BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 15 May 17 - 01:55 PM

True, Teribus - Margaret Thatcher quoted St Francis…

Macron has chosen his prime minister: Mayor of Le Havre Edouard Philippe, who abstained on the vote for 'mariage pour tous', or same-sex marriage, and on a proposed law giving men and women legal equality. Like Macron he was schooled in two elite universities: Sciences Po and Ecole Nationale de l'Administration, where the top civil servants are groomed. Grew up partly in Germany (where his father was headmaster of a lycée) and worked for French nuclear company Areva. He's murdered two right-wing deputies - in fiction, that is; he writes thrillers.

He's seen as centre-right, which of course is further to the right than it was in my day. His mentor is Alain Juppé, former lefty turned righty. Like Macron, he wants to scrap France's 35-hour week, which seems a bit stupid to me, seeing as productivity is high in France, as is work-life balance… he himself likes to take a snooze on the floor of his office, which is fair enough as he leaps up early in the morning three times a week for boxing practice. Again like Macron, he wants to magically solve unemployment by sacking 200,000 civil servants #DOESNOTCOMPUTEDOESNOTCOMPUTE

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Teribus
Date: 15 May 17 - 02:14 AM

He/She said he/she wanted to draw left and right together, solve .........'s (Insert name of country here) economic problems and heal its divisions, and bring ........... (Insert name of country here) back to being an exemplar for the world.

In other words the bog standard post election, victory, inauguration speech of every President or Prime Minister ever elected.

Macron's problem will be how he is going to do it and with what political backing and will. Francois Hollande set out along the same path in 2012 with the full backing of the Socialist Party and failed.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 May 17 - 11:10 PM

No, no, this is fascinating. So nice to see civilization... y'all seen the horrible stuff happening in my town?

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 14 May 17 - 01:31 PM

I'll stop going on about this after this, since no one else seems interested - but Macron's speech at his inauguration was a stunner. He said he wanted to draw left and right together, solve France's economic problems and heal its divisions, and bring France back to being an exemplar for the world. The ceremony was quite moving, with Macron carried in an open armoured car first, getting out and pausing where the attack was on the Champs Élysées last month, then walking alone, followed by about 50 horsemen and a motorcycle guard and cars, up to the Arc de Triomphe, where he lit the fire at the grave of the Unknown Soldier, and met and spoke with many aged veterans from all parts of France and the Francophone world. A 21-gun salute was fired from the other side of the Seine (something that is never done in Ireland any longer!), he laid a wreath at the tomb; stood silently as the rain poured down while La Marseillaise was played and a giant tricolour waved within the arch and a sea of tricolours waved in the rain between the trees along the full length of the Champs Élysées, then he stepped into a different open-topped car - a Citroen - and went on to the next part of the ceremony.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 13 May 17 - 09:53 PM

There's a nice plaything in Le Parisien - you can
choose the government for Macron.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 13 May 17 - 04:23 AM

From
a piece in the Guardian:

Last July, when Emmanuel Macron was economy minister in François Hollande's government and his barely hidden presidential ambitions were dismissed as a naive fantasy by the political class, he held his first rally at a smart venue on Paris's Left Bank.

Before the crowds arrived, he took to the stage to rehearse his speech in front of a handful of volunteers from his new political movement En Marche! (On the Move), a "neither right nor left" grouping he said would revolutionise French politics. "We are the party of hope," he told the almost empty auditorium, captured by the film-maker Pierre Hurel, who was discreetly documenting his rise.

A voice interjected: "Your voice is falling, you need to lift your voice." Brigitte Macron, his wife, was giving him advice as a theatre director would to an actor on stage. "What's wrong darling? Are there bits that are too long?" he gently asked her about another speech. "Brigitte tells me I always go on too long," he once told a crowd.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Teribus
Date: 13 May 17 - 04:04 AM

"someone told me last night that he'd done a bit of stand-up comedy at one stage"

That should come in handy and stand him in good stead during the course of the next couple of years. Should be made compulsory for all politicians.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 13 May 17 - 03:23 AM

She still does some teaching, and I've read somewhere that drama is one of her subjects.

