#non-ministerial posts

[vsonker]

SSC MTS Admit Card 2024: Everything You Need to Know

SSC MTS Admit Card 2024: Everything You Need to KnowThe Staff Selection Commission (SSC) conducts the Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS) examination every year, a popular recruitment process for various non-gazetted, non-ministerial posts across government departments. As the SSC MTS 2024 exam approaches, candidates are eagerly awaiting the release of the SSC MTS Admit Card. Here’s all you need to know…

[empirearchives]

Gaudin’s description of Napoleon

Martin-Michel Gaudin was Napoleon’s Minister of Finance. He entered the world of finance at the age of 17 and achieved the highest rank a non-aristocrat could achieve in finance administration pre-Revolution (“first clerk”). During the Revolution, he was the Commissioner of the National Treasury. He left government in 1795 and resisted further governmental recruiting attempts until Napoleon (who he had never met) approached him in 1799. Gaudin describes their first meeting in his memoir:

I found a personage who was known to me only by the high reputation he had already acquired; of low stature, dressed in a gray frock coat, extremely thin, yellow complexion, eagle-eyed, with lively movements [...] he came to me with the most gracious air.

“You have,” he said, “worked in finance for a long time?”

“Twenty years, General!”

“We need your help badly, and I’m counting on it. Come on, take your oath, we’re in a hurry.”

This formality completed, he added: “The last minister of the Directory will be informed of your appointment. Meet in two hours at the ministry to take possession of it, and provide a report on our situation as soon as you can, as well as on the first measures to be taken to restore the service which is lacking everywhere. Come see me this evening at my house on rue de la Victoire (that’s what rue Chantereine was then called), we will discuss our business more fully.”

I withdrew to carry out the orders I had just received.

(Source: Gaudin, Mémoires, souvenirs, opinions et écrits du duc de Gaète, pp. 45-46)

Historian Pierre Branda on their partnership:

“Intuition, good advice or genius? Bonaparte’s choice was judicious, because Gaudin would successfully occupy this ministerial post for the entire duration of the Consulate and the Empire, including the Hundred Days. With such longevity, he was undoubtedly one of Napoleon’s most appreciated ministers. It is true that the two men were often in perfect agreement.”

(Source: Le prix de la gloire: Napoléon et l’argent, pp. 197)

[saintmeghanmarkle]

This post is SPITTING FACTS about what titles KC can remove from Harry. FACT: KC can strip Harry of Prince and HRH. This is not a youtube opinion but the informed opinion of a highly credentialed professor emeritus of public law by u/Positive-Vibes-2-All

This post is SPITTING FACTS about what titles KC can remove from Harry. FACT: KC can strip Harry of Prince and HRH. This is not a youtube opinion but the informed opinion of a highly credentialed professor emeritus of public law I had it up to my wazoo reading and hearing conflicting opinions of what KC is able to do regarding titles so I went searching for a rock solid answer."Master Graham Zellick is a Senior Master of the Bench and former Reader, is emeritus professor of public law and former Principal of Queen Mary & Westfield College, sometime Vice-Chancellor of the University of London, a former editor of Public Law, and was Chairman of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, President of the Valuation Tribunal for England and a member of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. He is an Honorary Fellow of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge and of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies."In no uncertain terms, Zellick states that KC can remove HRH and Prince"....The title of Prince is likewise in the gift of the Monarch. As with ‘HRH’, it is usually acquired by coming within a class or category stipulated in letters patent, but it can also be done individually.....There is no reason why the Sovereign cannot remove these titles, a decision which again could not be challenged in the courts, since the royal prerogative in relation to honours and titles is said to be unreviewable or ‘non-justiciable’. The exercise of prerogative powers is in principle subject to supervision by the courts in the same way that statutory powers are – as Boris Johnson discovered in 2019 when his attempt to prorogue Parliament was annulled by the Supreme Court – but powers exercised by the Monarch personally otherwise than on ministerial advice or in relation to honours fall into the non-justiciable category. "​imho It would be more fitting and send a stronger message and cut deeper to strip the title Prince then stripping Harry of his Dukedom which as Zellick explains at the link would need to be done by parliament. Harry is the one who should bear the brunt of responsibility, he has been the traitor to his family, he is just as responsible as Markle for employing scum like Boozy and other sugars to name just two instances of his treachery.​https://ift.tt/36MDgNh'. post link: https://ift.tt/zNryWkq author: Positive-Vibes-2-All submitted: August 18, 2024 at 10:23PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[eaglesnick]

Scandal After Scandal: Will They Never End?

Boris Johnson was so beset by scandal that his own party turned on him and threw him out of office. We all know about the Partygate affair but there were also questions raised regarding his personal monetary arrangements.  From charges of corruption concerning him asking a Tory donor to supply funds to refurbish his Downing Street residence, to his appointment of the BBC Chairman and an alleged £800,000 loan, Johnson was the epitome of the self-serving Tory.

Johnson has gone but the scandals have continued to rumble on. We had the unedifying debacle of multi-millionaire Nadhim Zahawi being forced to resign after he was  found  guilty of serious breaches of the ministerial code  by covering up issues to do with his attempts to minimise his tax bill.

