Adam Pankratz: Emmanuel Macron's deal with the devil leaves him with an extremist left-wing government - "This is the first time that a party that received over 30 per cent in the first round has failed to win a second round majority... Remarkably, almost no one paid any attention to Mélanchon and the NFP during the buildup to Sunday’s election. Perhaps they should have, as they would understand why this is no victory for France, and certainly not for Macron. The NFP is a coalition of LFI, the Socialist party, the greens and the Communists. Economically, they are left of left . Their proposals include a 35-hour work week, moving to 32 hours following collective bargaining, and the retirement age moved back down to 60. They also want a 90 per cent top marginal tax rate, sharp increases in the inheritance tax and a luxury sales tax. On energy security, they are not concerned by current realities. They will move to 100 per cent renewable energy, phase out nuclear power and nationalize France’s largest energy providers, EDF and Engie. Watch for rolling blackouts if any of these ideas are implemented. LFI and Mélanchon are Eurosceptic and consider the European Union a neoliberal enterprise that harms local industry and the environment. They are also anti-NATO, staunchly pro-Palestine and have never managed to condemn the October 7 massacre without also blaming Israel."
It's worth destroying to country to avoid a "far right" government
Prominent French Jews decry far left's election gains amid fears of 'new antisemitism' - "Prominent French Jews on Sunday lamented the electoral success of a political bloc that features a far-left party widely regarded as antisemitic in the country’s parliamentary elections... Moshe Sebbag, a rabbi for the Synagogue de la Victoire, told The Times of Israel that “it seems France has no future for Jews,” and said he advises young French Jews to leave for Israel... “The left is once again kidnapped by the infamous Melenchon. Divisive language. Hate of the republic on the lips. Around him right now are some incarnations of the new antisemitism. A chilling moment. A stain: Continue to fight against these people,” French-Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy wrote on X. Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of LFI, in a 2017 speech called French Jews “an arrogant minority that lectures to the rest.”... “Melenchon’s victory is a terrible signal of impunity sent to the anti-Jewish Islamo-Fascists,” French-Jewish journalist Yohann Taieb wrote on X... Meanwhile, the hard left under Melenchon has placed the Palestinian cause on its banner: One of the party’s most prominent figures, Rima Hassan, is a French-Palestinian lawyer who has called Hamas’s October 7 onslaught a “legitimate action.” Hassan, who was not on the ballot, stood next to Melenchon during his concluding speech of the first round. She was wearing a keffiyeh, in what many observers interpreted as a signal to Muslim voters that Melenchon’s party was their political home... The leftist New Popular Front (NFP) alliance, which wants to cap prices of essential goods like fuel and food, raise the minimum wage to a net 1,600 euros ($1,732) per month, hike wages for public sector workers and impose a wealth tax, immediately said it wanted to govern."
Clearly, all of these Jews are deluded, like Alain Finkielkraut
French far-left leader accused of anti-Semitism - "Jean-Luc Mélenchon (photo), who heads the Communist-allied Parti de Gauche (Left Party), referred to French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici as “one of those 17 Eurogroup bastards [finance ministers]” putting pressure on Cyprus as it urgently sought a bail-out solution to its debt crisis. “Moscovici behaves like someone who has stopped thinking in French, like someone who thinks only in the language of international finance,” Mélenchon told a press conference on Saturday. But rather than criticising Mélanchon for calling Moscovici a “bastard”, the comments were slammed by the ruling Socialists for whom “language of international finance” was for them too reminiscent of anti-Semitic pre-war rhetoric in France."
From 2013
Jewish families are urged to leave for Israel after election sees 'anti-Semitic' hard-left storm to victory in disaster for Macron - but lame duck president REFUSES his PM's resignation 'to stabilise the country' - "In a blog post published less than two months ago, the LFI chief declared that antisemitism in France was 'residual' and 'absent' from pro-Palestinian rallies. Three weeks later, a 12-year-old girl was brutally gang-raped and called a 'dirty Jew' in a Parisian suburb in a case that sparked widespread outrage in France."
