"Emmanuel Macron trying to build support with working-class tax cuts" by Liz Alderman New York Times October 04, 2018
PARIS — As President Emmanuel Macron presses ahead with the most business-friendly overhaul of the French labor market in decades, his popularity with many of his countrymen has gone into a tailspin. Consumer confidence is falling. A nascent recovery is cooling off. Unemployment has been stuck above 9 percent for months.
He burned up quick! You still have to chew on him for another four years.
And then there was the encounter with the gardener.
In an exchange that went viral on social media, Macron was seen as lecturing an out-of-work gardener in Paris to look harder for a job. “If I crossed the street, I’d find you one,” he told the man, prompting a Twitter storm of insults aimed at Macron, a former investment banker.
See:
"A widely circulated video that shows French President Emmanuel Macron telling a young unemployed gardener he could easily find a job if he looked for one drew scorn and insults on social media, but business executives this week say his latest outburst may be right. During a national festival on Saturday when official buildings are open to visitors, Macron told the man who said he was looking for a position as a gardener that jobs are available in ‘‘lots of professions, you just have to go look. Hotels, cafes, restaurants. I cross the street and I can find you some.’’ It was the latest aside from Macron, who in his 15 months in office has made numerous comments that have been interpreted to mean the French are lazy or resistant to change. His popularity has sunk in recent months partly because of comments that many French find demeaning, but on Tuesday, Philippe Marien, the deputy director general of construction company Bouygues, concurred with the president. He said his company can’t even fill training centers, let alone jobs. ‘‘OK, it’s not enough just to cross the street, you need certain qualifications,’’ he said. ‘‘But in construction we have trouble finding people.’’There are several sectors in France that are struggling to find workers even as joblessness remains high."
That's why they want migrants.
That is hardly the vision of France, or of his presidency, that Macron hoped for when he swept into office 18 months ago with a pledge to revitalize Europe’s third-biggest economy by pursuing workforce reforms that had been stalled for more than a decade.
Nor French voters, either.
I'll bet they are wishing the election wasn't stolen from Le Pen now.
His approval ratings have slumped, and on Wednesday his interior minister resigned, the third Cabinet member to quit in six weeks. Amid the turmoil, the government is trying to shore up support by giving cash back to the working class — with tax breaks next year worth $6.9 billion for middle- and low-income earners — while reassuring investors that his designs for a “new French prosperity” are on track.
Macron remains unbending in his attitude — and his criticism that French society must adapt to thrive. “I will not change course,” Macron told the French newspaper Journal du Dimanche. “We’re in a moment when many political leaders before me have yielded,” he added. “But it’s more necessary than ever to move ahead with reforms.”
His remarks dovetailed with a public relations blitz by some members of his Cabinet in recent days, and underscored the stakes for Macron as he unwinds business regulations and changes the parameters of the welfare state. Macron has insisted that painful economic measures must come first, including a revamping of France’s strict labor code and budget cuts to keep the government’s deficit within European rules, to seed dynamism.
As if the French voters, some of the most astute on Earth, can't see through that.
If convincing French voters is an uphill battle, it is especially challenging for Macron, who is viewed internationally as a dynamic European leader. His policies at home have yet to help most households.
In his first year, he delivered tax breaks to corporations and to France’s wealthiest 10 percent, earning him a reputation for favoring the rich. Purchasing power fell for the bottom 5 percent of households, while the majority in the middle, about 70 percent, were largely unaffected, according to the French Economic Observatory, an independent think tank.
Related:
"The French government presented on Monday 40 measures that it said will simplify the bureaucracy faced by French businesses and individuals, including a so-called “right to error.” Companies won’t face penalties for underpaid taxes or other administrative violations if they result from a mistake made in good faith, a promise made by President Emmanuel Macron during his campaign....."
Was a TYPO.
Changes to the labor code intended to stoke hiring have trimmed unemployment slowly.
Do they get fed lies about the rate like we do?
Joblessness has fallen to 9.3 percent, from 10.1 percent when Macron was elected, but is still more than double the German unemployment rate. Although a nascent recovery before he took office helped generate jobs, growth has cooled recently to a 1.7 percent annual pace, as it has in the rest of the eurozone.....
So just as the European economy emerged from recession it's now receding again?
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Related:
"President Emmanuel Macron of France said he won’t announce a new plan to fix the country’s poor suburbs but rather work on providing more jobs for young people. Macron noted that the first plan to fight poverty in the country’s suburbs was launched 40 years ago —the year of his birth— with poor results. It would make no sense to pursue the same strategy, he said Tuesday. Since some plan to help the suburbs had long been expected by mayors, Macron nevertheless detailed a few measures to help ensure security and provide better education. He said the 120 biggest French companies will be tested in the next three years to ensure they do not discriminate when hiring. He will also unveil plans to fight drug trafficking in July."
