France
The Best Way to Oppose Repression is to Not be Repressive
You’ve probably seen this photo. It went viral Wednesday. It depicts a female Muslim beachgoer in Nice, France, being forced to take off her clothes at the command of three armed, white policemen. It’s an ugly image that raises your hackles on first glimpse. In addition to being ...read more
Environment Win: France Makes it Illegal For Supermarkets to Destroy Edible Food
To any rational observer, the modern human food production system appears to be completely insane. Not only are we wrecking the planet's eco systems to make way for our food, we are throwing almost half of it away. According to the United Nations Environment Program and ...read more
Paris Mayor's Plan To Sue Fox News Is Satisfying but Stupid
If you've been following the news at all lately you know that the city of Paris has absolutely no problems whatsoever and is in a perfect position to entertain audacious but ultimately pointless flights of fancy. Sure, the French capital is still reeling from a devastating ...read more
MEMBERS ONLY: No Conservatives, The Charlie Hebdo Attack Had Nothing To Do With Strict French Gun Laws
Last week, I wrote about the tragic case of 29 year old Veronica Rutledge who was shot dead by her toddler in a Walmart in Idaho. I blamed the mother's stupidity for keeping a loaded weapon around a two year old and argued that had America had sensible gun laws (ie it would be ...read more
THE MORNING BANTER: Seahawks Dominate, Your New Lex Luthor, "True Detective" is Must-See, and French Doesn't Matter
Welcome back to Monday. Hope you've recovered from yesterday's beer-fest and are ready for the new work week. Lord knows some of us aren't. Here are a couple of morning headlines and goodies from around the internet. 1. Ball Busters So, a real shocker in yesterday's Super Bowl. ...read more
French Teenagers Get Drunk, Kidnap Circus Llama And Go on Tour of Bordeaux
Five French teenagers from Bordeaux got drunk stole a circus llama named Serge, and took him on a tour of the city by tram. Serge was taken by the boisterous group early on Thursday morning when they broke into a circus after going clubbing in the city. From the Independent: ...read more
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Don't Mention the War, But....
Europe, in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis, is being engulfed in a wave of rising parties advocating far right-wing politics. Familiar tale isn't it? In order to to circumvent Godwin's Law and avoid 'death by cliché' this article will consciously abstain from ...read more
France's Clever Robin Hood Tax
Bucking the trend of European economic austerity dogma, France is ramming through a host of measures to get their economy on track that consist mostly of increasing taxes on the rich - a wildly popular prospect with the majority of French people. Some of the measures are aimed ...read more
Lance Armstrong, Drugs and the Ambivalence of a Sportsfan
By Bob Cesca: Every year around this time, you can count on seeing several things. High temperatures, fireworks stands and new doping allegations against Lance Armstrong. Seriously, it happens every year. This time, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), a ...read more
Rich People's Guide to Fixing the Economy
By Ben Cohen: Predictably, elites in finance, business and the media have resoundingly condemned the Leftist uprising in Europe, complaining that the populist economic policies they are proposing will ruin the global economy. Take for example David Brook's latest piece in the ...read more
Could the Socialist Victory in France Usher in a New Economic Era?
By Ben Cohen: Socialist Francois Hollande's victory over Nicolas Sarkozy for the French Presidency could mark the beginning of a new economic era, not just in Europe, but the world. Hollande promised to reverse the austerity measures passed by Sarkozy that has yielded few ...read more
Francois Hollande Defeats Nicolas Sarkozy to Win French Presidency
French socialist Francois Hollande has won a clear victory in the country's presidential election. Mr Hollande - who got an estimated 52% of votes in Sunday's run-off - said the French had chosen "change". Admitting defeat, centre-right incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy wished "good ...read more
How The Economist Tried to Discredit France's Left
By Ben Cohen: The Economist Magazine is widely read in the business community for a good reason - it largely validates the world view of the rich and seeks to further the ideology of deregulated markets. In many ways, it's a great magazine with succinct writing and ...read more
France Election: Down to the Wire
French President Nicolas Sarkozy believes Sunday's presidential election run-off against Francois Hollande will be decided by the tightest margin. The two rivals took part in a heated debate on Wednesday night, watched by an estimated 17.9 million people. Mr Sarkozy said on ...read more
Sarkozy Supporters Want Alliance With Extreme Right
A majority of supporters of French President Nicolas Sarkozy want his UMP party to strike an alliance with the far-right National Front of Marine Le Pen ahead of parliamentary elections in June, an opinion poll published on Tuesday showed. Sarkozy and other leaders of the ...read more
The End of Sarkozy?
Francois Hollande, a mild-mannered French Socialist who wants to take better care of the jobless and the poor, is heading to a presidential runoff election against tough-on-immigration Nicolas Sarkozy in a vote that could alter Europe's political and economic landscape. ...read more
OECD: UK Economy Back in Recession
The UK is heading back into recession and will be among the slowest of the world's largest economies to recover in the first half of this year, according to a study by the Paris-based thinktank, the OECD. Only Italy will struggle over a longer period to return to growth, ...read more
France Puts Strauss-Khan Under Formal Investigation Over Alleged Role in Prostitute Ring
Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been put under formal investigation by a French court over his alleged role in a prostitution ring. Richard Malka, a lawyer for Strauss-Kahn, said he has been handed preliminary charges after investigating judges questioned him for ...read more
Charges Filed in Murder Case at French Jewish School
The brother of the man who killed seven people in south-west France in recent weeks has been charged over the murders, judicial sources say. Abdelkader Merah, 29, is suspected of complicity in murder and theft, and involvement in terrorism. He will be kept in custody, ...read more
Jewish School Attacked in France
A gunman has shot dead a teacher and three children at a Jewish school in the French city of Toulouse. He opened fire on the Ozar Hatorah school in the north-east of the city, also seriously injuring a teenage boy. The attacker fled on a scooter, in similar style to the killer ...read more
Dissent of the Day: Bank Tax Won't Work
A reader writes in response to my post on France's proposed transaction tax on banks: Read you everyday. How can this possibly work? You know as well as I do that any charge applied by the government to the banks will end up being paid for by the consumer. The cost of doing ...read more
France Leads the Way on How to Treat Bankers
Finally, a Western country has taken the initiative in actually making banks pay for the colossal damage they have done. From the BBC: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced plans to introduce a tax on financial transactions. The 0.1% levy will be introduced in August ...read more
Bernard-Henri Levy: Case Study of an Intellectual Fraud
French philosopher and serial rapist defender Bernard-Henri Levy has made a career out of pretending to be smarter than everyone else. His writing (at least his english language work) is a mixture of pompous moral posturing, pretentious word play and unbelievably bad sentence ...read more