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On July 21 2018 23:51 xM(Z wrote:Show nested quote +On July 21 2018 07:23 iamthedave wrote:On July 21 2018 03:49 xM(Z wrote:
2 - 3 pages of circle-jerking into a Trump level stunt.
fuck nations and states and fascists and the whole notion of 'em!. we came, we mixed them, we saw no more culture hence there is no culture and there was no culture. ever.
of course culture exists and it existed since humans started organizing themselves in social groups; that its definition(concept of) varies across 'current nations' means nothing; it doesn't that mean culture doesn't exist.
culture is what made some groups of people better at surviving than others; it also created a framework in which knowledge/skills/habits/philosophies were better passed on/perpetuated.
i'd rather celebrate diversity and multiculturalism by seeing and acknowledging colours and culture rather than forcing everyone to see grays. Do you even know what the word 'circle jerk' means? yes, dudes stroking each other(metaphorically or not) physically or psychologically, while being in close proximity(a circle, at arms reach/length etc); in there, was the later.
Then can you explain how in the fuck 3 pages of people ARGUING AND DISAGREEING WITH EACH OTHER qualifies as a circle jerk?
On July 20 2018 01:59 TheDwf wrote:Show nested quote +On July 20 2018 01:39 sc-darkness wrote:
Well, what's the difference between the French team and an African team visually? 4 white people
I missed this comment then, but you know there's plenty of white people in Africa. I don't follow football so I don't know, but I'd expect South Africa, at least, to have a few white dudes in its national football team. If it has one.
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On July 22 2018 17:20 iamthedave wrote:Show nested quote +On July 21 2018 23:51 xM(Z wrote:On July 21 2018 07:23 iamthedave wrote:On July 21 2018 03:49 xM(Z wrote:
2 - 3 pages of circle-jerking into a Trump level stunt.
fuck nations and states and fascists and the whole notion of 'em!. we came, we mixed them, we saw no more culture hence there is no culture and there was no culture. ever.
of course culture exists and it existed since humans started organizing themselves in social groups; that its definition(concept of) varies across 'current nations' means nothing; it doesn't that mean culture doesn't exist.
culture is what made some groups of people better at surviving than others; it also created a framework in which knowledge/skills/habits/philosophies were better passed on/perpetuated.
i'd rather celebrate diversity and multiculturalism by seeing and acknowledging colours and culture rather than forcing everyone to see grays. Do you even know what the word 'circle jerk' means? yes, dudes stroking each other(metaphorically or not) physically or psychologically, while being in close proximity(a circle, at arms reach/length etc); in there, was the later. Then can you explain how in the fuck 3 pages of people ARGUING AND DISAGREEING WITH EACH OTHER qualifies as a circle jerk? Show nested quote +On July 20 2018 01:59 TheDwf wrote:On July 20 2018 01:39 sc-darkness wrote:
Well, what's the difference between the French team and an African team visually? 4 white people I missed this comment then, but you know there's plenty of white people in Africa. I don't follow football so I don't know, but I'd expect South Africa, at least, to have a few white dudes in its national football team. If it has one.
(It was a sarcastic comment.)
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On July 22 2018 04:51 TheDwf wrote:Show nested quote +On July 20 2018 19:34 TheDwf wrote:+ Show Spoiler +After Macron privatized our football victory to have the privilege to scream a few irrelevant sentences with his horrible high-pitched voice to get images just in time for the TV news + Show Spoiler +, he is rewarded with another gift: a major State scandal. Macron aide Benalla in French probe for beating protesterFrench prosecutors are investigating a senior presidential aide who attacked protesters in Paris while wearing a police visor. Alexandre Benalla, an assistant to President Emmanuel Macron's chief of staff, was filmed targeting a woman and a man during May Day protests. He was caught on video by a student activist and left the scene once challenged on camera. He was identified from the video by French newspaper Le Monde. On Thursday, it emerged he was accompanied on the day by a reserve policeman and employee of Mr Macron's political party, Vincent Crase. France's Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said he had ordered an investigation by the country's national police inspectorate. "These two people had no legal right to intervene," he said. (...) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44883583 I will try to sum up as clearly and quickly as possible. 1) During the 1/05 demonstrations, some demonstrators and left-wing militants are filming what they think is cop violence. So far business as usual, a cop is beating demonstrators for free while other cops watch and do nothing, yawn. The video is uploaded on the Internet. 2) Turns out that the perpetrator was not a cop. Two days ago (18/07), Le Monde revealed that this guy, named Alexandre Benalla, was in fact Macron's aide. 3) Le Monde revealed that the presidency was aware of his behaviour, and punished him two days after the event (3/05) by suspending him for... only two weeks. Now, why is this big, why is Macron's name involved and why this will splash badly. 1) Macron's aide (he basically seems to be his Mr. Security) was impersonating a cop and acting like one, whereas he should have just been there “as an observer”. He also had a talkie-walkie. 2) Only yesterday was a judicial inquiry opened, for “violences perpetrated by someone entrusted with a public mission,” “usurpation of functions” and “usurpation of signs reserved for the public authority”. 3) According to Le Monde, Macron was quickly aware of the events after they happened. 4) Benalla seems to be quite close to Macron; not only he was acting as some kind of bodyguard during his travels, but there are also numerous photos of them during Macron's leisure time: + Show Spoiler +All of this means that: 1) The presidency (and the Interior) tried to cover up the affair. As per our article 40 of the Penal code, they must seize the justice when they are confronted with those kinds of facts. They did not, hoping that the case would not be revealed. Bad luck, it seems that some journalists still do their job. This reveals the behavior of an arrogant caste who think they are above the law. 2) To extinguish the fire, the presidency's spokeperson, in an absolutely pathetic and panicked statement yesterday morning, was forced to revealed that a second guy working for l'Élysée had also committed similar violences and had been fired. But this means that there likely was a network of brutes of that kind. 3) Active complicities up to the high ranks of the police prefecture (it wasn't actually the first time that Benalla was here in demonstration with cops). Three high-ranked cops were suspended today for complicity. The passiveness of cops nearby while Benalla was beating up demonstrators also likely means that they had instructions not to intervene because he was some “VIP”. 