Time to hold another vote and elect the woman:
"France’s Le Pen gathers with Europe’s populists for May Day" Associated Press May 02, 2018
PARIS — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen joined other anti-immigration populist leaders from around Europe for a May Day gathering Tuesday aimed at energizing their campaigns for next year’s European Parliament elections.
Populist leaders — including Geert Wilders of the Dutch Party for Freedom, Harald Vilimsky of Austria’s Freedom Party, and prominent Czech nationalist Tomio Okamura — descended on the southern French city of Nice as part of a joint effort to trumpet the gains far-right parties have notched up across the continent recently and to rail against the European Union.
Like in Sweden?
The head of Italy’s nationalist Northern League party Matteo Salvini declined his invitation but sent a video message of support. Salvini is attempting to form a coalition government following Italy’s inconclusive elections in which many voters shunned mainstream parties.
In a speech to hundreds of supporters, Le Pen, who heads the National Front party, set out a vision of ‘‘another Europe,’’ warning that the EU is having ‘‘catastrophic consequences for our countries.’’
Le Pen used Nice — a French Riviera hub that boasts a diverse population — to forward her anti-immigration stance, saying it has ‘‘suffered from very strong pressure from migration that has partly changed the face’’ of the city.
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Time to hit her where it hurts:
"French far-right leader says party’s bank shut its accounts" Associated Press November 22, 2017
PARIS — Marine Le Pen, head of France’s far-right National Front, said Wednesday that the party’s longtime bank, Societe Generale, has closed its accounts in what she said amounts to a ‘‘banking fatwa’’ to suffocate the party.
Le Pen claimed that the move is purely political and endangers the democratic process. She said a legal complaint would be filed against Societe Generale, one of France’s largest banks, as well as against HSBC, her personal bank, which also allegedly shut her out.
Societe Generale denied in a statement that the closing of National Front accounts was political, saying such moves ‘‘depend purely on banking reasons.’’
What Le Pen called the ‘‘banishment’’ of her party from the banking system is the latest in a multitude of financial, judicial, and political woes for the National Front, which was refused loans for campaigning for French and legislative elections this year.
Le Pen lost the May presidential election to centrist Emmanuel Macron, with whom she raised the banking issue during a meeting this week.....
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Took away her health care, too:
"Macron announces changes to France’s health care system" Associated Press September 18, 2018
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday unveiled plans to make France’s health care system, considered one of the best in the world, more efficient and sustainable for the next 50 years.
Macron announced organizational changes at hospitals, in the recruitment of doctors, and a better use of digital technologies to provide health care to patients across the country, regardless of where they live.
Macron said ‘‘a lot of our neighbors envy the excellence of our health care system. We are attached to our model, which associates hospital medicine — public and private — and private medical practice.’’
France came out number one in a World Health Organization report comparing 191 countries in 2000, but the country’s health care system is struggling with increasing costs and a lack of doctors in some rural regions and poor neighborhoods.
‘‘My ambition is clear: I want what we call the health care system to be one of the pillars of the welfare state of the 21st century,’’ Macron said. ‘‘A health care system that prevents and protects against today’s and tomorrow’s health risks.’’
France’s health care system involves a state-funded health insurance that reimburses patients for most medical interventions and medicines prescribed by a doctor.....
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The photograph says it all regarding that pos.
Time to revolt again:
"Artists, students mark France’s May ‘68 revolt _ not Macron" by Samuel Petrequin Associated Press May 02, 2018
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron was not even born when students and workers joined forces during the May 1968 Paris uprising, a pivotal moment in making France what it is today.
Fifty years on, France is once again rocked by widespread protests. ‘‘1968-2018: Revolution!’’ read banners at this year’s demonstrations, which saw students blocking French universities to protest Macron’s education reforms, and railway workers staging prolonged strikes against plans to overhaul the country’s national rail company.
The centrist president is showing no sympathy for the protesters, and has promised to carry on with his policies in the face of growing public discontent. It’s no wonder no official commemorations of the 1968 revolt are planned.
Despite Macron’s conspicuous silence, the violent, dramatic events that paralyzed France 50 years ago are still very much in the air today.
An exhibition of political posters that played a major role during the violent unrest is bringing back to life the spirit of May ‘68, when students tore up Parisian cobblestones to build barricades and some seven million workers took part in nationwide strikes.
