Just a day after my arrival in the Netherlands, the government has fallen. “Mark Rutte: Netherlands coalition government collapses in migration row – reports” (BBC):
His conservative VVD party had been trying to limit the flow of asylum seekers, following a row last year about overcrowded migration centres.
This week Mr Rutte tried to force through a plan which included a cap on the number of relatives of war refugees allowed into the Netherlands at just 200 people per month.
But junior coalition partners the Christian Union, a pro-family party, and the socially liberal D66, were strongly opposed.
A compromise proposal, known as the “emergency brake”, which would only trigger the restrictions in the event of an excessively high influx of migrants, was not enough to save the government.
The proposed law seems unworkable. What’s “excessive”? Roughly 27 percent of people who live in the Netherlands aren’t “Dutch” (stats). There was never a popular vote asking for this level of immigration or any other level. The native-born people with whom I have spoken so far have said that the country is too crowded with both low-skill migrants and mass tourists and that their desired number of both would be 0. None of them was ever asked “In an ideal world, what percentage of your neighbors would be from Africa and the Middle East?”
How does it look on the ground? I’m staying in a college town (Delft), but have seen no coffee shops or stores practicing Rainbow-first Retail (examples from Bozeman, Montana), which would be likely to offend Islamic migrants. Any trip by public transit includes companions who don’t appear to share Western sexual mores. Near the center of The Hague, the third-largest Dutch city:
@philg: While you are there ask how many support shutting down 3,000 farms, to reduce algae created by nitrogen fertilizer (or to use the land for immigrant housing development, depending on who you believe).
source: “Netherlands reportedly set to forcibly close 3,000 farms to comply with EU mandate”
https://www.foxnews.com/world/netherlands-close-farms-eu-mandate
non-paywall version: https://archive.md/MuUcX
Dutch politician Fortuyn has predicted all this 20 years ago and was assassinated for his views. Ironically he was also gay but is never claimed as a model LGBTQ politician by the woke.
Wonder if they saw the liberal light & banned prostitution yet. Can only imagine having access to women without an alphabet soup job title.
@philg: ask some locals if they support the Dutch climate minister’s plan to spend €28 billion to reduce global temperatures by 0.00036 °C (actual numbers from Dutch govt’s climate model):
https://twitter.com/KoenSwinkels/status/1671303978313826305
Don’t the Dutch know that diversity is their greatest strength???
In a Related development, a man just won the miss Netherlands beauty pageant.
And the next day they elected the first trangender woman to be Miss Netherlands 2023.
Now men outperform women in being women, too! Next winner will be a transvestite in a hijab.
Adso: My work is complete in the Netherlands! Despite the paucity of rainbow flags, the country pulled through for me.
Philg: I knew that Rainbow Flagging is the one true religion but I didn’t recognize Thou as its Prophet. I repent.