France General Discussion II: Living under Marxism

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For those who speak French, Le Monde (the only newspaper still employing actual journalists) has some great articles on small towns where the FN is doing well:

http://www.lemonde.fr/municipales/article/2013/12/02/municipales-a-mitry-mory-on-parle-beaucoup-du-fn-en-attendant-le-candidat_3522308_1828682.html
http://www.lemonde.fr/municipales/article/2013/12/03/municipales-a-grassac-l-isolement-d-un-maire-qui-soutient-marine-le-pen_3523834_1828682.html
http://www.lemonde.fr/municipales/article/2013/12/04/municipales-on-n-est-pas-racistes-mais-on-le-devient_3523785_1828682.html
http://www.lemonde.fr/municipales/article/2013/12/05/municipales-en-charente-les-vicissitudes-du-fn-rural_3523783_1828682.html
http://www.lemonde.fr/municipales/article/2013/12/06/municipales-dans-le-doubs-regarder-le-fn-en-face-sans-se-pincer-le-nez_3522312_1828682.html
http://www.lemonde.fr/municipales/article/2013/12/06/la-descente-aux-enfers-d-une-equipe-de-foot_3522313_1828682.html

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Not up to the minute breaking news, but France should recognize white votes (vote blanc) - defined as envelopes returned without a ballot - by counting them separately from invalid votes but they won't be taken into account for calculating the 'suffrages exprimés'. It was introduced by the UDI and has unanimous support, but there are disagreements between the government and the opposition as to when it should take effect. For obvious reasons, the government wants it to take effect after the local elections in March.

http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/14/dossiers/vote_blanc_aux_elections.asp

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Not up to the minute breaking news, but France should recognize white votes (vote blanc) - defined as envelopes returned without a ballot - by counting them separately from invalid votes but they won't be taken into account for calculating the 'suffrages exprimés'. It was introduced by the UDI and has unanimous support, but there are disagreements between the government and the opposition as to when it should take effect. For obvious reasons, the government wants it to take effect after the local elections in March.

http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/14/dossiers/vote_blanc_aux_elections.asp

I think you're mistaken... "vote blanc" in France usually is an actual blank ballot which you can put in the envelope.

Yes, you're correct. However, actual blank ballots are not distributed by the authorities, although on internet voting and machines there is an option to cast a 'vote blanc'. An actual blank piece of paper would be considered as a vote blanc.

That said, the Code électoral (Article L66) currently does not differentiate between a bulletin blanc and bulletin nul so it is tough to currently draw the line.

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The new law would remove the words "blancs, ceux" from the article, so the aforementioned votes would be de facto bulletins nuls. So I guess blank papers and those without ballots in the envelope will be considered as bulletins blancs. Sorry for the mixup.

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Not up to the minute breaking news, but France should recognize white votes (vote blanc) - defined as envelopes returned without a ballot - by counting them separately from invalid votes but they won't be taken into account for calculating the 'suffrages exprimés'. It was introduced by the UDI and has unanimous support, but there are disagreements between the government and the opposition as to when it should take effect. For obvious reasons, the government wants it to take effect after the local elections in March.

http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/14/dossiers/vote_blanc_aux_elections.asp

I think you're mistaken... "vote blanc" in France usually is an actual blank ballot which you can put in the envelope.

Yes, you're correct. However, actual blank ballots are not distributed by the authorities, although on internet voting and machines there is an option to cast a 'vote blanc'. An actual blank piece of paper would be considered as a vote blanc.

I'm pretty sure I saw a pile of blank ballots along with the piles for the other candidates at my polling place back in 2012.

Well, that would have been illegal:

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Le Figaro also has him leading Flanby 46-27. Keeping my fingers crossed for a rematch.

Misleading. The question asks which of Poison Dwarf and Flanby they prefer to see as President, rather than an election matchup. The other parts of the poll confirm that while Sarko's image has improved some since 2012, he's still rather polarizing.

