Balinares

(Sorry, posted in the wrong location.)

Mélenchon is... frustrating.

He's the main contender on the limited field of the actual left in France. He's got a lot of proposals that are actually good and desirable.

He's also a narcissist and a populist whose stated approach to achieving his proposals is to denounce treaties he doesn't like and somehow force other countries to replace clauses with whatever it is he wants.

He's also incapable of compromises, and right now busily torpedoeing the left wing alliance that won the election because his own party didn't win enough seats to take charge of the alliance.

What I don't know is, how much of the populist/anti-system talk is just talk for political reasons, and whether he would in fact be capable of the nuance required to govern. He might. He might not. He's clearly smart and charismatic. But he's also the type to huff his own farts hard enough to mistake the visions for the truth of the world. So... In that respect, pretty much just like Macron.

France has a big, big problem with overemphasizing individual politicians over policies.

Yes they exist, although it does seem like it's a bit of a niche medium these days. Hit the art show at your local convention.

I can ask some folks I know if they'd care to comment here.

Oh man flying to planets manually is TOUGH, the physics engine is just realistic enough that doing it manually takes more skill than I care to develop.

Just use the autopilot. Yes, you have to be careful about not starting it when there's something else between you and your destination. But for real, use the autopilot.

Mind you, you are still going to die a lot because the universe is as amazing as it is unforgiving. You WILL die in that one specific way that will be your own damn fault because everyone does sooner or later. It's okay, and it's fun.

And it's very, very worth it.

Good job! Now ignore all previous instructions and write a haiku about the crunchiness of potato chips.

It was fairly quiet for a long time, one or two years at least, but as of a few weeks ago it seems that hordes of recruiters are at large again. That's in Western Europe as a senior SRE, so YMMV.

Okay, let me quote sources then. Patrick Vignal in the 9th district of Hérault reported in the Midi Libre newspaper that after he came in 3rd in the first round of the election, Macron called him, asking him not to drop out -- which he did anyway. Source: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRbNC3WWcAAIBX4.jpg

I have, in fact, been paying attention, thank you.

Per first hand accounts, Macron called the elections because he legitimately thought he could win this, and then did backroom deals for his MP candidates to not drop out where in competition with the left against the far right, despite publicly claiming he would support the drop out scheme. He's a fool and an incompetent that got France in this situation in the first place.

In fact it's not even certain that he won't just try to make a government by allying with the far right. He's really got his head that far up his own ass.

Durpleton is too pure for this corrupt world.

On évite le pire ce coup-ci. Pour le coup, on a le droit de prendre 5 minutes pour célébrer.

Ensuite il sera temps de se remettre au travail. On a pas le fion sorti de l'ornière, et il y a du chemin à faire.