Fancy owning a beautiful red wooden cottage in Sweden for the same price as a shed in London or New York? It's the best time in years for foreigners to buy property in the Nordic nation, thanks to the weak krona.

https://www.thelocal.se/20230321/seven-gorgeous-swedish-holiday-homes-for-less-than-a-million-kronor/

https://archive.is/MF5L8



With its chilly winter climate, famously expensive restaurants and unfamiliar language (my add, almost everyone speaks English here), Sweden might not seem like the obvious place to move to or buy a holiday home in. But if you’re paying in foreign currency, now may be the time to buy. Swedish properties offer owners the chance to enjoy some of Scandinavia’s most pristine lakes and deep green forests alongside historic towns and villages. Plus Sweden has longer days and more sunlight than much of Europe during the summer months, when temperatures can regularly climb to 25 to 30 C degrees (or more) in the south.

In general, Swedes look for holiday homes closer to the coast and nearer to major cities, so prices are much lower inland near smaller towns. Central Skåne is a good bet for warmer weather and easy access from the rest of Europe, but if you want really cheap prices you should head further north. Here is an entirely impartial selection of properties costing less than a million kronor (at the time of publication: €90,084, $96,691, £79,023).

snip



snip



snip

Older Americans see a clear and present danger from China. Younger Americans do not. This divide could play an important role in the 2024 elections.

https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/the-age-gap-in-perceptions-about



As discussed last week, American attitudes about China have hardened noticeably over the past few years, with the deepest concerns emerging from Republican and independent voters. Although partisanship clearly shapes views of China, age differences may be more of a determining factor overall.

Older Americans are far more worried about the threat of China than are younger people.

The most recent wave of polling from The Economist and YouGov asked respondents whether they consider China to be an ally or an enemy of the United States, offering 4 total categories. As seen in the table below, nearly three quarters of Americans overall view China as either unfriendly (32 percent) or as an enemy (40 percent), with less than one fifth of the population viewing China in a more positive light.



Looking at the crosstabs, nearly half of all Americans ages 45 to 64—and almost 6 in 10 Americans who are 65 years and older—label China as America’s enemy. The percentage of the oldest age group of Americans viewing China as an enemy is more than double that of the youngest age category: 58 percent versus 27 percent, respectively. Although more than 8 in 10 middle-age and older Americans view China as unfriendly to America or as America’s enemy, less than half of Americans ages 18 to 29 hold a similar negative view of China.

Older Americans are also far more likely than younger ones to see the interests of China and the United States as fundamentally at odds. For example, pluralities of those ages 18 to 29 (46 percent) and 30 to 44 (45 percent) believe that “China and the U.S. can both get what they want in the world” compared to nearly half of those ages 45 to 64, and more than 6 in 10 of those 65 and older, who believe “their interests conflict fundamentally”.



What does any of this mean for politics?................

snip

CD 1



CD 2



Label: Cocoon Recordings – CORCD016.2-2
Format: 2 x CD, Album, Mixed
Country: Europe
Released: 23 Apr 2008
Genre: Electronic
Style: Minimal, Tech House, Ambient

Minilogue – Animals The Movie



Label: Cocoon Recordings – COR DVD 001
Format: DVD, PAL
Country: Germany
Released: 15 Feb 2009
Genre: Electronic
Style: Tech House

Label: No Label, Official Promo - DJ Limited Release
Format: Ocean Blue Vinyl, 12-inch Single
Country: UK
Released: June 1, 1983
Genre: Rock/Pop
Style: New Wave

The right wing will do everything possible to destroy this country. But this is not the end of the American story.

https://thebanter.substack.com/p/theres-a-way-to-survive-the-collapse



This week, Donald Trump may or may not be arrested and charged with crimes related to the hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. Don't get too excited about this. America can barely choke down the idea of holding the rich and powerful accountable for their unending litany of crimes much less treat them like actual criminals. Accordingly, I wouldn’t expect a handcuffed perp-walk, and I do expect Trump to get out on bail immediately.

This, however, has not stopped Republicans from flying into spasms of rage at even the hint of Trump facing the consequences of his actions. They are promising all kinds of violence. And this is something we’re going to have to live with for a very long time. Like it or not, this is the future for America. Not the cruel fascism of a victorious right or the peaceful democracy of an ascendant left, but a violence-wracked country besieged by domestic terrorism for the next 20-30 years, at least, as the GOP gasps its last breath.

Protest…or another insurrection?