4) Given that Benalla was in the bus of the victory when our national team returned, i.e. a place of privilege, he was clearly not pushed aside as he should have been. Since Benalla was not fired rightaway for a severe case AND was covered AND was still working for l'Élysée (only today, in the heat of the massive sh*tstorm, are they starting the procedure to fire him!), how valuable he is and what does he know to be protected like that? My personal guess is that they were running some kind of small parallel police for the presidency, as the right-wing mafiosos did in the 60's with the infamous SAC: gathering thugs to do shady stuff, for instance beating up left-wing activists and demonstrators in order to intimidate them. We will see. There is a political crisis dawning, all oppositions are blocking the Parliament (the Constitutional reform was being discussed, where King Macron intends to make our already Phantom Parliament even more useless) until the government comes and explains the events. So far they dodge, the majority is heavily embarrassed. The Interior minister possibly lied yesterday in front of the Senate, pretending that he didn't know while he apparently did. At the request of all oppositions, there will be a parliamentary committed of inquiry which will audition people on those events next week. In a public visit yesterday, Macron refused to answer the journalists' questions, feigning to not hear them and wearing a fake smile de façade. In any mature democracy the whole hierarchic chain involved in that case would have resigned. But in the French Banana Republic, nothing of that order is happening yet. As of today, Benalla is currently held in custory. A fourth count has been added, apparently he was complicit in hijacking surveillance images… Medias are talking non-stop about this for the last 40+ hours. Stay tuned for the collapse of the Macronie… :popcorn: TL;DR: one of Macron's aides, quite close to him, beat up a few persons while impersonating a cop in a demonstration more than 2 months ago. The presidency tried to cover up the case, which is now blowing right under their nose. Possible signs of a secret cell operating as some kind of private militia for Macron. + Show Spoiler +Update on the major scandal which is wrecking the Macronie: - In its pathetic press conference, the presidency's spokesperson had pretended that Macron's thug militiaman, Alexandre Benalla, had been punished in such a way that he no longer worked close to the president. That was a lie. He was still in charge in July, journalists had no troubles finding numerous photos of him next to the Macrons during their travels. Apparently he was even supposed to be in charge of the security of the Macrons during their holidays this summer! Talk about “the most severe sanction ever taken”! (Words from the spokesman about his 15 days suspension for assaulting freely two protestors while impersonating a cop… LOL) - The press revealed that from the 09/07 onwards, i.e. more than 2 months after his violent behaviour was known, he got a prestigious apartment in a district reserved to the president's close collaborators (his chief of staff, etc.; Mitterrand also had his hidden daughter there…). So clearly he was not at all punished. - Benalla was apparently earning 10 000€ per month—more than the highest ranked people in the police, and as much as a minister—with bonus up to 3 000€; he had a car with a chauffeur, and his car had some devices reserved to the police (special headlights). Insane list of privileges for someone who didn't even have a clear and official role… - Benalla and the other thug + Show Spoiler +who still works for the macronist party… 's detention were extended. Should have the first results tomorrow. Benalla's home was searched by investigators. - We learned today from the right-wing députés that Benalla had a H badge, something which gives him access to the hemicycle of the Assemblée. Not only he had zero business being here, since the President cannot enter the hemicycle, but the badge itself is quite a rare privilege (it's the highest level of access), only a few selected people from the presidency with a political role get it. No one understands why Benalla had this H badge. The right seems to think that this badge implies that he had political functions. Tomorrow we'll probably learn that he had the nuclear codes or something… lol - The parliamentary inquiry about this mess begins as soon as Monday morning, with the audition of the Interior minister who lied about not knowing the case. The majority did everything to slow and sabotage the process, they wanted the audiences to be secret but were forced to concede public ones given the uproar and the demands of the oppositions, etc. The different groups are clashing about who should be heard. The FI (left) wants Macron himself to come and give explanations but of course macronists will never allow it. - The Assemblée is blocked in a situation never seen before. It's like the opposition is on strike. Since the case was revealed, députés from the opposition are freezing the legislative work with endless rappels au règlement (points of order; literally, “remind the rules”) about the Benalla case. Living in their own world where there is apparently no scandal, the majority wanted to keep working on the constitutional reform (!) but had to concede this forced “pause” because of the political crisis. MPs debated the organization of the parliamentary inquiry, and those from the oppositions wanted ministers (the Prime and/or the Interior one) to come and give explanations. None came. The prime minister was at the Tour de France yesterday… - According to Mediapart, during the 1/05 events Benalla was giving orders to cops nearby… while he should have zero authority over them. This wasn't the first time according to some cops in the medias, Benalla was known as a “president's man” with special privileges. Cops trade unions are very mad at this affair by the way, since it shows corruption in their hierarchy + a complete hijacking of the police by some parallel cell at l'Élysée. - Macron is still silent, more than 72 hours after the case was revealed. Heard by investigators, his chief of staff confirmed that he was aware of the events (Benalla assaulting protestors the 01/05). According to the press, Macron personally agreed with the absolutely derisory sanction of a 15 days suspension. Hard to see how his personal responsibility is not involved. - The Benalla affair now has its Wikipedia page and is being talked overseas. The public parliamentary auditions will start Monday morning, so the massive sh*tstorm should continue the whole week. The press, even the macronist one, is heavily criticizing Macron about his attitude and silence. His own camp is stunned and dumbfounded. Some macronists are still in heavy denial and pretend that this is an individual problem or random nonsense like that. So far Macron is refusing to talk (he made it known yesterday that he would not talk about the case) but he won't be able to hold for long. Their crisis management has been nothing short of catastrophic. Stay tuned for further developments of this mini-Watergate. Drop Netflix and follow for free this French live show!