Sunak’s own wife also avoided UK tax payments by claiming non-dom status. After being asked to “come clean” on his wife’s tax affairs and after much embarrassment the Sunak’s decided she should pay tax in this country.

It is not only those Tories at the top of government who are self-serving. Conservative MP’s have been calculated to have received an additional £15.2 million on top of their MP salaries, personal fortune hunting seemingly more important than giving their constituents 100% of their time. 

“Since the end of 2019, millions of pounds of outside earnings have been made by a small group of largely Tory MPs."  (Skynews: 08/01/23)

When Sunak, after much delay, made public his own tax affairs we discovered that for the year 2021/22 he made £172,415 unearned income from dividends and £1.6 million from capital gains. In total, the PM paid an average tax rate of 22% over a three-year period.

For you and I, the basic rate of tax on income between £12,571 and £50,270 is 20%.  Between £50,271 and £125,140, it is 40 %, going up to 45% for earned income over £125,140.

For Mr Sunak to have only paid 22% on his millions is therefore quite a smack in face for ordinary tax-payers, and one only made possible because the Tories have arranged the tax system to benefit  themselves and their rich friends.

“Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said: “[The tax returns] reveal a tax system designed by successive Tory governments in which the prime minister pays a far lower tax rate than working people who face the highest tax burden in 70 years

“… the fact that Sunak paid less than a quarter of his gains in tax highlighted the problems with taxing capital gains at a much lower rate than income…The low tax rate is because we have much lighter taxes on wealth than work”   (Guardian: 22/03/23)

So, if you work for a living, expect to pay proportionately more in tax than those who live on unearned income.

Way back in July 2022, Rishi Sunak was so disgusted with the immoral behaviour of Boris  Johnson that he resigned his post as Chancellor. This is what he said at the time:

“... the public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.”

But if a week is a long time in politics, then 9 months is an eternity. As we have seen, Sunak himself has become as equally embroiled in monetary scandal as his predecessor and now he is under investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Committee. 

“Rishi Sunak investigation: Government blocked Freedom of Information request into childcare firm.

Mr Sunak is currently being investigated by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner over his failure to be more transparent about his wife’s shares in childcare agency Koru Kids when quizzed on the subject by MPs.

It comes after i revealed last month that Akshata Murty, the Prime Minister’s wife, holds shares in the firm, which stands to directly benefit from reforms to the childcare system announced in last month’s Budget.” (inews: 19/04/23)

Time and time again we see top Tories under investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commission. Time and time again we see how self-serving and unprincipled our leaders really are. Mr Sunak it seems, is no different to his predecessors and the sooner he goes the better.

[radio-free-beth-sarim]

My Predictions for Caleb and Sophia

For the uninitiated: Caleb and Sophia are two characters that feature in short videos produced by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society intended to indoctrinate Jehovah's Witness children. They're two young children, siblings, raised as Jehovah's Witnesses and dealing with many of the problems growing up as one brings. For people raised as Jehovah's Witnesses, it brings back a flood of insane memories. I kind of can't help but like them. The kids go through things I went through myself, and as I watch I imagine what they're feeling in that moment. The things I would have felt. The thoughts and emotions I would have suppressed. If you're curious I recommend looking them up on youtube. Owen Morgan aka Telltale has a bunch of videos where he reacts to them and provides commentary. He's just one of many that cover the videos.

Whenever I watch a Caleb and Sophia video I always speculate how they end up. So here's my predictions.

We'll start with Caleb, since his story is one that easily could have been mine. Caleb is the Bart Simpson. He's a kind of rambunctious kid. He would like sports and video games if he was allowed, but he doesn't have those outlets available to him so it all becomes bible study and chores. He's given busy work at meetings and field service, and eventually he gets given "privileges" like working the soundboard and passing the microphones around at the Watchtower Magazine study or organizing and manning the literature counter. Eventually he'll make Ministerial Servant, which is the rank below Elder in the congregation and basically means he's being groomed for command. But thankfully he's never going to be an Elder. He's eventually going to be put in charge of the congregation's other rambunctious young boys, and will be responsible for studying with them and indoctrinating them into the Watchtower Society's beliefs. He's going to be seen as a role model and success story. His post high-school years will see him juggling his responsibilities with the congregation and working in a trade. Statistically window washing, but any given trade is likely. He'll apprentice under another Jehovah's Witness, possibly a relative, who is also likely an Elder who now holds his economic and social future in his hands. Now you'd think with all this going on, is Caleb happy? Well, that depends. He might genuinely be if he's kept too busy to really think about his life or what he wants from it and is too sheltered to experience anything more. But that's really difficult to do. Most JW young men get to experience just enough of the world to give them a taste, and everyone has a vice. Statistically it's porn and smoking. Chances are he'll get caught once, repent, lose his privileges, and then eventually make a slow return shortly after getting married. Caleb is getting married by 19 at the latest. He's full of so many hormones and urges if there's no release he's going to pop. So he'll marry literally the nearest non-related Jehovah's Witness girl roughly his age. If there are none nearby, he'll meet one at a convention or (scandalously) JWdate. Yes, that's real, and it's kind of an open secret because dating websites are not really what a JW should be about. Somewhere in the following years he's going to be working hard at his trade, trying to regain his status as a Ministerial Servant, and figuring out how to live with this stranger he rushed into marrying. Maybe they can make it work. Maybe they can't. I can't say. But kids will be happening soon. Eventually Caleb is going to hit a crisis moment where he needs to decide whether or not this is the life he wants. There's a roughly 66% chance he doesn't. He's got to make a choice. Does he stay in the life he has? Can he leave the Watchtower Society behind and still keep his family? That I can't say. I like to think his wife also has similar doubts, and through this their bond strengthens, they come to truly love each other deeper than they did when they first married, and leave together, sparing their children from the same life they were forced into. But doing that means they'll only ever have each other. Sometimes that's enough. Sometimes it isn't. His wife could divorce him, taking the kids and leaving him alone. He'll eventually find apostate material online and become fervently anti-JW, with only bitter memories among the ashes of a life that never had a chance to be anything but this.

