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macron calls snap election after EU losses 7 24 fr rt does well as does far left

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an 1 26

French President Emmanuel Macron and other G7 partners are discussing the option of moving the June summit, Politico EU reports.

According to Politico, Macron didn't directly confirm that the members had to accommodate President Donald Trump's MMA cage fight on the White House lawn, but the event is set to take place during their scheduled meeting.

Typically, G7 meetings are picked a year in advance. And this one was slated for June 14, 2026, which will be Trump's 80th birthday bash. So, the presidents of the G7 agreed they could change the schedule.

Despite the schedule being agreed to last year, in October the White House announced it will be hosting an MMA match at the White House on June 14.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO Dana Whitethat everything is set for the event and they expect 5,000 guests for Trump's party on the South Lawn of the White House.

The G7 will take place June 15 to June 17, and the website has already changed the date, but has not uploaded documents related to the summit. The event will be the first for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who assumed office in October 2025.

Last year, Trump had a massive military parade for his birthday which also celebrated the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army. Britannica concluded, it "was estimated that the event cost between $25 million and $45 million

*Read the full report here.

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TROLLING?

Washington Free Beacon Staff

December 31, 2025

Apart from being French, Brigitte Macron embodies everything a Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year should be. She flouted prudish norms by seducing a much younger student at the Jesuit high school where she was a teacher. The student, Emmanuel Macron, 24 years her junior, is now her husband and the president of France. But when push comes to shove, Brigitte is quick to remind the little twerp who wears the pants.

If that's even her real name. Macron has boldly challenged the conventional expectations governing how a first lady should present herself physically, completely redrawing the line between feminine and masculine. Indeed, Michelle Obama walked so she could run.

To be honest, we're not entirely sure what's going on. Donald Trump loves to kiss Brigitte in front of her husband, whom he's teased for having "naughty" secrets. He once called her "beautiful," a claim that even the most partisan fact-checkers—Daniel Dale and Glenn Kessler (RIP) come to mind—would struggle to authenticate. And yet, in almost every respect, Trump is by far our gayest president. Say what you will about Bill Clinton, he was far too busy chasing tail to redecorate the Oval Office or build an entire ballroom to entertain guests by blasting the theme from Cats.

In any event, Brigitte has clearly taken inspiration from Clinton's nominal wife, Hillary Rodham, when it comes to utilizing the levers of state to harass or even silence one's enemies. Hillary might have a higher body count—Vince Foster, Jeffrey Epstein, Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, and so on—or maybe Brigitte is just better at covering her tracks.

Assembling a multinational assassination squad to go after Candace Owens—who was threatening to reveal dark secrets about her past—was a sensible move on Macron's part. We might question the wisdom of including only one Jew, but we'll wait to see how things play out before passing judgment. In the meantime, we hope she appreciates the distinction of being a Washington Free Beacon Man of the Year.

Brava, madame. Or shall we say, Bravo.

Published under: Bill Clinton , Candace Owens , Donald Trump , Emmanuel Macron , Hillary Clinton , Michelle Obama

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rww

07/24/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

In resurfaced video testimony, Jeffrey Epstein was asked if he and Donald Trump ever spent time with young girls.

Is perpetrating heinous crimes against children too big a hurdle for a political alliance of convenience? Maybe not.

Candace Owens doubled down on her claim that French First Lady Brigitte Macron was born a man on Wednesday after French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife filed a defamation lawsuit against the right-wing commentator accusing her of spreading the conspiracy theory that Brigitte was born “Jean-Michel Trogneux.”

Trump appointed far-right loyalist Paul Ingrassia to head a Justice Department office responsible for keeping politics out of the civil service.

The GOP's Jan. 6 probe in the last Congress was an embarrassing dud. Rather than learn an obvious lesson, the party is going to give it a second try.

The conservative legal movement used Trump’s first term to seize control of the federal courts. Will it use his second term to rewrite the Constitution entirely?

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07/23/2025 RWW

by

Kyle Mantyla

A new Wall Street Journal report said the president's name "appeared multiple times" in the Jeffrey Epstein files — and he was told that during a briefing.

Forget about putting “everything out there and let the people decide it.” That was last week.

First Lady Brigitte Macron is suing right-wing firebrand Candace Owens for a “relentless and unjustified smear campaign” that alleges Macron is secretly a man.

Ryan Walters' far-right curriculum changes are getting snubbed by publishers who refuse to rewrite history.

Three Venezuelans, released last week from the Terrorism Confinement Center, said they were repeatedly beaten and denied access to lawyers.

