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Post by bjd on Sept 27, 2021 18:34:30 GMT
I too find Zemmour rather scary, but if this photograph is anything to go by, he won't survive until next April's election. He looks like death warmed over.
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Post by kerouac2 on Nov 12, 2021 18:02:28 GMT
Poor American VP Harris was sent to France for 5 days to atone for the sins of Biden, Morrison and Johnson. No mention of her was made after the second day, so I have no idea what hoops the French are making her jump through before she is released.
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Post by Biddy on Nov 12, 2021 19:55:09 GMT
LOL! It was either visit France or travel through the US selling the infrastructure bill. She is not polling well with the electorate.
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Post by bjd on Nov 12, 2021 20:00:09 GMT
There was a conference about Libya organized in Paris today -- I believe Harris was there but the camera didn't show her during the news report. She was not sitting beside Macron. She was also at the November 11th commemorations yesterday.
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Post by htmb on Nov 12, 2021 21:42:16 GMT
Meanwhile, the first gentleman has been visiting outdoor markets in Paris with David Lebovitz.
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Post by htmb on Nov 12, 2021 22:45:42 GMT
Or, is he the second gentleman?
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 17, 2021 17:41:29 GMT
I am aghast at how stupid certain political parties can be -- in the case of the left wing parties in France. Back in the 70s and 80s they were able to group together for elections, both parliamentary and presidential. Without a coalition, François Mitterrand never would have been elected president, same for François Hollande to a lesser degree.
But now all of the parties on the left are determined to maintain their candidate and hurtle to disaster because they refuse to compromise.
We have Philippe Poutou at 1.5% and Nathalie Artaud at 0.5%. They are both from Trotskyist parties that refuse to cooperate with each other. Then we have Fabien Roussel at 2% from the Communist Party. They haven't had a candidate for 10 years and are determined to return. Arnaud Montebourg is a dissident Socialist who was veering Green but not quite. He is at 2.5%. Anne Hidalgo is the official Socialist candidate (like Mitterrand or Hollande) and she is at 5%. Then we have Yannick Jadot from the Greens at 7%. He is absolutely convinced that he is the only legitimate leftist candidate. And finally we have Jean-Luc Mélenchon (former socialist) of 'Unsubmissive France' at 8% who is absolutely convinced that he is the only legitamte candidate.
Even if they all suddenly agreed to work together, you do the math -- they don't have a snowball's chance in hell. The government reimburses most campaign costs for anybody who gets at least 5% of the vote. So we already have at least 4 total kamikazes who don't give a shit.
What do leftist voters think? Former government minister Christiane Taubira is the person they would most like to see. She ran for president in 2002 (and it is her fault that J-M Le Pen got to the finals because the points she got were the ones that eliminated Socialist Lionel Jospin by a hair when it was certain that he would be the next president). So today she said she was considering being a candidate.
It is insane.
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Post by whatagain on Dec 17, 2021 18:39:37 GMT
As for a program, i only heard of Hidalgo promising to double the wages of teachers.
That was in September. After that she said a teacher who nowadays syart at 1700 euros (brutto ?) should atvleast get 2300.
So 1700 x 2 = 2300. France would in the good hands of a finance freak.
Ecolos, what would be their program except to put everywhere Xmas trees in metal ?
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Post by bjd on Dec 17, 2021 19:00:07 GMT
I haven't heard any programs from the left yet. As Kerouac says, they are all trying to be number 1 on the left. Taubira today said she was "considering being a candidate", also saying she wouldn't be "just another candidate". Well, what else would she be? Hidalgo wants a primary on the left, nobody else is willing to participate. Meanwhile, my neighbour told me today that a woman she was talking to said that she would vote for Marine le Pen because le Pen had never been elected so we don't know what she would be like.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 17, 2021 19:12:25 GMT
At times like this, I am relieved that I have always supported Macron. Many of his policies are disappointing, but at least he doesn't make ridiculous promises. And I am sorry that some of his promises were not kept -- not necessarily his fault, but the yellow vests, covid, etc. screwed up a lot of things. I particularly hope that he manages to reduce the size of the parliament and the senate and also that progress is made on retirement laws. At the moment, there are 42 different pension schemes. Macron wanted just one, which is also impossible, but now he says he would like to reduce it to 3 -- private sector, public sector and independent workers. I don't think it's going to be that easy, but any reduction from 42 will be more than welcome.
