Re: OT SF Mythology

In article <sdbt8j9mj5q85mi9uqaboqrebt7o5phjf8@4ax.com>,
Paul S Person  <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:

On Wed, 10 Jul 2024 07:59:02 -0000 (UTC), Charles Packer
<mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:
>

On Wed, 10 Jul 2024 16:39:47 +1200, Titus G wrote:
>

Durandal a sword said to be indestructible, the sharpest of all blades,
once wielded by the knight Roland under Charlemagne, and thenceforth
stuck in stone for 1,300 years, has disappeared from a French village.
 
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/france-excalibur-like-sword-durandal-

disappears-after-1300-years/
>
This seems to be the Year of France. The Olympics, the completion
of repairs to Notre Dame (scheduled for December), the snap election
which my favorite newspapers are telling me is Very Important, etc.
Qu'est-ce que tu as d'autre ? (What else ya' got?)

>
It'll be interesting to see how the winner-takes-all Parliamentary
system copes with a situation in neither the Left, the Right, nor the
Center has control. No winner, no gummint?
>
Perhaps another snap election? Perhaps this will the start of the
Decade of Snap Elections, kind of like the periods where the Romans
went through 10 or so Emperors in two years or so, at least in terms
of social stability.

There are limits to how often snap elections can be called. Next
one has to be at least a year from now. Macron seems to have traded a
situation where he was more or less in control, with storm clouds on
the horizon, to one where he is moderately fucked. Who dares, wins!

France has had a hung national assembly before. It is still possible
to pass legislation via 49.3, which "allows the government to impose
the adoption of a text by the Assembly, immediately and without a vote,
which the Assembly cannot oppose without toppling the government through
a motion of no confidence under Clause 2." Obs this requires some group
to be recognized as the government. 

A vote of no confidence would trigger an election, but I guess not one
that meets the definition of a snap election.
 

From what I have read, the evil Right was only defeated by many
self-sacrificing candidates withdrawing so as to concentrate the
anti-Right vote on whoever else was on the ballot. Sounds like
cheating to me, but then, I am not French and so not aware of how they
regard it.

The French might not agree on what they want but they were very clear
on what they didn't want, and how to avoid it. Strategic voting is
an accepted practice in French elections. 
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