Polish Region Reaffirms Anti-LGBTQ+ Zone as EU Demands Rebuke

Krakow
ADVOCATE: The European Union said it will withhold billions in funding from the council if the "Anti-LGBT Zone" resolution is not revoked.

A regional council in Poland has voted to continue to keep its status as an “LGBT-free zone” even as the European Union said it will strip the area of billions of dollars’ worth of funding.

The council of Malopolska first passed the resolution in 2019. The region is located in the south and includes the nation's second-largest city of Krakow.

The EU condemned the act. In July, it began a legal case against the country. It warned that if by September the council did not revoke the resolution, the EU would not provide the 2.5 billion euros — about $2.9 billion — it was to give the region for local projects.

On Thursday, the council of Malopolska defied the EU and voted down an opposition motion to rebuke the resolution, reported The Independent. The council is influenced by the country’s party in power, the Law and Justice Party. The political party, critics have said, has led Poland toward authoritarianism. » | Alex Cooper | Friday, August 20, 2021

Billie Jean King Reveals She’s Gotten Married in Private after Hesitating for Years

LGBTQ NATION: "Years from now, I never want anyone to question how much I was committed to you," King said about her life-long partner Ilana Kloss, she reveals in her upcoming memoir.

Ilana Kloss (left) and Billie Jean King (right) at the "Battle of the Sexes" Premiere at the Village Theater on September 16, 2017 in Westwood, CA | Photo: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock
Although she helped to advance LGBTQ rights for decades and fought for marriage equality for years, Billie Jean King resisted marriage herself. She turned down an offer from Elton John to sing at the wedding. She didn’t do it after John McEnroe’s pushed her to do it in Las Vegas.

But King is now revealing that eventually, she did in fact decide to get married. In fact, she and her partner of 42 years, Ilana Kloss, did it about three years ago. No one knew about it — other than the former mayor of New York that officiated it, his wife, an “aide” that witnessed it, and the city employee who issued their license.

King tied the knot with Kloss on October 18, 2018, but she’s only revealing it publicly now in her memoir, All-In, and with an interview in People Magazine. Family and friends only found out when they received advanced copies of All-In, which goes on sale on August 17. » | Juwan J. Holmes | Sunday, August 15, 2021

Pologne: le Vatican sanctionne un archevêque pour avoir dissimulé des actes de pédocriminalité

Le cas de Marian Golebiewski, 83 ans, n'est que le dernier d'une longue série de scandales d'agressions sexuelle qui ont secoué l'Église catholique. Guglielmo Mangiapane / REUTERS
LE FIGARO : L'Eglise, politiquement très influente en Pologne, est confrontée à une série d'accusations, très médiatisées, de pédocriminalité et de dissimulations.

Le Vatican a sanctionné un archevêque polonais à la retraite pour avoir couvert des agressions sexuelles sur mineurs, a indiqué samedi l'archidiocèse de Wroclaw.

Le cas de Marian Golebiewski, 83 ans, n'est que le dernier d'une longue série de scandales d'agressions sexuelle qui ont secoué l'Église catholique dans cet État membre de l'UE à prédominance catholique. «À la suite de notifications formelles, le Saint-Siège a mené une procédure concernant la négligence signalée de l'archevêque Marian Golebiewski dans des cas d'abus sexuels sur des mineurs par certains prêtres», a déclaré l'archidiocèse dans un communiqué.

Ces faits ont eu lieu alors que Marian Golebiewski était évêque de Koszalin-Kolobrzeg (nord de la Pologne) de 1996 à 2004, ainsi que lorsqu'il était archevêque de Wroclaw (ouest), de 2004 à 2013, ajoute le communiqué. À la suite de son enquête, le Vatican a décidé d'interdire à Golebiewski d'exercer des fonctions publiques et de lui ordonner de faire des dons à une fondation catholique pour la protection des mineurs. » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | samedi 21 août 2021

Pédophilie: le pape François durcit le droit canonique »

Survivors - What Happened to the Romanov Family?

Nov 19, 2020 • It’s now about a hundred years since the Russian revolution. Millions of people became victims of the revolution. As was the Tsar, Nicholas II and his family, killed in a hail of bullets one night of July 1918. just over thirty members of the Tsar’s family managed to flee from Russia. What happened to them? Where did they go?

In this interview documentary with historic flashbacks the American-Russian lawyer Albert Bartridge in San Francisco tells us what happened to some of them. One of the survivors was Prince Vasili Romanov, nephew to the last Tsar Nicolaus II. He became one of Albert’s close friends and told him many stories about the narrow escape from the Revolution, onboard an English warship, and the life that followed, for him and his family, in a completely new existence

Editor and dubbing mixer is Olle Tannergård; cinematographer is Gunilla de Besche Öhrvall.

