Polanski Released

The Ligue du Sud (League of the South) is a new political group headed by the mayor of Orange Jacques Bompard, who has been closely associated with Philippe de Villiers and his MPF party. Its name would seem to indicate that it sees itself as a French counterpart to the patriotic Italian Northern League. The Ligue du Sud issues communiqués on current events, and has entered its own candidates in next June's regional elections. This communiqué is posted at Novopress:

Roman Polanski has just been released on bail by the Federal Criminal Tribunal of Switzerland. The filmmaker, it will be recalled, is refusing the extradition ordered by the Americans in the case of statutory rape.

Actress Mathilde Seigner, Polanski's sister-in-law, attributes this release, in great measure, to the actions of Nicolas Sarkozy. She declared: "Nicolas Sarkozy was super. He strongly supported him. The president was very useful."

In what France are we living today? On what grounds can a French president meddle into an affair that concerns the American justice system and a filmmaker living in Switzerland? Was it for this that a majority of Frenchmen gave him power?

The fact is that in this case we find the same active solidarity between members of the same world-wide upper class, be it political, financial or cultural, as we do in the Frédéric Mitterrand affair.

Meanwhile, in France, crime continues to increase...

Those who read French may be interested in more information on Jacques Bompard (below) and his Ligue du Sud, which has recently signed an agreement with the Bloc Identitaire (Identitarian movement). This combined movement will be presenting candidates in the PACA region, i.e., Provence, Alpes-Maritime, Côte-d'Azur in June. They have been fighting the building of mosques, supporting the Swiss opposition to minarets, defending themselves from attacks by Jean-Marie Le Pen, and calling for the return to Algeria of any Algerian who is not happy in France. Click here for their website.

Their agenda is what I would call moderately anti-Islamic, since they do not seem to be calling for the removal of Islam from French territory or the repatriation of most (if not all) Muslims from France. It appears as if they accept the notion of "moderate Muslims", under French control.

More, as time goes on...

Happy Thanksgiving

George Washington, who had uttered many prayers for divine guidance had much to be thankful for in 1789 when he proclaimed the first Thanksgiving of the new nation:

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness. Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best. Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Read more at Wikipedia.

A short piece by Jane Runyon at an educational website says this about that terrible winter of 1777-1789 when all appeared lost:

They arrived at Valley Forge on December 19. It had taken them eight days just to march thirteen miles. A snowstorm and icy rain had slowed their progress. They had to build a makeshift bridge to take the troops across the Schuylkill River. There are those who say that you could track the American army by the blood in the snow. The feet of those with no boots were cracked and bleeding. They tied rags around the bloody feet when they could. A day of Thanksgiving was declared by Washington when they were just a day away from Valley Forge. Their Thanksgiving feast consisted of a half cup of rice and a tablespoon of vinegar.

Note: It could be argued that we have little to be thankful for this year. We have a sinister president of the EU, America has in the White House a man with no feelings at all for the traditions of the country he governs, France is on the brink of disaster.

When Washington was faced with similar hoplessness at Valley Forge in 1777-1778, he prayed. There is a controversy as to whether or not he actually prayed, and atheists want to say he did not, secularists want to ban paintings of him praying from our schools, historians enter into long debates on the probability that he did or did not pray. Here is the closest we have to an eye witness testimony - a letter from Rev. Nathaniel Randolph Snowden who quotes Isaac Potts, a Quaker who claims to have seen and heard Washington at prayer:

"I knew personally the celebrated Quaker Potts who saw Gen'l Washington alone in the woods at prayer. I got it from himself, myself. Weems mentioned it in his history of Washington, but I got it from the man myself, as follows:
I was riding with him (Mr. Potts) in Montgomery County, Penn'a near to the Valley Forge, where the army lay during the war of ye Revolution. Mr. Potts was a Senator in our State & a Whig. I told him I was agreeably surprised to find him a friend to his country as the Quakers were mostly Tories. He said, 'It was so and I was a rank Tory once, for I never believed that America c'd proceed against Great Britain whose fleets and armies covered the land and ocean, but something very extraordinary converted me to the Good Faith!'

'What was that,' I inquired? 'Do you see that woods, & that plain. It was about a quarter of a mile off from the place we were riding, as it happened.' 'There,' said he, 'laid the army of Washington. It was a most distressing time of ye war, and all were for giving up the Ship but that great and good man. In that woods pointing to a close in view, I heard a plaintive sound as, of a man at prayer. I tied my horse to a sapling & went quietly into the woods & to my astonishment I saw the great George Washington on his knees alone, with his sword on one side and his cocked hat on the other. He was at Prayer to the God of the Armies, beseeching to interpose with his Divine aid, as it was ye Crisis, & the cause of the country, of humanity & of the world.

'Such a prayer I never heard from the lips of man. I left him alone praying. 'I went home & told my wife. I saw a sight and heard today what I never saw or heard before, and just related to her what I had seen & heard & observed. We never thought a man c'd be a soldier & a Christian, but if there is one in the world, it is Washington. She also was astonished. We thought it was the cause of God, & America could prevail.' He then to me put out his right hand & said 'I turned right about and became a Whig.'"

Below, a sketch of Thanksgiving during the Civil War 1861.


The vintage card at the top is from Collectibles.