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When we thought that this horrible joke idea had been put to rest, Flanby and the government apparently want to reduce the number of regions from 22 to about 15 - a terrible idea proposed by Balladur's commission on whatever in 2009.

http://www.leparisien.fr/politique/reforme-territoriale-certains-departements-et-regions-devraient-disparaitre-15-01-2014-3496375.php

To make matters worse, the slimy traitor Prime Minister opposes reunification.

http://www.leparisien.fr/politique/ayrault-oppose-au-rattachement-de-la-loire-atlantique-a-la-bretagne-16-01-2014-3500081.php

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Well, the idea that just reducing the number of regions will save costs or make local governance more efficient is stupid. There's a ton of other things that they could (but won't) do that would be much more effective at doing that; reducing regions is just some window-dressing cosmetic changes which don't address the issues.

Secondly, this whole obsession with reducing regions to create some "super-regions" and whatever just reeks of good ol' Jacobinism/paternalist centralism mixed in with ridiculous neoliberalism (the obsession on making everything in government 'efficient' and blablabla) as if regions were nothing more than branches of Wal-Marts which could just be merged and destroyed.

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Legislative news:

The National Assembly adopted the two bills banning the 'cumul des mandats'.

The first bill bans MEPs from holding more than one of the offices of regional councillor, departmental councillor or municipal councillor (communes over 1,000 inhabitants). They will need to resign from one of the mandate that they held prior to the election which created an incompatibility, and they will need to do so within 30 days. No worries though, this law only takes effect after the 2019 European elections.

It was adopted 300 to 198 with 17 abstentions. In the SRC group, 3 MRC deputies voted against and three PS or DVG deputies abstained. In the UMP group, 5 deputies voted in favour (a DVD who defeated the official UDI-UMP candidate in a Val-de-Marne by-election in 2012; Jean-Luc Moudenc, the former mayor of Toulouse; Lionel Tardy, a filloniste UMP deputy with a reputation of being a maverick; Laurent Marcangeli, UMP deputy for Corse-du-Sud and Thierry Solère, who defeated Claude Guéant). In the UDI group, 17 voted against and 11 abstained (the 4 members from New Caledonia and Polynesia, Borloo, Hervé Morin, Yannick Favennec, Charles de Courson, Philippe Folliot, Charles de Courson, Bertrand Pancher and Likud deputy Meyer Habib). 11 out of 16 members of the Radical group voted against, the two who voted in favour were Falorni (ex-PS, defeated The Crazy Lady) and Thierry Robert (MoDem Réunion) and the one who abstained was Jean-Noël Carpentier (MUP, Robert Hue's party). In the GDR group, there were 7 in favour, 3 against (Carvalho and 2 Martinicans) and 2 abstentions (1 PCF and one Guyanese). In the NI, Sylvie Andrieux (Criminal ex-PS) and Jean Lassalle (MoDem) voted for while Véronique Besse (MPF, what's left of that?) and JFK-NDA voted against.

The text of the law:
http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/14/ta/ta0279.asp

The other bill, an organic law, limits dual office holding for deputies and senators. Deputies and Senators will not be allowed to be mayor, 'maire délégué', 'adjoint au maire', president/VP of an EPCI/'syndicat mixte', president/VP of a regional/departmental/territorial assembly, president/VP of some public bodies. Again, this law will only be applied following the 2017 election.

You might recall there was a tiny cluster when the Senate, in September, adopted the bill with an amendment exempting them from the rules and allowing them to hold one of the above offices. As in the legislative procedure, the National Assembly got the final say and adopted the bill over the Senate's objections.

The text was adopted 313-225 with 14 abstentions. All 3 MRC deputies voted against, as did one DVG (ex-PS) deputy; the same 5 UMP deputies who voted for the other bill voted in favour of this one too; 21 UDI deputies voted against with 9 abstaining (the same minus the 2 Polynesians); all Greenies voted in favour; 11 of the RRDP deputies voted against (with Falorni and Robert in favour, joined by one PRG deputy; and Carpentier abstaining and 1 not voting); the same folks in the GDR voted against or abstained (although 3 did not vote on this bill); Andrieux and Lassalle were joined by Panzermiss and Collard in voting against, although fellow fascist Jacques Bompard voted against and Gilles 'Hitler didn't kill enough gypsies' Bourdouleix didn't vote.

The text of the law:
http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/14/ta/ta0278.asp

There's been some abortion moralf****try sparked by the government changing the wording of an article in the public health code allowing for abortion. Instead of reading 'La femme enceinte que son état place dans une situation de détresse' (a pregnant woman whose situation places her in a state of distress) it would read 'La femme enceinte qui ne veut pas poursuivre une grossesse' (a pregnant woman who does not want to continue a pregnancy). A semantic change to make it more modern, but apparently it got the crazies out of the woodwork once again and got them out on the streets.