Next we'll turn to Sophia. Some of my story for her is pure conjecture based on what I've seen from friends I grew up with. When I see Sophia, I see specific girls I knew growing up and I think of things they've told me about their lives. I don't have any experience being a girl in the Jehovah's Witnesses, but her story is one that I feel is honestly similar to mine just with her dealing with all of the added pressure of being a woman in a fucked up patriarchal clusterfuck like that. I'll have to make a part 2 for her, as Tumblr has a character count. I will reblog this post with that when I am done with it. Thank you for reading this far. I hope this provides some insight.

[klimt7]

La Bugiarda

Le bugie della Meloni sui ristori agli alluvionati.

Quí non è arrivato un solo euro di quelli annunciati dal Governo nei primi giorni dell'alluvione, (soldi annunciati a favore di telecamere). I soli ristori sono arrivati dalla Protezione Civile e dai Comuni che ora si trovano impossibilitati a far fronte a qualsiasi altra spesa.

Il Governo dopo aver tergiversato più di due mesi prima di nominare il Commissario straordinario (il generale Figliuolo), non lo ha dotato nemmeno dei fondi necessari.

Come ammesso dallo stesso Generale che scherzosamente si è definito "un Commissario senza alcun portafoglio" e ha invitato i Comuni ad attendere il mese di settembre nella speranza che il Governo gli faccia arrivare gli indispensabili fondi.

È ora di sbugiardare le messinscene di questa poveraccia, spergiura e inadeguata a svolgere funzioni di Governo, allo stesso modo del manipolo di sbandati e inetti, che ha posto a capo dei Ministeri italiani.

Una Presidente del Consiglio indegna di considerazione e capace soltanto di incolpare i predecessori (Draghi) e rovesciare le sue inadempienze sugli Enti locali.

Il sindaco di Ravenna: «Meloni ha una visione totalmente distorta, torni in Romagna»

Sulla lettera inviata da Meloni al governatore dell’Emilia Romagna, è intervenuto anche il sindaco di Ravenna. Per Michele de Pascale, la Presidente del Consiglio «non ha un quadro esatto della situazione in Romagna e in tutta la Regione», si legge sul post Facebook. «Forse – continua de Pascale – le dichiarazioni surreali di qualche suo collaboratore le hanno fornito una visione totalmente distorta sull’efficacia delle misure previste dal suo governo».

Poi la richiesta a Meloni di «incontrarla direttamente nei prossimi giorni, a Roma, o dove ritiene», ma, forse, continua il primo cittadino di Ravenna, «sarebbe meglio che tornasse lei in Romagna, nei luoghi più colpiti, e che, se non si fida dei sindaci (anche di quelli di centrodestra a quanto pare), dei sindacati e di tutte le associazioni di impresa, ascolti direttamente le persone colpite, visiti le case distrutte dall’alluvione e provi ripetere lì le 5 pagine sui 4,5 miliardi già spesi per l’alluvione».

La lettera della premier, per De Pascale, «purtroppo è totalmente negativa, prosegue nella narrazione surreale dei 4,5 miliardi già spesi dal governo per cittadini, imprese e opere pubbliche; rinvia ad ottobre le nostre due proposte per avere subito risorse reali per gli indennizzi a famiglie e imprese ed elude completamente la nostra richiesta di incontrarla subito personalmente per decidere insieme come procedere».

Il quadro è sufficientemente chiaro. Un Governo totalmente sordo e cieco davanti alle esigenze dei territori. Un Governo capace di andare avanti solo con annunci, interventi propagandistici e pillole di marketing televisivo.

La totale separazione dalla realtà concreta che vivono i cittadini delle zone alluvionate.

"Fascisti su marte" mi pare un ottima sintesi dell'attuale situazione!

😛🙈

.

[chaosbuzz]

BRITAIN & N. IRELAND, AUTUMN 1986.

August 1946 — Riddle completes his seventh year at Hogwarts.

1946-1949 — Riddle studies at the Flamel Institute of Higher Education. 

