“Looting Left Damage and Fear on Paradise Street in Marseille” (NYT, today):
A week ago, mostly peaceful demonstrations in cities across France devolved into clashes between protesters and the police. Then looters entered the fray, breaking into stores, supermarkets and shopping malls, and hauling off whatever they could.
Selected by the New York Times editors, a photo of the typical protester, apparently a huge French patriot:
What is shown on X from the same event in Marseille? Translation from Grok: “In Marseille, my city, to my great despair, it is not the French flag that flies but that of Hamas.”
(Given our failure, thus far, to force the Iranians to surrender, this is perhaps not the best time to joke about the official French flag being white. On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal suggests that Trump’s painfully slow strategy might be working. “Iran’s Fleet of Shadow Tankers Has Run Out of Oil After Monthslong U.S. Blockade” says “Tehran had millions of barrels of crude in tankers in Asian waters that gave it a steady flow of cash. Now, that oil has dried up.” See also “Iran Is Now Losing Overland Trade Routes to U.S. Pressure” (WSJ). On the third hand, what difference does any of this make if Iran can use domestic materials to make electrical power, drones, and missiles?)
Separately, who will be watching the Paris NFL game tomorrow? France wasn’t violent enough and, therefore, they had to import violence from the U.S.? ESPN:
The article notes that the “real football” fans won’t be able to see too many dusty old paintings and sculptures:
Major museums, including the Louvre and Orsay Museum, are closed Saturday, though tourists were lined up to enter Notre Dame Cathedral. French authorities are intent on preventing a repeat of recent violent unrest.
Phil, I’ve just awaken this afternoon and my mind is in a bit of a drug-addled fog, but even I know that the flag for the country once known as France is that of Hamas. Please get with the program. Comprende?
Your support for the students in France is so good to see. Our local group will be in your Florida neighborhood this week planting flags on lawns. Hoping we can count you in?
https://www.partnersforpalestine.org/
As they say in Tampa, As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-raḥmatu -llāhi wa-barakātuh. Are you sure about the upcoming event? https://www.partnersforpalestine.org/events shows that the last one was more than 1.5 years ago. All of the previous events seem to have occurred either in Orlando or Tampa.
Greater Orlando seems to be becoming part of the Dar al-Islam, as noted in https://philip.greenspun.com/blog/2025/12/06/harry-potter-pinball-machine-review-and-the-free-play-florida-experience/
Perhaps Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed can work with fellow senators to impose a federal ban on females showing skin on all of our nations’ ocean and Gulf beaches on the grounds that the federal government should control the interface between the U.S. land and our territorial waters.
During COVIDFear, France locked down the entire country without any incident. So why cannot the same government do the same today to stop these “mostly peaceful” demonstrations?
George: That is a great question. Populations all over Europe showed an aptitude for meek compliance. Why isn’t the government insisting on compliance now?