A small group of social conservative UMP MPs led by Jean-Frédéric Poisson (a close ally of Bible thumper extraordinaire Christine 'married her cousin' Boutin) proposed an amendment under which abortions would no longer be covered by social security. The UMP leadership was unfavourable, and it was voted down 142 to 7 with 4 abstentions. Of the 14 UMP deputies present, 6 voted in favour and 6 voted against. The only other vote in favour was Bompard, who gave a crazy speech about it.

The National Assembly is currently debating ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (with reservations, opt-outs and the like). It requires a constitutional amendment, and the government has chosen to do it through Congress (a three-fifths majority of deputies and senators meeting in Congress) rather than through a referendum.

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BREAKING NEWS: Flanby is going to separate from Valérie.

http://mg.co.za/article/2014-01-25-frances-francois-hollande-to-separate-from-partner

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Time for the monthly installment of 'lol flanby' - in today's episode, Flanby's approval ratings keep dropping, at this rate will have -50% approval by 2017.

CSA: Flanby
No confidence 71% (+2)
Confidence 23% (-2)
NSP 4%

Worth noting: 32% of PS sympathizers disapprove, older people slightly kinder on Flanby

Also in CSA's Barometer, Valls remains the most popular politician but he's not everybody's darling - his approval dropped 3, and has 42% negative perceptions. Sarko in fourth overall, but his positive perceptions are down 2 to 44% and has 54% negative perceptions. Panzergirl at 29-67, Jeff Copé at 22-70

TNS-Sofres
No confidence 78% (+2)
Confidence 19% (-3)
NSP 3%

Even more extreme: this is Flanby's lowest ever numbers in Sofres, even PS sympathizers are split equally (49 conf, 48 no conf). Again, older people slightly kinder and (this might be a small sample size given self-id in France) does best with the wealthiest households (34%).

I wish to point out that Flanby's unstoppable drop to 0% approvals is not extremely common: French presidents' approvals follow a net downwards trend from their honeymoon, but in reality they mostly settle or bounce back and forth at varying levels. The exceptions are Chirac, who pretty much dropped non-stop from 2005 to 2006 (the lowest ever approval rating for a modern French President, I think, is still held by Chirac's 16% in a July 2006 TNS-Sofres poll) and Sarko who dropped consistently from late 2009 to mid 2011 (also Mitterrand dropped from stratospheric highs from 1981 to 1983). But, on the other hand, Chirac had a deadcat bounce after 2006 (up to 30% when leaving office), Sarko had a rebound in late 2008 until the time of the EP elections.

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Wrecking Ball parody with Manuel Valls, courtesy of Les Guignols:

http://www.canalplus.fr/c-divertissement/pid1784-c-les-guignols.html?vid=1020208

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Ifop polls the approval of all cabinet ministers:

Fabius (Foreign affairs) 61/38
Le Drian (defense) 59/38
Vallaud-Belkacem (women rights, spokesperson)  58/39
Filippetti (culture) 57/39
Valls (interior, deportations) 53/47
Le Foll (agriculture, agrifood, forests) 53/42
Touraine (health, social affairs) 46/51
Taubira (justice) 43/56
Martin (environment lol) 40/55
Montebourg (industry) 38/59
Hamon (consumption) 35/60
Duflot (housing, territorial equality) 34/64
Peillon (education) 32/67
Cazeneuve (budget) 30/65
Sapin (labour and employment) 30/68
Moscovici (finance) 29/70

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Sarkoleaks: http://www.atlantico.fr/decryptage/enregistrements-sarkozy-buisson-1er-extrait-gueant-musca-mercier-et-interventions-juges-1000821.html

A bit disappointing; there's relatively little juicy stuff and it's pretty boring (my favourite is probably Carlita saying how she's paying for Poison Dwarf's lifestyle). Like, we all knew that Bachelot is a moron.

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Time for the monthly installment of 'lol flanby' - in today's episode, Flanby's approval ratings keep dropping, at this rate will probably be at 0% in 2015.