1950 — Riddle becomes an Apprentice Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts (DADA) at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

1950s — Riddle spends time in Continental Europe as an academic, including as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Durmstrang Institute. 

1955 — Riddle is appointed as an Assistant Professor of DADA at Hogwarts.

1960 — Riddle is appointed as Professor of DADA.

1960s — the Death Eaters are secretly established by Riddle. At this stage they are primarily non-violent but work (under no official group name) to spread pro-purist and anti-establishment sentiments across the U.K. and Ireland.

September 1964 — Dumbledore becomes Headmaster of Hogwarts. Shortly thereafter, Riddle steps down from his faculty position.

Summer 1968 — Squib Rights marches took place throughout the summer. However, the largest planned demonstration was interrupted as a group of extremist Purebloods broke out in riot while it was taking place.

July 1969 — Riddle runs to become a Member of the Wizengamot and is elected to the Wizengamot. He begins to establish an alliance within the legislature: the Knights of Walpurgis.

1970s — the Death Eaters have become a household name due to their increasing violence over the past five years. After claiming responsibility over the death of a muggleborn family, they are designated as a terrorist organisation by the Ministry of Magic.

May 1975 — the Minister for Magic, Eugenia Jenkins, resigns from her post due to the exponential increase in crime rates.

June 1975 — Harold Minchum becomes Minister for Magic after an emergency vote in the Wizengamot following Jenkins’ resignation.

20 July 1975 — Tom Riddle and Bellatrix Black marry in a grand ceremony held at the Durham Cathedral in England. 

Autumn 1976 — Minchum’s proposed bill to allow DMLE officers to utilise Veritaserum as part of their ‘stop and search’ powers is defeated in the Wizengamot. In a revolt led by Lord Orion Black and a number of other noble houses, the Elders of the legislature in a rare show of defiance helped to defeat the motion, citing the need for measured and proportional responses to the public disorder.

April 1978 — the first iteration of the Order of the Phoenix is established by Dumbledore. 

August 1979 — the Marauders cohort graduates from Hogwarts.

May 1981 — Millicent Bagnold wins the Wizengamot vote for next Minister for Magic, preventing a second term in office for Minchum. 

April 1982 — The Falklands Conflict between the United Kingdom under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Argentina. After a series of engagements, Argentine forces eventually surrendered on 14 June.

December 1983 — Bagnold is found dead at her home in Chiswick, London. Her death is announced as a murder, to the alarm of the international wixen community who proclaim this to be a political assassination. The murder remains unsolved to this day, though many have pointed fingers at the Death Eaters as well as the Coalition for Unity.

December 1983 — Cornelius Fudge, Bagnold’s ministerial advisor, becomes the interim Minister for Magic.

March 1984 — The Miners’ Strike, a last-ditch effort on behalf of the National Union of Miners and the workers who supported them against pit closures and job losses across the coal mining industry. The year-long strike was characterised by violent clashes between muggle police and miners, with those miners who continued to work branded as ‘scabs’ as they crossed the picket line. After the strike came to an end, many of the threatened pit closures still took place.

May 1984 — Fudge is formally voted in by the Wizengamot as Minister for Magic, appealing to and relying on the support of right-wing MWs and purity sympathisers.

1984-5 — the Blood Riots, a period of time characterised by clashes between various activists, law enforcement and counter-protestors. Years of high unemployment and a recession coupled with rising discontent among muggleborn communities left vulnerable to purist threats led to a number of small-scale riots across the United Kingdom. 

Most notably, the summer of 1984 saw the Auror Office carrying out an anti-crime campaign in east London called ‘Operation Teardrop’ which resulted in the arrest of over thirty muggleborn wixfolk (out of a total of forty arrests). In response, the Coalition for Unity marched in protest against the Aurors, a march that turned violent as night fell. The violence was spread across a number of days and culminated in a counter-attack led by the Death Eaters which resulted in injuries to over seventy civilians and twenty Aurors. The Order’s secret presence at the end of the disturbance helped minimise the violence to locals and property in the area.

12 October 1984 — the Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where the Conservatives were holding their annual conference. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher narrowly escaped injury.

November 1984 — Dominic Wormwood, an investigative reporter at the Fourth Estate looking to scrutinise the Blood Chamber in the Department of Mysteries, passes away as a result of a flying accident. 

September 1984 — Bartemius Crouch Sr. is appointed Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement by Minister Fudge with a view of cracking down on civil disorder.

7 July 1984 — Dumbledore is found dead in a violent attack in an Order safehouse. A murder investigation is opened but the case goes cold within months, as all traces of Tom Riddle and Bellatrix Black’s misdeeds have seemingly vanished. 

August 1984 — Regulus Black, Riddle’s executive parliamentary assistant, goes missing.

September 1984 — McGonagall is appointed by the School Board as Headmaster of Hogwarts.

30 November 1985 — The Battle of Lewis Street. After a public fracas turned duel between the Death Eaters and counter-protestors in Camden, London results in the deaths of 3 bystanders, the Order and the Coalition are both designated as terrorist organisations. 

November 1986 — Present day. 

