#plus the Minister of Finance is A Gay

[ofmdtereomaori]

shout out to Kiri Allen's suits

[travelsthrumtkingdoms-blog]

Family & Friends,

Ku~zoo zang~po La (greetings in Dzongha, Bhutan’s official language)  & Namaste (greetings in Nepali)

Six of us, three Andres accompanied by a couple of bolt-on and a friend, are going on an excursion with a tour group to the mountain Kingdom of Bhutan (Land of the Thunder Dragon) and the former mountain Kingdom of Nepal (Roof of the World).  These two landlocked countries, sandwiched between India on the south and Tibet on the north, abut the snow-covered Himalayan (abode of the snow) mountain range along their northern border.  

Our excursion will combine trekking in the foothills of the Himalayas, and visits to historic, cultural, and religious sites in Buddhist-centric Bhutan and Hindu-centric Nepal.

Our travels and trekking in Bhutan, expected to be at elevations ranging from about 7,000 to 11,000-plus feet above sea level, should test the high-altitude endurance of those in our tour group who have already attained or are at near attainment of senior-citizen standing.  

Compared with Bhutan, Nepal should be a piece of cake, as our travels and trekking in and around the bowl-shaped Kathmandu Valley, even though in the shadow of Mt. Everest, will be at much lower elevations ranging from 4,600 to 7,300 feet.

From the comforts of your home, without undue physical exertion, you too can partake in our excursion, albeit virtually, by following our blog which we will update from time-to-time depending upon availability of suitable internet connection.  

Suzanne & Mehdi

September 2018                                  

                                **********************************************

Some interesting facts about Bhutan (the only surviving Tibetan-Buddhist Himalayan Mountain Kingdom), other former Tibetan-Buddhist Kingdoms of the Region and Nepal 

All the historic Tibetan-Buddhist Himalayan mountain kingdoms, with the exception of Bhutan, no longer survive as independent nations.

In recent history, three Tibetan-Buddhist kingdoms, all landlocked, ceased to exist: Sikkim,  sandwiched between Nepal & Bhutan and formerly administered by colonial Britain, in 1975, with a population of 200,000, voted to join India in a referendum -- rigged by India, which then had it under military occupation, and swayed by the votes from the massive influx of Nepali-speaking Hindu immigrants -- with a banana republic-type of landslide election outcome of 97.6 percent approval;  Ladakh become part of post-independence India in 1949 and was incorporated in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir whose border disputes have occasionally led to militarily skirmishes with Pakistan; and Tibet, forcefully gobbled up in 1950 by China after centuries as an independent nation, suffers from the Chinese government’s pogrom to systematically cleanse Tibet of its cultural, religion and heritage, coupled with a calculated endeavor by the Chinese government to change the demographics of Tibet by promoting the massive influx of Han Chinese.

Bhutan, after years of warring fiefdoms was unified in the seventeenth-century as a nation-state by a Buddhist lama, and became a hereditary monarchy in 1907 followed by a constitutional monarchy in 2008.  In 2013, Bhutan held its second general election, in which the opposition People’s Democratic Party gained a majority of the seats in the National Assembly, paving the way for the country’s first democratic transfer of power.

Nepal, which had alternated between absolute and constitutional monarchy, became a federal republic in 2008, ending 240 years of royal rule.  In 2006, Nepal’s 10-year insurgency led by Maoist rebels ended, and though generally peaceful now, the last 30 years of political instability, epitomized by a revolving door of governments under 25 prime ministers, continues.

The emergence of two major political parties in Nepal, a left- and a right-leaning party, in the December 2017 relatively-free-from-violence election in which 88 parties contested, could  be the harbinger to the formation of a stable two-party system.  In a resounding win, in what is believed to be a free-and-fair election, an alliance of two, now-reformed communist parties won control of the national government and six of the seven provincial governments.

Bhutan has enshrined in its constitution Drukpa Kagyu and Nyingma, both disciplines of Tibetan Buddhism which is a branch of the Vajrayana (or Tantric) School of Buddhism, as the state religions.  However, Bhutan’s constitution allows for the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Nepal, at one time the only constitutionally-declared Hindu state (Hindu Kingdom of Nepal) in the world, became a secular state with the adoption of its 2008 interim constitution (subsequently secularism was enshrined in its 2015 new constitution), though there are on-going efforts and occasional violent incidences instigated by the fanatic Hindu Nationalist Party with a royalist bent wanting to restore Nepal as a Hindu State.

Bhutan is the only country that uses Gross National Happiness (GNH) instead of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as its development indicator.  GNH is a development philosophy and a measure of the collective happiness of the nation.  Bhutan’s constitution enshrines the state’s obligation to promote those conditions that it believes enable its citizens the utopian pursuit of happiness.  

