An American on the French protests and the reality.

Doggone did a post on the protests complaining that some right winger was saying the protests were caused by immigrants. Here's an  American woman who lives in Lyon talking about how the protests went down.

 

My reaction is that she's pretty much right, riots usually don't take over entire cities (although US cities can suffer from them: e.g. Detroit). And protesting in various forms, such as strikes, are the French national sport. As the woman says, "France has a history of it (protesting)".

In contrast, this clip came up of a Canadian journalist in Saint-Denis, one the banlieues (suburbs) of Paris.

 

I think I've mentioned before that I like how Europe has its slums in the suburbs and the Centre Cities are nice places to live, which is the opposite of the US.

The "smokes" being sold are probably black market and why the locals are getting upset.

So, this is a pretty realistic view of what is going on in France.

Pas grand chose. Cherchez ailleurs.

Trump proves that the US version of the English Civil war is over, and Parliament wins again, but...

Let's fact it, the executive in the US is something which can be done without. Especially since it needs to be made clear that the executive is not above the law. 

But in the US's dysfunctional democracy, no one is stopping Trump from violating the law.

 

Among Doggone's afflictions is a strong case of Trump Derangement Syndrome made worse by a diet of US media, but Mallen Baker pretty much points out Trump's delusions about the world. 

The electoral college, yet another symptom of the US's dysfunctional democracy, was put in place to keep somebody like Trump from gaining office. Yet it is the reason he became president in the first place. And the lack of a serious alternative has led to his becoming president for yet another term despite his many disqualifying characteristics.

The problem is that the legislature needs to provide an adequate check to balance the maniac in the White House. As I said, the US is not fascist: it's a dysfunctional democracy.

Plantations and the Eagles Nest.

I heard about this on the news about the same way I did about Nottoway Plantation. And while I have never visited either one, my feelings about both are pretty much the same.

Their loss is a tragedy.

And while no one in my family was a slave, at least not within the last millenia or so, my father lived through the Second World War. He had a front row seat in it. And could probably be called a participant even though he was 16-17 when it ended. It was a war where the civilian populations were displaced, or interned, by the war. Civilians were bombed and their cities and towns were battlefields.  

Despite that, the Kehlsteinhaus, commonly known in English as the Eagle's Nest, is more of a mountain chalet than a war relic for me. True, it's more interesting than some of the ones I've been in, but it's more civilianised than politicised these days. Yes, one can remember that it was built by the Nazis.

But, are you going to stop driving a Volkswagen because the Volkswagen Type 1 (AKA the "beetle") was designed by the Nazis?

I would add that this building has a lot more history to it. It wasn't used by Hitler very much since he was an acrophobe, but the Allies did occupy it. Here's the clip from Band of Brothers where Easy Company captures it.

US troops did a job of de-Nazifying the building, and the general area, by grabbing bits of it as war trophies!

And the area was used by US occupation forces for "R&R" up until 1995.

Given one of my great-grandfathers came from Meerane,  Both of us don't (didn't) have a lot of love for the Nazis,or Bavarians. He was a draft-dodger avoiding service in the Kaiser's Army. He volunteered for service during the 14-18 War for the united States, but was too old.

But, the bottom line is some of my relatives lived through Nazisim and Communism. So... 

Anyway, despite its history,  the Kehlsteinhaus is probably more of a tourist site for its mountain view than the other bits. But, I do understand US vets come through on tours.

Rebuild it for its economic benefits.

I would add that destroying history leads to its being forgotten, which is why both the Kehlsteinhaus and Nottoway Plantation should be rebuilt.

Unless, you want to forget these events only to repeat them again?

Pardon My French, S'il vous plait

 My colleague, Laci, is currently more French fluent than I am. My French is admittedly rusty, but still adequate to understand French protesters on the news.

Katie Miller, un-elected meddling wh*r* in extremist right wing policies, spouse of little Nazi swine -- a Jewish Hitler wannabe, Stephen Miller -- just made a clear lying and fear-mongering public statement from her role as White House propagandist extraordinaire.

Her grotesque lie was that the protesters in France are immigrants, illegal aliens. And that if Trump and his evil servitor fascists do not win in the midterms, the same destruction will occur here.

To borrow a few lines from the French National Anthem, La Marseillaise, (yes I know it):

Allons Citoyens! (Let's go citizens / patriots!)

Marchons marchons! (March march!)

Un Sang Impur... (An impure blood)

Nos SILLONS...(Our soil)

There's also language in there about slitting the throats of our children and friends. No pont belaboring lyrics from 1789.

I just hit the high points, but the parallels are unmistakable. The national anthem dates back to the French Revolution and the storming of the Bastille. But it applies surprisingly well to legitimate causes of unrest now and to propaganda manipulating the unrest and scapegoating.

But listening to Bitch Miller, and listening to the audio of the unrest in French, that is massively NOT true. These are not illegal aliens, they are legal French born citizens of that country. The lie is amplified manipulation with inserting fake video into the real coverage by right wing media.

And it turns out, the cause of the violence, similar to our own January 6th, 2021 violent and damaging right wing extremist manipulated insurrection, was from right wing extremist funding and manipulation to ignite it. Not direct funding, but massive money to influence and misdirect valid grievances into conflagration. 

This will be a follow up post with what at the moment appears to definitely be big Russia /US spending, possible (probable) collusion and coordination between the two, 

Involving definitely Russian money and influence, and quite possibly US as well, and other lesser players or involvement and the intelligence and non-governmental sources independently investigating.

Oligarch right wing extremists will do what they do. More anon.

Doggone: I'm back! Part 1

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