Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

Here's a well balanced assessment of the stats for America:

channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-black-americans-commit-crime


If you mean from the former colonies, no. It's been subject to restrictions since the 1960s. Nothing to do with race or violence though, it's more to do with the fact that you don't have an automatic right to live in the UK because you were born in a Commonwealth country. Obviously you couldn't continue to have unrestricted immigration on that basis.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


Dolno, it was you who said 'ethnic groups' in London and as I say, there's only three main ones to choose from, of which the Afro-Caribbean community would be the one most associated with guns and crime out of the three. I don't know the exact stats for gun crime committed by black people in the UK or America but I would say it's mostly concentrated in urban areas and the gun crime rate amongst white people in those areas would run pretty high in those places too. Economically and culturally deprived urban communities in the developed world generally have a comparatively high crime rate.

The fact is that most Polish women who marry a black guy won't be choosing a gun toting gang member. If he's American, the Walmart manager is nearer the mark.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

No, I'm not saying it, I thought you were saying it :))


Apart from the odd lunatic Islamic fundamentalist, I don't think people from the Indian sub-continent or Middle East have a greater reputation for gun crime, so I took it to mean black people.


Dolno you're being a bit daft. Are you doing it on purpose? The biggest gun culture of all is America, you can't deny that. Do you want to cap the number of Americans allowed in Poland?

The fact is that it's a question, not of targeting specific groups or nationalities but of deciding what percentage of foreigners you consider to be enough, in order to preserve your Polish culture. But that doesn't address the fact that some Polish women in particular (not so many men), want to marry foreigners from very different cultures and if you have quotas in place, if that quota is filled, at some point a native Pole will be denied the right for their spouse to live with them in Poland - that would violate their human and civil rights.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


Do you mean any people of Afro-Caribbean origin? Black people from anywhere in the world? Or black people specifically from the UK and America or from any country where black people have the highest rate of association with gun crime?

The thing is Dolno that almost none of those people ie gun toting gang members, would be interested in settling in Poland so there's not a lot of point in basing an immigration policy around them. What if an American black guy, with no criminal record, who presently works as a manager at Walmart wants to live in Poland - you say, no, because black people commit more gun crimes. It sounds ridiculous quite frankly and extremely unfair.

News / Thousands of Polish women attend Czarny Piątek rally in Warsaw [780]


She's not Irish. That's an American accent. The rally was in Dublin though. But the banners were a bit wittier than the Polish ones as you'd expect, including "Keep your rosaries off my ovaries"!! :D

According to a report by the Workers' Solidarity Movement (whoever they are):

"The Abortion Rights Campaign organised a wide variety of speakers who discussed many aspects of the pro-choice struggle, including political intersections with migrant and indigenous ethnic minorities in Ireland, queer and trans struggles, and sex worker struggles, as well as two musical acts. "

Now that sort of thing irritates me. Using the abortion issue as an excuse to bang on about totally unrelated issues on the pretext that it's all part of the great 'struggle'. The 'as well as two musical acts' bit really cracked me up, hilarious. Also the minorities referred to, have little cause for complaint as they're pretty well treated in Ireland on the whole.

Actually the people who organized that rally in Dublin, The Abortion Rights Campaign, received a donation of 23,000 dollars from Soros and were instructed by the Irish government to return it, which they did but only under threat of a Garda referral. Irish organizations are not allowed to accept donations which may be used for 'political purposes'.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

@Maf, here you go, the article also covers the proposed changes to the judicial reform law :

eu/article/poland-law-and-justice-retreats-on-controversial-laws/

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]


Apparently they're looking at changing it so that it doesn't apply to 'foreigners' as they've now decided that it may be unconstitutional. I suppose the logistics of suing the world and his wife have finally hit home.