Bhutan has also enshrined in its constitution the state’s obligation to prevent certain environmental degradations, has committed to retain at least 60% of its landmass forested in perpetuity, and has pledged to become carbon negative (as opposed to carbon neutral) long before 196 countries signed the Paris Climate Accord on limiting carbon emissions.  

(Subsequent to President Obama signing this Accord, President Trump, based on his customary penchant to disregard truths, withdrew the U.S. from the Accord after having branded climate change a hoax propagated by the Chinese. Alas, many of Trump’s so-called deplorable supporters fervently believe in this Trump-centric nonsensical alternative truth, and their messianic thirst for alternative truths is satiated by the over 4,000 three, four and five Pinocchio-laden lies (according to the Washington Post scorekeeping) Trump has publicly communicated in less than 2 years after what he seems to believe was his coronation.

Bhutan & Nepal frequently have no choice but to be subservient to India, their giant neighbor to the south, as these two landlocked countries’ economies are inevitably dependent on and tied very closely with that of India.

India, which sees Bhutan as a geopolitical buffer against China, allocates about three-fourths of its foreign aid to Bhutan (amounting to about 30% of Bhutan’s GDP and about 50% of Bhutanese government’s revenues), and wields considerable influence over Bhutan's commerce, and foreign and defense policies.

Apparently Bhutan has outsourced a meaningful portion of its source of wealth (GDP) by trading off some of its sovereignty, but in the process has dumped onto India some of the incidental injurious byproducts of wealth generation that have an inevitable adverse impact on happiness (a drag on GNH).  Further, this landlocked country of about 800,000 people has not much choice but to cast its lot with India, knowing that China has designs over some of Bhutan’s territory and also knowing of China’s continued persecution of their brethren in Tibet since its occupation in 1950 by China.

The biggest export of Nepal (30 million population) is its people.  Thirty percent of Nepal’s GDP is derived from remittances by the approximately 12 million Nepalis working mostly in India, and to a lesser degree in the Middle East and elsewhere.

In 2015 India had blocked fuel shipments to Nepal because of its displeasure with certain provisions of Nepal’s 2015 constitution, though India had denied such attempt to blackmail Nepal.  India and Nepal seem to have worked out their differences after Nepal passed an amendment to its constitution.

A railroad through the Himalayan mountain range connecting Tibet (China) and Nepal, being built and financed by China under its “belt and road” initiative, is expected to reduce Nepal’s dependence on India.  This is also an attempt by Nepal to play one regional power against the other, while China views it as an opportunity to expand its dominance in the region.

The 2017 average life expediency of the Bhutanese was 69.8 years, virtually the same (69.2 years) as that of the Nepalis, their neighbors, though with the government-championed National Happiness in their corner, I suspect the Bhutanese die much happier than the Nepalis.

In 2004, Bhutan became the first country to become tobacco-free.  It is illegal to sell tobacco, or smoke in public places or even in private offices.  

In 2007, with the Nepali Supreme Court ruling in favor of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) rights, Nepal became the first country to recognize a third gender, intersex – those having neither male nor female traits. (Germany is the second country to recognize intersex rights with its top court’s ruling in 2017.)  Subsequently, Nepal enshrined those rights in its constitution and became the most progressive country in South Asia for the protection of LGBTI rights.

People with intersex traits (also referred to as eunuchs) do not have typical male-female sex characteristics.  Some intersex traits are visibly evident such as ambiguous genitalia, while other may involve chromosome variations.  According to the United Nations, up to about 1.7% of the global population is born with intersex traits.

According to Transparency International’s 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index ranking of 176 countries, 27th-ranked Bhutan (a remarkably high standing for a third-world country), is relatively corruption-free compared with 131st-ranked Nepal which has slipped many notches in recent years.  Bhutan is ranked one notch ahead of Israel and behind 18th-ranked U.S. (Denmark & New Zealand are tied for first place, Canada is ranked 9th, and in the last place is that almost-perpetually ungovernable, war-torn Somalia.)

[newstechreviews]

(WARSAW, Poland) — Poland’s conservative governing Law and Justice party won the most votes in Sunday’s election in the deeply divided nation and appeared, according to an exit poll, to have secured a comfortable majority in parliament to govern for four more years.

The exit poll, conducted by the research firm Ipsos, projected that Law and Justice won 43.6% of the votes. That would translate into 239 seats, a majority in the 460-seat lower house of parliament.

The poll said a centrist pro-European Union umbrella group, Civic Coalition, would come in second with 27.4%. The biggest party in the coalition is Civic Platform, which governed Poland in 2007-2015.

Coalition leaders cheered and welcomed the result as a spur toward uniting society around common goals.

