All Stirred Up

 With all due respect to all of the folks who gathered last weekend to participate in the fourth in a series of No Kings protests, they may not have been pushing the panic button as hard as they might. One need only to look across the pond at France to see just how a nation that knows its riots carries things out. Last Saturday, more than half a million French folks, primarily students  took to the streets to protest the staff shortages and dilapidated facilities in the country's lycées, secondary schools attended by fifteen - to eighteen -year-olds.

What started out as mostly peaceful demonstrations turned more chaotic as the sun went down. Buildings and vehicles were set ablaze and there were reports of looting. Protests such as these have been bolstered by trade union members and other factions. Many see this as a prelude to the kind of disruptions that may occur during next year's presidential election in France. 

The politics of right and left are being felt in Gaul, and not for the first time. Faux News Talking Head Brian Kilmeade argued with California Representative Ro Khanna, insisting that it was useless to "wreck a city" in order to make your voice heard. Brian wanted his viewers to know that France's problems could be ours. 

Hard to argue that point in a global economy that has seen the actions of one country's leader disrupt an entire planet. This is the guy who has decided to shutter his country's department of education. Massive tax cuts for the wealthy have ramped up the already ridiculous effect of the rich getting richer while the poor get to pay six dollars for a gallon of gas. And when it comes to wrecking a city, few are as good as that as the guy who tore down the East Wing of "the people's house."

Let them eat cake, indeed. 

Red, white and blue cake.