‘‘Back then, millions of people thought it was necessary to change society,’’ curator Eric de Chassey told The Associated Press. ‘‘People actually thought that revolution was immediate. And that the whole power structure would be completely defeated. That’s fundamentally different to the current struggles and strikes.’’
While the protests of 1968 fought for change, the protests of 2018 are largely fighting for the status quo, to keep the kind of lifelong worker rights that earlier generations enjoyed. Macron says those rights are now outdated and incompatible with the 21st century global economy.
Meanwhile, many of the breakthrough ideas far-left militants fought for during the late ‘60s and ‘70s have now become mainstream issues tackled by politicians across the spectrum.
‘‘It’s during these years that the underlying trends of today’s political fights developed,’’ de Chassey said. ‘‘The fight for the rights of immigrant workers for instance, for gender equality or for homosexual rights. And Maoist militants who wanted to include farmers in their fight, also contributed to raising ecological concerns.’’
The ‘‘Images en Lutte’’ (The Clash of Images) exhibition of posters, painting, sculptures, films, pictures, and books documents the work of artists involved in far-left protests from 1968 to 1974. At times art and politics were deeply mixed.
A large part of the show, on display at the Beaux Arts school in Paris, is dedicated to the work of the ‘‘Atelier Populaire’’ (Workshop of the People). This collective of artists, students, and teachers from the Beaux Arts worked without stopping during the revolt to create thousands of political posters later posted on the city walls.
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Time to start $ma$hing $ome plates:
"Macron takes heat over new dishes" Washington Post June 15, 2018
It has been a while since the Elysee Palace ordered new dinnerware. Some of the plates at the French presidential residence date as far back as the 1950s and are missing certain pieces.
So President Emmanuel Macron and wife, Brigitte, shelled out $58,000 for a new 1,200-piece set, which includes 300 bread plates and 900 presentation plates.
The Sevres porcelain factory is responsible for making the plates for the Elysee Palace, and the cost will come out of its annual budget — which is partially funded by France’s Culture Ministry. The factory has supplied plates to the Elysee since the 1800s, and the price the president paid will go toward the artists who designed the new plates, but on Wednesday, the satirical paper Le Canard Enchaîné claimed that the plates may cost upward of $580,000. The paper has a history of exposing scandals and bringing down politicians, and, according to its analysis, hand-painting a single plate would cost at least $465.
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That's why Macron is putting walls up:
"Goodbye metal fencing, hello glass walls. Paris authorities are building a permanent security belt around the Eiffel Tower, replacing the fencing around it with more visually appealing glass walls. The renovation is part of a $350 million project announced last year to modernize the 129-year-old tower....."
That is what is responsible for inordinately long queues, and you, French citizen, have to give back your hard-won social services.
If only there were a hero to save you:
"France’s Macron rewards migrant hero ‘Spiderman’ who saved dangling child" by Aurelien Breeden and Alan Cowell New York Times May 28, 2018
PARIS — The 4-year-old boy seemed to be suspended from a balcony. An adult standing nearby seemed powerless to help. Disaster seemed the only possible outcome.
Then, to the nimble rescue on the streets of Paris on Saturday evening came a young man whom some French people have started to call the Spider-Man of the 18th Arrondissement, referring to the area of Paris where the episode unfolded.
With a combination of grit, agility, and muscle, the man hauled himself hand over hand from one balcony to another, springing from one parapet to grasp the next one up. A crowd that had gathered before he began his daring exploit urged him ever upward, according to onlookers’ video that was shared widely on social media.
Finally, after scaling four balconies, the man reached the child and pulled him to safety. And suddenly, an act of individual courage and resourcefulness began to play into Europe’s fraught and polarized debate about outsiders, immigrants and refugees.
The man, identified as Mamoudou Gassama, 22, is a migrant from Mali, a troubled former French colony in northwest Africa, who journeyed through Burkina Faso, Niger, and Libya before making the dangerous Mediterranean Sea crossing to Italy and arriving in France in September, without documentation.
On Monday, after his heroic rescue of the boy, he met with President Emmanuel Macron. Now, he will get the requisite documentation to live legally in France.
“I told him that in recognition of his heroic act he would have his papers in order as quickly as possible,” Macron said in a statement on Facebook after meeting with Gassama at the Élysée Palace.
Gassama will be one of a lucky few in a country with increasingly tight immigration rules and a generally skeptical attitude toward migrants who are seeking primarily economic benefits.
The French president, who defeated anti-immigration far-right leader Marine Le Pen in the presidential election last year, was quick to clarify that Gassama was an exception, not the rule.
