By: Domen Mezeg / Nova24tv
“They are selling you platitudes; they are telling you how good they are. All of the media outlets are praising them. However, you have less and less money every day. Perhaps nominally, you have the same number, but you can afford less with it now. Do not be fooled, do not fall for it, they are cooking you like frogs, they are propagating how good they are. And even when this government adopts the same measures as the previous one, the Janša government, they praise the current one, whereas the previous one was criticised. We will have to start exposing ourselves and taking part in peaceful rallies, we need to tell the current government that “we have had enough.” A spontaneous rally against poverty must happen. Because what this government is doing is leading us straight into poverty. They are cutting all those who earn a little more, to ensure that we will all be receiving minimum wage. Remember: STOP poverty. Let us not allow this government to run an ‘all equal, all poor’ programme. It is not enough to get angry at home on the sofa or behind the bar,” TV show host Boris Tomašič was honest in a recent episode of his show.
This week’s show “Who Is Lying to You?” (“Kdo vam laže?”), which is hosted by Boris Tomašič, was a special vacation episode. “During this time, as we prepare for autumn, I could not resist coming into the studio and commenting on a few things. Why? Because things are very serious, even if they seem funny at first glance.” As he explained, our current government, its Prime Minister and ministers are behaving as if they are in a circus, but behind the scenes, there is a very serious problem arising that could have a major impact on our future or even on the next elections. Mr Tomašič thanked all those who, despite the discrediting of our media outlet, persist and are helping with their donations. “Let me tell you a very important piece of information, and this is now final: the great assembly of Nova24TV supporters will not take place on the 17th of September, and it will not happen in Lenart, due to technical complications. Instead, it will happen on Saturday, the 24th of September 2022 (one week later), in Visoko, near Škofja Loka, at the Tavčar Homestead.”
“The event is scheduled to start at noon.” As promised by Tomašič, there will be a party with bands on site. The assembly will also be visited by certain guests. Tomašič and his colleagues will also be there. Around three to five thousand participants are expected to come. All those who have donated so far will receive a thank you note and an invitation to the event by post. Anyone who replies within the deadline, saying that they will come, will get a free ticket, as their donation has already covered their costs at the event. Everyone else will be able to purchase the tickets. The price for one person is ten euros. They will be available a few days before the event. All the information about it will also be published on TV and web portals of Nova24TV media outlet. “Let’s prevent what the current government and the godfathers from the background are preparing. This is a very serious matter. I will start with Marjan Šarec and the ‘wire.’ After the ‘thread,’ we now got the ‘wire.’ Šarec is a really wonderful comedian, but for a minister… ‘The starter is busted because the ‘wire’ was too ‘tightly wound’,’ Marjan, you are funny.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a minister of our current government. That is the problem, not the fact that the matter is in itself funny.” And that is the danger to watch out for. It is more the actions that need to be watched, not so much the words as such. “What is happening is the quiet, slow but sure abolition of democracy, a complete, totalitarian takeover, and you people are asleep!” Namely, Tomašič was referring to the water cannon that had been pettily misused by the government of Robert Golob to put out the fire in the Kras region, which is technically not what the water cannon is intended for. The media support every stupidity of this government, and there is a very great danger that people will simply fall asleep during this slow slide into autocracy, as there is lots of talk about giving the government its first 100 days to prepare for ruling in peace, and so on. Tomašič believes that they will take all our money away. The government has announced tax reforms to take as much as possible from the people. In addition, freedom of speech is being restricted. “Just look at the attacks on Nova24TV. And not just attacks on us, but also on Požareport, Demokracija and Siol media outlets.”
“All they want to do is silence those who think differently, those who dare criticise them!”
“In my opinion, they have set up an unconstitutional commission of inquiry to deal with the business practices of private companies. The purpose of their inquiry is to seek political accountability. There is no political accountability! There cannot be any, because there are no politicians in this company!” Nova24TV operates as a commercial company under the Companies Act, and therefore, it is subject to all of the required inspections, pays taxes, and so on. All they want to do is silence those who think differently than they do, those who dare criticise them. Nataša Pirc Musar, a candidate for the position of President of the Republic, attacked our media outlet, Požareport, and some other media outlet, saying that we work for a fee, either to promote or to discredit certain individuals in our media outlets. “That is a lie. And I have already announced that we will file a lawsuit because of it. If Bojan Požar will file a criminal complaint, we will also support him. But why are we going to file a lawsuit for damages?
Because that is the only thing they understand! We at Nova24TV have also decided to sue the Reporter magazine for damages. Why? Because they were malicious, and they were harassing us. As a result of their malicious slander and spreading of lies, our ratings have gone down…” Next, Tomašič moved on to the tender, with which the new government is trying to find someone to compare the prices of the 15 basic foodstuffs, which is – for some reason – part of its strategy to combat the rising prices. Tomašič said the following about it: “The tender states that they need three graduates from the Faculty of Social Sciences. As Tomaž Štih said – if they need three graduates from the Faculty of Social Sciences in order to compare the prices of 15 items from different shops, how many do they need to change a lightbulb?! We do not even dare to wonder about that, but it is probably around 30!” Every Slovenian pensioner knows exactly where to find the cheaper items. The TV show host then touched on another part of this government’s “ridiculous story” – the miracle cure for Covid-19, which Prime Minister Golob himself presented to POP TV, talking about “vitamin D, sunshine and salty seawater.” “Vitamin D and salty seawater absolutely do help our health, of course, but they are not the cure for Covid-19.”
