Do some French people see what's going on? Yellow Vest Protests

Having said that, Zak, I recognize that I was born in a post-war Paris where one was still someone for one's neighbor, or for the shopkeepers of the neighborhood. In public transport, I had been educated to leave my seat to ladies or the elderly. It even happened that people talked to each other about the news, the weather, everything and nothing. La causette was still the order of the day. At the café counter, Pierrot made no secret of his political opinions, and sometimes it was loud, but for hours. A bit like in Campagnol's blog for those who know it (I highly recommend it: its author really knew the world before).

It was the Paris-village of Doisneau, Prévert or Jacques Tati, that I roamed it in all directions on my bike and without any helmet. I witnessed the gradual arrival of modernity: a city where the pedestrian is no longer the king, where people no longer speak to strangers, where eyes avoid crossing each other, where people give themselves an alibi for not communicating, thanks to earphones that make each one deaf to the other.

Little by little, incivility has become a way of being, a new normality. Recently, I had to take train during strikes: I had to stay sat on the floor for the duration of the course, in a crowded train because no kid felt the need to give me his seat. Yet I can't hide my age.

So yes, the human being is no longer at the heart of our lives, of our cities. I'm one of those old farts who can regret it because I knew a world where it was more so.

That’s the way it is
 
On the other hand again, and here I would like to read you about this, it contributes to a certain form of detachment from this world. When I was twenty years old, being of the "we can change the world" generation, my passion for my fellow human beings was great. I sincerely wished us a better future. And then, I grew up and old through this evolution of the society that I rather qualify as an involution today. And the more it goes, the less I care.

This shouldn't be, because I have children, grandchildren and cats, but it's a bit like love, it's not always obvious to understand why it goes away.

It was gradual. I started by thinking I should be a kind of little black duck. Then I told myself that I was belonging to the world to come and not to the one that is dying. Now that my life is largely done, I would like to be wiser and more full of love for others, but nothing helps. I have a lot of love for nature, for animals, for some of my relatives and for some beautiful people that I still manage to admire, but overall, I would go so far as to say that I have come to admit the very idea of the disappearance of the human species.

I'm a little ashamed of that, but I can't help it. The Covid may have been the layer too much. I don't want to be a knight anymore. I watch these crowds hypnotized by the Pied Piper and very eager to go drown. Up close, I always say something when there’s an occasion , but from afar, I just say: OK, go ahead guys!
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1595105375392505856
Video "Inflation: more and more students on food aid"

The government has released "exceptional funding" of around three million euros to help the departments which received more unaccompanied foreign minors in 2021 than the previous year, according to a decree published on Tuesday in the official journal.

“The departments having received an additional number of unaccompanied minors (MNA) on December 31, 2021 compared to December 31, 2020 are allocated exceptional State funding”, can we read in the decree of November 21 concerning these young people, whose care is the subject of recurrent controversy.

This additional funding "is set at 6,000 euros per young person for 75% of additional young people supported by social assistance for children" of the departments concerned, according to the text signed in particular by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire and the Secretary of State for Children Charlotte Caubel. www.leparisien.fr
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https://twitter.com/x/status/1595088841953914880

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IMF tells France to end its 'whatever it takes' policy

The Washington-based institution is urging France to funnel aid towards the least well-off in the face of the energy crisis and to accelerate public spending cuts.
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Published on November 22, 2022 at 10h04, updated at 10h04 on November 22, 2022 Lire en français
The Washington-based institution is urging France to funnel aid towards the least well-off in the face of the energy crisis and to accelerate public spending cuts.
"Deficit reduction should not be a concern while the crisis is ongoing," the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in 2020, in the midst of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Two years later, while the war in Ukraine has slowed down the recovery, caused energy prices to soar and increased deficits, the Washington-based international organization has become much less complacent, particularly with regard to France. In its annual report on France, published on Monday, November 21, the IMF sent a thinly-veiled warning, calling on the country to speed up the pace of its public spending cuts and urging it to restrict its support measures only to its most vulnerable citizens in response to the energy crisis.

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Read more Macron prolongs 'whatever it takes' economic approach to energy crisis

"We have supported the 'whatever it takes' measures, but now it is time" to end them, said Jeffrey Franks, IMF mission chief for France, at a press conference. Mr. Franks was presenting the conclusions of the mission which, each year, reviews France's economic, budgetary and financial situation, as provided for in Article IV of the organization's statutes.