The Trump administration said it was protecting Americans unjustly held abroad. One of the rescued men, Dahud Hanid Ortiz, killed three people, according to court documents.

On July 18, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard made a post on Twitter alleging “the most powerful people in the Obama administration,” including former President Barack Obama, were involved in a “years-long coup” and a “treasonous conspiracy” against Donald Trump. Her post quickly went viral, amassing over 13 million views over the weekend, and galvanized the online fringe to fantasize about violence against their political enemies. Trump fanned Gabbard’s flames, sharing a racist AI-generated video of Obama being arrested on Truth Social, which Trump owns.

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04/08/2025 rww

by

Kyle Mantyla

On Monday night, the Supreme Court handed down a 5-4 decision tossing out a closely watched district court decision, which blocked President Donald Trump’s attempt to use a 227-year-old law — the Alien Enemies Act — to deport many individuals without due process. The Court largely voted along party lines, although Republican Justice Amy Coney Barrett crossed over to dissent with the three Democratic justices.

In an interview with antisemitic conspiracy theorist Ian Carroll, Candace Owens claimed that The Beatles “was totally a psychological operation.” Owens also called Volodymyr Zelensky a “literal actor” who was trained by the CIA, and said Emmanuel Macron was “installed as president of France with the Rothschilds behind him.”

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same wk husb fact checked trump on ukraine BS

mma

Candace Owens’ “transvestigation” series targeting France’s first lady is reaching new audiences on TikTok

Through “transvestigation,” Candace Owens has seemingly found a way to make anti-trans bigotry palatable to a wide audience

Written by Abbie Richards

Published 02/27/25 mma

On January 31, podcaster Candace Owens launched a new “investigative series” based on the debunked conspiracy theory that the first lady of France, Brigitte Macron, is secretly a transgender woman. Videos about the series, titled “Becoming Brigitte,” have been circulating on TikTok, garnering millions of views on both English-language and French-language content.

Right-wing personalities and social media users have spread these types of baseless allegations, often called “transvestigations,” for years, frequently targeting powerful women including Taylor Swift and Michelle Obama. And this is not the first time Brigitte Macron has faced the conspiracy theory. Last year, a French court found two women guilty of slander for spreading these same claims.

Owens has been pushing the conspiracy theory about the French first lady for nearly a year.

As of the time of writing, she has streamed eight episodes of her “transvestigation” series on YouTube — producing over six hours of conspiracy theory content centered around the Macrons. During the series, Owens questioned whether Brigitte Macron is transgender and also whether she is French President Emmanuel Macron’s biological father.

Owens has also been increasingly producing content about celebrity culture recently. The podcaster has developed a fixation with Blake Lively’s lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, for example, producing 16 videos analyzing the celebrity saga since January 8 of this year. She also recentlyannounced her next “investigative series,” centered around Harvey Weinstein. This episodic format and pivot toward more pop cultural subjects like celebrity gossip and true crime appear to be working well for her.

The eight YouTube videos that compose the “Becoming Brigitte” series— some of which are monetized — have garnered more than 16 million cumulative views. In addition to YouTube ads that run before some of her content, Owens has used sponsor breaks in these videos to promote a tax attorney service, a gold and silver dealer, a mortgage lender, a supplement company, a greens powder, a home gym, a wireless phone service, a skincare company, a meat delivery service, an anti-abortion coffee company, and an anti-abortion charity.

Owens’ “transvestigation” series is spreading on TikTok, earning millions of views on English- and French-language content

The series’ true crime format seems to appeal to TikTok users, who have shared the content along with their thoughts, memes, and theories. Media Matters identified 37 videos referencing Owens’ series on TikTok, which have received more than 62 million cumulative views (more than 42 million views on English-language content and another nearly 20 million views on French-language content).

Appropriating the true crime serialized style

In “Becoming Brigitte,” Owens blends her typical conspiratorial content with true crime flare, using “facial recognition software,” obsessing over family trees, and even interviewing a French journalist who she says “has never before this moment appeared on camera.”

The episodic nature of Owens’ anti-trans tirade is familiar to audiences that have been consuming episodic investigative true crime since *Serial* popularized the format in 2014. Like popular true crime shows and podcasts, Owens’ series has been cultivating an “obsessed” fandom, with TikTok users building upon Owens’ grand conspiracy theory narrative and adding their own theories into the mix as though they were speculating about a TV show and not the genitalia of a global geopolitical figure.