Update—episode 3 of the State scandal:
Alexandre Benalla, Macron's militiaman, has been charged for mob violence, interference in the exercise of a public function, publicly wearing reglemented signs without the right to do so, fencing of hijacking surveillance images, violation of professional secret.
Vincent Crase, his sidekick, who was working for l'Élysée and still works for the macronist party, has been charged for mob violence, interference in the exercise of a public function and illegally wearing a weapon.
The three cops who helped Benalla illegally get the surveillance images of his 01/05 violent show were charged for hijacking surveillance images and violation of the professional secret.
Macron vaguely went out of his silence and said, through relatives, that Benalla's behaviour was "inacceptable" and that there would be "no impunity" (LOL). He asked his secretary general to solve the "internal dysfunctions in the presidency," so without surprises he will most likely play the "I didn't know" card (bullsh*t) and burn a few intermediaries.
Live audition tomorrow morning (10:00) of the Minister of Interior under oath. Will be aired on a few TV channels.
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So Merkel's answer to Ozil, we have no integration problems? : D
Just a different version of when we win/ when we lose scenario I guess.
why are you Germans are always politically correct on every thing on this planet. Conor McGregor met Putin, posed with him and praised him, while, his nation is openly hostile to Russia and Russia is almost hostile to all Europe and the states. Sportsmen are sportsmen, politicians are politicans
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Why do you say Merkel said something that she didn't say? She merely claimed that the MAJORITY of Turks are well integrated, which is most probably true. Anything else would be a disaster. It's basically a non-mention worthy news.
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I don't understand the buzzword "politically correct" in this context.
Can we please keep that word to the already quite fucked up meaning "moral-behaviour-that-is-not-part-of-traditionalist-moral-behaviour"!
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I think what should be discussed to improve the discourse and to better understand each other is what integration means.
In this context what meaning Merkel implies when she says well integrated is unknown, to me at least, and I've clashed with other users here in our interpreatation of what prerequisites people have to fulfill to be integrated.
PC is used as a derogative substitute for humane these days.
Sportsmen are sportsmen and nothing else is clearly bullshit. Sport cant be apolitical when dealing with dictatorial elites publicly. I want to hold everyone to the same standard, and that is to be humane and not directly support inhumane conditions (same goes for high tech products and cheap clothing made by slave workers).
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On July 23 2018 21:20 lastpuritan wrote:So Merkel's answer to Ozil, we have no integration problems? : D Just a different version of when we win/ when we lose scenario I guess. https://twitter.com/ReutersWorld/status/1021338364044283904why are you Germans are always politically correct on every thing on this planet. Conor McGregor met Putin, posed with him and praised him, while, his nation is openly hostile to Russia and Russia is almost hostile to all Europe and the states. Sportsmen are sportsmen, politicians are politicans
As soon as Putin Begins to openly campaign in Ireland, telling the Irish-Russians to remain as Russian as possible and spreading their Russianness in Ireland, the Irish wouldn't be all "fine and dandy" with it. Add into this that one is a niche sport that is fought 1on1 and the other the friggin World Cup where players mainly represent their countries and not themselves...
I found the outrage way overblown and i'm fully on board with Ozil leaving, but what he did was just plain naive.
And yes, how this has anything to do with PC is way beyond me.
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Former Trump aide Bannon sets up group to undermine EU
LONDON (Reuters) - Former Donald Trump political strategist Steve Bannon and a top associate have created a Brussels-based political organization intended to undermine, and ultimately paralyze, the European Union, Bannon and the associate told Reuters.
In an interview and email conversations, Bannon and Raheem Kassam, a former chief aide to British anti-EU leader Nigel Farage who now serves as a Bannon lieutenant, said the group, known as The Movement, is already operating and hiring.
“The Movement will be our clearing house for the populist, nationalist movement in Europe. We’re focusing attention on assisting individuals or groups concerned with the matters of sovereignty, border control, jobs, amongst other things,” Kassam said.
