Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías and The Tamarit Divan by Federico García Lorca.

They will be able to vote in the next municipal elections, not in the coming ones, because they also need the minimum legal residence in their local city. Apart from what I explained, this is another benefit from Sanchez's decree. Since they are now in a legal status and documented, the time starts to count to take part in the next municipal elections.

By the way, I can't see the problem because. A) As a Spaniard myself, I would also be able to vote in the municipal elections of those countries (Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina...), so I would be hypocritical to criticise this; B) not all the immigrants are part of the reciprocal voting agreement – for example, there are also many persons from Angola and Senegal, but we do not have these kinds of treaties with their governments.

It's in Spanish, but here they are:

https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2022/11/05/pdfs/BOE-A-2022-18150.pdf

https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2010/08/27/pdfs/BOE-A-2010-13463.pdf

The reciprocal voting treaty with Argentina (for example, among others):

https://www.congreso.es/public_oficiales/L9/CORT/BOCG/A/CG_A140.PDF

Uruguay:

https://www.congreso.es/public_oficiales/L9/CORT/BOCG/A/CG_A281.PDF

Paraguay:

https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2010/06/21/pdfs/BOE-A-2010-9770.pdf

United Kingdom (English):

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5c8b809440f0b640d24a45a5/CS_Spain_2.2019_Elections.pdf

There's also the potential for cultural clash, but I don't put as much into that as much who have reacted to it globally. — AmadeusD

It's hard to see a cultural clash in this context. Most of them are from South America; they share the same language, religion, ethos, etc. They are like siblings or cousins to us.

health care registers — AmadeusD

Our health care system is already very screwed. It is not their fault.

names on voter rolls (Municipal - the ones that matter) — AmadeusD

They can only enter the voter rolls if they get the nationality and there is a reciprocal agreement–this decree is only documenting them legally. The government is not giving them the Spanish nationality, and if this were the case, not everyone would have the right to vote in municipal elections, because not all countries of these immigrants have a reciprocity agreement with us.

Article 176 of Spanish Constitution:

Without prejudice to the provisions of Title I, Chapter I of this Law, the right to vote in municipal elections is enjoyed by foreign residents in Spain whose respective countries allow Spaniards to vote in these elections under the terms of a treaty.

The treaty is regulated in our LEY ORGÁNICA 5/1985 de 19 de junio, del Régimen Electoral General and it says:

The citizens of Norway, Ecuador, New Zealand, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Iceland, Bolivia, Cape Verde, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and Trinidad and Tobago who are over 18 on the day of voting and who are not deprived of the right to vote, may vote in municipal elections in Spain.

For this purpose, they must be in possession of the corresponding residence permit in Spain.

Must have been legally resident in Spain for the time required by the relevant agreement (five years at the time of application for registration on the electoral roll and, in the case of Norwegian nationals, three years on the day of voting; no temporary requirement is required in the case of New Zealand).

The process is tedious and slow here too. I think there is a misinterpretation of the concepts. Sanchez is conceding the citizenship to 500,000 immigrants, yes. But this is not equal to becoming Spanish. It is just that these persons are now documented to be hired legally in the labour market. Without these papers, they are hard to hire, and if they are, many businessmen exploit them because they are not in a current legal status. My view about this is that Sánchez wanted to make a movement against the employers. After this, those people now have the right to be hired in better conditions.

But it is important to clarify that they do not have the right to vote in the Spanish elections, nor do they start receiving grants. This is a lie.

The prime minister is the president of the Socialist International and from the Spanish Socialist Workers Party. That’s what we call a “commie” over here. — NOS4A2

I understand your view. Yet, PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers Party) gave up on Communism and Marxism after winning the 1982 elections because they wanted to make Spain a member of both the EU and NATO. It is hard to explain because it is true that they still use "socialist" in their acronym, but they always repeat that they are a social-democratic political party inspired by the left-wing parties of Sweden and the Labour Party of the UK. I do not think these are real commies in the pure sense of the word. Furthermore, there are more leftist political parties in the Congress which accuse PSOE of being neoliberal. Imagine those! These are real commies: United Left.

