Links - 27th May 2019 (2)

Massive And Terrifying ‘God Emperor Trump’ Presides Over Parade In Italy - "A massive likeness of President Donald Trump mashed up with the “God-Emperor” character of the Warhammer 40K video games presided over a parade in Italy over the weekend.The float at the Viareggio Carnevale featured a giant Twitter sword and clawed hand, and was animated to turn and shift as it moved through the procession."

jkoweal on Twitter - "Use Google Analytics to track your OFFLINE marketing campaigns - flyer distribution at events - and track ur marketing efforts. Here's how"

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent Podcast, Marching bands in Myanmar - "When the foreign desk wakes you up shortly before Christmas to tell you there are reports of a tsunami, you just go. So almost robotically, I kiss my sleeping boys on the head and turn to Fitri.... When I became pregnant for the first time, I wanted to do it all by myself. Nannies seemed otherworldly and elitist. I was uncomfortable seeing upper class families in Jakarta, having dinner in glitzy malls, and the nannies often in uniforms, sitting on a different table, sometimes without a meal. But the reality of being a mother hit me like a freight train. Sleep deprived and without any family to help, I was a mess. Get a nanny, I was told, over and over by Indonesian and foreign friends. So finally after some very difficult months, I came to embrace the idea that is universally accepted here - that it takes many women to be a good mother. In Bali, they believe babies are little gods. And across Indonesia, children are overwhelmingly loved. Screaming kids on planes, people feel sorry for them, not annoyed by them. And children running around a cafe are super cute, not brats. And there have been four wonderful patient women who at different times have lived with us and made parenting while reporting in the ring of fire a joy"
Maybe women having it all is really possible only by 'exploiting' other women - so by making such 'exploitation' impossible, it's really women who are being held back (as in the Nordics)

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent Podcast, Where To Next? - "Nearly 600 municipalities across Spain don't have a single resident under the age of 10"

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent Podcast, Losing hope in Venezuela - "It's the simplicity of the sausage. Its lack of fuss or pretension, which explains its enduring position at the heart of German culture. This is after all, a country
which prizes efficiency and values substance over style. When Angela Merkel hosted what was reportedly an emotional farewell dinner for Barack Obama, she served sausage. When recent talks to form a coalition government turned into a hideously convoluted all night marathon, stressed out politicians sustained themselves on sausage. And if you believe the tabloids, the supermodel Heidi Klum, who is planning her third marriage intends to serve her guests sausage. So prized is the humble wurst that it pervades everyday speech. If you want to convey the gravity of the situation you're likely to say *something*. Now it's about the sausage. Conversely, could there be a more cutting way to tell someone that you don't care for them than to employ the phrase *something*. You’re sausage to me. There's even one for Brexit. I've lost count of the times politicians have shrugged, smiled ruefully and told me there will be no extra wurst for Britain. That's any special concessions for the UK ruled out, then. The linguistic formulations are as varied as those of the sausages themselves. A German connoisseur could probably detect their geographical position blindfold just by tasting the local wurst, but even the uninitiated will notice profound differences. Most famously, Germany is horizontally divided by the Weißwurstäquator. The white sausage equator. No one above that imaginary line would consider tucking in to the pale boiled wurst served up in the south. Tradition there dictates that the sausage should be consumed by sucking the meat out the skin. But if you really want your taste buds to dance, head to Berlin and tuck into some currywurst… it’s said that without the British it would never have been invented. In the ruins of post war Berlin, so the story goes, a woman managed to obtain some ingredients including curry powder from a British soldier. *Name* then concocted a recipe so legendary that a blue plaque now commemorates the site of her *something* or snack stall, and this year as the currywurst celebrates its anniversary, the national mint plans to strike a special coin by way of celebration. Times are changing though. The sausage may well be so ubiquitous in Germany that the Volkswagen car factory even produces its own special kind, thick bangers proudly stamped with the letters VW. But official figures show that national appetite for sausage is waning… Germany's own Interior Ministry recently had to issue an apology after serving up pork sausage to delegates at a conference on Islam."

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent Podcast, Powerless in Venezuela - "Michel [Soulès , a gypsy] became mayor here [Berriac] almost by accident... he didn't win thanks to the traveler community, but rather in spite of it. For a start most people in the Cité d’Esperance don't vote and they don't like what he had planned for them. Michel argues they need to integrate with the rest of French society in order to break the cycle of poverty most are trapped in. He's now in demand in other towns with large gypsy communities like Perpignan, to offer advice on how to help break their social isolation. And he's working to close down the housing estate of hope for good and relocate its residents elsewhere... On a weekday afternoon there are plenty of men sitting around in cars smoking, drinking, or driving around aimlessly. We talked to Sylvain, who isn't a traveler himself, but married into a gypsy family. His relatives and their friends have the traveler blood still in them even if they don't move around anymore. He says that means they're culturally resistant to change and regulations. They just don't like anything being imposed from above by the authorities... [Michel]'s caught between the traveler community who accuse him of selling out and the rest of the village blaming gypsies for creating an atmosphere of insecurity"
So much for discrimination being the only reason why gypsies are marginalised