Other parties projected to surpass the 5% threshold to get into parliament were a left-wing alliance with 11.9%, the conservative agrarian Polish People’s Party with 9.6% and a new far-right alliance called Confederation with 6.4%.

The exit poll had a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points. Final vote results, which are expected by Tuesday, could shift, as they have in past elections.

A prominent journalist, Konrad Piasecki, said that “at the moment it looks like the largest triumph in the history of parliamentary elections” in Poland. But he also cautioned that results varying even slightly from the exit poll could mean big changes to the distribution of seats in parliament.

Law and Justice has governed Poland since 2015 and is popular for its social conservatism and generous social spending. It ran a campaign that highlighted its social programs and vowed to defend traditional Roman Catholic values.

It has been accused of weakening the rule of law in the young democracy with an overhaul of the judicial system that has given the party more power over the courts and has drawn criticism as well for using state media as a propaganda outlet and for anti-gay rhetoric.

Pawel Zerka, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said the high level of support for Law and Justice, known in Poland by its acronym PIS, “should not be interpreted as a sign that Poles have become nationalist or xenophobic. Rather, it reveals an effective party machine – and an ability of PIS to mobilize voters with policies based on direct social transfers.”

Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is considered the real power behind Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s government, cautioned that the exit polls weren’t the final results but nonetheless declared victory.

“We received a lot but we deserve more,” Kaczynski told party supporters as he held high a bouquet of roses.

Civic Platform leader Grzegorz Schetyna said the fight wasn’t fair, an apparent reference to the way Law and Justice harnessed state media to pump out positive coverage of itself while casting a poor light on political rivals.

“This was not an even struggle; there were no rules in this struggle,” Schetyna said.

The left-wing party leaders celebrated their expected return to parliament after failing to get any seats in 2015.

Critics fear that four more years for Law and Justice will reverse the democratic achievements of this Central European nation, citing the changes to the judiciary and the way the party has marginalized minorities, for instance with its recent campaign depicting the LGBT rights movement as a threat.

Law and Justice’s apparent success stems from tapping into the values of the largely conservative society while also evening out extreme economic inequalities.

It is the first party since the fall of communism to break with the austerity of previous governments, whose free-market policies transformed Poland into one of Europe’s most dynamic economies.

However, many Poles were left out in that transformation and inequalities grew, creating grievances. Law and Justice skillfully addressed those concerns with popular programs, including one that gives families a monthly stipend of 500 zlotys ($125) for each child, taking the edge off poverty for some and giving others more disposable income. It says it has been able to pay for its programs thanks to a tighter tax collection system.

It has also clearly benefited from the sacrifices forced by earlier governments and the growth of Europe’s economy.

In his victory speech, Kaczynski referred to his party’s improvement of public finances and said it would continue on that path.

“We are finishing a certain stage; we are starting a new one,” he said. “It is not easier, maybe more difficult. But I hope that it will be finished with even greater success.”

[itsfinancethings]

(WARSAW, Poland) — Poland’s conservative governing Law and Justice party won the most votes in Sunday’s election in the deeply divided nation and appeared, according to an exit poll, to have secured a comfortable majority in parliament to govern for four more years.

The exit poll, conducted by the research firm Ipsos, projected that Law and Justice won 43.6% of the votes. That would translate into 239 seats, a majority in the 460-seat lower house of parliament.

The poll said a centrist pro-European Union umbrella group, Civic Coalition, would come in second with 27.4%. The biggest party in the coalition is Civic Platform, which governed Poland in 2007-2015.

Coalition leaders cheered and welcomed the result as a spur toward uniting society around common goals.

Other parties projected to surpass the 5% threshold to get into parliament were a left-wing alliance with 11.9%, the conservative agrarian Polish People’s Party with 9.6% and a new far-right alliance called Confederation with 6.4%.

The exit poll had a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points. Final vote results, which are expected by Tuesday, could shift, as they have in past elections.

A prominent journalist, Konrad Piasecki, said that “at the moment it looks like the largest triumph in the history of parliamentary elections” in Poland. But he also cautioned that results varying even slightly from the exit poll could mean big changes to the distribution of seats in parliament.

Law and Justice has governed Poland since 2015 and is popular for its social conservatism and generous social spending. It ran a campaign that highlighted its social programs and vowed to defend traditional Roman Catholic values.

It has been accused of weakening the rule of law in the young democracy with an overhaul of the judicial system that has given the party more power over the courts and has drawn criticism as well for using state media as a propaganda outlet and for anti-gay rhetoric.

Pawel Zerka, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said the high level of support for Law and Justice, known in Poland by its acronym PIS, “should not be interpreted as a sign that Poles have become nationalist or xenophobic. Rather, it reveals an effective party machine – and an ability of PIS to mobilize voters with policies based on direct social transfers.”

Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is considered the real power behind Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s government, cautioned that the exit polls weren’t the final results but nonetheless declared victory.

“We received a lot but we deserve more,” Kaczynski told party supporters as he held high a bouquet of roses.

Civic Platform leader Grzegorz Schetyna said the fight wasn’t fair, an apparent reference to the way Law and Justice harnessed state media to pump out positive coverage of itself while casting a poor light on political rivals.

“This was not an even struggle; there were no rules in this struggle,” Schetyna said.

The left-wing party leaders celebrated their expected return to parliament after failing to get any seats in 2015.

Critics fear that four more years for Law and Justice will reverse the democratic achievements of this Central European nation, citing the changes to the judiciary and the way the party has marginalized minorities, for instance with its recent campaign depicting the LGBT rights movement as a threat.

Law and Justice’s apparent success stems from tapping into the values of the largely conservative society while also evening out extreme economic inequalities.

It is the first party since the fall of communism to break with the austerity of previous governments, whose free-market policies transformed Poland into one of Europe’s most dynamic economies.

However, many Poles were left out in that transformation and inequalities grew, creating grievances. Law and Justice skillfully addressed those concerns with popular programs, including one that gives families a monthly stipend of 500 zlotys ($125) for each child, taking the edge off poverty for some and giving others more disposable income. It says it has been able to pay for its programs thanks to a tighter tax collection system.

It has also clearly benefited from the sacrifices forced by earlier governments and the growth of Europe’s economy.

In his victory speech, Kaczynski referred to his party’s improvement of public finances and said it would continue on that path.

“We are finishing a certain stage; we are starting a new one,” he said. “It is not easier, maybe more difficult. But I hope that it will be finished with even greater success.”

[riverdamien]

Peniel September Newsletter of Temenos Catholic Worker

JOURNAL OF AN ALIEN STREET PRIEST: The Invisibility of Aging As we move into September we will soon see the leaves of trees begin to turn to beautiful colors (at least in some parts of the country), and the weather will be getting chillier (at least in some parts of the country), Autumn will arrive. We are moving towards winter, and in that movement we celebrate, and we have joy with our friends and loved ones. And than Winter arrives, all is dead around us. That is the way our lives are as we move through the seasons of change, from infancy, to old age. This is the way people who are homeless and have very little to live, they move through their lives invisible, and become even more so as they get older. And this time of year is a good time to think about the Autumn of our lives, our hopes, and our fears. This time of year is a good time to reflect upon our actions that we give people as they age, and to those who are invisible as we pass them on the street, the homeless. Polk Street is filled late at night by young people. They are partying, having fun, the only older people around individuals who are homeless, whose lives are broken, and have been beaten down with years on the street. Some of them are young, but already old. They are gaunt, many with out teeth, dirty, and keep their eyes down to the street, and are ignored. They are invisible as are people who are over thirty five. People who live on the street, who have nothing, are symbolic of all of us, as we get older, and become invisible. We become unseen. We have heard it said many a time by young college men, "You are too old to be out here once you hit thirty," and in many ways that is true. We witness young men who live a life of partying, having fun, and than as they move into their thirties their lives seem to be over with. This is especially true of young gay men. The same is true of all of us as we move into our older years, we become invisible. Our street youth in the Haight experience that invisibility in their teens, because they are homeless. People become invisible when they do not fit into the expectations and the usefulness of society. People rarely look back at homeless individuals, as they rarely look back at older people. In South Africa, the people greet one another on the road by saying, "Sawubona." It means "I see you." The answer in reply is "Here I am." In other words, you are not invisible. You are someone. You are God's beloved child, whatever race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation you may be. We need to look at others and also ourselves in this way. We must not be passively invisible. We need to help each other know what this invisibility means as we age, and as we move among people who are homeless, and are different from us by race, creed, and sexual orientation. We need to have faith that each of us has a purpose, everyday, until God calls us into his Kingdom at last. Teilhard de Chardin calls this Kingdom "communion," and he prays that it is truly a great holy communion: "You are the irresistible and vivifying force, O Lord, and because yours is the energy, because, of the two of us, you are infinitely the stronger, it is on you that falls the part of consuming me in the union that weld us together. Vouchsafe, therefore, something more precious still than the grace for which all the faithful pray. It is not enough that I should die while communicating. Teach me to treat death as an act of communion." Last month I was called to the hospital when nineteen year old Jason overdosed, and he had died by the time I arrived. Standing over his body, the thought that went through my mind, was that "Jason you are finally at rest." I reached out for his hand, barely cool. Poured some water from a drinking glass on my hand and blessed him on his forehead, with the sign of the cross. I rested in the silence of him entering into the invisible world, the great communion. As we enter into our Fall routines let us remember the "invisible" people around us, let us remember the aged, the homeless, the disable, the people of color and other religions, and let us recognize them by saying in our own way, "Sawubona", ("I see you.") and in so doing recognize them as God's beloved children, and remember that homelessness, will not end until each of us does our part. Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly Meals: We continue to have at least one meal a week through the help of our interns, Cale and Aaron. The days very because of their schedule. The meal involves packing it in "Chinese Take Home Boxes", and than serving them to the Haight. It is heavy work, and takes at least four hours, because of the preparation and spending time with people. If interested please give us a call. People asked if they can fix a meal, pack it, and meet us in the Haight. We are certified by the City to cook meals, and it has to be done in a kitchen that is certified as well. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- We Are Beggars: Our finances are very low. We are in need of socks, we are in need of money for food, and so we beg, for your support. We continue to minister to 500 plus young people a month through our pastoral care, socks, food, and needle exchange. And so as you reflect during these days we pray you will remember us. Please give: Temenos Catholic Worker P.O. Box 642656 San Francisco, CA 94164 Or Pay Pal at www.temenos.org Our web site has been changed to a new server it is much easier to go directly to Pay Pal and give directly through your Pay Pal account. We have discovered that you can also give through Pay Pal by using your phone. You have to go into the website of Pay Pal and set it up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Death Penalty Protest: Each Wednesday at Noon we gather at McAllister and Polk in from of the Earl Warren Office Building to protest the death penalty. We remember those who are victims, and those who committed the crimes, and pray that our State will no longer live in a culture of death. We have not heard one word mentioned during the political campaigns about the death penalty and so let us write our candidates, and our elected officials and urge them to over turn the death penalty. There is a story told of two warriors who would have a battle, and when the battle was over would put down their weapons, greet each other with a kiss, and say, "Till tomorrow," so let us remember to do the same with our differences, give a good fight, but end in peace and reconciliation.

