Saturday, April 29, 2017

SATURDAY NIGHT JOHN HIATT, FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS.

John Hiatt with Cry Love. From the 1995 album Walk On.





Rocker, singer/songwriter, guitarist and pianist from Indianapolis. I bet you actually know a lot of his songs, since they've been covered by an amazing array of artists of all genres.



Fine Young Cannibals with Johnny Come Home. From their debut album Fine Young Cannibals (1985).





Trio from Brummy, consisting of Roland Gift (vocals), Andy Cox (guitars, keyboards) and David Steele (bass, keyboards, synthesizers).


Goede nacht.



MFBB.

Friday, April 28, 2017

RECOMMENDED READS: SOEREN KERN'S "A MONTH OF ISLAM AND MULTICULTURALISM IN GERMANY: MARCH 2017."

Over at The Gatestone Institute, Soeren Kern's umpteenth installment of "A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in..." leaves you breathless, speechless and hopeless:



"March 1. More than 4,000 millionaires emigrated from Germany in 2016, compared to 1,000 millionaires who left the country in 2015, according to the 2017 Global Wealth Migration Review. Before the migration crisis erupted in 2015, millionaires were leaving Germany at the rate of only a few hundred per year. Most of Germany's millionaires, citing deteriorating security, left for Australia, Canada, the United States, Dubai and Israel. The mass exodus of wealth is hollowing out Germany's tax base at a time when the German government is spending tens of billions of euros for the upkeep of millions of refugees and migrants from the Muslim world. The report's editor, Andrew Amoils, warned that the wealthy are a kind of early warning system for society. Due to their financial status, education and international contacts, they can emigrate more easily than others. Over the longer term, however, their exodus portends increased emigration from among the middle class, according to the report.

...

March 2. Administrators of the Johannes Rau Gymnasium, a secondary school in Wuppertal, asked teachers to prohibit Muslim pupils from engaging in "provocative praying" in public. An internal memo stated: "In recent weeks, it has been increasingly observed that Muslim pupils in the school building are praying, clearly visible to others, signaled by ritual washings in the toilets, the rolling out of prayer mats, and taking up certain postures. This is not permitted."

March 3. An 18-year-old asylum seeker from Somalia was charged with murdering an 87-year-old woman at a retirement home in Neuenhaus. Police said the accused entered the facility through an unlocked back door with the aim of having sexual intercourse with elderly residents. He sexually assaulted a 59-year-old paralytic, entered an adjacent room and sexually assaulted an 87-year-old man. He then beat the man's wife, who was sleeping in the same room. The woman died from her injuries. The accused is being housed in a psychiatric hospital.


...


March 9. A 37-year-old migrant from Kosovo, identified only as Fatmir H., was arrested after he injured nine people, including two police officers, with an axe at the central train station in Düsseldorf. Police said Fatmir H. suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and was in an "exceptional mental state" at the time of the attack.

March 10. An unidentified man brandishing a machete attacked an 80-year-old man in the Kalkum district of Düsseldorf. The perpetrator remains at large. In Hamburg, six people were injured when two youths with tear gas attacked a train carrying 50 people. The perpetrators remain at large.

March 10. Germany spent more than €23 billion ($25 billion) on the reception, accommodation and care of migrants and refugees in 2016, according to Bundestag Vice President Johannes Singhammer. The average annual cost per migrant was approximately €11,800 ($13,000). In Berlin alone, the actual amount of money spent on migrants was twice as much as initially budgeted: €1.27 billion rather than €685 million.


...


March 11. Police in Essen foiled a jihadist attack on a shopping center at the Limbecker Platz. Essen Police Chief Frank Richter said he had received "very concrete indications" on the plot to attack the facility, which has more than 200 stores and an average of 60,000 visitors on any given Saturday. Police arrested two Salafists from Oberhausen, including one who had fought for the Islamic State in Syria.