The message is a clear warning, as the government is preparing to release an additional €50 billion to support households and businesses indiscriminately in 2023, as part of the budget currently being debated in Parliament, and as interest rates rise.

It also contrasts with the recommendations made to Germany in July. At that time, the IMF deemed the country's fiscal stance for 2022 "appropriate," and even urged Berlin "to overcome long-standing impediments to a rapid and decisive increase in public investment." Germany has since announced a €200 billion package to help households and businesses facing energy price inflation.

Read more Macron promises aid for French businesses amid energy crisis

France has not, however, entered the energy crisis with its finances in the same state as those of its neighbor. Nevertheless, it has mobilized considerable sums (more than €100 billion since the fall of 2021, in total) to absorb the bulk of price rises for households.

While the IMF admits that this has enabled it to keep inflation below the level of other European countries, this has come at the cost of a massive increase in spending, added to the hundreds of billions already spent to support the economy battered by Covid-19, and fueling a new....Continued
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A brutal premeditated attack on a tax collector leaves French authorities stunned.

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France in shock over murder of tax inspector during routine audit

A French tax inspector was killed during an audit at the home of a dealer in second-hand goods, police say.
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Published on November 22, 2022, at 17h55
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The French government on Tuesday, November 22, expressed shock after a tax inspector was stabbed to death as he was trying to audit the books of a business owner in the north of the country.

The murder victim, a 43-year-old civil servant for the tax authorities, was found dead on Monday, killed "most likely by repeated stabbing", the prosecutors' office in the northern French city of Arras said.

The suspected killer, a 46-year-old antiquities dealer, was then believed to have killed himself with a firearm, it said. The suspect, described by the local mayor as "an ordinary guy", locked up the tax inspector and a female colleague during a tax audit of his business, and tied them up, it said.

The Arras chief prosecutor, Sylvain Barbier Sainte-Marie, told reporters on Tuesday that the presumed killer may have planned the murder well ahead of the agents' visit. Police had found clamps used to tie up the agents "which were probably purchased before the act", according to the prosecutor. "Early evidence seems to point to a premeditated act," he said.

Budget Minister Gabriel Attal said earlier that "the republic is weeping for one of its own", calling it "revolting" that a public servant was killed "because he did his job".

'Potentially dangerous' job​

The inspector arrived Monday afternoon at the antique dealer's home, accompanied by a colleague, to check his accounts.

Mr. Attal said usually agents were sent on tax check missions on their own, but this time there was backup because there had been tensions during previous visits to the antique dealer's business.

Prosecutors said the businessman tied them up and stabbed the inspector, leaving the colleague "terribly shocked" but otherwise unharmed. A union for tax officials said the case showed that its members had a "potentially dangerous" job.

The dealer, a divorced father of two, moved four years ago to the hamlet of Bullecourt, its mayor Eric Bianchin told press agency Agence France Presse (AFP). He bought a farm from where he sold bric-a-brac which he picked up at auctions and yard sales around the area.

He was "an ordinary guy", the mayor said, describing him as "helpful, and well-integrated in the village" of some 250 people. A neighbour, Geoffrey Fournier, described the presumed killer as "discreet" and "apparently hard-working", whose business "seemed to be doing OK".

The French parliament observed a minute of silence in memory of the tax inspector. On Wednesday there will be ceremonies in regional tax centres in his honour, Attal said. Le Monde with AFP
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Ocean Viking: France denies entry to 123 asylum seekers

France has refused entry to scores of asylum seekers rescued in the Mediterranean, rekindling the EU immigration debate and heightening tensions with Italy.
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Gwelan (too) said:
On the other hand again, and here I would like to read you about this, it contributes to a certain form of detachment from this world. When I was twenty years old, being of the "we can change the world" generation, my passion for my fellow human beings was great. I sincerely wished us a better future. And then, I grew up and old through this evolution of the society that I rather qualify as an involution today. And the more it goes, the less I care.

This shouldn't be, because I have children, grandchildren and cats, but it's a bit like love, it's not always obvious to understand why it goes away.

It was gradual. I started by thinking I should be a kind of little black duck. Then I told myself that I was belonging to the world to come and not to the one that is dying. Now that my life is largely done, I would like to be wiser and more full of love for others, but nothing helps. I have a lot of love for nature, for animals, for some of my relatives and for some beautiful people that I still manage to admire, but overall, I would go so far as to say that I have come to admit the very idea of the disappearance of the human species.