Summer 1987 — upcoming General Election.

[mariacallous]

Meduza's The Beet: Progresīvie and Gen Z: A leftward shift for Latvia?

Hello, and welcome back to The Beet! 

Eilish Hart here, the editor of this weekly dispatch from Meduza covering Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. If this email was forward to you, join our mailing list here to receive future issues of The Beet. And be sure to check out last week’s issue about how Kazakhstan’s press is simultaneously grappling with the aftermath of Bloody January and Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. 

Last December, three Latvian political parties came together to form a new government. The coalition negotiations had dragged on for more than two months. During the elections in October, incumbent Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš’s center-right New Unity party came out on top with 19 percent of the vote. Analysts argued that Latvians sought continuity amid the fallout from Russia’s war against Ukraine. Support for some parties espousing Euroskeptic and anti-NATO platforms simply collapsed, and Russian-speakers scattered their votes among various political groupings, leaving the once-popular Harmony — a purportedly center-left party representing Latvia’s Russian-speaking minority — out in the cold. As it happened, right-of-center parties weren’t the only beneficiaries of these shifts: the Progressives, a social-democratic green party, passed the five-percent electoral threshold for the first time and scooped up 10 parliamentary seats. For the Beet, Deep Baltic editor Will Mawhood recounts how the Progressives’ slow but steady rise has shaken up Latvia’s long-standing political divisions.

“We are polar bears and the Progressives are penguins — in the wild their paths essentially don’t cross,” Rihards Kols, a parliamentarian from the National Alliance party told Latvian television the morning after the country’s parliamentary elections last October. Seemingly pleased with his party’s fourth-place showing and his zoological metaphor (repeated from the night before), Kols was setting out a series of “red lines.” Namely, the political forces with which the nationalist party would refuse to form a governing coalition. In addition to the anti-sanctions party For Stability! and two groupings backed by oligarchs with questionable business and political ties, Kols listed newcomers the Progressives (Progresīvie, in Latvian). 

The red lines Kols referred to have been a constant feature of post-election chatter in Latvia in recent decades. Principles such as Latvian as the sole state language and a Western-aligned geopolitical orientation (and, more recently, unambiguous support for Ukraine) are non-negotiable for many, if not most, Latvian voters. As such, parties with a hostile or ambiguous stance on these issues, including most parties popular with the country’s russophone minority, have been excluded from coalition talks. Coalitions are typically cobbled together from so-called “Latvian” parties, but they’re often stretched and conceptually loose.     

Kols’ National Alliance is an umbrella party that can trace its roots back to the late 1980s and more radical, exclusionary sections of the movement to restore Latvia’s independence, supplemented by newer nationalist contenders. Reliably hostile to the Kremlin, it has been part of every coalition government since 2011. Describing the National Alliance as a “radical right populist” party, Latvian political scientist Daunis Auers observes that they have proved a surprisingly undemanding coalition partner for their more mainstream colleagues on many issues, while carving out a fiefdom in the Culture Ministry and frustrating Latvia’s ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention. 

Shortly after Kols, Progressives prime ministerial candidate Kaspars Briškens gave an interview in the same verdant park just outside of Riga’s Old Town. He set out almost identical red lines, although he didn’t rule out working with the National Alliance. It was difficult not to notice, as a parallel feed showed scenes of celebration from the night before at the respective parties’ HQs, that the crowd carousing along with the Progressives looked quite a bit younger.  

‘Something liberal and leftist’ 

The Progressives’ blurb on all of their social media accounts declares, “For justice, freedom, equality, and solidarity in an environmentally friendly Latvia.” Founded as a social-democratic NGO in 2011, it registered as a political party six years later, attempting to bring socially liberal arguments to a political landscape that at that time looked singularly unwelcoming (in 2017, this author penned a lengthy article titled simply “What Became of Latvia’s Left?”). In 2020, the Progressives were the largest entity in an alliance of left and liberal forces that took power in municipal elections in Riga, replacing scandal-hit Harmony, traditionally the most popular party with Latvia’s russophone minority by far.  

Una Bergmane, a Latvian historian based at the University of Helsinki, describes the Progressives as “the first modern, green, left-wing party” to be elected to parliament (the Saeima) since the restoration of Latvia’s independence in 1990. (Harmony, although primarily seen in Latvia as an advocate for the interests of Russian-speakers, also describes itself as a social democratic party. Bergmane, however, refers to its record during its decade in government in Riga as being only sporadically and opportunistically left-wing).

Bergmane attributes the Progressives’ steady rise to a younger generation in Latvia increasingly reaching voting age. “It’s a generation that has grown up completely immersed in Western European [and] American culture, media, [and] discussions — and so they are very different from people who lived in the Soviet times or even from ‘millennials,’” she tells The Beet. “[Many] issues, such as the environment, such as LGBT rights, such as a more inclusive society — these for them are questions that it’s not even necessary for them to discuss, it’s obvious.” 