Original music: Magnus Dahlberg
Produced in 2018

Milestones of a Piano Legend: Shura Cherkassky Vol. 1 – Frédéric Chopin -–12 Études, Op. 10. No. 3 in E Major – Tristesse

Provided to YouTube by NAXOS of America

Afghanistan : vivre en pays taliban | ARTE Reportage

Jun 3, 2021 • Vingt ans après avoir été chassés du pouvoir par l’intervention militaire américaine, les Taliban sont entrés dans Kaboul, sans résistance, à la stupéfaction de la communauté internationale.

Des forces de sécurité afghanes inexistantes, un président en fuite au Tadjikistan, les fondamentalistes se sont installés dans une place vide. En mai dernier, alors que les taliban contrôlaient déjà une grande partie du pays, nos réalisatrices avaient suivi sur leurs terres les « maîtres des campagnes » dont les lapidations publiques avaient frappé d’effroi le monde entier.

Zainab, 10 ans, passe quatre heures par jour à apprendre le Coran dans une école de fortune, les Taliban n’ayant pas construit d’établissement pour filles. Son père, qui a perdu des proches lors d’une bavure des forces afghanes et américaines, fait l’éloge des combattants, qui assurent selon lui la sécurité du village. Épiciers et agriculteurs, soumis à une vigilance constante, tiennent le même discours…

Les Taliban sont partout : de la législation alimentaire à la fréquence des prières, ils s'immiscent dans tous les aspects du quotidien. Non loin, dans une mosquée, le « gouvernement de l’ombre » décide des lois et des nouveaux interdits. Puis, au pied d’un arbre centenaire, des juges administrent la justice lors d’un tribunal public. Seul sanctuaire pour les femmes, autrement invisibles dans l’espace public : la clinique, où elles partagent leurs peines avec une jeune généraliste venue de la capitale.

En s’immergeant dans un village taliban, et après avoir obtenu un accès très rare au sein des principales institutions, les réalisatrices apportent un éclairage troublant sur la société talibane d’aujourd’hui, et sur les rouages de cet État parallèle ultra-conservateur dont les dirigeants viennent de s’installer symboliquement dans le palais présidentiel, pour y affirmer une mainmise qui laisse préfigurer l’Afghanistan de demain. | Disponible jusqu'au 31/05/2024.

Vues sur YouTube : 295,319

Roasted Beer Chicken Inside a 2 Michelin Star Italian Restaurant with Giancarlo Perbellini

Oct 30, 2020 • Roasted chicken is a typical Sunday dish, an apparently simple classic to enjoy with the family. In reality, the infinite possibilities of flavoring the meat and the complexity of the roasting make it one of the most difficult comfort foods to prepare at home. That's why for the second time we asked a great Michelin chef, in this case, Giancarlo Perbellini from Casa Perbellini, to show us his recipe. It came out a real master class on chicken, and a preparation that combines the greedy bird with the aromas and properties of a great Italian craft beer. In collaboration with Birra Baladin

Australia Anti-lockdown Rallies: Protesters Violently Clash with Police in Melbourne

THE GUARDIAN: Thousands march through streets of Melbourne and Brisbane, as police try to prevent Sydney rally

Protesters opposed to Covid lockdowns clash with police in Melbourne, Australia. Photograph: Dave Hewison/Speed Media/Rex/Shutterstock
Anti-lockdown protesters clashed violently with police as thousands of unmasked people marched through the streets of Melbourne on Saturday.

Victoria police said they had made 218 arrests and that six officers were hospitalised during a series of altercations. Police said in a statement the majority of the estimated 4,000 demonstrators “came with violence in mind”.

“The behaviour seen by police was so hostile and aggressive that they were left with no choice but to use all tactics available to them,” the statement said.

Footage posted on social media showed protesters cheering, throwing objects at police officers and letting off flares as well as police pepper-spraying protesters.

The Melbourne protests took place after Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, announced a lockdown in place across Melbourne would be extended across the entire state. The state recorded 77 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday.

More than 700 extra Victorian police officers were deployed to contain the lockdown protest.

Police said they had, for the first time during a lockdown protest, used non-lethal tactics that included rounds of pepper spray projectiles and canisters.