In one video with more than 756,000 views, posted alongside the hashtags “womenoftiktok” and “momsoftiktok,” a woman says:

“Calling everyone who is obsessed with ‘Becoming Brigitte’ as much as I am. I have went all in on the rabbit hole and I need to know your theories. We’re over Diddy: guilty. We’re over Blake Lively: Guilty. We’re all in this, OK?”

Video

Citation

From a February 12, 2025, video uploaded to TikTok

The video has thousands of comments from users, many of them adding their own speculations.

The conspiracy theory that Brigitte Macron is Emmanuel Macron’s father also seems to be performing well in TikTok’s system of algorithmic amplification, which rewards inflammatory and sensationalist content. In a video with 4.9 million views, a woman speaks to the camera, covering her mouth in apparent shock:

“I’m going to throw up. I’m going to throw up. I’ve been watching Candace Owens. She’s covering the president in France, OK? Because she believes that the president is married to a trans woman. The president is married to his father.”

Video

Citation

From a February 8, 2025, video uploaded to TikTok

Users are also making memes about the series.

One video with more than 539,000 views is set to the Law & Order theme, with text that reads, “Me getting ready to watch candace owen’s prove bridgette macron is a man & ryan reynolds is insane all in one episode while she’s pregnant.”

In another video, with more than 478,000 views, a woman sits looking puzzled in her car behind text reading, “My brain trying to process that Candace Owen’s blasted the President of France for being married to his transgender father.”

One claim making the rounds asserts that the Macrons have tried to purchase Owens’ silence.

In a video with more than 480,000 views, one TikTok user alleges that the Macrons “made an offer to Candace Owens” that “in exchange for Candace Owen not publishing this documentary about Brigitte Macron being a man,” they “will pay Candace Owen $4 million plus $50,000 a month for life.”

Another video, with 1.7 million views, reads: “If she’s not a ‘man’ why are they offering Candace Owens 4 Million or 50,000 a month for the rest of her life?”

Media Matters could not verify this claim or its origins.

French-language transvestigation content about Brigitte Macron has also been garnering millions of views on TikTok. Media Matters identified 12 French-language TikTok videos about “Becoming Brigitte” with more than 19.6 million cumulative views.

A French-language video with 4.2 million views from an African-focused news account highlights Owens’ claims. Another French-language video, with 629,000 views, directs viewers to videos providing French translations of Owens’ original content.

Media Matters also identified other French-language content analyzing Brigitte Macron’s body and voice. One video with 3.1 million views opens with an image zooming in on the first lady’s pelvic area while she appears in a bathing suit.

Transvestigations and dehumanization

The series has prompted the spread of dehumanizing transvestigation content that analyzes and dissects Brigitte Macron’s physical features in an attempt to prove her body is deviant. This content is frequently accompanied by explicitly dehumanizing language, with some users referring to Brigitte Macron as “it.”

A video with 3.1 million views compares pictures of Brigitte Macron with pictures of a man with a similar face.

Another video, with 727,000 views, compiles dozens of images and videos of the French first lady, seemingly attempting to highlight masculine features.

TikTok users responded by scrutinizing Macron’s body in the comments, saying, “Those are not female legs or hips”; “A man and a groomer and what is scary he is the puput master. it’s 100% male”; and “The way it sits in the jeans at the start is definitely a male.”

Another video, with 2.4 million views, shows U.S. Vice President JD Vance meeting the Macrons above a skeptical-looking Candace Owens. The text reads, “JD VANCE doesn’t KISS BRIDGET…Becayse JD knows its a male PDF File.” (“PDF File” is TikTok-speak for “pedophile.”)

Transvestigation content is not new but rather a component of the broader hysteria fixated on the bodies of trans people. These conspiracy theories serve as tools for identifying certain bodies and minds as deviant and dangerous. They normalize subjecting trans people, gender-nonconforming people, and anyone perceived as existing outside a strict gender binary to invasions of privacy, mockery, and degradation.

The mainstreaming of Owens’ “transvestigation”

Through “Becoming Brigitte,” Owens has seemingly found a way to make right-wing, anti-trans propaganda palatable to new viewers. For instance, one TikTok user described how the TikTok content about “Becoming Brigitte” was pushing her to go directly to Owens’ channel and consume her content directly:

“This Brigitte Macron stuff has me in a freaking chokehold. And I keep seeing all these creators who share little pieces and parts of Candace Owens’ podcast where she’s going through all this stuff, but it’s never enough. And every time I watch one, I’m like okay get to the point, get to the point, get to the point, and it never gets to the point, and I know that that’s part of it and part of what keeps us hanging on, but I can’t take anymore. I think I’m going to have to go and subscribe to her channel or whatever I have to do to get the full information because at this point I’m obsessed. Like it means nothing to me, I know, and will never make a difference in my life, I’m sure but. … I need to know what Candace knows.”