Last week, news broke that the FBI, Secret Service, and the NYPD have been discussing security arrangements should Donald Trump be brought in for arraignment. This is the first time, to our knowledge, that a conversation like this has taken place so it would appear to be very real. For those of you who have not watched the last 22 seasons of Law & Order, arraignment is the part where you stand before a judge, hear the charges being brought against you, and you’re asked to plead guilty or not guilty. There are a lot of questions to be answered concerning how a former president’s arrest would be handled — like how much security is necessary to protect the DA, how much for Trump, and so on and so forth. Security is the main concern here because, to the surprise of no one, Trump immediately called on his cult to protect him with violence.

https://twitter.com/Mollyploofkins/status/1637065127026470913
Is Trump calling for a massive protest…or another insurrection? Let’s not kid ourselves, his ability to (potentially) incite violence is a card Trump has been playing over and over again as his legal woes have mounted. And so far, it’s been working. Or did you think it was just his wealth that has been insulating him all this time? Yes, law enforcement at every level has been extremely reluctant to go after a former president. But they also know there is a very real possibility of civil unrest and, worse, domestic terrorism in the wake of Trump’s arrest. Frankly, if Trump had shut up and gone away, he probably would have lived out the rest of his life laughing at how much crime he had gotten away with. Just ask George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. But Trump’s ego wouldn’t let it go. He kept being loud and forced everyone to pay attention to him which meant law enforcement couldn’t look the other way. God knows they’ve been trying. Some harder than others. So now Trump is in a full-fledged panic and trying to summon his cult to protect him. Will they come? It’s hard to say. Some of the louder right-wing voices are certainly agitating for violence:

https://twitter.com/JoeyFromPhilly/status/1636816412835495942
https://twitter.com/TheThe1776/status/1637118684459302912
https://twitter.com/GoodPatriots/status/1637154602696028162
https://twitter.com/America1stMedia/status/1636922496334315521
snip

https://www.reckon.news/news/2023/03/a-catholic-organization-is-spending-millions-to-track-gay-priests-on-dating-apps.html



A Colorado nonprofit spent $4 million to buy cell phone data and track priests who used gay dating apps and visited gay bars. A report by The Washington Post about the intendedly-private investigation by Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal was focused on gay priests, a move some Catholic priests are calling an example of homophobia in the church.

“The focus was on gay priests, not straight priests, and certainly not straight lay employees. But, of all the people in the church, why target gay priests? That’s not a hard question. Hatred is the reason for the targeting. The level of homophobia in the church is astounding,” said Jesuit priest James Martin, SJ, in a tweet reacting to the Post’s report.

https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1634203484483383297
The Catholic Church has required priests be celibate—meaning, they aren’t allowed to have any sex—for thousands of years (but that could be changing, according to Pope Francis). The church also does not allow married men to become priests, as that would complicate the celibacy requirement, and still considers homosexuality a sin.

While he didn’t reply to the Post’s request for comment, CLCR president Jayd Hendricks did address the “gay” issue in a piece published by First Things. “It’s not about straight or gay priests and seminarians. It’s about behavior that harms everyone involved, at some level and in some way, and is a witness against the ministry of the Church,” he said in the First Things piece. The data used to out the priests was obtained the usual way–buying the data from apps, which are legally allowed to sell.

snip

at birth’ in new drag ban bill

https://www.reckon.news/lgbtq/2023/03/texas-will-pay-bounty-hunters-5k-to-find-performers-who-exhibit-a-gender-different-than-recorded-at-birth-in-new-drag-ban-bill.html



Texas’ HB4378 would grant the ability for private citizens in the state to sue those who perform in drag wherever children are present. Critics of the bill note that this will establish a bounty-hunting culture that targets not only drag queens, but also trans people.

The bill, sponsored by Republican Houston-area Rep. Steve Toth on Mar. 9 details that “drag performance” means a performance wherein a person “exhibits a gender that is different than the performer’s gender recorded at birth using clothing, makeup, or other physical markers.”

Should a plaintiff win, the court would compensate them for damages that include “psychological, emotional, economic, and physical harm”, attorney fees, as well as statutory damages of $5,000. The bill also notes that civil action can be brought up to ten years after the performance.

The bill harkens back to when the state proposed SB8 in 2021, which gave private citizens of Texas the right to sue those involved with any part of an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. In the case of HB4378, while Republicans continue to position themselves as the defenders of “parental rights,” some believe the bill is set to fail by logic.

snip

https://www.dezeen.com/2023/03/19/the-arches-brick-townhouses-dhaus-company/











Architecture studio The DHaus Company has completed The Arches, a row of six brick-clad townhouses in a north London conservation area. Replacing a derelict petrol station, the terrace is named after the monumental arches that form the facades of each partially sunken, three-level home.