France Today - The View From Moscow

Here is an article posted in the comment section of François Desouche. To the best of my knowledge it is not online, but it appeared in the French magazine Rivarol, according to another comment at FDS. Written in 2005 by a Russian - Mikhaïl Zygar of the weekly Kommersant-Vlast, it is comparison between the France of today and another, authentic France that is rapidly becoming just a memory. But the tone is mocking, and as a Russian well-versed in the evils of propaganda, he might have, at least, admitted that what we see today in France is the result of a long period of denationalization, de-Christianization, dehumanization and self-flagellation orchestrated by the forces of the media and the educational institutions, both of which are instruments of a State willing and eager to surrender its sovereignty to a cruel and cold-blooded central authority: Brussels. As a Russian, Mr. Zygar should have pointed this out. Moreover, the stereotypes he describes are just that - stereotypes that often border on the ridiculous. The France that we are losing was more than just frogs' legs and pretty women and tourist traps. It was an ancient and complex Christian culture, composed of multiple layers of artistic, scientific, and humanistic accomplishments, that is now being systematically and systemically destroyed by the individuals who govern the country. The French must know this but so far have been powerless to change the suicidal course they have been deliberately set on.

The reasons why they have been so passive in the face of this mutation of their civilization need to be addressed. This, the Russian does not do. Nor does he point the finger at the long series of disastrous regimes that constitute the French Fifth Republic, that began in the bloodshed of a French president murdering his own people, and seems to be ending in the same way:

We are accustomed to thinking that France is frogs' legs, cheese, fashion, wine, Renault, Peugeot and elegant Parisian women. But reality gives the lie to these stereotypes. The France of the 21st century is kebabs, beer, Mercedes, sales and veiled women.

The first preconceived idea is that the Frenchman loves frogs' legs. As you might expect, the French do not eat frogs' legs. In Paris it is rather difficult to locate a restaurant that offers this specialty, and it is even harder to find a Frenchman who has ever tasted them. French gourmets prefer to satisfy their hunger with kebabs. On every street corner, you can find stands where a piece of meat is roasting on a spit...

Let's move on. The gallant Frenchman needs a gallant Frenchwoman by his side in his French car in order to exchange a "French kiss" with her. However, today the Frenchwoman will not necessarily be elegant. Fashion is no longer dictated by the boutiques, but by gigantic clearance sales in malls...

To have a hair-do that falls freely, long nails and high heels is looked down upon by elegant Frenchwomen, because these are the styles of prostitutes and Eastern European women, they assure us. One of the reasons for this severity is probably that a growing number of these Frenchwomen wear the head-scarf.

Paris arouses an avalanche of clichés. The Eiffel Tower where couples in love stroll. The banks of the Seine, a favorite spot for the evening promenades of respectable grandmothers and their little dogs. The Champs-Elysées where veterans wearing the Legion of Honor medal proudly file by beneath the tricolor. The Louvre, so refined, attracts lovers of antiquities and architecture as well as adolescents nourished on Alexander Dumas, dreaming of duels and musketeers. Seductive Montmartre, world-wide center of "la vie de bohème", with its painters and its lingering scent of absinth. Finally, Pigalle and the wild cancan at the famous Moulin Rouge.

In the Paris of today these familiar images now have a different aspect. At the foot of the Eiffel Tower, dark-skinned young people play soccer. They all wear tee shirts illustrated with today's heros of France. They most likely know nothing of the existence of Joan of Arc or Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Their history, their legends are Zidane, Henry, Thurman, Dessailly.

In the evening, couples exchange kisses on the benches along the Seine. For the most part, they are gay couples. They, too, like to stroll with their lapdogs along the riverside. The Champs-Elysées, fortunately for the tourists, presents parades of proud native-born citizens. They are often joyous Asians in bright-colored national costumes, playing the drums or flutes. They may be celebrating the Chinese New Year, or the Vietnamese, or some other.

The venerable Louvre greets you with an enormous glass pyramid. The French love the contrast between fancy baroque and postmodern masterpieces. Next to every gothic church, or almost every one, there is a metal sculpture of unintelligible geometry.

In Montmartre they no longer drink absinth, but the neighborhood has preserved its shady reputation. It is there that low-income immigrant families settle. Drug-trafficking is common and in the evening, young hoodlums fight in the streets. There are no more Bohemian artists, but Arabs sell souvenirs made in China. Even if they are still centers of night life, the pleasure places such as Clichy and Pigalle have replaced the traditional cancan with peep-shows and private parties and belly dancers.

In a word, France surprises the cultivated visitor at every step of of the way. Fortunately, in Moscow, you can still find a nice quiet little French restaurant and drink a bottle of vintage wine, with a piece of Camembert while you exchange a "French kiss" with an elegant lady.

All in all I found this article unsatisfying. The Russian, with no small degree of schaudenfreude, seems to be gloating while France struggles to survive. His contention that you can still find "France" in Moscow because of wine and cheese is ludicrous. That is simply an echo of France, not the culture, not the civilization, and certainly not the people and their land.

If the Russian is so concerned about the nation-destroying consequences of massive immigration/invasions sponsored by corrupt Socialist governments, if he feels these Third World countries with their alien ideologies and their violent proclivities should never have been allowed into the West, if he perceives that the inherent virtue of the West, i.e., its tolerance, is also the vice that will ultimately bring about its total collapse, then WHY DOESN'T HE SAY SO?

To close on a better note, in 2003, there was an exhibit, sponsored by a company called Interros, of French and Russian art from 1800 -1830, entitled When Russia Spoke French. Here is its short introduction:

May 21 at the Hôtel National des Invalides (Paris) saw the opening of an exhibition from the collections of a French and Russian museums dedicated to the Tercentenary of Saint Petersburg.

