#use of french

[booasaur]

Something really amazing happened in France, and I think it'd help us in the US to learn about it. Forgive the long read, but I think this is genuinely great both because of what happened and how.

So as some of you might have seen, in a decision historians will debate for years (mostly to figure out just WTF he was thinking, even though he is alive right now and can be asked), the French president, Emmanuel Macron, currently in power and THREE YEARS before the scheduled election, seeing the far right rise in popularity decided to dissolve the assembly and hold snap elections.

577 seats were up for grabs. Remember that number. Since half of that is 288.5, 289 seats are needed for a majority.

The first round happened last week and boy, was it bad. The far right made HUGE gains. It won or was in first place in so many races. And Macron's party ended up third!

Overall, this is how things ended up after the first round:

Far right bloc: 33%

Left bloc: 28%

Macron's centrist party: 20%

Conservatives: 7%

The way the French system works is that if a candidate gets over 50% of the vote, they win outright, and some of the far right did manage that. But, many races went to a runoff.

Immediate projections after were that the far right bloc might win anywhere from 240 to 310 seats, a catastrophe.

A shameful swing to the far right leading to the first time they'll be in power since the 1940s? Yes, but maybe not??

This is where things get interesting.

Unusually, a lot of these runoffs are 3-way, instead of a simpler 2-way choice. And in pretty much every case, that helps the far right.

So on June 30th, the night of the first round, this is how things went down:

Immediately, the left parties put out the call: anywhere they were third, they withdrew and their voters would go over to whoever was running against the far right candidate. Their goal: form a "republican front" to block the far right. The far right cannot get 289 seats.

Macron's bloc was not so...motivated. Different people put out different instructions: in some places, if they were third, they should drop out, but only to help the center left, not far left, in other places, see how far you are, only then drop out, that kind of thing.

The conservative party simply said they won't drop out and won't give their voters instruction either way in races they're not involved in.

Late night developments:

More people in Macron's party are now beginning to realize the situation and starting to coalesce around whichever candidate can beat the far right one. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, from Macron's party, says clearly the priority is to block the far right. BUT, some Macron spokespeople on TV say they'll form a coalition only with the center left and conservatives, splitting the left bloc if needed. Some individual Macronists still saying they won't drop out, even if there's no hope of winning.

Lol.

So, now July 1st:

Only half so far. In one race, where the sister of Marine Le Pen (the far right leader and the face of their movement) was leading, the third place Macronist refused to bow out.

Excellent quote from another Macronist:

Perhaps realizing the same thing, that Macronist in the race against the Le Pen sister now drops out.

In some places, third place Macronists are dropping out DESPITE Macron bewilderingly telling them NOT to?

Halfway through the day:

Of the 311 3-way or 4-way runoffs, the number is down to 135 because of these candidates dropping out: 121 Left, 56 Macronists, 1 conservative.

Oh, there was this, in case people had any doubts about how terrible the far right are:

And to show the selflessness of the left:

July 2:

The deadline to decide if they want to stay in a runoff is today.

A dozen new third place Macronists who said they'd stay in have now dropped out. One got a call from both the PM Attal AND Macron to drop out, signalling the dawning understanding of the importance of this moment.

Even some conservative party members are now backing the left candidate who faces the far right.

A Macronist who had 30.55% of the vote in the first round and came in third to the far right's 33.11% and left's 32.73% and who would have been tempted to stay has dropped out.

The deadline to stay in or not has now passed.

Look at these far right shenanigans!

Macron still being a freaking loser:

July 3rd:

In the end, of the 311 3- or 4-way run offs, only 91 left. Some polls come out that have the far right getting between 190 to 220 seats.

July 4th:

New polls say the balance of the voting itself isn't transferring between the left and center and predictions have risen for the far right, now predicted to get between 210 and 250 seats.

July 5th:

New polls again, left voters now predicted to do better transferring vote to the centrists, decreasing the far right projections again.

However, scandalous reporting emerges: while Attal was trying to fend off the far right, Macron was not only NOT taking the far right seriously, he was undermining efforts to defeat them. His team shrugged off the first round results and celebrated a BIRTHDAY as the results were still coming in?

July 6th:

A few runoffs happened yesterday, nothing much unexpected, some left and center wins.

July 7th:

The day of reckoning. At this point, the expectations are that the far right won't come close to that 289 number but could still easily have the most seats.

GUYS.

It's over and the left are in the lead!

A LOT of cases where a leftist or centrist was 2nd in the first round and now won.

Amazing:

SO many lessons to take from this.

First, you have to vote! You have to. You can't do anything without voting. The freaking French, who'll protest for anything, are showing up to vote. If you're trying to achieve any kind of result and it's not going to happen by January 2025, you have to vote now.

But just as importantly, the left and center (and even conservative) parties made very key decisions. They were all lucky that Attal, who Macron chose, saw the big picture, bigger than indeed Macron could. A stupid selfish centrist leader could have still ruined everything if it were up to him.

TL;DR: After a disastrous first round in the national French elections where the far right was on the cusp of taking power, the left and center formed a strong coalition and through the power of voting and unity, overcame the far right AND their selfish centrist president to win.

