|
Although this thread does not function under the same strict guidelines as the USPMT, it is still a general practice on TL to provide a source with an explanation on why it is relevant and what purpose it adds to the discussion. Failure to do so will result in a mod action. |
Fillon is just so dead. With each passing day his situation gets worse. The Canard Enchaîné revealed new stuff today (literally half the paper is dedicated to the Fillon case lol), and apparently new stuff should follow tomorrow on the TV.
- The preliminary investigation is going extremely fast. So far no material elements were found to establish the reality of her wife's job. (No mail, no badge from the Assemblée… He didn't even have a dedicated place for his permanence… The official version is that his wife worked “at home” …)
- The last week, probably anticipating what the Canard would reveal this week, he said on TV that he had paid two of his children as lawyers (for “precise missions”) while he was senator. He confessed that to say: see, it's normal to hire one's relatives. Problems: 1/ his childrens were not yet lawyers when he paid them, they were still students; 2/ he did not simply “pay them for precise missions,” they were apparently assistants too (like his wife)! 3/ their salaries were as high as people with 30 years of experience (~84k€ to his 2 children for 1 year); 4/ no material trace of their work was found so far. → Another case in the case. + Show Spoiler +Should be also noted that his activity as a senator was extremely low. He did literally nothing: only one question and one amendment in 2 years!
- Initially the sum was 600k€, now it reaches 1 million (930k for her wife, 84k for his two children; + Show Spoiler +note that his male child was paid 27% more than his female child…
- When Fillon's substitute hired Fillon's wife, her salary was also completely over the top: more than 10k€ per month, more than the député himself!
- Mediapart also says that Fillon illegally got 21k€ from the funds siphoned by the senatorial right between 2004 and 2013;
- Fillon still didn't give the names of the clients of his personal consulting company, which allowed him to get 17k€/month;
- Mediapart now reveals that he was “senior advisor” for some company linked to big business, winning 200k€ in 4+ years. He had never mentioned that;
- According to some poll, 76% of the people didn't find his defence “convincing” (50% for right-wingers);
- Some petition asking for the Fillons to return the money reached 350k signatures in a week (that's a lot for France);
- He lost up to 10 points in polls compared with his results past his election;
- The UMP/LR is thinking about a “plan B” ... but they hadn't foreseen the case, so they're in troubles. Materially they cannot organize a new primary, so should Fillon withdraw the UMP/LR bureau should probably decide who will replace him. (Juppé already said he doesn't want to replace Fillon... but who knows what might happen.) But there would be many candidates, and the various families of this mafia hate each other, so it would be quite a mess;
- (I pass you all the grotesque details about the PR bulls***, the contortions and contradictions of his lawyer, spokespeople and UMP/LR fellows… For instance, on some TV emission, one of her spokeswomen said that she had employed too some of her relatives… Then she added, “but for real work.” Laughters from the journalists, and embarrassment on the plateau…)
Fillon is trapping himself into a paranoid, conspirationnist defence, claiming that those attacks are some elaborate, “professional” plot to bring him down, that “the medias” and “the left” are trying to get him, etc. Today, he even claimed that this was an “institutional coup” from “the left”!
His credibility and his image of an honest man are now completely gone. Internet being cruel, people are digging up all his past tweets about people “getting money while doing nothing” (you know, all the classic right-wing rhetoric about “assisted people” as lazy parasites leeching off the society…) the necessity to be irreproachable when it comes to ethics in politics, etc., etc.
So far the UMP/LR clan defended its leader, but after today's new revelations there will be more and more defections and distance, and at some point they will simply decide to drop and replace him because the political cost would be too great.
He will be gone before the end of the month.
|
We need Sarkozy to return in tricolour cape to save France from the Le Pen menace.
|
I will only smile once he's convicted and receives a heavy punishment. It will be very sad if he dodges the jail.
On February 01 2017 23:18 Sent. wrote:
We need Sarkozy to return in tricolour cape to save France from the Le Pen menace.
+ Show Spoiler +
|
A European Parliament deadline for France's far-right leader Marine Le Pen to return more than 300,000 euros (£257,000; $321,000) it says she has misspent, has passed.
The presidential candidate had until midnight to repay the money, but said she had no intention of doing so.
