Monday, July 12, 2021

Président Emmanuel Macron : Adresse aux Français

Alors que le pays est confronté à une reprise forte de l'épidémie, le Président Emmanuel Macron a annoncé de nouvelles mesures pour lutter contre le variant Delta.


Palais de l’Élysée ici

Chris Snowden on the Ever-Growing Nanny State

May 31, 2021 • Gary sits down with Christopher Snowdon, author of the Nanny State Index. They discuss vaping; smoking; sugar taxes; Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) for alcohol; the drive towards increased nanny statism coming from NGOs; & what consumers can do to fight back.


These interfering dudes in government have absolutely no sense of 'joie de vivre'! Further, they forget that they work for us: they are our public sevants. Their positions are paid for by our taxes! They should get off our backs and let us lead our lives as we see fit! I can think of a few people in politics in the UK—I won’t name them – today—who behave like interfering old women! In years gone by, we used to call them Betsys! Even though I have successfully given up smoking, listening to this discussion makes me want to start again!

People are not becoming healthier from quitting smoking at all. Instead of smoking, people now eat loads of junk food instead, and grow fatter abd fatter. As a result, obesity and type-2 diabetes rates are soaring. So, instead of dying from tobacco-related illnesses, they are now dying of illnesses related to obesity, insulin-resistance and metabolic syndrome instead. And that's a fact!

Whilst it is healthier not to smoke, it is healthier not to do so only if one vice is not substitued for another. Political hacks don't seem to understand this. One could speak of the law of unintended consequences here. – @ Mark

"It's Coming Home": Neuinfektionen statt Pokal +++ Impfpflicht in Frankreich | DW Nachrichten

Jul 12, 2021 • Mehr als 31.000 Neuinfektionen - in Großbritannien verdoppeln sich die Covidfälle gerade von Woche zu Woche. Trotz der raschen Ausbreitung der Delta-Variante hält der Premierminister Boris Johnson für England daran fest, alle Alltags-Auflagen zum 19. Juli aufzuheben.

Jenseits des Ärmelkanals, in Frankreich, fährt die Regierung einen anderen Corona-Kurs. Auch hier steigen die Neuinfektionen durch die Verbreitung der Delta-Variante. Aber der französische Präsident Emmanuel Macron setzt nicht mehr auf Lockerungen, sondern auf eine teilweise Impfpflicht. Alle, die im Gesundheitswesen arbeiten, insbesondere Kranken- und Pflegekräfte sollen geimpft werden. Die Betroffenen zweifeln, ob das der richtige Weg aus der Coronakrise sein soll.


Is the Georgian Government Complicit in Alexander Lashkarava's Death? | DW News

Jul 12, 2021 • In Georgia, protesters have been calling for the Prime Minister to resign over the death of a journalist. Alexander Lashkarava worked for an independent TV news channel. He was found dead in his home on Sunday, after being beaten by far-right activists during a protest against an LGBTQI+ Pride march in the capital, Tbilisi. DW spoke to Zura Abashidze, Georgian writer and LGBTQI+ activist, about the incident.


More on this tragic story here

Nazis, Fear and Violence: When Reporting from Berlin Was Dangerous

A Nazi demonstration by the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin calling for a ‘strong Germany’, 1931. Photograph: Imagno/Getty Images

THE GUARDIAN: Our Germany correspondent salutes the man who did his job 100 years ago, when it was far more perilous and unpredictable

Frederick Augustus Voigt, who was the Manchester Guardian’s Berlin correspondent between 1920 and 1932, did not look like an intrepid reporter.

A 1935 portrait by the Bauhaus photographer Lucia Moholy makes it appear as though he wants to back away from the camera, distrustful eyes barricaded behind thick, round glasses. His physical appearance was described in his 1957 obituary as “fragile-looking and nervous in manner, shortsighted, with a trick of smiling from the mouth downwards.”

So nervy could Voigt be, he once confided to his editor that on a bad day he did not feel brave enough to cross a street during heavy traffic. “Like so many hatreds, my hatred of motorcars arises from fear.”

And yet brave is the only suitable adjective to describe Voigt’s journalism. Known as “Freddy” to colleagues in England, as “Fritz” to friends in Berlin, but only as “our own correspondent” to readers of the Manchester Guardian, Voigt always went straight to where the story was, even if the story might imperil his life. » | Philip Oltermann in Berlin | Monday, July 12, 2021

Gay Pride: Kitty Fischer on Gay Male Rescuer in Auschwitz

Jun 18, 2015 • For National Gay Pride Month, USC Shoah Foundation featuried a testimony clip every week in June of eyewitnesses to the Nazi persecution of gay men in the Holocaust. Kitty Fischer recounts her time in Auschwitz-II Birkenau when, as a young girl, she encountered for the first time a gay male prisoner who turned out to save her life. To learn more and explore the stories of other eyewitnesses to the Holocaust and other genocides, visit sfi.usc.edu | Copyright USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education.