Two police officers suffered broken noses. One officer was hospitalised with a broken thumb and others suffered concussion. » | Ben Smee and Graham Readfearn | Saturday, August 21, 2021

Afghanistan : un quatrième vol d'une centaine d'exfiltrés de Kaboul a atterri à Paris

Le 20 août 2021 des Afghans embarquant à bord d'un Airbus A330 de l'armée de l'air française sur la base aérienne d'Al Dhafra, près d'Abu Dhabi, pour se rendre à Roissy Charles -de-Gaulle. HANDOUT / AFP
LE FIGARO : À bord de l'appareil se trouvaient une centaine de personnes, dont 99 Afghans et quatre Français.

Un quatrième avion d'exfiltrés de Kaboul s'est posé vendredi 20 août au soir à Paris, avec à son bord une centaine de personnes dont 99 Afghans, a annoncé le ministère des Affaires étrangères, dans le cadre du pont aérien mis en place par la France. Quatre Français étaient également à bord selon le communiqué.

«Un accompagnement médico-psychologique et matériel est immédiatement proposé. Des procédures accélérées ont été mises en place pour délivrer des visas aux ressortissants des pays tiers, après les vérifications nécessaires et dans un objectif de garantie de la sécurité intérieure», selon le communiqué.

C'est la quatrième arrivée à Paris d'un avion militaire français dans le cadre du pont aérien mis en place par la France pour évacuer Français et Afghans qui fuient Kaboul tombé dimanche aux mains des talibans. «Les Afghans qui souhaiteraient demeurer à long terme sur le territoire national seront accompagnés matériellement et administrativement dans leur demande d'asile», ajoute le ministère. » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | Samedi 21 août 2021

Afghanistan: à leur arrivée à l’aéroport, les réfugiés pris en charge par les associations »

Die Taliban kämpften Seite an Seite mit ausländischen Extremisten. Wird Afghanistan nun zum Terrornest?

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Die Taliban sind eng mit der Kaida verknüpft. Und diese ist nicht die einzige internationale Terrorgruppe, die in Afghanistan aktiv ist.

Ein afghanischer Soldat kontrolliert im Jahr 2019 in Faizabad angebliche Taliban. Seit Jahren kämpfen ausländische Jihadisten an ihrer Seite. Die Terrorgruppe Kaida ist noch immer in Afghanistan aktiv, es ist ein nur schlecht gehütetes Geheimnis. | Jim Huylebroek / NYT / Laif
Als Anfang August die Stadt Faizabad im Nordosten Afghanistans fiel, zogen sie hinunter aus den Bergen. Die Uiguren und Tadschiken kamen in die Stadt. Jahrelang hatten diese Jihadisten versteckt gelebt, abgeschottet. Auch weil die Taliban nicht wollten, dass jemand sie entdeckt.

Seit Jahren kämpfen ausländische Jihadisten in Afghanistan an der Seite der Taliban. Die Terrorgruppe Kaida ist noch immer in Afghanistan aktiv, es ist ein nur schlecht gehütetes Geheimnis. Nun sind die Taliban zurück an der Macht. Und Afghanistan läuft Gefahr, wieder ein sicherer Hafen für jihadistische Terroristen zu werden.

2020 haben die USA und die Taliban ein Abkommen unterschrieben, es regelte die Bedingungen für den amerikanischen Truppenabzug. Eine davon: Die Taliban erlauben niemandem, die USA oder ihre Verbündeten von afghanischem Boden aus zu bedrohen. Das Abkommen verlangt von den Taliban nicht explizit einen Bruch mit der Kaida oder anderen Jihadisten – die Amerikaner hätten sich wohl einen solchen Passus gewünscht, aber die Taliban hätten kaum eingewilligt.

Das Abkommen gilt noch, auch nach der Eroberung Kabuls. Die Amerikaner pochen darauf, und die Taliban streiten seine Existenz zumindest nicht ab. In der ersten Pressekonferenz nach der Machtübernahme sagte ihr Sprecher Zabihullah Mujahid: «Ihr werdet von afghanischem Boden aus nicht verletzt werden», er richtete die Worte an die internationale Gemeinschaft. » | Franz J. Marty, Kabul; Andreas Babst, Dehli | Samstag, 21 August 2021

Saudiarabien und die Taliban sind sich fremd geworden: Saudiarabien finanzierte den Jihad gegen die Sowjets in Afghanistan, und es gehörte zu den wenigen Ländern, die nach 1996 das Emirat der Taliban anerkannten. Heute erwischt die Rückkehr der Gotteskrieger das Mutterland des Islams aber auf dem falschen Fuss. »

Afghanistan Faces Economic Shock as Sanctions Replace Foreign Aid

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Taliban will be under pressure to keep a fragile economy afloat.