[newstechreviews]

(WARSAW, Poland) — Poland’s conservative governing Law and Justice party won the most votes in Sunday’s election in the deeply divided nation and appeared, according to an exit poll, to have secured a comfortable majority in parliament to govern for four more years.

The exit poll, conducted by the research firm Ipsos, projected that Law and Justice won 43.6% of the votes. That would translate into 239 seats, a majority in the 460-seat lower house of parliament.

The poll said a centrist pro-European Union umbrella group, Civic Coalition, would come in second with 27.4%. The biggest party in the coalition is Civic Platform, which governed Poland in 2007-2015.

Coalition leaders cheered and welcomed the result as a spur toward uniting society around common goals.

Other parties projected to surpass the 5% threshold to get into parliament were a left-wing alliance with 11.9%, the conservative agrarian Polish People’s Party with 9.6% and a new far-right alliance called Confederation with 6.4%.

The exit poll had a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points. Final vote results, which are expected by Tuesday, could shift, as they have in past elections.

A prominent journalist, Konrad Piasecki, said that “at the moment it looks like the largest triumph in the history of parliamentary elections” in Poland. But he also cautioned that results varying even slightly from the exit poll could mean big changes to the distribution of seats in parliament.

Law and Justice has governed Poland since 2015 and is popular for its social conservatism and generous social spending. It ran a campaign that highlighted its social programs and vowed to defend traditional Roman Catholic values.

It has been accused of weakening the rule of law in the young democracy with an overhaul of the judicial system that has given the party more power over the courts and has drawn criticism as well for using state media as a propaganda outlet and for anti-gay rhetoric.

Pawel Zerka, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said the high level of support for Law and Justice, known in Poland by its acronym PIS, “should not be interpreted as a sign that Poles have become nationalist or xenophobic. Rather, it reveals an effective party machine – and an ability of PIS to mobilize voters with policies based on direct social transfers.”

Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is considered the real power behind Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s government, cautioned that the exit polls weren’t the final results but nonetheless declared victory.

“We received a lot but we deserve more,” Kaczynski told party supporters as he held high a bouquet of roses.

Civic Platform leader Grzegorz Schetyna said the fight wasn’t fair, an apparent reference to the way Law and Justice harnessed state media to pump out positive coverage of itself while casting a poor light on political rivals.

“This was not an even struggle; there were no rules in this struggle,” Schetyna said.

The left-wing party leaders celebrated their expected return to parliament after failing to get any seats in 2015.

Critics fear that four more years for Law and Justice will reverse the democratic achievements of this Central European nation, citing the changes to the judiciary and the way the party has marginalized minorities, for instance with its recent campaign depicting the LGBT rights movement as a threat.

Law and Justice’s apparent success stems from tapping into the values of the largely conservative society while also evening out extreme economic inequalities.

It is the first party since the fall of communism to break with the austerity of previous governments, whose free-market policies transformed Poland into one of Europe’s most dynamic economies.