“We decided to headquarter out of Brussels because it is the heart of the European Union — the most pernicious force against nation state democracy in the West today.
“The organization is already a structured foundation with a significant annual budget and we have started to staff up,” he said.
Kassam declined to give further details about the foundation.
[...]
Bannon and Kassam said their plan was to use their new movement to organize a major turnout of nationalist and populist voters in European Parliament elections which take place in all EU member states next May.
Voter turnout in European Parliament elections historically is low, and Bannon said he and his organization hope that by mobilizing local anti-EU groups they can elect a large enough group of Members of the European Parliament to disrupt and even shut down the Parliament and the European Commission.
Asked about Bannon’s plans on Monday, the Commission’s chief spokesman told reporters that the EU executive noted them but declined further comment.
this guy...
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After the The Socialist International we now get The Nationalsocialist International.
The tragedy, and the farce...
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The number one reason why I think we need to reign in the “global market” is stuff like Bannon, a US citizen, setting up shop to undermine the EU funded by god knows who. It is bad enough that the entire US has to go through the collective process of realizing Bannon is the guy who gets infected by the alien plague and doesn’t tell the crew. But now gets to pack up shop, travel to the Europe and try to be someone’s political agent there. Free trade doesn't include our political operatives and funding.
And almost every one of these clowns is funded by some media shy billionaire(s) who doesn’t want governments powerful enough keep them in check.
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idk, we usually have some kind of funding limits for parties and elections over here. I'm not sure that extends to EU elections though... also not sure that extends to 3rd parties... but it probably should seeing the above. At least from my naive point of view.
Remember when we didn't allow Erdogan to campaign in Germany (iirc? or did something else come out of that?) ? Same thing for me here except even worse because they're not doing it for themselves and their own selfinterest, but for god-knows-who and why
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On July 24 2018 02:05 Plansix wrote:
The number one reason why I think we need to reign in the “global market” is stuff like Bannon, a US citizen, setting up shop to undermine the EU funded by god knows who. It is bad enough that the entire US has to go through the collective process of realizing Bannon is the guy who gets infected by the alien plague and doesn’t tell the crew. But now gets to pack up shop, travel to the Europe and try to be someone’s political agent there. Free trade doesn't include our political operatives and funding.
And almost every one of these clowns is funded by some media shy billionaire(s) who doesn’t want governments powerful enough keep them in check.
we've got laws to reign in hate speech or other nonsense in Europe so this isn't that big of a deal. Given that we're taking aggregators like Facebook into responsibility which are probably the best avenue for these sort of operatives they'll have a much harder time than in the US.
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On July 24 2018 02:19 Nyxisto wrote:Show nested quote +On July 24 2018 02:05 Plansix wrote:
The number one reason why I think we need to reign in the “global market” is stuff like Bannon, a US citizen, setting up shop to undermine the EU funded by god knows who. It is bad enough that the entire US has to go through the collective process of realizing Bannon is the guy who gets infected by the alien plague and doesn’t tell the crew. But now gets to pack up shop, travel to the Europe and try to be someone’s political agent there. Free trade doesn't include our political operatives and funding.
And almost every one of these clowns is funded by some media shy billionaire(s) who doesn’t want governments powerful enough keep them in check. we've got laws to reign in hate speech or other nonsense in Europe so this isn't that big of a deal. Given that we're taking aggregators like Facebook into responsibility which are probably the best avenue for these sort of operatives they'll have a much harder time than in the US.
I think the easier route would be to make sure they don't set up shop in the first place. Or at least make them fully disclose their funding. Because I wouldn't be shocked if this is another Mercer project, like Cambridge Analytica.
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On July 24 2018 02:11 Toadesstern wrote:
idk, we usually have some kind of funding limits for parties and elections over here. I'm not sure that extends to EU elections though... also not sure that extends to 3rd parties... but it probably should seeing the above. At least from my naive point of view.
Remember when we didn't allow Erdogan to campaign in Germany (iirc? or did something else come out of that?) ? Same thing for me here except even worse because they're not doing it for themselves and their own selfinterest, but for god-knows-who and why
Just to tell you how funding limits in Austria work: You pay a fine of 10% for what you were over the limit.
I'm still waiting for the stats of the last election. Wouldn't be a good election without conservatives breaking their record in illegal election spending.
So basically every euro you invest over 7 million costs 1,1 euros. So the return of invest function is only very slightly distorted, there is absolutely no real limit in spending.
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But if you lose it hurts much more.
Btw: switzerland has party finance law worthy of a 3d world country, i don't see how bannon could make it worse.
Its also really arrogant for a tard like bannon to think he could do something here. Europe is still far away from electing a reality tv moron into any place of real power.
Our populists are usually rich as fuck and have real business credentials owning actual businesses with factories and shit...
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On July 24 2018 02:22 Plansix wrote:Show nested quote +On July 24 2018 02:19 Nyxisto wrote:On July 24 2018 02:05 Plansix wrote:
The number one reason why I think we need to reign in the “global market” is stuff like Bannon, a US citizen, setting up shop to undermine the EU funded by god knows who. It is bad enough that the entire US has to go through the collective process of realizing Bannon is the guy who gets infected by the alien plague and doesn’t tell the crew. But now gets to pack up shop, travel to the Europe and try to be someone’s political agent there. Free trade doesn't include our political operatives and funding.