A sprawling migrant camp near the northern city of Calais was razed in 2016, but hundreds of Afghans, Eritreans, and Ethiopians continue to gather there in hopes of reaching Britain. In Paris, makeshift encampments of migrants under bridges and in parks are regularly evacuated by police, only to grow again.
Macron himself has taken a tough approach to immigrants. Parliament has been discussing a draft law put forward by the French government that restricts the rights of asylum-seekers, a measure that has drawn fierce criticism from human rights groups.
Macron has said repeatedly that France could welcome only those with legitimate grounds for asylum, a point he reiterated in his meeting with Gassama, according to Agence France-Presse.
“When they are in danger, we give asylum, but not for economic reasons,” Macron said of immigrants, according to the news agency. “But in your case, you did something exceptional.”
“An exceptional act does not make a policy,” Macron later told journalists at the Élysée, the news agency reported.
Some, including groups that help unauthorized migrants, criticized the government as hypocritical for praising Gassama while pushing to deport others like him, calling Macron’s Élysée invitation a public relations stunt.....
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"Paris police clear out migrant camp at center of debate" Associated Press May 30, 2018
PARIS — Police on Wednesday cleared out about 1,000 people from the largest makeshift migrant camp in the French capital, which became a focal point in France’s immigration debate.
The mainly African migrants were moved out of their tent camp along a canal used by runners and cyclists on Paris’s northeast edge, put in buses, and taken to gymnasiums in the region as bulldozers ripped out the tents. Several hundred migrants apparently fled before the evacuation.
Two migrants drowned this month in canals along encampments and others have been injured amid rising tensions in the filthy, crowded camps, adding pressure for authorities to act, but the evacuation was delayed for months amid bickering over what to do with the migrants.
Two other makeshift camps in Paris holding some 1,000 migrants are expected to be cleared next week. Police have cleared out some 28,000 migrants from Paris camps in the past three years, but the arrivals continue.
President Emmanuel Macron wants a tough response to migrants arriving in France. Two days ago, he nevertheless opened the way to citizenship and a job for a Malian migrant who scaled a building and saved a young child dangling from a balcony in what Macron called ‘‘an exceptional act.’’
A video of Mamoudou Gassama’s feat went viral, gaining him the nickname ‘‘Spiderman.’’
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Now meet Aquaman:
"Before French marathon swimmer Benoit Lecomte began his six-month-long attempt Tuesday to become the first to swim across the Pacific Ocean, he prepared for a number of possible challenges such as sharks, extremely cold water — and ‘‘plastic smog.’’ That’s the term scientists use to describe billions of pieces of microplastic in the sea. On his way from eastern Japan to San Francisco — a distance of 5,600 miles — the 51-year-old swimmer will encounter a lot of those microplastic particles, most of which have broken down from larger plastic items. In the Pacific, the biggest accumulation of plastic smog is about the size of Germany, France, and Britain combined and Lecomte will swim right through it. He will swim approximately eight hours a day."
Speaking of hitting the beach:
"The cemetery, an immaculate field of crosses and Stars of David, overlooks the English Channel and Omaha Beach, the bloodiest of the Normandy landing beaches of Operation Overlord, the first step in breaching Hitler’s stranglehold on France and Europe. The story of how the twins died and were being reunited reflects the daily courage of troops on a mission to save the world from the Nazis and the tenacity of today’s military to ensure that no soldier goes unaccounted for....."
"French police on Monday questioned the parents and a friend of a 20-year-old man who attacked passers-by with a knife in Paris, amid questions about how France’s radical watch list is used. Khamzat Azimov, a French citizen born in the Russian republic of Chechnya, killed one person and wounded four others in Saturday’s attack, before police fatally shot him. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. French authorities have previously explained that the register, which was designed as a tool for intelligence services, contains the names of thousands of individuals suspected of being radicalized but who have yet to perform acts of terrorism."
"A woman crying ‘‘Allahu akbar’’ — ‘‘God is great’’ in Arabic — injured two people with a box cutter Sunday at a supermarket in southern France before she was detained. Prosecutor Bernard Marchal said the suspect may have mental health problems. She has not been identified. Police were searching her home. ‘‘It’s apparently an isolated case involving a person with psychiatric issues,’’ the prosecutor told Le Monde. However, that does not exclude the possibility that the suspect was radicalized, Marchal added. ‘‘There is a presumption of attempted murder and. . . of a crime with terrorist implications,’’ Marchal said. A sense of edginess has been with France since a murderous series of killings in 2015 in the name of the Islamic State....."