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Post by patricklondon on Dec 18, 2021 7:31:04 GMT
I am aghast at how stupid certain political parties can be -- in the case of the left wing parties in France. I've just remembered an old gag on the left in Britain is that the first item on the agenda at the inaugural meeting of any left-wing group is - the split.
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Post by whatagain on Dec 18, 2021 8:48:32 GMT
What scares me is that nobody on the left has a score remotely close to the bastard of Zemmour or the bitch of Le Pen. Not sure Valerie Pecresse will take off and who is she by the way ? So my guess is that we will hVe Macron and the bitch elected first tour. But thete is a hope Pecresse geys elected. If so, i will be forever thankful to the ugly disgusting unchecked festered sewer full of shit of Zemmour.
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Post by bjd on Dec 18, 2021 10:07:49 GMT
Valérie Pecresse is the person in charge of the Ile de France region. Not sure what exactly these people do, but there is one per region. She will also preach to the right in order to win over those who supported the right-wing guy who got most votes in the right's primary. She won because all the "losers" told their supporters to vote for her.
Like Kerouac, I am disappointed with some stuff Macron has done, or not done, but he's still way better than anyone else -- with the left in total disarray and the right full of batshit crazies. I do find it terrifying that a creep like Zemmour has so much support. Actually, it's hard to know how much he actually has but he sure got a lot of media coverage. Even before he declared his candidacy, in which he took a sheet out of Trump's playbook about how France is going to the dogs and needs to recover its glory. Doesn't he realize that, as an Algerian-born Jew, he would be one of the first run out of town if the kind of things he is proposing came to pass?
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 18, 2021 11:26:32 GMT
The president of a region in France is in charge of regional transportation (TER, RER), building and maintaining schools, general "infrastructure" and things like that. The region is given a share of national and EU funds to spend on the region. One thing that I will not hold against Valérie Pécresse is that she is the person who decided to make local transportation 100% free for people like me.
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Post by Biddy on Dec 18, 2021 19:12:45 GMT
Always interested in hearing about current politics in France especially with an election looming. Zemmour gets some coverage in the US - he is so Trump like. He seems more like a 'disrupter' rather than a serious candidate.
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Post by whatagain on Dec 19, 2021 0:54:11 GMT
Zemmour is first a columnist. He writes the short sentenxe, the one that kills. He is good at it. He has no human feeling, is a racist, sexist, probably homophobe. So yes a lot like trump. Unlike Trump i find he has no charisma, no physical presence. Unlike Trump he has big brains and is well educated. Bur like Trump, he is a nasty piece of shit. One nobody should want at the wheel.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 26, 2021 21:11:22 GMT
Not precisely politics, but once a year one of the main newspapers publishes a list of the 50 most admired people in France. They have used sexual parity for the last few years because before then, women were lucky to be mentioned even 10 times. Not a single political figure made the list.
I will give you the top ten, and if anybody knows even 5 people on the list, I will be impressed. Even I don't know anything about some of these people, even if I recognise their names.
Men
1. Jean Jacques Goldman (singer - #1 for the last 7 years) 2. Thomas Pesquet (astronaut) 3. Omar Sy (actor) 4. Soprano (singer) 5. Francis Cabrel (singer) 6. Florent Pagny (singer) 7. Dany Boon (actor and comedian) 8. Teddy Riner (judoka) 9. Philippe Etchebest (chef) 10. Jean Pierre Pernaut (newscaster)
Women
1. Sophie Marceau (actress - #1 for the last 3 years) 2. Marion Cotillard (actress) 3. Florence Foresti (comedian and actress) 4. Louane (singer) 5. Alexandra Lamy (actress) 6. Josiane Balasko (actress) 7. Mimie Mathy (actress) 8. Mylene Farmer (singer) 9. Valerie Lemercier (director and actress) 10. Karine Le Marchand (television presenter)
This should put to rest any illusions about the French being highbrow in their tastes.
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Post by fumobici on Dec 26, 2021 22:23:39 GMT
Heard of two or three. Out of the 20, 18 are from the entertainment industry, and all the women are. Very Latin!
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Post by whatagain on Dec 27, 2021 5:58:09 GMT
8 of the men, 9 of the women. If Karine Lemarchand us that young lady who was with Gregory Lemarchal, it makes 10. I would put Omar Sy at the top (watch Lupin) and Cabrel at 9999.9
Good to be frenchspeaking for once.
