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Posts by mafketis  

Joined: 31 Mar 2008 / Male ♂
Warnings: 1 - O
Last Post: 18 Jul 2025
Threads: Total: 42 / In This Archive: 19
Posts: Total: 11605 / In This Archive: 4201
From: tez nie
Speaks Polish?: tak
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Displayed posts: 4220 / page 99 of 141
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mafketis   
23 Jan 2016
News / Referendum in Poland about so called refugees. [56]

This just in: bayernkurier.de/ausland/9630-die-lawine-kommt-ins-rollen

There are currently twenty times more people crossing the Aegean than this time last year. Can you imagine what will be happening in March? May? The Summer?

I've said all along that for every migrant taken in with no vetting there are twenty more in the wings waiting. I may have been too conservative....
mafketis   
23 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

I happen to know some of the stories about Gierek

I mean in general societal terms, an economic populist who created an economic mess whose effects are still felt.
mafketis   
23 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

More signifiantly their influecne is clearly waning

The majority of Poles think that the personalities of leaders are more important than the law! Just like the PRL

Kaczyński is basically Gierek with Catholicism instead of Communism.
mafketis   
23 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Those who think PO didn't choose 5 judges and did that on purpose to make problems next govt will have to deal with

Of course they did. But it's disgraceful that it worked. Rather than appoint the three judges who were constitutionally chosen and then chosing two more of their own the ruling party took the ridiculous bait and got involved in an ugly wrangle that no good will come from.
mafketis   
23 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

PO is trying to force Mr President Duda to accept two judges they chose

All mixed up as usual: PO appointed five judges. According the the rules set out in the constitution three of those were properly made and two weren't. Nobody wants the two improperly chosen judges to be sworn in as fas as I know. The three properly selected judges should be sworn in - to not do so is to violate the constitution.

But why did PO supporters didn't say a word about what former govt did and they're vocal now?

There wasn't a verdict before now? No one is now defending the two judges or PO for chosing five instead of three , it's the three that were selected in accordance with the constitution that are the issue.

In practice they're going to pass Constitution-breaking laws without having the required majority.

Exactly. It's rule by party (as in most of the time of the PRL) rather than rule of law. Those who support the current PiS policy vis a vis the constitution are technically traitors since they're putting their political allegiance ahead of the constitution.
mafketis   
23 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

PO sneakily and illicitly appointed TK judges: 1) to ensure their continued monopoly (PO had hand-picked 14 of the 15 TK members with only 1 for the opposition); and/or 2) PO deseprately needed a pretext to stir up trouble and destabilise the winning camp.

PO incorrectly appointed 2 judges. Three correctly appointed judges are being ignored by the overly partisan ruling party.

And the TK is about interpreting the constitutionality of legislation and so party affiliation should not matter, by discussing the party affiliation of judges PiS is signalling that it intends to appoint judges who will support it irregardless of the constitution - rule of party and not rule of law.

Finally, there's no rule saying the opposition cannot try to destabilize the ruling party. That the ruling party fell so easily for such obvious bait is an indicator of its .... unsuitability for being the ruling party.
mafketis   
23 Jan 2016
Life / Is Poland a poor country? [578]

The EU doesn't lend money , it's grants it. It's a gift.

It's the Euro that does loans (rather than transfers) guaranteeing its status as natural disaster for non-Franco-Germanish countries.
mafketis   
22 Jan 2016
News / Referendum in Poland about so called refugees. [56]

I think it's a good idea, the policy of Merkel et al is simply unworkable and the more everyday citizens make it clear they're not going to stand for it then the sooner it can be stopped.

Also how did Kukiz come up with a good idea? Did somebody supply him with it?
mafketis   
22 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

When KORWiN got wind of it they registered a march against irresponsible immigration policy and for solidarity with the victims of Cologne.

What an αss clown that guy is. He's on record as saying women shouldn't have the right to vote and now he's all Pan Solidarność with women.