Owens’ framing is also seemingly attracting a key demographic: women who enjoy true crime content. In one video, a woman speaks directly to other true crime fans:

“To all of my documentary, docu-series, crime watching girlies, if you have not watched ‘Becoming Brigitte’ on Candace Owens’ YouTube channel, you absolutely have to watch that series.”

In another video, shared alongside the hashtags “truecrime,” “truecrimetok,” “truecrimecommunity,” “truecrimetiktok,” and “truecrimestory,” a TikTok user speaks to the camera about her fascination with “Becoming Brigitte”:

“It is fascinating. I was, like, not interested when I first heard about it because it’s, like, about the French government, and I’m not into, like, super over-the-seas politics type things — that can go a little bit over my head. But when I was watching it, I was like, ‘Wow, this is super crazy.’”

The strategy seems to be working for Owens, who went independent last year after parting ways with The Daily Wire. This true crime approach, along with her recent focus on celebrity culture, may be helping Owens to soften right-wing extremism, making it more palatable to new viewers otherwise uninterested in overtly bigoted content.

Owens has claimed she’s achieved record levels of engagement in recent weeks, and according to publicly available data from the social media metric tracking service VidIQ, Owens has gained more than 300,000 YouTube subscribers since she started the series on January 31.

yellow vest busted on 1 bill$ for notre dame gucci etc tax writeoff

https://www.alternet.org/Bank/youre-hurting-my-country-why-french-president-macron-called-out-joe-manchin/

4 22 gottseidanke but 6 pt spread is down from 5 yrs ago?

https://www.alternet.org/2022/04/president-emmanuel-macron-wins-reelection/

as in Fr Macron le pen hack then mix fake emails in tranche? 6 GRU indicted

https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/hunter-biden-e-mail-story-has-all-the-marks-of-russian-involvement-intel-experts/

Supporters of President Donald Trump are hoping that e-mails found on a laptop allegedly belonging to former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, will be the "October surprise" that derails the older Biden's presidential campaign. The New York Post, owned by Fox News' Rupert Murdoch, published that story after receiving an alleged copy of Hunter Biden's hard drive from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani — and more than 50 intelligence officials, according to Politico's Natasha Bertrand, have signed a letter saying that the story has the markings of a Kremlin propaganda operation.

Bertrand explains, "While the letter's signatories presented no new evidence, they said their national security experience had made them 'deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case' and cited several elements of the story that suggested the Kremlin's hand at work.'"

Intel experts who signed the letter range from Russ Travers, who served as acting director for the National Counterterrorism Center, to Rick Ledgett, former deputy director of the National Security Agency. Former Central Intelligence Agency directors or acting directors who signed the letter include John O. Brennan, Leon Panetta, Gen. Michael Hayden, John McLaughlin and Michael Morell.

The letter reads, "If we are right, this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election — and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this."

The intel experts also said, "We want to emphasize that we do not know if the e-mails, provided to the New York Post by President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not — and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement… (But) there are a number of factors that make us suspicious of Russian involvement…. Such an operation would be consistent with Russian objectives, as outlined publicly and recently by the intelligence community, to create political chaos in the United States and to deepen political divisions here — but also, to undermine the candidacy of former Vice President Biden and thereby help the candidacy of President Trump."

https://www.alternet.org/2020/10/how-to-not-be-a-useful-idiot-for-the-rights-smear-machine/

Trump is trying hard to recreate the perfect storm that landed him in the White House in 2016 despite being the most unpopular candidate in the modern polling era. That year, the Clinton campaign's hacked emails were dribbled out over the final six weeks of the race. There wasn't much to them, but internal campaign communications tend to be frank and are easily mined for scandalettes. Having established the storyline that Clinton was as corrupt as Trump, they provided a steady stream of stories with "emails reveal" in the headlines which served to reinforce the right's narrative.

We can expect a similar stream of stories of ostensible "smoking guns" stemming from Hunter Biden's emails (whether hacked or fabricated) to come our way in the final weeks of this race.And some people who want to see themselves as fair will inadvertently amplify the right's preferred narratives by assuming that there must be something there.

