"Corporate Capitalism Runs Amok With Scissors in the Theatre."

Well, it goes without saying that that's a bad thing! But as 2012 winds down it can generally be agreed that on all levels it has been a bad year for Joe lunch bucket, hasn't it? There are examples put forth in the media on a daily basis showing how relatively normal every day citizens have been reduced to being both paying schmucks and shills for the corporate elite and their political enablers who's focus long ago stopped being about providing a product or service and has degenerated to just picking our pockets and inducing some of us to help them do it.

I could pick a lot of examples of this ethos but in this post I'll stick with the great unwashed theatre going public (bread and circuses!) who have for years either watched their beloved neighborhood cinema's closed to be replaced by multi-theater cinema-plex's that have increased the cost of a movie night out in Podunkville to the premium pricing of an on Broadway production in NYC, or had that same Broadway production when visiting the relates priced way out of reach.

I have recently been out on the town here in Riga, Latvia with my wife exactly twice in the last two weeks primarily due to the Mayan Calendar end of days thingy. "Why save that two hundred bucks in the old Mayo jar honey, lets go nuts!" That's been about all we could manage in the last two years so we really expect, unrealistically perhaps, to be treated well and not like cattle and we weren't disappointed. However that doesn't seem to be the trend in the US market which should alarm everyone. 

Minnesota Theater Offers 'Tweet Seats' To Smartphone Addicts

Good news for those who can't go two hours with out checking their phone: A Minnesota theater is giving smartphone and Twitter addicts a break with the introduction of "tweet seats," where audience members are not just allowed, but encouraged to tweet about the performance as they are watching it.

Innaresting, no? You pay for a ticket and then shill for the house for free at the expense of the other paying punters because you are a self important narcissist asshole. How about this!

Man shot dead in Latvian cinema for eating popcorn too loudly

Latest incidence of cinema rage occurred during a screening of Black Swan in Riga.

A man has been shot dead at a cinema in Latvia after a fellow movie-goer objected to the volume at which he was eating his popcorn. 

OK, it was Black Swan, and popcorn, but you see!? People are inherently unstable. Even though this was sleepy Riga it is a cautionary tale, put folks under just the. right. amount. of pressure, arm them to the teeth as in America and WHAM! Even meat thermometers become weapons and how do you legislate that? Actually that was pretty funny in a cruel kind of way.

I personally think that once I have paid for a ticket to view a production I should expect that the house will provide a safe and comfortable atmosphere that is condusive to the positive viewing of that production. Anything else would detract from the experience. Advertise in advance which is your right but don't de-value the experience which I have paid for in advance.

Or they should say something on the ticket when you purchase the thing.

I see stuff like no: guns/bombs/recording/pictures/drinks/umbrellas?/flashlights/dope/dogs.

Just add phones! It's not really about selling seats after all, the house should be full if the product is quality and properly advertised. Why should we, the paying public put up with house shills ruining the evening just so the house can get free buzz?

Just say no.

Baltic and RF Placings in the 2012 Corruption Perception Index

Go here for the full interactive info-graphic(s). What is it?:

The perceived levels of public sector corruption in 176 countries/territories around the world.

Global > 90% of countries score below 50 on a scale of 100 with 43 being the average score around the world.

Eastern Europe & Central Asia > 95% score below 50

Top: Georgia

Bottom: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Sub-Saharan Africa > 90% score below 50

Top: Botswana

Bottom: Somalia

Middle East & North Africa > 78% score below 50

Top: Quatar, United Arab Emirates

Bottom: Iraq

Asia Pacific > 68% score below 50

Top: New Zealand

Bottom: Afghanistan, Korea

Americas > 66% score below 50

Top: Canada

Bottom: Haiti, Venezuala

EU & Western Europe > 23% score below 50

Top: Denmark, Finland

Bottom: Greece

138/176

55/176

49/176

32/176

Two Languages Are Better Than One

Reasoning Is Sharper in a Foreign Language 

The language we use affects the decisions we make, according to a new study. Participants made more rational decisions when money-related choices were posed in a foreign language that they had learned in a classroom setting than when they were asked in a native tongue.

