Hollande: ‘This particular group…they don’t strike only those who don’t think like they do, they also strike Muslims…they rape, they kill’
Posted: September 24, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Diplomacy, Global, War Room | Tags: Algeria, Caliphate, François Hollande, France, Hollande, Iraq, Islam, President of France Leave a commentUNITED NATIONS (AP) — French President Francois Hollande says the terrorists who beheaded a French citizen in Algeria are a global threat.
Hollande addressed world leaders at the United Nations Wednesday shortly after learning of the man’s death.
“I am speaking to you with a particularly high level of emotion.”
— French President Francois Hollande
A video released by a U.S. terrorism watchdog showed Algerian extremists allied with the Islamic State group decapitating a hostage after France ignored their demand to stop airstrikes in Iraq. The group calls itself Jund al-Khilafah. Read the rest of this entry »
Doux Liberté: Paris Celebrates Liberation from Nazi Occupation 70 Years Later
Posted: August 25, 2014 Filed under: Global, History, War Room | Tags: Île de Sein, Charles De Gaulle, City Hall, Dietrich von Choltitz, François Hollande, France, French Resistance, Hollande, Monday, Paris, World War II 1 Comment“Paris! Paris outraged! Paris broken! Paris martyred! But Paris liberated! Liberated by itself. Liberated by its people.”
— Charles De Gaulle’s famous speech at City Hall
President Francois Hollande led tributes to the French Resistance on Monday, as Paris celebrated the 70th anniversary of its joyful liberation after four long and bitter years of Nazi occupation in World War II. Soaked by a torrential downpour on the Ile de Sein off northwestern France, Hollande hailed the bravery of the tiny island’s population, who refused to accept their country’s occupation and fled to Britain to join the fight for France’s liberation.
“A tiny parcel of land in the ocean, the Ile de Sein was in the vanguard, an example, an illustration of French patriotism.”
— President Francois Hollande
“The message from Ile de Sein is that there is no danger, no difficulty we cannot overcome as long as the will is there, as long as people gather together,” said Hollande, who made no reference to his own political difficulties only hours after his prime minister handed in his government’s resignation.
Hollande’s speech on the island kicked off a day of celebrations that will climax with Parisians marking their city’s liberation just as their parents and grandparents did seven decades ago — with a gala dance at City Hall.
There will also be an altogether more modern twist to the ball later Monday, with a sound and light show and huge projections of previously unseen photos on the facade of the imposing building in central Paris. Read the rest of this entry »
Reality Check: France’s Statist, Protectionist Tea Party Is Nothing Like America’s
Posted: April 3, 2014 Filed under: Global, Politics | Tags: Day of Anger, François Hollande, France, Hollande, Manuel Valls, Paris, Semitic, Tea Party movement Leave a commentThis is probably the most in-depth article on this subject you’ll see on this subject, to date. I highly recommend reading the whole thing, if you’re interested in getting past the headlines, spin, and misleading reports about France’s competing political groups. Nice reporting by Mr. Synon.
For Breitbart.com, M.E. Synon writes: The reports have been running on both sides of the Atlantic: conservatives are mobilising in France and this may be the start of a French Tea Party Movement. But before American conservatives start to cheer and look for soul-mates across the water, they need to see just who is putting out these reports.
“…the roots of French conservatism lie in resistance to the French revolution and, among many conservatives, a yearning for king and Catholicism.”
In America, it is the left-wing legacy media such as the Washington Post. By making the link, the Post wants to denigrate the Tea Party Movement by tying it to the anti-libertarian European hard-right.
In Britain, it is again the left-wing media such as Prospect Magazine making the claim. Prospect’s editor has derided the French conservative movement (what he calls ‘zombie Catholicism’) as a ‘French Tea Party.’
“But there is another French right-wing, too. It is represented by the National Front of Marine Le Pen, which has just humiliated Hollande’s socialists in the local elections.”
