I read an interview with Mitt Romney, who says that now that Obama has won the presidency, he should:
…forget entirely about reelection and focus solely on helping the nation at a critical time. He should dismiss the people who helped him win the election and bring in people who are above politics and above party. He should surround himself with statesmen and economists, businesspeople and leaders.
I’m not sure why Romney still matters in some circles: I thought his ‘I cancel my campaign because otherwise he Democrats will win and if the Democrats win the Terrorists win!’-speech was one of the lows in the US primaries, particularly when he started his rant about Europe. If I had to pick one Republican candidate who wasn’t ready for the presidency, Romney would be high on my list.
Germany marked the 70th anniversary of ‘Kristalnacht’, in which Merkel urged fellow Germans to do something about anti-semitism. Or something like that.
I also noticed that the Dutch government has decided to scrap a controversial blasphemy law. Generally, the law raised concerns about who was protected and who wasn’t, as pointed out by a member of the (Dutch) Socialist party (Aren’t these guys supposed to be evil?)
“The law was already a dead letter, but it is was principally wrong that believers should have more protection than non-believers. Thank goodness this has now come to an end. And anyway, who decides if God feels offended or not?”
The Radio Netherlands article also brings up the ‘Reve affair’, which tested this blasphemy law: In 1968 the (in)famous Dutch author Reve found himself in court after he wrote an essay (or was that a novel?) about God coming back to Earth as a donkey and describing in detail the main character having sex with this donkey (or God, if you say so). OK, you’ve got that? Anyway, Christian parties urged the Justice department to prosecute Reve: it did so, but found the author not quilty of blasphemy, mainly (if I remember correctly) because it couldn’t convict the author for his fictional characters and their actions. The decision to not convict the author was hailed as a landmark decision and has rendered the specific blasphemy law useless since then.