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Post by patricklondon on May 5, 2023 11:39:56 GMT
Hindustan Times, according to the YouTube channel. On France 24 the other day, a Swiss reporter was saying these demonstrations and protests make France look bad internationally. I'm reminded of Private Eye's comment on les évènements of 1968: "A lot of mad Frogs charging about as per usual". This looks quite tame by comparison (not to mention the previous agonising fall-out from the Algerian war).
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Post by bjd on May 5, 2023 15:32:08 GMT
Well, with the media it all comes down to "When it bleeds, it leads". Even if there were about 2 million protesters on the streets, according to the left-wing CGT union, that still means that 65 million people stayed home or went to work or school. And those burning that shop in Place de la Nation and otherwise destroying things are even fewer.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 7, 2023 9:58:26 GMT
I don't think that Martha Stewart is going to increase her popularity in France.
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Post by htmb on Jun 7, 2023 10:15:08 GMT
She’s letting that Sports Illustrated cover (at age 80) go to her head.
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Post by bjd on Jun 7, 2023 13:36:58 GMT
Is Martha Stewart popular in France?
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 7, 2023 14:43:32 GMT
She is known as an "American personality." She is not known as a political analyst on whether countries in Europe are thriving or not and the reason for same.
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Post by htmb on Jun 7, 2023 15:39:55 GMT
Perhaps she studied up on European politics during her prison term.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 7, 2023 16:06:41 GMT
She said that??! Honestly, I'm shocked. It's not that I'm a major Martha Stewart fan, but I did think she must be fairly intelligent to build herself into a very lucrative brand.
Since I have less than zero influence with other people, it ticks me off that Martha, who does have influence, would use the very country I reference in arguments with conservatives to prove the exact opposite of what she said, i.e., treating citizens like humans and helping them to better lives is A Good Thing.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 7, 2023 16:11:24 GMT
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Post by whatagain on Jun 7, 2023 16:18:51 GMT
Never heard of her. And not tempted now 🤣
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 7, 2023 16:22:49 GMT
Oh. Looked at the article & saw that Elon Musk agrees with her -- so she must be right! I know this is off topic, but the habit of "living above the store" which is still prevalent in less developed countries might translate into a greener planet and a more humane way of life. Less having to drive to work & shopping, fewer canyon-like CBDs, more foot traffic everywhere seems a much better way to live.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 7, 2023 16:28:48 GMT
And sleeping more since cutting time to go to work. Goid fir lazy guys, like the French it appears (i feel safe, she surely has no clue what Belgium is).
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Post by patricklondon on Jun 10, 2023 7:31:48 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 10, 2023 22:17:10 GMT
No! I had not heard! I've been duped! I'm going out to buy a car right now. Damned unwashed pinko bastards pulled the wool over my eyes!
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 14, 2023 18:15:45 GMT
Not all of us were thrilled that Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, was the guest of honour at the July 14th festivities today. However, the same can be said for when Donald Trump was the guest of honour a few years ago. I guess sometimes you have to look beyond the leader of a country and look more broadly at the country as a whole.
Then we can branch out into two definitions of Realpolitik.
1. 2.
Probably, both definitions apply to what France is doing.
India is now the most populated country in the world and the one with the highest economic growth rate at 6.4% compared to China at "only" 5.1%.
I'm glad that I am not in politics.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 14, 2023 18:09:55 GMT
Trouble is brewing in France with a visit by Pope Francis to Marseille in about 10 days. This became remarkably controversial when President Macron said that he would attend the giant mass in the Stade Vélodrome of Marseille on 23 September. It should be noted that Macron chose to be baptised as a teenager because it was something that his parents did not do automatically, and he had some sort of religious epiphany at that time. No big deal but it always comes up when Catholic matters are brought up in French politics. Basically, French presidents do not set foot in churches except for things like ecumenical state funerals drained of all specfic religious symbolism. Attending a mass with the Pope is a completely different matter.
This said, most people absolutely do not care and do not mind if Macron wants to attend something like that. But political opponents will rant about it as much as they can.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 19, 2023 15:13:31 GMT
I find it interesting that Keir Starmer jumped over to France today, just one day before the state visit of King Charles and Queen Camilla. Did he have some secret information to tell President Macron?
I know that he has been claiming that he is going to renegotiate the Brexit agreement as soon as he takes control of the United Kingdom. But since he is also claiming that he is not going to try to re-enter the EU, or the customs union, or the single market, I can't imagine what he thinks he is going to do. Maybe get a new immigration entry line so that UK citizens will not queue with the wogs?