I have never called you a fascist. Believe it or not, I agree with you on many of your points – mainly when you claim that European countries have grown very dependent on the USA. This is true.

It is just that I didn't get why the news of documenting 500,000 people here went around the world. I think some folks exaggerated on his reactions towards this.

Yes. I had a nice and interesting exchange of ideas with you both, and I agree mostly with everything except that we are not militarily relevant globally nor do we have a strong say in Brussels.

I'm joking. I am pretty aware of the limitations of the peninsula I live in. :rofl:

Honestly, I don't think Trump/Musk's opinions on the internal politics of European countries are feigned or with a rhetorical purpose. It seems to me that they want to interfere in our opinions and thoughts. If we were that irrelevant, I still don't get why Musk reacted with a "Wow" on his X account for just documenting the undocumented.

Since the political direction of the government of my country is to not spend really much on NATO, respect internal law and try to be as little polluting as possible, it is obvious that Sánchez will always confront Trump/Musk. The internal political direction regarding immigration in my country might not be interesting to anyone, but Musk and Trump know very well what they are doing – spreading around the world their "culture war" and making this and that "better again"; and Spain is not an exception in their interests.

This is a common thought that I share with friends from other Spanish-speaking countries (South America, mainly). Perhaps Trump doesn't care about Paraguay or Uruguay, but when the governments of these countries turn into a "commie" bureau, you will see how he quickly starts to care about South America and wants to spread "democracy" and "free elections" over there.

Yet you keep electing people who want to take a large part of your income in order to spend it on illegals, other people, themselves, knowing full well that if you find a higher salary they’ll just take more. — NOS4A2

OK, NOS. Fair enough.

I believe I understand the reality of my country better than anyone else here, just as you understand Canada.

Yes, Spain is a country with heavy taxation. Everyone is angry about this here—myself included. However, I don't think the money goes to illegals. Furthermore, the problem is that we don't really know where the public budget is spent.

Sánchez is a liar, I agree. I will not vote for him in the next elections. I think I will not vote for someone. Yet I think this issue should be irrelevant to Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The latter posted a "Wow" on his X account, showing a video of immigrants waiting for something in a supposed public administration in Spain. Apart from being a hoax, I don't really get why he cared a lot about this. Will these 500,000 immigrants steal SpaceX or pickpocket him? It is something that only concerns Spain, and I dislike how often the American policy pokes its nose in other countries.

Dude, that happened a looooong time ago.

It is not time to live with the nostalgia of the past. Spaniards want to live in a country with affordable houses and better salaries. Our history cannot fix this.

You said "turns into a commie shithole" but trust me, mate—haven't we turned into that since we lost our last possessions in the Caribbean Sea to the USA in the 1898 war?

you aren't better than anyone else. — frank

I didn't say that. I'm not like Trump. :smile:

Meanwhile, Spain moves to legalize the illegals.

“ Madrid points to ‘positive impact’ of migration as it moves to grant 500,000 undocumented people legal status.” — NOS4A2

We get to watch in real time as a once-powerful empire turns into a commie shithole. — NOS4A2

It never was Spain that was great, it was Portugal. — Punshhh

Relax... leave my country alone.

We don't have law enforcement agencies which shoot people in the streets or folks who jump from the balcony every bloody summer. We are not perfect, but at least we are not like you.

We are already at the end of January. Time flies by!

Explosion in a Cathedral (also translated as The Age of Enlightenment) by Alejo Carpentier.

Thanks for the inspiration. — T Clark

Glad to know that I inspired you in some way. :up: :smile:

I remember the little girl sitting at the table with peaches. — T Clark

Girl with Peaches by Valentin Serov.

Yeah, what a gorgeous painting!

Ayamonte. La pesca del atún. Tanslation: Ayamonte. The fishing of the tuna.