And almost every one of these clowns is funded by some media shy billionaire(s) who doesn’t want governments powerful enough keep them in check. we've got laws to reign in hate speech or other nonsense in Europe so this isn't that big of a deal. Given that we're taking aggregators like Facebook into responsibility which are probably the best avenue for these sort of operatives they'll have a much harder time than in the US. I think the easier route would be to make sure they don't set up shop in the first place. Or at least make them fully disclose their funding. Because I wouldn't be shocked if this is another Mercer project, like Cambridge Analytica.
Could be done in addition but I don't think it's sufficient. Even if people like Bannon wouldn't set up shop in Europe their still should be a way to hold platforms accountable, or we'd be without tools if the interference doesn't come from inside of the European jurisdiction.
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On July 21 2018 06:38 Nyxisto wrote:
I did expand on the mechanism that makes it less successful in the end. Focussing on the tribe or the family is counterproductive when a country wants to build a meritocratic state. Greece actually was not that poor doing pre-modern times, in fact the Greeks were quite commercially successful especially within maritime trade within the Ottoman empire. What Greece never had was a strong impartial state. As soon as democracy was introduced, by the way one generation before it was introduced in the United Kingdom, Greece 'modernized without development', the bureaucracy ran on private favours and soon was seven times as large as in the UK.
The same can be observed in Latin America, another region where religion and family are especially important. Politicians will use these connections to outright buy votes or hand down personal favours as election promises. People placed in the bureaucracy are functionaries that organise voters and promise them favours for their vote. It's pretty obvious to see how this hurts the efficiency of government. You can either focus on skill and competence regardless of origin, or you can favour personal relationships, you cannot do both.
And as soon as the tribe enters politics you produce the issue of identitarianism. If ethnicity or religion becomes a proxy for trust, then different groups soon become suspicious of each other, and will not vote on programs (which are supposed to reflect their true preferences) but simply loyalty.
Didn't respond earlier because I thought there was nothing to add, but since I said "I would argue", I'm going to argue. I mean most of what I'm going to say will be just expanding on my intitial point that the traditional values help in building a strong country instead of weakening it.
I disagree with the idea that valuing family/religion causes corrpution/nepotism. The latter are widespread in less developed regions not because people there are choosing family ties over meritocracy, but because their societies aren't developed enough to run their country like Western Europeans. Those people (somewhat reasonably) don't trust their state to be impartial and effective, they consider their civil servants lazy at best and thieves at worst, so whenever they get to appoint or hire somoene they'll pick their family members because of the natural human notion of considering one's (even distant) family more trustworthy than strangers. I think relying on personal ties is natural and declines in importance in societies in which the relationship between its members keeps improving to the point where family and church stop being the only trustworthy entities in their life. This process slowly leads to the creation of impersonal bureaucracies that allow the people to live more independently from their families. That, in my opinion, is the reason why family ties are weaker in the most advanced countries, people there can survive without family, so they obviously consider family less important in their lives. It's not the other way around, prioritizing family ties doesn't weaken the state, it's the strong state that "weakens" the family by provoding alternatives to it.
It's obvious to me, but I think I still need to say that I think cultures being less developed than others now don't have to stay less developed forever and I'm definitely not claiming certain nations are inherently superior to others.
Another thing I want to touch on is the difference between the declared focus on family/religion/tradition and the actual support of those values. Politicians in less developed countries like to present themselves as champions of those values because that resonates well with their voters, but that doesn't necessarily mean their poilicies will reflect their words. The supposedly less-focused-on-family regions like northern and western Europe have governments that dedicate a lot of resources to things important for average families like social security, education and healthcare, while the more conservative regions often elect leaders who ruin those things while throwing shiny trinkets to the masses to maintain their popularity. It's important to differentiate between demagogues and honest conservatives.
And lastly, I think I medieval Greeks are like the perfect example of why family support and tribalism (or its upgraded version known as nationalism) is valuable. Their country was doing well until their elites fucked over their peasantry and started relying on foreign troops to maintain their power without even trying to assimilate them. I'm not denying they were commercially successful under Turkish rule but that was because Turks back then were quite primitive and had to rely on Persian and Greek brains to run their empire. The Greek importance declined greatly when their conquerors figured they can just learn how to do things instead of paying the Greek to do things for them. Meanwhile in the North the tribalistic Germans kept spreading their culture east despite having (initially) much smaller technological advantage over their neighbours compared to the Greeks.