March 12. The number of crimes committed by asylum seekers and refugees in Baden-Württemberg increased significantly in 2016. Statistics showed a total of 251,000 criminal suspects, of whom 107,417 were non-Germans, mostly from Turkey, Romania and Italy. Of the non-German criminals, 25,379 were asylum seekers and refugees (up from 18,695 in 2015). They committed 64,329 crimes in 2016, an increase of nearly 20% over 2015. Syrians were the most frequent offenders 4,053 (2015: 1,253), followed by Gambians 2,346 (2015: 1,592) and Afghans 1,934 (2015: 638). The number of suspects from Kosovo fell from 1,531 to 1,094 and Serbs from 1,488 to 1,224. Criminals from those two countries were increasingly being deported in 2016. Police noted a 95.5% increase in the number of physical assaults involving at least one migrant, to 7,670 cases in 2016.

March 13. The number of crimes committed by asylum seekers and refugees in Bavaria increased significantly in 2016. Statistics showed a total of 274,633 criminal suspects of whom 180,023 were Germans (+0.3%) and 94,610 were non-Germans (+14.9%). Of the non-German criminals, 26,332 were asylum seekers and refugees, an increase of 57.8% compared to the previous year. The proportion of migrant suspects to all suspects was 9.6%, an increase of 3.2% (in 2012 the share was 1.8%). Among the migrant suspects, Syrians were the most frequent offenders at 16.1% (2015: 11.1%), followed by Afghans with 14.3% (2015: 10.1%), Iraqis with 8.8% (2015: 4.6%) and Nigerians with 6.8% (2015: 5.4%). "The increase in crime in Bavaria in 2016 is mainly due to foreign suspects, especially immigrants," said Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann.

March 14. A migrant from Kosovo who has lived in Germany for 28 years and is an active member of the hardline Islamic Salafist movement demanded that the Meierfeld secondary school in Herford provide his ninth-grade son with a prayer room "so that he can perform the Friday prayer on time and without disturbance." The man also prohibited his son from attending music lessons, which he said are banned by Islam. Previously, the man demanded that the Friedenstal secondary school, also in Herford, provide a prayer room for another of his sons.

...


March 17. A ten-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan sexually assaulted a 75-year-old woman in Tyrol (Austria). Police said they believe he has committed at least five other offenses of the same kind.

...


March 23. The Mannheim Labor Court rejected a lawsuit filed by a 40-year-old Muslim nurse who claimed that she was unfairly terminated after only one week by a nursing home because she refused to wash male patients. The woman, who has been living in Germany for three years, told the court that she wants to integrate into German society but does not understand why her former employer could not accept that her religion forbids her to wash men. The court ruled that the employer was entitled to dismiss employees during the six-month period of probation.

 photo muslima-refuses-wash-males2017_zpspalu7apf.jpg

"Muslima nurse refuses to wash male patients on religious grounds." As the saying goed, 'Life is hard and then you die', but it could be worse: "Life is hard and before you die you land in a hospital where a follower of the prophet refuses to wash you".


...

March 24. The Berlin Police Department announced the creation of a special task force to investigate acid attacks. At least six women in the city have been attacked with acid since the beginning of 2017. The latest attack occurred on March 14, when a 41-year-old pedestrian was attacked by an unknown cyclist in Prenzlauer Berg district of the capital.

March 24. A 31-year-old Afghan migrant brandishing a hammer attacked a 59-year-old man riding a bicycle in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg. Police said the attacker, who was found soaked in his victim's blood, was "psychologically ill."

March 24. A 30-year-old man shouting "Allahu Akhbar" and "you are all going to die" forced the temporary closure of the central bus station in Bamberg. Police said the man showed "clear signs of mental illness." They added that an arrest warrant was not issued due to his illness.

...


March 27. The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that Turkey's National Intelligence Agency had provided Germany's BND intelligence service with a list of names of hundreds of alleged followers of the Islamic Gülen movement in Germany. The movement is led by Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen, who has lived in the United States since 1999. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed Gülen for the failed military coup in July 2016. The list, which includes addresses, telephone numbers and photographs of those concerned, proved that the Turkish government has been secretly spying on persons, associations, schools and other institutions linked to Gülen in Germany.


 photo Humboldt_university_madness_zpsr5mcx7d5.jpg


March 28. Humboldt University of Berlin announced it will open an Islamic theology institute. The objective of the program is "to impart academic foundations in Islamic theology for training imams and to qualify students for a school teaching post." Humboldt University will become the sixth university in Germany to teach Islamic theology. Berlin Mayor Michael Müller revealed that the institute is being paid for by German taxpayers: €13.5 million ($14.5 million) of government funding will secure the institute's finances through 2022. Humboldt University President Sabine Kunst rejected calls for a joint "Faculty for Theology" for Christians, Muslims and Jews: "The first step is to set up the Institute for Islamic Theology at the HU. We want this to be a success. It is important that this key project is not overloaded by a much broader idea."



