Free Republic

Envy, I’ve often thought, is the very worst human emotion. The epic Biblical narrative of Cain’s slaying of Abel reminds us that people have been jealous of others’ successes and well-being from time immemorial. When mixed, however, with the near-obsession with inequality that dominates much public discourse these days, there’s a serious risk that envy — and desires to appease it — can start driving public policy in ways that aren’t economically wise or politically healthy. Remarks like “you didn’t build that” or François Hollande’s notorious 2012 “I don’t like the rich” statement don’t of course come out of a...

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax-- Of cabbages--and kings" – Lewis Carroll Politics, politicians and little people: always a messy affair. Poor Valerie, she, of all people, should have known better. In case you somehow missed this international news-cycle squirrel, it seems French President François Hollande has been, how shall I put this – carrying on with a woman other than the one he has been shacking up with for the past few years. That’s correct; François has been having an affair - while having an affair with Valarie...

President François Hollande of France on Friday offered strong support for international military action against the Syrian government, supporting the Obama administration just a day after the British Parliament rejected Minister Prime David Cameron’s call for intervention.

France’s president, François Hollande paid a triumphant visit to this ancient city on Saturday, receiving a rapturous welcome from thousands of people who gathered next to a 14th-century mosque to dance, play drums and chant “Vive la France!” The muezzin, whose singing calls residents to pray five times a day, wore a scarf in the colors of the French flag as he shouted, “Vive Hollande!

By now you've probably heard Russian President Vladimir Putin has bestowed Russian citizenship upon Gérard Depardieu as part of the French actor's quest to seek refuge from his country's onerous income taxes. It's a pretty funny situation. But French President Francois Hollande is not laughing. Because after all the fuss, the 75 percent marginal income tax that was the highlight of the new taxes which Depardieu and others were attempting to flee was ultimately vetoed by the country's Constitutional Council. The ruling came on technical grounds, and the government has vowed to resubmit a similar proposal. But the project has...

France's President Francois Hollande showed a fine understanding of American politics Tuesday when he refused to endorse a US presidential candidate.  Asked by a reporter at the UN General Assembly in New York whether he backed Democratic incumbent Barack Obama or his Republican rival Mitt Romney for the White House, a smiling Hollande shot back: "Who do you think?" "Are you aware that Mitt Romney never ceases to attack socialist Europe at his campaign rallies?" asked Hollande, Europe's most powerful socialist leader. "Yes, that's why I'll be careful not to say anything at all on this subject because, as you'd...

 Valérie Trierweiler once called Ségolène Royal “the crazy woman of Poitou” and asked members of her partner’s communication team to keep them at arm’s length.    Ms. Trierweiler is the current partner of President François Hollande, and Ms. Royal is his former partner and mother of his four children  are depicted in recently published books as fierce rivals, and their animosity has been at the center of extensive media attention in France. Since 2007, when Nicolas Sarkozy took office in the middle of a marital breakdown, French politics has taken on aspects of a soap opera, complete with shifting couples...

During the French presidential election, it became clear that François Hollande, if he were to win the presidency, would try to align other Eurozone countries, particularly Italy and Spain, into a southern front against German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her government—to fix the problems of the Eurozone à la française. Now that he has won the election, he has set out on his pre-charted collision course with Germany. The war of words has already started. For the first time that I can remember, a French government is lobbing unvarnished and relentless verbal attacks across the Rhine. But Hollande isn’t just...

Valérie Trierweiler, France’s new First Lady got her way when Ségolène Royal, François Hollande’s former partner of 30 years, crashed out of parliamentary elections to a dissident she controversially backed. Valérie Trierweiler sparked a political storm and private drama by firing off a Twitter message wishing “good luck” to the Socialist dissident rival of Ségolène Royal, 58, mother of Mr Hollande’s four children who was fighting for a seat in the constituency of western La Rochelle. Mr Hollande had backed Miss Royal for the seat reportedly without informing his new partner, who then is said to have sent the now...

Nicolas Sarkozy is said to be "bored" after spending a three-week post-election break with his wife and children in Morocco in which he was constantly on the phone to politicians back in France, according to reports. Mr Sarkozy, his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and their daughter Giulia, returned to Paris on Saturday, where he was spotted jogging in the Bois de Boulogne, after unwinding at King Mohammed VI's expense in one of his luxury private residences in Marrakesh. The Right-winger intends to remain "durably discreet" after losing to Socialist François Hollande in his presidential re-election bid on May 6, one of...

'First girlfriend': Valerie Trierweiler has been given an official title and her own team of civil servants and security She declared she would not copy the high profile of her predecessor Carla Bruni. But now Valerie Trierweiler has been given an official title and her own team of half-a-dozen civil servants and bodyguards at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Despite not being married to the new president Francois Hollande, she will be known as the The First Lady of France. Ms Trierweiler, 47, a twice-married mother of three, also has her own page on the French presidency’s website. An official...

On Sunday, by almost every indication, François Hollande, who has been leading in the polls for months, will defeat Nicolas Sarkozy and become France’s next president. Hollande’s Socialist Party, which hasn’t ousted an incumbent president in over three decades, has every reason to celebrate. But the true winner of this election isn’t France’s left; it’s Europe’s far right. The reason is simple. In this election, France’s establishment has embraced Islamophobic ideas to an unprecedented degree. Right-wing populism, once a fringe phenomenon, has been conquering the bastions of Europe’s political mainstream with frightening speed; even so, most observers failed to predict...

   French Socialist presidential candidate François Hollande debuted a campaign video set to Jay-Z and Kanye West’s hit song, “Ni*gas In Paris.” The video, which translates in English to “48 Hours with François Hollande,” features the candidate making campaign stops and his supporters excitedly talking about him. While there are moments of the song that are blocked out with audio clips from his speeches and supporters, most of the song’s extremely explicit lyrics (“ni**a,” “motherf***er,” “s**t,” to name a few) are still in tact. Although the song is in English, the explicit words are hardly new to French ears.  “48...

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has cut his Socialist rival's lead to the smallest margin so far in the run up to an April and May presidential election, a poll showed Sunday. However, the poll showed that Socialist candidate Francois Hollande would still comfortably beat Sarkozy in a run-off. The president has been capitalizing on his central role in Europe's struggle to contain its debt crisis, and gained ground even after announcing plans for an unpopular sales tax hike and after Hollande's campaign took a more aggressive tone. In the first round of the two-stage vote, on April 22, Hollande would...