The DHaus Company designed the row to echo its surroundings, which include Georgian-era housing named Grove Terrace and a row of Victorian railway arches. The arch is a recurring motif, so the studio decided to create a contemporary interpretation. "We undertook a study of local buildings in and around the local area," explained architects David Ben-Grunberg and Daniel Woolfson, the founders of The DHaus Company. "These buildings highlighted a strong mixture of rectangles and arches set within a brick canvas," they said.









The site is a highly prominent location within the Dartmouth Park Conservation Area, so the design process involved lengthy consultation. As Ben-Grunberg grew up in the area, and Woolfson had lived nearby, the pair were able to use their instincts to come up with a design that felt appropriate for the setting. A key aspect was the decision to partially sink the buildings below ground, so the roof is no higher than the petrol station that occupied the site previously.











Another idea was to reinstate green spaces along the street both in front and behind the terrace. "Our initial design idea was inspired by the historic green lung of open green spaces along the Highgate Road," said the duo. "This meant reinstating the green lung as close to how it was back in 1873 – a futuristic Victorian throwback."

https://www.dezeen.com/2023/03/14/ukrainian-home-memories-antarctic-balbek-bureau/









Kyiv-based studio Balbek Bureau has converted a defunct fuel tank into a depiction of a typical Ukrainian home at the country's research base in Antarctica. Named Home Memories, the installation at the Vernadsky research base on Galindez Island in Antarctica was designed to evoke memories of home for those stationed at the base and tourists visiting.









Balbek Bureau was commissioned by Ukraine's National Antarctic Research Center to reimagine a defunct fuel tank in a prominent position on the site, which is one of the first things the 4,000 tourists visiting each year see. The studio chose to wrap it in the outline of a typical Ukrainian house as a "home away from home".







"Our installation was inspired by a typical Ukrainian house – one associated with warmth, comfort and grandmotherly cosiness," explained the studio. "For our researchers, it is an evergreen memory of home – a daily reminder about something simple, warm, and dear. For tourists – an inspiration to start planning their trip to Ukraine itself."







The installation was designed before Russia's invasion of Ukraine began, but Balbek Bureau believes it has more meaning now many Ukrainians have fled their homes. "The art installation, designed a year before the invasion, took on a new meaning," said Balbek Bureau CEO Slava Balbek. "For millions of people forced to flee their hometowns and villages due to Russian aggression, returning home became their biggest dream."

The idea that pandemic response went too far is no longer confined to the margins

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/17/opinion/covid-19-pandemic-masks-china.html

https://archive.is/phiHj



In both the United States and Britain, there is suddenly a front-and-center debate about the very earliest days of the pandemic and how each country responded. Did mitigation measures imposed in the spring of 2020, amid great anxiety and uncertainty, actually work? And considering the costs, were they worth it?

In the United States, that conversation was precipitated by a Department of Energy leak about Covid-19’s origins and by a flood of hearings initiated by the Republican House majority into those origins and the American response: the impacts of shelter-in-place guidance and school closures, vaccine development and mask guidance, and more. In Britain, it was precipitated by a leak of more than 100,000 ready-for-the-tabloids WhatsApp messages between Matt Hancock, the secretary of state for health and social care for the first 15 months of the pandemic, and other senior figures of the British government, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who at one point, misreading the number of decimal places in a fatality-rate estimate, appeared to conclude that Covid was only 1/100th as deadly as it was. “If you are over 65 your risk of dying from Covid is probably as big as your risk of falling down stairs,” Johnson wrote to his team in August 2020. “And we don’t stop older people from using stairs. What do you think?”

It’s telling that the British scandal centers on Hancock, who reached the highest levels of public notoriety when he was caught disobeying his own social-distancing orders to visit his aide with whom he was having an extramarital affair. It’s also telling that the scandal has come about because the ghostwriter Hancock hired to help him cash in on that infamy, herself apparently a lockdown skeptic, eventually turned on him and, shortly after the book’s publication, sent the messages to The Daily Telegraph. That’s because, for much of the pandemic in England, the country’s leaders came under fire for incompetence to some degree but especially for their hypocrisy. (Johnson’s own top adviser Dominic Cummings kept memorably comparing him to an out-of-control shopping cart, but he was forced to ultimately resign over fallout from parties held during periods of social distancing.)

By contrast, to the extent Americans vilified their leaders over the course of the pandemic, it was not primarily for hypocrisy (remember Gavin Newsom’s French Laundry dinner party?) but for harshness. In Britain, the WhatsApp leak has been narrativized by the British press as a cartoon of feckless leadership. In the United States, the equivalent leak was the “Twitter files,” when internal company deliberations over pandemic messaging were examined by contrarian quasi-journalists deputized by Elon Musk shortly after his takeover of the company. The rhetorical emphasis was to hype public health guidance as near-totalitarian, as though those pursuing restrictions regarded severity as something like an ideological end of its own.

snip