An Islamic Theology Institute? Why not? As the above curriculum of undeniable cultural enrichment brought about by islam's ever growing footprint in Germany shows, the study of islam should be stepped up ASAP.


Insanity. Stark insanity.


MFBB.






Thursday, April 27, 2017

EMMANUEL MACRON, CANDIDATE OF "LES DIPLOMES"!!!

After the first round of the Fwench presidential elections Daniel Dolomez, the socialist mayor of Annezin in the northern French Département of Pas-de-Calais, announced that he would probably step down. The reason? In Annezin Marine Le Pen's FN had chalked up a deft score of 38.07 per cent. Mr Dolomez was quoted as saying: "This is a DISASTER! It is very well possible that I resign because I cannot consecrate my life to dumbasses!!!" Via De Standaard:


 photo dolomez_connards_zpsprrwbde1.jpg

"I cannot consecrate my life to dumbasses!!!"


Dumbasses, dumbasses vous dites monsieur? As Prof Williams is wont to say, let's investigate! The following video shows a representative batch of Emmanuel Macron's supporters, you know, the educated bunch, the guys and gals with a degree, the sophisticates:





I know it isn't Saturday night yet, but...





Hat tip Gates of Vienna and Vlad Tepes. Oh, and Mr Dolomez, let the door hit you on your way out!!!



MFBB.


RECOMMENDED READS: JACK CASHILL'S "REMEMBERING EARTH DAY FOUNDING FATHER AND GIRLFRIEND COMPOSTER IRA EINHORN."

Over at American Thinker, Jack Cashill reminds us of the glorious beginnings of the Earth Day Movement:


"... With Earth Day come and gone, I could no evidence of public recognition for one of the holiday's founding fathers, the only slightly atypical Ira Einhorn, the soi-disant "Unicorn."

In the way of background, the first formal Earth Day did not take place on the vernal equinox, as originator John McConnell had hoped. Rather, it took place on April 22, 1970, a Wednesday. How this seemingly arbitrary date was picked has been lost to history. No one has taken public credit for choosing it. Still, one does not have to be a conspiracy theorist to suspect that the choice of date might have had something to do with the fact that April 22, 1970 was Vladimir Lenin's one hundredth birthday.

Whoever chose the date chose wisely. The springtime pageantry gave students a pleasant reprieve from their strenuous anti-war activities and proved to be a huge success. It also gave Einhorn the chance to mark publicly the shift in his activism from antiwar to environmentalism.

Einhorn attributed his change in direction to the "the accelerating destruction of the planetary interconnecting web." Not everyone was as tuned in as Einhorn – only the "few of us activists who took the trouble to read the then available ecological literature." Or so Einhorn explained in his book Prelude to Intimacy.

"We intuitively sensed the need to open a new front in the 'movement' battle," he continued, "for Chicago '68 was already pointing towards Kent State and the violence of frustration that lead to the Weathermen and other similarly doomed and fragmented groups."

Although Senator Gaylord Nelson usually gets the credit for organizing that first Earth Day in 1970, it was people like Einhorn who were putting the pieces together on the ground.

Einhorn's terrain was Philadelphia. By his lights, environmental protection required a fundamental transformation of society or, as he phrased it, "a conscious restructuring of all we do." To pull off so ambitious a program, Einhorn claimed to have enlisted a happy cabal of business, academic, and governmental factions. Together, they formed a broad popular front to deal with this unraveling of the planetary web, much as the Soviets organized popular fronts ostensibly to deal with the threat of fascism in the 1930s. And recall, this was back when "global cooling" was the reigning anxiety.