Shoppers on Friday in Kabul, Afghanistan. The nation’s former central bank governor, Ajmal Ahmady, warned that food prices could soar. Photo: Victor J. Blue for The New York Times
WASHINGTON — As the Taliban attempt the precarious shift from insurgent movement to functioning government, Afghanistan is facing the heightened risk of a financial collapse after being propped up for the past two decades by foreign aid that now accounts for nearly half its legal economy.

The fate of the Afghan economy will be determined by decisions that the Biden administration and other countries must make on whether to recognize the Taliban as a legitimate government. In the meantime, the United States and the international community are already shutting the flow of money, leaving Afghanistan in the stranglehold of sanctions that were designed to cut the Taliban off from the global financial system. Analysts say the looming shock threatens to amplify a humanitarian crisis in a country that has already endured years of war.

Signs of strain were evident this week as the value of Afghanistan’s currency, the afghani, plunged to record lows and the nation’s most recent central bank governor, Ajmal Ahmady, warned that inflation would likely send food prices soaring. The United States, which has poured about $1 trillion into Afghanistan over 20 years, moved to block the Taliban’s access to Afghanistan’s $9.4 billion in international reserves. And the International Monetary Fund suspended plans to distribute more than $400 million in emergency reserves to the country. » | Alan Rappeport | Saturday, August 21, 2021

America’s Afghan War: A Defeat Foretold?

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Recent history suggests that it is foolish for Western powers to fight wars in other people’s lands and that the U.S. intervention was almost certainly doomed from the start.

An Afghan security forces outpost on the edge of Kunduz in July. Bredit: Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
NEWS ANALYSIS
It was 8 a.m. and the sleepy Afghan sergeant stood at what he called the front line, one month before the city of Kunduz fell to the Taliban. An unspoken agreement protected both sides. There would be no shooting.

That was the nature of the strange war the Afghans just fought, and lost, with the Taliban.

President Biden and his advisers say the Afghan military’s total collapse proved its unworthiness, vindicating the American pullout. But the extraordinary melting away of government and army, and the bloodless transition in most places so far, point to something more fundamental.

The war the Americans thought they were fighting against the Taliban was not the war their Afghan allies were fighting. That made the American war, like other such neocolonialist adventures, most likely doomed from the start.

Recent history shows it is foolish for Western powers to fight wars in other people’s lands, despite the temptations. Homegrown insurgencies, though seemingly outmatched in money, technology, arms, air power and the rest, are often better motivated, have a constant stream of new recruits, and often draw sustenance from just over the border.

Outside powers are fighting one war as visitors — occupiers — and their erstwhile allies who actually live there, something entirely different. In Afghanistan, it was not good versus evil, as the Americans saw it, but neighbor against neighbor.

When it comes to guerrilla war, Mao once described the relationship that should exist between a people and troops. “The former may be likened to water,” he wrote, “the latter to the fish who inhabit it.”

And when it came to Afghanistan, the Americans were a fish out of water. Just as the Russians had been in the 1980s. Just as the Americans were in Vietnam in the 1960s. And as the French were in Algeria in the 1950s. And the Portuguese during their futile attempts to keep their African colonies in the ’60s and ’70s. And the Israelis during their occupation of southern Lebanon in the ’80s. » | Adam Nossiter | Saturday, August 21, 2021

Just a Beautiful, Loving Kiss

What’s not to like?
A big thank you to BLOoDyPaRaDiZe on Deviant Art for this wonderful photo. About Deviant Art here.

A Beautiful and Colourful Hindu Gay Wedding

Thanks and appreciation to Gayles TV and Google Images for this wonderful photo of these serene gentlemen on their wedding day.

Be Proud!

With thanks to Pinterest and esmale.com for this great quote.

O My Darling, I Love you! / ! يا حبيبي أُحِبُكَ

Mon chéri, je t‘aime ! / Mein Liebling, ich liebe Dich!
With thanks and appreciation to Pinterest and Ernie Taylor for this expressive photo.

Words Fail Me!

Eye candy doesn’t come much sweeter than this!
With many thanks to Pinterest for this exquisite photo.

Europe! We’ll Be Back!

MARK ALEXANDER – ESSAY: Britain’s destiny lies in Europe. One day, we’ll be back. That is if our European brothers and sisters will accept us back and forgive us for our stupidity. We Brits are Europeans, whether inside or outside of the European Union. It is a historical, geographical, and geological fact. Nobody can deny that because it is undeniable.

Unfortunately, the British electorate was erroneously given a referendum on our membership of the European Union. They shouldn’t have been given the choice to leave in a referendum. Why? Because the issue was extremely complicated, so most people didn’t understand the complexities involved. Very few politicians in Parliament truly understood what was involved in our membership of the Union or the impact of leaving would have on our economy or standing in the world. So, if our parliamentarians didn’t understand what was at stake by leaving, how could we possibly have expected the man in the street to understand what was at stake?