Meme - Harfang des Neiges @HarfangDneiges: "heureusement, la montée du fascisme est évitée"
Anton Struve @AntonStruve: "A Nantes, dans le cadre des célébrations de la victoire de la gauche, des militants du Nouveau Front Populaire ont tenté de brûler vivant un policier en lui lançant un cocktail Molotov. Celui-ci est actuellement hospitalisé."
Adam Pankratz: France's emboldened lunatic left keeps nation without a prime minister - "In an unsurprising development, the French left can’t agree. Though generally true about most things on the French left, in this particular case it cannot agree on a prime minister. The now-former head of government, Gabriel Attal, resigned Tuesday, and there’s no consensus on a replacement. President Emmanuel Macron is trying to paint this as the left’s fault, but he must share in the blame... Macron had dissolved parliament expressly to stop the advance of the hard-right Rassemblement National (RN) and, when it became clear the RN could well get a parliamentary majority in the second round of the French elections, Macron wheeled and dealed with the recently cobbled together Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP), of which the largest constituent party is Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI). The NFP also includes the Socialists, Greens and Communists. Macron’s trick worked and blunted the RN’s momentum and, according to him, saved France from the tyranny of an RN government. In reality, the fun had only begun. Having eliminated the possibility of a political alliance to the right, Macron’s centrist Ensemble party must now look left. It is not liking what lurks over in Mélenchon’s extreme left ranks. Ensemble and LFI were always extremely uncomfortable bedfellows and this is now publicly apparent. To address this, the Socialists on Monday proposed a prime ministerial candidate “from civil society,” that is to say, not an elected member of the National Assembly. The name being circulated is Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation. The French Constitution allows for the president to appoint whoever they wish as prime minister, including non-officeholders who have not been elected. In practice this is rare, as they must command the confidence of the National Assembly, but it has happened in the past. The proposed Tubiana candidacy is a non-starter for Mélenchon and LFI. She is too close to Macron and, in their view a rejection of left-wing values. As a result, Mélenchon and LFI have suspended negotiations with the other parties of the NFP. They insist that a candidate be chosen from those elected and are accusing the Socialists of having abandoned the plan which got the NFP elected... The French two-round run-off system is specifically designed to create parliamentary majorities for stable government. Normally this would have been the RN, but because of Macron’s backroom deals with the left to block them, the present chaos is the result. The fear — manufactured or real — of the RN, its leader Marine Le Pen and its president Jordan Bardella, led to hasty alliances with Mélenchon and the Communists. Incredibly, what no one seems to have considered is that Mélenchon is just as extreme to the left as Le Pen is to the right. On the economy, LFI proposes to bring the retirement age back down to 60 and “restore” an effective work week of 35 hours (32 for arduous or overnight jobs); legally, France has a 35-hour work week, but employees work more on average. The party also wants a 90 per cent top marginal tax rate , and to limit tax-free inheritance . For France’s energy future, they plan to move to 100 per cent renewable energy while getting rid of nuclear at the same time . All this while nationalizing France’s largest energy providers Électricité de France (EDF) and Engie. LFI is Eurosceptic and considers the European Union a neo-liberal enterprise . It is also anti-NATO, staunchly pro-Palestinian and never could condemn the October 7 attacks without also blaming Israel. Mélenchon is no friend to Macron and is uncompromising in his demands. This has always been the case, even if his bombastic and angry rhetoric seldom reached an international audience. The French, Macron especially, have always known that the hard-left figure would be a nightmare for their country if he were let anywhere near the reins of power. And yet, amazingly, this is exactly what Macron manufactured when he allied with the NFP to block the RN. Macron has done his best to keep a low profile ahead of the Paris Olympics, which will start later this month. As it stands, France is more divided than ever before, with a parliament in total disarray and a raging leftist demanding and perhaps protesting his way to political influence. The Olympics, planned as the president’s zenith, could prove to be his worst nightmare if Mélenchon decides to marshal his troops for battle."