Polls taken in the month leading up to the election showed the Progressives as the second most popular party among Latvian-speakers between the ages of 18 and 29, and the first choice among 18- to 29-year-olds whose native language is Russian. One exemplar of the Progressives’ young voter base is Selma Levrence, who decided to run on their ticket in 2022. At 22 years old, she only became legally eligible to stand for parliament a year earlier. Primarily known in Latvia for her activism for LGBTQ+ causes and her active social media presence, Levrence says she joined the Progressives’ youth wing several years ago. “I was happy that there was something for young people — something liberal and leftist,” she recalls. 

Levrence attributes the left’s lack of appeal among Latvian-speakers to history and says that if policies aren’t explicitly flagged as left-wing, they’re often popular with the public. “Before the Soviet occupation and before the war [World War II], Latvia was quite a left-wing place — in terms of social democrats and democratic socialists. But now people associate ‘left-wing’ with the Soviet Union, and of course that’s a very bad association for most people,” she explains. “So I think it’s also about a new generation of people who are kind of breaking the stigma.”

‘Latvian’ parties 

Before and immediately after its establishment in 1918, the Republic of Latvia was indeed known for its radicalism. In the subsequent elections in 1920, the Latvian Social Democratic Workers Party (LSDSP) won a sweeping victory with almost 40 percent of the vote. Social democrats also exerted considerable influence on the writing of the Latvian constitution (Satversme), which was drawn up two years later and remains in force.

Compared to the LSDSP’s electoral exploits in the interwar period, topping the poll in every election held, the Progressives’ achievements last year — finishing seventh and just passing the electoral threshold with six percent of the vote — seem modest. But they’re operating in a very different context, in a country with very different demographics. And they appear to be making some progress in breaking down one of the Soviet Union’s most enduring legacies in Latvia: the existence of two parallel communities split not only by preferred language but to a large extent by worldview. 

Moscow’s illegal annexation of Latvia in 1940 was followed by decades of high immigration from other Soviet republics to this relatively prosperous corner of the USSR. By 1989, ethnic Latvians made up only slightly more than half of the population, and anxiety about Russification and the potential disappearance of the Latvian language was a cultural constant. The years after the restoration of independence saw bitter battles over citizenship, education, and language policies, which tended to pit “Latvian” parties against “Russian” ones.

Prominent Russian-speakers are rare among “Latvian” political parties to this day. One recent exception, Marija Golubeva from the centrist liberal party Development/For! was forced to resign from her post as interior minister last May, after an event that shocked much of the country and revealed the depths of divides that still persist in some sections of Latvian society. The day after May 9 (Soviet Victory Day), arrests ensued at a towering Soviet monument in Riga after crowds spontaneously gathered to lay flowers and sing songs, and some participants began loudly voicing pro-Russian sentiments and confronting police, journalists, and members of the public supporting Ukraine. Several parties blamed the interior minister for the alleged failures of policing that enabled the unrest, and the National Alliance threatened to leave the governing coalition unless Golubeva stepped down. 

While voting patterns and attitudes remain quite heavily polarized by native language, the Progressives have proved a partial exception, especially among younger voters. Statistics show that 27 percent of their supporters in the 2022 elections communicate in Russian at home, more than double the proportion supporting any of the current governing parties. 

In addition, Antoņina Ņenaševa, the party’s current co-leader together with Atis Švinka, is ethnically Russian. She grew up in the heavily russophone Riga suburb of Zolitūde and has faced considerable media scrutiny for her early work as a parliamentary assistant for a deputy from Harmony — a party that refused to condemn Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and let a cooperation agreement with United Russia lapse only in 2017. In a recent interview, Ņenaševa said that when she worked as an activist for Harmony during the 2010 election, she believed it was the only force in Latvian politics that supported social-democratic ideas and could bring society together — but she later became disillusioned and concluded that they weren’t real social democrats. 

‘Occupation monuments’

Despite their appeal among minority voters, on geopolitical issues and questions of memory politics there’s no visible gap between the Progressives and the current government, which is among the most forceful international supporters of Ukraine. “There has never been a debate within the Progressives [regarding] anything about NATO that is maybe a debate for leftist parties in other countries,” says Levrence, who is herself an active member of the “North Atlantic Fellas Organization” social media movement. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the disorder in Riga last May, the Progressives also backed the parliament’s decision to mandate the demolition of all surviving Soviet monuments in Latvia. 

The decision caused friction with several city councils in Latgale. The easternmost of Latvia’s four historical regions, Latgale is known for being significantly poorer, more socially conservative, and more multiethnic than the national average. Concerns have often been raised that its Russian-speaking population in particular is also more susceptible to propaganda narratives from across the border. In the recent elections, For Stability! — a radical Euroskeptic and anti-NATO party whose leader, former Harmony politician Aleksejs Rosļikovs, has threatened unspecified revenge against those allegedly responsible for the “Covid genocide” — finished first in Latgale.  

Leila Rasima, one of the 10 deputies from the Progressives elected to Latvia’s 100-member parliament last October, hails from Rēzekne, Latgale’s second-largest city. She strongly supported removing the machine-gun-wielding Red Army soldier statue, known locally as Aļoša, that stood in the city center until early November. And she lambasted the Harmony-dominated local council for its foot-dragging on the issue. Soviet monuments are “not just about the victory over Nazism,” Rasima says, “[they’re] also occupation monuments.”