The fact of the matter is simple and clear: The British electorate has been cheated and lied to. They were and still are being lied to apropos of this very important issue concerning Britain’s future and destiny.

But it is very important that we understand why the electorate were lied to, and by whom. They were lied to so that the squillionaire class could make lots of dosh, even more squillions, from our exit from the EU. The fact that by doing this, they stole the average man’s European rights away from him is of no interest, consequence, or importance to them. All they cared about was self-aggrandizement, lining their own pockets, and furthering their own careers. Their perspective? The electorate be damned! And these people have the audacity to call themselves patriots. Go figure!

The people who have stolen the British people’s European rights away from them—rights such as the right to set up a business in Europe, buy properties and homes in Europe, love across frontiers in Europe, receive universal and reciprocal healthcare, and much else besides—is of no consequence or importance to these fools. In any case, most of these self-serving clowns have never done a proper job in their lives. Most of them have been born with a silver spoon, nay golden spoon, in their mouths. Do you think they care about hard-working businessmen and businesswomen losing their businesses because of Brexit? Do you think they care about goods becoming more expensive and scarcer in the shops? Not at all! I doubt that even one of them knows the price of a pint/litre of milk!

These people are just playing around. Politics is all a game to them. They are not serious politicians at all. In fact, do they truly understand national politics, still less understand international politics? I know what I think. I will leave that question with you for you to make up your own minds.

As for being tied to America’s apron strings, I have this to say… We Brits are not Americans; rather, we are Europeans. We share a common ancestry with our brothers and sisters in Europe. Even our royal families are all related; they all have DNA in common. Queen Victoria, for example, was known as the “grandmother of Europe”! We Europeans share so much common ancestry.

As for America and Americans, of course we should be close to America and its people. Americans are our close friends and allies. It is right that they are; and they always will be. However, we can be far, far more useful to America and Americans inside the European Union that we can ever be outside of it. Inside the EU, we can be America’s English-speaking gateway to the continent. Outside of it, Britain is in danger of becoming an irrelevance.

So, I don’t know how long it will take for this folly of Brexit to play out; but I am as sure as anyone can be that one day, hopefully in the not-too-distant future, we Brits will come to realise the folly of our decision to leave you all. I hope that when the time comes, you will again give us the welcome you gave us the first time around. I, for one, feel European with every fibre of my being. I dream of a united Europe. Free and whole – a Europe with a shared common heritage. Vive l’Europe ! Es lebe Europa! Long live Europe!

All Rights Reserved
© Mark Alexander

Bee Gees - You Win Again | Official Video

A very exciting sound from a very talented group! Views on YouTube: 9,986,179

Fear and Confusion Reign in Kabul Despite American Assurances

A baby was handed to U.S. troops over the perimeter wall of the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday, in this still image taken from video obtained from social media. A Marine Corps spokesman said the baby’s father and the baby were reunited. Credit...Omar Haidari/via Reuters
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The effort to evacuate people from Afghanistan, hampered by mayhem in Kabul and delays in Washington, stood in sharp contrast to President Biden’s reassurances on Friday.

With thousands of people inside the Kabul airport waiting for flights and thousands more outside the walls trying — and usually failing — to get in, fear reigned among Afghans who feared being stranded in the country after the Taliban takeover.

The United States has rushed troops and diplomatic reinforcements to the airport in recent days to speed up visa processing for Afghans. American commanders are negotiating daily with their Taliban counterparts — the former insurgents they battled for nearly two decades — to ensure that evacuees can reach the airport.

But crowds are still waiting fearfully outside the airport gates, where Taliban soldiers have attacked people with sticks and rifle butts. As Afghans clutching travel documents camped amid Taliban checkpoints and tangles of concertina wire, anxious crowds were pressed up against blast walls, with women and children being hoisted into the arms of U.S. soldiers on the other side. » | — Shashank Bengali, Lara Jakes, Annie Karni and Kenneth P. Vogel | Friday, August 20, 2021

What a cock-up! What a mess! Such chaos! Such confusion! Twenty years of war, many lives lost, and billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money wasted. And for what? For this manifest demonstration of utter failure. So much for US foreign policy! If this is the best the US can do, the country must surely be on the skids. Shameful! No sweet, comforting words from Biden, or anyone else, can change that fact. It is utterly disgraceful! – © Mark

Afghanistan: à Kaboul, les évacuations se poursuivent dans le chaos »