Haven't his fifteen (or five) minutes run out yet?
mafketis   
22 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

so you support any label "demonstrations for democracy" not the actual principle behind the demonstrations

Do try to improve your reading comprehension. I support the right of people to protest government policies they dislike. Protestors do not need my approval or disapproval.

I'm not really the protesting kind but people protesting (in a reasonably orderly fashion) is a sign of a healthy society.
mafketis   
22 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

PO was in charge none of the foreigners on this forum supported any democratic demonstrations

Not true! I always support the right to demonstrate against government policies (whether or not I agree with the protestors).

I expect an apology!
mafketis   
22 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

You worry about the relatively few emergency workers who do major shopping on Sunday

That's not my argument at all. My argument that there is no clear consensus on this issue. Every poll I've seen (not many) has the population split right down the middle between people who want stores closed on Sunday and those that don't, maybe with a slight edge to the latter.

Enacting a law that would have serious economic consequences (negative) and serious unemployment consequences (negative) when there is no strong majority wanting said law is simply bad policy making. I'm not an ideologue - beyond being in favor of what works and being against what doesn't work (no matter how appealing it might be to some).

Since there are no stores only open on Sundays that I know of and no other coercion making people shop on Sunday then a reasonable conclusion is that most people shopping on Sundays want to be doing that. And I'm sure most of the people working on Sunday would rather be doing that than sit at home unemployed (if they preferred unemployment then they wouldn't have a job in the first place).

Now, should public opinion shift towards around 2/3 in favor of closing stores on Sunday then it _might_ be a reasonable idea, but enacting policies that don't have a lot of support with the idea that "they'll learn to love it!" is a half-step away from totalitarianism.

But I don't think anything will happen at this time. This is an issue that shows up every couple of years, gets batted around and then it goes away. It's mostly a non-issue meant to distract people.
mafketis   
22 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Never heard you express concern for coalminers, often their families' sole providers, turned out of work, although their job is far more taxing and dangerous than punching a cash register.

I don't recall writing much about coalminers - though, as you should know, coalminers in Poland have it easy compared to coalminers in our own country where for generations it was a halfstep away from slavery (thru institutions like scrip and the company store).

But even in the best of conditions mining is a dirty, dangerous business (I remember being in the cemetery in Lubin and being shocked at how many young men were buried in their 30's...

That's called hypocrisy or moralność Kalego

No. Moralność Kalego is "Gdy Kali ukraść krowę, to dobrze, gdy Kalemu ukraść krowę, to źle" (roughly: When Kali steal cow that good, when steal cow from Kali that bad). In other words it's replacing moral principles of right and wrong with the criteria of personal benefit.

The party doing that now is PiS "When constitution stop PiS that bad, when Pis stop constitution that good".
mafketis   
21 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

But Poland is luckily still a spiritual place that acknowledges time-honoured traditions and higher values that go beyond consuming and excreting.

Written like someone who's never witnessed the church-to-the-supermarket beeline to be found on Sunday late mornings afternoons.

Once I was in the cukiernia/pastry line in the local supermarket but had timed things badly so I was behind about a dozen babcias and dziadeks leaving church with complicated combinations of cakes and candies. It forever as most of them were acting like they'd never seen different kinds of sernik before and wanted to know what everything was before buying....
mafketis   
21 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

I think the idea is to limit large-scale trade at big supermarkets, hypermarkets and shopping centers.

In policy making and legislation it doesn't matter at all what the idea is. What matters is what happens in the real world when the law is put in place.

Politics is always the art of trade offs (no free lunches).

Shutting down stores on Sunday is a restriction on employment and every restriction on employment reduces employment.

So the question is: How many people losing their jobs is an acceptable trade off for you in terms of making sure that people stay home on Sunday?

What would you tell the people who lose their jobs?
mafketis   
20 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Furthermore, many teachers of adults work during the weekends.

