News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]

I can only wonder why Ironside seems so keen to promote rule of the Party over the rule of law.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


So it's about putting judges under the control of parliament.


Instead of repeating what PiS say, could you perhaps point to some clear evidence of this?

There are a handful of rotten apples in every organisation, and to claim that the entire KRS doesn't work because of a few judges is classic totalitarian thinking.

Look at PiS - we have several bad apples there. Should they be delegalised as a result? Or is it one rule for one and another rule for another?

Work / Studies In Poland, is it easy to survive on part-time jobs? [259]


Could be UberEats or similar. Apparently those "gig" type jobs are going almost exclusively to foreigners.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


I was just thinking that, maybe this is the plan! Replace the EU subsidies with large collective farms, and farmers will have no reason to complain.


The more you post about Poland, the more I'm convinced you have zero connection with modern day Poland.

Farmers like the CAP because it guarantees them a stable income, unlike the situation before 2004 when they were at the mercy of governments and food processors.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


Yes yes, of course. Those farmers want nothing more than to return to the good old days when they were highly dependent upon the crumbs from the government.


Could that be because most people in Poland didn't enjoy a comfortable nomeklatura upbringing?

Off-Topic / What Poles know and eventually want to know about Slovenia and Slovenians ? [14]


Yes, very much so. Slovenian is full of interesting examples like that, which is what makes it so difficult to understand them. The spoken language is like Croatian in that it differs completely from the literary form, so that also gives huge problems for making sense of it. From what I know, it also depends on the part of Slovenia, so for instance, those people from Maribor will use German borrowings in speech, while those from Koper will use Italian ones.

What's curious for me is how loanwords in Slovene are pretty much a sign of a bad education.

Travel / Traveling to Auschwitz this weekend in motorhome need advise on toll roads [8]


It's obligatory to use ViaToll if your motorhome is more than 3.5t.

When you drive from Dresden, the last service area on the A4 is called "An Der Oder" - it's a few hundred metres before the border. Pull in there, and drive to the far end of the car park. It's quite hard to explain, but it's here - marked as "Toll Road Rest Stop" on Google Maps. When you first enter the service area, you won't see the ViaToll point at all - it's very badly signposted. Be careful - it's easy to miss the ViaToll point, so I'd suggest parking up next to the toilets and walking from there.

google.com/maps/place/Viatoll+Punkt+Obslugi+Klienta/@51.1866043,14.9872491,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xdf43a6d602a78218!8m2!3d51.1861712!4d14.9881766

You need to get the ViaToll box there, as there are no physical toll booths between Gorlitz and Wrocław. After Wrocław, you use the viatoll lanes (far right) on entry and exit to the first tolled section between Wrocław and Gliwice.

After that, I'm not sure if you'll use the A4 between Mysłowice and Kraków, but if you do, it's cash/card only, not ViaToll.

There are plenty of sections of non-motorway roads that are also charged by ViaToll - you'll notice them by the presence of a small orange sign showing the ViaToll tag. Make sure your account is well topped up - there are plenty of checks by the Road Inspectorate for ViaToll violations.

Off-Topic / What Poles know and eventually want to know about Slovenia and Slovenians ? [14]


Provided a huge amount of revenue for Yugoslavia and in particular Kosovo and Southern Serbia during the SFRJ times too.


It's impossible to understand. Reading isn't quite so terrible, but it's not really possible to speak to them.

News / Was Kaczyński behind the presidential veto? [65]


Yes, what about it Polonius?

oko.press/oskarzeniami-o-astroturfing-stoja-znacznej-mierze-zwolennicy-pis

Readers can see here that it is clear that it was actually PiS that indulged in this. Quite embarrassing to be caught so easily, to be honest.

News / 2ND MIRACLE OF THE VISTULA: youth mysteriously appear out of nowhere! [231]


One can only wonder how they would howl if Kaczyński was put on trial where the judge and prosecutor were appointed by an opposition Minister of Justice.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


Yes, it seems so. There's an article here - euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/article-7-the-ins-and-outs-of-the-eus-nuclear-option/ - that explains that the Hungarian "veto" that JK has been relying on doesn't actually exist. Even if the Slovaks and Czechs also join in, it still isn't enough if all the other member states agree. There's also no way that this would have been mentioned if there wasn't already the 80% in favour.


Absolutely. He has a very, very poor grasp of how the EU works and how deals are done, and he seems to genuinely believe that Poland is big enough to stand up to the EU. I wouldn't be surprised to see Szydło humiliated again after a final chance meeting before formal sanctions.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


It's clear that enough is enough, and that there's enough support among European countries for sanctioning Poland.


I can assure you that plenty of those funds have gone on attracting foreign businesses to Poland.

News / Was Kaczyński behind the presidential veto? [65]


That level of debate is exactly why tech-savvy young people are turned off from the government.

News / Was Kaczyński behind the presidential veto? [65]


One theory is that Duda simply realised that if he signed this law, he would almost certainly be in the firing line if PiS lose power. The protests were growing in number, and unlike the previous ones, the numbers weren't falling.