So it's very important to keep in mind that the "scandal" is supposed to be that then-Vice President Joe Biden pushed for the removal of Ukraine's top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, to stave off an investigation into Burisma Holdings--the Ukrainian gas company whose Board Hunter sat on--in order to protect his son. It is supposed to be a story about conflict of interest--of the elder Biden using the office of the Vice Presidency to help his son.

There is not a shred of truth to those claims. The effort to get Shokin fired "was prompted by a push for anti-corruption reforms developed at the State Department and coordinated with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund," The Washington Postreported. Andaccording to CNN, a bipartisan "letter from 2016 shows that Republican senators pushed for reforms to Ukraine's prosecutor general's office and judiciary, echoing calls then-Vice President Joe Biden made at the time."

Shokin was corrupt, and that was a problem. Vitaliy Kasko, a former deputy of Shokin's who resigned over his boss's habit of stymieing corruption probes, toldBloombergthat Shokin was not investigating Burisma during the period in question. "There was no pressure from anyone from the U.S. to close cases against" the firm or its owner. "It was shelved by Ukrainian prosecutors in 2014 and through 2015," Kasko said. And Daria Kaleniuk, a prominent Ukrainian anti-corruption crusader, told The Washington Post that"Shokin was fired not because he wanted to do that investigation, but quite to the contrary, because he failed that investigation."

Without some impropriety on Joe Biden's part, Hunter Biden's business ventures aren't a story. He isn't running for office. Like many, if not most children of the powerful, the younger Biden leveraged both his family name and the connections he'd made at Yale to land various business deal and secure a cushy, high-paying position on a corporate board. Both Hunter and Joe Biden have acknowledged that associating himself with a shady Ukrainian gas company--as opposed to, say, a reputable American or Western European firm--was an error of judgment, but it was neither illegal nor unethical. This isn't a meritocracy, and this is one way that wealth and power are reproduced from one generation to the next. It's distasteful and unfair, but that's a class issue, not a scandal. Hunter isn't running for office and his judgment, or lack thereof, isn't a matter of public concern.

Joe Biden spent years in the Senate, and year after year he ranked among the least wealthy members of that body. We know how he came into his wealth--mostly through a multi-million dollar book advance and speaking gigs after leaving office. Biden may not be everyone's cup of tea, but there's no evidence that he's corrupt.

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https://aldianews.com/articles/politics/jack-posobiec-link-connecting-france-trump-and-russia/48031

the  internal documents of the electoral campaign of Emmanuel Macron, president-elect of France, were the subject of a cyber attack during the last electoral week, and its dissemination was carried out on May 5, through an anglophone forum, before being immediately spread on Twitter by an "American militant, near the far right," according to the Huffington Post France:{:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px 12px 0px 0px;background-image:url("):}:. 

Belgian social media analyst Nicolas Vanderbiest said that after the publication of the documents in the 4Chan forum, frequented by surfers close to the American alt-right, Jack Posobiec:{:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px 12px 0px 0px;background-image:url("):}: was the first to share the data to his 100,000 followers on Twitter, inaugurating the hashtag "#MacronLeaks".

Flashpoint of New York and Trend Micro based in Tokyo have shared intelligence suggesting that the group of hackers known as Advanced Persistent Threat 28, Fancy Bear and Pawn Storm was responsible for filtering Emmanuel Macron’s documents. The group has been linked to the GRU, the Russian Military Intelligence Directorate, according to The Guardian:{:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px 12px 0px 0px;background:url("):}:.[guk]

Days before the publication of the documents, Jack Posobiec had been active in social media against the candidate Macron, pressing the rumors about an alleged tax evasion and assuring that the now president attacked the journalists to evade his responsibility, according to the newspaper Le Monde.:{:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px 12px 0px 0px;background:url("):}:

One day before the election, Posobiec requested on Twitter to speak in front of the French parliament in an open session on #MacronLeaks.

According to the French media, Posobiec represents a digital site (The Rebel:{:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px 12px 0px 0px;background:url("):}:) openly supportive of Trump and Le Pen, which often disseminates inaccurate data.

"The militant appears as part of the 'Slavright', a far-right movement mainly located in Eastern Europe, considered racist and white supremacist”, according to the French media.

In Trump’s forefront

Hours before disseminating the hacked information of Emmanuel Macron's campaign, Posobiec had been tagged in a photo along with former editor Breitbart and one of the main right-wing figures who supported Donald Trump, Milo Yinanopoulos, on a Caption that read "Happy #CincoDeMilo".