Naturally, the "far right" are to blame for the dysfunction. Not the establishment trying to manipulate the elction to block a plurality of the active electorate. Because the far left are always preferable to the "far right", even if it destroys the country
Hen Mazzig on X - "Far-left French lawmaker, Thomas Portes, announced at a Free Palestine protest today that “the Israeli delegation is not welcome in Paris. Israeli sportspeople are not welcome at the Paris Olympic Games.” He also called for protestors to “mobilize” against it. Israeli athletes are facing abuse in every corner — from anonymous death threats to threats from a government official. French Jewish groups, as well as other left-wing politicians, have condemned Portes, and say he is putting a target on Israeli athletes’ backs. But the damage of a government leader publicly calling to ban Israelis from the Olympics is not so easily reversed. And French Jews, who are already experiencing unprecedented hatred, will be left to deal with the antisemitic fallout."
Time to arrest far right leaders to keep Jews safe
A Struggling Business Park Deals a Blow to Singapore's Regional Hub Ambitions - "Singapore’s commercial real estate market has been a standout amid a global downturn, with one major exception. Just nine miles from the gleaming skyscrapers that crowd the country’s Central Business District sits a 71-hectare (175-acre), billion-dollar example of the city-state’s push to create alternative business hubs. Changi Business Park, dubbed the “CBD of the East” was a big draw for tech giants including International Business Machines Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Global banks from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Citigroup Inc. have also situated their back-end staff there. The business park is now rapidly emptying out, dealing a blow to the Singapore government’s meticulous urban planning and efforts to get foreign businesses to expand their regional operations in the Southeast Asian island nation. Overall vacancy rates across 10 commercial properties there tracked by property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield have more than doubled in the past three years to nearly 40%. The development’s woes show how global tech and finance layoffs, together with the push to work from home since the pandemic, are even overpowering a project with powerful government support in one of the world’s most desirable financial hubs. Changi’s struggles contrast with Singapore’s packed downtown, where prime office rents soared to a 15-year high earlier this year and buildings are almost full... for Singapore white-collar workers who prefer being in the central district, the business park is still a prohibitively far-out location. A bank employee who asked not to be named said she spends at least 90 minutes commuting each way via public transport, which costs around $2. A taxi or a ride-hailing service would take less than half the time, but can cost as much as $45 during peak hours, she added. To make the commute easier, companies like Standard Chartered have arranged for shuttle buses to ferry staffers from their downtown locations or subway stations to Changi. Singapore is building a new underground subway line to slash traveling times from one end of the island to the other, but it is years away from completion. Changi Business Park has also become a lightning rod for citizens’ anxieties about the city-state’s wooing of foreign labor to meet business needs. The predominance of technical operations there has led to what a minister once said was a “concentration” of Indian expatriate workers, with some locals calling the area “Chennai Business Park” or “Changalore"... Overall business park vacancies in Singapore rose to about 22% during the first quarter, the highest level in over a decade"
Are Personal Finance Gurus Giving You Bad Advice? - Freakonomics - "CHOI: Economists would say that the no-brainer thing to do is to focus your payment on the highest interest rate debt that you have, because that’s what’s costing you the most to sustain. And about half of the popular authors say you should focus on the debt that has the highest interest rate.
DUBNER: But then I’m seeing what you write about Dave Ramsey and this “debt snowball” method.
CHOI: Yeah. So the other half of the authors, and really it’s almost evenly split, say that you should do something like the debt snowball. The debt snowball method is basically take the debt that has the smallest balance and focus your energies on paying off that debt because when you zero out a debt account, that is going to give you a shot of motivation and that is going to help you finish your debt repayment journey. And so Dave Ramsey says, “I know that mathematically, this is not the optimal thing to do. This is going to cost you more money relative to if you concentrated on the highest interest rate debt.” But he says, you know, “This is all about behavior change. You need to have these quick wins in order to stay motivated. Otherwise, you’re just going to give up and that’s going to cost you more money down the road.”...
HOUSEL: On that argument, fully with Dave Ramsey. And I would just say, how many people has Dave Ramsey helped out of debt versus the average academic economist? It’s a million to one. Even if it is wrong on paper and it makes economists wince, it’s practical in the trenches. It actually works. There’s probably some equivalent to doctors who say it’s fine to eat some Twinkies once in a while. It might be even fine to smoke once in a while, because it’s realistic, even if it’s not the right thing to do. I realize that you’re a human being and you are flawed like everybody else, and therefore this is just what works in reality...