"French fair shuts stand after Amnesty finds ‘torture tool’" AP November 22, 2017
PARIS — A military and police trade fair outside Paris shut down a contentious stand Wednesday after the human rights group Amnesty International said its staff had found torture equipment for sale in violation of European Union laws.
Muriel Kafantaris, director of the Milipol trade fair, said the fair’s organizers decided to ‘‘close the stand involved immediately’’ after Amnesty reported on illegal items being displayed.
Amnesty said researchers found equipment including ‘‘spiked batons, spiked electric shock riot forks, electric shock vests, and heavy leg irons for sale by Chinese companies.’’
The rights group said the ‘‘gruesome illegal torture equipment’’ was on sale at the trade fair taking place this week in Villepinte, outside Paris.
Amnesty’s arms control adviser, Ara Marcen Naval, said that ‘‘by failing to enforce the law, France is providing a marketplace for torturers.’’
Milipol Paris claims to be the world’s leading event dedicated to homeland security. The fair hosts hundreds of exhibitors from dozens of countries every two years.
More than 150 official international delegations from nearly 100 countries usually visit, it says.
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You gotta get them outta there:
"Heavily armed men in helicopter free notorious French inmate" Associated Press July 01, 2018
PARIS — A notorious French criminal serving 25 years for murder made an audacious escape from prison Sunday after several heavily armed men landed a helicopter in a courtyard, freed him from a visiting room, and carried him away.
It was the second daring escape by Redoine Faid, who once blasted his way out of a different prison with explosives hidden in tissue packs.
His latest escape, from Reau Prison, took only ‘‘a few minutes,’’ France’s Justice Ministry said. Unarmed guards said they could do nothing to prevent it.
Dressed all in black, two men wearing balaclavas and police armbands got off the chopper and entered the prison to look for Faid. They used a grinding machine to open the door to the visiting room, a representative of the guards’ union told BFM television.
The men set off smoke canisters to hide from video cameras, and the helicopter touched down in the only part of the complex that was not covered by anti-helicopter netting, said another union member, Loic Delbroc.
When the copter arrived, Faid was meeting with his brother in the visiting room. A third man was holding the pilot at gunpoint, union members said.
French media reported that the three men took the pilot hostage at a flying club in the Paris region. He was later released with no physical injuries.
The helicopter was found burned in the town of Garges-les-Gonesse, in the northern suburbs of Paris. Faid was believed to have left by car along with his accomplices.
French prosecutors opened an investigation into the escape. Investigators were questioning Faid’s brother on Sunday afternoon.
The 46-year-old Faid was serving time for the 2010 death of a young police officer killed during a botched robbery. In the 1990s, he led a gang involved in robbing banks and armored vans. He was arrested in 1998 after three years on the run in Switzerland and Israel, according to French media reports.
Related:
"Hundreds of people marched silently Thursday in France’s western city of Nantes to protest the fatal police shooting of a driver who was apparently trying to avoid an identity check. Residents laid flowers near the place where the 22-year-old driver was killed. Hours earlier, protesters clashed with riot police overnight into Thursday, burning stores and cars. Police detained 11 people. Authorities say the driver, who died from a single bullet wound, had been sought by police under a year-old arrest warrant for an alleged robbery south of Paris."
Faid was freed in 2009 after serving 10 years. At the time, he swore that he had turned his life around, writing a confessional book about his life of crime and going on an extensive media tour in 2010.
Still, he was the suspected mastermind of the attempted armed robbery in 2010 that led to a high-speed chase and a shootout with police that killed 26-year-old Aurelie Fouquet. He was arrested in 2011.
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"Drones buzzed French prison months before helicopter escape" Associated Press July 03, 2018
PARIS — Drones seen buzzing above a French prison months ago may have been on a reconnaissance mission ahead of the helicopter escape of a notorious French criminal — his second breakout in five years.
France’s justice minister said Monday that several drones were spotted flying over Reau Prison south of Paris a few months ago. She speculated that they were linked to the escape Sunday of career criminal and murder convict Redoine Faid.
Armed men landed a helicopter in a prison courtyard, used a grinding machine to break open the door of the visiting room where Faid was, and escorted the prisoner to freedom.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said 2,900 officers are now looking for Faid.
‘‘Police forces are fully mobilized in order to find this person,’’ Philippe told RTL. ‘‘We know he is dangerous. We know he is a determined person and I want to find him as soon as possible.’’
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After that he was forgotten, and at least it opened a cell for Macron's aide in what was the most serious crisis of his presidency:
"Aide to France’s Macron: Protest beating was ‘huge mistake’ AP July 27, 2018
PARIS — The former security aide to President Emmanuel Macron who triggered an uproar after a video showed him beating a protester acknowledged a ‘‘huge mistake’’ in attending the demonstration equipped as a police officer, but described it as a political error that ended up backfiring against the French leader.