At the same time, Rasima feels that “Latgale hasn’t really been listened to for a long time.” The region’s serious socio-economic problems lead to large numbers of young people leaving for Riga and abroad, which only serves to further entrench the region’s conservative bent, she explains. “We need to change the way we deal with money — not always trying just to tighten our belts to save as much money as we can,” she says, pointing to a recent Twitter thread by fellow Progressives deputy Andris Šuvajevs, who has been a prominent advocate of increased wages and large-scale government investment.  

‘More freedom to fight’

Ahead of the parliamentary vote, in June 2022, the old Latvian left seemed to be finally burying the hatchet and perhaps interring themselves along with it. The venerable LSDSP, which hadn’t been represented in the Saeima since 2002, announced that it was joining the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) — an ideologically amorphous but reliably socially conservative party. The decision had a particular symbolic heft: the ZZS is the direct successor to the interwar-era Farmers’ Union, whose long-time leader Kārlis Ulmanis executed a self-coup in 1934, expelling Social Democrats from state institutions and briefly imprisoning some of their leaders.

Immediately after the elections, Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš — the leader of the technocratic New Unity party, which convincingly outpaced all other contenders — expressed interest in including the Progressives in a four-party coalition. Kariņš abandoned this plan after strong opposition from the other prospective coalition partners that didn’t cross his own “red lines” (namely, the National Alliance and United List, a confederation of mostly regionalist parties). 

The Progressives’ exclusion has resulted in a much more right-wing coalition, inaugurated last December with a fragile majority of just four seats. But Rasima says being in opposition means “we have more freedom to really express what we think, and to really fight for those things.” (The ZZS, which had selected controversial oligarch Aivars Lembergs as their prime ministerial candidate, found themselves in opposition, as well.)

Almost immediately after the new coalition was sworn in, the Saeima again refused to approve a bill granting civil partnerships to same-sex couples. While Latvia has had high-profile gay political figures, including ex-Interior Minister Marija Golubeva and long-serving Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs, it ranks poorly on LGBTQ+ rights in a European context, with the fourth-lowest rating in the EU and the worst in the Baltics. Rasima mentions the Progressives’ vocal support for LGBTQ+ rights as a particularly important component of the party’s appeal for her. However, she also notes that it’s the most frequent focus of the hostile comments the party receives online. Critics often claim that the Progressives “are a party that only thinks about that topic,” she says. 

It’s probably too early to tell whether the Progressives mark a new beginning for left-wing politics in Latvia, and being elected to the Saeima is certainly no guarantee of longevity. But the generational divides and potential for inter-ethnic solidarity their rise reveals attest to a society that is slowly but surely changing.

That’s all for this week!

For more from Meduza in English, visit our website or find us on social media. We post regular updates on Twitter and on Instagram, where we now reach 15,000 followers (hooray!). Until next time,

Eilish

[odnewsin]

ITBP Recruitment: Head Constable and Constable (Motor Mechanic) posts open 

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force, ITBP has released an official notification for the recruitment of Head Constable (Motor Mechanic), Constable (Motor Mechanic) of General Central Service, Group ‘C’ Non-Gazetted (Non Ministerial) on temporary basis likely to be permanent basis. Interested and eligible candidates can apply for the posts by visiting the official website at…

[jehlumjk]

Department of Science & Technology Recruitment Advt No DST/02/2024-E-III

Department of Science & Technology Recruitment Advt No DST/02/2024-E-III. Government of India   Ministry of Science & Technology Department of Science & Technology   ADVT. NO. DST/02/2024-E-III.   Applications are invited for filling up of one post of Mission Director, National Mission-Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems, Group ‘A’ Gazetted Non- Ministerial, [Level 14 in the pay matrix (Rs.…

[netoday]

India Post Recruitment 2024 Notification Staff Car Driver 2 Posts Apply Now

India Post Recruitment 2024: The India Post Staff Car Driver Recruitment 2024 invites applications from eligible Indian nationals for the position of Staff Car Driver. This recruitment is for General Central Service, Group ‘C’, Non-Gazetted, and Non-Ministerial positions. Read the full article

[hindustanmorning]

Delhi relaxes job conditions for families of 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims.

Following Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena’s consent, the Delhi government issued two significant relaxations on Thursday to promote job access for families of anti-Sikh riot casualties from 1984. Lt Governor VK Saxena approved the modification of age and academic requirements for persons applying for multitasking staff (MTS) positions. The postings are for non-gazetted, non-ministerial officials in…

[wyrmfedgrave]

Georgia: Democrats sue to block new GOP-backed election certification rules | CNN Politics

Democrats are suing to block new Republikkkan election rules in Atlanta, Georgia.

These rules allow for 'reasonable' inquiries before certifying the results.

And, it would permit county election boards to 'investigate' ballot counts.

State court is to rule whether these boards have the right to delay or not certify Georgia's election votes.

Certification is supposed to take place no later than 5 PM on November 12th, 2024.