Whether or not Einhorn did as he claimed, there is no denying how well he had insinuated himself into the upper reaches of Philadelphia's good deed-doer set. Ira had a "brilliant network," a local oil executive would later tell Time magazine. "He knew enough corporate people to get our projects funded simply by strolling into people's offices and asking for the money."

These connections would come in handy just nine years after that first Earth Day, when police found the battered and "composted" body of Einhorn's girlfriend, Holly Maddux, in a steamer trunk in Einhorn's apartment. She had been stashed there for eighteen months.



 photo ira_einhorn_zpsx9yjgblx.jpg



At his bail hearing, one after another of the city's liberal elite took the stand to sing the accused murderer's praises. These included a minister, an economist, a corporate lawyer, a playwright, and many more – what Time called "an unlikely battalion of bluebloods, millionaires and corporate executives."

Representing Einhorn was none other than future Democrat and Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter. The combined clout of these worthies swayed the judge to set bail at $40,000, only $4,000 of which was required to put Einhorn back on the streets.

Fronting the money was Barbara Bronfman, a Montreal socialite who had married into the conspicuously liberal Bronfman family, they of Seagram's fame. After Einhorn jumped bail, Bronfman continued to funnel money to Einhorn for some seven years.

French police did not catch up with the self-dubbed "Unicorn" until 1997, sixteen years into his subsidized European exile. In protesting extradition, Einhorn claimed to have been persecuted because he had given his life to "the cause of nonviolent social change." That boast did not overly impress the French, but in their eagerness to spite the United States on the human rights front, they kept Einhorn in country for another five years.

Justice finally felled the Unicorn twenty-five years after he killed would-be flower child Maddux. Einhorn's best line of defense at his 2002 trial in Philadelphia was that somebody – the CIA, most likely – stuffed Maddux's body into the trunk and secreted the trunk in his closet to frame him. Einhorn might have tried the "some other dude did it" defense, but cop-killer and fellow Philadelphian Mumia had already played that one out..."



Oh oh oh our Moral Betters the lefties and greenies!!! Why oh why can't we Rightwing Neanderthal brutes emulate these paradigms of virtue???



MFBB.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

RECOMMENDED VIDEO: HOW DOES BIG BEN KEEP ACCURATE TIME?

A fascinating video of how time is kept by Big Ben, the clock in the tower at the north end of Westminster Palace (although the Clock Tower itself is usually also called Big Ben, its offical name is Elizabeth Tower).





Don't miss the info on the designer of the tower, the clock face and its dials, Augustus Pugin. The clock's mechanism is the work of Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe, QC, and of Sir George Biddell Airy KCB PRS, mathematician and astronomer (and Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881!).

Hat tip my uncle R.


MFBB.

Sunday, April 23, 2017

RECOMMENDED READS: THE GATESTONE INSTITUTE'S SOEREN KERN ON THE FRENCH PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.

A very erudite and to the point article by The Gatestone's Institute's Soeren Kern:




* "Those who come to France are to accept France, not to transform it to the image of their country of origin. If they want to live at home, they should have stayed at home." — Marine Le Pen.

* "It [France] is one nation that has a right to choose who can join it and a right that foreigners accept its rules and customs. — François Fillon.

* Jean-Luc Mélenchon has called for a massive increase in public spending, a 90% tax on anyone earning more than €400,000 ($425,000) a year, and an across-the-board increase in the minimum wage by 16% to €1,326 ($1,400) net a month, based on a 35-hour work week.

* Benoît Hamon has promised to establish a universal basic income: he wants to pay every French citizen over 18, regardless of whether or not they are employed, a government-guaranteed monthly income of €750 ($800). The annual cost to taxpayers would be €400 billion ($430 billion). By comparison, France's 2017 defense budget is €32.7 billion ($40 billion).



Here are the five candidates for France's presidential elections:


 photo french_presidential_candidates_zpstva9gh4j.jpg

From left to right: Fillon, Macron, Mélenchon, Le Pen and Hamon.




a.) Emmanuel Macron

"Macron, 39, a former investment banker, was an adviser to incumbent Socialist President François Hollande. Macron, whose core base of support consists of young, urban progressives, has been called the "French Obama." He insists that he is neither left nor right and has tried to position himself in the political center, between the Socialists and the conservatives — and as an alternative to Le Pen's populism.