There is some evidence about Dave Ramsey’s impact. One of Ramsey’s consistent messages is simply to “spend less and save more.” The economist Felix Chopra examined what happened when Ramsey’s radio show came into a new market — and Chopra found that among Ramsey listeners in those markets, “exposure to the radio show decreases household expenditures by at least 5.4 percent.”...
Where the authors and the economists agree is that investing in the stock markets is a good idea — even though many, many U.S. households don’t own stocks...
CHOI: This so-called stock market nonparticipation puzzle has had a lot of economists spill a lot of ink with theories for why. The leading theory is that there’s some kind of fixed cost of investing in the stock market. And so what this theory helps explain is why is it that richer people are more likely to invest in the stock market than poorer people. Now we are pretty sure that that theory is not a completely satisfying theory because even Americans in the top 5 percent of the wealth distribution are not universally invested in stocks. So there has to be something else that’s going on. And I think that the most likely force that is keeping a lot of Americans out of the stock market is that people are just too pessimistic about the returns they’re going to get on the stock market. So if you look at these surveys of Americans, you ask them, what is the chance that the S&P 500 or some other U.S. stock market index will go up over the next year? The answers they give are considerably lower than the historical experience of the stock market...
Jack Bogle was a pioneer of the index fund...
BOGLE: The more dissent I got, the more confident I was that I was right. I’m that kind of a contrarian person. So people laughed. There was this great poster that said “Stamp Out Index Funds.” There’s Uncle Sam with a cancellation stamp all over the poster, and “Index funds are un-American.”
DUBNER: And they were considered “un-American”— that argument was what?
BOGLE: The argument is, “In America, we don’t settle for average. We’re all above average.” But, of course, we’re not all above average. The poster was put out by a brokerage firm. The thing about the index fund — no sales loads, no portfolio turnover. You don’t buy and sell every day like these active managers do. It’s Wall Street’s nightmare and it still is!...
CHOI: I’d say two things that are somewhat related. One is just not having a rainy-day savings buffer. So life is just very, very difficult if you have no buffer for these predictable emergencies. You get a flat tire, you have to patch a hole in your roof, whatever it is. Just to have a couple months of income at least salted away is a pretty high priority. So a lot of Americans don’t have that.
DUBNER: I mean, a lot of people would say, “What are you talking about?” You’re an economist at Yale, which is a great job. Your wife is a physician. You guys are in really good shape financially. A lot of people can’t even start to think about having a rainy day fund because — look, we know what wage stagnation has looked like over the past 20, 30 years. So a great many people are just not able to even get on solid ground, much less get the rainy day fund.
CHOI: Look, everybody wants to have more income than they do. But if we just look at Americans in the 1950s — we had much lower income in the 1950s than we do now, and personal savings rates were a lot higher. Or you can look at China, where their per-capita G.D.P. is a fraction of what ours is. And yet you see personal savings rates in 30, 40, 50 percent ranges. And so it really is about what standard of living do we find tolerable? We know that there’s only so many dollars that’s going to come into your life. And so the question is, do you deprive yourself now or do you deprive yourself later? Maybe it’s better to have a moderate level of deprivation, both today and tomorrow, rather than having very little deprivation today and then a lot of deprivation tomorrow...
I’m a renter for life, so I do not have a mortgage. There is this popular notion that renting is throwing your money away. And that just can’t be true in a well-functioning market. So to just geek out a little bit: what exactly are you doing when you buy a house? You’re just prepaying all of the rent that the house would have commanded over its entire working life. Are you going to pay this in monthly increments or are you going to pay it all upfront? It’s a little bit more complicated than that, but that’s the basic intuition. And so in a well-functioning market, the marginal person should be indifferent between buying and renting."