The parliament says she wrongly used the funds to pay an aide at the National Front's headquarters in Paris.
She says she is the victim of a politically motivated vendetta.
If she does not repay the money, the parliament could now respond by withholding as much as half of her salary and allowances, which her opponents say total almost €11,000 a month.
Ms Le Pen is one of the front-runners in the French presidential election to be held in April and May. If she wins, she has promised a Brexit-style referendum on France's membership of the EU.
Polls suggest that she will make it to the run-off where she is likely to face conservative candidate Francois Fillon or centrist Emmanuel Macron.
"I will not submit to the persecution, a unilateral decision taken by political opponents... without proof and without waiting for a judgement from the court action I have started," she told Reuters news agency on Tuesday.
The money the European Parliament wants returned was used to pay the salary of Catherine Griset, a close friend of Ms Le Pen as well as her cabinet director.
The funds were conditional on Ms Griset spending most of her working time in Brussels or Strasbourg.
However, the parliament says most of her time was instead spent working in the National Front's headquarters in Paris. The party will face a second demand for 41,554 euros in wages paid to her bodyguard.
The far-right leader also tried to distance herself from financial allegations overshadowing Republican candidate Francois Fillon, who has vigorously denied that his wife was paid 834,000 euros for fake jobs.
Asked if she would pay back the money, Marine Le Pen told AFP: "To pay the money back, I'd have had to have received the funds, but my name isn't Francois Fillon."
Quite apart from her refusal to pay back the funds, the FN leader might struggle to find the money. Her party has been unable to raise funds from French banks and has had to seek financing abroad.
In 2014, the FN received a €9m loan from Russian lender First Czech-Russian Bank, which collapsed last year.
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38821074
|
Cayman Islands24199 Posts
this russian hacking stuff only works to expose already existing fractures in western society/elites.
their basic perspective is that, western elites are corrupt and hypocritical, and to a large extent they are right.
it just so happens that russian candidates are far worse than the meh elites.
|
United Kingdom13775 Posts
As 2016 should have shown, scandalous "this campaign is dead" revelations don't have to translate into people actually voting along those lines. There is only one poll after Penelopegate, showing a 4% drop for Fillon, but that is far from suggesting that folks are about to jump ship. It could also be just the general variation within tolerance of outcomes.
|
On February 02 2017 01:55 LegalLord wrote:
As 2016 should have shown, scandalous "this campaign is dead" revelations don't have to translate into people actually voting along those lines. There is only one poll after Penelopegate, showing a 4% drop for Fillon, but that is far from suggesting that folks are about to jump ship. It could also be just the general variation within tolerance of outcomes.
Latest polls : 50% of right wings voters don't trust Fillon anymore, up to 76% without regarding the party. Even some LR congressmen are now asking to choose another candidate... I doubt we'll see his name on any ballot paper ever again.
|
It might not be an unsurmontable problem for Fillon because French people have shown not to penalize corruption that much.
On the other hand, he did build his primary campaign against Sarkozy and Juppé partially on his supposed cleanliness.
All in all he's probably still a viable candidate unless this gets much nastier, if only because the primary made him legitimate in a way noone else really is, apart from Le Pen who is publicly uncontested (Macron has no party apparatus, Mélenchon is in conflict with other left wing parties possible candidates, Hamon is the candidate of a discredited party etc).
But don't worry, French democracy is perfectly healthy.
|
On February 01 2017 23:18 Sent. wrote:
We need Sarkozy to return in tricolour cape to save France from the Le Pen menace.
and to that, he's gonna sell more sweet french gold to the US :>
alain juppé is gonna probably come back from the dead since everyone is gonna jump into again
|
France266 Posts
On February 01 2017 23:14 TheDwf wrote:
Fillon is trapping himself into a paranoid, conspirationnist defence, claiming that those attacks are some elaborate, “professional” plot to bring him down, that “the medias” and “the left” are trying to get him, etc. Today, he even claimed that this was an “institutional coup” from “the left”!
Regardless of Fillon's claim that the whole affair is a manipulation, he is right on the money about some medias having crossed the line between journalistic integrity and active partisanship.