How Golob made fun of 25 percent of Slovenians who cannot afford a seaside holiday
“And, Mr Prime Minister, respectfully, you said that this was very serious, and then your spokespeople wrote that you actually meant to say something else. This is very unprofessional. You are the Prime Minister! You are the one who has to prepare this country and the healthcare system for the upcoming wave of the epidemic, so that it does not collapse!” The number of infections, hospital admissions and people in intensive care is, of course, rising. At the same time, his statement was basically a mockery of the 25 percent of Slovenians who, according to the latest survey, cannot afford a seaside holiday. “With a two-million-euro prize, it is ‘fun’ to ‘fool around’! However, every fourth person in our country cannot afford to go to the seaside, because you are stopping economic growth, raising inflation… And you are against referendums!” The TV show host then went on to talk about the health system. In an excerpt from the interview, Golob said: “Our intention was to establish a legal basis so that we can start reforming the healthcare system immediately on the 1st of September, without any excuses.”
Tomašič then asked: “What about half of July and the entirety of August? We need to act now! Not starting from the 1st of September, dear ministers, who are sunbathing on the Croatian coast and ‘treating’ Covid-19!”
Empty promises are the main problem of the Golob government and its representatives. Tomašič also touched on the government’s slowness and dysfunctionality: “You adopted a law in July that on the 1st of September, you will start debating this law, which you will then complete in two months’ time?! Pass a good law and start implementing it immediately! Stop joking around when it comes to our healthcare, because it is already on the brink of collapse, and the people are as well… And start taking action!” While many people are still falling for this kind of rhetoric from the Golob government, in reality, it is leading us towards a disaster, while the Visegrad countries, Croatia and Serbia, are overtaking us. Tomašič also touched on the fact that 130 000 people in our country do not have a general practitioner. Golob plans to address this “in the next stage,” as they “are focusing on wait times in the secondary and tertiary level first, not at the primary level.”
Not solar, but nuclear and hydro power plants are the solution to the problem
Tomašič then said: “130 thousand people do not have their own personal doctor, which is something they will tackle in the future, according to Golob – ‘We focused on the secondary and tertiary levels for now.’ Well, great, but everything needs to be sorted out. How are people going to get to the ‘tertiary level’ if they cannot even get to their own doctor?! Through the emergency room?!” The ruling class does not realise that we are in a serious crisis. However, Golob is an “expert” on the energy crisis. Here is what Tomašič had to say about that: “The government has taken action; it has declared an energy emergency. Why? So that people will start thinking about saving money. This is not a government measure!” Consumers are already thinking about saving money anyway because the prices have skyrocketed, especially the prices of electricity and heating oil. Inflation has reached 11 percent. The TV show host was also critical of the solution to the problem of solar power. The key point is that electricity costs are different at different times. During the day, you would have cheap electricity, but at night, when you have to heat up your home, it is more expensive… “Will it be five, ten times more expensive than solar energy?!”
Everyone who knows the field knows that nuclear and hydro power are the solution. Even the Germans are thinking of reopening nuclear power plants. And solar energy is not free either, because it requires a starting investment. At the same time, Golob is talking about setting up ‘giant solar power plants,’ while even one new hydroelectric power plant cannot be set up (the Mokrice case), because everything falls under Natura 2000. Solar energy is not a bad thing, but you have to be realistic.
Tomašič also touched on Golob’s measures to curb the rising cost of living and inflation: “We need to relieve labour, to relieve capital, to create more added value so that the wages can be higher. These are the measures to fight inflation.” Inflation has reached 11 percent, so wages should also rise by ten percent. But our economy is not capable of doing this, because we have an overly expensive and inefficient state.
Hypocrisy: Fajon criticised Janša, but then she herself travelled to Kyiv
The contributions and taxes in our country are too high. “And you even want to raise taxes! I wish that could work, but it will not! You cannot raise taxes in a crisis!” Tomašič also touched on the Prime Minister’s announcement that they would buy all Slovenian wheat, but now the government is changing its rhetoric. Tomašič was also critical of the Prime Minister’s claim that it was “not too late” to buy wheat. Namely, farmers do not store wheat, they sell it immediately. “They are selling you platitudes; they are telling you how good they are. All of the media outlets are praising them.” But people have less money every day. Perhaps nominally, we still have the same number, but we can afford less with it now. We all know just how much the prices of food, building materials and other items have gone up. It seems that all prices are twice as high as they used to be… “And do not be fooled, do not fall for it, they are cooking you like frogs, they are propagating how good they are. And even when this government adopts the same measures as the previous one, the Janša government, they praise the current one, whereas the previous one was criticised.”
We will have to start exposing ourselves and taking part in peaceful rallies, we need to tell the current government that “we have had enough.” A spontaneous rally against poverty must happen. Because what this government is doing is leading us straight into poverty. We will become a nation of poor people. The slogan of the current government is “all equal, all poor.” They are cutting all those who earn a little more, to ensure that we will all be receiving minimum wage. “Remember: STOP poverty. Let us not allow this government to run an ‘all equal, all poor’ programme. It is not enough to get angry at home on the sofa or behind the bar.” At the end of the show, Tomašič also touched on Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon, who bragged about travelling to Kyiv. Let us remind you that it was the former Prime Minister, Janez Janša, together with two other statesmen, who first visited the Ukrainian capital after the Russian invasion. This was at a time of the worst fighting around the capital, and what Janša did was a sign of support and solidarity. However, despite her recent trip there, at the time of Janša’s visit, Fajon criticised him for his brave act.