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Posts by mafketis  

Joined: 31 Mar 2008 / Male ♂
Warnings: 1 - O		 Last Post: 4 hrs ago
Threads: Total: 43 / Live: 23 / Archived: 20
Posts: Total: 11637 / Live: 6935 / Archived: 4702 		From: tez nie
Speaks Polish?: tak
Interests: tez nie

Displayed posts: 6958 / page 188 of 232
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mafketis   
21 Feb 2018
Law / Polish EU Drivers Licence - can I get one the easy way (by paying for it)? [185]

a lot of people were at one time tempted to go down the illegal route

At one time there was almost no other way to actually get a drivers license in Poland, the tests were graded in such a way that most had to pay bribes to get their license, a good friend, one of the smartest people I've known in Poland (who'd never failed a test before in his life) failed the written test the first time, in a way that made him realize how corrupt the system was and opted out of trying to get a license.
mafketis   
19 Feb 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

I don't see anything there about it being a criminal offense to say that some Poles collaborated with the Nazis

the intent (minus the quibbling over words): Polish people do not recognize any collective guilt over the holocaust.

The rejection of collective guilt is what drives many Israelis (and other Jewish people) crazy. They absolute want Polish people to feel the same kind of collective guilt that Germans feel (the better to make the case for financial restitution).

They would like for Russians/ex-Soviets to feel collective guilt too but they realize you can't squeeze blood from a turnip
mafketis   
17 Feb 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

"Big Government" is a term coined by the democrats yet in essence obama created huge Big Government.

No, it goes back further. Essentially the federal government has been increasing in importance (quite in contradiction to the constitution) since opponents of Civil Rights in the 1950s tried to tie their misbegotten cause with "states rights" usuing a legitimate principal to justify terrible unconstitutional actions gave the national government an excuse to roll back state (rather than federal) authority.

No president in the last 100 years has decreased the size of the national government.
mafketis   
17 Feb 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

the basic rights guaranteed us as American citizens.

The constitutions doesn't 'guarantee' rights but prevents the government from infringing against what might be called natural rights (such as having unpopular opinions).

And the federal government is really minor in the constitution, the primary level of government was intended to be at the state level with national government existing only where state level solutions were unfeasible.

So the current Polish law (easing back to the subject of the forum) would be completely unconstitutional as would any kind of holocaust denial legislation and that's how it should be - freedom of expression uber alles!
mafketis   
17 Feb 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Even the Bill of Rights did not forego the need for a conscience,

You profoundly misunderstand the Bill of Rights, it doesn't "protect" or "help" people, it sets ironclad limits on what the _government_ can do (like arrest people who have unpopular beliefs).

every citizen's RIGHT to happiness, free of want and fear?

There is no such right enumerated in the Constitution.
mafketis   
16 Feb 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

tain't a question of following "religious arguments" or not!

Then stop invoking religious texts.

"infantilizing adults" (whatever the heck that's supposed to mean)

It refers to treating adults like small children who need protection. Adults should be able to look out for themselves.

see someone being bullied right in front of you, being threatened with homophobic or racist threats,

Completely unrelated to the question about whether the government should be criminalizing beliefs.

If an adult tells other adults they think the holocaust either didn't happen or is greatly exaggerated then trying to throw them in jail is admitting you have no other arguments.

Freedom of expression only works if it covers the expression of personal beliefs that others find abhorrent or ugly or dangerous.
mafketis   
16 Feb 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Death threats are not 'mean things'

Agreed, threats of or calls to violence against individuals or identifiable groups of people are not protected. But many of the things that people are being arrested for in the UK and Germany (for example) are hardly credible threats of violence and are instead simply government crackdowns against a population that's getting to uppity.

I'm against the current Polish law (and holocaust denial laws) because they're about criminalizing belief. People have the right to believe wrong things - if not they have no other rights.
mafketis   
16 Feb 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

some child is being bullied mercilessly in the schoolyard

So you want to infantilize adults.... really? Children are not moral agents (not fully) adult citizens are.

in most civilized societies is, at least SHOULD, be there to protect and defend citizens from hatred, bullying, and violence against the weaker of this world

Which is why Israel takes such exquisite care of the Palestinians, a beacon to the world!

responsibilities to follow the Bible's guidelines

Nope. Not gonna work with me. I don't buy into religious arguments. Build a civil society argument for limiting speech that the government doesn't like (which is what all 'hate speech' laws quickly devolve into).
mafketis   
14 Feb 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

I see you've never heard of either slander or libel, apparently!

Unrelated to the topic at hand.

never before did a single gov't. of a modern, industrially developed nation

That's the only really unique thing with the holocaust, although other governments have arguably killed more people (like the Soviets and Chinese).

The 20th century was marked by lots o' genocide - making it all about the holocaust alone disrespects other victims.
mafketis   
14 Feb 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

how about Armenian genocide? how about vikings crimes? or mongols burning down kiev?

How about Rwanda? Cambodia? Palestine? Why is all concern about genocide supposed to be about Germany in WWII it wasn't the first or last or even the largest (proportionately). If all thought of genocide is limited to the holocaust then there's nothing to learn about genocide...
mafketis   
14 Feb 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

should in fact be punished, at least fined substantially, for spreading lies.

So you don't believe in freedom of speech.... and you think the historical accuracy of the narrative is so delicate that it can't stand criticism? Maybe it does need to be investigated...

free speech doesn't mean hate speech

Who defines hate speech?
mafketis   
13 Feb 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

The Russians think that they won the second world war by their lonesome

In Europe that was largely true, the allies helped a little in the west but the hard work was done by the soviets. The Americans did mostly win the pacific theater.

Georgia's fault and not the USSR's.

I think the distinction is Soviet (Stalin) vs Russian but Stalin is being rehabilitated now so...
mafketis   
12 Feb 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

their Polish gentile fellow prisoners

You do realize that "Polish prisoners of Nazi concentration camps" are hardly a representative group...

it wouldn't shock me if they tied the presence of American troops in Poland to the return of propert

What "return"? the chances that anything valuable about the property predates WWII is a fantasy 99% of the time and no, return of property should not include construction after WWII. If it's returned they should pay taxes on it since construction - no more no questions asked returns.

If they want to return to Poland to claim and live in it - fine, but if they want to stay in the US and sell it to someone in absentia then they can go chase a cat as far as I'm concerned.
mafketis   
10 Feb 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

If Biblical Law existed, it might prove a very different story.

But..... it doesn't. Look, I don't have a dog in the Israeli Palestinian struggle over land, it's a scenario that's played out countless times in human existence and usually the better organized side wins - in this case that's the Israelis. It only bothers me when the Israelis expect people to recognize them as somehow entitled because of their religion. Nope. That don't play with me. Try again they're not special they're just pulling the same power dynamic that all groups do.
mafketis   
10 Feb 2018
News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

leave all illegally occupied lands

Yeah.... I'm actually overall far more in the Israeli friend camp than the "drive them into the sea!" camp but they have little room to lecture other countries about morality. Grant the Palestinians the right of return and then they can preach to Poland...

to be clear, the right of return is a non-starter and would be a terrible idea, but all the melodramatic hand wringing about this dumb law does not create a good impression.