Happy Monday! Today is the first day of the rest of your July.
It's 1:37 PM: Have you checked to make sure your loins are properly girded?
As you may have guessed, "Monday" derives from "Moon's Day."
Google:
Old English Monandæg 'day of the moon', translation of late Latin lunae dies ; compare with Dutch maandag and German Montag.
Lunae dies persists in all the Romance language words for Monday: Italian Lunedi, French lundi, Spanish lunes.
On Sunday (day of the sun, of course) French held the first round in its snap elections for National Assembly. The first round of the elections feature many parties; the two two vote-getters in each jurisdiction proceed to the next round, which will be held next Sun's Day.
I believe that if any candidate received 50%+ in the first round, he wins that seat immediately and does not have to stand in the runoff election.
The National Rally, LePen's party, and other "far right" parties did well. But in the second round, the voters of the parties whose would-be representatives did not make it to the second round have historically voted against National Rally. Then again, the NR did very well in elections for the European parliament, so there's reason to think they could do well in the National Assembly as well.
From CNN, which totally rigged the debate so that Biden would lose it:
Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) party led the first round of France's parliamentary elections on Sunday, taking it closer to the gates of power than ever before.
After an unusually high turnout, the RN bloc clinched 33.15% of the vote, while the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition came second with 27.99% and President Emmanuel Macron's Ensemble alliance slumped to a dismal third with 20.76%, according to final results published by the Interior Ministry on Monday.
While the RN appears on track to win the most seats in the National Assembly, it may fall short of the 289 seats required for an absolute majority, suggesting France may be heading for a hung parliament and more political uncertainty.
Projections show that, after the second round of voting next Sunday, the RN would win between 230 and 280 seats in the 577-seat lower house -- a staggering rise from its count of 88 in the outgoing parliament. The NFP was projected to secure between 125 and 165 seats, with Ensemble trailing with between 70 and 100 seats.
A total of 76 candidates were elected to France's parliament in the first round of the vote, of which 39 represented RN and its allies, 32 were from NFP, and just two from Macron's alliance, according to the results published on Monday.
That's why I think there's a rule for 50%+ -- these 76 candidates won outright without a runoff needed.
The RN election party in the northern town of Henin Beaumont erupted in celebration as the results were announced -- but Marine Le Pen was quick to stress that next Sunday's vote will be key.
"Democracy has spoken, and the French people have placed the National Rally and its allies in first place -- and has practically erased the Macronist bloc," she told a jubilant crowd, adding: "Nothing has been won -- and the second round will be decisive."
In a speech at the RN's headquarters in Paris, Jordan Bardella, the party's 28-year-old leader, echoed Le Pen's message.
"The vote taking place next Sunday is one of the most decisive in the entire history of the Fifth Republic," Bardella said.
In bullish speeches before the first round, Bardella said he would refuse to govern a minority government, in which the RN would require the votes of allies to pass laws.
I think he means that, if the NR does not win a majority of seats in the second round, he will refuse to lead a "minority government," and will not coalition with other parties to govern. So he's telling voters, "vote for us and give us a majority, or you don't get us at all, and we'll leave you to Macron and the leftists.
If the RN falls short of an absolute majority and Bardella stays true to his word, Macron might then have to search for a prime minister on the hard left, or somewhere else entirely to form a technocratic government.
Ah yes -- make a coalition with the far left so he can put together a "technocratic government." Not a far left government, mind you, but a centrist, policy-wonk "techonocratic government."
I've mentioned before that French has an odd kind of government. The President is elected directly, as he is in the states, but the government also has a Prime Minister and a cabinet, who are elected by the National Assembly -- like England's government. So France has both a President and a PM. I'm no expert, but I believe the president is the "head of state" and the PM the "head of government," with different duties.
If Macron faces a PM from the NR, his power will be greatly diminished, and he might even resign.
I mentioned last week that Macron warned of -- or threatened -- "civil war" if people voted for the "populist" parties, of either the right or left. He plainly meant to warn of voting for the "far right" National Rally, which is actually a threat to him, but spoke of both "populists" on the left and right to continue pretending that he's a "Third Way" technocrat centrist.
His warning -- or his promise -- did in fact come to pass. Leftwingers, including antifa terrorists, rioted all over France.
I mean they "peacefully protested," of course, by smashing the windows of shops and throwing stones at police.
The leftwing in France, like the leftwing in America, is very concerned with Safeguarding Our Precious Democracy, you know. Sometimes that might take a little civil war.