Michael Bates: April 2022 Archives
Euthanasia Isn't Right | www.splicetoday.com
Ryan Neely, a former nursing home worker, writes: "In our society one of the metrics by which we judge the value of a human life is measured by what we can produce, and when illness or injury occur, we begin to consider ourselves burdens on others. This can lead us to dark psychological states, including the thought that it'd be better if we'd simply die, and as such cease causing trouble for others. But we're all burdens on someone, all the time and throughout our entire lives, so the point is moot. Elders in need of care must be freed from their suicidal ideation, not have it catered to by those who are indifferent to their lives, or incentivized by their death, even for those who suffer terminal illness. Once the choice is offered for a person to have the option to end their own life with the help of a physician, it can create murky and potentially dangerous dynamics where the choice could become an obligation."
Scoping Out The Future Home of Reba McEntire's "Reba's Place" | Saving Country Music
"To be called Reba's Place, it will include a restaurant, bar, music venue, and retail store. It will be the home of all things Reba, including many pieces of personal memorabilia from her career. Though Atoka is a town of only 3,000 people and may seem like a strange place to build such an establishment, the town is situated right at the confluence of Federal Highway 75 coming up from Dallas and down from Tulsa, and Federal Highway 69 coming down from Muskogee, which receives a good bit of traffic.
"But the old three-story brick Masonic Temple Reba McEntire has purchased is just a couple of blocks from Federal Highway 75, and will certainly attract folks back to downtown, where there are already multiple businesses trying to bring the area back."
Hungarian elections & liberal cruelty - by Titus Techera
What are American conservatives doing to identify and develop politicians like Viktor Orbán: "Conservatism is doing very badly in our times, in my opinion because it's too apolitical. I don't think PM Orbán can change that, but I do believe that if people were to learn about the political principles involved in his activity, they would find the resources to attempt something similar in many different countries. But this is most unlikely to happen, because conservatives are on principle opposed to great talent & the most important thing about PM Orbán is that he is a very talented politician. Recruiting his like, fostering the associations that could identify, possibly educate such a man, is of the essence of right-wing politics, & I've not heard yet of it being attempted anywhere..."
About Hungary - Hungary's parliamentary election system 101
An overview of the system used in the April 3, 2022, election for Hungarian Parliament: 106 members elected first-past-the-post in single-member districts; 93 elected proportionally nationwide from party lists, using D'Hondt method of allocation. Each voter casts a vote for candidates running in his local constituency and a separate vote for a national party list. Unlike many countries with a mix of single-member and party-list elections, this is not a top-up system that aims to make the overall result proportional to the national vote.
More post-election analysis from Titus Techera, writing at Substack as PostModernConservative: "Hungary is so hated because it opposes these transformations & the politics they require--indeed, the end of politics, the replacement of popular opinion, debate, & decision with administrative decisions by far-removed courts, which are of course unelected, but which have to redesign the most fundamental institutions of our ways of life."
The six-party coalition that tried to unseat Prime Minister Orban held a two-round primary election to select the candidate in each constituency and the coalition party leader who would be prime minister if victorious. The idea was to avoid the problem of trying to win a first-past-the-post election with multiple candidates.
Official results from the first round of the 2022 election for President of France, from the French Ministry of the Interior. Round 2, between incumbent Emmanuel Macron and Marine LePen, will occur on April 24, 2022.
