Life and Death in Austria [MEGATHREAD]

[Liep]

http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/lifestyles/patrick-park-may-get-realize-dream-austrian-ambassador/beWzYkOb7tfVugHw4JXqeI/

Patrick Park is an avid fan of "The Sound of Music." You might say he's obsessed with it.
"Really, I've seen it like 75 times," the concert pianist/industrialist said.

"I know every single word and song by heart. I've always wanted to live in the Von Trapp house."

Well, if he can't live there, at least he'll be close enough to visit.

Park has received unofficial word from President Donald Trump — well, as unofficial as a handwritten note saying "on to your next chapter, Ambassador!" can be — that he is the president's choice to be U.S. ambassador to Austria.

The president said he thought it would be a good match for Park because it is steeped in musical culture.

Uh uh! I hope we get an ambassador who's obsessed with Lego. We'll get James May to build him a house.

[Syt]

Not very shocked. The ambassadors to Austria by previous presidents were usually campaign contributors with tenuous links and/or little knowledge about Austria. It's a cushy job in a nice country with comparatively little to do compared to, say, UK, Russia, or Germany.

[garbon]

He sounds like a child in that article. What adults says things like that.

[Syt]

Reviving this thread for all things Austria.

There were state elections in Styria last weekend. The FPÖ in the city of Graz (capital of Styria) has been mired in a huge scandal. One of the vice mayors is being investigated for funneling public and party funds into private pockets (with one purchase being a penis pump, apparently, besides luxury trips etc.). Investigations has turned stones and found a whole bunch of creepy crawlies underneath. One FPÖ guy had child sexual abuse images on his laptop. Another (who left, but his brother is still in FPÖ) had a meth lab in Graz. There's €1.8 million disappeared. One was hoarding nazi propaganda and artifacts and taking inspiration from them. And one witness committed suicide.

Of course the FPÖ won the election in a landslide, doubling their result from 5 years ago and became the strongest party.

[Syt]

On the plus side, it seems that coalition talks for a Federal government between ÖVP, SPÖ, and NEOS are well underway. In large part it's not so much that the ÖVP wouldn't work with FPÖ at all, but that Kickl has pissed off everybody too much to work with him (for now, anyways).