Macron is business friendly and has called for cutting corporate taxes and for investing in infrastructure. He sparked outrage in February when he described France's colonial legacy in Algeria as a "crime against humanity."

His meteoric rise has been propelled by a scandal which has damaged the standing of Republican candidate François Fillon, and because the Socialists fielded Benoît Hamon, an unpopular candidate.

Macron's policy positions include:

* European Federalism: Macron has repeatedly called for a stronger European Union. At a January 14 political rally in Lille, he said: "We are Europe, we are Brussels, we wanted it and we need it. We need Europe because Europe makes us bigger, because Europe makes us stronger."

* Immigration: Macron has repeatedly praised German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door migration policy, which has allowed more than two million mostly Muslim migrants into Germany since January 2015.

* In a January 1, 2017 interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung, Macron accused critics of Merkel's open-door migration policy of "disgraceful oversimplification." He said: "Merkel and German society as a whole exemplified our common European values. They saved our collective dignity by accepting, accommodating and educating distressed refugees."

* In a February 4 rally in Lyon, Macron mocked U.S. President Donald Trump's pledge to build a wall with Mexico: "I do not want to build a wall. I can assure you there is no wall in my program. Can you remember the Maginot Line?" he said, referring to a failed row of fortifications that France built in the 1930s to deter an invasion by Germany.

* Islamic Terrorism: Macron has said he believes the solution to jihadist terrorism is more European federalism: "Terrorism wants to destroy Europe. We must quickly create a sovereign Europe that is capable of protecting us against external dangers in order to better ensure internal security. We also need to overcome national unwillingness and create a common European intelligence system that will allow the effective hunting of criminals and terrorists."

* Islam: Macron has said he believes that French security policy has unfairly targeted Muslims and that "secularism should not be brandished to as a weapon to fight Islam." At an October 2016 rally in Montpellier, he rejected President Hollande's assertion that "France has a problem with Islam." Instead, Macron said: "No religion is a problem in France today. If the state should be neutral, which is at the heart of secularism, we have a duty to let everybody practice their religion with dignity." He also insisted that the Islamic State is not Islamic: "What poses a problem is not Islam, but certain behaviors that are said to be religious and then imposed on persons who practice that religion."



In a nutshell, this is the perfect candidate for smug arrogant bobo voters, either singles or unmarried couples of which the female gave birth to their only kid when she was 39. With the exception of the economy, this candidate has it wrong on so many counts that his good ranking in the polls is itself a clear marker of how deep France is already mired in horse manure. The "More Europe" would be acceptable if the top honchos would actually have Europe's interest at heart. His open-door migration policy is in one word insane. The comparison of strong, guarded European borders to the Maginot line is over the top since that "Line" could easily be bypassed, and his assertion that terrorism has nothing to do with islam alone should be sufficient for every thinking, normal human being to discard this candidacy in the blink of an eye.



b.) Marine Le Pen

"Le Pen, 48, a former lawyer and the youngest daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the National Front party, has campaigned on a nationalist platform. She has called for a referendum on pulling France out of the European Union, abandoning the euro single currency, halting immigration and restore controls at French borders.

Le Pen, who has been called the "French Trump," has vowed to fight radical Islam, close extremist mosques and forcibly deport illegal immigrants. On March 2, the European Parliament voted to lift Le Pen's immunity from prosecution for tweeting images of Islamic State violence. Under French law, publishing violent images can be punished by up to three years in prison and a fine of €75,000 euros ($79,000). Le Pen posted the images in response to a journalist who compared her party's anti-immigration stance to the Islamic State. She denounced the legal proceedings against her as political interference in the campaign and called for a moratorium on judicial investigations until the election period has passed. Le Pen is also under investigation for allegedly misusing EU funds to pay for party staff, including a personal bodyguard. She has denied any wrongdoing and said the investigation was aimed at undermining her campaign. "The French can tell the difference between genuine scandals and political dirty tricks," she said.

Le Pen's policy positions include:

* European Federalism: "Everyone agrees that the European Union is a failure. It did not deliver on any of its promises, particularly on prosperity and security.... That is why, if elected, I will announce a referendum within six months on remaining or exiting the European Union..."