That is a CRIME in AmeriKa.
Authorities have opened a judicial investigation into Alexandre Benalla, who was fired last week, and his office was searched on Wednesday. Le Monde published the interview Thursday with Benalla, who had shaved his beard to be less recognizable.
Macron’s office has been criticized for not disclosing the accusations weeks ago and the way it handled them. The French leader on Wednesday downplayed the uproar over Benalla’s actions.
Acting like Feinstein over there?
‘‘He made a real, serious error which I felt was a personal betrayal and told him so,” Macron said. “He was punished for this error and then resumed his work. When he made a second error he was more severely punished, as had been expected. Everyone makes mistakes, the response has to be proportional.’’
Benalla said targeting him has been a means to hurt Macron. ‘‘I am the weak link,’’ he said.
You said it, not me.
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He survived the no-confidence vote and they kept word from getting around about it:
"France bans smartphones in school" by Hamza Shaban The Washington Post August 01, 2018
When French students return to school in September they’ll have to leave one of their most prized possessions at home: their smartphones.
French lawmakers on Monday passed legislation banning students as old as 15 from bringing smartphones and tablets to school or having them turned off at least, according to the Agence France-Presse. Officials in support of the new rule described the policy as a way to shield children from addictive habits and to safeguard the sanctity of the classroom.
‘‘We know today that there is a phenomenon of screen addiction, the phenomenon of bad mobile phone use,’’ education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told French news channel BFMTV, according to CNN. ‘‘Our main role is to protect children and adolescents.’’
Even before the new policy was voted in, French law prohibited students from using their phones while class was in session, but during the 2017 French presidential election campaign, Emmanuel Macron pledged to impose a school ban on phones entirely.....
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Yeah, the French really care about kids (some were arguing for the age of 13, and I can see why. That's how Macron met his wife).
Of course, they will fine you if you say anything:
"Fines for sex harassment on streets approved in France" by Sylvie Corbet Associated Press August 01, 2018
PARIS — French lawmakers gave final passage Wednesday to a bill that expands the criminal definition of child rape and outlaws sex harassment on the street, measures the government described as a signal of deep social change.
The legislation approved in the lower house of the French Parliament classifies relations between an adult and a child under age 15 as rape if the victim lacked the ability to consent. It would be up to a judge to determine whether a child was capable of giving sexual consent.
Think of how perverted that is. A judge will determine if the underaged victim consented.
The revision followed recent cases that provoked public outrage. In both cases, men had sex with 11-year-old girls. The new law also allows for fines of $105-$876 for gender-based harassment on streets and public transportation. It bans sexual or sexist comments and behavior that is degrading, humiliating, intimidating hostile, or offensive.
Junior minister for gender equality Marlene Schiappa said she is convinced the measure will act as a ‘‘deterrent.’’
The bill also steps up sanctions for cyberstalking and outlaws taking pictures or videos under someone’s clothes without consent. The practice, known as ‘‘upskirting,’’ will be punishable by up to one year in prison and a fine of $17,500.
This in the Land of La Libertines!!
President Emmanuel Macron’s government pushed for the changes in the legislation in the wake of the #MeToo movement and said they would take effect in September.
A video of a man striking a woman after she responded to obscene sounds he made as she passed by him in Paris went viral in France this week. The Paris prosecutor has opened an investigation, but the man seen in the CCTV video has not been arrested.....
That's domestic violence, an issue that has been subsumed by #MeToo.
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What a terrible environment France has been for women:
"France’s environment minister quits, raps Emmanuel Macron" by James McAuley Washington Post August 28, 2018
PARIS — Nicolas Hulot’s departure means the loss of one of the most popular members of French President Emmanuel Macron’s entourage. The minister is a former TV personality whose program endeared him to many in the generation of younger voters who came of age in the 1990s.
It also adds to a quiet but constant stream of turbulence at the Elysee Palace. Although Macron is often seen abroad as the composed, stable antidote to the political tumult in the London of Brexit and the Washington of Trump, four members of his Cabinet have resigned after charges related to political corruption. Additionally, Macron’s chief of staff, Alexis Kohler, is under investigation for alleged influence peddling and violations of conflict-of-interest rules.
The government has also been plagued by a scandal concerning one of Macron’s former personal security guards, Alexandre Benalla, who was caught on camera beating and dragging two protesters during the annual May Day demonstrations.