Surprised that Mylene Farmer makes it, we don't hear or see much of her on Tv. I suppose she still makes tours.
Sophie Marceau is somebody i could consider as beautiful as my wife. 😉
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Post by whatagain on Dec 27, 2021 6:03:51 GMT
Heard of two or three. Out of the 20, 18 are from the entertainment industry, and all the women are. Very Latin! The 2 men i don't know zre the zstronaut and the judoka... Makes me very latin indeed 😄😄
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Post by lagatta on Jan 1, 2022 2:11:06 GMT
Me, about the same as Whatagain. Not surprising, from Montréal.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 1, 2022 20:41:10 GMT
I'm sure you noticed that one of the women on the list is Canadian and is the only personality not born in France.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jan 5, 2022 18:29:56 GMT
Emmanuel Macron's latest antics were interesting. He gave a newspaper interview that was published today in which he basically said that his goal was to piss off (emmerder) the unvaccinated people and make their lives as difficult as possible. Both right wing and left wing went ballistic immediately. "A president should not use vulgar language." "He should not deny the freedom of people not to be vaccinated." "He wants a dictatorship." Etc. They ranted all day but clearly had not thought it through. Almost 90% of the French adult population is fully vaccinated now and they are sick and tired of the unvaxxed continuing to screw up daily life for the majority. So they replied to reporters all day saying that they supported Macron on this point even if they didn't on other societal issues. It will be interesting to see if the political "outrage" evolves in the coming days.
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Post by lugg on Jan 5, 2022 19:02:45 GMT
I read about this today and thought " Bravo" Macron.
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Post by bjd on Jan 5, 2022 19:06:44 GMT
Yes, I heard lots of commentary about it today and it was essentially presented as a ploy for his (still undeclared?) presidential campaign, since he knows that most people have been vaccinated and that he has support on that topic.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 8, 2022 18:41:11 GMT
President Macron has been as busy as a beaver in recent days. Obviously in France, everybody knows that one of the reasons is because of the election in just two months. But France is also in charge of the EU until 30 June, no matter who is president, and with Angela Merkel gone, he was the only person who could step in replace her authority. So yesterday he went to Moscow to meet with Putin and today he want to Kiev to meet with Zelensky and he ended the day in Berlin to meet with President Duda of Poland and Chancellor Scholz of Germany.
I don't know if he is effective, but I will not deny that he has a lot of energy and at least he is trying to do something.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 20, 2022 19:34:16 GMT
I don't know what the rules are in other countries, but in France presidential candidates need "500 signatures" to be validated for the ballot. Whose signatures? Members of parliament, senators, mayors, regional authorities, members of the overseas or Corsican assemblies and various other representatives. Additional rules? The signatures must come from at least 30 different departments in France (out of a total of 100) and no more than 50 signatures from the same department. In 2017, 34% of elected officials provided signatures. Candidates can receive more than 500 signatures of course, but only the first 500 are counted.
So is there a problem with this? None of the candidates with sufficient signatures seem to think so. But some of the candidates are screaming bloody murder because they might not get enough signatures before the deadline in 10 days or so. Marine Le Pen, Eric Zemmour and Chistiane Taubira are in danger or not being qualified.
Giving your signature does not necessarily mean that you support the person. That's why the extreme fringe candidates seem to have no problem -- the Trotskyists, the Animalists, the Royalists... The mayors of tiny villages are often eccentric and are delighted to weigh in where it doesn't really count.
But Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour are currently #2 and #3 in the polls. Why don't officials want to sign for them? Besides the fact that they represent totally reprehensible ideas, there is another factor: the signatures are public and will be published on the official election documents.
Some people don't have balls, even the men.
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Post by fumobici on Feb 20, 2022 19:47:21 GMT
But Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour are currently #2 and #3 in the polls. I remember when I thought Europeans were more liberal, cosmopolitan, and sophisticated than us dumb, right-wing Americans. I've since learnt that there are large numbers of idiots everywhere and no place is immune. My faith in humankind was thus diminished.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 20, 2022 20:17:11 GMT
I blame social media. If people still read newspapers, it wouldn't be as bad. Actually printing things that leave a physical trace requires both more thought and more courage.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 20, 2022 21:26:13 GMT
Agree 100%.
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