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent Podcast, Orban's EU offensive - "[Hungary’s politicians] have done away with many of the institutional checks and balances associated with Europe's more liberal democracies. 500 of the country's media titles are now controlled by a conglomerate run by cronies of the Prime Minister. The Hungarian parliament has made it a crime for NGOs to offer assistance to migrants. And the government continues to wage a vitriolic campaign against the Hungarian born American billionaire financier George Soros, who has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into civil society organizations in his native land. Ironically a youthful Viktor Orban studied at Oxford thanks to a scholarship funded by Mr. Soros... He may despise the EU in its current form, but he has no intention of leaving. His ambition is much bolder. He wants to remake it in his own image"

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Own Correspondent Podcast, Hospitality in the Caucasus - "The three [Russian] teenage girls then disappeared to Syria. She told me she joined IS to learn Arabic and study the Quran directly as she put it... Victoria only began trying to leave she admitted when she saw IS began to collapse. It was like an apple rotting from within she told me... People were turning on each other, settling scores. It was ugly. In 2017, Victoria and her young daughter were among several dozen women and children flown back from Syria after negotiations by Russian officials. Once home she was handed a suspended prison sentence. So I'll admit I was startled when I asked whether she regretted joining IS and got a long pause. She also refused to condemn the group outright. It's not my place to judge, Victoria insisted. She did concede that killing wasn't right or terror attacks. But she immediately talked of air strikes on IS positions and the killing of civilians in Syria. The conversation was deeply uncomfortable. Ultimately, she wanted out because she was scared for her life and for her daughter. Victoria is being monitored in Dagestan. Violating her curfew would mean prison but there is no reintegration scheme or deradicalization, and even her mother seemed worried. When Victoria told me she’d put her daughter in a headscarf soon, Virat snapped. Oh, no, she won't, she vowed, stroking the fair hair of the three year old. This one will go to college and have every opportunity"

Man who killed Ottawa cyclist avoids jail time - "An Ottawa landscaper who covered his tracks and hid from police after a deadly hit-and-run has been spared jail time by a judge who accepted his explanation that a fear of turning himself in was heightened because he’s a “man of colour” afraid of racist police... The maximum penalty for obstruction of justice is two years in prison, but Ontario Superior Court Justice Catherine Aitken instead sentenced St-Hilaire to 100 hours of community service. In the conditional sentence, delivered Wednesday, the judge also gave St-Hilaire a curfew of 10 p.m. for one year, unless it’s snowing. (She wanted to accommodate his winter snow plow job.)The judge noted that St-Hilaire’s fear of racist police was connected to past traffic stops where he said he’d been treated unfairly.Though the Ottawa police don’t normally comment on rulings, Chief Charles Bordeleau issued a rare statement on Wednesday: “It’s unfortunate that these comments were made putting into question the professionalism of our members during this difficult investigation.”... He tarped the truck that was all over the news, had it repaired and took it to the car wash. He also went into hiding and checked in at a motel out by the airport.Ottawa police detectives worked the case around the clock and had St-Hilaire under surveillance before arresting him nine days after the hit-and-run."

London-born baby with British-resident parents denied UK status - "A baby that was born in the UK to two British-resident parents has been denied the right to live in the country. Human rights lawyers called the decision “shameful” and “potentially unlawful”.Dr Charles Kriel, a US national and special adviser to a parliamentary select committee, was returning to Britain from Florida with his fiancee Katharina Viken and their 15-week-old daughter, Viola Pearl Viken-Kriel when they were stopped by border officials."
Too bad they can't complain about racism

British Woman Living In France Complains About Immigrants—And The Irony Is White Hot - "I live in France in a rural area that voted for Macron. We had no immigrants here at all - but they are moving in now. We recently had our first rape! At a car boot sale we did, we had a family who were so insistent and intimidating..trying to push us to sell at ridiculous prices!
All the people slamming her are psychic and know she's a rapist and is insistent and intimidating

Overweight passenger who forced EVA Air flight attendants to wipe his backside dies in Thailand - "The passenger, who was obese and wheelchair-bound, had forced flight attendants on the Jan 19 flight from Los Angeles to Taipei to assist him when he went to the toilet and to help pull down his underwear. He had threatened to relieve himself on the floor otherwise... The chief attendant reportedly donned three latex gloves for the dastardly task. But she was left traumatised when the man started letting out moans, saying, "deeper, deeper, deeper"."

Helen Bell on Twitter - ""London's Christian community make an important contribution to our city".
I'm a Christian Londoner with family going back 3 centuries but it seems I am now just a "Community" in Sadiq Khan's London."