However, many Poles were left out in that transformation and inequalities grew, creating grievances. Law and Justice skillfully addressed those concerns with popular programs, including one that gives families a monthly stipend of 500 zlotys ($125) for each child, taking the edge off poverty for some and giving others more disposable income. It says it has been able to pay for its programs thanks to a tighter tax collection system.

It has also clearly benefited from the sacrifices forced by earlier governments and the growth of Europe’s economy.

In his victory speech, Kaczynski referred to his party’s improvement of public finances and said it would continue on that path.

“We are finishing a certain stage; we are starting a new one,” he said. “It is not easier, maybe more difficult. But I hope that it will be finished with even greater success.”

[itsfinancethings]

October 13, 2019 at 11:41PM

(WARSAW, Poland) — Poland’s conservative governing Law and Justice party won the most votes in Sunday’s election in the deeply divided nation and appeared, according to an exit poll, to have secured a comfortable majority in parliament to govern for four more years.

The exit poll, conducted by the research firm Ipsos, projected that Law and Justice won 43.6% of the votes. That would translate into 239 seats, a majority in the 460-seat lower house of parliament.

The poll said a centrist pro-European Union umbrella group, Civic Coalition, would come in second with 27.4%. The biggest party in the coalition is Civic Platform, which governed Poland in 2007-2015.

Coalition leaders cheered and welcomed the result as a spur toward uniting society around common goals.

Other parties projected to surpass the 5% threshold to get into parliament were a left-wing alliance with 11.9%, the conservative agrarian Polish People’s Party with 9.6% and a new far-right alliance called Confederation with 6.4%.

The exit poll had a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points. Final vote results, which are expected by Tuesday, could shift, as they have in past elections.

A prominent journalist, Konrad Piasecki, said that “at the moment it looks like the largest triumph in the history of parliamentary elections” in Poland. But he also cautioned that results varying even slightly from the exit poll could mean big changes to the distribution of seats in parliament.

Law and Justice has governed Poland since 2015 and is popular for its social conservatism and generous social spending. It ran a campaign that highlighted its social programs and vowed to defend traditional Roman Catholic values.

It has been accused of weakening the rule of law in the young democracy with an overhaul of the judicial system that has given the party more power over the courts and has drawn criticism as well for using state media as a propaganda outlet and for anti-gay rhetoric.

Pawel Zerka, policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said the high level of support for Law and Justice, known in Poland by its acronym PIS, “should not be interpreted as a sign that Poles have become nationalist or xenophobic. Rather, it reveals an effective party machine – and an ability of PIS to mobilize voters with policies based on direct social transfers.”

Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is considered the real power behind Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s government, cautioned that the exit polls weren’t the final results but nonetheless declared victory.

“We received a lot but we deserve more,” Kaczynski told party supporters as he held high a bouquet of roses.

Civic Platform leader Grzegorz Schetyna said the fight wasn’t fair, an apparent reference to the way Law and Justice harnessed state media to pump out positive coverage of itself while casting a poor light on political rivals.

“This was not an even struggle; there were no rules in this struggle,” Schetyna said.

The left-wing party leaders celebrated their expected return to parliament after failing to get any seats in 2015.

Critics fear that four more years for Law and Justice will reverse the democratic achievements of this Central European nation, citing the changes to the judiciary and the way the party has marginalized minorities, for instance with its recent campaign depicting the LGBT rights movement as a threat.

Law and Justice’s apparent success stems from tapping into the values of the largely conservative society while also evening out extreme economic inequalities.

It is the first party since the fall of communism to break with the austerity of previous governments, whose free-market policies transformed Poland into one of Europe’s most dynamic economies.

However, many Poles were left out in that transformation and inequalities grew, creating grievances. Law and Justice skillfully addressed those concerns with popular programs, including one that gives families a monthly stipend of 500 zlotys ($125) for each child, taking the edge off poverty for some and giving others more disposable income. It says it has been able to pay for its programs thanks to a tighter tax collection system.

It has also clearly benefited from the sacrifices forced by earlier governments and the growth of Europe’s economy.

In his victory speech, Kaczynski referred to his party’s improvement of public finances and said it would continue on that path.

“We are finishing a certain stage; we are starting a new one,” he said. “It is not easier, maybe more difficult. But I hope that it will be finished with even greater success.”

[politicalfilth-blog]

A Ted Cruz Twitter Explanation, Rand Paul Summons His Father In Senate

We Are Change

Welcome back amazing, beautiful human beings.

I’m seeing more YouTube channels being demonetized, terminated, and blacklisted so if you can please sign up on our email list. That way we have another way to contact you as I patiently wait for the inevitable next attack on our YouTube channel by the Google Alphabet CIA monopoly corporatocracy.