News / Goodbye Sunday Shopping in Poland - Hello Electoral Reform [246]


It's the same in Ireland when there's a Bank Holiday, you'd swear they were expecting the Siege of Krishnapur! (It's a satirical novel about the four month siege of a fictional British garrison in colonial India where the inhabitants are reduced to eating beetles :)) I don't mind a few times a year for public holidays but twice or three times a month is a bit much. Siege mentality shopping I mean, not eating beetles :D

News / Goodbye Sunday Shopping in Poland - Hello Electoral Reform [246]

I was in Biedronka on Friday of last week and their till receipts bore the legend "Jesteśmy gotowi!" with information that all stores will open for at least one hour extra on Fridays and Saturdays, all checkouts will be open on those days and they've taken on 5,000 extra staff, I presume to facilitate the opening of checkouts.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]


Are you for real? The guy had a Polish surname and lived in a town in present day Belarus which was in pre-war Poland, yet the BBC carefully avoided any mention of either fact, referring him to as British (obviously he was a naturalized British citizen). It's quite obvious that they were treading carefully as a result of the new law. Now some people will no doubt applaud that, but it smacks of the Soviet Union when you're wary of even mentioning somebody's nationality for fear of being prosecuted.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Anybody seen this story on the BBC? Stanisław Chrzanowski being investigated for alleged war crimes. I notice they're careful not to suggest the guy was Polish. It's now part of Belarus.

bbc.com/news/uk-england-shropshire-43441118

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

Well he did, but not at the event. That was cancelled.

And something DID happen. A speaker was asked to censor his speech to comply with the new law.

Are you saying the Israelis have made this up? If so, why hasn't Poland expressed outrage at this fabrication? PIS generally never loses an opportunity to take offence at perceived snubs, lies, bullying etc.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]


Where did you get that information? There's a very detailed article about it here.

timesofisrael.com/poland-censors-israeli-mayor-at-official-ceremony-over-mention-of-polish-crimes/

The Israeli Mayor, Dukorsky, says that besides talking about Polish citizens' complicity in actions by the Nazis, he also mentioned the many Poles who saved Jews during World War II.

He says the Polish authorities asked him to omit the number of Jews murdered by Poles during the war, which the speech stated as about 200,000 Jews, and he said he was willing to delete the number.

"But I was requested to make further changes to which I didn't agree," he continued, saying he was asked to substitute the word "Poles" with "Ukrainians" when speaking about Poles' involvement in the Holocaust, and "German Nazis" instead of "Nazis."

Has there been any comment from the Polish government or local authorities about it? It would be very odd and foolish for the Israelis to completely fabricate such a story. I really don't think they're that daft.


It's not a question of formal or legal mechanisms. It's a question of informal social interaction. One can ask, not 'demand' and the person being asked, can be co-operative for the sake of courtesy and observe the formalities of allowing their speech to be glanced over. That would appear to be what happened. The speech can't be 'banned' but the author of the speech can be requested to make changes and if they refuse, the host who invited them to speak is perfectly within their rights to cancel the invitation and equally the speaker is entitled to refuse to deliver the speech.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

It's also reported in The Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post. Apparently the speech contained references to both collaborators and Polish Righteous Among the Nations.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

It seems that it was a visit by some students lead by the Mayor of a town with which Radomsko is twinned. The speech was actually about the Holocaust - otherwise one might be forgiven for thinking that it's a bit rude for guests to mention 'oh and by the way you were complicit in the slaughter of my relatives'! If it counts as an educational event, then under the terms of the new law, shouldn't it be excluded from the ban?


I came across it on an Israeli news site.
israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/243338

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

A planned joint event between Poland and Israel today in Radomsko has been cancelled after the visiting Israeli delegation were asked to submit the text of their speech for examination by the local authority. They were subsequently asked to remove references in it to Poles who turned Jews over to the Germans. When they refused the event was cancelled . It's not clear who took the decision to cancel it or whether it was jointly agreed. The Israelis then held their own event apparently where the uncensored speech was delivered. Wonder if there will be any prosecutions??

Life / St Patrick's day in Poland [272]


Indeed it is. There was a society called The Pioneers whose members took a life-long pledge not to consume alcohol. I don't know if they're still on the go.


