Righting Some Bad Czechs

Your knowledge of Czechoslovakian politics will be complete once you read about their president doing something that I wouldn't be surprised to see ours do.

The president's name is Milos Zeman (theirs, not ours) and he was mad at a group of artists in the Czech Republic. An artist collective (I get the impression this consists of a group of people in smocks, smoking pipes and drinking a whole lot of coffee) named Ztohoven had done all they could do to scotch Zeman's chances of re-election, but it didn't work out, and he won.

And boy, was he steamed at the Ztohoven people, because they called him "the man who is not ashamed" (hmmm) and found a gigantic pair of skivvies to symbolize him. It seems they choose red boxers because he is friendly toward the Chinese and the Russians and opposes immigration. (Hmmmmmm.) 

Prague Castle

The artists drove Zeman nuts every time they could with this...in 2015, members of the group climbed to the roof of Prague Castle, lowering the Czech flag and replacing it with the BA drawers waving in the sky.

And then they made little badges and stickers with pictures of the giant red boxers and displayed them everywhere they could.

It started to remind me of those mind games that some people play on each other, mailing them pictures of turkeys, turkeys, turkeys.

So, always looking to make a score even, Zeman had reporters assemble at the Prague Castle  - a building that they STARTED building in the year 870 and FINISHED in 1929 - and they all stood agog as Zeman told his chancellor to bring out the underwear.

Chancellor Vratislav Mynar pulled out the crimson BVDs and unfurled them, and he and Zeman handed them to firefighters, who set them on fire.

Zeman intoned these words for the ages to the press and amused spectators:

"The time of underwear in politics is over."

If only this sort of wisdom could emigrate to the United States.