I used to have classes on come Sundays and when the government then was talking about making them illegal (PiS I? or after?) the students were very upset as that was the only time they could be there.
mafketis   
20 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

I think we are talking about checkout assistants here.

Let's compromise on kasjer(ka). The people filling that position one minute are stacking shelves or cleaning up a mess some customer made (and vice versa)

I also find it impossible to believe that these workers put on adult incontinence garments and excreted into them while sitting at the checkout.

I first heard the idea as a joke about a hypothetical situation some years ago and was surprised later that some people actually thought it happened (on a regular basis!)
mafketis   
20 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Have you ever worn a Pampers liek supermarket cashiers do because your boss didn't let you take a loo break?

As far as I can tell, this is an urban legend and can find no actual verification that this was ever a common occurence (if it has happened it hasn't in recent years).

The Biedronka that I go to there doesn't even seem to be a separate 'cashier' position.
mafketis   
19 Jan 2016
News / Is Jarosław Kaczyński the new Lech Wałęsa? [74]

tried to nip de-communisation in the bud

De-communization is a long and difficult process not a cheap media event made by releasing unvetted lists to the press or by pushing through poorly conceived laws. My working assumption would be that a person who simply compiles a list and releases it has something to hide themselves.

To the extent that what Olszewski was doing was de-communization it should have been nipped in the bud because it wasn't a reasoned process built on the rule of law but more like a clown rodeo in vvhoretown.

And... why do the most fervent anti-communists assume that the communists were superbly accurate and superbly honest record keepers? Given the way communism worked in every other sphere of life I think that communist files need to be treated with a lot of suspicion. SB recruiters who were expected to make quotas probably just made a lot of crap up and once they saw the handwriting on the wall then they probably added in a few fake files.
mafketis   
19 Jan 2016
Study / Any (inexpensive) English Schools in Krakow? [60]

The general rule in Poland is that "English medium" schools are not very good (they dont' attract the best teachers).

If your kid is 4 years old they won't be going to school for a couple of years anyway, plenty of time for them to become fluent in Polish and education in Polish in Poland is far superior to what can be found in English.
mafketis   
18 Jan 2016
News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

I've often heard Poles say "I'll just look after myself, because the country doesn't do anything for me..."

That is _such_ a PRL thing to say, it was super strong in the early 90s but then seemed to be fading some. And now, it's back again.

The 4th republic is essentially the PRL without the lip service to communism.
mafketis   
18 Jan 2016
News / Is Jarosław Kaczyński the new Lech Wałęsa? [74]

why do you think Jarosław Kaczyński hates Lech Wałęsa so much ?

The logical answer is the LW was involved in Solidarity and opposing the communists and JK...... wasn't, which is why he wasn't detained during martial law.

My sidewalk psychoanalysis is that JK hates himself for a lot of reasons (not doing more against the communists, sexual orientation who knows what else) and so he keeps trying to prove to himself he's the person he wants to be - his brother. And I think he's dealing with a lot of internalized guilt over Smolensk. Even his supporters said he almost cracked up in the aftermath of that.
mafketis   
18 Jan 2016
News / Is Jarosław Kaczyński the new Lech Wałęsa? [74]

No, it is really about finally rewarding and making things up to those masses of Polłes forced to effectviely live in PRL for the past 26 years by the entitled ones

That is just demented, do you really think there's been no change (for the better) for most people since 1989? I've been here far more often than not since about 1991 and the changes are huge and have benefitted a large majority of the population. To say otherwise is ignorance or demagoguery.

wormed their way into the administration, judiciary and academia, culture and publishing and monopolised the media

Well the PZPR was filled with talented, ambitious and not very political people along with the party hacks and oppressors. It's normal that many would still flourish. To prevent anyone with a PZPR past from public office would have been a fricking disaster for Poland as a large part of the population with eany managerial talent was part of it.