* Immigration: Le Pen has said that she wants to cut immigration to no more than 10,000 people a year. She has also called on migrants to adapt to French culture: "Those who come to France are to accept France, not to transform it to the image of their country of origin. If they want to live at home, they should have stayed at home."

*Islamic Terrorism: Le Pen has repeatedly vowed to crack down on Islamic terrorism. On February 5, she said: "In terms of terrorism, we do not intend to ask the French to get used to living with this horror. We will eradicate it here and abroad." After the April 20 jihadist attack in Paris, she reiterated: "We must tackle the root of the evil. It is Islamist fundamentalism, the ideology that their terrorists are harnessing."

* Islam: Le Pen has vowed to restrict the practice of Islam in the public square. She wants to ban all visible religious symbols worn in public, including Muslim headscarves and Jewish skullcaps. She has compared Muslims praying in the streets to Nazi occupation: "For those who want to talk a lot about World War II, if it is about occupation, then we could also talk about it [Muslim prayers in the streets], because that is occupation of territory. It is an occupation of sections of the territory, of districts in which religious laws apply. It is an occupation. There are of course no tanks, there are no soldiers but it is nevertheless an occupation and it weighs heavily on local residents."


The comparison with Trump is, from my POV, not wholly inaccurate. Here too, I see a candidate who would not have been my first choice. It is undeniable that the EU as an economic project, by allowing free trade within its borders, has had a major positive impact on the economies of most European countries. Where it went wrong is that the stifling political correctness so rampant in all strata of European society has led to the EU project being led and represented by dedicated leftists and globalists (Juncker, Mogherini, Schulz, Timmermans, Verhofstadt and many, many others). That said, Le Pen's forte is the fact that she sees islam for what it is: a clear and present danger, a deadly menace, an existential threat, which will ultimately destroy the Europe as we know it. I don't like her anti-americanism, and I'm not impressed by her viewpoints on economic issues. But any candidate who honestly wants to curb back the metastizing of the islamic cancer that's eating Europe deserve's every normal person's full support.



c.) François Fillon

"Fillon, 63, a former Prime Minister under President Nicolas Sarkozy and now the Republican candidate for France's 2017 presidential election, has pledged to defend traditional French values and identity. "This country is the daughter of Christianity, as well as the Enlightenment," Fillon has said. "I will put the family back at the heart of all public policy."

Fillon, who has been called the "French Thatcher" for his conservative policies, wants to end France's 35-hour work week, cut public spending by €100 billion ($107 billion), shrink the size of government by cutting 500,000 civil service positions, abolish a wealth tax and reduce immigration. He also wants to invest heavily in national security.

Fillon had been favored to win this race until he became the subject of a criminal investigation over allegations that he used government money to pay his wife and children more than €1 million ($1.1 million) for jobs they never did. He faces charges of embezzlement.

Fillon's policy positions include:

* European Federalism: Fillon has said that he is not in favor of more European integration. In an essay for Le Monde, he wrote: "Let's put aside the dream of a federal Europe. It is urgent to re-establish a more political functioning, so Europe can focus its action on well-defined strategic priorities."

* Immigration: Fillon has called for quotas limiting immigration based on the capacity to integrate. At a rally in Nice on January 11, he said: "France is generous, but it is not a mosaic and a territory without limits. It is one nation that has a right to choose who can join it and a right that foreigners accept its rules and customs. We have six million unemployed and nearly nine million poor people. Immigration must be firmly controlled and reduced to a strict minimum."

* Islam: Fillon has vowed to exert "strict administrative control" over Islam in France. He has also described radical Islam as a "totalitarianism like the Nazis." After the April 20 jihadist attacks, Fillon repeated his pledge to crack down on radical Islam. "Any movement claiming Salafism and the Muslim Brotherhood will be dissolved," he said.


Fillon would be an acceptable candidate if one would not be certain that he doesn't mean a word he says. Nuff said.



d.) Jean-Luc Mélenchon

"Mélenchon, 65, is head of the newly-established La France Insoumise ("Unsubmissive France"), a political movement supported by the Left Party and the French Communist Party. Mélenchon, who has been called the "French Bernie Sanders," has campaigned on an anti-capitalist, anti-globalization platform and vowed to put an end to "economic liberalism." He has called for a massive increase in public spending, a 90% tax on anyone earning more than €400,000 ($425,000) a year, and an across-the-board increase in the minimum wage by 16% to €1,326 ($1,400) net a month, based on a 35-hour work week.