Clearly Americans don't save because the system is broken (either because capitalism has failed or because the government has failed, depending on your ideology) and they have no choice
Should You Trust Private Equity to Take Care of Your Dog? - Freakonomics - "LERNER: We’ve seen a whole series of industry studies, some of which have highlighted the very positive aspects of private-equity ownership. For instance, there was one study that was done of fast-food restaurants, some of which were owned by private-equity groups and some of which were owned by franchisees. And it found that when you looked at things like inspection ratings or cases of food poisoning and so forth, that the private-equity backed firms were far more effective in terms of less people getting sick... Ashvin’s paper basically argues that the private-equity backed nursing homes during COVID were much more responsive and willing to buy P.P.E. and apply good practices."
I never understand the appeal of people wanting to do roadtrips through dangerous countries. : r/roadtrip - "The Spanish couple that did a roadtrip through the Middle East and India (and had the incident). the German and Polish couple that got killed in Mexico doing their bike tour, the Europeans in Afghanistan that got killed, etc etc I was in NOLA and I met two Dutch people in campervans saying they were driving to Costa Rica. I thought (are they really passing through Tamaulipas?). For reference, I am from Monterrey, Mx. I understand many people do these sorts of trip, I know it's not guaranteed to get you in trouble, I know these countries have so much to offer. But just why risk it? I think there are better ways to see them than driving. Maybe flying and getting tour guides? (Some of my best friends are tour guides and they teach me about their culture). Idk what goes through these people's heads, especially White Europeans. Do their countries lack excitement that they want so bad to experience the opposite, a thrill? Do they think the world is rainbows and roses and nothing bad will happen to them (sounds like White privilege)? Am I not adventurous? certainly not. I have hiked off-the-beaten trails in the US and been to a ton of countries. I always try to challenge myself. But I've never had that impetu of wanting to book a fly to Egypt or Pakistan and rent a 4x4 to explore the country by myself."
"It's pretty hard to get a sense of how dangerous it can be when you're from very very safe countries. The worst you can imagine is generally not that bad. Nobody actually assumes you'll be decapitated and dragged through a village tied to a car, that kinda thing you hear about, but it doesn't feel real in your head."
"And a lot of people want to be the ones that always say, "I traveled through _________ country and had no problems""
"Haha lol. Met that guy! ”Since I didnt have any troubles during my two week trip, the country is super safe, those who say otherwise are just cowards.”"
"My favorites are "I never felt unsafe" and "I saw children playing!""
"I think it's both personally. First, they don't realize the real danger. Second, they assume it can't be that bad. "All humans are nice, they just need a hug!" and then lastly, yeah, first world privilege and some thrill-seeking. I was born and raised in a third world (less developed) country. For awhile now I've lived in a developed country."
"They want to prove that people are good."
"I worked with a guy who was from Bosnia. He fought in the war they had in the early-mid-90’s. Then he told his family he was going to go to school here in the states. They thought he was crazy because people randomly shoot other people here all the time."
"I think it’s the difference between people who grew up surrounded by violence and/or poverty and their entire goal in life is to escape it vs. those who grew up relatively well off and want to push past their comfort zone. I remember traveling years ago on a run down bus in Southern Africa and people were like “all we want in life is to get away from this and you have achieved that and yet you’re here with us?” They were dumbfounded. So I wouldn’t say one group wants to stay home and grow old. Some people have seen enough danger and poverty in their life and don’t want any more of it."
Meme - Ian Miles Cheong @stillgray: "The Canadian taxpayer spent $20 million to teach Ghanans not to sh*t on the beach. You couldn’t make this up."
"Accelerated Sanitation in Northern Ghana. Maximum contribution $19,892,000"
"Beaches are not toilets. Don't do it here! Stop open defaecation"
Meme - Mark Cuban @mcuban: "Hey @google @sundarpichai I just got hacked at my mcuban@gmail.com because someone named noah at your 650-203-0000 called and said I had an intruder and spoofed googles recovery methods. If anyone gets anything from mcuban@gmail.com after 3:30pm pst it's not me."
Owl Holler @Owl_Holler: "This feels like a post my grandma would make on Facebook."
Benefits of Breastfeeding for You & Baby - "Breast milk contains everything your baby needs to grow and develop"
Vitamin D and Breastfeeding - "Breast milk alone does not provide infants with enough vitamin D. Shortly after birth, most breastfed infants will need an additional source of vitamin D through a supplement."