[pix]

posobiec has been part of the spread of false information, such as the "pizzagate" issue - conspiracy theory involving the Clinton team with pedophilia -as well as the call for a boycott of the latest Star Wars film, "Rogue One," for allegedly broadcasting an anti-Trump message, according to L'Obs:{:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px 12px 0px 0px;background:url("):}: newspaper in France.

[pix]

for its part, Reuters:{:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px 12px 0px 0px;width:10px;height:10px;background-image:url("):}: published yesterday that Posobiec has received access to the White House, from the Trump Administration.

Posobiec, " attended the daily press briefing on Tuesday and later broadcast video from the White House grounds with positive commentary on President Donald Trump's abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey”, explains the media.[vid rebel news]

posobiec would have requested temporary credentials in April, but he is currently in the process of requesting a permanent pass.

The cyber attack of the French president-elect has worried the international security community since it could imply a connection between Russian digital intelligence organizations and public figures of the American extreme right.

Through social networks, Posobiec and William Craddick, for example, founder and editor-in-chief of Disobedient Media:{:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px 12px 0px 0px;background-image:url("):}: have been perceived as close to each other. Craddick would have warned that French documents had been leaked minutes before it was made public.

According to Reuters:{:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px 12px 0px 0px;background:url("):}:, "two US intelligence officials said that they are increasingly confident that hackers with connections to the Russian government played a role in the French election.” Similarly, US intelligence agencies have also concluded “hacking attacks on the Democratic Party and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign were part of a Russian-backed effort to help Republican Trump win the presidency”.

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eco update 320 larry fink meets macron;  black rock, huge in pensions

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https://www.mediamatters.org/maga-trolls/fake-news-and-alt-right-are-pushing-forged-documents-aid-marine-le-pen-frances-election

Forged documents originating on 4chan alleging that French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron was evading taxes spread online thanks to an ecosystem that includes social media, “alt-right” outlets, and fake news purveyors. The campaign was seemingly aided by Russian-linked entities, and it subsequently reached Macron’s opponent, who aired the claim in a public debate.

Macron is competing in a May 7 runoff against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. On May 3, hours before a scheduled debate between Macron and Le Pen, an anonymous user on 4chan posted documents purporting to show that Macron used a shell company to dodge taxes. Users on the forum responded that the documents should be sent to “independent journalists” and “the alternative media” like “Cernovic (sic), Breitbart, and so on,” and encouraged each other to “spam” the documents “on social media” such as Twitter to get “it trending.” They also said to “send it to Le Pen.” The documents soon spread on Twitter, with many of the Twitter accounts promoting them appearing to have connections to Russia, according to a Belgian researcher. The claim was promoted by “alt-right” media figures such as Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec.

That these figures would attempt to smear Le Pen’s opponent is not surprising given that Le Pen is widely admired by much of the “alt-right” and closely tied with Russia.

Along with Twitter, 4chan’s campaign was picked up by forums on 8chan and Reddit; “alt-right” fringe outlets The Gateway Pundit, Got News, Zero Hedge, and Daily Stormer; and fake news purveyor Before It’s News.

The 4chan-based documents eventually reached Le Pen herself. During her debate with Macron, she said, “I hope that we will not find out that you have an offshore account in the Bahamas.”Le Pen later backed down on her claim, and Macron filed a legal complaint against her for the statement.Multiple outlets have reported that the documents were fake, with The Telegraph noting that they were “widely denounced ascrudeforgeries.” Additionally, following Le Pen's accusation, the French prosecutor's office has opened an investigation regarding “suspicions of fake news being spread to influence Sunday's presidential vote.”

The case is yet another example of the way the misinformation ecosystem involving the “alt-right” and fake news purveyor:{s:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}: amplifiesfringe falsities and lies (and even Kremlin-connected conspiracy theories). The network has often succeeded in pushing those false claims into more traditional conservative and mainstream outlets and, thus, the public realm.

819

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619 AN parramore

LP: You’ve noted in the past that President Obama was not realistic in arguing that the U.S. economy could keep growing without increasing CO2 emissions thanks to the rollout of renewable energy technologies. How do you assess the situation now under Trump? What about Europe and China? Is anyone being more realistic today?

SS: The outlook is not good. The Trump administration is not the only government announcing its withdrawal from the voluntarist Paris agreement. (I call it voluntarist, because the agreement concerns official pledges by countries to reduce CO2 emissions, but lacks enforcement mechanisms). The Bolsanaro government in Brazil, the new government in Australia, part of the Italian government, and more are threatening to do the same.