For the first time in many years a project of such large-scale is not government-run. The Russian-French cultural event has been initiated, organized and sponsored by the Interros Company.

To coincide with the opening, Moscow Publishing House Slovo with the support of the Interros Company produced a French-Russian Dictionary of Art Terms.

The exhibition Paris — Saint Petersburg. 1800—1830. When Russia Spoke French… shall remain open at the Hôtel National des Invalides till August 31, then it will be moved to Saint Petersburg, to the premises of the State Hermitage.

Here is a page of general information.

Below are a few of the items featured in the exhibition.

First, Napoleon by Ingres. Read more here.



A Eucharist set made of silver by Martin-Guillaume Biennais. Read more here.



A tapestry of Empress Elizaveta executed by the Gobelins factory. Read more here.



The porcelain service Olympia, made by the Sèvres workshop. Read about its interesting destiny here.



The gorgeous scene at the top is of course Napoleon's tomb, made of Russian red porphyry. (Possibly our Russian writer is gloating over Sarkozy's wretched failure to revive the glory of Napoleon, or over the pomposity of Sarkozy's even imagining he was a new-age Napoleon, or... over still another French defeat, not in the waters of the Berezina, but in the ghettoes of Seine-Saint-Denis.)

See more here.

Sarkozy Snubs Putin

Nicolas Sarkozy will not be present when Vladimir Putin arrives in France this week for the 14th meeting of the Franco-Russian Commission on bilateral cooperation. Novopress reports:

Nicolas Sarkozy has more important things to do than to greet Vladimir Putin. The Russian prime minister, scheduled to visit France on Thursday and Friday, was supposed to meet with the French president. No such thing will occur.

Even though the Russian press agency Novosti, basing its information on Putin's services, announced yesterday (November 20), that "a meeting between Mr. Putin and Nicolas Sarkozy was scheduled," Elysée Palace has just made public the French president's official agenda. The meeting is not listed. More than that, Nicolas Sarkozy prefers to be out of France for Vladimir Putin's entire stay in France. On Thursday, he will be in Brazil, at the... Amazon Summit! And Friday at Trinidad-and -Tobago, the island off Venezuela, for the summit of... the Commonwealth!

Just as Nicolas Sarkozy refused to show up at the recent convention of French mayors, choosing instead to go to Saudi Arabia and sending François Fillon in his place, so he has instructed the prime minister to find some time to meet with his Russian counterpart. No meeting time has yet been fixed.

Note: Those curious about the "Amazon Summit" can consult this page, where we learn that Brazil and France have created a "climate bible" that they intend to promote in, (i.e., shove down the throats of) other countries (like the U.S. of course).

November 18 Soccer Match - Update

The scene above took place in Toulouse after last Wednesday's game. The French flag was pulled down, and replaced by the Algerian flag. A YouTube video of the act, that I had orignally included in this post, has been removed. However, a reader of François Desouche made a copy at RuTube. I have not been able to acces it, but those of you with faster computers may not experience that difficulty.



An article in La Dépêche gives the reactions of Jean-Paul Makengo (left), adjunct in charge of diversity and equality at the Capitole de Toulouse (City Hall). It should be added that a conference of the European coalition of cities against racism was being held in Toulouse at the time of this "event". He begins by saying that flags can be flown from balconies of private apartments, but that public areas must be respected. He goes on to explain the reasons for the eruption of disrespect:

- How do you analyze the pulling down of the French flag, replacing it with the Algerian flag?

- There are two things. First, you can see the foolishness of a group of fans that must not be confused with the notion of not liking France.

But we are also faced with a population that suffers from a lack of pride, and when a stigmatized group exists collectively, it demonstrates that fact in public. Unfortunately, that often means damage or attacks on the symbols of the Republic. In general, people systematically sent a negative image of themselves by society eventually exhibit their difference through acts of provocation. But you mustn't confuse fans who "act like fools" with a communitarian closing of ranks.

- What do you suggest we do to prevent these paroxystic reactions?

- For them to stop there must be an effort on both sides: these populations must realize that they are fully French, and France also has to consider them as Frenchmen. You can't ask them to make an effort towards us, if you continually remind them of their difference.

The photo below attests to the activity in Paris on the Champs-Elyséés the night of November 18. For more photos click here.


However the 6-minute video below gives an even more vivid glimpse at the "festivities" on the Champs-Elysées.



François Desouche provides a city by city synopsis of the toll taken by the outbursts of Algerian nationalism last Wednesday after the game. There are also about twenty videos showing scenes from most major French cities besides Paris. Included among the cities are Montreal and Brussels. Here is just a sampling of some statistics:

Lyons: a good twenty cars burnt. Numerous fires, and projectiles thrown at firemen. About 1200 persons wandered about all evening in the chaos of the downtown area, wearing the Algerian flag around their neck and hurling smoke bombs and firecrackers. They blocked traffic between Rhône and Saône and broke three store fronts.

Avignon: The downtown area was completely blocked. Hundreds of people filled the streets after the game, carrying Algerian flags and standing on top of cars. (...) By 11:30 p.m., a dozen fires, including six cars had been put out by the firemen.

Grenoble: The police had to use tear gas; they arrested at least three people early in the evening. Several cars were burnt and an armored van was hit by stones.

The city of Roubaix in the northern department of le Nord experienced special problems. According to a post at François Desouche the trouble there was pre-organized:

The State prosecutor Frédéric Fèvre (...) hypothesized that the actions had been prepared and organized in advance.