Meanwhile, anyone know where I'd get Skeat's Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue anglaise? Can't find any copies online, so far… Or indeed any etymological dictionary of English, in French?

LeJDD today has a piece saying 131 députés won't go for election in the new parliament, an unprecedented sweep across the board.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Monique
Date: 12 May 17 - 11:44 AM

She was a "lettres" teacher =French language and literature + Latin in her case.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 12 May 17 - 10:43 AM

I think his wife is a drama teacher, and someone told me last night that he'd done a bit of stand-up comedy at one stage.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 12 May 17 - 09:27 AM

The soustitres are great, and him knowing all the Molière by heart is amazing. I only remember the few lines I actually had to recite.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 11 May 17 - 10:24 PM

Monique, j'ai pensé, il a toute la France derrière lui. Thanks for the link, I could only find footage of his arrival.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 11 May 17 - 03:34 AM

There's also a great video going around in which Macron bats back and forth the first lines of Molière's Le Misanthrope, word-perfect and in character as Alceste.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Monique
Date: 11 May 17 - 03:19 AM

I did. You have the whole loooooooong walk here after a whole lot of commercials and you have a funny version of what he might have thought all the while (subtitles in Fr.)

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 10 May 17 - 07:41 PM

How about his triomphe to the EU anthem? And did anyone else see the great shot of him walking is solitary splendor with the shadows of all the journalists behind him?

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Stanron
Date: 10 May 17 - 05:29 PM

Mid-year population estimates for the UK mid-2014

England                54.3 million
Scotland        5.3 million
Wales                3.1 million
N Ireland        1.8 million

Should the tail wag the dog?

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 10 May 17 - 04:47 PM

I would be of the impression - correct me if I'm wrong - that the UK is less a union of equals than it is England and its adjuncts.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Stu
Date: 10 May 17 - 06:49 AM

Ah, right. I'm genuinely curious.. why England's interest specificlally? What about the other countries of the UK?

I was under the impression Macron was trying to lure folk and firms from the city to Paris to boost it's reputation as a financial centre with access to the single market.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 10 May 17 - 03:40 AM

Thanks, Monique.

I'm watching loads of French films with French subtitles for the deaf, but fluency, ce n'est pas moi - yet!

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Monique
Date: 10 May 17 - 02:47 AM

Thompson, it's the second meaning.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Donuel
Date: 09 May 17 - 06:35 PM

Just treat these language problems the old fashioned way,
shoot it.
Do you think Trump has a language problem?

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 09 May 17 - 06:14 PM

!!

I see Le Parisien is calling Brigitte Macron a brise-glace. Does that mean that she's like an icebreaker (a giant iron ship that smashes through ice) or that she diplomatically "breaks the ice" between people by being tactful and kind?

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 May 17 - 12:04 PM

Oh, yeah, nothing like English, parking on driveways and all...!

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 09 May 17 - 08:09 AM

Holy moly! What a language! :-D

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 09 May 17 - 08:05 AM

It means Are we going to drink to that, but the te me le means are we going to drink to/about me to/about you to/about it drink to that? Nonsensical slang. Tres french.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Teribus
Date: 09 May 17 - 07:36 AM

His view on negotiations is more predictable Stu, whereas no-one knows how Le Pen would have handled it had she been elected.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Monique
Date: 09 May 17 - 07:01 AM

"te me le" are only expletives to show how important the topic is for the person but they don't "mean" anything grammatically speaking.

Teribus's got it right except that the general election will in a month, not two (June 11th and 18th).

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 09 May 17 - 06:53 AM

Why, Stu? Because Le Pen is a Gaullist, an old-fashioned French nationalist (not forgetting de Gaulle's Irish grandma) who puts the interests of France before anything else, and for whom the interests of England (which is the truthful way of saying 'Britain') are far below anything that may benefit France.

Macron is French first, but European a close second, and will negotiate with Britain to the advantage of Europe, which may more often be also to the advantage of England, or at least more so than when an ultra-nationalist is negotiating along the hard line.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Stu
Date: 09 May 17 - 06:47 AM

"Having Macron in place is better for the UK vis-à-vis Brexit than having Le Pen in place"

Why?