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Post by onlyMark on Sept 19, 2023 19:09:40 GMT
Maybe get a new immigration entry line so that UK citizens will not queue with the wogs? What does that mean?
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 19, 2023 19:43:41 GMT
Since Brexit, there is an EU/EEA line at immigration to enter France and the other queue is for "all others" including the UK, Serbia, Zimbabwe, Paraguay, Papua-New Guinea, etc. Apparently, most of the British do not like having to be in that queue.
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Post by onlyMark on Sept 19, 2023 21:50:13 GMT
What are wogs?
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 20, 2023 3:24:21 GMT
Only the British and the Australians use that term. You'd have to ask one of them.
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Post by onlyMark on Sept 20, 2023 5:37:54 GMT
As it is one of those words I've never heard any British, Australian or any nationality use in person, I can't ask one. It's not restricted to users only to explain. Plus explain why such a usage is necessary.
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Post by bjd on Sept 20, 2023 6:12:35 GMT
I remember Mossie using the term during the Tory leadership race and he was called out for it by Mick.
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Post by mossie on Sept 20, 2023 7:06:49 GMT
WOG is an acronym standing for Wily Oriental Gentleman. I served 30 months in the Suez Canal Zone where the natives were always referred to as wogs, they were always known for lying, cheating and stealing. there were some who were OK, I particularly remember an old fellow who used to cone round trying to sell things to us. He would come bouncing is saying "Hello, I"m your friendly wog", I have a leather wallet I bought from him
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Post by mickthecactus on Sept 20, 2023 7:15:09 GMT
It’s simply a racist term now.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 23, 2023 0:37:19 GMT
Is it not delicious? Marine Le Pen might be facing 10 years in prison along with 10 years exclusion from running for public office. Better yet, her ancient but still evil father is facing the same charges. After a seven-year investigation, the Paris prosecutor’s office requested on Friday that Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, and more than 20 other members of her National Rally party stand trial for embezzlement of funds from the European Parliament between 2004 and 2016.
The case has centered on whether party members who were representatives in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, along with their assistants, used money allocated to cover expenses at the assembly for party costs that had nothing to do with their parliamentary functions.
The request from the prosecutor’s office does not mean the case will go to trial. That decision will be made by Paris magistrates, probably within the next several weeks. Ms. Le Pen faces a possible 10-year prison sentence, a fine of one million euros ($1.1 million) and 10 years of ineligibility for public office, the prosecutor’s office said. ... The 11 former or current representatives to the European Parliament facing charges include Louis Aliot, the mayor of the southwestern city of Perpignan; Wallerand de Saint-Just, the former party treasurer; and Bruno Gollnisch, now the executive vice president of a rival far-right party, Reconquête.
In 2018, the European Parliament said that Ms. Le Pen and the others accused had embezzled about $7.2 million between 2009 and 2017. source
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 23, 2023 2:16:07 GMT
Everybody knows they are totally corrupt. Their excuse is that they used to be so against the EU (a bit less now), anything they could do to drain money from the evil beast was justified.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 23, 2023 10:00:05 GMT
Tomorrow are the senatorial elections in France, which are totally strange compared to other elections.
First of all, there are 348 senators in France, which is probably far too many considering how little they seem to do, but the number of senators keeps growing with the population. Their term is for six years and half of the Senate is renewed every three years. But not many people get to vote, because it is an electoral college of all parliamentarians, all departmental elected officials, and various municipal representatives based on the size of the towns and villages and the size of the municipal councils. It's very weird. For towns with a population below 9,000, they have one delegate if the municipal council consists of between 7 and 11 members but 15 delegates for municipal councils with 27 to 29 members. And of course other numbers of delegates for the other sizes of municipal council. But if the population is higher than 9,000 all of the members of the municipal council get to vote. And then there are the rules for cities with a population above 30,000 but I'll stop there (while wondering if certain towns manage to fudge their population to get more votes or if it is all locked in by the last census).
It is also a proportional election with all of those strange calculations regarding the number of seats per department and the number of political parties presenting candidates.
Also, the vote is mandatory and anybody who doesn't vote is fined 100 euros. (1000 euros would be better.)
There are two rounds, so there won't be very many final results tomorrow. The big question is whether the RN (far right Le Pen party) will finally enter the Senate.
The minimum age to be a senator is 24. It was age 30 before 2011. The youngest senator in France is 26 years old.
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Post by bjd on Sept 23, 2023 10:48:45 GMT
Thanks for this explanation. I have never understood how it works, but I have never been interested either. The Senate just seems to be one more way for politicians to get perks of all kinds and a fat pension afterwards.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 24, 2023 18:13:20 GMT
I confirm that there will be some RN senators. Not many, but still...
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