I'm a little ashamed of that, but I can't help it. The Covid may have been the layer too much. I don't want to be a knight anymore. I watch these crowds hypnotized by the Pied Piper and very eager to go drown. Up close, I always say something when there’s an occasion , but from afar, I just say: OK, go ahead guys!
Click to expand...
Votre post me trotte dans la tête mais je ne sais pas trop quoi témoigner pour continuer la réflexion par manque de confiance en la pertinence de ma pensée; aussi je vous donne mon retour en espérant qu'il soit pertinent, sans trop développer.

J'ai finis de lire ponérologie politique hier soir, c'est saisissant de justesse et je pense à la lumière de son exposé que nous avons grandi dans une société pathocratique où l'involution s'est accélérée depuis disons les années 70. Insidieusement au début et maintenant ouvertement, sans frein du côté des psychopates au pouvoir.
Pour nous il me semble que nos attentes ou espoir d'un monde meilleur étaient en fait des visions hypnotisées en grande partie. Du rêve on passe au cauchemar en quelque sorte.
Une leçon pas si fun à apprendre.
Mais il y a d'autres leçons. Pour trouver notre identité véritable nous pouvons agir en fonction de ce qu'on apprend ici notamment à propos du centre émotionnel négatif inférieur dont on peut tirer énergie.
Être alerte, méditer, respirer: le détachement passe par là. Et l'aide aux autres est plus réelle grâce à ce travail car notre fréquence agit naturellement pour notre environnement.
En tout cas je vois ma propre désespoir comme une time loop trap program qui draine ma force de vivre et qui n'a pas au final de vérité objective pour défendre sa position, alors je le zappe dés que je me rends compte qu'il tourne en appliquant les moyens appris au fil des études. Le travail de chaque moment.

Une p'tite chanson de l'époque:


Your post is on my mind but I don't know what to say to continue the reflection because of my lack of confidence in the relevance of my thought; so I give you my feedback hoping that it is relevant, without developing too much.


I finished reading political ponerology last night, it is strikingly accurate and I think in the light of his presentation that we have grown up in a pathocratic society where the involution has accelerated since the 70s. Insidiously at first and now openly, without restraint on the part of the psychopaths in power.

For us it seems that our expectations or hopes for a better world were in fact hypnotized visions for the most part. From dream to nightmare in a way.

A not so fun lesson to learn.

But there are other lessons. To find our true identity we can act on what we learn here especially about the lower negative emotional center from which we can draw energy.

Being alert, meditating, breathing: detachment goes through this. And helping others is more real thanks to this work because our frequency acts naturally for our environment.

In any case I see my own despair as a time loop trap program that drains my life force and that has no objective truth to defend its position, so I skip it as soon as I realize that it is turning by applying the means I have learned throughout my studies. The work of each moment.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
 
Yes, Wilfried, you are right: this moment when reality resembles neither our memories nor our dreams is quite uncomfortable.

In my case, it is the detachment itself that is the most disconcerting, and not for reasons of identity because, on the contrary, I feel all the more myself, in agreement with the child that I was. In fact, it is as if from warrior, I was becaming guardian. As if the passion to change the facts, had given way to a manner of gardener, who just waits for the right season, scanning the sky …
 
A post from the Telegram channel "Global Intel Watch", which I thought was interesting. Can French Forum members comment on how accurate this might be?

Global Intel Watch said:
🇫🇷 - French documentary confirms long-standing rumors that police union made the decision to remove interior minister Castaner, which was accepted by president Macron. Around that time, Macron's govt made an important right-wing turn, having since made several major decisions regarding Islam, security and immigration, potentially under police pression too.

SGP police union leader Yves Lefevre has been described as the leader of the movement to remove Castaner.

Since then, the documentary says, police has been under police union control, and police unions have tried to expand control of the larger state apparatus, trying for example to pressure judicial system.

This whole story heavily puts under question the nature of the regime in France. It is now obvious that the civilian government, while it has probably still some authority is heavily under coercive influence from police unions. Obviously, as we don't have full access of what's happening behind the scenes, we don't know how much effective power civilian govt or police unions have. But reports explicitly indicate that police is now de facto a "state within the state".

This weakening of the civilian government was probably caused by the Yellow Vests protests, which proved French liberals had lost popular legitimacy, thus emboldening hostile actors within the police to take control. Terror attacks also played a role. Basically, security forces became bigger than the system.