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On July 23 2018 08:50 TheDwf wrote:Show nested quote +On July 22 2018 04:51 TheDwf wrote:On July 20 2018 19:34 TheDwf wrote:+ Show Spoiler +After Macron privatized our football victory to have the privilege to scream a few irrelevant sentences with his horrible high-pitched voice to get images just in time for the TV news + Show Spoiler +, he is rewarded with another gift: a major State scandal. Macron aide Benalla in French probe for beating protesterFrench prosecutors are investigating a senior presidential aide who attacked protesters in Paris while wearing a police visor. Alexandre Benalla, an assistant to President Emmanuel Macron's chief of staff, was filmed targeting a woman and a man during May Day protests. He was caught on video by a student activist and left the scene once challenged on camera. He was identified from the video by French newspaper Le Monde. On Thursday, it emerged he was accompanied on the day by a reserve policeman and employee of Mr Macron's political party, Vincent Crase. France's Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said he had ordered an investigation by the country's national police inspectorate. "These two people had no legal right to intervene," he said. (...) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44883583 I will try to sum up as clearly and quickly as possible. 1) During the 1/05 demonstrations, some demonstrators and left-wing militants are filming what they think is cop violence. So far business as usual, a cop is beating demonstrators for free while other cops watch and do nothing, yawn. The video is uploaded on the Internet. 2) Turns out that the perpetrator was not a cop. Two days ago (18/07), Le Monde revealed that this guy, named Alexandre Benalla, was in fact Macron's aide. 3) Le Monde revealed that the presidency was aware of his behaviour, and punished him two days after the event (3/05) by suspending him for... only two weeks. Now, why is this big, why is Macron's name involved and why this will splash badly. 1) Macron's aide (he basically seems to be his Mr. Security) was impersonating a cop and acting like one, whereas he should have just been there “as an observer”. He also had a talkie-walkie. 2) Only yesterday was a judicial inquiry opened, for “violences perpetrated by someone entrusted with a public mission,” “usurpation of functions” and “usurpation of signs reserved for the public authority”. 3) According to Le Monde, Macron was quickly aware of the events after they happened. 4) Benalla seems to be quite close to Macron; not only he was acting as some kind of bodyguard during his travels, but there are also numerous photos of them during Macron's leisure time: + Show Spoiler +All of this means that: 1) The presidency (and the Interior) tried to cover up the affair. As per our article 40 of the Penal code, they must seize the justice when they are confronted with those kinds of facts. They did not, hoping that the case would not be revealed. Bad luck, it seems that some journalists still do their job. This reveals the behavior of an arrogant caste who think they are above the law. 2) To extinguish the fire, the presidency's spokeperson, in an absolutely pathetic and panicked statement yesterday morning, was forced to revealed that a second guy working for l'Élysée had also committed similar violences and had been fired. But this means that there likely was a network of brutes of that kind. 3) Active complicities up to the high ranks of the police prefecture (it wasn't actually the first time that Benalla was here in demonstration with cops). Three high-ranked cops were suspended today for complicity. The passiveness of cops nearby while Benalla was beating up demonstrators also likely means that they had instructions not to intervene because he was some “VIP”. 4) Given that Benalla was in the bus of the victory when our national team returned, i.e. a place of privilege, he was clearly not pushed aside as he should have been. Since Benalla was not fired rightaway for a severe case AND was covered AND was still working for l'Élysée (only today, in the heat of the massive sh*tstorm, are they starting the procedure to fire him!), how valuable he is and what does he know to be protected like that? My personal guess is that they were running some kind of small parallel police for the presidency, as the right-wing mafiosos did in the 60's with the infamous SAC: gathering thugs to do shady stuff, for instance beating up left-wing activists and demonstrators in order to intimidate them. We will see. There is a political crisis dawning, all oppositions are blocking the Parliament (the Constitutional reform was being discussed, where King Macron intends to make our already Phantom Parliament even more useless) until the government comes and explains the events. So far they dodge, the majority is heavily embarrassed. The Interior minister possibly lied yesterday in front of the Senate, pretending that he didn't know while he apparently did. At the request of all oppositions, there will be a parliamentary committed of inquiry which will audition people on those events next week. In a public visit yesterday, Macron refused to answer the journalists' questions, feigning to not hear them and wearing a fake smile de façade. In any mature democracy the whole hierarchic chain involved in that case would have resigned. But in the French Banana Republic, nothing of that order is happening yet. As of today, Benalla is currently held in custory. A fourth count has been added, apparently he was complicit in hijacking surveillance images… Medias are talking non-stop about this for the last 40+ hours. Stay tuned for the collapse of the Macronie… :popcorn: TL;DR: one of Macron's aides, quite close to him, beat up a few persons while impersonating a cop in a demonstration more than 2 months ago. The presidency tried to cover up the case, which is now blowing right under their nose. Possible signs of a secret cell operating as some kind of private militia for Macron. + Show Spoiler +Update on the major scandal which is wrecking the Macronie: - In its pathetic press conference, the presidency's spokesperson had pretended that Macron's thug militiaman, Alexandre Benalla, had been punished in such a way that he no longer worked close to the president. That was a lie. He was still in charge in July, journalists had no troubles finding numerous photos of him next to the Macrons during their travels. Apparently he was even supposed to be in charge of the security of the Macrons during their holidays this summer! Talk about “the most severe sanction ever taken”! (Words from the spokesman about his 15 days suspension for assaulting freely two protestors while impersonating a cop… LOL) - The press revealed that from the 09/07 onwards, i.e. more than 2 months after his violent behaviour was known, he got a prestigious apartment in a district reserved to the president's close collaborators (his chief of staff, etc.; Mitterrand also had his hidden daughter