News / 60% of Poles say Szydło's government should resign [238]


Like Piotrowicz standing hand in hand with Kaczyński?


Maf, isn't that because of the political situation post-1989? As far as I remember, the 1989 President was intended to be something like the American President, with strong executive power. The idea was that Jaruzelski got the job so that he could push through the reforms needed, as the army had loyalty to him. It then turned into "your President, our PM", and he turned the Presidency into somewhat of a ceremonial role.

Wałęsa then got elected, and he was fighting constantly with governments over his exact role, because it was all quite unclear. The 1997 Constitution addressed this by placing power primarily in the hands of the PM, but they had to leave some (unclear) powers in the hands of the President in order to get it through the Sejm. That's why the strange role of the President in foreign relations exists, for example, or the very unclear role of the President as Commander-in-Chief.


That's my suspicion too. Duda shouldn't be trusted here, as the whole thing reeks of political calculation.

News / Was Kaczyński behind the presidential veto? [65]


It seems to me that you are accurately representing the genuine fear in the PiS ranks when they realised that young people had woken up. The poll showing 82% of young people in opposition to PiS also scared quite a few people.

Polonius, I know you're not tech-literate, but I can tell you that the tech community (for the first time) took sides, and this had a massive influence on young, technological-literate people. When you've got many influential decision-makers in the tech world openly calling on Duda to veto these laws, then it's not a surprise that young people also took to the streets.

Life / HIV/AIDS growing in Poland - more fear of pregnancy than STDs [82]


Nope. Surest way to catch it is to share needles with an HIV positive person.


Why would you celebrate the death of something that brought unprecedented peace to Europe?

Surely as someone who takes a keen interest in Polish history, you should be delighted that Poland is part of a safe and secure club.

Life / HIV/AIDS growing in Poland - more fear of pregnancy than STDs [82]


What crumbling? The EU is doing just fine, no matter how jealous Americans get.

News / Officials in Poland are hailing an upcoming visit by Donald Trump [720]


Nor do they "urinate" on detained people.

News / Officials in Poland are hailing an upcoming visit by Donald Trump [720]


As do the Americans from the sounds of things. Even more reason for Europe to create a common European army to fight against aggressors, be they American or otherwise.


There is no justification for the police to murder civilians. Poland already went through several traumatic episodes in which that happened, which is why the Polish police don't use lethal force. This isn't America, police here do not pull guns and shoot people dead for being black.


I'm sorry to break it to you, but Polish police aren't thugs like in the US. They detain people in a civilised way, and they certainly do not "urinate" on people.

If the American police think that urinating on the dead body of black children is acceptable behaviour, then I pity you.

News / Officials in Poland are hailing an upcoming visit by Donald Trump [720]


See, as much as you are desperate for another brutal war in Europe, police here have no interest in murdering civilians.

The fact that you suggest on a Polish forum of all places that the police should murder protestors says it all. People in Poland would spit in your face for making such a suggestion, not least because of the history of police being used to murder civilian demonstrators.

News / Trump will hold Poland up as an example for other nations to follow [106]


Quite. We should always remember here that Croatia is very much Germany's puppet in the Balkans and will always do what is best for Germany.

I'm sure the Americans know just fine that Croatia is under the German sphere of influence too. There's no way that Croatia is going to harm German/American interests in Europe.

Life / Polish tattoo ideas [13]


I'm not so fond of him, but it's a good idea nonetheless.

Maybe something like a white-tailed eagle (not the symbol, but the actual eagle) with "Za wolność Naszą i Waszą" below it? It's a beautiful phrase and sums up much of the romantic spirit of Poland, I think.

News / Trump will hold Poland up as an example for other nations to follow [106]


I'm fully aware that you have no idea what diplomatic protocol is or why it's important.

I suppose you also indulge in rapid forking?

Life / Polish tattoo ideas [13]


It's not closed! Summerhill is still fine, and A.S. Neill's daughter is still running the school.


Yes, that's why I think it's worth getting a tattoo of him. He was probably one of the finest citizens of the II RP, and wasn't it the year of Korczak just a couple of years ago?

He's one of the few people who no-one seems to have a bad word to say about.

Life / Polish tattoo ideas [13]


Yes, absolutely - the guy was ahead of his time. It's astonishing that we still haven't learnt much from him, and that Polish schools are still stuck in a pre-Korczak era.

News / Trump will hold Poland up as an example for other nations to follow [106]


Yes, it was a clear failing of diplomatic protocol.

Life / Polish tattoo ideas [13]


Go for something much less obvious - what about a tattoo of Emilia Plater? Even if we don't really know what she really did, she's still a great figure in Polish history. People will be fascinated by it as well, and she has such a great story - for me, she's the definition of Polishness.

Classifieds / House cleaner job - Chichester, West Sussex [12]


And no holiday pay or sick pay as well. What a great job!

And I agree, there's nothing cushy about life on benefits in the UK.

News / Officials in Poland are hailing an upcoming visit by Donald Trump [720]


Or were they there because they were told to be there, just like in the PRL?