A preliminary judicial inquiry is ongoing, with potentially groundbreaking outcome for the presidential race, and it's like the confidentiality of the instruction is now a non-existent concept. Incomplete and unsubstantiated informations are being released to the public on a daily basis without a shred of due process. This is not how things are supposed to be handled in a republic which values the rule of law.
And now we've got the newspaper Le Monde clamoring for Fillon to release the names of the clients of his consulting firm, without any evidence of wrongdoing in that matter. What's the point of this move, beside throwing some mud and see if it sticks ? But I guess it's a welcome distraction for this news outlet, after months of more-or-less openly campaigning for Macron while painting Fillon as an extremist.
It does make sense however, when you consider that Le Monde's co-owners Pierre Bergé and Xavier Niel officially support Macron's bid ! And so does Françoise Fressoz, Le Monde's political editorialist. And so does Alain Minc, former president of the supervisory board of the same newspaper. And so did Henry Hermand, press magnate who died two months ago. And so does Claude Perdriel, owner of the newspaper Challenges and former owner (and founder) of Le Nouvel Observateur. And so do so many other journalists and news outlet owners, not to mention influential businessmen such as Pierre Gattaz (yes, even the freaking MEDEF president is in Macron's bandwagon)...
|
And all this was started by Le Canard enchaîné ! An horrible newspaper known for only revealing scandals about right-wing politicians or something.
Seriously, are you now discovering how journalism works ?
But really, as the great Omar Little always said : it's all in the game, man, all in the game.
|
We have yet to hear any information from the investigators, the confidentiality has been respected.
I'm sad it's a breaking news for you that French medias are bad. The tipping point for me was when I learned that the owner of the most watched TV channel was the godfather of Sarkozy's child.
rsf.org
The timing was obviously malevolent but you can't blame Le canard for investigating after they've been given a tip by a mysterious source. They did a solid work of investigation, good enough for the judge to start his own inquiry.
|
On February 02 2017 06:55 Koorb wrote:Show nested quote +On February 01 2017 23:14 TheDwf wrote:
Fillon is trapping himself into a paranoid, conspirationnist defence, claiming that those attacks are some elaborate, “professional” plot to bring him down, that “the medias” and “the left” are trying to get him, etc. Today, he even claimed that this was an “institutional coup” from “the left”!
Regardless of Fillon's claim that the whole affair is a manipulation, he is right on the money about some medias having crossed the line between journalistic integrity and active partisanship. A preliminary judicial inquiry is ongoing, with potentially groundbreaking outcome for the presidential race, and it's like the confidentiality of the instruction is now a non-existent concept. Incomplete and unsubstantiated informations are being released to the public on a daily basis without a shred of due process. This is not how things are supposed to be handled in a republic which values the rule of law.
In any decent regime, Fillon could have never done what he did anyway. Harsher rules and sanctions are needed against nepotism and abuse of power.
And now we've got the newspaper Le Monde clamoring for Fillon to release the names of the clients of his consulting firm, without any evidence of wrongdoing in that matter. What's the point of this move, beside throwing some mud and see if it sticks ?
Well, there could be conflicts of interest, so I don't see any problem asking him this, especially as he made a lot of money (17k€/month) and seems to have a complicated relation with truth...
It does make sense however, when you consider that Le Monde's co-owners Pierre Bergé and Xavier Niel officially support Macron's bid ! And so does Françoise Fressoz, Le Monde's political editorialist. And so does Alain Minc, former president of the supervisory board of the same newspaper. And so did Henry Hermand, press magnate who died two months ago. And so does Claude Perdriel, owner of the newspaper Challenges and former owner (and founder) of Le Nouvel Observateur. And so do so many other journalists and news outlet owners, not to mention influential businessmen such as Pierre Gattaz (yes, even the freaking MEDEF president is in Macron's bandwagon)...
The gauche caviar is disgusting and pretty much all oligarchs are behind Macron, nothing new here. I have never seen such an obscene media offensive to sell someone as hard as they did with Macron.
But for the Fillon case, you also have to remember that this press isn't in good health (financially), and scandals sell, so of course they talk a lot about it. That center-left medias capitalize on this to perform some product placement with Macron is the icing on the cake.
|
United Kingdom13775 Posts
So what is the general opinion of Macron in France? I heard a few vague criticisms of him for defecting and a lot of praise as the "not Le Pen hope" but that's not really very helpful for gauging how well he is viewed.
|
France266 Posts
On February 02 2017 08:18 TheDwf wrote:
In any decent regime, Fillon could have never done what he did anyway. Harsher rules and sanctions are needed against nepotism and abuse of power.