Mélenchon's policy positions include:

* European Federalism: Mélenchon has pledged to redefine France's future relationship with the European Union. He has promised to negotiate a "democratic reconstruction" of European treaties, and to withdraw from the EU if it fails to meet his demands. "Europe, we'll change it or leave it," he said during an interview with France 2 television on April 7. He has also questioned France's continued use of the euro single currency.

* Immigration: Mélenchon is opposed to immigration quotas. He called for undocumented workers to be legalized. He has called for re-establishing a ten-year residence permit for foreigners, and for all children born in France to obtain automatic citizenship."


Mélenchon is living proof that in France, sheer and utter lunatics can have a serious shot at the presidency.




d.) Benoît Hamon

"Hamon, 49, the Socialist Party nominee, was a former education minister under President Hollande but quit the government in protest of its pro-market policies. Although he defeated former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, a party heavyweight, in the primary run-off on January 29 by a margin of 58% to 42%, he is now polling last among the top five candidates.

Hamon has promised to establish a universal basic income: he wants to pay every French citizen over 18, regardless of whether or not they are employed, a government-guaranteed monthly income of €750 ($800). The annual cost to taxpayers would be €400 billion ($430 billion). By comparison, France's 2017 defense budget is €32.7 billion ($40 billion).

Hamon, who has been called the "French Jeremy Corbyn," in reference to the leader of the British Labour Party, also wants reduce the French work week from 35 to 32 hours and make it more difficult for companies to fire people. He wants to legalize cannabis and impose a tax on robots and computers; the tax would apply to any technology that takes away jobs from humans.

Hamon's policy positions (platform here) include:

* European Federalism: Hamon favors further European integration, especially on social issues. He has also called for "a process of social convergence with a national minimum wage set at 60% of each country's average wage." He has also called for the reformation of eurozone governance. "Only a complete revision of the European treaties could give the eurozone an institutional framework capable of correcting the founding mistakes of the Economic and Monetary Union," he wrote in a policy paper.

* Immigration: Hamon has said that France does not have an immigration problem. In an interview with Le Parisien, he said: "Immigrants now occupy low-skilled jobs for which there is little competition with French workers. I think our country does not have an immigration problem." Hamon favors "a more equitable" distribution of asylum seekers in Europe and believes that France can accommodate more. He wants to allow migrants to obtain work permits after three months of being present in France. He has called for doubling the number of asylum seeker reception centers.

* Islam: Hamon has come under fire for appearing to turn a blind eye to Islamic customs. In December 2016, after France 2 broadcast undercover television footage of daily life in Sevran, a heavily Islamized suburb of Paris, Hamon defended the Muslim practice of prohibiting women from entering bars and cafés. "Historically, there were never women in the coffee shops," he said. He added that "the French Republic is to blame for the fact that there are social ghettos where today public spaces can be off limits to women."



Only slightly less insane than Mélenchon, Hamon is your run of the mill self-hating leftozoid idiot.


Today's elections will show whether the French are serious about national suicide. In a nutshell, candidates Macron, Hamon, Mélenchon guarantee the continued and accelerated death spiral of the French nation which will lead to implosion and civil war in two decades. Candidate Fillon might be able to prolong that with one decade. Candidate Le Pen, while possibly as incapable as the rest of halting France's downfall, has at least a slight chance of buying some time for the rest of Europe to get serious about the mortal danger posed to the continent by further islamization. At least in this respect, resistance against the islamic onslaught should by all means be a European project.

Personally, I'm not at all optimistic about the outcome. The French can safely be relied upon to do the wrong thing time and again. The Dutch are a more sensible people, yet they gave the finger to the one politician and political movement who could have saved their country. It is not realistic to expect a people like the French to be more reasonable than the Dutch.

That said.... for what it's worth, DowneastBlog supports Marine Le Pen and the Front National:


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Bonne chance!!!!



MFBB.