TNS-Sofres
No confidence 80% (+2)
Confidence 17% (-2)
NSP 3%

Ifop
Approve 76% (nc)
Disapprove 23% (nc)
NSP 3%

keep on failing

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Hopefully Flanby pulls a Mitterrand, names Valls PM and ensures that his aura/popularity collapses to his own levels. But Flanby is probably way too dumb to think like that.

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I somehow doubt Flanby named the Oberst-Gruppenführer for the same reasons I would have named him, but it'll do. Now we just need to pray that Valls becomes as unpopular as the plague and that he doesn't embarrass us further by making crass racist comments.

Le changement, c'est maintenant.

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This comment on a Twitter account I follow (run by some elitist leftist communist bobo Jewish Arab Eurokrat) was rather fun:

Hollande réussit à installer une cohabitation sans même dissoudre l'Assemblée. Chapeau l'artiste.

ETA: rumours that Duflot is out of government

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The government!

PM: Valls
Foreign Affairs and International Development: Laurent Fabius
Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy: Ségolène Royal
Justice: Christine Taubira
National education, higher education and research: Benoit Hamon
Finance and budget: Michel Sapin
Economy: Arnaud Montebourg
Social affairs: Marisol Touraine
Labour, employment and social dialogue: François Rebsamen
Defense: Jean-Yves Le Drian
Interior: Bernard Cazeneuve
Womens' rights, city, youth and sports: Najat Vallaud-Belkacem
Decentralization and state reform: Marylise Lebranchu
Culture and communication: Aurélie Filippetti
Housing and territorial equality: Sylvia Pinel
Agriculture, agrifood and spokesperson: Stéphane Le Foll
Overseas: George Pau-Langevin

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Valls wants to abolish the departmental councils (which he effectively recreated himself!), reduce by half the number of regions (which remain, in the eyes of these horrible mofos, nothing else than Wal-Mart outlets which can be closed down at will) and abolish the clause de compétence générale for local governments (abolished by Sarko... recreated by Flanby/Valls). What a horrible joke.

http://www.liberation.fr/politiques/2014/04/08/valls-veut-reduire-de-moitie-le-nombre-de-regions_994078

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The government was completed by secretaries of state:

Parliamentary relations: Jean-Marie Le Guen
International trade, tourism development and French citizens abroad: Fleur Pellerin (under Fabius, finally)
European affairs: Harlem Désir (PS leader)
International development and Francophonie: Annick Girardin (PRG/Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon!)
Transport, sea and fisheries: Frédéric Cuvillier (under Ségo, best of luck dude)
Higher education and research: Geneviève Fioraso
Budget: Christian Eckert
Digital technologies: Axelle Lemaire (PS deputy for the UK/Scandinavia/Baltics, born in Ottawa!)
Commerce, artisanat, consumption, 'économie sociale et solidaire': Valérie Fourneyron
Family and seniors: Laurence Rossignol
Handicapped persons and fight against exclusion: Ségolène Neuville
Veterans and remembrance (lol!): Kader Arif
Sports: Thierry Braillard (PRG deputy, ally of Lyon mayor Gérard Collomb, elected with Collomb's support against an EELV-PS candidate in 2012)
Territorial reform: André Vallini

Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon REPRESENT (first ever cabinet minister from there?)

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France is rapidly turning into a sh**thole when legitimate newspaper (Le Progrès de Lyon in this case) are allowed to print vile racist crap like this:



Somebody invade us to restore sanity.

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I proudly voted for the very important and powerful 'consular councillors' who represent me in... I don't know, the local embassy/consulate? Apparently 'they may be consulted on issues concerning French citizens abroad'... 'they may'...

Anyway I voted for the ADFE (left-wing/PS) list. The other two lists were a UFE-UMP list and a RFE-DVD list which still claimed to be UMP.

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It's also in Naoned, which is one of the best cities in France and the capital of the best region.

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They were supposed to be in 2015, along with the new-old departmental/cantonal elections, and unless something's changed, the law says the terms expire in 2015, but now Flanby has said that they might be pushed back to 2016 (officially to coincide with the destruction of regional government). Also the departmental elections are now supposed to be abolished by Fuhrer Valls even if Fuhrer Valls himself was the one who recreated them. Whenever they are, it will be a fascist onslaught.

Hopefully Merkel invades us first and we do away with democracy.

(oh, and hopefully Cope croaks over soon)

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What a focking disgusting joke. He could have done one basic thing which people actually wanted, but he didn't do it. Lowlife scum.