The “Fascism on the Worldwide March” storyline took a major hit the past few days. First voters in England rejected the Tories. Now France’s far-right party, Marine LePen’s National Rally, which seemed poised to take over the premiership, got its ass mightily kicked in the country’s second round of elections. Not only did they not win, they finished third, behind both Emmanuel Macron’s centrists and a new coalition of leftist parties, which actually finished first. This still leaves the country in uncharted territory – unlike most countries under parliamentary systems, France has no experience with coalition governments. OTOH, it was cooperation between the centrists and leftists that led to the right’s decisive defeat. Big picture, these results undermine the idea that countries everywhere have gone nativist and conservative. I think it shows that people want change, and they don’t much care which direction. Which, IMHO, is a point in favor of replacing Biden.
Biden, for his part, shows every sign of failing to go gentle into a stormy night, and his strategy apparently is to shore up his support among Blacks and unions. Whether or not it ends up working is immaterial to the click-hungry media masses, so expect the drama to continue for as long as they can prop it up.
Interesting story in ProPublica about the federal cyber safety board’s failure to investigate a security breach involving a known security flaw in Microsoft software that the company failed to address. Greed kills.
Your Day in Stupid: Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted out an Independence Day factoid notable for its lack of factual information.
The average age of the signers of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 was 44 years old, but more than a dozen were 35 or younger: Thomas Jefferson: 33 John Hancock: 39 James Madison: 25 Alexander Hamilton: 21 James Monroe: 18 Aaron Burr: 20 Paul Revere: 41 George Washington: 44
Two of that octet – for you MAGAts, that means a group of eight – actually signed the document, so give her a score of 25 on her self-administered history quiz. That’s probably better than Trump would do.
The floor’s yours.