As far as cooperation with the SB goes, that's another tough one to figure out. My assumption is that a lot of SB records are nonsense (that is communist pathology infected the day to day running of operations as much as everything else).

Why shouldn't others, those disentitled for 26 years, not enjoy some of the fruits of the transformation?

What fruits? You just said there wasn't a change over the last 26 years? Make up your mind. To the extent that it means anything it sounds like you want your side to have their turn at the trough....

There are some things that are undeniably worse and one of those is access to education (one of the very few good things in the PRL was that smart hardworking people from very humble backgrounds could get a toehold in higher education - that's largely dried up though it's better now than it was 15 years ago)

They don't want disentitled to live better lives

And just how are economic ideas from 40 or so years ago going to help anyone but government cronies to better lives?
mafketis   
17 Jan 2016
News / Is Jarosław Kaczyński the new Lech Wałęsa? [74]

The main thing is that the temporaily disentitled banksters and nomenklaturists get back to the trouhg which, in your view, is their rightful place.

You were making such progress and now.... this.

It's not the 1970s anymore but that's when all of PiS's policies might have worked a little. It's an entirely different world and JK doesn't realize it and his pathological hatred of any opposition means he'll never understand how the modern world works because he won't listen to anyone who does understand. He's an almost tragic figure, turning what should have been a great success into more domestic conflict.

Be sure, I hate a lot of how the modern world works but I also realize that it's only be recognizing what's going on (which is a lot more complex than your simplistic guff about banksters and nomenklatura) that there can be any hope of finding a better model.

Almost everything PiS does is about punishing perceived enemies, but Poland can only prosper by creating incentives for small business and not crippling them with idiotic taxes but that's all that PiS knows how to do now.
mafketis   
17 Jan 2016
News / Is Jarosław Kaczyński the new Lech Wałęsa? [74]

If the KOD riffraff tried to physically remove the government, the military would be there to mow them down

Your violent fantasies can be disturbing, do you often fantasize about killing your political enemies?
mafketis   
17 Jan 2016
Polonia / Should Poles help Germans organize protests demanding free media ? [136]

At some point in time the established parties might not be strong enough to prevent Le Pen from reaching the 50.01%.

I have no special feeling about FN but the recent election situation does not seem healthy. The number of voters keeps growing and the ruling parties are not addressing any of the issues that FN is talking about which makes it possible that they will at some point win some significant victory.

Usually the quickest way to tame a radical party is to make it responsible for ruling something (it doesn't always work but it does more often than not). The burdern of having to satisfy citizens is a great big bucket of cold water over the heads of most radicals.
mafketis   
17 Jan 2016
Polonia / Should Poles help Germans organize protests demanding free media ? [136]

More and more this in case with refugees sound me as orchestrated crisis (while EU ruling establishment pretended to losing control), with purpose not to weaken or destroy EU but in fact to strengthen it and increase control of western Europe

Close. The consensus among people who've spent a lot of time on this and who understand how the modern world works (that is understnad ideas like the end of the nation state and liquidity) assume that the ultimate purposes of the "refugee crisis" are

1) wreck the welfare state by overburdening it with people who cannot hope to be economically productive (while stifling criticism of the policies that lead to this as 'racist') both Germany and Sweden are rapidly disinvesting and cutting social services to citizens in favor of "refugees".

2) destabilize western countries (liquid capital loves unrest and instability of certain kinds, look up the term IMF riot if you don't understand)

3) refocus the interests of the native populations western countries by importing a lot of people who aren't very good at creating and/or maintaining civil society and who are mostly politically apathetic though prone to mass violence in certain circumstances (this is done with latinos in the US and Muslims in Europe) so the various ethnic and religious groups in the borders of any given country spend their time focused on each other rather than on what the national governments are doing

there's moire but that's a start.

There are other theories (Merkel is actually mentally ill and/or being bribed/threatened by non-European actors) but I put less faith in them.