The way Macron appeared to protect Benalla before the footage was revealed in the press has cost him significantly. The most recent Ifop poll, published Sunday, showed 66 percent of the French public is dissatisfied with his performance, a five-point boost from the month before. Thirty-four percent of those consulted expressed a favorable view.
Hulot’s resignation may portend a shift in the public identity of a government that styles itself as ‘‘neither right nor left.’’
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I applaud him because he ‘‘no longer wanted to lie to himself,’’ providing us all with a glimmer of hope.
"Poll shows French tiring of Macron faster than of Hollande" by Helene Fouquet Bloomberg News September 04, 2018
PARIS — Emmanuel Macron’s latest slump in opinion polls means the French leader is now more unpopular than his much-maligned predecessor, Francois Hollande, was at the same stage of his term.
That didn't take long, and we all know why.
Macron’s approval rating dropped 10 points to 31 percent in an Ifop survey for Paris Match magazine and Sud Radio released Tuesday. At the same point, Hollande was at 32 percent. He went on to be the most unpopular president in the country’s history.
After just over 15 months in office, Macron is fighting to change voters’ sense that he is aloof and detached from their problems. A vast majority of respondents said he didn’t run a good economic policy or have a vision for the country, and 78 percent said he wasn’t in touch with French people’s worries. His worst rating was among the youngest voters.
The 40-year-old leader went into the break buffeted by a scandal over a rogue aide and returned to a string of bad news on the economy and his reform agenda. Last week Energy and Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot resigned during a live radio show, complaining of the government’s lack of ambition.
For days now his administration has struggled to make it clear whether or not it will push ahead with changes to the way income tax is paid.
Macron was scheduled to meet with his budget minister and prime minister to come up with a solution for the tax reform — a plan initiated under Hollande and continued by Macron.
Macron’s domestic agenda will be dominated by a string of reforms in the coming months, with some, like his plans for the pension system, likely to provoke further discontent, and the political turmoil isn’t over for Macron either: Sports Minister Laura Flessel, an Olympic fencing champion, quit on Tuesday.....
She stabbed him in the back!
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Time to move to Belgium:
"Belgium charges couple with plotting attack at French rally" Associated Press July 02, 2018
BRUSSELS — A married couple with Iranian roots was arrested as they allegedly prepared to head to France from Belgium to bomb a large rally an Iranian opposition group held over the weekend, authorities said Monday.
The federal prosecutor’s office said the Belgian citizens were charged with attempted terrorist murder and plotting a terrorist crime against the opposition group, called the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.
President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was among the speakers at the Saturday rally in the town of Villepinte, near Paris.
He said what?
Investigators who detained the couple on Saturday and searched their car found about a pound of explosives and a detonator, federal magistrate Eric Van der Sijpt said.
A pound of the type of explosives detectives found could cause a sizeable explosion, and in a crowd estimated to have reached 25,000, considerable bloodshed.
A number of Iranian exiles and several American speakers were at the event.
‘‘All I can say is that they were planning a terrorist attack at a conference,” Van der Sijpt said. “I don’t know if they were targeting somebody special.’’
Police raided five homes after the couple was detained but did not disclose if they found additional evidence.
A man detained in Germany ‘‘seems to be an Iranian diplomat attached to the Iranian Embassy in Vienna, in Austria,’’ Van der Sijpt said.
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Related:
Belgian Inmate on Leave Kills 3 in Liège Attack
"In a 75-30 vote with 74 absentees, Danish lawmakers approved the law presented by the center-right governing coalition. The government says that it is not aimed at any religions and does not ban headscarves, turbans, or the traditional Jewish skull cap; however, the law is popularly known as the ‘‘burqa ban’’ and is mostly seen as being directed at the dress worn by some conservative Muslim women. Few Muslim women in Denmark wear full-face veils. Justice Minister Soeren Pape Poulsen said that it will be up to police officers to use their ‘‘common sense.’’
"Poll shows French tiring of Macron faster than of Hollande" by Helene Fouquet Bloomberg News September 04, 2018
PARIS — Emmanuel Macron’s latest slump in opinion polls means the French leader is now more unpopular than his much-maligned predecessor, Francois Hollande, was at the same stage of his term.
That didn't take long, and we all know why.
Macron’s approval rating dropped 10 points to 31 percent in an Ifop survey for Paris Match magazine and Sud Radio released Tuesday. At the same point, Hollande was at 32 percent. He went on to be the most unpopular president in the country’s history.
After just over 15 months in office, Macron is fighting to change voters’ sense that he is aloof and detached from their problems. A vast majority of respondents said he didn’t run a good economic policy or have a vision for the country, and 78 percent said he wasn’t in touch with French people’s worries. His worst rating was among the youngest voters.
