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Czech lower house has approved moratorium on collections agents confiscating property in people's homes due to COVID-19 1.4.2021 6:13 Collections proceedings in the Czech Republic. (Collage: Romea.cz) Despite the fact that the state of emergency in the Czech Republic has been ongoing and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has been seeking an extension of the law authorizing the state of emergency from Parliament, it was not until 24 March that the Chamber of Deputies re-approved a previous moratorium on collections agents' confiscations of movable items according to the law on ameliorating the impacts of the novel coronavirus called Lex Covid Justice II, which was in effect from November 2020 to 31 January 2021. Czech MP Lukáš Kolářík (Pirates) had warned that since February, when the ban on confiscating movable assets had been lifted, persons in debt who are under collections proceedings have seen their property confiscated and sold.
If anything should be canceled in 2021, it’s April Fools Day. The last 13 months have held far too many tricks to find more of them funny. We haven’t lost our sense of humor, but here are a few very real things we wish were jokes. The parking situation in the Bishop Arts District. There are a few tricky ways around it, but for the most part, it will make you cry. Cheesecake Factory. There’s a peanut butter sandwich on the menu at Norma’s Cafe that costs $29.99. That's not a joke, but there are so many good things to order at Norma’s, you can probably just skip it and save yourself the penalty price. (Kinda like ranch dressing at Cane Rosso back in the day.) Norma’s tells us the peanut butter is flown in from Alaska where unicorns grind the peanuts with their hooves. If you absolutely must order one, you can save a few dollars on April 2, National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day, when the price will be slashed to just $25 for one day only. Again, this is not a joke.
Czech TV finds MP is still a landlord trafficking in poverty, overcharging Romani tenants for squalid properties who have nowhere else to go 17.3.2021 10:07 Lubomír Volný (2021) (PHOTO: Czech Television, "168 hodin") Czech MP Lubomír Volný is continuing to make money on the most impoverished Romani residents of the excluded locality in Ostrava-Přívoz where he owns two buildings that he is neglecting. Currently he has been drawing attention to himself by refusing to follow the rules in place during the pandemic and has become a star among those opposed to wearing facemasks - and paradoxically, many Romani men and women are praising him for that on social media.
Brand-new Czech Chief Public Health Officer has a history of anti-Romani racism in her previous public communications about COVID-19 5.3.2021 8:50 A printscreen of the Facebook post from October 2020 by Pavla Svrčinová, who was appointed Chief Public Health Officer of the Czech Republic in March 2021. It reads: "Fero Lakatoš robbed his own apartment today. He is following the quarantine rules and working from home. Be like Fero." The Czech News Agency has reported that the new Chief Public Health Officer for the Czech Republic will be the current director of the Moravian-Silesian Regional Public Health Department, Pavla Svrčinová, but its brief announcement of that news failed to mention that in October, Svrčinová shared a racist joke on her Facebook profile in association with the Government's measures to fight COVID-19. Whether anti-Romani racism is meant to be the new style of communications to induce the public in the Czech Republic to comply with the Government's measures against the pandemic, some of which have previously only remained in effect for a few hours, is probably a question for its main PR guru, Marek Prchal.
Romea.cz 6.3.2021 6:22 Pavla Svrčinová and the joke she shared to her Facebook profile. The text reads "Fero Lakatoš robbed his own apartment today. Fero is following quarantine rules and working from home. Be like Fero." (Collage: Romea.cz) Pavla Svrčinová, who has been tapped to take up the role of Chief Public Health Officer in the Czech Republic, has apologized to Romani people for sharing a racist joke featuring Romani stereotypes on her Facebook profile. She was contacted by Czech Government Human Rights Commissioner Helena Válková with a request for an explanation after the news broke.
According to Válková, the two had a telephone conversation during which Svrčinová apologized for the entire matter and asked the Human Rights Commissioner to convey her apology to all members of the Czech Government Council for Romani Minority Affairs. "I would like to hereby assure you that the placement of that post on my Facebook page was not intentional and decidedly was not meant to discredit the Romani minority, and through you I would like to apologize to them for this unpleasantness," Svrčinová wrote in an e-mail to the members of the Czech Government Council for Romani Minority Affairs, which news server Romea.cz has seen.
Romani organizations write to Czech Industry and Trade Minister: Roma must be part of the National Plan for Renewal 1.3.2021 9:33 Czech Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlíček (PHOTO: David Sedlecký, Wikimedia Commons) Representatives of Romani civil society have sent an open letter to Czech Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlíček; news server Romea.cz is publishing it in full translation below. The letter asks the minister to provide information about its National Plan for Renewal and how the Romani representatives can most effectively join its preparations.
The letter-writers are concerned by the fact that the Government never called on representatives of Romani civil society or the Czech Government Council for Romani Minority Affairs to collaborate on drafting the National Plan for Renewal. It is meant to become the most extensive stimulus package of financial support in history to ever be implemented in the Czech Republic as aid in coping with the novel coronavirus crisis.
Czech court fines man for setting rainbow flag on fire, stays silent on homophobic motivation; he says it wasn't him and appeals 24.2.2021 8:43 The rainbow flag is a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) pride and LGBTQ social movements. The colors reflect the diversity of the LGBTQ community, as the flag is often used as a symbol of gay pride during LGBTQ rights marches. While this use of the rainbow flag originated in San Francisco, California, USA, it is now used worldwide. Originally devised by artist Gilbert Baker, the design has undergone several revisions since its debut in 1978. (Wikipedia)