there…). So clearly he was not at all punished. - Benalla was apparently earning 10 000€ per month—more than the highest ranked people in the police, and as much as a minister—with bonus up to 3 000€; he had a car with a chauffeur, and his car had some devices reserved to the police (special headlights). Insane list of privileges for someone who didn't even have a clear and official role… - Benalla and the other thug + Show Spoiler +who still works for the macronist party… 's detention were extended. Should have the first results tomorrow. Benalla's home was searched by investigators. - We learned today from the right-wing députés that Benalla had a H badge, something which gives him access to the hemicycle of the Assemblée. Not only he had zero business being here, since the President cannot enter the hemicycle, but the badge itself is quite a rare privilege (it's the highest level of access), only a few selected people from the presidency with a political role get it. No one understands why Benalla had this H badge. The right seems to think that this badge implies that he had political functions. Tomorrow we'll probably learn that he had the nuclear codes or something… lol - The parliamentary inquiry about this mess begins as soon as Monday morning, with the audition of the Interior minister who lied about not knowing the case. The majority did everything to slow and sabotage the process, they wanted the audiences to be secret but were forced to concede public ones given the uproar and the demands of the oppositions, etc. The different groups are clashing about who should be heard. The FI (left) wants Macron himself to come and give explanations but of course macronists will never allow it. - The Assemblée is blocked in a situation never seen before. It's like the opposition is on strike. Since the case was revealed, députés from the opposition are freezing the legislative work with endless rappels au règlement (points of order; literally, “remind the rules”) about the Benalla case. Living in their own world where there is apparently no scandal, the majority wanted to keep working on the constitutional reform (!) but had to concede this forced “pause” because of the political crisis. MPs debated the organization of the parliamentary inquiry, and those from the oppositions wanted ministers (the Prime and/or the Interior one) to come and give explanations. None came. The prime minister was at the Tour de France yesterday… - According to Mediapart, during the 1/05 events Benalla was giving orders to cops nearby… while he should have zero authority over them. This wasn't the first time according to some cops in the medias, Benalla was known as a “president's man” with special privileges. Cops trade unions are very mad at this affair by the way, since it shows corruption in their hierarchy + a complete hijacking of the police by some parallel cell at l'Élysée. - Macron is still silent, more than 72 hours after the case was revealed. Heard by investigators, his chief of staff confirmed that he was aware of the events (Benalla assaulting protestors the 01/05). According to the press, Macron personally agreed with the absolutely derisory sanction of a 15 days suspension. Hard to see how his personal responsibility is not involved. - The Benalla affair now has its Wikipedia page and is being talked overseas. The public parliamentary auditions will start Monday morning, so the massive sh*tstorm should continue the whole week. The press, even the macronist one, is heavily criticizing Macron about his attitude and silence. His own camp is stunned and dumbfounded. Some macronists are still in heavy denial and pretend that this is an individual problem or random nonsense like that. So far Macron is refusing to talk (he made it known yesterday that he would not talk about the case) but he won't be able to hold for long. Their crisis management has been nothing short of catastrophic. Stay tuned for further developments of this mini-Watergate. Drop Netflix and follow for free this French live show! Update—episode 3 of the State scandal: Alexandre Benalla, Macron's militiaman, has been charged for mob violence, interference in the exercise of a public function, publicly wearing reglemented signs without the right to do so, fencing of hijacking surveillance images, violation of professional secret. Vincent Crase, his sidekick, who was working for l'Élysée and still works for the macronist party, has been charged for mob violence, interference in the exercise of a public function and illegally wearing a weapon. The three cops who helped Benalla illegally get the surveillance images of his 01/05 violent show were charged for hijacking surveillance images and violation of the professional secret. Macron vaguely went out of his silence and said, through relatives, that Benalla's behaviour was "inacceptable" and that there would be "no impunity" (LOL). He asked his secretary general to solve the "internal dysfunctions in the presidency," so without surprises he will most likely play the "I didn't know" card (bullsh*t) and burn a few intermediaries. Live audition tomorrow morning (10:00) of the Minister of Interior under oath. Will be aired on a few TV channels.
Fourth episode—The Auditions.
[Monday] The first 3 auditions in l'Assemblée took place today (the ones in the Senate start tomorrow). The Minister of the Interior (Collomb), Paris' police prefect (Delpuech) and a high public servant of the police prefecture (Gibelin) were heard.
1) Collomb's audition can be summed up in three sentences:
- I didn't know
- Not in my knowledge
- See with the presidency's cabinet
When asked about why he didn't bring forward those facts to the justice, he replied that it was not his role and that he was confident that the presidency would handle it. He discarded his responsibility on his police prefect and on the presidency. He claimed that he didn't know Benalla (Macron's henchman). His answers were as imprecise as repetitive. He convinced no one, and députés from the opposition were mad at his vague no-answers and his repeated claims that “he didn't know”.
2) Delpuech, the police prefect, played the game and gave more precise and sincere answers. He contradicted the Interior minister on several points. He said that Benalla was known and seemed to imply that Collomb knew him. He said that the presidency notified him of Benalla's deeds on the 02/05.
At any rate, both Collomb and Delpuech point to the Élysée as “the ones who should have handled it”. Their answers exposed Macron rather than shield him.
3) Gibelin further weakened the version of the presidency. a) He claims that Benalla had no authorization to be there the 01/05, unlike what the Élysée said. b) Gibelin claims that Benalla was still there at meetings in the 04 to 19/05 period, when he should have been suspended (so Benalla's derisory sanction might not even have been effective!). The Élysée denied this right after the audition, but who to believe between liars who want to cover their ***** and a high public servant under oath?