To study how language affects reasoning, University of Chicago psychologists looked at a well-known phenomenon: people are more risk-averse when an impersonal decision (such as which vaccine to administer to a population) is presented in terms of a potential gain than when it is framed as a potential loss even when the outcomes are equivalent. In the study, published online in April in Psychological Science, native English speakers who had learned Japanese, native Korean speakers who had learned English and native English speakers studying French in Paris all surrendered to the expected bias when they encountered the question in their native tongue. In their foreign language, however, the bias disappeared.

A second set of experiments tested another cognitive bias—we anticipate a personal loss will be more painful than an identical gain will be pleasant, so the benefit of winning must be disproportionately large for us to take a bet (such as gambling with our own money). Again, the foreign-language effect prevailed in two different experiments, one with native Korean speakers and one with native English speakers. The Koreans took more hypothetical bets in English than Korean, and the native English speakers took more real bets in Spanish than they did in English.

“When people use a foreign language, their decisions tend to be less biased, more analytic, more systematic, because the foreign language provides psychological distance,” lead author Boaz Keysar suggests. Cognitive biases are rooted in emotional reactions, and thinking in a foreign language helps us disconnect from these emotions and make decisions in a more economically rational way. This study did not consider, however, the instances in which emotional engagement im-proves, rather than hinders, our choices: “We have an emotional system for a good reason,” Keysar says.

Andris Bērziņš Says Latvians Must Know Russian

President urged citizens to learn Russia

Latvian President Andris Berzins said that Latvians have to know Russian, and not hope that they will manage with only the Latvian language.

"I believe that in a situation when it is associated with the transit, the Latvian , English, German, Russian should be a compulsory subject. With mandatory check of knowledge "- quoted Berzins
«Interfax».

President stressed that Lett (Latvians) could not count on a good position, including those in the public sector, if they do not know Russian.

What The What!?

My most viewed post by far, and only two comments. Can't figure it.

Closure For Tukums Regional Police?

Remember this?


Latvian Police Casino Robbery Attempt
January 28, 2011

Tuesday of this week saw an unusual casino robbery in Latvia’s city of Jekabpils.  According to reports, Five armed robbers, four of which were active police officers in uniform, stormed the “Fenikss” casino in the early hours of Tuesday morning in what ended up being a botched heist attempt.  In the ensuing car chase and shoot-out a pursuing police officer was killed and numerous people were injured.

After arrests were made it was established that two of the robbers were members of the Tukums Regional Police force and another two were part of the “Alfa” elite police response squad.  The Tukums police officers had previously been discharged for accepting bribes but had been reinstated after pressure from the police union.

Latvia’s Interior Minister Murniece called for immediate police department checks across the board stating that many people could lose their jobs.  The Minister also expressed his disgust at what he labelled “Serious problems with discipline” within the Alfa elite police force and suspended the Alfa Chief of Police Andris Zaušs, as well as the chief of police in Riga, Ints Kuzis from service.  Murniece has since come under pressure from the unions and the Council of the Home Office has been called in to deal with the situation.

Latvian Prime Minister, Valdis Dombrovskis, has given assurance that the interior minister’s job is not on the line over the incident and has pledged his support and agreement in her calls for police reform.  He reportedly stated that there had been numerous instances where the police union had forced unfit officers to be reinstated regardless of the circumstances and that this practice should come to an end.


Well, sentences have been handed down and names have been named. Sorry about the machine translation.

The raid on the "Phoenix": the bandits took a long time

December 20, 2012 15:56

Zemgale District Court issued a harsh sentence participants robbery gambling hall in Jekabpils - Arvo Žagars sentenced to life imprisonment, and his brothers Dennis and Paul Hristoforidi - for 20 and 18 years in prison. Stanislav Babelis Leonid Grooms and Edgar Parushkin received 13 years in prison

The most severe sentence was a former police Arvo Zagars, which the court sent to prison for life

Stanislav Berkul, who was accused by one incident of theft in Jurmala, received a suspended sentence of 6 months. 