Viewer discretion is advised. – Mark

Pride Month: The Nazi Persecution of Gay People

Jun 3, 2020 • Before the Nazis came to power, Berlin was home to a vibrant gay community. Within weeks of their rise in March 1933, the Nazis drove this population underground and waged a violent campaign against homosexuality. Over the next 12 years, more than 100,000 men were arrested for violating Germany's law against "unnatural indecency among men.” During this time, proof was often not required to convict an individual. Some were sent to concentration camps and subjected to hard labor, cruelty, and even medical experiments aimed at “curing” them. Moderator: Dr. Edna Friedberg, Historian, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; Speaker: Dr. Jake Newsome, Historian, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum


In ewiger Erinnerung: Mögen die im Dritten Reich verfolgten Homosexuellen—in den Vorkriegsjahren, während des Krieges selber, und sogar bis 1969, als der Paragraph 175 schließlich abgeschafft wurde—in Frieden sein. Sie haben kein Verbrechen begangen. Sie wurden geschlagen, gefoltert und getötet umsonst, nur weil sie einen anderen Menschen liebten. Das ist die Tragödie. Ruhe in Frieden. – © Mark

Cubans Take to the Streets in Protests against Communist Regime | DW News

Jul 12, 2021 • Anti-government protests in Cuba amid food shortages and COVID surge.

Protests have broken out in Cuba, with thousands of people taking to the streets against the communist regime.

Demonstrators expressed frustration at food shortages, rising prices and the lack of COVID-19 vaccines. The government has tried to blame the US for the unrest and is rallying its own supporters. It is the greatest show of discontent with the socialist government since the 1990s. Like back then, the trigger for this protest is the desperate economic situation.

Right now, the country is suffering from food shortages. Soon the police arrived and began to drag off people in the crowd. The arrests and the violence only make the demonstrators angrier. "We are not afraid" they cry out. Supporters of the government have been out in the streets too. President Miguel Diaz-Canel himself led a rally. It was organized quickly - in a town outside Havana, where the anti-government protests began early on Sunday.

With the president encouraging his supporters to mobilize against his opponents - there were ugly confrontations. A group of government supporters detain opposition protesters.

A communist regime has ruled Cuba since 1959. It has survived the fall of the Soviet Union and the death of its founder, Fidel Castro. Now, it is again being challenged. But displays like these show it is unlikely to go without a fight.



Related: Thousands March in Cuba in Rare Mass Protests amid Economic Crisis »

P.R.I.D.E. - A Very GAY Documentary

8 Openly Gay Billionaires In the World in 2016


CLEAR lesson here: NEVER let your sexual preferences hold you back! Further, don't worry about God. If it was a problem for Him, He wouldn't have made you gay in the first place! Remember this: If God exists, we are ALL God's children, whether we are gay or straight! – © Mark

Thousands March in Cuba in Rare Mass Protests amid Economic Crisis

THE GUARDIAN: US sanctions and coronavirus crisis lead to food shortages and high prices, sparking one of the biggest such demonstrations in memory

The biggest mass demonstrations for three decades have rippled through Cuba, as thousands took to the streets in cities throughout the island, demonstrating against food shortages, high prices and communist rule.

The protests began in the morning, in the town of San Antonio de los Baños in the west of the island, and in the city of Palma Soriano in the east. In both cases protesters numbered in the hundreds.

With millions of Cubans now with mobile internet on their phones, news of the protests quickly swept to Havana. By early afternoon, thousands marched through central Havana, chanting “homeland and life” and “freedom”.

“I’m here because of hunger, because there’s no medicine, because of power cuts – because there’s a lack of everything,” said a man in his 40s who didn’t want to give his name for fear of reprisals.

“I want a total change: a change of government, multiparty elections, and the end of communism.” » | Ed Augustin and Daniel Montero in Havana | Monday, July 12, 2021

Pope Francis Leads Prayer from Rome Hospital

Pope Francis greeted the faithful from a balcony at Gemelli hospital in Rome on Sunday, his first public appearance since undergoing colon surgery last week.

Georgian Cameraman Dies after Attack by Far-right, Anti-LGBTQ Mob

Alexander Lashkarava, 37, sustained fractures to his facial bones after being attacked last Monday. Photograph: Tv Pirveli/Reuters (R.I.P.)

THE GUARDIAN: Government accused of ‘culpable passivity’ after dozens of journalists were attacked covering Pride protest

A Georgian TV cameraman has died after being badly beaten by far-right assailants during a protest against an LGBTQ Pride march, his station said on Sunday, as pressure mounts on authorities over attacks on journalists.

Alexander Lashkarava, a 37-year-old cameraman working for the independent station TV Pirveli, was found dead in his bed in the early hours on Sunday, the channel reported.

Last Monday he was assaulted by a violent mob of anti-LGBTQ protesters and sustained fractures to his facial bones.