"We found ourselves in darkness just one minute after the game ended. The whole street was affected," relates a journalist from la Voix du Nord who was in the neighborhood of Epeule that evening. According to the D.A. it was in fact a "sabotage" of an transformer at Place Carnot that cut off the electricity to parts of Epeule.

The article states that 450 homes were deprived of electricity, and that there had been other attempts to rig the transformers.

Another troubling element of this inquiry was the discovery that evening of "caches" of projectiles (...) and bags containing paving bricks and incendiary devices.

"It was totally irresponsible," observed Frédéric Fèvre who gave details of the evening's toll: thirty-five cars damaged, including twenty-six that were burnt, a hundred containers burnt, ten store fronts smashed, two attempts to vandalize shops - avoided thanks to police intervention, an attempted arson at a social center, and thirty-seven arrests in Roubaix.

Nine people were immediately arraigned before a judge, while twenty-eight held in custody were released.

Herman Van Rompuy - Master of Shabby Compromises

As you all know there is now a president of Europe. His name is Herman Van Rompuy and few know who he is or what he is about. Paul Belien, of The Brussels Journal, however, is well acquainted with Mr. Van Rompuy, and offers a short analysis of his character in an article posted at The Daily Mail. I am re-printing it here, in its entirety:

Belgium's Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy has been named new EU president. Devoid of patriotism and contemptuous of democracy, Herman Van Rompuy perfectly embodies the culture of the EU. His sole political ideal is the creation of a federal superstate, destroying national identities across Europe.

As someone who has known him since the mid-1980s, I recognise Van Rompuy as a man of powerful intellect and deep cynicism. Although diffident in manner, it would be a great mistake to underestimate this Belgian. A shrewd manipulator, he will do all in his power to further EU integration.

Despite his modest appearance, he is not lacking in selfesteem. When he was 12, he was asked by his family what he wanted to be when he grew up. His answer was: 'President.' Van Rompuy is a product of the debased, corrupt political life of Belgium. Like the EU, it is an artificial construct, the result of political compromise and experiment. It was built in 1830 by the international powers joining two separate peoples - the Dutch of Flanders in the north and the French of Wallonia in the south.

Because of this lack of real nationhood, Belgians despise their own state.

But this unpatriotic attitude is precisely the reason why Belgian politicians have been so enthusiastic about the EU, in which they see the mirror image of their own fraudulent, unprincipled country.

The tragedy of Van Rompuy's political career is that he used to have a very different outlook. When I first met him in 1985, he was much more sceptical about European federalism. A conservative Catholic, he had been heavily influenced by the Flemish philosopher Lode Claes, who passionately believed that without a genuine spirit of nationhood, there could be no democracy and no political morality. Van Rompuy wrote elegantly about the importance of traditional values and the need to maintain the Christian roots of Europe. He was so disgusted by the Belgian establishment's rejection of these principles he told me he was thinking of leaving politics.

But his bosses the Flemish Christian-Democrat Party were appalled at the thought of losing this bright young star. So he was offered rapid advancement up the political ladder.

Van Rompuy accepted, and embarked on a series of shabby compromises which brought him high office but proved he had sold his soul.

In one telling deal, for instance, he helped push through one of Europe's most liberal abortion bills, even though, as a Catholic, he had once written in defence of the rights of the unborn child.

He will feel very at home at the top of the EU.

Please read Paul's longer analysis of Van Rompuy at The Brussels Journal. Check out the home page also for numerous other articles on the "election" of this man to the presidency of the EUSSR.

Her Own Voice

Now that Jean-Marie Le Pen is inching his way into semi-retirement, it is, at long last, time for Marine Le Pen to take the helm of the Front National. Until now, she has been an excellent speaker, debater and symbol. If she lost the mayoral election in Hénin-Beaumont a few months ago it was not her fault. A concerted anti-Le Pen campaign was successfully waged by Sarkozy's UMP party, affiliated suddenly and only for the occasion with every other party to form a coalition that intimidated the voters to such a point that they voted to keep the deplorable conditions in which their Socialist mayors had held them hostage for so long.

But now it's time to look ahead to the regional elections coming up in March. Novopress has this update:

Marine Le Pen (...) has chosen her campaign poster. A deliberate shift away from traditional posters, it is closer to that of a show-biz star than to a female politician, with its image reminiscent of the child from Forbach who became the most popular icon of French song: Patricia Kaas. Even reminiscent of Johnny Halliday!

With her slogan "The Voice of the People" - understood "the little white guy", as they used to say in Africa - the vice president of the Front National hopes to occupy the populist niche in a region that has been profoundly affected by the ravages of globalism, where the unemployment rate has reached such levels that nothing appears able to stem the growing uncertainty.

Notice that the tricolor flame, logo of the Front National, appears on the poster, but not the name of the party. "Marine Le Pen" is henceforth a unique trademark.

We will wait and see. But on the whole, I think this is a very good change in the right direction. At least she is appealing to a white conservative base that senses the danger it is in. Let's hope she has learned a few bitter lessons from her father's cynical tendencies and from the fiasco of the 2007 presidential election, for which she was primarily held responsible.

In the long term, the FN will have to try to win over the Identitarians who tend to be regionalists (the FN favors centralization, as far as I know). They will also have to try to win back those who jumped ship after 2007, as well as the smaller splinter groups that have formed in opposition to Marine, for whatever reason. Many Catholics may have to compromise some of their values when they vote for her, but they compromised infinitely more when they voted for Nicolas Sarkozy.