All the defendants, except Berkul, also sentenced to confiscation of property and the Policing of three years. 

Robbery gambling hall "Phoenix" in Jekabpils happened January 25, 2011. During the arrest the robbers was killed by a police Andris Znotinsh. Participants in the case were also charged in several robberies and thefts committed in Tukums and Jurmala. 

Attorney Paul Sondors demanded life imprisonment for Arvo Zagars and Denis Hristoforidi. For Paul Hristoforidi he demanded 20 years in prison for Babelisa, Konyukhova and Parushkina - 14 years with confiscation of property. 

Full text of the sentence will be available on February 22, and then within 10 days, it can be appealed. The prosecutor has not yet said whether it intends to appeal, and the lawyers of the accused said that, most likely, it will appeal. 

Turns out the sister of one of the perps named above, herself a Tukums police officer was briefly a renter of a flat in one of our buildings. All accounts are that she is shocked and appalled at her brothers actions but I mention it to illustrate what a tiny little burg of intrigue the town of Tukums is where everyone knows everyone else's business. Does anyone really expect folks to believe that these criminals operated in a vacuum? Dirty cops doing B&E's in Tukums and Jurmala over a period of time would leave a hard to ignore stench. But it happened and ended badly.
I myself have to go back to deal with the Tukums police in two days over the false assault charge made against me as mentioned previously. So that will be another interesting blog post.  

The Pursuit of Justice in Latvia

Or: How To Protect Yourself in Latvia (When You Are Not a Liv (pure Latvian))

Tomorrow I travel to Tukums with my lawyer and long suffering wife. Once there I will again give statements to answer charges that I assaulted a two decade serial trespasser on my wife's land. Only because someone hired a sharp lawyer for me am I allowed to do this! Otherwise I would have never been aware of my rights under the law because in my view the system is tilted against people like my wife and I. Plus they had "roof" or krysha  and I did not. At that time. After living in Moscow for years I shouldn't have been surprised by the concept of roof but I thought Latvia was a member of the EU since 2004. Imagine my astonishment! But I guess corruption never goes away and just takes different forms in different realities.

As reported in a previous post on this blog this "assault" occurred on Sept 3 of this year. On that day I had a fight with a crazed and documented madman on my wife's private property, went to the hospital, got sewn up, had X-rays, purchased an arm sling at the nearest drug store and covered in blood so thoroughly I had to throw away my clothes, made a statement at the Tukums Region State Police station. That is where the system started to fail me, a non-citizen and mere holder of a Permanent Residence Permit and not a citizen resident of a small town with it's inbred politics and culture. 

Apparently, as my lawyer has since explained to me, you are supposed to file "two" statements, one describing the sequence of events and one outlining the compensation expected. I filed only the first statement because that is all I was told to do. This procedural transgression allowed the person who assaulted me to come back three months later and completely reverse the situation so that it was now "I" who was being charged with assault. This happened with some help from the inside, in my humble opinion. Please don't sue me very powerful Latvian Police Union. There is very little meat on my bones.

So tomorrow I get to re-start the process, supposedly. And then I will have another meeting with the Tukums Region State Police on the 27th of this month to decide whether the matter will be referred to the Prosecutors Office who will then decide whether it goes to court or not. I'm hoping for court. I'm ready to scream loud and long all the way to Brussels because it has cost us so much in blood and treasure. 

We don't live in Tukums. Every time they want a meeting we need to clear the entire day of activity and with our lawyer in tow travel to Tukums. It is expensive torture. And as I explained previously we need to have our docs translated and in hand. Because we are trying to keep everyone off balance and move swiftly my wife is picking up the latest package at the translation agency this evening after work. The day before we are scheduled to give statements as she is a witness.