More than 50 journalists were attacked that day by anti-LGBTQ groups protesting against the planned Pride march in Tbilisi, which was cancelled due to safety fears. » | Agence France-Presse in Tbilisi | Sunday, July 11, 2021

Sunday, July 11, 2021

Harry Nilsson: Without You

Protests Erupt in Spain after Killing of Samuel Luiz

Jul 9, 2021 • Protests have erupted across Spain after a gay man was killed over Pride weekend.


More on this tragic and heartbreaking story here

Jewish in Europe (2/2) | DW Documentary

Jul 11, 2021 • What is life like for Jews in Europe today? What are their stories? How do they combine traditional and modern life? And how do they deal with marginalization and threats?

"There is an everyday Jewish life in Europe that rarely gets shown. Debates about politics, the Middle East and anti-Semitism overshadow the diversity of Jewish life. That's why it was important for us to be able to capture it, just by spontaneously going there and seeing what was happening." This was the mission statement that led Swiss writer Yves Kugelmann and German film producer Alice Brauner, both Jewish, on a journey across Europe.

The first part of this two-part documentary takes Brauner and Kugelmann to Marseille, Strasbourg, Frankfurt and Berlin. They talk about life in the Jewish quarter with Harold Weill, Chief Rabbi of Strasbourg, and ask whether he and his community feel threatened. Alon Meyer, chairman of intercultural soccer club Makkabi Frankfurt and president of the Jewish sports organization Makkabi Germany, describes the hostility his team faces away from the field. In Berlin, Brauner and Kugelmann meet the writer and dramatist Sasha Marianna Salzmann.



Hongkong: Das Ende der freien Presse | DW Reporter

Jul 11, 2021 • Nachdem Peking ihre Konten gesperrt hatte, musste die Zeitung "Apple Daily“ aufgeben. Damit ist eine der letzten chinakritischen Stimmen Hongkongs verstummt. Wie geht es für die Stadt nun weiter? Wir begleiten einen Reporter und einen Fotografen.

Les dessins de Christian Dior | ARTE

Jun 11, 2021 • Dans les années 1950, Christian Dior réinvente la silhouette de la femme. Les lignes folles de ses merveilleux dessins, dévoilés par Loïc Prigent, témoignent de dix années de création foisonnantes.

Des tailles de guêpe corsetées, des hanches exagérées, des jupes amples et bouffantes : le style Dior révolutionne la mode d'après-guerre. Finie l'époque du rationnement, l'inventeur du fameux new-look déroule des mètres de tissu – suscitant au passage la polémique – pour habiller la femme. De 1947 à 1957, "une explosion de féminité" défile sur les podiums. De la mythique "Junon", une robe du soir perlée encore réalisée dans ses ateliers pour des clientes fortunées, à l'emblématique tailleur "Bar", le couturier renouvelle tout en élégance ses silhouettes de saison en saison. Mais à force d'enchaîner à un rythme effréné les collections, celui qui aime se décrire comme "un paysan normand bedonnant" s'épuise. Parti en Italie en août 1957 pour une cure de remise en forme – alors que sa voyante lui a déconseillé ce voyage –, Christian Dior ne reviendra jamais. Deux ans avant sa mort, il avait pris soin d'embaucher le jeune Yves Saint Laurent pour lui succéder.

Révolutionnaire

Après Les dessins d'Yves Saint Laurent, Loïc Prigent dévoile les croquis de Christian Dior, conservés précieusement à Paris dans un lieu tenu secret. De ses esquisses dans les pages mode du Figaro, quand il était fauché, aux ébauches de ses innombrables créations en passant par ses carnets d'idées, ce documentaire éblouissant nous plonge dans l'effervescence des années 1950. Avec les sons de l'époque, les dessins, déjà pleins de mouvement, prennent littéralement vie. Riche d'anecdotes émouvantes d'anciennes couturières, d'intimes de "Monsieur Dior", mais aussi de spécialistes de la mode, le film célèbre le talent d'un révolutionnaire qui a construit un empire en seulement dix ans.

Documentaire de Loïc Prigent (France, 2018, 52mn)

Disponible jusqu'au 17/08/2021


Julio Iglesias, Diana Ross – All of You

"Music video by Julio Iglesias;Diana Ross performing All Of You. (C) 1984 Sony BMG Music Entertainment"

Global Philanthropists Pledge £94m to Cover UK Foreign Aid Cuts

THE GUARDIAN: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation among organisations picking up some of bill for health projects

A group of global philanthropists, including Bill Gates, have pledged £93.5m to help cover the shortfall left by the UK government’s cuts to foreign aid.

After the government cut funding by about a third in the autumn spending review, many “critical” projects have stalled or been put at risk.

The consortium, according to the Sunday Times, said they did not want to see drugs wasted because health projects had been forced to close down.

The philanthropists, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the ELMA Foundation and the Open Society Foundations, are picking up some, but not all, of the bill for these projects. » | Robyn Vinter | Sunday, July 11, 2021