In France, it is the establishment socialists, the ‘intellos’ – the intellectuals – who claim the emergence of a Tea Party Movement. They want to denigrate French conservatives by linking them with what in France are seen as intolerant American yokels.
“Individual liberty and freedom from government is not at the core of the thinking of either kind of French conservative.”
Talk of a French Tea Party took off in February, when the left-wing politician Manuel Valls, then the interior minister in President Francois Hollande’s socialist government and now the prime minister, gave an interview to a French Sunday newspaper.
Sacré Bleu! Peasants, Peek Behind the Scenes at the France State Dinner, See the Menu…
Posted: February 12, 2014 Filed under: Diplomacy, Food & Drink, White House | Tags: Caviar, Cheese, Dessert, Food, France, Ganache, Hollande, Obama, Quail Eggs, Shallots, State Dinner, United States, White House 3 Comments

Sacré Bleu! French Soap Opera Update: Hundreds Detained in Anti-Hollande Protest
Posted: January 27, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Global, Mediasphere, Politics | Tags: Far-right politics, France, Hollande, Julie Gayet, Paris, President of France, Valérie Trierweiler, Washington 3 Comments
French President Franois Hollande at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Jan. 16, 2014. Michel Euler / AP
Andrew Katz writes: Nineteen police officers were injured and about 250 people detained in Paris on Sunday, authorities said today, at a protest against the leadership of French President François Hollande.
No injuries were critical, police said, after an estimated 17,000 people took part in a largely peaceful demonstration against the president’s handling of the economy. Some 50 associations were involved, including far-right and conservative groups.
Sacré Bleu! French Study Shows a Majority of Men and a Third of Women Cheat
Posted: January 22, 2014 Filed under: Art & Culture, Global | Tags: Cheating, François Hollande, France, French people, Gleeden, Hollande, infidelity, Julie Gayet, les liaisons dangereuses, Marriage, Paris, Sex 1 Comment
The majority of French men and a third of French women cheat on their partners, a new poll has found Photo: ALAMY
Poll finds that 55 per cent of French men and 32 per cent of French women are unfaithful and that infidelity is on the rise but that the French are champions of forgiveness
From Paris, Henry Samuel reports: A majority of French men and a third of French women cheat on their partners, a new poll, has found indicating that infidelity is on the rise in France among both sexes.
The study also found that Left-wing French are more likely to cheat on their partners than those who identify themselves as on the Right
In figures that could help explain why so many French are unfazed by the dalliances of their president, François Hollande, the Ifop study found that some 55 per cent of French men and 32 per cent of French women admit to cheating on their other halves.
Sacré Bleu! De Blasio’s Doomed Imitation of French President François Hollande a Potential Nightmare for New Yorkers
Posted: January 7, 2014 Filed under: Politics, Reading Room, U.S. News | Tags: Bill de Blasio, Blasio, François Hollande, France, Hollande, Michael Bloomberg, New York, New York City, Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France 2 Comments
A Marxist takes over Gotham: Mayor Bill de Blasio. Photo: Newscom
Gotham’s new mayor sounds like François Hollande, and he risks similar results
Nicole Gelinas writes: In his inaugural address last Wednesday, New York’s new mayor, Bill de Blasio, promised to “commit” the city he now leads “to a new progressive direction.” As Gotham embarks on a “dramatic new approach,” he promised, “the world will watch as we succeed.” De Blasio should be watching the world instead—particularly France. The policy prescription that brought de Blasio to office—higher income taxes on New York’s wealthy—is exactly what French president François Hollande proposed to win his own post nearly two years ago. Since then, Hollande’s approval rating has plummeted to record lows for a French leader. French citizens have grown tired of symbolic anti-rich gestures; they want real solutions to real problems.