The hilarious part in all of this if there can be one is that the female portion of the gruesome twosome who have assailed us as foreign trash for two decades now, well, the woman was born in Russia! And has falsely adopted the title of Baroness based on a fake history! Oh my!! The things you learn when you dig into public records. And the male member had a weapon (long rifle) and his old Militzia uniform confiscated after discharging his weapon in a residential area during a drinking binge. If that hadn't happened I suppose I could be dead now!

Stay tuned to this spot for more hilarity. You won't be disappointed.

Merry Christmas.


EDIT: I have just now received a request from my lawyer to make a spreadsheet for all our costs over the last two decades detailing the LVL >6,000 we have spent trying to protect my wife's land, for tomorrow. I'm good with XL but damn! See how this takes over your life!

Who Is More Corrupt, America or Russia?

A lot of people on the extreme far right call Matt Taibbi a polemist. I disagree. Anne Coulter is a shining  example of a bomb throwing polemist as is pretty much any contributor to Fox News which is nothing less than the propaganda wing of the GOP. But I think Taibbi's articles are very even handed. They're just difficult reading for the ruling class because hey, who wants to be publicly skewered by the truth?

I doubt that there can be any defence of the hugely destructive and hypocritical "War On Drugs" as this linked piece in Rolling Stone beautifully illustrates. The story is more about the recent DOJ ruling against HSBC which please note is not a 1.9 billion dollar fine but rather a "settlement." Nevertheless the rot and corruption taking place in America rivals much of what goes on in Russia.

That must be a hard pill to swallow since both parties are responsible for Americas current state of affairs. Follow the link and read the story.

Relevant links here, here and here.

You Never Know How You Look Through Other Peoples Eyes

It bears repeating!

And an alternate version.

So Many Problems With Tukums Police

Police officer who caused fatal weekend road accident was drunk

21 Mars 2012 - 14:35

RIGA, March 21 (LETA) - The police officer who caused a fatal road accident this past weekend in Engure Region (western Latvia) was highly intoxicated at the time, according to the State Police's Internal Affairs Department.

The accident itself took place at around 10:10 p.m. on March 17 on the Jelgava-Tukums road in Engure Region, when the off-duty officer (born 1968) from the Tukums Police Department driving a ''Honda CRV'' swerved into the opposite lane and smashed into a ''VW Golf'' automobile....

It must be beyond frustrating for the serious professional police officers to work in such a troubled division.

Do Latvians Trust Their Police?

Nope

56% of residents see no improvement in police structures

One tenth (11%) of economically active Latvian residents aged from 18 to 55 years are of opinion that within the last year there were carried out necessary reforms to improve general situation in police structures.

Among them, 1% of respondents think that there were definitely carried out necessary reforms to improve general situation in police structures, and 10% – that they were rather carried out, reveals a survey which was done in January by the market, public opinion and media research agency TNS Latvia together with television company LNT.

But slightly more that a half (56%) of respondents are of opposite opinion and think that there were not carried out necessary reforms. Among them, 41% of respondents are confident that there were rather not carried out any reforms, but 15% think that they were definitely not carried out.

Relatively large number – one third (33%) of respondents do not have a certain opinion in this issue.

A year has passed since the robbery in Jekabpils when five men, two of which were Tukums police officers and two officers of Alfa team, tried to rob the gambling hall. Analysing what had happened, several problems in internal structures were found and was carried out reorganizing of the Alfa team.

Cops and Robbers in Latvia

I probably shouldn't post this but I just have to because of the funny factor and the repetition of the first event described which defies all logic, at least from a Western perspective. Hope my lawyer doesn't read this!

I have a friend who has some local "small g" gangsters living in his building. They regularly leave company vehicles (taxi) parked in the security of the private parking of his supposedly elite building ("Private Parking" only because there is a sign stating such, no barrier or security guard to enforce it though) which then sit idle for a week or so and finally disappear. One day the vehicle is there, several days later it is gone. After a liberal application of alcohol we rightly or wrongly deduced this as a variation on a trick used in Winnipeg by an infamous deaths head biker gang on my old street in the west end to move stuff around. There they would show up with a tow truck and haul the vehicle off, presumably full of contraband. The point being that it was just an uninsured/unregistered vehicle belonging to no one in particular and therefore, "what do you mean there is 4 kilo of Bolivian marching powder in that boot officer"!? In this example here in Riga we assume out of shear laziness someone is just supposed to show up with the keys at an auspicious hour after something has been thrown in the boot and drive the thing away since I have overheard that it's easy to buy off the highway police in advance for a clear path. Or so I'm told.