Interestingly, the high administration is not at all willing to cover the executive and pay the price of its mistakes.
Macron was supposed to visit the Tour de France today but cancelled it. He still made no open and public statement. Some voices from within the majority are now demanding that he talks.
Tomorrow, Macron's chief of staff will be interrogated by députés. He retires this autumn so the temptation will be strong for the Macronie to scapegoat him and paint him as the culprit whose carelessness exposed Macron (the good Prince and the bad Counselor)… but this also means that he has nothing much to lose. So far everyone is throwing the hot potato of responsibility to others, we will see if he acts the same.
The Canard Enchaîné (a newspaper famous for digging up the dirty secrets of the Vth Republic) publishes its titles one day before its publication Wednesday, so perhaps new reveals ahead this Tuesday…
The constitutional reform (which is planning for even less powers to our phantom Parliament!) has been postponed to the rentrée, in September. Macron can bury his initial plan to call for a referendum if the right in the Senate refuses it (and they will 100% do so now); now it's dead, no one will ever vote it. His ability to pass reforms should be quite hindered by this sequence.
We learned today that Benalla had a secret defence accreditation, and had the keys of the Macrons' personal house. Clearly Macron trusted him with his life, and granted him insane privileges for reasons yet to be clearly known.
Lost in their parallel world of autosuggestion, some governmental sources apparently stated that “French people were not that much interested” in the Benalla-Macron affair and are banking on holidays so that we forget about all this mess. In reality, data shows that 1,5 millions of tweets were posted on this affair from the 18/07 evening to the 23/07 morning. That is enormous. During the audition this morning, aired live on 4 different TV channels, there were thousands of comments on the Facebook broadcasts. The affair is making the front page of every media. Probably every single French man or woman who vaguely follows the news has heard about it and the numerous rebounds. Macronists are totally deluded if they think that all of this will vanish. The consequences will be devastating.
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All I've heard about the wildfires in Europe is mostly in Sweden, Greece is just as bad if not worse. Almsot 50 dead 
ATHENS — Fast-moving wildfires near Athens have killed at least 49 people, officials said on Tuesday, and have forced thousands of tourists and residents to flee any way they could, with some even taking to rickety boats to escape.
Gale-force winds topping 50 miles an hour have fanned a pair of fires that tore through seaside areas popular with travelers, injuring at least 156 people and leaving a trail of charred resorts, burned-out cars and smoldering farms in their wake. Many evacuation routes were blocked, and people who did manage to escape by road had to drive through choking smoke, sometimes with walls of flame leaping through trees just yards away.
Greece’s emergency services were stretched to capacity, as more than 600 firefighters and 250 fire engines were deployed to the sites of the two largest fires, in and around Rafina, about 15 miles east of Athens, and Kineta, about 30 miles west of the capital. The country’s entire fleet of water-dropping aircraft was deployed on Monday, and officials called on their partners in the European Union for help.
Europe has sweltered through an unusually hot and dry summer, breaking temperature records and fueling significant fires in several countries, including Sweden and Britain.
In Greece, blazes have consumed entire towns, locals said, and officials warned that the death toll would rise as emergency workers cleared burned homes and cars, in which some evacuees had become trapped.
“Unfortunately, at this stage, we do not expect to find more people injured, only more dead,” said Miltiades Milonas, vice president of the Greek ambulance service.
The president of the Hellenic Red Cross, Nikos Economopoulos, said that 26 of the dead had been found in a field near the seaside town of Mati, near Rafina. Some were locked in embrace, he told Greek state television.
“Mati doesn’t even exist as a settlement anymore,” a resident told Skai TV. “I saw corpses, burned-out cars. I feel lucky to be alive.”
Roads into Athens were choked by residents trying to flee, hampering rescuers’ efforts to reach the fires. Penned in by the flames, some looked to the sea to escape, hitching rides on passing fishing boats or resorting to makeshift rafts before the Coast Guard began an organized evacuation.
Escaping by sea, however, posed its own deadly challenge: The Coast Guard said it recovered the bodies of at least four evacuees.
Twelve Coast Guard vessels, aided by about 30 private boats, rescued 710 people who were trapped in Mati and nearby Kokkino Limanaki, and pulled dozens of others from the sea, according to the deputy shipping minister, Nektarios Santorinios. Some were housed at the Rafina municipal gymnasium, and others were bused to Athens.
Greek television channels aired the dramatic escape tales of survivors. The former leader of the country’s Communist Party, Aleka Papariga, who was vacationing in Mati, said she got out “just in time.” She said that the field where the blaze broke out was flanked by rocks and a precipice, limiting the avenues for escape.
On Monday, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras cut short an official visit to Bosnia.
“It’s a difficult night for Greece,” Mr. Tsipras said. “We are dealing with something completely asymmetric.”
Wildfires are an annual occurrence in Greece, but a drought and a recent heat wave, with temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), have helped make this the country’s deadliest fire season in more than a decade. Sixty people were killed in a 2007 blaze that swept through the country’s Peloponnese region.
The fires have so far skirted Athens, leaving the city’s ancient ruins unscathed. A blaze could, however, be seen from the capital, bits of ash fell on the city, and a pall of smoke darkened the skies.
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