She will be greatly assisted in her task by the immigrants themselves - provided they continue to commit acts of violence. It is the violence in everyday life that finally spurs sleeping minds to awaken. So long as the violence and degradation of the once very pleasant French life-style we all envied continue unabated, Marine Le Pen can count on lots of new members.

More Soccer Violence

On Wednesday Algeria won a soccer match against Egypt. The game took place in Sudan, but the French police anticipated a violent night in France, whether Algeria won or lost. According to Le Figaro 63 persons were arrested in Paris alone:

The demonstrations involved 3000 persons in the ghetto of Barbès and 12,000 on the Champs-Elysées. The police intervened quickly and arrested those who were throwing projectiles and committing acts of destruction, indicated the Prefecture of Police.

Four store fronts were damaged on the Champs-Elysées.

Despite a few burnt cars and fights (hey! What's one more burnt car especially if it isn't yours?) the northern city of Lille celebrated without incident. Another northern city, Roubaix, however, fared less well. A local paper, La Voix du Nord, reports:

(...) Everything began well. (...) But around 9:00 p.m. in the downtown area (cordoned off by police and gendarmes) the first confrontation took place between police and "young people" who threw glass bottles. Most incidents took place in the Epeule neighborhood where the streets were plunged into darkness after the game. Stones hurled at firemen who came to put out trash can fires and burning cars, broken storefronts, cars pillaged: an unleashing of violence. The police proceeded to make some arrests.

Note: The city of Roubaix has been in the hands of immigrants for a long time. The violence there is routine.

For those who read French, this article from Le Parisien gives a rundown, city by city, of the violence that took place on Wednesday after the game. The final toll is considerably higher than the two bland articles quoted above lead us to believe. According to Europe 1 Radio just the number of torched cars was higher than 330. I will try to post more details later tonight or tomorrow.

Meanwhile, look at this short video, posted at François Desouche of the ghetto of Barbès in Paris. It's terrifying:

Gaston d'Orléans

According to Le Salon Beige, France has a new "petit Prince" named Gaston d'Orléans, born on November 19, 2009 to Prince Jean and Princess Philomena d'Orléans.

The birth occurred nine months after the civil marriage (the religious ceremony took place two months later). Then Keeper of the Seals Rachida Dati performed the ceremony.

This is all I know for now.

There is a long discussion at LSB over the merits (or lack thereof) of the name "Gaston", and the House of Orléans. Now, at least there is a male heir to the throne of France, a fact that brings a feeling of relief to some. So far as I know, Louis de Bourbon has only one daughter. Of course that could change. I wonder if the birth of Gaston would be a deciding factor if it ever came to choosing a King. Or would "they", whoever they are who choose the King, be obligated to consider only dynastic claims.

Fillon in Vietnam

Update: Many thanks to a reader and many contrite apologies to all. I had inadvertantly called Hanoi "Ho Chi Minh City" in my original post. Of course, Ho Chi Minh City is NOT Hanoi, but Saigon. Also, my reader points out that no one uses the name Ho Chi Minh City anymore. The post has been duly modified.

On November 13, Prime Minister François Fillon paid a visit to Jane Fonda City - Hanoi. There he laid a wreath on the tomb of the man America could not defeat, thanks in part to Ms. Fonda, the left-wing media that told blatant lies about the war, the student uprisings and the vacillations of two American administrations, one Democrat, the other Republican. Yves Daoudal writes:

Four days after celebrating the fall of the Berlin Will, Prime Minister François Fillon paid a visit on Friday to Hanoi, to the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, hero of Vietnamese independence and father of the Communist nation. He then participated in a forum where he praised the merits of the "new Vietnam", no longer a stranger to the market economy.

Accompanied by a part of his delegation, the prime minister, his face somber for the occasion, placed a wreath at the entrance of the mausoleum, a large grey building in the heart of the capital, before standing in silence before the remains of the founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party.

The two comments to the post indicate a belief that he had to swallow a lot of bile to go through with this ordeal. Of course, he was on mission from his boss, who had just entered into a major deal with the Chinese Communist Party.

The Men Who Were (Not) There

Hitchcock could not have done better (or am I thinking of Mel Brooks?).

Last week, on November 9 to be exact, Europeans, amidst much hypocritical hoopla, celebrated the "fall" of the Berlin Wall, an event of great importance only to those who had been sequestered behind the wall, and those for whom Communism (and its current incarnation - anti-racism) represent a major nefarious and limiting force in the lives of men.

One of the funniest stories to come out of France on this topic was Nicolas Sarkozy's pronouncement on Facebook that he too had been in Berlin on that day and had witnessed the fall. A useless lie, since the French media caught him immediately with egg on his face. Not that he cared. Not that he apologized for his error, or even claimed a slip in his memory.

Here are a few excerpts from Alain Auffrey's blog published by the left-leaning Libération:

The president tells us that on November 9, 1989, he was there. With a hammer in his hand and a photo to back him up. The man who was preparing to make history could not miss out on this historical moment. Super!

The problem is that his story does not hold water:

"On November 9, in the morning, we were listening with interest to the news from Berlin that seemed to announce a change in the divided German capital. We decided to leave Paris with Alain Juppé (then prime minister) to participate in the event that was taking shape."