[dearlylostdoe]

[professorcalculusstanaccount]

I remember discussing Tintin casting choices with a friend from Germany and remarked how it was odd he often has an English accent in adaptations rather than a Belgian one, and my friend just replied "that's because Tintin gives incredibly strong English boy energy (derogatory)"

Here in the UK there's a lot of weird classism tied into accents. Today accent diversity and representation in broadcasting is actively pursued but in Tintin's time there certainly was a preferred accent to have.

imagine this exchange happens between pages 28-29 in The Crab with the Golden Claws

[julietslvr]

could be us

[moonyswarmsweaters]

Regulus: Tout est de ta faute

James, sighning: Yeah, I know

Sirius: Since when do you speak french?

James: I don’t, I just know the phrase "this is all your fault" in every language he speaks

[gaza-love100]

Help me save my family's life

Hello, I am Abdallah al swusiis ,l am from in the north of Gaza Strip. Despite my feeling of shame, I am writing this letter and appeal after hesitation and confusion.

Fear forced me to tell you that I have been living through a genocidal war for more than 11months. Many times I stayed with my family after the destruction of our home and the martyrdom of my relatives, as we suffered from hunger, poverty, and lack of the minimum necessities of life, and we fled to many places. I am still afraid of losing any member of my family during the journey of displacement and suffering. There is no safety anywhere in Gaza. We have lost everything, our health, our dreams, our future, our ordinary life. I never expected in my entire life to ask for something like this or financial assistance from anyone, but the current situation Disastrous and crazy, as my family and I need this money to escape this nightmare and cross the border at a cost of approximately $49,200 in lives. Now I have no options so I created a GoFundMe link for Your Humanity to support me and my family to survive

This fundraising campaign is a last resort for me to help us escape the war and reunite with the family, finally I am collecting these donations to escape with my family from this war and try to reach safety

Your help and contribution means a lot to us, as it means compassion and solidarity for justice, and any donation from you will enrich our lives.

[isjasz]

[Day 246]

More background practice but it got out of hand goshdangit .png

They chilling :D

[sadclowncentral]

VIVE LE FUCKING FRANCE BABY!!!! 🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷

[learnelle]

I posted a chatty video on my YouTube channel all about how I started reading in French, with some francophone book recommendations too! You can find it here 🇫🇷📚✨

[chiliger]

It’s a sibling’s job to kickstart that existential crises young.

[egophiliac]

i love your riddle design so much, he's so pointy and british. so gracious. do you think he would enjoy a brazilian goiabada

thank you! ❤️🖤❤️ it's just. important to me on a level I can't explain that Riddle have an extremely pointy nose that he can stick into everyone else's business.

also goiabada is sweet and fruity and red, I think he would like it very much indeed!

not me stealth-editing because I forgot his antenna whoops

[fullychaotichell]

Things got just a bit too heated a bit too fast 😳🔥

Even tho technically this is part of my other radioapple doodle collection, I drew these more recently so into their own post they go fpfpf

[shiverandqueeef]

Non-Canadians of tumblr!

if you picked one of the options lemme know in the tags how you heard about them (or if you have a totally different canadian band you know and want to rant about!)

[an-au-blog]

Sanji in the bi au is out, no one knows only because no one asks and he has a very obvious preference for women. So the first time Ace come on board and starts flirting with the cook, everyone is flabbergasted that Sanji so openly flirts back.

Luffy is used to having people come onto his brother so he's unbothered by it all. But Zoro is so taken aback he approaches him with it.

Zoro: So what, now you're into men?

Sanji: Have been for a while but he's the only man on this ship who flirts like a normal human being.

Zoro absolutely speechless: ...

Sanji: If you're done here I have dishes to wash. Go bother someone else

The next few days Zoro just stares at Ace like his life depended on it. On one hand to study him what he's doing that Zoro can't, on the other because how dare he??? Luffy catches him while he's watching Sanji and Ace interacting.

Luffy: What are you doing?

Zoro: Observing...

Luffy: Nami said you're jealous. But if you also want goodnight kisses from Sanji you can just ask

Zoro even more taken aback: Also???

Luffy: Does he not kiss you goodnight?... hm, weird...

After a few weeks Zoro gathers up the courage to ask for a goodnight kiss.

[solarconstellations]

James and Reggie doing that tiktok trend where two people are walking and the camera pans back and forth between them.

James: "It's a Jegulus fic, of course Regulus is already hopelessly and completely in love with me before it even starts." Regulus: "It's a Jegulus fic, of course James is going to be compared to the sun."

James: "It's a Jegulus fic, of course there's going to be background wolfstar, dorlene, and rosekiller"

Regulus: "It's a Jegulus fic, of course Sirius and I are going to start speaking French and James and Moony are going to get horribly turned on."

James: *points phone down at his feet* "Wait, can you do that right now?" Regulus: *off screen* "No James, we're in the middle of making a video." James: "It's a Jegulus fic, of course Reggie is going to slip up and accidently call me James after calling me "Potter" for the last 40 chapters." Regulus: "It's a Jegulus fic, of course Sirius is going to go crazy as soon as he finds out me and James are together." James: "It's a Jegulus fic, of course Reg can't swim." Regulus: *points the camera down to his feet* "James, what the fuck, that was a low blow." Regulus: *with revenge in his eyes* "It's a Jegulus fic, of course James and my brother have a ridiculously unhealthy obsession and codependency with one another" James: *with love in his eyes* "It's a Jegulus fic, of course I love my star so much that I would live, die, or kill for him" Regulus: *drops the phone, only their feet can be seen as he runs to James* "Tu vas payer pour m'avoir fait rougir, chéri"