Hollande, who won office in May 2012, was one of the first leftist Western politicians to benefit from two global trends after 2008: disillusionment with incumbent politicians and dismay at income inequality. Hollande’s opponent and predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, was well settled in office during the economic collapse of 2008—a toxic place to be for any Western leader. But Sarkozy, like former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, was also practically a cartoon embodiment of the second target of anger. Sarkozy was the “bling-bling” president who outfitted the presidential jet with a top-of-the-line oven so that he could eat gourmet food in the air, the president who traded in his (second) wife for a model-turned-singer-turned-movie-star, the president who loved hanging out with the world’s 1 percent on yachts and private beaches. In expelling a sitting head of state for the first time in three decades, the French made it clear that they wanted change.
But victory came almost too easily. Hollande didn’t have to put forward any serious policy proposals to win. France’s problems were straightforward and remain so: persistent deficits, caused not by the economic crisis but by ever-growing retirement costs; plus high unemployment, caused by high taxes and heavy social mandates on employers—including the near-impossibility of firing a permanent worker. Hollande had little to say about these issues. Instead, his plan was simple:tax the rich. He increased top-bracket income taxes from 41 percent to 45 percentand imposed a temporary two-year levy of 75 percent on income above 1 million euros. In his inauguration speech, he said that “to put France back on her feet, in a fair way,” he would “discourage exorbitant income and remuneration.” Though he acknowledged France’s intractable problems, the closest he got to a solution was to say that “Europe needs projects.”
France Will Not Back Down on Iran
Posted: November 17, 2013 Filed under: Global, Politics, War Room | Tags: François Hollande, France, Hollande, Iran, Israel, Knesset, President of France, Theodor Herzl 1 CommentFrench President Francois Hollande, visiting Israel for three days, reiterated on Sunday that France will not back down in its opposition to Iran’s nuclear program as it currently stands. He said, “France will not tolerate nuclear proliferation. As long as we are not certain that Iran has decided to give up on nuclear weapons, we will continue with all our demands and with sanctions.” France currently does $3 billion a year on trade with Israel.
Hollande will visit the grave of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, and also the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. He is planning a speech in the Knesset,
Knesset Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein welcomed Hollande, saying, “it is a great honor for the Knesset to host the President of France, who is one of Israel’s closest friends. The French President is a close friend and I am happy that he chose to address the nation of Israel from the Knesset plenum. I believe that the visit will be very meaningful for both countries.”
President François Hollande Proposes Lowering Voting Age in France to Include 12-Year-Olds
Posted: October 16, 2012 Filed under: Mediasphere | Tags: Education, Education reform, François Hollande, France, Hollande, Karl Marx, Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France, Student Leave a commentFrench President François Hollande is said to be introducing a series of sweeping education reforms, including: an initiative to install tobacco-dispensing vending machines in boys and girls bathrooms, to provide free cigarettes, a weekly airdrop of candy baskets to schools in Paris, and the institution of “casual Friday”, where students are encouraged to wear bathrobes, pajamas, and lingerie to school…
Also under consideration: nationwide ban on Dental visits, a proposal to replace unpopular mathematics and history courses with free pony rides, and erecting a 300-foot-tall statue of Karl Marx, made entirely of dark chocolate.
With these initiatives, François Hollande will endear himself, not just to French school children, but to millions of unemployable future state dependents and welfare recipients children, all over Europe.
This item, from TIME:
Last week, Hollande reaffirmed his pledge to make education one of his main domestic priorities by outlining key strategic changes to revitalize France’s school system. It’s a sweeping package of changes meant to reform a system critics claim is outdated and inefficient, but for headline writers it boils down to one concept: the French President wants to outlaw homework.
“Work should be done at school, rather than at home,” Hollande emphasized on Wednesday. He also proposes reducing the average amount of time a student spends in class in each day, while stretching the school week from four days to four and a half. It’s a bid to bring the country more in line with international standards and to acknowledge some of the current system’s shortcomings. Even the homework isn’t just an empty populist gesture — it’s meant to reflect the fact that many of the lowest-performing students lack a positive support environment at home…
via French President François Hollande Promises to Abolish Homework | NewsFeed | TIME.com
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