Local laws have long treated election confirmation as non-discriminatory (not left to one person's decision).

If officials have concerns, they're free to talk about them during the process of certification.

A final decision would be made only by a judge.

One can't use such concerns to delay or deny the ballot counts.

Certification is mandatory.

Merely a confirmation of the voting results.

It's usually a final verification of the ballot count with the Secretary of State.

Well, these ministerial duties are being misused by Rep appointees.

These GOP partisans want to help Rump's false claims of massive voter fraud - which only his Party is guilty of trying to do.

So, last week, Dems filed a formal ethics complaint focused on these last minute changes - so close to the general election.

As we can see, from all these illegal attempts (see earlier postings), the Reps are moving swiftly to change any laws that stand in their way.

We must remain vigilant & report any crap that they're trying to pull.

No matter what Republikkkans are doing - it's illegal somewhere.

That's just how they conduct their crimes...

End?

[trustednewstribune]

Centre Rules Out Special Status For Bihar, Lalu Yadav's Party Takes A Swipe

The Centre has ruled out any plan to give a special category status to Bihar, a core demand by its key ally, the Janata Dal (United), prompting the Rashtriya Janata Dal to take a swipe at JDU leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Ramprit Mandal, JDU MP from Bihar's Jhanjharpur, had asked the Finance Ministry if the government has a plan to provide special status to Bihar and other most backward states to promote economic growth and industrialisation.

In a written response, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said "case for Special Category Status for Bihar is not made out".

"The Special Category Status for plan assistance was granted in the past by the National Development Council (NDC) to some States that were characterized by a number of features necessitating special consideration. These features included (i) hilly and difficult terrain, (ii) low population density and/or sizeable share of tribal population, (iii) strategic location along borders with neighbouring countries, (iv) economic and infrastructural backwardness and (v) non-viable nature of State finances," the reply stated. "Earlier, the request of Bihar for Special Category Status was considered by an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) which submitted its Report on 30th March, 2012. The IMG came to the finding that based on existing NDC criteria, the case for Special Category Status for Bihar is not made out," it added.

A special status ensures more central support to a backward state to expedite its growth. While the Constitution does not provide for a special status for any state, it was introduced on the recommendations of the Fifth Finance Commission in 1969. Among the states that have received a special status so far are Jammu and Kashmir (now a Union Territory), Noreastern states and hill states such as Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

A state with a special category status gets more funding support from the Central in the Union government's schemes and several concessions in taxes.

A special status for Bihar has been a longstanding demand of the JDU. With the BJP falling short of a majority in this election and tying up with JDU, TDP and other parties to cobble up the magic figure, the Nitish Kumar-led party was expected to push hard for its core demand. The JDU also raised this demand at an all-party meeting before the budget session.

JDU MP Sanjay Kumar Jha said the demand for a special state status for Bihar has been a priority for the JDU. "Bihar should get the status of a special state, this has been the demand of our party since the beginning. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has held big rallies for this demand. If the government feels that there is a problem in doing this, then we have demanded a special package for Bihar," he said, according to a PTI report.

With the Centre making it clear that it has no plan to grant a special status, Bihar's main Opposition RJD has hit out at the JDU, which is ruling the state in alliance with BJP. "Nitish Kumar and JDU leaders must enjoy the fruits of power at the Centre and continue their drama politics on special status," the RJD said in a post on X.

A source in the government said that the Special Category Status issue was first addressed in the National Development Council meeting in 1969. "During this meeting, the D R Gadgil Committee introduced a formula to allocate Central Assistance for state plans in India. Prior to this, there was no specific formula for fund distribution to States, and grants were given on a scheme basis. The Gadgil Formula, approved by the NDC, prioritized special category States such as Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, and Nagaland, ensuring their needs were addressed first from the pool of Central assistance."

The Special Category status concept was introduced by the 5th Finance Commission in 1969 recognising historical disadvantages of certain regions, the source said.

"Until the 2014-2015 fiscal year, the 11 States with Special Category Status benefited from various advantages and incentives. However, following the dissolution of the Planning Commission and the formation of the NITI Aayog in 2014, the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission were implemented, leading to the discontinuation of Gadgil Formula-based grants. Instead, the devolution from the divisible pool to all States was increased from 32% to 42%," the source added.

[ambitiousbaba]

APSSB Recruitment 2024 for Technical

APSSB Recruitment 2024 : 309 Post for Technical Arunachal Pradesh Staff Selection Board (APSSB) has released the notification for the recruitment of for the Post of Non-Ministerial (Technical) with 309 Vacancies. Candidates can check the eligibility criteria from the official notification and apply Online Between 13 September 2024 to 03 October 2024. Here we are providing the detailed…

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India Post Staff Car Driver Recruitment 2024

India Post Staff Car Driver Recruitment 2024:- India Post Department has invited applications from Indian citizens to fill offline forms for 27 posts, Applications are invited from the eligible Indian citizens for the post of Staff Car Driver (Ordinary Grade), General Central Service Gr.-C, Non-Gazetted, Non-Ministerial in Karnataka Cirele in, Vacancies. and other details like Education…