It is unclear whether the civilian government is able, and even willing, to retake full control of the state apparatus. The documentary shows some actors are willing to try for sure, but it is unclear any serious attempt is being planned.

There is no word to describe how much, according to his own political philosophy, Macron's decision to serve as a "constitutionnal monarch" for police unions is condemnable. Macron could've tried to risk it all and give French rule of law a last stand, which could've protect it. He didn't. He caved.

Police union's influence was basically an open-ended secret for 2 years. Now it's becoming more and more public. This means Macron's facade of control will increasingly fade away. The decision to go ahead with these revelations are probably caused by the incoming police unions elections, which are scheduled to be held soon. Unclear who is favorite to win those elections. Yves Lefebvre's decision to say publicly he fired Castaner was probably a campaign move.

The fact police unions collaborated with the documentary portraying them as a "state within the state" shows this documentary could be a show of force by the police unions ahead of Union elections rather than a genuine attempt at stopping them.
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Ryan said:
A post from the Telegram channel "Global Intel Watch", which I thought was interesting. Can French Forum members comment on how accurate this might be?
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To make a long story short.
Castaner was a fuse that had to be blown, in a turbulent context for the Macron government at the time.
The former secretary general of the Force Ouvrière SGP Police unit, Yves Lefebvre, only has the power of a well-placed pawn, in the same camp as Macron, so I really don't believe that this union decides such things independently.
Yves Lefebvre is the guy who said this about a yellow vest whose hand was ripped off by a grenade: "I'm going to be very crude, but it's well done for his face".
 
Ryan said:
A post from the Telegram channel "Global Intel Watch", which I thought was interesting. Can French Forum members comment on how accurate this might be?
Click to expand...
I saw something about it on a French news channel in Telegram which said:

The police unions would dictate their law to the Minister of the Interior: they would have a hand in careers, promotions and transfers.

After the death of Cedric Chouviat, Interior Minister C.Castaner had spoken of "bavure", and had promised to fight racism and to put an end to the technique of the stranglehold key.

The police unions tell Complement D'enquete how they got Castaner's skin in a few days.

They went around the TV sets and went on strike to show their protest.
They finally got their way with Castaner's resignation.

"A minister, that passes. A trade unionist, it remains. "

Via: the program of complement of investigation "Police: when the unions make the law"
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So, it seems to come from this report, which blurb is:

At the end of 2019, in a police station in Pau, two police officers are unleashed against a 16-year-old teenager, who ends up with a pierced eardrum. Sentenced to 15 months suspended prison for voluntary violence, the two officials are removed from the police. But in Pau, the unions, including Alliance, opposed the Ministry's decision and obtained the reinstatement of their colleagues. Today, these two policemen are again on the field. How did the unions manage to do this? What are their methods and their weight in the police force? In this very exposed profession where the right to strike is prohibited, 70% of the 150,000 French police officers are unionized.
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But I haven't watch it and can't watch it, so I can't tell.
 
Here's a question: we are told in France that it is complicated to build new nuclear power plants because there has been a "loss of knowledge". Basically, they no longer know how to build a power plant because it has not been done for 20 years. Is this a joke? Did the dead engineers keep their secrets? Couldn't we keep a written record of the construction methods at that time? Knowing that this is our only source of electricity? Aren't we being fooled a little? Or is it a knowledge from the 50's that was given to us and the enlightened ones or some helpers who created it died without leaving anything behind?
The whole thing is comical. Like the technical data of the lunar missions that NASA cannot find or the plans of the devices that have been deleted due to lack of space. I'M LAUGHING!
 
Already, about fifteen years ago, a friend who was still working at EDF in nuclear maintenance explained the problem to me. Before EDF massively outsourced maintenance to private companies, it was the guys who had built and operated the plants who maintained them. They knew everything about every single bolt. Some retired and the others were fired. Result = no one had this memory anymore. Despite the technical manuals that nobody has time to read anymore, each new team had to rediscover the problems at each intervention... basically. For construction, it's a bit the same. Engineers didn't suddenly become stupid, but we just stopped training specialized workers for these tasks, so, guys like that who are indispensable... we don't have enough of them anymore.

And they are not trained in a minute.
 
A 500,000-ton oil tanker is not something that can be driven by reflex. You have to anticipate everything by at least a quarter of an hour because it has very bad brakes, it steers very badly, etc... but a society, a country: it's much worse, anticipation is at least over a generation, even more. With in our governments, all these guys who take the money and run, we might as well say that there is no more pilot in the plane.
 
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