But on the morning of November 9, nobody in Paris - or even in Berlin - could have had an inkling that the wall was going to fall. West German radio and television did not begin to talk about "freedom of movement" until after 8:00 p.m. And it wasn't until after 11:00 p.m. that East Berliners, taking premature reports for definitive statements, began to gather in such large numbers at the border post of Bornhomer Strasse that the East German border guards had to finally lift the barriers. According to an eye-witness, the event never "took shape".

To add insult to injury, Sarkozy added this completely imaginary scene:

"When we arrived in West Berlin, we sped to the Brandenburg Gate where an enthusiastic crowd had already gathered on hearing that the wall would probably be opened."

At no time did the announcement of a "probable opening" trigger any gathering of West Berliners. The crowd was on the East side. And many more were to the North, in the Prenzlauer Berg section. West Berliners only began attacking the wall the next day - November 10. They were joined by visitors from all over the world, including Nicolas Sarkozy and Alain Juppé.

But if he wasn't in Berlin, where was our future president on that famous November 9? Maybe he was at Colombey-les-deux-églises, as he is every November 9, commemorating the death of General de Gaulle. Just a hypothesis.

Readers of Libération offered many suggestions:

- In truth, the Brandenburg Gate only opened much later. In December. I was there, unlike Nicolas...

- No! On November 9, he was painting the Lascaux caves. Everybody knows that!

- A good trick on the part of the Leader. Did he see the Ceausescu couple die? Was he in Moscow at the end of the USSR? Will he be in Cuba when Castro dies? The suspense is killing me.

- My cousin from Frankfort was there, because his wife was on the other side. I confirm that nobody could have been on the site before midnight without the danger of being shot at by the border guards.

A short while after Sarkozy announced that he had been in Berlin that day, Prime Minister François Fillon, in a loyal act of damage control, announced that he too had been in Berlin on November 9, and that he HAD SEEN SARKOZY there! His story too was ripped to shreds by the media. According to 20 Minutes:

(..) On Monday night, around 9:30 p.m. Fillon published on Facebook, a photo (below) of himself, in a long tan coat, chipping away at the Berlin Wall with a hammer. The photo is not dated, but by all indications it comes from after November 10, 1989. It resembles in many ways the photo posted by the president: a photo taken at night in which we can see Nicolas Sarkozy also chipping away at the wall.


In his caption, François Fillon affirms that he had been in Berlin since November 7, participating in a conference organized by the Free University of Berlin (...)

François Fillon had already rushed to the aid of his boss on Monday afternoon, but a lot of good it did him. Claiming that he actually saw Nicolas Sarkozy on November 9, 1989 in Berlin, since he had been there himself since November 7, 1989, he was caught in his own trap. Evidence in the form of minutes from the meetings of the National Assembly shows that François Fillon could not have been in Berlin on November 7, 8, and 9 because he was in the National Assembly on November 8.

While the actual dates are of little importance, and while the two men may be telling partial truths, what really matters is the way Sarkozy turns a minor faux-pas into a major one, opening himself to more ridicule. More importantly the way everyone rushes to get on a bandwagon, to be "part of history", even though their loyalties are ambivalent at best, even though they may have no knowledge or even interest in the history they claim to be a part of.

Wherever these men were in 1989, we can say with no hesitation that in 2009 François Fillon found himself in Hanoi, on November 11 - 13. (A good way to recover from having to celebrate the destruction of a Communist symbol in Berlin. See my next post).)

That the same François Fillon was sighted on November 17 at the annual convention of mayors of France held at the Porte Versailles, where he was abundantly booed by the mayors over fiscal reform issues. A video at Le Post attests to the volley of boos that greeted him.

While the prime minister took it on the chin from the mayors, Nicolas Sarkozy was spending the day of November 17 in Saudi Arabia, on a 24-hour semi-private visit of friendship, thus, as the article from Le Post puts it, skillfully evading the mayors, with whom he will meet on Friday. So one can infer that rather than face the mayors, Sarko sent Fillon to receive the brunt of their anger. Presumably on Friday they will have cooled down (unless they decide to throw a pie in his face).

This makes Sarkozy not only an inventor of tall tales, but a coward as well. If he cannot face his own mayors, how can anyone even begin to assume he could stand up to criminals and violent pressure groups?

The Organizers

FYI, in the comment section of the previous post a reader mentioned Gates of Vienna, which also covered the news of Saturday's riot in Paris that followed the cancellation of a money giveaway. The information at GoV is essentially the same, but there is a bit more speculation over the so-called "machete" in the hands of one of the thugs. Those interested should check it out.

Meanwhile, Novopress would like to know more about the people responsible for organizing such a blatantly cynical event:

On Saturday, riots of uncommon violence occurred in Paris. If there is no doubt about the participation of non-European immigrants (the videos and photos speak for themselves), there are questions about those who organized this giveaway that ended so violently.

The media spoke of Stéphane Boukris, in charge of marketing at Mailorama, the company that organized the event. Mailorama is itself an affiliate of Rentabiliweb. More about that later.

Stéphane Boukris' resumé is impressive. A graduate of ESSEC (Advanced School of Economics and Business) and of San José University in California, Boukris, 25, earned a Masters Degree in Innovation and Entrepreneurship from ESCP-EAP (Advanced School of Business-European School of Management Studies), headed by Daniel Rouach. He won the BFM (Berlin-Frankfort-Münster) Academy award in 2008.

How is it that such a brilliant person, a graduate of our best schools of management, did not anticipate the provocative nature of such a undertaking, especially in this time of crisis? Unless we assume that these schools and their students live in another world.