China has made huge advances in energy efficiency and has also started to decarbonize, but the scale factor of China’s economic growth is still more than offsetting the drastic improvements in energy and carbon technologies.

The European Union (EU) is not delivering and policies are often counterproductive. Look at the ‘Yellow Vests’ protests in France. French President Macron proposed a consumer carbon tax on (car) fuels, which will hit the incomes of people who aren’t wealthy and who already have to cope with all kinds of economic insecurities and downward mobility. The outcome is not just a populist revolt, but a major discrediting of climate change mitigation policies.

In the Netherlands, the center-right government proposed a carbon tax on consumers but not on major polluting corporations.In March 2019, voters revolted. The government parties lost the provincial elections to a new rightwing populist party, which says that climate change is just a Marxist plot!

The EU has to come up with climate policies which protect the lower- and middle-income groups as much as is possible from the costs of adjustments, while taxing carbon emissions at their source. That means taxing the 100 global corporations which together are responsible for around 70% of cumulative CO2 emissions. It means taxing the rich to bring about a more fair and politically acceptable burden of adjustment.

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France Suspends Gas Tax as Trump Falsely Blames Paris Agreement for Riots

French President Emmanuel Macron announced plans Tuesday to suspend an increase in fuel tax in response to growing pressure from protestors. Over the weekend, Macron canceled plans to attend COP24 amidst increasing tension in France.

President Emmanuel Macron announced plans Tuesday to suspend an increase in fuel tax in response to growing pressure from protestors. Over the weekend, Macron canceled plans to attend COP24 amidst increasing tension in France.

President Donald Trump on Twitter Tuesday evening conflated Macron's decision with a rejection of the Paris agreement, calling the accord "fatally flawed" while also retweeting a demonstrably false tweet from a right-wing pundit claiming that "radical leftist fuel taxes" are prompting the French to chant "'we want Trump'... through the streets of Paris."

"There's no viable solution to reducing emissions on the scale needed in France without a price on carbon pollution as well as complementary policies, but a process that is not developed in an inclusive manner is destined to fail," said Pierre Cannet, head of climate and energy at WWF-France. "[The] announcement that the French government is freezing carbon tax shows that they put the cart before the horse by not addressing the social measures necessary for a just transition."

As reported by Vox:

While the protests may have started over the fuel tax, they have since morphed into a broader indictment of Macron's handling of the French economy and his perceived elitist disregard for the effects his policies are having on France's working class.

...

Trump's disregard for the truth and active attempts to create his own reality—and to convince his supporters of that imagined reality—are nothing new.

But the fact that the sitting president of the United States either does not understand or is deliberately misrepresenting the basic dynamics of a massive political crisis roiling one of America's closest allies is deeply disturbing.

...

deeper dive:

Fuel tax: Bloomberg, BBC, Wall Street Journal, LA Times, New York Times, Washington Post, NPR. Trump: Vox, Reuters, Washington Examiner, Al Jazeera

For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for daily Hot News.

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ew

French Environment Minister Quits Over Government's Inadequate Green Policies

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France Approves World's First Ban on Fracking and Oil Production

The French parliament passed a law on Tuesday that bans exploration and production of all oil and natural gas by 2040 within mainland France and all overseas territories.

Under the new law, France will not grant new permits or renew existing licenses that allow fracking or the extraction of fossil fuels.

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11/18

Let us all respond, in whatever way we are able. But in the meantime here is what President Macron from France had to say:

Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. By saying 'our interests first; who cares about the others?', we erase what a nation holds dearest, what gives it life, what makes it great, and what makes it essential — its moral values… The old demons (have resurfaced). Giving into the fascination for withdrawal, isolationism, violence and domination would be a grave error.

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frum bk:

press: hannity and new say no indep media eg CNN

local fox crew said gianforte guilty, but not asked to be on nat'l; rush applaid, 116K$ ON election day 113

russian dis-info 400 ppl, 20m ri8bles (400K$ per mo; 40 rooms0 russian version of FB, made fake ppl on US soc media 115; 100K ads; target 10 m ppl in slected districts and states; msg reached 126M FB users 116.

russia ~ Fr Macron, so video ell cut hand wash inverted; rebel media posobiec got adv notce of email dump; big overlap betw anti-marcon and pro djt, 18K bots; 118

cernovich pizzagate guy got WH leaks (susan rice unmasked)

trad media tried to be balaced, so any crumb or djt normalcy touted 120

media restriction 1st sign of decline of democ 122

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trump insulted older wife, but made squsih on paris?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jul/18/paris-climate-deal-exit-by-trump-reversible-french/

macron

https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/05/05/fake-news-and-alt-right-are-pushing-forged-documents-aid-marine-le-pen-frances-election/216305

Forged documents originating on 4chan alleging that French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron was evading taxes spread online thanks to an ecosystem that includes social media, “alt-right” outlets, and fake news purveyors. The campaign was seemingly aided by Russian-linked entities, and it subsequently reached Macron’s opponent, who aired the claim in a public debate.