We’re going to give you the news that’s important and the news that matters. You probably won’t hear anywhere else because we’re living in a day and age of mass misinformation and propaganda. In today’s video we’re going to talk about war mongers bankrupting this country, more saber-rattling by Israel and Saudi Arabia, plus some important psychological lessons to learn from the latest U.S. Senator Ted Cruz.

Video is also available on DTUBE

There is a bigger battle for the future of all wars right now at the US Senate plus a lot more.

As we are shooting this video, US Senator Ted Cruz is trending worldwide on Twitter. Moments after he liked a pornographic video. He seemingly did not realize that likes are public. Everyone is now going crazy.

The official Pornhub Twitter account has even offered Ted Cruz a premium membership to their services. Personally, this issue does not affect my life or anyone else in the general public. I see it as a distraction, but there are some important lessons we could learn here. Number one, no one is perfect, we all make mistakes, including a US Senator representative of the United States. He is a conservative and preaches traditional values who boasts on his public Twitter account that he’s a father of two and who his wife is.

However, he publicly liked a pornographic video on his Twitter account on 9/11. The second lesson is what you resist persists, and for me, it shouldn’t be a big deal that he liked the pornographic video. However, people do see it as a big deal because this is the same Ted Cruz that defended a ban on dildos and other sex toys in Texas with his legal team arguing that there was “no right to stimulate one’s genitals.”

If you study psychology, you understand that what people hate the most in others is usually the shadow within themselves. As demonstrated wonderfully in a hypocritical political system with incidents like this one.

Also with former Republican Senator Larry Craig who helped enact the military “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy. He was also known as an anti-gay marriage campaigner. He was caught soliciting sex from what an undercover male police officer in a public bathroom.

Often if someone hates you because of the way you choose to live your life, or your sex, or your race, or for your personal preferences or choices, there is a reason. I think it’s important for a lot of people to understand that the person is throwing hate against you usually is doing it because of deep psychological rooted problems.

That’s why an example for most people who are homophobic usually have homosexual feelings.  People repress things and hold them in, build on it and make it bigger than it is. That’s why I think the world would be a better place if we all would just stop judging people on what they do when it does not affect us. Understand where it’s coming from so we don’t react negatively to put an end to the cycle of hate and fear.

That’s why I am, linking to an article by a licensed therapist. I recommend you check it out. It would be nice if people could stop projecting your fear and anger onto others. That, of course, begins with not giving such a hard time to Ted Cruz who just for the official record right now is blaming his staff member for this incident

In U.S. Senate news we have Senator Rand Paul introducing a bill to give money to hurricane victims in the United States instead of foreign dictators via foreign aid. This bill has been completely blocked by the Senate. He has brought up a very important point including examples of what we spend on foreign aid.

We spent a hundred billion dollars building roads in Afghanistan. Then more money blowing up roads in Afghanistan. We build schools then we blow them up again.  Then we spend more money rebuilding all of them.  Sometimes we blow them up, sometimes someone else blows them up. Then we always go back and rebuild them. What about rebuilding our country. Sounds like a practical idea but of course, the bill is blocked.

Rand Paul is also waging another war against endless wars.

He’s trying to repeal the 16-year-old Authorization for the use of Military Force (AUMF) which passed shortly after 9/11. It has allowed U.S. Presidents to declare war without Congressional approval. It has permitted the bombing of several countries including Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.

It also allowed the legal justification for the U.S. President to assassinate a U.S. citizen. It has been used to launch 37 military interventions in 14 different countries. Rand Paul is forcing a debate on this crucial issue almost standing alone. It would have passed if it wasn’t for his protest. He is bringing up vital points like the fact that there’s hypocrisy on both sides here. The anti-war left is no longer demanding the end of wars.

If you still believe in the political system, he has vowed to continue this protest. Most interestingly the only significant press he’s getting from this protest is from the online community. The mainstream media, of course, remains silent.

This is an important issue to me because if it weren’t for the AUMF, the president wouldn’t be able to bomb and kill anyone he wants at any time without congressional approval.

This law that Rand Paul wants to repeal has changed the landscape of not only Presidential powers but shaped international world events. This has been going on since 9/11 when Ron Paul former Congressman and Presidential candidate pointed out that 9/11 was used as a justification for passing the Patriot Act. He noted that the extensive bill was written many years before the attacks occurred. 9/11 just provided an opportunity to implement the police state.

That one event 9/11 introduced the AUMF and the Patriot Act. This started the current horrible foreign policy that still persists.

Many scholars, whistleblowers, professors, and experts say the government story about 9/11 does not add up. They say that it is bankrupting this country. Today almost every penny of our income tax goes to supposed defense spending. Over eighty percent of the money you give to the U.S. federal government goes directly towards the war industry and the security industry. They are setting up a surveillance state that is being turned and used against you the American citizen. As Edward Snowden even said don’t fear Trump, be afraid of the surveillance state.

