Halfway through the year and 2023 is already delivering on all the apocalyptic hype. The air is thick with smoke as the French continue to revolt against the corruption that rules over them.
More than 1,300 people were arrested, as family and friends buried the 17-year-old whose killing by police initially unleashed the unrest. Videos have emerged of power lines being cut, CCTV cameras being destroyed, and shops being looted as the entire country struggles to recover. The French authorities went so far as to recruit French soccer superstar Kylian Mbappe, who released a sympathetic statement calling for calm yesterday.
About 45,000 police officers supported by light armored vehicles were deployed yesterday, yet despite the heavy security operation, rioting still took place in the major cities of Lyon, Marseille and Grenoble with groups of youths pillaging shops, setting fires and pelting officers with projectiles. Perhaps today they bring the guillotines back out, a man can dream.
Side Items
Student Debts: Let’s not lie to one another, those debts weren’t gonna get paid anyways. But the supreme court ruled yesterday that Joey Biden’s $400 billion plan to cancel or reduce federal student loan debts for millions of Americans wasn’t happening. In a 6-3 decision, conservative justices claimed that the Biden administration was overstepping its authority with the plan, leaving millions of borrowers on the hook for repayments that are anticipated to resume later this fall. Doubtful, but nice of them to suggest paying back those loans
Imaginary Gay Adversaries: The supreme court this week also backed a Colorado web designer who said she had a First Amendment right to refuse to provide services for same-sex couples seeking her help. This is widely considered a step backwards in the march towards equality, but there’s just one problem with the case: in order to bring this before the court, the defendant, Lorie Smith, claimed that a gay man requested her services. The man in question claims to have never submitted any such request and didn’t even know his name was invoked in the lawsuit until this week. “I was incredibly surprised given the fact that I’ve been happily married to a woman for the last 15 years.” He added that he was a web designer himself and “could design my own website if I need to” — and was particularly concerned that no one had bothered to check into the validity of the original request cited by Lorie Smith. Big “whoopies” energy
Smashing Poppies: In April of last year, Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada declared that cultivation of the poppy, from which opium is extracted, was strictly prohibited. Now, men belonging to a Taliban anti-narcotics unit travel in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan, patrolling villages to eradicate poppy farming. Less than two years ago these men were insurgent fighters, part of a war to seize control of their country. Now that war is won and they’re on the ruling side, enforcing the orders of their leader. These are their stories