The Off Topic Topic

[Eddie Teach]

Seinfeld is probably the best example of broad sitcom that's actually pretty good.

It's borderline "clever". Of course, in the days of 3/4 networks all sitcoms were fairly broad.

[Tamas]

BBT got pretty stale for the last several seasons but it should be judged by the early ones which IMHO were great. I think the stereotypes just landed too close for some people.

[celedhring]

Catalonia, land of stoners. Not surprised, if you ask me. 

Spain becomes cannabis hub as criminals fill tourism void
With high profit margins and low risk of long jail time, Catalonia is now the marijuana capital of Europe, police warn

Stephen Burgen in Barcelona

Sun 11 Oct 2020 08.00 BST

The decor is nightclub chic meets Turkish opium den. The lighting, soft pink and electric blue. And, were it not for the sweet waft of marijuana, it could be the lobby of a Las Vegas boutique hotel. In fact, it's one of Barcelona's 156 cannabis clubs, known as asociaciónes.

The idea was a quiet place where you could buy and smoke marijuana, often grown by members, and only on the premises, but many are now businesses and, police say, fronts for drug mafias. With the collapse of tourism, the cannabis business is one of very few thriving in Catalonia, but beyond the low lights and chilled vibe of the associations, darker forces are in play. An internal report by the Mossos d'Esquadra, the Catalan police, claims "Catalonia is the epicentre of Europe's illegal marijuana market" and has become a net exporter of cannabis to other European countries.

With high profits and low risk – jail sentences rarely exceed two years – gangs from Europe are fighting one another to control the market, says the report. Over the past year police have broken up 34 criminal organisations connected to cannabis and destroyed 319 plantations.

The report says that social acceptance of cannabis, depopulated rural areas and many empty apartments are facilitating the creation of plantations. Police have uncovered indoor plantations with automated irrigation, remote-controlled thermostats and even odourless plants to avoid detection. In the province of Lleida, a group of growers used a drone to spot rival plantations, which they then destroyed.

Low prices and an ambiguous legal framework have made Spain Europe's main marijuana producer, Ramon Chacon, deputy chief of the crime squad, told the Observer. "When we look at what has happened to other countries that are primary drug producers, such as hashish in Morocco or cocaine in Colombia, there's cause for concern," he said. For years Spain has been the point of entry for Moroccan hashish, so the distribution network was in place when the marijuana boom began, just as tobacco smuggling in Galicia in north-western Spain created infrastructure for importing cocaine.

In Spain marijuana sells for €5 a gram, compared with a European average of €15. Chacon says criminal organisations from all over Europe, who used to buy in Spain to sell at home, have now set themselves up as producers in Catalonia.

Police are destroying more than one million plants a year, mostly in Catalonia, but Chacon said this achieves little when they can't get their hands on the profits. Money laundering and the corruption it entails "poses a threat to the real economy and the quality of democracy in Catalonia", according to Eduard Sallent, the Mossos chief.

Chacon said police have no objection to private consumption at home or in clubs, which is legal, but as clubs are allowed to produce the drug in proportion to their membership, he said mafias have set up front associations to justify their plantations as legal. The cannabis clubs have been around for years but proliferated after the Catalan parliament ratified a law in 2017, since annulled by the supreme court, stating "private consumption of cannabis by adults ... is part of the exercise of the fundamental right to free personal development and freedom of conscience".


The associations exist in legal limbo. Eric Asensio, secretary of the Catalan Federation of Cannabis Associations, said the federation would like to return to the spirit of the 2017 law. Asensio accepts that organised crime is exploiting the association model. "In recent years, we've seen people driven by profit, rather than the spirit of the cannabis movement, take advantage of the ambiguity of the regulations," he said.

Around 70% of all Spain's associations are in Catalonia, where cannabis consumption is higher than in the rest of the country, according to a National Drug Plan survey. Catalonia also hosts Spannabis, the international cannabis trade fair.

A study of Barcelona associations, carried out by the Journal of Drug Issues, found around 70% of members are male and nearly half are university educated. Ten per cent said they smoked for medicinal purposes, while half the female members said they used marijuana to ease menstrual cramps.

For many, the associations are a refuge and an oasis of calm. Easing back on the blue-lit sofa, it's easy to forget that this peaceful corner of the city is also part of a mafia-run narco-economy.

[Syt]

First projection of the Vienna election. FPÖ & HC (Strache's new party)

ÖVP picked up votes, partially thanks to picking up some of the FPÖ talking points re: immigrants.

I hope Strache does not make it into the city parliament ... I'd rather he not receive any more of my tax money.

[Zanza]

3.6% voting for that utter asshole is of course good compared to before, bit still surprisingly many. I mean, there can't be a more corrupt politician out there.

[Syt]

Some people can't be reasoned with? Disappointed he got more votes than the beer party.

Because of the amount of mail in votes, the final results will be announced tomorrow or Tuesday at latest; the projection takes mail in already into account, though.

Surprisingly, it seems the Social Democrats might win all districts, except the First (Inner City) which is traditionally ÖVP. Remains to be seen if this goes also for the district assemblies where some were run by conservatives or greens.

[Syt]

3.6% voting for that utter asshole is of course good compared to before, bit still surprisingly many. I mean, there can't be a more corrupt politician out there.

Further to that, FPÖ and Strache votes mostly come from low income groups, those with lower education levels, and laborers. In fact, FPÖ has ca. 26% among laborers, and Strache 19%, so a combined 45% among blue collar types.

[The Brain]

What of the black leather collar types?

[Josquius]

I drove through the city centre again.
Such a mistake.
I'm in for a few fear filled nights wondering where they caught me making a mistake.
One point in particular, got caught in a pedestrian crossing as the light turns red and moved off noticing it from my side window as i went.
Oh for a world without driving.

[Tamas]

I drove through the city centre again.
Such a mistake.
I'm in for a few fear filled nights wondering where they caught me making a mistake.
One point in particular, got caught in a pedestrian crossing as the light turns red and moved off noticing it from my side window as i went.
Oh for a world without driving.

Pay more attention plz


Gotta say though, they place traffic lights a bit weird at place around here. Especially when they place them double for better visibility. In some cases you kind of have to think on your feet to know where you are supposed to stop if the road paintings have largely disappeared.

[HisMajestyBOB]

My son likes Rammstein's Links 2-3-4 music video. He often asks me to show "the ant video."

[Eddie Teach]

What of the black leather collar types?

Does it have spikes?

[Syt]

Not good role models to get together like this during a pandemic, but still ... the World Champions of 1990 had a reunion in Italy:



Damn, it's been 30 years.

I don't think I see Jürgen Kohler, Klaus Augenthaler, or Bodo Illgner?

Also, I did NOT recognize Andy Brehme

[Maladict]

Not good role models to get together like this during a pandemic, but still ... the World Champions of 1990 had a reunion in Italy:

Damn, it's been 30 years.

I don't think I see Jürgen Kohler, Klaus Augenthaler, or Bodo Illgner?

Also, I did NOT recognize Andy Brehme

I once had to sit next to Matthaeus on a plane

[Tamas]

So is that going against current German pandemic rules?