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 09 May 17 - 06:42 AM

"Rather simplistic and incorrect reading of what has just happened."
Why do you do this - revenge I suspect
She got her ares kicked, for whatever reason
She attempted to respectabilise Fascism in France and failed miserably
She is a has-been, even as far as her father is concerned and you can bet his suggestion for a new head replacement for the party will be considered seriously after her clumsily crude performance
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 09 May 17 - 06:40 AM

And literally? on va te me le arroser ca - on va… arroser ça is ok, but what's that t me le doing in there? My eyes are looking at this construction, but my mind is going wubblewubblewubble and refusing to compute it!

Spoiled votes actually got higher numbers than Marine Le Pen…

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Teribus
Date: 09 May 17 - 06:09 AM

"LePen is out - good riddance to bad rubbish - even her old man has washed his hands of her." - Jim Carroll

Rather simplistic and incorrect reading of what has just happened.

A good article in the UK press pointed out that in the recent French Presidential Election that Marine Le Pen came third in the election when you take into account those who chose not to cast a vote (~11 million) and spoiled ballot papers (~4.2million).

Also important is the realisation that the 66.7% of the votes cast for Macron were not so much votes for Macron as they were votes against Le Pen - lots of people interviewed made this point.

Macron is lacking in experience and has no proven political party organisation behind him. Francois Hollande came in promising reform and proved incapable of delivering anything - he had loads of experience and had a well proven party machine behind him. This would tend to the belief that Macron will have no better chance of success than his predecessor.

In two months time France goes to the polls and indications are that Le Pen's party will have gained traction from the Presidential election, the same is not the same for Macron's Party and most of those who "voted Macron" in the Presidential Election will revert to voting for the candidates of the political party they normally support.

Macron, a fervent Europhile, will have to sort out implementing reform in ultra-conservative France and cope with Brexit (Having Macron in place is better for the UK vis-à-vis Brexit than having Le Pen in place). This does not make either task easier for him or his administration.

If Macron, the ex-banker and globalist, fails in his first term to deliver what he has promised then in 2022 Marine Le Pen will be back with a vengeance. She has performed far better than expected in this election and she now has five years in which to re-jig her political party, her "old man washing his hands of her" is no bad thing and aids her in any remodelling effort - again every commentator mentioned this after the result was announced.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Monique
Date: 09 May 17 - 05:37 AM

It means "We're going to celebrate it". Just wish us the young guy manages to address most of the problems why 33.9% voted for Marine Le Pen and 25,44% didn't vote or voted blank or null or we'll get her next time, moreover as she's "sanitizing" her party according to the old "new paint on dirtiness = cleanliness" formula.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 09 May 17 - 05:20 AM

McGrath of Harlow - that's not true, that ordinary media have mixed fake news with real news for years. Simply not true.

Mrrzy "on va te me le arroser ca" - what does this mean, please?

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Greg F.
Date: 08 May 17 - 02:19 PM

Not the only thing. We also need to fear idiots who believe bullshit.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: robomatic
Date: 08 May 17 - 10:44 AM

The mixing of facts with lies is not new, but what is new is the raising of this tactic to a science. I heard on the news this morning that FACEBOOK is resorting to newspaper ads to urge people to separate fake news from real news. What we are seeing is a continuing development of what Stephen Colbert on his old show termed "truthiness". This term perfectly captures the tactic of packaging a message slanted toward believability.
The most predictable element of this sort of BS is not whether it's liberal or conservative, logical or emotional, but the appeal to FEAR.
This calls to mind one of the United States' great Presidents, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and his continual slant against fear, in so many words: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 08 May 17 - 10:09 AM

5 years.

Felicitations, et on va te me le arroser ca?