This painting of Sorolla belongs to a collection of canvases called Provinces of Spain.

The series was commissioned by American expert on Hispanic studies and founder of Hispanic Society of America (HSA), Archie Huntington.

Sorolla depicted the customs, costumes, and traditions of regions of Spain. But this painting is important. Rather than depicting the average clichés and stereotypes of Andalucía, he depicted a very common practice of southwest Andalucía: fishing.

As I said multiple times, the tuna from the Atlantic coast of the Gulf of Cádiz is excellent. Times have changed, and now fishing is different than when Sorolla painted this canvas. This is why it is important: it serves as a testament to how things were before—charming, full of life, with the sun reflecting on the sea and the blood of the tuna. I can even smell it. Amazing.

Kosovo — Questioner

Many countries do not recognise Kosovo as a sovereign country. Mine is an example.

On the other hand, it surprised me that Belarus appears in something relatively important—I thought everybody forgot Lukashenko's dictatorship.

It was set up (by Europe - not imposed by American) to prevent Soviet encroachment, — AmadeusD

The irony is palpable when we have to set something up to prevent Soviet encroachment, but we look the other way when this attitude comes from Washington. What a terrible circus the politics are, mate. I don't like it.

I agree with the rest of your post.

Rutte definitely is always saying that thanks to Trump, NATO countries are increasing their defense expenditure, — ssu

He was against the reckless expenditure when he was the prime minister of NL; now he is pushing for more expenditure just to woo Trump. Are they clowns, or am I the blind dude who is not seeing what is going on?

And lastly, NATO is actually an US created organization for US objectives, which the orange idiot never has understood — ssu

That's what I was about to say. It is hard to be a "neutral" NATO secretary general when the institution is oriented to protect and spread American interests, presence, and culture. I don't really want to see this conflict escalating, and I wish Greenland the best in their future, but if this [the issue] ends up screwed, at least we will have a reason to finally dissolve NATO and focus on something European—whatever it would be called or managed.

Rutte. — ssu

I completely dislike him. What a twat.

A thinner version of Donald Trump with a Mickey Mouse face. The way he woo Trump makes me upset. Disgusting at its best.

I guess he forgot he's European when he changed his NL suit for the NATO one.

Another fatal high-speed train crash in Spain. At least more than 20 people have been killed. :sad:

High-speed train crash in southern Spain leaves at least 21 dead.

UPDATE: The death toll is 39.

High-speed train derailed, jumped onto the track in the opposite direction and crashed into an oncoming train on Sunday in southern Spain.

Starting on February 1st, 2026, all of the above mentioned Countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland), will be charged a 10% Tariff on any and all goods sent to the United States of America. On June 1st, 2026, the Tariff will be increased to 25%. This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.

As I stated a few days ago regarding Machado's medal gift, he truly believes the world is a Monopoly game, and the conflicts can only be approached with deals or trading instead of diplomacy. He reminds me of an Ottoman emperor who demands that his vassal states pay tariffs to avoid being crushed by his strength.

The Joke by Milan Kundera.

I agree.

He truly believes that everything can be obtained by the "art of the deal," as he would say, even when some things are valueless. It is frustrating that the near future of a country depends on this kind of traffic.

I also got surprised when I watched it on the news. There are no limitations for Trump when we talk about classless gestures, indeed.

However, I understand the movement of Machado – she tried to "woo" him with the aim of finding a way to be recognised as the legitimate candidate for the Venezuelan government. This says a lot about her. She is ready to drop off many of her things just to finally start addressing and solving the big social issues of Venezuela. The problem is she (and her nation) depends on one of the biggest twats that the Americans have ever voted for.

Mircea Cărtărescu — Manuel

¡Excelente! I really like Mircea. What an amazing writer!

Diary of the War of the Pig by Adolfo Bioy Casares.

@T Clark and @Baden

Perhaps I arrived a bit late because this film was released two years ago, but I watched it a few days ago.