Well I'm pretty sure you won't be seeing far right activists at the Paddy's Day parades around Ireland today :))

Life / St Patrick's day in Poland [272]

Oh but, we do! And thank you :))

News / Goodbye Sunday Shopping in Poland - Hello Electoral Reform [246]


Yes it's all stored in an underground vault no doubt :D probably the same bunker where he plans to hide out if 'they' ever come after him.

News / Goodbye Sunday Shopping in Poland - Hello Electoral Reform [246]


The World Bank was very happy to lend its assistance to Poland in 2016 as one of the first countries chosen to participate in the 'Lagging Regions' initiative. Yes Poland is a great success story economically, but only up to a point.It has challenges to face which have to be addressed, unless you want it to end up like America which has a shockingly high poverty rate for a developed country. That's why Poland, even under PIS, who really would prefer to give everybody the finger, wants to continue to participate in programs designed and funded by the EU and the World Bank.

News / Goodbye Sunday Shopping in Poland - Hello Electoral Reform [246]


I took a look at a ranking of EU countries based on GDP adjusted for purchasing power parity and Poland comes out as one of the poorest countries in the EU on that basis. The ranking is based on 2016 figures. When you factor in the number of people in Poland who don't live in affluent cities, who earn low wages or none at all, the sick, the disabled, the elderly, those in debt etc many people are struggling.


I suggest you take some time to read this:

szp.azureedge.net/Web/upload/raport2017/raport_o_biedzie_2017_v2.pdf

Maybe coming from America where there is extreme poverty alongside extreme wealth, you wouldn't find the facts contained in the report shocking but I do. The European tradition is to provide generous social benefits for the elderly and the ill, not to expect a pensioner to pay nearly half their meagre pension for medication each month. Not to mention the slum living conditions of many, families crowded into one room, people without a bathroom etc. The only country in the EU with more overcrowded living conditions is Romania. Poland is number two on the index.

And remember that most of the Mercs and Porsches haven't been paid for, just like the apartments their drivers live in. All they really represent is debt. If you're still paying for something it's a debt, not an asset.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]

I should clarify, that by the 1%, I mean either asylum seekers or economic migrants from non-EU countries, who come without offers of work. As far as the profile of the country goes, we have about 15% foreign nationals with Poles and English being the largest number. The profile of Ireland is still 95% white and Christian. Scare mongering about Muslim hordes really irritates me as it's simply not true, and it certainly isn't true that Ireland will be bringing in a million immigrants by 2040 to boost the population. We have the highest fertility rate in Europe, due ironically in a good part to the Poles and other accession country immigrants whose own countries have aging populations. People automatically equate 'immigrant' with Muslim but as our demographic shows, that's not always the case. We have a 15% non-Irish population but hardly any Muslims.

I think immigration policies have to be sensible. It should be divided between economic migrants and humanitarian refuge for those fleeing war. I certainly don't think that immigration should be used as a way of dealing with an aging population. It should only form part of an overall long-term plan to deal with falling birthrates. And one has to realize that having let's say a 20% foreign national population in your country today, may mean 40% a few generations from now. As long as they integrate it's ok. I mean I don't care what his religion is, what colour his skin is or if his name is Paddy Murphy, Paddy Kowalski, Paddy Mogambo or Paddy Patel as long he's Paddy, if you know what I mean :)) He has to have a sense of Irishness and then I'm ok with it.

I think the whole immigration thing is a different story for every country and is not a one size fits all model.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]

I think you would find this interesting reading:

ria.gov.ie/en/RIA/Pages/2017_Statistic

Click on any one of those reports and you'll find it very informative.

Every month the Reception and Integration Agency of Ireland publishes extremely detailed stats for the current situation relating to refugees/asylum seekers. This information is at the fingertips of the public if they want to know exactly how many asylum seekers are in the country, what their nationalities are, where they're located right down to the address of the buildings they're housed in and the detailed archive allows you to compare results from previous years. I can tell you after reading one of those reports, that last year 50 asylum seekers found their way into Ireland via Romania and were sent back.

Now, one of the strong aspects of Irish political and social culture is availability of information. This kind of freely and easily accessible information is not common in Poland. What's the case in America?? I think it's vital.

Oh and we also have a policy that migrants cannot exceed more than 1% of the population in the catchment area for the local Health Executive so as not to put an undue strain on public services.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]

They can't do that because these people are asylum seekers who have to go through a long process before they're accepted and allowed to remain permanently in the country. Logistically they like to keep them together. It's not uncommon for it to take two years before they receive the final decision on acceptance or rejection. There are other direct provision centres scattered around the country and there have never been any major problems as a result but I agree with the residents of Lisdoonvarna that over a hundred is too high for such a small rural community. Although there is no question that these people would remain permanently in the area, it's just not a good idea. My feeling is that they will be housed there initially and then re-distributed to other centres around the country.

As for them building mosques, that's not very likely with only 600 in total spread all over the country.

Ireland does a good job at integrating people but we need to keep an eye on it to ensure that continues. The funny thing is that if you talk to locals. they lump "Eastern Europeans" as they call them in with all other immigrant groups and will tell you that the Eastern Europeans integrate more easily because they can go to the pub :D Poles certainly were seen as quite different culturally when they first arrived in Ireland. It was mostly young, single males with a low level of education and they didn't make the best impression. They were seen as very dour, rude and even aggressive by Irish standards but that's not the case now. Those who remained mellowed out a lot. The macho culture is not big in Ireland, and of course once the wives and girlfriends joined them their lives normalized.

I think one of the reasons people end up integrating well in Ireland is because the country is very small and as an island, which is not quite European, it has a very strong cultural identity and if you live outside of Dublin you get sucked into it. It's impossible to avoid it. There's no doubt whatsoever that our national Gaelic games of hurling and Gaelic football are massively important as a cultural unifier and they're hugely promoted in schools so kids grow up playing them.

independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/from-laois-hurler-paddy-ruschitzko-to-mayos-shairoze-akram-how-immigrants-are-playing-increasing-role-in-gaa-35302328.html

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]


If you mean Lisdoonvarna the town has about 500 residents and are willing to take 30 of the 115 asylum seekers due to be placed in a centre there. There is a meeting taking place in the next few days with the government to discuss reducing the proposed number due to a public vote taken a couple of days ago in which the town voted by 93% majority to refuse the 115. We'll wait and see but the people will be heard, that's for sure.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]

As is usual in Ireland, the public is being asked for suggestions:

rebuildingireland.ie/news/ireland-2040-launch

We have a well integrated Muslim population already and Poles have finally settled in nicely having been a regular feature in the Irish courts at first with disproportionately high offences for assault and drink driving. Then they learned that's not culturally acceptable in Ireland and they've calmed down and adapted well.

News / Poland in the European Union. Polexit? [559]

Tajani is being recalled from the EU to run for Prime Minister so if Berlusconi wins there'll be a new President for the European Parliament, probably Mairead McGuiness from Ireland.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]

@Johnny, your words were that in the USA responsible gun owners enjoy the freedom to defend themselves and their families and friends followed by "Poland should be allowed those same freedoms".


And you also said:


So to summarize, some Americans on this forum believe that firearms ownership is a desirable thing and not just for Americans but for Poles/Europeans too. In general, Poles and those who live in Poland do not feel the need or desire to own firearms for self-defence either from criminals, invading armies or terrorists or indeed their own government.

Law / Weapons laws in Poland. Carrying a concealed handgun? [918]


You did actually, several times in this thread including suggesting Poles be allowed to carry hand guns to defend themselves from terrorists. Now that's all the conversation I'm going to have with you on this topic.


His Nibs above and Adrian//Dirk whose actual words were "I encourage all Polish citizens to buy a gun".

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1539]

He's no Austin Powers anyway :D international man of mystery.......

He's basically a typical North London Jewish lad with an eye for an opportunity. As for his profile in Poland, he fills a niche in the market so to speak. The most doubtful aspect of his background is his Israeli army career which seems to have been quite glowing. That's harder to check because I'm sure they guard their records quite closely. However I'm equally sure they're aware of him and would be quite quick to disassociate themselves from him if he were making false claims. Unless of course he IS an international man of mystery and has been planted by Mossad! Quite frankly, who cares.