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 08 May 17 - 07:45 AM

Mixing fake news in with real news is what the media has always done for generations.
The real danger with this is not so much that people believe the fake news, but rather end up distrusting all that claims to be news.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 08 May 17 - 05:45 AM

The hacking and, in this case, faking of e-mails from outside the country, has now become a right-wing tactic - the left have ywet to be exposed behaving in such a way
Nothing "democratic" about it - it's smear, pure and simple.
LePen is out - good riddance to bad rubbish - even her old man has washed his hands of her.
Hope the pubs open early tonight!
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: keberoxu
Date: 07 May 17 - 06:20 PM

Is the French presidential term length really SEVEN years?
Doesn't that seem rather long?

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 07 May 17 - 05:20 PM

I don't know if this is the case with the American email hack and others, but in the French one, apparently some or many fake documents were mixed in with the genuine documents.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: robomatic
Date: 07 May 17 - 04:17 PM

Jim Carroll wrote:

"The hacking by the Russians proved the election process totally compromised"

All that is generally known as 'fact' is that many Democratic party emails were publicized. Publicized emails are not uncommon and not hard to achieve. Apparently Clinton's campaign manager was successfully phished due to inadequate safeguarding of his account.

I think the matter of Democratic email being exposed is as overblown an issue as the one about Clinton's emails raised by the Republicans.

There is no evidence that the voting process itself was in any way compromised, and no responsible party has so claimed.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 May 17 - 03:28 PM

Well, that's a relief. Though it might have been fun seeing Donald and Marine squaring up to each other. Scary though.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 07 May 17 - 02:17 PM

Macron's in with two-thirds of the votes; Le Pen has conceded.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Donuel
Date: 07 May 17 - 11:45 AM

It seems by just looking that Putin is as narcissistic as Trump but has a strong and simple eye for an eye immorality. One thing is for sure, Putin will never want to be photographed side by side with Trump looming over him head and shoulders. (:( Even Putin's tallest elevator shoes will only put him up to Donald's Adams Apple. The only authorized photo may be a sitting photo of the two after their planned oil deal after waiving sanctions.

France has such a large anti Semitic population it is cruelly ironic that Muslims target France as their enemy, especially among Muslim teenagers. France has earned their reputation with the hideous colonial treatment of several nations in Africa. Muslims are so insulated they do not communicate with the native French right wing. You would think the 'enemy of my enemy' notion would occur to prejudiced Muslims. As trump would say "its a mess".

I think the hack attack may cut the margin of victory for Macron from a maximum of 25% to only 9%. Terrorism fears will a huge factor.
I bet there is a hated Trump factor in all this fuss.

Any election news over there yet?
.

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 07 May 17 - 11:06 AM

Bon courage tout le.monde !

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 06 May 17 - 10:09 PM

Right Donuel, I think we agree. Thompson, merci bien !

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Thompson
Date: 06 May 17 - 05:53 PM

Mrrzy, France Classique's show delightfully named Étonnez-moi Benoit had a special this morning about musique des résistants et de la résistance if you'd like to hear it - there's a podcast:

https://www.francemusique.fr/emissions/etonnez-moi-benoit

The Financial Times also has an excellent piece about Le Pen's inspiration, the writer Charles Maurras - it's paywalled, but sometimes if you search for the exact headline you can read just that one article; the headline is "Macron, Le Pen and the battle for the idea of France"

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: gnu
Date: 06 May 17 - 02:51 PM

Ahhh, tu connais les Fracaise, la. Always up for an erection. Prolifique, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: What's all the fuss...French Erections?
From: Donuel
Date: 06 May 17 - 07:55 AM

Mrrzy, the Russians did phishing expedition on the French progressive campaign by asking for passwords to view a Macron document for two months and then stopped last month once they fooled enough people who gave up their passwords. They were inactive for a month and released a combination of fake news and internal content 4 minutes before midnight which was the deadline before campaigning was to stop and a news blackout law enforce prior to their election.

Why? The Russians do not want the West to be unified against a Russia who does not follow a democratic model of liberty equality or anti corruption sentiments. Russia simply does not want a united EU or NATO.

If you can't stand how sausage is made, don't look




Imho Russia may have inadvertently made a more ruthless and dangerous Criminal leadership of the USA than they would want but that is future speculation.