I agree whole-heartedly. Parliamentarians shouldn't be able to hire staff without oversight, and there should be a mandatory pay grid for these jobs. And elected officials who hire people on fake jobs paid by taxpayer money should be convicted with becoming ineligible for life, returning the money collected, plus jail time.
But here's the thing : it appears that journalists of major news outlets have known for years that Penelope Fillon was being paid to do nothing. And that 167 parliamentarians currently employs family members (not taking into account those who discretely hires a fellow parliamentarian's relative, in a "you scratch my back I'll scratch yours" sort of way).
So why does that information emerges just now ? Why did the journalists sit on these grievous matters (which should have been made public knowledge ASAP) until right now in the presidential race (while at the same time keeping almost silent about the allegations of misuse of public funds by Macron) ?
When supposedly respectable media start behaving like an officine, it's a really dire state of affairs for a liberal democracy.
On February 02 2017 08:18 TheDwf wrote:
The gauche caviar is disgusting and pretty much all oligarchs are behind Macron, nothing new here. I have never seen such an obscene media offensive to sell someone as hard as they did with Macron.
But for the Fillon case, you also have to remember that this press isn't in good health (financially), and scandals sell, so of course they talk a lot about it. That center-left medias capitalize on this to perform some product placement with Macron is the icing on the cake.
I don't know whether the gauche caviar is rallying behind Macron or behind Hamon. Did you see the breakdown of the vote in the PS primary ? The upper occupational categories went for Hamon with a large margin.
Last time (and maybe the only other time in the Ve Rep.) that I saw a candidate being so obscenely carried by the media, it was Sarkozy during the first half of the 2000's, with the Dassault/Socpresse newspapers and TF1 (vintage Mougeotte/Le Lay). Not a pleasant memory.
EDIT: Fillon now appears to be toast for good. Tomorrow night, France 2 will air an interview that his wife gave to a British TV channel 10 years ago, in which she claims she never worked as an assistant for her husband.
|
Hundreds of thousands of people hit the streets across Romania on Wednesday to protest the government's decriminalising of a string of corruption offences, the largest demonstrations since communism fell in 1989.
At least 200,000 protesters, according to media estimates, braved sub-zero temperatures to demonstrate, with some shouting "Thieves!" and "Resign!" a day after the government passed an emergency decree.
In the capital Bucharest the rally saw some demonstrators hurl bottles, firecrackers and stones at security forces, who responded by firing tear gas. A few police and protesters were lightly injured.
For the second straight night crowds also hit the streets in other cities across the country -- including in Timisoara, cradle of the 1989 revolution.
Over a matter of days that uprising nearly 30 years ago forced dictator Nicolae Ceausescu from power, ending with he and his wife being summarily executed on December 25, 1989.
In the emergency decree issued late Tuesday, the government decriminalised certain corruption offences and made abuse of power punishable by jail only if it results in a monetary loss of more than 44,000 euros ($47,500).
Romania's left-wing government under the Social Democrats (PSD) has only been in office a few weeks after bouncing back in elections on December 11, barely a year since mass protests forced them from office.
The government had remained silent since Tuesday evening, but on Wednesday Justice Minister Florin Iordache wrote on his Facebook page that there was "nothing secret, illegal or immoral" about the emergency decree.
Bucharest said it is putting legislation in line with the constitution.
But critics say the main beneficiary will be PSD leader Liviu Dragnea, currently on trial for alleged abuse of power, as well as other left-wing politicians.
Dragnea, 54, is already barred from office because of a two-year suspended jail sentence for voter fraud handed down last year. His abuse-of-power trial, which began on Tuesday, concerns 24,000 euros.
Another initiative, which Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu will submit to parliament, will see around 2,500 people serving sentences of less than five years for non-violent crimes released from prison.
The government said that this will reduce overcrowding in jails but critics say that, again, the main beneficiaries will be the many officials and politicians ensnared in a major anti-corruption drive of recent years.
