The king

[Norway Joe]

Great pics and interesting history. I've always wondered how a royal government works over a sh**show like ours. Lol!
A system like ours is brilliant, actually. It's a great way to keep the people divided and give those in power the upper hand to take what they want, how they want it, and deliver us the scraps. All the while the people being divided can't seem to agree enough to put differences aside to stand together to make the change to take charge and put them back to work FOR US, rather than us serving them.
Ok.. rant ended. Lol!

I'm not sure it's very different. The king is mostly symbolic and very different from the ruling kings in the middle east (who dictates everything). It's the prime minister and her/his government that runs the country. They are elected every 4th year. We elect persons to the parliament. The party that gets majority here creates the government for 4 years and selects it's own prime minister. Every Friday the governments ministers meat with the king at his castle. He is oriented about the political events since last time and he has to sign every new law the government wants. He can refuse and the government must wait until after the next election to bring up the law again. This time the king can't refuse.That means he can delay a law for max. 4 years.The king can not publicly express his political views. He is therefore not a political person and therefore also less of a controversial person and less divisive. Some people think it's wrong to inherit this position and wan the state to be a republic instead of monarchy. Want happen soon I think. The king enjoys 81% support among the people at the moment. I think that's the same among all the Scandinavian monarchies.

The king gets his pay from the government. At the moment the king, queen and crown prince gets around 2.5 mill usd combined per year. In addition 48 mill usd for security, maintenance of his buildings etc. I read some place that the kings net worth is estimated to 245 mill. usd, but nobody knows for sure.

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[TwoGuysBBQ]

That's pretty cool. and as always, nice pictures. I'm reading this as I look out my hotel window at the dessert sands of Hobbs New Mexico. would rather be next to a body of water like that!

[Norway Joe]

I googled Hobbs. Didn't look like a big place, but nice.

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[Boots]

Southeastern New Mexico is pretty flat, dry, hot, and punctuated periodically with some decent size mountains and ancient dormant volcanoes. Actually quite pretty, though the silence is SOOOO loud it strikes you as a bit eerie. There are spots out there probably nobody has walked across in hundreds of years. It's about as physically opposite of Norway as it is possible to be, I bet.

Hobbs is across the border from Denver City where my Dad graduated high school, and not too far from Roswell, the area where allegedly the Air Force found some aliens who turned out to have flunked pilot training and augered into the sandy dirt at high speed. I bet they were texting and driving, will kill you every time. Carlsbad is just a bit west where there is a huge cave that is so big, parts of it have still not been explored despite being discovered by a cowboy passing by in the 1800s. There is also a cool little hotel in Carlsbad where strangely enough, they cook some of the greatest linguini Carbonara in the western world, creamy and lush and I speculate with just a few little tiny shaved bits of jalapeno mixed in for a just a tiny spicy bite, ooh la la. I was shocked (shocked!) at how good it was. Further north is Fort Sumner, where Pete Maxwell had a ranch and Billy the Kid was holed up until one night he walked in barfoot with only a knife on Pat Garrett talking to Pete, and Pat perforated him with his revolver, or so the story says. Never bring a knife to a gunfight. He's buried there next to his compadres in a little bitty cemetery, where looky loos have wandered by and chipped off so many chunks of the tombstone, they had to put up an iron cage around it (someone actually stole the original tombstone for a number of years til it was finally recovered and put back. No word on what happened to the culprit... a dead body can easily get misplaced out on the wild badlands of New Mexico). Billy is burined next to his friends, Tom O'Follaird and Charlie Bowdre, who stood by him and rustled with him and fought with him 'til they were all finally sent to live with the angels.

On their big common tombstone, above all their names, is inscribed a single, very important word:

PALS

[Norway Joe]

Thanks for a very interesting and educational story. I enjoyed reading it.

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[Boots]

My wife and I love New Mexico, She is from El Paso immediately south, and we both love the desert but there’s a big variety too with Alpine peaks in the northern section that tickle 14,000 feet high. Great people, incredible food, beautiful state. Like a lot of the Western states, it truly is “Big sky“ country. Highly recommended if you ever come to the States to visit.

[TwoGuysBBQ]

was in Hobbs this morning, I am now in Midland, TX "Oil Country" working and trying to make that $

[OldUsedParts]

Y'all working the Permian

[Boots]

My granddad was a roustabout in the Yates Field in the '20's. Then Dad was the same around Denver City in high school until he joined the Air Corps in '44, then my uncle was a wildcatter of a sort. Good, hard workin' people out in the oil patch.

[GRailsback]

A bit more from the Norwegian Royals. Joe has somebody else to look up to.

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/p ... -boyfriend

[Russ]

Great pics and the background, I learnt a lot. I appreciate it Joe.

Russ

[Norway Joe]

A bit more from the Norwegian Royals. Joe has somebody else to look up to.

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/p ... -boyfriend

Haha. As I wrote above:

"The king is very popular but their descendants not so much."

Now you understand. Getting a shaman in the royal family is strange.

The royal family have so many privileges, payed by the tax payers. They also want to live as much in secrecy as possible, but at the same time have all the freedom to live as ordinary people when that is an advantage. Doesn't add up.

This girl even let go her royal title, but still use it when it gives her advantages.

Her brother, who will be the next king, married a single mom, that was famous for heavy partying and parry drugs. We look forward to seeing rave parties in the royal castle. Maybe they figured they needed a medicine man.

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[GRailsback]

I had a feeling I already knew your feelings on this subject, I just couldn't resist posting that link today. As you know we don't have royals over here, but our politicians are paid by the peoples tax money, but often make decisions based on what is best for them. It's maddening.

I was curious to see what you had to say about that article.

[Norway Joe]

You were right about this. The king is great, though. He should have been a little more strict with his children, given the positions they have.

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[GRailsback]

You could tell by her instagram post that she was fully expecting to take some criticism. And I suspect she probably has. I don't do the tweeter deal and bookface and the instagram stuff so I don't really know what the backlash has been from Norway, or anywhere else for that matter. This BBQ forum and a Texas racing forum is the extent my my online social media footprint.