lieven

Well this is offensive if not blatantly racist. They could also just present general guidelines on cooking and personal hygiene and people can figure out how it applies to their personal situation.

How do things like this keep happening? (well, I know why but jfc)

More generally - most people don’t use excessive water. The problem really lies elsewhere, perhaps focus on that.

True, but on a personal level I also just really can’t enjoy it anymore knowing who’s behind it regardless of how I obtain it.

(I also just grew out of it, that too)

[T]he EU budget amounts to roughly 1% of the EU’s combined gross domestic product. Under the current 2021-2027 framework, the legal ceiling on what Brussels can even raise is 1.4% of EU GDP, and actual spending has consistently come in well under that, around 1% to 1.1%. The 2026 annual budget lands at €192.8 billion in commitments — against an EU economy worth somewhere north of €17 trillion.

Now put that next to what most national governments do with their own economies.

Germany’s federal government (excluding the Länder, the regional states that run their own substantial budgets) spent around €495.5 billion in 2025 on a German economy of roughly €4.3-4.4 trillion. That’s about 12% of GDP, from the federal layer alone, before you add a single euro of state or municipal spending. Berlin’s federal government, in other words, spends more than ten times what the EU’s confederal government does. And that’s the “frugal” German federal government we’re talking about, the one whose chancellor stood next to Jetten in Cyprus this spring and said it was time for the EU to “reduce spending.”

Dave Keating recently did a deep dive on the budget and why our leaders need to step up their game rather than slashing the budget of an EU they expect to do ever more with less money.

Assuming both you and your partner ‘read’ as male the world will presume you’re a gay couple. That’s not necessarily true, you’d become a same-sex couple and ‘gay’ is more a way of describing an individual’s sexual orientation. Whether or not that’s yours too is for you to decide.

It’s easy to say you shouldn’t care about how people see and/or label you but we live in a society and people judge and draw conclusions. We are all sensitive to this to at least some extent. There’s no shame in that and I hope your partner can also understand that while they become their true self this also changes your relationship and the way you see yourself. I hope you can talk about this together in honesty and with love.

If you find you’re struggling I would highly recommend you speak to a therapist who knows their stuff or find a support group. You’re not the first one to walk this path and it may prove valuable to connect with others who understand this first hand.

Your partner deserves all the love and support but so do you.

As a side note, I am wholly assuming good intentions here so no worries but using ‘biological’ is not typically seen as a positive phrasing in this context. I would use ‘assigned female at birth’ (AFAB) or ‘identified previously as female’, though I would also check with my partner as they may have their own lingo.

It is infuriating as is but it also is part of the reason why so many people are struggling with the EU currently.

We recognise the good but it just does not live up to its own values and treats equal situations differently - there’s just no defending this and it’s well out of line with the people. Let alone the fact that we continue to fall neatly in line with the US, no matter what harm it does to us.

It seems you have a better grasp of Sanchez but to me he comes across as sincere when it comes to everything EU, and he has been fairly consistent for years. The China thing may be the exception, I know it baffled me when I read about the closer ties Sanchez was seeking.

I wrote it wrong, sort of. I know there have been some verdicts from the courts already but I also meant any verdict that Sanchez may face. As far as I know there’s no active case against him (yet), but then again when both your brother and wife are in hot water…

Sanchez has said he plans to run for re-election in 2027, curious to see if that still holds in a few months.

I was willing to give Sanchez some benefit of the doubt given that most if not all of the allegations came from the far right who have a habit of inventing theories or blowing things well out of proportion.
That may still be true but it seems fair to say that Sanchez et al were up to some very shady stuff. If they’re found guilty by an independent court than that’s that.

It’s extremely disappointing. I can’t really speak to Spanish politics but on the EU level Sanchez has been pretty much the sole voice pushing back against the US and in favour of further integration including a united EU defence force.

I think there’s a reasonable chance that the European Council will push for it, Commission makes a proposal and that it will pas through Parliament and the Council of the EU. Probably not within a year but three or four maybe?

And then it will be taken to the courts. People and organisations will fight this and it’s likely we will win, especially with this verdict in our back pocket.

By that time, who knows what EU leadership and global politics will look like?

The EPP has no integrity, that’s their biggest problem imo. They just move where it’s politically most convenient hence they’re now rubbing against the far-right. In the past they were more in the centre as that was were they could find majorities (and power) which made them less problematic. Under current circumstances I’d be glad if that’s where they ended up again for a few years, though I’d rather see them decimated.

But, yes, the infiltration of big tech in the EU and its power centres is extremely problematic as well and I don’t quite understand why we allow them that power (I mean, I do but…).

This is really good news and part of the verdict may also prove valuable in the fight for privacy rights and against chat control.

Both courts of the CJEU have shown again and again not to fear ruling against nations and EU institutions and by extension move the European project forward unlike the four political institutions (Commission, both Councils and Parliament). They also actually seem to know what they’re talking about.

In the fight against chat control I had partial faith in Parliament until Metsola started torturing the rules and manufactured an outcome last week. I do still have faith in the courts and I think, hope, ultimately that’s where this fight will be won.