The 40-year-old leader went into the break buffeted by a scandal over a rogue aide and returned to a string of bad news on the economy and his reform agenda. Last week Energy and Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot resigned during a live radio show, complaining of the government’s lack of ambition.
For days now his administration has struggled to make it clear whether or not it will push ahead with changes to the way income tax is paid.
Macron was scheduled to meet with his budget minister and prime minister to come up with a solution for the tax reform — a plan initiated under Hollande and continued by Macron.
Macron’s domestic agenda will be dominated by a string of reforms in the coming months, with some, like his plans for the pension system, likely to provoke further discontent, and the political turmoil isn’t over for Macron either: Sports Minister Laura Flessel, an Olympic fencing champion, quit on Tuesday.....
She stabbed him in the back!
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{@@##$$%%^^&&}
Time to move to Belgium:
"Belgium charges couple with plotting attack at French rally" Associated Press July 02, 2018
BRUSSELS — A married couple with Iranian roots was arrested as they allegedly prepared to head to France from Belgium to bomb a large rally an Iranian opposition group held over the weekend, authorities said Monday.
The federal prosecutor’s office said the Belgian citizens were charged with attempted terrorist murder and plotting a terrorist crime against the opposition group, called the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.
President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was among the speakers at the Saturday rally in the town of Villepinte, near Paris.
He said what?
Investigators who detained the couple on Saturday and searched their car found about a pound of explosives and a detonator, federal magistrate Eric Van der Sijpt said.
A pound of the type of explosives detectives found could cause a sizeable explosion, and in a crowd estimated to have reached 25,000, considerable bloodshed.
A number of Iranian exiles and several American speakers were at the event.
‘‘All I can say is that they were planning a terrorist attack at a conference,” Van der Sijpt said. “I don’t know if they were targeting somebody special.’’
Police raided five homes after the couple was detained but did not disclose if they found additional evidence.
A man detained in Germany ‘‘seems to be an Iranian diplomat attached to the Iranian Embassy in Vienna, in Austria,’’ Van der Sijpt said.
--more--"
Related:
Belgian Inmate on Leave Kills 3 in Liège Attack
"In a 75-30 vote with 74 absentees, Danish lawmakers approved the law presented by the center-right governing coalition. The government says that it is not aimed at any religions and does not ban headscarves, turbans, or the traditional Jewish skull cap; however, the law is popularly known as the ‘‘burqa ban’’ and is mostly seen as being directed at the dress worn by some conservative Muslim women. Few Muslim women in Denmark wear full-face veils. Justice Minister Soeren Pape Poulsen said that it will be up to police officers to use their ‘‘common sense.’’
Dutch Parliament approves ban on face-covering clothing
Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker cancels Mohammed cartoon contest
The media was not amused.
"A top European orchestra fired its chief conductor Thursday following accusations of sexual misconduct. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Netherlands said it ended its affiliation with Daniele Gatti in the wake of a Washington Post story last week in which the conductor was accused of inappropriate behavior. The Amsterdam-based Royal Concertgebouw said in a statement that the Post article and reports from women who came forward after its publication ‘‘irreparably damaged the relationship of trust between the orchestra and the chief conductor.’’ Gatti’s lawyer called the allegations a ‘‘smear campaign.’’ Gatti, 56, became the chief conductor at the start of 2016-2017 concert season."
That sounds so familiar to me, and it's not like he committed murder:
"Arrest made after 17,500 Dutchmen gave DNA in murder probe" New York Times August 28, 2018
BRUSSELS — For 20 years, Dutch police investigated the rape and murder of an 11-year-old schoolboy. Now, after an investigation in which 17,500 Dutchmen voluntarily took part in DNA profiling, a suspect has been arrested in Spain.
The boy, Nicky Verstappen, had attended a summer camp at a nature reserve in the southern Netherlands in 1998. On a night that August, he left his tent and never returned. His body was discovered the next day, hidden in a forest about a mile away.
DNA found on the boy’s pajamas was of male origin, but no samples in Dutch and international criminal databases matched it.
In 2013, a Dutch prosecutor ordered DNA sampling of 1,500 men of special interest to the case.
When one person of special interest — Jos Brech, a 55-year-old Dutchman who had been missing since April — failed to show up for obligatory sampling this year, investigators dug deeper. Police took DNA samples from Brech and matched it with that found at the murder scene.
--more--"
He is also a member of the Hells Angels.
UPDATE:
Man kills mother, sister; France sees no apparent terror tie
They are still investigating while keeping an eye on things.