With all of that happening the United States federal debt has just surpassed 20 trillion dollars. In just one day the debt jumped over 317 billion dollars after President Trump signed a new spending and debt limit deal.  This will keep the government afloat until December.

We are being bankrupted and are robbing our children’s future. We will be in servitude because of this debt all because of these meaningless wars that have been raging on for over 16 years now. Which is what the majority of our taxes are spent on. Yet still put us into bigger deficit while the United States cozies up to despotic nations. Nations like Saudi Arabia and Israel where we all commit horrible foreign policy decisions together.

The same Saudi Arabia that appears complicit and implicated with 9/11 along with American intelligence and Israeli intelligence. We’ve been telling you about this unholy alliance between Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United States for a very long time.

It’s been pretty much-made official with this latest breaking news of the Saudi Crown Prince having a secret visit to Israel. This in spite fo the fact that Saudi Arabia officially does not recognize the Jewish state.

The two countries supposedly do not have any diplomatic relations. This is not a surprise for me because for years now we’ve been documenting and telling you how Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the U.S. have not only had a common enemy with Iran but actively finance rebel groups.  With the purpose of getting rid of the Iranian linked Syrian government and Bashar al-Assad.

These nations supported the rebel groups inside of Syria knowingly. They knew they were creating radical Islamic terrorists and helped the rise of al-Nusra and ISIS. All for their greater geopolitical goal of isolating Iran. These three countries see as Iran and Syria as their common enemy. We’ve been telling you this for some years now. We’ve been accused of being fake news and conspiracy theorists, but now we’re being vindicated. Recently a top Israeli general just came out and admitted the greater truth behind Israel wanting a war with Iran. A general tasked with writing his country’s defense policy has admitted that Israel cannot take on Iran’s military alone if that day ever comes. He admitted for Israel that terror groups like ISIS continue to be a minimal threat and instead Israel’s main focus tends to remain enveloped in an obsession with Iran.

Currently, Iranian backed militants are taking strategic areas of Syrian territory and may ultimately set up shop permanently on Israel’s border.

This led up to the events that we were talking about on this YouTube channel with Israeli Prime Minister meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

When those talks failed, Donald Trump’s sent Jared Kushner to Israel. We told you to look out for a very strong Israeli move. Israel went out and attacked Syrian government forces, and now they’re colluding with Saudi Arabia even on a bigger level over the future of Syria. A Syria which is strongly influenced by Iran, China and Russia. That’s why this Israeli general said: “we can achieve a decisive victory over Hezbollah, and we don’t need help from a single American soldier. However, we cannot fight Iran alone.” He also said, “I consider future cooperation with the U.S. much more important than anything we’ve had in the past.”

That is why we’re about to see the United States and Russia come face-to-face in Syria. That is why US President Donald Trump has stated that the US will declare Iran non-compliant with its nuclear deal. Even though the nuclear watchdog chief even stated that Iran is playing by the rules. We are going to be keeping a very close eye on this situation on this independent news channel.

In other potentially disastrous war news, more sanctions were passed on North Korea. This has caused them to down on threats against the United States.

There are also massive demonstrations happening in Spain right now. Hundreds of thousands of people marching in the streets for a Catalan national day. The people of Catalonia are calling for a break from the Spanish government.

The Catalonians are declaring their desire to vote for independence on October 1st, 2017. This is an event which I’m personally thinking attending myself and covering from the ground.

If you’re interested in that, let me know. That is the news for today. I hope you guys enjoyed this broadcast if you found it informative please share it with your friends and family members.

Don’t forget to vote with your dollar. The only thing keeping this independent nonpartisan media organization working is you. Through your help and your donations. Visit wearechange.org/donate

Thank you so much for allowing me to do this job for you. I love you guys very much stay tuned for more content here on WeAreChange.

Patreon https://www.patreon.com/WeAreChange

We gratefully accept Bitcoin too: 12HdLgeeuA87t2JU8m4tbRo247Yj5u2TVP

Donate on our site: https://wearechange.org/donate

FOLLOW WE ARE CHANGE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

SnapChat: LukeWeAreChange

Facebook: https://facebook.com/LukeWeAreChange

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lukewearechange

Instagram: http://instagram.com/lukewearechange

Steemit: @lukewearechange

WE ARE CHANGE MERCHANDISE

Rep WeAreChange merch proudly: https://wearechange.org/store

The post A Ted Cruz Twitter Explanation, Rand Paul Summons His Father In Senate appeared first on We Are Change.

from We Are Change https://wearechange.org/ted-cruz-twitter-explanation-rand-paul-summons-father-senate/