Changing Places,
Catalan regional government spokesman Jordi Turull told reporters early Monday that 90 percent of the 2.26 million Catalans who voted chose the “yes” side in favor of independence. He said nearly 8 percent of voters rejected independence and the rest of the ballots were blank or void. He said 15,000 votes were still being counted. The region has 5.3 million registered voters, and Turull said the number of ballots didn’t include those confiscated by Spanish police during violent raids that aimed to stop the vote... Elisa Arouca, who was waiting to vote outside the Estel school in central Barcelona, reacted with anger when national police agents yanked her and other prospective voters out of the way, then smashed the door open and confiscated the ballot boxes. She had been planning to vote in favor of keeping Catalonia part of Spain, but decided instead to join the march for independence. She moved to another polling station to try and cast her vote in favor of breaking away. “I was always against independence, but what the Spanish state is doing is making me change my mind,” she said. “The national police and civil guard are treating us like criminals.” [I have been predicting this polarizing reaction to the actions of the Spanish government for a month, and I'm no genius. This was the obvious result, so why did they act so aggressively for a whole month? Did they want this to be the case? Why would Rajoy want that? Was he ordered to do it?]
Spanish PM Rajoy says "There was no Catalan independence vote." He also complimented the Spanish riot police on their "firmness and serenity".
He's in denial. Prob'ly taking heavy tranquilizers, too.
Update (6:30 pm ET): In further proof that Spain's brutal crackdown on today's Catalan independence referendum only helped bolster the seccessionist cause, the regional government announced that voters had overwhelmingly voted in favor of independence, with 89% voting to separate from Spain. The regional government has promised to officially declare independence within 48 hours.
Bla-bla-bla-blaaaa... I'm not listening!
Will the looming oil shortages lead to fascism and other totalitarian forms of government taking over? Richard Heinberg lays out the anthropology for your consideration. (Command economy measures will have to be taken in most countries, and conditions will be far more stressful, so there will be lots of hurt going around. Grow vegetables and ride a bike. Get out of debt now.)
Pyongyang will fear us more", says South Korea's President Moon, in a bid to be granted control of his country's military forces, in the event of war with North Korea. This is a brave move by President Moon, who is the titular head of a vassal state, occupied by the US military, and created by treaties between the US, Russia, China and Japan, at the end of WW-2 and in 1953. He puts on a brave face and tells the big lie, but for noble reasons. (Less fear and less hate, right?)
Choosing Door #3
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