The anti-corruption push saw Romania make history in 2015 when then-Prime Minister Victor Ponta went on trial over alleged tax evasion and money laundering, charges he denies.
Only last week the European Commission commended the efforts of ex-communist Romania, which joined the European Union together with neighbouring Bulgaria in 2007 as the bloc's two poorest members.
But this week's latest move set off alarm bells in Brussels, with European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker and his deputy Frans Timmermans issuing a joint statement expressing "deep concern" on Wednesday.
[...]
http://www.france24.com/en/20170202-hundreds-thousands-protest-romania-over-government-decree-corruption
This was by far the biggest protest here since the revolution, but I'd be surprised if PSD caved in
|
On February 02 2017 09:50 Koorb wrote:
I agree whole-heartedly. Parliamentarians shouldn't be able to hire staff without oversight, and there should be a mandatory pay grid for these jobs. And elected officials who hire people on fake jobs paid by taxpayer money should be convicted with becoming ineligible for life, returning the money collected, plus jail time.
But here's the thing : it appears that journalists of major news outlets have known for years that Penelope Fillon was being paid to do nothing. And that 167 parliamentarians currently employs family members (not taking into account those who discretely hires a fellow parliamentarian's relative, in a "you scratch my back I'll scratch yours" sort of way).
So why does that information emerges just now ? Why did the journalists sit on these grievous matters (which should have been made public knowledge ASAP) until right now in the presidential race (while at the same time keeping almost silent about the allegations of misuse of public funds by Macron) ?
When supposedly respectable media start behaving like an officine, it's a really dire state of affairs for a liberal democracy.
It all started with Le canard enchainé that is far from being an "officine". And btw, I read something last week about how everything may be a coup from Sarkozystes as a backfire to what Fillon's supporters did in mid 2014. You don't need enemies when you are in LR.
|
Romania’s political crisis deepened Thursday as a government minister said he’ll resign following the largest protests since the collapse of communism over sudden changes to criminal legislation that hamper efforts to stamp out corruption.
Business Environment Minister Florin Jianu said he intends to quit because he can’t support the government’s stance, according to a message on his Facebook page. “I don’t want to have to tell my child that I was a coward and I agreed to something I don’t believe in,” Jianu said in his post.
His announcement came after at least 300,000 people took to the streets of cities across the country, with about 150,000 gathering in freezing temperatures outside the government building in Bucharest on Wednesday evening, the Digi24 TV station and News.ro estimated.
The biggest gathering since the 1989 revolution that ousted dictator Nicolae Ceausescu took place after the Social Democrat-led government, which has been in office for only a month, defied a public outcry, judicial rebuke and President Klaus Iohannis by revamping criminal legislation at a meeting late Tuesday. The protesters back a four-year anti-graft drive that’s ensnared top officials including an ex-Social Democrat premier.
www.bloomberg.com
|
On February 02 2017 08:44 LegalLord wrote:
So what is the general opinion of Macron in France? I heard a few vague criticisms of him for defecting and a lot of praise as the "not Le Pen hope" but that's not really very helpful for gauging how well he is viewed.
Roughly :
The "hardline" leftists (from Hamon to the far left, basically) hate him for being the "medias' candidate", for being a former banker who became a Minister in a socialist government, and for pursuing a non-socialist policy while being Minister (and basically for using his Minister stint as a launchpad for his campaign).
The "hardline" right-wingers (from Fillon to the far right) hate him for being the "medias' candidate", for being a former Minister in a socialist government, and for being progressive on society issues.
Everyone in between is rather positive about him, as he definitely has a lot of charisma, is young and fresh for French politics, and (supposedly, as he still hasn't released his plans) proposes something that no one else currently proposes : liberal economic policies, and progressive societal policies.
@Koorb : did it ever occur to you that if Fillon hadn't proclaimed openly to be so perfect, so transparent, so genuine and clean, the medias wouldn't be half as mean to him as they are now ? You reap what you sow.
|
New and fresh: introduced by Attali to Rotschild where he became an associate, not just a banker, next supported Minc when this one try to take Le Monde, yeah, fresh.
Macron is a pure product of the french elitist etablishment, nothing fresh in this guy except for people that have no clue.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT![[image loading]](http://www.lavisqteam.fr/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/SuperDupont.jpg)