Small Things Like These is a historical drama whose plot focuses on the Magdalene laundries in Ireland. Since it is an Irish-based story, I also tag Baden, because he may know more interesting things about this controversial topic.

Cillian Murphy is one of my favorite actors. It is true that he played an important role in the "Peaky Blinders" show, but I think he is very good at interpreting drama characters.

The film is extremely nice, I think.

These are the books I read in 2025. Another good year, but above all was the discovery of very nice Eastern European writers. Looking forward to reading them in 2026 too.

• The Kreutzer Sonata, Leo Tolstoy.
• The Eternal Husband, Dostoevsky.
• Morning and Evening by Jon Fosse.
• Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol.
• Boyhood Island. My Struggle 3, by Karl Ove Knausgård.
• Demons by Dostoevsky.
• El gaucho Martín Fierro; La vuelta de Martín Fierro by José Hernández.
• Dormir al sol, Adolfo Bioy Casares.
• Ignorance by Milan Kundera.
• Coplas por la muerte de su padre by Jorge Manrique.
• El Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges.
• Blinding, Book One: The Left Wing by Mircea Cartarescu.
• Blinding, Book Two: The Body by Mircea Cărtărescu.
• Blinding, Book Three: The Right Wing by Mircea Cărtărescu.
• El asesinato del perdedor by Camilo José Cela.
• The Village of Stepanchikovo by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
• An Uneven Champion by Adolfo Bioy Casares.
• Inquisiciones by Jorge Luis Borges.
• The Transylvanian Trilogy: Volume I. They were counted. by Miklós Bánffy.
• The Transylvanian Trilogy: Volume II. They Were Found Wanting by Miklós Bánffy.
• The Transylvanian Trilogy: Volume III. You are torn to pieces. by Miklós Bánffy.
• Una magia modesta by Adolfo Bioy Casares.
• Jungle Tales by Horacio Quiroga.
• El Bataraz by Mauricio Rosencof.
• The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera.
• The Petty Demon by Fyodor Sologub.
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.
• Selected Works and Personal Notes (1880 - 1885) by Anton Chekhov.
• Report to Greco by Nikos Kazantzakis.
• Spring Flowers, Spring Frost by Ismail Kadare.
• Embers (often translated as Candles burn until the end) by Sándor Márai.
• The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andrić.
• The Festival of Insignificance by Milan Kundera.
• Bird on a fence by Dario Dzamonja.
• The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk.

Felices fiestas, Moliere. :sparkle:

You're welcome. Happy holidays! :cool:

But we did not lose anything either, well maybe you are out a few Euros, so everything is the same. — Sir2u

I agree! Honestly, I didn't expect to win. There are a lot of numbers and a lot of series too. It was very difficult. Although many winners were in Madrid, this time more were located in the north of the country—León and Zamora.

I am happy because I have about 2 thousand lights twinkling all over the house and I love the glow they make. Lots of shining coloured lights all over the place. — Sir2u

I have many twinkling lights all over the house too. Putting them correctly was tedious but worth doing! I think I will not remove them until the middle of January!

Feliz Navidad Javier. — Sir2u

Feliz Navidad y Felices Fiestas, Sir. :smile: :party:

I love this song:

Perhaps I came a bit late because you might already know this, but it is worth sharing the obituary anyway.

RIP James Ransone. Actor James Ransone, known for his role in ‘The Wire,’ dead at 46.

His fictional character, Ziggy Sobotka, was one of my favourites in The Wire. I read on the Internet that he also performed in other interesting works of American drama.

Sorry folks, the 1st prize is the number 79432.; the second prize is the number 70048; and the third prize is the number 90693. https://www.loteriasyapuestas.es/en/loteria-nacional.

We didn't win the jackpot, but better luck next time!

Neat!

That red envelope is gorgeous.

I will share the results of the lotto tomorrow morning, I promise. It is fun to follow it in the street; near the palace of the ceremony, people go in disguise. :smile: