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Tuesday Reads
Posted: July 29, 2014 | Author: dakinikat | Filed under: #Occupy and We are the 99 percent!, 2014 elections, 2016 elections, Democratic Politics, Hillary Clinton, morning reads, Ralph Nader, Voter Ignorance, We are so F'd | 29 Comments
The state of America's democratic experiment really worries me these days. It seems so railroaded by the interests of the very few. I'm not sure if you got a chance to read the following article at Salon by Bill Curry. You should. It's about how the Democratic Party got co-opted by Wall Street interests and helped continue us down the road to complete plutocracy. It starts with out following the decline in the party's alignment with ordinary Americans and the history of Ralph Nader's formation of the consumer protection movement. Ultimately, it is about Nader and his new book. But,the details of the re-alignment and Nader's personal history are an interesting read when put into the context of our road to corporate tyranny.
In the late '70s, deregulation fever swept the nation. Carter deregulated trucks and airlines; Reagan broke up Ma Bell, ending real oversight of phone companies. But those forays paled next to the assaults of the late '90s. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 had solid Democratic backing as did the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999. The communications bill authorized a massive giveaway of public airwaves to big business and ended the ban on cross ownership of media. The resultant concentration of ownership hastened the rise of hate radio and demise of local news and public affairs programming across America. As for the "modernization" of financial services, suffice to say its effect proved even more devastating. Clinton signed and still defends both bills with seeming enthusiasm.
The Telecommunications Act subverted anti-trust principles traceable to Wilson. The financial services bill gutted Glass-Steagall, FDR's historic banking reform. You'd think such reversals would spark intra-party debate but Democrats made barely a peep. Nader was a vocal critic of both bills. Democrats, he said, were betraying their heritage and, not incidentally, undoing his life's work. No one wanted to hear it. When Democrats noticed him again in 2000 the only question they thought to ask was, what's got into Ralph? Such is politics in the land of the lotus eaters.
The furor over Nader arose partly because issues of economic and political power had, like Nader himself, grown invisible to Democrats. As Democrats continued on the path that led from Coehlo to Clinton to Obama, issues attendant to race, culture and gender came to define them. Had they nominated a pro-lifer in 2000 and Gloria Steinem run as an independent it's easy to imagine many who berated Nader supporting her. Postmortems would have cited the party's abandonment of principle as a reason for its defeat. But Democrats hooked on corporate cash and consultants with long lists of corporate clients were less attuned to Nader's issues.
Democrats today defend the triage liberalism of social service spending but limit their populism to hollow phrase mongering (fighting for working families, Main Street not Wall Street). The rank and file seem oblivious to the party's long Wall Street tryst. Obama's economic appointees are the most conservative of any Democratic president since Grover Cleveland but few Democrats seem to notice, or if they notice, to care.
This also happened along side a group of democratic senators–including Joe Biden–that helped seat the 5 generic, oddball Catholic men that threaten everything the country stands for by deciding almost SCOTUS decisions in oddball Catholic ways. (You have to wonder if they listen at all to the current Pope.) Additionally, things have gotten so right wing in the diplomacy sector that John Kerry and Barack Obama's state department seem to be tilting in the same direction as the neocon-infested, apartheid loving Israeli government of Bibi the Butcher of Gaza.
This certainly isn't the party of my FDR-loving Great Grandmother Nancy Anna Chisholm Williams whose father and uncle blazed the west with the Chisholm Trail and who lived and died a Depression surviving Okie. Big political interests keep driving the Democrats into very undemocratic places.
The Obama administration deserves much of the blame for the failure of the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
It had originally been hoped that the United States would present a binding framework along the lines of what moderate Israeli and Palestinian political leaders had agreed to in unofficial talks in Geneva in 2003: Israel would recognize a Palestinian state based roughly on the pre-1967 borders with mutual territorial swaps, which would leave the Palestinians with 22 percent of historic Palestine and allow Israel to keep the remaining 78 percent; the Palestinian state would be demilitarized and all irregular militias disarmed; illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territory near the Israeli border—encompassing close to 80 percent of the settlers—would be incorporated into Israel while settlers in the more remote settlements would be required to return to Israel; there would be no right of return for Palestinian refugees to Israel, but there would be international assistance in helping them resettle in the new Palestinian state; and some Israeli troops would remain along border crossings between the Palestinian state and its Arab neighbors, eventually to be replaced by international forces.
The Palestinian government agreed to these terms. Israel rejected them. Rather than make public this framework, and thereby hope the Israeli public would pressure its right-wing government to compromise, the Obama administration instead insisted that "both sides" had shown a lack of will to compromise.
An interview with an anonymous U.S. official close to the peace talks in an Israeli publication confirmed numerous other reports that, despite the Obama administration's claims to the contrary, the Palestinian side made major concessions while the Israeli side essentially refused to make any, generally refusing to talk about any substantive issues.
A host of Democratic and Republican former officials—including a former national security adviser, secretary of defense, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, trade representative, and undersecretary of state for political affairs—went on record arguing that the Obama administration would have to challenge the Israeli government's hard line towards the Palestinians in order for the peace process to be successful. Unfortunately, the White House apparently had no interest in doing so.
Instead, Washington has focused on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's refusal to give in to U.S. and Israeli demands that he recognize Israel as a "Jewish state." While the Palestinian government, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the ruling Fatah party have all recognized the state of Israel for more than 20 years, the Obama administration has effectively moved the goalposts by declaring that recognizing the Israeli government, acknowledging its right to exist, and providing security guarantees is not enough, insisting that the Palestinians explicitly recognize the state of Israel's ethno-religious identity as well. No previous administration has put forward such a requirement. President Carter never made such demands on Egypt, nor did President Clinton require this of Jordan as a condition for their peace treaties with Israel. Abbas has said that Israel can identify itself however it wants, but—given that 20 percent of the Israeli population is ethnically Palestinian Arab—it would be politically impossible to agree to something that would acknowledge second-class status for other Palestinians.
Never in history has any country been required to recognize the ethnic or religious identity of another state as a condition for peace. It appears, then, that the Obama administration's demand may have been an effort to destroy any chance of a peace agreement and leave an opening to blame the Palestinians—despite their agreement to virtually every other issue—for the failure of the peace process.
The failure may also come from President Obama's trusting Secretary of State John Kerry, a longtime supporter of the Israeli right, to play such a key role in the peace talks. In 2004, Kerry unconditionally endorsed an Israeli plan to unilaterally and illegally annex large areas of the West Bank, leaving the Palestinians with only a series of small non-contiguous cantons surrounded by Israel as their "state," a proposal denounced worldwide as a violation of the UN Charter, a series of UN Security Council resolutions, and basic principles of international law. Indeed, Kerry has long insisted that it was "unrealistic" to demand an Israeli withdrawal from its occupied territories. (By contrast, Kerry has demanded that Russia withdraw completely from Crimea, citing the illegality of any country acquiring "part or all of another state's territory through coercion or force.")
A Democratic administration is basically supporting an apartheid state replete with ethnic cleansing. Under what world does a secular, U.S. democracy support an apartheid-creating theocracy that won't follow any agreements it made previously? Why are we the lone country cowering in the corner with a government gone genocidal instead of searching out the country's numerous moderates and secular leaders and finding a path to coexistance? It truly worries me that former SOS Hillary Clinton who went on Fareed Zakaria's show on Sunday may continue down this road of letting huge political donors outweigh solutions and fairness. Yet, her interview sounded like there's some key differences between Kerry's handling of this situation and the previous problems handled by Clinton. Is she distancing herself from her former boss and signalling that things will be different with her in charge? Will US domestic and foreign policy stop lurching to the right?
ZAKARIA: Bibi Netanyahu…
CLINTON: Right.
ZAKARIA: You say you had a complicated, and it sounded like a difficult relationship with him.
CLINTON: Well, I have to say, I've known Bibi a long time. And I have a very good relationship with him, in part because we can yell at each other and we do. And I was often the designated yeller. Something would happen, a new settlement announcement would come and I would call him up, "What are you doing, you've got to stop this." And we understood each other, because I know how hard it is to be the leader of a relatively small country that is under constant pressure, and does face a lot of legitimate threats to its existence from those around it. And I also care deeply about how Israel is able not just to survive, but thrive, and just fundamentally disagreed with Bibi in the '90s that I was in favor of a two-state solution. I was the first person associated with any administration to say that out loud. And he did not. But then when he came back in in 2009, he did. And I've sat with him, as you and I are sitting, and I really believed that if he thought he could get adequate security guarantees for a long enough period of time, he would be able to resolve everything with the exception of Jerusalem, which is the hardest issue. You can get borders and if you can figure out how to do security within those borders, some of which may require having IDF and international forces in the Jordan Valley, for example, then if you could move toward a state and leave Jerusalem to be worked on, because that's the hardest issue for all sides.
ZAKARIA: But, you know, he gave an interview recently to, I think it was The Times of Israel where he said there are no circumstances under which we will ever relinquish security control of the area west of the Jordan, meaning, the West Bank. That sounds like it's a – it's going back on his acceptance of the two-state solution.
CLINTON: Well, Fareed, I see that as an – as an opening negotiating position, because I've had the private one-on-one conversations and the private conversations with him sitting there and – and Mahmoud Abbas sitting there and George Mitchell sitting there. And I know that Abbas, in my conversations, was willing to entertain a number of years where there could be some continuing security. Remember, the IDF – the Israel Defense Forces – have a working relationship with the Palestinian Authority security forces, which have been incredibly professional. We've helped to provide training, as has Jordan and others, and the positions that Netanyahu has taken. Now, once they take a position, and I know the years that Abbas has said are – are permitted and – and I know the years that Bibi has demanded, you're in a negotiation. But if there's no process going on, which is why we can't even leave the vacuum of no process, despite how incredibly frustrating it is, then, of course Abbas is going to say never, not under any circumstances, and Bibi is going to say absolutely forever.
ZAKARIA: In 2009, you said that you wanted Israel settlement activity to stop. In fact, you were pretty blunt. You said no exceptions.
CLINTON: Um-hmm.
ZAKARIA: You write in the book that that was a tactical mistake because it made on – Bibi Netanyahu get even more hardline.
ZAKARIA: But Martin Indyk has just resigned as the you know, the kind of – the sherpa of the peace process. And he says that the immediate trigger, in his view, there were many, but was the fact that the Palestinians looked at the Israeli continued settlement activity…
ZAKARIA: – and said these guys are not serious, we're never going to be able to get a state…
ZAKARIA: – look at what they're doing.
CLINTON: This is my biggest complaint, with the Israeli government. I am a strong supporter of Israel, a strong supporter of their right to defense themselves. But the continuing settlements, which have been denounced by successive American administrations on both sides of the aisle, are clearly a terrible signal to send, if, at the same time, you claim you're looking for a two-state solution. Now, when I was negotiating and I had been able to put together three face-to-face meetings between Netanyahu and Abbas, it was clear that if we were working off the '67 borders, which was our stated position that President Obama had outlined, some of the settlements would be within any responsible drawing of borders for Israel. But a number of them would not. And those that would not would have to be either dismantled or live under Palestinian rule. There are deep wells of mistrust and misunderstanding on both sides. And what I've urged the Israelis to do is do more to help the Palestinians in the West Bank right now. Don't monopolize the water. Don't make it difficult to build. So even while we're struggling over the end issues that would resolve the conflict, like borders, don't make life so miserable, you know, because that's not any way to begin to try to deal with the mistrust. You know, the longer I do this, Fareed, the more convinced I am that mistrust and misunderstanding are often the real fundamental obstacles to bringing people together. And that means that people from both sides of whatever divide it is, whether it's Israeli, Palestinian, you know, Russian-speaking, Ukraine-speaking, whatever it might be, people have to start listening and working together to build habits of cooperation that might possibly lead to greater trust.
There are a number of articles where you read recent interviews with Hillary where she sounds more and more like a candidate these days. I want to hear that Hillary will take us back to democracy for all. Not just for those who can purchase it. Here's Hillary on the US Border situation.
In a smart move, Hillary Clinton firmed up her position on the crisis in an interview that aired over the weekend — in a manner that, intentionally or not, sharpened the contrast with the position of most Republicans.
Speaking to Fusion's Jorge Ramos, Clinton came out against any changes to the 2008 trafficking law, which Republicans are seeking to expedite deportations of arriving minors as a condition for supporting any money to address the debacle.
"I don't agree that we should change the law," Clinton told Ramos. She added that she wanted a more strenuous effort to distinguish between "migrant" children and "refugees," to ensure that those who genuinely qualify for humanitarian relief in the U.S. obtain it. "I'm advocating an appropriate procedure, well funded by the Congress, which they are resisting doing, so that we can make individual decisions," Clinton said. "We should be setting up a system in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, to screen kids over there, before they get in the hands of coyotes."
In opposing changes to the 2008 law, Clinton has placed herself a bit to the left of even Obama, who initially signaled openness to such changes before backtracking after Congressional Dems objected. And Clinton is also clarifying her previous suggestion that the kids should be "sent back."
"Like Pelosi and Reid, she's realized that the tough line of President Obama – change the law, send 'em back – is not the position of most Democratic voters and lawmakers," immigration advocate Frank Sharry tells me. "She's repositioned herself. Smart."
Is it likely Hillary will move us back to more traditional Democratic policies or is she likely to continue the rightward drift of elected Democratic Leaders like Obama and even Bill Clinton? A recent poll shows that Hillary is popular with white voters; more so than a lot of Democratic pols before her.
This entire idea of having a crazy right wing nut of GOP while Democrats continue to cater to neocons and plutocrats still worries me. We use to have two functioning parties that represented fairly diverse groups of voters. It wasn't all sweetness and light, but there wasn't such a concentration of policy that benefited so few coming out of them both. They also did the business of the people. Now we still have two parties. It's just that one represents crazy religionists and whacked out billionaire libertarians and the other one that occasionally does something for the common american still is likely to slide further to the right to attract rich, powerful donors.
So, that's what's on my mind. What's on your reading and blogging list today?
Thursday Reads: That Sense of Surreality…
Posted: December 12, 2013 | Author: bostonboomer | Filed under: #Occupy and We are the 99 percent!, Barack Obama, Foreign Affairs, morning reads, Republican politics, Surreality, The Media SUCKS, U.S. Politics, We are so F'd | Tags: Edward Snowden, fake interpreter, Glenn Greenwald, John Kerry, michelle obama, Nelson Mandela funeral, Paypal, Pierre Omidyar, Raul Castro, Sarah Harrison, selfie, Sibel Edmonds, Ukrainian protests, Wikileaks | 40 Comments
I'm having another one of those mornings. Once again, I woke up with that feeling of surreality–the world can't be as strange as it seems, can it?
Lots of allegedly intelligent, liberal Americans have been freaking out for months about revelations leaked by Edward Snowden that the NSA spies on foreign countries in order to protect U.S. national security. Snowden and his public relations handler Glenn Greenwald are heroes to these people despite the fact that Greenwald apparently sold Snowden's remaining secrets to the highest bidder–a libertarian, pro-corporate billionaire named Pierre Omidyar. More on this story later.
None of us likes the idea of being spied upon, but at least the President of the U.S. must be getting the best security money can buy, right?
I'm afraid not. It's still possible for a person suffering from schizophrenia to get onto a stage filled with world leaders and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with President Obama and wave his arms around in some kind of meaningless pantomime. From this morning's Boston Globe: Interpreter for Mandela event: I was hallucinating.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The man accused of faking sign interpretation next to world leaders at Nelson Mandela's memorial told a local newspaper that he was hallucinating and hearing voices.
Thamsanqa Jantjie did not describe his qualifications for being a sign language interpreter, but told The Star he works for an interpreting company that paid him $85 for interpreting Tuesday's event. He told Radio 702 Thursday he's receiving treatment for schizophrenia and had an episode while on stage.
Watch video of the performance at the link.
ABC News has more detail via AP:
The man accused of faking sign interpretation while standing alongside world leaders like U.S. President Barack Obama at Nelson Mandela's memorial service said Thursday he hallucinated that angels were entering the stadium, suffers from schizophrenia and has been violent in the past.
Thamsanqa Jantjie said in a 45-minute interview with The Associated Press that his hallucinations began while he was interpreting and that he tried not to panic because there were "armed policemen around me." He added that he was once hospitalized in a mental health facility for more than one year.
Jatjie knew he had to do his best to act normal, so he waved his arms around and pretended to be interpreting the speeches of numerous world leaders, including Obama.
"What happened that day, I see angels come to the stadium … I start realizing that the problem is here. And the problem, I don't know the attack of this problem, how will it comes. Sometimes I react violent on that place. Sometimes I will see things that chase me," Jantjie said.
"I was in a very difficult position," he added. "And remember those people, the president and everyone, they were armed, there was armed police around me. If I start panicking I'll start being a problem. I have to deal with this in a manner so that I mustn't embarrass my country."
Asked how often he had become violent, he said "a lot" while declining to provide details.
So exactly who hired Jantjie? It's a mystery. BBC News reports: Owners of Mandela 'fake' interpreter firm 'vanish' The BBC is also using a different spelling for the schizophrenic interpreter's name.
Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu apologised to the deaf community for the poor quality of interpretation given by Thamsanqa Dyantyi from SA Interpreters.
"He is Xhosa speaking. The English was a bit too much for him," she said.
What is this man's real name? I don't know, but–get this–Bogopane-Zulu "did not rule out hiring him again"!
During a press conference, Ms Bogopane-Zulu, the deputy minister for women, children and people with disabilities, admitted that a mistake had been made but said there was no reason for the country to be embarrassed.
"There are as many as a hundred sign language dialects," she said, to explain the difficulties he faced.
"He started well and later he became tired. Guidelines say we must switch interpreters every 20 minutes."
She did not rule out employing him in some circumstances again.
Except the company she hired him through has "vanished into thin air." And why didn't they switch to other interpreters? The article doesn't say, but it does say the man has interpreted at important events in the past.
And then there's the Republican outrage over Obama shaking hands with Raul Castro at Mandela's funeral. WTF? From Time: Here's 14 People Freaking Out On Twitter After Barack Obama and Raul Castro Shook Hands. What was Obama supposed to do–slap Castro across the face with a glove and challenge him to a duel? (Actually some of the tweeters were being sarcastic and Time apparently missed the point.) I think cartoonist Bill Day had the best response.
And then there was the media freakout over Obama taking a "selfie" during Mandela's funeral. Reliable Sources at the WaPo has the lowdown.
Was Michelle Obama annoyed when her husband took that selfie at Nelson Mandela's memorial service? Roberto Schmidt, the Agence France-Presse photographer who snapped the photo of the president, British Prime Minister David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt, says no.
"I later read on social media that Michelle Obama seemed to be rather peeved on seeing the Danish prime minister take the picture," Schmidt wrote on AFP's blog. "But photos can lie. In reality, just a few seconds earlier the first lady was herself joking with those around her, Cameron and Schmidt included. Her stern look was captured by chance."
The photo, which immediately became an Internet sensation, is only one piece of the day's story; the leaders had a variety of expressions during the service and were acting "like human beings, like me and you," he wrote. "I doubt anyone could have remained totally stony faced for the duration of the ceremony, while tens of thousands of people were celebrating in the stadium."
But none of that matters, because the corporate media has decided that whatever Obama does must be harshly criticized. CNN even brought on Donald Trump to opine about Obama's perceived gaffes, unemployment, and Obamacare. If that isn't surreal, what is?
Here's more strangeness: Secretary of State John Kerry expressed "disgust" at the government of Ukraine for cracking down on protesters. Here's the official statement:
The United States expresses its disgust with the decision of Ukrainian authorities to meet the peaceful protest in Kyiv's Maidan Square with riot police, bulldozers, and batons, rather than with respect for democratic rights and human dignity. This response is neither acceptable nor does it befit a democracy.
Last week in Brussels and Moldova, I underscored publicly the importance of all sides avoiding violence and called on President Yanukovych to fulfill the aspirations of the Ukranian people. We put the government on notice about our concern.
As Vice President Biden made clear to President Yanukovych during their phone call yesterday, respect for democratic principles, including freedom of assembly, is fundamental to the United States' approach to Ukraine. This is a universal value not just an American one. For weeks, we have called on President Yanukovych and his government to listen to the voices of his people who want peace, justice and a European future. Instead, Ukraine's leaders appear tonight to have made a very different choice.
We call for utmost restraint. Human life must be protected. Ukrainian authorities bear full responsibility for the security of the Ukrainian people.
As church bells ring tonight amidst the smoke in the streets of Kyiv, the United States stands with the people of Ukraine. They deserve better.
Has Kerry forgotten how peaceful "Occupy" protesters were treated in the streets of multiple U.S. cities just a couple of years ago? Some reports on the crackdowns (from foreign sources):
The Guardian: Police crack down on 'Occupy Wall Street' protests.
AlJazeera: Fierce crackdown on 'Occupy Oakland' protest
Getting back to the Greenwald-Snowden-Omidyar story, the attacks on Greenwald have moved from the usual critics to previous members of the Greenwald-Snowden cheering section. First Sarah Harrison–who accompanied Snowden from Hong Kong to Russia and then stayed with him for months gave an interview on the subject to a German newspaper. The Guardian reports, WikiLeaks' Sarah Harrison: 'How can you take Pierre Omidyar seriously?'
The WikiLeaks staffer and Snowden collaborator Sarah Harrison has criticised Pierre Omidyar, the eBay founder who is setting up a new journalism venture with Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill, for his involvement in the 2010 financial blockade against WikiLeaks.
In her first interview since leaving Moscow for Berlin last month, Harrison told German news weekly Stern: "How can you take something seriously when the person behind this platform went along with the financial boycott against WikiLeaks?"
Harrison was referring to the decision in December 2010 by PayPal, which is owned by eBay, to suspend WikiLeaks' donation account and freeze its assets after pressure from the US government. The company's boycott, combined with similar action taken by Visa and Mastercard, left WikiLeaks facing a funding crisis.
As for Greenwald's decision to sell out to Omidyar,
Referring to Omidyar's plans to set up a new media organisation, in which the former Guardian writer Greenwald – who wrote a number of stories from the Snowden revelations – will play a central part, Harrison said: "If you set up a new media organisation which claims to do everything for press freedom, but you are part of a blockade against another media organisation, then that's hard for us to take it seriously. But I hope that they stick to their promises".
Next, Greenwald was hit with an even harsher attack on his journalistic ethics by former FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds: Checkbook Journalism & Leaking to the Highest Bidders. It's a pretty powerful critique.
A government whistleblower obtains over 50,000 pages of documents that implicate the government in severely illegal and unconstitutional practices. This whistleblower risks everything, including fleeing the country, in order to leak these documents and let the public know how its government has been breaking the nation's laws and violating their rights. So he goes to another country and then entrusts all this evidence to a few reporters and wanna-be journalists. Why does he do that? He does it so that these reporters will present all this information to the public: not only those in the United States, but everyone all over the world. Think about it. Why else would someone risk everything, including his own life, to obtain and leak such documents? Are you thinking? Because what would be the point to all this, to taking all these risks, if 99% of these documents remain secret and hidden from the public? Ludicrous, right?
Now, here is what happens next: The whistleblower hands over these documents, and goes through a surreal escape journey. So surreal that even Hollywood could not have matched it. Of the handful of reporters who were entrusted with 50,000 documents, a few do nothing. By that I mean absolutely nothing. A couple from this entrusted group does a little bit more. They meet with a few mainstream media outlets, they spend many hours around the table with their mega companies' mega attorneys and U.S. government mega representatives (the same government that is implicated in these documents).
Edmonds notes that Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger has admitted that only 1% of the Snowden material has been published.
The main wanna-be reporter begins his relentless pursuit of high dollars in return for … for what? In return for exclusive interviews where he would discuss some of this material. In return for a very lucrative book deal where he would expose a few extra pages of these 50,000-page documents. In return for a partnership with and extremely high salary from a Mega Corporation (think 1%) where he would … hmmmm, well, it is not very clear: maybe in return for sitting on and never releasing some of these documents, or, releasing a few select pages?
That's right. The culprit is able to use his role in the whistleblower case, and his de facto ownership of the whistleblower's 50,000-page evidence, to gain huge sums of money, fame, a mega corporate position, book and movie deals … yet, making sure that the public would never see more than a few percent of the incriminating evidence.
There's much more scathing commentary at the link to Edmonds' blog. Of course, Greenwald used his twitter timeline to call Edmonds "stupid," and at the same time failed to respond to any of her criticisms. Of course Glenn had already had a bad day after Time chose the Pope as "Person of the Year" instead of Snowden.
So those are some of the stories that gave me that feeling of surreality this morning. What are you hearing and reading today? Please post your links in the comment thread, and enjoy your Thursday!
Now, Where's that Guillotine?
Posted: December 3, 2013 | Author: dakinikat | Filed under: #Occupy and We are the 99 percent!, open thread | 17 Comments
Where are those confounded guillotines?
How Wal-Mart's Chairman Burned Through Millions Of Dollars In A Matter Of Seconds From Business Insider
It took Wal-Mart Chairman Rob Walton a matter of seconds to burn through millions of dollars on a race track last year.
He was reportedly tearing around a corner in his rare Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe, one of five ever made, when he ran it off the track and wrecked it.
The car has been estimated to be worth as much as $15 million, according to The Los Angeles Times, and it likely cost him a couple million dollars to fix it.
The Waltons are without question one of the wealthiest families in the world. Forbes estimates that the net worth of just six of the family members is more than $144 billion, which is greater than the combined net worth of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
Rob Walton's father, Samuel Walton, founded Wal-Mart in 1962. The family now owns a 50.9% stake in the company that's worth $131 billion and paid out $2.5 billion in dividends last year. The dividends alone would be enough to pay every one of Wal-Mart's 1.3 million U.S. employees nearly $2,000 in cash.
As Business Insider reported last week, the Waltons have mostly kept their multi-billion-dollar lifestyles out of the public view.
Consider Rob Walton, for example: Besides houses in Aspen, Colo., and Paradise Valley, Ariz., at least a half dozen vintage cars, and the recent purchase of 1,500 acres of land in Hawaii for a planned resort, you would be hard-pressed to find many signs of his outrageous wealth.
and let's not forget:
While the average wage of Wal-Mart associates is the subject of some dispute (OUR Walmart claims that most make less than $9 per hour, an estimate based on data from IBISWorld and Glassdoor.com, while Wal-Mart pegs the figure at $11.83), there's little doubt that many of the store's workers are stuck below the poverty line, currently $23,550 for a family of four.
A study by congressional Democrats suggested that low wages at a single Wal-Mart could be costing taxpayers as much as $900,000 per year, due to employees using programs like food stamps and Medicaid.
No, BB, it isn't just you. There are just a lot of people in the world that need a lesson. Speaking of which …
Rush Limbaugh is going after Pope Francis just in time for the Christmas season.
The outspoken conservative pundit blasted the Pope this week after the pontiff released a new 50,000 word document, titled "Evangelli Gaudium" (The Joy of Gospel), calling for church reforms and criticizing certain ideas of capitalism.
Limbaugh, whose nationally syndicated radio show is no stranger to controversial rhetoric, called Francis' latest statement "pure Marxism."
Limbaugh's own statement, titled "It's Sad How Wrong Pope Francis Is (Unless It's A Deliberate Mistranslation By Leftists)" goes on to question whether the pontiff was actually the author of the document.
"It's sad because this pope makes it very clear he doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to capitalism and socialism and so forth," Limbaugh wrote.
Would you like to discuss who is waging the war on christian "values" now or should we just read Snowflake Snookie's selling really badly kid's book? Or perhaps watch Rick Santorum's movie? Shop for gifts at Walmart?
Yes, there is a classwar, and 99.9% of us are losing it!!
Sunday Reads: I Witch I may, I Witch I might…
Posted: October 27, 2013 | Author: Minkoff Minx | Filed under: #Occupy and We are the 99 percent!, Affordable Care Act (ACA), Department of Homeland Security, Discrimination against women, domestic surveillance drones, Japan, morning reads, NSA, National Security Agency, PRISM, prison population, racism, right wing hate grouups | Tags: oathkeepers, Stop watching us | 61 Comments
Good Mourning…
Yes, it seems that Halloween is coming early this year. All around us we see tricks being played out. Some are the sort of tricks played on people who must really be dumb as dirt to fall for them.
Progressives and libertarians came together in Washington on Saturday to protest widespread government surveillance, taking a tentative step towards creating a coalition that isn't as awkward as the pairing might appear.
Organized by the coalition Stop Watching Us, which includes dozens of groups ranging from Internet freedom advocates to Tea Party organizations, the rally attracted hundreds of people to the Capitol Reflecting Pool to protest the electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency revealed by Edward Snowden this year. The crowd included Occupy protesters, Ron Paul libertarians, and even strict constitutionalist Oathkeepers. Yet despite some recent grumbling on the left about having to work with libertarians on the issue, attendees and speakers on both sides said they were happy to unite around a common enemy.
Seriously, who the hell would want to be associated with those crazy-ass Oathkeepers? (That link goes to a page over at Southern Poverty Law Center, Oathkeepers are a hate group you know…) Actually, these are not dumb people, that would be an insult to the stupid folks that do have low IQ as an excuse to become partnered with assholes like Ron Paul. So who spoke at this thing?
Onstage, speakers ranged from progressives like former congressman Dennis Kucinich to libertarians like Johnson and Rep. Justin Amash, as well as NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake and Jessalyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project, who visited Snowden in Russia two weeks ago and read a statement attributed to him for the crowd. Snowden was a central figure in absentia at the protest, with most people holding signs or wearing t-shirts emblazoned with his face.
The article says the rally was mostly "libertarian" in nature…but these are a few of the quotes you should not miss:
A recent article in Salon by progressive journalist Tom Watson had ruffled feathers by calling on liberals to boycott the really[sic] because of its libertarian elements. "I cannot support this coalition or the rally," Watson wrote. "It is fatally compromised by the prominent leadership and participation of the Libertarian Party and other libertarian student groups; their hardcore ideology stands in direct opposition to almost everything I believe in as a social democrat." Watson described the Stop Watching Us coalition as "fatally infected."
Code Pink's Medea Benjamin rejected this premise in an interview with BuzzFeed next to the main speaker's stage .
"Left and right doesn't mean anything anymore," Benjamin said. Democrats and Republicans, she said, "both like the status quo. Libertarians or leftists are people who want to defend the values of this country and not have party politics and I think we've started coming around together on many of these issues."
"I think that strange bedfellows around particular issues is the way that change has happened throughout history," she said.
Uh…first off, that Medea Benjamin needs to STFU. Its sounds to me like she is fatally ridiculous. I got a question for her. If left and right doesn't mean anything anymore…How does she feel about the way the "right" values her uterus? Hmmmm…..lets see her libertarian friends get out and defend that part of this country…the 50 percent vagina part!
But wait, and hear it from an actual idiot himself, here's another quote:
By all appearances at the Stop Watching Us rally, they did — though a bit warily. John McGloin, an Occupy protester from New York who described himself as a "sometimes" progressive, said he could accept working with libertarians to try and curtail government surveillance as long as they weren't "people who think we should all fend for ourselves — that's where I draw the line.""We definitely need all the help we can get," McGloin said.
Hey buddy, that ain't help, that is a hindrance!
Alright, up next: A few items on Rural America.
From the "You might be a redneck" theme of news reports, really the headline should say it all: Georgia man runs into burning home to save beer | abc13.com
COLUMBUS, GA (KTRK) — "I went back into the house like a dummy." That's what one man in Georgia said after he risked his life to save beer from his fridge while his house was on fire.
The flames broke out while six adults and two young children were watching TV. Everyone quickly made it outside safely.
But then Walter Serpit, who walks with a cane, rushed back into the burning building to save something near and dear to him.
"I told them to get the kids out and everything, and me myself, being an alcoholic, I was trying to get my beer out," he said. "You feel me?"
Now, remember what I said up top about the folks who have a real excuse for partnering with those libertarian assholes? You feel me?
Walter made it out with a couple of cold ones, and the fire department made a statement that you should never run back into a burning building…period.
That story is actually sad and pathetic.
More bad news on the Obamacare front, from the New York Times: Health Care Law Fails to Lower Prices for Rural Areas
As technical failures bedevil the rollout of President Obama's health care law, evidence is emerging that one of the program's loftiest goals — to encourage competition among insurers in an effort to keep costs low — is falling short for many rural Americans.
While competition is intense in many populous regions, rural areas and small towns have far fewer carriers offering plans in the law's online exchanges. Those places, many of them poor, are being asked to choose from some of the highest-priced plans in the 34 states where the federal government is running the health insurance marketplaces, a review by The New York Times has found.
Of the roughly 2,500 counties served by the federal exchanges, more than half, or 58 percent, have plans offered by just one or two insurance carriers, according to an analysis by The Times of county-level data provided by the Department of Health and Human Services. In about 530 counties, only a single insurer is participating.
The analysis suggests that the ambitions of the Affordable Care Act to increase competition have unfolded unevenly, at least in the early going, and have not addressed many of the factors that contribute to high prices. Insurance companies are reluctant to enter challenging new markets, experts say, because medical costs are high, dominant insurers are difficult to unseat, and powerful hospital systems resist efforts to lower rates.
"There's nothing in the structure of the Affordable Care Act which really deals with that problem," said John Holahan, a fellow at the Urban Institute, who noted that many factors determine costs in a given market. "I think that all else being equal, premiums will clearly be higher when there's not that competition."
And that means that for those people who live out in areas like Banjoville, they are going to be hit with higher premiums because of lack of competition.
In rural Baker County, Ga., where there is only one insurer, a 50-year-old shopping for a silver plan would pay at least $644.05 before federal subsidies. (Plans range in price and levels of coverage from bronze to platinum, with silver a middle option.) A 50-year-old in Atlanta, where there are four carriers, could pay $320.06 for a comparable plan. Federal subsidies could significantly reduce monthly premiums for people with low incomes.
Counties with one carrier are mostly concentrated in the South. Nearly all of the counties in Mississippi and Alabama, for example, are served by just one insurer, according to The Times's analysis. Other states with scarce competition include Maine, West Virginia, North Carolina and Alaska.
That is a long article, and there is an interactive map at the link too, so take a look at it.
Since we are on the subject of healthcare, what about an article on madness…with a witchy twist: 7 Countries That Still Kill Accused Witches
You know how the long-ago witch hunts were stupid and hateful? What a relief those days are over.
Except they're not. In many countries, people are still killed on suspicion of witchcraft. United Nations experts cautioned in 2009 that murders of women and children accused of sorcery were on the rise. Following are just a few of many examples from around the world.
1. Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's religious police department has an official Anti-Witchcraft Unit that it dispatches to catch sorcerers and break their spells. In 2007, the Saudis executed an accused sorcerer. A woman awaiting the death penalty for alleged witchcraft died in prison.
Like the New England witch hunters of yore, those in Saudi Arabia use magic as a convenient excuse to silence inconvenient people. Accusations of sorcery have been leveled against foreign women working as domestics for Saudi families who charge their employers with sexual assault, according to Saudi Arabia expert Christoph Wilcke.
2. Tanzania
This east African country killed approximately 600 elderly women on charges of witchcraft just two years ago. The Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life found a strong and pervasive belief in magic among Tanzanians. It sometimes leads to reverence rather than murder. One woman who claims to be a witch charges between $20 and $120 for services including medical cures and exorcisms — in a country where the average income is under two dollars a day.
The other five countries are more disturbing in their descriptions, so you can read them at the link if you like.
Hey, since that last article was on the morbid side, let's have another: What would you choose for your last meal? Final food choices of executed criminals revealed… and they throw up a few oddball selections
Florida has revealed the final food choices of executed criminals, throwing up a number of eccentric final meals in the process.
While many of those spending their last day alive decide to go for the final indulgence of a heaving plate of fatty, fried food and a giant bowl of ice cream, others opt for more Spartan fare – requesting homemade sandwiches or just a simple cup of coffee.
That is one you need to click and read. Wow….
I want to bring you updates on a few other stories that we have discussed on the blog the past couple of weeks, and this will be in a link dump:
Macy's joins Barneys in NYC 'shop-and-frisk' scandal | Reuters
New York civil rights leaders on Saturday decried the city's brewing "shop-and-frisk" scandal, in which major retailers Barneys and Macy's are accused of profiling black shoppers who say they were detained by police after buying luxury items.
Tennessee judge who barred baby name 'Messiah' rebuked by conduct panel for religious bias | The Raw Story
A magistrate court judge in Tennessee who forced a couple to change the name of their child from Messiah to Martin has been cited for religious bias by a state ethics panel and will face a disciplinary hearing.
Lu Ann Ballew, a child support magistrate in Cocke County of eastern Tennessee, had been settling a dispute about child support and the last name of Messiah Deshawn MCCullough, the child of Jaleesa Martin, and Jawaan McCullough. Neither parent had expressed interest in changing the child's first name.
The Psychology of Online Comments : The New Yorker
Several weeks ago, on September 24th, Popular Scienceannounced that it would banish comments from its Web site. The editors argued that Internet comments, particularly anonymous ones, undermine the integrity of science and lead to a culture of aggression and mockery that hinders substantive discourse. "Even a fractious minority wields enough power to skew a reader's perception of a story," wrote the online-content director Suzanne LaBarre, citing a recent study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as evidence. While it's tempting to blame the Internet, incendiary rhetoric has long been a mainstay of public discourse. Cicero, for one, openly called Mark Antony a "public prostitute," concluding, "but let us say no more of your profligacy and debauchery." What, then, has changed with the advent of online comments?
Anonymity, for one thing. According to a September Pew poll, a quarter of Internet users have posted comments anonymously. As the age of a user decreases, his reluctance to link a real name with an online remark increases; forty per cent of people in the eighteen-to-twenty-nine-year-old demographic have posted anonymously. One of the most common critiques of online comments cites a disconnect between the commenter's identity and what he is saying, a phenomenon that the psychologist John Suler memorably termed the "online disinhibition effect." The theory is that the moment you shed your identity the usual constraints on your behavior go, too—or, to rearticulate the 1993 Peter Steiner cartoon, on the Internet, nobody knows you're not a dog.
I've got a few on Fukushima alone:
8 months, 10 mishaps: A look at Fukushima errors – The Washington Times, America's Newspaper
The Global Threat of Fukushima » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names
Special Report: Help wanted in Fukushima: Low pay, high risks and gangsters | Reuters
With a Plant's Tainted Water Still Flowing, No End to Environmental Fears – NYTimes.com
Some of those are long articles, so they will take some time.
And to end this post today, a couple of stories with Boston Boomer in mind…
UK linguist reconstructs sounds of prehistoric language
What did our ancestors sound like in the 50th century B.C.? University of Kentucky linguistics lecturer Andrew M. Byrd examines ancient Indo-European languages (such as Latin, Greek, Sanskrit and Old English) and the language from which they derive, Proto-Indo-European, or PIE.
PIE is the prehistoric ancestor of hundreds of languages, including English, Spanish, Greek, Farsi, Armenian, and more. The language is typically thought to have been in use around 7,000 years ago, though some suspect it was spoken at an even earlier time.
According to some archaeologists and the majority of linguists like Byrd, the people who spoke PIE were located just to the north of the Black Sea and were likely the first to tame horses, and perhaps even to invent the wheel.
The primary focus of Byrd's work is to understand what this language would have sounded when it was spoken millennia ago. Byrd says this all begins by looking at similarities in other languages.
"We start by gathering words, such as 'king,' from languages that we think are related and then find the common threads among them," he said. "When you bring these words together, you'll see that all of the words meaning 'king' or 'ruler' begin with something like an 'r' followed by a long vowel. Through examining trends in each language, you can tell which parts of the word have changed over time, and working backward from that … you can peer into the past and get an idea of what PIE might have sounded like."
I know that BB worked with language in children for her doctorate, so that article will be something cool for her to read about. This second one will be just a joke…because she is my number one when it comes to grammar…and boy do I need her help…
Test Your Grammar Know-How (Or Shame Your Friends) With This Quick Grammar Game | Geekosystem
Are you forever trolling the internet, commenting on posts with incorrect grammar? Do your friends consider you a "Grammar Nazi?" Well, you better put your money where your mouth is, and test your grammar skills using Grammatically Speaking, a quick little grammar game we found online!
Grammatically Speaking tests all your grammar know-how, from proper punctuation, to the proper use of "that" or "which" in a sentence. Our favorite part of the test is that it shows you what percentage of users got each question wrong – for example, people are particularly terrible at "it's" vs. "its" and when to use "me" vs. "I."
It is fortunate that I have BB to come and fix my post when my grammar is way…way off the mark. I tend to write like I talk, and then I never could grasp all that proper English stuff anyway.
This is all I have for you this morning. Have a wonderful day, and please leave a comment or two below…so, what are you thinking and reading about today?
Turkish Summer: Art, Politics, and Public Space in Istanbul
Posted: August 19, 2013 | Author: peej | Filed under: #Occupy and We are the 99 percent!, Art, globalization, just because | 13 Comments
Upcoming in the Contemporary Arts arena is the Istanbul Biennial. It may be an interesting event to watch, so I thought a little background on events preceding it might be useful given the recent unrest in Turkey. Some general information about the event:
Istanbul Biennial – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fulya Erdmeci
The Wikipedia entry looks like its mostly lifted from the History tab on the Biennial website (see below). Click on the Curator's tab to learn more about 13th Biennial's curator, Fulya Erdmeci, her name will come up in later links:
İKSV Bienal | Home
Koç Holding will come up from time to time as well. Here's their Wikipedia entry:
Koç Holding – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From the New Contemporary Blog:
The 13th Istanbul Biennial will be held between September 14 and November 10, 2013, with Fulya Erdemci as the curator and Bige Örer as the director. This year's conceptual framework takes its name from one of poet Lale Müldür's books: "Mom, am I barbarian?" The focal point of the biennial – which is sponsored by Koç Holding, one of the biggest holdings of the country – will be the notion of the public domain as a political forum. (İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) had a sponsorship agreement with Koç Holding to support five editions of the Istanbul Biennial over ten years, from 2006 through 2016.) The fact that a biennial with the aim to bring urban transformation policies to the table is being sponsored by Koç Holding became a topic of discussion once the conceptual framework was revealed.
The New Contemporary article is a good read for background on the Turkish Summer, analogue of sorts to the Arab Spring. The Biennial protests staged by independent Turkish artists, immediately preceded the Gezi Park movement. While Gezi Park/Taksim Square quickly evolved and then escalated into something significantly more awesome, initially its agenda was the one articulated by the Biennial protestors. And the Gezi Park movement never seemed to lose the essential artistic aspect, the "sophisticated populism" that characterized the Biennial Resistance. With the added intensity of the Turkish government's response to it, the Gezi movement morphed into a massive and severe indictment of Turkish governance. It is as if the entire nation convulsed in attempt to challenge the relevance of conservative governance for a nation grappling with modernity. But it was the Biennial protests, I think, that really set the stage for the "sophisticated populism" that energized Turkey.
http://thenewcontemporary.com/2013/06/06/turkish-protests-reach-art-scene/
I don't know what I would call this other than "sophisticated populism." It seems to be a similar spirit that energized the Gezi resistance:
The protestors wore t-shirts that said "Waiting for Barbarians," turning their backs to show the writing, and read C. P. Cavafy's poem "Waiting for the barbarians." The aim was to counter Lale Müldür's poem "Mom, am I a barbarian?" with another poem. The aim of the group is to show the economic power domain of urban transformation, according to the written statement.
The Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, "Holy Wisdom;" Istanbul
Fleshing out the Biennial protests a little further:
http://www.bianet.org/english/culture/145359-urban-renewal-activists-protest-at-istanbul-biennial
http://art-leaks.org/2013/06/12/istanbul-biennial-protests-foreshadowed-battle-for-gezi-park/
Groovy satellite photo of the Bosphorus
Although the events that transpired over the summer at Taksim Square are likely well known, I'm including a few summaries for those who may have not kept up with it. I didn't keep on top of it as it unfolded, but will have my eye on Istanbul this fall to see how the Biennial pans out. The following is a brief retrospective.
The following is a good read, but I take issue with this frame:
If you have been reading international news about the protests that started in Istanbul and have spread across Turkey, you may be under the false impression that this is an ideological battle between a secular piece of society and an Islamist Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, sparked by an insignificant event, the occupation of a city park. But the role of space in these outbreaks cannot be underestimated. As part of a project that would pedestrianize Taksim, Istanbul's main square, the adjacent Gezi Park was to be demolished to build an Ottoman-via-Las Vegas Mall. The protest was an effort to save a park by occupying that very park; it was not a symbolic or ideological demonstration like the Occupy Wall Street movements, but a primal struggle between human bodies and bulldozers, that made the political discourse all the more potent.
http://hyperallergic.com/73083/urban-heroes-of-istanbul-its-about-public-space/
What happened at Gezi Park wasn't so localized; it spread to rural areas with a broader agenda, and it activated women in particular.
http://world.time.com/2013/06/08/women-on-the-front-lines-of-turkey-protests/
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/06/11/the-women-of-turkey-wont-give-up-without-a-fight/
David Giocacchini from the Penn Libraries compiled an "archival guide" for the Gezi Park demonstrations with some pretty striking photo and video:
http://guides.library.upenn.edu/content.php?pid=480136
The Penn Guide:
http://revoltinturkey.tumblr.com/
Shops on the Bosphorus
I include the Penn Guide and the following short documentaries because I've taken offense to the hyperbolic slinging of the term "police state" currently steamrolling the media in reference to the U.S government. Police state rhetoric more often than not derives from the fear-inducing fringe that can't bear the idea of American espionage and can't quite grasp that Freedom of the Press is like every other right – subject to restriction. Associating the American apparatus for handling crime-terrorism to a police state only demeans the experiences of people in legitimate struggle against an institutionally oppressive police state. Also, to stimulate thought on the proper parallels between liberty infringement – the right to peaceable assembly and, of course, free speech.
A short film produced by OccupyGezi:
The video embedded in the following link is a bit lengthy, but well worth watching. Note the gas mask graphic in the Roar editorial – probably one of the most striking images of political art I've seen in a long time. I'm struck by its "realistic symbolism." By that I mean this isn't metaphorical or hyperbolic imagery – wearing of gas masks was a reality for the Gezi Park protestors. There is brief mention in the video of how the movement embraced humor and its opponent's critique as a tool of identity and resistance. I draw attention to it because I think it is another example of what I previously termed "sophisticated populism."
http://roarmag.org/2013/08/istanbul-protests-occupy-gezi-documentary/
Turkey has been home or host to some of the most sophisticated and oldest civilizations the world has ever known. Its unique geographical position facilitated an extraordinary tradition of multiculturalism all throughout ancient times. The Antikythera Device, for instance was probably derived and constructed in the great library city of Pergamum.
Whether it be known as Anatolia, Caria, Lycia, Lydia, the Land of the Hatti… what is now Turkey holds a special fascination for me. I find it ironic and a sad commentary that a land once the epicenter of global cross-culturalism is now on the vanguard of rejecting the predatory globalization which threatens all cultural heritage everywhere.
I'll end with one final link that doesn't speak to the events noted here directly, but is a marvelous illustration of Turkey's current struggle to reach modernity – another irony given its ultra-sophisticated heritage in the Ancient world. The following is a Turkish film from 2011 and deserving as wide an audience as it can find entitled, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. It isn't an American-paced movie by any stretch of the imagination. Appreciating it definitely requires patience. I watched it three times because of all that was woven into it. I'll not say more than that for fear of spoiling the experience. Here's the IMDb link for reference:
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) – IMDb
Breaking News and Wednesday Reads: Senator Davis Filibuster Works in Texas! Love song to Wendy Davis…Baby you were born to run!
Posted: June 26, 2013 | Author: Minkoff Minx | Filed under: #Occupy and We are the 99 percent!, abortion rights, fetus fetishists, legislation, morning reads, Planned Parenthood, PLUB Pro-Life-Until-Birth, Psychopaths in charge, religious extremists, Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights, Republican politics, Rick Perry, the GOP, U.S. Politics, Vagina, War on Women, Women's Healthcare, Women's Rights | Tags: Angelina Jolie, Filibuster, New York, NOLA, Sen. Wendy Davis D-Fort Worth, Texas, UN, Wendy Davis | 78 Comments
Texas State Sen. Wendy Davis (D) of Fort Worth, waits for a ruling on a rules violation during her filibusters of an abortion bill, Tuesday, June 25, in Austin, Texas. Senator Davis was given a second warning for breaking filibuster rules by receiving help with a back brace from Sen. Rodney Ellis (D) of Houston.
Eric Gay/AP
Well… Hells Bells Girl!
Yes, Wendy.
You got the nation's world's attention last night, and yeah I am sending a love song out to you darling… baby you are born to run…and by that I mean "run" as in something more than a State Senator.
I can't help it, I have a huge crush on Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, who stood up (both politically and literally over 11+ hours) for the women of her state last night, and really if you think about it…by extension…Wendy stood up for the women of the other 49 states as well.
(It looks like I am not the only one who is thrilled with Wendy, Mona has a Facebook page set up to show support, check it out.)
Sisterhood of the Pink Sneaks: in support of Wendy Davis
https://www.facebook.com/PinkSneaks
Ms. Davis filibustered a PLUB War on Women Anti-Choice bill in the Texas Senate, whose post midnight passage is now being questioned…was it legal or not?
****It was not!!!!! See update below.*****
As midnight approached, the session dissolved in chaos. Republicans say they passed the measure, but Democrats say the vote took place after midnight, making it invalid.
The House passed the bill on Monday morning. Two of its main clauses would ban abortions after 20 weeks and mandate that they be done at a surgery clinic.
First a little background on Wendy Davis…
Portrait of a filibusterer: Who is Wendy Davis? – CSMonitor.com
Once dismissed by Gov. Rick Perry as a "show horse," Sen. Wendy Davis has earned a reputation for being willing to spar with the state dominant political party and its leaders.
"She's a total fighter," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund and daughter of the late former Texas governor Ann Richards. "And the thing about Senator Davis, she says he's going to do something, she gets it done."
Davis was raised by a single mother, in fact she was a young single mother herself...
She's no stranger to being a single mother and poverty. Davis took care of her younger three siblings when she was only 14 to help her mother out, and then she had her own child at 19.
Davis is a Harvard Law School graduate and the first person in her family to get a college degree. Before starting her own practice she clerked, litigated and dabbled in the title insurance business for a few years.
Before she was elected in the state Senate in 2008, which made her the 12th Democrat in the upper chamber, she served on the Fort Worth City Council for nine years, where she focused on neighborhood economic development.
Abortion rights isn't the only issue Davis is passionate about. She also has interests in cancer prevention, payday lending, protecting victims of sexual assault and government transparency.
Davis is no stranger to the filibuster and has successfully used it in 2011 to stop a state budget that underfunded schools by nearly $5 billion. Most of the money was replaced a couple of years later.
I guess Davis is not the pantsuit kind of news making gal…because as the last sentence of this article states:
She's apparently a "fashion icon" in the state Capitol, according to the New York Times, and even wore pink sneakers for Tuesday's filibuster.
Guess the New York Times has to fucking put that "fashion icon" jab in don't they? Oh well, I guess it doesn't really matter, I loved her shoes whether they were pink or purple or rainbow colored. The point was they were comfortable! They had to be…
Wendy Davis is someone to keep an eye on, and like Ralph said early yesterday morning…when she first started the filibuster, it would be wonderful to see her run as Texas Governor or go for a US Congressional seat. The one thing that is certain, she is freaking awesome, and I hope her work yesterday was the spark that was needed to get the pro-choice/women's rights groups worked up and organized…someone needed to light a fire under their ass, I think Wendy Davis did just that.
I have some links here that give some updates to the controversy surrounding the vote.
***At 4:11am EST as I was shutting my laptop down I saw this in the comments:
Wendy texted that the bill is dead!!
legislature changed timetstamps on their website! aresholes!
the lt governor has agreed that sb5 is dead!!!!! w00t!!!
Not sure what is going on, Jezebel says it is dead: Texas Abortion Bill Is Dead. This Calls for a Celebratory Gif Party.
This: Texas lt. gov. reverses himself, declares vote on tough abortion bill came too late to pass – Times Union
And this: Texas abortion bill falls after challenge – KMPH FOX 26 | Central San Joaquin Valley News Source
So…looking good??????????????? Yes???? I think so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Roofingbird made this comment:
roofingbird
June 26, 2013 at 3:14 am)
2:02 Session just ended with the acknowledgment that the bill was unsigned at 12 and therefore failed. The Chair noted "It's been fun and we'll see you soon".
Sorry, approximately 3:02 Texas time.
Damn, don't we have awesome readers who keep us up to date and damn well informed!
What the hell would we do with out you all!
Thank you Ralph, New Deal Dem, Cygnus and Roofingbird…BB, Janicen, Boogieman, Mr. Mike…hope I didn't miss anyone else…. for the live blogging the drama in Texas last night/this morning. 😉
Okay, back the the post…..
Texas Lawmaker's 11-Hour Filibuster Ended On A Technicality | WYPR
By midnight Texas time, it was all over but the parliamentary inquiries. After a nearly 11-hour filibuster attempt by state Sen. Wendy Davis to block sweeping restrictions on abortion, the Republican-dominated Texas Senate successfully shut down the filibuster on points of order.
"This is probably the worst night that I've experienced since I've been in the Senate, maybe since I've been in public life," said state Sen. Kirk Watson, a Democrat from Austin.
Davis stood and spoke continuously for nearly 11 hours in an attempt to block passage of SB 5, a bill that would ban all abortions after 20 weeks and could effectively close all but five abortion clinics in the state. Supporters, in a largely pro-life state of 26 million, say the new, stringent standards raise the level of care for Texas women. (As of this writing, it's unclear whether the Senate successfully passed the controversial abortion legislation, as the vote happened after midnight, when the special legislative session was required to end.)
The dramatic restrictions in the bill had already drawn national attention for their reach. But her riveting, one-woman attempt to stop it put Wendy Davis' name on the national map. A single mother at 19 who raised her children while putting herself through Harvard Law School, Davis has represented a Fort Worth swing district in the Texas Senate since 2008. To catch a glimpse of her, the line outside the Texas Senate gallery wound down three floors of the Texas Capitol for hours. President Barack Obama tweeted a link to the livestream, saying, "Something special is happening in Austin tonight." Fueled by a popular Twitter hashtag, #standwithwendy, more than 100,000 people were still watching a parliamentary debate over Roberts Rules of Order on the livestream at midnight.
Davis' chair was removed before she began speaking at 11:18 a.m. CT Tuesday. Donning pink tennis shoes, she started by saying, "I'm rising on the floor today to humbly give voice to thousands of Texans who have been ignored. These voices have been silenced by a governor who made blind partisanship and personal political ambition the official business of our great state."
But here is where the problem is:
The quirky filibuster rules in Texas made Davis' attempt both fascinating and perilous. In Texas, lawmakers aren't allowed to lean on a desk or chair during a filibuster and everything discussed while speaking continuously must be germane — you can't talk about topics unrelated to the bill. Anything deemed not germane is subject to a point of order, and Davis went up against a three-strikes-you're-out-rule on those points. In the seventh hour of her filibuster, Davis donned a back brace, but state Sen. Tommy Williams, a Republican, called a point of order on it. She had to lose the brace and take a strike. And the third strike was for speaking about a sonogram bill, which sounds related but the chair sustained the point of order on germaneness, and it ended her filibuster attempt.
So…..Did Texas abortion bill pass? Confusion marks end of session – CNN.com
The Texas legislature's special session ended in chaos and confusion early Wednesday, with uncertainty lingering over whether lawmakers had voted on a bill that would have greatly restricted abortions in the state.
Well after a midnight deadline, it wasn't clear if the legislation had been voted on and whether it had passed. Senators could be seen talking on the Senate floor.
Well….Did abortion bill pass? Depends on who you ask | San Marcos Mercury | Local News from San Marcos and Hays County, Texas
Texas senators are trying to get to the bottom of whether Republicans successfully pushed through a vote on Senate Bill 5, the omnibus abortion restriction bill, ahead of their midnight deadline.
Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, says the bill passed at 12:02 a.m.; if that's true, the vote may not withstand legal scrutiny.
"It's pretty conclusive that it didn't pass," said Whitmire.
But the Senate still has not officially adjourned sine die. When Senators resume floor proceedings, Whitmire said Democrats will call a point of order on the motion to vote on a bill after the midnight deadline.
Dispute erupts in Texas over passage of restrictive abortion bill after raucous midnight vote – The Washington Post
Chaos erupts in Texas Senate after filibuster over abortion measure | Dallasnews.com – News for Dallas, Texas – The Dallas Morning News
Wendy Davis: The State Senator Who Almost Killed the Texas Abortion Bill – The Daily Beast
Wendy Davis abortion filibuster ends in chaotic dispute over midnight vote | World news | guardian.co.uk
Texas senator filibusters against abortion bill – Politics – The Boston Globe
Okay, the rest of today's links will be in link dump format (Hey, it is 3:50am and I am beat. Well now it is 5 am and even more done out.):
Medieval Pet Names
People in the Middle Ages did keep pets – dogs, cats, birds, monkeys and many other kinds of animals. Although they often had particular duties – i.e. hunting or catching rats – there are many accounts that showed affection and love between these pets and their owners.
Scattered in various texts and remains from the Middle Ages, one can find that people gave names to their pets.
Y'all should love that…my favorite has to be the Renaissance philosopher's dog sired by Megastomo "big mouth."
Here is a scary story for you: Caught on tape: Antiabortion center resorts to scary, dangerous lies – Salon.com
If you missed Fredster's post yesterday: REMEMBERING A NEW ORLEANS TRAGEDY | The Widdershins
And Texas isn't the only state fucking with women's rights: Women Lose in New York State – NYTimes.com
For those with Migraines: Getting to grips with migraine: Researchers identify some of the biological roots of migraine from large-scale genome study
This next link is good to see: Shakesville: Angelina Jolie at the UN with a Giant Teaspoon
Super-guppy is the name: Stalking the world's biggest planes – CNN.com
NASA's Super Guppy hauls giant cargo ranging from smaller airplanes to components destined for the International Space Station. Click through the gallery for more images of big planes.
And finally: Supermoon 2013 PHOTOS: Pictures Of Year's Biggest Full Moon From Skywatchers All Over (SLIDESHOW)
It's a slideshow, so go check out those pictures!
Hey, I am too tired, so if there are spelling errors or grammar issues fuck it…its 5 am. See ya later, much later… and please leave a comment or two or three.
Woman in Red Experiences an Officer John Pike Moment: Evening Open Thread
Posted: June 4, 2013 | Author: Minkoff Minx | Filed under: #Occupy and We are the 99 percent!, Republican politics, SDB Evening News Reads, Women's Rights | Tags: Military sexual assault, Occupy Turkey | 21 Comments
Evening Everyone
UC Davis Police Officer Lt. John Pike pepper sprays Occupy demonstrators.
That is one picture that came to define the Occupy movement from last year…it started a meme on Tumblr…and it has a pretty large well cited Wikipedia page: UC Davis pepper-spray incident
Well, over in Turkey, they are having their own Occupy protest lately…we have talked about it a few times here on the blog. Now the Occupy Turkish Spring has its Ofc. Pike moment.
Woman in Red Becomes Leitmotif for Istanbul's Female Protesters
A Turkish riot policeman uses tear gas as people protest against the destruction of trees in a park brought about by a pedestrian project, in Taksim Square in central Istanbul, May 28, 2013.
In her red cotton summer dress, necklace and white bag slung over her shoulder she might have been floating across the lawn at a garden party; but before her crouches a masked policeman firing teargas spray that sends her long hair billowing upwards.Endlessly shared on social media and replicated as a cartoon on posters and stickers, the image of the woman in red has become the leitmotif for female protesters during days of violent anti-government demonstrations in Istanbul.
"That photo encapsulates the essence of this protest," says maths student Esra at Besiktas, near the Bosphorus strait and one of the centers of this week's protests. "The violence of the police against peaceful protesters, people just trying to protect themselves and what they value."
In one graphic copy plastered on walls the woman appears much bigger than the policeman. "The more you spray the bigger we get", reads the slogan next to it.
The Turkish Prime Minister is calling these protesters terrorist, the same way we heard the Right going after Occupy here in the states.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan branded the protesters on Monday extremists "living arm in arm with terrorism", a description that seems to sit ill with the image of the woman in red.There were others dressed in more combative gear and sporting face masks as they threw stones, but the large number of very young women in Besiktas and on Taksim Square where the protests began on Friday evening is notable.
With swimming goggles and flimsy surgical masks against the teargas, light tasseled scarves hanging around their necks, Esra, Hasine and Secil stand apprehensively in the Besiktas district on Monday evening, joined by ever growing numbers of youngsters as dusk falls and the mood grows more somber.
They belong, as perhaps does the woman in red, to the ranks of young, articulate women who believe they have something to lose in Erdogan's Turkey. They feel threatened by his promotion of the Islamic headscarf, symbol of female piety.
What more anti-woman rhetoric? Check out some of the things PM Erdogan is pushing…
Many of the women point to new abortion laws as a sign that Erdogan, who has advised Turkish women to each have three children, wants to roll back women's rights and push them into traditional, pious roles."I respect women who wear the headscarf, that is their right, but  also want my rights to be protected," says Esra. "I'm not a leftist or an anti-capitalist.  want to be a business woman and live in a free Turkey."
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the secular republic formed in 1923 from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, encouraged women to wear Western clothes rather than headscarves and promoted the image of the professional woman. Ironically, Erdogan is seen these days as, for better or worse, the most dominant Turkish leader since Ataturk.
Erdogan was first swept to power in 2002 and remains unrivaled in popularity, drawing on strong support in the conservative Anatolian heartland.
The weekend demonstrations in dozens of cities suggest however his popularity may be dwindling, at least among middle classes who swung behind him in the early years of political and economic reform that cut back the power of the army and introduced some rights amendments.
You can read more at the link…
One more little story for you, from my Asshole Senator Saxby: GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss Blames Military Sexual Assault On 'The Hormone Level Created By Nature'
During a Senate hearing Tuesday, Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) admitted that the military must do more to stop the rising rates of sexual assault in its ranks, but he warned that it could be difficult to curtail given "the hormone level created by nature" of the young enlisted men.
"The young folks that are coming into each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22 or 23," Chambliss told military leaders at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. "Gee whiz, the hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur. So we've got to be very careful how we address it on our side."
Eh, what? No mention of how nature "protects" women from these sexual assaults….huh. /snark.
My one question is, these dickwads who were the military sexual assault liaison officers arrested for sexual assault and/or running prostitution rings were not young male hormone driven sex fiends? Right? Shithead Chambliss.
This is an open thread.
Minkoff Minx on Tuesday Reads: Last Words on K…
roofingbird on Tuesday Reads: Last Words on K…
NW Luna on Tuesday Reads: Last Words on K…
Trump's lawyers gave thousands to Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz before the impeachment trial began (Igor Derysh/Raw Story)
Congressional candidate's gamble: risk breaking laws - or the bank (Dave Levinthal/Center for Public Integrity)
McConnell tells senators he doesn't yet have votes to block witnesses in Trump impeachment trial (Washington Post)
Guardian to ban advertising from fossil fuel firms (Jim Waterson/The Guardian)
Palestinians angrily reject Trump Mideast peace plan (Associated Press)
Mike's Blog Round Up
Rep. Schiff: If They Want A Witness Trade, Let Them Call Mulvaney And Pompeo
Will Lev Parnas Be Able To Attend Trump's Impeachment Trial? His GPS May Get In The Way
LISTEN As Hot Mic On Fox News Catches Someone Giggling At Trump Slurring His Words
New York Times Keeps Republishing Same Brad Parscale Press Release
Middle East analysts question workability of Trump peace plan
DWP loses court fight over treatment of severely disabled


A South Croydon pub, closed for almost a year, is set to re-open at the end of August after a £400,000 transformation into an Irish-themed gastro-pub.
The man behind the makeover is pub entrepreneur Austin Whelan, who has lengthy experience of operating bars in and around Croydon over the past 20 years.
The Baskerville, on Selsdon Road, is owned by the Star Pubs & Bars chain, which leases premises to independent operators.
The Baskerville had previously been known as The Folly, an uncannily suitable name for a bar which enjoyed the trade brought over the road from the Sadvertiser, at a time when the not-so-local paper still had an office in Croydon.
Despite its first costly makeover, and a busy, regular trade on its music nights, The Baskerville closed last October when the then landlord decided not to continue operating. With two other pubs along the Selsdon Road also having closed for redevelopment in the past 18 months, local residents and ward councillors were concerned that the large Baskerville site might also be vulnerable to property speculators who might want to build some get-rich-quick flats.
But this week, Star Pubs & Bars have announced that it is to be re-opened by Whelan. It will be his fourth Irish-themed pub. Most recently, he opened a Whelans in Kingston.
Whelan has worked in the pub trade all his life, getting his first tenancy in a Young's pub in Thornton Heath when he was 21. He took on the Bedford Tavern on Sydenham Road in 2002, and since then he has acquired nine other pubs, in and around London, and in Dublin, and including the Purley Arms on Brighton Road.
Whelan said: "Having two successful pubs in Croydon already, I know the area well.
This entry was posted in Business, Pubs, Restaurants, South Croydon, Whelans and tagged Austin Whelan, South Croydon, The Baskerville, Whelans. Bookmark the permalink.
Good Luck to Mr Whelan's newest pub enterprise. Four leaf clovers all round! (I think that's a Lucky Shamrock!).
Just a small request- can he have some local Guest beers too, or non-Guinness type Irish micro-brew Craft beers ?


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Home > Czech Republic > Prague > Prague Zoo – what you need to know before visiting
Prague Zoo – what you need to know before visiting
Prague Zoo is not a place where animals live in cages, it is a huge park with an area of 60 hectares, where the natural conditions of different parts of the world are recreated as accurately as possible. The attraction is located in the northern part of Prague. The choice of a place for such an attraction is clear and obvious – beautiful nature, the bank of the Vltava River – here are the best conditions for animals, birds and reptiles, plants. From the article you will learn – what to see in the Prague zoo, how to get from the center of Prague, how much the ticket costs and a lot of other useful information.
Photo: Prague Zoo
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The zoo in Prague was opened in 1931, and since then it has been highly praised by visitors and critics. A common story when visitors criticize zoos due to the fact that animals are kept in cages in poor conditions. But after visiting the sights in Prague, the opinion changes dramatically. Indeed, the Prague Zoo destroys all the usual stereotypes about places where animals are kept.
The creators of the zoo in the Czech Republic in Prague coped with the difficult task of building environmentally friendly, as close as possible to natural conditions, housing for animals from around the world.
Interesting fact! Prague Zoo has become home to 4,700 animals and birds, reptiles and reptiles.
On six tens of hectares 12 pavilions were built, in each masterfully recreated the nature of a particular natural, climatic zone. In total, on the territory of the attraction, one and a half hundred thematic exhibitions are organized. Here you can see rare species of lizards, zebras and lions, hippos and giraffes, meerkats and elephants. There is also a zone equipped for animals that are nocturnal.
Good to know! Be sure to look at how the Prague zoo is located on a map, or better yet, take a map of the park at the box office.
It's not easy to travel through the park without a scheme, for example, it is easy to walk from the entrance to the area with giraffes in an hour, but you need to know where to move. The schemes are presented in Russian, which is very convenient for Russian-speaking tourists.
The peculiarity of the Prague Zoo is the accessibility of pets, the absence of aviaries. Even if there are cages, they are exclusively for feeding, as well as to protect tourists from predators. Most of the zoo – open area, lawns, hills, ponds. The territory is picturesque, there is no feeling that animals and birds live in captivity, on the contrary – they freely walk, play, communicate.
Interesting fact! The attraction of the natural park is the cable car, it is easy to get to the top of the park, it also has a trail, if you like walks and nature, take a walk.
A special play area and a children's zoo are equipped for children, where competitions, games, and entertainment are regularly held.
What to see at the Prague Zoo
Reservation Bororo
An entertainment area for children and adults is a monkey track made up of suspension bridges, small houses, stairs, and various game elements. The village on stilts is filled with artifacts, will give a lot of unforgettable impressions.
The length of the trail is 15 m, the number of houses is 7.
Elephant Valley
A 500-meter trail goes around the elephant valley. A herd of Indian elephants lives here, interesting Asian artifacts, shrines are collected, a village of natives is recreated. Those who wish can ride a simulator that resembles an elephant.
Hippopotamus Pavilion
Opened in 2013, spacious swimming pools are equipped here inside, and glass fences are installed outside so that guests can see what is happening under water. In total, five hippos live here, the water temperature in the pool is +20 degrees, the glass thickness is 8 cm.
Jungle indonesia
Here you can enjoy the beauty of the tropical jungle. More than a thousand animals live in the greenhouse. On an area of almost 2 thousand m2, lizards, marsupials, turtles, birds, predators and fish, orangutans comfortably settled down. In total, 1100 animals live in the aviary. Guests will enjoy a unique sight – an acquaintance with the world and lifestyle of nocturnal animals.
Interesting fact! Prague Zoo has made significant progress in breeding Komodo's monitor lizards.
Africa is near
Another pavilion on an African theme, which presents the opportunity to explore the ruined city, take a walk in a deserted maze. Small rodents, reptiles and insects live here. The exposition consists of four dozen expositions, where 60 species of animals and insects live.
African house
In this part of the zoo, the African savannah is recreated, where giraffes, weaver birds, aardvarks and rodent pigs live. Guests have a unique opportunity to look inside the termite and watch the locusts. This zone works all year round, the total number of animals is 70.
Predators, Reptiles
The area where feline predators live is traditionally popular among tourists. It contains rare species of animals and reptiles listed in the Red Book, equipped with terrariums for anacondas, rare stingrays, Cuban cycles and rhombic rattlesnakes.
Gorilla habitat
It turns out that gorillas also have happy families and one of them lives in a Prague zoo. A bright, sunny aviary with toys and lush greenery is equipped for them. Seven gorillas consists of ten individuals, the area of the aviary is 811 m2.
Interesting fact! Only in Prague can one see the only group of gorillas in the Czech Republic whose offspring appeared in captivity.
The inhabitants of the pavilion – the Gangan gavials – crocodiles that are on the verge of extinction. The landscape of the Indian river with a sandy beach, artificial waterfalls, islets is recreated inside and out. Together with crocodiles, turtles and rare fish species live here.
The total exposure area is 330 m2, a constant temperature is maintained inside – +50 degrees.
Giant Tortoise Pavilion
This pavilion is considered one of the best places for keeping turtles in Europe. Freshwater turtles live here from Aldabra Island and the Galapagos Islands. For them, a territory with natural conditions is equipped. Open-air cages for turtles, you can also see chest of drawers lizards.
In 2014, a unique pavilion was opened at the Prague Zoo, which has no analogues throughout Europe. Here salamanders are bred, which today are endangered. A system of pools has been created for the salamanders, recreating the natural living conditions – mountain rivers. You can watch the salamanders in two lighting modes.
The total area of the pools is 27.5 m2, the exposition covers an area of 137 m2, the water temperature is +22 degrees.
One of the most interesting and mysterious pavilions where the nature of the Himalayas is recreated. Take a walk along the mountain slopes overgrown with rich vegetation, admire the waterfalls, go through a winding river. After that, you will find yourself in the pavilion of bright, talkative feathered inhabitants. In total, 30 species of birds and more than 60 species of plants live in the pavilion.
Interesting fact! Plants for this pavilion were brought directly from Sichuan.
Penguin pavilion
For pools two pools are equipped – internal and external. The landscape and nature of the coast of South America are recreated here. By the way, in this part of the zoo penguins not only swim, but also fly underwater. The area of the pavilion is almost 235 m2, the open-air pool area is 90 m2, the pool depth is 1.5 m.
Fur Seal Exposition
This exhibition conveys the nature of the coast of South Africa. Cape seals live here, showing their playful, but predatory nature under water and on land. A system of pools filled with salt water has been created in the pavilion, because it is here that fur seals live.
The total area of the pools is 370 m2, the stands, where spectators can observe the training of marine predators, hold 250 seats.
Water world and monkey islands
This exposition is located in the lower part of the Prague Zoo, here the marshland is home to 15 species of mammals, birds – flamingos, water goats, tapirs, squirrel monkeys and koats.
The total area of swamps and islands is slightly more than 2 thousand m2.
This pavilion can rightly be called the most beautiful marshy place. Here live graceful cranes, red ibis, fussy lapwing. By the way, the zoo in Prague is one of the few places in the world where whale heads live. The 5600 m2 aviary is open around the clock.
Aviaries under the rock
Built along the road that runs from the main entrance to the Prague Zoo and stretches to the rock massif. Two aviaries are available for tourists, which allows you to see the birds as close as possible.
More than eight dozen animals and birds live in the pavilion, the height of the rocks is 680 m, and the area of the large aviary is almost 1000 m2.
These are far from all the enclosures and expositions that are in the Prague zoo, here also are:
parrot trail;
northern forest;
plains;
rock mass;
children's zoo;
order;
geological track.
During the walk you are sure to get hungry. In this case, you can do the following:
visit any cafe located in the zoo;
bring groceries with you and organize a picnic.
Important! For gatherings in nature in the zoo there are specially equipped places.
The official website provides a schedule of children's entertainment events. The information is easy to understand, since there is a Russian-language version.
Zoo in Prague – how to get there
The exact address of the natural park is at Troisky Castle 3/120. You can get in several ways: public transport, car, water, bicycle.
How to get on the subway
You need to get to the Nádraží Holešovice metro station (located on a red branch) and then transfer to bus number 112. Must follow until Zoologická zahrada.
How to get to Prague Zoo by bus
Route 112 departs from a stop located next to the Nádraží Holešovice metro station, near Holešovice station.
From Podgorica, route 236 leaves (stop next to the Podhoří ferry).
How to get to the zoo in Prague by tram
Route 17 departs from Sídliště Modřany. At the Trojská stop, you need to transfer to bus route No. 112.
Also, tram number 17 leaves from Vozovny Kobylisy stop, you need to get to the Trojská stop, transfer to bus route number 112.
How to get from the center of Prague to the zoo by water
Flights along the Vltava River run from the second half of March until mid-autumn. The ship leaves from the center of the Czech capital. The road takes 1 hour 15 minutes. You will have to walk from the marina – 1.1 km.
How to get there by ferry.
A ferry service is open every day, a water route connects the Podbaba region and the Podgorji region. From the final destination – Podgorzhi – to the entrance to the zoo you need to walk 1.5 km or take buses No. 112 or No. 236.
Note! Exact coordinates: 50 ° 7'0.099 ″ N, 14 ° 24'39.676 ″ E
Prague Zoo welcomes guests every day, 365 days a year. The mode of operation depends on the season:
January and February – from 9-00 to 16-00;
March – from 9-00 to 17-00;
April and May – from 9-00 to 18-00;
summer months – from 9-00 to 19-00;
September and October – from 9-00 to 18-00;
November and December – from 9-00 to 16-00.
Important! Two days in December – 24 and 31 – the zoo is open until 14-00.
The cash desk located near the main entrance is open every day. Two ticket offices – south and north – are open only on weekends and holidays. All ticket offices close 30 minutes before the end of the zoo.
The price of tickets to the Prague Zoo
Adult – 200 CZK (annual – 700 CZK).
Children's – 150 CZK (annual – 450 CZK).
Student – 150 CZK (annual – 450 CZK).
Pension – 150 CZK (annual – 450 CZK).
Children under three years old have free admission.
Important! Student and pension tickets can be purchased with a supporting document. Every first Monday of the month the cost for pensioners is only 1 CZK.
Opencard owners receive a 5% discount on the price of a one-time ticket to the Prague Zoo.
Near the zoo in Prague there is parking for cars. The cost of a place during the holidays, holidays and weekends is 200 CZK, on other days – 100 CZK.
ZTP and ZTP / P certificate holders are entitled to leave the car for free.
There is also a parking for buses – the cost is 300 CZK, and free parking for bicycles is also equipped.
The official site of the zoo in Prague
www.zoopraha.cz (there is a Russian version).
All prices and timetables on the page are for May 2019.
Prague Zoo is home to thousands of animals, birds, fish, insects and plants. Without leaving Prague, you can visit Africa, the northern regions, the Himalayas and just have a wonderful time with your family.
Video: walk through the Prague Zoo.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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calendar 9 September 2021
globus Denmark, Sweden, Norway
Following a supervisory inspection, the French Data Protection Authority found that a large insurance company was keeping personal data for longer than the retention periods it had defined. Although the company subsequently adopted a series of compliance measures, its failure to comply with the fundamental obligations under the data protection rules triggered a substantial fine.
Pursuant to the so-called storage limitation principle, personal data must not be kept for longer than necessary. That means, among other things, that it is necessary to consider what the purpose for keeping the data is, and to set up a retention policy outlining the standard retention periods, as far as possible.
In this case, the French Data Protection Authority found that a large insurance company, which was part of a group with approximately 15 million customers, was keeping personal data for longer than the retention periods it had defined. Although the company had a policy, it had not been implemented in its IT-system. For its prospective customers, the company had consequently kept data for more than the maximum retention period of three years and had in some cases kept the data for up to five years. For more than two million of its existing customers, the company had kept data for longer than the maximum retention periods of five years after the end of the contract. The data kept on existing customers included, among other things, sensitive data regarding their health and had for some customers been kept for up to 30 years.
Besides from having failed to comply with the storage limitation principle, the company had also failed to comply with its information obligations. Together, the two breaches were considered such fundamental violations of the applicable data protection rules that it resulted in a fine of EUR 1.75 million.
How are appropriate retention periods defined?
Although data is collected lawfully and processed fairly, it cannot be kept for longer than necessary. By ensuring effective erasure or anonymization in accordance with its retention policies, companies can therefore reduce the risk of it becoming unnecessary, outdated or inaccurate.
When defining the appropriate retention periods, the applicable rules on the statute of limitation or bookkeeping rules should be applied to define the legal maximum time period. This would in most situations allow companies to keep data for three to five years, while other categories of data, such as CCTV footage or job applications, only can be kept for much shorter periods of time. Consequently, retention periods will also largely depend on what lawful basis was applied for processing the data in the first place.
When drafting data retention policies, companies should carefully consider the purpose of keeping its data, and balance more vague wording defining that data is kept for as long as necessary and more detailed information systematically defining the time periods for erasure or anonymization.
IUNO recommends that companies also consider the purpose for which data was collected in the first place, as the applied lawful basis to a certain extent may assist with defining streamlined retention periods. For example, if the data was processed based on consent, it should be erased when that consent is withdrawn – unless another lawful basis can be applied instead.
[Decision by the Restricted Committee of the French Data Protection Authority in case no. 2021-010 of 20 July 2021]