Macron is competing in a May 7 runoff against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. On May 3, hours before a scheduled debate between Macron and Le Pen, an anonymous user on 4chan posted documents purporting to show that Macron used a shell company to dodge taxes. Users on the forum responded that the documents should be sent to “independent journalists” and “the alternative media” like “Cernovic (sic), Breitbart, and so on,” and encouraged each other to “spam” the documents “on social media” such as Twitter to get “it trending.” They also said to “send it to Le Pen.” The documents soon spread on Twitter, with many of the Twitter accounts promoting them appearing to have connections to Russia, according to a Belgian researcher. The claim was promoted by “alt-right” media figures such as Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec.

That these figures would attempt to smear Le Pen’s opponent is not surprising given that Le Pen is widely admired by much of the “alt-right” and closely tied with Russia.

Along with Twitter, 4chan’s campaign was picked up by forums on 8chan and Reddit; “alt-right” fringe outlets The Gateway Pundit, Got News, Zero Hedge, and Daily Stormer; and fake news purveyor Before It’s News.

The 4chan-based documents eventually reached Le Pen herself. During her debate with Macron, she said, “I hope that we will not find out that you have an offshore account in the Bahamas.” Le Pen later backed down on her claim, and Macron filed a legal complaint against her for the statement. Multiple outlets have reported that the documents were fake, with The Telegraph noting that they were “widely denounced as crude forgeries.” Additionally, following Le Pen's accusation, the French prosecutor's office has opened an investigationr egarding “suspicions of fake news being spread to influence Sunday's presidential vote.”

The case is yet another example of the way the misinformation ecosystem involving the “alt-right” and fake news purveyors amplifiesfringe falsities and lies (and even Kremlin-connected conspiracy theories). The network has often succeeded in pushing those false claims into more traditional conservative and mainstream outlets and, thus, the public realm.

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desmog

On June 3, two days after President Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate accord, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi exchanged a hug with French President Emmanuel Macron during an official visit to Paris. Modi and Macron pledged to achieve emissions reductions beyond their nations’ commitments under the Paris Agreement, and Macron announced he will visit India later this year for a summit on solar power.

For observers who equate India’s energy production with a reliance on coal, this exchange came as a surprise. Modi’s internationally visible pledge would put India three years ahead of schedule to achieve its “Intended Nationally Determined Contribution” to the Paris climate agreement. Instead of shifting to 40 percent renewables by 2030, India now expects to surpass this goal by 2027.

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22 GOP Senators vs. World Leaders on Paris Agreement

Twenty-two GOP senators sent a letter Thursday urging Donald Trump to pull out of the Paris agreement. They argued remaining in the deal could "upend" the administration's ability "to fulfill its goal of rescinding the Clean Power Plan."

Accounting for fewer than half of Senate Republicans, signers included coal-friendly politicians and prominent climate deniers, such as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and James Inhofe of Oklahoma.

Overseas, French president-elect Emmanuel Macron urged Trump not to make a "rushed decision" on the agreement at a Thursday meeting. White House economic adviser Gary Cohn predicts "fairly robust" talks on the Paris agreement at this weekend's G7 leadership summit in Sicily, and European leaders at the summit have indicated they will pressure Trump to remain in the deal.

As The Guardian reported:

"Some western powers are trying to frame the climate change discussion as a national security argument, pointing to the risk of war and terrorism if mass migration explodes out of drought-ridden Africa.

Trump's aides insist he remains in listening mode on climate change, and no decision will be made for a few weeks. The British, eternal optimists, at least sense he is moving on the issue. Results may have to wait for the G20 summit, to be attended by China in Hamburg in June."

For a deeper dive:

GOP letter: AP, Axios, The Hill; Macron: Reuters, CNBC; G7: The Guardian, Reuters, BBC

https://www.ecowatch.com/paris-agreement-g7-2422835676.html

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