Now let us look at Rentabilise, the parent company of Mailorama. The beginning of an article published in Capital provides a few interesting clues:

"Kilt, dark glasses, dreadlocks and boots with cleats, at 38 Jean-Baptiste Descroix-Vernier seems to have stepped right out of "Matrix". Residing on a barge in the industrial port of Amsterdam, this pleasantly eccentric guy from Lyons runs one of the trendiest start-up businesses of today, Rentabiliweb.

Placed on the stock exchange in 2006, four years after its founding, it is worth almost 100 million euro today. 'Exceptional results, even on the Internet,' notes Marc Oiknine, manager in charge of investment funds.

Attracted by the performance of this cyber-Visigoth, several figures from the business world decided to bank on him. Bernard Arnault, CEO of Louis Vuitton/Moet Hennesey owns shares worth 6.3% of the enterprise. Stéphane Courbit, former head of Endemol France (producer of "Star Academy") controls 10.3%. As for the Board of Directors it includes in its ranks Jean-Marie Messier and former free-market liberal minister Alain Madelin. "The more I feel like a Leftist, the more I surround myself with people of the Right," jokes Descroix-Vernier. "But in business matters, we are on the same frequency."

Note: This is the opposite of Sarkozy who, touts himself as a conservative but surrounds himself with Leftists. But it shows, too, that the market liberals (wrongly called "Rightists") and the progressives, a.k.a. Socialists, spring from the same anti-nationalist, open borders, pro-EU, pro-immigration matrix.

As Novopress points out in its closing sentences:

The two share-holders mentioned (Bernard Arnault and Stéphane Courbit) were part of those who celebrated Nicolas Sarkozy's victory on May 6, 2007 at Fouquet's restaurant.

Reminder: This dinner at Fouquet's became notorious in the minds of the French who saw it as a sign of rich men exploiting the people, or as a "conservative" candidate celebrating with his wealthy right-wing cronies. The feeling was that Sarkozy should have begun his reign more humbly. But that dinner was only the beginning, and hardly cause for complaint considering what came afterward, though it did set the stage, so to speak...

The two administrators (Descroix-Vernier and Boukris), sang to us the praises of supra-national free-market liberalism in its most unregulated form.

Supra-national liberal markets, and non-European immigration: this is the explosive cocktail that is dissolving French identity, the ravages of which we glimpsed last Saturday in Paris.

An article posted about 4 days ago at Nouvel Obs has more to say about Rentabiliweb (or Rentabilise), the company that owns Mailorama. Spokesmen for the parent company sent out the following explanations:

Rentiliweb "deplores the chaos that occurred" when the distribution of money was cancelled. "All precautions" had been taken and "a smooth operation was assured".

"Rentiliweb shares the anger of all those who were happy to see money from publicity going, for once, into the pockets of the consumers, instead of into management."

Note: I need not point out the ludicrous nature of that statement.

The police arrested ten persons, nine of whom were kept in custody, saying that the organizers of the event had been warned that "distribution of money as a means of promotion was forbidden" and that "threats to public safety" were likely.

But Rentabiliweb insisted that Mailorama "had received formal and written authorization to hold the event." "Without this authorization, without the express agreement of the police authorities, without the guarantee that all steps had been taken to insure public safety, Rentabiliweb would not have taken such an initiative..."

Only 50 policemen had been engaged. Metal barriers had been installed, quickly climbed over by the crowds. By 11:00 p.m. the decision was made to cancel the operation "at the request of the police", according to the company.

"Rentabiliweb is concerned that a festive event, well-meaning, can be organized without incident in Canada or in the United States, but apparently not in France," said their communiqué. Jean-Baptitste Descroix-Vernier announced that he would donate the entire sum of 100,000 euro that was to be distributed, to the Public Assistance fund ("Secours Populaire").

Note: Despite the protests of the company, the French Interior Ministry has announced it will bring suit against the organizers "who were the cause of the trouble."

Note: Regarding unregulated supra-national free-market liberalism, alluded to above, I feel compelled to add the following thoughts that I jotted down while doing this post:

It cannot be stressed enough that businesses with no national feelings or loyalties, no cultural affiliations, and no motivation except money, such as Rentabiliweb, must be distinguished from traditional American-style capitalism that may be local, regional or national, that is intimately tied to loyalty to its own nation and to a sense that the fate of that nation depends in large measure on the ability of its people to enrich themselves through personal efforts and a religious-based work ethic. A system where the fate of the individual is largely in his own hands, and is not remotely-controlled by a cynical, irresponsible, beholden-to-none bureaucracy has been the foundation of America's success until recent years. As we lost our original principles, we moved more and more into globalism/socialism, financial scams of all kinds, nihilism, open borders suicide and national dissolution. The connection between the get-rich-quick mentality and Socialism was soon apparent. Capitalism does not mean get-rich-quick. It refers to a life-long effort to become as independent as possible. One is never completely independent, nor should one be coddled from cradle-to-grave.

Likewise, socialist programs, when limited to a specific group or nation, are not necessarily bad. They become bad when they are used as a lure, as a form of bribery or blackmail, or as a crutch that deprives the individual of his sense of pride in his personal accomplishments.

A Wild Week-End in France - Part 2

Le Conservateur has a post entitled (in English) "Tourists Beware. Don't visit Paris, you're not safe anymore." There is only one photo, no text, but it is sufficient to convey the image of violence that occurred Saturday in Paris near the Eiffel Tower and in front of the Ecole Militaire, France's once proud military academy. It seems that an organization called Mailorama was set to distribute 40,000 euros to whomever... I have no idea what this nonsense is about, but it seems to have been a publicity gimmick that has been tried before in other countries, including the U.S. If I learn more details I'll pass them on.

