Profiles in Courage and Cringage

"The Heist"

As loyal readers know, the standing policy of this blog is to provide fair and balanced commentary on all the pressing issues of the day, generally transport related. Reflecting on Vaclav Havel's career, though, it's hard not to feel the need to have a wastebasket handy when talking about the current lineup of GOP candidates.

The photo looks like a still from a gangster movie from the 1960s. Actually it's four of the leaders of the emerging Solidarity movement in 1980: Jacek Kuron, Zbigniew Bujak, Lech Wałesa, and Tadeusz Mazowiecki (l to r). Mazowiecki would go on to become Poland's first non-communist Prime Minister in decades. Like others in that car, he would spend years in jail during the Martial Law period of the 80s.

This Sławomir Mrożek cartoon from Poland in the 1960s captures our present moment in politics.

"And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, in our continuing series,

A Fair Chance for Everyone..."