Disabled French woman sues employer after getting full salary for 20 years without work - "For most people, what might be considered a dream job turned into a nightmare for a French woman who recently made headlines by suing telecom giant Orange. She alleged that the company paid her salary for 20 years without assigning any work. Laurence Van Wassenhove sued her employer, claiming she was paid without being given any tasks. Laurence, who has partial paralysis and epilepsy, was hired by Orange in 1993 and says she was sidelined after requesting a transfer due to her disability. Early in her career, she successfully performed roles that suited her abilities, such as secretarial and HR duties. However, in 2002, she requested a transfer to a different location within France. According to her legal team, the transfer did not meet her needs, and instead of finding suitable solutions, Orange stopped assigning her any work. According to Wassenhove, this was done in an attempt to force her to leave the company without firing her directly. Despite receiving her full salary for the next two decades, Van Wassenhove claims she suffered emotional distress due to her unusual situation. She asserts that being paid without any responsibilities made her feel professionally abandoned and increased her sense of isolation. Orange maintains that it acted appropriately, considering her medical condition and exploring all possible options for her to return to work in a suitable position. However, the company noted that her frequent sick leaves complicated the process. Van Wassenhove’s lawyers argue that Orange failed to provide adequate accommodations for her disability, effectively placing her in a professional deadlock with limited opportunities for advancement."
Man Sues Apple After Wife Discovers Deleted Messages With Sexworker - "The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, had used iMessage to communicate with sex workers and thought he had deleted the evidence from his iPhone. However, due to device synchronization via the same Apple ID, the messages remained accessible on the iMac."
Meme - Luigi: "What's Wrong ?"
Mario: "Going to save the princess Again."
Luigi: "Again?? That's the 3rd time This month,
Mario: "I don't understand How she gets Kidnapped so much"
Meanwhile
Man in bed with Princess Peach with King Koopa costume around bed: "He still believes the kidnap story ?"
Princess: "Yeah"
"My childhood is ruined"
Hadith on Beginning Of Creation: I Looked At Paradise And Found Poor People Forming The Majority Of Its Inhabitants; And I Looked At Hell And Saw That The Majority Of Its Inhabitants Were Women - "Narrated 'Imran bin Husain: The Prophet ﷺ said, "I looked at Paradise and found poor people forming the majority of its inhabitants; and I looked at Hell and saw that the majority of its inhabitants were women"."
Dad dies trapped under car, and bystanders robbed him instead of helping - "An Arizona father was crushed to death after becoming trapped under his family’s car as he was trying to fix it — and bystanders robbed him instead of helping, his heartbroken family said. Jeronimo Garcia Guerra was possibly stuck under the vehicle in a Phoenix parking lot for hours after the jack collapsed before someone called 911, police said. By the time police got there, thieves stole everything from Guerra’s pockets, looted the car he had been working on and stole the vehicle he arrived in, according to the family. “He always believed nobody out there is going to help you. In this situation, he was right,” his son, Jerry Garcia Jr. told AZFamily... Police have not made any arrests and their investigation is ongoing."
Meme - "Hey Guys! Big bird laid an egg! Another egg! And another one! Another egg.. *pulling string with eggs on it (anal beads) from Big Bird's butt*"
"You need at least S$15K a month to live in Singapore," netizens advise expat who found a job in Singapore - "An expat who found a job in Singapore and is considering a move to the city-state has been advised that he would need to make at least $15,000 to live a good life here. The expat sought advice on social media regarding the cost of living, revealing that he had landed a position with a financial firm in Singapore’s city centre and was keen to gather insights on living expenses for himself, his partner, their two-year-old child, and two cats. He asked about the costs of housing, school fees, transportation, utilities, healthcare, and other everyday expenses. He was particularly concerned about finding affordable accommodation and understanding the general living expenses in Singapore. Netizens in the comments provided detailed breakdowns, painting a clear picture that a substantial income is necessary to live comfortably in Singapore. One commenter said that rent alone for a two-bedroom apartment within a 20-30 minute commute from the Central Business District (CBD) would be around S$5,000 per month, which can climb further if it’s a property with a garden, reaching between S$10,000 and S$15,000 monthly."