But half the time it doesn't work out that way because the battery for the vehicle is frequently dead! HAH!! So it sits for an extra day or two until some local hoodie crazed on bath salts kicks in a door panel or a side window or some such which is inevitable in these parts. Then there is a torrent of high end vehicles that show up with booster cables but they can never get the sequence right, apparently. The owners manuals come out and dark clothed folks stalk about wincing in the harsh glare of the daytime Baltic gloom & smoking with cell phones glued to the ear, spitting and taking swigs from vodka bottles while even more vehicles show up with different cables and eventually the "transfer" vehicle is started and they all peel out in a wagon train of new Merc's and SUV's drawing no attention from anyone at all.

It happens every two weeks with some regularity. For a year now. Never a cop anywhere.

Hint: Positive to positive, negative to negative or to the frame of the dead vehicle if you're feeling technical.

Hilarious!

Such humorous interludes serve as a reminder as to who the real gangs are here in Latvia and that might be the police maybe? Remember my beef with the Tukums Regional Police described in previous posts? Think I'm exaggerating when I say that there are certain rotten apples who shouldn't be cops? 

Read this: Latvian Police Casino Robbery Attempt


January 28, 2011

Tuesday of this week saw an unusual casino robbery in Latvia’s city of Jekabpils.  According to reports, Five armed robbers, four of which were active police officers in uniform, stormed the “Fenikss” casino in the early hours of Tuesday morning in what ended up being a botched heist attempt.  In the ensuing car chase and shoot-out a pursuing police officer was killed and numerous people were injured.

After arrests were made it was established that two of the robbers were members of the Tukums Regional Police force and another two were part of the “Alfa” elite police response squad.  The Tukums police officers had previously been discharged for accepting bribes but had been reinstated after pressure from the police union.

Latvia’s Interior Minister Murniece called for immediate police department checks across the board stating that many people could lose their jobs.  The Minister also expressed his disgust at what he labelled “Serious problems with discipline” within the Alfa elite police force and suspended the Alfa Chief of Police Andris Zaušs, as well as the chief of police in Riga, Ints Kuzis from service.  Murniece has since come under pressure from the unions and the Council of the Home Office has been called in to deal with the situation.

Latvian Prime Minister, Valdis Dombrovskis, has given assurance that the interior minister’s job is not on the line over the incident and has pledged his support and agreement in her calls for police reform.  He reportedly stated that there had been numerous instances where the police union had forced unfit officers to be reinstated regardless of the circumstances and that this practice should come to an end.

Think that's bad? Many police when they leave the force end up in private security which is a very lucrative business here in Latvia since most small towns and municipalities had their policing sub-contracted out to these private security firms  by the government when the economy went into the toilet and the ruling 1% were forced to bow and scrape to Brussels and the IMF in order to meet the austerity measures which are a condition to continuing the EU loans which keep their private business's operating. There being no line at all between politics and business in this country which is due to join the European Union in 2014.

I have personal experience with one of these security firms, sounds something like Koblenz but I could be wrong as I'm a stupid foreigner and all, who once cost me LVL 200 and refused to pony up the money after a police investigation which surprise surprise, turned up no evidence of wrongdoing. Then there is a certain scam, again in Tukums but no doubt replicated elsewhere whereby in order to get a work permit, for electrical work for instance, you need to use one company and one company only which just happens to be owned by the local manager of the state electrical supplier. Ah, good times in Latvia. So many stories to tell. So much intrigue!

It's another week before my lawyer has the meeting with Tukums Regional Police regarding the false assault charges against me. I wonder how it will go?