and the European Parliament (1967-1971). As minister of Transport and Water Management for PM Den Uyl, he enforced the mandatory wearing of a helmet on mopeds and a seatbelt in cars in the Netherlands; this occured in 1974. After his career in politics he founded the AEX-index, the most important economic index in the Netherlands in 1983. Honouring his former job as minister of Transport and Water Management, he caused a traffic accident in 2000 after driving under the influence of alcohol; one person was hospitalised.

Would be quite the risk for them to govern the country that early. I'd imagine they would certainly want to be in power by 2033 to commemorate the centenary of their 'spiritual leader' coming to power Partially joking as ofcourse it's not the entire AfD that thinks that way; but I'm still not keen on seeing any of them governing our neighbours anytime soon. Just saddening to see this much polarisation both within and outside politics in so many countries.

Trudeau now considering releasing the names of all Nazi war criminals that migrated to Canada after the war.

Dianne Feinstein being handed the Water Champion Award in 2020.

Here to explain the confusion: In the Dutch translation of Harry Potter, Snape was called "Severus Sneep", just like we read about Harry's friends Ron Wemel (Weasley) and Hermelien Griffel (Hermione Granger). And Dumbledore was called Albus Perkamentus, which was probably a nod to parchment. Just a few names stayed exactly the same in Dutch, like Rubeus Hagrid, Hedwig, HP himself and Dobby. Since I started reading the books in English though, it's the original spelling of the characters' names I think of.

Nagorno-Karabakh (as it will be dissolved and become part of Azerbaijan on Jan 1, 2024 as a result of the recent invasion).

Dutch actor Reiky de Valk (23) has passed away. He starred besides singer S10 in the official videoclip for De Diepte, the Dutch song sent to Eurovision in 2022. Besides Eurovision, he acted in series such as Dertigers and Oogappels. A message from his loved ones seems to indicate his cause of death: "he has chosen to shine his light on us from above".

August 21 here; I thought it to be a bit random but turns out it was actually Cropsy's version of "How often do you think about the Roman Empire?"

Daniel J. Evans is now the last surviving U.S. senator born in the 1920's. At the start of the year, there were still five of them left (Buckley, Evans, Broyhill, Faircloth as well as Clark) . Top 5 oldest U.S. senators at the moment: Daniel J. Evans (1925) (R-Washington, 1983-1989) Nicholas F. Brady (1930) (R-New Jersey, 1982) Rudy Boschwitz (1930) (R-Minnesota, 1978-1991) Fred R. Harris (1930) (D-Oklahoma, 1964-1973) Mack Mattingly (1931) (R-Georgia ,1981-1987)

Seeing his decades long "legacy" be destroyed by his offspring would definitely be a joy to see; however, I wouldn't rule out Jr. being chosen solely because of his name if such a thing were to happen

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday!

A happy birthday to, well, me!