A reader alerted me to the story. When I attempted to navigate around the François Desouche website, I was knocked off by Google, but I think it was merely a technical glitch and not censorship of any kind.

At any rate, Mailorama cancelled its money distribution, and as so often happens nowadays when there are crowds in Paris, all hell broke loose. The violence rapidly escalated, with mostly black thugs beating up whites, at least as far as the photos tell us. Here is the brief report from Novopress. I am using Novopress instead of François Desouche in the hopes of avoiding more technical problems. Please feel free to consult FDS (link below), even if you don't know French. The photos and videos will give you some idea of the violence:

The event turned into a riot. Clashes occurred Saturday near the Eiffel Tower after the cancellation of the money distribution organized by Mailorama.fr. Store fronts were smashed and cars damaged near the Ecole Militaire, where there were large crowds. According to a visitor to the website TF1 News, some rioters first used oranges to throw at passers-by or at the people who had come in the hopes of getting a few euros. Then they progressed to more serious methods - obviously premeditated, since we can distinctly see weapons in the hands of certain rioters. One of them is even waving a machete! "The neighborhood was sacked", she told us. Passers-by were molested, a photographer beaten up. Around 2:15 p.m. calm was restored.

The following two-minute video gives some idea:



The narrator tells of the shops vandalized and the cars overturned, in particular a police car that was totally destroyed (you'll see it in the video). He says that when they realized there would be no free money they went wild. At the very end of the video we hear the famous words of Nicolas Sarkozy (I cannot verify that it is his voice) uttered during earlier riots in Paris, when he was still Interior Minister: "You've had enough? Well, we're going to get rid of this scum." This now almost-legendary pronouncement led many to think Sarkozy was a "tough cop". More than that, it permanently fixed his image in the world-wide media as being one of a "conservative" who fights crime and boldly confronts violent immigrants.

The following set of photos was published at a Belgian website. We see a white person being beaten (similar to photo at top), then the thugs throwing oranges, then a scene of disorder, and finally a person carrying a machete.









H/T: Thanks to my reader, and to François Desouche

A Wild Week-End in France - Part 1

On Friday November 14 Novopress had warned of possible violence if Algeria lost a soccer match against Egypt. Algeria did lose on Saturday night. The following very short video shows a scene of a boat burning in the port of Marseilles.



The next video, 2 minutes long, shows the mob in Marseilles, followed by similar shots of the burning boat.



The next video is similar to the preceding one:



There were riots elsewhere including the ghetto of Barbès in Paris, the subject of one of my recent posts on the Friday prayers in the street.

Technical Difficulties

In a comment to my previous post I warned of technical difficulties. This post is an attempt to see if the problem has been resolved.

Update: I'm not sure it has been completely resolved. It appears to be OK, but I need more verification.

Poster Contest

The Academic Council on High-School Life (or CAVL) is an organization composed of twenty elected high-schoolers, whose job it is to draw up proposals on all kinds of topics affecting the daily lives of students in a particular school district ("académie"). There are also councils within each individual high school, as well as a national council. Thus these organizations operate on three different levels. While I know of nothing comparable in the U.S. we do have student governments in most high-schools.

The CAVL of the school district of Paris ("Académie de Paris") has come up with an idea to promote an acceptance of "vivre ensemble" or "living-together" (this refers to living side by side with those who are "different".) The touchy-feely slogan "vivre ensemble" has been used to the saturation point by government agencies as part of the plan to force the French to accept the unacceptable, i.e. multiculturalism, "métissage", immigration, and the attendant consequences: national dissolution, crime, broken families. Political pressure groups in France, as in the U.S., seek to train minds as early as possible, often from elementary school. Now the high school students of France are sufficiently indoctrinated to promote the official doctrines of 21st century France.

Their idea is to hold a contest for the best poster, photograph or video clip illustrating the theme of the fight against discrimination and negative images of the Other. To advertise this contest a high school student created the poster above, which I feel needs no further explanation (except to say that "concours lycéen" means "high-school contest"). At their website the students announce:

"The fight against discrimination and negative images is one of the priorities of our school district. Moreover, learning to live together, to respect each other mutually and to enrich ourselves from these differences is also one of the missions assigned to our schools."

Further down their text reads:

" (...) the high-school students of Paris will promote a positive vision of living-together and of tolerance."

Note: Not only is this government propaganda, but one can almost feel the pressure being exerted on the students to word their message within the narrowest range of vocabulary. For example: "the mission assigned to our schools"; it sounds as if they have received orders from the high command. It could of course mean that this is how they themselves perceive their mission. Also, "the students of Paris WILL promote a positive vision (... ) of tolerance"; but we know what this means. It means that white Frenchmen of European stock had better change their ways and become "tolerant". The use of the future tense indicates there is no choice, and the word "positive" eliminates any possibility of criticism of the Other. There is no indication that respect and tolerance and living-together are two-way streets at best, and even then, only when the parties concerned are compatible AND subject to the laws of the ORIGINAL culture.

At his blog, Yves Daoudal notes:

On this poster we see the equality between normal and homosexual couples. Equality implies homosexual "marriage", which is still illegal.

One of his readers noted another detail:

- For shame! The woman in the poster is smaller than the man, and she's wearing a dress to boot - a sexist cliché if ever there was one!